by Jacob Ninan
Here are some clear words from Jesus, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matt.7:13,14). Jesus came offering us eternal life through salvation. The experience of salvation has a starting point, a way to walk through and a destination, represented here by the gate, the way and the life at the end of it. What we must especially note is that Jesus described the gate as small, and the way narrow, and how very few people would be able to find it. Many are misled because there is another way near it that also appears to lead to life without all the narrow restrictions of the first. But the truth is that this broad way ultimately leads to destruction and not life. It is therefore a very crucial matter for us to find the right way and to come off from the wrong way if we have been walking on it so far. Here we want to look at some wrong ideas that make people believe they are on the right path when they are actually deceived.
Salvation is not merely about saving us from hell and taking us to heaven, or just forgiving our sins. We were eternally dead in our sins, and God wants to take us from that death to a life with Him. Eternal life is not merely to live forever, because in that sense, people in hell also live forever! Eternal life is the life of God, and so He will transform us from our sinful nature to His nature.
How we enter and how we walk in our Christian life are both important. We must first renounce our old sinful life and choose to live with God. For that, we must see ourselves as God sees us, sinners lost forever. It is then that the Gospel of Jesus Christ becomes precious to us. He promises us forgiveness freely because He has already taken the punishment for our sins. Then the Holy Spirit will start working in us to teach us His ways and to help us to walk in them.
Satan wants to destroy us (Jn.10:10). Therefore he will try to mislead, misdirect, give false promises and offers, etc. He misinterprets the words of God and presents a false gospel which appears to be very attractive. This is why we find a lot of wrong or mixed up preaching all around us. If we want to be safe, we must keep going back to the word of God.
Salvation is about saving us from sin – its guilt, power, deception (Matt.1:21). So we must beware of preaching or teaching that makes us feel good, but does not help us to overcome our sins.
Let us look at five common deviations from the truth that a lot of people believe. These are wrong ideas that prevent us from going in the right way. Because of the satanic influence behind them, which may not be obvious to the preacher or the hearer, they appear to glorify God and offer us a bright future, just like countefeit notes. But we must know they are wrong when they do not lead us away from sin towards God. "If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness" (1Tim.6:3). All doctrine must ultimately confirm to saving us from sin and drawing us to a godly life.
Nothing we need to do
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Eph.2:8,9). This does say that nothing we do can earn us salvation and that God offers us salvation freely as a gift we do not deserve. This is good news for those who have become weary from trying to make it to God. God saves us from our sins through His undeserved favour (grace) He shows to us. None can boast!But some people misinterpret it by imagining that since salvation is entirely by grace, there is nothing we need to do about it. No. God gives us salvation by grace, but we need to receive it through faith. Grace is open to all, but only those who respond by faith receive it. Faith is our trust in God, knowing who God is, believing what He says, seeing who we are as sinners before the holy God, and believing the offer of salvation God freely offers us. If we truly believe, then we will respond by humbling ourselves, confessing our sins, turning away from sin and receiving forgiveness and acceptance from God.
Some misunderstand grace by exaggerate it beyond proportion. They emphasise that everything is from God and nothing for us to do. They go to the extent of saying He chooses who He wants to save, He gives them new heart and faith, and then transforms them. They imagine it brings all the glory to God, and takes away all boasting from us. What they fail to see that if this was true, it would also take away our will and therefore our responsibility for our actions.
What happens is that people tend to leave everything to God and take no responsibility for their choices. But God has communicated His ways to us and asked us to walk in obedience. It is because we have the ability to obey or disobey Him that He is able to punish us when we choose our own pleasure. The Bible is full of warnings, exhortations and corrections for us, telling us what we shouldn't do and what we should do, which would all be meaningless if there was no choice for us.
When God is working in us to give us the desire to be pleasing to Him and also the strength to carry out His will, we are to respond by working out our own salvation by in action. What happens if we neglect our responsibility and leave everything to God? Then we will not be able to experience salvation as we ought to. God's punishment is for those who neglected their responsibility to do His will. This responsibility is not taken away when we are born again. "There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God" (Rom.2:9-11).
We need to distinguish between 'works of the law' and 'working out our salvation'. Working to keep the law in order to earn salvation is futile because we will not be able to keep all of it, and also the sins that are past cannot be forgiven by keeping the law now. So, God offers us grace to forgive our sins and grace to help us to stop sinning (Heb.4:16). After we are born again, now we obey God to do what is pleasing to Him. These two are different works!
After we have been forgiven through grace, our transformation in our practical life not automatic from God. "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Rom.6:12-14). In order not to allow sin to rule over us, there are things we need to do. "If you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Rom.8:13). "And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me" (Lk.9:23).
There is so much at stake for us. Without experiencing salvation in the right way, we may miss what we could have received, come short of victory, or fail to complete God's plan for us. Knowing that we do not know everything, how deceitful sin is to us, and how Satan is at work trying to capture us back, we ought to be on the alert, always seeking to learn from God, accept correction and keep learning. May the Lord help us.