Salvation Isn't Based On Performance
There's so much debate around what it truly means to be saved and everybody makes it so difficult and complex to understand when it doesn't need to be. When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, He offered up His body as a blank check for the balance transfer of every sin-debt of every human being that ever lived. When you acknowledge to God that you accept His terms of reconciliation through His son’s atonement for your sins, then you are spiritually reborn right then and there. God submerges your living spirit into Himself, giving birth to a new spirit within you. And this spiritual rebirth places you legally, spiritually, and one day physically, into the kingdom of God.
Spiritual rebirth is not reversible once it has taken place. Just as no one can revert into a fetus and crawl back into their mother's womb, neither can anyone undo what God has done to their spirit after they're reborn. The rest of the Christian life is filled with many possibilities and challenges, but losing your salvation isn't one of them. God did not save you and adopt you as His child to live in a performance-based relationship with Him.
Many times, people want to "do something" to make it official and so they say what's known as the sinner's prayer. They tell Jesus that they know they're a sinner who needs saving and that they accept His blood on the Cross as payment for their sins. When they do that, they feel like it's made official. Others go even further and make a public statement via the ritual of water baptism. When that happens, the water symbolizes the power of the Blood of Jesus washing away all their sins and the submerging and re emerging symbolizes the death and resurrection and the new life in the Holy Spirit. Many people feel like THAT'S the moment they get saved. But according to the Bible, a person is immediately born again and saved the moment they believe that THEIR sins are on the cross and THEIR sins are paid for by the blood of Jesus. Once that happens, it's done. Nothing can change it.
"But Josh!! But Josh!! What about repentance?"
According to Scripture, repentance is a change of mind and heart away from our way of looking at things and toward God's way of looking at things. So that's already taken place if you turned to Jesus for the atonement of your sins. When a fireman breaks into a burning building to get you out of there, you don't have to say, "I admit that I'm in a burning building. I am now rejecting and turning away from this burning building to accept this fireman as my savior." You wouldn't do that would you? You'd just grab him and hold on and say THANK YOU!!!!
"But Josh!!! But Josh!!! Shouldn't you turn away from your sins?" If we could turn away from our sins, we wouldn't need a Savior, would we? That would be like the person in the burning building finding his own way out without the fireman.
Satan has his minions out there trying to guilt us into thinking we have to change our lives before we can be saved which only burdens people and takes the pleasure away from God for wanting to counsel us and change us slowly over time in our relationship with Him.
Many so-called christian groups believe we have to turn away from our past lives, which never made any sense to me because if we had the power to do that, we wouldn't need a savior! Many people DO turn away from their past lives AFTER they're saved and they'd be the first to tell you, it was God working in them, it wasn't in their own strength. It never could have happened and never would have happened if they hadn't gotten saved first. After they were saved, God began to change them. It was HIS burden to change them, not their burden to change themselves.
How we behave and act as children of God doesn't have anything to do with whether or not we're saved. God has good children. God has bad children. LOL!! God has mature children. God has immature children. But once we're His children after being born again, we're His children forever. Any christian who disagrees with that doesn't know their Bible and I dare say, may not know Jesus.
One of the mental barriers that continues to block a lot of people from allowing God to save them is the long list of changes they feel they will have to make in order to be worthy. They think, “I’ll have to start going to church, start doing good deeds, stop cussing, quit drinking, quit smoking, quit thinking impure thoughts, only pure thoughts, etc...” but none of those things are necessary to get saved, to be saved or stay saved. Your salvation is not dependent upon you, other than your willingness to accept His invitation. The only part you play in salvation is accepting or rejecting the invitation, and that's all.
You can go to church, do good deeds, stop cussing, quit drinking, quit smoking and think pure thoughts all you want to, but if you haven't accepted His invitation for reconciliation through His Son’s atonement for your sins, then you ARE NOT saved. You and everybody else might think you're saved, but you're not.
On the other hand you could cuss, drink, smoke, skip church and forget all about good deeds and still be saved even though you don't look saved to anybody else. That's because looking saved isn't what saves anybody. If you have accepted His invitation for reconciliation through His son’s atonement for your sins, then you ARE saved. Everybody else might think you're lost, but you're not.
That simple little fact rubs a lot of people the wrong way but the fact is, what gets you saved is the blood of Jesus plus NOTHING. If it's the blood of Jesus plus anything else, then Jesus could not have said, “It Is Finished, Paid In Full.” He didn't say, “It's almost finished, now it's up to you.” All of your sins are paid for, as a matter of fact, your sins are paid for even if you don't accept the invitation! That's what makes rejecting the invitation such a tragedy.
As far as God is concerned, His demands for justice have been satisfied at the cross. That's why Jesus could say, “Paid In Full.” Your sins have already been paid for even if you don't accept that. Everything you owe to God, as far as God is concerned, has already been paid. You've already been forgiven. But if you reject that forgiveness, then you reject His terms for reconciliation and you remain separated from Him. But if you accept His terms for reconciliation and accept His forgiveness, then He will spiritually rebirth you into one of his children.
This and this alone is what places you PERMANENTLY in God’s kingdom as a member of a royal family. Your spirit is now sealed with God's Spirit. You're legally adopted as a child of God which makes you royalty. And when your body physically dies, your soul and spirit will be uploaded into a new body, placing you PHYSICALLY into God's kingdom. Until then, you have the rest of your natural life to invest in that kingdom. But investing in the kingdom is not a requirement for salvation, it's an opportunity for those who are already saved!
