On this episode of the Evangelists Podcast, we continue to think about giving your life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00The Evangelists Podcast. Encouragement to speak life to a needy world. With Glenn Scrivener and Andy Brinkley.
SPEAKER_01So we're back again talking about uh stop giving your life to Jesus. That's right.
SPEAKER_02Yep, we never stopped stopping giving our lives to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01I found a funny funny quote uh on the internet. This is a question on uh the website Stack Exchange, which is usually sort of like for technical inquiries, but somebody put it in a minute says, On a Christian radio station, I constantly hear the phrase to give your life away for Jesus, but they never say what it means. I'm very confused about this concept. Any clarification is helpful, thanks.
SPEAKER_02Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01And then what are the answers? Okay.
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_01So when you say life, what do you mean by that? Do you mean your money? Money and life are almost exchangeable. Money buys anything under the sun, which is the enabler of life. So rephrasing the question, what does the Bible say about giving your money away for Jesus? The answer is clear. Ten percent before tax earnings.
SPEAKER_02And it's before tax. Alright. Because the rest of yeah, the rest of your life you've got to give to the tax man.
SPEAKER_01Give your life for Jesus? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Ten percent. Yeah. Give thirty pence in the pound to uh in land revenue. But give ten pence in the pound to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01So th this is basically for for those of you that don't know what we're talking about. Um last week we started talking about Glenn's video where he does a poem about uh entitled Stop Giving Your Life to Jesus Which is basically looking at uh you know the the concept of people going forward on numerous occasions to re-give their life to Jesus because they didn't think it was quite appropriate. And you you shared much about your personal experience of you know, really trying to do this really hard.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And never feeling like it was enough.
SPEAKER_01So so why was it that you kept coming back? Why why was it?
SPEAKER_02It is that assurance question. Well, it it is because it's so esoteric as well. Like like the person on Stack Exchange, like, okay, what does that mean? And then and then what you usually find preachers doing is um they reach for analogies, you know. Well, it's about properly and truly building your life on the rock and not on the sand. Like, well, okay, what does that mean? Well, it means handing over every department of your life to God. Okay, what does that mean? Well, let me give you an illustration. You know, it's it's handing over not only um the kitchen, but also the the living room. Not only the living room, but also the dining room. Not only the dining room, but also the bedroom, and like Right, okay, I've got an architect's blueprint in my mind. What does that mean? And and what's interesting is like we spoke like very briefly in the last episode about the Roman Catholics, you know, at least their sacraments you can sort of see. And you know, like like a priest tells you to say five Hail Marys, you can say five Hail Marys and it's done. You get you get told this this esoteric thing, give your life to Jesus. Well, have I really? Did it did I really? Did I really and did I really mean it? And there's no greater slavery than having to really mean it, because how do I do I do I really know how genuine I'm ever being at any moment? Um and so yeah, there's massive just sort of assurance questions. And the the huge thing that um you know, Luther and Calvin saw saw this massively at the Reformation, that if you're basing your assurance on something that you've done, then you're not actually trusting in Jesus at that moment, you're trusting in yourself. The whole thing about faith is that we trust in Christ alone to save us, not in anything that we've done. And yet, if you try and base your assurance on, well, I did pray that prayer back on the 12th of July 1985, and and I think I meant it, you're like everything now hangs on you, on your own will, on your own emotional internal state. Um whereas we're meant to look to Jesus and his self-giving. And and on the on the whole question of assurance, I I just encourage people to look at the self-giving of Jesus and just say, look at him on the cross. There he is bleeding his own heart's blood. He'd rather die for you than live without you. He loves you more than his own life. What more could he do to offer himself to you in death and blood? Is he yours? Is he yours? Do you know him as yours, that he's been delivered to you? And people were, well, I don't know if I feel like sometimes I don't feel like he is. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, none of us like continually feel like Jesus has been given to us. And none of us continually feel swept off our feet by the grace of God. But when you look at the cross and and when you because faith comes by hearing, when you hear this gospel said to you, do you start saying, Yes, I want this Jesus? Oh, you do? Brilliant, he's yours. And he comes to you in this gospel. And the whole time you are grounding your faith in Christ's self-offering, not in your self-offing. Because if you try to ground your assurance in your own self-offering, how could you ever do enough? And you could never know that you've done enough. He's the one who's bled, um, so that we don't have to. So so on the on the whole assurance thing, yeah, it's it's absolutely massive, and teenagers in particular um tend to have massive problems with assurance, and I think harder it's you know, it's a chicken and egg thing. Um does the lack of assurance then lead the youth leader to say, Well, just give your life to Jesus one more time and you know that'll be enough. It keeps on feeding itself that that whole paradigm of giving your life to Jesus. You can never do enough. Um and that's yeah, that's yet another reason to to really recalibrate everything. It's about Christ's self-offing, not yours.
