Jesus' Command for Salvation
One of the first Bible verses that a lot of people learn is John 3:16, so let's start there.
16 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.
God loved the world so much that He gave His own son so that, whoever is fully entrusted, persuaded, and committed to him can have salvation. Can we be fully entrusted, persuaded, and committed without obedience? No! If we fully believe Jesus we will act on it by being obedient to His message. We will look at the context of John 3:16 in just a moment.
Another one people learn pretty fast in church is Romans 10:9-10.
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Let's remind ourselves of the context of Romans. This is a letter, written by Paul, to the church in Rome. It was written to those who are already saved so it's not going to be a how-to for the unbeliever. Instead, Romans is meant to build up those who are already saved. In this chapter, Paul is expressing his desire for the salvation of Israel, that, instead of leaning on their own righteousness through following the law, they would believe (entrust themselves to) Jesus. He asks the church how Israel can believe if they don't hear and how will they hear if the church doesn't witness.
Let's remind ourselves of the context of Romans. This is a letter, written by Paul, to the church in Rome. It was written to those who are already saved so it's not going to be a how-to for the unbeliever. Instead, Romans is meant to build up those who are already saved. In this chapter, Paul is expressing his desire for the salvation of Israel, that, instead of leaning on their own righteousness through following the law, they would believe (entrust themselves to) Jesus. He asks the church how Israel can believe if they don't hear and how will they hear if the church doesn't witness.
Churches that I went to growing up used verses 9 and 10 as bible evidence that we only need to believe that Jesus rose from the dead and make a verbal proclamation of Jesus' lordship to be saved, however this interpretation of these verses doesn't take into account the meaning of the words 'believe" and "confess", it ignores the context, and it contradicts other verses, which the Bible doesn't do. So again, to believe in your heart means that you're fully persuaded and trusting to the point of obedience. My pastor uses the analogy that if he said to his wife "I think we should move overseas" and she responds "ok, I believe in you" she isn't saying "ok, I think you're real" but rather that she trusts him so much that she's going to willingly follow.
The word "Lord" means supreme authority so by definition if we are confessing that Jesus is our Lord then we must also be walking in obedience to His commands. But most people don't even know that Jesus had a command, they were just told that they have to make a confession to be saved. But what even does the word "confess" mean?! The word "confess" in the Greek is "omologew”, pronounced homologeo and literally means "same word" or "to speak the same word" and it carries this idea of agreement. So confessing Jesus as Lord isn't "Jesus I confess that you are my Lord" but rather "I know what you've said and I'm in full agreement. I will obey what you've spoken". Now we just need to know what Jesus spoke regarding salvation.
Were you told to say the sinner's prayer? Do you know where it is in the Bible? If not then go find it. Always know where something so foundational is in the Bible. If you're going to stake your eternity on a doctrine, you better be able to find it in the Bible. I'm going to mark your place here while you go track that sinner's prayer down.
************* ME SAVING YOUR PLACE *************
You're back. Did you find it? No?! What do you mean you didn't find it?! Oh yeah, that's right, it's not in there. IT'S NOT IN THERE!. There is no sinner's prayer. There's an example of a prayer where Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray but even with the "our Father which art in heaven" prayer Jesus clarified not to pray vain repetitions. The disciples' prayer was never meant as a verbatim prayer. So, if saying we believe in Jesus isn't how to be saved, a prayer isn't how to be saved, and there's also no inviting Jesus into your heart or accepting Christ in the Bible (that's right those aren't in there either) then what does the Bible say? Surely something as important as eternal salvation will be in there clearly! Spoiler alert: It is. Let's go back to John 3.
We know John 3:16. We've already talked about what it means to believe on Jesus, but have you ever looked at the start of that conversation?
