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The Risen Christ Affirms Christianity
Do you know that if Jesus has not been raised from the dead that Christianity is a false religion?
Read the following verses from 1 Corinthians 15 and think about them…
14 if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain.
17 and if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, you are still in your in you sins!
You can see by these versus that Christianity depends on the fact that Jesus has been raised, bodily, from death and burial. So that we can read these versus, with certainty, also from 1 Corinthians.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead…
Christianity is real. Salvation and forgiveness is offered because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, and all who believes in and receives Jesus as Lord and Savior will be forgiven, and will be saved from facing the wrath of God on judgement day.
Christ is risen … He is risen indeed!
Easy Way To Know God’s Will
By being a true disciple of Jesus you can know what is the will of God for you in any situation. In Psalm 32: 8 God tells us this:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye.”
God does this through His Word. As we read and study the Scriptures on a regular basis God will take what we learn and use that for instructions in living a life devoted to Him, and for guiding us in our daily life.
As God works in us He will let us know, by what we have learned through our study of His Word, what His will is for us in any situation where we seek His guidance. He will speak to us through an inner voice or by giving us peace that we have made a right decision.
By learning His Word, and in seeking His guidance on a regular basis, we can learn to recognize and know what is God’s will for us in any situation.
The “easy” secret to learning God’s will for us is to first read and know what is in God’s Word. How about you, do you really want to be instructed and taught by God?
By being in God’s Word on a regular basis you can be guided by, and know, what is God’s will for you.
God will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go, and He will guide you according to His will, but only when you take the time to read and study His Word.
Only by knowing what is in God’s Word will you ever know the will of God, and have the faith needed to trust in Him for the outcome.
And We Knew Him Not
It is that time of the year again. It is the Christmas season and in the midst of all of the glitter, decorations and materialism some find time to recognize the coming birth of Jesus. Each year, though, it seems that the babe in a manger plays a smaller role in the season as more and more people see this time of the year less as celebrating the birth of Jesus and more as a time for spending money, giving gifts, and most importantly – gift receiving. However, it has been this way from the very start.
Yes, it is the time for celebrating the birth of Jesus but so few people actually know who Jesus is. There are, as it seems, even some who call themselves Christians who know or really care about Jesus other than the fact that He is the babe in a manger; with shepherds on the hillside and three Wise Men coming from the East to worship Him.
Like I said, though, this is the way it has been ever since Jesus was born. In the Gospel of John 1: 1 – 3 & 10 God tells us the following:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
Can you imagine it? If we would be truthful, however, we would all admit that we would have been the same. We would not have recognized the Creator of all things. That God came down to be with us and to show us our sinfulness, and how it has separated us from Him. He came to remove that wall of separation so that we could have fellowship with Him and to be forgiven for our sins, and we would have none of it.
We like our sin. We do not want to change, and we want to keep what we have and not care about the babe in the manger after He is grown. We do not want to see that He is the One Who is offering Himself to be the one to bring us back to God. Our sinfulness will not let us, even today, see that Jesus is the Creator of all things. That He is the one who has given us life and breath and all things to enjoy in grateful praise to Christ our King.
The One Who laid out the universe and created man in His image, however, still calls out to us today to come to Him. Not just to see Him as the babe in a manger but to see Him as He really is – The Creator who has made all things, and to know that without Him nothing was made that was made. He is still in the world today, in His people, and the world still does not know Him.
The offer of salvation, of being forgiven for our sins and to submit to Him as Lord, and to believe in Him and to receive Him as the only One who can save us from the coming wrath of God is still being held out to us by Jesus. Only He can forgive our sins. Only Jesus can offer us eternal life in Heaven.
Now is the time to see Jesus as God, not just as a babe in a manger. Now is the time to come to Him, to see Him as Lord and to ask Him for forgiveness for our sins, and to believe in your heart that He was raised from the dead and so be saved from the wrath to come. Then will you be able to see Jesus for who He really is; as the Creator of all things and worship Him and Him alone as the one Who has made all things. For Jesus, as He was in the beginning, Who was the Word and, as the Word, is God.
For when one recognizes Jesus as the Creator, and to know Him as our Lord and Savior – as God, is what makes Christmas truly “Merry”…..
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will…
Christianity Is Not A Political Party
As a disciple of Jesus I am constantly amazed how someone always seems to identify their Christianity with being either a Capitalistic Conservative Republican or a Socialistic Liberal Democrat. When in fact Christianity is neither.
