A Strong Foundation
by Phillip Ragan
Faith alone
Recently my wife and I moved to a new state, as there is not a Baptist Church nearby, we considered some Non-denominational Christian Churches in our surrounding area.
This movement is proving to be extremely popular these days, the people that run these Churches claim that they love Jesus first and foremost and that they put Him front and centre of everything which sounds great!
But they don’t usually have a statement of faith which is problematic.
Upon discussing doctrine with senior people at two of these Churches I was informed that they do not believe in or teach the eternal security of the believer. This is a major problem as these people then are not fully trusting in Jesus Christ to take them to Heaven.
If you reject eternal security, you reject the Gospel.
These people are subscribing to a works-based salvation as in effect they are relying on their own good works plus what Christ has done for them to take them to Heaven.
They are adding to the gospel when The Bible makes it clear that salvation comes through faith in Christ alone.
Jesus + nothing equals salvation.
Look at and examine the following scriptures and work out for yourself what the Bible is saying about salvation:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” 1 John 5:10-11
“And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John 10:28
Believers are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He who knew no sin became sin for us.
He is the atonement for our sins. Our substitute.
The Thief on the cross who called on Jesus at Calvary was saved by faith. He wasn’t baptised in water, he didn’t repent of all his sins nor did he earn his way to Heaven by good works, he simply trusted in and believed on Jesus and was saved.
''For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'' John 3:16
Once you’re saved that’s it; you’re saved forever. Your good works and obedience to God is still vital as it will determine whether you receive further blessings and rewards in this physical life and beyond. This though is a sanctification issue not a salvation one. The more you walk in the light the more sanctified you become.
Salvation is purely by faith. The condition of your heart will determine whether God will use you for ministry. The Bible says that Moses was the meekest man in the world, and he was used mightily by God! God exalts the humble!
I heard a very profound statement recently, that is, Christians can’t lose their salvation, but can lose the joy of their salvation through sin and disobedience and lack of repentance towards God. Thankfully God is long suffering and full of mercy. When we pray and humble ourselves before Him in prayer each night, it’s like we are washed clean spiritually and can start the day refreshed in the morning.
Obviously, some sins are greater than others. I heard a story recently that the famous singer Elvis Presley was a saved Christian who received Christ as a teenager. Whether this is true or not I do not know, but this may explain why he was so heavily chastised by God for living such a sinful life, as history tells us he died an ugly death at just 42 years old.
Saved believers don’t get away with sin so easily with God.
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” Hebrews 12:6
Salvation has always been by faith alone, In Old Testament times, believers were saved by faith and trust in God’s promise of a coming Messiah who would take away the sins of the world.
As far back as Genesis 4, Abel made his offering according to God’s plan of salvation, but Cain, like his mother Eve, was deceived and led astray.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and was saved both physically and spiritually.
Moses who I mentioned earlier, believed God and found favour through his humility and faith.
Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before the world began God already promised that this event would occur. God cannot lie, when He promises something it is as good as sealed. It's 100% going to happen.
Any person who ever went to Heaven got there through faith alone in Christ's sacrifice.
The only difference was in Old Testament times they did not know the name of Jesus that New Testament Christians now know.
They were looking towards the Cross and the coming Messiah whereas we look back at the Cross and what Jesus has already done for us and of course we have the whole Bible now.
Abraham was saved by faith. King Saul was saved by faith but fell deep into sin, he didn’t repent so God destroyed his physical life. He still made it into Heaven because he believed in God’s plan of salvation. Lot lived a foolish life and lost just about everything in his physical life, but he made it to Heaven by grace as any saved believer does. Samson was given mighty strength by God but gave into the lusts of the flesh, was deceived and lost everything in his physical life. I look forward to meeting Samson in Heaven also!
King David was saved by faith, committed grievous sin and so was heavily punished by God, but he repented of his sins to God and so had his kingdom restored and continued to be blessed.
As I’ll speak about more later, to repent of our sins is something we should do once we are already saved. This humility will please God who is full of forgiveness and love. Whereas the Bible says that God resists the proud.
There are scores of scriptures in the Old Testament prophecies pointing to The Messiah.
In Daniel 9:24-27 written hundreds of years before Jesus Christ walked this earth, The writer gives a clear prophecy of the coming Messiah, depicting Jesus with remarkable precision.
The book of Isaiah further demonstrates that believers where looking towards the coming Messiah for salvation.
"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
Isaiah 53:5-8
And later in The New Testament, in John’s Gospel, there is a beautiful story where Jesus encounters the woman at the well, the Bible reads “She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.” John 11:27
Acts 10:43 brings all these prophecies together beautifully when it says “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins."
Everyone has the opportunity to be saved. God is not willing that any should suffer and that all should come to repentance.
He gives us freewill to decide. God knows the beginning from the end, but this does not mitigate free will and the choice we get to make to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. God allows us to decide.
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Yes, God ordains some in the womb according to His foreknowledge. God can look into the future and see who will come to Him by faith and so He may select a person to fulfil a role for Him and therefore give them talents or gifts accordingly in order to fulfil His purpose.
