Tag: Salvation

SAVING FAITH [11/05/21]

Faith is defined as belief, trust, consistency or loyalty, to a doctrine or religion; and is exercised by every person in Faithsome practise or custom. We employ faith in people and entities as we depend upon others, and devices to support us and to keep us going. But what is biblical faith? How is Faith in God defined?

Faith in God is not a blind act of the individual, but is based upon the best evidence that is given to us – The Word of God, the Scriptures. It is a trust in the God of the Scriptures and in Jesus Christ who was sent by God to provide our salvation from sin. Saving faith is a personal trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, faith is fundamental to Christian creed and conduct, for we are saved by faith <Eph.2:8> and we live by faith in God <Heb.11:1; 2 Cor.4:18>. Faith is confidence in God, it leads us to believe His Word, the Scriptures, and to receive Jesus Christ as our saviour which brings into being a change in our character and our lifestyle.

There can be no relationship with the invisible God without faith in His existence <Heb.11:6>, we must believe that He exists and that He will reward those that believe with salvation and eternal life, for as said previously, faith is necessary for salvation <Acts 16:31>. There are however, two kinds of faith that pertain to our salvation: first, there is “intellectual knowledge” which is a general acceptance of the historical Christ and the Bible which yields no decision. Secondly, there is “resolve”; belief or faith, causing the person to act on that decision; belief “ON” Christ will result in saving faith, we must base our faith on Christ and not on our own belief or intellectual knowledge, for neither knowledge or agreement is true faith, true faith involves acceptance.

There are two components of the source of our faith: first, there is the Divine aspect in which faith is the work of the Triune God. God The Father gives the potential of faith to all people <Rom.12:3>, and that potential is distributed by The Holy Spirit <1 Cor.12:9>, and The Lord Jesus is the origin and securer of our faith <Heb.12:2; cf Lk.17:5>. Each individual has the potential of faith in God and as that faith is exerted it will increase. Secondly, there is the human aspect; as the Word of God is heard through preaching or reading, faith is exercised resulting in the salvation and spiritual growth of the individual <see Rom.10:17; Acts 4:4; Mk.9:24>.

The focus of faith must be the Word of God, accepting that the Scripture is true and genuine; and the Person of Christ, in that He is the divine Son of God. The principle of faith is the same as that which we act on in every day life, just as all transactions are conducted on the principle of faith and confidence in others, faith in God is putting our confidence in Him and his Word.

What then are the results of faith on God?

  • Our salvation is by faith alone: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” <Eph.2:8 (NIV)>; “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” <Jn.1:12 (NIV)>.
  • We are vindicated by faith: “… we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” <Rom.5:1 (NIV)>
  • We become children of God through faith: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” <Gal.3:26 (NIV)>
  • We are sustained by faith: “who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” <1 Pet.1:5 (NIV)>

Our eternal destiny will be determined by our faith, or lack of faith in God. Our faith in God will ensure that we spend eternity with Christ as He promised; “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” <Jn.14:2-3 (NIV)>. Unbelief, or lack of faith will result in eternity apart from God; “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.” <Heb.4:2 (NIV)>; and the end-result is: “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” <Rev.20:14-15 (NIV)>.

Our faith in God and in His Word gives us the confidence of knowing that what He has said, and what He has promised, will be fulfilled: “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.” <2 Tim.1:12 (NIV)>; “God’s elect…who have been chosen …. of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ …… Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” <1 Pet.1:1-5 (NIV)>.

