The Miracle of our Salvation

"Not all who say to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is heaven." Jesus says this at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. He would recognize during his short ministry what true belief in God is, and what is not true. He would speak to the reality that there are believers and unbelievers - a doctrine many take offense to. Some teach that you can come to belief in Jesus on your own will and by your own standards. That certain rituals or performance commitments ensure your salvation.

But is that Biblical? Does the revelation of God - His Holy Word - support that premise? Sadly, no. For if we believe we can save ourselves through sheer determination, what was the purpose of Jesus' horrific death on the cross?

A question was raised recently on salvation and what the Bible says about it. Following are some thoughts I shared.

When Romans 1:16 and Ephesians 1:13 refer to God’s Word – which as we believe was written by the Holy Spirit and is alive and powerful (Hebrews 4:12) – when he refers to God’s Word as the ‘gospel of your salvation’, that is exactly what is meant. It is the Spirit’s role to move in our lives – those of us who have been predestined for salvation - before we come to the promised moment of salvation, that initial act of sanctification, to, as it were, plow the path for us who have been chosen by God before the foundation of the world towards our salvation. Everything that happened in our lives before we believed has happened at God’s direction to lead us to that moment. At God’s appointed time He introduced to us the saving message from God’s Holy Spirit-written word. He created the circumstances for us to hear it for what it truly is. We may have been blessed to have heard God’s Word read to us while growing up, or we may not really have heard the Word or read it until we got older. Everyone’s experience is unique. However God plans it, the Spirit carries out that implanting of the salvific Gospel into the person’s heart. This does not mean the person is indwelt at that point, because God cannot live in unbelievers (persons who have not yet accepted Christ – e.g., see Psalm 15). Yet, Almighty God is not limited in how He executes His plans (Isaiah 55:7-11): He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent and He wills what He wills. So at the right time, the Spirit-written Word of God begins action in and on our hearts – the center of our wills, and makes it possible for us to come to a saving knowledge (which implies that anyone can read the Bible, but if the Spirit is not active in causing a change in our hearts then there is no saving knowledge). See Romans 10:8-10, 14-17. The scripture we read the other night at John 1:12-13 confirms that same transaction as illustrated in the Romans passage – we receive the Word, then by the power of the Spirit-written salvific Gospel, we can believe on Jesus’ name, i.e., His personhood and all that He represents as the Gospel of our Salvation. When we ask God to save us based on the blood of Christ and repent of our sins and especially the sin of rejecting Christ, in that instant our salvation transaction takes place. We become the true children of God in that instant, in that moment. The Holy Spirit is then placed within us – and because the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity, all of whom God is lives in us (see Jesus’ words at John 14:10, 15-24).    

In Acts we see affirming accounts where persons only became sealed with the Holy Spirit after they believed. In Acts 8:4-8, 14-17 Philip has been sent to Samaria to proclaim the Gospel and several believed. Note that, within the couple of decades following Jesus’ resurrection, the Holy Spirit made Himself manifest or made others aware of His presence and power and deity often in dramatic ways to prove to those watching that God has shown His saving favor on certain individuals. In this account of the Samaritans, God chose to have Peter and John visibly lay hands on the Samaritans as a means of indwelling His Spirit within those believers. A similar account is in Acts 10 and 11 concerning the salvation that came to Cornelius and his household. Cornelius was a devout Gentile believer through Judaism – he followed the Jewish worship practices and read the prophets, and showed mercy and grace to many. At God’s appointed time, the time for ‘grafting’ in Gentiles into the family of Christ, God sent an angel to confirm Cornelius’ prayers of seeking the true God and had him send for Peter. He obeys and after God has retrained Peter about His plan of salvation of the Gentiles, the messengers arrive to bring Peter to Cornelius, at which time Peter shares the Gospel with him and his household and when God ‘hears’ the conviction in Cornelius’ and the others’ hearts, immediately they receive the baptism and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Peter retells the story in chapter 11 and specifically notes: “¹⁵ And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶ And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”   

Thus, that moment, that instant, when our hearts believe and confess Jesus as our Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit who comes to live in us and makes His home in us so that we can become transformed into the image of Christ, we can live Christ’s life in us, to draw us closer and into greater intimacy with God (Romans 8:9-10, 14-17). Only God knows what it took Him doing in our lives to bring us to that moment. Some of us have had to go through traumatic events or circumstances, or have been deceived into believing we can become free through sexual immorality and other lusts, or may have been defining our lives as good because of the nice things we do, or our church attendance and giving, and the like (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). At God’s appointed time for us – each of us individually – at a point in our lives that He brings us to, He has made it possible by His grace – His riches through Christ to bless us though we deserve His curse – for us to willingly believe on Christ and be saved and sanctified. Then seals that transaction (Christ’s blood for our believing faith which we receive from Him) by indwelling us with His Holy Spirit as a guarantee and a Guarantor of our salvation. As we are seeing and will be seeing in the study guide (Relying on the Holy Spirit) in the present Lesson, the sanctification process begins with the indwelling of the Spirit and continues on throughout our earthly life.

