“Accept Jesus,” or “Be Accepted By God”?

Nothing is more important than understanding what the Bible teaches about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What we understand and personally believe about this historical and supremely spiritual event determines our eternal destiny. Therefore, there is no room for error on this doctrine. Error will only lead to eternal damnation in hell. Biblical truth is our only hope of heaven.

There is one verse that so completely defines the meaning of the death of Christ that if we had no other verse, it would be enough. It would be enough to tell us why He died, what His death accomplished for sinners, why He only remained dead for three days, and how our guilt can be removed so that we can be restored to God.

The verse I am referring to is 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”

Here we discover five truths that explain the meaning of the death of Christ.   Continue at Paul Tautges

25 Marks of a Backslidden Christian

I don’t hear much about the danger of “backsliding” these days. It seems that was something my friends and I were concerned about 20 years ago. We talked about it, prayed against it, and sought to keep Jesus always before us as our greatest hope and satisfaction. It wasn’t like we were about to fall right off the spiritual map by denying Jesus and jumping into scandalous sin, but we knew that we do in fact have hearts that are, as the hymn says, “prone to wander.” And I am no better today.

If there is one consideration more humbling than another to a spiritually-minded believer, it is, after all God has done for him,–after all the rich displays of his grace, the patience and tenderness of his instructions, the repeated discipline of his covenant, the tokens of love received, and the lessons of experience learned, there should still exist in the heart a principle, the tendency which is to secret, perpetual, and alarming departure from God.
- Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension‘

But even if we acknowledge that we remain sinners and can find ourselves in a dangerous spiritual state, do we know what such a state really looks like? I’m not so sure. Some liken it to big public failure, and this leaves them thinking they are safe when in fact they may be in a very bad way. In the classic Vital Godliness, William Plumer said, “Many are kept from owning their backslidings, because they are mercifully restrained from open sins. Had they publicly fallen into overt iniquity, they would blush, and be ashamed; they would bewail their wickedness before God and men. But as yet all is secret. They are merely backsliders in heart.”

What Does Backsliding Look Like?

In his book, Revival, Richard Owen Robert lays 25 evidences of a backslidden condition. He expounds on each, but I’ll just give you the points here. Consider them seriously.

1. When prayer ceases to be a vital part of a professing Christian’s life, backsliding is present.

2. When the quest for biblical truth ceases and one grows content with the knowledge of eternal things already acquired, there can be no mistaking the presence of backsliding.   Continue at Joe Thorn