The relationship you now have with God is no longer the relationship between a criminal and their judge, it's the relationship between a child and their Father. It's not a performance-based relationship. If it were, who could ever be good enough?
Spiritual rebirth is not reversible once it has taken place. Just as no one can revert into a fetus and crawl back into their mother's womb, neither can anyone undo what God has done to their spirit after they're reborn. The rest of the Christian life is filled with many possibilities and challenges, but losing your salvation isn't one of them. God did not save you and adopt you as His child to live in a performance-based relationship with Him.
Many times, people want to "do something" to make it official and so they say what's known as the sinner's prayer. They tell Jesus that they know they're a sinner who needs saving and that they accept His blood on the Cross as payment for their sins. When they do that, they feel like it's made official. Others go even further and make a public statement via the ritual of water baptism. When that happens, the water symbolizes the power of the Blood of Jesus washing away all their sins and the submerging and re emerging symbolizes the death and resurrection and the new life in the Holy Spirit. Many people feel like THAT'S the moment they get saved. But according to the Bible, a person is immediately born again and saved the moment they believe that THEIR sins are on the cross and THEIR sins are paid for by the blood of Jesus. Once that happens, it's done. Nothing can change it.
"But Josh!! But Josh!! What about repentance?"
According to Scripture, repentance is a change of mind and heart away from our way of looking at things and toward God's way of looking at things. So that's already taken place if you turned to Jesus for the atonement of your sins. When a fireman breaks into a burning building to get you out of there, you don't have to say, "I admit that I'm in a burning building. I am now rejecting and turning away from this burning building to accept this fireman as my savior." You wouldn't do that would you? You'd just grab him and hold on and say THANK YOU!!!!
"But Josh!!! But Josh!!! Shouldn't you turn away from your sins?" If we could turn away from our sins, we wouldn't need a Savior, would we? That would be like the person in the burning building finding his own way out without the fireman.
Satan has his minions out there trying to guilt us into thinking we have to change our lives before we can be saved which only burdens people and takes the pleasure away from God for wanting to counsel us and change us slowly over time in our relationship with Him.
Many so-called christian groups believe we have to turn away from our past lives, which never made any sense to me because if we had the power to do that, we wouldn't need a savior! Many people DO turn away from their past lives AFTER they're saved and they'd be the first to tell you, it was God working in them, it wasn't in their own strength. It never could have happened and never would have happened if they hadn't gotten saved first. After they were saved, God began to change them. It was HIS burden to change them, not their burden to change themselves.
How we behave and act as children of God doesn't have anything to do with whether or not we're saved. God has good children. God has bad children. LOL!! God has mature children. God has immature children. But once we're His children after being born again, we're His children forever. Any christian who disagrees with that doesn't know their Bible and I dare say, may not know Jesus.
One of the mental barriers that continues to block a lot of people from allowing God to save them is the long list of changes they feel they will have to make in order to be worthy. They think, “I’ll have to start going to church, start doing good deeds, stop cussing, quit drinking, quit smoking, quit thinking impure thoughts, only pure thoughts, etc...” but none of those things are necessary to get saved, to be saved or stay saved. Your salvation is not dependent upon you, other than your willingness to accept His invitation. The only part you play in salvation is accepting or rejecting the invitation, and that's all.
You can go to church, do good deeds, stop cussing, quit drinking, quit smoking and think pure thoughts all you want to, but if you haven't accepted His invitation for reconciliation through His Son’s atonement for your sins, then you ARE NOT saved. You and everybody else might think you're saved, but you're not.
On the other hand you could cuss, drink, smoke, skip church and forget all about good deeds and still be saved even though you don't look saved to anybody else. That's because looking saved isn't what saves anybody. If you have accepted His invitation for reconciliation through His son’s atonement for your sins, then you ARE saved. Everybody else might think you're lost, but you're not.
That simple little fact rubs a lot of people the wrong way but the fact is, what gets you saved is the blood of Jesus plus NOTHING. If it's the blood of Jesus plus anything else, then Jesus could not have said, “It Is Finished, Paid In Full.” He didn't say, “It's almost finished, now it's up to you.” All of your sins are paid for, as a matter of fact, your sins are paid for even if you don't accept the invitation! That's what makes rejecting the invitation such a tragedy.
As far as God is concerned, His demands for justice have been satisfied at the cross. That's why Jesus could say, “Paid In Full.” Your sins have already been paid for even if you don't accept that. Everything you owe to God, as far as God is concerned, has already been paid. You've already been forgiven. But if you reject that forgiveness, then you reject His terms for reconciliation and you remain separated from Him. But if you accept His terms for reconciliation and accept His forgiveness, then He will spiritually rebirth you into one of his children.
This and this alone is what places you PERMANENTLY in God’s kingdom as a member of a royal family. Your spirit is now sealed with God's Spirit. You're legally adopted as a child of God which makes you royalty. And when your body physically dies, your soul and spirit will be uploaded into a new body, placing you PHYSICALLY into God's kingdom. Until then, you have the rest of your natural life to invest in that kingdom. But investing in the kingdom is not a requirement for salvation, it's an opportunity for those who are already saved!
The relationship you now have with God is no longer the relationship between a criminal and their judge, it's the relationship between a child and their Father. It's not a performance-based relationship. If it were, who could ever be good enough?