“[Carl] Sagan was fascinated by the phenomenon that educated adults, with the wonders of science manifest all around them, could cling to beliefs based on the unverifiable testimony of observers dead for 2000 years. “You’re so smart, why do you believe in God?” he once exclaimed to [cleric Joan Brown] Campbell. She found this a surprising question from someone who had no trouble accepting the existence of black holes, which no one has ever observed. “You’re so smart, why don’t you believe in God?” she answered. . .. Sagan never wavered in his agnosticism. “There was no deathbed conversion,” [his wife Ann] Druyan says. “No appeals to God, no hope for an afterlife, no pretending that he and I, who had been inseparable for 20 years, were not saying goodbye forever.” Didn’t he want to believe? she was asked. “Carl never wanted to believe,” she replies fiercely. “He wanted to know.””  (Source: Perfect Illustrations-Hopeless Death of Carl Sagan-Citation: Jerry Adler, Newsweek (March 31, 1997))

On what or in who will your eternal destiny be determined?

 

THE PROVISION FOR ESCAPE [10/24/20]

Spiritual oppression is the direct result of sin that we have inherited, and when an individual refuses to acknowledge this slavery to sin and Satan, the downward spiral into oppression begins <see Rom.1:18-32>. Many attempts can be made to be free of this captivity, but unless something, or someone greater influences or controls our life, the captivity of Satan only worsens (see “The Empty House” <Matt.12:38-45> posted 8/17/2019). So, after many requests have been made for Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to make their “three-day journey” to worship their God, God Himself has to intervene, and His judgment is declared: “I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn — both men and animals — and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.” <Ex.12:12 (NIV)>. The judgment of God is for all the inhabitants of Egypt, including the Israelites, for all mankind is guilty of sin and is deserving of the penalty <see Rom.3:23; 6:23>; so God must now make a way of escape for the Israelites, and that way of escape is a picture of what Christ accomplished on the Cross at Calvary for all mankind – Jew and Gentile. The judgment of God on Egypt is also a representation of what is to come upon a world that has totally rejected God <see 2 Pet.2:9-21>, and that day of judgment is predetermined by God and will take place. It will be at the most unexpected time, when in a flash like lightening The Lord Jesus Christ will appear to execute His judgment <see 2 Thess.1:7-8>; and as it occurred in Egypt there will be a great cry of the people <Ex.12:30; cf Rev.6:16>, but it will be unfortunate for those that experience this judgment that their cry for relief will go unheeded for they refused to acknowledge God’s Salvation <see Prov.1:24-26, 28-29; Lk.17:26-30>.

To escape this calamity, God provided a way for the Israelites: “each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household…. all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight…. take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” <Ex.12:3, 6, 7, 13 (NIV)>. For the Egyptians it was a night of judgment, but for the Israelites, God provided a ransom and deliverance for their first-born sons; “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn — both men and animals — and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.” <Ex.12:12 (NIV)>; and in these verses of Scripture we see an Old Testament illustration of God’s Redemption provided for all mankind – Salvation from sin and the escape from Satan’s captivity.

In these verses of Exodus 12 we see the institution of the Passover – still celebrated annually by the Jewish communities, which is a picture of God’s great salvation accomplished through the death, burial and resurrection of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The entire Old Testament and the New Testament proclaims one theme: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” <Rev.5:9 (NIV); see also Rev.1:5; Eph.1:7>, and we find today that many teach that our salvation can be obtained in “other ways” and not by the blood of Christ; what they preach is a blood-less religion, just what Pharaoh wanted of the Israelites, but not what God has established, and such teaching will only keep the individual under Satan’s captivity <see Acts 4:12; Heb.9:22>. We are certain that this Passover speaks specifically of Christ <see 1 Cor.5:7b>.

