REFORMED WITNESS
Volume VI, April 1998, Number 4
Only One Way of Salvation
by Rev. Carl Haak
A Reformed Witness Hour Sermon given June 2, 1996
Also in this issue: Jesus Only - by Rev. Carl Haak, A Reformed Witness Hour Sermon given June 9, 1996
How do I get to heaven? Is there more than one road to heaven? Is there more than one way by which the soul of a man can be saved? Can you think of more important questions than those questions; and can you conceive of answers more important for you to know than the answers to those questions?
Almost all of us listening to this program, I am sure, would say that we expect to go to heaven. Very few would frankly admit that they believe that they are going to go to hell. Everyone entertains a hope that after death, if there is a life, and if there is a blissful life, he will enjoy it.
On what do you base that hope? What is the only way to heaven?
The Bible declares that there is only one way. Salvation is only in Jesus Christ, in the gift of being united to Him by a living faith so that you are a new creature, so that Christ lives in you and you in Him.
How does one get to heaven? The Bible gives this answer in Acts 4:12. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must he saved." The only way to heaven is in the righteousness and life of Jesus Christ.
Do you know that in your heart, in your heart of hearts?
Many today, although they claim to praise the name of Jesus answer that question (how does one get to heaven?) in this way: There are many ways to heaven. Today there are attempts to build ways. Heaven is conceived as a place intersected by a host of six-lane freeways and thoroughfares. If you are decent and sincere, outwardly moral in your life; if you are a church-member and in your life you do the best you can and have good intentions-- these things ought to secure your going to heaven.
Or, the idea is this: God will take just about anyone. The works you have done, the good that you have done to fellow man-- any indication that you are willing to receive Him -- will satisfy Him.
Finally, there are those who frankly admit: We do not believe in hell. We believe that all are saved in the end.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I denounce all of that as a delusion, as false, as another gospel, as sand under a person's feet. There is only one way of salvation, only one way to heaven. And that way is not cheap. It is profound. It is built upon the love and the grace of God in Jesus Christ. It is to be found in Jesus alone!
The Word that we are going to consider today, Acts 4:12, is a word that answers the question: How do I get to heaven?
These words are very striking in themselves, especially when we consider when and by whom they were spoken. They were spoken before a persecuting Jewish council which had warned the apostles, Peter and John, not to speak in the name of Jesus. They were spoken before a group which was filled with blind rage against Jesus Christ crucified and risen. It was spoken by a poor and unlettered fisherman, the apostle Peter, a man who, at that point, stood friendless. It was a grand confession of Jesus Christ by Peter, who had forsaken Jesus and fled--by Peter, who had denied Jesus three times, the last time with cursing and with an oath. But another spirit is in Peter now. For Jesus had said in Luke 21:15, "1 will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist." Boldly Peter tells them to their face that the only way of salvation is to be found in the name of Jesus, the very Jesus whom they despised and rejected.
Peter, as he stands before the Jewish council, is not defending himself. He is not simply arguing a religious or abstract point with the Jews. But Peter is preaching. He is declaring in God's name, and under the unction of the Holy Spirit, the absolute truth. His sole concern was to glorify his Savior, Jesus. They have been questioning him: By what power, or by what name, had he healed a lame man who was at the temple? And Peter, in his answer to that question, has quoted from Psalm 118:22 which refers to the stone set at nought by the builders. Peter means to say to these Jewish leaders that they had been appointed to build the kingdom, but they had rejected Jesus Christ, the cornerstone. And that was a fatal error. Jesus is the Cornerstone upon which everything else rests. Still more, Peter clearly tells them that Jesus is the only way of salvation -- not your works, not your race, not your color, not because of your parents, not anything under the face of heaven. Only in His Name, only by the power and by the authority of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, crucified and risen, only in Him is there salvation.
That is the answer to the question, How do I get to heaven?
I desire today to be a faithful witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I desire to be a signpost. A signpost is not a very interesting thing. You do not look for poetic language on a signpost. Some question whether signs along the roadway adorn the road or detract from it. But to those who are lost, and to those who are in a foggy night not knowing the way, a signpost is the most pleasant thing that they could ever meet. When the night is falling dark and you are in a mountain pass and lost, what you want to know is the way. So this Word of God in Acts 4:12 is a signpost. It is sure. And I wish to declare it to you plainly in order that I might be free of the blood of all who listen today.
