Without A Doubt - The Essentials Of Saving FaithНамуна

I love to visit college campuses, especially their football stadiums. Growing up, I have the fondest memories of my dad driving our family an hour out of the way on summer road trips so we could visit major college football stadiums. We would hope a gate or door would be open so we could slip through it and run out on the field. I have carried that family tradition on with my owns kids. While it does cause my wife to roll her eyes from time to time, if we are anywhere near a college football stadium, you better believe we are taking the backroads to go see it, even if it means we get to our original destination later than planned. One such trip had us a short drive from Norman, Oklahoma, home of the national powerhouse Oklahoma Sooners football team. I was excited to step into the stadium of many national championship teams and Heisman Trophy winners. When we got to the gate, I realized quickly that the usual sneak onto the field was not going to happen this time. There was a barrier to getting to see this college football treasure: a large ironclad, locked gate. What a letdown!

Those closed gates reminded me about the two sets of gates and two roads, that Jesus used to illustrate the paths to assurance. According to Jesus, salvation is for the few of those who have passed through the narrow gate and, as a result, have found life. The idea of the wide gate and the broad road leading to destruction fascinates me. After Jesus talks about the narrow road, he doesn’t go into an exhortation about atheism or pagan religions, but instead highlights false assurance as an example of the wide gate and broad, destructive road. It is important to clarify that atheists certainly have a false assurance that takes confidence in their own intellect and conclusions about God, but that is not the focus of Jesus at this moment in Matthew’s gospel. Rather, Jesus locks in on those being led astray by false teachers or by being self-deceived by their own belief that their status with God is not a problem to be addressed.

Thankfully our fortunes changed the next time we found ourselves in Norman, Oklahoma. A friend made a phone call to someone in the athletic department who had a key, and they gladly let us in. It was an absolute thrill to run on the field where Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims ran for touchdowns and the sound of the famous “Boomer Sooner” fight song echoed through the stadium Saturday afternoons in the fall. To pass through the gate, someone had to let us inside. While the Holy Spirit is the one who brings people into the narrow gate, Christians are called as God’s ambassadors to agree to lead all those who will come to that gate and hand them the keys to get on the field. Christians should be running on the field of assurance, rather than hoping they have the means to get through the gate. 

I am well aware that it appears strange at first to claim such a thing as belief can be a barrier to saving faith in Jesus Christ. James in his New Testament letter had something to say about this false assurance of mere belief.. I can feel James saying, “Oh, you believe in God? Cool, want a cookie?” The demons actually would have had a right belief about much of the things of God. If anyone knew that the there was one God and His name is Yahweh, it is the devil and his minions. That reality is their worst nightmare; they hate that truth. At the barrier of belief, a right view of God is not what one will find. Sadly, the demons get it more right.

The god these people believe in is somewhere on the scale of being “the Big Man upstairs” or a grandfather-like figure, to a good luck charm or the force from Star Wars. This god is generic and vague. One might ask, “Who are you to claim that someone’s belief in god is not accurate?” While that is a fair question, the Scriptures are clear that God is not vague or generic. He has made Himself known to us by speaking, and the way He has revealed what He desires for us to know about Him is through the Bible. Assurance does not require everyone to become expert theologians; however, it does require us to believe in God as He has revealed Himself to be, not a god that we have invented, or made up. It is important to ask oneself the questions, “Who is this God I claim to believe in, and from where did I gather this belief?” Believing in God does not make one a Christian. If that were the case, James says the devil would be doing just fine.