The Pilgrimage that Brought Salvation pt 1

SPEAKER A You once to every time in the sight of the good or evil sky don't break on you that I choice of life forever with that darkness. And. SPEAKER B The Bible assures us in Ephesians two, verses eight to ten, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Welcome to faith to faith Here are your hosts, Ettienne McClintock and Braedan Entermann. SPEAKER C Dear listener, greetings and a warm welcome. Thank you for joining us on the program again today and we are delighted to have your company just as we start. We just invite you to bow your head. So we ask God to bless our study today. Gracious Father in Heaven, it's always a privilege that we can have access to Your Word. We thank you for the freedoms that we enjoy, that we can study and learn about Jesus and his righteousness and how salvation is complete in our Lord and Savior. Bless us today, Father, with the leading of your Holy Spirit as we unpack some stories from Scripture that will draw us closer to you and ultimately, Father will encourage us in our walk. With you is our prayer. In Jesus name, amen. SPEAKER D Amen. SPEAKER C Well, just recently I discovered that a friend of mine who lives in another city, he's not of my religion, he's got a different religion, has gone on a pilgrimage. And as I inquired a little bit more about the pilgrimage and the importance of it to him, it apparently is a requirement of his religion. If you are capable this is physically capable and you're financially capable, that you've got to go on this pilgrimage once in your lifetime. And this pilgrimage is to Mecca and it's called a hajj, which just means taking a journey or the intent to take a journey. But if they don't do this and they are capable, that obviously impacts in their relationship with the Lord. So, human nature being what it is, quite often when we hear about things and think, oh, there's something that I want, or there's something I want to improve, there's something I need to go and do. What do I need to do? Just tell me what to do and I'll go and do it. Have you ever had that absolutely response? SPEAKER D It's interesting you're talking about pilgrimages here. It seems like a lot of ancient religions, and even religions today have pilgrimages. A part of it, yes. And it's the whole idea of you need to go to this place and do this thing in order to achieve closeness with God. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D You got to climb this staircase. SPEAKER C We can even within certain factions of Christianity. Correct? Yeah. They have that you've got to do this or say that, or penance or repentance or whatever it is. SPEAKER D It's kind of like when Martin Luther, when he recounts the moment where God shone light into his heart, into his mind. He was climbing a staircase on his knees. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And he was doing different things and whatever. And he got this insight from Scripture, the just shall live by faith. But he was doing something. And the church had expectations that you have to climb this, go there, pay this, do this, say this, and then you'll be right with God. SPEAKER C That's right. Yes. So we find that response even in Christianity where we come to the Lord by faith, we accept the fact that Jesus has paid the price for our sins, but then we feel there's something else we've got to do. And quite often we can delay things. Like in our previous program we spoke about whether you are creationist or an evolutionist, whether you believe in the instant work of the power that is in God's word, to do what God exactly said he would do. Or do you think it takes time, whether it be a take, another second, another minute, another hour, another day, another week, another month, another year, and some people go for years without actually experiencing the power of God through his word, the power of God that is unto salvation. SPEAKER D It's actually really interesting because I absolutely love that presentation. We were investigating creation and evolution and how that we can be Christians and actually believe in creation, but yet be evolutionists at the same time. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And I find it so interesting the response that some Christians have, and that is and we've had this experience in our lives at some times is we hear God say something and we're wondering one day if only this was changed or new circumstances or this, then it will come together. SPEAKER C Maybe that means other people that are better than me as well, or maybe but it doesn't refer to me specifically. SPEAKER D Yeah, it's because I don't feel quite. SPEAKER C Good enough, or I haven't done enough good things. SPEAKER D That's right. This kind of like someone needs to do something or I need to do something and then it will work out just fine. And we actually find this in the Book of Deuteronomy, as Moses is he's nearing his death? SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And he's recounting to them once again the beautiful story of God's love for them and his salvation toward them and how his laws are designed to give them a more meaningful and a more beautiful life here on this planet. