Admittance into Eternal Life

Recently, a prominent Minnesota sports radio personality passed away.  Known for his rude but oddly endearing behavior, his charm was in his pervasive connections to the pulse of sports in the city and he is currently being memorialized by several of his radio friends on air.  It was a tragedy.  He was well-known to be quite involved in horse racing and, as we move towards the final Triple Crown race of the season, one of his radio friends was predicting the action, saying that the deceased man would be watching from heaven with a line on the race at the betting table in heaven.

Needless to say, the man's comments had his tongue fixed firmly in his cheek, and I certainly mean no disrespect; however, the reception and sanctity of eternal salvation are at the heart of his statement, whether he knew it or not.  What is striking about such a reference to the holiness of eternity with the Holy Lord is not its glibness as much as it is its affirmation about the presumed nature of the divine.  Unfortunately, perhaps unbeknownst to many, this misconception is all-too widespread and eternally disastrous.

At the onset, it needs to be stated directly: salvation and life eternal are dependent solely on personal faith in the work of Christ Jesus as the Son of God (John 3:16; Acts. 4:12; Rom. 10:9; Eph. 2:8-10).  This cannot be stated more emphatically, unless one has a personal, regenerative relationship with Christ Jesus, they will be NOT enter heaven's pearly gates, they will NOT spend eternity in the presence of the Holy Lord, but they WILL be condemned to torment for all eternity.  While this may not seem warm and fuzzy, it is true.

Moreover, no amount of "goodness" in this life has any merit in gaining admittance into eternal life (Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:23).  There is no thing, nothing, that man can do to earn salvation by a life well lived, or by goodness.  It is by His doing that we are predestined to be called sons of the Holy Lord, through the work of Christ Jesus, and only in Christ are we blessed with eternal life and salvation (Eph. 1:3-14).

All this being true and objective, found to be sure in His Holy Word, there is a spreading heretical doctrine that would delude the Gospel of its power and of its truth.  This heresy would like the world and its inhabitants to believe that the only requirement of admittance into heaven is death itself.  Far be it!  A variation of this would state that if a man lives a reasonably good life, then God would have to let Him into heaven.  Woe to the men and women led astray by this teaching, for it is an accursed lie!

The difficulty with death is that it reminds humans of their feeble mortality and recalls their utter dependence on a transcendent God.  However, even in these moments of ultimate clarity, many would rather pull tighter the veil to conceal the truth that they need God on their side, instead of drawing in humble, repentant faith to Him.  In truth, the nature of eternity and God is the utmost pinnacle concern for every human that has and that will ever live.  We do not want to leave the state of our eternal affairs so up in the air.  Assurance is found in Christ Jesus and He alone.  Either we can neglect the truth as poppycock or we can repent and turn to Him in faith.  These are the only two possibilities.

Apart from making further appeals to Scripture, perhaps a picture of the situation may be of benefit.  Consider an American who goes to the White House and begins knocking on the door.  As the Secret Service agents sight their sidearms on the man, the man throws his hands up cooly, exclaiming that he voted for the President, that he knows all about the President, and that he should be allowed to come in based on those credentials.

Certainly, only if the President knows the man personally will the man stand a chance at entrance.  Similarly, only if God knows us can we enter in.  Let us be then sure that He knows us personally, and let us pass this pertinent bit of information along to everyone, for their very eternal lives depend on it!

Overcoming Temptations with the Word

There was nothing odd about this particular evening in the Davidson household.  Dad had worked a hard day at his job while Mommy had been home with their three children all day, doing the various things that three kids, ages 10 months to 5 years, demand.  It was dinner time and the couples' eldest, Jenna, was being naughty, throwing food across the table and hitting her little brother.  Finally, Mommy had had enough and sent Jenna to her room for the rest of the night, minus dessert.

A few hours later, well-after the dishes were done and the other children had been put to bed, Mommy went to tuck little Jenna in and kiss her goodnight.  Mommy walked into her five-year-old's room to see her daughter sobbing on her bed, looking sad and defeated.  Jenna looked up at Mommy and, with swollen eyes, asked: "Why do we do bad things, Mommy?"

Mommy, in as comforting tone as she could, answered, "Honey, the devil sometimes tells us to do the wrong things.  We need to listen to God to do the right things." To which a sobbing Jenna replied in tears, "But He just doesn't talk loud enough!"

