Salvation

Salvation

I always said to myself that I would shy away from putting myself out to be a teacher of the gospel for two reasons.

1. I cannot teach what I have not experienced or what has not been revealed to me through the Holy Spirit.
2. I cannot discover or write about the reality of God through the eyes of other people - especially if those other people are wrong.

However, since I have experience in salvation, my own salvation, and it seems to me that there is much misunderstanding of the Gospel and just what it means to be saved, I feel compelled to write about it, in order to set the record strait. When it comes to salvation, most people will start off by saying the sinners prayer and asking Jesus into their lives and indeed that is exactly what I did. But saying the sinners prayer will not save you, in and of itself. The sinners prayer is not a flue shot in arm and nor is it guaranteed to produce salvation in your self centred and sin-ridden heart. It seems to me that the power of the sinners prayer to save is dependent on one very important factor and that factor can be summed up in the following question.

• Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?

No! I mean, do you REALLY believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God? No you don't understand! Do you REALLY, REALLY REALLY, believe? It's so easy to say yes I believe, but if there is one thing that I have learned and it is this; that God does not deal with words that come from the mouth but, rather, with the heart. The very first time I realized the reality of Jesus Christ, was off the back of about two years research and one day it hit me. It shocked me to the very core and a mixture of amazement and excitement came over me and I had to mentally restrain myself, just in case I wasn't getting a bit too carried away with things. If anyone is not shocked when they first realize that Jesus Christ is real and that the bible is indeed authentic in that it carries the very word of God, then I would ask them to reconsider their faith and just what it means to be Christian. How can anyone not be shocked that the creator of the universe walked the earth as a man to die for peoples sins, no matter how bad or how depraved those sins are. In addition, the realization that there is another realm beyond this physical universe that we are stuck in, is really something to be shocked about. Its one thing to have a theory that there might be another world beyond this one; but its another to know for sure without any shadow of a doubt whatsoever.

For salvation does not come about by good works or anything that you can do under your own power, but rather, it is a supernatural gift given freely when a person puts his/her trust and faith in the power of the risen Christ and if a person doesn't believe in the reality of Christ or is unsure, then, they are on shaky ground from the start.

Luk 8:5 A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, the one fell by the roadside and was trampled; and the birds of the air devoured it.
Luk 8:6 And other fell on a rock, and sprouting, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
Luk 8:7 And other fell amidst thorns, and springing up with the thorns, they choked it.
Luk 8:8 And other fell on good ground and sprang up, and bore fruit a hundredfold. And when He had said these things, He cried, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

So what does this mean? Luckily for us the meaning to this particular parable is explained in the following verses of Luke.

Luk 8:12 Those by the roadside are the ones who hear; then the Devil comes and takes the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Luk 8:13 Those on the rock are the ones who, when they hear, receive the Word with joy. And these have no root, who for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Luk 8:14 And those which fell among thorns are the ones who, when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of life, and do not bear to maturity.
Luk 8:15 But those on the good ground are the ones who, in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience.

Now there are a couple of phrases I would like to point out here and that is this. Firstly when talking about the good seed, Jesus says those are in an honest and a good “heart”, and, having heard the word, keep it, and this is the important bit I want to highlight, “bring forth fruit with patience”.

The word “patience” is very telling and it suggests in no uncertain terms, that the bringing forth of fruit does not happen immediately upon repentance. Indeed that makes sense in the real world too...more about that later! Elsewhere in the gospel of Luke, a lawyer asked Jesus the question, not what must I do to be saved, but rather, what must I do to inherit eternal life. So Jesus being Jesus, gives it to him strait down the line with the following answer: love the Lord God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and thy strength and love thy neighbour as thyself. Jesus didn't mince His words and the concept of being saved was not an option at that point...Jesus was still alive! Remember, the words that Jesus spoke were the direct answer to a direct question and not given in a parable or teaching form, whereby the Kingdom of God is explained in either a past, present or future tense.

