Dr. Law and Dr. Grace (Part 3)

(continued from part 2...)

"So what happens now?", the man said.
"Well young man", Dr. Grace said with a serious expression, "You are a dead man. Your old life and identity has come to an end. Dr. Law has made certain of that. Now come with me and I'll show you something."

The man followed Dr. Grace toward the back of the house. Dr. Grace held the door open and ushered him outside. The man took one look and beheld the scene in utter amazement! Outside, contrasted against the setting sun, was a hill with a big wooden cross! The cross was all stained with blood.

"Is that THE cross?", he said with his eyes wide with fear.
"Yes, it is", Dr. Grace said with a smile, "This is where your life ended".
"But I don't understand", the man said.
"You see", Dr. Grace said before pausing momentarily, "The Man that died on this cross, was God's only begotten Son. His name was Jesus. He came into this world in a body just like yours, and was tempted with all the same temptations that you are. He was different then you, in that he was sinless. He lived perfect. He did only good in his life on earth, as he healed the sick, made the lame to walk, and cast demons out of the possessed. Then God at a time of his own choosing, made Jesus to be sin for us and gave himself to die on this very cross, so we could be justified FREELY by faith in him. The justice of God was satisfied by the blood of His Son, and on this cross, your sin debt was paid in full. Then, God raised this Jesus from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of His throne in heaven.

Young man, "the doctor paused briefly, "What I'm telling you now, is that it is that if I take you out of your sinful body and make you an implant in the body of Jesus, then you will be saved. You're two spirits will merge and become one, and you will be flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. His history will be your history."
"Will this hurt?", the man said a little dazed.
"No it won't hurt you a bit. It's an operation of God.", Dr. Grace replied and then added, "Quick, take another look at that cross".

The man looked and he beheld a Man hanging there. He was all bloodied, wearing a crown of thorns and had nails through his wrists and feet. His precious blood ran unhindered down his body and dripped to the ground and staining the soil underneath.

"Iiis ttthat Jesus?", the man stammered.
"Yes, that's Jesus, the Lamb of God, "Dr. Grace said, "Come up this hill and look even closer. Do you see he's not alone? Walk around the cross and look up at him. Do you see that there is more than one on that cross?"
As the man walked slowly around the cross where God had made peace with man, his eyes slowly widened with a look of amazement, "I'm there too! That's me crucified there with Jesus!"
"That's right", Dr. Grace said with a contented look, "You're dead and your new life is Jesus."

The man was in a mild state of shock at this point. Could this really happening? He tried to digest everything that was happening. Piece by piece he put it together in his mind. His old life was over. He was crucified with Christ. Dr. Law had condemned him to death because of his sin, but now through the body of Christ, he was dead. The law didn't rule over dead people. His death sentence had been served in Jesus! Therefore the law could no longer condemn him because he was in Christ! It was slowly making sense. It seemed almost too good to be true. Here he had been, trying to get righteous in the flesh, so as to please God with his good works, and the solution had been so simple the whole time... Jesus was the answer! Jesus was simply enough! The simplicity of it astounded him! How could he not have seen this the whole time?!

He happened to glance back at the cross and noticed that it was bare again. That's strange, he thought. Suddenly he heard the thunderous noise of a horse's hooves, and he quickly turned around! There before him was a coming at him was white horse, and the Man that sat on it was the same Man that had been hanging on the cross! He really was risen and alive! It was Jesus! Only he didn't look beaten and battered like before, and He wasn't wearing a crown of thorns.

His countenance literally radiated the glory of God! He had on the most beautiful bright white robe he had ever seen, and his eyes were a flame of fire. He was the epitome of a Warrior, a King, a High Priest, a Saviour of the world... Of Almighty, Everlasting God in the flesh. What an amazing sight to behold!

The man held his breath as Jesus slowly walked his horse over to him. Nothing could match the excitement and awe that the man felt at that moment. Nothing could match the sense of euphoria, and pure joy the man felt as His Saviour rode his horse right up beside him and came to a stop. Jesus reached down and offered his hand and said, "Come on up. You won't be going it alone anymore. You'll be riding with me from now on."

