Pacific Hope

Surveys have shown that a vast majority of people in the United States identify themselves as Christian. However, when asked, "What is a Christian?" there were a variety of responses:

I don't believe there is just one answer but MILLIONS of answers. Christianity and religion are personal and can mean different things to each individual, even within the same church.

The answer is pretty basic. A Christian is one who believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ. The rest of it seems to be pretty much open to personal interpretation.

No one will ever define "Christian," just as no one will ever define "God." Both are completely subjective terms.

Whether you agree with any of the responses above or not, it's likely that you are looking to better understand the Christian faith. Perhaps you are skeptical of the claims of Christ and are looking to prove that there is more than one way to heaven, or maybe you are a believer and are simply looking for tools to grow in your ability to share your faith. Regardless of your reason, we encourage you to read on and trust you will have a deeper comprehension of what it means to be a saved, born-again Christian.

Identifying oneself as a Christian not only delineates how day to day life is lived, but it also connotes where one will spend eternity. Regardless of what someone believes, there is no one that will escape this world without facing death. We encourage you to read through the following truths, examine what it means to be saved, and decide how you will answer should someone ask if you are a Christian.

Warning: Avoid the "Salvation" Lie that Many Modern Churches Teach.

Many people declare to be a Christian because they prayed and invited Jesus into their heart to be their Savior. A great false teaching of many contemporary churches is that if you pray and ask Jesus into your heart, He will definitely come in. The reality of such teaching is that it is simply not Biblical. True salvation is revealed through Christ alone, by faith alone. God's plan for you to be saved is not by "asking Jesus into your heart." True saving faith is the divine work of God Himself in the very soul of the individual He so graciously pursues. The human response of God's pursuing grace is to be preceded and followed up with repentance by faith in Christ alone. You don't become a Christian by joining a church, adopting a creed, or by believing in God's existence.  There are lots of false churches, false creeds, and even the devil believes in God. Becoming a Christian means you need to understand what the real issues are. 

The Bad News:

God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden of Eden. He gave them the freedom to choose between right and wrong. They chose to sin. Sin is doing that which is contrary to the nature and will of God.  For example, God cannot lie; therefore, lying is sin.  The sin that Adam and Eve committed resulted in them being expelled from the Garden of Eden as well as suffering the effect of death. Once sin entered the world through Adam, it, in effect, infected every human being to follow, including you. No matter how "good" of a person you may think you are, and no matter how "bad" of a person you may know you are, the Bible clearly says, ...There is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...For the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:22-23;6:23).

To fall short of God's glory, is to not live up to His standard, which is absolute sinless perfection. Since God is perfect and holy, He cannot look upon imperfection, nor allow imperfection into His presence. Anytime a word, thought, or action doesn't meet that perfect standard, it is sin. We must be saved from the penalty that is due for our sinful nature.

In order to uphold God's standards, you need to know what those standards are. God's standards, known as the Ten Commandments, require you to honor, worship and be like God in a perfect sinless manner with your words, deeds and thoughts. God also has a perfect standard for human relationships, which is to perfectly and selflessly love mankind and to never fail at doing so. God demands that these laws be upheld from the cradle to the grave.

A closer look at the commandments shows us that although we may consider ourselves "good," when we compare ourselves to other people, we fall short of God's glory daily.

The Ten Commandments (Ex 20:1-17)

The First Four Commandments Demand a Perfect, Sinless, Honoring, Love Relationship Toward God

1. You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me.

• In order to perfectly love God, you must love Him with a perfect obedient love.
• Perfect love for God must be perfectly committed and loyal at all times.
• If God has not been on the forefront of your mind, and at anytime you have prioritized anyone or anything before Him, you fall short of God's standard.

2. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above   
 or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship
 them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous god...

• In order to perfectly love God, you must love Him with perfect faithfulness.
• This perfect faithful love is an extended loyalty of the first commandment.

• God does not allow for competition of worship.
• If you have ever shown affection, care, or an obsession for any object, be it inanimate or a living creature before God; THAT is idolatry, which causes you to fall short of God's standard.  

