Part II: Salvation Demystified

Chapter 7: Regeneration unto Justification

In the old creation, after the first Adam sinned, all of humanity walked in godlessness and lawlessness before God.

5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Genesis 6:5-6

The whole earth was corrupt before Him, and God was grieved.

11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
Gen 6:11-12

So, God sent the flood and started again, with the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japeth. Yet sin once again prevailed, and man fell into iniquity. Chapter 5 illustrates a brief history of Israel, from the point of view of their obedience and disobedience. The Levites, under the direction of Moses were instructed in sacrifices for sin, to meet a minimum standard of holiness before God, so that the sins of the people would be covered from His sight. Yet the people could not change. It was a band-aid that covered up a canker, a putrefaction from within. The band aid wouldn’t work.

10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:10-17

Isaiah was prophesying to Israel. But in God’s sight, Israel was as Sodom and Gomorrah, whom He had already destroyed in the time of Abraham for their great wickedness. It is from this place that we have the word: Sodomy. Because in these cities, when the angels of God visited, the men of the city were determined to rape them; men with men and women with women, burning in lust for one another. So, God destroyed the cities by fire. And God likens Israel now to those cities. Israel was no different in His eyes. Israel was full of hypocrisy. Offering up burnt sacrifices, to do their duty, without a repentant heart toward God. They offered up vain oblations, which were abominable unto God. Why? Because of their wickedness, guised as well-doing.

8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
9 The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.
Proverbs 15:8-9

But God already knew that man couldn’t keep His Law; so, from the foundation of the world, a Lamb was slain:

8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:8

From the beginning, this Lamb was sacrificed. The blood of the only begotten of the Father was poured out from the foundation of the world. God informed His prophets of His plan of salvation and Isaiah prophesied continually about it. And as it was ordained from the beginning, it was fulfilled when Jesus was born into the world.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 3:16-17

Through the blood of His Son that was shed, all humanity can partake of God’s salvation, IF they truly repent. Verse 16 says that whosoever believeth in Him SHOULD NOT perish. Not shall not but should not. Should is conditional. Some translations say: Shall not, but that should be understood as “may not”, rather than as “will not”.

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:1

Being in Christ Jesus is not an automatic pass. It is only the beginning. One must not walk after the flesh, to obey the lusts of the flesh, but after the Spirit to obey Righteousness. So, all who believe in Him SHOULD NOT PERISH IF they cease from sin.

There is this gospel that has been around Christian circles, saying Once Saved, Always Saved. And they cover up the flaw in this doctrine by declaring that any who ends up not being saved was not saved to begin with. But I submit that this doctrine is hogwash and from the pit of hell.

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Romans 6:1-2

The doctrine isn’t new and was around even in the time of Paul, so Paul had to write the above scripture. If Once Saved Always Saved were true, then why did Paul write to the Philippians:

12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye 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.
Philippians 2:12

Why must we work it out with fear and trembling? That means we ensure to follow Him with reverential hearts, loathe to grieve Him who died for us, longing to please Him in all things and obey His every word, living for Him in every way,

In the Once saved, always saved doctrine, some people will say some so-called sinner’s prayer that goes something like this: Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.

Now, there is nothing wrong with this prayer. Anyone can pray the prayer, even the devil can. But you must mean it. And that makes all the difference. At the time you say those words, you may be sincere; but this doesn’t mean that you mean it. To mean it is to ACTUALLY REPENT of sin. To turn over a new leaf and repent from sin. To have your mind renewed. The problem is that people want to be saved from the wrath of God, but they don’t want Him as their King and Lord. They don’t want to serve Him. They rather want to do their own thing. They want to eat their cake and have it.

46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luke 6:46

What is required?