Therefore, it stands to reason that for a man to enter the Kingdom of God he must fulfil all the required attributes outlined by Jesus. However, man by his very nature is self centred and the preceding attributes do not come easily to him. Spiritually speaking, a new person in Christ must learn to walk and stand on his/her own two feet, and learn the ways of God which are not easy or obvious from the outset. Then there is the question of love. Selfless love does not come easy to a man, especially someone who has lived in their own self centred universe for most of his/her life. Neither does having the sudden realization that Christ is a reality make this task any easier for what is termed the fleshly man. In the real world, we have the concept of love at first sight. In reality, the vast majority of people who get married on the concept of love at first sight, end up getting divorced several years down the line; when they realize that the love they had has grown cold and they simply don't have anything in common any more and have drifted apart. Indeed, it seems the only other people who live happily ever after in regards to love at first sight encounters are those depicted in Hollywood Movies, need I say any more? Of course there are exceptions, but they are just that. Exceptions!

For the vast majority of people, love is something that grows out of respect, trust and a mutual understanding of each others wants and needs and it is something that doesn't come overnight and takes time to develop. This kind of love, however tends to be lasting and will endure all the trials and tribulations of life. It is a love which is not based on sex or material gain and if it is not destroyed or put at risk by outside temptations, it will last a lifetime. I guess what I am saying is that in any human relationship, whether that be friendship or love; time is needed to develop that relationship. So then, is it possible for a newly converted person to love God? Do people think that a newly converted person who has just said the sinners prayer can now flick a switch and automatically, they will start to love God as well as keep His commandments, when in reality, they may not be aware of and/or understand those commandments and their implications – apart from the obvious ones, of course? A rhetorical question? Of course, and one that can only have one answer and that is, NO! Common sense will tell you that in order to be able to love God, you have to have a personal relationship with Him and learn to put your trust in Him in every aspect of your life. How can anyone claim to love God when they haven't had the chance to experience His true nature in their lives? Given the fact that God is unseen to most people, how can a newly converted person claim to love someone they have not yet experienced working in their lives, never seen and don't know? The answer to that question can only be threefold. They are either a liar, misguided by blindly following what other people say or expect them to say, or they are an exception.

Do people think that love can be commanded? I personally don't know of a single person that can love on command. Do people really think that the God of the universe is so much of a tyrant that He commands love, otherwise He throws them in Hell? Indeed, the legions of atheists and God-haters out there will undoubtedly say yes to that question. But they would merely be looking from their sinful or fleshly point of view and cannot see the bigger picture from their vantage or rather, disadvantage point. Rather than use my words to define love, lets look at what the bible says about love.

1Co 13:4 Charity has patience, is kind; charity is not envious, is not vain, is not puffed up; 1Co 13:5 does not behave indecently, does not seek her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil.

The word “charity” as given in the King James version of the bible is better translated as love as given by the Greek word ἀγάπη (agapē) which is pronounced ag-ah-pay. Its meaning as given by the following:From G25; love, that is, affection or benevolence; specifically (plural) a love feast: - (feast of) charity ([-ably]), dear, love.

Now let's get back to the subject in hand, salvation and in particular my salvation, which I briefly touched upon earlier. There is concept that both atheists and God-haters alike, like to throw around and that is, that followers of Jesus Christ, blindly follow a book (the bible) for the sake of it; usually the because that they are uneducated and have simple minds. This concept could not be further from the truth if they tried and I don't know of anyone that has not struggled with issues regarding the bible at some point in their Christian walk. As mentioned earlier in regards to my own salvation, the realization that Jesus Christ was real and moreover, that He was exactly who he claimed to be, came off the back of two years research. Suddenly everything came together and immediately I knew and saw part of the bigger picture that I had not seen or realized before but now, it was startlingly obvious. I realized that my life was going nowhere and that it had to change but at that point I wasn't sure how or when. Now, you the reader, may be forgiven for thinking I accepted every aspect of the bible immediately upon receiving this bigger picture? In truth, however, there was a few concepts that I still had no real grasp of and moreover, found hard to reconcile.

