113. Published in Spanish as The Gospel Under Siege, transl. Thomas
if they agree on earth about anything they ask for, it will be done for them made by my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 18:18, 19). The context shows that our Lord here is not speaking of "binding Satan" nor of the general statement, but rather referring to the issue of sin and the forgiveness among Christians (cf. v. 21ss.). The verb tenses in the verse 18 signifies literally 'whatever you bind on earth will have been' bound in heaven; and whatever they loose on earth will have been unleashed in the sky," so our Lord is saying that he himself works personally in the disciplinary process: "Because where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them
Hence, the process of discipline in the church, when it is followed properly, answers all of Dr. Ryrie's questions. How much time Can a person continue in sin before we "conclude that had never really been saved"? For as long as it lasts discipline process. Once the matter has been communicated to the church, if the person still refuses to repent, we have instructions of the Lord himself considering the sinner as a 'gentile or tax collector'.
The process of discipline in the church that our Lord explained in Matthew 18 is based on the doctrine of perseverance. Recidivist sinners only demonstrate their lack of true faith, but those who respond to the repentance and returning to the Lord provide the best possible evidence that their salvation is genuine and you can be sure that if your faith is real they will persevere until the end, because God himself guarantees it.
Being convinced of this: that he who began the good work in you, He will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6); "For this reason I suffer these things, but I am not ashamed because I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to keep my deposit for that day" (2 Tim. 1:12).
1. John Murray, The Redemption: Completed and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI: Challenge Books, 2007), 147-148.
2.Anthony A. Hoekema, Saved by Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989), 234.
3.Zane Hodges,The Gospel Under Siege(Dallas: Redención Viva, 1981), 113. Published in Spanish as The Gospel Under Siege, transl. Thomas
Whitehouse (Dallas: Living Redemption, 1985).
4.Murray, The Redemption: Completed and Applied, 147.
5.Ironically, Zane Hodges builds his entire system on the words of Jesus to the woman at the well in John 4, but neglects the truth of the perseverance included in this promise.
6.Charles Horne, Salvation (Chicago: Moody, 1971), 95.
7.R. T. Kendall, Once Saved, Always Saved (Chicago: Moody, 1983), 19 (emphasis in the original). Later, Kendall adds: "Therefore I declare categorically that the person who is saved (who confesses that Jesus is the He who believes in his heart that God raised him from the dead will go to heaven. when I die, regardless of what the work (or lack thereof) that accompanies such for example. In other words, it doesn't matter what sin (or lack of obedience Christian) may accompany such faith" Ibíd., 52-53.
8.Ibid., 22.
9.Ibíd., 23. The similar rhetoric of Hodges regarding this same topic is directly offensive: "People are not saved by looking at Christ, but rather to see it with faith (CL).
10.Murray, The Redemption: Completed and Applied, 149-151.
11.Richard Alderson,No Holiness, No Heaven! (Edinburgh: Banner ofTruth, 1986), 88.
12.Horne, Salvation, 95.
13.Hoekema, Saved by Grace, 244.
14.Here we do not intend to suggest that all believers will experience the same degree of spiritual success, it's just that none of them will stray from Christ, why surrender to disbelief.
15.Robert Leighton, Commentary on First Peter (reprint, Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1972), 55.
16.Not even those who want to make these statements of Christ apply to a step of discipleship after conversion resolves the the dilemma of how absolute they are.
Chapter 12
WHAT SHOULD I DO TO BE Save?
If one were to suggest that the moment would come when a group of Christians Evangelicals would discuss salvation without repentance, without a change of behavior or lifestyle, without a genuine acknowledgement of the lordship and of the authority of Christ, without perseverance, without discipleship, in addition to salvation which does not necessarily result in obedience and works and with a regeneration that it doesn't necessarily change the person's life, most believers of several decades ago they would have considered it absolutely impossible. But Whether you believe it or not, that moment has arrived.
1 RICHARD P. BELCHER
What is the gospel? Here we get practical. The question that
what we are really doing is 'How can I evangelize my friends,' relatives and neighbors?" For parents, an even more important question How should I present the gospel to my children?
20th century Christianity has tended to address the topic of the gospel from a minimalist perspective, since, unfortunately, desire legitimate way to clearly express its heart has led to a less complete company, a campaign to distill the most essential of message to reduce it to the shortest possible terms. The glorious gospel of Christ (which Paul called 'power of God for salvation to everyone those who believe American evangelicalism tends to consider the gospel as a "plan of salvation", which is why I have reduced the message to a list of facts expressed in the smallest number of words possible (and these go becoming less and less). You have probably seen these 'plans of "salvation" pre-designed: "Six steps to peace with God", "Five things that ["God wants you to know","Four spiritual laws","Three things without which"]
you can't live sky.
