By: Gabriela Yareliz
Yesterday, I decided I would actually take time to eat my lunch, so I went to the outdoor area by the Welcome Center in front of the fountain to watch as parents and their children took tours where the tour guides would be bubbly and lie about where students love to hang out and talk about the importance of certain things on campus none of us notice as parents delightedly laugh and swell with pride at the fact that their child was accepted into such a fine institution.
It strikes me how all the tour guides are the same type of people except with different color skin tones. Wow, such diversity. Anyway, that is a tale for another time…
The thing is, that as I began eating my sweet potato chips, two girl approached me and decided to ask me about my personal experience and relationship with God for some survey.
They shared with me their view of salvation, one I’ve been hearing a lot about from people and even radio talk show hosts. A view that is erroneous and unbiblical in many subtle ways.
I am not going to go through our entire discussion, but I will summarize some of the arguments they presented.
I mean basic case and point:
1] You are “saved” in an instant. It bothers me when people say they got “saved” when they were nine or something. Like it happened just once. What is that all about? Okay, so you accept Jesus in your heart, that is wonderful. Jesus’ sacrifice covers our sins when we repent and turn away from them. Understood.
These young women were arguing that once you are filled with the Holy Spirit then you are good-to-go, and your sins for past, present and future are forgiven.
Where does Paul’s statement of dying daily go then?
1 Cor. 15:31
“I protest by your boasting which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily“
Why does Christianity become a slogan, where people feel they are safe and fine and nothing they do will make them lose their salvation.
Don’t get me wrong, Jesus is powerful to save, and we are saved only by grace, but then where does the biblical thought of: sin separates us from God, the penalty for sin is death, therefore, to have eternal life we must through the power of Christ obtain victory over sins and have His blood cover us– if not we are separated from God?
The young women seemed not to believe in sanctification. Sanctification is key to our growing in Christ. We can do NOTHING to earn salvation, but if we love Him, we keep His commandments and by beholding His eternal and righteous law (His character) we become changed.
2] They asked me if I believed that if I died now I’d be saved. I laughed at this thought. How can I say whether I am saved or not. Sounds a bit presumptuous in a way.
I have NO doubt that Christ can save me from my sins, and that by accepting Him daily, and moment to moment (not just through words but through the way I live) He can save me. But what if God has spoken to me, and I have rejected Him? What if I am harboring sin in my life without realizing it? After all, the heart is deceitful above all things… I have no doubt in the power of Christ to save me but salvation is a choice, my choice of whether through my life and how I live, I am accepting His sacrifice.
People fail to remember that Christianity is not by word but through following the Bible.
I told them that I could accept Christ today, but if I reject him tomorrow, then I have made my choice. If I die after I reject Him, He is just and will not give me the eternal life I decided I wanted no part of. That is why our walk with Christ is so crucial. Every moment, every thought, every act counts. I want to think I have followed and walked in the light He has given to me, but if I instantaneously die then it all depends on where I was in my walk with Him at that very moment.
The young women proceeded to say that if people end up away from the Lord, it is because they were never saved in the first place and had no experience with God.
Who are we to judge? Mercy! I am no one to judge. People make mistakes and decide for eternity at every step of the way. Pastors and great men have all fallen. Even David sinned and you are going to tell me that by Him turning away it proves He had never experienced God truly?
Let us look at King Saul: look at 1 Samuel 15 (his fall), and then 1 Samuel 16:14
“But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.”
He was the anointed one, and the Holy Spirit departed from him because he made his choice. Was it that he had never experienced God? No, he had, but he still made his choice.
If the Holy Spirit, according to the young women, never leaves us, why did 5 of the 10 virgins (which represent the church in purity) run out of oil (a symbol of the Holy Spirit throughout scripture).
My point is you are not “once saved, always saved.”
No one who comes to Him will be cast out, He has all the power to save anyone, but as stated before it is a daily walk and a moment to moment surrender. We must also remember that He gives us power to overcome sin. He didn’t tell people in the Bible to “go and sin no more” to be funny or in a joking way. By saying that we cannot change, we deny the very power of Christ.
“Peter’s fall was not instantaneous, but gradual. Self-confidence led him to the belief that he was saved, and step after step was taken in the downward path, until he could deny his Master. Never can we safely put confidence in self or feel, this side of heaven, that we are secure against temptation. Those who accept the Saviour, however sincere their conversion, should never be taught to say or to feel that they are saved. This is misleading. Everyone should be taught to cherish hope and faith; but even when we give ourselves to Christ and know that He accepts us, we are not beyond the reach of temptation. God’s Word declares, ‘Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried’ (Dan. 12:10). Only he who endures the trial will receive the crown of life (James 1:12)” (Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 155, emphasis supplied).
I am concerned with the growing number of people who believe they are saved and can live however they want disregarding biblical standards and true sanctification, not an outward show. I am concerned that people think that if you stray from the path, then you never experienced the Lord and that if you are “saved” you are saved no matter what you do. It is so easy to think that way. Wouldn’t Christianity be simple then?
If it was to be so easy, why does the Bible call it spiritual warfare?
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.” Eph. 6:12
Let us make sure we don’t end up like the people in Matthew 7:21 “Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
I ate my lunch after sharing with these young women what the Bible says about salvation, and we prayed together. My lunch hour ended up being not so peaceful, but instead disconcerting.
Let us accept that eternal sacrifice, not just in word because this can be so shallow, but in deed. Let us do as Phil. 2:12 says:
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
GABRIELA YARELIZ 