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 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. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
So Jesus tells Nic clearly that if man isn't born again they won't see the kingdom of God. Then good ol' boy Nic asks how we're supposed to be born again when there's no way we can enter our mom's womb again. It's a valid question. Jesus then replies that we must be born of WATER and SPIRIT to enter God's kingdom and that that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is Spirit. Still a little vague. What is being born of water? Is that the bag of water in the mother's womb? Well it can't be that because then we'd all be halfway to salvation just by being alive. Also Jesus has already let us know this is a Spiritual birth. He doesn't say here but let's hypothesize that this is baptism for now. Now what about being born of Spirit? The key to understanding that is in verse eight which is rather poorly translated. Let's take a closer look.
The word in verse eight translated as "wind" is the Greek word pneuma. Everywhere else this word is used it's translated as "Spirit" or "Holy Spirit". In fact, the word Greek word normally used for wind is "anemos". Why the translators decided to deviate from their normal translation of pneuma here is unknown but based on the original meaning of the word we know that in verse eight Jesus is actually talking about the Spirit.
The word "listeth" just means to wish or will. So the Spirit blows (or breathes is another way it's used in the Greek) where he wishes.
Then we come to the word "sound" which in the Greek is phóné, and normally translated "voice". Again, why they choose to translate it as "sound" here is unknown but the Greek definitions in this verse show that it should read closer to:
Were you told to say the sinner's prayer? Do you know where it is in the Bible? If not then go find it. Always know where something so foundational is in the Bible. If you're going to stake your eternity on a doctrine, you better be able to find it in the Bible. I'm going to mark your place here while you go track that sinner's prayer down.
************* ME SAVING YOUR PLACE *************
You're back. Did you find it? No?! What do you mean you didn't find it?! Oh yeah, that's right, it's not in there. IT'S NOT IN THERE!. There is no sinner's prayer. There's an example of a prayer where Jesus was teaching his disciples how to pray but even with the "our Father which art in heaven" prayer Jesus clarified not to pray vain repetitions. The disciples' prayer was never meant as a verbatim prayer. So, if saying we believe in Jesus isn't how to be saved, a prayer isn't how to be saved, and there's also no inviting Jesus into your heart or accepting Christ in the Bible (that's right those aren't in there either) then what does the Bible say? Surely something as important as eternal salvation will be in there clearly! Spoiler alert: It is. Let's go back to John 3.
We know John 3:16. We've already talked about what it means to believe on Jesus, but have you ever looked at the start of that conversation?
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 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. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
So Jesus tells Nic clearly that if man isn't born again they won't see the kingdom of God. Then good ol' boy Nic asks how we're supposed to be born again when there's no way we can enter our mom's womb again. It's a valid question. Jesus then replies that we must be born of WATER and SPIRIT to enter God's kingdom and that that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is Spirit. Still a little vague. What is being born of water? Is that the bag of water in the mother's womb? Well it can't be that because then we'd all be halfway to salvation just by being alive. Also Jesus has already let us know this is a Spiritual birth. He doesn't say here but let's hypothesize that this is baptism for now. Now what about being born of Spirit? The key to understanding that is in verse eight which is rather poorly translated. Let's take a closer look.
The word in verse eight translated as "wind" is the Greek word pneuma. Everywhere else this word is used it's translated as "Spirit" or "Holy Spirit". In fact, the word Greek word normally used for wind is "anemos". Why the translators decided to deviate from their normal translation of pneuma here is unknown but based on the original meaning of the word we know that in verse eight Jesus is actually talking about the Spirit.
The word "listeth" just means to wish or will. So the Spirit blows (or breathes is another way it's used in the Greek) where he wishes.
Then we come to the word "sound" which in the Greek is phóné, and normally translated "voice". Again, why they choose to translate it as "sound" here is unknown but the Greek definitions in this verse show that it should read closer to:
The Spirit blows/breathes where it wishes. and you hear the voice but you don't know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. So everyone born of the Spirit hears the voice of the Spirit.
Six times in the Bible does the Word command that we need two or three witnesses for a matter to be established, so we're going to look for AT LEAST one to two more witnesses to establish this idea of water and Spirit and see if it confirms baptism and hearing an audible voice.
Let's head over to Mark 16.
