On This Day: The Package is Bigger Than We Thought

   Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.” (Acts 3:19-26)

   “Easy Believism” has been a problem for a long time. It is the false notion that the “package” we call “salvation” is so small that all we need to do is ask Jesus into our hearts, and all will be well. Anything else is considered optional, and, in many cases, so-called “believers” are shocked to discover that Jesus actually requires them to walk in “the obedience of faith” with all their hearts, souls, minds, and strengths.

   When we travel through the book of Acts and consider how the Jewish apostles proclaimed the “good news of the kingdom” to their Jewish audiences, we don’t hear anything that resembles the “just ask Jesus into your hearts” gospel. The good news is always presented as dramatically life changing.

   The Jews would need to leave the old covenant they had lived under since the time of Moses, they would need to confess themselves as sinners in the sight of the God they thought they were serving, and they would need to admit that, even though they were descendants of Abraham, they weren’t actually IN the kingdom of God! They had to repent, be baptized, declare Jesus Christ as Lord, and join the church Jesus was building, no matter what the cost.

   What Peter told the Jews in today’s text above challenged my thinkin’-cap. Partly this was because I am still amazed at how the Old Testament Scriptures spoke of what Jesus did during his ministry and what he will do when he returns. And partly because of how radically life-changing it was for these people to admit their “wickedness” and turn to “this Jesus” for complete salvation.

   One of the Scriptures I often share to help myself and others picture how much change we should expect in our lives when we receive Jesus is this:

   “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

   The tiny package of “just accept Jesus into your heart” pictures Jesus coming to us. The full package of salvation sees Jesus calling us to come to him. And coming to him means being delivered out of our sinful lives, being transferred into his kingdom, and living the life of redemption in a restored relationship with God.

   And, in that relationship, Jesus is now head of his church, we are now members of his body, the Spirit has gifted us to serve others in love, and 100% of who we are and what we have is his. Yes, 100% of it!

   My fear is that the majority of people who have only asked Jesus into their hearts have never actually opened their hearts to Jesus at all. Some may have been born into the church as preemies, so to speak, but others have only put on the clothes of self-centered religion and have never been saved.

   While there is some distinctiveness in how the gospel was first shared with the Jews who had such rich history in the Scriptures, it was to prepare the way for us Gentiles (non-Jews) to realize that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” that “the wages of sin is death”, and that only when we repent (turn from sin) and believe (turn to Christ) can we leave our world of sin, enter Jesus’ kingdom, and walk with our Savior in the newness of life.

   Please do not take any chances with this. The small package version of the gospel does not save anyone. Jesus is the full package of salvation, and we all must be sure we have come to him, and that no one can ever snatch us out of his hand!

 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)