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And he's setting before them the consequences of disobedience and the blessings that come from following God. And he actually makes an interesting statement. We find it in Deuteronomy, chapter 30 and verse eleven, he gives them an admonition. So, verse eleven, it says, for this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. He says, I've brought all of this right down. I've simplified it right down and brought it right to you. He says it's not way off in the distance, it's not too mysterious. And then he instructs them. Verse twelve, he says, it is not in heaven that you should say who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it. Nor is it beyond the sea that you should say who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear and do it. But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it. SPEAKER C That's beautiful. Because you look at that, he's saying look, what I'm saying to you here is actually very simple. It's not mysterious, it's not hidden from you, it's not that far off, it's not so far. We have to say, listen, maybe it's in heaven and then I can't get to heaven. So who will actually ascend into heaven. SPEAKER D Get it and bring it down, bring. SPEAKER C It down for us. Because if someone can do that and bring it down to us, then we will be able to hear it. And then we'll be able to not only hear it, but do it. He says there in verse twelve, or he says is it beyond the sea that someone would say to you, who will go over the sea for us? So this is a journey across the sea. Someone has to go a far place that they can bring it back, they can hear it and do it. Now that's actually if you look at the Old Testament as a revelation of Jesus Christ, jesus says you search the scriptures, which was only the Old Testament at that time, you search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they which testify of me. So when we ask this question who will ascend into heaven to bring it down to us? Or who will go beyond the sea to bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it. That's actually referring to a query regarding Christ. It refers to Christ. This is actually a messianic question in a know who's going to be the person capable of doing this? But then he says, look, you don't have to ask those questions because the word is very near you. So the commandment is not too mysterious. It's very close to you. Matter of fact, it's so close that it is in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it. Now, whenever I hear this about commandments and the heart and being in your heart, it reminds me of the New Covenant, correct? The promise where God says I will write my laws within their hearts, put them on their minds, I will be their God and they will be my people. So here we actually have a promise of the New Covenant through Jesus Christ and that is beautiful because quite often when we look at these aspects in our lives, you want to do something, but you're just not capable of doing it. For example, I just got myself a new phone and I got the emails all set up. I've got three emails on that, including the work one. But then I found that it only updated my own calendar. It didn't update my work calendar. And I was struggling with the thing. I went to the emails trying to find the settings. I couldn't find it. It's not until I actually got back into the office and I spoke to our It guru and I said, listen, I can't get the email to link through to my calendar so I can actually see my work appointments. He went in there, he knew where to go, he knew where the location was. He was able to set up the right connection there. And within a matter of a minute, he had it all sorted for me. And I had spent a half hour fiddling with this thing, trying to get it done. So I didn't have the know how. But when it comes to Jesus and salvation in regards to the laws, putting it in our hearts, putting it on our lips, we have someone that has all the know how. That's Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. But I want to now start looking at a New Testament explanation of this very same text we just looked at here in Deuteronomy chapter 30. SPEAKER D And just before you do there, Etienne, in the context here of what Moses is talking about, all of these commands, all of these instructions, all of these promises, they've actually come from heaven? SPEAKER C Yes, of course. SPEAKER D On Mount Sinai, the God of the universe came down and on the top of Mount Sinai spoke to them who brought it. The God from heaven brought down these beautiful promises of life. And these promises for the Promised Land, these beautiful things in store for them, gives them instructions, gives them just hope, brings it right to them. They hear it and they're instructed to repeat it. So in their homes, they're actually repeating these words. They're teaching their children how to repeat these words over and over again. And he says, what God has given you here, he's given you a massive and amazing gift. Don't be thinking, oh, I've got to go up to heaven to do this thing. No, he's brought it all down to you. He's brought down all of the ingredients, all of the insights, all of the values, the commands right to you to show you how to live a life in a relationship with God. He's brought it right down. And in the context here, it says, love the Lord your God. That's in the same chapter, love the Lord your God as the essence of all of this. So we can be kind of frustrated sometimes. We go, oh, if only this, or if only someone could climb the ladder and achieve these different things, god's like. No climbing ladders. I come down, I come down to this planet and I'm going to give you something right to your very ears, right to your doorstep. You don't have to go anywhere, I'll bring it to you. SPEAKER C And the application has to be an application of faith, because they tried by their works, didn't they? And they made a covenant with God and said all that the Lord said we will do and we will be obedient. And within 40 days, they're worshipping a golden calf, they put another god before them, they make a graven image. God said they shouldn't do that. They blaspheme the name of the Lord. And what they're doing, they're dancing and having a master