Luke 9:23-26 ESV
“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.’”
The Gospel in a Nutshell
You want the gospel in a nutshell? This is it! This is what
it is all about, why Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross nearly
2000 years ago. Jesus didn’t die just to forgive us our sins, and he didn’t die
just so we could go to heaven when we die, but he died to transform our lives
by his Spirit away from living in sin and for self to now walking in obedience
to his commands in holiness and righteousness to his praise and glory.
I see a lot of memes (short messages usually in a picture)
on social media talking about how our salvation from sin is free to us all. And
yes, we can do nothing to earn or to deserve our own salvation. Our good works
will never outweigh our bad deeds, so we can never be good enough in our own merit
to be approved by God. It is only through Jesus’ blood sacrifice for us on that
cross that any of us can be saved and have eternal life with God.
So, yes, it is the free gift of God because Jesus is the one
who paid his life so that we could go free. But what is the free gift? It is
our salvation. But what is our salvation? It is not just forgiveness of sins so
that when we die we get to go to heaven. Our salvation is deliverance from our
slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin so we can now be slaves of God and of his
righteousness. And our salvation is ongoing, not a one-time deal.
What “Free” Means
“Free” does not mean we do nothing and Jesus does it all. “Free”
does not mean nothing is required of us or that we have no part in our
salvation whatsoever. “Free” means Jesus paid the price so we can be free from
our addiction to sin and so we can live for him and for his righteousness, by
the Spirit of God, by God’s grace, and in his power. For we can’t be free in
our own flesh but only in the power of God.
But “free” does not give us freedom to now keep on in
deliberate and habitual sin without guilt and without consequence. We must walk
in the light as God is in the light, and the blood of Christ cleanses us from
all sin. We must no longer walk according to the flesh, in sin, but now we must
be walking according to the Spirit in purity of devotion to Christ in obedience
to his commands empowered by God’s Spirit, and by faith in Jesus Christ.
If we do not, and if we continue in deliberate and habitual
and premeditated sin against our Lord, and against other humans, and if we do
not walk in obedience to our Lord in his righteousness and holiness then we
will not inherit eternal life with God no matter what we have professed with
our lips regarding faith in Jesus Christ. And by this you see that our
salvation is conditional upon our walks of faith until the very end.
A Typical Salvation Statement of Faith
So, when you read a statement of faith like this about our salvation,
understand that this is only half the story, not the whole:
“Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all
men; and those who repent and believe in Him are born again of the Holy Spirit,
receive the gift of eternal life, and become the children of God.”
The assumption here is that most people understand what it
means to “repent and believe,” but most don’t. Many are teaching repentance as
though it is a mere confession of sin done once or that it is a mere change of
mind from not believing in Jesus to believing in Jesus. And “believe” is also
taught as a one-time experience at which time you receive God’s free gift of
salvation from sin and now heaven is guaranteed you when you die.
But Jesus and his New Testament apostles did not teach that.
Jesus said if we are going to come after him that we must deny self and take up
our cross daily and follow him. And for Jesus, taking up his cross meant death
to himself and it meant putting sin to death, too. So, for us, taking up our
cross daily is daily dying with Christ to sin and to self. And to follow Jesus
is to obey him, and it is ongoing obedience, not a one-time thing.
And our salvation, thus, is progressive, and it will not be
complete until Jesus returns to take his bride to be with him. And only those
who are dying with Christ to sin and living to him and to his righteousness in
daily walks of faith and obedience to him in steadfastness of faith until the
very end will be taken to be with Jesus, which is when our salvation will be
complete, and not until then. So, we have to walk the walk and not just talk
it.
Few are Being Taught This
But few people are teaching this, and so the vast majority
have this idea that once they have prayed the prayer or they have made that
confession of faith that now all their sins are forgiven and now heaven is
guaranteed them when they die whether or not they continue in Christ in
obedience to his commands and live holy and godly lives pleasing to the Lord.
For, they separate sanctification from salvation as though
they are two separate events and as though you can have salvation without
sanctification, but you can’t. If we aren’t being sanctified and being made
holy by God’s Spirit, but we are still living in sin, then chances are pretty
good that we are not going to receive salvation in the end, not unless we turn
away from our lives of sin and start following Jesus in true obedience.
Jesus made our salvation a lifestyle, not a one-time
decision to receive Christ. He made salvation a walk of faith, not just a
statement of faith. He made salvation about obedience and submission to him as
Lord, not just about forgiveness of sins. And he made salvation about
deliverance from our addiction to sin, and living in that deliverance and in
holiness, instead of just about setting us free from the punishment of sin. And
we must get this!
For, as Jesus said, if we hold on to our old lives (of
living in sin and for self) we will lose them for eternity. But if we lose our
lives (forsake our lives of sin to follow Jesus in obedience) for his sake,
then we have the hope of eternal life in him. For if we make sin our practice,
we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God. But if
righteousness and obedience to our Lord are what we practice, then we have
eternal life with God.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn
15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1
Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col
3:5-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn
2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Ac 26:18; Rev 21:8,27;
Rev 22:14-15]
He
Lifted Our Burdens
An
Original Work / February 15, 2014
Based
off Isaiah 9:2-7
People walk in darkness.
They abide in their sin.
It has power o’er them.
True belief escapes them.
Jesus Christ came to save them.
He gave His life up for them;
Crucified; died for our sin,
So we might be forgiven,
And have life up in heaven.
Many come to know Him.
God’s love now o’erflows them.
They rejoice in vict’ry.
Their sin is but hist’ry.
We were once bound in slav’ry.
Jesus lifted our burdens;
Set us now free from Satan,
So we now walk in freedom.
Sin has no more dominion.
Praise be to our Savior!
He showed us His favor.
He took all our burdens;
Cast them all upon Him.
He is our mediator;
The Light which shines in darkness.
Counselor in our troubles;
He gives peace now in our hearts;
Joy which is everlasting.
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