"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied." 1 Peter 1:2
God sits outside of time. The last chapter of the Book of Revelation already happened as far as He is concerned. If you are a saved believer or someone who will eventually get saved, then Jesus has already seen you in Heaven! I don’t want to get too philosophical on you but the Apostle John presumably saw you in his vision on the island of Patmos when he saw the multitude of believers (saints) as is recorded in the Book of Revelation. (A future event for us)
We are given free will to choose. The scriptures prove that God knows our response before we arrive at our decision for He has foreknowledge and sits outside of the boundaries of time.
"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24
God rewards those who diligently seek Him. All may come and take the waters freely!
God reveals himself to us through our conscience, through our hearts and through His creation.
If someone in the deep, dark forests of Africa is sincerely looking for salvation, then God will hear that call and ensure that a missionary or aid worker with the right Gospel will reach that person.
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” Matthew 7:7
Salvation comes purely and exclusively though through trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is the author of salvation and that is the way He chose for people to be reconciled to Him given that sin entered the world.
Salvation is a free gift. It is through faith alone, has always been through faith alone and always will be through faith alone.
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Romans 10:13
Repentance and the Gospel
Some people will claim that yes, salvation is by grace through faith and will give lip service to the fact that it is completely a free gift, however, they will say, if you don’t repent of all your sins, keep the commandments or attempt to live a Godly life you could lose your salvation, but this would then take works on our behalf and as we've already established from the scriptures, salvation is not anything to do with our works.
There is a false teaching that says one must ‘repent of their sins’ to obtain or retain salvation.
Sometimes this is put a different way, ‘turn from your sins’ but this is works salvation.
It takes a lot of work to try and turn from your sins. Ask any kind of addict and they will tell you it took hard work to turn from their previous ways to living a much cleaner life.
The Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. Not about how good you are or what you can bring to the table. The Bible says "That no flesh should glory in his presence." 1 Corinthians 1:29
I heard a youth pastor in Melbourne say to me that if a person who claims to be a Christian is not attempting to live for God and/or doing good works, that is evidence that the person was either not saved in the first place or has now lost their salvation and that they must 'repent of all their sins' and come back to the Cross and get re-saved.
But this is untrue for we saw many great people in the Bible who were saved and then fell into sin. These people did not lose their salvation, rather they were heavily disciplined by God in their physical lives and lost future rewards/blessings.
Would this youth pastor claim that King David who wrote about half of the book of Psalms and was a man after God's own heart yet fell into grievous sin...was either unsaved in the first place or that he lost his salvation?
No, this is called being backslidden, for there is a great battle that goes on inside the Christian once they are saved, almost a civil war if you like! There is a battle between the spirit and the flesh that will go on until you leave this physical life.
"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41
The term ‘repent of your sins’ is something we should do after we are already saved to stay right with God. Usually in prayer we should repent of or forsake our sins to God who will wash us clean to start the new day afresh.
Christ is of no effect to you if you don’t believe that salvation is purely through what He did for you. I’m not against good works I’m just saying that mixing works in with faith doesn’t save.
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Isaiah 64:6
False teachers will point to James 2 to support their works salvation theology, but they are taking the Bible out of context.
James is preaching to backslidden Christians, people who are already saved. If we have faith but no works our faith is dead,
it is unfruitful, It is no blessing to anyone, but it is different to works without faith because the Bible says it is impossible to please God without faith. The entire book of James is a great instruction manual to show how Born-again believers should live.
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." James 4:10
We all fall short every single one of us. We inherit this sinful condition and we just can't meet God's Holiness on our own.
We need a Saviour!
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23
The Bible says that even the thought of foolishness is sin and we have foolish thoughts probably several times a day.
There are our sins of omission (when we don't do something that we know we should) covetousness, idolatry, lying, greed, lust outside of marriage...the list goes on!
You've sinned, I've sinned, we all fall short, only an exceedingly prideful person would claim they have never sinned before.
"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" Romans 3:10
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
In order to receive the Gospel you also need to know what it is that Jesus saves us from.
Many a politically correct Pastor or Preacher will try and water down or sugar-coat the message as to not offend, but the truth is that Jesus saves us from spending an eternity in Hell.
Not just outer darkness or separation from God...but hell, flaming fire, eternal torment.
"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever..." Revelation 14:11
This is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith and is non negotiable. When you leave this physical life you either go to Heaven or Hell there is no grey area.
"For the wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23
"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."
Revelation 20:14
Salvation isn’t anything to do with what you do or don’t do other than to exercise your free will and make the decision to call upon The Lord Jesus Christ to save you. Being saved is as easy as walking through a door or drinking a cup of water The Bible says.
When you receive Christ as your saviour you are saved and receive liberty from the condemnation of sin and hell.
"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." John 10:9
Jesus said "repent ye, and believe the gospel." Mark 1:15
To repent in a salvation context is simply to change or to turn, it's that light bulb moment of turning from unbelief or trusting in your own dead works or whatever else it was you were previously trusting or believing in to now believing the Gospel and receiving the free gift of eternal life.
"...repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."
