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Five Essential Bible
Truths Part 2
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What Must I do to
be Saved?
The topic of Gods
salvation is of critical importance to the human
race. It is also a very overwhelming topic to
present. Portions of this article have been
rewritten five times to be sure that it has been
made as clear as possible. The challenge comes in
deciding how to approach this incredible subject
because it is so multi-faceted. What elements
should be presented first? What dimensions should
be explored? What perspectives should be
demonstrated? Will the student of the Bible want
a basic introduction to salvation or is an
advanced presentation more appropriate? These are
not simple questions. First, to make the concept
of salvation easy for beginners to understand,
seven statements will be presented that parallel
important aspects of salvation. Then, I will
address some of the deeper aspects of this topic
and expound on the statements for individuals who
already have a basic understanding of salvation.
Depending on an
individuals perspective, salvation is
something like:
- Being
born on a train headed for Auschwitz
during WWII, but rescued from death by a
merciful stranger
- Being
the only survivor in a plane crash
- Winning
the lottery
- Losing
your home and possessions in a fire
- Discovering
that you have terminal cancer and after a
long, difficult fight, realizing that it
has gone into complete remission
- Being
an innocent victim in an act of violence
- Receiving
a heart transplant
Headed
for Auschwitz
Suppose a baby boy was
born en route to Auschwitz during WWII.
Obviously, the infant could not realize nor
understand his destiny. Nevertheless, the
trains destination and the fate of everyone
on the train arriving in Auschwitz were certain.
Similarly, every person born on this planet is
on a train that will reach a certain
end whether we realize it (or believe it)
or not. This end is not death, which
is common to men, since physical death is not the
end of human existence. The Bible clearly
speaks of two resurrections a resurrection
for righteous people and another for wicked ones.
(1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 20:5; John
5:10) The end I am referring to is a
meeting with God. Everyone on Earth will meet
God, face to face! (2 Corinthians 5:10) This is
mans destiny. (Revelation 20:12) The crux
of the coming meeting is this: God will explain
to each person why He judged him or her to be
worthy of eternal life or eternal death. The
reason I parallel salvation with being rescued
from the Auschwitz train is that Gods offer
of salvation is mans only escape from
eternal destruction. Since we are sinners, each
of us is headed for eternal death. The Bible
says, The wages of sin is [eternal] death
but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans
6:23) Later, I will explain why Gods offer
of salvation is like being rescued by a merciful
stranger.
Surviving
a Plane Crash
A commercial airliner
slams into the side of a mountain. Of the 223
passengers on board, only one person survives.
So, how does this illustration parallel
salvation? God saves only one person at a time.
He does not save nations, churches, friends,
family, children or spouses. (Ezekiel 14:12-20)
This illustration reveals that salvation is very
singular very personal. Salvation is a
matter between God and you. However, a
church can offer social and spiritual
encouragement.
Winning
the Lottery
Everyone has considered
the joy of winning a lottery. Getting so much in
return for such a small investment appeals
strongly to our human nature. In a way, salvation
is like that. What God offers is so great
compared to what He asks! Sinners gain so much
for so little! To know God is an experience we
can have that is beyond anything this world can
offer. To walk with God is a joy beyond anything
this world can provide. To spend an eternity with
God will be a prize worth more than anything we
can give.
Losing
Possessions in a Fire
Next to, losing a loved
one, what could be worse than a fire totally
destroying your home and possessions? So, does
salvation parallel such an experience? When God
offers salvation to a person, the issue of
surrendering everything to Him becomes primary.
God says, Give me your heart, your
affections, your loyalty, your will and obedience
and in turn, I will give you salvation.
Usually, Gods offer is juxtaposed between
social approval and social confrontation. (Luke
18:18-25) If we submit to God, it often appears
that we will lose all that we have worked for
status, fame, money, power, and friends.
However, if we accept Gods offer of
salvation, then our lives, careers and even our
possessions are no longer our own. This is the
great test of faith. This is why salvation is
like losing everything we own in a fire
for those who accept salvation lose everything
they own to Gods control.
Overcoming
Cancer
A diagnosis of cancer is
often a death sentence. However, some people are
able to overcome the ravages of cancer and live
to tell about it. Cancer parallels salvation if
we recognize that all human beings have the
cancer of sin. Sinful natures come at birth!