Nowadays, Christians are often asked not to say too much of the lost, as there are certain spiritual matters labeled as taboos when speaking with non-converts (the law of God, the lordship of Christ, the rejection of sin, consecration, obedience, judgment, and hell) they are not mentioned, lest we 'add something to the gift of grace' God. The proponents of the evangelism of the denial of lordship have taken the trend of reductionism to the ultimate extreme, since when applying erroneously the reformed doctrine of sola fide ("only faith"), they make that faith be the only acceptable topic when talking to non-Christians about their duty before God. They thus turn it into something devoid of all meaning because they strip it of everything except its conceptual aspects.
Algunos consideran que esto preserva la pureza del evangelio. However, what it has actually achieved is to mutilate the message of salvation, in addition to filling the church with "converts" whose faith is false and whose hope depends on a fraudulent promise: despite repeating ironically, those who "receive Christ as Savior" reject shamelessly his just demands as Lord; although they acknowledge it superficially, they completely despise him outwardly in his heart (Mark 7:6); they informally confess it with their mouths, but deny it deliberately with their actions (Titus 1:16); even though they direct themselves to him superficially as "Lord, Lord", they obstinately refuse to do their will (Luke 6:46). Such people fit the tragic description of the many" in Matthew 7 that one day they will hear surprised how the Lord will tell them He says: "I have never known them. Depart from me, workers of iniquity" (v. 23, added emphasis). The gospel does not primarily consist of news about a 'plan', but in a call to trust in a person. It is not a formula that should be prescribed to sinners as a series of steps nor a call to take a my intellectual decision, but the submission of heart, mind, and will (the complete person) to Christ. It is also not a message that can be encapsulated, condensed and reduced in order to be offered then as a generic remedy for all types of sinners: the ignorant sinners they need to be instructed about who Jesus Christ is and why he has the right to demand obedience; sinners who consider themselves righteous need to
their sins are exposed by the demands of the law of God; the sinners in need of mercy need to hear that God in His mercy has provided a path to liberation. All sinners must understanding the sublime holiness of God and the basic truths of death Christ's sacrifice and the triumph of his resurrection, in addition to needing to be confronted with the divine demand to abandon their sin in order to cling to Christ as Lord and Savior.
The form of the message will vary in each case, but the content will always be the same. must communicate the reality of the holiness of God and the desperate condition of the sinner, to then lead sinners to Christ as Sovereign but merciful Lord who has paid for complete redemption of all those who entrust themselves to him in faith.
20th century evangelicalism seems obsessed with the idea that to Those who are not saved should never be communicated any duty other than the one. create. Lewis Sperry Chafer, for example, suggested that 'in all preaching purely evangelistic, it is avoided as much as possible to refer to the conduct that those who have already been regenerated should observe , in addition to asserting that 2
tell sinners that they must "repent and believe", "believe and confess to "Christ", "believe and be baptized", "believe and submit to God" or "believe and confess" "the sins" made evangelism defective . But in the Bible 3 using such expressions! Jesus himself preached: "Repent and Create the gospel!" (Mark 1:15); Paul wrote "that if you confess your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from among the dead, you will be saved" (Rom. 10:9); at Pentecost
Peter preached, 'Repent and be baptized, each one of you in the the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, and they will receive the gift of "Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38); John wrote that "He who disobeys the Son "he who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36); the the writer of Hebrews said that Christ "became the Author of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (Heb. 5:9); James wrote "Submit yourselves, well, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will come close to you. Clean your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts. heart, you double-minded ones" (James 4:7, 8, emphasis added). Jesus he responded by preaching the law and lordship to the man who asked him what what I could do to have eternal life! (Matt. 19:16-22).
Do we have to believe that the inspired Scriptures are composed of a
poorly written theology?
Estoy de acuerdo en que la terminología es importante, por eso no nos we dare to confuse the message of the gospel nor to add anything to it biblical terms for salvation, but it should be obvious that Jesus and the Apostles did not complain about the phraseology of the evangelistic invitations. in the same way that many Christians do today.
They did not avoid mentioning the law of God, on the contrary: They started with the law! (cf. Rom. 1:16-3:20). The law reveals our sin. (Rom. 3:20) and is a tutor that leads us to Christ (Gal. 3:24), in addition to being the means used by God for sinners to see their own helplessness. It is evident that, in Pablo's understanding, there was a key place for the law in evangelistic contexts, but nowadays many believe that the law, with its inflexible demands for holiness and obedience, is contrary to gospel and incompatible with this.
