Warmed Over Self-Esteemism

 My friend Zack and I went witnessing last night in BrickTown. We look like carnies standing on the street, with a bunch of cheap toys under a poster board with the question, “are you a good person?” My friend Zack was first, he was talking to this lady with about 15 other people behind her.

 He took her through the law briskly. Have you ever lied? Yes. Have you ever stolen anything? Yes. Have you ever looked upon a man with lust (committed adultery)? After some hesitation she admitted to it. Then he explained to her that if God judged us be this standard alone we would all go to hell. That is in fact what we deserve.

 He spent the most minimal time on this I have ever seen him spend. She was already apprehensive, she kept looking back at her husband I think. Then he quickly transitioned to the good news. About 1 minute in to this, some lady walked up and said, “WE HAVE GRACE SO ALL THAT PREVIOUS STUFF DOESN’T MATTER!” Zack agreed with them promptly, that that’s the good news of the gospel. We can have our sins washed away by the blood of Christ. And before he could finish that statement the lady stomped off.

 (Her husband walked up and shook Zack’s hand and said that was a creative way to communicate the message of the gospel. He seemed pleased.)

 Then Zack got a crowd of a bunch of girls from some Dakota who all played on the same softball team (there uniforms were the hint). The girl who stepped up to the mic had a cross necklace, and after greeting her, began taking her through the law. When he reached the implications of our all falling short of the glory of God, everyone almost in unison turned around and started to distract each other.

 I talked to one girl and her boyfriend, they looked to be in their late twenties. I was explaining to them the gospel. Then I moved on to explain American Christianity and True Christianity. She seemed to understand very clearly what I was saying. Her boyfriend however started accusing me of twisting scripture, which he could not tell me what I was saying that was wrong, he just started repeating, “you’re lying, and twisting the Bible.”

 All of these ugly witnessing encounters have something in common. We could easily be discouraged from these what seem like poor witnessing encounters. With witnessing there is something we have to learn really quickly, the gospel is offensive. It does not matter how nicely or politely I say something. Ultimately I am telling someone they are not good and they need a savior or they are going to go to hell. Who wants to hear that? No one that is unregenerate.

 Most people want to think they are good. I can remember thinking to myself, “If there really is a God he cant send me to hell, I am not that bad.”

 But the Bible tells a different story of mankind (just a few, its not exhaustive by any means):

 “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5

 “And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” Genesis 8:21

 “They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.” Psalm 14:3

 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalms 51:5

 “The wicked are estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.” Psalm 58:3

 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin
or the leopard his spots?
Then also you can do good
who are accustomed to do evil.” Jeremiah 13:23

 “And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”Luke 18:19

 “as it is written:
None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.
Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.
The venom of asps is under their lips.
Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
 Romans 3:10-18

 “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” Romans 14:23b

 “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Ephesians 2:3

 Now if that is what the Bible says about man, yet we think we are good, it is a strong defense of the truthfulness of the Bible. Because the Bible also says:

 “The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?”

 And now you have your answer as to why people want to think they are good. It is because our hearts deceive us. Not one person can run through the ten commandments and say they have followed them all to the t.

 One of the big things working against us is that we are in the Bible belt. Everyone thinks they are a Christian. And today there many churches that will gladly appeal to the carnal consumer (2 Tim 4:3). These false teachers are experts at preserving someone’s self-esteem and keeping their congregation happy, while using enough Bible to make someone think they believe it. This warmed over self-esteemism is what we are up against. A gospel that is not offensive. It is a gospel that starts with God’s love and never introduces consequences. It is a gospel that is easy, one that is based on man’s decision to pray and ask Jesus to come into his heart.

 You won’t find that prescription for salvation in the New Testament. It is easy and assuring. Unfortunately it is a damning lie. I am not saying someone cannot get saved from that, but I am saying that many are deceived by this false ‘method’ of conversion.

We must preach the gospel (Rom 1:16). It is offensive and humbles the proud who want to rely on their works to get them into heaven (Gal 5:11).