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:1-2

To repent, one must confess AND forsake. A criminal who is charged to court, once found guilty, who is genuinely guilty is expected to confess his wrongdoing and apologize to those he has hurt. The only reason why the accused should continue to deny wrongdoing, is if they are truly innocent and have been wrongfully charged; otherwise, they should contritely confess. If they are truly guilty however, yet act defiant, it goes against their record for probationary hearings. Good behavior while incarcerated goes in their favor during such hearings. These are signs of repentance. With God, repentance is firstly the confessing of the sin, the wrongdoing in God’s sight AND then the forsaking of such. The problem with the sinner’s prayer, is that it takes care of the first, but not the second. A second problem with the sinner’s prayer, is that it is not specific enough to name the actual wrongdoing. In what way are you a sinner? What specific way? It makes a general acknowledgement of sinfulness and asks God for forgiveness of sins. It acknowledges that Jesus died to redeem us from these sins and invites Him into our lives. But this is insufficient.

To obtain forgiveness of sin, one must confess AND forsake the sin.

13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
Proverbs 28:13

Only when confession is made and the sin forsaken, is forgiveness given. Otherwise, what is the proof that you are genuinely sorry for your sin and that you forsake it? A man or woman who cheats on their spouse may be sorry they got caught. But only in forsaking the wrongdoing and firmly turning their back on it has one truly repented of the sin. Who are you when no one is watching? Will you indulge your secret sin, thinking that no one sees you? Beware, for nothing is hidden from the eyes of the Lord. Even our very thoughts. God is not mocked.

7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Galatians 6:7-8

And there is no creature hidden from His sight:

12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Hebrews 4:12-13

For this reason, don’t fool yourselves thinking you are fooling God, there is no creature that can hide from Him. The Once Saved Always Saved Doctrine is perpetrated by a lack of understanding of Romans 10:9:

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:9-10

In the sinner’s prayer, both points are covered; confessing the Lord Jesus and declaring that God raised Him from the dead as well as confessing sin. But the misunderstanding arises out of the word “believe”.

This believe, is not believe as a passive verb, but believe as an ACTIVE verb. An Oxford dictionary definition reads believe as: accepting that something is true, feel sure of the truth of; hold as an opinion, think or suppose. But believe as used in Romans 10:9 is an active believe that goes beyond “accepting as true” or “feeling sure”. Accepting as true and feeling sure is mental and emotional assent. This is a mental acceptance, or an emotional acceptance, that remains in the realm of either intellect or emotion or both and may or may not penetrate the will.

Remember that the soul of man comprises the will, intellect, and emotions. So long as anything remains in the realm of thought (intellect) or emotion(feeling), it remains passive. Only when you DO something with the information from the intellect and/or emotions does it become active. So, to mentally acknowledge the truth of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection or to FEEL sure of the veracity of it, is not enough. What are you going to DO with this knowledge??

Some people go to college to study this or that, but when they graduate, they never use the degree for anything. They go do something else; be stay-at-home moms or dads or other. So, can you really say you are a lawyer if you never practiced law? Or an engineer? Or a doctor? Or an accountant? Plumber? Electrician? Welder? Computer programmer? Absolutely not! For anyone reading this who thinks that the long years they put into medical school qualifies them to be a doctor, without practicing medicine, consider this: If your child needed an appendectomy, where the appendix has to be removed before it ruptures, would you entrust the surgery to one who studied in the best schools but never practiced? Or would you find the most experienced practicing surgeon you can find? Enough said. The only reason to not look for the most experienced person we can find is, maybe the task is not that important, or we have no other option. But when options abound, why would anyone consider paying hard-earned money to an inexperienced person? What is the logic there?

In the same vein, mere mental or emotional assent is passive belief. Active belief is real belief because one acts on the information one has. Another illustration. Let’s say one is driving twenty miles above the speed limit and one turns a corner and sees a cop sitting there. If they believe that they may get a ticket since they are way over the limit, they will naturally act on this belief and SLOW DOWN. If one doesn’t slow down, then what is the evidence that they believed they were over the speed limit? Isn’t the evidence to the contrary? Rather, if another driver was going five miles below the speed limit, they know and believe that they are not breaking any traffic laws, why would they slow down upon turning the corner and seeing the cop? In the case of the first driver who didn’t slow down, we would rightly believe that they were either ignorant of the speed limit in the area or they didn’t see the cop waiting to give a ticket. Either of these make more sense than for the driver who believes he may get a ticket yet doesn’t slow down. If this driver however, knows the speed limit and yet continues to speed, despite seeing the cop, what shall we conclude about their behavior? The possibilities are: Maybe they don’t believe they are in the wrong (ignorance) or that somehow the law wouldn’t apply to them? Maybe they just don’t care about whatever consequences follow from being apprehended by the cop? (rebellion) Maybe they are insane? Either way, they most certainly are guilty of speeding whether they are ignorant of the traffic law in the area or not, or they are rebellious of the law. They will get a ticket.

