Before I write any more blog posts, I want to do some on Biblical Salvation. This will be a category all by itself.
This website is very much like me, a work in progress. Salvation is a moment, sanctification is a work in progress. He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ says Philippians 1:6. Birth, then growth is the natural order. Birth, then growth is the spiritual order. If you mix up the order you are trying to get a spiritual still born to do what only something alive can do.
Order is important. Jesus is first base. Skip first and you don’t go home to heaven. Jesus saith I am the way, the truth and the life and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. (John 14:6). Jesus saith I am the door. I am the bread of life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the vine. I am the alpha and omega, the first and the last. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the creator who in the beginning created the Heaven and the Earth. Jesus says without me, ye can do nothing but the Bible also says I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHICH STRENGTHENETH ME. That is confusing to some. We are powerless without being connected to the ultimate power source. I could have the latest computer technology at my fingertips and the greatest software ever and all the computer gadgets one could want. Yet if my computer never gets plugged in to the wall outlet, what good is it?
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. All slits in the wall lead to electric current, so I will let it pick whatever slit works for it. If it sounds silly in the technical world, it should sound silly in the spiritual realm. Yet the world swallows that and never examines if there is any truth to it.
The world has no clue what truth is and we who are really saved KNOW THAT WE KNOW THAT WE KNOW. It is not arrogance, but it is supreme confidence in a supreme Saviour.
It is geared for everyone but for different reasons. A salvation tract idea I likely will write one day is “Who’s on First?”. I may have just written it now!
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. I will give them fake first names to clarify. I do have a point to this. Bob Who was the first baseman. Isaac What was on second. Barak I Don’t Know was on Third. During the routine, one would ask, “so what’s the name of the first baseman?”
“Who.”
“The first baseman.”
“Who’s on first.”
“What’s the name of the first baseman?”
“No, what is the guy’s name on second base. Who’s on first.”
“I am asking who is the guy’s name on first!”
“Exactly.”
And so on.
If you look at Christianity as a whole they have the same confusion. WHO is not just on First base, WHO is FIRST BASE. Who is the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Most churches are more focused on the WHAT instead of the WHO. Meaning they emphasize what you need to DO to be right with God and completely forget about Who’s on first. And if you skip FIRST YOU DON’T GO HOME!
In Christianity the WHAT comes second. It doesn’t matter what the what is. Baptism. Church membership. The sinner’s prayer. I won’t park there for a long time, but that will no doubt confuse some. A prayer does not save. Calling on the Lord does not save because you can call on the Lord to save you yet stay in your sin. 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. I believe that comes after salvation. Saved people call on the Lord. The bible supports this order. Quicken us and we will call upon thy name. (Psalm 80:18).
Sometimes it is a WHAT that is no longer available today but it is a “WHAT of confusion.” Speaking in tongues is an example.
Salvation is simple but because it goes against our programming and what makes sense to us, it is hard to receive something so easy. In God’s economy, to get you have to give. We think to get we have to take. To live you have to die says the Bible. 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. (see John 12:24)
My son Elijah wants to be a ‘sheriff cowboy’ when he grows up. Or is it a cowboy sheriff? I just asked him to clarify and now he said “a cop”! He is my main tract man, and I bought him the Chick tract (see Chick.com) Gun Slinger. 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. Tom goes into the church and the Preacher preaches how King David was a murderer and yet when he repented God said he was a man after his own heart. Tom repents and gets saved, shocked God could even forgive such a criminal as himself. He is caught when he leaves church and hanged for his crime.
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. As the marshal heads off he is asked by the Preacher, “now, how about you?” He says, “Reverend, I’m the most honest law-abiding man in this whole territory. If I’m not good enough for heaven, then no one is” Hours later he dies of a rattlesnake bite and is shocked to wake up in hell.
The world reads tracts like that and it makes no sense to them. The “Bad guy” gets to heaven while the “good guy” goes to hell. It isn’t a matter of good or bad it is saved or lost.
The world doesn’t understand salvation. The church doesn’t understand sanctification.
Salvation is first base. You don’t earn it. You basically just need to see you deserve Hell to receive Heaven. As I said before, you just need to be convinced of the disease.
That is the main purpose of the Law of God. Through preaching or tracts or blogs or one on one witnessing, some seeds of conviction need to be planted. One lie makes you a liar. Lust is adultery according to Jesus. Hatred is murder.
