"How will I know if I'm being sincere enough?"

That question expresses the attitude that I observed recently during some counseling sessions. The young people I was working with had grown up in the church, and had been taught well about their sin, God's holiness, and their need for forgiveness. They correctly understood that they would never live up to the holy standard of God's character and law.

But that's where their understanding stopped. Thus they saw the problem, but no real solution. They wanted peace, and a sense of God's approval, but experienced only anxiety and insecurity. Since their standing with God was, to their minds, dependent on their own merits, they gave in to either hopelessness, or, worse, apathy.

In our last issue, we started dealing with some of the essential doctrines of salvation, which we termed the "Great Exchange". We focused primarily on our side of the transaction, namely, "repentance". If you recall, "repentance" can be best viewed as a "turning", or perhaps a "relinquishing". It takes place when an individual voluntarily surrenders himself to the Lord. Unfortunately, it is possible to come to a misunderstanding and therefore a misapplication of repentance by turning it into just another means of achieving merit in God's sight. Repentance is only one side of the "Great Exchange". To stop there is to have an insufficient view of salvation that will ultimately lead us into bondage.

However, I believe that the most glorious aspect of salvation is not what we give to God (as though He needed anything in the first place), but rather what He gives to us. When God touches a soul in salvation, He takes their "heart of stone", that nature of sin and rebellion that we inherited from Adam, and in its place puts in a new "heart of flesh", a brand new nature of righteousness and holiness. But that's not all. In doing so He is actually infusing us with Himself - wrapping us in and filling us with His own nature.

This is what we call "conversion", a complete and total transformation of the heart. This conversion is every bit as dramatic and awesome as when, during creation week, the Lord took common dirt and "converted" it into a living, breathing, intelligent human being.

In like manner, the Scriptures tell us in II Corinthians 5:17, "If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

Only God can perform such a re-creation. Salvation is, therefore, ultimately God's work for and in us through the mystery of the cross and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Therefore, our hope is not in our own activities and our own sincerity. Our hope is in the Lord.

Do you see what this means? If the very life of Christ is now our life, that means when God the Father looks at us He sees us in His Son. In a way our human minds cannot understand now, we are "hidden with Christ", and therefore, in God's eyes, declared as righteous as His Son. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." (Galatians 2:20). "Therefore, having been (past tense) justified by faith we have (present tense) peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

The same love, acceptance, and good pleasure that God the Father has for God the Son He also has for us. What's more, there is absolutely nothing that we can do or not do to make the Lord love us any more or any less than He already does.

I know that this is difficult to understand, especially when our experience tells us that we still are under the influence of residual sin. And it is true that the appropriation of this position in Christ is a life-long process. But this is precisely where we must accept the Word of God as the absolute truth, and not our own perceptions and experience.

What I suggest to my counselees I am going to suggest to all of you. Take some time and prayerfully read Romans 5, 6, 7, and 8. Observe the process of justification in chapter 5, sanctification in chapter 6, the ongoing struggle in chapter 7, and then the absolute victory in chapter 8. As you do you will gain a whole new and stronger perspective of just how magnificent our salvation is.

And so, we have the "Great Exchange", a complete, all-encompassing transaction of the heart. By faith we surrender totally and unconditionally to Him. But in return, He gives us Himself - totally and unconditionally. All that we are is His, and all that He is is ours. What more wondrous a truth could ever be considered?

In His Service,

Stephen Tecklenberg
President

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Ministry Report

The month of September was once again spent on the road as we worked with our friends at the Institute for Creation Research in their Creation Presentations Tour of Pennsylvania. Stephen Tecklenberg was joined this year by two young men, Tim Morgan and Toby Moore, who each did a fantastic job in their respective administrative roles.

The seminars were taught by Mr. Bill Hoesch, a staff geologist at ICR. He was joined by his wife Alicia, who worked with us on the administrative end. Together our 5 person crew put on 21 sessions in churches, schools, or other organizations throughout central Pennsylvania.

Even in the midst of the national tragedy on September 11, we saw many people attend these sessions who were hungry for the truth. A substantial number of them reported to us that the meetings had been very profitable to them in deepening their understanding of and faith in the Scriptures.

And, of course, our greatest joy is seeing God mold the lives of those who work with us on the project. The events of the month, both personal, national, and within the ministry, served to teach us all lessons about God, ourselves, relationships with others, and the plight of the lost.

On October 23, Tony Rupp was joined by Mr. Stephen Tyler on a brief journey to Romania to assist, encourage, and provide moral and material support to our friends at the Golgota Bible School in the town of Talmaciu.

Besides teaching in the Bible School, they were also invited to visit many local churches. One of these churches was sponsoring a Christian leadership conference, with elders and pastors from 35 different churches represented.

The remainder of their time was spent networking with various Christian leaders, and discussing new avenues of partnership with them.