Salvation
Good Works: A Failed Hope for Going to Heaven
Christ, the Bible says, died to satisfy God's judgment against the human race (because of Adam's transgression - Romans 5:15-19). This means you do not need to try to make it to Heaven by doing good deeds. The Bible calls the accumulation of such efforts "dead (useless) works" (Hebrews 6:1).
Also, Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace (God's provision of Christ) that you have been saved through faith... not by (your) works, so that no one can boast."
And Titus 3:5 says, "He saved us, not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy."
This was the mistake Cain made (Genesis 4). The Bible says he brought the fruits of his harvest (representing his labor) to God as an offering in order to earn forgiveness and eternal life. But the Bible says God rejected his offering and instead accepted the offering of his brother, Abel, who offered an innocent lamb as a testimony to his faith and trust that only the life of the sinless Lamb of God could take away the penalty and power of sin.
That was also the testimony of John the Baptist. When he saw Jesus coming toward him one day, he said to the crowd, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
When you turn away from trying to accumulate good works as an offering to God in order to satisfy his judgment against sin and trust instead in the offering that Christ has already made of himself on the cross for you, the Bible says that God spiritually unites you with Christ (somewhat illustrated in the way a man and a woman are spiritually joined together by God as one in marriage - Matthew 19:5-6).
I illustrate this in counseling by immersing a sponge into a bowl of water. I then ask, "Is the sponge in the water, or is the water in the sponge?" Of course, the answer is both. We are in Christ, but he is also in us.
This means: Because you are in Christ, you are going to Heaven. Because he is in you, you are being transformed from within to be like him.
"...the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life." - Romans 6:22b
Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 9B07
You Can Know: The Certainty of Heaven
You can know that you are going to Heaven: God guaranteed it with a promise.
"God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began to give us eternal life" - Titus 1:2.
Jesus said about Heaven, "I am going there to prepare a place for you and I will come again and take you to be with me" (John 14:3). The promise of eternal life, however, is conditional. According to the Bible, it is received through Confession, Conversion, and Calling.
CONFESSION: Agreeing with God Concerning Your Need - and His Provisions
To confess means to "agree." The meaning of the word is illustrated by two people who are in a debate. Finally, one is persuaded, has a change of mind, and agrees that what the other is saying is true. Confession, then, means to agree with what God says in his Word concerning the following:
1. Everyone is born into the world separated from God because of Adam's disobedience.
God created Adam and Eve in innocence, but because of Adam's disobedience, God separated them from himself resulting in spiritual darkness and moral ruin for the human race.
"...through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners" - Romans 5:15-19.
2. No one can be reconciled to God by trying to obey the Ten Commandments.
The Law, summarized in The Ten Commandments, was given by God to identify a moral standard by which man could live in order to be healthy and happy. It was not given as a standard by which man could earn eternal life, because no one would be able to obey it perfectly.
"God's way of putting men right with him has been revealed, and it has nothing to do with law. God put men right through their faith in Jesus Christ" - Romans 3:21-22.
3. Jesus Christ died on the cross at Calvary in order to provide a way for you to go to Heaven.
In his infinite love, Jesus Christ, God's Son, came from Heaven to provide a way for you to be reconciled to God. According to God's plan, he died voluntarily on the cross at Calvary to pay in full with his shed blood the penalty of God's righteous judgment against all mankind because of Adam's disobedience.
"What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did by sending his own Son to be an offering for sin" - Romans 8:3.
"...we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" - Romans 5:10a.
4. The blood of Jesus Christ is the only payment for sin that God will accept.
No amount of human efforts to perform good deeds is adequate or can add in the very least degree to the merit and power of the blood of Jesus Christ to satisfy God's righteous judgment against all mankind because of Adam's disobedience.
"In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins" - Ephesians 1:7.
CONVERSION: Turning from Self-Effort to Christ
To convert means to make an "about face" or a 180 degree turn. It is a turning away from going in one direction to go in the opposite direction.
"Unless you turn around and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven" -Matthew 18:3.
Conversion, then, is choosing to turn away from trying to go to Heaven by trusting in what you can do, to trusting instead in what Christ has already done for you by his death on the cross. (What conversion is not: conversion is not turning from the "sins" that you think will send you to Hell; instead, it is turning from trusting in the "good works" or religious rule-keeping that you think will get you into Heaven.