With a shout of joy the man gladly took His hand and climbed up behind Jesus, and as the two of them rode off, the man knew that He would never be lacking anything ever again. He knew that he would never be lonely again. He knew that in Christ, he was complete. He knew that there was no battle that hadn't already been won for him, and no temptation that was too great. He knew that there was no enemy, physical or spirit world, that could separated him from His Lord or his love. He knew that he was free from Dr. Religion and Dr. Law forever. He knew that Jesus was all he needed and all he would ever need.

The End.

Dr. Law and Dr. Grace (Part 2)

Continued from part 1...

The man had done everything seemingly that Dr. Religion had instructed him to do, but it wouldn't satisfy the unrest in his soul! The feeling that something was missing never left. All the activity that the "feel good" Dr. Religion had prescribed, did nothing but temporarily relieve the symptoms of a bigger problem. Dr. Religion only dealt with the surface, but what the man figured was that he had a heart problem. With a down trodden spirit, he continued to go back to the building with the steeple, for one shot after another, from Dr. Religion's syringe but that uneasy feeling never left him. Trying to forgive himself didn't work. Baptism hadn't worked. All his praying and begging God hadn't worked. The guilt for his life of sin, simply was too much to overcome. He decided that there was no hope for him. He decided that he was too far gone to be forgiven and saved from everlasting torment of the fires of hell. His final option was to go see Dr. Law once before he completely gave up, and find out what he would prescribe for his problem.

Now, Dr. Law was a stern man whose character composed of no mercy or forgiveness. He was a hard narrow man with no feelings that anyone knew of. If a person messed up, Dr. Law would let them know immediately. He was always accusing people and yelling "GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY", every time someone did something wrong. Also, when people went to see Dr. Law, they were never seen from again. They just ceased to exist. There was long running talk that Dr. Law kills people. That's why it was so scary to go see him, for the reason that no one had ever seen patients come out of his office alive. Needless to say, you didn't go to see him for a common ailment.

Finally the man, though nervously, went to the office door and lightly knocked on the door. A loud booming voice seemed to shake the whole building, thundered, "COME ON IN!"
Even more frightened now, the man slowly opened the door and stepped inside. The huge hulking figure of Dr. Law emerged wiping the blood off of a big sharp looking knife.
"What can I do for you?", Dr. Law said without sign of any feeling.
"Well sir", the man said with his voice wavering, "I have this unrest in my soul from all this guilt, and I tried Dr. Religion and tried doing the things you wrote in that book, but all my effort isn't easing the disturbance in my soul!".

Dr. Law stood there with his penetrating gaze, simply staring as if right into the man's soul before replying, "You didn't read what I said. I said that if you DO what I say, then you'll have eternal life, but if you disobey my law in in one spot, then you have to die."
"Bbbutt", the man stammered, "I tried to follow the regiment Dr. Religion said to do as well as..."
"You tried?!!", Dr. Law loudly interrupted, "You think a try is going to cut it with God?! You think a weak halfhearted effort will please Almighty God?! I said if you DO the law. A "try" holds no water with me boy. The soul that sinneth, it shall DIE! You are guilty, guilty, guilty and I condemn you to eternal death!"

His face white as a sheet, the man tried to move his mouth to formulate another excuse, but nothing would come out. His mouth slowly closed and was stopped because he knew he was guilty. He knew that Dr. Law was right and that there was nothing more he could do. He had tried in the past to justify his sinful actions and remove the guilt through Dr. Religion, but Dr. Law showed him that he had come up frightfully short. A dreadful feeling of emptiness came over him as he exited the office by the back door and stumbled down the alley with the looming death sentence over him. With the realization that all his self effort and goodness wasn't enough, a sense of hopelessness enveloped him. Panic started to creep in as the reality of the coming judgment overwhelmed him.

"Guilty, guilty, guilty", echoed through the man's mind as he wandered aimlessly through the dark alley. He kept walking and almost immediately there was a sign that said "Detour" with an arrow pointing right. He examined the sign closer and saw in small letters at the bottom, "Dr. Law construction". Suspiciously he followed the arrow on the sign and as he went along, the road grew more and more narrow until it finally funneled right into the door of an old house. The blinking neon sign read, "Dr. Grace".

