Jesus is called a lot of things in the Bible and He plays a lot of roles. And each of His titles has a very important meaning and a very important impact on each of us. The purpose of this post is not to detail all the wonderful names of Jesus in both Old Testament prophecy and names found in the New Testament. But I would like to focus on two specific titles, or roles, because they both have an impact on our salvation.
Almost all of Christendom believes the same when it comes to Jesus being our Savior. To some degree, we all believe that man is lost in sin, which separates us from God, and we need a Savior to redeem us and bring us back into a right relationship with God. Consider…
“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11 ESV).
And
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 3:23-24 ESV).
And
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:10 ESV).
This is just a small sample that tells us about Jesus and His role as our Savior. Most of us believe that we are lost without Jesus and we need His saving blood and sacrifice to be an atonement for our sins. Most of us believe that He made the impossible possible by saving us and reuniting us back to God.
But many believe a dangerous and unbiblical teaching that says once we are saved by Jesus, there is no way we will ever be lost. Some call this the Perseverance of the Saints, or Once Saved, Always Saved. People confuse verses that teach God cannot lose anyone from His hands with the truth that we all have free will when it comes to staying in a relationship with Him.
I believe with all my heart that God is powerful enough to keep me in His presence and secure my salvation. But I believe God also gives me free will to decide whether I want to stay in that relationship or give it up. And as much as it grieves His Spirit when we walk away from Him, God will not force us to be in a relationship with Him that we don’t want to remain in.
Can we lose our salvation after securing it? Consider…
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,” (1 Timothy 4:1 ESV).
And
“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.” (2 Peter 3:17 ESV).
And
“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,
and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” (Hebrews 6:4-6 ESV).
So, we have a problem then, don’t we? If our sins force us to need a Savior and Christ died once for sins (1 Peter 3:18), and if we can sin after we are saved, then how do we have hope? Even John says,
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8 ESV).
And that’s what the whole book of Hebrews addresses, because not only is Jesus our Savior, He also serves as our High Priest.
“where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:20 ESV).
And
“For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” (Hebrews 9:24 ESV).
And
“but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:24-25 ESV).
You see, Jesus in the role of High Priest is how we can continue in His grace after we are saved when we sin. As we come before Him in confession and repentance, our High Priest performs His duty to save us from our sins, something that even earthly high priests could not do.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 ESV).
But the choice to confess and repent is ours. The wonderful blessing we have is that Jesus is both our Savior and High Priest. If we refuse to let Him save us, we will be lost. And after we are saved, if we refuse to let Him be our High Priest by confessing and repenting, then we will be lost.
Think about this: If we are saved once and can never fall away, then all we would need is a Savior. There would be no need for a High Priest. But the Bible teaches that we need a Savior and a High Priest. Jesus is both to us. He is a Savior to redeem us from our sins and He is a faithful High Priest to forgive us once we sin as a citizen of His heavenly Kingdom.
And take comfort that we will only be lost if we refuse to call upon His name through baptism (Acts 22:16) or we choose to walk away from Him once we are children of God. We can be sure of our salvation when we continue to walk with the Lord because we have both a Savior and a High Priest in King Jesus.
I am in the book of Zechariah in my daily Bible reading. What a wonderful and powerful book. The prophet is preparing the people to return from exile and we see many messianic prophecies that we see later fulfilled in King Jesus.
But as Zechariah was preparing the people of God to return, he was contrasting the sinful ways that led their fathers into captivity and exile to the ways they were to behave. And instead of laying out 613 commands that they were to keep, his focus was on the heart:
“These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the LORD.” (Zechariah 8:16-17 ESV).
They were not to be like their fathers who were exiled from the land. Their fathers could keep the laws of worship and sacrifice while harboring evil in their hearts to one another. But Zechariah tells them to:
Tell the truth to each other.
Be just in their judgments.
Don’t think of ways to take advantage of each other.
Don’t lie under oath to claim what is rightfully someone else’s.
Why? “For all these things I hate, declares the LORD.”
This reminds me of what Jesus teaches when someone asked Him which of the 613 commandments in the Old Testament was the greatest:
“And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the great and first commandment.
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV).
If we love God with all of our hearts and love each other like we love ourselves, then the other commandments of the Lord will be fulfilled. Perhaps, we may make serving God more difficult than it should be.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the need to confess and repent of my sins.
I think I have confession down. Confession soothes my soul and eases my conscience.
But it is the repentance I need to be sure I am doing.
Repentance is turning away from the sin.
I am not talking about repenting and then falling again. Jesus says He will forgive me every time I do this. This is His mercy and grace.
I’m talking about confessing to ease my conscience until the next time I commit the sin again, with no purpose in my heart to change.
Yeah, I do well with confession.
But I need to ensure that my confession is truly coupled with authentic repentance.
We go to the doctor and pay a premium to let him fix our bodies.
We go to the mechanic and pay a premium to let him fix our car.
