One thread running through the entire Bible is the universal problem of sin, its consequences, and its ultimate solution. It was the solution part that evaded me for 20 plus years despite a rather diligent study in God’s word. Church answers consisted of a collection of fuzzy logic at best, and always in defense of sin in the lives of professing Christians. Despite a precious nugget of truth here and there, complexities abounded in the Word itself during those years. The salvation revelation that finally emerged after 20 years has not been witnessed since the death of the last apostle around 2,000 years ago. It turns out that God formulated His plan of salvation, and thus it exists in the form of a formula, referred to as THE WAY in both Testaments. I have found when explaining this formula to pastors, and others who feigned interest, they were quick to claim to have always believed that. But if I withheld the explanation until after I had solicited a definition of Christian salvation from them, the formula was always conspicuously absent. My wife’s confidence that this recipe has been lost for 2,000 years has prompted her to offer a hundred dollars to anyone who can show us a Christian author who has included this exact formula in even one book with a copyright after the death of the last apostle and prior to today’s date (and tens of thousands have been written in the last 2,000 years).

0ne cannot begin to explain Biblical salvation without revealing what God said we are saved by. 1st Cor. 15:1-4 says we are saved BY the gospel, which God then defines as the death of His Son for the sins of the world, and His resurrection on the third day. This gospel speaks of the atonement. Without that, the offer of salvation could never have been put on the table. The atonement makes Jesus the bridge between sinful man and a Holy God, but it does not automatically convey sinful man across that bridge. If it did, then Christian salvation itself (not just the offer) would be universal, and heaven would be filled with sinful men forever. Because we are saved by the gospel, it is essential we hear/read about it, understand it, believe it (with our whole hearts), and receive it (publicly claim it as our own, or take ownership of it). These are the first four parts to the first step of four steps that lead to Christian salvation, and they can be found in Mt.13:19; Acts 15:7, and Acts 11:1, among others. Verse 2 tells us it is so important we remember this gospel we are saved by, that if we forget it, we are no longer saved by it, or we would then have believed in vain (to no end). If it were not possible for a real Christian to forget the gospel, and lose their salvation, then such a warning would be ridiculously unnecessary.

If the gospel consisted only of the atonement, then the visible church would have been right for the last two thousand years in proclaiming that. They weren’t lying, they simply were not telling the whole truth about the gospel. The atonement is the result of Christ dying on the cross, and anything else that benefits man, as a result of His death, is equally a part of that gospel message that saves us. The atonement itself deals only with man’s PAST sins (Rm. 3:25) which makes the universal offer of salvation possible. And since man is without sin when he gets genuinely saved, the focus at this point has to be on future sin. I acknowledge that many churches have perverted the meaning of the atonement itself by fostering the belief that it means all of a believers sins past, present and future are forgiven at the point of belief. God does make provision for future sin in the gospel, but it is not to blot them out as soon as they occur, and see only the blood of Christ. Forgive my boldness, but this is a demonic doctrine straight out of the pit of hell because it negates the necessity for repentance regarding future sin. God makes a provision of prevention, which I refer to as the “Missing Link” of the gospel which is found in Rm. 6:6. The old man is the old sinful nature, the old Adam nature, that we are all born into, and that we all struggle with our whole life UNTIL we come to a knowledge of the truth. And the truth concerning the old sinful nature is that it is DEAD, it died with Christ 2,000 years ago, and this is equally essential to our understanding of the gospel we are saved by as the atonement itself.

THE OTHER THREE STEPS

Scripture speaks of two types of sin, sins of ignorance, and willful sins. In the O.T., a sin of ignorance could be dealt with by going to the High priest and offering a certain sacrifice, but if one were guilty of a willful sin (like adultery), he was just taken out and stoned to death on nothing more than the testimony of two or three witnesses. All new Christians are going to be guilty of a sin of ignorance at some time, because none of us are born-again with all of the Spiritual knowledge we are ever going to get. It’s a learning process, and in that process we will all slip, stumble, and make mistakes (sin). But what does committing a willful sin mean now that the old sinful nature was crucified with Christ? It means that the guilty party is calling God a liar because God said the old sinful nature is dead, and by committing a willful sin, we are saying it’s not dead, and that God lied. But God says wait just a minute, let’s back that truck up. Before you were saved, I told you that your old sinful nature was dead, and you said you believed that. But now you’re acting like it isn’t - so I’m not the liar, you are!

Step 2 is repentance which means to change one’s mind. One can repent of anything, but in the context of sin it means to change one’s mind about sin, to make the mental decision to stop sinning now. But why would a life-long sinner do that? Because he has heard/read, understood, believed, and received the complete gospel of Jesus Christ, or completed the first step. Repentance is not optional, it’s mandatory (Acts 17:30), and it is what gives us access to God for the first time (see the article I wrote on God not hearing the prayers of sinners).

Step 3 is receiving the forgiveness God offers to those who have completed the first 2-steps. This is huge because when God forgives all our PAST sins, He casts them as far as the east is from the west, and He remembers them no more. And it’s not just for our sakes alone, but for His sake also, that He blots them out of His eternal memory banks forever (see Ps. 103:12; Is. 43:25; Acts 3:19; and Heb. 8:12). If God didn’t blot them out of His own mind forever then He would forever see us as sinners instead of saints. Now, for the first time, we stand before a Holy, perfect, righteous God, a Holy, perfect, righteous human being (without sin in God’s eyes). So let’s do a quick recap here. We have heard/read, understood, believed, and received the complete gospel of Jesus Christ. We have repented of all our past sins, and have received forgiveness for them with all that entails. But we are STILL NOT SAVED! The first three steps were all PREPATORY to salvation, and such preparation is mandatory because God never has, and He never will, put His Spirit of Holiness into an unholy vessel. He can’t, and still be God, because God becomes one with that which He inhabits.

Step four is, of course, receiving Christ, and no one can be saved without doing that. This too is huge because once we have the Holy Spirit in us (for real), then we have the power to say no to willful sin forever, and mean it! And because the Spirit that now inhabits us is Holy, He will not allow us to remain in a sin of ignorance for very long before pulling our coat to it, either indirectly through another brother or sister showing us in the Word, or directly by showing us through our own studies. It is worth noting that anyone can complete any one or more of these steps thinking they got saved and didn’t. They are listed in order for a reason, and it is important to understand the reasoning. The four steps themselves are found in the following passages: Lk. 24:46-49; Acts 2:23,24,38; and Acts 3:15,19,20 among others. Many people repent of many things for many reasons, but if repentance of sin is not motivated solely by the four parts of the first step, then it will not last. It may not last anyway, but it will definitely not last apart from that. And repentance itself is a prerequisite of forgiveness. No repentance, no forgiveness. And it is forgiveness that makes us holy in God’s eyes, and fit vessels to receive Christ (via His Holy Spirit). I am writing this for one reason only, because I love the people of Kootenai County, even though it seems that the more I love them, the less I am loved by them.

Contact Bill Johnson @ jbill707@yahoo.com