Ring Out The Old, Ring In Christ

Ring Out The Old, Ring In Christ

165 years ago, Alfred Tennyson wrote “to ring out” the old strifes, hatred, griefs, errors and troubles of the old and to “ring in” the new, happy, true, pure, good and lovely.  

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

In the final stanza of his poem (of which there are eight in all), he pointed the way to way to have this renewal that all men desire:  Christ who is to be.

One day, in Christ, all the works of the devil will be destroyed (1 Jn. 3:8) and a “new heaven and new earth where righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13) and “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.” (Phil. 2:10). 

As the New Year Begins, let us renew again in our own lives the commitment to bring Christ into our hearts, letting his peace, love, joy and priorities lead us in every private moment and ever public participation’ ringing out every “raised up against the knowledge of God, and…taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5) until He is rung fully in!

Devoted To Prayer

We have been studying prayer in several sermons with several more planned. In the New American Standard translation we find the instruction to be “devoted to prayer” (Rom. 12:12)

The greek word most often used translated “devoted” (proskartere Strong’s #4342) which is also translated as “continue in”, “persist” and “preserve,” is used regarding prayer 5 of the 10 times that it appears in the New Testament. 

Acts 2:42“And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

Acts 6:4“But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”

1 Cor. 7:5“Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote yourselves to prayer…”

Col. 4:2“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving"

There are to other good things to be devoted to that are descriptor int his way in the scriptures such as unity (Acts 1:14; 2:26) and doing God’s will (Rom. 13:6) but not taught so often as prayer. 

The Heavenly Calling

The Hebrew writer tells us that in our Christian endeavor we are partakers of a heavenly calling. 

Heb. 3:1“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus…”

It is a call both from heaven, and to heaven, but it is given on earth that God has told us to repeat over and over and over making sure that anyone who wants to come will have a chance to hear the calling. 

Rev. 22:17“And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.”  And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”

This is exactly what Jesus did with the apostles. He was sent, and He sends others to spread the His message. 

Jn. 20:21“Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

So with the heavenly calling.  The origin is heaven, but the call is spread by those who have already accept it. The supernatural portion was the origin; the effectiveness is based in God’s will; providential care and blessings protect and promote the call and we repeat God’s call to all who will hear.

Who Is This?

The apostles saw a great miracle. And even they, who had seen so many miracles and even had their own family members healed, could not yet conceive of who was with them.  

Mark 4:40“And He Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” And being aroused, He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?” And they became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?””

It was Jesus, the Son of God, God with Us, God in the flesh. The answer was in scripture, once they put it together. 

Ps. 65:7“Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples?” 

Ps. 89:9“You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.”

Ps. 107:29“He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves of the sea were hushed.”

Yes, the answer to the question of amazement was thrice before given in scripture. They just hadn’t put their question and the information God already provided together — just like so many times today.

Everything Must Go!!

How many times have we heard these words booming in anadvertisement to get out attention that this “Going out of business” sale is really, this time we really actually do mean it, because we are closing this shop up and want to sell everything first. So the they’ll sell at a loss because they are closing up shop and moving on to something else. 

Consider how the apostle felt about all the worldly things that he had outside of Christ. He was fully willing to let them go: go at a loss, go immediately, go completely, go permanently…just get that stuff gone to have Christ instead. 

Phil. 3:7-11“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him…that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Jesus addressed this same thing from the other side of the question when“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)  In very of this, “Everything must go!” is the reasonable choice if compared to what is offered in Christ.

The Greatest Bible Study Ever

Luke 24:27“And beginning with Moses and with all the pro-phets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”

On the day of the resurrection, two discipline (one name Cleopas, the other unnamed) were making the seven mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They were talking about Jesus and the recent events when Jesus, whose identity was in some way hidden from them, joined them as they travelled.  

After Jesus asked them to explain further, they spoke of thegreat expectations that they had for him, and the early reports of His resurrection and that His body was gone..

Jesus then spent the rest of the journey explaining to them the things about Himself that were in “all the scriptures.” This phrase can be taken as either He spoke to them about “all the scriptures” that spoke of Him, or He outlined what “all the scriptures” taught.  

It was a 7 mile walk, so maybe a journey of 2 hours or so, so He had some time to explain things to them, but still, since there are over 300 prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament, He probably didn’t cover every one of them. But He open their eyes to what “all the scriptures” said — that He can just as prophesied bringing forgiveness to the people and their hope in him was well justified. What a study of scriptures was, as Jesus Himself explained the mysteries hidden God from the beginning in detail that had never been done.