Basically capitalism is based on greed… more money, bigger home, better job, etc. and keep all they get, and socialism is based on the power of the elite few who take from everyone and enslave the populace to government programs. Neither party truly espouses Christian values unless it will get them some votes.
Jesus taught us not to have a love for money, nor should we have a desire for it, and money is at the root of all that is capitalistic. Without greed there is no capitalism. Jesus also taught not to desire to have the power to Lord it over others nor to regard one person better than another. Without the desire for power over others and in telling them what they can and cannot do you have no socialism.
In short, being a disciple of Jesus means being content with what you have. We are to work for what is given to us on a daily basis, whether working for ourselves or for others, make what is needed for daily living and whatever excess we have we are to share with others who are truly in need. If we have food, clothing and shelter that is all we should desire.
Think about it … if we deeply trust in Jesus for providing us with our daily needs what more do we need? God knows our needs and Jesus promised that if we would seek the Father and to rely on Him to provide us with our daily needs that He would do so.
We as Christians are not to live as the world lives, nor to desire the things of the world. Our desire is to be where our home is in Heaven with our Father who is Lord of us all. We should not seek to have a political party tell us what we should do or to tell us for whom we should vote and then believe their promises of what they will do for us if we would just turn our vote over to them. Once you are devoted to one you are then enslaved by that system and you will have a tendency to believe that they can do more for you than God will do.
If you want to vote for someone during an election then at least look for what Christian values they hold, and not the values that they tell you they have, but the values they show by their actions. Remember what James told us:
James 2: 14-20
14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your[d] works, and I will show you my faith by my[e] works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
If the person you are considering does not show their faith by what they do, the faith that they say they have is dead; they have no faith – just lies. And if no one reveals by their daily life that they do not have any Christian values at all then you need to stand aside and let God put into office the one that He wants and then to trust in Him for what the outcome will be because of His decision.
Yes, Christianity is not a political party. Being a disciple of Jesus is living our daily lives as if we are just passing through on our way home. Nothing here should be of top priority or desire – only the will of God is where our desire should be. As for me, I would rather be known as a disciple of Jesus than being identified with any political party.
As A Christian – Are You Living By Faith?
In the Bible there are several verses that make the statement, “the just shall live by faith.” Basically these verses are talking about having faith in Jesus for our salvation and that by trusting in Him and His finished work, and not in our own good works, we have received forgiveness for our sins and have been granted eternal life in Heaven.
However, there is another way at looking at the statement, “the just shall live by faith.” For instance, read the following verses from Proverbs 3: 5, 6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Here we are told to “trust in the Lord”. What is trusting but the very act of having faith. Depending on how much faith we have will determine how much we will trust. Since we are told to trust with all our heart shows that we should have strong faith in the Lord for what is happening.
Living by faith is basically just trusting in the Lord for the outcome, no matter what we see or do not see – what our understanding is of the circumstances – and that we know that in our trust in the Lord He will lead us in the direction that He wants us to travel.
As our faith grows so does our trust in Him. In our trust of the Lord we will not look to ourselves for the answer. We will look to God instead. The results are that we will see how God is working in our lives, and we will have more peace by our Trust In The Lord.
How about you? Are you living a life of faith? Only by having strong faith can one truly
“trust in the Lord with all of our heart”.
Elect – Whose Salvation Is Kept By God
In Christendom there are two views of thought when it comes to keeping one’s salvation once they have been born again by the Spirit of God.
In short, they are Free Will and Election. Free Will salvation states that Jesus has done all He can in providing a blanket salvation that covers everyone and that now it is up to man to decide whether or not he will accept or reject the offer of salvation that Jesus gives. Basically man is responsible for his salvation because he must now do his part in receiving the salvation that Jesus has provided.
Since man is responsible for receiving salvation, by choosing, of his own free will, to accept or reject the offer, he places himself in the position of being responsible for keeping this salvation. Since it was by his decision to accept Jesus that he was saved, he now has to work daily to make sure he does not do or say anything that could cause him to lose it. In addition, he must also take care not to become complacent of his salvation and decide somewhere down the road to turn away from Christ and, in doing so, he would lose his salvation never to get it back again.
If you look at it in that respect you can see how one who believes in Free Will salvation really does not have any lasting assurance, or even peaceful assurance, of his eternal salvation still being with him when he dies. This is because it is his responsibility, by his power, that he must rely upon in order to keep the salvation that he chose to accept, that Jesus provided for all to receive.
