Jude 1:3-4 ESV
“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Our Faith and Salvation
So, what is this “common salvation”? And what is this “faith
that was once for all delivered to the saints”? And I ask these questions
because it is important that we know what the Scriptures teach about this
because so many people today within the gatherings of the church are indeed “perverting
the grace of our God into sensuality,” and they are denying “our only Master
and Lord, Jesus Christ.” And the masses appear to be buying into their lies
while rejecting the truth of this “common salvation.”
So, let’s begin with the words of Jesus Christ. And he said
to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man
if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” Luke 9:23-25 ESV
So, to deny ourselves is to humble ourselves, and it is to
surrender our lives to Jesus Christ to be wholly his and to do his will. To take
up our cross daily is to die with Christ to sin daily, and to follow Jesus is
to obey him. For, if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self,
we will lose them for eternity. But if we lose our lives for the sake of Jesus,
i.e. if we are crucified with him in death to sin and so we now walk with him
in holiness and righteousness, then we will have salvation from sin and eternal
life with God.
And then let’s look at Romans 6, and I am going to summarize
much of this. By God-given faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ
in death to sin and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in
him. Our old self is crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be
brought to nothing, so that we will no longer be enslaved to sin, but to God
and to his righteousness. So we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies,
to make us obey its passions. For if sin is what we obey, it will lead to
death. But if obedience is what we obey, it leads to righteousness and to sanctification,
and its end is eternal life with God (Romans 6:1-23).
And then I want to go to Ephesians 4:17-24. Here it is
speaking to those who have professed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives.
We are being instructed to no longer live like the ungodly who have become
callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every
kind of impurity, for that is not the way we should have learned Christ. We
should have learned to put off our old self, which is corrupt through deceitful
desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new
self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
And then I want us to look at Titus 2:11-14 which says, “For
the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us
to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave
himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a
people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
I hope from this you are able to discern a common theme here
with regard to our faith and salvation. Our faith in Jesus Christ and our
salvation from sin are not just about being forgiven our sins so that when we
die we can go to heaven. Our faith and our salvation are about us dying daily
to sin and denying self and following Jesus in obedience to his commands in
living lives which are holy and righteous. And if our faith and salvation are
not that, then the faith and salvation we think we have are not the truth
(genuine).
Perversions of God’s Grace
Thus, if we are being told that we can make a one-time
profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now all our sins are forgiven (past,
present, and future), and heaven is now guaranteed us when we die, regardless
of how we live, that is not the true gospel of the Scriptures. As you can see
clearly from these samplings above of four different Scriptures, our faith in
Jesus Christ should result in us forsaking our lives of living in sin and us
now walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands in walks of holiness and
righteousness.
And we should be able to see clearly that we don’t just “get
saved” and now we are good to go to heaven when we die. Our salvation is
progressive and continuous and ongoing. We are saved (past), we are being saved
(present active), and we will be saved (future) when our Lord returns for his
bride and he takes us home to be with him for eternity, which is when our
salvation will be complete and our marriage to Christ consummated, and not
until then. But then there are conditions for us to get to that place.
So pay attention to the wording of these Scriptures. They
all involve us forsaking our sins and following our Lord in walks of obedience
to him in righteousness and holiness. And at least two of the Scriptures above
warn us that if we don’t forsake our lives of sin and we don’t follow our Lord
in obedience and in walks of righteousness, but we continue in sin and in
disobedience to our Lord, that we will not inherit eternal life with God. We
will lose our lives for eternity. So we need to take this seriously.
But they are not the only Scriptures which teach that. There
are many more, and they teach that we must continue in the walks of faith taught
here steadfast until the very end or we do not have eternal life with God. So
please know that you are not guaranteed heaven when you die on a mere
profession of faith in Jesus Christ, if that profession is not followed by you
dying to sin and living to God and to his righteousness, in practice, steadfast
in faith until the very end. Please read the following Scriptures:
I
Will Lift My Eyes
An
Original Work / December 12, 2012
Based
off Psalms 121-125
I will lift my eyes to my Lord Most High.
My help comes from Him, who saved me from sin.
He will not let your foot slip, and He who watches will not
sleep.
Our Lord watches over you, and your life He will keep.
I will lift my eyes to my Lord Most High.
My help comes from Him, who saved me from sin.
I give thanks to Him.
I will lift my eyes to my God in heav’n.
I look to the Lord. My sins, He’s forgiv’n.
Because of His great love for us, He made us alive with
Christ.
Through the kindness of our Savior, He gave us new life.
I will lift my eyes to my God in heav’n.
I look to the Lord. My sins, He’s forgiv’n;
My home, now in heav’n.
Praise be to the Lord, who is on our side.
Our help found in Him. He gives peace within.
Those who trust will ne’er be shaken. God will supply all we
need.
Our Lord has done great things for us. He’s our friend,
indeed!
Praise be to the Lord, who is on our side.
Our help found in Him. He gives peace within.
I can count on Him.
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