However, it is possible for us through the
empowerment of Jesus to overcome the cancer of
sin! We can be changed into brand-new creatures.
The Bible describes this experience as being born
again! (John 3) Even though we are morally frail
and spiritually feeble, the
chemotherapy of Christs
righteousness can transform a sickly mortal into
a healthy example of Gods ideal for the
human race.
An
Innocent Victim
Each night on the evening
news reports how innocent people are killed in
some violet way. Even innocent children are
abducted, sexually molested and then murdered.
The media report daily that innocent people are
killed in drive-by shootings. In fact, a friend
of mine was innocently gunned down through his
front door one night. The midnight
visitors had the wrong address and were
bent on revenge for a drug deal that had gone
bad. So, how does the innocent victim scenario
parallel salvation? In two ways: First, the
sinful nature of Adam and Eve (and its curse) was
passed down to their innocent offspring. Cain
became a murderer! Unfortunately, as in
Cains case, it is only a matter of time
until an innocent child willfully sins and
sins curse is perpetuated. Second,
Gods offer of salvation is based on a
process where the guilt of one mans sin can
be transferred to another person provided
the receiver is a sinless substitute. In our
case, Jesus, the innocent, sinless Son of God,
died in our place. God allows Jesus
innocent death to pay sins penalty for any
person, if that person is willing to submit to
the terms and conditions of salvation.
A
Heart Transplant
When Dr. Christian
Barnard performed the first heart transplant in
South Africa, he made headline news all around
the world. In 1967, the idea of replacing a
diseased heart with a good heart was heralded as
a major step in medical science. Now, three
decades later, most people consider that
major step to actually be a
minor step and many people have
wonderfully benefited from the miracle of heart
transplants. However, the logistics of finding
donors and the expenses have placed it out of
reach for most people. Salvation is similar to a
heart transplant since the carnal nature is
replaced with a spiritual nature. Each spiritual
exchange is no less noteworthy than the first
surgery of Dr. Barnard because the effect on the
recipient is absolutely amazing! Paul describes
this transformation by saying, Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the
old is gone, the new has come! (2
Corinthians 5:17) Incredible as it is to believe,
this spiritual transplant causes a
person to love what was once hated and to hate
what was once loved! This kind of spiritual
transformation happens only through Gods
power (grace) on the submissive soul.
Summary
I hope that these seven
illustrations will help the reader understand
some of the properties of salvation. To further
understand these elementary parallels, let us
restate these same seven issues, with the support
of Bible texts:
- The
infant born on the train to Auschwitz
parallels the fact that each person born
on earth is under the curse of sin. Each
of us soon commits sin because we inherit
sinful natures. Sinners are condemned to
eternal death because the wages of sin is
death. Romans 5:12 says, Therefore,
just as sin entered the world through one
man, and death through sin, and in this
way death came to all men, because all
sinned. However, Jesus has rescued
us from eternal death. Romans 5:19 says,
For just as through the
disobedience of the man [Adam] the many
were made sinners, so also through the
obedience of the one man [Jesus Christ]
the many [who receive Him] will be made
righteous.
- Surviving
the plane crash parallels the fact that
no sinner can save another person from
eternal death.
.Jesus
declared [to Nicodemus], I tell you
the truth, no one can see the kingdom of
God unless he is born again. (John
3:3) The miracle of rebirth is a divine
miracle. Only God can transform a heart
thereby providing spiritual
rebirth. The miracle can neither be
duplicated nor fabricated nor does it
happen on mans terms. In other
words, man cannot make himself born
again. Man cannot choose to be
born again whenever he wants
to. The miracle of rebirth is something
that God alone can do. When the moment of
spiritual opportunity occurs for rebirth,
we must submit to the promptings of the
Holy Spirit. If we surrender completely,
we will be reborn. If we refuse, the door
of opportunity may not be available
again. Today is the day of
salvation. (Hebrews 4:7)
- Receiving
and experiencing salvation is like
winning the lottery! Paul wrote in Romans
8:18, I consider that our present
sufferings are not worth comparing with
the glory that will be revealed in
us. (Also see Philippians 3:8.)