Daily, Not Weekly, Monthly, Annual Or Lifetime Provision

Ex. 16:18,19 “When they measured it with an omer, he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat. And Moses said to them, “Let no man leave any of it until morning.’”

Matt. 6:11 “Give us this day our daily bread.”

The provision of God to all mankind, especially to His people, is a fact that is proven by history, taught in the scriptures, and accepted by faith by all His people. 

The provision is often what businessmen today would call “just in time” inventory management.  His provision is given in such a way that we get what we need, but in such a way that we don’t become unappreciative of it, thoughtless as to it’s origins. One of the worst things that can happen to a disciple is to be thoughtless, thankless and presumptuous in regard to the shower of blessings God gives. 

In hindsight, we can see that God took care of us last week, last month, over prior years, and even through out entire lives. But He does it one day at a time.  

So we have the need of daily requests and daily thanks. And when we think further on spiritual things, daily study (Acts 17:11). daily teaching (Acts 5:42), daily exhortation (Heb. 3:13), and daily self-denial and cross-bearing (Luke 9:23).

“Do You Believe This?” Jn. 11:25,26

In Jn. 11:25,26 Jesus made an amazing statement, then He followed it by asking a very simply question.  

Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died just a few days before. Four days after His friends’ burial, Jesus went to the cemetery and was met by Lazarus’ sister, Martha. Jesus told her: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” (vss. 25,26)

What an incredible statement. Here was a man standing before Martha telling her that He was the resurrection of life, and that if anyone would believe in Him they would live forever. Would this cause Martha to doubt? Wasn’t Lazarus a believer, a disciple, of Jesus?  And just where was it that Martha was having this conversation about life and death?  Wasn’t it in a cemetery near the fresh grave of her beloved brother?  Many lose their faith in just such a scene as this.  

In vs. 26 Jesus asked Martha “Do you believe this?” Martha didn’t just say that she believed in a Christ, but the Jesus, the one standing before her, was the one.   

Martha made her great confession in Jesus just before He raised her brother from his early grave. She believed and her faith was quickly vindicated. If we believe in the same way that she did we don’t expect to so quickly leave the cemetery in triumph. But the power that Jesus demonstrated in Bethany assures us that one day (that last great day) we can leave the cemetery just as surely as Lazarus did when Jesus says, “Come forth” to all the faithful.

As We Teach The Boys: “Do Your Best”

“Do your best” is the motto of the Cub Scouts and we often have to remind to boys of it as they get frustrated with difficult activities and skills. Doing your best is Biblical principle as well. “Whatever you do, do with all your heart, as for the Lord.” (Col. 3:2)

Doing our best is both all we can do and, at the same time, quite limited. If we could always do right, always do things perfectly, we would do that and not have to worry about doing a our best effort, because we’d just do it right and be done with it. But we often don’t do things right. It’s very frustrating knowing it’s not right, when that’s what we want to do. As the scriptures say say, “We all stumble in many ways.” (James 3:2). Another translation has it this way, “We all make many mistakes.”

So we are limited to “doing our best” because that’s all that we can do. We can’t do any better than that no matter how much we want to. We can’t do better than our best, whether it is right or not. We can only hope to grow and do better in the future.

So we do as best we can by our families, neighbors and brethren. We love and help as we can and those of goodwill love in return as they try to do the same as well. We don’t love because others are perfect, and that’s not why God loves us, either. 

We should all be so glad to love isn’t based on perfection, but based on relationships, and each of us trying to be good to one another.

No Idols in Beth-el

As Jacob was headed to Laban’s house to seek a wife (and flee his brother Esau’s wrath), he met God at a place he would call “Beth-el” (“Beth” meaning house and “el” meaning God). “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”…And he called the name of that place Bethel” (Gen. 28:17,19)

Twenty five or so years later, when Jacob and his family needed to leave Shechem because of the actions of his sons, he was called by God to go back to that place. “Then God said to Jacob, ‘Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.’” (Gen. 35:1)

Before going to the place of God, Jacob knew that his family had some things to correct. Over the years they had become too much like the world in their religion and their actions. “So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; and let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and has been with me wherever I have gone.” (Gen. 35:2,3)

They had many things that they needed to leave behind in Shechem and not take to the house of God. They needed to leave the idols Rachel took from her father’s house and the duplicity they had practiced their neighbors. They need to “change their clothes” and go worship God. 