Perhaps, deep down, you deny heaven and hell. You may believe that you are your own. Well, I will not argue with you. It is the lie of your own proud heart. God is. Hell is now reserved for the wicked. And heaven is. You cannot change the truth by denying it.
Perhaps you live as though these are not realities. You say, Yes, yes-- but you push them far away and you live as if you are of this present world. Other things are more important to you than this salvation that is in Jesus Christ. If that is the case, may God awaken you out of the stupor of death and the deceits of sin.
Or perhaps today you groan and despair and you see how unworthy you are of the presence of the holy God. Then you must hear the gospel as Jesus speaks: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me."
Peter says, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
What does that mean? Peter speaks of salvation. The word "salvation" all too soon becomes simply a word instead of a wonder in our heart. Sadly, today the word "salvation" is drained of its priceless and precious meaning and significance. The word "salvation" is literally "to be delivered from the greatest evil and to be brought unto the highest good." That is what it means to he saved --to be taken out of the greatest evil and to be given to enjoy the greatest or highest good.
What is the greatest evil? There are many answers to that question, especially today. For some the greatest evil is poverty or abuse, prejudice or taxes, sickness or death. Some would say that the greatest evil is other people who bother me. Still more, today, the greatest evil for many is God's holy law, the Ten Commandments; for the Ten Commandments is viewed today as standing in the way of man's pleasure, telling him that he is a sinner. So the greatest evil for many is simply those things that stand in their way of obtaining their own desires, the things that they do not like.
But when we come to the Bible and ask the question, What is the greatest evil? We get only one answer. That answer is: Sin. The plague of man's heart, sin which is rebellion against God. Sin which means that deliberately we have missed the mark of aiming at the glory of God. Sin which is not simply a mistake in judgment but, according to the Bible, a corruption of our very human nature which is vile wickedness, which is evil. Sin which is placing of self upon the throne of your life rather than God. Sin which involves itself in the very nature that we have, for the Bible declares that we go astray from the womb and that of ourselves we are at enmity or hatred against God. And that sin, according to the Bible, brings guilt, the worthiness of punishment before a holy God. Still more, sin is a power to hold us in its clutches. That is the greatest evil: Sin!
But what is the greatest good? There are many answers to that question today. Some would say: money, pleasures, honor, praise, power among men, possessions, beauty, health. And above these things, perhaps, peace of the heart or benevolence towards men.
Again the Bible gives but one answer. What is the greatest good? God. God, in Himself. And knowing and having fellowship with the true God of the Bible is the greatest good. We read in Psalm 16, "At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." Jesus said to the rich young ruler, There is one good, and that is God -- God in His being, God in His perfections, God in His fellowship. That is good. As we read in Psalm 73, having Thee there is nought, nothing, that I could yet desire.
Now let us put it together. What is salvation? Salvation is to be delivered from the greatest evil (which is sin, guilt, the penalty for my sins, and the power of that sin to hold me), and to be brought to the highest good (which is God, God's fellowship, favor, and presence). That is salvation.
You see, salvation is not simply learning new habits. It is not simply improving personal relations. Salvation is not only that we would teach the society in which we live to observe the Ten Cornmandments, or that we learn to be nice. Salvation is not simply that you occupy space in a church pew. But salvation is to have the damning guilt and the penalty for your own sin lifted from you. It is to be forgiven a debt that has now reached to the highest heavens, of which you could never make a payment. It is to be spared the punishment that your sins deserve from the hand of a holy God. It is to be pardoned and made righteous, so that when you are saved God smiles upon you and sees that your sins are paid and punished in the death of Jesus Christ.
But salvation is more. It is to be transformed, created anew by the great Jehovah, so that now I stand in a radically different posture towards sin. It is to be delivered from the power of evil so that no longer am I its willing slave but I can now testify that I hate my sin and love the living God and have been brought under loving submission unto God.