The man's heart began to pound with excitement. Could it really be true?! A doctor called "Grace"? Hope sprang up in his heart as he immediately started pounding on the door hoping that the good doctor was still open for business.
A voice behind the closed door said, "Coming, coming".
He heard a few soft footsteps and then, the door opened and the man beheld a most welcoming and amazing sight. Dr. Grace was dressed in pure white and his countenance practically shone like a full moon on a clear night. A friendly smile must have been a permanent fixture on the nice doctor's face. It sure was a step up from the "no mercy", demeanor of Dr. Law.

The man quickly and excitingly blurted out his story about how unrest and guilt in his soul was eating him up, and how he was scared of the judgment to come and how Dr. Religion failed to deal with the heart issue and how Dr. Law had justly condemned him to death. He explained to Dr. Grace about his sin problem and how that he desired peace with God, but that through all his attempts he had come up short and now he didn't know where to go and to whom to turn.

Dr. Grace had a knowing smile on his face as he started to speak, "I get people with your story in here from time to time. Not as often as I'd like, because many never make it past that terrible man, Dr. Religion. You see, Dr. Religion is bad because he gets in between a sinner and the forgiveness he needs. He deceptively tells you that it's not to late to keep trying to earn peace with God, when it's too late because Dr. Law has already passed the death sentence and pronounced you guilty. It's a good thing you went to see Dr. Law, for the reason that you'd never know you were guilty if it wasn't for him. Dr. Law and I work together. Dr. Law condemns them, pronounces them guilty, and squeezes them right in through my door."

"So what happens now?", the man said.

To be continued...

Dr. Law and Dr. Grace; My Version (part 1)

Once upon a time, there was a man that went about his life bitter at the world and most everyone in it. Life simply wasn't going like he had expected it. He didn't begin life that way though. In his youth, things were different. Life then was filled with lots of friends, great hopes and high expectation of that which was to come. After high school there would be college and everything that went with that. Then perhaps a wife and kids, a house with a white picket fence, vacations in Florida and living happily ever after. Little to say, plans deviated from the original intent. Leaving college without anything to show for it and no family became the reality. A life of pleasure seeking, addictions and the resulting guilt was the end product. Loneliness and emptiness emanated from the deep seeded guilt that constantly accused his conscience. The never ending misery effectively drove him to a realization that something had to change. The mundane life of work, and after some alcohol to drown the sorrows, wasn't cutting it.

The man found himself driving by the many church buildings and wonder if there might be relief to be found inside. The man needed peace in his soul but how to find it he didn't know. Long endless nights were spent with his head on his pillow, desperately thinking of something to do to alleviate the never ending guilt and the consciousness of death and the judgment to follow. Thoughts began to mount of who God was and what he required. As he would drive down the lonely roads, men on the radio station kept telling him that there was a certain doctor that could help him. The name they gave was Dr. Religion. This doctor had much experience dealing with guilty sinners, they claimed. Rumour had it, this doctor just makes everyone feel all good inside. That sounded really good to the man. His family doctor was named Dr. Law and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with that man. Dr. Law just kept telling him he needed a major operation and he wasn't having any of that. He didn't need some huge operation, he simply needed a shot of something to ease this guilt.

So he drove down to the nearest building with a steeple where apparently Dr. Religion resided, and told him his problems. "Oh", said Dr. Religion, "This happens all the time. We have just the cure for guilty sinners. Just repeat this prayer and after, sign here and here, then fill out this church membership card."
"That's all there is to it?", the man replied with incredulity.
"Oh no", Dr. Religion said, "We have a very complex regiment you must follow. First, you must come back here every Sunday and Wednesday to get your shot. Sunday is a double dose. Next, read over this long list of rules and things for you to do to please God, and after a month of baptism classes we can get you right in the water to seal the deal".