This is a story I love telling, and like retelling to myself because it so reaffirms who I am in Christ – thank you for that opportunity. So I hope this was helpful to you, too. Please feel free to ask me any questions

Two Masters

For economic reasons, many persons must take on a second job (or even a third!) to make ends meet. Even basic things, the necessities, come with a hefty price tag nowadays. The two jobs are scheduled so that both can be done without too much hassle. Then work picks up at the primary or main job, requiring longer hours. And the second job schedule goes haywire because someone is out sick for an extended time. What a challenge! Which job will the worker miss a day on to keep up with the other job? The worker continues to juggle them as long as he or she can because, well, housing and food security are costly needs.

However, when it comes to worship, two ways to the same place is a non-starter. Jesus, speaking to the leading religious leaders of His day warned them, recorded in Luke 16:13-14: “'No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.' The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus."

The Spirit would later expand on this statement in 1 Corinthians 10:21: "You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons." Jesus affirmed that there was only one way to God, and that was through Him. John 14:6 quotes Jesus: "I Am The Way, The Truth, and The Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." There is no mystery or hidden message there; the statement is very clear.

Humans who do not know God find this statement of Jesus offensive, though, preferring the old proverb - "all paths lead to God," as their gospel. That gospel or good news appeases them now, and is nonthreatening to any lifestyles persons may choose to follow that comforts them and gives them the confidence that they are the 'masters of their souls.' But in the end, it will prove to be an empty trust, a misplaced faith. Jesus pleads for us to shun "the wide road that leads to destruction," that many are on, where self-will is the master. A time of judgment will come, whether we believe it or not. Jesus will tell those who chose to reject His Way, "Get away from Me, I never knew you!" (excerpted from Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23)

We cannot hobble from one god or idol to another and expect the Only True God to find this acceptable. We cannot partake of demon-influenced fortune-telling, astrology and horoscopes, numerology, Ouija boards, witchcraft, wicca, and Harry Potter-sorceries and magic, nor idolize material things or persons on the one hand, and then try praising Jehovah and seeking communion with Him on the other. In Isaiah 42:8 Almighty God declares: "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another, or my praise to idols."  (also see Deuteronomy 4:19) He does not consider worship a game or a half-hearted pastime, or the use of a person's mouth to utter both praise to Him and to curse His ways at the same time as acceptable worship. Those who try to play the one foot in, one foot out game with God are deceiving themselves. There is no such thing as a half-Christian.

I cannot sugar-coat this doctrine, or take the sting out of it by relating only part of the message so that you do not feel threatened or offended. To do so would be to give you a false gospel. Jesus did not soft-pedal the truth so that people's feelings would not be hurt. For Him to do that would be to compromise and negate His own mission, His first advent. He cannot be The Truth and lie like the devil, nor can those who proclaim His gospel give permission to the hearer - to advocate to him or her - to serve two masters.

So Christian, please take heed. "Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves [not me]! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves [by an ongoing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit?" (2 Corinthians 13:10 AMP) In this world, there are only two masters. One is the Almighty Triune God. The other is the god of this system, satan the devil, who uses his world and its elements, and our own sin nature to entice into serving him even those who may acknowledge God. He tried that with Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 4: "Again, the devil took [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 'All this I will give you,' [the devil] said, 'if you will bow down and worship me.' Jesus said to him, 'Away from me, satan! For it is written: "Worship the LORD your God, and serve Him only.”'" Jesus makes it very clear: You can serve only One Master. Whom will you choose?

"Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15) "Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the Living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." -Hebrews 3:12-13

The Spirit at Work in Believers, Part 1

I am posting the sermon/response to the Word that highlighted the June 30 youth/young adult service at church. The final stories are in Laurie Kehler's book, "This Outside Life - Finding God in the Heart of Nature." They are summarized here for legal issues or are directly quoted in excerpts. I highly recommend this resource as a must have in your faith library.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Who is The Holy Spirit?

The reading from Galatians 5 tells us that the Holy Spirit produces fruit – love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, long-suffering and patience, faithfulness, self-control. We are commanded in this passage to live by the Spirit if we are to be successful in our faith walk. So, like, Who then is this Spirit? Who is the Holy Spirit? Briefly:  He is God, part of the Trinity, co-eternal and co-equal with the Father and The Son. He has always been God, is sentient, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. In the personhood of the Holy Spirit, God relates to believers intimately, living inside us. He gifts the Church, the Body of Christ with Himself to build it up and to empower the members of the Body to live for Christ. He further endows the Body with special gifts to glorify God, serve others and to bring Christ to others. The Holy Spirit is a ‘He’, not an ‘it’. God the Holy Spirit is the living personhood of God. He is not a ghost; older translations of the Bible refer to the Spirit as a ghost because in the 16^th and 17^th centuries the original Hebrew and Greek words for spirit were often translated as ‘ghost’ reflecting the common language of the time describing an unseen person. In modern English the meaning and use of the word ghost has  differing implications. Thus, the better translation is God, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Jesus and/or Christ, which further confirms His Godhead. Holy Spirit God exalts the Son and teaches about Him and the Father as Jesus promised in John 14-16. He is life-giving – as Paul tells us in Romans 8, and Ephesians 2. His fruit described in Galatians is a picture revelation and description of the essence of God’s character. When we yield ourselves willingly to His creative power in us, the Holy Spirit endeavors to imprint that character in us as He works through us and in us to shape us into Christ’s very image. Without the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, it is impossible for us to be faithful followers of Christ as He says in Romans 8:9-11. 