3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will
    not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

• In order to perfectly love God, you must love Him with perfect reverence.
• Perfect reverence is giving Him the glory that is due to His name at all times.
• If you have ever used His name; in any form, be it God, Jesus, or Christ, as a swear word, or taking an oath saying; "I swear to God," or flippantly saying; "oh my God," you have fallen short of God's perfect standard.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

• In order to perfectly love God, you must love Him with a love that is perfectly set-apart for Him.
• In addition to loving Him in perfect obedience on a daily basis, He demands a day be set apart completely for Him (as He instructed early Israel), without work, hobbies or activities getting in the way.
• Jesus said; "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.  Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath" Mark 2:27-28.
• This is an intimate, personal love that is set-apart to aggressively seek devotion toward Him and Him alone.
• If you have ever been so busy that you have neglected to set-apart such a day, or have pushed God out of your mind, purpose and efforts, you have fallen short of God's perfect standard.

Commandants 5-10 Demand a Perfect, Sinless, Honoring, Love Relationship with People.

5.  Honor your father and your mother,

• Perfect love toward parents/people is to be perfectly respectful at all times.
• To honor someone is to have perfectly respectful behavior and attitude.
• In order to perfectly love ones parents, is to obey in perfect, honoring obedience.
• If you have ever shown disrespect, dishonor, or disobedience toward your parents, you have fallen short of God's perfect standard.

6.  You shall not murder.

• Perfect love toward people is to be perfectly humane.
• Since most people have not committed murder, they think that they are okay on this issue. In the New Testament (Matthew chapter 5), Jesus said, that if you have hatred in your heart for a person, that it is equal to murder.
• If you have ever hated another, you have fallen short of God's perfect standard.

7.  You shall not commit adultery.

• Perfect love towards another is a love that is perfectly pure and undefiled.
• Any sexual relationship outside of the marriage covenant is a violation of God's perfect law of love.
• Jesus, again pointed out the heart of the matter when He said; anyone who looks at a woman [or man] lustfully has already committed adultery with her [or him] in his [or her] heart (Matt 5:28).
• If you have ever had a sexual relationship outside of marriage, or sexually lusted in your mind for another, other than your spouse, you have fallen short of God's perfect standard.

8.  You shall not steal.

• Perfect love towards another is perfectly unselfish.
• If you have ever taken anything that is not yours, either deliberately or perhaps "found" something you like without turning it in, that is stealing.
• If you have ever been lazy on the job and haven't worked to the expectation of your superior; that is stealing company time, or perhaps you have downloaded items off of the internet through crafty measures.
• If you have stolen anything in any manner, you have fallen short of God's perfect standard.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

• Perfect love towards another is perfectly truthful.
• If you have ever told a lie, said something falsely against another, or talked in an untruthful manner about another, you have fallen short of God's perfect standard.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

• Perfect love towards another is to be perfectly content with all that you have.
• If you have ever had a strong desire to want what another person has, or have been consumed with wanting something great or better than you already have, then you are guilty of coveting and have fallen short of God's perfect standard.

God reveals our sinful condition through His perfect Law.

Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."
 (Romans 7:7)

Failure to uphold the Ten Commandments are external actions or failures that are conceived within a sinful heart.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. (Matthew 15:19)

At this point you are likely feeling like a complete failure. That is the point of God's perfect Law; no one is capable. The bad news is bad because due to our human sinful condition, the task of upholding the perfect law and work of God is IMPOSSIBLE! Therefore, when a person passes into death, he or she must pay compensation for their inability to uphold Gods perfect Law, which is eternal separation from God; that is hell.

The Good News:

In the gospel of Mark, Jesus said; "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). The word gospel is a word that means "good news." The "good news" is that God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ out of heaven and onto earth in the form of a man. Jesus Christ accomplished what no human being is capable of. He upheld God's perfected Law with sinless, obedient perfection. Jesus never suffered to correct any disobedience on His part, because as God in human flesh, He couldn't sin. As God in human flesh, Christ "learned obedience" (from a human perspective), as He humbled Himself to learn, And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:52). Christ demonstrated His humanity while experiencing all of the same temptations we experience through every stage of life, yet without sin ...though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him... (Hebrews 5:8-9).