SPEAKER_01And there's also this sort of another side of like people who have a false assurance. Yeah. You know, uh people that sort of say, I know that I'm going to heaven. I mean, I was speaking to a a chat the other day, he came in and he he said, Oh he said, you know, I believe that uh all religions lead to God, you know, and uh when people die, you know, n no one's perfect. Yeah. We we don't go straight to heaven, we go to this sort of you know, in in-between place where we get perfected and stuff like that. And I I know where I'm going and Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, the the it's sometimes that's a problem as well, isn't it? Sort of the false so you've got the those that are unassured, yeah. And then you've got those who are falsely assured.
SPEAKER_02Well, but are they even being assured of what the Bible says salvation is? Because according to the Bible, salvation is Christ and Christ alone. Um and so the uh the sort of assurance that we're wanting to give to people is that Christ himself is assurance, he himself is your salvation. If you have him, you have salvation, and salvation is nowhere else because there's no other name given to under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Acts 4 verse 12. And so that guy, if he's saying, Oh, look, you know, you could trust in all sorts of stuff and you have salvation, he hasn't been assured of a Christian salvation at that point. He's you know, he's done his own DIY spirituality, he's made it up as he's gone along, and and he's assured that he's right. Actually, true assurance does lead us to say, I'm wrong. I'm totally wrong, and it's not my idea that I've dreamed up out of my head. It's Christ and Christ alone offered to me. That's my only grounds for hope and salvation. So I think I think it's it's not that that guy has had too much gospel preached to him. I don't think he's had enough gospel. I don't think he's had enough law preached to him either, in terms of what are you talking about? You you just think you can waltz into heaven the way you are? Like he he needs a bit of law preached to him as well to say, listen, like if you waltz into heaven, you'll ruin it in a second the way you are. Um we all we all need to be told that. So he needs a bit of law, but he he also his big problem is that is not that he's had too much gospel, he doesn't really get the gospel at all. Because he doesn't see that it's it's Christ and Christ alone who is salvation.