Acts 20:21
Another illustration would be to say a person changed their mind about the Gospel. In a moment of time something changed in their mind that resulted in them accepting the Lord Jesus Christ into their heart. It is a supernatural event, a moment of truth. It is that key moment when the Holy spirit breaks through and comes flooding in. It is the most important moment in any human beings life.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24
The thing with salvation is, if you don’t know for sure that you are saved, then you are probably not saved, for God gives us this assurance and the witness is in ourselves.
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:" Romans 8:16
Saved believers receive the Holy Spirit when they are born again and so are aware of this essential truth.
Only God truly knows the hearts of each person, but if you want to try and see if someone is saved you should just ask them:
Do you admit you are a sinner?
Do you acknowledge the penalty for sin?
Do you believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Are you trusting in Him alone and have you called upon him as your saviour?
If they answered yes to those questions you are probably speaking with a saved, born again Christian!
"…for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" Matthew 12:34
True believers know they are saved by grace and are not relying on their own good works to earn or retain their salvation.
Intuitively we all know right from wrong as the laws of God are written on the hearts of man and furthermore, as believers our spirit is brought to life through the renewing and work of the Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth.
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3
At salvation we receive spiritual rebirth. Obviously we can't physically be born again as Nicodemus once famously asked Jesus! We are given a promise. Sealed until the day of redemption.
We are regenerated and this is something that can never be undone.
"And grieve not the holy spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Ephesians 4:30
Salvation is by faith alone only. Not by getting baptised, keeping the sacraments, performing communion, church attendance, charity work, being a good person or any combination of faith and works.
You will only make it into Heaven through forgiveness and that forgiveness has been purchased for you by the blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary.
"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Romans 4:8
As Baptists we have 2 ordinances, Baptism (by immersion) and communion.
These are outward showings of our faith, they are acts of obedience and not any kind of requirement of salvation.
Almost the first thing we should do once we are saved is go out and get baptised to outwardly demonstrate our newfound faith in Jesus. Normally we do this in front of family, friends and the Church congregation. Getting dunked in water represents the death, burial and resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ.
Physical water baptism would be considered as stage 2 of the Great commission.
As Christians we enjoy a security and peace that only comes through trusting in Christ.
We know this doctrine as the eternal security of the believer; once saved always saved.
Personally, I know that any anxiety I had was almost abolished overnight when I put my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved. I can testify that I received an inner peace and greater understanding that transcended the way I see life.
My spirit was renewed and I no longer let the small things bother me, rather I have my mind set on eternity.
The gospel is so simple that many either won’t accept the simplicity of it or want to add to it which is an extremely dangerous thing for them to do. The Bible says if any man preaches any other Gospel let him be accursed.
So, what is the Gospel?
The Gospel is the record that God gave.
It is the entire message of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
It is that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life. Died on the Cross, was buried, rose again and offers salvation to anyone who believes in Him. The Gospel is about how we get saved.
It is a free gift paid for by the Blood of Jesus.
It is the greatest act of Grace in the history of mankind.
It is Good News!
In order to be saved then it’s quite simple:
1.) You must believe that salvation is given by God not by works.
2.) You must believe that salvation is eternal life (eternal security of the believer)
3.) You must believe that this life is only available through Jesus Christ the eternal son of God.
"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."
1 John 5:11
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 1 Timothy 2:5-6
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." 1 John 5:13
Christian Liberty
Because of salvation we have liberty, but this does not give us licence to sin.
We experience true liberty when we chose to stay within Christian boundaries.
Now, I want to talk about Christian liberty because many people get this wrong. Before we were saved, we were in bondage to sin.
At salvation we are set free from both the penalty of sin and the bondage of sin.
“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Romans 8:21
There are two common errors when it comes to Christian liberty, one is grievous in that some would teach that keeping the law is requisite to salvation which is wrong as I’ve touched on earlier. Grace is unmerited favour.
So the first way people can misunderstand Christian liberty is adding the law to the free gift of the Gospel which is a fatal error.
You see, when people decide to add the law they become a debtor to keep the whole law. The problem here is they can’t do it.
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10
All false religions try to add works to salvation. If you add works to salvation Christ will profit you nothing. You’re a debtor to the whole law. It's either the law or it’s grace, works or grace but not both.
Christ either paid for all of it or He paid for none of it.
It’s all grace. We are under grace and it’s true you don’t have to keep the law in order to be saved. But the other extreme is that today there is a hyper-grace movement that says hey forget the law all together, you’re saved so don’t worry just live however you want! But don’t use your liberty to please the flesh.
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1
Good works are not a requirement for salvation rather they are almost always an expression of salvation. Though in Paul's letter to the Romans, the Bible takes it one step further to show that even one who does no works but puts his faith in Jesus Christ is saved..."But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Romans 4:5
False teachers will say you’re not under the law so do what you want, whereas the Apostle Paul clearly teaches that you’ve been delivered from sin so don’t backslide and put yourself back into bondage.
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Romans 6:1-2
The true motivation for walking in the spirit is love for God and others.
Freedom and liberty is not to do what I want but to do what I ought to do to please God.
It is knowing that you don’t have to keep the law but you do keep the law anyway out of love for God.