Well that sounded alright to the man and he left feeling much better. There did seem to be a lot to do to please this god of religion, but whatever it took to ease this guilt and escape the fires of hell.

Week after week he went back for another shot from Dr. Religion. He would have highs and lows throughout the week, but after a session with the nice doctor, he would feel better. He was instructed to really read his bible, pray all the time and work on trying to forgive himself. Every week the doctor would really emphasize the need to get a broken and humble spirit, and never to forget to maintain good works to please God. As well Dr. Religion informed him that he could live his best life now and that the answer to all his problems was in himself. He just needed to love himself and know that God had a great life of wealth, health and prosperity in store for him.

At the end of the day the man would lie in bed wondering what it would be like to really know God. At the end of the day the emptiness of it all would still overwhelm him. He concluded that the shot that Dr. Religion was giving him wasn't truly satisfying. What he did in that building wasn't satisfying. That prayer he prayed asking Jesus into his heart, wasn't satisfying. That baptism into the pool wasn't satisfying. That church membership wasn't satisfying. What he needed was peace with God and he couldn't for the life of him figure out what to do! He did everything that Dr. Religion said to do but it wasn't enough!

Part 2 coming soon...

Contrary To The Natural Course

All people on the face of the earth are all endowed with a basic, inherent knowledge of right and wrong. In other words, everyone knows they shouldn't steal, rape or murder their fellow man. We will call this, "natural religion". By natural, I mean that we don't need a bible, koran, or any other book or religion to teach us right from wrong. Natural religion is an internal knowledge that we hold, that that isn't dependent on outside sources.

Natural religion goes further though. We also know without a bible or a koran that we shouldn't be selfish and live merely to please ourselves, especially while ignoring the needs of others. When we see someone that needs help, we instinctively feel compelled to help them. When we see someone in need and decide to go against our conscience and fulfill some selfish desire, then we experience guilt.

All of the religions of the world follow after the natural course. All religions follow after natural religion. Much of what all religions teach is truth, because what they teach is naturally and inherently in every person. Therefore most religion makes sense to people. It makes sense that we need to do the right thing to please God. It makes sense that we shouldn't harm anyone and treat each other with respect. It makes sense to help our neighbor when he is in need. It also makes sense due to natural religion, that we need to do something to make things right with God. All men naturally feel shut out from God. We don't need a book or religion to tell us that.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is contrary to all religion. It is anti-religion. Religion leaves men drowning in their guilt trying to please God and gain eternal life by doing the commandments of God. It leaves men grasping one commandment after another, as a knot in a rope, trying to get to God. It is FUTILE and worse than useless.
The truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is this... All have sinned against a holy God and are already guilty. All sinners are already in a condemned state and on their way to hell. Trying to earn eternal life after having violated our own conscience, is useless. It's way too late to make it right. We owe God the equivalent of a billion spiritual dollars and we are morally bankrupt. This is when the greatest news comes. God gave His Son to die and shed His blood in order to pay the penalty for our sin. This He did by Himself. Having paid the price with His own blood (that's what God requires for sin), Jesus didn't stay dead though. After submitting Himself to the due penalty for our sin, which is death, and having gone to hell where sinners go, God raised Him from the dead and placed Him at His right hand never to die again. The justice of God was satisfied. His wrath was quenched through the payment made by Jesus.

Now, God is willing to forgive sinners and call them completely righteous, freely, on the basis of what Jesus did for us, and not what we do for Him. On the basis of Christ's overcoming life, His death on the cross and resurrection, God is willing and offering us a free gift of salvation. We can now be completely forgiven and accepted by God under one condition... If we place our faith and trust on the finished work of Jesus Christ and rely ONLY on His merits getting us to heaven, not ours. This is contrary to the natural course of things. This is AMAZING!.. That God should call a guilty hell-deserving sinner, COMPLETELY RIGHTEOUS, and do it as a free gift! Why? Because He counted Jesus a sinner when He was not. This offer is unlike any religion in that it is offered to the UNGODLY SINNER (While he is still in his sin!) WHO DOESN'T WORK FOR HIS SALVATION BUT BELIEVES with all his heart that what Jesus did is enough to get him into heaven. This separates true Christianity from all religions. This is contrary to everything we have ever known and thought. That being right with God free from all of our good works and is reliant upon ONE thing... Faith in Christ.