So, in Romans 10:9-10, the scripture says that with the heart man believes and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation. Again, if you truly believe that Jesus is Lord and He is who He says He is, the next logical question to ask is: What does He require of me? To not ask this question is to behave like the first driver, who after believing that she will likely get a ticket, continues on her merry way without changing her behavior.

Don’t get it twisted. Consider this. God hates sin, but God loves us. He hates sin so much that He sent His only begotten Son to take the form of flesh (become a man) to suffer and die in our place so that we don’t have to go to hell. Consider this. If He hates sin so much that He sent His Son to die for us, it must be that THERE IS NO OTHER WAY FOR MAN TO BE SAVED. If there was, God would have found it. Furthermore, if He hates sin so much that He wouldn’t spare His ONLY SON from the horrendous death of the cross, why should He spare you or I a just punishment for not repenting?

But, you say, He is God and can do anything. Yes, God can do anything. But He is bound by His Word. He cannot be a just God and overlook iniquity when it stares Him in the face. If He gave anyone a pass just because He is God, then He is no longer just. Then, we would have to conclude that He is fickle and no different than the average con man or politician in the world. If He is fickle, then at a whim, the whole earth could explode at any second. His justice is what provides stability in the world. His justice is what makes Him long suffering and full of goodness.

5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
Exodus 34:5-8

His justice makes Him gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin! Because of His will, all of life as we know it, persists till this day. Yet there is a day set aside for the judgement of God. It is the day of His wrath, the day of Judgement.

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Revelation 20:11

And who will be judged? The guilty! He will by no means clear the guilty. Who are the guilty if all have sinned and come short of the glory of God? (Romans 3:23) The guilty are them who REFUSE to repent. Are the devil and his angels guilty? Yes, they are. Why? Because they have refused to repent. They have refused to submit to the Almighty God. Anyone who fails to repent will face this wrath and already has the wrath of God abiding on them from refusing to repent. Death is just a heartbeat away. Will you continue in obstinacy, or will you submit to His rule?

But did Jesus have to die? Surely there had to be some other way! Short answer? No, if there was, God would have found it. Listen, if there was another way, God would have implemented it. And this is the hubris of all the religions of the world. Every religion of the world promotes doing good. Every religion promotes loving your fellow human, be it Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Judaism, etc.

So, if man was justified by doing good, would it make sense that Jesus be sent to die? Look again at John 3:

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 3:16-17

God sent His son into the world to DIE for my sins and your sins and the sins of all humanity. God prepared us for this by instituting the animal sacrifices which the Israelites performed. But it didn’t foster their repentance! The animal sacrifices were meant to cover their sins and since the penalty of sin is death, only a life can take the place of another life! I have said this several times already, but it bears repeating. Good deeds can never purge one of past sins and offences. Otherwise, God wouldn’t have mandated the animal sacrifices; he would just say, Do Good. Yet only after the sacrifices were they to follow up with good deeds. The sacrifices didn’t absolve them of the Ten Commandments. Yet, they still didn’t repent. At heart, they paid lip service to the Laws of God.

13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Isaiah 29:13

So, paying lips service only to God without true repentance in heart is insufficient to please God. Several “good” people indulge in a lot of good deeds, yet they do it for their own selfish reasons: To look good before men, to have a good reputation, for tax benefits, etc. etc. Am I saying there are none that are selfless? Certainly not! A few are selfless, but how often are they selfless? How many are selfless 100% of the time? Was Mother Teresa? If Mother Teresa was, where do you fall? Where do I fall? And if she wasn’t 100% selfless, where do you and I fall?

