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There are amazing privileges for those who place their faith in Jesus.

'I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. - John 10:9

Jesus, the great I AM, is the entrance into the true church, and the way of access to God Himself. He gives to the man who comes to God by Him four choice privileges.

1. He will be saved. The fugitive manslayer passed the gate of the city of refuge, and was safe. Noah entered the door of the ark, and was secure. None can be lost who take Jesus as the door of faith to their souls. Entrance through Jesus into peace is the guarantee of entrance by the same door into heaven. Jesus is the only door, an open door, a wide door, a safe door; and blessed is he who rests all his hope of admission to glory upon the crucified Redeemer.

2. He will go in. He shall be privileged to go in among the divine family, sharing the children's bread, and participating in all their honours and enjoyments. He shall go in to the chambers of communion, to the banquets of love, to the treasures of the covenant, to the storehouses of the promises. He shall go in unto the King of kings in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the secret of the Lord shall be with him.

3. He will go out. This blessing is much forgotten. We go out into the world to labour and suffer, but what a mercy to go in the name and power of Jesus! We are called to bear witness to the truth, to cheer the disconsolate, to warn the careless, to win souls, and to glorify God; and as the angel said to Gideon, 'Go in this thy might,' even thus the Lord would have us proceed as His messengers in His name and strength.

4. He shall find pasture. He who knows Jesus shall never want. Going in and out shall be alike helpful to him: in fellowship with God he shall grow, and in watering others he shall be watered. Having made Jesus his all, he shall find all in Jesus. His soul shall be as a watered garden, and as a well of water whose waters fail not.

C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, (12/17/pm) 

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As the wicked are hurt by the best things, so the godly are bettered by the worst. - William Jenkyn

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I am learning a lot these days about the relevance of the gospel to my life as a follower of Jesus.  Colossians 2:6-7 reads, "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."  It is clear from Scripture that we receive Christ as Lord by faith (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9).  We are also, to live the Christian life by faith in Jesus.  This entails abandoning confidence in ourselves and our own righteousness, and placing all of our hope each day in Jesus who is "the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2).  

I am beginning to learn to do this in my own life.  Since the Gospel is for sinners, I am starting to begin each day with the realization that despite my being a child of God because of my faith in Jesus, I still sin every day in my heart, mind, and life.  If I am aware of any sins in my life, I humbly admit and confess those to God.  I repent of my sinfulness and stupidity, and then I remember the promises of the Gospel assuring me of the forgiveness I need.  I remember the words of the Gospel that says I am forgiven because of Jesus and that He alone is my salvation and hope.  

This confidence in Jesus is powerfully and profoundly captured by Edward Mote in his old school hymn “The Solid Rock” with his words, “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” Almost every day, I find myself going to those words in addition to reflecting on the promises of forgiveness through Jesus in the Bible.  Each day, I need Jesus.  I need Him as much to be a Christian, as I did at the age of 13 to become a Christian.  He is my hope, confidence and righteousness each and every day.

One of my theological mentors, Jerry Bridges, has noted, "Whatever Scriptures we use to assure us of God’s forgiveness, we must realize that whether the passage explicitly states it or not, the only basis for God’s forgiveness is the blood of Christ shed on the cross for us. As the writer of Hebrews said, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22), and the context makes it clear that it is Christ’s blood that provides the objective basis on which God forgives our sins."  

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Martin Luther rightly said that, as sinners, we are prone to pursue a relationship with God in one of two ways. The first of these attempts to get to God is through religion. The second is the Gospel. 

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Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us. - Charles Spurgeon

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The Scripture is clear that God saves.  Jonah 2:9 tells us that "Salvation is from the Lord".  Zephaniah 3:17 encourages us with the reality that "God is mighty to save".  As God accomplishes our salvation, we see all three members of the Trinity at work: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.  

We see this in Ephesians 1:3-14, where we read:

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will– 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment–to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. 11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession–to the praise of his glory. 

Regarding our salvation, God saves.  Here is a quick take on how the Trinity works together to save:

The Father thought it.  This is the providence of the Father.

The Son bought it. This is the propitiation of the Son.

The Spirit wrought it.  This is the power of the Spirit.