It’s true that once you are saved you can do whatever you want and you wouldn’t lose your salvation, however The Bible does not teach that just because you’re saved you can do whatever you want. "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." Galatians 5:13
Thanks to salvation we have liberty, but we should not use this liberty as a licence to sin.
If you live a worldly and sinful life one way or another you will lose your liberty.
So, as you see when it comes to Christian liberty there are 2 extremes to avoid.
Have the right balance.
The Christian experiences true freedom when they choose to submit themselves to the boundaries that God has put in place.
Salvation isn’t anything to do with what you do or don’t do you other than your decision to call on Christ.
Because of salvation we have liberty in Christ.
When you got saved you were made free from sin and from the consequence of sin and from the dominion of sin.
We have the ultimate freedom.
We are not bound to keep the law. But we should keep the law out of love for God and others.
“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Galatians 5:14
When you use this thinking as a framework for your life you are in a strong position to live a meaningful, productive and rewarding life.
With The Holy Spirit inside us we have the ability to walk in the light and avoid sin. An unsaved person simply can not stop sinning. He is in bondage to sin.
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:2
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Galatians 2:15-16
The way things work with God is He will look down and see how you respond to the light He gives you,
the more responsive and obedient you are the more light you receive.
When you choose to submit to the boundaries that God has put in place, you experience true freedom.
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Romans 10:4
A Strong Foundation
A Pastor once said to me, ok you’re getting people saved, but who’s going to disciple these people and help them grow and I said well that’s your job! I have the easy job in a sense which is to try and point people to Jesus and get them saved.
The pastor’s job is to teach the whole council of God, to lead the flock and help them grow. I'm not a pastor, rather I feel that God has put evangelism on my heart.
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:" Ephesians 4:11-12
He is right though, there are many different components of the Great commission and getting people saved is just first base as it were, if you have only recently received Jesus Christ as your Saviour, that is awesome, Congratulations! The next step is to go and get baptised, which is an outward showing of your new faith. If you were Christened or Baptised before you got saved it was of no effect and you need to go out and get baptised again!
Beyond that you should try and find a great Church which is right on the essentials of the Christian faith and fellowship with some of God’s people!
A good Pastor will help you grow. In conjunction with The Holy Spirit, he will teach you and lead you into more truth.
Sanctification is that part of the Christian journey that will take you a lifetime.
Part of becoming more sanctified is reading your Bible daily and developing your prayer life with God.
Helping others is also an essential part of the Christian journey.
My advice to any new believer is to get a King James Bible, which I believe to be the perfect and infallible word of God in the English language. (inspired and preserved) Start with the New Testament and read at least a few pages every day.
If you're a newly saved Christian, The Bible will make perfect sense to you now that you have the Holy Spirit guiding you as you now read through the lens of faith.
Find a great Church, meet some brothers and sisters in Christ and work towards living for the Lord.
Put on the full armour of God, be sober, be vigilant and try your best to live a righteous and honest life.
And so, to finish off with where I started this piece, should you consider a non-denominational Church? Well if they are right on the fundamentals of the faith, Such as:
Salvation by grace through faith in The Lord Jesus Christ
The Deity of Christ
The eternal security of the believer
The trinity (God is 3 in 1-Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
The virgin birth of Christ
The infallibility of the scriptures (They believe that the Bible is their final authority on all matters)
then they are right on the essentials and they sound like a pretty good Church.
I personally would want to know that they have an evangelism/outreach program to reach the lost and all good churches will have that, if not potentially approach the leadership group about setting one up yourself. Even if you just start by handing out invitations to Church or Gospel tracts, that is a pretty good place to start.
There are many things that we can disagree on as Christians like for instance end times prophecy, some of the complexities of the Old Testament, the approximate age of the earth or the exact cubic size of the ark! These are issues that requires a lot of study and it is not possible to know all the ways of God this side of Heaven.
Christians can be wrong on the non-essentials and that’s ok. There are secondary things that don’t nullify a person’s belief and trust in Christ as they are not adding to any of the essential doctrines. The Bible can be simple enough for a child to understand and to receive Christ and get saved and it can also be the most complex Book in the world, but it is the best Book in the world.
For The Bible is a living and a supernatural Book.
Christians who we disagree with on the non-essentials are our brother's and sister's in Christ and we must reach out to them and love them, but if they are wrong on any of the fundamentals of the faith then we need to correct them, helping them to see the true Gospel, correcting any false teaching that has poisoned their minds and that is hindering them from enjoying the beauty and security of salvation and the freedom that is in Christ.
We also need to help them to find a Church that’s right on the essentials.
Once a person has the foundations down...they know they are saved, they are in a good Church, have strength and humility, are hardworking, sober, vigilant and have sensible, more conservative views on life that is a great foundation by which they can grow and live a happy and successful life. That is a very strong foundation by which to build, by which to grow.
Loving and caring for others is a massive part of the Christian life and there is nothing more important than the eternal destiny of a person’s soul. You should start working towards gently persuading family and friends and others in your community who are not yet saved that Christ truly is the only way. You'll be laying up rewards in Heaven for later The Bible says!
The world is full of problems, but The Bible is full of solutions and there is no greater love available to people than the love of our Saviour, The Lord Jesus Christ.