One such concept that I found particularly hard to deal with and reconcile in my mind, was that of a literal burning hell. Why does God send people to hell for not believing in Him? Why doesn't God just forgive everyone if He loves them so much? The truth is that I now understand is a lot different from the questions I had back then. Through the study of the bible and guidance from the Holy Spirit, I now see that it was not the concept of hell that was at fault, but rather, my own human understanding which was at fault. The truth is that God does not send anyone to hell for not believing in Him, but rather, He sends people to hell for sin committed. The kingdom of God is such a Holy place that nothing corrupt will ever enter into it. If a person who had never knew of God's existence, led an exemplary life and unwittingly kept all the commandments of God, then they would indeed still enter into God's kingdom upon death, regardless of whether they had heard of God or not. Of course, the reality of the previous statement is that there is no man or woman alive, save the risen Christ, who has or ever will lead a sinless life and this presents a problem which is twofold in nature. Firstly, the enormity of what God is and the world that lies beyond will never be realized by any man as the human mind is simply to small to comprehend the vastness of the reality that awaits him/her after death. Secondly, we will never be able to comprehend the requirement of God's justice and the conditions that need to be met in order for Him to satisfy that judgement. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.

The fact that God sent His only son to die on a cross in order for human beings to be justified before God, will make absolutely no sense to anyone in the secular world. Except to say that God, cannot break His own Holy laws in the implementation of justice in the same way that a cat cannot bark or chase postmen down the street. Indeed, the very act of salvation is twofold. Not only does it provide a means whereby sinful men can be reconciled and justified before God but in addition and perhaps more importantly, salvation also prepares man for the kingdom that awaits him/her after death. Therefore, with the exception of deathbed repentance, the process of salvation requires that the person has true repentance in their heart or in other words a deep desire to change and change their present way of life, follow Jesus and seek His kingdom. Without that initial belief in the reality of Jesus and the desire to change from the outset, there can be no true repentance that will bare any fruit. Remember, God deals with the heart of man and not with the mouth. The mechanics of the sinners prayer or indeed its wording has no baring on the final outcome in a persons life but rather, what is truly in the heart of that person saying the sinners prayer. Perhaps you have everything in life already and now all need is eternal salvation as a kind eternal insurance policy for when you die and you think that idly saying this prayer will automatically save you? It wont! Do you think this is the right attitude to come before an all knowing and Holy God? At best, it could cause God to start off a chain of events in your life that may end up with you loosing everything you have, in order to break you and change your heart in order to bring it to bring about true repentance. At worst, you may go on thinking that you are saved, right up to the very end, only to find out that you were deceiving yourself.

It seems that we have come full circle in this discussion of salvation but really we have only just scratched the surface. We have seen that just by saying the sinners prayer alone will not save you, in and of itself, and that there is an additional factor required to bring about true repentance and that is the condition of the heart seeking repentance. If your heart is right before God, in that you have a true desire to change your way of life, seek out Jesus and put your trust in Him in every aspect of your life, then salvation will begin in earnest. It is at this point that the Holy Spirit begins working in your life and changing you. Now this is where the waters get murky and the cries and accusations of works bases salvation over that of grace gets claimed and counter-claimed. The fact is that salvation is a spiritual process only and you cannot bypass the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and carry out a works based salvation, from the moment you become saved. A works-based salvation merely means that you are trying under your own power to lead a sinless life and are probably ignoring the desires of your heart to carry on sinning in order to do so. This is not a good thing to do. Firstly, you are not only lying to yourself about the true condition of your heart but more importantly, you are lying to God and that is not good.