 So when a witness encounter seems to go sour remember a few things:

 

-They were getting convicted

-You are preaching the true gospel (so long as you are sure you are not being overtly rude)

-God’s word says this is what will happen.

 

Just to support the last statement here is the verse I will leave you with:

 ”For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” 2 Corinthians 2:15-16

 

Baptized into His death,

Keeter

 

Morning Time

I’m having a great morning.  

I spent all of last night doing laundry in the basement of the dorms and translating Greek sentences for Professor Beck. It was rough but worth the time. After about 4 hours of Aesop’s Fables TURBO_MAX dryers, I escaped to the outside world.  Around 6:00 I was driving through downtown and found a little diner that I have never tried. I bought some greasy eggs and toast for 6 bucks and walked down the street to a coffee shop I frequent. I’m now sitting in the window, at 7:15, watching light stumble down main street as the sun comes up.

I’ve recorded all of this, because God has written deep in my heart a yearning for people to know Him.  In the deep silence that has defined my last 6 hours or so, God has been constantly speaking love and strength into me. Our God does not sit and watch the world go around. He does not sit silently on a throne somewhere far off in space.  Our God sustains all of existance with His words. Our God is a God that speaks. We are a people of hard hearts and closed ears, but he breaks our hearts and pries open our ears just so we may know Him!

I am so broken and full of sin, but for some reason, when I hear God speak to me, He speaks of redemption, righteousness, purity, worship, and love.  I don’t deserve God’s favor in any way, but it is a gift that Christ has bought with his blood. 

The whole world needs to hear about what Jesus did for us on the cross. And our God loves to speak. ^_^

I’m having a great morning.
I will not stay silent.

 

Grace and peace,
PZ

Tract #2

God is terrifyingly Holy. Isaiah 6 is a description of Isaiah’s vision of the One True and Holy God:

 “Seraphim stand above Him , each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.” Isaiah 6:2

 These angels are standing in the presence of God. They are sinless, yet they cannot bear to look at God because of His immense Holiness.

 Everyone will meet God on judgment day whether they like it or not. If you were sinless—as holy as an angel—you still would not be able to look at God and live. If an angel’s holiness won’t allow him to see God, imagine what would happen if you stood in the presence of a Holy Righteous God.

 I can say without a doubt that you have sinned just like everyone else in the world. But you may respond with something like, “Yes, I am human, I sin like everyone else, and God can’t punish all of us for that.” If I ignore the problem of sin for a minute and just focus on holiness, I will also find a problem. Holiness is to be set apart, God is Holy because He is distinct from everything in creating. If you say you are like everyone else, then you are not very holy are you?

 So why in the world should God let an unholy sinner into heaven? The answer to that question is that he definitely has no obligation to.

 “He who justifies the wicked…are an abomination to the Lord.” Proverbs 17:15

 If you sin you are viewed as wicked before God. And this verse says it would be an abomination for God to let you into heaven.

 So basically, we need a righteousness that is not our own or else we will go to hell. An angel’s righteousness won’t do. We need nothing less than God’s own righteousness. But God must punish our wickedness as well. Praise God He did that for us. He promises the handling of our sins and His righteousness for those who repent and believe the Gospel.

 “My servant will justify the many (count righteous), As He will bear their iniquities (sin).” Isaiah 53:11

 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

 Now I said that there were two things a person must do in order for this glorious transaction to take place.

 The first thing you must do is repent of your sins. This means a few things. Acknowledge your unholy sinfulness before God and that apart from His grace you deserve hell, wrath, and judgment. Apologize to God for continuously sinning against Him. Then finally turn from your sin and pursue righteousness.

 The final thing you must do is believe the Gospel. To believe it is to put all of your trust in Christ’s perfect work to get you into heaven. Christ perfect work consists of: Christ being born of a woman as the God-man, living a perfect sinless life, being crucified, and rising again on the third day. If you believe this Gospel you will no longer trust in your own “goodness” to be saved from the wrath of God, but rather you will trust in Christ righteousness to get you into heaven.

 If you have read this tract and you have an awareness of your sinful unworthiness before this Holy God, cry out to God for mercy and don’t stop until he saves you.

