Getting "Salvation" Right

Well this morning I am going to wrap up this little sub series we have been in for the past couple of weeks, where we have been considering the finality of the cross and the reality of the resurrection, as it relates to Discipleship to Jesus.

We have talked about how failure to to recognize the the completeness of what Christ accomplished on the cross with regard to sin and redemption, can lead us to live lives this side of the cross trying to manage our sin.

That is something that we cannot do, God knows that and so the first step He took in our salvation journey was to get sin out of the way. Scripture tells us the one of the things that happened on the cross of Christ is that our sin, ALL of our sin, was nailed to the cross with Christ. That means that in Christ, you and I no longer have to give sin the time of day and we are free to focus our attention and energies on living the new life we have been given in the Kingdom, right now.

We have talked about the fact that in Christ, we have been sanctified (past tense) and we have been made Holy. Holy does not mean perfect, Holy means we have been set apart to live our lives for God’s glory. That he has given us everything we need to do just that.

Bottom line, we must stop living on that side of the cross and begin to live THIS side of the cross where God, in His love and grace has cleared the way for us to travel the narrow path that leads to life. Not just lige in the sweet by and by, but life in the here and now.

So, because of the cross of Christ, we have been forgiven, we have been redeemed, we have been given a new kind of life and we have been set apart for the purpose of loving God and loving others. All of this is really about what we call our salvation.

This morning, there is one more thing I want to address with regard to the finality of the cross and the reality of the resurrection. Many times we use the term “In Christ” when talking about all that is available to us through the death burial and resurrection of Christ. And it is most often used in a conditional sense. We say, IF you are “in Christ”, then these things are yours.

“In Christ” you have forgiveness of sin. “In Christ” you have redemption and right standing before the Lord. “In Christ” you have new life. “In Christ” you have been sanctified. “In Christ”, you have been made Holy. “In Christ”, you have been saved.

So, what does it mean to be In Christ and is that the same thing as having Christ in you? How do we become...”In Christ”?

We say, if you have been saved, if you have had a salvation experience, then you are in Christ and Christ is in you. Is salvation an experience. Is salvation an ongoing process? Is salvation an identity?

The quick answer is yes. It is all of those things.

Now traditionally, we are told, and I was taught, that salvation comes by way of saying a prayer, acknowledging that we are sinners in need of salvation, and inviting Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior.

Is that how salvation comes? Well, if we are going to get to the bottom of this we must look to scripture. I want to start in a place that is not often the goto place to answer these kinds of questions. Turn with me if you will to the book of Titus as we seek to first answer the question...

What is Salvation?

Let’s do a little instructive reading of Titus 2:11-3:7

Tit 2:11 ESV - 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

So the first thing we see here is that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared publicly. It is a public fact. It has appeared to all people. There is no secret or hiding of it. And it is the grace of God that brings salvation. And how does this grace bring salvation? v12...

by teaching us that if we believe that Jesus suffered what we would have to suffer for the wrongs we have done, we will go to heaven when we die. Does your version say that?

OR does it ACTUALLY say... v.11 - The grace of God that brings salvation has publicly appeared.

Tit 2:12 ESV - 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, Yeah, that’s what it says....v13

Tit 2:13-14 ESV - 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us that we might go to heaven when we die.

Does it say that? No? What DOES it say? v.14 – that he might redeem us from all ungodliness— every lawless deed— and purify unto himself a peculiar people who attended church faithfully.

No? How about a people ...who give regularly … who witness to others … What does it say? It says in v 14 that

Tit 2:14 ESV - 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Oh, a people who are zealous for good works, so He gave Himself to purify for Himself a people who would just sit around thinking about doing good things. Nah.

I am messing with you a bit because these are the things we usually focus on when we tell people about salvation… we talk about Jesus suffering what we would have to suffer for the wrongs we have done. We talk a LOT about going to heaven when we die. We talk about being faithful church attenders. But let’s read this again ans see how much of that is mentioned here.

Tit 2:11-14 ESV - 11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,(all the while) 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us (For what purpose?) to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Wow. So the Word of God says, that the grace of God came offering salvation to all people. And it says this grace saves us by training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age while we wait for Jesus to come. And it reminds us that this Jesus we are waiting on has already redeemed us fro all lawlessness and purified us for Himself and in our new purified life we will be excited to do good works.

No mention of Heaven when we die. No mention of church attendance and no talk of what we will suffer if we refuse to participate with Him in this.

Listen carefully. I am not here to tell you those things are not important. I am just pointing out that they are not prominent in this description of salvation. Let’s read on.

Tit 2:15 ESV - 15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

In other words, I have just told you what my grace was poured out to do,

It is intended to bring salvation

for who? ALL people.

