About Salvation in Christ
The New Testament teaches that Jesus Christ’s forgiveness is for all past and present sins upon repentance, receiving Jesus as Lord, and baptism into Him by immersion in water, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness is offered for future sins also, but salvation is often misrepresented by modern teachers and preachers to negate or minimize conditions Jesus required for anyone who wishes to be a Christian – also known as a disciple.
Luke 14 – 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
Jesus Christ also required one be truly born again. As countless people have testified before, it is possible to go through the motions of calling on Jesus after an emotional or intellectually stimulating sermon or event, but somehow the miracle of the new birth did not take place.
John 3 -Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” …
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
We are called to look for the unmistakable fruit of the Holy Spirit in anyone who claims to be born again. If fruit is lacking, one must seek the Lord directly as to what the issue(s) are.
Jesus Christ also required anyone who would be a Christian to become as a little child.
Matthew 18:3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus said also that His true followers are able to hear His voice spoken into them by His Spirit so as to guide and teach them.
John 10 – 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
So let’s sum up these explicit written requirements by Jesus:
• Be born again (Jn. 3:3,5) (This really comes first in the order of things)
• “Hate” his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also (i.e., love Jesus far above all else) (Lk. 14:26)
• Bear his cross and come after Me (Lk. 14:27)
• Count the cost (Lk. 14:28-32)
• Forsake all that he has (Lk. 14:33)
• Become as a little child Mt. 18:2-4)
• Know Jesus’ voice (Jn 10:4-5)
Who was Jesus addressing?
Jesus’ words were for anyone and everyone who will ever hope to to go heaven when they die. They were for a disciple who will “follow after Me.” A “disciple” is a student – and a Christian. A Christian is called to become a lifelong learner with the goal of becoming progressively more like Jesus.
Romans 8:29 – For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
The New Testament shows the timeframe required to become Christlike need not be decades, but very rapidly if one meets the conditions Jesus asked for. Also of immense value for Christians living in the first century was the church knew and obeyed the apostles’ doctrine which established clearly set expectations. Also, there were real living examples of holy people for the newer believers to learn from – even the apostles themselves!
But God is eternal, the same today as He was then. His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, remains to minister to all who would enter into covenant in sprit and truth with the Lord.
While Christians often hold church leaders to a higher account than Christians not occupied with direct Christian service, Jesus wants one class of Christian – a person who gives their life for Him without reserve, as He had given His life for them.
Yes, there are different roles, but one Jesus who gifts and empowers different members as He wills and holiness is required equally of all who take His name.
It was all necessary to overcome the effects of sin and establish people of a testimony and those who truly loved Him, as evidenced by what they became, not what they claimed without fruit of it.
No one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3) and unless that Father had drawn them (John 6:44).
The New Covenant
Paul the apostle said the New Covenant in Christ had potential to be a far more glorious covenant than was given by God to the Old Testament Jews before Christ.
2 Corinthians 3 – 7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
For countless millions since 100AD to present, the “glory” of the Christian experience was not as great as Paul had anticipated. He spoke of the “ministry of the Spirit” which spoke of Spirit-empowered workers and other great works by the Spirit of Jesus Christ as the New Testament describes.
Even so the promises remain to those who will seek all of God. The New Covenant promises the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will reside in each believer who obeys God, and loves Him. Its eternal purpose was established before the fall of man, and its end goal is to be God’s ultimate solution for sin in the creation.
God wishes a people who will love Him. He expects people to show them that they love Him not just tell Him that they love Him, or love Him a little bit or part time, while having other things of equal or greater importance. Jesus gave His all. He was leading by example. He loved the Father when He was walking in the gospel times, and it was His greatest joy to do the Father’s will. He said by His Spirit, His obedient followers would be given power to rise to the same stature in their own right.
Man’s Interpretation
Jesus Christ set several requirements for those who would follow the Gospel. It is important to understand the Gospel is not about sinners only, as it is typically portrayed, but is a multi-pronged attack on all that is wrong in the creation.
The Lord needed those who would speak on His behalf – church leaders and ordinary Christians – to know His voice, know His purposes, and follow His explicit instructions. To break from what Jesus needed is not optional, it is disobedience. The irony is man may think to offer God service, but what he offers God is not what God asked for.
The perspective of history is 20-20, and we can now see disobedience marked those who took the name of the Lord from the beginning. After the death of the last living apostle, John in 100AD, men of inferior caliber took over. They began to reason, conjecture, and codify the faith with their earthly intellects, and steered the ship away from the spirit of understanding that was in the air up to the time John was still alive.
