Will You Lose The Genuineness Of Your Salvation? (5)
(…continues from part four…)
5] Salvation has always been through Jesus Christ. If He is the Shepherd of Psalm 23, who is also the Shepherd of Israel of Psalm 80, and we understand that Jesus affirms the truth that He is the good Shepherd in John 10:11, then there is no doubt whatsoever, that Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Proof that the Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Christ is evident in 1Corinthians 10:9 “Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.” ‘Tempt’ is ekpeirazō (ek-pi-rad’-zo): ‘to prove, test, thoroughly; to put to proof God’s character and power.’ When He told the badgering ‘tempter’ of Luke chapter 4, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”, the Devil had no choice but to flee from the anger of the LORD God, in Whose presence his employment of boldacity had him stood all those forty days.
The LORD Jesus, who rightly receives worship, is my Shepherd.
How did the saints make it to heaven in the Old Testamentary days? It was owed to diligence to the things of God, contrition of heart and spiritual uprightness before the LORD. David proved to be a good example of the Old Testament saints. He never wasted any moment to seek forgiveness from the LORD God, the Good Shepherd – Jesus Christ. I really want to believe that the bellowing scare of “You will lose your salvation when you commit sin” is borne out of sheer intent to keep the Christian from doing the wrong things. If that is the major reason, then, would it not be sheer Scriptural deceit?
Unscriptural scare is unnecessary; it can never straighten any crookedly behaved soul. What they need to know is the truth. What is the truth? It says that if we do not do the right thing, we stand to lose crowns of Christian achievements found in 1Corinthians 3:11-15. Verse 15 says, “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” What does one stand to lose? One stands to lose the crowns of Christian achievements: to prove that God rewards good deeds, of course. But I thank the good LORD that, the most important part of man, the soul, shall be saved. Hallelujah!
The employment of scary, unscriptural teachings will only succeed in breeding more of unnecessary obnoxious fear in the heart of the untutored, concerning salvation. False teaching does not aid the Christian life; pure faith in the Word keeps one afloat in the regenerate spiritual life. Romans 3:28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” The subject of this verse, ‘man’ is the Greek anthropos (an’-thrō-pos): ‘1. (literally) man -visage (i.e. a man-faced being, a man who has visibly come of age). 2. (concretely, in Hebrew) a clay being (a classification of beings made in the image of God, who made them male and female). 3. (generically, in English) a human being.’ Apostle Paul did not say, “…a good ‘Christian’ or ‘Jew’ is justified by good works.” He says pointedly, ‘a man-faced being of Adamic nature’ cannot be justified save by the faith, faith in the word of God. Any person who comes to Jesus, knowing that he was born in sin and wants to be justified, must get born again, a birth engendered solely by the beneficence of Divinity, maintained and perfected by the same God and which has absolutely nothing to do with man’s moral rectitude is what this new birth of soteriology is all about.
“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29).
“Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied” (Jude 1:1-2). God Almighty, the Eternal Father, already knew in the eternal past who will seek to be redeemed. So, what did He do? The Greek word for ‘sanctified’ is hagiazo (ha-ǰiy-a’-zō): ‘1. to make holy, to set apart unto God and apart (alienate) from the world. 2. (ceremonially) to cleanse. 3. (mentally) to reverence.’ What God did was to use His omnipotence to ‘set those who will receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour apart’ unto Himself.
The next thing was to do ‘preservation’. The word ‘preserved’ is tereo (tee-re’-ō): ‘1. to guard (from loss or injury). 2. (properly) by keeping the eye upon, i.e. to note (a prophecy). 3. (thus, figuratively) to fulfil a command. 4. (by implication) to detain in custody. 5. (thus, figuratively) to maintain. 6. (by extension) to withhold for personal ends. 7. (thus, figuratively) to keep unmarried.’ God preserved the would-be born again in an everlasting refrigerator – Jesus Christ. No spiritual injury or loss comes to anyone having his preservation in Christ Jesus. After the Godhead had concluded the soteriological effectibility, the Father, the Christ and the Holy Spirit were waiting patiently for the day the individual will hear the gospel, believe and accept to say the sinner’s prayer, becoming the ‘called’ which is the Greek kletos (klee-tos’): ‘1. Called 2. (specially, divinely) called forth. 3. (figuratively) invited. 4. (specially) a person redeemed by Jesus (i.e. the called of Christ, the Annointed One).’
Everything that marks the process of salvation is God’s work, therefore, the born again person will continually have the Divine attention of ‘mercy’ (to be forgiven always), ‘peace’ (prosperity in all its ramifications) and ‘love’ (God’s unconditional, protective affection) multiplied unto his soul, simply because this regenerate soul must not be lost. Amen!
You can be part of the winning Christianity of Jesus Christ. Get born again by saying this sinners’ prayer:
“Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him now as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen!”
(…to be concluded…)
Read part 4 here
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