festival there. But here we see in the same chapter, then, Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verse six, it says that the Lord will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants. So he's talking about a new heart here. When it talks about the circumcision of the heart, it's actually talking about God giving them a new heart. It says, and then you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. So God will actually do that circumcision. And now we are told here that you don't have to say who's going to go into heaven and that because there's going to be a savior, he's going to bring this down from heaven. It'll be in your heart and in your mind, and this is the word that you are to accept from us. SPEAKER D I've actually heard many stories of people who are in dire need of surgery and something to do with their eyes or their heart or whatever it is. Some surgery is necessary. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And in these third world countries, they make massively long journeys to find where the aid station is or the doctor is, and they line up in big long queues because they're longing to get some aid and to get some help. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And it's very unfortunate that these countries aren't established with the facilities. What we have is, in the Bible, we have the surgeon coming to every single person to do an operation to deal with their problem. SPEAKER C You don't have to cross the waters or you don't have to fly somewhere. SPEAKER D You don't have to buy a plane ticket to travel across the world. You don't have to get in a spaceship to head to heaven. It'll take a long time. SPEAKER C Yeah. SPEAKER D The surgeon, the God of the universe, will come to you, as he did in Mount Sinai. He came down and it says, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart. He's going to do an operation on your heart and take away this flesh, this symbol of sin and pollution. He'll take that away and enable us to love God. So God's like, this is what I will do. I will come to you and I will do this amazing work right to your doorstep. SPEAKER C Yeah. Wow. Well, let's look at that application that Paul gives. It in Romans, chapter ten, because he quotes now from the Old Testament out of Deuteronomy, chapter 30, and he says the following. Now he's talking. He's the foremost person to preach righteousness by faith. We have a lot of his epistles. He wrote to churches at his time to explain his teachings regarding this because God gave him insight, which was absolutely fantastic regarding our salvation. And we're reading from Romans, chapter ten and verse six. It says, but the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven. Now, that's just what we read in Deuteronomy, isn't it? SPEAKER D Correct. Yeah. SPEAKER C Because then in brackets, it says, that is to bring Christ down from above. So what is that actually saying? Why shouldn't we not say in our hearts, who will ascend into heaven? And that is to bring Christ down? What do you think that means? Braedan? SPEAKER D Look, it's so interesting because he's talking to the church of the day in Rome. These are people who are living after the greatest event that has ever happened, where God came down as a human being, lived a life in our midst, walking on our streets, living in our homes, eating our food, living on this planet. And then he died. And then he was resurrected. And then he went back to heaven again. And basically, he's quoting this verse. He's saying, don't be living thinking that, forgetting what God has done and forgetting how complete is the work of salvation that God has done. It's like, oh, who will go up to heaven to do this thing? Wait a second. Jesus came down. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D He brought salvation to our doorstep. And we keep thinking, oh, I've got to do this. I've got to climb this. Who's going to climb up and who's going to achieve this in order to get salvation or righteousness? SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D He's like, Wait a second. Jesus already came down. Don't forget that. Don't forget that. SPEAKER C Yeah. We told there in one Corinthians, chapter 15, that as by man came death, by man also came the resurrection from the dead. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive. So we can see that through humanity, Christ redeemed us, correct? SPEAKER D Yeah. SPEAKER C In his humanity. But he was also the Son of God, so he was divine as well. So in his divinity, in his humanity, he saved us. And that text there in Galatians, chapter four, it says there that in the fullness of time, god sent forth His Son, so send Him from heaven, born of a woman, born under the law. Now, for what purpose? The Bible tells us to redeem those who are under the law. So God has already sent His Son from heaven, so we shouldn't ask that question. Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above, or who will ascend into the BIS, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. Because as by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. And it tells you the first Adam was from the dust of the ground. The last Adam, which is Christ, was the Lord from heaven. The Bible says it very clearly. SPEAKER D All of the things that intimidate us as human beings, like in all ancient religions, human beings have this perpetual anxiety how will I span the gap? How will I bridge the gap? How will I span the abyss? How will I reach heaven? How will I cross this? And there's this whole pilgrimage mindset we have to go somewhere to get God's favor. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And here we have all of the big distances that need to be made. God makes all of those. There's only one distance that we have to cover. It's a distance from our knees to the floor in Acknowledgment and surrender to God and what he's done. And dropping to your knees actually doesn't require any effort. It requires you just to stop. You just fall. SPEAKER C Gravity. SPEAKER D Gravity just drops you to your knees. When we surrender to God and we embrace what he has done for us, he came from heaven to earth. He went to the grave and came back up again. He's covered all of these distances for us. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And he's willing to take us to heaven with Him. SPEAKER C So it says. But the righteous faith speaks in this way. Then it gives you the contrast. There don't say in your heart who will ascend, who will descend. Then it says in verse eight, but what does it say? So what does righteousness by faith say? It says the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. That's what Paul says. And now, because it's in your mouth and in your heart and it's so close to you, the word of righteousness by faith, because of Jesus Christ and what he has done, because he's brought salvation to us, he's brought righteousness to us. Verse nine, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. So it says there, it's in your mouth and in your heart. And then because it's in your mouth and your heart, you're able to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, you're able to believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead and you will be saved. So it's contrasting almost principles of unbelief, asking questions, questions that demonstrate doubt versus now accepting the message of righteousness by faith, which says that it is actually in our mouth, god has put it there, it's in our hearts. God has put it there as well, the New Covenant Promise. And because of that, we can confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ. We can believe with our heart that God has raised him from the dead and we will be saved. Now, the question that we need to ask that is, if we accept these words, especially the statement, the last verse, are they literally true? Can we accept them? Or I guess, is there a danger that we will be exercising cheap grace, if you know what I mean, by cheap grace, where people just say, Lord, Lord, but they never actually have a transformed life, they're never changed, and they actually never win one soul to the Lord. They never represent Christ effectively on this earth. SPEAKER D Because what you're saying here is down in verse 13, it concludes by saying, whoever calls on the name of the Lord yes, will be saved. And it's such a powerful climax to all of this so far. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And it's so important for us to understand what does that mean? What does it mean to call on the name of the Lord? SPEAKER C Can we take these texts at face value? Is it as simple as that? That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God is raising from the dead? Why? Because it is in your mouth and in your heart. That is the message of justification or righteousness by faith, and that if you call on the name of the Lord, you shall be safe. Can we take that at face value? We absolutely justification by faith or righteousness by faith says, yes, we can. SPEAKER D Absolutely, we can. In order for us to, I guess, get access to the power of this, I think it's important for us to explain what does it mean to call on God's name? Because there's a lot of people, I reckon just around us here in the studio right now, there's probably hundreds, if not thousands of people who are saying the name Jesus and God, but not in a good way. People take God's name in vain. Jesus is an adjective, or people just use things when they hurt themselves or whatever hit their thumb. That is not the type of calling on the name of the Lord that the Bible's talking about just by someone saying God's name. That's not what it's talking about. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Would you like to share with us a little bit here on this? SPEAKER C Yeah, look, if we look at the first time that calling on the name of the Lord is used, we actually have to go to the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings, and it says when people started being multiplying on the earth so it's talking about you've had Cain and Abel. And then we know that Cain killed Abel. And then it says in Genesis, chapter four and verse 26, it says, and as for Seth. To him also a son was born and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord. Now, what does it mean to call on the name of the Lord? It actually means that they started worshipping God. They started preaching in his name and started teaching one another regarding this principle of salvation through Jesus Christ and the promise that had been given in the previous chapter in Genesis chapter three, that through the woman's seed deliverance would come and that this seed would actually be the one that would crush the serpent's head. So the next time we read about this, we now see Abraham, who's the father of the faithful, and the same term being used that Abraham called in the name of the Lord. But let's look at the context of it. We're in Genesis chapter twelve and verse eight, and it says he, Abraham, moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and I on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord. Now, why would you build an altar? It's obviously to show your faith in the promised Lamb, the Lamb that will be slain for the removal of the sins of the world. Jesus was referred to by John the Baptist as the lamb that taketh away the sins of the world. SPEAKER D So this is a statement of faith right here. SPEAKER C This is