7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Matthew 15:7-8

Look at what Jesus said in verse 9: In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men…What are these commandments of men? These are the things that man judges to be good in his own estimation. Man teaches his own standards and practices and traditions as doctrine from God. What are man’s standards of goodness? They are forever shifting. While we may universally agree that cannibalism is bad, a village of cannibals may still consider themselves good people, say unless they eat a family member or someone from their village. But you know, hunting, killing, and eating someone from another village may be quite acceptable behavior. Or maybe that example is too extreme let’s consider this: Using the left hand for anything such as eating or accepting gifts is regarded as a slap in the face in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Also, in parts of Asia, tipping is considered offensive while it is expected almost everywhere else. These may be considered good manners or etiquette and we are careful to not hurt others’ feelings and consider ourselves to be good since we are kind and considerate to others. Okay. Now, if this makes us kind and considerate and good to others, why don’t we find out what is kind and good and considerate to God?

Rather than do this, we do only as much as we can and forget about the rest. Or we outrightly contradict what He says in His law since we want to please someone else. Who is greater? God or a human being? If God is greater, why should we offend Him to please another human being? But we do this all the time. Adam did it in the garden. Thou shalt not eat the fruit. Yet he ate the fruit to please his wife.

To not hurt others’ feelings, to be kind and considerate to them, we ought to know what they are comfortable with. If your friend can only take so much teasing and you persist in teasing them, how are you being a good friend? To be a friend to that person, you must know what THEY like, not what you like. So, to be a good friend of God and do the things that grieve Him at His heart are incompatible, they are mutually exclusive. One cannot be BOTH a good friend and grieve your friend at the same time. It doesn’t work like that. But man doesn’t care, or man doesn’t care enough to be a friend of God. In fact, for all of man’s “goodness”, God considers him an enemy!

6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Romans 5:6-10

Look at verse 7. Scarcely for a righteous man would one die. How many good friends or parents would take the place of their loved one on death row? Look at verse 10. Yet, when we were ENEMIES, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son…God considered us enemies despite all our “goodness”. Why? Because all our so-called “goodness” was not pleasing to Him.

You must consider this very carefully. Why else would Jesus have to die? Why else did the blood of the Lamb need to be spilled but to wash away our sins? Why would a Father sacrifice a Son for His enemies if there was another way? Do you begin to see the hubris of the religions of the world? The penalty for sin is death. A person who is sentenced to death in our courts, may have the death sentence commuted for all the good deeds they have done, but they are still GUILTY. In the eyes of God, all the good deeds one does cannot cleanse one of past sin. They still stand guilty before God! And the wages of sin are…death! To avoid this death, God had innocent blood shed. Guiltless blood. Someone took my place and your place. And it PLEASED God to do this because He loves us so much!

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53: 3-12

Who in history is Isaiah prophesying about here? Jesus!! What more should God do that He hasn’t done? Why will you obstinately continue to strive after good works while neglecting this sacrifice? To reject so great a salvation is no different than willingly, of sound mind and body, committing suicide. Except that those who commit suicide are probably not of sound mind. So, you being of sound mind, why will you reject this to your own hurt? If you are indeed of sound mind, don’t you see that it would be the height of foolishness or obstinacy to reject this gift? Why can’t you see that you must repent?

If God loved us so much that He would send His only son to take our place on death row, if He did this for us, WHILE WE WERE HIS ENEMIES, how much more won’t He go for them that LOVE Him?

Consider a father, whose son sits on death row, deserving death. Who would be willing to die in place of the person on death row? Would the son’s father or mother? Their spouse? Twin? And even if we could find such a person, maybe their grandmother who’s already closer to death may be willing to do it, Do the courts allow this? Absolutely not; at least not that I’ve heard of. But even if the courts allowed someone else to take the place of the condemned, what kind of behavior do we expect from this person? We expect that such a person would change from the behavior that landed them on death row in the first place, right? It is not enough for them to confess their guilt and to acknowledge the person that saved them from death, but they must show true repentance by changing their behavior; otherwise, they will end up right back where they started, and the death of their would-be savior was in vain! Is that not a sign of His great love for us? Can any human ever display this love even for their loved ones? Talk less of their enemies?