It does so by training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 while we wait for the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ

14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

And then we are told to declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority and do not let anyone disregard you. He goes on in chapter 3 and verse one. (There should not be a chapter break here)

Tit 3:1-3 ESV - 1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

So here we see more information about how a saved person should live and a reminder of how we were before this grace showed up to do it’s redeeming work in us. Now, do you anything there that would indicate that a cosmic swithc was thrown and these foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another suddenly became people who renounced all ungodliness and worldly passions, and started to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, and suddenly became obedient, and ready for every good work, 2 ...speaking evil of no one, to avoiding quarreling, gentle, and to showing perfect courtesy toward all people?

We have a lot of people sitting in the room this morning who claim to be “IN Christ”

Are you all those good things or are you more foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another...or somewhere in between?

The truth is, most of us are still disobedient sinners, but we feel okay about it because we said a prayer one time inviting jesus to be our Lord and Savior so, whatever else happens, when we die we are avoiding the hot place and going to heaven. And its not your fault because that is probably what you were told.

What am I getting at? We often refer to someone who is not “born again” or who does not have salvation as a “lost person” because they do not know where they will go when they die. But we need to understand, being lost is not a matter of not knowing where you are going, (Heaven or hell) it’s a matter of where you are in the present.

12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age

Here’s the thing, a lost person does not know where they are. If you’re really lost, you can’t even use a map because you can’t locate yourself on a map. This is the condition of lostness. Being lost is not about where you end up. It is about knowing where you are in the present. Life can ONLY be lived in the present. You cannot live tomorrow because it is not here yet. You cannot live yesterday because it is already gone. Salvation is more about the present than what you perceive to be your final destination.

Let’s keep reading. V 4...

Tit 3:4-7 ESV - 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works (that would be the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees) done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, (and here is HOW He saved us) by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Now, That is a good picture of what salvation means in New Testament terms. The emphasis on a new life, a new spirit that is moving in us. The focus is on regeneration not the final destination. And the first move is the move to new life; to be Born again. The greek word for “again is an'-o-then and it literally means Born from “above.” Or born from “a higher place” or born of “things which come from heaven or God”.

The life we are given in Christ is a new kind of activity that begins with the acknowledgement that Jesus is Lord. That is why...

In 1 Corinthians 12:3, when Paul says, “no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit,”. Paul is not talking about saying the words. Anyone can do that.

He means actually acknowledging, seeing that Jesus is Lord. That He is the one who is in charge of the universe. That He is the maestro of life and that He has the power to supervise and govern in His Kingdom.

To really see that is something you cannot do on your own. Faith is a gift of God lest anyone should boast. See, this new program is going to eliminate boasting. There will be no place in this new life and kingdom living for pride. No one living in this Kingdom will be able to boast because everything good that we have received has been given to us. Including the ability to call Jesus Lord and mean it.

So back to our questions. Is salvation an experience. In terms of being “Born again it is. The holy Spirit has to do such a work in our heart that we come to a place where we can acknowledge Jesus as our LORD AND Savior.

Rom 10:9 ESV - 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Jesus said we must be born again. But that is not the end. That is the beginning.

Is salvation an ongoing process? Yes it is. Once we are born again, then the grace of God goes to work on us and according to the passage in Titus begins training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 while we wait for the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Eph 2:8-9 ESV - 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Is salvation an identity? Also yes.

Look at this. Eph 1:13-14 ESV - 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Paul describes three things that took place in the lives of the Ephesian believers that gives us insight into how salvation works. First, they heard the gospel, known as the word of truth. And remember. the Gospel Jesus taught was a Gospel of Kingdom Living. “Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

Second, rather than rejecting the message as many Jews had done, these Gentile believers both heard and believed the gospel and were saved as a result.

Third, Paul noted that when they became believers they “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” This specific description of the Holy Spirit is only used in the book of Ephesians here, and in Ephesians 4:30, among a dozen total references to the Spirit in the letter. A “seal” was a mark indicating a letter or scroll was closed, or completed. When a king or dignitary wanted to show an identifying mark with a letter, he would seal it with a resin imprint of his ring. The Holy Spirit likewise shows that believers belong to the Lord.

At that point, we are IN Christ and Christ is in us, the Holy Spirit.

Now this is where we need to be careful and really work through this now because one of the reasons the church finds itself populated with “Christians” who are not disciples is because people have mistaken grace for passivity, and they have become passive.

So people come to church and say “Okay, give it to me” “thrill me with your service. Enliven me with your preaching” Impress me with your many programs and offerings church. I am here to consume.