Why should we make such distinctions where the Bible does not? What if the Scriptures warned us against preaching repentance, the obedience, justice or judgment on non-believers, everything would be different, but the Bible does not contain such warnings but the opposite: if we want following the biblical model we cannot ignore these themes. 'Sin, justice and "judgment" refers precisely to the matters that the Holy Spirit convicts who have not been saved (John 16:8) Can we omit them from the message? And yet it remains the gospel? The apostolic evangelism was concluding. inevitably with a call to repentance (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30; 26:20). Can we tell sinners that they do not need to renounce their sin and call that "evangelism"? Paul ministered to non-believers. proclamando "que se arrepientan y se conviertan a Dios, haciendo obras worthy of repentance" (Acts 26:20). Can we reduce the message to a simply 'receive Christ' and continue believing that we are ministering biblically?
Moreover, on all the occasions when Jesus and the Apostles they evangelized (either by ministering individually or to groups there are no two incidents in which they presented the message with the same exact terminology. They knew that salvation is a sovereign work of God and that their role was to preach the truth, which God It would apply individually to the hearts of his chosen ones.
The new birth is a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit: 'What has
born of the flesh is flesh; and what is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6), that is why he sovereignly chooses where, how and in whom he will do the work: 'The the wind blows wherever it wants, and you hear its sound but you don't know where it comes from
It comes and goes where it wishes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8).
The clear proclamation of the truth is the means by which the Spirit works, not a creative methodology or human charisma (1 Cor. 1:21; 2:1-5).
Decisionism and easy credulity
There are two fallacies that contaminate much of what is considered as evangelism in contemporary Christianity: decisionism and the easy credulity. Decisionism is the idea that one can obtain the eternal salvation stemming from an act of the sinner towards Christ. The a "decision for Christ" is often manifested through some act physical or verbal (a raised hand, a step forward, the repetition of a sentence, a signature on a card, the recitation of a promise or something similar, so that, if the sinner performs the prescribed activity, he generally is declared safe and instructed to claim his security. The "moment of the "decision" becomes the foundation for the person's security.
Decisionism is often used when evangelizing among children: it ask young people in large groups to raise their hands, to stand up, let them come forward, let them invite Jesus to enter their hearts or things for the style, all of which is supposed to indicate a positive response to gospel. However, since children are so susceptible to suggestion and so sensitive to peer pressure, and they also desire with such intensity gaining the approval of their leaders is quite easy for a large group of they profess faith in Christ when such means are used, even if they have not been completely unaware of the message. Unfortunately, many people go through life without caring about Christ at all, despite believing they are Christians because they responded with a childish 'decision'. Their hope for heaven it only depends on the memory of that event, but I fear that In many cases, it is a vain and condemning hope.
Here is a familiar technique to advise those who are unsure of your salvation: "Choose Christ here and now, write down the date, then go and drive a stake in your garden and write that date on it. Every time do not doubt your salvation, go outside and find the stake, for it will be a
reminder of the decision you made." But that would be equivalent to telling her to the people who must have faith in their own decision. Dr. Chafer even dared to advise people who had problems with their lack of security
The only effective remedy for uncertainty is to put an end to it with certainty. Let the sinner who lacks the assurance of salvation consider his own sinful state and its lack of merit in the light that emanates from the cross of Christ discover, as it is necessary to do, that there is no hope in oneself and throw Man, once and for all, of the provisions of divine grace for every soul condemned for her sin. If necessary, note the exact date and time of that decision, and then trust in the decision made in such a way that it can give thanks to God for his saving grace and his faithfulness; and after this in every thought, word, and deed, consider the decision as true and final . 4
The ironic thing is that Chafer simultaneously denounces the trends within of mass evangelism that were based on the same assumptions decision makers reflected in that paragraph. In another book, he criticized the evangelists. of his time for requiring that the converts 'come forward' publicly as an external act to receive Christ ('such acts, if they insist on them, they must be presented in such a way that no individual one could think that these are part of the only condition for the salvation ) because I believed that such methods could lead to a false 5
security: "The foundation of the security of all those converted is having done something the speaker sent them That is precisely the problem with it. 6 "decisionism", which offers a false hope based on a premise wrong, since salvation cannot be obtained by following a plan prescribed for external action: 'For by grace you have been saved through faith;' and this is not from you, it is a gift of God. Not by works, so that no one may boast. "glory" (Eph. 2:8, 9).
Decisionism and the doctrine of the denial of sovereignty do not always go hand in hand. the hand, then, in fact, almost all the most aggressive defenders of the modern teaching of the denial of lordship recognizes the fallacy of "Decisionism" manifesto and they would recognize like us that no one is saved. to raise your hand, come to the front, say a prayer or any other act physical.
Most, however, believe that saving faith depends on initiative. human. In their system, faith begins with a human response, not with the
God's work in the believer, hence they should limit their definition of faith in order to to achieve that belief becomes something that corrupt sinners are capable of doing. This is what easy credulity consists of.