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32
by Phillip Ragan
Faith alone
Recently my wife and I moved to a new state, as there is not a Baptist Church nearby, we considered some Non-denominational Christian Churches in our surrounding area.
This movement is proving to be extremely popular these days, the people that run these Churches claim that they love Jesus first and foremost and that they put Him front and centre of everything which sounds great!
But they don’t usually have a statement of faith which is problematic.
Upon discussing doctrine with senior people at two of these Churches I was informed that they do not believe in or teach the eternal security of the believer. This is a major problem as these people then are not fully trusting in Jesus Christ to take them to Heaven.
If you reject eternal security, you reject the Gospel.
These people are subscribing to a works-based salvation as in effect they are relying on their own good works plus what Christ has done for them to take them to Heaven.
They are adding to the gospel when The Bible makes it clear that salvation comes through faith in Christ alone.
Jesus + nothing equals salvation.
Look at and examine the following scriptures and work out for yourself what the Bible is saying about salvation:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” 1 John 5:10-11
“And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” John 10:28
Believers are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He who knew no sin became sin for us.
He is the atonement for our sins. Our substitute.
The Thief on the cross who called on Jesus at Calvary was saved by faith. He wasn’t baptised in water, he didn’t repent of all his sins nor did he earn his way to Heaven by good works, he simply trusted in and believed on Jesus and was saved.
''For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'' John 3:16
Once you’re saved that’s it; you’re saved forever. Your good works and obedience to God is still vital as it will determine whether you receive further blessings and rewards in this physical life and beyond. This though is a sanctification issue not a salvation one. The more you walk in the light the more sanctified you become.
Salvation is purely by faith. The condition of your heart will determine whether God will use you for ministry. The Bible says that Moses was the meekest man in the world, and he was used mightily by God! God exalts the humble!
I heard a very profound statement recently, that is, Christians can’t lose their salvation, but can lose the joy of their salvation through sin and disobedience and lack of repentance towards God. Thankfully God is long suffering and full of mercy. When we pray and humble ourselves before Him in prayer each night, it’s like we are washed clean spiritually and can start the day refreshed in the morning.
Obviously, some sins are greater than others. I heard a story recently that the famous singer Elvis Presley was a saved Christian who received Christ as a teenager. Whether this is true or not I do not know, but this may explain why he was so heavily chastised by God for living such a sinful life, as history tells us he died an ugly death at just 42 years old.
Saved believers don’t get away with sin so easily with God.
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” Hebrews 12:6
Salvation has always been by faith alone, In Old Testament times, believers were saved by faith and trust in God’s promise of a coming Messiah who would take away the sins of the world.
As far back as Genesis 4, Abel made his offering according to God’s plan of salvation, but Cain, like his mother Eve, was deceived and led astray.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and was saved both physically and spiritually.
Moses who I mentioned earlier, believed God and found favour through his humility and faith.
Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before the world began God already promised that this event would occur. God cannot lie, when He promises something it is as good as sealed. It's 100% going to happen.
Any person who ever went to Heaven got there through faith alone in Christ's sacrifice.
The only difference was in Old Testament times they did not know the name of Jesus that New Testament Christians now know.
They were looking towards the Cross and the coming Messiah whereas we look back at the Cross and what Jesus has already done for us and of course we have the whole Bible now.
Abraham was saved by faith. King Saul was saved by faith but fell deep into sin, he didn’t repent so God destroyed his physical life. He still made it into Heaven because he believed in God’s plan of salvation. Lot lived a foolish life and lost just about everything in his physical life, but he made it to Heaven by grace as any saved believer does. Samson was given mighty strength by God but gave into the lusts of the flesh, was deceived and lost everything in his physical life. I look forward to meeting Samson in Heaven also!
King David was saved by faith, committed grievous sin and so was heavily punished by God, but he repented of his sins to God and so had his kingdom restored and continued to be blessed.
As I’ll speak about more later, to repent of our sins is something we should do once we are already saved. This humility will please God who is full of forgiveness and love. Whereas the Bible says that God resists the proud.
There are scores of scriptures in the Old Testament prophecies pointing to The Messiah.
In Daniel 9:24-27 written hundreds of years before Jesus Christ walked this earth, The writer gives a clear prophecy of the coming Messiah, depicting Jesus with remarkable precision.
The book of Isaiah further demonstrates that believers where looking towards the coming Messiah for salvation.
"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
Isaiah 53:5-8
And later in The New Testament, in John’s Gospel, there is a beautiful story where Jesus encounters the woman at the well, the Bible reads “She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.” John 11:27
Acts 10:43 brings all these prophecies together beautifully when it says “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins."
Everyone has the opportunity to be saved. God is not willing that any should suffer and that all should come to repentance.
He gives us freewill to decide. God knows the beginning from the end, but this does not mitigate free will and the choice we get to make to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. God allows us to decide.
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Yes, God ordains some in the womb according to His foreknowledge. God can look into the future and see who will come to Him by faith and so He may select a person to fulfil a role for Him and therefore give them talents or gifts accordingly in order to fulfil His purpose.