And so “You need to lay the goods on the table now, and if you don’t, I’ll go somewhere where they lay better goods on the table”.

And that passivity has generated a whole culture of consumer Christians: Christians who think that being a Christian is a matter of consuming. They consume the merits of Christ. They consume church services. and often they consume ministers.

And church leaders get caught up in it as well and it sets up a culture of competition between churches and pastors where we are constantly comparing our ministries to each other. It’s bad mojo as they say.

What many Christians fail to realize is that they are called to participate and the very reason they have been given new life in them is so they can live that new life out now, not just simple set idly by while they wait to die and go to heaven.

The Gospel we see taught in scripture by Jesus is a... Gospel of the Kingdom of God and Discipleship to Christ

Now you have heard me say more than once in this Disciple series that, the universal assumption among Christians today is that you can be a Christian without being a disciple. You may think that is an exaggeration.

So, Let me ask you. Do you know of any church or denomination where you are clearly told, CLEARLY told, that you cannot be a Christian unless you are a disciple? I have not heard it in any church other than perhaps via a brief side note, making it seem more optional that a requirement.

As I see it, the problem for any church is never that they need more people, or more money, or more influence, or more education. Never. Now we do need all of those things. But the basic need, the first need is for the transformation of the people who are there. Our problem is the quality of the people who are there.

Now you might be thinking gee whiz Hutch, what’s the problem. Things seem to be pretty good around here. We all seem to be getting along with each another. We’ve been told by visitors that we are one of the friendliest churches they have been to and that we make folks feel like family. Why do you keep coming at us like this?

To that I just want to say, if you think things are good here now, imagine what it would be like if every member of this church took discipleship to Jesus seriously and viewed it as a non-negotiable part of their salvation.

Folks, I have been doing this for a long time and I can tell you that the most risky place for any church to be is when they get feeling satisfied and comfortable with where the are. That is precisely when the spirit of complacency I was talking about creeps in.

Please know my heart. I am not unhappy with where we are as a church. In fact I have never been more encouraged and hopeful about the direction we are going and I see God moving in many ways among us. I am not unhappy, but I am un-satisfied. I am not happy to stay where we are and you shouldn’t be either.

You know in the Southern Baptist tradition that I was a part of, Southern baptists can’t get saved again. That’s forbidden. You can discover that you weren’t saved in the first place and GET saved. That's permitted. But if you once get saved, you can't get saved again. All you can do is rededicate yourself. And you can do that every Sunday night, if you want. Or twice during the Sunday morning sermon.

In my early ministry I realized I was not really saying anything to help people change. And it wasn’t their fault though I did try to blame it on them sometimes. But it really wasn’t their fault that they were coming and rededicating themselves, and then come back the next week. They need it again.

What are we teaching people that leaves us in this situation?

Now I am sure that there are churches out there teaching and emphasizing Lordship. But mostly we are just relying on the language of “accept Jesus as savior and Lord” I believe we really need to teach lordship as part of salvation. The wording isn’t as important as teaching that Jesus really IS Lord, which entails discipleship. Not just a doctrine, but a practice.

The very reason that we have had to resort to using the term “spiritual formation” is due to... The Loss of the Precise Meaning of the Word “Disciple”

People have turned to the term “Spiritual Formation” because the word disciple had become so flabby and misplaced.

I will give you a couple of examples.

The Navigators used to divide Christians into 3 classes: 1. Just Christians – People who said they accepted Christ 2. Disciples - People who could make Christians 3. Workers - People who could make Disciples

That's just an illustration of how “disciple” comes to mean something other than a person who is a full-time student of Jesus in the kingdom of God.

The Navigators have since realized they were producing people who were not Christlike and made an effort to change this. Today, discipleship is the primary teaching of the navigators organization. If you go to their website today, right up there on the top of their Home page, discipleship is front and center. That’s good.

Some of you may be familiar with Sojourners Magazine. They see discipleship as things like service to the poor, political action, protesting, and government opposition. That all may need to be done, but that’s not discipleship.

Sometimes people think discipleship simply means being involved in church activities.

The central issue for any church needs to be transformation into Christlikeness. That is what would make the church be what it is supposed to be as the people of God and do what it is supposed to do in the world: the transformation of individuals into Christlikeness…people progressively coming to the place where they routinely and easily do the things Jesus talked about.

Now we can understand why there’s no serious question of actually doing what Jesus said, because we’re not making an issue of that. Most of our groups have an emphasis on particular things that Jesus said, but not all of them.

You know, when you look closely you see

Three Parts to The Great Commission 1. Make Disciples

That’s why it is so important for us to know what a disciple is. • If we are going to make disciples, the first step is to be a disciple.