Could we not all empathize with Jenna?  Often we know that what we are doing is wrong but the voice of the tempter, Satan, can seem so much louder than the voice of truth.  Temptations are something that is common to every human.  In fact, even our Lord and Savior, Jesus, faced severe temptations (Heb. 2:18, 4:15), as chronicled in Matt. 4:1-11, and Luke 4:1-13.

Jesus, following His baptism, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness.  After forty days of fasting and prayer, He is hungry but spiritually ready.  At this moment, Satan comes to Jesus and tempts Him thrice.  In each of Satan's ploys, he supports his temptations with Scripture, giving them the appearance of truth.  However, Jesus is not detoured, He overcomes everyone of Satan's temptations with Scripture that is applied expertly.  Two things stand out in this account that are instantly applicable to us.

The first is the need for recognition of interpretive heresy.  Satan supported his temptations with hermeneutical finesse that made each of his temptations seem not only acceptable but even condoned by the Word of God.  Notice, then, that Satan's voice sounds like truth though it is actually spurious lies.  Understanding and acknowledging the way that a counterfeit of Satan attempts to appear as a truth of the Lord is the first step to overcoming the temptations.

The second thing in this regard deals with Jesus' response to Satan's seductions.  Jesus counters with Scripture.  The difference between Jesus' usage and Satan's can be summarized as interpretive methodology.  While Satan pulled verses out of context to support his position, Jesus took the passages in context and applied from that context.  In this way, it can be easily concluded that Satan's application was wrong and Jesus' right, thus indicating that not every hermeneutic has the same worth. In fact, some interpretations may even be, dare we say, wrong.

Getting back to the sincere concern of Jenna, who fell to her temptations because, as she claimed, God doesn't speak loudly enough.  Jesus shows that hearing God's voice and responding to temptations in reliance upon His voice is directly related to how dependent we are on the Word and how committed we are to proper interpretive methodologies.  Needless to say, this requires disciplined and diligent study that is guided by a dedication to acceptable interpretations.  We should then work hard to interpret the Word the way it is intended to be, so that we can overcome every temptations of the enemy!

Doctrine of False Teaching

The idea of false teachers is as true today as it was in the first-century Church.  Many of the epistles deal specifically with warnings and indictments of false teachers and their teaching, especially 2 Peter & Jude.  The whole concept of false teaching is based on two ideals: (1) that there is a true teaching, and (2) that motives matter.

The first ideal is obvious, and is concerned with the particular content of teaching.  Christianity upholds clear and definite teachings that are true, absolute, objective, and unchangeable.  Among these are certain theological doctrines which should not only be upheld and taught, but defended against potential heresy, such as: the nature and character of God, the Trinity, the Gospel, the resurrection, the supremacy of brotherly love, et al.  

Thus, the beginning point for judging false teaching is then based on whether the teaching is inline with accepted orthodoxy and biblically defensible theology.  If a teacher is teaching anything that is contrary to the Bible, opposed to the person and work of Christ, or that goes against the prompting of the Spirit, then that teacher is a false teacher and should be corrected urged to repent of falsity.  Additionally, those who would choose to listen to false teachers who teach false things should be warned at the errors thereof.  Essentially, we need to protect the flock of Christ from being led astray from falsity.

The second sense by which false teachers are indicted is in regards to motivation.  Ideally, sound teachers shall be motivated by godliness and devotion to the Lord.  Teachers will always be held accountable, understanding that they are stewards of the gifts that God has given them to administer theology to the fellowship of believers.  In reality, every teacher is to acknowledge the sobering and humbling responsibility of teaching.

In contrast, a false teacher's motivations will not be the pursuit of godliness or devotion but will be self-serving.  Greed, vanity, pride, power are the marks of self-serving false teachers.  THe teaching of a false teacher will reflect their motivations.  Thus, one way to determine whether a teacher is false is to look at the heart of their teaching, which is always accessible if the corpus of their work is examined.  It is the motivations of false teachers that will determine their worth, and more profoundly, how they will be weighed by the Lord.  This should challenge those who are teachers or who desire to teach to search their hearts for the motivations, always striving to teach with the best motivations.

Ultimately, teachers will be held accountable both for the content of their teaching and their hearts motivation to teach.  Moreover, everyone is under teachers.  We each have a certain amount of responsibility in this to examine every teaching with a critical eye for the purpose of growth.  This should not give free-reign to critique or slander teaching or teachers, just that we should be aware and involved students who are keen to protect the flock against heresy and falsity.  Let us then keep alert to  prevent false teaching and protect the Church from false teachers!