"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied." 1 Peter 1:2
God sits outside of time. The last chapter of the Book of Revelation already happened as far as He is concerned. If you are a saved believer or someone who will eventually get saved, then Jesus has already seen you in Heaven! I don’t want to get too philosophical on you but the Apostle John presumably saw you in his vision on the island of Patmos when he saw the multitude of believers (saints) as is recorded in the Book of Revelation. (A future event for us)
We are given free will to choose. The scriptures prove that God knows our response before we arrive at our decision for He has foreknowledge and sits outside of the boundaries of time.
"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24
God rewards those who diligently seek Him. All may come and take the waters freely!
God reveals himself to us through our conscience, through our hearts and through His creation.
If someone in the deep, dark forests of Africa is sincerely looking for salvation, then God will hear that call and ensure that a missionary or aid worker with the right Gospel will reach that person.
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” Matthew 7:7
Salvation comes purely and exclusively though through trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is the author of salvation and that is the way He chose for people to be reconciled to Him given that sin entered the world.
Salvation is a free gift. It is through faith alone, has always been through faith alone and always will be through faith alone.
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Romans 10:13
Repentance and the Gospel
Some people will claim that yes, salvation is by grace through faith and will give lip service to the fact that it is completely a free gift, however, they will say, if you don’t repent of all your sins, keep the commandments or attempt to live a Godly life you could lose your salvation, but this would then take works on our behalf and as we've already established from the scriptures, salvation is not anything to do with our works.
There is a false teaching that says one must ‘repent of their sins’ to obtain or retain salvation.
Sometimes this is put a different way, ‘turn from your sins’ but this is works salvation.
It takes a lot of work to try and turn from your sins. Ask any kind of addict and they will tell you it took hard work to turn from their previous ways to living a much cleaner life.
The Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. Not about how good you are or what you can bring to the table. The Bible says "That no flesh should glory in his presence." 1 Corinthians 1:29
I heard a youth pastor in Melbourne say to me that if a person who claims to be a Christian is not attempting to live for God and/or doing good works, that is evidence that the person was either not saved in the first place or has now lost their salvation and that they must 'repent of all their sins' and come back to the Cross and get re-saved.
But this is untrue for we saw many great people in the Bible who were saved and then fell into sin. These people did not lose their salvation, rather they were heavily disciplined by God in their physical lives and lost future rewards/blessings.
Would this youth pastor claim that King David who wrote about half of the book of Psalms and was a man after God's own heart yet fell into grievous sin...was either unsaved in the first place or that he lost his salvation?
No, this is called being backslidden, for there is a great battle that goes on inside the Christian once they are saved, almost a civil war if you like! There is a battle between the spirit and the flesh that will go on until you leave this physical life.
"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41
The term ‘repent of your sins’ is something we should do after we are already saved to stay right with God. Usually in prayer we should repent of or forsake our sins to God who will wash us clean to start the new day afresh.
Christ is of no effect to you if you don’t believe that salvation is purely through what He did for you. I’m not against good works I’m just saying that mixing works in with faith doesn’t save.
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Isaiah 64:6
False teachers will point to James 2 to support their works salvation theology, but they are taking the Bible out of context.
James is preaching to backslidden Christians, people who are already saved. If we have faith but no works our faith is dead,
it is unfruitful, It is no blessing to anyone, but it is different to works without faith because the Bible says it is impossible to please God without faith. The entire book of James is a great instruction manual to show how Born-again believers should live.
"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." James 4:10
We all fall short every single one of us. We inherit this sinful condition and we just can't meet God's Holiness on our own.
We need a Saviour!
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23
The Bible says that even the thought of foolishness is sin and we have foolish thoughts probably several times a day.
There are our sins of omission (when we don't do something that we know we should) covetousness, idolatry, lying, greed, lust outside of marriage...the list goes on!
You've sinned, I've sinned, we all fall short, only an exceedingly prideful person would claim they have never sinned before.
"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" Romans 3:10
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
In order to receive the Gospel you also need to know what it is that Jesus saves us from.
Many a politically correct Pastor or Preacher will try and water down or sugar-coat the message as to not offend, but the truth is that Jesus saves us from spending an eternity in Hell.
Not just outer darkness or separation from God...but hell, flaming fire, eternal torment.
"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever..." Revelation 14:11
This is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith and is non negotiable. When you leave this physical life you either go to Heaven or Hell there is no grey area.
"For the wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23
"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."
Revelation 20:14
Salvation isn’t anything to do with what you do or don’t do other than to exercise your free will and make the decision to call upon The Lord Jesus Christ to save you. Being saved is as easy as walking through a door or drinking a cup of water The Bible says.
When you receive Christ as your saviour you are saved and receive liberty from the condemnation of sin and hell.
"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." John 10:9
Jesus said "repent ye, and believe the gospel." Mark 1:15
To repent in a salvation context is simply to change or to turn, it's that light bulb moment of turning from unbelief or trusting in your own dead works or whatever else it was you were previously trusting or believing in to now believing the Gospel and receiving the free gift of eternal life.
"...repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."