It is fitting that later Joshua chose Shechem to give his rousing “Choose you this day” speech against idolatry.  (Josh. 24) In every generation, we need to leave some things in Shechem and go to Bethel.

Love Your Neighbor — You Know, What’s His Face

A recent sociological study entitled “Less in Common” reveals how Americans interactions with their neighbors is becoming less and less. 

Americans spend significantly less time with their neighbors.  In the 1970s, nearly 30 percent of Americans frequently spent time with neighbors, and only 20 percent had no interactions with them. Today, those proportions are reversed. (available at: http://cityobservatory.org/less-in-common/)

This trend has always been pushed by technology. Things as basic as air-conditions keep people walled off from each other inside their own homes. With telephones we can speak to those far away (whom we already know)  as easily as those nearby (whom we often don’t). The internet and its devices has only made this easier, cheaper and more common.  

It also has to do with us spending our pleasure time (and sometimes our work time) increasing alone. The study notes that, “The biggest portion of our leisure time is spent watching television…”  Some people are sitting so long watching Netflix and other services that offer full seasons of televisions shows that health authorities have issued warnings about pulmonaryembolisms — blood clots that start in the extremities then travel to and lodge in the lungs — caused by sitting for extended periods with limited movement (a danger usually associated with cramped conditions on very long flights) — for people binge-watching shows.

While inside, on our phone, computer or tv, when is their time for the love of neighbor that we are so often reminded to show? (Matt. 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14; Jas. 2:8)

Loving Those We Did Not Choose

We have some latitude in this life about the people we spend out time with. We get to choose our spouses and and our friends, and sometimes we have a choice of congregations, so that we might have some limited choices in the brethren we associate with. But the vast majority of people that God told us to love are not people who get to choose — yet God chose for us to love them. 

Love your neighbor — not many of these did we choose. Love your enemies — unless you set out to start a conflict with them, you didn’t choose these. Love your family — we didn’t choose them any more than they chose us. 

Think of Jesus’ most famous teaching about loving your neighbor: the story of the good Samaritan.  The man on the road to Jericho didn’t choose to be injured. The Levite and the priest then didn’t choose to help. The Samaritan didn’t get to choose who to show love to, he only got to decide to be loving or not.   

Luke 10:36,37 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.””

This is really the only choice for us. Do we love: even at the inconvenient, time-consuming, work delaying, planned relaxation time disrupting, expensive in time, effort and money, that opportunity often presents itself in as Jesus instructs? Or do we just continue on like the world?

Warnings

There were weather warnings of hurricanes, floods and tsunamis. There were warnings about diseases and there were warnings to cigarette smokers and beer drinkers. Warnings are good. They alert us to imminent danger, urging us to take precautions to protect life and limb. 

Did you hear any warnings about sin last week? Perhaps, but we are pretty sure many did not. Did you hear any warnings about the dangers of lying, of stealing or of sexual immorality? You heard the warnings if you read your Bible (1 Cor. 10:1-12; Eph. 4:17-32; Col. 3:1-11; Gal. 5:19-21).

Did you hear any cautions against doctrinal error last week? Perhaps, but most who heard about doctrine were probably told it matters more that they are sincere than it does about what they actually believe. God expects both a genuine heart and a pure faith that is guided by truth (Jn. 8:31-32; Jas. 1:21-27; Gal. 1:6-10). You heard the warnings against false teaching if you read your Bible last week (Matt. 7:15-20; 2 Pet. 2:1-3; 2 Jn. 9-11).

Why don’t we hear more warnings of spiritual dangers? The obvious answer is because people love sin more than they love God. Then there are those who do not want to offend the offenders of righteousness. They say warning against sin is too negative and hurts the cause of Christ. It never enters their mind that a tornado warning is harmful. Such warnings are positive and essential. How much more essential are the warnings that protect our souls from sin and shelter us from spiritual harm? Such warnings are positive as well.

A Glaring Gap In The Obituary

This week, I’ll be out of state preaching a funeral for a very decent man. He was raised by Christians and was a father and grandfather to Christians. I only met a him a few times myself, but he positively impacted my life through his family. He was a good neighbor, a good worker over his 40 year career, and universally attested to as a good and likable man. 

