salvation

Have you said, “I do.” to Jesus?

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Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 ESV

On our block, there are twenty people I call my neighbors, and in my directory, I can find a dozen others, that I call our friends. But over the years, the names on all my lists have changed except for one: my wife, Nancy. If, like us, you had a traditional wedding ceremony, you said words like these “Do you _____ take ___ _for better or worse, for richer, or poorer, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful as long as you both shall live?”  In the exchanging of vows, we entered what the Bible calls a covenant relationship. The same is true with God, and for us to be more than just the friends and neighbors of Jesus, there must be a moment when we say, “I do.” In the wedding ceremony there are more than vows, there is also the moment of the exchanging of rings.

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My wedding band remains on my finger, as a public statement that I belong exclusively to Nancy. She has a say in my affairs that no one else does. It symbolizes our inner commitment. In Christianity, God has a ring for us to put on called baptism. Once we have said, “I do” to Jesus and confessed Him as Lord, we put on His ring by being baptized. Though the water doesn’t make us a believer, it shows God, as well as my friends and neighbors, that I have accepted Jesus as my Lord, that He is in charge of the affairs of my life, and I gladly put on His ring. But, as the commercials say, “wait there’ s more!” After the vows and the exchanging rings, there comes a moment when the minister turns to the groom and says, “You may now kiss the bride.” For most of us guys that was no problem. We were delighted to do so! In the Christian life, Jesus also has something like that kiss, called communion, The Bible says that as often as we do it, we remember His death until He comes. The death of Jesus was His ultimate act of love, to pay the price for our sins so that we could go to Heaven and live forever with Him. Yes, eternal life is wonderful. Heaven has streets of gold, jewels in the walls and beautiful places for us to live, but best of all, it is an eternal covenant relationship with Jesus. If we have fallen in love with Jesus, that relationship all begins at an altar, with a vow, “Jesus is Lord.” A ring, “following Him in baptism” and a kiss, “remembering His death in communion. Jesus is a wonderful, loving, and eternal Lord. Have you said, “I do” to Him?

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Lifting Up the Serpent

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And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:14-15 NKJV

In today’s digital age, only a few of us remember reading the Sunday paper. For me one of the great luxuries of a Sunday afternoon, was to peruse the headlines, then the sports section and finally the funny pages. My favorite was a comic strip named “B. C.”, by cartoonist Johnny Hart, who specialized in light humor sprinkled with a hint of Biblical wisdom. One of his most memorable scenes was a panel of the club wielding cave woman who had just whacked a dazed snake over the head. It gave us a humorous reminder of the reputation that serpents have maintained ever since Eve took that first bite of the apple. Today’s verse reminds us of a story from the book of Exodus when God sent Moses out into a crowd of folks dying from snake bites, carrying a bronze serpent on a staff. Since those snakes are a representative of evil and sin it makes me wonder why Jesus was willing to become like that.

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The answer goes all the way back to Genesis, to a conversation that God had with Adam, Eve and the serpent after the man and woman had sinned. Interestingly, God didn’t begin with Adam or Eve. Instead, He started by pronouncing judgement on the serpent, and ending by saying, “He shall bruise your head, and you will bruise His heel.” So, even before Adam and Eve were given their list of consequences, God set in motion a plan for their redemption. That redemption was pictured in Exodus, when because of the people’s sin they came under attack by a slithering horde of venomous snakes. Then, right in middle of the death and chaos, God sent Moses out into the crowd with that serpent, so that anyone who would look towards it would be healed. That seemed pretty bizarre to me the first time I read it, but I realized later that it gives us a perfect picture of what Jesus did for us. While we were spiritually dying from the venomous bite of sin, God sent His Son out into the crowd of us mortally wounded sinners and allowed Jesus to be lifted up on a cross. On that dark and terrible afternoon, with blood dripping from His wounds, and drunken soldiers gambling for His clothing, He was lifted above the chaos, so that a thief dying next to Him, a Roman executioner and a cowardly disciple named Nicodemus, could look to Him and be forgiven and transformed. Jesus took the poison of sin from our bodies and accepted it into His own. God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus to die in our place, so that anyone looking to Him in faith could be healed. For six terrible hours He hung there, but now for eternity His is lifted up to Heaven offering sinners like you and me eternal life, if we will only look up to Him!

In Times Like These

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The grass withers, the flower fades,
    but the word of our God will stand forever.
Isaiah 40:8 ESV

Whether we are looking at the news on television or hearing the news about one of our friends or family members on the telephone, it is sometimes hard to believe these things are really happening. “In Times Like These” was written in the midst of World War II. With reports of thousands dying every day on battle fields and in naval battles around the world and the outcome of the war far from certain, Ruth Caye was inspired to write, “In times like these, we need a Savior, in times like these, we need an anchor” The war that was being fought then is long over, but after eighty years, our need for a Savior, and the Bible, is greater than ever! I pray you will be encouraged and blessed by this week’s song from our Sunday service at Watermark Assisted Living. There is still no one like Jesus who alone promises to carry us through whatever war that we face in our lives today. God bless you all. Seek the Savior, hold on to His word and trust Him with your life and He will carry you through to the very end!