Salvation

When we think about salvation, our minds are conditioned to immediately think about forgiveness and deliverance from sin. Many in the Body of Christ believe the salvation experience to be a safeguard against sins of the past, present and future, regarding the penalty associated with such. This is not altogether true. SALVATION IS THE OPPORTUNITY TO OBEY GOD. It is the power to resist the wiles of the devil and it is power over sin. But the prize is given to the one who endures to the end.

There is also an unspoken, subtle message in the hearts of believers that says the blood of Jesus is unable to totally free a man from the power and dominion of sin. It is almost as if we would rather believe that God understands that we are in this flesh and that there will always be a continual civil war between the flesh and the spirit. And since this war continues daily, the flesh will periodically win. Which therefore promotes the attitude or belief that the Lord has already made provisions for those instances when the flesh will be the victor, by making the blood of Jesus a covering for all anticipated future sin. The poor son of God is then left with the frustration of constantly failing and never being able to walk in the certainty of pleasing God.

Repentance and the acknowledging of sin then become a way of life. Is this indeed the pinnacle of salvation; to be on a spiritual roller coaster, up and down in spiritual glee and despair? Is this the best God could do with His born again experience? I think not. In fact, it is an insult to the Father for any of us to think this is the will of God and that His redemption plan is weak because of sin. This doctrine also implies that the sons of God are two people in one; an old man and a new man, having two distinct and diverse natures. It is a false doctrine that does not take into account the facts below.

Romans 6:6

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, (the old man is dead, thus he has no more power), that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

[The flesh was once a body of sin. But through the operation of the faith of God, the body of sin is destroyed by the circumcision of Christ. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Col 2:11].

Paul also testified of this circumcision of the flesh when he wrote to the saints in Thessalonica. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Truth should be sufficient.

Flesh was circumcised and rendered sanctified during the salvation experience. God never puts new wine in old bottles ( Matthew 9:17). The uncircumcised body could not contain the Holy Ghost. Likewise, it is not customary for God to dwell in unclean places. But the power of the Spirit broke the captivity of evil concupiscence in the flesh and made the flesh a habitation for the Father. Your body is now the temple of God. It is the body of Christ. We are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, made a holy habitation for God on Earth.

Romans 6:7, 14-15

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin…

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

The Father forbids us to sin. So much so, He continues the penalty of death. Why would He forbid us to do something that He knows we have no power over? He is not unjust. But God knows that He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. It is not the nature of the sons of God to sin. We have the divine nature of the Father. We are His children. If we should sin it is by choice. Therefore, the separatist doctrine should be destroyed. This doctrine or mindset places a division between the sons and God. This is in direct contrast to the doctrine of oneness taught by Jesus, Himself. In other words, we are not natural men and women with the Holy Ghost.

We are spiritual beings who live in an earthen vessel. The vessel does not define who we are. It merely accommodates our presence here on earth. Because clergy do not teach the circumcision of the flesh (as an actual event that took place at the new birth), it has become quite easy to blame all sin on the rebellious disposition of the flesh. (See my book “Be Ye Perfect.”). So now, if we are new creatures, no longer under the captivity of sin and have had purpose delivered unto us at salvation, why is there so much supposed confusion in the Body of Christ? Why is there a lack of holiness and contentment? I submit that it is due to one of two things; saints are either walking after the flesh after receiving the Spirit of God or those who believe the message are trying to live as spiritual beings without having received the Spirit.

You have to be the judge because in either of these dispositions the end is death. At this point I have to be very candid as to God’s disposition towards His Church; though He is not waiting for us to fail so that He can condemn us to hell, He knows that some will live according to the principles of salvation and some will refuse to do so.

1 Corinthians 11:31-32

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

God has called us unto Himself and it is His mercy that is extended as He continually reminds us of the power of salvation. God wants us to go onto perfection and leave behind those things in which we find ourselves entangled.

Hebrews 12:25-29

25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Run and tell the vision. It is the vision of a perfect man, sinless and holy before God and man.