The reality of Christianity Part 2
Philemon 1:4-6 I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers”
“Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints”
“That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus”
Paul writes to Philemon and lets him know that the degree of his effectiveness in his walk of faith is tied to his knowledge with respect to all the good things he has in Christ.
The word knowledge in the Greek rendering refers to an exact or precise information.
This type of knowledge is fact specific.
It has the details of what is being examined.
This goes to show that the born-again man needs to have the exact knowledge of what happened to him or her at new birth.
The first question we’ll be asking is “how does one get saved?”
Many who are in church today cannot explain how one gets saved.
At what point does one receive salvation?
Some people will allude to spectacular experiences they had before they got saved and they can go about disseminating same as a means of receiving salvation.
However, no personal experience supersedes the written word irrespective of who the source is.
God’s word remains the ultimate barometer that explains to us how a man is saved.
There is also a common phrase that is commonly bandied around by believers.
The phrase is “I gave my life to Christ”.
Such phrase isn’t in consonance with the scriptures because prior to receiving salvation, the sinner has no life.
A man without the spirit of God is dead in sin. He has no life.
Ephesians 2:1- 6 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus
Paul said we were quickened. To quicken is to make something to come alive. It is receiving salvation to makes one come alive. At salvation, you don’t give your life to Christ rather you receive the life of God. God’s life when received makes one alive spiritually.
John 1:12 “But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”.
Salvation is received. You don’t give anything at salvation. You only receive what God has done in Christ.
Romans 8:32 “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”.
God’s Son was given as a propitiation for our sins because we didn’t have what it takes to pay for our sins. That’s why Jesus became the propitiation for our sins.
Back to our discussion. We asked, “how does a man get saved “? Getting saved is not believing in God because even the devil believes in God. James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” There is nothing spectacular in believing that there is God because demons also believe that. Believing in God is not salvation. Salvation is to believe in Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”.
Back to the question, how is a man saved?
Paul explains this in Romans 10:6~10
6But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above)
7or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
You confess with your mouth the Lordship of Jesus Christ and you believe in your heart that he rose from death.
You are saved. That’s how salvation happens.
It doesn’t happen in instalments. To confess is from the Greek Word “Homologeo.”
It means to say the same thing in two places. In this case, in your heart and in your mouth.
You believe the gospel in your heart and you confess what you believed in your heart through your mouth.
It starts with the heart first before what has happened in the heart is spoken by the mouth.
When this happens, it is incontrovertible that the person in question is saved.
It is a miracle that happens in split seconds. The recipient of salvation is raised up from death to life.
Declaration: I believe the word of God. I have what it says I have. I am who it says I am. The reality of my salvation is premised on Jesus’ resurrection. Therefore, I am eternally saved by him.
