Getting To The Heart Of Salvation

I love it when the Holy Spirit brings us to a full stop and says; Get this right, and don’t leave until you do.  There are times when you discover something while searching for something else, and it opens an entirely new world to you.  Such is the case for what happened as we tore into getting Sinman into the Kingdom.  Because the Kingdom is everything, we must understand how we enter into it. Whether you call it salvation, being ‘born again’, being saved, or redeemed, the way we enter into the Kingdom is crucial. As we began looking at salvation, and the Kingdom, I became convinced that we were missing a deeper truth.  Let’s see if what I believe the Holy Spirit revealed to me is borne out in the Word. 

Seeing the Kingdom, is not the same thing as entering the Kingdom. Christ said, ‘we must be born again to see the Kingdom.’  Entering the Kingdom requires believing into Jesus as the Son of God, being baptized in water, and filled with the Spirit.  Why isn’t believing in Jesus enough?  Let’s do this methodically, and see it’s purpose to the Kingdom. 

First, believing into Jesus as the Son of God, is the stated means of having eternal life.  This isn’t a head recognition type of belief.  We’re talking about believing INTO Him with your heart, soul, spirit, and strength.  WE were all Sinman at one time or another, and this is totally unacceptable to God.  The wages of sin is death, and God is all about LIFE. The creator didn’t create death. Death is the result of sin. Sin is anything that is outside of the life of the Creator. The problem is, there is no sacrifice that can remove our stain, (guilt.)  Once sin (death) is entered into, death lurks at the door. Paul the Apostle makes it clear when he explains that by one man, (Adam) sin (death) entered into the world, so also, by one Man (Jesus,) life has entered the world. God provided the means of satisfying the demand of death, by creating a completely new human being, conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of woman. This new man, (Jesus) had to be totally human, and yet totally God.  He had to live a sin free life, be willing to be a substitute for Adam, and be cursed in order to bear everyone’s sin. In other words, He had to be our replacement.  Not an animal, (inadequate, and only able to suffice for each individual.)  The lesson should’ve been easy: You can’t offer up enough animals to cover your sins, it would bankrupt you, and decimate the animal kingdom.  Besides, animal sacrifices don’t change the heart.  No matter how many animals he offers up, Sinman continues to be sinful, filled with guilt, and bound for eternal death.  We need a better sacrifice. Christ is that sacrifice!   

We still haven’t answered the question of why we have to believe INTO Jesus.  Why couldn’t Christ have done all he did, and we simply be ‘Saved?’  This may be simplistic, or it may be over the top, but we have to believe Jesus is the answer to our sin, because it undoes the original unbelief of Adam.  We go back to a tree (the cross,) and we profess what Adam disavowed.  Through the cross, we see the ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’ for what it truly is. Christ took our sins and nailed them to the tree. The charges against us are answered by His death. The blood of Christ upon that tree answers the charges against us. He has covered the sin by His blood. The 2^nd Adam stepped into the place of death, and became our replacement.  By believing into Him, we proclaim that Christ is our source of life, I need nothing more, can do nothing more, to be more like him. HE DID IT ALL! We answer the lies of the serpent by our faith in Jesus, we cancel Adam’s unbelief.  The measure of faith (a gift from God, that allows us to believe,) gives us access to the fruit of the tree of life through faith in Christ being that tree of life. However, even this wondrous act of God’s grace is maligned and twisted by the evil one into his purposes to once again ensnare people to hanging out around the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  It is important for us (ESPECIALLY ME) to be aware of what we tell, and reveal to others about the Gospel.  The GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM is that the Kingdom is near, and that it is here, EVEN IN YOUR HEARTS and mouth.  We can no longer allow the enemy of our souls to pervert or misrepresent the wonder of the Gospel.  Salvation was bought once, and for all.  What follows is a simple word search for the common terms for salvation. I’ve listed all the common expressions of salvation: ‘Eternal life’, ‘Kingdom of God’, ‘Saved and Salvation’, and ‘Conversion’.  Surprise of all surprises, there is more to it than meets the eye, but we’ll figure it out with the help of our blessed comforter.

SALVATION 101

Everyman is given a measure of faith (Romans 12:3, Ephesians 2:8)

Faith is activated (quickened) by hearing the Gospel message (Romans 10:17)

Someone must speak the Gospel (Romans 10:14) 

We must believe into Jesus (John 3:1-21)

WARNING THE FOLLOWING VERSES CAN MESS YOU UP.  (I’m glad I didn’t say them.)

ETERNAL LIFE

Mark 10:17-31, Luke 10:25, John 3:1-21, Romans 2:7, Romans 6:23

ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Matthew 5:20, Matthew 7:21, Matthew 18:3, Luke 18:17

SAVED/ SALVATION

Matthew 10:22, Matthew 24:13, Mark 16:16, Luke 7:50, Luke 18:12, Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9, Romans 10:13, Ephesians 2:5

CONVERTED

Luke 22:32, Matthew 18:3

I left out REDEMPTION on purpose, we’ll cover it later.

When Sinman believes into Jesus, he becomes a new creation. HE is born from above.  His citizenship changes from the Kingdom of Man to the Kingdom of Heaven, by right of birth.  He becomes a NEW MAN.  Newman can enter the Kingdom, because he is born of water (baptism), and Spirit (indwelling).  He enters the Kingdom, but he still can’t inherit it.  We have one more problem.  We go to 1 Cor 15:50, Flesh and blood can’t inherit the Kingdom. Just as Jesus had to die, our physical bodies must die, so that we might be as Christ.  He had to die so we could inherit Him, and we have to die that he might inherit us.  Within this physical body, we can see, and we can enter the Kingdom, but we won’t inherit it till we are on the other side of this vale.  We are still here so that we may point others to Christ, and while we are here, we have only one job; to spread the good news of the Kingdom, healing, and releasing people from demonic oppression.  Christ wants a big inheritance. It is a big universe and he wants to fill it up with himself. So, as you can see, here we are again at the statement that started all of this: THE KINGDOM IS EVERYTHING! 

HOMEWORK:  Look up the Greek and Hebrew definitions of GRACE.  No Vine’s definitions please.  You can Google it or Bing it, but I would prefer your own understanding of the word through knowing the Strong’s, and then comparing verses.  (How to do this: Take Ephesians 2:5, look up the Greek reference number for Grace in the Greek dictionary, follow only those numbered connections to verses in the NT. Look at how they were used by inserting the Strong’s definition instead of our translated word)  Bring your definition with you next week.   I believe that YOU will come away with a completely different understanding of Grace.