Two Ways To Eternal Life

There are two ways to obtain eternal life according to the bible. The first one is through the law. That would be, known moral law. In other words, do what you ought to do. Obtaining eternal life by this method would entail patiently and diligently obeying your conscience throughout your life, without interruption. Doing the right thing every time, is the requirement. Failing to do the right thing even once, results in a condition called, "dead in trespasses and sins", which results in falling short of the glory of God, which results in eternal punishment. That's God's standard. Furthermore, the result of your right doing that you get from obeying the law (your conscious moral standard of right and wrong) is your righteousness. When I go to church, read my bible, give to the poor, feed the homeless, run an orphanage, get baptized, be humble, be broken... I increase my righteousness. When I do the commandments that Jesus said to do, that would be my righteousness. When God helps me to do right, that is still my righteousness. So anything I do in my physical body that would bring rewards to me and earn me favour with man or God, would be my righteousness. Anything I could brag about and be proud of, would be my righteousness. An attempt to gain God's favour and inherit eternal life by this method is difficult to say the least...

Mt 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Even one sin is one too many. There are no browny points for effort. "A try" is not worth anything in God's eyes. You either keep the law and do what you ought to do all the time, or you perish. There is no forgiveness in the law. If you DO the law, you live. If you break it, you break the whole thing, and you lose. God is perfect and sin cannot be in His presence. Not one imperfect, soiled or tarnished individual or creature is able to stand in the presence of Almighty God.

This is where religion goes astray. Man's standard is not God's. What seems fair and right to man, is not fair and right to God. God requires perfection. Man's religion says that it's alright if you've sinned. Just start doing the right thing, confess your sin and God will forgive you. It leaves men grasping, climbing, in a futile effort to try and earn for themselves eternal life. The only man that ever gained salvation by this method was Jesus Christ. All other humans fall short. All other humans followed after the lusts of their own bodies over the better judgment of their conscience and subsequently fell short of the glory of God.

The other method is a free gift and it is accessed by faith. You say, "Faith in what?"
Not faith in yourself or your own merit but, faith that your eternal salvation was taken care of 2000yrs ago. God has created another way apart from the law whereby we can be saved. God became a Man and paid the penalty Himself, for our sin. Jesus lived a perfect life and died as if He were the sinner. Then after three days God raised Him from the dead having conquered sin, death and the grave.

Here's the deal... This goes completely against the course of nature. Instead of inheriting eternal life by our own merit or by our own righteousness, God is offering us the free gift of salvation if only we will place our faith in His righteousness, and not ours. Instead trying to earn our own way in (which is futile now that we've sinned), we simply accept that Jesus took care of it. God is willing to give us eternal life on the basis of Christ's work for us on the cross. God will count our measly faith in Christ's finished work, as if it were the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. So how does this work out from now til we die? We just give up on ourselves! We stop trying to earn it ourselves. We stop trusting in our own goodness. A true Christian has no confidence in ANYTHING he or she has ever done, is doing, or ever will do. Does that mean we stop doing good? No! We just stop trusting in anything good we do, as a means of getting right with God.

All of a true Christian's faith is in what Jesus Christ did for us on Calvary, as a means of getting right with God and getting into heaven. This simply means, believing with all of our hearts that Jesus is enough to get us to heaven. This method of salvation forces us to admit that we are nothing but hell deserving sinners with no hope outside of Jesus Christ and His righteousness.

Anything we add to Christ's righteousness, in effect voids the gift. There is no salvation in a "man's part, God's part salvation". ANYTHING we would add to the free gift would be our righteousness. We cannot go to heaven by the law AND Christ. It's either perfectly keeping the law, or Christ.

The Ultimate Trap

The ultimate trap... Many denominations hold to and teach that salvation not of works and that it is a free gift. Certainly they do teach that salvation is purely by God's grace, but here is where they go astray...