I'd like to do a whole post about baptism but, for now, let's note that Jesus said we have to believe AND be baptized and that the Greek for baptism means to submerge or plunge so it's definitely fully under and not poured on or sprinkled.
So now we have two scriptures showing baptism and speaking in tongues but since Mark doesn't mention the Holy Spirit let's add some more for good measure.
In Acts 1, after Jesus' death and resurrection, He remained with the disciples 40 days. During that 40 days he instructed those following him to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the Promise of the Father. He told them they would receive power to be witnesses after they'd received the Spirit so the 120 remained in Jerusalem as they were instructed. In Acts 2, ten days later the Holy Spirit was poured out for the first time.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Before this, the Holy Spirit was given to specific people for specific purposes but now it was being poured out in a new way they were ALL filled and they ALL spoke with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. There were some men of Judea that heard them speaking in tongues and began to question it and mock that they were drunk. Peter, who had denied Jesus less than two months earlier, got up and boldly preached to them that the speaking in tongues they were hearing was what was prophesied about in Joel about the outpouring of the Spirit. He then preached Jesus to them. Some people will suggest that the speaking in tongues was meant only for preaching because the men questioned why they were hearing all of them in their language but notice in the store how 1. they mocked the tongues, the tongues didn't convict them, 2. Peter still got up and preached to them, and 3. Peter preached in his own language and yet they all understood him, so they didn't need the tongues as an evangelism tool. It wasn't until after Peter told them what Joel had said and connected it back to Jesus that they understood. And what was their response?
Six times in the Bible does the Word command that we need two or three witnesses for a matter to be established, so we're going to look for AT LEAST one to two more witnesses to establish this idea of water and Spirit and see if it confirms baptism and hearing an audible voice.
Let's head over to Mark 16.
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
So he who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Does that mean we just need to think that Jesus existed and He died for our sins? No. Remember, that's not what the Bible's definition of belief is (feel free to have a look at the blog entry on belief and righteousness if you missed it. We have to fully entrust ourselves to the point of obedience. When we have fully entrusted ourselves and been baptized then we shall be saved. But Jesus goes on to quantify who the believers are by letting us know that those who have fully entrusted themselves to the gospel will have specific signs following them.
Looking at the signs Jesus mentioned we're going to compare them to John 3:1-8.
*Casting out devils - Not mentioned as part of the salvation evidence in John
*Speaking in tongues - Matches up with the audible voice of the Spirit Jesus said everyone born of the Spirit would hear.
*Handling snakes - Not mentioned as part of the evidence of salvation in John
*Being unharmed by poison - Not mentioned as part of the evidence of salvation in John
You'll see when we look at the other salvation scriptures that only tongues is mentioned in those as well, so we can conclude that Jesus is not saying that someone HAS TO cast out devils, handle snakes, or drink poison to be saved. It seems that Jesus is just giving examples of the power that is in a believer through the Holy Spirit and some would argue that that could be figuratively handling snakes and drinking poison. But what is clear is that hearing an audible spiritual language matches up with Jesus' earlier conversation with Nicodemus. And comparing these verses with the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness we can know that God would not want us to try to prove our salvation by handling snakes and drinking poison.
9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Looking at the signs Jesus mentioned we're going to compare them to John 3:1-8.
*Casting out devils - Not mentioned as part of the salvation evidence in John
*Speaking in tongues - Matches up with the audible voice of the Spirit Jesus said everyone born of the Spirit would hear.
*Handling snakes - Not mentioned as part of the evidence of salvation in John
*Being unharmed by poison - Not mentioned as part of the evidence of salvation in John
You'll see when we look at the other salvation scriptures that only tongues is mentioned in those as well, so we can conclude that Jesus is not saying that someone HAS TO cast out devils, handle snakes, or drink poison to be saved. It seems that Jesus is just giving examples of the power that is in a believer through the Holy Spirit and some would argue that that could be figuratively handling snakes and drinking poison. But what is clear is that hearing an audible spiritual language matches up with Jesus' earlier conversation with Nicodemus. And comparing these verses with the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness we can know that God would not want us to try to prove our salvation by handling snakes and drinking poison.