SPEAKER_01And assurance comes from the Holy Spirit, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah, and and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, and we when we're saved and we're given the Holy Spirit, it says that his spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. Yes, Romans 8. Romans 8, 16. Yeah, read read that out. Uh so let me go back from 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out our Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. So the Holy Spirit in us gives us that assurance. Yes. And it all another another good scripture is Acts 15, verse 8. Talking about where Paul's explaining about Cornelius. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. So the Holy Spirit sort of guaranteed them that they will belong to him, and that was the evidence. Yeah. And so that assurance comes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And we know how the Holy Spirit operates through his word, delivering to us the gospel, and bringing to us with the word his own personal power and presence to assure us that yes, these things are true. And um and so if we if we don't have assurance, we should keep ourselves um in the way of gospel preaching. Because you know, Romans 10, uh verse 14 through 17 um talks about faith comes through hearing and hearing the word of Christ. And so the Spirit is constantly offering Christ to us through the Word, through the Word, through the Word. You don't have assurance yet? Well, hear the gospel again, hear the gospel again, hear the gospel again. Because we're all mixtures of believers and unbelievers all the time, aren't we? We're all like that guy in in Mark chapter ten, you know, he says, I I do believe, but help my unbelief. We're all always that sort of person. And what do we need every every week, what do we need every day is not to be beaten up by the law and say, Come on, give your life stronger again. We like we need to be told every day, Christ is yours, he's been given to you, Christ is yours, he's been given to you. Um I was reminded when you when you mentioned about the Holy Spirit, um I've looked up uh Calvin's definition of of uh faith from Calvin's Institutes Book Three. He says a faith is a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence towards us. So he's saying that you know there is an assurance coming in faith. It's a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence towards us. It's founded upon the truth of the freely given promise of Christ. So the freely given promise of Christ is given to us. That promise is both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Um beautifully Trinitarian. Like the Father loves you, Christ is offered to you, the Spirit is coming into your life, sealing that truth into your mind and into your heart. Um and when that Trinitarian action is happened to you, you're swept off your feet, and you have faith. And if you're having faith, um then it that's proof that the Holy Spirit has worked in your life. Like massive, you know, unbelievers don't have faith. That's the tautology, but you know, um yeah, the miracle has happened. You you find yourself believing Jesus is mine and I am his. The Father is my father. If you find yourself believing that, that's only because the Spirit's worked in your life. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And to say that uh, you know, stop giving your h life to Jesus doesn't necessarily mean that you don't believe in salvation or conversion.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Oh, I totally believe in conversion. But it's just the the arrow is coming the other way. Yes. Rather than the one who's closing the deal is me giving my life to Jesus. The one who's closed the deal, who has closed the deal and said it is finished, is Christ, his arrow down to me. And me receiving that is my conversion. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um taking uh perhaps a little step back then from this, are you really saying that we we bring nothing to our relationship with God?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, totally. Um I mentioned last last week the the old uh Isaiah dozy, even your righteous acts are filthy rags before God. So that's interesting. Isaiah doesn't say your sinful acts are filthy rags before God, he says your righteous acts are filthy filthy rags before God. There's there are certainly good things about us, likable things about us, sacrificial things about us at times, and yet as soon as we use any of those as bargaining chips with God in order to earn salvation, that becomes a filthy thing. Because, you know, it's it it would be like your children, you know, imagine you've you've got like a ten-year-old kid, and the you know, the kid says, Mum and dad, I I just declare to you right now that this house it's it's not mine, it's yours. It's yours, it's all yours. And you know, and and you would at that stage say, Yeah, oh that's you know, I'm really glad, son, that you've come to realize the truth of all things. You're you're you're very welcome. And then and then the son says, Yeah, I just give it all to you. I give it all hundred percent to you. At that stage you're like, No, you've you've got this, you've got this backwards. You're you're not you're not giving to us in the in the you're acknowledging that everything has been given to you. And and that's what faith is. And that's that's what your surrender is. Your surrender is not you saying, I've got all these bargaining chips with you, and I'm giving them to you, God. Your surrender is saying, I have no bargaining chips with you. I don't bring anything into this equation. I can bring a whole heap of stuff to the world, but I don't bring anything to God. And it's the it's the old quote that um I'm always um trotting out from Luther, who said, 'God does not need your good deeds, your neighbour does.' So, yeah, it's I I don't think we bring anything to our relationship with God. We just bring ourselves, and even ourselves is just a gift from God.
SPEAKER_01But uh aren't there scriptures that speak about giving ourselves to God? How would you understand those?