They teach that it's free BUT... you have to be contrite and broken before the Lord. You have to have this humble, repentant spirit in order to come to God and "obtain" this salvation. Then what you do is confess your sin and total depravity, and in this state of sorrow, brokeness and emptiness, that God will then accept you.

Let's delve a little further into this trap... First, pretend you have this box that holds all your sin, pride, selfishness etc. Empty your box of all your sin, pride and selfishness, then bring that empty box to God and offer it to Him in return for His salvation. God will then look at your empty box with approval, and hence, look on you with favour and give you eternal life based not on Christ's sacrifice, but on your empty box. 

Then you digress into this state of passive sinfulness that makes you an unoffensive mellow human being for the rest of your life. This trap catches so many people and they live out their lives in a state of misery and guilt as a result of total focus on sin consciousness. There is no salvation in that.

That empty box that we offer God holds absolutely no value to Him. God sees no value in our good works, or our empty box (as it pertains to getting right with Him). What God values is found in Jesus Christ. All His favour is wrapped up in His Son. Jesus Christ is the only Man that ever truly pleased God. He is the only overcoming Man. To get into God's favour we have to get into Jesus Christ. Only by His merit do we find favour with God.

All the sorrow, brokenness and emptiness won't bring peace with God. God saves people who believe the gospel and are trusting in it... Not trusting in their humility and sorrow. If your caught in this trap, know this...  Nothing you can do can satisfy the justice that must come from the Moral Ruler of the universe. Only what Jesus did on the cross when He shed His blood to satisfy God, can pay the price necessary for our sin.

It we are trusting in that, then we are saved. We are forgiven. We are cleansed. Not progressively but "Once for all" time.

Root of Sin

What is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law, the bible says. The law says you shouldn't steal. If you know that law and you steal, you have broken the law. Now you've sinned and become a transgressor. But sin goes a whole lot deeper then that. The bible also says that if you know to do good and do it not, then you've sinned. The bible says that if anything you do isn't done in faith, it is sin. So if you think that it might be wrong to watch a certain movie or eat that last piece of pie, and you do it anyway, then you've sinned. Sin is basically rooted in the intentions. Why do you do what you do? What is the end or purpose to all that you do? Why do you do things that you know are good? Why do you do things that you know are bad? Why do you go to church? Why do you read your bible? Why do you treat your wife the way you do? Why do you discipline your kids?

What I'm getting at is this... Are all your doings rooted in selfishness? Do you have a lot of self pity? Do you live your life in such a way as to earn for yourself favour with God so that one day you can say to Him, "You owe me"?
It's a good question to ask yourself, "Why do I do the things I do?"
My overall point is this. We have sins that are socially acceptable and not so bad, and some that aren't and are considered really bad. Kind of like the idea of mortal and venial sins. For instance, a man sees his neighbor committing adultery and he thinks to himself that he would never do such a thing. He thinks to himself that he is far above that. He is a righteous man and only sinners do such things. Then when no one is home he turns on his computer and lusts after dirty pictures of women on the web. That man is no better then the man that cheated on his wife. You might say that at least he never actually did it. Yes, but in his heart he did. Jesus says that if you lust after a woman, then you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. As far as God is concerned, that man is an adulterer. Another example. A man looks at the drunk that can't stop drinking, and judges him. The same man is extremely obese and can't control his eating. How is the one better then the other? One is socially more acceptable, but both men are slaves to their own flesh. Why do they do that? Because "I" am important. Why does the alcoholic drink? Why does the sodomite do what he does? Why does the porn addict watch porn? Why does the man or woman over eat? Why does the smoker smoke? Because there is nothing more important then "ME" and feeding MY desires. Selfishness is the root of all sin.