1 John 5:20 – And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Both Peter and Paul had prophesied the church would be infiltrated by false teachers and wolves in sheep’s clothing, and subverted.
2 Peter 2 – But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
Acts 20 – 29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking [h]perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
Life and death depend on obeying Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Him (Jn. 14:6). To disobey means unintended consequences.
Jesus was looking for a dynamic to be established amongst His people who would love one another with a selfless love equal to His for God, for one another and for their neighbor. This was a command, not negotiable, but it has largely not been kept by countless people who dared take His name.
John 13 – 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Luke 10 – 27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 28 And He [Jesus] said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
The dynamic Jesus was looking for amongst His people was one in which they were united under one doctrine, and one Spirit. It was never permissible in His sight to split the body but those who have taken His name have overwhelmingly done this.
John 20 – 20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
1 Corinthians 1:10 – Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Ephesians 4 – I, therefore, the prisoner [a]of the Lord, [b]beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Proofs
What you have read so far, if you are wise and want to know the real God, should make you take pause. What has been shown so far are proofs that Christianity deviated far from the commands of the Lord nearly from its inception.
The scriptures warned it could or would happen, but no one should say it was God’s will that the church split, or so many other things happened. What happend to the church parallels with remarkable similarity the history of the nation of Israel.
What was the root common denominator? Men who presumed to teach what God had not said. What was the cause? In New Testament parlance, it is “flesh,” religious flesh specifically. We will not major on this subject here, but much could be said. In short, religious flesh is when people use their natural intellects, feelings, and sensibilities to set the standard, or say what the Bible says, or work on God’s behalf.
The New Covenant clearly calls for Spirit-filled believers following Jesus voice. Overwhelmingly, the true desires of God were run roughshod over, and this is a great travesty. The New Covenant promises great things and a witness and testimony pointing back all glory to God if people will obey Him.
The New Covenant was not given so it could become a legal contract and blanket forgiveness for the sinful to remain sinful, or the worldly sinful Christian to keep loving the world, or the spiritually dishonest to use their intellects to reinterpret key clauses and redefine key terms and conditions.
Grace is the power by God to do what the Jews never could – know God, hear Him, know a security they never had.
Yes no one can snatch you out of His hand, but one may jump out of His hand. One may willfully sin. One may neglect to obey Jesus in so many other ways…
Either / Or?
So many Protestants are looking at the salvation question as “EITHER/OR.”
Either it is by faith alone, period – or it by faith plus works (or works alone).
Neither are the spirit of the truth the New Testament teaches.
Actually, there is a THIRD OTHER answer …
We must know Jesus, not just about Jesus. We must be filled with the real Holy Spirit and walk in the fullness of grace which is the power to do God’s will and become all the Jews never could under the Old Testament.
1 Cor 15:10 -But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Col 1:29 – To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.
God’s New Covenant is to be that our “deeds are done in God.”
1 John 3:21 – But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
If Jesus is in you, and it is true “without Me you can do nothing,” (John 15:5), even a hard-working Christian is not “doing” the deeds or works all by themselves as the Old Testament Jews under the law of Moses would be expected to.
Jesus is inside them enabling them, guiding them as mature sons or daughters, not mere servants.
These people also have in place the mindset of a son like Jesus who wants to do all God wants, who loves people with Jesus’ love, and think it is the least they can do to serve God.
They know if they do not serve God, people may not come to Christ, or if they do not serve Him, they would be serving only themselves while telling themselves they serve God.
Such thoughts are abhorrent to anyone who loves God.
It is more blessed to give than receive, and a holy all-encompassing sea change of a mindset is supposed to take hold in one who is good ground and seeks the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Matt 7:14 – Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
The full picture of a life hidden with Christ in God is revealed to those who meet the conditions Jesus required. Again …
• Born again
• Little child
• Absolute surrender
• Luke 14:26-33
• Love not the world
The ultimate mission of the gospel is to create a class of people who bring about the kingdom of God – a witness and testimony of those who love Him in the face of the fallen creation. The end goal of preaching is not just to save sinners as though it was all about us.
God is the only good one in the creation. His highest creature – fallen man and Satan and fallen angels – have been flouting His will, and operating independently of God, seeking to establish their own glory.
God wants and has always wanted a people who will let Him boast something like:
See I have found a people who truly love me just for ME.