 Some of you may have finished this and thought, “I have already done this, I am saved.” Then I must ask you this question, are continuously becoming more aware of sin in your life and repenting of it? If your not repenting now, you never really repented. So please consider seriously the command of God to repent and believe the Gospel. (This also applies to anyone who might repent and believe after reading this tract).

 Now just a quick tidbit for the skeptic. If you finished this tract just for the heck of it consider this. I quoted Isaiah 53 to explain the work of Christ, this was written 600 years before Christ walked the earth. If you seek out all of the prophecies that were made in the Old Testament you will find that they were fulfilled in the New Testament in ways the Jews could not have fathomed. If 40 authors can write a book comprised of 66 books over a span of 4000 years and it remain consistent, then I am going to conclude that God must have had something to do with it.

 

In Christ Alone,

 Keeter

 

 

How can I know that I am saved?

I am going to visit 3 specific areas of assurance. These three different types of assurance can all be found in scripture. The first I will visit is someone believing the gospel.

The first sign of someone being saved, is if they believe the gospel.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16

The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Jesus said two things must be done in response to the gospel.

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Since I am dealing with assurance I am going to just deal with the believing aspect of the gospel.

But one question we must answer. What is the gospel? I could exhaust all of the space in the internet writing about the gospel and never finish, but I am hoping to explain it enough to where you can get an idea of what the gospel is.

What is the gospel? Romans 1:1-4 is just one big long sentence about the gospel. V.1 states that Paul was called as an apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God. V.2 “Which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,” this Gospel was a promise laid out in the Old Testament, and is fulfilled in the New Testament. V.3 Christ was born of the lineage of David, as prophesied in the Old Testament. “According to the Flesh,” is an emphatic declaration of His humanity. V.4 “Declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead,” Christ’s resurrection proved that the sacrifice was acceptable to God, therefore we can be justified. V.5 “Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith…for His name’s sake,” The Gospel is God’s way of fulfilling righteousness, because He had passed over former sins (Romans 3:25).

Just to summarize

• The Gospel is God’s fulfillment of the Old Testament promises.

• Christ was born of the lineage of David as prophesied.

• He was fully man.

• The resurrection declared He was the Son of God.

Definition of the Gospel in light of these truths:

The Gospel is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises in Christ. His incarnation, His atonement, and His resurrection. The truth of the crucifixion may not be apparent to you, it is derived from the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise of the perfect sacrifice.

The interesting thing about the gospel is that it is foolish to the natural man (1 Cor 1:25). A natural man thinks it is insane! So just for a clearer understanding of belief, think of it in the context that the natural man thinks it is silly. Would you be willing to stake your life on this glorious wisdom of God?

Is the gospel glorious to you? Is it something you truly believe and but your trust in for assurance that you will go to heaven and be with God when you die? If it is, you can be assured.

You must have faith alone in Christ alone. If you believe in Christ and your works, you do not understand Christ. If your trust is in Christ alone for your salvation you can be assured that you are saved!

Here are some verses to support that belief (true saving faith) is the only necessity required to be saved:

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” John 1:12

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:14-16

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:18

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” John 3:36

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24

“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” John 6:47

“To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Acts 10:43

“Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” Acts 13:38-39

“Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31

-Keeter

Chatting with Muslims

Whenever I go out witnessing on campus, I usually encounter at least one group of Muslims in Beaird Lounge.

Some of the greatest conversations i have had with people on campus have been with Muslims, but they are also usually the hardest. I thought I would post some of the recurring arguments that Ive seen when talking to them.

 

1. “I beleieve in Jesus just like you believe in Jesus.”

>>This is simply not true. believing that Jesus was a “beloved prophet” and beleveing that he was fully God fullly man are completely different things.  The “Jesus” that Muslims subscribe to is a false person.  Jesus was not a prophet. Jesus was the Christ that the prophets spoke of.
**EDIT**
I recently purchased a copy of the Qur’an.  Skimming through it, it took me about 45 seconds to find a passage about Jesus. Surah 4:171 of the Qur’an states that Jesus “was no more than a messenger of Allah”.   Just a little bit further in the passage it states that God is “above having a son” (just after it denies the  Trinity).  