9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
So now we have two scriptures showing baptism and speaking in tongues but since Mark doesn't mention the Holy Spirit let's add some more for good measure.
In Acts 1, after Jesus' death and resurrection, He remained with the disciples 40 days. During that 40 days he instructed those following him to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the Promise of the Father. He told them they would receive power to be witnesses after they'd received the Spirit so the 120 remained in Jerusalem as they were instructed. In Acts 2, ten days later the Holy Spirit was poured out for the first time.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Before this, the Holy Spirit was given to specific people for specific purposes but now it was being poured out in a new way they were ALL filled and they ALL spoke with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. There were some men of Judea that heard them speaking in tongues and began to question it and mock that they were drunk. Peter, who had denied Jesus less than two months earlier, got up and boldly preached to them that the speaking in tongues they were hearing was what was prophesied about in Joel about the outpouring of the Spirit. He then preached Jesus to them. Some people will suggest that the speaking in tongues was meant only for preaching because the men questioned why they were hearing all of them in their language but notice in the store how 1. they mocked the tongues, the tongues didn't convict them, 2. Peter still got up and preached to them, and 3. Peter preached in his own language and yet they all understood him, so they didn't need the tongues as an evangelism tool. It wasn't until after Peter told them what Joel had said and connected it back to Jesus that they understood. And what was their response?
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked (literally "pierced thoroughly" or "agitate violently")in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent (literally "to change your mind"), and be baptized (fully underwater) every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
So they were hurt and offended and asked the 120 what they needed to do and Peter told them they needed to change their mind from what they were believing, be baptized fully under the water, and receive the Holy Spirit then told them that that was the promise to everyone God called. You may say "but it doesn't say the 3,000 received the Spirit and spoke in tongues. But if they received the words of Peter and were added to the number of the church they would have also had to receive the Spirit and speak in tongues because that's what they'd just been told they had to do.
So now we have three salvation scriptures that show baptism and receiving the Spirit with the evidence of tongues. We could stop there and have our "two or three witnesses" but go have a read of Acts 10-11 where the first Gentiles were saved. Then hop over to Acts 19 and have another read of the 12 men of Ephesus. Both will show the same thing, baptism and receiving the Spirit.
No sinner's prayer, no asking Jesus into your heart or making a decision for Christ. Confessing Christ with your mouth and believing in your heart means being in full agreement with the salvation he preached which is turning from our way to God's, being baptized fully underwater, and receiving the Holy Spirit. When you do you will speak in tongues.
You may still be thinking "we aren't saved by works. Baptism and tongues are works". Well, I actually covered the context of those verses in Ephesians in a previous blog but the short version is baptism and receiving the Spirit aren't works of the Old Testament law like those verse are talking about and they aren't anything we can boast about anyway if the requirement is the same for everyone. Also, receiving the Spirit with the evidence of tongues is the work of the Spirit, not a work of human flesh. We accept the work of Christ in dying, why not accept the work of the Spirit as well?
You may be wondering "how do I receive the Spirit though?".
Luke 11:5-13 gives us the answer. Jesus starts by saying that if a friend comes asking for bread at midnight we're not going to get up and give him bread but because he's begging and persistent we will give him as much as he needs. He goes on to say:
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
If you haven't received the Spirit with the evidence of tongues, and you'd like to, all you have to do is ask and keep asking. Be that persistent, begging friend looking for bread. Ask out loud. Tongues is an audible language so you will hear it out loud coming from your own mouth. If you find yourself struggling too much thinking of what to pray you can repeat "hallelujah", it's not a magic word, but it is the highest form of praise and will give you something audible to say so you aren't in your head so much. You may have to pray for several minutes or several different times before you receive. You may have to pray for weeks or months. Just don't give up. Remember it is a promise to everyone. And once you receive know that there may be doubts the next day or days later. It's normal but Jesus said God only gives good gives and if you're praying for the Spirit He's not going to give you something evil. Trust him. This is where the faith comes in. Believe Him and act upon it.