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"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Ro 1:16)

When we speak of "the gospel" we tend to think of an evangelistic message and surely the gospel is that. But it is not only a four or five point outline of salvation truths. The gospel - in the sense Paul and the apostles employed the word, includes all the truth about Christ (cf. Rom. 1:1-6). It does not stop at the point of conversion and justification by faith but embraces every other aspect of salvation, from sanctification to ultimate glorification. The gospel's significance therefore does not end the moment the new birth occurs; it applies to the entire Christian experience. And when Paul and the other New Testament writers spoke of "preaching the gospel," they were not talking about preaching only to unbelievers (cf. v. 15).

- MacArthur Study Bible

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One such man who was intoxicated by God's word was John Bunyan.  Charles Spurgeon, one of the great pastors of all time, said of Bunyan, “ 'This man is a living Bible!’ Prick him anywhere — his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is FULL of the Word of God."  

May the same be said of us.  

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Tim Keller writes, "The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference".

The Bible is all about Jesus, and how He makes us right with God.  The Bible shows us that only when we grasp that Jesus makes us right with God by faith and not works will we truly live right lives.  

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Jesus is the first step on your faith journey.  Placing your faith in Him as your Leader and Savior is the way to begin a relationship with God.  This is where it all begins.  In the Bible, Jesus describes Himself as "The Way" (John 14:6).  He is the way to God.  He is the way to a relationship with God.  Taking the first step of committing to Jesus is the way to the freedom, forgiveness, hope and happiness you have always wanted.  

Jesus is, though, not only where your spiritual life begins, He is also through whom it continues. The classic bible study Experiencing God teaches us that to fulfill God’s purposes Jesus did not say, ‘I’ll show the way’, or ‘I’ll give you a road map’, or ‘I’ll tell you what direction to go in’. He said ‘I am the way’. So in living the Christian life, it is a Person that we follow, and not simply a set of directions. Hence, a relationship is of utmost importance in our spiritual lives.

A relationship with God, for our good and His glory, is the very purpose of Christianity. A relationship is also the pathway through which God works in our lives. He works in our lives for a relationship, as well as through a relationship. God does not generally provide all of the information and detail that we would like to do His will. Instead, he leads us and provides direction just when we need it. This is scary. Mostly we want more detail than that. We want to know all that He wants of us, all we are to do, all the pitfalls and the problems, before hand. We want a well laid out plan and detailed description of all it means to follow Him who is the way. But what does He give us? 

He gives us Himself, and we are invited into a relationship with Him . . . a relationship that is real and personal.  And as our relationship with Him grows, He reveals more and more of His will to us.  God is after a relationship with us. That is what He wants. That is why He sent Jesus to be "the Way".

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The question is there for us to ask ourselves, "Is there true focus and single-minded purpose to our lives?"  Hebrews 12:1 states, "let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us".  Speaking of his own life, the apostle Paul wrote, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."  

Focus is essential. There must be a guiding purpose to our lives.  A point of convergence is absolutely critical for us.  All this is necessary for life effectiveness.  This is true for us on a personal, spiritual, relational, financial and physical level.  

In making decisions and in living our lives, we need to ask ourselves:

"Will this lead to God's best for me?"

"Does this help me fulfill my purpose?"

"Will this distract me from my life purpose?"

"Is this consistent with my God-given priorities?"

"Do I realistically have the time?"

"What do my trusted friends think or say about this?"

May we all say with Paul, "But one thing I do ..."

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The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted do not bother coming to our churches, even our most avant-garde ones.  We tend to draw buttoned-down, moralistic people.  The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. 

That can only mean one thing.  If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did." - Tim Keller

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A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. - C.S. Lewis

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One of my favorite leaders / voices for truth in America is Dave Ramsey.  Dave, with his financial consulting firm,  radio show, and website (daveramsey.com), is one of the leading voices for financial sanity in our financially challenged world.  Check Dave out and learn some wisdom from him, you and those you love will be glad you did.

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You can learn more about the Purpose, Values and Vision of RiverTown by clicking here.  Also, we'd love to have you worship with us one Sunday at 9:45 or 11:00 AM.

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