CALLING: The Prayer of Confession and Faith
You can make the following prayer your Prayer of Confession and Faith:
Dear Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus Christ is your only begotten Son; that he died on the cross at Calvary to provide a way for me to go to Heaven; and that his blood is the only payment that will satisfy your judgment against me because of Adam's disobedience. I turn from trying to go to Heaven by trusting in what I can do, and will now trust wholly and alone in what Christ has already done for me by his death on the cross. Thank you for your love, and for giving me eternal life. Amen.
"Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" - Romans 10:13.
Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective #504
"Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" - Romans 10:13.
Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective #504
The Powerlessness of the Rules to Make Possible Your Righteousness
Health and happiness are outcomes - the normal, predictable results of making right choices relevant to the laws God ordained to govern creation. They are not a state of good fortune or "blessings" that God arbitrarily gives to favored persons who make him smile. (If you are in Christ, you don't need to try to make God smile or favor you. He favors you as his own, regardless what you do.)
God's purpose for giving the Law (Heb. torah: "teachings or instructions"), summarized in the Ten Commandments, was to teach a way of life, a lifestyle, that results in health and happiness, both for individuals and civilizations. But because of man's fallen human condition, no one has ever been able to consistently choose those behaviors without God's enablement. That is the reason Christ came into the world - to make possible first our reconciliation to God by his death on the cross for us (which satisfied God's righteous judgment against the human race because of Adam's disobedience), and then also to enable us, by his resurrected life in us, to make the appropriate choices leading to our health and happiness.
"For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him by the death of his Son, how much more certain and unfailing, having been reconciled, shall we be saved (sanctified) through his life." - Romans 5:10
"For what the law was powerless to do because of the weakness of our sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he provided a way for us to be made strong in order that the righteous requirements of the law may be fully met in us who do not live according to our own strength but according to the strength he provides." - Romans 8:3-4 (GracePoint paraphrased)
Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 7A17
What You Can Do and Still Be Lost
You can have all the essential information about a flight on an airplane to a desired destination, but your knowledge of it in terms of just having information will not get you to where you want to go.
Neither will you go to Heaven on the basis of your textbook knowledge of Christ, not even of his death on the cross and resurrection. (Satan himself, the Bible says, knows well that information. He was there.) Instead, your assurance of going to Heaven is based upon you being in Christ (in the airplane, so to speak).
But we do not get into Christ as we would walk onto an airplane. Rather, we are immersed into Christ by the Holy Spirit. He does this, the Bible says, the moment we trust wholly and alone in the blood of Christ as the only payment God will accept to satisfy his judgment against the human race because of Adam's disobedience.
This means you can be in a good family, live in a good community, or be a member of a good church or religious organization, and follow all the rules, but still not go to Heaven.
You can get this issue settled today with this prayer of confession:
"Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus Christ is your Son, that he died on the cross to satisfy in full your judgment against me because of Adam's disobedience, and that you raised him from the dead to provide a way for me to go to Heaven. I turn away right now from trusting in myself or in my membership in any organization. Instead, I trust wholly and alone in your provision of Christ's death on the cross and resurrection from the grave as my only hope for going to Heaven. Thank you that I am now immersed into spiritual union with Christ and that in him I have eternal life."
Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 7I06
Referencing the Bible for What You Believe: Getting It Right About the Beyond
When I pastored years ago a young woman called to say, "Don't send me your newsletter again!" On it I had written Psalm 14:1, "The foolish person says in his heart, ‘There is no God.'" She was mad at me because she thought I wrote that. The rest of the verse says: "They are corrupt, their deeds are evil; not one of them does good." She thought I was being rude.
"I don't believe like you do," she said.
"I understand," I said. "So what do you believe?" I asked.
"If you knew," she said, "it would really weird you out."
I had never been really weirded out before, but I took a chance and asked her again what she believed.
She said she believed that when we die, we have an opportunity to reflect on our lives, come back into this world to make the necessary adjustments, then die again to reflect and make more adjustments, until finally, after much reflection and adjustments, we become gods.
"Where did you get that information?" I asked.
Her source of information, she said, was a man by the name of Arthur Ford who died and returned to inspire a woman named Ruth Montgomery to write "World Beyond."
"So are you willing to place your hope for eternity on Arthur Ford and ‘World Beyond'?" I asked.
"Yes," she answered.
