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21 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:21-26 ESV)

At high noon on October 31, 1517, (494 Years Ago Tomorrow) at Wittenberg University in Eastern Germany, an Augustinian monk and Professor of Theology named Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 complaints or “Thesis” to the door of the Catholic Church. Intended as a protest against the selling of indulgences, God used Luther and his list of protestations to shake the foundations of the Church of Rome and to usher in the greatest event in the Church since the ascension of Jesus to heaven!

Thus the Protestant Reformation was born! Luther had discovered the one key thing missing in the Roman Church: justification by faith alone! This is the Christian gospel, and any other so-called “gospel” is no gospel at all. Paul is clear that the only true gospel is his gospel:

6 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7  not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9 ESV)

And, just exactly what is Paul’s gospel?

1 “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” (1st Corinthians 15:1-4 ESV)

Paul’s gospel, the biblical gospel, is simply that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for the sins of sinners and rose from the dead three days later! I still remember the day that I first heard Dr. Lee Roberson preach his now-famous sermon, “One Saving Gospel!” I remember how I felt when his words fell upon my mind… “There is one saving gospel, only one.” One Savior and one saving gospel! Amen, Dr. Roberson.

Since the Council of Trent, (1554-1563) the official position of the Roman Church is that whoever believes in “sola fide” (justification by faith alone) is anathema (cursed from God). Of course, the sad truth is when the Roman Church anathematized sola fide, they anathematized the gospel, and thereby anathematized themselves.

God chose to use a struggling, very much imperfect Doctor of Theology in a small German University to challenge the darkness of his day and bring back the light of God’s Word. That gospel light moved across Europe, North America, and then around the world!

“Pax Tenebrae Lux” is Latin for “Out of Darkness Light!” and it is the theme of the Protestant Reformation! Nothing describes a recovery of the biblical gospel better than these words. If we are to see the light of Christ enlightening the darkness of our world, we must get the “one saving gospel” out to a lost, dying, and darkened world.

Happy Reformation Day!

Who is Jesus? He is a Savior Who seeks Sinners!

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10 ESV)

We are thinking about knowing Jesus intimately, so we must know the fullness of Who He is. And, Who is He? Jesus is the Holy One Who comes to earth to seek unholy sinners to make them holy.

I am sure that almost every Christian would say that the thing we want the most is to be like Jesus!  I say that often, and I hear others say that often. At some very deep level, we sincerely want to be like Him. The problem comes when we don’t think through what that means. If we are going to be like Jesus, we are going to have to seek sinners!

It is truly amazing to me that Jesus would seek sinners. Anyone who considers what a holy God would do comes to the conclusion that He would seek holy people to be with Him. God does, in fact, demand holiness from those who would come near to him. “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14 ESV)

The problem is that there are no holy people! “As it is written, none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10 ESV)

So, what is God’s solution? He seeks for unholy sinners to make them holy!

Like most people, I have several “favorite verses” and they change from day to day; but, most days I will tell you that my very favorite verse is 2^nd Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We will never have a righteousness of our own! The only righteous we can every have is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that God accounts to those who repent of their sin and accept Jesus as Savior and Lord.

If we are to know Jesus, we must know that He is a Savior Who seeks unholy sinners for the purpose of making them holy. So should we.

Sola Deo Gloria!

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (ESV)

As I said previously, knowing Jesus intimately demands that we know Who He is! In the first part of this series of devotions, I focused on the fact that He is the eternal Creator God of the universe. Today, I want to help you to think about the fact that Jesus is the God Who shows up!

First, Jesus showed up in the Old Testament!

  He appeared to Abraham in Genesis 18.                                                                                           He appeared to Moses at the Burning Bush in Exodus 3.                                                         He appeared to Joshua as the Captain of the Lord’s Host in Joshua 5.                                 He appeared to Manoah and his wife (parents of Samson) in Judges 13.                             He appeared with Joshua the High Priest in Zechariah 3.

Second, Jesus showed up in the New Testament!

The four Gospels and Acts record the coming and the life, death, resurrection, and post-resurrection ministry of Jesus the Son of God! On the road to Damascus, He appeared to Paul and ministered to him personally for years prior to the beginning of Paul’s ministry.

