WBS.266
Q&A – WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “SAVED?”
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Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of Elohim:
9 Not
of works, lest any man should boast.
[Today is our 4th post
dealing with this question. If you are
reading this without having read the first three posts, please stop reading and
go back to begin at the beginning.]
The contemporary Christian church
presents “being saved” as a credential you receive immediately upon praying a
prayer to accept Messiah as your “personal Lord and Savior.” It is as if you become a card-carrying member
of the “saved” club. This concept is
nowhere to be found in the Scriptures.
Even in Acts 16:30-31, when the Philippian jailer asked Paul “What must I do to be saved;” and Paul told him to “believe on the Master, Yahushua Messiah, and thou shalt
be saved,” Paul was in no way suggesting to him that he would become a
certified, card-carrying saved person upon the choice to “believe.” The very next verse says:
Acts 16:32 And they spake unto him the word of the Master, and to
all that were in his house.
There was no invitation to accept
Messiah. Paul did not lead the jailer
and his household in a prayer for salvation; but there was an explanation of
what the Scriptures reveal to be the expectations of the one who would believe
on the Master. The apostles were given very clear instructions by Messiah about
this very thing.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
The apostles didn’t lead people in
prayer; they baptized people who chose to believe in Messiah, who understood
that from that day forward they were to learn and to do all things that the
Master commanded. If they were not
baptized, they were not numbered with the disciples; because that was the
Master’s first command. If one was going to become a disciple, if he was going
to leave his life of sin and rebellion against IAUE and His Son, he was to wash
away his sins, calling upon the name of the Master. If a person did not do the first thing
commanded by Messiah, there was no point in getting to the second thing. Today,
the induction rite of baptism has been replaced with a “magic prayer” that purports
to accomplish all that is ever required of man before a holy and righteous
Elohim. Baptism has been reduced to
something that at some point you probably should get around to doing; but many
churches will put off a convert’s baptism for weeks, even months, until there
are enough people who need to be baptized to warrant filling their baptistery with
water.
The people in the New Testament
scriptures did not have a lot of theology driving their message. The
people who responded to the gospel had no concept of being born again, or even
heard of the new creation, or even of salvation in the way it is such a central
theme in the church. today.
The early disciples did not respond to
the gospel by “accepting Yahushua as their personal Master and Savior.”
They did not become “Christians” by praying a prayer. The early preachers
of the gospel never presented an invitation to accept Messiah or an altar call
for men to come up and be saved. Their
message provoked the response, “What must we do?” There are virtually no sermons preached today
that leave the audience with the unsolicited opportunity to ask that
question. Preachers want to “close the
sale” immediately, hence the “every head bowed, every eye closed; I will do
nothing to embarrass you” moments to secretly raise your hand to accept Messiah,
while no one is looking and can see what you are doing.
I am reminded of the story told of the
well-known pastor and theologian, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. His church elders were upset with him because
after a fiery sermon on Sunday mornings, he would tell those in attendance that
if they were concerned about their soul’s salvation, there would be a “seeker’s”
meeting at the church on Tuesday. The
church elders wanted him to “close the sale” while the poker was hot. Spurgeon’s response to his elders was, “If
the poker is hot on Sunday morning, it will still be hot on Tuesday.” Spurgeon understood that a genuine conversion
was not concluded with a simple prayer, especially in a moment where one’s emotions
could prevail over one’s reason.
No, the early disciples were not
invited to accept Messiah. He is not one
to be accepted or rejected. He is one to
be obeyed or disobeyed. The response to
the gospel was presented as DOING WHAT HE SAYS (Matt 7:21-27).
It is in seminary, today, where
ministers are taught how to present the “plan of salvation” and to perfect
different methods of spinning the gospel to get men to respond to an
invitation. There was no invitation in the book of Acts. You either chose
to take up your cross and follow Yahushua or you didn’t.
It is in seminary where men and women
are taught how to dissect the Hebrew and Greek texts to support their various
doctrinal persuasions; and to lead people into the denomination of their
choice…making of them, pew warmers and offering plate fillers, but never making
of them contagious sharers of their own experience with Yahushua and teaching
them to DO all things that the Messiah had commanded us to do (including
healing the sick and diseased, casting out devils, and many other wonderful
works of faith in the name of Yahushua).
The New Testament epistles were
written to born again, Holy Spirit filled disciples of Yahushua Messiah.
Having already chosen to redirect their entire lives from whatever it was to
following and doing the dictates of Yahushua, the apostles and early teachers
then provided them the insights into Scripture that allowed them to see what
had been done for them by Messiah, and how it was all foretold in the Tanak.
A preoccupation with the notions of
salvation and being saved came much later. When that became the focus,
men became notches in the belt of ministers. All they had to do was get
them to pray the magic prayer, accept “Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and
Savior,” and they were going to go to Heaven when they died, and the minister
could chalk up another convert on his spiritual holster.
If you really want to know what it
means to be saved, or to have salvation, it means to discover that Yahushua
really is the son of IAUE, that he did what the Scriptures foretold he would
do, that he was impaled, rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the
majesty of IAUE Elohim, was given all authority both in Heaven and in earth,
and he commands us to GO and to DO what he says. When we take up that
life purpose, we begin to walk out our salvation in Messiah. It isn’t a
product that is purchased by a prayer. It isn’t a solution to an
empirical doctrinal formula. It is the experience of walking righteously
and obediently in Messiah. That is something that is impossible to do without present continuous faith in Yahushua Messiah.
Yahushua commands us to enter into the
strait gate that leads us to life. He says that many will try, but there
will actually be few who will even find the strait gate. The contemporary
gospel presents the wide gate to the broad way that leads to destruction (Matthew
7:13-14).
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 Elohim forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any
longer therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Yahushua
Messiah were baptized into his death?
Here, Paul, reminds the disciples in
Rome that when they were baptized (i.e., when they forsook their lives to
follow and obey Yahushua Messiah which choice was evidenced not by a prayer to
accept Yahushua as their Savior; but by their water baptism) they were to
discontinue living in sin. If we are
saved from sin, it only makes sense that sin is dangerous to us and we should
cease doing it. (My wife gave me a wonderful illustration of
this. If a person falls into deep water
and is drowning, a lifeguard might jump in and “save” that person’s life. Having been saved, however, does not mean the
person might not, in the future, disregard the danger and again jump into deep
water. Will they need to be saved again,
or was the first experience sufficient to preserve that person from the future
consequences of jumping into deep water?) Throughout the epistles there are warnings
against continuing in or returning to sin.
2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Messiah
constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all
dead:
15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose
again.
Here, Paul reminds the disciples in
Corinth that Messiah died for us so that we would live for him…do what he
commands us to do, and cease living our lives for ourselves.
James says to know to do good
but you don’t do it, that is sin.
John says that he that does not
love, does not know Elohim.
Even our opening verses are taken out
of context. Before Paul tells the
Ephesians:
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of Elohim:
9 Not of works, lest any man
should boast.
He says this:
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind;
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But Elohim, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Messiah, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Messiah Yahushua.
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Messiah Yahushua.
Paul is describing a rescue from a
life of sin; a deliverance from a life of bondage to the wicked spiritual
personalities that energize this world’s systems; and the tender mercies of our
Creator who sacrificed His own Son that we might be made alive again, free from
sin, free from bondage to the world. Is one saved who still walks in the realm
of danger and bondage? Was praying a
prayer enough to be saved; or does the Scripture show salvation as finding and
entering a strait gate, walking down a narrow path, and receiving a reward of
life at the end of the path?
Next week, we will develop this
lengthy answer to its conclusion.
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