The other view of keeping one’s salvation is that it is not by man’s power or will that this is done by it is due to the power of God that it is kept.
You see, in the doctrine of election it is God who looks at man and sees that spiritually he is dead to God. Un-saved man does not want to bow to the God of the Bible – Jesus. Un-saved man does not want God, does not look for Him and is actually at enmity with God. Basically, God sees that man, of his own will, will never chose to accept the offer of salvation because he really does not believe that he needs to be saved, that he has been good enough to get into Heaven on his own goodness.
So, God, in His great desire to have a people of His own, chose from before the beginning of time who would be saved and, in His time, they come to Jesus for forgiveness and they do so willingly. This in itself is another story for another time.
What this means, however, is that under the doctrine of Election it is God’s responsibility not only to save someone it is also His responsibility to keep that person saved. In a section of 1 Peter chapter one is a little known verse that so many gloss over that explains this well. However, in order to understand this you must read the verse in its context; which we will now do.
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you(the elect), 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
In writing to the pilgrims, Peter calls them the elect (select, chosen) and in talking about their salvation he finishes with saying that it has been made ready for them, for their arrival in Heaven, and that they are being kept by the power of God until then.
This way, since salvation under the doctrine of election is the responsibility of God in saving they whom He choses, it is also God’s responsibility to keep them saved. And, many time Jesus made the comment that of all that God the Father has given Him He would not lose any of them; not one soul will be lost whom Jesus has saved.
Since it is the responsibility of God to save whom He wills, it is also God’s responsibility to keep them saved whom He has chosen for salvation. To have this knowledge that it is God who works in me to will and to do of His good pleasure provides for me, as it should for all who have been saved by His power, great assurance of my eternal salvation because it does not depend on me in keeping my salvation because I am being kept saved by the power of God.
Salvation, from start to finish, is all of God. It is by His will that anyone is saved and it is by His will that they whom He has saved will be kept saved.
Jesus has given us the promise that “ALL whom the Father has given Him will come to Him and that He will not reject any of them, and that He will keep them until the end and that He will not lose not even one of them.”
I guess the question now is… who is responsibility for your salvation and for keeping it?
Who Is Prayer For?
If you are on social media of any kind I am sure you have seen them; so-and-so is sick, hurt, dying, etc. please pray. Then comes the responses – praying, sending prayers, pray they get well, etc.
My first thought when I see these is, do these people actually pray? If they do, how do they pray and for what do they pray? Then I wonder, what if God does not answer their prayer, then what?
When one realizes “who is prayer for?” the answer becomes quite simple.
Most people, I was one of them, when they pray and their pray is not answered they will think that maybe God did not hear them or that they prayed all wrong or maybe their faith is not strong enough to sway God to their idea of what is needed; and therein lies the problem.
Huh? I am sure many of you thought that, but when you realize “who is prayer for?” it will dramatically change your response to requested prayer, how you pray and for what it is that you should pray.
First of all, one must realize that anyone who is not a disciple of Jesus, God is under no obligation to respond or to even listen to their prayer. So, if only Christians are given the right to pray, how then should they pray? Again, once we know “who is prayer for?” we will see how it is we should pray.
First, we should know a basic characteristic of God. In Daniel 4: 34, 35 we read the following from Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon:
Nebuchadnezzar Praises God In Prayer
34 And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation.
35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, “What have You done?”
Read verse 35 again and let it sink in.
Second, knowing the basic characteristics of God will go far in understanding what and how to pray to Him, and what it is that we can expect.
In 1 John 5 :14, 15 God tells us, through the Apostle John, the following great piece of information:
Confidence and Compassion in Prayer
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
Again, read these two verses and reflect also on them. Especially the phrase, “if we ask anything according to His will.”
In these verses from Daniel and 1 John we have a clear picture of our influence on God and what it is that God looks for in prayer. Knowing these will make it clear the answer to the question – “who is prayer for?”
In short… God does what He wills among mankind and when we, His disciples, pray according to His will we can be assured that He will hear us, and our prayer will be answered.
When someone asks for prayer we can respond as we see done so often on social media sites but in most, if not all, cases all we are doing is giving false hope to the one asking for prayer. For the petition that we are asking may not be God’s will and, as we have seen, God does His will among us and there is none of us who can hold back God’s hand from doing what He wants.
Think of this. Why would God listen to man, who has no righteousness of His own and is selfish in his ways, and do what he asks? Do we know better than God what the best answer to prayer should be?