To say that Muslims believe in Jesus just like Christians believe in Jesus is simply not true.   

 2. “I can’t even begin to understand how God could become a man, or how the Trinity is three but still one.”

>> I have no response to this other than the fact that I agree. This is a great opportunity for the gospel. I replied to Ahmad’s statement with something like this. 
“I cannot fathom how an infinite and sovereign God of creation can become a crying, pooping baby in a barn, grow up to be hated and despised and eventually executed in the most humiliating way possible all to redeem a people He chose, knowing that they would rebel against him and deny his lordship with their every thought.  I agree. It makes no sense to me.”
As far as the Trinity goes it is not meant to be “understood” in human terms. God gives as examples (such as marriage) in order to for us to emulate characteristics of the trinity. Beyond this however, we cannot fully understand how God is three and yet one, or how the persons of the Trinity exists in perfect communion.

That all said, it DOES make perfect sense that an infinite God, would exist and act in a way that I (a finite man) cannot understand.  

This is just my first thoughts on the subject and more will come later.

 

Grace and Peace,
PZ 

 

Street Preaching for Spring Break

Happy Spring Break!

Grant and I are headed down to Ft. Worth, Texas for a retreat with our church.  We will have a few free nights that we plan to use for street evangelism downtown.  Please be praying for us and the people we will talk to. Thank you again for the continued support of our work and ministry.

New articles will start coming out over the next few days. till then, gratefully enjoy the rest that God is granting us this week. ^_^

Grace and Peace,
PZ

Their Blood is All Over My Hands

Based on how yesterday went I am forced to reflect on my almost non existent witness this week. I talked to maybe two people about Jesus. Don’t get me wrong there is no set number of people you have to witness to in a week in order to be saved or anything like that. It is the number of opportunities I had. I sat in a line with a ton of atheists for at least 2 hours and did not witness to any of them. That is definitely an opportunity blown. Or when I sit waiting for my class to start and someone else is sitting there waiting with me and we are doing essentially nothing. I might even strike up a meaningless conversation with them, but I do not bring up my God.

Oh how I deny him by my lifestyle so often. I am like the ungrateful child of whoredom, who repeatedly cheats on my God. I waste so much time that could be spent telling everyone about Jesus. And why do I do this….I am afraid, I am lazy, and my heart is dull and cold to the lost all too often.

“If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.” Ezekiel 33:8-9 (ESV)

This verse absolutely cuts me to my core. God has definitely said that the wicked one shall surely die. WE HAVE THE CURE FOR THIS WRETCHED DISEASE CALLED SIN. And it is not as though we must give someone a hazy picture of faith in God. We now have the gospel. Something clear to believe in. The progressive revelation is complete. We have what those in the Old Testament hoped for, the messiah.

He saved us from our sins apart from anything we did. Yet we waver in spreading his message, the very message that saved us.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16 (ESV)

God did not ordain souls to be saved through us living under a rock.

“But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” Romans 10:14 (ESV)

It is not sufficient to say. I am too shy or I do not have the gift of evangelism. Timothy was told to do the work of an evangelist (2 Tim 4:5). This is after Paul stated that some had that gift and some did not (Eph 4:11). Then Paul says that the Church needs to equip the saints for the work of the ministry (v. 12). What is that ministry?

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;” 2 Corinthians 5:18 (ESV)

That is everyone’s ministry. Unfortunately I have neglected mine.

Spurgeon can sum this up for us pretty well:

“Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that… If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.” -C.H. Spurgeon

Just a Sinner Saved by Grace,

-Keeter

The Adventures of Dick Dawkins ep.1

Well, the two fundies are the first in line at Richard Dawkins crusade for no God. He is like the Billy Graham of Atheists. Many of the people that seem to be volunteers that are helping out with the event have these shirts with a red A on them.  It’s interesting to me that a worldview that advocates no real purpose feels the need to assemble in groups and where jerseys to represent their opinion.

