Basis of Salvation and Faith

Posted by anointedplace on August 10, 2010 · 21 Comments 

Luke 9:23

²³Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

I have read this verse before and many times after that.  On the surface we see Jesus’ call to those who wished to follow him as his disciple.  We know that a disciple of Christ is one who believes in Him as being the Son of God; our savior.  We hear a lot of times this act of believing as a key to our salvation.  This salvation is a free gift from God to all that believe on the Christ.

Ephesians 1:12-14

¹²in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Hebrews 5:8-10

⁸Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered ⁹and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him ¹⁰and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

1 Peter 1:8-10

⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,

This belief in Christ goes far beyond just “believing” and sometimes we have a bad habit of presenting salvation as just “believing”.  But even the demons Jesus Christ casted out “believed” in Him.  Not only did they believed in Him, they did something most of don’t do… They obied Him when He commanded them to leave (luke 9:41, luke 11:14, matthew 8:30-32) !

Luke 8

²⁶They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes,^[b] which is across the lake from Galilee. ²⁷When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” ²⁹For Jesus had commanded the evil^[c] spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.³⁰Jesus asked him, “What is your name?””Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. ³¹And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

³²A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. ³³When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

Taking the example of the demons, they had to obey Jesus.  We see that in order to not only believe in Jesus Christ, we have to believe in commands and obey His commandments.  So with our salvation in mind as a free gift which only requires that we “believe on Christ Jesus”  we see what Jesus demands of those who wish to follow me unto salvation..

Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

The Gospel messages of salvation by faith through Jesus Christ calls us to first repent of our sin…

In order to repent of our sin we must understand, have knowledge of and admit that we are sinners.  We must deny the notion of being able to save ourselves or even the thought that we are “good” in some way.  To admit that we need help directly encounters the pride, self righteousness, self reliance, ego and the nature desire to earn our own way to a heaven or reward.  After this rebirth, regeneration, and redemption we must submit to our LORD Jesus Christ by taking up our cross and being identified with Him and in Him.  We must abide with him and become slaves or righteousness and no longer serve ourselves and sin.  We must now obey our Master…  Do you see how the dependence on Christ produce obedience?  Then we now walk or follow the path laid out by Christ trusting the purpose and plan before us; thus having faith in God’s sovereignty.   All of this salvation is hinged on our faith that calls for obedience to His rule over our lives.  Faith for our salvation now powers our faith for the rest our lives.  Because we walk by faith after Christ trusting the purpose and path for His elect.  By submitting to Christ we say that we will go where ever He leads us.  We do this because it is Christ who is living through us now because in order to have salvation we have to deny ourselves in order to believe.  If you have a hard time saying that you are a sinner, if you have a hard time understanding why you need a savior, if you still think that compared to others that you are pretty good, if you think that you are not that bad then you haven’t accepted Christ, you don’t believe in or on Christ, you deny the Word of God and call Him a liar.  Because the word of God says that all men have sinned and are born into this world as sinners.  You can’t have salvation without understanding the need of Christ.  You can’t know that without the Holy Spirit revealing this to you…  If you think that there is more than one way to God, heaven and etc then you don’t believe in Christ nor in what He said as you refuse to obey His commands.

John 14

¹“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God^[a]; trust also in me. ²In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴You know the way to the place where I am going.”

⁵Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”⁶Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you really knew me, you would know^[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”⁸Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”⁹Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. ¹²I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Luke 9:24-27

²⁴For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

²⁵What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

²⁶If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

²⁷I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

So in part establish your faith on your salvation and you will not waver nor will you stumble.  If you can trust Christ to save you from the wrath of God and the fires of hell,  if you can have enough faith for salvation then how much more faith can you have in Him to follow after Christ?  To follow after Christ is to live for Him, to allow Him to live through you and for you, to yield to the Holy Spirit and to know without Him you were dead in sin on your way to hell.  All of that seems a little more challenging then anything we will face on earth.

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