Is my Faith Genuine?

I felt to blog my current understanding of Salvation – the Christian journey – and what it means to be “saved”.

If you have read any of my other posts, you will see that I have grappled with making sense of God’s gift of Salvation and redemption, when considering the WHOLE counsel of God’s Word, with verses like:

– Without Holiness no one will see the Lord (Heb 12:14)

– Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men ¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10)

^– Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Mat 7:21-23)

…against the current prevalent teaching in large parts of the church that “Jesus did it all for me on the cross, and there is nothing I need to do except believe that I am made right with God”.

Well, Jesus did do it all on the cross and when I put my Faith in Him at that time (confessed with my mouth and believed in my heart that He died and rose again – Rom 9:10), then I was Justified or “made right” with God.  The penalty was paid for all my sins by Jesus who freely gave His own life for me.

However, I was not transformed in the blink of an eye into the new creation that the Word talks about, because this is a process called Sanctification.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Cor 5:17).  But did you note the condition: “if anyone is in Christ”?

And…Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. (1 John 3:6 NET)

I have come to strongly believe, based on the Word of God, that Sanctification is needed before we can “be in Christ”, and that sanctification is not an optional part of Salvation, but rather, is a key part of it.

So I asked God to show me in the Word, proof of my hypothesis that Sanctification is a key requirement of salvation.  Then He showed me this verse from James:

Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 NET)

James talks about genuine faith being evident in an external way. (But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works – James 2:18).

So it would seem that the Word of God says that it’s not by faith alone that we are saved (this is the start), but it’s by (genuine) faith, in conjunction with grace (which the Strongs Concordance defines as “a divine influence on the heart, with its outworking in the life”), where the grace enables us to overcome the temptations and sin.  And then, after being tested and passing this test, we inherit the crown of life. (James 1:12).

So the teaching that says: “Jesus died on the cross, took all my punishment and sin and shame and now God sees me as righteous. There is nothing I need to do except believe because it has all been done for me”, is a dangerous and false one that actually encourages sin.  (Even if inadvertently or subtly, because it denies the opportunity for believers to examine the “brutal facts” of where their life is at in their walk with God).

So according to the scriptures, FAITH is one element of salvation, but if it’s missing the SANCTIFICATION element, our faith may not be genuine and our salvation and inheritance of eternal life (according to James 1:12) will not be there either.

You see, sanctification requires that we acknowledge the “brutal facts” of where we are at, but at the same time maintain an absolute faith that Jesus will complete the work He started in us and save us (remember: there are 3 tenses of salvation: we have been saved, we are being saved and we will be saved http://lifebythespirit.org/2009/11/23/when-are-we-actually-saved/).

So we know we have been justified by faith, but genuine faith will lead to sanctification by relationship with Holy Spirit, and produce good fruit and eternal life.  Genuine faith will production actions that are consistent with our proclaimed “faith”.  Remember that He is faithful to complete the work He started in you (Phil 1:6).

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men ¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 6:9-11).

Also see: http://lifebythespirit.org/2013/01/21/are-we-still-under-the-law-of-god/ and http://lifebythespirit.org/2012/05/07/the-secret-of-salvation/.

Are we still under the Law of God?

Matt 5:18 “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

Matt 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

So, are we still under the law?

Rom 3:28 “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”

Rom 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

So Jesus Himself said that the law has not been removed, but it is not the law that will save us.  It’s through Faith (and Grace).  That’s good news!

But then we see:

Matt 7:22-23 “On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ ²³ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!”.

So it sounds like we better obey the law after all, but yet we are not under the law?  It sounds like a contradiction!  But it’s not!!

The law has not passed away, instead, it’s there to lead us to Jesus whilst we were still sinners: Gal 3:24: “The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith,” (also see Rom 2:14-16).

Simply put – we are incapable of fulfilling the Law!  (yet our consciousnesses agree that the Law is right and good!).  As we try to do it, we realise we can’t and that draws us closer to Jesus!

Here’s a silly analogy:

You have a simple washing frame that needs to be constructed that you bought from IKEA.  Underneath the pieces of the frame are the instructions on HOW to build it.  There is only one right way to build it (LAW).  But the builder doesn’t possess the knowledge on how to correctly interpret the instructions.

But you have this friend (Jesus) who knows lot’s about putting IKEA stuff together – a bit of an expert. So you ask Him how to do it, and He shows you bit by bit how to construct the frame.

So it’s through Spirit of the relationship – the trust and faith (and grace) of our friend that we manage to construct the frame.

The law has not passed away – it is still good (we still want our Washing Frame to be put together), but we are incapable of doing it on our own, but the result of our friendship with Jesus is that we will begin doing the Law – as a fruit of our relationship!