First, we see in the Passover; “The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect” <Ex.12:5 (NIV)>, and in this we see that Christ, as a lamb was led to the slaughter <Isa.53:7>, he was “without defect”, for if there was a defect, the animal could not be used as a sacrifice, so Christ was perfect or sinless <1 Pet.2:22; 2 Cor.5:21; 1 Jn.3:5>. Christ was perfect in all His life, and even at His trial Pilate could find no fault in Him <Jn.18:38b>. Next, we see the testing period for the purity of the animal; “Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month” <Ex.12:5 (NIV)>, for any defect would surely be seen during this time. Similarly, Christ was tested in every way by God, by demons, by Satan, by Pilate, the centurion at the cross <see Matt.3:17; 4:11; Mk.1:24; Lk.23:41, 47>, and found to be holy and righteous and without sin; for if there was any “defect” in Christ, He could not be an atoning sacrifice for our sins <1 Jn.2:2>. We also see that the animal was to be killed in the evening; “all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.” <Ex.12:6 (NIV)>; then God’s judgment came at midnight <Ex.12:12>; so today we live in the day of God’s grace but very soon the midnight hour will come, and God’s judgment will be poured out upon an unbelieving world. There will be no escape for every sinner was represented around the cross of Christ, there was human wisdom, mankind’s power, mankind’s religion, all seen in the inscription placed on His cross in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, all in agreement that The Son of God had to die, and in His death enemies became friends <Lk.23:12; Matt.27:36-37; Jn.19:19-20>.

Finally, we see that “they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.” <Ex.12:7 (NIV)>. The significance of this is very important to the entire Passover!

In this is seen a picture of salvation for the sinner; salvation, when accepted spares the individual from the judgment of God for all sin and sinners: “The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” <Ex.12:13 (NIV)>. It was the blood alone that secured salvation, then and now, for all sinners, nothing else delivers us from the captivity of sin and Satan, and that was the whole purpose of Christ’s death on the cross; His blood was shed there for our salvation and redemption <Rom.5:9; 3:25; 1 Thess.1:10>. There was nothing else that spared the Israelite people from God’s judgment; not Moses, not the slaughtered lamb, not the way they were dressed <Ex.12:11>, or the feast of the roasted lamb; nothing else but the blood, for God had said “when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you”, we are no longer under the condemnation of God or the Law, for we have been set free by Christ <Rom.8:1>.

How is it with you? Are you sheltered from God’s judgment by Christ’s shed blood? It should be noted from the text that none of the blood was applied to the doorstep or sprinkled on the floor, the blood was not to be trodden on, and so it should be in reference to the blood of Christ. Many today consider the shed blood of Christ to be worthless, corruption of the scriptures is rampant in our society by false teaching, and corrupt Christianity considers this as not appropriate for faith, only to be using Christ’s blood as a stepping stone to sure judgment <see Heb.10:29-31>.

So, an escape was provided for the Israelites from their captivity as slaves of Pharaoh; and likewise, salvation has been provided for all mankind who are slaves to sin and Satan.

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SALVATION AND REWARDS [7/18/20]

(THE SAVED AND THE LOST)

Of great importance in understanding the Word of God as taught in the New Testament Scriptures, are the doctrines of salvation for the unsaved sinners, or those that have wandered away for God <Isa.53:6>,  and the doctrine of rewards for those that are converted (saved) <Jn.3:7>. A clear distinction must be made between the two which may be observed in the following contrasts.