A purposeless group’s purpose is to spread purposelessness. I would say the real reason for this is they suppress the truth in their unrighteousness. They have crafted this “religion” to cover over their guilt. What better way to suppress the truth then to assemble in a group and be able to point to them and say, “See I am not the only one.” This strength in numbers sociology applies even to someone who doesn’t supposedly think they need strength in numbers.

But turn to the kinds of things that Dick Dawkins says and you read stuff like, (paraphrase) “just look at nature, its exquisite.” Surely they have fulfilled the picture of the depraved man in Romans 1; they worship the creature rather than the creator. They may hate the Bible and say it isn’t true, but they definitely seem to fulfill what it says.

They run around spreading purposelessness…and that is their purpose. That sounds like a bunch of fools to me. And they fulfill the scriptures again because like David says, “the fool has said in his heart there is no God.”

Fight on,

-Keeter

Evangelism

Before we take this much further, I feel that God is leading me to lay down some more foundation as to what we are and what we do.

SOAP is not a church. SOAP is not an independent ministry.
SOAP is some kids who, by grace, have come to love Jesus.  God has chosen to use us as tools (rusty and broken as we are) to expand his kingdom.  (matt 28:19)

That’s that. so now…

on to Evangelism.

 

I met a Muslim yesterday who asked me a very interesting question:

“Why is this Gospel of yours such good news?”

At this time,  the Holy Spirit gave me a memory of Mark Dever at a recent conference I went to. 

“Justice is served in two places,” Mark Dever explained, “The Cross…and Hell.”

We all have a debt to pay. Our sin is an active and violent offense to the holy and living God. Being a perfect and righteous judge, He has authored a fitting punishment for such offense.  This, friends, is Hell. We all deserve it. God in his infinite glory, comes down in the form of a man and lives the perfect life that we fail to. He then dies the humiliating death we all deserve. after three days, He rises from the grave. Friends, Christ’s death pays our debt! and His rising conquers death! 

This is why the Gospel is good news.

GOD paid our debt.
All of it.
Paid.

for those who are called to His kingdom, our debt is paid!

People live their lives as prisoners to lies that will lead them gingerly into the fires of Hell, never knowing that there is another road, until it is too late. 

The Gospel is THE good news because it is the only thing that can save us from the Hell that we deserve.

And the greatest part of it all…

God gets ALL THE GLORY.

^_^

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” <Romans 1:16> 

 

Grace and peace,

PZ

Tract #1

Well if you picked up this tract. I beg you to please read it and consider what it says.

I don’t want you to just be happy until you die; I want you to be happy when you die. The only reason someone would be happy when they die is that they know that they will be going to heaven, a place of greater glory then this earth. The primary purpose of this tract is to assure you of your salvation or point out that you need to be saved. From this point on I will be explaining scripture. I encourage you to read your Bibles to confirm that what I am saying is true.

The first question we must address is, why are we here?

“Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth…everyone whom I created for my glory.” Isaiah 43: 6-7

God did not create us because He was lonely. God did not need us. God needs absolutely nothing. He created us for His glory. He gets glory from us needing Him.

“You shall have no other gods before me.” Deuteronomy 5: 7

When God made this commandment He was not referring simply to other religions. He was not referring to idols like little statues. God desires us to desire Him and Him alone. When we love things more than God we commit idolatry. If we examine what dominates our thoughts, that will reveal our god very quickly. Our god could be something like safety, success, or money. The point is God desires us to desire Him and Him alone.

Secondly, what is the purpose of life?

“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10: 31

There are many other scriptures that point to the purpose of all things being God’s glory. They use terminology like, “For My namesake,” or simply, “for My glory.” Something to dispel while I am here is that God does not get glory when we are rich and we just say thank God for what I have. God gets the most amount of glory when we are satisfied in Him, and even more so in loss then in prosperity. Here is a radical example of this taken from a John Piper sermon:

When you smash your car and your little girl goes flying through the windshield of your car and lands dead on the street. And through the deepest possible pain you respond, “God is enough. He will get us through this. My flesh, my heart and my little girl may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

That is the situation in which God gets glory. Not when we drive expensive cars and say thank God.

