A few moments ago, I had the privilege to listen to the testimony of a good friend of mine, Shawn McGrath from Moncton, NB, Canada. The twenty minute talk told of his life before he had a relationship with the Son and how he came about to have a relationship with Him. And though I’ve heard it countless times before, I especially liked how he ended the message:
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
What a wonderful thing that is! What a gloriously simple salvation! While it is possible to talk at length about the true gospel, discuss endlessly the finer points of Arminianism vs. Calvinism, and more, the elder Apostle John under inspiration of God eloquently sums up the gospel in a manner even a young child can understand in 1 John 5:12. “And this is the testimony:”
That God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. HE THAT HAS THE SON HAS LIFE; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Think about that for just a moment. You don’t have to be baptized in water. You don’t have to confess your sins to a priest. You don’t have to sell all your possessions. You don’t have to join a church. You simply must have the Son.
In the next verse, John says he is writing to those who believe on Jesus Christ to show them that they have every reason to be assured of their salvation, which they have through faith (or, their belief).
This brings us to one of the most often used verses in all of the Bible, Ephesians 2:8.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
That grace is that of Jesus Christ alone, and the faith is our belief in Him. Our salvation is a gift.
Notice how many one-syllable words are used in these verses. God wanted to make it easy to understand, so while there may be a lot in the Bible that is difficult for some to understand, He took the most important messages we could ever hear and gave them to us in a form anyone can get. Even you.
If you are anything at all like me, you have fallen short of God’s glory. Like me, you have told lies, committed some form of sexual immorality (including lust), disobeyed your parents, and desired that which is not yours. And while these activities may be common to human experience, they are called “sins,” which simply refers to an action which breaks God’s Law.
The “gift of God” mentioned above is freedom from the guilt of sin. When we believe in Jesus Christ, God counts the righteousness of Christ to our account. Jesus lived a perfect life, you see, and He died so that His perfection could be a substitute for our imperfection, so that His blood would forever pay the price for our wrongdoings.
And He beckons everyone to simply come unto Him in belief. The Scriptures describe it as “putting on Christ,” much like one would put on a parachute. In other words, it is not enough to know a parachute can save you when you jump from a plane; one must believe in the parachute and to express that belief by putting on the thing. So it is with Christ. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ by trusting in Him and confessing your sinfulness and your belief to God in Heaven.
You don’t have to pray a certain prayer, just talk to Him in sincerity, as you would your most trusted friend.
And never let it depart from your mind that if you have the Son, you have life, and that if you do not have the Son of God, you do not have life.
Simple.
Great post! I know that many times I can unnecessarily complicate the gospel. We really do need to remember exactly what you said in this post, “You simply must have the Son.”