He showed up on Patmos! There He, along with His ministering angels, gave John His plan and purpose for the ages. But, most of all, Jesus – through the Holy Spirit – indwells every believer in this age and has thereby “shown up” to be with His people! We are His creatures, but, thank God we are much more than that! And the reason that we are much more than a mere creature is that He has shown up to be with us and in us.

Jesus Christ, the One True Living God and Creator of the universe is a God Who shows up! He has, and always will, show up “just in time” for the blessing of we who are His people. We can know Him! Not because of anything that we have done or could ever do; but, we can know Him because of what He has already done… He showed up. Amen!

Of the many post-resurrection accounts of the ministry of Jesus, the one that captivates my thinking is His conversation with the two believers on the road to Emmaus as recorded in Luke 24:13-35. How their hearts burned from being with Him! Pat Pajak calls that feeling, “a holy heartburn” and it is clear evidence of a close walk with Jesus.

As I have thought about having a deep, personal, and intimate relationship with Jesus, I have come to believe that there are three keys to such a realtionship.

First, a deep, personal, and intimate relationship with Jesus requires “Presence!” While Jesus is at all times everywhere present, this kind of presence is what you sense when He is so near that you can almost feel His touch and hear His words. The good news is that He is always near to His people, and we do not have to seek to find Him. He dwells in our spirit through the Holy Spirit. Think of it beloved… He is near, He is near!

Second, a deep, personal, and intimate relationship with Jesus requires “Time!” It has been well and often said that time is the one thing that once we lose it is gone forever. Time is going, going, and going by. One of our most important decisions is how we will invest this fleeting and irreplaceable resource. Obviously, there is no better way to spend our time than to be with Jesus. Setting aside time for anything is a real challenge in my life – and I am sure in your life as well – but, He must have the priority in our life that a King deserves!

Third, a deep, personal, and intimate relationship with Jesus requires “Communication!” Communication: speaking to and listening to another. We speak to Jesus in prayer, but I wonder if we realize that He knows our thoughts? He does. It is cathartic to actually verbalize what we say to Him, but He knows our thoughts and hears when we think of and think on Him. Communication also requires listening. Mostly, we listen to Him when we spend time in His word. Prayer and Bible reading… not very novel, and certainly not new; but, that is how we communicate with Jesus!

Presence, Time, and Communication… that’s it.

I really want a deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus. I am commiting myself to setting aside the time necessary; and, to discipline myself to walk and talk with Him more and more! How about you? God bless you.

In our first class from the series I call, “The Disciple Making Machine” I spent a lot of time dwelling on the idea of knowing Jesus intimately. This idea has certainly captivated my thinking over these last few weeks. I am convinced that the depth and breadth of our personal relationship with the living, resurrected Lord is the most important single thing in our life.

Also, I have for some time wanted to put together a set of daily devotionals for you. I have started and stopped a time or two. I think that I am so captivated by this idea of knowing Jesus much more deeply and intimately that, (as I work through my own journey with Him) I will share some of my thinking with you in the form of these devotionals. I hope I am able to stay with it… and I hope these studies are a blessing to you.

Let’s begin at the beginning! In John’s Gospel, Chapter 17, we have an inspired account of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” on the night before His arrest and crucifixion. In that prayer, Jesus gives us key insight into His nature and Who He is!

He is the eternal One! He is the Second Person of the Godhead Who has eternally existed. He says to God the Father in verses four and five, ⁴ “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” (English Standard Version)

In verse five, we have this simple truth that Jesus was with God the Father before the world existed! In the Creation account, plural pronouns are used for God. “Let Us make man in Our image…” (Genesis 1:26) All Three divine Persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, had a role in the Creation of the Universe. Jesus, being the Second Person of the Godhead, was actively involved in Creation. (John 1:1-3)

Any application of logic and reason to the evident physical facts about the Universe demands the existence of a divine, eternal, self-sufficient, all-powerful, and moral Creator! Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God Who created all things!

Who is Jesus? He is God Who existed before the creation of the Universe and spoke the Universe into existence by the Word from His mouth! He came to this earth to live and die for His people, (Matthew 1:21) and He calls us to a personal and intimate relationship with Him! (Matthew 11:28-30)

Amen. Think about that!

