SALVATION,
MEANS OF

THE STORY is told of a father who had five sons. The first son was an obedient child who loved his father. The four remaining sons were to varying degrees rebellious. One of the instructions of the father was not to go near the river because it had such a traumatic torrent. It was very dangerous. But the last four sons decided not to listen to their dad. So they all went down by the river and played in the water only to be sucked up by its current and pulled downstream. No matter how hard they tried, they could not get out of the water. They were pulled downstream for miles and miles, until many miles later and almost dead, they were washed ashore a long way from home.

They had enough survival skills about them to build a fire, and around that fire they longed for home, but they didn’t know how to get home and they didn’t have a way back to home. They remembered their father with fondness. They remembered how joyful things were back home and lamented over how things might have gone differently for them if only they would have obeyed.

After a while one son said, “I’m going to build a hut. I’m going to make the best of things I can right here. I’m going to call this home.” The second son went over to the ridge to watch the first son build his hut, and he said, “I’m going to stay here and watch what you do because I’m going to tell on you when we get back home. I’m going to tell Daddy that you forgot about him, and I’m going to tell him that you forgot your real home.” The third son said, “Well, I’m going back home. I don’t know my way but I’ll just follow the bank and go back the way we came from.”

Now, the obedient son had been sent by his father to look for his brothers. He ran into the fourth son first. He told him that their father had sent him to find his brothers and bring them home. Now that he’d located one of his brothers, he wanted to know where the other three were. Brother number four showed him where their brother number one had built his hut. They knocked on the door. The obedient brother said, “Time to go home!”

But brother number one said, “This is home now. I’ve been away from Daddy’s house too long. I’ve got new friends now and a new way of life. Thanks a lot, but I’m okay where I am.”

They went to the second brother who was sitting down, evaluating the first brother. The obedient brother said, “Let’s go home.”

Brother number two said, “I can’t leave here. I’m going to keep my eye on brother number one. If I leave, then there will be nobody to watch what he is doing. There will be no one to critique or judge him.”

They went to the third son, who was busy making his way upstream. The obedient brother said, “You don’t have to struggle to find your way home. I’ve got a boat with a motor to take us upstream.”

Brother number three said, “No, I’ve got to do this myself because then I can get home to Daddy and show him how much I love him by how hard I’ve worked to get back to him.”

The father sent the son to bring everybody back home, but only one brother went home. Only one brother was willing to go home God’s way. The first brother had gotten so comfortable where he lived that he was not willing to leave what he knew for the uncertainties of the trip back home. The second brother was so focused on somebody else that he forgot it was his sin that got him in the water in the first place. He didn’t have to spend all of his time looking at his brother’s sin. If he’d just look at himself, he could go home. The third brother was a “do-it-yourselfer.” He felt if he tried hard enough, he could be free and climb home himself. Only the fourth brother understood that the only way to get out of the mess he had gotten himself into was to follow the son who knew how to take him back to the father so he would be home again.

So I only have one question. Which son are you? For God the Father has sent Jesus the Son to locate His brothers. If you are tired of the hut that you’ve made your home, if you are tired of being so focused on everybody else that you’ve not yet gotten around to your sin, if you are so tired of trying to work your own way back from the place you’re in, God has sent the bigger brother, and Jesus is willing to take you home.793

[Grace, Need for; Humanity; Salvation, Need for]

Matt. 13:3–9; Luke 20:9–18; John 3:16

TWO men were climbing a mountain. They had two guides—a guide in the back and a guide in the front. They were all tied together by the same rope. As they were climbing up the mountain, the guide in the back slipped and fell. When he fell, he rolled off the edge of the mountain and yanked the two men in the middle. The guide in the front took his axe and dug it into the ice. He gripped and held on. The two men in the middle were able to climb back up on the rope because the guide in the front had dug in and not let go. Even the guide in the back was able to climb to safety because of the front guide who dug in and saved them.