Indeed, even if a person won all of the
money in the world, it still would not
compare to the riches that await the
saints. What good will it be for a
man gains the whole world, yet forfeits
his soul? Or what can a man give in
exchange for his soul? (Matthew
16:26) Do not forget even the
richest people on Earth eventually die.
- Losing
our home and possessions and living for
Jesus are similar. Jesus said in Matthew
10:37, Anyone who loves his father
or mother more than me is not worthy of
me; anyone who loves his son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me.
Jesus also said, And everyone who
has left houses or brothers or sisters or
father or mother or children or fields
for my sake will receive a hundred times
as much and will inherit eternal
life. (Matthew 19:29) What a deal!
- Overcoming
the cancer of sin is not only possible it
is necessary. Jesus said, To him
who overcomes, I will give the right to
sit with me on my throne, just as I
overcame and sat down with my
Father. (Revelation 3:21) How does
a person overcome sin? 1 John 1:9 says,
If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our
sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness. If we confess
(admit) our sins, then Christ will
forgive us and purify us from all
unrighteousness! Jesus will remove from
our hearts our love for sin, making us
pure in heart.
- Jesus
was an innocent victim. He was the Lamb
of God. Through the sacrifice of His Son,
the Father silenced every argument that
might prevent a person from being saved.
John 1:29 says, The next day John
[the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him
and said, Look the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the
world! Notice that Jesus is
called the Lamb of God. He is not
mans Lamb. Christ died on behalf of
Gods enemies: For if, when we
were Gods enemies, we were
reconciled to him through the death of
His Son, how much more, having been
reconciled, shall we be saved through his
life! (Romans 5:10)
- God
offers a heart transplant to everyone,
but there is one condition: Unconditional
surrender to the will of God. The Bible
says, Flesh gives birth to flesh,
but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
Jesus answered, I tell you the
truth, no one can enter the kingdom of
God unless he is born of water and the
Spirit. (John 3:5,6) The
process of being born of the Spirit is a
divine miracle that occurs on an
individual basis. Parents cannot
experience this for their children, and
children cannot experience it for their
parents. God has no grandchildren. Each
person becomes a child of God through
rebirth. (1 John 3:1) When you are
born of water this means that
each child of God is baptized into
Christ. Baptism is a public affirmation
(just as a marriage vow is a public
affirmation) of an inner transformation
and life commitment. Baptism testifies
that a person has chosen Christ as Lord
and Master and will go wherever Christ
leads, be all that Christ asks and do all
that Christ commands through the enabling
power of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew
28:19,20; Philippians 4:13)
Not
a Life Insurance Policy
Too many people think of
salvation in shallow terms. The PLAN of salvation
is more than saving people from eternal death.
The PLAN is complete restoration and
transformation of people. Ultimately, the PLAN
reveals Gods righteousness and fairness as
He deals with all of His creatures. For some
people, Gods offer of salvation is a life
insurance plan offered through church membership.
Somehow, they believe that a church (and/or its
leaders) has the authority to offer
them salvation. However, no church can save. Only
Jesus can save. Churches and church leaders can
only tell about Gods offer of
salvation. (In this sense, pastors or priests can
be compared to meteorologists. Meteorologists can
only report the weather; they cannot control or
own the weather.)
Another example of
shallow perspective is demonstrated when people
refer to getting saved as though it
were a one-time event. The Bible does not treat
salvation as a one-time event, but rather a two-step
process. The first step is a conscious
submission to what one knows or believes to be
the will of God. When this submission occurs, God
determines a sinner to be a saint. (Acts 2:38)
This initial step is called justification. When a
sinner is justified, he or she receives a
conditional grant from God that we call the gift
of salvation. Salvation comes as a conditional
grant because the person can reject Gods
offer of salvation at any time he or she chooses
to do so. The Bible does not teach that once a
person receives justification, he has salvation
forever. Instead, the Bible teaches that when a
person decides to no longer submit to Gods
will, he or she is free to make the choice.
(Ezekiel 18; Mark 4:17; Luke 8:13; Hebrews 6:4-6)
Understand that our submission must spring from
love. Jesus said, He who does not love me
will not obey my teaching. These words you hear
are not my own; they belong to the Father who
sent me. (John 14:24)
Justification is not the
ultimate goal of salvations process. God
also seeks a second step: Transformation. (John
3; 1 John 2:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:3) A
sinners character must develop spiritually
and ultimately be changed into that of a saint.