Rom 7:10-12 “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”

So this is how we manage to end up walking in Truth – not by striving to do the Law, but by being Friends with Jesus, being one with Him in Spirit – by walking in His Spirit as true son’s of God.

Gal 5:16-25: “But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions,²¹ envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God! ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.”

So the bottom line is that we are not under the Law, but under the Spirit – which will produce the same good fruits the Law was originally meant to produce for those who followed it under the old covenant: Holiness.

The narrow gate

“Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13, 14 NET)

I used to think this was referring to those who don’t know the Lord taking the wide path that leads to destruction, but that is not what the Word of God says. (John 3:18 says that those who don’t believe in Jesus are already condemned.)

The Word is talking about professing believers ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF GOD – and that there are many who enter through the wrong gate. (Note: the Kingdom of God starts now, which is His reign and rule in your life and the fellowship of believers is His house/body/church).

So there are at least 2 gates to entering the kingdom of God. One is the spacious path and wide gate that leads to destruction. These would represent those who enter the church and hear but do not do the Word of God, yet are still in His house, even doing miracles in His name. (“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23 NET)). But unless they repent they are the ones who will be thrown out eventually for practising lawlessness.

I asked God where is the narrow gate? And He said “at the back of the house”. The narrow gate is hard to find, and few find it. It’s a lonely journey finding the narrow gate because it’s the path of holiness.

You see, a slave (to sin) does not have a permanent place in the house of God but a son does. (Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the family forever, but the son remains forever. (John 8:34, 35 NET)).

Let us find the narrow gate and enter the house of God as sons!

The secret of Salvation

Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. (1 John 3:6 NET)

If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God. (1 John 4:15 NET)

How can this be? If I sin, then I don’t reside in God, but if I confess Jesus as the Son of God, then I reside in him? Sounds like a contradiction.

When reading the Word, we need to understand the full counsel of God.

These two apparently contradicting verses string together to reveal one thing: FAITH.

When we start our Christian journey, we are still staves to sin but God let’s us into His house anyway. However, even though we may still practise sin at this time, we have FAITH in Jesus and FAITH that God will complete the good work He started in us, transforming us into sons – permanent members of His household.

Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the family forever, but the son remains forever. (John 8:34, 35 NET)

[Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. (John 8:34, 35 KJV)]

This is a call to repent and proof that we must overcome sin to be true sons of God. (And it is by Grace that we overcome).

God is very faithful and gives us time to repent, including us as members of His household even as we are “slaves” (to sin). But He goes on to say that slaves are only temporary members of a household (are these the ones who will say on the last day “you taught in our streets, we did miracles in your name etc and Jesus says ‘depart from me you who practise lawlessness’?). But those who OVERCOME are true sons of God and will reside in His household forever!

Let us have the fear of the Lord, for we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling – but at the same time have faith that He will save us and give us the Grace to overcome. (Hint: be completely honest to yourself and God about the sins you secretly like. You probably lie to yourself saying you don’t like these sins but really do. This is one of the great deceptions in the last days – deceiving ourselves. Confess our sins to one another and pray for each other that we may be healed. God gives grace to the humble, which is salvation through faith and the power to overcome.)

If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. (John 15:6 NET)

We are saved by faith and grace.

But only “believing” is not enough (even the demons “believe” in Jesus and tremble at His name).

Salvation giving faith and grace is to remain in Him, be connected to Him, to seek, knock and find until you experience that life transforming grace for yourself where old things drop away and joy fills our hearts instead! This is what it is like to be in the kingdom of God – which is now!

So back to 1 John 4:15, the inference here is that if we truly have Holy Spirit residing in us and we have FAITH He will complete His work in us, we wont be able to do anything but practise acts of righteousness, obeying His Word – meaning that we reside in Him!

This is how we know that we will not become a dead branch that gets cut off from the vine and burned in the fire. It is FAITH working through Grace (which changes us into Jesus likeness).

Thy Kingdom come!

The other day God revealed to me that the Kingdom of God is within us!  Even though I had read this in scripture before, I didn’t really get it.  The revelation that I had was this: God’s Kingdom is His reign and rule in our lives, and we can have it now!  Just like the Pharasies who were waiting for a physical kingdom to come in their day, so too was I thinking that the Kingdom of God = Heaven.  Wrong.  Heaven is a place, and the Kingdom of God is His reign and rule.  I mean, the Kingdom of God will be operating in Heaven, but “thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven”.

