NOTHING

…without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5

A current oracle of wisdom adorning the sign in front of a “church” near my home reads “If God is your co-pilot, swap seats!” I really do my best to completely ignore such nonsense, but now and then one, such as this, displays in a remarkable way the depth of religious error apart from revealing grace.

Even this “correction” of a previously conceived masterpiece-“God is my co-pilot”, is a weakly disguised declaration of the humanism that is the new age gospel of anti-Christ.

If your God needs a co-pilot, you are in deep trouble. If you cooperated in any way whatsoever with God in the matter of your salvation, then there is no grace for you and you have no Savior. Christ is all and in all (Col 3:11), the Alpha and Omega (Rev 21:6), the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2). There is no need for any sinner to swap seats with God because there is only one seat. It is the throne of the universe, and Christ sits upon it (Rev 4:2). My only hope is to sit there in Him (Eph 2:6), and this happens only at His sovereign, gracious, saving discretion.

If men and women are ever made to see how utterly dependent we are upon Christ, then certainly we would fly to Him. We hang utterly upon His mercy. He will save us or damn us as it pleases Him. But whether pilot or co-pilot, grace is no more grace (Rom 11:6). If I have any hand in it, then it is disaster. I am nothing, I have nothing, I can do nothing, and I like it that way. Christ is all, is not a slogan or a saying we put on our church sign. It is the indisputable message of holy scripture.

Neither salvation nor sanctification are in any way a cooperative effort. When Peter was sinking beneath the waves, he didn’t say, “Lord, nothing is going to happen today that you and I together can’t handle.” He said, “Lord, save me.”