To be saved is to be rescued from the wicked world and united to Jesus Christ. And that salvation is not simply something for the future, but it is something now, something that God now works in your heart. Still more: salvation is the hope that one day you will be perfected, you will be brought into the presence of God, and all your foes of sin and death, evil and the devil will be forever gone. That is salvation. It is to be rescued, taken out of the greatest evil of your own sins, and to be brought to the highest good, which is to know and love the living God in Jesus Christ, to behold His beauty and to serve Him night and day. That is salvation.
Now what is the way to salvation? How is it possible?
Hear this weighty statement spoken by the inspired apostle Peter, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must he saved" than the name Jesus Christ.
No one can be saved from sin. No one can be rescued from its guilt, power, and punishment except by Jesus Christ made known in the Bible. Peter means to say that no one can have peace with God, no one can obtain pardon, escape the wrath which is to come upon sin, except through the work and suffering and atonement of Jesus Christ upon the cross. In Jesus alone are all the rich provisions of salvation. Through His work and by His mercy alone salvation comes. Only in Christ's blood can sins be cleansed, and must they be cleansed, for those for whom He died. It is in Christ's work and in Christ's righteousness freely bestowed by God upon His own chosen ones from eternity. That is the way to heaven. That is the only possibility for salvation. All of salvation is in Jesus Christ. It is all by Him. It is all of Him, so that the way to heaven is the way of the cross of Jesus Christ, powerfully given to you now, a dead sinner, by the conquering grace of almighty God.
So Peter adds, There is none other name given among men by which we must be saved. What does he mean, there is no other name? That is going back to the question that was asked, By whose name and authority have you healed this lame man in the temple? When Peter says there is no other name, he means there is no other authority than the authority of Jesus Christ to work salvation. Salvation is only by the power and authority of Jesus. In the name of Jesus is to be found salvation. The name that the Jewish council had forbidden the apostles even to speak, the name Jesus --in that name and in Him is the power and the authority of salvation. For so the angel spoke to the virgin Mary in Matthew 1:21, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." No one other than Jesus. No one else is commissioned, no one else is qualified, no one else is authorized by God to save. He holds the keys of life and death. It must all be found in Him. You must go to Him by faith.
There was only one place of safety when the Flood came in the days of Noah. That was the ark. There was no safety in the mountains or towers or trees or rafts of men. There was only one place that Israel could look when they had transgressed and were bitten by fiery serpents. They had to look upon the brazen serpent raised upon the pole by Moses. There is only one way to heaven: the work and merits of Jesus Christ graciously applied to the heart by the free mercy of God so that your heart is now opened and changed and renewed by Jesus Christ.
There is absolutely no salvation outside of Jesus. But there is full salvation to be found in Jesus. According to the Bible there is salvation to the uttermost. Hebrews 7:27, "He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him." There is salvation for the chief of sinners, for we read in II Timothy 1:16 that Christ Jesus is able to save the chief of sinners. That is God's Word. John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father hut by me." I Corinthians 3:11, "Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And I John 5:11-12, "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son hath not life." The wrath of God abides upon him. Do you understand that?
Perhaps you are thinking, well this is old news. This is an ancient thing. Who does not know that? Of course, you say, salvation only in Jesus. Make very sure, then, that you know what it means. It means that all salvation rests in Jesus Christ alone. We are to cast away completely and entirely all other hopes and trusts whereby we think we might go to heaven. It is not partly Jesus Christ and partly all we can do. It is not partly Jesus Christ and partly our obedience to the law. Salvation is not through church membership. It is not through religious ceremonies. Yes, those are important things in the life of those who are saved. Those are necessary and crucial things in the life of those who are saved. But as far as salvation and the ground or reason for salvation is concerned, Christ is everything.
Peter declares that Jesus Christ alone saves. Jesus opens the door to heaven through His work for all for whom He died. He is able to save from hell and eternal ruin. Christ is the refuge. Christ is the answer for our sins. Christ alone is the power to be delivered from sin. All who are saved and go to heaven, go to heaven only one way: through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Do you believe these things?
Let us pray:
Our Father, we thank Thee for the gospel. We pray that Thou wilt work more that gift of faith that we may trust and depend upon the only name under heaven whereby we must be saved, the name Jesus Christ, Amen.
