Before I write any more blog posts, I want to do some on Biblical Salvation.\u00a0 This will be a category all by itself.<\/p>\n
This website is very much like me, a work in progress.\u00a0\u00a0 Salvation is a moment, sanctification is a work in progress.\u00a0 He\u00a0which hath\u00a0begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ<\/em> says Philippians 1:6.\u00a0 Birth, then growth is the natural order. Birth, then growth is the spiritual order.\u00a0 If you mix up the\u00a0order you are\u00a0trying to\u00a0get a spiritual still born to do\u00a0what\u00a0only something alive can do.<\/p>\n Order is important.\u00a0 Jesus is first base.\u00a0 Skip first and you don’t go home to\u00a0heaven.\u00a0 Jesus saith I am the way, the truth and the life and no man cometh unto the\u00a0Father but by me<\/em>.\u00a0 (John 14:6). \u00a0Jesus saith I am the door. I am the bread of life.\u00a0 I am the resurrection and the life. I am the\u00a0vine.\u00a0\u00a0I am the alpha and omega, the first and the\u00a0last.\u00a0 He\u00a0is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the creator who in the beginning created the Heaven and the Earth.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus says without me, ye can do nothing<\/em> but the Bible also says I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHICH STRENGTHENETH ME<\/em>.\u00a0 That is\u00a0confusing to some.\u00a0 We are powerless without being connected to the ultimate power source.\u00a0\u00a0 I could have the latest computer technology at my fingertips and the greatest software ever and all the computer gadgets one could want.\u00a0 Yet if my computer never gets plugged in to the wall outlet, what good is it?<\/p>\n But I don’t want to offend my computer and tell him the only way to plug it in is to put it’s metal prongs into the small slits in the wall.\u00a0 All slits in the wall lead to electric current, so I will let it pick whatever slit works for it.\u00a0 If it sounds silly in the technical world, it should sound silly in the spiritual realm.\u00a0 Yet the world swallows that and never examines if there is any truth to it.<\/p>\n The world has no clue what truth is and we who are really saved KNOW THAT WE KNOW THAT WE KNOW.\u00a0 It is not arrogance, but it is supreme confidence in\u00a0a supreme Saviour.<\/p>\n It is geared for everyone but for different reasons.\u00a0 A salvation tract idea I likely will write one day is “Who’s on First?”.\u00a0\u00a0 I may have just written it now!<\/p>\n Abbott and Castello in the mid 1900’s had a famous radio broadcast about confusion over a baseball player named “WHO” was on First base on the team.\u00a0 I will give them fake first names to clarify.\u00a0 I do have a point to this.\u00a0\u00a0 Bob Who was the first baseman.\u00a0\u00a0Isaac What was on second.\u00a0\u00a0Barak I Don’t Know was on Third.\u00a0\u00a0 During the routine,\u00a0 one would ask, “so what’s the name of the first baseman?”<\/p>\n “Who.”<\/p>\n “The first baseman.”<\/p>\n “Who’s on first.”<\/p>\n “What’s the name of the first baseman?”<\/p>\n “No, what is the guy’s name on second base. Who’s on first.”<\/p>\n “I am asking\u00a0who\u00a0is the guy’s name on first!”<\/p>\n “Exactly.”<\/p>\n And so on.<\/p>\n If you look at Christianity as a whole they have the same confusion.\u00a0 WHO is not just on First base, WHO is FIRST BASE.\u00a0 Who is the LORD JESUS CHRIST.\u00a0 Most churches are more focused on the WHAT instead of the WHO.\u00a0 Meaning they emphasize what you need to DO to be right with God and completely forget about Who’s on first.\u00a0 And if you skip FIRST YOU DON’T GO HOME!<\/p>\n In Christianity the WHAT comes second.\u00a0 It doesn’t matter what the what is.\u00a0 Baptism.\u00a0 Church membership.\u00a0 The sinner’s prayer.\u00a0 I won’t park there for a long time, but that will no doubt confuse some.\u00a0 A prayer does not save.\u00a0 Calling on the Lord does not save because you can call on the Lord to save you yet stay in your sin.\u00a0 If you truly believe and biblically repent, there will be some sort of natural confession with thy mouth and you will testify that you are saved.\u00a0 I believe that comes after salvation.\u00a0 Saved people call on the Lord.\u00a0 The bible supports this order.\u00a0 Quicken us and we will call upon thy name.\u00a0 (Psalm 80:18).<\/p>\n Sometimes it is a WHAT that is no longer available today but it is a “WHAT of confusion.”\u00a0 Speaking in tongues is an example.<\/p>\n Salvation is simple but because it goes against our programming and what makes sense to us, it is hard to receive something so easy.\u00a0\u00a0 In God’s economy, to get you have to give.\u00a0 We think to get we have to take.