The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Program of Salvation

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:1,2)

"And of eternal judgment."

Let us think for a moment about the process of salvation. Salvation is deliverance from the guilt, power, and presence of sin. Man comes into the world with tendencies toward loving and trusting the world and the things of the world, with various lusts and passions dwelling in his flesh, and with self-will, self-centeredness, and self-love strongly entrenched in his personality. All of this is his inheritance from Satan, a rebellious cherub.

It is easy for man to sin, very difficult for him to behave righteously, to think, speak, and act in a holy manner, and to obey God faithfully. It is easy for man to serve and worship Satan (or so it seems!), very difficult to serve and worship God (or so it seems!). Actually the Lord is a loving and kind Master whose commandments are not grievous while Satan is a harsh, cruel master who never can be satisfied. But Satan has convinced the churches we are not able to keep God's commandments and we must keep on sinning. This is a lie.

The purpose of the program of salvation is to move man from the power of Satan to the power of God.

Following are some of the major steps of the program of salvation:

God draws us to Christ Jesus.

God sprinkles the Passover blood of protection on us so we are not condemned with the world.

God assigns our adamic nature, our first personality, to the cross with Christ.

God puts His Holy Spirit in our personality and Christ is born in us.

God raises our new born-again nature to His right hand in Christ.

God judges and removes from our personality all that is unrighteous, all that is unholy, and all that is disobedient and self-seeking. This is an eternal judgment.

God forms Christ in us.

The Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit take up Their eternal residence in our transformed personality.

Our physical body is raised from the dead and then clothed with our house from Heaven, the white robe of righteousness that has been formed as we have obeyed the Holy Spirit throughout our discipleship.

God assigns us to the various roles and tasks we now are eligible and competent to perform.

In our day we are placing an unscriptural emphasis on the beginning aspect of salvation to the neglect of the process and the goal. The product of this overemphasis is people who "make a decision for Christ" and then fall away; make another decision for Christ and then fall away; make another decision for Christ and then fall away. There are many such individuals in jail at the present time who go to a Bible study and make another "decision for Christ." They make a decision for Christ because they want to please God, they want to be righteous. But what they are being taught is a philosophy, a system of belief, not the Divine salvation. (from Eternal Judgment)