Good Day, Moreleta Connect!
We recently remembered the suffering of our Lord Jesus in the time of Lent.
Then we celebrated the ascension of Jesus. Followed by Pentecost and the outpouring of God’s Spirit on mankind. I may tell you that there are some more messages about the work and power of the Holy Spirit soon coming up.
But, how often do we talk about the basics of salvation?
Do we take it for granted that we are Christians and are saved?
There is a danger in that. We may do religious activities outwardly without complying with what God has done for us and wants from us. There are some sincere warnings in the Bible that being a good church outwardly is not pleasing to God.
Let’s quickly look at three of the churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation. All three of these churches were seemingly good churches. There was no immorality or idolatry happening there like in some of the other churches. If you look with human eyes to their outward appearances, you would praise them and the believers gathering there! They seem to perform very well and may be labeled successful churches.
We need to look at how Jesus sees them. Do they pass the real test? Let’s have a look:
The first one is the church in Ephesus. This is what Jesus says about them:
Revelation 2:4-5: 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent.
Ephesus got a lot of praise, but they were not loving anymore. They are told if they don’t repent they are going to stop being a church!
Second is Sardis.
Revelation 3:1-2: 1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect (complete) before God.”
They had a name that they were alive, but Jesus said they were dead. They were not criticized for severely bad stuff, just that they were going through church motions without passion for God. They were dead!
Third is Laodicea
Revelation 3:15-16: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”
The same here. They are not lovingly passionate about God, otherwise they would look like a good church. But God is not inside the church. Jesus wants someone to open the door of the church, so that He may dine, that is having fellowship, with them.
Now that we have seen that outward Christian religion is not enough with God, we need to also look at us as individuals and each ask ourselves the question: “What does God say about me?” How may I know if my life is pleasing to God? The Bible was written for us to help us to know if we know God.
Here is the outline of what we are going to briefly discuss:
- Don’t take your salvation for granted!
- Can you fall from grace?
Is once saved always saved valid? - What is salvation? – What is it to know God?
- How may I know that I am saved?
Four tests – By this we know that we know God!
These are elaborate subjects, and we are briefly doing an overview of this important topic.
If there is a need or request to spend more time on this very important topic, we may revisit it again with more details in the future.
Up front, we need to say that we understand that according to the New Covenant between God and mankind, we are saved by grace through faith and we can not earn salvation by good works. This is stated clearly in the apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 2:8: “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
We also need to carefully read and understand that the works mentioned here are seremonic rituals like circumcision, dietary laws, etc. We shall later see that there is another kind of works, also called fruit, which is part of faith. Therefore, we must carefully look at what faith is, and what the results of saving faith are.
Our subheading now is: Don’t take your salvation for granted!
Luke 13:23-27: 23 Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ 26 then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 27 But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’
They were close to God. They saw Jesus taught in their midst. They didn’t get to know Him personally in a relationship.
The next group, however, went further. They worked for God. It seems that they even operated in the Name of Jesus. They were Christians in name. In the end, they were not walking in Jesus. They were not doing the will of the Father:
Matthew 7:21-23: 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!
Maybe they even started out well. But they surely didn’t end up walking faithfully in Jesus, knowing and living for God.
Our subheading now is: 2) Can you fall from grace? Is once saved always saved valid?
This is a very controversial subject and many Christians think that once you are born again, once you have made a commitment to receive Christ, you will always be saved, no matter what happens thereafter. However, the Bible says otherwise. Just a few verses to show this, but there are many more. This is again a topic on which we may preach more thoroughly in the future:
Revelation 3:5: 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
Galatians 5:4: 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
1 Corinthians 10:12: 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
Hebrews 3:12: 12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
We need to continue walking with the Lord. Salvation is in Christ. He that is having the Son has life. If we go out of the life-giving vine, we as branches will wither and will be cut off and burned, the Bible says in John 15.
So, what is salvation, then?
Our subheading now is: 3) What is salvation? – What is it to know God?
We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We need to be saved from our sins and made holy to walk with God.
Of course, the punishment that we deserved must also be dealt with. We need to realize that we are sinful of nature and that we committed sins against God and seek His forgiveness on the grounds that through His grace, Jesus as an innocent human being, went through death to pay the price. We need to repent and be honest and sincere about our sins and disobedience.
Proverbs 28:13: 13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
1) Obedience, righteous living
Salvation implies that besides that my sins are paid by the blood sacrifice that Jesus brought, I allow Him to renew me spiritually and lead me to live a righteous obedient life in Him.