Even those who are willing to accept that faith is a gift from God sometimes fall into easy credulity. Doctor Chafer, for example, seems confused at this point, as on one hand he vehemently condemned those who say that sinners must 'believe and submit', as according to him this places an excessive demand on sinners. How are they going to be able to Do unbelievers surrender to God if they are dead in their trespasses and sins? To impose the necessity of dedicating life to God, as one more condition to save oneself, is one of the greatest absurdities," he wrote . 7 On the other hand, Chafer clearly realized that if those who are not salvos are dead in trespasses and sins, they cannot even believe in the God's initiative. It is strange that he made this observation at the same paragraph that the previous quote: "Saving faith is not the heritage of everyone" men, but a specific gift from God to those who believe (Eph. 2:8) Chafer 8 I was right to notice that only God can provoke faith in a incredulous heart, but for some reason I couldn't accept the idea that faith that he imparts would come with an intrinsic attitude of submission and abandonment of oneself, so he defined it in terms that pose no challenge at all for human depravity.
At its core, easy credulity is a misunderstanding of depth. of human sinfulness. If the wicked, depraved sinners, spiritually dead are capable of believing on their own initiative, then faith must be something devoid of moral or spiritual demands, there that the theology of the denial of lordship has demystified the act of to create and make faith an exercise alien to morality. That is easy credulity.
The logic of easy credulity is expressed very clearly in a newspaper clipping I received from a radio listener. A pastor wrote it. next in a column that I had published criticizing my opposition to that doctrine: "I believe that God wanted the act of salvation to be easy... God it allowed us to receive it because it knew that in our state of The only way we could be saved was if it turned out that's how easy . 9
This theology, however, is incorrect and unbiblical, because to believe is not easy it's not that difficult either but it is impossible in human terms, something 10 11
that Jesus himself acknowledged (Matt. 19:26): no one can come to Christ to less than that which is given to him by the Father (John 6:65); those who have not been regenerated do not accept the things that are of the Spirit of God because for For them, spiritual things are foolishness; they can't even start to understand them. and much less believe them (1 Cor. 2:14); only God can open the heart and ignite faith (cf. Acts 13:48; 16:14; 18:27).
The faith that God grants trembles before Him (Luke 18:13), for it is a faith that it provokes heartfelt obedience and makes the sinner a slave to righteousness (Rom. 6:17, 18), since it works through love (Gal. 5:6). It has nothing what to see with the sterile faith of easy credulity.
How can I make a call to faith?
There are many useful books on how to give testimony with advice. practical and instructions , but in this brief chapter I want to focus on 12 on some vital issues related to the content of the message we have been calls to share with non-believers. What are the specific points? what should be clear if we want to articulate the gospel in the most is it possible?
Teach them about the holiness of God
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Ps. 111:10; cf. Job 28:28; Prov. 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; Mic. 6:9), something that the theology of denial of the lordship does not understand at all. In reality, a large part of the contemporary evangelism is dedicated to promoting anything but the fear of God. 'God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life' is often be the icebreaker in current evangelistic invitations, but theology the denial of lordship goes even further: God loves you and will save you from hell regardless of who you are, the plan you choose for your life.
The remedy for such ideas is the biblical truth about the holiness of God. God is absolutely holy, and therefore his law demands perfect holiness: For I am the LORD your God, you shall sanctify yourselves; and you shall be holy, for I am holy... They shall be holy, for I am holy" (Lev. 11:44, 45); You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God and a jealous God. He will not tolerate their rebellions or their sins" (Jos. 24:19); "There is no saint like
the LORD, for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God" (1 Sam. 2:2); "Who can stand before the LORD, this God saint? And who will go from us?
Even the gospel demands this holiness: 'For it is written: Be holy.' for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16); "Without [holiness] no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).
God abhors sin because He is holy: "I am the LORD your God, a jealous God who punished the wickedness of the parents onto the children, onto the third and upon the fourth generation of those who hate me" (Exo. 20:5).
Sinners cannot stand before him: "Therefore, they will not rise." the wicked in the judgment nor the sinners in the congregation of the righteous" (Ps. 1:5)
Show them their sin
"Gospel" means "good news," but what makes it news truly good is not that heaven is free, but that sin has been conquered by the Son of God. Unfortunately, it has been placed in a way to present the gospel as something different from the remedy for sin: "salvation" is offered as an escape from punishment, God's plan. for a wonderful life, a means to complete satisfaction, an answer to the problems of life and a promise of free forgiveness. All of those things are true, but they are byproducts of redemption, not the benefit Principal. When sin is not confronted, the promises of blessings Divine things like these cheapen the message.
