 | Dr. John Click, has been the Pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church for 27 years now he is the pastor emeritus. He’s a graduate of Baylor University with a BA and Southwestern Seminary with a BD. He received his DMin at Midwestern Seminary. He has served in numerous positions in the Southern Baptist Convention, including: President of the Kansas/Nebraska Convention, Executive Committee of SBC, North American Mission Board, International Mission Board, and Houston Baptist University Board. He has traveled to preach in Europe, Central and South America and the Far East. Dr. Click is the founder and first President of Harvest Communications, which is a TV production company specializing in producing teaching materials for Para- Church organizations. You may contact him for comments or questions by e-mail at: Jcclick99@aol.com. |
Religion
2009-08-01 13:52:00
Did He die to make us holy?
Question: I heard a Protestant preacher say that our Lord Jesus died on the cross for us: to make us holy. He added: the fact that we can now get into heaven, as the result of his dying on the cross, is a side-benefit. I thought this is most interesting. Can you comment how your particular faith regards that statement?
Answer: It is difficult to put God’s purposes in time order to say which came first. Clearly, our lack of holiness restricted all of our contact with God. He could not bring sinful man into His fellowship since we were rebels against Him. Sinful people resent God and seek to avoid Him. He could not welcome us into His presence when we were like that! We had to be made holy by Jesus substituting for us on the cross. You can say that every result of this is “a side benefit” and that making us holy was the first required step. But being able to go to Heaven is such an important thing for any person that it is hard to call it a side benefit. It is like saying that life is a side benefit of birth! Since these go together, it is not possible to make one to be the “main” and the other the “side” benefit.
Listen to this from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. “We do not lose heart...we fix our eyes not on what is seen, for what is seen is temporary. Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have an eternal house in heaven, not made with human hands...our Heavenly dwelling.” II Cor. 4:16-5:1 “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” II Cor. 5:21 (NIV)