Acts 20:21
Another illustration would be to say a person changed their mind about the Gospel. In a moment of time something changed in their mind that resulted in them accepting the Lord Jesus Christ into their heart. It is a supernatural event, a moment of truth. It is that key moment when the Holy spirit breaks through and comes flooding in. It is the most important moment in any human beings life.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24
The thing with salvation is, if you don’t know for sure that you are saved, then you are probably not saved, for God gives us this assurance and the witness is in ourselves.
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:" Romans 8:16
Saved believers receive the Holy Spirit when they are born again and so are aware of this essential truth.
Only God truly knows the hearts of each person, but if you want to try and see if someone is saved you should just ask them:
Do you admit you are a sinner?
Do you acknowledge the penalty for sin?
Do you believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Are you trusting in Him alone and have you called upon him as your saviour?
If they answered yes to those questions you are probably speaking with a saved, born again Christian!
"…for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" Matthew 12:34
True believers know they are saved by grace and are not relying on their own good works to earn or retain their salvation.
Intuitively we all know right from wrong as the laws of God are written on the hearts of man and furthermore, as believers our spirit is brought to life through the renewing and work of the Holy Spirit who will lead us into all truth.
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3
At salvation we receive spiritual rebirth. Obviously we can't physically be born again as Nicodemus once famously asked Jesus! We are given a promise. Sealed until the day of redemption.
We are regenerated and this is something that can never be undone.
"And grieve not the holy spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Ephesians 4:30
Salvation is by faith alone only. Not by getting baptised, keeping the sacraments, performing communion, church attendance, charity work, being a good person or any combination of faith and works.
You will only make it into Heaven through forgiveness and that forgiveness has been purchased for you by the blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary.
"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Romans 4:8
As Baptists we have 2 ordinances, Baptism (by immersion) and communion.
These are outward showings of our faith, they are acts of obedience and not any kind of requirement of salvation.
Almost the first thing we should do once we are saved is go out and get baptised to outwardly demonstrate our newfound faith in Jesus. Normally we do this in front of family, friends and the Church congregation. Getting dunked in water represents the death, burial and resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ.
Physical water baptism would be considered as stage 2 of the Great commission.
As Christians we enjoy a security and peace that only comes through trusting in Christ.
We know this doctrine as the eternal security of the believer; once saved always saved.
Personally, I know that any anxiety I had was almost abolished overnight when I put my faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved. I can testify that I received an inner peace and greater understanding that transcended the way I see life.
My spirit was renewed and I no longer let the small things bother me, rather I have my mind set on eternity.
The gospel is so simple that many either won’t accept the simplicity of it or want to add to it which is an extremely dangerous thing for them to do. The Bible says if any man preaches any other Gospel let him be accursed.
So, what is the Gospel?
The Gospel is the record that God gave.
It is the entire message of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
It is that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life. Died on the Cross, was buried, rose again and offers salvation to anyone who believes in Him. The Gospel is about how we get saved.
It is a free gift paid for by the Blood of Jesus.
It is the greatest act of Grace in the history of mankind.
It is Good News!
In order to be saved then it’s quite simple:
1.) You must believe that salvation is given by God not by works.
2.) You must believe that salvation is eternal life (eternal security of the believer)
3.) You must believe that this life is only available through Jesus Christ the eternal son of God.
"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son."
1 John 5:11
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 1 Timothy 2:5-6
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." 1 John 5:13
Christian Liberty
Because of salvation we have liberty, but this does not give us licence to sin.
We experience true liberty when we chose to stay within Christian boundaries.
Now, I want to talk about Christian liberty because many people get this wrong. Before we were saved, we were in bondage to sin.
At salvation we are set free from both the penalty of sin and the bondage of sin.
“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Romans 8:21
There are two common errors when it comes to Christian liberty, one is grievous in that some would teach that keeping the law is requisite to salvation which is wrong as I’ve touched on earlier. Grace is unmerited favour.
So the first way people can misunderstand Christian liberty is adding the law to the free gift of the Gospel which is a fatal error.
You see, when people decide to add the law they become a debtor to keep the whole law. The problem here is they can’t do it.
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10
All false religions try to add works to salvation. If you add works to salvation Christ will profit you nothing. You’re a debtor to the whole law. It's either the law or it’s grace, works or grace but not both.
Christ either paid for all of it or He paid for none of it.
It’s all grace. We are under grace and it’s true you don’t have to keep the law in order to be saved. But the other extreme is that today there is a hyper-grace movement that says hey forget the law all together, you’re saved so don’t worry just live however you want! But don’t use your liberty to please the flesh.
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1
Good works are not a requirement for salvation rather they are almost always an expression of salvation. Though in Paul's letter to the Romans, the Bible takes it one step further to show that even one who does no works but puts his faith in Jesus Christ is saved..."But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Romans 4:5
False teachers will say you’re not under the law so do what you want, whereas the Apostle Paul clearly teaches that you’ve been delivered from sin so don’t backslide and put yourself back into bondage.
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Romans 6:1-2
The true motivation for walking in the spirit is love for God and others.
Freedom and liberty is not to do what I want but to do what I ought to do to please God.
It is knowing that you don’t have to keep the law but you do keep the law anyway out of love for God.