SPEAKER_02Uh I mean there are there are a few that might spring to mind for people, but you've just got to have a look at the context, really. So in in Romans, there's a couple of places in Romans where you might think of. So Romans chapter six, the chapter in in chapter six, verse three, it talks about all of us who were baptized into Christ were baptized into death. Uh and it talks about verse five, we have been united with Christ. Verse six, it says, our old self was crucified with Jesus. Verse eight says, We died with Christ, and we will also live with him. Um so in in all these ways it's like it has happened, we have died with Christ, the old self is dead, we will rise again with with with Jesus, it all belongs to Jesus. Like again and again Paul has kind of said this. And then he does say, verse eleven, in the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. Now at this point, Paul is very clearly addressing Christians, very clearly addressing those who have been baptized into Christ, who belong to Jesus, who just need to wake up to reality and count themselves dead to all that stuff. And he and he talks about, you know, instead of offering your body to sin, offer your body to God. But what he means by offering our body to God is not this religious ritual whereby we kind of somehow climb a ladder towards God in any sense. It's it's just treat your body the way it really is, which is something that belongs to Jesus already. And he's gonna unpack what it means to give your life in a in a Godward direction, entirely in terms of how you love your neighbour. And that's that's entirely the way that Romans is is gonna is gonna go. So, I mean, Romans 6, even though you know it does say offer yourselves to God, um, he's clearly addressing those who already belong to Jesus. And the contrast is really between offering yourself to sin and offering yourself to God. It's really a synonym for saying offer yourself to righteousness. So I you know, that's that's not at all saying the same thing as you know the evangelist who wants you to sign a card to give your life to God. That's that's quite a different thing. Romans twelve is another place where people might think. But what's interesting is you gotta you gotta get the context. So Romans 11 from verse 35 says, Who has ever given to God that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things to him be the glory forever. Amen. And that's really interesting. Like whoever is the giver gets the glory. John Piper's always saying that. Whoever is the giver gets the glory. And constantly this is saying God is always the giver in every relationship. God is always the giver, he always gets the glory. But that's the context, then, for chapter twelve, verse one. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, He's always giving to you, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. So we are living sacrifices, and that's what's holy and pleasing to God. Does that mean that we are giving ourselves to God in the sense that the evangelist sometimes means it? Well, no, because chapter eleven, verse thirty five, who was ever given to God? But we are sacrifices, living sacrifices, and the rest of chapter twelve and thirteen, fourteen, fifteen is all about how the sacrifice that we make is to love our neighbour as ourselves, to pour ourselves out for others. So, yes, we are sacrifices, and this is an act of worship before God, but what is my act of worship before God? It is not being myself the strong, noble self-sacrificer, it is to be the one who receives from God and pours out in sacrificial love to the world. Um so that that's that's the the kind of ways I think the New Testament is really encouraging us to think about giving our lives.
SPEAKER_01So we're sort of receivers when it comes to God. Yes. But that doesn't necessarily mean there's no place for giving in.
SPEAKER_02Freely we receive, so freely we give, but we don't give back. It's really interesting. Like think of the the foot washing. Jesus washes everybody's feet and then he says, Now that I've washed all your feet, you should wash my feet. Come on, get the get the bowl. Come on. Come on, fellas. Fellas. It really struck me, it was just this Easter thinking about the foot washing again. Um actually nobody washes Jesus' feet. Like in the whole thing, he's just getting dirtier and dirtier.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, apart from um Mary. Oh yeah washes his fingers.
SPEAKER_02Good old Mary. Good old Mary. That's an act of devotion, preparing his body for burial.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But uh so they that Jesus does it for them, and but then they do it for others.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. And that's the whole teaching of the upper room. He's he's like, you know, as the Father's loved me, so have I've have I loved you. You go and now love the world. And by this all people will know that you're my disciples. If you love one another, he doesn't he doesn't even talk about loving him. And I mean it's so interesting. You you you get into Romans and and actually, beyond Christ's death and resurrection, whenever the law is summed up, before his death and resurrection, the law is summed up as love God and love neighbor. And then every time the law is summed up in the New Testament, after his death and resurrection, it's always love neighbor. Which is interesting. Um that's not that we don't love God, we do, we do love God, but the great act of loving God has happened. You know, Jesus has offered himself once and for all to the Father, the man, humanity has been offered to God in this really decisive sense, and now the Spirit has been poured down onto us and out to the world we go. Such that, you know, one John can say, This is love. Not that we love God, but that he loved us and said his son is an atoning sacrifice for sins. Um, you know, and that one John passage finishes with um uh we love because he first loved us. And the context is we love the world because he first loved us. It's the flow is always down and out. But yes, once we get hold of that flow, then all that language about sacrifice comes back and absolutely we pour ourselves out for the world.