It is not always God’s will to heal, restore or make wealthy any one of us. Anyone who reads and studies God’s Word will have seen and read verses that speak to these moments. While God can, and does, intervene in one’s life to heal, restore or make one wealthy, He mainly works through our daily lives, through the people we meet and in incidents of His own choosing, and only when He knows the outcome and what it is that He wishes to accomplish. Then, and only then, does He intervene in any of these affairs at times of His own choosing.
Third, in Philippians 2 : 13 God, speaking through the Apostle Paul, tells us:
Living In Our Salvation Through Prayer
13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
While God was speaking mainly of living our lives once saved, would He also not do the same in our daily lives as He leads us in the way we should go? We are finite beings and, as such, we do not know God’s explicit will in all situations.
So, when we respond to a request for prayer we should first realize that we do not know what God’s will is for the outcome. Second we should try to understand – and may never know – what God’s will might be, and third we must submit to His will and realize that what the person who ask for prayer wants, and what it is that we want, may not be what God wants.
In short – Prayer is practicing the presence of God.
When we come before God in prayer it is first to focus our attention on Him, as Jesus did when He prayed, “Our Father in Heaven, “hallowed by your name.” God is all-knowing, all-seeing and is anywhere and everywhere.
We should look to His glory, His perfection, His wisdom for He knows the end from the beginning, and what is best for anyone and everyone in any and all situations. It is God Who works in us to will and to do for His good pleasure and it is God who works “all” things for the good of those who love Him. Even the Holy Spirit, when he intervenes on our behalf, He does so according to the will of God the Father.
Yes, we should come to God with our thoughts, our feelings and what our desires are, but we should do so in respect to God and with the understanding that what we want may not be what He knows is best.
You see the answer to the question “who is prayer for?” is “US”. We are the ones for whom prayer is for. Prayer is to bring us into the presence of God, to fall at His feet with our worries, our concerns and our needs along with praise, adoration and worship. We should cry out to Him for help, for guidance and for wisdom to know and hopefully to understand what God’s will is in all of this.
Coming to God in prayer is the greatest moment in a disciple’s life. We can talk directly to Him knowing that He hears us and we can trust in Him with all our hearts and to try not to cling to our own understanding of things, and to acknowledge Him as the one Supreme Being who alone can answer prayer in a way that He knows what is best; for us and for the one for whom we pray.
When we are with God and when we trust in Him for the outcome of our prayers, only then will we have any peace. Peace that will be with us even when the outcome to our prayer may not be what we wanted. If we cannot praise God when our prayers go against what we wanted, how genuine can it be when we praise Him only when things go right? You see, we must trust God for knowing what is best for us, and for the one for whom we pray, no matter what the outcome.
Prayer is not for God; to get Him to do something. He already knows what He will do, even before we ask. Prayer is for us, that is who prayer is for. It is to bring us to Him to be in a more loving, closer and trusting relationship, and to bring peace into our lives even when we are in the midst of turmoil that we do not understand.
So, when someone asks for prayer instead of saying you will pray, actually go to God in prayer. Tell him your desires and wishes and concerns. Praise Him for the ability to be able to come to Him in person and thank Him for His listening to you, and then let Him know that you also realize that what you want may not be what He has already planned to do. Because what we do know is that God understands and God does what He wills among us because of His love for us, and He does so for our good and for His glory.
Who is prayer for? It is for us, God’s children. To grow in our love, our trust and in our praise of Him as we, too, can be like Jesus and say to our Heavenly Father, “not My will, but Yours, be done.” and then rest in the peace that passes all understanding that He will give to us as assurance of His love towards us. What better reason could there be for prayer than in knowing and experiencing God’s love…
Faith – The Gift Of Life
At night Jesus receives a visitor; it is Nicodemus, a Ruler of the Jews. During their conversation Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless one is “born again” not only will he not see the Kingdom of God but he will not be allowed to enter.
Imagine that! Of all of the things that someone can do to try to be allowed into Heaven they can only do so if they are “born again”. The question is this:
- What does it mean to be “born again” and how does one accomplish that? How do we receive this “gift of life”?
If one needs this experience – to be “born again” – that would insinuate that one is somehow dead. Indeed we are dead, spiritually dead to God because of our sinful nature. Our sins separate us from God and we do not want God in our lives. We love our sin and our way of life. We do not seek God nor do we even desire to do so. And, even if we did, we would search for a God that would fit our needs, our desires, our wants. One that would allow us to continue living as we are but allow us into Heaven, if we are good enough. I have even heard people say that, “God is so loving, He would never send me to Hell and would forgive or overlook my “bad” points and would let me into Heaven to be with Him.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. As Jesus said, “unless you are “born again” you will not be allowed into Heaven.” But, if we are dead, how do we become “born again” if we do seek God or want Him on His terms? We are dead and we cannot do anything.