It’s true that once you are saved you can do whatever you want and you wouldn’t lose your salvation, however The Bible does not teach that just because you’re saved you can do whatever you want. "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." Galatians 5:13
Thanks to salvation we have liberty, but we should not use this liberty as a licence to sin.
If you live a worldly and sinful life one way or another you will lose your liberty.
So, as you see when it comes to Christian liberty there are 2 extremes to avoid.
Have the right balance.
The Christian experiences true freedom when they choose to submit themselves to the boundaries that God has put in place.
Salvation isn’t anything to do with what you do or don’t do you other than your decision to call on Christ.
Because of salvation we have liberty in Christ.
When you got saved you were made free from sin and from the consequence of sin and from the dominion of sin.
We have the ultimate freedom.
We are not bound to keep the law. But we should keep the law out of love for God and others.
“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Galatians 5:14
When you use this thinking as a framework for your life you are in a strong position to live a meaningful, productive and rewarding life.
With The Holy Spirit inside us we have the ability to walk in the light and avoid sin. An unsaved person simply can not stop sinning. He is in bondage to sin.
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:2
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Galatians 2:15-16
The way things work with God is He will look down and see how you respond to the light He gives you,
the more responsive and obedient you are the more light you receive.
When you choose to submit to the boundaries that God has put in place, you experience true freedom.
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Romans 10:4
A Strong Foundation
A Pastor once said to me, ok you’re getting people saved, but who’s going to disciple these people and help them grow and I said well that’s your job! I have the easy job in a sense which is to try and point people to Jesus and get them saved.
The pastor’s job is to teach the whole council of God, to lead the flock and help them grow. I'm not a pastor, rather I feel that God has put evangelism on my heart.
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:" Ephesians 4:11-12
He is right though, there are many different components of the Great commission and getting people saved is just first base as it were, if you have only recently received Jesus Christ as your Saviour, that is awesome, Congratulations! The next step is to go and get baptised, which is an outward showing of your new faith. If you were Christened or Baptised before you got saved it was of no effect and you need to go out and get baptised again!
Beyond that you should try and find a great Church which is right on the essentials of the Christian faith and fellowship with some of God’s people!
A good Pastor will help you grow. In conjunction with The Holy Spirit, he will teach you and lead you into more truth.
Sanctification is that part of the Christian journey that will take you a lifetime.
Part of becoming more sanctified is reading your Bible daily and developing your prayer life with God.
Helping others is also an essential part of the Christian journey.
My advice to any new believer is to get a King James Bible, which I believe to be the perfect and infallible word of God in the English language. (inspired and preserved) Start with the New Testament and read at least a few pages every day.
If you're a newly saved Christian, The Bible will make perfect sense to you now that you have the Holy Spirit guiding you as you now read through the lens of faith.
Find a great Church, meet some brothers and sisters in Christ and work towards living for the Lord.
Put on the full armour of God, be sober, be vigilant and try your best to live a righteous and honest life.
And so, to finish off with where I started this piece, should you consider a non-denominational Church? Well if they are right on the fundamentals of the faith, Such as:
Salvation by grace through faith in The Lord Jesus Christ
The Deity of Christ
The eternal security of the believer
The trinity (God is 3 in 1-Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
The virgin birth of Christ
The infallibility of the scriptures (They believe that the Bible is their final authority on all matters)
then they are right on the essentials and they sound like a pretty good Church.
I personally would want to know that they have an evangelism/outreach program to reach the lost and all good churches will have that, if not potentially approach the leadership group about setting one up yourself. Even if you just start by handing out invitations to Church or Gospel tracts, that is a pretty good place to start.
There are many things that we can disagree on as Christians like for instance end times prophecy, some of the complexities of the Old Testament, the approximate age of the earth or the exact cubic size of the ark! These are issues that requires a lot of study and it is not possible to know all the ways of God this side of Heaven.
Christians can be wrong on the non-essentials and that’s ok. There are secondary things that don’t nullify a person’s belief and trust in Christ as they are not adding to any of the essential doctrines. The Bible can be simple enough for a child to understand and to receive Christ and get saved and it can also be the most complex Book in the world, but it is the best Book in the world.
For The Bible is a living and a supernatural Book.
Christians who we disagree with on the non-essentials are our brother's and sister's in Christ and we must reach out to them and love them, but if they are wrong on any of the fundamentals of the faith then we need to correct them, helping them to see the true Gospel, correcting any false teaching that has poisoned their minds and that is hindering them from enjoying the beauty and security of salvation and the freedom that is in Christ.
We also need to help them to find a Church that’s right on the essentials.
Once a person has the foundations down...they know they are saved, they are in a good Church, have strength and humility, are hardworking, sober, vigilant and have sensible, more conservative views on life that is a great foundation by which they can grow and live a happy and successful life. That is a very strong foundation by which to build, by which to grow.
Loving and caring for others is a massive part of the Christian life and there is nothing more important than the eternal destiny of a person’s soul. You should start working towards gently persuading family and friends and others in your community who are not yet saved that Christ truly is the only way. You'll be laying up rewards in Heaven for later The Bible says!
The world is full of problems, but The Bible is full of solutions and there is no greater love available to people than the love of our Saviour, The Lord Jesus Christ.
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32
