Christian Living

Isnt That the Gospel

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
07/02/21
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“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:22)

“In the beginning was the Word” (John1:1), and man has been adding to it ever since. God’s plan for the salvation of men is simple. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) All one needs to do is cry out to the Lord, and He will hear you. “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13) Turn from your wicked ways, turn from your desires of this world, and turn towards the Kingdom of Heaven. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2) That is it. No matter how many steps we have taken away from the truth of God’s Word, it is only one step back to find His grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

It is the simple but powerful message that the Prophet Isaiah spoke to the Jewish people of Judah. “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.” So is all a man needs to do is to look to the Lord. All should but do not need to read books teaching and stating their deep thoughts on theology on explaining how one can receive salvation. Man cannot accept the simplicity of the Gospel and tries to complicate it, and that was never God’s desire for it is His free gift by His grace. God favors you, and He loves you as your Creator. God’s purpose is to restore a personal relationship with you broken by the sin in your life. God knows that we cannot remove the sin in our life, He knows that we cannot pay the wage of sin in our life, and He knows that we cannot pay the price of our redemption. Therefore, God desires to redeem you and restore you to a right relationship with Him, and He has made provision through the work of His Son on the cross.

All we need do is believe, believe that He is. Faith is the tool to believe in the unseen until we can see. His grace saves us through faith. When we have faith in who He is, then we can see Him by living through to the power of His grace. Faith is the key through which His grace flows into our lives, and without faith, we can never please Him. It is by faith that we can become the people that He created us to be. “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

The power of the Holy Spirit is released when we turn to the Lord. It is the simplest and most basic thing we can do turning to the Lord, but it is difficult if we are not able to let go of our normal daily living. It is the focus of our salvation, turning to the Lord. When we turn to the Lord, we turn away from ourselves and anything that is of man. We are turning away from the fractured life we live in this world to the righteous life of the Kingdom of God we are bound for. That is salvation, to reach the destination of His house in His Kingdom.

We must look beyond the Church, as the Church cannot save us. We must look beyond the preacher because he is a man and cannot save us. We must look beyond the ritual and ceremony as neither can save us. Instead, we must look to the throne of God in faith and see it in our heart, see the risen, reigning Lord Jesus Christ sitting upon that throne and guiding our path.

In this verse, we see the love of God that is the motivation for His gift of salvation. Here God pleads with sinful man, “Turn to me.” It is God that is our heavenly Father, and He loves as His children. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Then He created man, and all that came before was for man. He has given us rule over His creation. Why? Because He loves us. Turn to Him and see His creation and know His glory. If we stumble, His Son Jesus sits at the right hand of the throne and pleads for our forgiveness because He paid the price for our disobedience. “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2)

Isaiah speaks of our assurance of God’s salvation, “and be saved.” There is no greater power, there is none other that can save us, and there is no other way than a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6). There is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from the secure hand of God. Not even that evil fallen angel Satan, as he defeats us only when we submit. Nothing in this earth, nothing in the heavens that can cancel the blood offering of Jesus paid for our salvation. God loves us, and love cannot be defeated. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

And here we see the full extent of God’s saving love, “all the ends of the earth.” “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) God’s free gift of salvation is not just for the Jewish people but for the Gentile too. There is no one, no not one, who cannot turn to the Lord and receive the gift of His salvation. There is none bad enough that God will leave out. Jesus died for the sins of the world, not just yours and mine, but for all sin. Man has none to blame but himself if he finds himself being thrown into the lake of fire and experiencing the second death. We all have our lifetime to turn to the Lord and be saved.

 It may seem too simple for a man to accept that he need only turn to the Lord to receive salvation. It is more than a glance, a salute, or a greeting. When you turn to someone, you are walking in their way. You are turning from the path that you are on and following them. As Jesus said to His disciples, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24) It is a commitment to become the servant of the Most High God. I ask, can one find a better employer, find better compensation, and receive eternal life? Again I say it is trusting Him with the most valuable procession that you have, your spirit. That spirit was given to you by God, which brought life into your flesh. (Genesis 2:7) Jesus, in His final breath, commended His Spirit to the Father in faith. “And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.” (Luke 23:46) That is it and all there is, a command from God, “Turn to Me and be saved.”

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, September 22, 2017