Author Archives: bertlewis

Through the Word of Christ

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“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17)

God’s Word is so vast that our full understanding will always remain elusive. That’s why He is God. Just as He has foreordained salvation, God has also foreordained the means by which it comes. Romans 10:17 tells us the only way to come to faith is to hear the gospel—the good about Jesus Christ. That was Paul’s message to the Jews. Though many rejected the gospel, Paul continued to proclaim that their salvation came the same way everyone else’s did, through Christ alone. He was all about breaking down the barriers between Jews and Gentiles. They were all one in Christ. Salvation was for anyone who called on the name of the Lord. So, Paul continued to preach.

Romans 10:17 answers the question of why the gospel must be preached, but prior to this verse, with a series of rhetorical questions, he considers the chain of events that lead to salvation, writing, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15). Paul went on to make the point that hearing alone wasn’t enough to be saved. They also needed to respond in faith.

We live in a time where fear and discomfort sometimes inhibits our sharing the message of Christ. Let’s face it, when you express the one way of salvation, you risk offending people. But we must be true to the gospel mandate. We must go and tell because the only way for anyone to be saved is to hear and believe. It may be impossible to always know what those we encounter died believing, but we can know if our lives reflected Christ in us, and if we were faithful to share our reason for hope with them. Be faithful to heed the words of Scripture. These are not just words for us to believe, but words to share like there’s no tomorrow. We can never know, for some, there may not be a tomorrow and eternity is at stake.

Draw Near

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“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16)

The “Christ alone” message challenges us to let go of what comes most natural to our human nature— control. God appointed Christ to suffer and pay the penalty for our sin. It was a debt we couldn’t pay, but one that Jesus lovingly paid on our behalf. Christ has redeemed us, perfectly and for all time. All of salvation is by God’s grace, and it comes through faith alone in Christ alone. Jesus lived a life we couldn’t and He died a death we wouldn’t. We don’t have to add to what Christ has done because we can’t. Instead, we are to trust in His finished work.

As believer’s, our confidence to “draw near” is not because we’ve worked up enough goodness in and of ourselves to be worthy enough to draw near. No, it’s because Jesus, our Great High Priest has made atonement for sin and thereby opened the doorway to grace. It’s Christ who is worthy! So, let us do as the Hebrew writer says. Let us draw near to the throne of grace, and to the cross, the central symbol of all Christ has done on our behalf. We don’t have a God who is unapproachable, but one who calls us to come boldly and confidently before His throne knowing that it’s there where we will find mercy, ever flowing grace, and help in our time of need.

Why “Being Good” Can’t Be Good Enough

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“All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 10:12)

I imagine all of us at some point have wished that “being good” was good enough to spend eternity with God. There are people we love that one day leave this world making us wonder if they ever put their trust in Jesus Christ. And even with the best of intentions, we wish God would grant salvation based on their “goodness”. The problem in wishing that is it’s not what the Bible teaches. To think otherwise is to misunderstand the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, to ignore numerous passages of Scripture and to read others out of context. Our beliefs must conform to God’s inerrant Word.

The Bible teaches that we’re saved by faith alone in Christ alone. That is the distinguishing characteristic between Christianity and all other religions. The Bible says that “none is righteous, no, not one” that “no one seeks God” and that “no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). And about our righteous deeds it says, they’re like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). God really is that holy and we all fall short of the perfect standard He set, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But thankfully, God didn’t leave us in that condition. By His grace, He has provided a way of salvation for us in Christ. Our stains have been washed clean by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13). Jesus willingly traded His righteousness for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) and by His wounds we have been healed (1 Peter 2:24). This is the message we share. This is the good news. This is the gospel. Let these truths never be lost. Though perhaps we might sometimes wish salvation rested on our goodness, the Bible clearly teaches it doesn’t. Salvation results from one thing—trusting in the finished work of Christ, because, unlike us, He was good enough!

Yet Without Sin

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“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15)

The great message of the gospel is that Jesus accomplished what we couldn’t. God is holy, so holy, He cannot look upon sin. Sin has separated us from God, but because of His love for us, He has provided a way of forgiveness. That way is through Christ.

Described as a “word of exhortation”, Hebrews was written to encourage Jews to remain faithful to their confession of Christ. The increased intensity of their persecution had caused some to deny their identification with Christ and fall back into certain aspects of Judaism.

The primary theme of the book of Hebrews is the supremacy of Christ. Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant did what the old covenant mediators couldn’t. Under the old covenant, the priest’s role was to act as an intermediary between God and the people. They offered sacrifices for their sins and the sins of others. These sacrifices had to be repeated. Jesus, however, is the perfect High Priest who’s once for all sacrifice atoned for sin for all time. He is the High Priest worthy of praise.