I said, "The part about what you believe that concerns me most is that after you die, if ‘World Beyond' is wrong, you will not have the opportunity you have now to reflect on your beliefs and make an adjustment."
"Well, what do you believe?" she asked.
I said, "I believe we are corrupt, our deeds are evil, and that the foolish person, to accommodate the way he wants to live, will say, ‘There is no God.'"
I then told her about Adam and Eve, their choice to live their lives apart from God's provisions for them, the subsequent darkness that came upon the human race, about God's love and provision of Christ to save us through our faith in his death and resurrection, and about his plan to take us to Heaven.
"So what is your source of information?" she asked.
I said, "It's the Bible!
Don Loy Whisnant, DCC, LCPC/The Grace Perspective #609
You in Christ: Eternal Salvation Made Simple and Certain
God has not made it difficult for us to go to Heaven, to be forgiven of his judgment against us.
You in Christ: Eternal Salvation Made Simple and Certain
God has not made it difficult for us to go to Heaven, to be forgiven of his judgment against us.
The world is filled with those who mock God's provision of Christ as our Savior. His name is used in vain and in vulgarity. Those of us, however, who BELIEVE (agree to as a fact and trust as true) that Christ is God the Son, that he indeed gave his life's blood on the cross at Calvary to save us from judgment (Romans 5:8-9), that he was buried and raised to life again on the third day by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:4), SHALL NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE (John 3:16).
The question for you concerning Christ is: Is he or is he not who God says he is, who he, himself, said he is, who Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James, Paul, and others in the Bible said he is?
And did he die on the cross to satisfy God's judgment against us? Yes or No?
And was he resurrected to life again by the Holy Spirit? Yes or No?
And is he our only hope for going to Heaven? Yes or No?
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6
"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name (power, way, truth, life) under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12
If you believe (agree and trust) that he is, confess it in your heart to God. The moment you do, the Bible says the Holy Spirit unites you as one with Christ (Romans 6:3-4). It is a spiritual union, illustrated in the way God joins a man and woman as one in marriage (Mark 10:9). By this union, the Bible says we are IN CHRIST - which is the certainty of our eternal salvation.
"In union with him we have redemption through his blood." - Ephesians 1:7
The question concerning you is: Are you in Christ? If you are not sure, you can be. The following prayer of confession to God will guide you:
Dear Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son, that he died on the cross for me, and that you raised him again to life by the Holy Spirit. I trust in him as my only hope for going to Heaven and receive his Life into my heart. Amen.
Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective AK14
How to Go to Heaven: Making Clear the Message
The lost miss hearing a clear message of salvation when we who give it do not separate in our understanding the following:
- God's way for us to go to Heaven,
- his way for us to be made holy (Christlike), and
- his way for us to be established in health and happiness.
Although each are received by faith and are intimately related, still they are different, especially in the narrow particulars of how they are appropriated.
The clarity begins with understanding that our salvation is past and present: We have been saved from the penalty or judgment of sin (justification), but are now being saved from the power or contamination of sin (sanctification). The one has been accomplished, the other is in progress.
Note: Our salvation is also future. One day in Heaven, we will be saved from the presence of sin (glorification).
Justification for Heaven
We are saved from the penalty of sin (justified) by turning away from trusting in other payments (e.g., the accummulation of good works to achieve a good report) to trusting instead wholly and alone in the Blood of Christ as the only payment God will accept to satisfy his judgment against the human race because of Adam's transgression.
Sanctification for Holiness
We are being saved (sanctified) from the power of our sin nature (sinfulness) by turning away from self enabled performance to be like Christ to trusting instead wholly and alone in the Life of Christ birthed and nurtured in us by the Holy Spirit through his Word.
Enabled Choices for Health
We are saved from broken health and unhappiness by turning away from the world's provisions for inappropriate pain relief to connecting instead to God's provisions in creation (nutrition) and community (supportive relationships in the home and church) for our health.
To summarize:
We have certainty of Heaven because we are in Christ - placed there by the Holy Spirit when we trusted God's provision of Christ's Blood for our salvation.
We have certainty of increasing holiness because Christ is in us and is progressively possessing us to fuller measure in our quiet time through our worship.
We have certainty of health and happiness because of the choices Christ (who he is in us) enables us to make.
Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 8I23
Salvation Made Simple
It is not because of our sinful behavior that we are separated from God and in need of redemption and reconciliation, but because of our biological union with Adam who disobeyed God (Genesis 3; Romans 5).