If you are getting discouraged praying by yourself reach out to me and I'll pray with you. In Acts 8 it specifically says that the people in Samaria had not received the Spirit and apostles were sent back down to pray with them for the Spirit. You might do better praying with someone. I'm happy to be that someone. Need to get baptized or want to talk to someone other than me? Reach out to any of the Revival Fellowships worldwide. Revival Fellowship isn't the only group that preaches the truth but it's the only one I have found. It's important to be baptized by someone who preaches the truth (we'll get into that more another time). Have you received the Spirit with the evidence of tongues yet? I'd love to hear about your experience. Drop a comment below. As always let me know if you have any questions. <3
So they were hurt and offended and asked the 120 what they needed to do and Peter told them they needed to change their mind from what they were believing, be baptized fully under the water, and receive the Holy Spirit then told them that that was the promise to everyone God called. You may say "but it doesn't say the 3,000 received the Spirit and spoke in tongues. But if they received the words of Peter and were added to the number of the church they would have also had to receive the Spirit and speak in tongues because that's what they'd just been told they had to do.
So now we have three salvation scriptures that show baptism and receiving the Spirit with the evidence of tongues. We could stop there and have our "two or three witnesses" but go have a read of Acts 10-11 where the first Gentiles were saved. Then hop over to Acts 19 and have another read of the 12 men of Ephesus. Both will show the same thing, baptism and receiving the Spirit.
No sinner's prayer, no asking Jesus into your heart or making a decision for Christ. Confessing Christ with your mouth and believing in your heart means being in full agreement with the salvation he preached which is turning from our way to God's, being baptized fully underwater, and receiving the Holy Spirit. When you do you will speak in tongues.
You may still be thinking "we aren't saved by works. Baptism and tongues are works". Well, I actually covered the context of those verses in Ephesians in a previous blog but the short version is baptism and receiving the Spirit aren't works of the Old Testament law like those verse are talking about and they aren't anything we can boast about anyway if the requirement is the same for everyone. Also, receiving the Spirit with the evidence of tongues is the work of the Spirit, not a work of human flesh. We accept the work of Christ in dying, why not accept the work of the Spirit as well?
You may be wondering "how do I receive the Spirit though?".
Luke 11:5-13 gives us the answer. Jesus starts by saying that if a friend comes asking for bread at midnight we're not going to get up and give him bread but because he's begging and persistent we will give him as much as he needs. He goes on to say:
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
If you haven't received the Spirit with the evidence of tongues, and you'd like to, all you have to do is ask and keep asking. Be that persistent, begging friend looking for bread. Ask out loud. Tongues is an audible language so you will hear it out loud coming from your own mouth. If you find yourself struggling too much thinking of what to pray you can repeat "hallelujah", it's not a magic word, but it is the highest form of praise and will give you something audible to say so you aren't in your head so much. You may have to pray for several minutes or several different times before you receive. You may have to pray for weeks or months. Just don't give up. Remember it is a promise to everyone. And once you receive know that there may be doubts the next day or days later. It's normal but Jesus said God only gives good gives and if you're praying for the Spirit He's not going to give you something evil. Trust him. This is where the faith comes in. Believe Him and act upon it.
If you are getting discouraged praying by yourself reach out to me and I'll pray with you. In Acts 8 it specifically says that the people in Samaria had not received the Spirit and apostles were sent back down to pray with them for the Spirit. You might do better praying with someone. I'm happy to be that someone. Need to get baptized or want to talk to someone other than me? Reach out to any of the Revival Fellowships worldwide. Revival Fellowship isn't the only group that preaches the truth but it's the only one I have found. It's important to be baptized by someone who preaches the truth (we'll get into that more another time). Have you received the Spirit with the evidence of tongues yet? I'd love to hear about your experience. Drop a comment below. As always let me know if you have any questions. <3
Comments
Post a Comment