Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: One of the Old Testament names of God is Jehovah Jireh, which means my provider. Of all the things God provides, the most amazing thing, if you ask me, is that he provides salvation.

Announcer: Pastor Brett Meador reminds salvation can't be earned. We receive it by faith.

Brett Meador: All other religions, you got to pay your own penalty. You got to find your own way, and you got to come up with your own resources, and you got to do, do, do. In Christianity, it's done, done, done. He did the work on the cross.

Announcer: When you consider the various religions of man, most of them tell of what you need to do to reach God. But the gospel declares a different message. It doesn't tell us to earn our salvation. It tells us that God has provided salvation through Jesus Christ. In today's Word, Pastor Brett Meador reminds us how the gospel is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes.

Brett Meador: Every religion has its similarities and its differences, but one of the similarities you see among most religions is they have some kind of a holy habitation, a spiritual location, somewhere where you ultimately want to go or be. You know, for Christians, we say we're going to go to heaven. Others say, well, no, it's more of a state of bliss or the state of the snuffed out candle. Or maybe it's Nirvana or Shangri-La, whatever your place or your third level of heaven or your seventh level of heaven. Like everybody's got their view and their version of where you're going to go. But where it gets really weird is we live in a culture of people that don't know religions very well, and they love to act like they're smart.

They say, all religions really lead to the same path. All paths lead to the same place. You want to know who believes that? People that don't know anything about religion. Because if you ask the religions, they don't agree with that. Where do you find out what a religion believes? Well, you go to their fundamentalists, their beginning authors, whoever started the religion, that's where you go and listen to what they have to say. And what you'll find is the religions themselves, the teachers, the imams, the rabbis, the gurus, the whatever they are, they're not the ones saying all religions and all paths lead to the same place.

That's just Discover Magazine or the History Channel that says that kind of stuff. But as it turns out, one of the religion differences is it's not as much about where you end up the place, but how you get there. How do you get to the place you want to go? And that's what most religions dispute and debate. Every religion has their own idea of heaven, but they also have different ways. Some say you have hoops you have to jump through, or rules and regulations you have to keep, or principles or pillars or things that you got to do. But as Christians, we have a very different answer than a lot of the religions of the world.

How many of you guys have taken in high school or college a comparative religions class? Interesting study, but I've noticed in those classes they don't really like to talk about what I'm going to talk about today, and that is I am really, really glad that I'm a Christian. Of all the religions, as you compare them, Christianity is by far the best. Well, Brett, you have to say that. You're a pastor of a church, evangelical Christian church. Of course you're going to say that. But no, I got to say, no matter what you think about anything, I'm just, of all the religions, boy, phew, I'm glad I'm a Christian.

Because the Christian message is just glorious. I can't think of one thing I'm embarrassed about or frustrated about everything about Christianity and the founder of Christianity, which is Jesus Christ. That's where Christianity in the world really started. Now you might say, well, God started Christianity back before. Well, in a lot of ways, Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism. the messianic prophecy of the Messiah through the Jewish people. Yep, that was the Old Testament, and the New Testament is the fulfillment of that. And that's how all people will be saved in the world. All the nations are going to be blessed.

Why? Because of a Jew named Jesus, who's the Messiah, the Christos of the Jews. Now, with that said, depending on who you ask, you're going to get different answers. What brings you to Nirvana, heaven, Shangri-la, the state of the stuffed out candle? Well, if you talk to a pastor, a priest, a rabbi, imam, guru, you're going to hear all kinds of things, and they're called doctrine. And that's what you teach. Doctrine is your teaching. But I love the doctrines of Christianity. It really separates itself from other religions in a radical way. So if you ask, what do you believe? You're going to hear a very different answer.

Say, what's the difference between Jehovah and Allah? The Muslims say that word and the Jews say the other word, but it's really the same thing. Well, no real fundamentalist Muslim I know believes that, and no real Jew believes that, and no Christian believes that. It's funny how they say, oh, they're all really the same. Nope, not even close. By the way, I was teaching years ago, you know, the God of the Muslims is different than the God of the Christian. And I said, even Muslims agree with that. Well, there was a guy from Jerusalem who came up and he said, Pastor Brett, you're totally incorrect.

The God of the Muslims and the God of the Jews and Christians, it's all the same. And I said, are you sure about that? He said, you are wrong. You are wrong about that. I said, well, who do Christians, if you know your religions, who do Christians believe Jesus is? He says, well, you guys believe Jesus is God. That's right. And so I believe Jesus is God. What do the Muslims believe Jesus is? Oh, they believe he's a prophet. Do they even believe he's the Son of God? Well, if you lived in Jerusalem, you'll know that around the Dome of the Rock shrine there on the Temple Mount, in white letters and blue backdrop, written all the way around the Dome of the Rock shrine, it says, God does not beget, nor does he have a begotten.