SPEAKER_01So what does this have implications for evangelism then?
SPEAKER_02Well, I I mean one thing is if we're constantly telling people to give their lives to God, we're actually preaching the law. Now there's the law is good and righteous and holy and just and it is to be preached. And um and and we ought to belong to God, and we ought to be reconciled to God, and we we ought to have all to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. We ought to do all of that. But telling somebody to do something doesn't make it so. I'll do a a an example on you. Okay, right now, listeners, I want you to love God ten percent more than you were one minute ago. Are you ready? Go! Love him more, come on. Come on, turn up the thermostat on that love. Come on, crank it up. Okay, now 20%. Now do it 30%, you know. And of course that's that's just like ridiculous. You know, you can't command love. You can't command faith. Faith is trusting. You've got to win faith. You've got to win trust. And the way as preachers we win trust and win faith is by preaching the goodness of Jesus, the self-giving of Jesus, such that people say, Ah, I can trust him. But telling people simply to love God does not create what we want it to do. It is right to love God. And it's right at points to say, you should love God. Oh my goodness, do you know what He's given you? He's given you everything. You should love God. You really should love God. And it's appropriate to say that, and preaching the law in that sense is great. But preaching that law doesn't make that law happen. Only the gospel does it. Um so as preachers, you w you want to be offering Christ a heck of a lot. Um yes, showing people their need by preaching the law, but also and predominantly preaching Jesus to people such that they see him and go, Oh my goodness. And I swept off their feet. That's that's what you're going for in evangelism. And yes, let's have a sense of urgency that people need to close with Christ now and and belong to Jesus now and be reconciled now. Um yes, let's preach with that sense of urgency, but let's do it in the in the sense of offering Christ rather than gaining converts.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. What about repentance? Um, calling people to repentance.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You guys, you need a new life. This life that you've got is not life at all. It's it's this selfish thing that's closed off from God that is not poured out to the world. You need this new life. This new life is the good life that Jesus has for you. Look at Jesus. Doesn't he live the good life? There he is, completely in communion with God and then pouring himself out to the world. Isn't that the good life? That's not your life though, is it? What do you if you really trust in this Jesus, then you you must see that he is he is the way to live. You must see that. And that's got to be, that's got to be the new life that you're saying yes to when you say yes to Jesus. So as I'm as I'm saying trust in Jesus, trust in Jesus, trust in Jesus, I'm saying come in on this good life of pouring yourself out from the world, receiving from God, pouring yourself out to the world. But you don't have it within you to repent, actually. You don't you don't have it within you to generate this new life. If you could, no need for Jesus, is there?
SPEAKER_01Repentance is a gift of God. It is, it's totally a gift. We can't do it on our own.
