But, thank God, there is a fourth great truth. This truth, unlike the first three, cannot be learned from nature or from our own consciences. This is a truth which was designed by God to be told to neighbors and preached in churches and carried by missionaries; namely, the glorious good news that God has decreed a way to satisfy the demands of his righteousness without condemning the whole human race. He has taken it upon himself, apart from any merit in us, to accomplish for us our salvation! The wisdom of God has ordained a way for the love of God to deliver us from the wrath of God without compromising the righteousness of God. And what is this wisdom?
Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:23-24)
And again:
God put Christ forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over our former sins; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.
How is it possible for the righteous Judge to exonerate sinners who have been ungrateful for his great goodness?
God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
And again:
Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24).
He died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18).
If the most terrifying news in all the world is that we are under the judicial condemnation of our Creator and that he is bound by his righteousness to pour out wrath on our ingratitude, then the greatest news in all the world is that God was willing to sentence his own Son in our place (Galatians 3:13) and thus demonstrate his righteous allegiance to his own glory, and still save sinners like you and like me!
But not all sinners. Everybody is not saved from God’s wrath just because Christ died for sinners. And this is the fifth great truth we need to hear: there is a condition you have to meet in order to be saved. “What must I do to be saved?” is probably the most important question any human can ask.
The answer in Acts 16:31 is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”
In John 1:12 it is that we must receive Christ: “To all who received him… he gave power to become children of God.”
In Acts 3:19 it is, Repent!; that is turn away from sin: “Repent therefore, and turn again that your sins may be blotted out.”
The answer in Hebrews 5:9 is obedience to Christ: “Jesus became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”
Jesus himself answers the question in a variety of ways. In Matthew 18:3 he said that childlikeness is the condition for salvation: “Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
In Mark 8:34-35 the condition is self-denial – the willingness to lose your earthly life for Christ: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
In Matthew 10:37 Jesus says the condition is loving him more than anybody else: “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (See also 1 Corinthians 16:22; 2 Timothy 4:8)
And in Luke 14:33 the condition for salvation is that we be free from the love of our possessions: “Whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”
These are some of the conditions that the New Testament says we must meet in order to benefit eternally from the death of Christ on the cross. We must believe on him, receive him, turn from our sin, obey him, humble ourselves like little children, love him more than our family, friends, possessions, and even our own life. This is what it means to be converted to Christ. And this alone is the way of life everlasting.
But what is it that holds all these various conditions together? Is there a truth which unites them all? I think the answer is given in the little parable we read at first:
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then from his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
The person who is converted and brought into the kingdom of heaven has discovered a treasure – namely, Christ – and is impelled by joy to sell all he has to have this treasure. You are converted to Christ when Christ becomes for you a treasure chest of holy joy! We are converted when Christ becomes a treasure in whom we find so much delight that trusting and obeying him and turning from all that belittles him becomes our normal habit.
There is no evidence in the Bible that God will accept people who come to him out of any motive other than desire for joy in him. You cannot please God unless you come to him in search of reward. Hebrews 11:6 says,
Without faith it is impossible to please God. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
When Peter focused on his sacrificial self-denial and said “we have left everything and followed you” (Matthew 19:27) Jesus pointed out his pride: “There is no one who has left anything for my sake who will not receive a hundredfold now and in the age to come eternal life.” Jesus was saying “Peter, if you don’t come to me because I am greater treasure than all those things you have left then you don’t come to me at all.” You think far too highly of yourself if you think you are anything more than a little baby branch sucking righteousness, peace and joy from Christ, the vine! The condition of salvation is that you come to Christ in search of reward, finding in him a treasure chest of holy joy.
Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live. (Isaiah 55:1-3)
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