Today, we want to share a some stories with you about how God the Holy Spirit living in believers, and poured out upon the Body of Christ works out God’s purposes and proves to be the Advocate and Helper for all who believe.

The Mystery of Salvation

Romans 10:9 “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”                                    

Ephesians 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”                       

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The Mystery of Salvation. At first glance, these scriptures appear at odds with one another. Yet when we consider the work of the Holy Spirit, His deliberate involvement in our lives before we have fully formed or have been fully informed, it makes sense – yet it is still a Divine mystery. John 16 tells us that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will convict the world of sin and of righteousness, and that when He comes, He will guide those predestined by God into all truth, speaking on the authority of the Father. Through God the Holy Spirit’s work in us as the truth speaker, and the author of the gospel of our salvation, we are sanctified – set apart for God’s use. (2 Peter 1:21; John 17)

By God’s plan, the Holy Spirit convicts our hearts (that is, those who God has predestined for salvation) and makes us ready to receive the gospel of truth, the gospel of our salvation (Romans 1:16). And by His grace implants the seed of faith within us and moves in such a way that we can declare with our mouths, or the better word, confess with our mouths Christ as Savior and Lord, since we are regretting our sinful lives and desire to repent or turn around from that life. Part of the mystery is that with each individual who has been saved, there is a uniqueness in each instance of salvation. We don’t all experience that moment of salvation at the same age, in the same place or circumstance, etc. Salvation does not result from a confirmation or catechism class, or even a baptism, but by God’s will. Otherwise, it is a human intervention or effort -- not God -- doing the saving. And, yet, in His grace and goodness, He allows us to choose or affirm what He has worked in us. He allows us to covenant with Him. In the very best sense, we put ‘skin in the game’, that is, we surrender ourselves to His sovereignty and Lordship over us in our confession. We are allowed to make ourselves a living sacrifice to God, based on the work of the Cross – Christ’s sacrifice that covers us. (Romans 12:1; Ephesians 2:15-17)

The greatest mystery in salvation is that God has chosen us – as the Spirit has Paul write so well at Ephesians 2, we who “were dead in [our] transgressions and sins,  in which [we] used to live when [we] followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” I cannot comprehend that, but accept by faith what He has done in me, what He has done in all of us whom He has called. A great mystery, indeed.

What's Wrong?

A woman arrives in the emergency room of the hospital in pain and distress. "What's wrong?" asks the technician or nurse on duty. "Pain - head - severe" are all that the woman can say in response. Immediately she's taken into the examination room and given a barrage of tests, various pain medications, etc. Hours later, she is still in acute pain in her head, neck, and elsewhere. The medical staff had been able to treat some of the symptoms, but could not identify the underlying problem. I continually ask blessings for medical staff who have such dilemmas day in and day out. Their hearts want to help, but often they have to work in the 'dark' to address what is really wrong.

So, what's wrong with us? What is wrong generally with all of us - whether in a medical emergency or not - is a problem that cannot be alleviated by intravenous chemical treatments or other less/more invasive procedures. We are in the 'dark' as we try to treat the problem in our own knowledge and efforts. What is wrong with us is our sin nature - the defective DNA, for lack of a better term, passed onto humanity by our first parents Adam and Eve. Their decision to live their lives independent of God's rule cast their offspring into a condition that they could not deliver themselves from. Every human ever born - save for one - inherited this condition that doesn't just cause physical problems, but also affects how our emotions work, impairs our psyches, has even brought disruption and imbalance to the rest of creation. How else can you explain the devastations of natural disasters that increasingly worsen? How else can you explain the devastations of man's inhumanity to his fellow man - holocausts and reigns of terror, mass destruction, indescribable depravity? There is no other causative but sin.

Sin - rebellion against God and His laws and principles - has supernatural implications. That is, there is more to it than meets the eye; more than an 'act'. It is ingrained, insinuated, pressed into our nature and natural bodies and cannot be excised out; our bodies are imperfect and subject to disease, psychoses, and other problems. Inexplicable things. We are born in sin and even our hearts are opposed to God from birth. God sees the condition as spiritual death - a separation between us and Him. Living in a spiritual darkness. Spiritually dead people cannot receive God naturally. There is nothing we can do in and of ourselves to cross that chasm. No religious professional can rectify the condition nor can anything a religious professional does - regardless of the religion - make it possible to become spiritually alive in God's sight. Nothing. So, what can be done?

What can be done has been done. Since it is God's law and sovereignty in question by Adam and Eve's rejection and hence the subsequent dilemma we are in, it would have to be God's act of resolution to the problem that must take place. (John 3:16-18; 1 John 4:8-10; 1 Corinthians 15:2-4; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 2:1-10) Only God can fix what's wrong with us. And we must respond to his question, "what's wrong?" with the admission that what is truly wrong with us is our rejection of His Son - the only means through which we can truly be healed.