Think how shocked some people were that our government is looking into our personal data. 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. Don’t be surprised if he ends up dying of mysterious circumstances even if he makes it to Ecuador. 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. A good example is Sonny Bono. The media says he died of a ski accident and no one questions anything. Do some autopsy research on it. 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. Based on the autopsy he was beat over the head and planted on that tree.
I say all that to say God is listening in but he told us he is doing that. The Bible says we will give account for every word, thought and deed we ever did OR DIDN’T DO. 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. Someone who cheated on their wife 30 times is in the same trouble as someone who watched pornography 5 times. Someone who drove by the stranded motorist on the way to church is committing a sin of omission. I could go on and on. God is not there just ready to cast us into hell because he is this sadistic hothead. He doesn’t delight in the death of the wicked says the Bible. Yet He is clear that we are to fear Him who hath power to cast our souls into hell. 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. He also made hell, and what the Bible calls the lake of fire. 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. They want to remove that fear, but they can’t. They are afraid of God so they try and soften the blow. They try to hide from him just as Adam did.
Men tend to run from God, instead of running to God.
Or reinventing God instead of letting God reinvent you.
Men neglect the cure or reject the cure but they will be kicking themselves for all eternity that they missed so simple a salvation.
It comes down to God has clear directions to heaven but men don’t want to stop and ask for directions.
Yet the first step in finding directions to heaven is to admit you are lost.
When you see you are lost you can run to the Saviour. That is WHO is on first.
Jesus says Come unto me, look unto me, call unto me. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Ask and ye shall receive.
Repentance is the 2nd side of the coin of salvation. It is not turning from all sin, as you won’t even know half your sin until Jesus moves in and cleans house. Yet salvation doesn’t leave you in the dust, leaving you a “Saved drunk” or a “white knuckling murderer”. I can best explain the fruits of repentance better than explain exactly what repentance is.
But basically repentance is not turning over a new leaf but becoming a new creature. Jesus said ye must be born again. When you get saved, you turn from your sinful lifestyle to Jesus Christ, but you really aren’t concentrating on your sin at all. All you see at the moment of Salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ, in a spiritual sense. Conviction opens your eyes to your need for God. You know you are in trouble. You know you would go to hell.
Then you are handed a cure. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us says the Bible.
Then your spiritual eyes can see Jesus on the cross who became sin when he knew no sin. He took that sin on himself.
Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
You personally see he took your sin for you.
You look back at the cross and LOOK AND LIVE.
As that happens, God moves in. Repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. A simple transaction in heaven takes place. You are no longer an enemy of God and Jesus WHO IS GOD is the Bridge to GOD the Father. Think of it like 3 offices of the same God. Judge, lawgiver, king. See Isaiah 33:22. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he will save us. That is where America got the judicial, legislative and executive branch idea from. God is a theocracy. These 3 are the reality of the truly saved. Jesus is our King who died in our place when we had the death penalty assigned to us. He grans us forgives and grants us pardon with the Judge. The law is satisfied that someone died to pay the law’s hard requirements. The wages of sin is death says Romans 6:23. We were to face the Judge of the Universe after we die and give account for every word, thought, and deed. All put up on the jumbo-tron in heaven.
What you did on the internet. What you watched late at night. What you did before you were married. What you did after you were married. What you thought about people you didn’t like. What lies you told. What you were doing, what you were thinking, what you were chewing, what you were drinking. Your motives behind your actions. Why you really gave that expensive gift. Why you sang in the church choir.
The holy spirit is to convict and reprove the world or sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. (See John 16:8). When we preach or witness, it is really the Holy Spirit/holy Ghost that shows up and points the finger at you and your sin. What he is saying is true says the Holy Spirit as you read this blog post.
But I am reading this on third base is your response.
You skipped first! says the Holy Ghost.
You’re right, I need to get saved says the future convert.
Go away, I am already saved. I made a profession when I was 5! says the average lost American.
And the Holy Spirit goes away and in some cases never bothers that man again.
That is a scary place to get to.
Who’s on first. Jesus. Did you strike out enough getting to God your way that you will quit trying and just TRUST? Let Jesus go to bat for you instead.
And let him carry you to first base.