SPEAKER_02And so it's a bit like, you know, it's a bit like marriage prep. Um it's you know, I I don't know if you had much marriage prep before you got married, but you know, I think we had like a a few sessions or something, which absolutely don't prepare you at all. But they just sort of say, you're probably gonna have fights here, here, here, and here. Just don't be surprised when that happens. That's that's kind of what it is. And and then But it wasn't as though in all those different, you know, places Emma and I first figured out how we could, you know, have a an argument-free marriage in those areas, and then we got married. It was like, okay, eyes wide open. This is the life you're you're being called into. You still want in. And I think preaching repentance in evangelism is a is a bit like doing you know marriage prep for a couple that's not you're not yet in the relationship. Okay, here's Jesus, and he says, forgive people who've done you wrong. You're gonna be called to do that, and that's usually a big yikes moment for people. Um, because you know, there's there'll be people in their family or friends who not sure I can do that. And we say, Well, this is this is the life that Jesus is offering. There's no other kind of life where you just stay embittered. To stay embittered is no kind of salvation. Jesus is offering this kind of life. So you do you do describe the kind of life of repentance that that um Jesus is offering, but you can't you can't clean yourself up before you come to Jesus. You come to Jesus for the bath and you say, Look, are you willing to take this bath? Great. You're welcome in all your filth right now, even in all your unforgiveness right now, if you don't you you can't you don't even know how you're gonna forgive that family member. You don't even know that, okay. But do you see that Jesus knows how life works? Do you do you do you think you can trust him with that family member? Yeah, I think I can trust him. Okay, well, come to him, you know. Now he's yours, take him. And so yeah, so absolutely you you you do preach repentance and faith. But repentance and faith in the Bible are not two hurdles you need to jump over jump over in order to be a Christian. Because then we're saved by faith alone, aren't we? So if you make repentance into this second hurdle that you need to jump over, you're saying we're not saved by faith alone, we're saved by faith plus repentance. Whereas I think in the in the scriptures, faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin, you know, and that coin is given to you. Here is Jesus, and here's a new life in him. Take it. I think that's how you preach repentance.
SPEAKER_01So should we still have prayers of commitment?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I th yes. If you want, yes. And and you know, Rico Tys always says it's good to have a beginning. It's good for people to know, oh well well what now? You know, if you if they're they're responding to the gospel as you're preaching it to them, what now? Well, actually, praying to God is a really good thing to do now. Um You've just come into relationship with him. You know, the the verses you read in Romans chapter eight are all about calling God Abba Father. You know, that's the the the the essence of this assured faith that you have is being able to call God Abba Father. Well, let's do that together. Let's call him Abba Father and say, Yes, Jesus, thank you. Yes, Jesus, sorry, yes, Jesus, please help. Um those are good. But uh usually when I do a prayer of commitment as I I I kind of say, listen guys, this is not these are not magic words. This is this is there's nowhere in the Bible that says you need to say prayers in exactly this kind of way. Um But this these are the sorts of ways you might want to respond to Jesus, who is offering himself to you. Do you want to say yes? Do you want to say I will to the marriage proposal of Jesus? Well, these are some kinds of words that you might want to say. So, yeah, I think I think there can be a place for a for a prayer of commitment. Um, just as long as it's not made into this new sacrament whereby you are the great offerer.
SPEAKER_01Uh looking at this, uh Glenn, uh it reminds me of uh a chap I met once. He uh I met him at a conference, and I got we got talking to him and he said that uh becoming a Christian, all you had to do was recite just a few words about uh you know giving your life to Jesus or I repent of my sins or whatever. Uh and then it doesn't matter what you do after that, you're saved, and you know, you can you can do whatever you like. Um I found out a few late years later he was he was in prison. Um so you know what what about people that do come to faith, they they receive Jesus in in that respect, and then they you know it's quite clear that they haven't had any real Christian conversion or experience.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. In one sense, it's even easier to be a Christian than that guy says it is. Because it's it's not as though you know God is just waiting for us to do our little bit of recite those 17 words of which it sounds like quite Islamic, doesn't it? You know, there's no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. Ah, you're a Muslim. Brilliant, you know. And Islam, that's kind of what faith is in Islam. Faith is assenting to the right doctrine. There is only one God, Muhammad is his prophet. The Quran is the word of God, you know. Believing the right stuff is what faith is in Islam. Faith in the Bible is a personal, settled, sure, loving trust of Jesus. It's a relational term. Um Jesus in John 17 says, This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Knowing God is the essence of our salvation, but knowing in the Bible is a very deep, relational kind of thing. So it's not just about reciting the right kinds of words. Even the devil. The devil can say the Apostles' Creed. You know, he can say that stuff.