But the reason I’m doing his funeral—instead of any local preachers he was associated with—is that he was never associated with any. The only preacher he was associated with was one of his close relatives, my friend, so I was called.  

This good man was not a faithful man. He was often around faithful people. Faithful people shared the gospel with him. He knew of some of his children and grandchildren confessing the Savior, repenting of sins, begin baptized in Jesus’ name, living faithfully for the Lord. He did not hinder or stop them. But he never confessed and submitted to the Savior. 

True believers often act differently at funerals than others. At Bro. Dean’s funeral a while back, it felt more like a family reunion than a mourning. There was joy at a life well lived and a soul securely saved. Those gathered enjoyed each other’s company, especially if they shared in the same great hope. 

1 Thess. 4:13,14“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.”

Sadly, at this funeral, I’m afraid might be those with the most faith who’ll have the most grief.

Pride

The biggest problem we face in living peacefully within ourselves, and peacefully with others, is pride. Depression, anger, malice, rudeness, short-tempers, marital conflict and every kind of hurt feelings, anger and grudges — everything that stands in the way of peace, love and reconciliations is rooted in pride.  

Because we are so attuned to thinking of ourselves first, if we’re not careful, we can go through life building an ever growing mental list of grievances, slights, offense and ways in which the world, and most of the portion of its population that we deal with, have disappointed or offended us. This is a terrible — but terribly common — way to live.  

And its not just me, and you, who do this. Our spouses, co-workers,  brethren, neighbors, etc. might well be doing this also. This can make living life like navigating a mine-field. Even worse, the dangers of the human pride-field can be set of by inadvertent action, a careless word or something taken in a way not intended. But any prideful actions that we take will certainly set it off. So in dealing with others we must always be mindful to swallow our pride, and make sure not to unnecessarily wound theirs. 

Prov. 15:1,2,4a“A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.

2The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly.

4A soothing tongue is a tree of life…”

Being gentle, acceptable and soothing takes deliberate, humble effort.

Patiently Enduring Weakness

We (almost) never appreciate things that seem to weaken us, whether the limitations are physical, mental, emotional, financial, social, etc. These vexing thing can come on us by nature, at the hands of other people and sometimes by the restraints we place upon ourselves. 

Financial or social setbacks can come because we are taking care of God given responsibilities (like aged parents, or children) have us otherwise engaged, or because we refuse to take advantage of situations or people (as many sinners do) out of regard for others (Phil. 2:4) and following the golden rule (Matt. 7:12). 

Enduring our weaknesses and limitations, whatever they may be and from whatever source, is frustrating until we have really and truly learned patience.  Patience is never an easy or fun thing to learn. 

Heb. 12:11“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” 

The “peaceful fruit of righteousness” the product of godly living.  We’d often like it to come quicker, but without contentment and perseverance it never makes it’s appearance. Patience is hard. Only God has ever had it perfectly (1 Tim. 1:16). But if we are trained by it as we do the good deeds that God has created us to do (Eph. 2:10), it will have its perfect result in us. 

Jas 1:4“And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

And like a “perfect result” in any endeavor, it will take a while.

The Rainbow

The Bible tells us the origin and meaning of the rainbow, Gen. 9:12-17.  

Gen. 9:13“I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.” 

This is not just as natural phenomenon, as we were taught in physical science class, but the sign of the covenant of God to restrain His anger and never destroy all mankind again.

God says this is “My bow.” The glorious colored circle containing either 6, 7 or 8 colors (depending on how one divides it*), is a symbol of the presence of God. It is very uniquely His and a regular reminder of Him to us. 

In Ezek. 1:28 a His glory is compared to a rainbow. In Rev. 4:3 a rainbow surrounds His throne in Heaven, and in Rev. 10:1 one of His strong angels isgiven an rainbow to wear as a crown when he came in glory for the Lord. 

Yet today we often see the rainbow used in an entirely different way. It is now used as the banner of homosexual identity and the destructive cultural forces and political power that go with their ungodliness. The perversion of the word “gay” was a great loss to our language, but the appropriation of God’s symbol for Himself for us in a promotion evil is one of Satan’s great (temporary) victories. They have turned the symbol of God’s peace into a reminder of why God restrain Himself from catastrophic judgment. Without that covenant, what might He rightly do to us?  

_______________

*The rainbow actually contains every visible color in a continuum, including infrared and ultraviolet just above and below the visible spectrum.

