Does it matter how we live? Christians who have these thoughts haven’t understood what Christ has done for them. But once they realize the enormous gift of grace they’ve received, they will want to please Jesus and live in a way worthy of the eternal gifts they have received. Yes, Jesus is Lord of all! Anyone who rejects His lordship or gives mere lip service to His sovereignty is not saved.
Turning to the Savior
Our sin separates us from God
Salvation starts with an awareness of our guilt before God. Our conscience convicts us of sin. Yet, we are natural-born sinners and resist change, because we “love darkness instead of light” (John 3:19). So, we rationalize our sin. We may imagine that God loves everyone unconditionally. If that’s the case, why change since He loves me just the way I am. Or we might think He’ll give me favor when He sees that my good outweighs my bad. There’s a host of rationales we may use to justify our sin so we don’t have to deal with it. We can easily fall into a state of denial about the seriousness of our sin.
But if we have been chosen by God, He’ll send the Holy Spirit to change the disposition of our heart toward sin. When that happens, the Spirit convicts us of sin and our sin becomes utterly sinful to us. Then we realize that we have offended our Creator by our disobedience to Him. We have, in effect, committed cosmic treason, and we know we deserve the worst He has to offer. We feel helpless and hopeless in our shameful state, and we feel deep sorrow.
Genuine faith in Christ reconciles us with God
However, a ray of hope appears when we hear the Gospel and learn that God has loved us despite our sin. While he won’t overlook the sin, He chose to show His mercy and love to us by sending His only Son to pay the penalty that we deserve. God had pity on us and chose to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. We can only believe God for His promises and receive His gift. God calls us to turn away from our past sinful life and commit our lives to Jesus Christ, who willingly gave His life for us.
It seems so easy, but why would God do it? Salvation by grace through faith alone would seem to be the most logical way for a holy God to relate to unholy humans. Humans could never reach the holy standards of God and God is so powerful He doesn’t need our help. An all-wise God would also know that human efforts could only lead to prideful self-righteousness or despair. Neither of these outcomes are good. So, God extends salvation in a way that’s entirely up to Him, so that nobody could boast in themselves.
Following Christ as Lord
Jesus calls His people to be whole-hearted followers
Saved people belong to Jesus Christ. He not only saves them, he leads them. He is their Lord. The Father has given Him all authority (Matthew 28:18). Submitting to Christ as Lord goes hand-in-hand with trusting Him as Savior. Submitting to Christ’s authority over our lives is commonly referred to as Lordship Salvation. This biblical principle is often contrasted with easy-believism or cheap grace.
We are not saved by “cheap grace“. Salvation is a priceless gift that calls for full commitment by those who receive it. Though the gift of God’s grace is free, our faith commitment to Christ is tested to prove whether our faith is genuine. Saving faith is evidenced by obedience to Christ and it always produces a transformed life. Though genuine believers may stumble and fall, they will persevere in the faith.
Jesus spoke about the cost of being His true disciple. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters–yes, even his own life–he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14: 26-27). He then spoke two parables that make the same overall point, namely that a person must carefully consider the cost of following Christ before he jumps into it (Luke 14:28-35).
Not everyone who professes Christ as Savior belongs to Christ. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven… Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:21,23)
Jesus warns half-hearted followers
To illustrate Jesus’ requirements for being His disciple, three men came to Jesus willing to follow Him conditionally. The first man said he would follow him wherever He went. Knowing the man’s heart, Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Jesus knew that this man wasn’t really ready to give up his personal comforts to follow Christ (Luke 9:57-58).
He [Jesus] said to another man, “Follow me.” The man replied, Lord, first let me bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (See Luke 9:59-60). That man’s request may sound very reasonable, but it’s not clear if this man’s father was even dead. He could have been waiting to receive his father’s inheritance when his father passed away. But regardless, there were enough who were still spiritually dead who could handle the burial. The lesson here seems to be that the call to discipleship has to be accepted when issued, or it would be lost.
Still another said, “I will follow you Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:61-62). Perhaps Jesus knew that going back to his family would cause his family to talk him out of making such a commitment to Christ.
Salvation is not by the works we do
The apostle Paul makes it very clear that we are not saved by our works, or by our works mixed in with our faith. We are saved by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. Paul writes, “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’ Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous shall live by faith'” (Galatians 3:10-11).
However, we are never saved apart from good works, because good works are a necessary outcome of genuine faith. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 3:10).
James makes the point that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do” (James 2:17-18). As the old adage goes, “We’re saved by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone.” A living faith, by its very nature, affects what we do.
Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching” (John 14:23-24). Jesus explains that you’ll be able to recognize His true followers by the fruit of their lives (Matthew 7:20).
Today is the day of salvation
Be reconciled unto God. Don’t put off your decision any longer if you acknowledge Jesus is Lord and God raised Him from the dead.
Ask yourself two very important questions. First, are you sure that you’ll go to heaven when you die? Secondly, are you certain why God should let you into heaven? If you don’t know for sure, you can settle that matter today. Visit my post, How to Begin Your Life Over Again and you’ll know where and how you’ll spend eternity.
And for crystal clear YouTube presentations of the gospel message from several trusted sources, click here
Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:5-11)
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Peter witnessed the risen Christ
Peter healed a crippled beggar in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. When the people saw what happened they were filled with wonder and amazement. They asked Peter what had happened to him. Peter explained to them:
13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.
Acts 3:13-16