Jesus understands our weaknesses because He was made weak and suffered temptation, yet did so without sin. We can have no better advocate than the one who walked through the temptations of humanity free from sin, yet chose to die for ours, only to then overcome the grave. Live in light of that truth and give Him the praise He is due. Worthy is the Lamb!

A Mighty Fortress

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“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1)

Most know Martin Luther as the leader of the Protestant Reformation. If you were to associate Luther with only one book of the Bible, it would probably be Romans. His conversion resulted from its study. But Martin Luther also loved the psalms and Psalm 46 was one of his favorites, serving as inspiration for his writing the hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Continue reading →

A Message like No Other

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“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me”     (John 14:6)

Jesus made some pretty exclusive claims, none more so than His words in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. Such an exclusive claim angered many in Jesus’ day. It angers some today. Given the changing culture and the pressure to conform, it sometimes even makes the faithful uncomfortable proclaiming the message of Christ. Christianity is unique among religions in that the promise of salvation is based on God’s word and Christ’s work as opposed to man’s performance. This message is unlike any other. It’s the most important message there is and no matter our cultures appetite, it must be shared.

We may never know how God will work in the heart of those we encounter, but we do know if our lives are a reflection of Christ in us, and if we were faithful to proclaim the gospel of grace. That’s all we are called to do. The Holy Spirit does the rest. Let us be faithful to heed the words of Scripture and share with others the saving message of Christ. He truly is the only way. There is no other substitute! We cannot for the sake of eternity believe otherwise.

My God is Still Colorblind

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My God is colorblind. It’s not that He doesn’t know our race. God knows everything. It’s that He doesn’t care. Skin color is not His concern, hearts are. Black or white, what God sees are men and women created in His image.

A few years ago, I met a young man on a flight to Birmingham from a meeting I attended in Tampa, FL. It was during all the media hype resulting from the killing of Trayvon Martin. Reggie was black, in the military and stationed overseas. As we talked, I wondered how familiar he was with the case and what he thought about it, but I never asked. Our conversation went in a different direction, faith. Not long into the conversation I realized the blessing of getting to know Reggie. I had met a brother, not a black brother, a Christian brother. I shared this in a post entitled My God is Colorblind. Well, here we are a couple years later and just as the Trayvon Martin case brought race relations to the forefront of public discussion and media attention, the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island, New York, have reopened the wounds. Now, I don’t profess to know the complete details of these cases nor the motives of people’s hearts, but I do know this—my God is still colorblind.   Continue reading →

The Rescue

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“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17)

Did you know that Jesus spoke more about hell than He did heaven? It’s not unusual to not want to entertain ideas about the reality of hell. Truth be told, we would much rather deny its existence. However, to do so is to deny what Scripture teaches. The word “perish” used in John 3:16 means to incur divine punishment, destruction and wrath. No one should want to constantly contemplate that reality. It would be unnatural. But equally unnatural is the idea that God would rescue us from that reality—that He would provide a way of escape. Yet, that’s exactly what these verses teach He did. Continue reading →

The Reluctant Prophet

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“But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” (Jonah 1:3)

I guess you could call Jonah a reluctant prophet. I imagine to some degree, all the prophets of the Old Testament were. Confronting sin is difficult and that’s what prophets did. God raised them up to call the people of Israel to repent of their sin and return to covenant faithfulness. As difficult as it may have been for Jonah to preach and confront the sins of his own people, imagine his shock when God called him to preach to the people of Ninevah, Israel’s enemy. They were evil. Upset at the mission God gave him, Jonah fled. When God said go east (to Ninevah), Jonah instead went west (to Tarshish), eventually ending up in the belly of a fish (Jonah 1:17). God pursued, preserved and delivered Jonah. He eventually preached to the people of Ninevah and they repented. Though grateful for his own deliverance, Jonah was angered at God’s compassion toward the Ninevites. God had more to teach him. Continue reading →

As One Approved

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“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15)

Timothy knew the theological parameters of the gospel. He ministered side by side with the apostle Paul for many years. He had witnessed Paul minister in a number of difficult circumstances, but now with Paul’s impending death, Timothy would be left to carry on without him. Paul loved Timothy and wanted to encourage him to stand against the false teaching of the day. Most important in that stand was for Timothy to know that God was standing with him and that he could rely on His power. But Paul also knew the importance of how a man of God presented himself, and in chapter two of Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he expressed to Timothy the things that were to characterize a man of God. Continue reading →