He died on a cross as the penalty for sin to satisfy God's wrath and anger over sin. Through Christ's perfect righteousness and sacrifice on the cross, He became our means for salvation. Jesus died to pay the penalty for the sin of all who would believe and He rose from the dead as ONLY God could do., He was fully God and fully man. Jesus took the sin of everyone who would believe upon Himself and paid the penalty as though He committed each of those sins Himself, ...so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:21).

The sinner who believes on Christ is in Him granted forgiveness for all of his or her sins, as God places on his or her account all of Jesus' perfect righteousness. God now looks at the believer as one who is just as righteous as His Son, Jesus Christ. This is God's gift of grace which is a gift of undeserved merit, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:8-10). The final destination of a true follower of Jesus Christ is heaven "...to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect... (Hebrews 12:23-24). Jesus promised that where He dwells in glory, [heaven] is the very place in which you, as a believer will dwell for all eternity "...I am going there [heaven] to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am" (John 14:2-4).

God's glory

Finally, our salvation, like everything else, is God's.  For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be the glory forever. (Romans 11:36).  In light of this, we are not simply saved from hell, but rather from Him.  We are saved from the judgment and wrath of God against those who do not repent.  Second, we are not saved through our effort.  We are saved through Him by the sovereign grace that God chose to impart on those whom He has called.  Lastly, we are saved to Him.  We are not saved simply for the sake of going to heaven.  We are saved for the glory of God.  Heaven is the natural outworking of this greater truth. A simpler way of putting it is as follows:  "We are saved from Him, by Him, and for Him." The fact that God saves sinners of whom He enables to believe, is ultimately for His glory. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory (Eph 1:11-12).

What must I do with knowledge I now have of the gospel?

Understanding those facts and even agreeing that they are true is not enough for a person to be saved. Jesus said; "repent and believe in the gospel." There must be a response on the part of the individual to repent of his or her sins and trust personally in Christ. To believe the good news is to believe in Jesus. To believe in Jesus is to follow him. Just as he called His first disciples, so he calls His disciples today. It is God who takes the initiative by seeking out followers with the command; "You, Come, follow me!" Jesus selects His disciples, not vice versa. When he calls His disciples to Himself, he calls for them to repent. Repentance and faith are the requirements for man in response to God's gracious offer of salvation. To repent is to make a U-turn in life; to have a change of thinking. To be a repentant disciple of Jesus Christ means accepting Jesus' demands unconditionally. The command to turn from sin and to Christ Jesus requires absolute obedience and sacrifice "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,  because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained" [Jesus Christ] (Acts 17:30-31).

How can I be certain I am saved?

The good news that Jesus Christ the righteous one died for your sins and rose again from the dead, is the very reason He is eternally triumphant over Satan, sin and death. The good and glorious news to the believer is that; there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1), but only everlasting joy, and the assurance that comes to those who repent, believe and follow Jesus Christ. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God (1 John 5:13).

Obedience requires power outside of oneself, of which only God, the Holy Spirit can provide. Not only does He provide the grace to save you, but also the grace to sustain and enable you to rightly represent Him "...for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ..." (Phil 1:5-7).

Where do I go to Church once I am saved?

When God brings a person to saving faith in His Son Jesus Christ, he or she becomes part of the family of God (Christ's Church). With so many buildings that claim to be a "church," it is very important that you begin attending one that teaches the Bible correctly. If you live in San Diego, we at Pacific Hope Church would love for you to join us this Sunday. If you live outside of the area, click here for information that will assist you in finding a good, well balanced Bible teaching Church in your area. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb 10:24-25).

May the Lord of Glory, bless you with His presence in your life as you grow in the grace and knowledge of His Son Jesus Christ.

We are saved from God's judgment and subsequent wrath, by God's grace, for God's glory. - Paul Washer