Yet the Scriptures abounds with salvation belonging to God, and as His ways are past finding out, an element of mystery is always couched in its simple and straight-forward message. That simple and straight-forward message is, 'Repent from your sinful pride and strong willed-ness, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for total salvation' (para-phrase, Franklin Morais, 2013).
Christianity is appallingly sub-standard today, and you can barely tell the difference between a believer and non-believer because of this terrible emphasis on this reductionist message masquerading as the gospel preached.
The effect of this sub-standard approach is seen in the sub-standard and most of the time, antinomian life-style of its adherents. Have you gone to a 'Christian' wedding lately? Have you seen the dressing of the 'Christian' bride? And often times, the 'Christian' bride's 'Christian' mother? 'Christian' women seem determined to show how sluttish they can be, competing with the world's fashion standards.
Am I coming across as 'judgemental'? Well, you 'judge'!
Again, and again, I see the problem has to do with the unwitting (most of the times) adherence to an error and heresy known as Arminianism, which in turn, has its source from an ancient error and heresy known as Pelagianism. The core of this error and heresy is that man's unregenerate will, which means his old adamic and sinful nature is involved in the work of salvation. This erroneous root in turn produces a religion of works. Paul's mighty contentions with the Jews had to do with the insistence of the Jews that salvation is by strict adherence to God's commands, and in tandem with that, the traditions of the Jewish elders, rulers and their priests (refer Midrash, or extra-Scriptural writings).
In contemporary times, this 'works-based' salvation is seen in the persuasive powers of the pastor, preacher and evangelist in getting as many people as possible to raise up their hands at the end of a worship service, then to stand-up, walk the aisle to the front, bow their heads, and say the 'sinner's prayer'. And voila! They are then magically, 'Christians'! It is the oratorical skill and persuasive technique of the preacher to bring the hearer to a place of 'decision'.
And you know what? In God's grace, sometimes a genuine 'palingenesis', or the amazing event of being 'born-again' (John 3:3-7) actually takes place! Purely and strictly, by God's grace. However, this happens rarely. The very next week sees this person who said the 'sinner's prayer' absent from worship because he or she probably had to go clean their ancestors' graves!
God has taken out of the hands of fallen, sinful, depraved and proud sinners, the work of salvation. That's why the Scripture says, in Rev 7:10, 'and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”. As well as in Rev 19:1, 'After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,"
The truth of the matter is that salvation is wholly a work of God. Even the faith to call upon the name of the Lord for salvation is a 'gift of God' (Eph 2:8). Because this faith is the faith of Jesus. Again, Revelation spells this out very clearly, in 14:12, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Cross refer to 2 Pet 1: "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ".
Then, in Galatians chapter 3, Paul makes it clear that this faith 'comes'. Which simply means it wasn't there in the believer's heart once upon a time.
How did this faith come?
Romans 10:17 provides a further substantiation, "Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Therefore faith is from the hearing ear, and the hearing ear is from the word of God." Other translations (Holman Christian Standard Bible and the Net Bible) use the phrase, 'the word of Christ'.
Here is the mystery : God, in His mercy, through His great love wherewith He loved us, to show us His abundant riches of grace in Christ Jesus, caused His Spirit to work with and through the preaching of Christ, and cause, entirely by His predestined plan and purposes, purely by His sovereign will, to enable and empower faith in the hearer. The hearer, once quickened, then calls upon the name of the Lord and enters 'God's Package of Salvation', uniquely 'in Christ'.
An eternity is insufficient to know the width, length, depth and height of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge (Eph 3:18).
This love of Christ indeed compels us to share this glorious message of Christ Himself, crucified for the sins of the world, and resurrected for our justification. This glorious message lifts us up from the depravity of death working in us, to the heights of God's throne, where we are 'hidden with Christ in God!' (Col 3:3).
No wonder the early believers were so full of joy and power! No wonder within 300 years of the publishing of this glorious message the known Roman empire was already shaken, and brought to its knees by this message of Christ.
And no wonder, in light of such contemporary reductionist preaching, the reverse is true! The church of Jesus Christ has been brought down to its knees with the error and heresy of Arminianism, which due to its essential message, will always produce shallow and superficial, and counterfeit 'believers'.
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