04/25/2021
I am astonished at how many people are fuzzy on the main thing.....the person and work of Jesus Christ. We can differ on lots of stuff, but the full Deity and Humanity of Jesus Christ is a deal breaker. I’m not talking about people early on their spiritual journey, because this truth is really revelation from the Word and the Spirit. But while allowing for a journey, we must arrive at the right destination! If we don’t arrive at the destination we are lost.
Paul describes the destination in Romans 10:9
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
This is not a biblical “sinners prayer” as if mere verbal repetition results in salvation. I’m finding people that have done that often have no real clue as to what this means, they have not received the revelation of this truth.
The confession “Jesus is Lord” is a 2 fold confession. It is in the first place a faith statement that the historical Jesus, a real human being who did the stuff the gospels say, is actually God....not a god, or just godly, or god-like. No! He was and is the one true and living God, whose name is Yahweh, actually Incarnate in the flesh. Jesus is Lord means Jesus is Yahweh! Further digging reveals the full trinitarian understanding of God’s nature (a beautiful truth), but this entry level revelation of Jesus’ identity is the minimum for Salvation. Every saved person has an instinctive and spiritual intuitive reaction to Jesus that causes us to actually Worship Him as God! Bottom line is that a real Christian is a Jesus Worshipper! He is to be worshipped equally as we worship God the Father, and the Holy Spirit.
The 2nd aspect of this confession “Jesus is Lord “ is the understanding of allegiance to Jesus as my personal Lord, my Boss! It means that my response to Him is one of submission. I’m not only a Jesus Worshipper, I’m a Jesus Follower. Herein is the journey I was talking about....sometimes in the discipling process a person begins to follow Jesus before the full revelation comes as to His Deity. You need an example....the original 12 apostles. But the journey must end at the Worship destination or its an incomplete journey. The promise of salvation is for the destination, not the journey.
The reality is that I have found people in traditional churches that have mouthed a prayer or a creed, agreeing with the doctrine of His Deity, but who have no allegiance to his Lordship in their lives. They worship from the mouth out....and miss Heaven by 18 inches (head doctrine, not heart salvation).
But I also sometimes find journey people, who say they are following Jesus, but with actual denial of His Deity! It’s not your fleshy “Imitation of Christ “ that will be accounted as saving righteousness. It is genuine Faith that is counted as righteousness. If you don’t touch home plate you will be called out eventually!
Thus the Person of Jesus Christ.
Then the Work!
We are saved by faith not works of our own because we are saved by His Work! Believe God has raised Him from the dead is the Home plate of the Gospel work of Jesus. It assumes all the truths of Romans: Jesus died in our place, the Wrath of God against sin fully released on Him in His death on the cross. He is our Passover sacrifice, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the World. He suffered and died our death, the Penalty of our sins endured in our place on the cross. He died, was buried and rose again immortal in a glorious body that can never die again. Believe this, with confession of His eternal Godhood, with resultant Allegiance and You are Saved!
I’m utterly appalled at those that deny Penal Substitution Atonement (the view I just described in the previous paragraph). Many evangelicals today are denying the doctrines in this post.....and friends this is not optional.
I see apologetic ministries straining at gnats, while these camels are being swallowed wholesale. I have opinions on different things, but let’s nail down these truths.
If the “sinners prayer “ is being based on Romans 10:9, then let’s at least understand what that means as a bare minimum.