This step is called sanctification. Both steps,
justification and sanctification, are part of
salvations process. In fact, the second
step (sanctification) repeats the first step,
only on a daily basis. In other words, conscious
submissions to Gods will is a daily
experience that subdues the carnal nature! Paul
wrote, I die daily. (1 Corinthians
15:31) He meant that he had to crucify his
selfish will so that the Fathers will might
be done in his life. Jesus, our example, was
subject to the Father in this way. The best
example demonstrating conscious submission of the
will of God occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane.
There, Jesus prayed that His Fathers
will be done even if it meant His
death. (John 6:38; Matthew 26:42)
Outside
the Will of God
What is sin? John says
that sin is a violation of Gods will. In
Romans 8, Paul writes: Those who live
according to the sinful nature have their minds
set on what that nature desires; but those who
live in accordance with the Spirit have their
minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of
sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by
the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is
hostile to God. It does not submit to Gods
law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the
sinful nature cannot please God. You, however,
are controlled not by the sinful nature by the
Spirit, if the spirit of God lives in you. And if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he
does not belong to Christ. (Romans 8:5-9)
No
Brand Names
To the secular mind,
Gods offer of salvation is not a big deal.
The secular or carnal mind justifies antagonism
toward God by focusing on a superficial level of
spiritual life. For example, everyone knows that
different churches offer different terms and
conditions for salvation. Therefore, a carnal
mind might conclude that Brand X church is no
different that Brand Y. Both churches are merely
an accumulation of words and ideas.
There are churches that
teach that salvation comes only through the
church. In other words, if you want to be saved,
you must join THAT church and DO certain things
that the church requires. These notions distort
Gods purpose for a church. God is not a
church and a church is not God. God gave
organized worship for mans social and
spiritual benefit of men. Jesus divinely ordained
churches to serve mans needs. (Matthew
16:18) He did not create the concept of church to
displace the daily experience He wishes to have
with His creatures. God did not create church to
replace Himself. God does not appoint men or
woman to assume His prerogatives. This is a point
that historically, has caused much grief. Since
nations began. More harm has been imposed upon
humanity in the name of God than for
any other reason. When people conclude there is
only one true church and they are sure their
church Is THAT true church, they often become
exclusive, even to the point of arrogance
thinking of the rest of mankind as
outsider.
A
Fragmented World
Before we look at the
elegant, yet simple way to salvation, be aware of
this: Gods offer of salvation is not
limited to one group of people. We live in a
fragmented world consisting of over 6 billion
people. We speak different languages, our skins
are different and we eat different foods. We
worship in different ways through different
religions. We have different governments and
cultures. We are a fragmented world! The Bible
says that God caused this fragmentation. Notice
what the Bible says about language approximately
120 years after the flood: Now the whole
world had one language and a common speech.
(Genesis 11:1) At the time of the tower of Babel,
God did something very interesting. He suddenly
changed the one language of the world into many
languages. God did this amazing miracle to
separate people into small groups. (People prefer
to live and work among those with whom they can
communicate.) As language groups formed, each
group moved away from the unfinished Tower to
settle in a new territory on Earth for
themselves. Then, God did something even more
amazing! He ripped the Earths landmass
apart and formed seven continents. Notice that
the Bible says about this Earthmoving
event: Two sons were born to Eber: One was
named Peleg, because in his time the earth was
divided; his brother was named Joktan.
(Genesis 10:25) (National Geographic has
produced many articles and maps through the years
on this interesting topic. There is much evidence
indicating that at one time Earth consisted of
one land mass.) When God divided the Earth,
people who spoke one language and lived in one
territory were separated from people of other
languages who lived in other territories. God, in
His wisdom and sovereignty, used mountains,
deserts and great distances to separate (and to
keep separate) the people of Earth.