To go further, why does the drunk stop drinking? Why does the smoker stop smoking? "Because it hurts MY body". "If I don't stop I could die". The end is still himself.
Why does the guilty sinner do religious activities? Why does he start going to church? Why does he become a member? Why does he go down to the alter and confess his sins? IT'S ALL FOR SELFISH REASONS. BECAUSE I FEEL GUILTY AND WHEN GOD SEES HOW SORRY I AM, HE WILL FORGIVE ME. Why? "I" AM IMPORTANT. The end or purpose is still ME. All that is still rooted in selfishness. Many people come to God with their crying and brokenness, and think that counts with God. Many people come to God with their prayers and begging ways, and think that ought to matter to God. Why? Because I am important. What they are essentially doing is emptying their box of all their sin and pride and then bring the empty box to God, thinking that the empty box counts. That's still works. Their is no salvation in that. This is where most of Christianity goes astray. The empty box still doesn't count. There is no worth to your empty box. God saves people who believe the gospel, not people who offer God an empty box in return for salvation. God saves people who believe that what Jesus did is enough to get them into heaven. Salvation by any other means, is merely selfish. Gaining salvation under the law is living life with yourself as the end. Salvation by faith is accepting that what God did for us in Christ is enough to get us into heaven.

How True is the Gospel?

Many people that hear the gospel right for the first time, receive it in unbelief. Their response upon being told that Christ died for their sins and rose again, might go like this, "But I don't believe that" or, "I didn't ask him to".
My reply back would be, "That's not the issue, it's true whether you believe it or not."
The point is, this Gospel of God is a reality whether we believe it or not. It's also true that it's only efficacious for us upon exercising faith in it, but the fact remains, that its already true and is not reliant upon our faith to make it true. This is not a perfect comparison, but for instance, if a Governor pardoned a deathrow inmate, that pardon is not efficacious until the inmate signs it, but the fact is that the pardon is a reality whether the inmate believes it or not. If the inmate is in unbelief and fails to sign it, he still dies. That is exactly the situation of the entire human race. Every person stands already guilty before God, condemned by his own moral standard. God has given us another way or means by which we can be saved from his wrath and the judgment to come, and that is through or by the means of the only sinless Man that ever lived, Jesus Christ. He has made peace with us through the blood of the cross and offered us a pardon free from all religion and self effort. All we do to access this free gift is to believe that Jesus did it all. Simply believe that Jesus finished it and be saved from the wrath to come. That's as simple as it gets. You might say that it sounds too good to be true, and I agree that it does. I still stand in robes of amazement. The fact remains that it is true.

The gospel doesn't come to us on our level. It rises far above our own understanding and experience. It seems unbelievable at first, because it remains so far removed from our reality, yet we who are saved believe it. Why? Because God said it. There is no work that we could do that honours God more then by simply believing what He says. God says that He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son and anyone that would place their faith in Him would be saved. That's a wonderful promise and believing that, with the whole heart, changes a person forever.

So here we are justified by faith before God. Many people then want to be "sanctified" and this they say involves works. Not according to the bible though. When reading Roman ch6 (KJV preferably) pay close attention to the tense (past, present, or future) and you will find that our sanctification is already past. Justification and sanctification are one work and all that is required is faith. The gospel is two fold. Not only did Christ die for our sins but we died with Him to our sins. You might find that unbelievable because you didn't experience it. I say, what does our experience have anything to do with it? We have become members (fingers, arms, legs...) of Christ's literal body and with that we share the same history. In simpler terms, we were there with Jesus when he spoke to the women at the well. We were there when He was baptized. We were there at the last supper. We were there when he was beaten and whipped. We were there when he was crucified, buried, raised and ascended to the right hand of God. Our old man, (our entire identity or all that we were in Adam) was crucified with Him and thereby freed from our body where sin dwelt. The end result, we are freed from the dominion that sin had over us. No longer are we a slave to sin. The fact is, he who is dead is freed from sin. You might say that you can hardly believe that. What's that go to do with it. If you're saved it's already true whether you believe it or not. This is something that God worked out in Christ over 2000 yrs ago and is a fact whether we believe it or not. That's how true it is. This gospel of sanctification is not something we work out in our experience but something that God did to us in Christ and we entered into when we believed the gospel. When this takes hold you will boldly proclaim that you are free from the power of sin, that sin does not have dominion over you, and it is all because of what happened what Jesus did on the cross. In this, God gets all the glory and you just live in His reality, not your own.