(However, we are sick and in need of sanctification because of our sinful behavior.)
Neither are we justified (freed from judgment) because we "give up" sinful behavior, or even because we try to perform good behavior, but only because we trust in God's provision of himself (Christ's blood shed on the cross for us) as the only payment he will accept to satisfy his judgment against us.
Here is how it happened: In the courtroom of God's justice, God, the righteous judge, handed down a verdict of guilty against the entire human race (Adam and Eve). He then passed a sentence: It was separation from him (resulting in death).
But he also, at the same time, provided the only payment that could satisfy in full the judgment. It was a payment no human could pay - the blood sacrifice of an innocent life.
Our choice is either to trust the provision of God's payment for our salvation, or to trust in our own self effort. To illustrate, it would be the same as making a choice to either get into a boat that will take us across the water to the other side, or to trust in our own strength to swim across.
Our appeal to family, friends, and neighbors is: If you believe God's provision of Christ's death on the cross for you is sufficient to satisfy his judgment against you and is your only hope for going to Heaven, tell him so right now (this is a confession of faith). You can pray in your own words or use the following prayer to guide you:
Dear Jesus, I believe you are the virgin born, sinless Son of God, that your Blood which you shed for me when you died on the cross is the only payment which has power (value) sufficient to satisfy God's judgment against me because of Adam's disobedience in the Garden of Eden. I turn away right now from trusting in anything I can do to earn my salvation, and trust wholly and alone in the gift of your Blood which you have already provided for me as my only hope for going to Heaven. Amen.
Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 8I22
Why Men Are Lost, Also Sick, and How They Can Be Saved, Also Healed
The teachers/authors I love most will tell you that men are lost because of their sins, that Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for those sins, and will forgive them if they repent (that is, turn away from or give up those sins) and commit to follow Christ.
But consider that:
Men are lost (under God’s judgment), not because of their sins, but because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden - this according to Romans 5:12-19. In other words, we were born lost. And we are forgiven (the judgment is removed) when we, enabled by faith, repent (have a change of mind) and confess (agree with God) concerning God’s redemptive plan for our eternal salvation (justification), convert (turn about face), and receive/trust God’s provision of Christ – his blood/death on the cross for us as the only payment he will accept to satisfy his judgment against us.
However, we are sick because of our sins (those choices we make which disregard God’s provisions for our health). And we are healed (progressively saved) when we, enabled by faith, repent (have a change of mind) and confess (agree with God) concerning God’s redemptive plan for our progressive salvation (sanctification – healing and holiness), convert (turn about face), and receive/trust/remain connected to (John 15:5) God’s provisions flowing to us through/from creation (the soil and atmosphere), community (supportive relationships in the home and church), and especially the Life of Christ in us.
"For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned (was certain) through (because of) that one man, how much more certain and unfailing will those who receive God's abundant provisions of grace, (especially) the gift of his righteousness, reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." - Romans 5:17 (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)
Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 10I04
Distorting the Plan of Salvation: Satan's Set Up for Doubt, Discouragement, and Defeat
At some fateful point along the way, Satan had the idea to distort the Gospel message to mean that God provides eternal salvation to those who repent of their sins (according to his definition of repentance) - that is, to confess their sinful behavior, be sorry for it, so much so that they give it up, and then commit to follow Christ (obey his commands).
The message seems scriptural enough, and also gives needy man opportunity for heroics he can boast about. But (as the scheme is devised to do) it sets him up for feelings of deep discouragement and defeat which, as I have discovered, is the root problem for most of the counseling issues I deal with.
What a set up!
Earnest seekers attempting to live out their commitment to follow Christ have found it to be a hard battle, one they are mostly losing, and in ways too painful to confess, compounded by Satan’s insult-to-injury attacks to condemn their failure.
This is the reason we are passionate to teach that
- every person comes into the world under judgment (separated from God because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden – Romans 5:12-19),
- God has made provisions for our salvation (justification) from judgment by the provision of his Son, Jesus Christ (his Blood/death on the cross),
- the Blood of Christ is the only payment God will accept to satisfy his judgment against us, and
- all are immersed/baptized by the Holy Spirit into spiritual union with Christ who turn from trusting in what they can do (their good behavior) in an attempt to win God’s favor so they can go to Heaven, to trusting instead, wholly and alone, in what Christ has already done for them (by his death on the cross).
Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 11D15
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