1 Cor 15- 20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27 For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. 28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
Paul said Jesus “must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet,” and then “when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”
The gospel is the solution for all lawlessness. It is a root-level solution. It restores law and order in teh creation, and all the bad guys go to jail.
The testimony we so often hear in preaching is of Jesus’ great work. Yews it was great, but “greater works” He said we are called to do. The testimony of Christ in you is what He gave His life for.
Colossians 1:27 – To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
To have Christ live His life in you is no small thing! Christians, if they obey and love Jesus, are supposed to have a testimony too – a great proof of God. Jesus wanted a testimony –
Matt 5 – 13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do theylight a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works andglorify your Father in heaven.
= WITNESS AND TESTIMONY!
John 13 – 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
= WITNESS AND TESTIMONY!
John 17 – 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
= WITNESS AND TESTIMONY!
The normal Christian life as Jesus envisions it is not a “works’-based” salvation, but a miracle, impossible without BOTH the indwelling Jesus, and the voluntary will of man. God has ordained it to be so.
Galatians 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
It is a holy work, beautiful and pure, and with maximum glory to God.
The kingdom of God is what Jesus is zealous for.
He did not wish to create a class of “Christians” who even takes His Spirit and covenant with Him but then turn to the “arm of flesh” (intellect, feelings, self-focused ideology, etc) …
Jeremiah 17 –
Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited.
Notice there is a curse of spiritual blindness on those who make “flesh their strength.” This includes theologians or any Christian who use their independent fallen fleshly minds without abiding in the vine and letting the life sap of Christ flow in them, and out of them.
1 Corinthians 2:16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Jesus gave a root level fix for all sin. The old man is crucified, and we may now walk in the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
No longer law but grace?
Paul wrote Christians are no longer under the law of Moses and in grace, but this gets misunderstood or blown beyond what he meant. Jesus said not one jot or tittle is done away till all is fulfilled.
The law says do not commit adultery. Is adultery now OK? Are other sins now automatically scrubbed? If they must be atoned for, they are still sin, and thus the spirit of the law is still in place.
Paul spoke of the understanding of the Jews of the Law of Moses, adhered to by men who lacked the HS on the inside.
Our justification is walking in this holy dynamic, which is what is meant by walking according to the Spirit.
Walking according to the Spirit is a command, not optional.
The spirit of the law, and the commands of Christ set a higher bar than that of Moses (Mt 5), and are directed to those filled by His Spirit who enabled them to do al His will out of a holy dynamic of mind and spirit God will birth in those who truly love Him.
Romans 8:4 – that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Paul was not against the law in the spirit of it. He spoke to Jews who were oppressed trying to keep the law without “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” (Col 1:27)
The same sin that sent Jesus to the cross is not now OK.
We are called to a grace which is God’s enablement to become free, no longer “slaves of sin.”
Are all a Christian’s future sins forgiven?
Yes, but conditionally. More accurately, the blood sacrifice is great enough to atone for all sin, but the New Testament speaks about persevering to the end, keeping the faith, not sinning in the power of grace.
If we love Jesus, we will meet these conditions as He will show us His power in us to do them. What sins we do not know, can be covered in grace.
God has put His covenant keepers on the honor system as sons and daughters.
He expects them to walk in the covenant, not look for expedients and work-arounds.
Who goes to hell?
God is the ultimate sovereign judge. He knows the motives of a person’s heart. He knows who has heard His Spirit speak truth and whether they obeyed it or turned away from it or were bound in the spirit of their mind by a demon of false religion.
He decides what is just. We do not. His ways are “past finding out.”
Protestants, whose first impulse is fleshly, and wishing ultimate security, so often want a locked-down security policy for themselves.
Many who think they have found irrevocable grace should fear if their fruits are not evident.
Mt 7 – 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
The attitude of a son or daughter is knowing Jesus, talking with Him and hearing from Him. Seeing fruit of Him in their lives, and ultimately, they cast their lives into His hands in ultimate trust. They only want to take care of His interests and trust He will take care of their interests.
We are called to walk in the Spirit until the end. God has promised us. We are kept by the power of God to be kept in this holy state.
God wants it. He is most glorified by it.
2 Tim 4- 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Paul is saying since he kept the faith, the witness is still in him (per Rom 8:16) that his rewards are laid up. Such is true for others who love Jesus to the end.
1 Cor 9:27- But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