Thirdly, why should God let you into heaven?

This presents a massive problem. God is a righteous judge. If there is a child molester before a judge and the judge says I think you are sorry for what you have done, you can go. All of society would cry, “justice has not been served this judge is a monster.” That is the problem with God letting us into heaven; we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3: 23). If God just let us into heaven then He would be an unrighteous judge. The other problem posed by that is we are all guilty and thereby deserve the wrath of God (Romans 6:23). Now you might say well I am not a child molester nor have I done anything really bad. The problem with that is you still fall incredibly short. Just for clarification, have you ever lied? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever committed adultery? Maybe not but Jesus said if you lust after a woman in your heart then you commit adultery. Have you ever murdered anyone? Maybe not but Jesus said anyone that hates in their heart commits murder. So now most likely you could be considered a liar, a thief, an adulterer, and a murderer. Why in the world should God let you into heaven? Clearly after going through four commandments you can see that you are definitely guilty according to God’s standard. Apart from a divine intervention you, just like myself, deserve the judgment of God.

Here is the good news!!

God says in His word that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. If we pay for our sin we get hell. God paid our fine in His life’s blood. He was born of a woman, born under the law, so that He could redeem those who are under the law. Christ lived a perfect life, He was crucified by His own people on the cross, and rose on the third day, defeating death once and for all. Now what does that mean for our divine problem? On that cross he bore the sins of His people. So that if we repent and put our complete trust in His perfect work, His righteousness is imputed to us, and our sin is transferred to Him. The theological term for this is justification. We are counted righteous in God’s eyes.

Picture yourself on the stand about to be sent to prison and someone shows up and says your punishment has been paid for in full. You are free to go. That is what Christ did on the cross for all of those who would believe. So now God is just and we can be forgiven! Now I must spend a little time making salvation very clear, so you can be sure. Jesus gives some very startling warnings in Matthew 7, He says, “many of you on that day will cry Lord Lord, and I will say depart from me I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness.” Jesus also states in John 3 that you must be born again if you want to see the kingdom of God. I know from much study that largely American Christianity has turned conversion into something that can be done in five minutes, a flu shot so to speak. When someone is born again they become a new creature. They do not practice sin, but practice righteousness. Will they sin? Yes. But they will have a deep contempt for it. Someone who is born again will hate their sin and desire to kill it. Do you hate your sin? Do you love God or just His stuff? Do you only love God when things go well? Does He know you? Do you love the brethren (Christian brother’s and sister’s)? Do you desire to read the word?

What about when it all goes bad?

People have massive problems with things going wrong in their life if there is a God. Here is the problem with the notion that things will be great after you are saved. They will go bad. He will chastise us, to make us holier, to conform us to the image of His son. Romans 8:28 states that all things work together for our good. There is a good purpose in bad things that happen. Whether God is breaking our grip on an idol in our heart or making us more dependent on Him. God has a purpose in evil, especially for those who believe. We should rejoice in trials.

Do you believe all of this?

If you decide that you think you had a superficial relationship with Jesus after this, what you must do is repent and turn from the sin in your life and place all of your trust in the perfect work of Christ. At this point Christ’s righteousness will be imputed to you (you will be counted righteous) and your sins will be washed away, through the wrath absorbing cross that the messiah died on for you. Also at this point you will be born again, your heart of stone will be replaced with a heart of flesh that loves God and desires to keep His commandments. Those who are born again will endure to the end. Being saved isn’t just something that is done with and over. Although at the point we are saved we are free from condemnation, we must fight sin and be conformed to the image of Christ. This by no means will be instant sanctification, but we will grow in holiness and love for God from the day we get saved on.

I love you very much and want you to be saved and assured that you are. Please at the very least ponder the things you have read of here. If you have questions email me please. Whether you are seeking God or are a skeptic, I want to do anything I can for you so that you can know God and glorify Him.

>>>We are gonna be publishing and distributing tracts soon. I hope this template can be useful for people who are looking for ideas for tract content to help with evangelism.

Get out there and fight the good fight!

-Keeter