Jesus said that we are truly walking with Him only if we are obedient:
John 8:31: 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed (genuinely).
Luke 6:46: 46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
But maybe an obedient life sounds like doing works? Is it a contradiction? We are saved by grace through faith, right?
2) Works? Faith & Works.
Remember, the moral law, which tells us about God’s holiness remains, because God is holy, and we need to live in Him a holy life. The ceremonial or ritual laws were types and shadows of the new covenant in Christ and they have now fallen away. But not the moral law:
Romans 3:31: 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
While we can’t earn salvation by good works, the result of faith and walking with God is the fruit of the Spirit. That is called works of faith, not the ceremonial or ritual works that fall away. We need to distinguish between these 2 types of works:
James 2:20-24: 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? … 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
- Faith has got works as part and proof of it.
- Salvation comes to us through faith, but it shows its presence through obedience or works of faith.
James 2:22: 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect (complete)?
We can say that we are saved to bear fruit and to do good works to the glory of God. Remember Romans 3:23 which says that we have sinned and fall short to glorify God?
But we must also realize from what we are saved and to what we are saved.
We are saved from an aimless disobedient, rebellious life.
We are saved inwardly to have a divine nature, our heard stoney heart is regenerated as a soft heart of flesh.
John 3:33: 33 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again (from above), he cannot
see the kingdom of God.”
2 Peter 1:44: 44 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,
that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature (being born from God and growing to become like Him), having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Your claim to faith is completed when the other part, works, is present.
Our love for God, that we claim, is also shown by our obedience to God’s law.
Salvation can be described in many ways. We are only doing a few of them here. The next one is to describe it as walking like Jesus.
3) Walking like Jesus
1 John 2:5-6: 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected (completed) in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
I’m quickly naming some examples of what walking like Jesus means in the Bible (Walking = living):
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. – (2 Corinthians 5:7)
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. – (Galatians 5:16)
2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us …
– (Ephesians 5:2)
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. – (Colossians 4:5)
10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
– (Colossians 1:10)
3 For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth.
– (3 John 1:3)
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. – (1 John 1:7)
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? – (Micah 6:8)
Let us lastly for today describe salvation as “Knowing God” We would then test how we know that we know Him.
4) Knowing God
John 17:3: 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Eternal life is not something for some day only. It is knowing God now!
We need to distinguish between ‘Knowing God’ and ‘knowing about God.’
- Not mere mental knowing – a relational kind of knowing
James 2:19: 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble!
Can you see that even demons have faith and know about God, but they are not saved?
1 Corinthians 8:1-3: 1 … We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. 2 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
Loving God – known by Him in terms of relationship. Love is a fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 4:9: 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?
If you love God, you know God and He knows you, but you can’t fall back to outward religious rituals and not live in love as fruit of God’s Spirit who leads you!
– Not only the doctrines about God, knowing God and being known by God = relation
A deepening of this knowledge => a deepening of that life
Do you have a passion for living in the love of God and in total righteousness and holiness? If so, you can know God and not only know about God.
Legalism is only about morality – Love, life, and grace are not part of the picture of legalism
The passion for the love of God is passionate for a different kind of holiness than legalism and will know God deeply.
The more you are like God, the more you are knowing God deeply. => Knowing God is become more like Him,
Knowing God goes through sound theology. You must know what He said about Himself. => Study the Word to know Him.
What kind of a Person is He?
The danger of religion – Religion can be a substitute for the real knowledge of God:
The apostle Paul says that the former religious activities he did under the Old Covenant are now a loss to him. Now, under the New Covenant, he wants to know Christ:
Philippians 3:7-8: 7 But what things (religious activities) were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
We also need to walk in such a way that we grow in knowing Him:
Colossians 1:9-10: 9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Again, it says being fruitful in every good work => good works are a result of knowing God!
Knowing Him also through suffering:
Philippians 3:10: 10 … that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death …
We don’t always understand suffering and we read Peter says that we may always be purified like gold by it. Here Paul says that we may also know Jesus through suffering.
Our salvation also implies that we grow in knowing God:
2 Peter 3:18: 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
But to know God, we can not live legally by obligation. We need to seek God to live for Him and to love Him dearly!
Jeremiah 29:13: 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Let us therefore, seek to love God with all our heart, seek to know Him and walk with Him!
Remember, we said to let God’s living water flow, we must thirst for Him first!
How do I know if I have this saving faith, if I know Him:
2 Corinthians 13:5: 5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.
We need to test ourselves. The Bible gives us 4 tests that we must all pass at the same time to know that we indeed know Him!
Amen.
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