• Get people to commit to learning (to see the treasure) so they will say, “Yes, this is the most important thing.”

So what is the problem? Well the problem as i see it is ... Grace will not force you to become the kind of person who easily and routinely does what Jesus says. God should have made grace a little more forceful!

This is a fundamental truth about the whole business of discipleship. Because if I am not a person who easily and routinely turns away from sin, it isn’t because of the law of gravity. It is because I don’t intend to become that kind of person.

People of the church are often not the kind of people that you might expect to see if you just candidly read the New Testament. It's because they do not intend to be.

Chapter two of William Law’s book, “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life” looks into the reason, why the generality of Christians fall so far short of the holiness and devotion of Christianity. his conclusion is and i quote: “it is because men have not so much as the intention to please God in all their actions”

He goes on to say at the end of that chapter...

This doctrine does not suppose that we have no need of Divine grace, or that it is in our own power to make ourselves perfect. ... It only teaches us that the reason why you see no real mortification or self-denial, no eminent charity, no profound humility, no heavenly affection, no true contempt of the world, no Christian meekness, no sincere zeal, no eminent piety in the common lives of Christians, is this, because they do not so much as intend to be exact and exemplary in these virtues.

This is the missing link. When we are talking about making disciples, we are talking about making people who actually intend to do it.

If we want to do something different here at LFB, the key is generating intention. That is what discipleship is about. Dallas Willard says, “You make disciples by ravishing them with the kingdom of God and the way you do that is get them focused on Jesus.” That is what I have been attempting to do from this pulpit.

We need to help people understand about the greatness of Jesus and what He is doing. He is often presented in a very narrow perspective as opposed to “the unfathomable riches of Christ.”

In the church, we need to be asking people, “How are you doing with Your kingdom?” Part of my job as a preacher is to move you to look at Jesus and see the place of life in His Kingdom. That’s how we make disciples. By saying, “Look, this is your greatest opportunity in life.”

second part of the great commission is we are to...

2. Immerse Disciples in the Trinity What does this mean in terms of our church services

Having served as a ministry leader for as many years as I have, I can tell you one of the biggest concerns is what to do with our services.

See, the truth is, just getting nice people together in a building, seating them in rows and talking at them won’t get it done.

That’s why from time to time we see various movements and denominations. But the problem of discipleship remains an issue across the board. And I can tell you that the temptation to program differently needs to be avoided at all costs.

I have seen LOTS of these programs come and go. What they all have in common is that they always go.

If we come in here intending to honor the Trinity and invite Him to come and be here—I mean really be here—and get off of the idea of performance and program as solving the problem, the Trinity will come. It doesn’t matter much what we do in the way of programming, as long as we honor the Trinity, the Trinity will come. And I don’t think that’ll happen if we don't have disciples. You have to have people who really honor Jesus as Lord and come to church in that attitude and spirit. People who are prepared to love one another; invoking the presence of God over the whole thing.

People have come together in all sorts of ways that God has blessed. But His blessing doesn’t necessarily mean He favored the methods, but probably means the people there are really disciples looking for the presence of God. You follow me church? The third part of the great commission is

3. Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded

BTW - If we try to start here without 1 and 2, we will wind up with some form of legalism. If you we have disciples and we are submerging them in the Trinitarian life that flows in a community of disciples of Jesus, then we can teach them to do everything Jesus said.

That is how discipleship in the gospel of the Kingdom comes together. If we don’t preach a whole life gospel, we will never make disciples.

The point is: Living now within the range of God’s effective will in our whole life. Discipleship is learning how to move from running our own Kingdom, and bringing our whole self increasingly into the kingdom of God.

Now remember, we have defined a disciple as...one who is with Jesus, learning to be like Him

Discipleship is a matter of being with Jesus. So you have to be prepared to invoke Him, invite Him, and as you do that you are going to experience His presence with you. Discipleship is not something to be done merely by human effort, but by living in the Trinitarian presence. That is the meaning of the teaching of grace we read about in Titus. Grace means we can’t do that on our own. And we don’t have to.

We are with Jesus, and we experience Him acting with us. As human beings under God, we are constantly attempting to do things we can’t do. That is standard with the life of grace. The fact that you can’t do something has nothing to do with the case. The question is, “Does God want it done?” Are you willing to start lifting a load you know you can’t lift, and watch it come up. That’s God with you.

Second,

2. A disciple is interactive with Jesus. Jhn 17:3 KJV - 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

“Knowing” in the Bible always refers to interactive relationship. So a disciple is someone who is interactively with Jesus. In practice, that means: • I never go into a situation where I assume I’m in control of the outcome. • If I have to do something that I think I can’t do, I won’t assume it can’t be done. • If I think I know what’s supposed to happen, I don’t. • I try to never assume what will happen.