Some of the masters of the denial of lordship even dare to to say that sin is not a problem to consider in the invitation of the gospel. Sin, according to them, is something that must be addressed after the salvation; others believe that confronting sinners with their sin is optional. The editor of one of the publications dedicated to denial of the lordship responded thus to the question of one of its readers: "No, I don't think that You must recognize that you are a sinner to be saved. The key word is must. It is conceivable that a person can ignore the fact that they are a sinner and however, knowing that he is on the way to hell and can only be saved trusting in Christ. Some small children are found within this category . 13
He made no attempt to explain how they can know that they are on their way to the Hell for those who do not understand their own sinfulness, but one one wonders what kind of salvation is available for those who do not even they recognize their sins. Didn't Jesus say, 'The healthy do not need to I have not come to call the righteous but the sick. "fishermen" (Mark 2:17)? Offering salvation to someone who doesn't even understanding the severity of sin is fulfilling Jeremiah 6:14: 'And they heal' with superficiality the breaking of my people, saying: 'Peace, peace.' But no there is peace!
Sin is what makes true peace impossible for fishers: "But the wicked are like the troubled sea that cannot rest quiet and whose waters throw mud and sludge. 'There is no peace for the wicked!', says my God" (Isa. 57:20, 21).
Everyone has sinned:
There is no righteous person, not even one; there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God.
Everyone has turned away; together they have become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. There is not even one. An open grave is their throat; they deceive with their tongue. There is snake venom beneath their lips; their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; there is ruin and misery in their paths. They did not know the way of peace; there is no fear of God before their eyes. eyes.
ROMANOS 3:10-18
Sin makes the sinner deserving of death: 'Sin, once carried out, gives birth to death" (Jas. 1:15); "For the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).
Sinners can do nothing to earn salvation: 'All we are like an unclean thing, and all our righteous deeds are like rags of filth. We have all withered like leaves, and our iniquities have carried us away like the wind" (Isa. 64:6); "For by No one will be justified before Him by the works of the law" (Rom. 3:20); "No one man is justified by the works of the law. by the works of the law, no one will be justified" (Gal. 2:16).
Sinners, therefore, are in a state of abandonment: "It is it is established that men die only once, and after that the judgment" (Heb. Because there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, nor concealed
that shall not be known" (Luke 12:2); "God [shall judge] the secrets of the men through Christ Jesus" (Rom. 2:16); "But for the cowardly and incredulous, for the abominable and murderers, for the fornicators and sorcerers, for idolaters and all liars, their inheritance will be the lake "which burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death" (Rev. 21:8).
Instruct them about Christ and what he has done.
The gospel is the good news about who Christ is and what He has done for the sinners. The doctrine of the denial of lordship tends to emphasize its to downplay the importance of supersona, particularly in terms of its divine authority, but the Bible never presents Jesus as someone less than What Lord in salvation. The concept that his lordship is something added to the gospel is absolutely unknown to the Scriptures.
He is God eternally: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. She was with God in the beginning. All things were made through her, and without her was not anything made that has been it was done. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we behold His glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth" (John 1:1-3, 14); "For in him all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form the fullness of the Deity" (Col. 2:9).
He is the Lord of all: "He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who they are with him are called, chosen, and faithful" (Rev. 17:14); "Therefore, God also exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those who are in the heavens, on the earth, and beneath the earth; and every tongue confess for glory to God the Father that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Phil 2:9-11); "He is the Lord of all" (Acts 10:36).
He became man: "Existing in the form of God, he did not consider equality with God..." to God as something to cling to; but he stripped himself, taking form of a servant, being made like men" (Phil. 2:6, 7).
He was tempted in every way just like us but without sin" (Heb. 4:15); "He committed no sin, nor was found deceit in his mouth. When he was cursed, he did not respond with a curse. When I suffered, I did not threaten but entrusted myself to the one who judges with justice" (1 Pet. 2:22, 23); "And you know that he was manifested to
to take away sins and in him there is no sin" (1 John 3:5).
He who had no sin became a sacrifice for our sin: He who knew no sin, for us God made sin, so that we were made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21); He "gave Himself same by us to redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:14).
He shed his own blood as atonement for sin: "In him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions, according to the riches of his grace that he made to abound toward us (Eph. 1:7, 8); 'He loves us and has redeemed us from our sins with His blood' (Rev. 1:5).
He died on the cross to provide a way for salvation for the fishermen: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the wood to end that we, having died to sins, may live for the justice. By his wounds you have been healed" (1 Pet. 2:24); "Through of him, to reconcile all things with himself, both on earth and in the heavens, making peace through the blood of his cross" (Col. 1:20).
