Romans 1-3, Galatians 3
God is a peculiar fellow in the sense that if you assume that there is anything you can do to get to him, you’ve already disqualified yourself. If you assume or rationalize that there is any other way except the one way God has provided to be reconciled to him, you have missed him entirely.
Two men were working on the building of the Empire State Building. The crossbeams are what kept those men from falling towards their death. If they were to take even one step off of those cross beams they would utterly fall to their doom. The foolishness of trying to survive up there without trusting and stepping on the crossbeams is clear to us. Even if one of the friends had fully convinced himself that through his self effort, while stepping off of the cross beams, he could look upward, cry out in a loud voice, sway his arms upward frantically, convince himself in his own mind that he would not perish, it would be utter foolishness to step off of the crossbeams.
Even if the most popular people in town repeatedly told the man and reassured him that he didn’t need the crossbeams, and even if the man himself utterly despised with his mind the simple truth of gravity and disregarded it completely, and he fully convinced himself that gravity did not apply to him—even if he surrounded himself with other people and with books that told him gravity would not kill him if he stepped off of those crossbeams, and he convinced himself in his own mind that while standing on the crossbeams he did not really feel the effects of gravity, and he convinced himself that he hadn’t experienced gravity yet, and therefore it didn’t exist, we know with complete certainty that the man contemplating stepping off of the crossbeams is an utter fool.
This truth is so very plain and clear to the rationale mind. To think that he could look within himself for his own salvation if he were to step off of those crossbeams, that he could hope his way or pray his way or give his way into not being under the force of gravity is utter foolishness. Nothing that man can do can change the fact that gravity is acting upon him. Nothing that man can do can change the fact that if he doesn’t trust in those crossbeams but convinces himself he doesn’t need them, upon stepping off of the crossbeams, that man would surely fall to his doom.
The same is true of God. Because of our culture, and maybe our friends and family, and our own wickedness and opposition towards the truth, we can convince ourselves that what God has said will not come to pass. There are a great many people who have devoted their entire lives to convincing others that the simple truth of what God has said about sin and judgment will simply not come to pass. It’s like standing on the crossbeams and affirming that if you step off of them, gravity will not bring you straight to your death. It is utter foolishness.
Men and women have devoted their lives to deceiving and being deceived. Some people become religious to help them convince themselves that God will not judge them. Some religious people even convince others that by listening to them, or obeying what they say that those who do such things that they instruct have nothing to fear. I would be very careful of this line of thinking because it is not accurate and might lead you to step off of the crossbeams. The problem with this way of thinking is that the men standing on the crossbeams did not set the law of gravity into motion and have no bearing to its effects on the men and women who are now standing on the crossbeams. So the string of logic that someone standing on the crossbeams could teach other people about gravity and a way to circumvent its effects is foolish reasoning and leads to death. Nothing these religious or spiritual men teach, can or will ever affect gravity. This is because the men on the crossbeams had nothing to do with setting gravity into effect, and they themselves are bound by gravity whether they believe, teach, or hope otherwise.
The Bible is very clear that it doesn’t matter if you do good deeds, talk like a Christian, attend Christian meetings, teach others what the Bible says, or are even the most respected religious leader in the world, if you have never trusted in the blood of Jesus Christ alone as your only hope for salvation you are not a Christian. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been to seminary, or even if you have no regard for God and just try and be a good person—not individually in your own heart trusting the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross alone as your only hope for salvation is the equivalent of stepping off of the crossbeams and flailing your arms into the air, looking upwards and expecting gravity not to bring you to your sure death below.
Jesus Christ is God’s only way of salvation. If you deny this fact, the truth is that you have never understood what it means to be saved by grace, and you have never met Jesus. What frightens me is that many people reading this article probably have heard of Jesus and believe that he died on the cross, but still in the quiet of their hearts think that their good deeds or religious affiliation or faithfulness to some religious tradition will in some way add to, or ensure their entry into heaven. If this is you, the Bible is very clear that you have completely missed God’s plan for salvation, are not a Christian, and are headed to hell. You have mingled works with salvation as a means of justification, and by mingling your works with the finished work of Christ, you have never truly trusted in Jesus Christ. The Bible is very clear that if you have never received God’s only gift of salvation, you are still in your sins and God’s wrath remains on you.
The Bible is unequivocal and very clear that every man woman and child has sinned and fallen short of entry into a holy God’s holy and blameless kingdom. The truth is that we are sinful and rebellious towards God, and the Bible is clear that because our father is Adam we were sinful coming out of our mother’s womb. There is nothing we could ever do to make ourselves more holy before a holy God. The Bible is very clear that all of our righteous acts and good deeds are as filthy rags before God, and that Jesus Christ crucified on the cross in our place is our only hope for salvation. He was perfect for us, and he received the punishment that we deserve.
God made a completely perfect world without sin and death and it was good, but we rebelled against God, doubted his word, and ate a meal with Satan, causing sin and death to enter the world, and our own judgment. Salvation is a free gift given by God that must be received individually by every man woman and child. That gift was God himself coming into human history as the man Jesus Christ, living the sinless perfect life we could never live, and paying the insurmountable debt that we owe God. God the Son substituted himself on the cross in our place to meet the demands of a holy God. After being dead, three days later Jesus Christ rose again by the power of the Holy Spirit for our salvation. In doing so he defeated sin, death, Satan, and demons, and secured salvation forever for all of those who would ever come to trust in him alone. Jesus Christ is the Savior.
He is not one of many saviors, he is the only Savior. Really think about this, it is important, Jesus Christ is the only true Savior. Every other savior is a false savior. Think about it. Every other false religious system teaches you rules and things you have to do to get to God, or things you must do to please God. This is precisely what the Bible teaches is elementary and false religion to false gods. Christianity is the only religion where there is nothing you could ever do to please God, but God himself dies and accomplishes what we could never accomplish, because He loves us. This is precisely the offense of the cross that is spoken about in 1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
If you have never truly repented of your sins and trusted Jesus Christ, you need to obey the scripture, today is the salvation, do it now. The heart that belongs to Jesus will be with him for eternity. Cry out to Jesus right now. Tell him you know you are a sinner, and that you have no other hope outside of what he did for you on the cross and that you want to receive him as your Lord and Savior. The scripture is very clear on this, if you confess the Lord Jesus Christ with your mouth, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Jesus is alive and well today. If you cry out of a sincere heart to God for salvation, he will save you. The Holy Spirit will regenerate your heart and give you a heart to love Jesus and to love and obey his Word. That is a prayer that Jesus always answers.