Philippians 3:8-11 (ESV)                                                                                                      ⁸ “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰  that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Every now and then, and not very often, I say something off the cuff that stays in my mind and helps to clarify my thinking on a subject. This happened to me three Sunday nights ago. While commenting on the nature of discipleship, I said, “The true nature of our discipleship is best defined by the intimacy of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ!”

I think this says in one sentence what I have been trying to formulate in my mind for years. While I am comforted by my belief that I do indeed have a personal and saving relationship with Jesus Christ, I am not at all satisfied with the level of personal intimacy in that relationship. Over and over again, this realization causes me to despair.

And then I think on these verses in Philippians three! No one and I mean no one had a closer relationship with Jesus Christ than did the Twelve Apostles.  In this passage, the Apostle Paul who had met Jesus face to face on the Damascus road, spent years in intimate conversation with Him, and who had actually been taken to heaven says that, “I may know Him…” Paul wants to know Jesus? Wow, If Paul was not satisfied with his personal relationship with Jesus, I am in trouble!

What Paul is saying is that he wants a more intimate personal relationship with Jesus. It appears in the text that the specific area Paul has in mind is to know Jesus in respect to, “His sufferings.” Let me confess that thinking on these verses makes me feel that my relationship with Jesus is very shallow indeed.

While I really do want to know Jesus more intimately, I am not at all sure that I want to “know” the fellowship of His sufferings. I am convinced that until I am ready to sacrifice my comfort I will not get closer to Him. Intellectually I am sure that I want to know Him more and more and more; but, evidently I am not willing to pay the price for that intimacy.  My prayer for myself and for you is that we will be willing to pay the price to know Jesus and to know Him intimately!

God blessed us with a wonderful day of worship, praise, study, and fellowship today “At the Woods!” I want to thank Him and everyone He used to make today such a blessing. Remember our many prayer requests and thanks for being part of this happy day.

Tomorrow, October 9th, we will meet for our On-Campus Small Group Bible Studies at 9am!

At 10am, I will be preaching from Acts 15:36 to 41 on the subject, “Failure is only Final if You Quit!”

At 507pm, our Youth Group, “Greatest Common Factor” will meet!

At 6pm, “The Disciple Making Machine” will continue with Lesson 2: “Understanding the Multiple Metaphors that Describe our Relationship with God!”

I hope to see you there with a smile on your face, your Bible in your hand; and your family and friends by your side!

Dr. Robert Jeffress, who is the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, has stirred up a whirlwind of controversy by saying that Mitt Romney’s religious group, the Church of Jesus Church of Latter Day Saints, is a cult. Of course Mr. Romney and Mr. Perry and lots of other leaders are falling over themselves to say this is not true.

Well, is it true or not? To answer this question we have to know what is a “cult”. While one will find lots of varying definitions of a cult, I think there are clearly three tests that can be used to identify a cult:

1) Do they claim to be “Christians?”

2) Do they follow additional sources of authority other than the Christian Bible?

3) Do they claim that they are the only true Christians?

It is clear that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) falls into this category. They certainly claim to be Christians; they recognize sources of authority other than the Bible; and they believe they are the only true Christians. They are a cult, plain and simple. This does not mean they are not good citizens. They are often honest and moral people who love their family and their Country. Under our Constitution, they must be accorded all of the rights and privileges of citizenship. (Be sure of this… when this Country begins to outlaw religious groups it will not be the cults; it will be Bible believing Christians).

I realize that we live in a world where almost no one defines terms biblically, but what the Bible says is absolute truth and here is what the Bible says:

Isaiah 8:20 (NKJV) ²⁰ “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

2^nd Corinthians 11:4 (ESV) ⁴ “For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.”

It is our calling from God to live for Jesus in a post-Christian and anti-Christian America. Biblical Christianity is nearly extinct in Western Europe and North America! Beloved, Mormons and other cult members do not speak according to God’s Word; they worship “another Jesus” and trust in “another gospel”. According to the clear teaching of the Christian Bible, they are not Christians. Let us pray that God will open their minds to the truth of His Word, and bring them to a saving knowledge of the biblical Jesus!