He rose triumphantly from the dead: Christ "was declared Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead "dead" (Rom. 1:4). "[He] was delivered for our sake transgressions and raised for our justification" (4:25). "For in first of all, I have taught you what I also received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4).
Tell them what God demands of them
The requirement is repentant faith, which does not consist of a mere "decision" of trust in Christ to receive eternal life, but to completely renounce it all that we trust in and in entrusting ourselves to Jesus Christ as Lord and Salvador.
Repent: "Repent and turn from all your transgressions" (Eze. 18:30), "I do not want the death of the one who dies, says the LORD God. Repent and live!" (v. 32); "[God] now commands all to hombres, en todos los lugares, que se arrepientan" (Hech. 17:30), "Que se repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of
repentance (26:20).
Heartily abandon all that you know dishonors God: [Convert] from idols to God to serve the living and true God Tes. 1:9).
Follow Jesus: "If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23), "No one who has put his mano en el arado y sigue mirando atrás es apto para el reino de Dios" (v. 62); If anyone serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there my servant will be also. "server. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him" (John 12:26).
Trust in him as your Lord and Savior: 'Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.' salvation" (Acts 16:31); "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and if if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom. 10:9).
Advise them to carefully consider the cost.
Salvation is absolutely free, just like enlisting in the army: You don't need to pay for the ticket because everything you need will be provided to you. lack. However, there is a sense in which following Christ (like joining the the army) is going to cost you a lot, as it could cost you your freedom, your family, friends, autonomy, and possibly even life. The work of evangelist (like that of the army recruiter) consists of informing the candidates of all the details. That is the reason why the message of Jesus was often full of high demands:
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters and even his own life cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not whoever does not take his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which Of you, wanting to build a tower, does not sit down first and calculates the expenses, let's see if he has what he needs to finish it? Don't let it be that after having put the foundations, and unable to finish it, all who see it begin to mock. of him saying: 'This man began to build, and was not able to finish'. Or what king, What king goes out to make war against another king, does not first sit down and consult whether he is able to go out with ten thousand to meet the one coming with twenty thousand? In other words, when the other king is still far away, he sends an embassy and asks for terms of peace. Therefore, anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be my disciple.
LUCAS 14:26-33
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man at odds against his father, against his daughter and against his mother-in-law. And the enemies of a man will be those of his own house. He who loves father or mother more than me he is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. The Whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
MATEO 10:34-38
The enigma of the free-cost and of death-life is expressed with the the most certain truth I say to you that to unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if Die brings much fruit. He who loves his life loses it; but he who hates his life life in this world, for eternal life it will keep.
The cross is fundamental to the gospel, precisely because of its graphic message, which includes the magnitude of sin, the depth of the the wrath of God against this and the efficacy of Jesus' work in crucifying the old one man (Rom. 6:6). A. W. Tozer wrote:
The cross of Christ is the most revolutionary thing that has appeared among men.
The cross of ancient Roman times knew no compromise; never there were concessions. He won all his arguments by killing his opponent and silencing him forever. He did not forgive Christ, but killed him just like all the others. Jesus was alive when they hung him on the cross and completely dead when they brought him down six hours later. That was the first since the cross appeared in Christian history.
The cross accomplishes its purposes and achieves its ends by destroying the model. established, that of the victim, and creating another model, their own. That is why he always gets his way. He wins by defeating his opponents and rivals, and imposing its will upon them. Always dominates. Never makes compromises, never haggles nor allows for compromise, nor concedes an argument or point to save peace. The cross is neither interested nor concerned about peace; it is only interested finish the opposition as soon as possible.
With perfect knowledge of all this, Christ said: "If anyone wants to come... pos de Mí, niéguese a sí mismo, y tome su cruz, y sígame" (Mateo 16:24). Por esta reason, the cross not only ended Christ's life, but also ends life the old woman of each of His true followers. The cross destroys the old model, the model of Adam, in the believer's life, and brings it to its end. Then the God who raised Christ from the dead raises the believer and begins a new life.
This, and nothing less, is true Christianity...
We must do something about the cross, and we can only do it one of these two things: flee from the cross, or die on it . 14
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel she will be saved. For what does it profit a man gain the whole world and lose his life? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? "Rescue for his life?" (Mark 8:35-37).
Instill in them to trust in Christ
Knowing, then, the fear of the Lord, we persuade men; For God is manifest to what we are, and I hope it is also to His. consciences" (2 Cor. 5:11), "God was in Christ reconciling the world myself, not taking into account their transgressions and entrusting us with the word of reconciliation. So, we are ambassadors for Christ; and as God exhorts them through Our, we implore you in the name of Christ: Be reconciled to God!" (v. 19, 20); "Seek the LORD while he may be found! Call on him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Turn to the LORD, who will have mercy on him; and to our God, who will be generous in forgiving" (Isa. 55:6, 7); "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised him from among the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes for righteousness, and "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:9, 10).