SPEAKER_01James 2, 19, even the demons believe.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And they shudder. Shudder. So if belief means that, then yeah, James 2 is all about saying, look, that's that's not the faith that saves. The faith that saves is the loving trust of Jesus. And and in one sense, it's even easier than just having to say the seventeen words of uh of that prayer of commitment. Um it's literally receiving the person of Christ in your life. In you know, in the in the way in a you know, marriage ceremony, you say I will, and suddenly all that that's theirs is yours, and and and off you go. But your salvation is entirely in Christ. It's not a bunch of happy times and forgiveness and eternal life and groovy feelings forever. Again, that's Islamic. What is salvation in Islam? You go off to paradise and you get your virgins and your red wine and and and you have lots of good times, you don't have Allah. Allah's not in paradise. Salvation is not being brought to know Allah. Allah always remains entirely, you know, distinct and distant and totally transcendent and unknowable. Salvation is just getting a bunch of good stuff. So it's always disturbing when people say that salvation Salvation is really, really simple. It's you it's just like in Islam. You just say a few things and you get this salvation that's like completely detached from Christ. Salvation in the Bible is in one sense a lot simpler than that. Like you don't have to jump through that hoop of assenting to those that saying, you need Jesus. Yeah. But once you've got Jesus, that is a far more comprehensive salvation. Now you have Him in your life, and He saves you just the way you are. He doesn't leave you that way, you know. He walks with just like marriage, you know. You you get married in all your you know foolishness. But it changes you, and that relationship continues to change you. So in in one sense with easy believism, it's it's even easier than some of the easy believism people say it is, but it's far more profound than they ever say it is, because it's about receiving Christ Himself, not a package of salvation. And with Christ Himself, that that does lead to a total transformation of life. And and as Luther said, all of the Christian life is a life of repentance, because it's constantly rethinking everything, because oh gosh, yes, Jesus is Lord, and and and and all that sort of stuff. So easy b I mean the other thing about the easy believism is is when evangelism happens and loads of people respond, but in ten years' time they're not going on with the Lord, we tend to think that's a that's a bad thing, and yet I wonder whether that's exactly what Jesus would have us expect in Mark chapter four, sowing the seed on all the different soil types. He scatters the seed abroad. And actually, on three of the four soil types it looks like there's responses. On the rocky soil it looks like there's a response, but persecution comes. On the thorny soil it looks like there's a response, but the troubles of this life choke them. And then on the good soil there's this the abiding stuff that keeps on going. And so sometimes people like have a go at Billy Graham because you know, ten years down the track, how many of them were actually serving in local churches, and it's actually a you know a a small fraction of the number who came forward. Um Well, I think Jesus prepared us for that. And I and I think yeah, there will be loads of people who profess faith who don't go on with it. Mark 4 says there will be. That's just the nature of what's gonna what's gonna happen. We should still scatter the scatter the seed abroad, we should still offer Christ broadly to people. Um and let the Holy Spirit bring the fruitfulness. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I just got one more scripture. Um 2 Peter 1 10. Okay. Um Peter 1 10, uh it says, Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call at an election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Just want to clarify for us that this scripture is not saying I mean it's saying basically what we've been talking about, you know, that it's not anything that we're doing. It's not that we have to make our calling election sure, but it's kind of remind yourself of your election.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Is that right? Yeah, I th I I think, you know, starting back in in verse three, you know, his divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. So knowing God is the very essence of our salvation, and everything we need for the Christian life is is found in knowing. God, verse four, through these he's given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature. Oh my goodness. So as you trust the gospel, you are united to the Son by the Holy Spirit brought before the Father through these promises, and and that just comes by faith. But in verse five he says, Okay, but you know, add to your faith goodness, and to goodness knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, mutual affection, and to mutual affection, love. So again, we've got we've got this flow from the knowledge of God who gives you his promises, you trust them, and your faith leads you increasingly into love, which pours out to the world. And as you pour out to the world, verse 8, for instance, if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they'll keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that what you receive from God, you are meant to pour out to the