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SAVED?

and/or

DECEIVED?

For centuries man has told people “How to be Saved” using his understanding of the scriptures. No one can actually judge another person’s salvation. If we tell someone “How to be Saved” according to some church doctrine, aren’t wedoing just that, especially when that way is by citing just a few verses of scripture such as Ephesians 2:8 and then present apossible wrong understanding of the word grace, calling it merely a gift of unmerited favor?It is said many times “Just accept Jesus as your savior” without explaining that you cannot accept Him as savior withoutmaking Him your Lord. If we accept Him as Lord then we are obligated to obey Him. That is why we are given grace,which is a divine impartation to live a holy life. Looking at Luke 2:40 we see that the grace of God was upon JesusHimself even as a child. He certainly did not need unmerited favor but He did need grace or else He would not have beengiven it. Jesus emptied Himself before He came to earth. He was given grace (the ability to live a holy life) so He coulddemonstrate to all that it was possible for man to live a holy life even unto all perfection. We receive that same ability whenwe accept Jesus as our Lord. But we prefer to listen to men, saying that no one can be perfect, no one can be that holy,despite the exhortation of scripture to do just that.

We must examine all the scriptures that have any relation to salvation and see what the Holy Spiritreveals to our individual hearts about following Jesus. And we must urge others to do the same,especially new believers. Why is it that we see some people apparently get saved and there is no changein their lives? Is it because they regarded salvation as an insurance policy because of the way it waspresented to them and never really took Jesus as the Lord of their life? Have these people actually beendeceived into thinking they are going to heaven only to get them into the “church” even as the blindPharisees did? Others make a commitment and you can see the change in their lives and the love theyhave for Jesus. Matthew 7:17-20 reads (NIV) “Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad treebears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every treethat does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you willrecognize them.” Also John 15:5-8 reads (NIV) “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a manremains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone doesnot remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up,thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever youwish, and it will be given to you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showingyourselves to be my disciples.”

Holiness is a command, not an option.

Jesus in Matthew 5:48 says, (NIV) “Be perfect, therefore,as your heavenly Father is perfect.” In 1 Peter 1:15-16 we read (NIV) “But just as he who called you isholy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’ ” John in 1 John 2:6 writes(NIV) “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” That word

must

(KJV: ought) (Gr.ofeilei [o-fay´lay]) literally means to be obligated to do something.Where in the Bible does it say that it is okay NOT to seek holiness? If all we have to do is acceptthe death of Jesus on the cross as an atonement for our sins to be saved then much of the teaching andpreaching of Jesus is superfluous. Maybe that individual who thinks thus will be saved in the end butat what price? Read 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 and tell me if such a way of salvation is the way you want togo. True, we are not saved by works, but we are saved by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Do you fear the Lord? Are you in awe of Him? If you feel you are aChristian but are not allowing the Holy Spirit to make you holy and blameless in the sight of God you should fear what youwill have to go through. Examine your heart and see if there is any desire to be like Jesus and, if there is not, then examinewhether you are saved or not. Don’t take some preacher’s word for it.The understanding of salvation goes right back to the purpose of creation. Genesis 1:26-27 says (NIV) “Then God said,‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over thelivestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his image, in theimage of God he created him; male and female he created them.” For years man has struggled with the question, “What islife all about?” The Bible tells us about the purpose of our life. Ephesians 3:10-11 says (NIV) “His intent was that now,

through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlyrealms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The eternal purpose of God wasman’s creation and perfection as a son of God. After the fall of Adam the only way it could be completed was for Jesus toempty Himself and come to earth. I must emphasize that word empty.It was necessary for Jesus to so fully empty Himself that He could fulfill and demonstrate that purpose for all mankind.If He consciously knew that He was God there is no way He could have accomplished that purpose. This is proven byHebrews 4:15 (NIV) “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have onewho has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” Also James 1:13 (NIV) “When tempted, no oneshould say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.” Being conceived by theHoly Spirit, Jesus’ heart was always turned to the Father. If you are truly born again and the same Spirit that raised Christfrom the dead dwells in you, your heart should continually be striving, even through the bondages of sin, to turn to theFather.Why is there so much sin, sickness, disease and death in the body of Christ? Is it not a weakness or lack of desire to beconformed to the nature of Jesus Christ?There are a great number of scriptures bearing in one way or another on the subject of salvation. We will be examiningmany of them. My desire is not to indoctrinate anyone into a new doctrine but to make you read, search and ponder thescriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Youwill know the truth that either you are already saved (as some put it: I am saved; I am being saved; I shall be saved) or youmay realize that you never really made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ.

