Jonathan Enns

Do NOT ask Jesus into your Heart

// August 20th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // salvation

It irks me, really irks me, when I hear someone explaining how to get saved, but they forget crucial parts of the Gospel, or the explanation is confusing.

So often I hear “Believe that Jesus died on the cross and you will be saved” or “Ask Jesus into your heart”, or believe.

Asking Jesus into your heart is a concept not found in the Bible. Dennis M Rosker, pastor of Duluth Bible Church in Duluth, Minnesota wrote a great article on this topic:
7 Reasons NOT to ask Jesus into your Heart.

But what about “Believe Jesus did on the cross and you will be saved” ?
Yes Jesus did die on a cross, and you must believe that, however this is not the whole Gospel.

The Gospel is simple: I deserve eternal death because I sin (Rom. 3:23) and it has to be paid for (Rom. 6:23). In my place Jesus Christ paid for my sin and even though he was God, allowed himself to die on a cross (Rom 5:8) as a man in my place. He took the penalty and shame for every sin I committed instead of me. He spent three days in the grave, then rose from the grave alive (Rom. 6:9), conquering sin and proving He was God. He then ascended into Heaven where he sits at the right hand of His Father where he says to the father: See Jonathan, he is perfect. He has no sin. His sin is paid for. All of it. (Rom. 8:1) Because of that I can have fellowship with God, I am perfect before God.
How is one saved? Just believe it. Have faith that Christ did it all, and acknowledge that we are helpless on our own, and deserve what he paid for!
Romans 5:1, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Often times people (even evangelicals who believe in grace & no works) forget the simple concept of substitutionary atonement, meaning Christ took my place to pay for my sins, to make peace with God.

When preaching the Gospel, Preach the full Gospel.

April 3 – Galatians 3

// April 4th, 2008 // No Comments » // bible, devotions, salvation

The internet was down, so I didn’t get to post yesterday.

Galatians 3 is a heavy passage…all about faith. So here are my ramblings…

It astounds me how so many “Christian” religions and denomination’s don’t understand the concept of Salvation by FAITH not WORKS or the LAW.

What first comes to mind is the Seventh Day Adventists, who will tell you they believe in Salvation by Grace through Faith, but when it comes down to it they have a Works based Salvation, and rely heavily on following parts of the Old Testament Law for salvation(Worshiping on Saturday, dietary laws, etc…). A great resource to reach out to Adventists is the Proclamation Magazine. It is a great free Magazine written by former Adventists. I have been receiving it for a couple years now.

But there are other denominations who don’t seem to get passed working for salvation. The Holiness/Wesleyan tradition for instance. Though I believe here are many great Christians, and sincere believers in the movement, when it comes down to it, they teach you can lose your salvation if you fall into Sin. I mean it is great that they stress living a Holy Life sold out to God, separate from Sin, but if “works” can cause you to lose Salvation, then essentially you are counting on works to keep your salvation!

Galatians 3:3 says “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Paul is referring specifically to Gentile believers trying to “keep” their salvation by doing the works of the Jewish Law. Is it so different if someone tries to “keep” their salvation by keeping God’s Law?

Now, this is no excuse to sin! Romans 6 in Jon’s paraphrase says “Should we keep sinning so that God’s grace might become greater? Absolutely not! How can we who supposedly “died to sin” still live in it? Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ (Saved), were Baptized into His death?” See Galatians 3:26-27. I am baptized into Christ and am now part of His family!

This passage is a great reminder of how Gracious God is, and how vital Faith is. Challenges me to trust God, and also challenges me to live a holy life free from sin because I belong to Christ (vs 29).

Lightning Strikes Largest statue of Christ

// February 12th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // bible, salvation

Lightning hit the world’s largest statue of Christ during last Sunday’s storm in Rio.
The statue is 130ft tall, is made of 700 tons of reinforced concrete and stands atop the 2,296ft Corcovado mountain overlooking the city, and is one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.

Brazil, being a very Catholic country has statues of Christ, Mary, and the Saints in most towns and cities. 95% of people you ask will tell you they are a Christian and believe in Salvation through faith in Christ’s work on the cross, but the vast majority are counting on Works (Good deeds, going to church, or having statues of Jesus & Mary, praying to God, Mary, or the saints) to get them to heaven.

This concept of a “works based” salvation is found no where in the Bible. The Bible teaches that salvation is a free gift, unable to be earned by anything we do. All we must do is admit that we are sinners (deserving punishment in what the Bible calls Hell), and believe that God came down to earth as a man (Jesus), and that Jesus Christ took our punishment in our place by dying upon the cross, then rose 3 days later conquering sin, so that we can be declared perfect before God. God forgave our sin by placing the penalty we deserved to pay on his Only son, Jesus Christ.

So where do works and good deeds come in? The Bible says that our good deeds & works prove our faith. This means that if we truly believe in Christ, our life, our words, and our actions will show it. Nothing I can do can pay (or equal out) the sin I have done.

There is no concept of a Good vs. Bad scale in the Bible.