So not only does the Muslim not believe that Jesus is God, but the Muslim also believes that he's not the son of God, that they say Jesus is just a prophet who's lesser than Muhammad. So I believe Jesus is God, that Jesus is my God, and the Muslim believes he's the less than Muhammad the prophet. So do we believe the same God? And he had to say, oh, yeah, I guess you're right. He was a rabbi scholar from Jerusalem, and I was shocked that he didn't understand such an elementary understanding. I'm amazed at academics and how they miss some of this stuff. It's so amazing. But why am I so happy to be a Christian?

Now you might say, well, Brett, because you're going to heaven, you're not going to hell. Yes, that's given. We've spent lots of sermons talking about that. But I want to talk about some of the nuances. Like, I'm happy that I get to follow Jesus, not Muhammad. I'm glad I get to follow Jesus, not Joseph Smith. I'm glad I followed. I'm not embarrassed. In fact, this brings us really to our text, Romans chapter 1, verse 16. Check it out. Romans 1:16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Why these two verses? Well, Paul starts this whole thing, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now, a lot of us think of that in the context, well, we shouldn't be ashamed, and we should be bold in our declaration of the gospel. Yes, but when you think about the gospel that we believed, I'm not only not ashamed of it, I love the gospel of Christ. I am so thankful. I'm so happy and glad to be a Christian. And I want you to join me in that. I hope you as Christians just go, man, I'm so glad I'm not a Muslim.

I'm glad that Islam is not the way to eternal life because it's so much harder and brutal and dubious. Whereas Christianity, it's a slam dunk guaranteed promise from God himself, and it's so much better. Brett, you're just, you like your religion better. I sure do. It's amazing. Christianity, oh, let me show you the ways. Number one, why I'm glad to be a Christian. Number one, the path. I love the path. What is the path to Christianity? Well, it's Jesus Christ. What do you mean the path? Well, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Romans 10:9 says, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the Lord Jesus, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

The way is Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 7:13, enter ye in the straight or narrow gate. It's a narrow gate. For wide is the gate that and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And many there be that go therein, because straight or narrow is the gate, narrow is the way which leads to life, and few there be that find it. Well, Brett, that's what I don't like about Christianity. It's narrow. No, that's the part I like. What do you mean? Well, if people think broad is a good thing, it's just not. I'll tell you why. If there are many paths that lead to the same place, which people say all the time, that's just so overstated in the world today.

There are many paths that lead to heaven. That's confusing. Is that a way or is it not a way? The Bible spells it out in crayon for you, my friends. It just says one way. It's narrow, but it's clear as a bell. There's no confusion. I am so thankful for that. I'd be so confused if there were five ways to heaven. I love that there's only one way, and it's super clear. There's no option here. You have one choice, and that's Jesus Christ, the narrow path. Compare that with other, worldviews, and the path of Christianity, oh, it's narrow, but it's so clear, and I would argue easy. The path is easy.

Our God, the path of Jesus Christ, the narrow way, is compassionate, loving, merciful. God gave himself for us to the path to salvation. Praise the Lord for the simple, narrow, easy path. I love the path. It's not a hard path. It's narrow, but it's not hard. The path of the Muslim, for example, well, good luck with that, because Allah cannot really be known. He's capricious. He's given to sudden and unaccountable changes in mood or behavior, if you actually read the Quran. You're not really sure if he's in a compassionate or merciful mood at any given moment. The Muslim and Allah has to kind of follow the five pillars of Islam, and even if you do, even if you do follow the five pillars of Islam, you're still not guaranteed to make it to the one of the seven levels or layers of heaven.

Muslims believe that you get to heaven by living religiously, asking Allah for forgiveness and showing good actions in your life, good deeds. And if your good deeds weigh out at the end, on the last day, then Allah may, might show you favor. Muslims believe there are seven levels of heaven. Each heaven's made of different material. The first heaven's made of silver, of all things. And every level of heaven has a different prophet that is there, which is kind of interesting, confusing. But we as Christians, we just have one place. Heaven is where we want to be. Heaven's where we're going. I love the simplicity of the path to heaven.

Thomas asked Jesus, what is the way to heaven? There in John 14, 5 and 6. Thomas said to him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest. How can we know the way? And Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. There's no way to heaven, the Father, but through Jesus Christ. Not the seven pillars of Islam and the hopefully you do this and do that. No, the way to heaven is singular and simple. The path is clear. It's through Jesus Christ and him alone. I love that I'm a Christian, not just because of the path, but I also love being a Christian because of our purpose.

