by Pastor James Bell

The willful ignorance of God and his purposes by the media and the entertainment industry has perpetuated a disturbing and false concept of God. For the most part, our culture is buying into it big time.

The idea is that God is somewhere up there sneering and snarling at you because you are so messed up. The message is that you have two choices available to you with regard to religious convictions:

You are incapable of being good and you are honest about it.

Or

You are incapable of being good and you are a hypocrite.

You choose. According to the what is culturally acceptable, you only get to choose one. Okay, what do you suppose is the best choice? Here is how it might be described:

“It is to be aware that you are upsetting “the Good Lord” by the way you live, but you are an honest sinner, who might actually be so real and so honestly human that God begins to like you and feel a little sympathy toward you. I mean, at least you are not a hypocrite, whom God and everybody else despises. God will let you know how he feels about you by the things that happen, or don’t happen, to you in your life. If things get rough, you might want to attend a church service pretty soon to show a little respect. But don’t let that hypocrisy rub off on you.”

Just one problem with that concept, though. It’s totally bogus. Two thousand plus years ago, Jesus came to earth and changed everything. Knowing that we are incapable of being good, the Son of God was punished in our place, paying the price for our sins. God loved us too much to leave us separated from himself. There is a difference between imperfection (as we grow spiritually) and being a hypocrite. It is not hypocritical to take a stand for what is right, even though you need forgiveness when you don’t do the right thing. That is progress. That is growth. It can also make you a target for those who have failed to create their own righteousness and criticize the righteousness of Christ in others. They have “dumbed down” Christian teachings to formulate their own pseudo-spirituality that they will take with them to the judgement and eventually to an eternal hell.

One startling fact has not changed since Jesus walked the dusty roads of Judea and Galilee. It is the religious who hate Christ the most. Jesus was executed by Roman soldiers, but he was killed by the religious. The same misunderstanding of the righteousness of God permeates “Christian America” today. To be “good” has become a bad thing. To be “bad” is now a good thing.

God’s response is unchanging. He continues to love those who sin against him, and he offers them a better way. But, being limited by our own mortality, every person has their last time to reject him before it is too late. Understanding that God is not your enemy, you have a great opportunity to experience eternal life, beginning right now. Think about this prayer:

God our Father, we find it difficult to come to you,
because our knowledge of you is imperfect.
In our ignorance we have imagined you to be our enemy;
we have wrongly thought that you take pleasure in punishing our sins;
and we have foolishly conceived you to be a tyrant over human life.

But since Jesus came among us, he has shown that you are loving,
that you are on our side against all that stunts life,
and that our resentment against you was groundless.
So we come to you, asking you to forgive our past ignorance,
and wanting to know more and more of you and your forgiving love,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Stunned by the brevity and depth of this prayer, written by St. Augustine, I can only say, “Amen”.

How about you?

by Pastor Kenny Innes

It’s been amazing to see the excitement and enthusiasm for the gospel that Hosanna has experienced so far in our Salvation sermon series. As Pastor James leads us through biblical truths about the work of God to save us, lights are being switched on in the hearts of long-time Christians as well as new-comers to the faith. Small groups are buzzing with conversation and discovery.

The truth we are discovering is that salvation is not a brick in the house of faith in which we live – it is the house itself. Every truth and element of our faith is dependent upon, and lived out, through our salvation. That’s why sermon series’ and continual reminders of the gospel truth of salvation are healthy for every church that wants to see its members living out the fullness of God’s call on their lives.

Here are some reasons we never get beyond salvation:

1. The Bible never does. The entire Old Testament leads us to Jesus‘ saving work on the cross, and the entire New Testament teaches us to live that salvation out. The apostle Paul continually returns to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and the implications of that for those who believe. When Paul talks about Christian faith, he can’t stop himself from wrapping everything in the context of salvation. Furthermore, he instructs Christians to, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…” (Phil 2:12, ESV). This suggests that our salvation is something we should constantly embrace, think through, talk and sing to God about, and search the scriptures for truth about.

2. Salvation was in the plan of God before the universe existed. Revelation tells us about, “everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain” (Rev 13:8, ESV). The cross was not plan b, but the original purpose of God in revealing His glory to us. God created the world with the intention that salvation would be the central point of history.

3. Salvation will be the focal point of eternity. The people of God will forever worship Jesus, and the reason is because He has saved them. Revelation 7 gives us a glimpse into the kind of adoration that will take place:

Rev 7:9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (ESV)

The central reason they worship Him is the glory of salvation. Their devotion, love, and worship are set alight by the God who saved them. We have an opportunity in this life to begin a passionate pursuit of Jesus based upon the grace, love and mercy that He has shown in saving us.

4. There are people who think they are saved, but are deceived. Jesus tells us that there will be many who are convinced they had a grasp on salvation, when in fact they did not:

Matt 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (ESV)

Christians need regular reminding of the truth of the gospel of salvation so that the Holy Spirit can continue to convict and confirm to them that they are living in true relationship with God.

5. The preaching of the Word in a church is not just for the teaching of those who already know God, but also for those who do not. When Christians hear preaching about the gospel, they should be excited that the core of their faith is being explained to those among us who don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus.

1 Tim 2:3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (ESV)



Someone once said that God does not call us beyond the gospel, but deeper into the gospel. I am praying for myself and for our church that the impact of our sermon series on salvation will last far beyond the 5 weeks of its duration, inspiring us to bring our whole lives into the context of God’s saving power in our lives, and create a desire to see that same experience happen to those who don’t yet know Him.

Here’s to a lifetime (and beyond) of salvation.