To the left is a picture of a chasm. A chasm, of course, is a divide, a separation point, usually with a sharp drop-off or cliff separating one side from the other.
Many people who think they are born-again believers have never addressed the chasm that separates them from God. Many are led to what they think is salvation, but perhaps it was a fear of Hell or a sense of duty that led them to a decision point, an altar, a baptism, or a sacrament. The chasm still exists.
What is the chasm? The chasm is sin. In this sense, sin doesn't mean simply the sin of disobedience, the sin of pride, or lust, etc. It means the sin nature. The sin nature has separated man from God. A person must understand three things before he can be saved: God's Holy character, man's sinful depravity, and the substitution death of Christ on the cross. The fallen sin nature separates man from this Holy God. This sin nature created a chasm so wide we could not jump or fly across it, so deep we could not traverse it, and yet, on the other side, God pleads with us to come to Him. When God reveals to a person his depravity (his total lack of goodness), that person realizes his hopeless state, and then he cries out to God saying, "God, I can't cross the chasm to you- you will have to come get me!" At that point a person is saved- when he cries out to God knowing he wholly and completely needs Him. It has been said many times, but the truth of it makes it worth repeating: Religion is a person's attempt to reach God, but salvation is God's success in bridging the chasm and reaching that person.
You may say, "Well, I remember my first communion," or "I remember my baptism." You may even say, "I remember going to an altar and asking Jesus to save me." All these things are works. Works cannot bridge the chasm. Until God brings that person to an awareness of sin, he or she cannot be saved. Only when He shows them the magnitude of their hopeless, helpless depravity can they be saved. They must, through the preaching of the cross, understand that they are in complete and absolute need of Christ and His redemptive work. They must believe that He was sinless in His life and death, and that he rose again from the dead three days later. This belief is impossible unless God imparts that faith to the sinner and brings him out of their sin.
This leads you, reader, to this question: Have you been born again? Are you saved? Have you truly been made aware of your hopeless sinful state, and has God caused you to address that situation with Him? If not, you are likely on the wrong side of the chasm. If you are concerned about the condition of your soul, you are encouraged to continue reading this site, and hopefully learn more about this chasm, and how God can rescue you from that divide of sin.
To learn more, begin here: http://doctrineofgrace.weebly.com/summary-of-the-doctrine.html
Many people who think they are born-again believers have never addressed the chasm that separates them from God. Many are led to what they think is salvation, but perhaps it was a fear of Hell or a sense of duty that led them to a decision point, an altar, a baptism, or a sacrament. The chasm still exists.
What is the chasm? The chasm is sin. In this sense, sin doesn't mean simply the sin of disobedience, the sin of pride, or lust, etc. It means the sin nature. The sin nature has separated man from God. A person must understand three things before he can be saved: God's Holy character, man's sinful depravity, and the substitution death of Christ on the cross. The fallen sin nature separates man from this Holy God. This sin nature created a chasm so wide we could not jump or fly across it, so deep we could not traverse it, and yet, on the other side, God pleads with us to come to Him. When God reveals to a person his depravity (his total lack of goodness), that person realizes his hopeless state, and then he cries out to God saying, "God, I can't cross the chasm to you- you will have to come get me!" At that point a person is saved- when he cries out to God knowing he wholly and completely needs Him. It has been said many times, but the truth of it makes it worth repeating: Religion is a person's attempt to reach God, but salvation is God's success in bridging the chasm and reaching that person.
You may say, "Well, I remember my first communion," or "I remember my baptism." You may even say, "I remember going to an altar and asking Jesus to save me." All these things are works. Works cannot bridge the chasm. Until God brings that person to an awareness of sin, he or she cannot be saved. Only when He shows them the magnitude of their hopeless, helpless depravity can they be saved. They must, through the preaching of the cross, understand that they are in complete and absolute need of Christ and His redemptive work. They must believe that He was sinless in His life and death, and that he rose again from the dead three days later. This belief is impossible unless God imparts that faith to the sinner and brings him out of their sin.
This leads you, reader, to this question: Have you been born again? Are you saved? Have you truly been made aware of your hopeless sinful state, and has God caused you to address that situation with Him? If not, you are likely on the wrong side of the chasm. If you are concerned about the condition of your soul, you are encouraged to continue reading this site, and hopefully learn more about this chasm, and how God can rescue you from that divide of sin.
To learn more, begin here: http://doctrineofgrace.weebly.com/summary-of-the-doctrine.html