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Jesus Only
by Rev. Carl Haak
See more articles by this authorIn our last week's broadcast we considered the beautiful Word of God in Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." We saw that those were the words spoken by the apostle Peter before the Jewish Council. The Jewish Council had called Peter to answer the question, by whose power or authority he had healed a lame man at the temple. They had also forbidden him ever to speak in the name of Jesus Christ, the Jesus Christ whom the Jews at that time so bitterly hated and rejected. Peter is preaching the gospel before them and is declaring that the only way of salvation is to be found in Jesus Christ.
I would like to point out to you today, from this beautiful Word of God, that it is Jesus only, exclusively, in whom salvation is found.
Peter said that there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. He means to teach that salvation is exclusively in Jesus, in the Jesus of the Bible, that is, revealed in the infallible Bible. There is salvation in no other name under heaven or among men. That is, the Word of God is saying to us: "Look under all that lies beneath heaven. You may search, look, and examine: go to the universities where you find the very best of man's wisdom; climb mountains, enter into various temples, examine all the religions known to mankind, look at the sacrifices and practices of these religions. Examine the teachings of Mohammed, Buddha, the cults. There is no salvation in them. They cannot save one soul."
Jesus Christ, of the Bible, does not take His place in line with any other. That means that apart from Jesus Christ, as He is revealed in the Holy Scriptures, there is no salvation. Apart from Jesus Christ revealed in the Holy Scripture as the substitute, as the One given by God to die in the place of those whom God has chosen and to die in the behalf of their sins, apart from this One there is no salvation. If there is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ, then there is only damnation apart from Him. Jesus Christ, as He is made known upon the pages of the Bible, is the only way to peace with God.
Follow me very carefully in this next thought. Falsehood can tolerate falsehood. But truth can never tolerate falsehood. Two lies can live in the same house and never quarrel. But truth cannot live with the lie. The Hindu, the Mohammedan, the modern church may all say, "Well, we hope one day all to meet together." It may be well accepted for men today to say, "Well, we all serve God, but we just call Him by other names." But you must understand that the Jesus Christ of the Bible, who is the only Savior, cannot and does not take His place alongside of or with any other. But He denounces all others as a lie, as impotent, as a delusion, as being unable to save. It is Jesus alone.
Always the gospel of Jesus Christ would be received by favor with men if that gospel is presented merely as a way, one way, a possible way of salvation. If the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented as: "Well, here are a few suggestions, or something to consider, or some positive contributions to man's general questions," then the gospel would be received. But the offense of gospel of Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Bible is this: Jesus Christ declares that he is the only way. And He makes war upon all other supposed ways of salvation as being delusions, false and impotent.
Many will say to what I have said, "Oh, yes. Jesus saves. But it is uncharitable to say anything that may condemn another belief." I ask the question: "How is that charity?" Is it charity to say nothing when a blind man is nearing the rocks over the cliff, ready to dash himself to death, believing that he is safe? Is it charity to say nothing when immigrants are boarding a leaking boat, believing and trusting that this boat is able to carry them to safety when, in reality, it is going to carry them to a watery grave? Is it charity not to cry out and to warn of danger, of putting your trust in that which cannot save?
Peter is saying, Apart from Jesus, unless you are resting in Jesus, you must perish. He is not saying to the Jews of his day, Your system is noble, there are many redeemable points. We have found it very useful. Now we would like to enter into a dialogue with you as to whether or not Jesus contributes to salvation. No! He says concerning all rejection of Jesus Christ, there is no salvation in your religion. Salvation is only in the Jesus of the Bible. That is the Word of God. Not in superstitions, not in philosophies of men (and there are a host of them: the New Age Movement, Hinduism, Judaism, and on and on we can go). They come to us and they say, This is the way whereby you will find that inner peace by which you may come to God. In fact, this is the way whereby you actually become God. They say, Take your child and cast him into the river. This will satisfy the God. They say, Worship God as an animal or as a figure, lacerate your flesh-- wear rough clothing, or push pins through your ears and nose. I denounce all of that in God's name as demons sent among men to delude them. Jesus alone, the Jesus of the Bible, saves.
