RELIGIOUS CONFUSION ABOUT SALVATION

Preface We have all seen the books on the market today that make things easy to understand for example: Computers for Dummies, Taxes for Dummies etc. I thought about naming this book religion for dummies. But after further thought I decided that way would be wrong for two reasons. 1). Religion for Dummies” would be offensive to God. 2). We read books like those listed above because we want to make things that are terribly difficult easy. God did not inspire men to write the Bible so that it would be hard to understand, especially when it comes to salvation. It is true there are still many mysteries in the Bible that are difficult to understand and will take much time and maturity to answer, but salvation is not one of them. If God had made the salvation so difficult that people couldn’t understand it, we might question what kind of God He is, especially in light of a scripture found in II Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Let me answer that question this way. God has not made it so difficult that we can’t understand. He has however made it so that we will have to examine, study and pray. Not too much to ask I think if we truly desire to spend our eternity with God. The problem with our world today is that people will not take the necessary time to discover what it is that God wants of us. I have taught some form of Sunday school for over 25 years and every time it is the same, I beg and plead with God to bring more students into the class room, not because I am such a great teacher, but because I have a great message to teach. We have become content to sit on Sunday mornings and allow the preacher to teach us what he has discovered from the Word of God. I am not saying that this is wrong unless that is all we do with God’s Word. In Matthew 13:45-46 we find Jesus telling the parable that we have labeled as “ The Pearl of Great Price” Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. When we take looking into the Word of God as seriously as that merchant, we will find the great treasure that God wants us to find. The fault lies not in God or His Word, it lies with our lack of desire to know or to study. No we don’t need a book entitled “ Religion for Dummies” We have the only book that we need. A book my New Testament professor would describe as 66 books of the mind of God. It has been said that there are two things that man will without doubt argue about. They are politics and religion. The book you are now reading is not about religion, (even though it deals with religion) it is about a relationship. A relationship with God the creator through His precious Son Jesus Christ. A relationship that is now possible for all who still draw the breath of life because of what God’s only Son Jesus Christ has done on the cross. The problem that arises with people today as myself and others like me try to teach people how to be saved, is that they first have to realize that they are lost. People today as in days gone by see no need for a savior. God has not become real to them and the work of His Son has no meaning to them. Many have heard about the birth of Jesus Christ because of the holiday known as Christmas in which we celebrate His birth. They have heard about the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and possibly even His resurrection because of our celebration which has been called Easter. Both of these holidays have been stripped of their significance by the world of marketing. There is so much more to know about Jesus. So let’s take some time and examine man’s need to be saved. It began in the garden of Eden. God had created man and women and given them a perfect place to live and allowed them a perfect relationship with Him. Had Adam and Eve not violated the commandment that God had given them ( not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ) that relationship would have continued on forever. But as we all know they did violate it. Blame the serpent (Devil) if you want, but the real blame belongs to Adam and Eve. They had the right and the ability to say no. God made the result of their disobedience very plain before it ever happened. “ In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. ( Genesis 2:17). Since they did not die physically the very day that they ate it, then we must understand that God meant something different. Since the word death means separation then we can understand that God meant spiritual death. Evidence of this is seen when He drove them out of the garden where they had experienced that perfect relationship with Him ie. Separation. There were two reasons God expelled them from the Garden. 1). Because of the holiness of God, He cannot have any part of sin or be around sin. 2). Since they now had sin in their lives God did not want them to remain and have access to the tree of life which would have afforded them eternal life. ( Genesis 3:22). Physical death became part of the curse to mankind that God imposed in Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. We now live with the result of what Adam and Eve did, in that we shall all die physically one day. We have to work the ground and sweat as we do it to be able to eat of it. We are not punished because of the sin of Adam, but we suffer the results of it. Our own sin will be the cause of our spiritual death. (separation from God). Paul in Romans gives us several scriptures to make this real. Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 5:21 So that sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal The picture I have just painted if understood correctly is a bleak one. As one understands they can see that they are lost. If nothing is done the after life holds a dark reality. But God has not left us without hope, without a way to be forgiven, justified and redeemed. God wants to cleanse us and make us new. He wants to afford us the opportunity to be with Him forever as opposed to the alternative. Notice from the last two scriptures that God has provided an answer to our sin, it is His Son Jesus Christ.