Putting your trust and faith in the finished work of Christ means just that. The Holy Spirit will continue to work in your life as long as you continue to reach out and seek the word of God and trust in Him for everything. This is not an easy thing to do and goes against every grain of the human instinct. The fact is, that the moment a person asks Christ into their life to be their lord and saviour, they have already been freed from the power of sin, only they may not be aware of it immediately. In my own experience, not only did I not understand this, I did not really have a true grasp of the difference between that of works based salvation and that of grace. Some people were saying one thing and other people were saying another and listening to other peoples opinions or debates between works based theology and that of grace not only led me into a quagmire of confusion, it also became a stumbling block Luckily for me God became my teacher and gave me a lesson that I would never forget and caused me or allowed me to go down a road that I never intended to go down, in order for me to truly understand.

What happened to me was this...

The first three days after I accepted Christ into my life were awesome. I felt a peace and contentment I had never felt before and I felt the presence of what could only be the Holy Spirit and a new understanding. To my knowledge, I did not sin in them three days and had begun to think that it was easy to lead the Christian lifestyle and not sin. The next morning I knew that the presence of the Holy Spirit that I felt so strongly had gone and later that day I was in no doubt whatsoever. My desire not to sin was not there any more and I was filled with a desire to do the exact opposite. Eventually I succumbed to temptation and began to sin. I picked myself up and dusted myself down, so to speak, in order to try again and revive that lost feeling of peace and contentment that I once had. I tried many times doing works and time and time again I failed...to the point that I was sinning worse than before I became a Christian. This confused me. This frustrated me and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get it. To me it seemed like someone was saying one thing and someone else was saying another in regards to salvation and in the end, the whole situation led me to exasperation.

More importantly though, I was shocked at the lack of control I actually had over my situation and all I wanted was to be in control and I wasn't. Clearly something was wrong. An elder at the church had previously talked to me about repentance and the true sin nature of man but I had it in my head that he was a bit wishy, washy and was just making an excuse for his own faults and weaknesses but I was going to do it differently and not be like him. Eventually I reached a point where it was hopeless and I knew it. Only when the same elder talked to me again about the same subject did I eventually accept what he was saying. He basically emphasized the point that the true nature of man is corrupt to the very core and that Christ needed to bring me to a place where I realized that and moreover, I could do nothing under my own power to save myself. How very apt was the conversation that night, little did he know. He explained that I had already been set free from the power of sin and that I needed to put my trust in Jesus instead of trying to do it myself. After that moment of realization, something wonderful began to happen. I no longer craved sin and the old lifestyle I once had and more importantly, I had control of my situation and I have had ever since. I cant even begin to describe what a wonderful liberating feeling that actually is. I have spent the majority of my life thinking that I was living for myself and that I was making my own choices in life. Only now I realize the true power I was under was not really my own and in actual fact wasn't really living life my own way after all, I just thought I was.

Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world's rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

In conclusion then, salvation is a supernatural process of being freed from the power of sin by the finished work of Christ on the cross. You can't earn it by works, you can't buy and and you don't deserve it but nevertheless its free for all those who come to repentance in the name of Jesus Christ. However the act of salvation is a continuing ongoing process and doesn't end after conversion. The whole point of salvation is to mould you into the image of Christ and as a result you will be tested with trials, some of which, may result in ridicule and derision from friends and family. Trials strengthen and test a persons faith and are given to us for a reason, in order that we learn lessons and moreover, learn put our trust in Christ during such times. How else can we know and love God if we never learn to put our trust in Him when the proverbial, s**t hits the fan? It really is a two way relationship and the more a person studies the scriptures, communicates with the Father through prayer and learns the ways of God the more the Holy Spirit dwells within that person and reveals hidden meanings to scriptures that the rest of the secular world cannot see. The majority of the secular world sees the bible in one dimension, when the reality is that the bible is three dimensional and oftentimes you will read the same book over and over and one day you will learn something new that you hadn't realized before. There is far more hidden under the surface of the bible than most people will know or realize and reading and studying it, can become something of a treasure hunt.