In Colossians 2: 13 we read the following:
13 And you which were dead in sins, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him (Jesus), forgiving you all your trespasses,
Here we see that it is God who makes us alive having forgiven us for our sins. But, do we not do something in the process? Should we not come to Jesus to ask Him to forgive us and to “accept” Him as our personal Savior? Actually, there is nothing in the Bible about anyone “accepting” Jesus as a personal Savior. In fact, in John 6: 44 Jesus says the following:
44 No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him:
This is a simple, but a very important, statement by Him. No one, neither you, me nor anyone can come to Jesus on our own unless we are drawn by God the Father. Here is a good example of how this works.
Remember the story of Lazarus? In short he died. When Jesus, Who loved him, came to his grave He asked that they remove the stone from the opening. Then He did the most remarkable thing, He specifically called “Lazarus” and ordered him to “come forth”. Question… Being dead, did Lazarus have any ability at all to obey the command to “come forth”? Of course not. Lazarus was dead and was not able to do anything at all until… Until he was first given life so that he could respond; he was given life, he obeyed the command of Jesus and he “came forth” out of the grave.
The same goes for anyone who is drawn by God to “come forth” to Jesus. We can only obey the command to come forth after we have been made alive, that is, “born again”. A good explanation of this can be found in Ephesians 2: 4 – 5
4 But God which is rich in mercy, through his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead by sins, hath quickened us (born again) together in Christ, by whose grace ye are saved,
It takes God to make us alive so that we can respond, just like Lazarus needed to be made alive so that he could respond. Once having been made alive (born again) we also need the will, the desire and the ability to come to Jesus for forgiveness for our sins, and to trust in Him for our salvation; so that by what Jesus has done for us will we be allowed into Heaven. Once having been “born again” only by faith can we do so, and here is where faith becomes the “gift of life”.
In Ephesians 2: 8 – 9 God tells us:
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God,
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast himself.
God gives us the gift of faith by which we can believe on Jesus and to come to Him for salvation, trusting in Him as the only one who can provide for our eternal security with God in Heaven. Faith is not something that we can do on our own, we cannot do anything to generate faith as it needs to be given to us as a gift, a gift of life, so that we cannot boast about how “we” were able to save ourselves by creating our own faith by which we believed.
The Father draws us, makes us alive spiritually – that is, the act of being “born again” – and gives us the gift of faith that is needed to believe. It is by this gift of faith – this gift of life – that we receive Jesus as Lord and to trust in Him as Savior for providing salvation (forgiveness for our sins) by what He has done through His death, burial and resurrection from the grave, and to insure our eternal life in Heaven with God.
Yes, faith is a gift as we are told in Ephesians. Without this gift of faith we would not believe and come forth unto Jesus our Lord and Savior. This gift of faith truly is a “gift of life”.
Are You Working Or Resting For Salvation?
Back in the 80’s I was an Ordained Elder and, on what was known as “Laity Sunday”, I had been asked to bring the message. So I selected a topic about “Finding Rest In A Busy World” and I preached a sermon on the following verses from Matthew 11:
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
I felt that it was a good sermon and that it got the point across about resting in Jesus from the hustle and bustle of the busy world. In the years that followed that verse kept bothering me and I kept thinking that I was missing the true spiritual aspect of those verses. Well, the other day it came to me what I do believe is the real meaning of what Jesus was saying.
Yes, we can find rest when we bring all of our cares and woes to Him in prayer, and He will give us peace of such a nature that it will give us relief from worry in a way that allows us to rest in our trust for Him. However, there is more, a much deeper meaning that we find in these verses. The two key words at which we must look, and compare with other scripture verses, are the words “labor” and “rest”.
The word “labor” actually means to be wearied from working hard, toiling, etc. That I could understand but what was missing was working hard at what? What is it that Jesus is talking about from which we should stop working hard in doing? That is the question and it has taken me quite a long time in noticing what it is about what Jesus is talking.