One of the questions you'll find if you kind of dig in history philosophically, people asked from the very beginning of time, why do we exist? For what purpose do you exist on this planet with billions of people on the earth? Do you ever kind of wonder, what's my reason for being? A lot of people live with despair. People that really don't have any reason to exist. There's people that are suicidal largely because they don't know why they exist. But once you realize what Christianity teaches, it makes it wonderful. We exist for a wonderful reason. Why do we exist? The question of the ages, the Buddhist, by the way, philosophically, they, according to Buddhist tradition, there's no purpose ordained reason you exist because there's no ordained higher power.

We just simply are. That's what the Buddhist believes. Taoism is the art of not trying. The purpose of life according to Taoism is to live in harmony with the Tao. But living with the Tao involves an understanding of aligning oneself with the natural flow of the universe. Good luck with that. The atheist. Why does the atheist exist? Well, that's a bummer. They really have no reason to exist, especially because most atheists believe in the evolutionary theory, which is really kind of the fancy word existentialism, the philosophical school of thought that emphasizes individual freedom, but also your individual freedom and responsibility, arguing there's no predetermined purpose or meaning to life.

Individuals are free to create their own meaning and their own purpose, which good luck with that. If you're just an atheist and you're just an accidental set of circ- you're here by accident. That's what happened. The Big Bang blew up and somehow by accidental set of circumstances, we evolved to this, and you don't exist for any reason at all. That's really depressing. But what does the Bible say about your purpose as a human being? Well, the Bible says this, Revelation 4:11. I love the way John, by Jesus says this. Revelation 4:11, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

You were created to give God pleasure. Now, some of you say, well, whatever, I don't care. God's wanting to have pleasure by creating people and watching us suffer, and there's a worldview that goes like that. And if you have that worldview, I'm so sorry, but man, you're missing the whole thing. See, the reason I love this, I exist because God receives pleasure somehow out of me. How could he ever do that? I don't get that. Well, here's the deal. We exist to please God, and we do that by, first of all, recognizing our own failure and sin and repenting. And then when we believe in God and his son, Jesus Christ, then we say, let's give glory to God, and we're saved by God, we're thankful to God, and then we give glory to God, and that pleases God.

Well, that's weird, Brett. I don't like a God who's pleased by that. Can I just say, think about this for a second. Isn't it wonderful when you see a husband and wife who love each other so much that they want to just please each other, they want to make the other one happy. It's not about their self. I'll show you a miserable marriage if the wife only thinks about herself and the husband only thinks about himself. Why do I say it that way? Because that's kind of the attitude. It sounds like that. There's nothing like a selfish couple who doesn't care about the other person, but the Bible doesn't teach that.

Bible says husband and wife, it's a model of how Christ loves his church and gave himself for it. God loved you first, the Bible says, and because we love him, because he first loved us. And so really the relationship God wants to have you is this relationship where we live to please him as our bridegroom, Jesus, as we love God and he's done so much good for us, then we realize, oh, what a privilege, what an honor to be able to bring pleasure to God. That's why I exist. Now, if you don't live that way, if you say I'm living for myself, you're going to be the most miserable person. Too many people are miserable because they don't realize why they exist.

One of the greatest parts of Christianity that I just think is so undernoticed is why you exist. And once you start bringing pleasure to God, what an amazing sense of fulfillment in life you'll find. So many people are trying to find fulfillment in their career or in friendships or in joy of thrill rides or hobbies or whatever they're looking for in their latest high or whatever feeling or sexual experience. People are looking for all the fulfillment of life in all the wrong places. Meanwhile, God says, I created you. And why did I create you? They were created for the pleasure of God. That's why you were created.

And once you realize that, man, it brings meaning to life. You know, so many different religions, they don't have any real reason for being. Like, consider the Hindu largely believe in reincarnation, and there becomes sort of a goal in life to live your life in a way that maybe you'll reincarnate in a different, better sort of scenario. I've talked to a few people that believe in reincarnation. Have you ever noticed a lot of people that talk about reincarnation, especially like the new age version of reincarnation? They were always something greater in a previous life. I was Tilla the Hun. Have you ever heard them talk like this?

I was once, Queen Esther, or I was Roman Emperor Tiberius. They were never, I was Hitler, or I was a weed in my previous life. You never hear that. I was Joan of Arc, you know. But I always say, if you were someone great in past, you must have done something really bad to become you. What a step down from Tillo the Hun. See, reincarnation, the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible says it is appointed once for a man to die. And if you're a Christian, you die and then you resurrect to eternal life with God forever in heaven. That's the glorious, I'm so thankful for that. Reincarnation, what a bummer.