  1. Salvation is a Free Gift: it is offered freely by God; there is no charge to the recipient; and is offered to whoever wishes to accept it. Although the penalty for all sin is death, God offers the gift of eternal life, and we can only be saved by the grace of a merciful God and not by anything that we can do to attain this salvation. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”…”For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”……”he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” <Rom 3:23; 6: 23; Titus 3:5 (NIV); see also Isa.55:1; Eph.2:8-9; Rev.22:17>.
  2. Works or service pleasing to God will be rewarded. Such works are the result of our salvation and are in response to the graciousness of God. We will be rewarded for the good deeds expressed to others in our service to God; we will be rewarded with a “crown of righteousness” for faithfully finishing the task that we have been given here on earth; our reward will be in accordance to our works; our reward will be incorruptible or everlasting unlike earthly rewards. Those who have been trustworthy in the insignificant affairs will be given authority over greater things. All our efforts will be tested by God and we will be rewarded accordingly; and we are encouraged to be faithful to God until the very end of our life and we will receive the “crown of life”; “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” <2 Tim 4:7-8 (NIV); see also Matt.10:42; Rev.22:12; 1 Cor.9:24-25; Lk.19:17; 1 Cor.3:11-15; Rev.2:10>. Rewards are referred to as crowns, and the Scriptures mention four crowns: joy, or rejoicing for our service; righteousness, for faithfulness in our witness; life, for faithfulness under difficulty; and glory, for our faithfulness under hardship <see Phil.4:1; 1 Thess.2:19; James 1:12; 1 Pet.5:4; Rev.2:10>.
  3. Salvation is a current possession. We receive the gift of salvation the moment we express our faith or belief in Christ and His provision for us in the “offering” of Himself as a sacrifice to God for our sins <see Lk.7:50; Jn.3:36; 5:24; 2 Tim.1:9; Titus 3:5; 1 Jn.5:11>. This salvation is eternal and we can never suffer the loss of our salvation. Although our old sinful nature may cause us to sin, we have an advocate in heaven, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we can request forgiveness. “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life”……” If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”……”But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins…” <Jn.5:24; 1 John 1:9; 2:1-2 (NIV)>.
  4. Rewards will be received at a future event. We will receive our reward at the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ at His second Advent, and such rewards will be “according to our faithful service”. “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” < Matt.16:27 (NIV); see also Lk.14:14; 2 Tim.4:8; 1 Pet.5:4; Rev.22:12>. God’s purpose of rewarding His servants is to restrain us from the pursuit of earthly riches and pleasures; to sustain us in persecution and to encourage us in the exercise of Christian virtues <see Dan.12:3; Matt.5:11-12; 10:41-42; Col.3:22-24; Heb.6:10; 11:8-10, 24-27; 12:2-3; Rev.3:11>.

 BELIEVERS AND PRETENDERS

Throughout the Scriptures there has always been two groups of individuals: those that are genuine in their affirmation of belief in God and those that “profess” or pretend to believe but are not genuine in their affirmation. It is unfortunate that such will continue until our Lord Jesus Christ returns in His glory. There are numerous scripture references to this <see Gen.4:3-5; Ex.12:38; Num.11:4-6; Matt.13:24-30, 37-43; 2 Cor.11:13-15; Gal.2:4; 2 Pet.2:1-2; Phil.2:12-13; Eph.2:8-9>.

  1. Believers are saved – Pretenders are lost. Let us compare what the Scriptures teach in respect to True Believers and Pretenders.

(a) TRUE BELIEVERS: true believers are saved by faith alone; are committed to the teachings of the scriptures; can never lose their salvation and are covered by God’s righteousness. All are known to God and are destined to be with Christ in heaven; the work of salvation that has been started will be completed by Christ when we are taken to be with Him. All are committed to follow Christ to the end. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” < Jn.10:27-30 (NIV); see also Lk.7:50; Jn.6:37, 39, 47; 10:14; 17:24; Acts 2:42; Rom.3:22; Phil.1:6; 2 Tim.2:19; Rev.19:7-9>.

(b) PRETENDERS: such live a life of pretense, they profess to be saved but their actions prove otherwise; they unfortunately accept leadership roles, and sometimes go as missionaries but are not committed to Christ. God who knows and sees everything – nothing is hid from His eyes – will dismiss them from His presence. “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”…. “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” <1 Jn.2:19; Matt.7:22-23 (NIV).  They do not live by faith! They never entirely surrender to Christ! * <see Matt.22:11-13; 23:28, 33; Jn.6:64-66; Acts 8:13, 21; *Heb.6:4-6; 10:38; James 2:14>.

  1. Believers Will Be Rewarded – Pretenders Are Condemned.

Compare  Matt.25:19-23 with Matt.25:24-30;   Lk.12:42  with Lk.12:45-47; Col.3:24 with Matt.7:22-23

In conclusion, understand that these principles are a guide to a precise understanding of the teaching of the Scriptures. The judgment of Pretenders is not assigned to us as believers, but is reserved for the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer’s responsibility is to serve God to the best of our ability with the help of The Holy Spirit, anticipating the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.