Steps to Salvation

Zacchaeus was a short man, he climb on top of the sycamore tree to see Jesus. Jesus told him to come down and Zacchaeus' life changed. This amazing faith of Zacchaeus is recorded. This sounds like a fairytale, yet it gives us a very important spiritual message.

- First Step: Longing to be Healed

Zacchaeus was short and everyone else was tall, so he could not see Jesus. But Zacchaeus really wanted to see Jesus, yet he was too short. So Zacchaeus went up the tree and saw Jesus. We have to see the heart of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus has the heart to see Jesus yet he couldn't; physically he is too short and his social status does not allow him to get near. So it was hard for Zacchaeus to get near Jesus.

The importance here is that our desire to see Jesus must be greater than food. Don't we have the heart of have faith like a habit? Do we have the heart wanting to see Jesus? This heart is in Zacchaeus, and he touched the heart of Jesus. In faith and salvation, this desire and longing is most important; this is the first step.

For a sick person, they think with 2 sides. One is that they will get better, yet they also think that they would die. Yet for him to get better he must have true hope and long for it.

We can listen to this message and think we are not sick. Yet although we are physically healthy, spiritually we are lacking. We have the hope to be healed of our spiritual diseases whether it is uncontrolled anxiety, emptiness, anger, or envy. We have to check in ourselves if we have that hope to get better.

- Second Step: Be humble and listen

To Zacchaeus who was on the tree, Jesus said come down. So what is the second step? It is to come down. Jesus said come down and meets. We should not just see Jesus, but we should meet him; we should not stop at seeing. So this meeting is important; we cannot always remain on the sycamore tree. How do we come down? It is through the Word. Through the Word we come to meet Jesus. We should not just look at Jesus with our own eyes and methods. For us to truly understand Jesus, it is by hearing his words that we come to recognize.

In another words, the second step is to be the one that listens, and then you will hear God. The Bible said that faith comes from hearing the word. What do you hear? You hear the word of Christ. This means that we should have a humble attitude when you listen to the gospel.

- Third Step: Receive the Lord in our hearts

Jesus then said to Zacchaeus that he is going to stay at his house. The third step is receiving. We should not stop at listening, but come to receive Jesus. I Corinthians 3:16 says that we are the temple of God. The ultimate wish of God is to dwell in us. We should not just stop at the faith of listening to the gospel, but live with Jesus within us.

- Fourth Step: Changing our lives

Lastly Zacchaeus told Jesus that he would give half his possessions to others and give four times as much to the ones he cheated. His life changed at this point. Jesus lived the life of serving and gave everything and Zacchaeus saw this and told himself that he wants to do the same.

The last step is to change our lives. We should repent from the past life and convert to the life of Jesus. Being wholly devoted in faith, we should proceed onward until this last act.

Zacchaeus, although he is a tax collector, he was saved. His action touched Jesus and Jesus said that today salvation had come to this house. When we live this kind of life, it is then we can become the true believers of God. We should examine ourselves constantly and change the method in which we carry our lives. We shouldn't just stop at the faith of listening to the gospel and touch by the grace. Jesus said, “Follow me.”

When Jesus evangelizes, he uses two sentences often: “come and see” and “follow me.” He is instructing us to follow his life; this is true salvation. When we accomplish this, it is then we can become the true sons of God.

Apostolos Campus Ministry

The Way to Know God
John 14:8-9

- Voice of our soul

Psalms 42:1 - As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.

If we look inside of man, there is the voice of the soul. If we are able to hear the voice of our soul, then we can meet God. No matter how much we may not recognize God outwardly, we will know if we listen to the voice within.

In the Beatitudes, it's said that blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. The ones with clear heart can see God. Yet our heart is often covered by darkness, therefore we should listen carefully to voice of the spirit.

The spirit is not only inside of Christians: it is within everyone. When we have a pure heart, that is when we can sense the inward longing for the Lord. The problem lies in the fact that there are many obstacles in our path toward God, therefore prayer was given as a blessing to man. When we pray, we can hear the faint voice of God in our hearts.

There is a statistic that proclaimed that 80% of the non-Christians would find God within them if they truly listen to their spirit. There is the superego and the unconscious within us: it is the soul.

- Creator of the world

Romans 1:20 - For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

How can we know God? We can know God by the outward things he created. By looking at the created world, we cannot deny that God exist. If there is a design, there has to be a designer. The fact that there is creation means there is a creator. To have a result, there must be a cause. If we look at this harmonious world, we should wonder how this could this ever come about randomly. Even scientists who research on the universe are amazed that everything moves toward one motive. How could all creation move toward on motive without one creator?

Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Only the Bible records this faith of creation. God not only create the world, but He also preserves the world. Looking at a garden, if we do not trim, the garden will be desolate. Likewise, the world is like a large garden and it has it's own time like the seasons; there is someone who is preserving this world. God is the origin of life; he endlessly breathes life so that the world maybe preserved.

When man loses this praise for God, then man falls. The fall of man is when we praise man and forget that God is the creator and the one who preserves us. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon taught that everything is meaningless and that man has a time limit. Man becomes mundane when he forgets to praise God.

Therefore looking at the world, we cannot deny that God is the creator. Through our surrounding God reveals to us his existence.

- Revelation of Christ

Yet we can't know God perfectly through only the first two methods: it is that we know that there is a creator, but we do not know who the creator is. Just like someone came and knocked on the door, we know someone is here but we do not know who is there.

We want to know who is God. We need to know more deeply and precisely who God really is. How can we ultimately know God? We can only know God when God opens and reveals himself to us; that is called revelation.

In the big picture there is two revelations: normal and special revelation. Normal revelation is known through all the creation of the world, through like visions and dreams. Special revelation is the revelation through Christ. We can know God the best by knowing the Son Jesus Christ. Only the Son can perfectly reveal the Father.

Jesus is the perfect revelation of God. To know God correctly is through knowing Christ. Why do we do Bible study? It is to know Jesus Christ. Even the Bible is the revelation of God. When we know Christ through the gospel, then we can know God within direct revelation.

We all want to meet God: therefore we must meet Jesus. Knowing Jesus is the orthodox approach to knowing God. Beyond sensing the presence of God or looking at the creations of the world, to know God perfectly is through knowing Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the 100% revelation of God and laid down absolutely everything of himself to God. Therefore in the disciples there is this confession in their lips, that Jesus is God. This is the confession that if God comes in flesh, then how else will God come other than through Jesus Christ? This is the confession that God is incarnated through Jesus, that the word became flesh.

John 1:14 - The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This is the confession that Jesus cannot be man, that he must be God. This is the confession of faith. How can we know God? It is through the life of Jesus. Through his life we can see the deity and the life of God.

Colossians 2:9 - For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

John 14:8-9 - Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

The one who had seen Jesus had seen God. If we do not know Jesus, we do not know God. How worthy is this life? How valuable is this life of being able to meet God? We should be the one who seeks God, and experience the mystery of His presence. We should always long to know God and look for Him and experience the revelations he grants us.