Father, in the name of Jesus, may the Holy Spirit enlighten us into all truth so that we may all comeinto your perfect will for our lives. May it be manifest in each one of us so that your glory might shine forth.

Matt 3:7-11

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, whowarned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance;

and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you, that God is able from thesestones to raise up children to Abraham.

And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the HolySpirit and fire.” (NAS)

John called the Pharisees snakes and then warned them to produce fruit in keeping withrepentance. If they did not bear fruit they would be cut off and thrown into the fire (John 15:2).Fruit is the evidence of true salvation and you cannot produce fruit without true repentance. Johnwas baptizing in water for repentance. Now Jesus has come to baptize with the Holy Spirit to put thepower in us to be able by His Spirit to repent. The fire indicates a purification process (Zech 13:9,Mal 3:2-3) purging one from all that is unholy. On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1ff) the people inthe upper room not only spoke in other languages but they were morally purified from the things of this world (1 John 2:15-17). Is there salvation without repentance and the resulting good fruit thatappears in the believer’s life for anyone? Wouldn’t that be actually watering down the Gospel to thepoint of mocking Christ? Even if there is some repentance, we must not ignore 1 Cor 3:10-15. If

those who are truly saved but are only making a half-hearted effort to walk as Christians are giventhis stern warning what remains for those who make no effort and think that a sinner’s prayer theysaid is all that is necessary? We deceive them by not impressing upon them the necessity of makingJesus Lord of their lives.

Matt 5:20

“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses {that} of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter thekingdom of heaven.” (NAS)

Jesus again refers to the Pharisees, pointing out that their righteousness was not enough to enterthe Kingdom of Heaven. Referring back to Matt 3:7-11, we must then realize that repentance (Gr.metanoia – actually a changing of the mind or the attitude of the mind) is necessary to enter theKingdom of Heaven. Our attitude about sin must change. When Paul said in Phil 2:12 “work outyour salvation with fear and trembling” I believe he was referring to our attitude toward sin. Sayingyou are a sinner saved by grace and that you can never be free from sin and anyway all your sins arecovered in the blood, is a dangerous position to take. We need to be transformed in our mind so thatsin is so abhorrent to us that we

gradually

are delivered from the tendency toward sin in our naturalbodies and minds. This is working out your salvation or deliverance from the things of this world.The word salvation (Gr. swthria [sow-tay-ree´a]) has the meaning of deliverance and healing as wellas actual salvation.

Matt 5:48

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (NIV)

The instruction of Jesus is to be perfect (come to completion, lacking nothing). How perfect? Asperfect as the heavenly Father. Saying it means anything less is making the Word of God weak andineffective. Paul even prays in Eph 3:19 for us to be filled to the fullness of God. Let us face up tothe truth of the Bible and stop watering it down. It means what it says.What has this to do with the subject of salvation? We certainly do not need to be perfect in thislife to go to heaven. But we need to realize that God wants us proceeding in that direction or we willmiss an important part of our salvation right now. We defeat the devil by walking in holiness. Eph6:13 – Put on the full armor of God to resist the devil (truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace,faith, salvation [not just the promise of going to heaven, but salvation from all the things of thisworld], and the Word of God).

Matt 6:14-15

“For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (NAS)

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (NIV)

(Notice how the NIV reads “forgive men when they sin against you” giving it a more personalemphasis.) How many times have you said the “Our Father” prayer in Matt 6:9-13 and not evenrealized or knew what the next two verses say? It is a reiteration and full explanation of verse 12. If we do not forgive others their sins against us then our Father does not forgive our sins. If our sins arenot forgiven where is our salvation? Are our sins covered in the blood of the Lamb? Does Godcontradict Himself to accommodate our false doctrines? Is He confused? Of course not! Is thestatement “Once saved, always saved” a valid teaching? No! Maybe you can’t lose it but you surecan give it back (Heb 6:4-6, 10:26-29). Let us be careful not to give anyone a false sense of blessedassurance. We need to urge everyone to search the scriptures for themselves to find their ownblessed assurance in their relationship with God and not depend on what any preacher, evangelist,teacher, or any denominational, hierarchical leader would tell us what we have to believe. If we trulyseek God for the truth the Holy Spirit will lead each of us into all truth.