\u00a0 To live you have to die says the Bible.\u00a0 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if i die, it bringeth forth much fruit.<\/em> (see John 12:24)<\/p>\n My son Elijah wants to be a ‘sheriff cowboy’ when he grows up.\u00a0\u00a0Or is it\u00a0a cowboy sheriff? I just asked him to clarify and now he said “a cop”!\u00a0 He is my main tract man, and I bought him the Chick tract (see Chick.com) Gun Slinger.\u00a0\u00a0 In this western themed comic book gospel tract, Terrible Tom is a gun slinging outlaw, hired to kill the preacher who has put the town saloon almost out of business. He is being hunted by the town marshal.\u00a0\u00a0Tom goes into the church and the\u00a0Preacher preaches how King David\u00a0was a murderer and yet when he repented God said he was a man after his own heart.\u00a0 Tom repents and gets saved,\u00a0shocked God\u00a0could even forgive such a criminal as himself.\u00a0 He\u00a0is caught\u00a0when he leaves church\u00a0and hanged for his crime.<\/p>\n As he hangs, the marshal says, “Tom got exactly what he deserved!” and it shows then a scene if heaven where Jesus says Welcome home my son.\u00a0\u00a0As the marshal heads off he is asked by the\u00a0Preacher, “now, how about you?”\u00a0 He says, “Reverend, I’m the most honest law-abiding man in this whole territory.\u00a0 If I’m not\u00a0good enough for\u00a0heaven, then no one is”\u00a0\u00a0Hours later he dies of a rattlesnake bite and\u00a0is shocked to wake up in hell.<\/p>\n The world\u00a0reads tracts like that and it makes no sense to\u00a0them.\u00a0\u00a0The “Bad guy” gets to heaven while the “good guy” goes to hell.\u00a0 It isn’t a matter of good or bad it is saved or lost.<\/p>\n The world doesn’t understand\u00a0salvation.\u00a0 The church doesn’t understand sanctification.<\/p>\n Salvation is first base.\u00a0 You don’t\u00a0earn it.\u00a0 You basically just need to see you\u00a0deserve Hell to receive Heaven.\u00a0 As I said before, you just need to be convinced of the disease.<\/p>\n That is the main purpose of the Law of God.\u00a0\u00a0Through preaching or tracts or\u00a0blogs or one on one witnessing, some seeds of conviction need to be planted.\u00a0\u00a0One lie makes you a liar. Lust is adultery according to Jesus.\u00a0 Hatred is\u00a0murder.<\/p>\n Think how\u00a0shocked some\u00a0people were that our government is looking\u00a0into our personal data.\u00a0 NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is a marked man now that he ratted out the government he worked for, as they were buying info from Verizon.\u00a0 Don’t be surprised if he ends up dying of mysterious circumstances even if he makes it to Ecuador.\u00a0 I don’t trust our government as far as I can overthrow them, and if the people didn’t believe the media reports hook line and sinker you would see how much they interfere with our lives and silence anyone who tries to stop them.\u00a0\u00a0 A good example is Sonny Bono.\u00a0 The media says he died of a ski accident and no one questions anything.\u00a0 Do some autopsy research on it.\u00a0 He was killed when he was a Senator in California I believe and someone had leaked to him how our government was doing something corrupt with the drug cartels in Mexico.\u00a0 Based on the autopsy he was beat over the head and planted on that tree.<\/p>\n I say all that to say God is listening in but he told us he is doing that.\u00a0 The Bible says we will give account for every word, thought and deed we ever did OR DIDN’T DO.\u00a0 Meaning if you thought I want to kill my boss you are in as much trouble as someone who gunned down their boss in the basement walk in cooler.\u00a0 Someone who cheated on their wife 30 times is in the same trouble as someone who watched pornography 5 times.\u00a0 Someone who drove by the stranded motorist on the way to church is committing a sin of omission.\u00a0 I could go on and on.\u00a0 God is not there just ready to cast us into hell because he is this sadistic hothead.\u00a0 He doesn’t delight in the death of the wicked says the Bible.\u00a0 Yet He is clear that we are to fear Him who hath power to cast our souls into hell.\u00a0 We are to be in awe of the God who can make the Sun out of nothing, a ball of fire a million times bigger than earth.\u00a0 He also made hell, and what the Bible calls the lake of fire.\u00a0 Hell isn’t popular, but it’s lack of politically correctness is due to the fact that those who oppose it are the very ones headed there.\u00a0 They want to remove that fear, but they can’t.\u00a0 They are afraid of God so they try and soften the blow.\u00a0 They try to hide from him just as Adam did.<\/p>\n Men tend to run from God, instead of running to God.<\/p>\n Or reinventing God instead of letting God reinvent you.