a statement of faith. But when he builds this altar, what does the Bible say he does next? It says, and he called on the name of the Lord. Now, did he just simply say Lord, Lord, or did he just say the name Jehovah or did he say God? What did he say? Now, if we look at the original language, the word called on the name of the Lord, the word called there is Kara. Now, it's interesting that that word Cara is also used by God. When Moses asked us to see God's glory, when we go to the book of Exodus, exodus chapter 33, moses is receiving the Ten Commandments, and while he's on the mountain, he's in the presence of God and he says, if I have found grace in your sight, may you please show me your glory. And this is in verse 18, he asks a question. He says, please show me your glory. And then in verse 19, God answers him with this. He says, and God said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. The word proclaim there is the same word as calling on the name of the Lord. It is kara. So when it says that Abraham called on the name of the Lord, the word simply means that he proclaimed or published or preached in the name of God. And when it says, I will proclaim the name of the Lord, what does the word name stand for? I think the original Hebrew word there is shum, isn't it? H-S-H-E-M? SPEAKER D Shem. SPEAKER C Yeah, shem. Now, what does that actually stand for? It stands for character. SPEAKER D Stands for character. SPEAKER C And how do we know this? Well, we can look at it in the context of what we read, because. SPEAKER D 34 and verse five, we find the answer yes says, now, the Lord descended in a cloud and stood with him, that is Moses there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. So he's going to declare God's name. And it says, and the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, abounding in goodness and truth, et cetera, et cetera. This is his character. SPEAKER C Okay, so what happens is God says, I will proclaim my name. Then in chapter 34, it says there, he said that he stood with him there and he proclaimed the name of the Lord. Now, what does he do when he proclaims or calls on the name of the Lord? What does Jehovah do in proclaiming Jehovah's name? So we can see there's more than one Jehovah in this presentation here. He says, The Lord or Jehovah jehovah God Jehovah, elohim, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding in mercy and goodness and truth. He's actually telling you what God is like. So when we call on the name of the Lord, first of all, we have to know what God is like before we can actually tell people what God is like. And we don't only want to be a sermon in words, we want to be a sermon in shoes. It reminds me of an old little song that says, don't you know a Christian? You're a sermon in shoes. And many people have even made that statement that they'd rather see a sermon any day than just hear one. SPEAKER D Interesting. SPEAKER C So we obviously got to live, we've got to practice what we preaches, and that's only possible by faith. SPEAKER D So it's interesting when Abraham calls on the name of the Lord, obviously he's just set up this altar and he's made a sacrifice, which is an act of faith, saying, I put my hope in the Lamb to come. SPEAKER C Amen. SPEAKER D I put my confidence and my trust in the Lamb to come. And then it says, he calls on the name of the Lord. In order to call on the name of the Lord, you have to understand the name of the Lord, God's character. And so he has an appreciation and understanding and a love for who God is. And because of his love and understanding of God's character, he tells his family about that as well. Everywhere he goes, he stands up. It's an honor for him to stand as a representative of God and that there is a relationship restored. God is trusted, God is loved because of who God is, because of who God is. And this relationship is back together again. And so whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The Bible says yes. Number one, we are called to know and understand God's goodness and his grace. Paul reveals that's revealed through the Gospel. His goodness is revealed through the Gospel. To hear that, to believe it, and to embrace that, and secondly, to tell others as well. That is salvation in a nutshell. SPEAKER C Amen. That's so beautiful. So if we confess the Lord Jesus Christ and in our hearts, we believe that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. And if we call on the name of the Lord, the Bible says also we will be saved. So that word calling on the name of the Lord is actually pregnant with meaning, isn't it? SPEAKER D Very pregnant. SPEAKER C It means so much, but it tells us how important is to know God, to understand his character and to trust Him implicitly. Because if you know what God is really like and how he stands towards you, that his thoughts are thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you hope and a bright future, then you would want to trust God. Because there's no one else that has that mindset and relationship toward you. There's no one else that has that mindset of wanting to prosper you in a spiritual sense and ultimately give you eternal life than God. So, dear listener, we've come to the end of our program today, but we look forward to catching up with you next time. We will unpack some of these themes a little bit further. Until then, God be with you. SPEAKER B Thank you for joining us on Faith. To Faith. If you would like more information about today's program or if you have any questions, please contact 3ABN Australia Radio by Phoning. 02 4973 3456. Or you can send an email to [email protected] You can also contact us on our 3ABN Australia radio Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you.