Salvation is a simple choice. God did not make it complex. Christ did all the work. I just believe. That is my part. Salvation is a clear decision to trust Christ as Saviour instead of self-reliance. The basic truth of Scripture led me to see Christ as worthy of my trust. The moment my mind and heart trusted Christ alone, I received the gift of eternal life. The natural corrupt nature of man seeks creative ways to sneak my own goodness into the simple equation of salvation. I want to earn it just a little bit. I cannot pre-qualify or post-qualify for the gift of eternal life. Its not about me. Its about what Jesus did for me. My only part is to believe Him. Any addition to simple belief is a deceptive corruption of the purity of the gospel. Salvation is not belief plus anything else. I cannot give up anything to get eternal life. I cannot add anything to my record that moves me closer to obtaining eternal life. If I had to give up sin to get saved, salvation would depend on me. But that is not the salvation of Christ. I simply believe and receive Christ. Anything more than this comes of evil. Adding to salvation is the most destructive math imaginable. Salvation is belief in Christ as Saviour, period. The results of salvation become evident down the road of life. Please do not confuse salvation. Keep salvation simple. Do not complicate it. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (II Cor 11:3). At the moment of salvation, I changed my mind about Who can save me. I stopped trusting self for salvation and trusted Christ alone for salvation. I did not change my mind about cigarettes to obtain salvation. That was not part of it at all. Mixing those two separate decisions is so dangerous. Saying that I must change my mind about cigarettes as part of the salvation decision is silly and rather damaging. I knew sin was bad before I got saved. I still think sin is bad after I got saved. So technically I did not change my mind at all about sin. Salvation is about trusting Christ. Please do not add into the mix something else. There is a sneaky teaching out today that elevates the value of changing ones mind about sin, and then stretches to connect that change of mind about sin as a necessary part of changing ones mind about Christ for salvation. The mixture is confusing many. Scripture speaks of a sorrow of the world. The sorrow of the world worketh death (II Cor 7:10). The sorrow of the world feels bad about sin, yet the worlds sorrow has no power to generate lasting victory over sin or freedom from the bondage of sin. The sorrow of the world only further separates its victims from victory through Christ. Many people feel sorrow over their bad habits. Feeling sorry alone does not bring victory. If I had to change my mind about my bad habits in order to reach a level of spiritual acceptance to God ... that would be works salvation. I do not come to God on my terms; I must approach on His terms. The devils are paid full-time to invent crafty deceptions and string a few Scriptures along with those lies so more people will be trapped by the lies. A recent best-seller is this idea that one must change their mind about sin before salvation or at the point of salvation. Sin is bad. I feel sorry. What does that have to do with salvation at all? Salvation is when I recognize I am a sinner, yes. I realize my sin deserves an eternal penalty. And I see Christ alone has fully paid that penalty. Then I simply trust Christ to save me. Mixing in a promise to quit all my bad and do better is not a part of the salvation experience. As I mature in Christ, yes, the Holy Ghost will bring things to light that need replacing. Along the way with Christ, my mind will gradually or in some cases abruptly adopt fresh appetites. Growing in grace is a process of a lifetime, not the miracle of a moment. Salvation is a miracle of the moment. The miracle is simple faith in Christ for salvation. God saved me. I did not contribute to my own salvation by giving up something bad. 80 times in the book of John the words believe, belief, believeth, or believed are used. Not once does Johns gospel speak of giving up some bad habit to obtain salvation. John forgot to include the instruction to give up your bad so Christ will receive you. Romans does not say, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord (and be really sorrowful for all their bad habits and sinful thoughts) shall get the reward of salvation, based on the sincerity of their tears. That is not salvation. Salvation is trusting Christ. Believing on Jesus Christ as my Saviour is being born again. Spiritual growth happens later. Confusing the two is demonic. Salvation is a single point in time. Changing my mind about that which hinders my growth, cleaning up my life, renewing my mind, and becoming more like Christ is the process of a lifetime. Telling a sinner they must give up sin as a pre-requite to pre-qualify to meet the Saviour does not resonate with any of the gospel stories of how people came to Christ. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not (Acts 28:24). Salvation is a matter of belief. Mixing that up with other mess is dangerous chemistry. Yes, saved people should act like Christ lives inside them. But demanding that some or all sin be forsaken as proof to me that you are saved is ... making me the issue. Who am I trying to prove my salvation to? God knows I am saved. No one gets to the throne and hears God say, Whoop, you trusted my Son, but didnt give up enough sin to get in. Trust is what activates salvation. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him (Romans 10:12). Giving up sin, feeling sorry for sin, repenting of sin ... that is not a necessary ingredient of salvation. Otherwise would not Christ Himself have compelled Nicodemus to weep over his sin and promise to never do it again before He explained eternal life? Would not Christ have made the woman at the well feel horrible and express deep sorrow over her many lovers before offering that gift of living water to her? I did not give up bad as part of receiving salvation. I just accept Christ. Then He sends His Spirit to live in me and clean me up. Whenever these teachers spout about repentance, I think two things: 1) Repentance means to change my mind. 2) In the context of that verse they just used or misused, exactly what should a person change their mind about? Changing my mind about WHO can save me brought salvation. Later, we can take a closer look at the commonly misconstrued verses used to scramble together this idea that sorrow over sin and a renewed determination to stop sinning is somehow tied into the sincerity of ones salvation. He that is our God is the God of salvation (Psalm 68:20).
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 05:02:00 +0000
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