Although I have been freed from the power of sin, i.e. sin has no hold over me any longer, I can still choose to go back to my old style of life if I wish. But really why on earth would I want to go back to a way of life that I now consider to be a worthless, stinking heap of dung? Thanks but no thanks. Been there, done that and brought the T-shirt but now I am choosing a new life in Christ. Sin no longer has any power over me and my past sins (everybody has them) that I was a slave to, no longer bind me and hold me captive, but nevertheless, I am still a free agent to do as I will. For example, I can choose to go out and wilfully fornicate and put my salvation at risk or I can choose not to and obey God. That is not to say that I won't ever sin again, the difference being that I won't wilfully and knowingly sin. Its one thing to slip up and its another to knowingly go out and do something you know you shouldn't, especially something that you were previously freed from. Its analogous, to a heroin addict who has spent his/her whole life in bondage to the drug, having had to steal to get the next fix and feeling the pains of withdrawal, suddenly being freed from the controlling power of the drug. Can anyone imagine wanting to go back to that way of life having been freed from its controlling influence? The will to keep on the strait and narrow path is called obedience and has nothing whatsoever to do with a works based salvation, whereby a person wilfully and rigidly tries to stick to a set of rules in order to earn favour with God. Works based salvation is something that religion tries to do and is what separates religion from the real power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

When a person begins to walk in the ways of God, they will receive baptism from the Holy spirit and get what are termed as gifts. These gifts include: tongues (the ability to speak in a foreign tongue), discernment (the ability to discern spirt's and people beyond the realm of normal everyday discernment), prophecy (the ability to prophesy concerning future events that have not happened yet), healing (the ability to heal all kinds of illnesses and diseases including cancer, HIV and aids). Indeed there are so many gifts of the spirit that to the average secular person would seem like wishful thinking and utter nonsense but to the believer that possesses them, they leave that person in no doubt whatsoever to the reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under Law, but under grace.
Rom 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under grace? Let it not be!
Rom 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to him whom you obey; whether it is of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness.
Rom 6:17 But thanks be to our God that you were the slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

Going to church will not make you a Christian or save you. Its whether you have a relationship with the living Christ is what defines a Christian and brings the power of salvation to that person. You cannot go church on Sunday and go out and fornicate on a Monday and then ask God to forgive you from your mouth, when your heart is corrupt. First you must seek out Jesus Christ from the heart and learn to walk in righteousness. It is not an easy road to go down but for those who find it and realize the truth, there is only one way forward and there can never be any going back. Satan and his minions will do all in their power to keep you ignorant and to keep you from the narrow path. I for one, never had any idea of the true power of sin, that is, until I tried to defeat it under my own power. It really opened my eyes.

If you ever think to yourself, "this is too much. I am not that good a person and I can never be like that", then, congratulations! You have realized that your heart is not right before God and that it is corrupt and that nothing good comes out of it. This is the first step. How can you be saved if you have no idea what you are being saved from? The first step in repentance is to realize this. How can an alcoholic ever get help if he does not realize that he has a drinking problem and needs help. In the same way, then, in order to be saved from sin, you need to know what sin is and moreover realize the hold it has over you. Most people go through their lives like the proverbial alcoholic thinking that they don't have a problem and see no need to be saved because they are basically a good person. The enemy tends to leave the unsaved person alone because he already has them where he wants them. But as soon as a person becomes saved and starts to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, often strange things start to happen around them. This is no coincidence! You will be tested and all the dark stuff in your heart will be revealed by the convicting of the Holy Spirit and it may not make you feel very good about yourself. Once you have reached this stage, put your trust in Christ and let Him do the delivering. Only He can free you from the power that sin has hold of you.

I hope this article has been informative, not only to other believers but also to non-believers and at the very least, I hope it has provided non-believers with some insight into the Gospel. I certainly hope this blog has cleared up any misconceptions about salvation that the reader may have and if I have, then I have done my job well but if not...I'm sorry and I will try better next time.