You leave only to come back. What a bummer. The Bible doesn't teach reincarnation, it teaches resurrection. After you die, you resurrect, and if you're a believer in Christ, you resurrect to eternal life. So my purpose in life is to please God. And as I please God, the more I bring pleasure to him, the more I look forward to being in heaven because of the path through Christ and my purpose in life. Man, I'm so glad I'm a Christian. All the other religions don't really have much purpose. You just got to keep rules. You got to do, do, do. Hopefully you measure up and your purpose is to just try to maybe squeak in, but good luck.

Not only the path, not only the purpose, but number three, I also love the provision of Christianity. Other faiths, they always require something for you to do, to achieve, for you to strive in, and good luck doing it. What's the provision of Christianity? Well, Jesus gave himself. One of the Old Testament names of God is Jehovah Jireh, which means my provider. Of all the things God provides, the most amazing thing, if you ask me, is that he provides salvation for the sinner. He gives you everything you need to be saved through Jesus Christ. You know, what an amazing thing. There's a doctrinal word in the book of Romans is just full of this.

In fact, this is why I'm talking about this, because everything we're talking about here is going to be reaffirmed over and over in the book of Romans. That's why people, say the book of Romans is the handbook to Christianity. But one of the doctrinal words is this word propitiation, which speaks of the provision of God. What did he provide? Well, look up the definition, and this is one of the better definitions I've found. I like this. It's long, but it is definitive. Propitiation is a doctrinal word, teachings of Christianity, the act of satisfying God's wrath and anger towards sin through sacrifice.

You say, well, that's a bummer. Who's going to be sacrificed? Well, ultimately, the sacrifice leading to forgiveness and reconciliation, specifically Jesus Christ, is presented as the propitiation, meaning his death on the cross satisfied God's justice and enabled him to forgive sin. You see, God couldn't just say, well, Brett's a little sinner, but I'm just going to wink and give him a nod, say, oh, we'll let you squeak into heaven, whatever. That's not what happened. God saw that I was a doomed sinner to hell, so God says, I'm going to pay your penalty with my son, and that death of my son on the cross will be the propitiation, the satisfaction of the debt, the penalty.

All other religions, good luck. You got to pay your own penalty. You got to find your own way, and you got to come up with your own resources, and you got to do enough. You got to keep the five pillars, you got to hand out Watchtower magazines, you got to ride your bike with your white shirt and a tie, and knock on doors and help people bark dust and stuff like that. It's do, do, do. That's other religions. In Christianity, Christ is not do, do, do, it's done, done, done. He did the work on the cross. Jesus was our propitiation. I love this about our Savior. He is the provision that we need. God provided himself as the payment for salvation.

Announcer: Pastor Brett Meador offering vital understanding for how Christ paid a debt he didn't owe because our sin caused a debt we couldn't pay. And there's much more to come from this message drawn from Romans chapter 1 next time on Today's Word. And I invite you to stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me here in just a moment. If you've missed any portion of our time today, you'll find all of his messages online at todayswordradio.com. That's today'swordradio.com. Brett Meador is the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon. In addition to the main Athey Creek campus, we have other locations in the Portland, Oregon area.

For more information, just go to today'swordradio.com and click on the link locations. All right, I have Pastor Brett with me now. You know, most people know that you go verse by verse through the Bible every week, and Brett, do you have a verse or passage of scripture that might be your favorite?

Brett Meador: Wow, that's a tough one because it depends on what day you ask me, probably. But, you know, I'm going to say this past year, the scripture that just comes to mind again and again has been Psalm 23. It takes us through the whole journey of life, from the green pastures through the dark valleys to the house of the Lord forever, and it assures me of goodness and mercy following me all the days of my life. No matter what I'm dealing with, whether it's a trial that I might be facing or things that I'm happy about, Psalm 23 reminds me ultimately the Psalm points me to the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, and I can even find myself driving down the road in my truck and just speaking that the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters, and he restores my soul. And I can just kind of speak through that, and whatever I'm dealing with, Psalm 23 actually tells you the answer, and it makes you think of other passages of scripture that really reminds you that Jesus is the great shepherd. You know, I find myself audibly saying Psalm 23 and finding strength in that. So that's been lately probably my go-to favorite.

Announcer: Well, I know you're not alone in finding Psalm 23 as your favorite passage, because that's certainly a favorite for many. Thank you, Pastor Brett, for sharing that. And for more information about Today's Word or Pastor Brett Meador, you can visit our website at todayswordradio.com. That's today'swordradio.com. Well, next time, Pastor Brett will continue in the book of Romans and will share what makes the gospel simple and true. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.