Why did God fragment
Earths population? For thousands of years,
wide-open spaces and natural barriers have
prevented strong nations from dominating weaker
ones. God knows the evil mind and selfish heart
of man. Ambitious men and women strive for power,
mastery and wealth. When evil men use their
wealth and power for evil purposes, the results
can quickly come to total ruin. Think of
Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, Napoleon and
Hitler. (Man-would-be-God-types.) Man wants the
honor, glory, and power of God. Because God
separated people into widely dispersed groups, no
one man or evil system ruled over all of mankind
with complete control until or unless God enabled
it to happen. (I say, until or unless
God
, because during the end-time, God
is going to allow the devil to achieve world
dominion.)
The splitting of
continents and the separation of people slows the
natural downward, degenerate, spiral of sin and
it prevents the devil from corrupting all mankind
at one time as he did before the flood. In other
words, if particular civilization becomes evil
and corrupt, God can destroy it without having to
destroy the whole world. (Jeremiah 18:7-11)
Incidentally, the
division of the landmass into continents explains
why certain animals are unique to certain
geographic locations. All the kangaroos that
lived after the flood were living in a territory
that was separated from the original land mass.
As a result, the kangaroos became unique to
Australia. In addition, the division of the world
into continents explains the distinctive features
of each race of people. Dominant genes within the
first genetic pool of each language group have
produced the dominant characteristics of each
nationality. It is also interesting to note that
a recent linguistic study documented in National
Geographic states that the roots of all
languages could be traced to Mesopotamia where
Bible students believe the Tower of Babel was
located. It is exciting that current research
corroborates with Bible story of a single root
for all languages.
God
Did It
We have examined the
topic of the separation of continents because it
was Gods doing, God is sovereign. It is
Gods will that there are many nations,
cultures, languages and yes, religions. Remember
that God loves the people of the world. He did
not divide the world so most of the world would
be in darkness and have no means of salvation.
Consider this: If God is responsible for dividing
the world into peoples, nations, languages,
tribes, and He did it by divine decree. How many
billions of people have lived on this planet
since Adam and Eve? How many people did not know
the truth about the God of Heaven? Do you think
they are lost because they did not know the
truth about God and His Son, Jesus
Christ? My response to this: Salvation is not
based on knowledge of truth. Rather, salvation is
based on submission to the Spirit of God! This
does not mean that truth is not highly important.
On the contrary, this means that we can
appreciate Gods salvation more when we
understand Him and His ways.
I have presented the
issue of fragmentation because Gods offer
of salvation is not limited to one true
church nor is it restricted to the
Christians! (Please keep reading, and you will
see what I mean in a moment.) God Himself caused
the separation of the continents and His PLAN of
salvation takes the varied theologies of mankind
into consideration. Here are three statements
(and explanations which follow) that you should
think about:
- A
person can receive salvation without
knowing the only true God.
- A
person can receive salvation without
knowing Jesus Christ.
- A
person can receive salvation without
becoming a Christian.
No doubt, these three
statements will give most evangelicals a lot of
heartburn, since they are convinced that a person
must have knowledge of Christ and consciously
receive Christ as their Savior in order to be
saved. (According to the American Bible Society,
3.5 billion people on Earth have not heard of
Jesus Christ.) For this reason, evangelicals
believe they are very important to the cause of
Christ. Scripture will demonstrate the basis for
my three points, but first we need to consider
the popular logic that many evangelicals follow.
(Some denominations are called evangelical
denominations because they consider themselves
evangelists for the cause of Christ.) Their
theology produces the following conclusions:
- All
non-Christians are condemned (having no
salvation).
- Only
born again Christians have
salvation.
- Evangelicals
into the entire world must preach the
gospel before the end comes. (Matthew
24:14)
Before we consider the
biblical evidence showing the fallacy of these
three conclusions produced by evangelical logic,
notice that these same three issues were
prevalent in New Testament times, but from a
Jewish perspective. At the time of Christ, the
Jews believed:
- All
non-Jews were condemned (having no
salvation).
- Only
the descendants of Abraham had salvation.
- Jews
must preach the gospel to all Gentiles
before Messiah sets up His kingdom.
(Isaiah 49 & 56; Matthew 23:15)
The
parallels between the Jews of New Testament times
and the theology of many evangelicals today are
evident. A short explanation of how Jewish
attitudes develop and what God actually intended
to accomplish through the offspring of Abraham
follows.
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