No Scriptures = No Limits

This week in an interview publicizing his new book, former President Jimmy Carter spoke about the role of his faith and religion to his life. The interviewer, Marc Hill, and President Carter had this exchange:

Carter:  I think everyone should have a right to get married…those partners should be able to get married.  That’s no problem… 

Hill:  Would Jesus approve gay marriage?

Carter:  I believe Jesus would. I don't have any verse in scripture… 

Hill:  No, no, no, but intuitively, yeah…

Carter:  ...I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage, but that's just my own personal belief. I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else, and I don't see that gay marriage damages anyone else.    (www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/07/jimmy-carter-gay-marriage_n_7744390.html)

Both President Carter and his interviewer readily agree that there is absolutely NO SCRIPTURE at all to support gay marriage. Carter, who had just said in the interview that he regularly teaches Sunday School at his local church, admits it before he even asked about it.  The interviewer tries to help him his position by asserting that it’s not even necessary to have scriptures on your side, since it’s something that one just knows “intuitively.”

Carter not only agrees that scripture isn’t needed for it, but affirms that “any love affair” must be fine with Jesus so long as it is “honest, sincere and not harmful.” On this basis would any fornication or sin, agreeably entered into, be wrong? When you approve things without scripture, there are no limits.

To Understand The Scriptures

1. Ask the Right Questions:  If we want to know what a passage means, we have to ask ourselves:

1What question was the original audience asking (or what problem were they having)?

2How was that being addressed by the inspired writer?

3How can I apply the truth of that passage to my life today?

2. Stop Focusing on Peripheral Details:  Some people miss the point of a passage because they spend all of their time thinking about the incidental details of a story, rather than focusing on the main point(s). As an example, my whole life I’ve heard people talk about whether it was a “fish” or a “whale” that swallowed Jonah.  If we are ever going to be “transformed by the renewing” of our minds (Romans 12:2), we must stop getting lost in the weeds. We have got to stop focusing on the peripheral details.

3. Consider the Big Picture of Scripture:  Another reason many people miss the point when they study Scripture is because they read passages as if the passage stood entirely alone, isolated from the rest of Scripture. You cannot possibly come to right conclusions when you read Scripture this way. You must see every passage in the context of the book in which it is found and within the context of the entire Bible.

The psalmist said, “The sum of Your word is truth” (Psalm 119:160). Meaning, when you put it all together, you have the “truth.” The Bible is not an encyclopedia or a dictionary, where you can simply look up a verse and say, “Ok, so this is what the Bible says about this.” You have to understand that verse in light of the big picture of Scripture.

What Has Changed?

The Supreme Court has legalized homosexual marriage. As Christians sort through the ramifications of this, we ask ourselves, “What has changed?”

1) Legally: our culture changed its definition of marriage. Socially: the word “marriage” hasn’t had a biblical meaning for many for a long time. Divorce, adultery, cohabitation, fornication, homosexuality and other forms of sexual immorality have long been defiling “the marriage bed”  (Heb. 13:4).

2) Cultural acceptance of depraved behavior: legalizing an activity once forbidden will aid in normalizing it. Yet, God’s word has not changed one iota. Such sings as inhibriation, abortion, gambling or divorce for any cause, etc., will find approval with men (Prov. 14:12), but God still condemns them as sin. He condemns those who commit such things, and those who give approval to those who do (Rom. 1:32b).

3) National morality: this nation has long supported unrighteousness (Prov. 14:34). While we continue to grieve its ever our increasing moral decline, we acknowledge that no nation of men is sinless (Rom. 3:9-18). But our salvation is not based on our national identity, but our identity with the kingdom of heaven and the cross of Christ.

For the Christian, nothing has little or moral substance or faith changed. We are still promised persecution for godly living (2 Tim. 3:12). Sin is still sin (1 John 3:4) and its wages are still death (Rom. 6:23). Souls still need salvation (Jas. 5:19-20). The gospel still needs to be preached (Mark 16:15-16). The truth is still the truth (John 17:17). The longsuffering of the Lord is still salvation (2 Pet. 3:15). Jesus is still coming (Rev. 22:20). Rather than entangle ourselves in the affairs of this life, let us seek to please Him who enlisted us to fight the good fight (2 Tim. 2:4). Let us continue to be salt and light in a sin-sick and lost world, leading souls to salvation in Christ Jesus.