In the garden of Eden, the first Adam slipped and fell, and we are hooked into him by nature. So when Adam died, we all died. When he slipped and fell, we all slipped and fell with him. We were all hanging over the edge and headed toward an eternal abyss. But there was somebody else on that rope. He was born of a virgin, a man like you and me. And He dug in. He was born a perfect baby. He lived a perfect life. He did everything according to the will of God. He dug in, and then He died on a cross and rose from the dead. Because He dug in, all in Adam who were slipping and heading to the abyss can climb back up on this last Adam who has paid the price.794

[Cross; Jesus]

Rom. 5:12–19

WHAT does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? If I’m on a luxury liner that is sinking, I should want to get off of the luxury liner and get to safety. If the crew calls out to me and says, “The liner is sinking. Get in the lifeboat so you’ll be saved from drowning in the ocean,” that is good news in a bad situation. The lifeboat can save me from death.

Now, I could say, “I know there’s a lifeboat, but I’m going to take my chances. I’m going to stay on the big boat. I’m a little uncomfortable with the lifeboat. I heard what the crew is telling me to do, but I want to try another way.” If I say this, it won’t be because I don’t know there is another way. I will be choosing, however, not to accept what I know.

There may be another person who says, “Well, if the captain said to get in the lifeboat, I am going to get in the lifeboat.”

Believing in the Bible is not merely accepting information. It is entrusting yourself to the information that you say you accept. In other words, there is no belief until I get into the lifeboat.

Talking means nothing. I could say, “Oh, that lifeboat sure looks good. I believe that lifeboat can save somebody. I believe that lifeboat is more than able. I believe that lifeboat is the wheel in the middle of a wheel. I believe that lifeboat is so high you can’t get over it, so low you can’t get under it, and so wide you can’t get around it. I believe that lifeboat is the Rose of Sharon, Balm of Gilead, and Bright and Morning Star.” I could say all of this and still drown in the ocean if I don’t get in the lifeboat.

To tell me you believe that pew you’re sitting in can hold you up is meaningless until you sit down. It is the sitting down; it is the act of faith that equals real faith, not merely the discussion about faith. How do you know that you’ve acted in faith? Simple—you reject everything but Christ to save you. You only trust in Christ.795

[Faith, Acting in; Salvation, Provision of]

Gal. 5:6; James 2:14–19; Rev. 3:15–16

THE STORY is told of Farmer Dale and Farmer Pete. These were two neighbors. They really did love one another as neighbors and as fellow farmers; however, these two would always compete with one another. Every year they would enter some kind of competition where one would seek to outdo the other one. The problem was, Farmer Pete always won. Farmer Dale never won. Farmer Dale got tired of losing to Farmer Pete. He decided to come up with something he could win at. They both had horses on their farms. So Farmer Dale challenged Farmer Pete to a horse race to see which horse would win for that year’s competition. What Farmer Pete didn’t know was that Farmer Dale hired a professional jockey to ride his horse, figuring that would give him the edge, the little extra that he would need. The race started and the two horses shot out. Farmer Dale’s horse took the lead. Farmer Dale thought that finally he was going to beat Pete at something. As they hit the stretch ready to bring it home, the horses’ legs got tangled up with one another and both horses fell over. Both jockeys fell over. Both farmers were hollering, “Get up, get up!” Farmer Dale’s jockey, the professional, was the first to get up. He got on the horse and started riding again, and right behind him was Farmer Pete’s jockey. He got on his horse and started riding again. They crossed the finish line and Farmer Dale’s jockey crossed first. He was ecstatic. He was laughing and dancing and then he looked and started crying.

Farmer Pete said, “Dale, why are you sad? You won! You’ve been trying to beat me all these years. You’ve never won, but today’s your day! You shouldn’t be sad!”

Farmer Dale looked at Farmer Pete and said, “My jockey got on the wrong horse.” His jockey had crossed the finish line, riding the wrong horse.

Wouldn’t it be tragic, after going as hard and fast as you could in this life, to cross the finish line into eternity only to discover that you were riding the wrong horse? Wouldn’t it be tragic after you’ve done the best you could, after you had tried as hard as you know how to try, after you had sung, and gone to church, and tried to treat your neighbor right, and did the best you could, to cross the finish line laughing only to start crying? Wouldn’t it be terrible to realize at the end of your life here on earth that you crossed the finish line riding the wrong horse?796

[Deception, Satan’s; Life, Management of; Materialism, Deception of]

Matt. 7:21–23; John 14:6; 2 Cor. 4:4