<\/p>\n Men neglect the cure or reject the cure but they will be kicking themselves for all eternity that they missed so simple a salvation.<\/p>\n It comes down to God has clear directions to heaven but men don’t want to stop and ask for directions.<\/p>\n Yet the first step in finding directions to heaven is to admit you are lost.<\/p>\n When you see you are lost you can run to the Saviour.\u00a0 That is WHO is on first.<\/p>\n Jesus says Come unto me, look unto me, call unto me.\u00a0 Seek and ye shall find.\u00a0 Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Ask and ye shall receive.<\/p>\n Repentance is the 2nd side of the coin of salvation.\u00a0 It is not turning from all sin, as you won’t even know half your sin until Jesus moves in and cleans house.\u00a0 Yet salvation doesn’t leave you in the dust, leaving you a “Saved drunk” or a “white knuckling murderer”.\u00a0 I can best explain the fruits of repentance better than explain exactly what repentance is.<\/p>\n But basically repentance is not turning over a new leaf but becoming a new creature.\u00a0 Jesus said ye must be born again.\u00a0\u00a0 When you get saved, you turn from your sinful lifestyle to Jesus Christ, but you really aren’t concentrating on your sin at all.\u00a0 All you see at the moment of Salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ, in a spiritual sense.\u00a0 Conviction opens your eyes to your need for God.\u00a0 You know you are in trouble.\u00a0 You know you would go to hell.<\/p>\n Then you are handed a cure.\u00a0 While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us says the Bible.<\/p>\n Then your spiritual eyes can see Jesus on the cross who became sin when he knew no sin.\u00a0 He took that sin on himself.<\/p>\n Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.<\/p>\n You personally see he took your sin for you.<\/p>\n You look back at the cross and LOOK AND LIVE.<\/p>\n As that happens, God moves in.\u00a0 Repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 A simple transaction in heaven takes place.\u00a0\u00a0 You are no longer an enemy of God and Jesus WHO IS GOD is the Bridge to GOD the Father.\u00a0 Think of it like 3 offices of the same God.\u00a0 Judge, lawgiver, king.\u00a0 See Isaiah 33:22.\u00a0For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he will save us.\u00a0 That is\u00a0where America got the judicial, legislative and executive branch idea from.\u00a0\u00a0 God is a theocracy. These\u00a03 are the reality of the truly saved.\u00a0 Jesus is our King who\u00a0died in our place when we had the death penalty\u00a0assigned to us.\u00a0 He grans us forgives and grants us pardon with the Judge.\u00a0 The law is satisfied that someone died to pay the law’s hard requirements.\u00a0 The wages of sin is death says\u00a0Romans 6:23.\u00a0 We were to face the Judge of the\u00a0Universe after we die and give account for every word, thought, and deed. All put up on the jumbo-tron in heaven.<\/p>\n What you did on the internet.\u00a0 What you watched late at night.\u00a0 What you did before you were married.\u00a0 What you did after you were married. What you\u00a0thought about people you didn’t\u00a0like.\u00a0 What lies you told. What you were doing, what you were thinking, what you were chewing, what you were drinking.\u00a0 Your motives behind your actions. Why you really gave that expensive gift.\u00a0 Why you\u00a0sang in the church choir.<\/p>\n The holy spirit is to convict and reprove the world or sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. (See John 16:8).\u00a0 When we preach or witness, it is really the Holy Spirit\/holy Ghost\u00a0that shows up and points the finger at you and your sin.\u00a0 What he is saying is true says the Holy Spirit as you read this blog post.<\/p>\n But I am reading this on third base is your response.<\/p>\n You skipped first! says the Holy Ghost.<\/p>\n You’re right, I need to get saved says the future convert.<\/p>\n Go away, I am already saved. I made a profession when I was 5!\u00a0 says the average lost American.<\/p>\n And the Holy Spirit goes away and in some cases never bothers that man again.<\/p>\n That is a scary place to get to.<\/p>\n Who’s on first. Jesus.\u00a0 Did you strike out enough getting to God your way that you will quit trying and just TRUST?\u00a0 Let Jesus go to bat for you instead.<\/p>\n And let him carry you to first base.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before I write any more blog posts, I want to do some on Biblical Salvation.\u00a0 This will be a category all by itself. This website is very much like me, a work in progress.\u00a0\u00a0 Salvation is a moment, sanctification is … Continue reading