Sometimes I assert my own Kingdom when I start acting like I’m in charge, but it would be very foolish of me to assume I know what’s supposed to happen. I have ideas, I have hopes and plans that are always held in abeyance with the idea that Jesus knows what’s supposed to happen.

I am very hopeful a lot of things happen that I don’t even think about. Ephesians 3:20 says, He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or think...” and ...

3. A Disciple lets Him lead. I’m learning from Him how to lead my life as He would lead my life if He were me. My life is the one that is of interest here. It’s not harmful to say I want to be like Him, but He led His life. Now I lead my life. I have to get concrete about that. The very kind of person I am – that’s my life.

He is the Master of living in the Kingdom; I am the apprentice. It’s the easy way of living. That’s what he said in Matthew 11:28-30:

“Come into me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart and you'll find rest to your souls.”

Church’s often hold pastors to their performance.

But what Jesus is talking about is transformation. We have to put that right up front. Here is what I know:

The Gospel Heard Does Not Produce Disciples Where is the problem? The central problem is the message preached (or at least the one that is heard). Sometimes anything you say about the Kingdom of God gets translated into going to Heaven when they die. It’s a real feat to succeed in getting through. The message that is heard does not have a natural tendency to produce disciples. Even the idea of Lordship has become a controversy. This comes with a misunderstanding of grace. The gospel of Lordship, as it is preached, does not have a natural tendency to produce disciples.

The bitter truth: “Your system is perfectly designed to produce the result you are getting.” This is a profound truth.

If you want a different result, you have to change the system. This goes with another saying: “It is the mark of a disordered mind to think that you can repeat the same process and get a different result.”

So we have to find the place of change.

Grace is often taught as only for guilt. IOW - grace eases your guilt over sin. This misunderstands Grace. The best thing you could ever do is to go to your Bibles for a thorough, inductive study of grace.

Today There are Three Gospels Heard

Now I am saying this from the perspective of the person listening. I say that because there is often a very great difference between what is said and what is heard. But these are the three that are heard most often today.

Forgiveness Centered (Ryrie)

The good news is entirely about forgiveness. The beating you deserve has been taken by someone else. If you believe it has, then you won’t get that beating. Your sins will be forgiven and you’ll be in Heaven because they won’t find any reason to keep you out, if you believe Jesus suffered your sin penalty. This is the standard version of the gospel you will hear among evangelical and conservative, not to mention fundamentalist, churches.

Charles Stanley will say that. Adrian Rogers will say that. And I love both of those preachers. They don’t mean for it to come out this way, but that’s what you’ll hear. And that will leave the issues of actual Christian living in the here and now.

They will attempt to connect it by saying - “You’ll be so grateful, you’ll obey.” That is how they will attempt to connect the way you actually live.

So a gospel that is forgiveness centered. next. A Gospel that is...

2. Liberation Centered

Goes like this. Jesus died to liberate the oppressed and you can stand with Him in that battle. They don’t say much about forgiveness of sins in this Gospel.

Is oppression bad? It sure is. Is forgiveness essential? Yes. It sure is. Reconciliation, justification… all good things. Personally I think it is right to think regeneration comes first, then justification, then sanctification, then glorification. They all fit into a natural progression along a continuous line.

The way it is often presented now is that justification is the whole deal, no one makes much sense of regeneration and there is no natural progression to sanctification. And that’s because of the way it is presented.

The third Gospel you will hear is,,,

3. Church Centered

Do what your church says and it will see to it you will be received by God. (Take care of your church, it will take care of you.)

This is a gospel that the Sacramental Churches, so-called High churches present, with rituals that will make sure you’re OK. That is looking more to heaven when you die.

but our goto has to be what the scripture says. If it isn’t in the scripture, don’t do it. Scripture is the place where God has deposited, in a public way, the knowledge we need to have eternal life.

Now these are all Gospels of Sin Management - what are you going to do about sin? They are not gospels of regeneration and new life now in the present Kingdom of God, the present Kingdom of the Heavens, under the living Lord Jesus Christ. It is often presented as somehow as if we had never sinned we would have no use for Christ.

So really, my issue is that when presenting Christ to the world is it primarily or only what to do about sin? Then that is a gospel of sin management. And that is another gospel. And that is a false teaching.

The true Gospel, the one you will find presented in scripture is this:

Put your confidence in Jesus and live with Him as His disciple now in the present Kingdom of God.

Beloved, that is what we are called to. And if we actually intend to do that and do it with intention, THEN

no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.

Amen. let’s pray.