world, and as you pour it out to the world, you know God's love more and more. You know, not you're not meant to be a reservoir of God's love, you're meant to be a river, you know, flowing out. Um But verse nine, whoever does not have these qualities of love and you know, sacrificing for your neighbour, whoever does not have them is short-sighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. Which is really interesting. Like if somebody's feeling, yeah, I kind of the love's dried up. I'm not I don't seem to be serving and sacrificing the way I want to be, and even when I do, it's a cold-hearted thing. The love is all dried up. What do you tell them? You say, mate, you've forgotten. You've forgotten that you've been cleansed from your former sins. You preach the gospel to them. Because it's the gospel and the promises of the gospel that will ignite the faith and the faith that will pour itself out in love. And as that process keeps going on, verse 10, therefore, my brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you'll never stumble and you'll receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I think it's just saying, as you receive from God and pour out to the world, you are getting in touch with the fact that you belong to Jesus and that his spirit is flowing through you, and you're connected to all that kind of stuff, and you know you belong to Jesus as you live like Jesus in in these kinds of ways. Um But that can that can only happen if you're constantly receiving the promises of God and resting your faith on the promises of God. As soon as you start resting your faith on, am I being loving enough? As soon as you look for your assurance within yourself and you know, have I been loving and godly enough this week? As soon as you're resting your assurance on there, you're no longer trusting in Jesus. You're no longer trusting that it's Jesus, you know, who is the one that saves you. Um so I don't think this is this is saying um look at all your good stuff to reassure yourself that you're a Christian. Um but I think it is saying as you live the Christian life, you receive from God, pour out to the world, and in that sense, one of the great byproducts of that is you really know you belong to God. Because you're just living that life of freely receiving, freely giving.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02Long answer, but yeah. It's that kind of thing. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Okay, Glenn, so can you just sort of summarize for us? Oh man. I think I just did all that uh all that we're saying uh for this second episode of Stop giving your life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02Stop giving your life to Jesus. Um receive his receive his life, and then do pour your life out for the world. Freely you receive, freely give. That's the good life. That's what it's that's what it's meant to be. And we do take up our cross and follow Jesus in the way of self-sacrifice and service and and and we do pour ourselves out like a drink offering, as Paul says, and um so we do give ourselves away, um, but we give ourselves away with Jesus, by the Spirit, for the world, and in that way we participate in this in this life of God, who is always the giver, and maybe that's the thing to to really lay hold of. Um you know the the creation myths of the world have the gods creating so that they can get stuff out of their creatures. So that they you know they they they make people for food. That's what the gods do. What does what does the living God do? He makes us and then makes food for us, and then you know, to give and to give and to give some more. God is always giver. Don't be so proud to think that you are the great self-giver. You're not. Just receive from Jesus and pour out to the world.
SPEAKER_01Okay, great. Thanks very much for listening this week. Uh, we're going to leave it there and we'll go on to something uh fascinating. Fascinating. So the web address to go to for this episode is speaklife.org.uk slash TEP102. On there you can leave a comment or question. If anything here has provoked question in in you, then uh just put it on there and we'll seek to address it. Uh you can sign up via email or uh on your usual podcast software. Please leave us a rating and review. We'd be very grateful if you could do that. And I'm going to remind you this time again on this irresistible offer to listeners of the podcast only. We're not gonna put this on the show notes, but we're gonna give away copies of Glenn's book 321, The Story of God, the World and You. And uh there are three things which you need to do if you want to receive this book. Firstly, is to give us a rating review on iTunes. Secondly, publicise any episode on Twitter, Facebook, or any s other social network. Um, and three like our new Facebook page. So if you do all that, we'll send you a book. And this has got uh a special link speaklife.org.uk slash I love tep. That's all one word. Uh if you go there, it'll uh have all the details. As I say, it's just for you, the listener. And we're actually gonna extend the deadline on this. Uh last time we said it was gonna be the 15th of July, but since this episode's going out after the 15th of July, it would only make sense to give uh extra time. So it's the deadline's now the end of July. So you've got the end of July to do this to receive your free book of 321, The Story of God, the World, and You. Thanks very much for listening and see you next time. See ya!