But, coming closer, there are also many so-called gospels which deny the truth about Jesus Christ. Yet they claim that they have a Jesus who can save. There are many who say, I believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ; but don't let that interfere with what I want in my life. There are many who claim that one can have Jesus as Savior but not as their Lord. There arc many who say that Jesus must simply accommodate Himself to me and my life-style. So they have a Jesus who condones their life-style, a Jesus who is Savior and is not Lord. I denounce that, on the ground of God's Word, as a delusion.
There is no salvation in a Jesus who simply lets me be who I want to be and who I am. There are many who say, "Well, we will follow Jesus, but just don't let Him interfere with my dating, with my companionship. And certainly don't let His day, the Lord's day, curtail my fun." We have, now, a Jesus who is merged with cultural icons, or a Jesus who sets aside the fundamentals of the faith revealed in the Bible. In the name of Jesus, I denounce it. It is an utter delusion. It is founded upon man's fancy. It is an idol. It is not the God of the Scripture.
A God who is without holiness and justice? A God who does not call His people to faith and repentance and to a new life? Dear ones, such a faith may sound good on the surface, and it may serve as a toy to play with, but it is far too unreal to die with. It is utterly false. It fails to meet the wants of the conscience. There is no rest for our souls there. It cannot save. Jesus is not the Jesus of positive thinking. He is not the Christ proclaimed by popular TV preachers who strip Him of His deity and sovereignty. He is not the Jesus of free-willism, the Jesus who is impotent and unable to save, waiting upon the sinner himself first to give his consent before He can actually save, who gives the glory to man. He is not the Jesus who is left when men have nullified the greater part of the Scriptures, when men have denied the creation in twenty-four hours as God has said, or the virgin birth and still say, We believe in Jesus. That is not the Jesus of salvation. But that name, above all names, is the name which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures, the Jesus who is to be confessed in all of His glory, deity, sovereignty, and might. Only the Jesus of the infallible Bible saves.
But let us come still closer. There is no salvation in ourselves, in our good works, in our faith, in our repentance. All of those things are necessary for the one who is saved. All of those things will be the fruit and the result of being saved. But none of those things is the cause for salvation.
Self-righteousness holds a very firm place in our nature. After all these years, Adam's fig-leaves are still the preferred religion of man. It lurks in every sinner to think that he will get to heaven by what he does. Certainly there lurks in our hearts the words of the Pharisee: I am not as other men are. There is something redeemable about me. Do not my contributions to the church count for something? What about my obedience, and my faithfulness to my wife or husband? What about my prayers? Don't those things count for something?
And the answer of the Bible is this: As far as obtaining the right for you to go to heaven, all of those things account for a flat Zero. Sometimes it can be put very piously: Yes, I trust in Jesus Christ and in the mercy of God to do the rest. I have gone a long way, and Christ will make up what remains. So that Jesus must come and put Himself in yoke with your works and the two of you pull the cart. Jesus and I prayed. I denounce that from the Word of God, Isaiah 63:3: "I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me." Salvation is not accomplished partially by Jesus and partially by you as His helper. As one who is saved, you certainly are called to live in all obedience to His will out of a new heart of joyful thanks. But your works, your prayers, your repentance are not the reason for your salvation. Jesus alone! Away with all religions that seek to add to Jesus Christ. Away with priests who claim that they have the power to forgive sins. Away with the mass which claims that it has the power to remit, forgive sins, or indulgences or holy water or any ceremony whereby men say, By this ceremony we are able to present you spotless before God. Away with it all as a delusion. Salvation is to be found in Jesus alone, in His work received by the gift of a living faith.
