Heart Tracks - No Fault Salvation

"Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.' " 2 Samuel 12:13....."No man ever enters heaven until he is first convinced he deserves hell." John Everrett....."We'd rather dwell on how far we've come than on how far we have to go. We don't like reminders that no matter how long we've been disciples, we are in need of great mercy." Chris Tiegreen

No Fault Insurance for cars first came on the scene for me back in the 1970's. It was a great idea, meant to enable insurance companies to more quickly pay claims without any litigation, and no matter who was at fault in the accident. It was a great idea....for insurance. I'm wondering if somehow we have now gotten to a concept of No Fault Salvation?

Have you noticed the reactions of people, both in the Old Testament and New when they were confronted with the reality of the Father and of Jesus Christ. Isaiah was undone, seeing himself as completely unclean before Him. Peter, with just limited understanding of who Christ was, bid Him to depart from him because he was "a sinful man." The simple fact is, we cannot come into His Presence and react in any other way than they did. I have come to see more and more that the closer I get to Him, the more unworthy I realize I am to be there. This is not negativity, and this is not condemnation. It is simply our human fleshly response to His holiness and glory. In His presence, I become aware of who I am, and what I am not. In His love, He shows me who I can be in Him. Who He made me to be. Such an encounter will lead me to confess what I am not, a turning away from that, repentance, and an entry into His welcome into the life He made me for. This is what He meant when He said that "Behold, all things are new." .......My point in all of this is that I'm not sure that's the current message we in the western church are proclaiming. I don't mean that we don't offer salvation in Christ, but it seems to me to be a kind of "No Fault" salvation. Made easy and quick....and all for our convenience. All one need do is agree to receive Christ.....and though unsaid, even unintended.....at no cost to ourselves. No fault in ourselves.

I'm not saying we need to beat people up over their sin, or demand that they be humiliated before all. But we need to proclaim Christ as He is and not as we would wish Him to be. He is the Lamb, and He is the Lion. He is Holiness itself, and in His Presence, we can do nothing but fall at His feet. In His Presence, we're exposed, but we may also be made whole. We are both confronted and invited. His light clashes with our darkness. In Him, we have a head on collision with the Father. Like Isaiah, like Peter, we're undone. Then, if we admit our helplessness to do anything about it all, He remakes us. It's a remaking that goes on through this life and into eternity. In fact, eternity starts now. We fully realize we're unworthy, and just as fully realize that He receives us and makes us fit for Himself and the Kingdom. We're at fault, fully lost, and we know it. But He's taken care of all the "litigation" on the cross. And our response is to desire to live a life worthy of Him, that turns from all that He hates, sin and all its destructive power, and embraces all that He is. He is not an add-on that we get by raising our hands in response to an invitation, or someone that we agree to accept, and on very reasonable terms. He is the risen Christ and upon seeing Him, nothing can ever be the same again. He is not just the Savior....He is Lord....the Holy Lord. We come to Him only by way of the cross.

No Fault Salvation? There is no such thing. Yet all that He is calls all that we are to Himself. Are we willing to step into such Light? It will cost us our lives.....and we will gain His. Do we come? Have we come.....really?

Blessings,
Pastor O