Actually the thought of what it is, to which Jesus is alluding, came to me when I was reading, again for the umpteenth time, from the book of Hebrews in chapter four. First in Hebrews 4: 1 we read the following:
Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
Then, in verse ten of chapter 4 we read this:
For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
It was at this point that I could feel I was at the very edge of seeing what it is about what Jesus is talking, and it was then that I remembered what Ephesians 2: 8, 9 says:
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
There it is… “not of works”… ! Do you see it? When we are saved it is not because of any works that we have done but by faith given to us with which to believe. In other words, we cease or “rest” from our works, or from trying to earn salvation and just trust in Jesus for having done for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
In the salvation of anyone we are to rest from working at being saved and just trust in Jesus for saving us and, in doing so, we will find rest for our souls. We have this promise of entering into His rest just by “resting” from laboring or toiling at our works in trying to be saved. As in Hebrews 4: 10, when we are saved it is because we have “ceased from our works” and just enter into the rest given by Jesus.
By resting from our works of righteousness, that we thought we could do, and trusting instead in the works of Jesus, we will find that by entering into His rest we will find rest for our souls in our salvation.
In short, just stop trying to earn salvation by your works, instead rest by faith in the finished works of Jesus, and you will find true rest for your souls.
Resting is as simple as admitting that we cannot save ourselves and seeing the need to bow before Jesus to proclaim our sinfulness, to call out to Him and confess that Jesus is Lord, and that you want to rest from your sinful works and instead trust in Him for forgiveness. Only by doing so can one have the rest that Jesus promises.
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Will you not now stop from your works and look to the rest that Jesus gives? Will you not proclaim Him as Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the grave? Take His love and forgiveness upon you and follow Him. Just trust in Jesus and enter into the rest that only Jesus can give. The promise remains, even to today, for entering into His rest. Do not resist and come up short of entering.
Stop trying to earn salvation. Be released from the feeling of guilt. Enter into the rest that Jesus will give to all who call upon Him as Lord. Only then will your soul find true rest.
Jesus – Savior God or Both?
Ask any Christian, and not to few of non-Christians, if Jesus is a Savior and the answer would be yes. Ask any of these same people if Jesus is “the” Savior and the number of yeses would be far less. Ask all of the same people if Jesus is both Savior and God and the number of they who would say “yes” would be quite few in number.
So, the question is this – “Is Jesus Savior and God?”
To answer this question as simply and succinct as possible we are only going to look at three verses. Two verses actually bookmark a verse that many people know and use in explaining how anyone is saved from facing the wrath of God for their sins.
That verse, of which I speak, is found in Titus 3: 5
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
The two most important phrases are “His mercy” and “He saved us”. Why are these important? because we need to know about who it is that “His” and “He” is talking. This is where the two bookmark verses come into play.
The first one is verse 4:
4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
The important phrase here is “God our Savior”. This verse calls God our Savior, and it talks about His kindness and love toward man. So we can thus read, in putting the two verses together, the following:
4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
So we see that God our Savior saved us. It is that simple – God our Savior saved us. With that in mind let us look at the other bookend verse. In verse 6 we read this:
6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
In this verse the important phrase to which we need to read says, “Jesus Christ our Savior,”. Let me say it again, “Jesus Christ our Savior!” In putting these three verses together – Titus 3: 4-6 we read this:
4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
These three verses run together so that they are all talking about one person. In knowing that we can shorten these three verses this way:
“The love of God our Savior Jesus saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit whom was poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior and God.”
There is no way around it. In these three verses God is called Savior and that Savior is identified as Jesus, thus making Jesus both God and Savior. So, unless there is more than one God and more than one Savior the only explanation we have here is that God, Himself, is telling us that He is not only God but our Savior as well in the form of Jesus the man. Jesus is both God and Savior. These verses cannot be explained in any other way.
In order for us to be saved we must set aside our own righteousness, of which we have none, and to have faith in the righteousness of Jesus which is given to us when we are born again by the Holy Spirit Who is also God. In short it is by the grace of God poured out upon us because of His love that we are forgiven for our sins and saved from facing the wrath of God.
Jesus is our God and Savior. That is the very basis for the foundation upon which Christianity is built. If Jesus is not your God then He will not also be your Savior. It is that simple and it can become very real to you if you will just confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that He was raised from the dead you will be saved. For with the heart we believe unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, who is both God and Savior, will be saved. Will you not do so right now? Nothing can be more reassuring than to know that God is our Savior, that our Savior’s name is Jesus and that makes Jesus our God. Jesus is both God and Savior. That is why salvation is not found in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Will you not call upon Jesus, who is God our Savior, for salvation?
Riff's Christian Journal 