But I must go still farther. There is no salvation in mere sincerity. Follow what I say. There are many who would respond, "Well, there are people who are mistaken in their beliefs but they are sincere, and they are very earnest about it." As if sincerity in believing a lie is sufficient. As if simply being sincere about anything, whether it is the truth or not, will be sufficient for one's salvation. We hear, "But the Buddhist is so sincere. The Mormon is so earnest and moral." Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christian is not simply an earnest man. A sincere man he is. But a Christian is not simply someone who feels strongly about something. About what do you feel strongly? You are sincere about what? It depends upon what you are sincere about. Is it the Jesus revealed in the Bible? The priests of Baal at the time of Elijah were very earnest and sincere. They cried and they cut themselves for Baal to send fire. Manassah one of the kings of Judah, was very sincere when he offered his son to Moloch in flaming fire. The apostle Paul, before he was converted, was a zealot. He was sincere when he persecuted the church of God. He meant it from his heart. And Martin Luther, the great Reformer, was sincere and went beyond all other priests in his religious order, thinking that by his works he would be saved. He was very sincere when he so lived in that delusion. The basis of salvation is not that someone sincerely believes something.
It is not, "Well, I feel good and I feel right about it. Therefore, it is OK. I will be saved." The basis of salvation is Jesus Christ as He is made known in the sacred Scripture.
Now I know that I am going to be called bigoted and uncharitable and narrow-minded and offensive. But the truth is this: salvation is in Jesus to the uttermost. Outside of Him there is not a stitch of salvation. The greatest danger to the Christian faith today is that everything is true, there are many saviors, there are many ways to peace with God. Take the one that suits you. In the name of Jesus, I denounce it. The question is not, "What do you think, what do you feel?" But the question is this: "What does God say? What is pleasing to God? Has God spoken in the Bible, or has He not? Has God said in the Bible there is no way of salvation but in the way of Jesus alone? Or has He not? Has He said, All outside of Jesus shall be damned? Or has He not?"
I will not mention any more of the so-called ways to heaven. Every man seems to have his own way. Our human nature is always trying to build our own way. We think that giving perhaps a thousand dollars to charity, or building homes for the poor, that this will be the way of salvation. Not that those actions are not right-- not good and necessary. Of course they are. But, you see, when we begin to trust upon them as being the reason for our salvation then we stand upon sinking sand. It cannot save us.
Let me speak very plainly. If you have any refuge tonight other than this text that Jesus alone saves, it is a refuge of lies. May God sweep it away and leave you bare and without shelter. It is better to have no shelter than to have a false one. Heaven has one gate. If it is not that way, through Jesus, there remains only a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation. Jesus is the only way.
But He is the sure way. He shall never fail. All who come to God through Him shall be saved. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." "All whom the Father hath given to Me, I will keep and lose none of them," He said. That is the Word of God. It is all of the grace of God. There is a name given among men. That name is Jesus. It was a name that was given of God the Father, who has made the way to heaven, who has made the way to His presence. And that way is through the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Christ was not a tragic mistake or misunderstanding. It was not simply a man who was principled being misunderstood by His day and a tragedy took place. But the cross of Jesus Christ was God delivering His own Son over to the real and eternal and powerful justice of God against the sins of God's chosen. And by that cross Jesus obtained, not only forgiveness, not only payment of the debt, but the power to lift us from the service of sin to serve Him as He now works in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is in the name of Jesus. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. He has washed me white as snow.
And Jesus Christ is not simply the one who stands to show the way. He is the way, right now. Powerfully He works by the Holy Spirit in our hearts so that those hearts become pricked, pricked over our sin, burdened and weary of our sins. Then He draws us to the fountain and there He washes us and makes us whole. He works in us both to will and to do of His Father's good pleasure. Do you, by His love and grace, know that?
What is your posture towards God and towards sin? As you stand before the living God, what is your only plea? Do you look for something other than Jesus? You have heard the Word. And when the earth begins to shake and the stars fall at the return of Jesus Christ, you and I must witness that we have heard the answer to the question, How do I get to heaven? Only the cross of Jesus Christ, given to me, solely of grace. That is the way to heaven.
That is good news for convicted, weary, heavy-laden sinners. That is perfect rest and peace. Then today we confess, and one day before His very face we will confess, the answer to the question: How am I saved? How do I get to heaven? We will answer: By nothing, nothing but the blood of Jesus!
His blood avails for me.
God bless this word to your heart.
Let us pray:
Our Father, we thank Thee for Thy holy Word. We pray that Thou wilt indeed strip away from us all reliance or trust in anything other than Jesus for salvation, and then lift us up to live a life of grateful, thankful service, in His name, Amen.
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