Where do good deeds fit in?
Nowhere in the Old or New Testament do we find a invitation for sinners to believe now and obey later: the call to To trust and obey is summarized in one. The word obey sometimes is even used to describe the experience of conversion: 'He arrived at' "author of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (Heb. 5:9).
Does anyone think it is possible to truly believe, to really delve into todo lo que hizo Jesús al sufrir y morir por el pecado, aceptar la oferta del forgiveness from his hand to then distance himself without exalting it with his whole life and still come to despise him, reject him and not believe him exactly like those that they handed him over to death? This kind of theology is grotesque.
The truth is that our submission to Christ is never as pure as the moment when we are reborn. In that sacred instant we are totally under the sovereign control of the Holy Spirit, united to Christ and receiving a new heart. So, more than ever, obedience is not negotiable, and no genuine convert would wish it were so (cf. Rom. 6:17). The conversion of the apostle Paul provides the archetypal illustration, as in his Conversion makes it clear that what was important was the lordship of Christ. What are were his first words as a believer? "What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts. Years later, Pablo wrote about everything he renounced in the road to Damascus
Although I have reasons to trust in the flesh as well. If anyone thinks they have reasons to trust in the flesh, I more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the lineage of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning the zeal, persecutor of the church; as for the righteousness of the law, blameless. But the things that were gain for me I have considered loss because of Christ. And even more: I consider everything a loss compared to the incomparable experience of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake, I have losing everything and considering it garbage in order to gain Christ and be found in Him; without to seek a justice of my own, derived from the law, but the one that is by faith in Christ; the justice that comes from God through faith.
PHILIPPIANS 3:4-9 (ADDED EMPHASIS)
Can we honestly look at the conversion, life, and ministry of Pablo and believing that he would ever have accepted a gospel that taught that Could people be saved without submitting to the authority of Christ?
The lordship salvation is often caricatured as if it taught to the people who must change their lives in order to be saved , but none 15
no supporter that I know of that theology has ever taught such a thing; there is no nowhere is there a single legitimate master of the doctrine of lordship that I would teach a non-believer who needs to 'prove' that they qualify for the salvation As we have seen time and again in our study, the works 16 Meritorious acts have no place in salvation.
The works of faith, however, have a lot to do with reason. that we are saved, for God's purpose in choosing us is to "redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own, eager for good deeds. good works" (Titus 2:14, emphasis added). This is the purpose of God
from eternity: 'For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do and we would walk in them" (Eph. 2:10, emphasis added).
The first commandment for every Christian is baptism, which, as I have already mentioned, mentioned, was sometimes included by the Apostles in their call to faith (Acts 2:38; cf. Mark 16:16). Baptism is not a condition for the salvation, but an initial step of obedience for the Christian. Conversion it is complete before the baptism takes place and this is only a external signal that bears witness to what has occurred in the heart of the sinner. Baptism is a ritual, precisely the type of 'work' that Paul declares that it cannot be meritorious (cf. Rom. 4:10, 11) . 17 However, one can hardly read the New Testament without noticing the intense emphasis that the early church placed on baptism. They they simply assumed that every true believer would embark on a life of obedience and discipleship because that was non-negotiable, so that for for them, baptism was a turning point. Only those who were baptized they were considered Christians, that is why the Ethiopian eunuch was so eager to to be baptized (Acts 8:36-39).
Unfortunately, the church of our times gives less importance to baptism and it is not surprising to meet people who have been Christians professors for years but who have never been baptized, something that would result in unprecedented for the church of the New Testament. It is a shame that we have neglect that perspective of our initial obedience.
Spurgeon wrote: "If someone professes to be converted and openly declares clearly knows the will of his Lord, but does not intend to do it. However, they should not allow for his presumption, but rather tell him outright that he is not. except . 18
How should the gospel be shared with children?
Should we adapt or shorten the message when we teach the gospel to Children? There are no biblical bases for that. Of course, we have to use terminology that they can grasp and be patient when communicating message, but when the Bible talks about teaching children the truth spiritual the emphasis is on luminosity: "These words that I command you they will be in your heart. You will repeat them to your children and talk about them sitting in
house or walking along the road, when you lie down and when you get up (Deut. 6:6, 7). Exaggerated simplification is apparently a greater danger. than to elaborate on details.
Children cannot be saved before they are old enough. to clearly understand the gospel and cling to it with faith genuine, so they must be mature enough to distinguish between good and evil, sin and punishment, repentance and faith. Without doubt must be old enough to understand the the gravity of sin and the nature of God's holiness. What is that? age? That surely varies from one child to another because each child matures at at their own pace. Part of our task in teaching them these matters is help them develop an understanding of them.