Read in Luke 17:20-21:  Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ²¹ nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”

The thing that really blew me away with all of this is that it now makes total sense how come the Word can say things like 1 Cor 6:9-10:

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God

I used to think that this meant that those who practise such things were going to hell – and they might if they don’t repent and turn to Jesus, but of course they won’t inherit the Kingdom of God whilst practising these things – because this isn’t God’s rule and reign in your life!  Quite the opposite in fact!

Point to pray about: does this explain the apparent paradox between salvation (being saved, going to Heaven) and entering the Kingdom of God?  Are they two different things?  I don’t know yet.  Something to pray into.

Saved by Grace – but this also involves repentance

One thing that I’ve discovered in my time with Jesus and in reading His Word, is that Grace is the amazing gift that we receive in order to obtain salvation (and more!).  But grace without repentance is dead.

I have often heard preached: “God see’s you as He see’s Jesus.”  Yes, Jesus took all our sin on the cross and paid the price, because we could not afford to pay the price for even the smallest of sins.  However, the price He paid was for us to be able to walk out of sin – so if there is no change in your life (repentance), then the gift of grace you have received is dead.

To put it another way, God does see us as a beautiful butterfly when we are still a caterpilla.  We can say to ourselves “I am a beautiful butterfly now!” – and this is true, but unless we actually GROW into the butterfly, then we are nothing but a deceived caterpilla.

Repentance is not an act of personal perfectionism to make ourselves right before God, but it is the power to change because of what Jesus has done on the cross, and because of what God is doing in us.

For more on this, refer to this article: http://lifebythespirit.org/2009/11/23/when-are-we-actually-saved/

When are we actually saved?

So I’ve prayed the sinners prayer (Holy Spirit has enabled this), been baptised, accepted Jesus as Lord as Saviour, and now I am trying to walk it out.  But I have a problem.  There is sin in my life that the bible says if it is there, I will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

1 Cor 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

So does this mean that I am not saved?  How do I get washed and sanctified (by the Spirit of our God).

Here is what I believe God has shown me on this:

1) When we start our Christian walk, contrary to main stream teaching, we may not actually be saved at that moment.

2) However, we KNOW that we ARE saved, because we have FAITH that “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6).

3) God then uses OUR faith in Him (to complete His work in us), to grant us GRACE (and repentance), which is the POWER to be free from sin, and to grow into His likeness and be SANCTIFIED to serve Him acceptably. Heb 12:28 “Since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably.”

Also remember that God sits outside of time, and can see the beginning from the end
instantly – so He knows who is true and who is not, upfront.

Phil 2:12 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,”

Further, notice that salvation is a “hope”: 1 Thes 5:6 “So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at
night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day,
let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope
of salvation as a helmet.”

In other words, salvation requires FAITH, and it is the FAITH that God will complete the work in us He started!  We can’t just “claim” the helmet of salvation – to wear it, it requires that we have HOPE.

This explains the apparent paradox of sin in a Christian’s life, yet being able to be completely confident of salvation!  i.e. the thing that I could never understand was “how can I be saved when I have this bad fruit in my life”?  I will be saved because I have FAITH that Jesus will complete His work in me, giving me GRACE to overcome, thereby sanctifying me and transforming me in to His likeness!

From a source online: “Justification is instantaneous; sanctification is a long growth. Justification is the act of God whereby He takes a man who is dead in trespasses and sins and says, ‘I create within you the new life of Christ and now I look upon you and see you just as perfect as I see the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Justification is the act of God whereby he declares an ungodly man to be perfect while he is still ungodly. It is as extraordinary a thing as if you were able to say that the caterpillar is really a beautiful butterfly. ‘Oh,’ you say, ‘but it isn’t! It still looks like a caterpillar.’ Well, that is exactly what God does with us. He comes to us in our “caterpillar status” and declares us to be “butterflies.” In reality, that is what happens in nature, too; that caterpillar does become a butterfly. For God has given us this remarkable picture of metamorphosis-that which goes into the cocoon as a worm comes out as a butterfly, for it lives part of its life in one state and part in another. We call this process metamorphosis. It is very interesting to note the Greek word used in Rom.12:2 : ‘Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed (metamorphosed) by the renewing of your mind.'” ^[1]
2000+ Bible Illustrations, Ibid

3 Tenses of Salvation: 

Past
“…he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” Titus 3:5

“even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by grace you have been saved- ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, Eph. 2:5-8

Present
“…and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain”. 1 Cor. 15:2

Future
“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God”. Romans 5:9

¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. ¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Cor. 1:17-18

¹ Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain. ³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 1 Cor. 15:1-5

 ¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵ For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, ¹⁶to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 2 Cor. 2:14-16