This week, Michael writes: Do
you have full assurance of God's salvation? Assurance is confidence and freedom
from self doubt, confusion, and anxiety. It means to be fully persuaded,
convinced, and convicted by the object of trust. God's will is that you should
know the hope of your calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in
the saints. Most men and women are motivated by fear instead of faith. God
has called us unto full confidence, trust, and believing in Him for His holy Word
is truth.
In years past, preachers
used to emphasize the hellfire and condemnation of God's righteous judgment to
convince people to turn from sin. The reality of eternal damnation in Hell
and never-ending torment is an excellent reason to repent, convert and follow
the Lord. You must know what you have been saved from before you can know what
you have been saved to. However, there is a balance between God's justice and His
mercy and grace. The pendulum has swung to the other extreme: today's
churches de-emphasize the consequence of sin and iniquity against God. The
question is, "how shall we share the gospel of salvation in a culture that
has no concept of sin?" The answer is to share the gospel of
salvation completely and then allow God to convict the hearts of those He has
called.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For I
delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and
that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
When sharing the gospel,
there are two diagnostic questions to determine the condition of a person's
heart. The first question is, "If you died today, where will you
spend eternity?" Regardless of their answer, the gospel of salvation is the
key to life everlasting. The second question is: If you died today and
Jesus asked you, "Why should I let you into My heaven?" What
would you say? Most people will answer, "If I've done more good than
bad, then Jesus should let me in." Theirs is a works-based system
and they think that they are saved by works measured on a scale. However, our
works are not good enough to save us from the wages of one sin. James
2:10 tells us, “For whoever
shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is
guilty of all.” Without God's gracious gift of salvation, the handwriting
on the wall at King Belshazzar's sacrilegious drunken party still
applies: "Thou art weighed in the balances and thou art found
wanting." Guilty as charged and the wages of sin is spiritual death.
There are four categories of
responses when people hear the gospel of salvation. These categories are
illustrated by Jesus' parable of the Sower and the seed in Matthew 13. A
“parable” is defined as: “A fable or
allegorical relation or representation of something real in life or nature,
from which a moral is drawn for instruction; a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, as told
by Jesus in the Gospels. Jesus taught in parables so that those who had
eyes to see from a spiritual perspective could perceive and understand the
truth of His Word. Others understood the parables as a story but those
who perceive the truth understand the story in the context of God and Heaven.
Some of the parables were never explained in the Bible. However, Jesus gives a
detailed explanation of the meaning of this parable of the Sower.
Let's continue Michael's message on receiving the gospel message in our next post.
In Christ, Brian
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