Don't soften the parts of the message that sound unpleasant: the blood of Christ, the cross, and the atonement for sins are the heart of the message, so if we overlook those points we are not presenting them the complete gospel. Do not minimize the demand for consecration, since the the lordship of Christ is not too difficult for children to understand and anyone who is old enough to understand the basics of the gospel will also be able by the grace of God to trust completely in him and respond with the purest and sincerest type of submission: 'Jesus called to a child, he placed him in their midst and said: —Truly I tell you that if you do not they return and act like children, they will never enter the kingdom of heaven. So, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest. in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:2-4).
Remember that the main factor in anyone who comes to Christ is not What the doctrine doesn't know, but what is really important is the scope of the work that God is doing in his heart. Even the most mature of the believers do not fully understand the truth of God, for in our life Present only we can begin to perceive the riches of His Word. The It is true that the complete understanding of all aspects of the gospel does not it is a requirement for salvation; after all, the thief on the cross next to Jesus only knew that he was guilty and that Jesus, who was the Lord and the true Messiah, had done nothing wrong (Luke 23:40-42). How did he know So much? As Jesus said to Peter: 'flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but my' Father who art in heaven" (Matt. 16:17). The cry of the thief was very simple ("Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom," Luke 23:42),
but despite the insignificant amount of doctrine I knew, our The Lord assured him: 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.' (v. 43).
Offering security belongs to the Holy Spirit, not to us (Rom. 8:14-16), so do not overly emphasize objective safety with children. As I pointed out before, there are too many people whose hearts are absolutely cold to the things of the Lord but think that they will go to heaven simply for having positively responded to an invitation evangelistic for children, although after "inviting Jesus to enter into their "heart" was never taught to examine themselves nor to doubt in nothing regarding his salvation.
Of course, we cannot assume that every profession of faith reflects the work. authentic of God in the heart, something that is particularly true in what it refers to children, who often respond positively to the invitations of the gospel for different reasons (many of which do not they have any relation with a consciousness of sin nor with a true understanding of spiritual truth). If we push children to the "fe" using external pressure its "conversion" will turn out false, since only those who understand and are driven by the Spirit to believe are truly born again (John 3:6).
Remember that an early response in childhood does not guarantee necessarily that the issue of eternal salvation has been resolved for always. Even though many people make a genuine commitment to Christ being small, many others (perhaps the majority) do not reach a proper understanding of the meaning of the gospel until his adolescence, and even some who profess Christ in their childhood stray away. It is exactly that's why we must avoid the quick and easy answer and teach them patiently, consistently and faithfully to our children throughout that stage of development. Encourage each step of faith as they grow.
We must be extremely careful, lest we inoculate the children against any commitment to Christ when they reach an age where the one whose understanding is complete.
Teach the gospel to the children (in its entirety), but understand that you could be planting seeds for a harvest that may never come mature until many years later. If you harvest the field as soon as You will never be able to harvest a complete crop.
A final word
The first creed of the primitive church was 'Jesus is Lord' (cf. Rom. 10:9, 10; 1 Cor. 12:3). The lordship of Christ was so present in the preaching apostolic as it is in the New Testament. This was the point culminating point of the first apostolic sermon, Peter's message in Pentecost
God raised this Jesus, of which we all are witnesses! So, exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, has poured out what you see and hear. For David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says: The Lord said to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies as a footstool for your feet. Therefore, know that certainty all the house of Israel, that it is this same Jesus whom you they crucified him, God has made him Lord and Christ.
Acts 2:32-36 (Emphasis Added)
The context leaves no room for doubt about what Pedro meant: this it was a message about the absolute authority of Christ as the blessed and only sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords (cf. 1 Tim. 6:15, 16).
The absolute lordship of Jesus is a recurring theme throughout the book of Facts. When Peter opened the ministry of the gospel to the Gentiles in the Cornelius' house declared again: "He is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36). Only in the book of Acts is the title 'Lord' used for Jesus is referred to fifty times more than 'Savior'. The truth of his lordship was the key to apostolic preaching, the lordship of Christ Gospel according to the Apostles.
T. Alan Chrisope writes in his excellent book Jesus Is Lord Sir) that "There is no more prominent element in preaching Apostolic that the resurrection, the exaltation, and the lordship of Jesus , to which 19 add:
The confession 'Jesus is Lord' is the most predominant Christian confession of New Testament. It not only appears in several passages that emphasize its distinctive character as the Christian confession (e.g. Phil. 2:9-11; Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3; 8:5, 6; cf. Eph. 4:5), but also appears on many occasions in the variant 'our Lord', a reference to Jesus so widely used that it became the distinctive and universally recognized Christian confession,