I am about to say something that at first will sound extremely hard, but will end up being very simple.
You can accept God, Jesus Christ as Lord, and the Bible as the word of God and not be saved.
Salvation is not a matter of you accepting Christianity, Christ, God, or the Bible. Salvation is given to those accepted by God. The difference is huge!
Who Must Be Accepted
You accept Christ? So, what does that have to do with your being accepted by Him? You can accept God, but why should He accept you? He is not trying to be accepted by you.
Is Christ standing in your judgment line, along with everything else you consider and evaluate to be worthy, holding his resume, and hoping that he is accepted by you?
Of course not! We are the ones standing in the judgment line of Christ. It is exactly backwards to think we must accept God, when really we need God to accept us!
The difference concerns who is the judge. Are you the judge of all things, or is God?
Our consumer driven culture has painted God as a divine politician campaigning for your vote. Political debates encourage us to decide who we deem worthy of high positions. Not so, with God. Truth is not a democracy.
God cannot be judged. The Lord Jesus Christ is not up for re-election. The Bible is not determined to be the word of God by majority vote.
The Lord is Not Trying to Be Accepted
The Lord is not trying to be accepted by anyone. The Saviour is not asking, “Is my salvation acceptable to you?” The Judge does not turn to the criminal and ask, “Do you accept my judgment?” The Truth does not beg the question, “Do you accept me to be true?”
Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour and there is none else beside him. All men are destined to die, and we need Him to live. We need to be accepted by God. God does not count it a worthy thing to be accepted by you.
Never in the Bible does God beg men to accept him, but there are many times when men beg God to accept them.
They knew that God was the judge of all, and he must find them worthy if they are to receive righteousness, forgiveness, life, and the peace of salvation.
God is not up for re-election, we are. God is not the politician; we are the publicans begging for mercy (Luke 18:13). We have been given this mortal life, and our term will run out.
Are We Acceptable to God?
So, on what basis does God accept us?
If it is on the basis of our righteous behavior, wise choices, or love toward others, who of us could be worthy unless God grades us all on a curve? We may be esteemed among men, but would we be able to hold our own in the sight of God who knows all our secrets? Certainly not.
The Bible condemns all self-righteousness.
“There is none righteous, no, not one:” – Romans 3:10
“…by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight:…” – Romans 3:20
“…all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” – Romans 3:23
We must understand that we are totally unacceptable to God. We are all sinners and unworthy to be accepted by a perfectly righteous God. Even if you accept Him. He cannot accept you.
How Can God Accept Us?
Why should God be merciful and gracious to sinners? How can he be merciful to sinners?
The answer is revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ, who shed his blood for our sins, and rose from the dead so that his righteousness could be imputed to all that believe.
When we trust in Christ’s righteous life, death, and resurrection on our behalf, then God accepts us not for our own sake, but for the sake of Jesus Christ who died for us (Rom 5:8).
While in God’s judgment line, Christ lets us use his resume, his work, and his righteousness if we trust that He did it all for us.
“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” – Romans 3:26
Christ is the Judge. Christ is the Saviour. Christ is acceptable to God. We are not. Salvation must be in Christ.
When you face the Lord, it will not be a question of whether you have accepted him, but rather if he has accepted you.
The Lord is not trying to be accepted by you, and there is no way you can be accepted by God without Christ.
Trust Christ and his finished work of dying and resurrecting for your salvation, and you will be accepted in the one God loves: his only begotten Son.
“To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” – Ephesians 1:6
Article Index Published: July 18, 2015
Last Modified: August 23, 2018