The Word This Week
John 14:1…
Is Biblical Christianity exclusive?
This is the criticism the world often hurls at Bible-believing Christians. Can anyone who is NOT a born-again believer in Jesus Christ enter heaven?
The thing we need to do is think about this from God’s perspective. In the first case, He is God, and we are not.
God has created everything, including ourselves, and He gets to decide everything about who will spend eternity in heaven with Himself.
The second thing we need to do is rejoice in the fact God HAS provided a plan by which we MAY enter heaven.
Given the volume of our sin and impurity, it should be inconceivable to anyone we are deserving of anything other than hell.
We recognize God has made a way in Himself. He has earned that way for us by coming to the earth of His creation and making Himself a willing sacrifice for the sin of ALL mankind.
Given that God - by His own design - has made a way of salvation that is effective for ALL mankind, how can we say Christianity is exclusive?
Who is sinful man to question God’s plan of salvation? Instead we should rejoice there IS a plan of salvation – not question it.
God has excluded our works as being part of the equation. He knows our frame, that we are a prideful people, and that all our ‘good’ works are at least in part self-motivated – perhaps entirely self-motivated. Part of God’s plan therefore is that we must die to ourselves and our selfish motivations. What work could be considered truly ‘good’ other than God’s work of salvation wrought in human flesh – accomplished by His willing sacrifice of Himself to cover the sin of all mankind?
In fact, the only thing ‘exclusive’ about Christianity is any man’s unwillingness to place his faith in God’s plan.
Man either includes or excludes himself by his own willingness to believe in Jesus Christ and be born again.
Pastor Bill
Is Biblical Christianity exclusive?
This is the criticism the world often hurls at Bible-believing Christians. Can anyone who is NOT a born-again believer in Jesus Christ enter heaven?
The thing we need to do is think about this from God’s perspective. In the first case, He is God, and we are not.
God has created everything, including ourselves, and He gets to decide everything about who will spend eternity in heaven with Himself.
The second thing we need to do is rejoice in the fact God HAS provided a plan by which we MAY enter heaven.
Given the volume of our sin and impurity, it should be inconceivable to anyone we are deserving of anything other than hell.
We recognize God has made a way in Himself. He has earned that way for us by coming to the earth of His creation and making Himself a willing sacrifice for the sin of ALL mankind.
Given that God - by His own design - has made a way of salvation that is effective for ALL mankind, how can we say Christianity is exclusive?
Who is sinful man to question God’s plan of salvation? Instead we should rejoice there IS a plan of salvation – not question it.
God has excluded our works as being part of the equation. He knows our frame, that we are a prideful people, and that all our ‘good’ works are at least in part self-motivated – perhaps entirely self-motivated. Part of God’s plan therefore is that we must die to ourselves and our selfish motivations. What work could be considered truly ‘good’ other than God’s work of salvation wrought in human flesh – accomplished by His willing sacrifice of Himself to cover the sin of all mankind?
In fact, the only thing ‘exclusive’ about Christianity is any man’s unwillingness to place his faith in God’s plan.
Man either includes or excludes himself by his own willingness to believe in Jesus Christ and be born again.
Pastor Bill