We hire an appliance repairman and pay a premium to make sure that our refrigerators and stoves are running properly.
We hire a handyman and pay a premium to make sure that our house does not fall into disrepair.
It seems that anything we value, we are willing to pay a premium to ensure it is in working order.
But what value do we place on our soul? What are we willing to do to ensure it gets the nourishment that it needs?
Are we feeding it with a proper spiritual diet daily?
Are we spending time with saints who can edify and build it up?
Are we redeeming the time and placing a premium on what we choose to do that best takes care of our soul?
The most valuable thing we possess is our eternal soul. When moth and rust destroy all other possessions, our soul will live on.
What are we going to do today to invest in our eternal soul?
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37 ESV).
Best practical advice I've gotten on prayer that I still use daily:
When someone asks me to pray for them, or if I tell someone I will pray for them,
I stop what I'm doing and pray immediately.
If not, chances are great that my good intentions will go unfulfilled as my mind fills up with new priorities throughout the day.
Thanks, Edwin Crozier.
Have you ever wondered why Satan hates us so much? Why is he set on our destruction? What is it that makes him want each of us to spend eternity in hell?
Well, I’m not convinced that we are the focus of his fury. I believe that he has a hatred of God Himself. I believe that he covets God’s power and that he despises having to be in subjection to Him.
I believe that Satan knows he cannot defeat the power of God because we see how he always has to obey the restrictions that God puts upon Him. Never do we read that God has to obey the restrictions that Satan lays upon Him.
So, Satan cannot touch God. But he can touch what God loves… Us.
I don’t think we merit much attention or respect from Satan at all. I think that he sees us as a pawn to be used in his cosmic battle with our Creator and God.
If he cannot touch God, then Satan will touch that which God loves. It is the only way he can hurt his eternal enemy. It is the only leverage he has over King Jesus. If it could ever be said that God has a weak spot, it is in His great love for us. And Satan knows that.
He will exploit that weak spot to its fullest in order to bring pain to the God of creation. So, when we are promised the world through sin, the promise is not coming from someone who has any concern for us at all.
We are a calculation in the mind of Satan. We are merely someone he can use just to see God suffer.
Satan has zero love for us at all. But God’s love is greater than we can ever imagine.
Today, before we make the choice to sin, remember that when we do, we are submitting to the one who could care less for us. He is eager for us to sin so he can see the pain it brings to God.
Let us draw near to God who loves us with a perfect love, the One who demonstrated His love for us that when we were His enemies, He died for us.
Do we want to live for someone who only wants to use us, or do we want to live for the One who loves us enough that He died for us?
“Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.” (Revelation 12:17 ESV).
Is today the day we get to meet the Lord? One day, the answer will be yes.
Are you ready?
Random thought... if Elon Musk is successful at planting a one-million-person colony on Mars, and Jesus returns, will He also appear in the Martian sky?
I guess Jonah would be the first to remind us that there will be no place in God's creation that we will be able to hide from His presence.
I don't know how it will all work out, but I have 100% confidence that nothing we can do will stump God.
“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7 ESV).
When the world tempts and promises a body with perfect physique, I will wait for a body that God will provide unlike anything that the imagination of man could conjure.
When the world tempts and promises riches, I will wait for the mansion, crown and treasures that the Lord has laid up for me.
When the world tempts and promises delicacies from every corner of the world, I will wait for the fruit of the Tree of Life that the Lord will provide without restriction.
When the world tempts and promises all kinds of entertainment, I will wait for the worship and praise that my perfect voice will sing with the other children of God gathered around His throne in Heaven.
When the world tempts and promises ease and rest in retirement, I will wait for the rest that God will give me in my perfect, eternal home in heaven.
While God provides much good here on earth for us to enjoy, nothing here is the pinnacle of my achievements.
Everything that the world tempts and promises is a dim shadow of the riches and blessings that God will shower upon me if I remain faithful to Him.
Let us not grow nearsighted in striving after the temporary things of the world to the neglect of the eternal things God wants to give us in His time.
“But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 ESV).
So, I'm reading 1 Chronicles in my daily Bible reading, and I am at the part where God turns the kingdom over to David. And I read something interesting that made me wonder about how God may help us today:
“And David became greater and greater, for the LORD of hosts was with him.
Now these are the chiefs of David's mighty men, who gave him strong support in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel.” (1 Chronicles 11:9-10 ESV).
It’s interesting how God blessed David through the men around him. David was great because God made his men great.
Could it be that many of the blessings of God for us are waiting for us through our brothers and sisters in the Lord?
Are we praying for a job, or for health? Perhaps God is ready to use our spiritual family to deliver our blessings in some way.
If this is true, then how many blessings do you suppose are going unfulfilled because we are not cultivating the relationships with the people of God?
I look back on my life and I can see wonderful blessings and answered prayers that were delivered by the hands of my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Perhaps we all need to spend more prayerful time examining our relationships with others.