So, consider the immense sacrifice of the Father. The Father sent His only Son into the world to die for the world, while the world was His enemy! If the person for whom the Father sent His son to die doesn’t repent, what should God do? Should He be “good” and allow the person to live? After His own Son died to save that person? Some people ignorantly say: How can a good God send people to hell? First, they should ask: Was it not His goodness that sent His Son to die for our sins? If He was willing to have His Son die for His enemies, how much more goodness can He display? What more do we want? Don’t you think that if despite His Son’s death, He allowed the unrepentant to live and go unpunished, that would be a great disservice towards His Son? If He wouldn’t spare His Son, just so we can live and not die and we repay this great love, this great mercy, this great kindness with abject rebellion and wickedness toward Him and He lets that go, can He still be called just or good? Look again at verse 10 of Isaiah 53:

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isaiah 53:10

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him! It pleased the Father to bruise His Son, to afflict Him, to put Him to death, to die in our place so that we don’t have to. How are we to behave now? Shrug our shoulders and say: He is God, He should have found another way? Or live carelessly, doing only what is convenient? Shouldn’t we rather seek how to please this God that went to great lengths to save us at such a great price? How else may we please Him, but by repentance from our dead works and turning fully to Him?

1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
Hebrews 2:1-4

Shouldn’t we give MORE EARNEST HEED to these things? (Verse 1). If every transgression and disobedience received their just deserts, HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT A SALVATION??? (Verses 2 and 3)

26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10:26-31

Please, please, please and please, read the above verses several times. Let it sink in. This is no joking matter! If after we have received this knowledge of truth, after God has done ALL He can to deliver us from His judgement and give us a way out to the extent of sacrificing His only Son, if after this great price that was paid, we sin willfully, ignoring the price, treading underfoot the Son of God, counting His Holy and precious blood as an unholy thing, God cannot see this but as pure WICKEDNESS. No matter how “good” we think we may be.

You say you are good enough? Your efforts are pitiful at best. Look at God’s standard for goodness:

21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Matthew 5:21-22

How many have been angry without cause? Sometimes we are justifiably so, but sometimes we are not. Whoever shall say: Thou fool, is in danger of hell fire. Maybe these don’t apply to you. Consider this:

27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Matthew 5:27-28

If you consider for a second, the epidemic of lust and pornography ravaging the world, yet the world by its standards calls itself good, do you think these are still good in the eyes of God? But wait there’s more:

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48

How many of us love their enemies? How many pray to God for the wellbeing of their enemies? How many will bless them that curse them? That despitefully use them? That persecute them? What is God’s standard for goodness? It is found in verse 48: Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Anything short of this receives a failing grade. This is the plight of those who seek to be good without Christ. Your goodness must be perfection from henceforth. But this perfection still leaves the question of the guilt from all your past sins. Will your perfection erase them? Unfortunately, no! If there was any other way, God wouldn’t have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

To recap this chapter, all who believe on the Son should not perish. All who believe on the Son MUST believe the following:

That God sent His only begotten Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him, might be saved.

That Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, there is no other way to be reconciled to God but buy the sacrificial death of the Lamb of God:

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6

You must acknowledge your sinfulness before God. Every specific act of rebellion against His word. You must confess it and forsake it. This is true repentance:

13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
Proverbs 28:13

7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55:7

This entire process is known as regeneration. The moment you do this: BELIEVE that Jesus is whom God says He is and that without Him you are lost, CONFESS your Sin, TURN to Jesus Christ as your Savior and as the ONLY way to God the Father and you Repent of Sin, your spirit is regenerated. Your spirit which was hitherto alienated from God now has renewed access to God! Now your heart can be attuned to God’s word. Before this, the word of God brought discomfort, noise, distraction. Congratulations!! You are now on the road to Life and your salvation has begun!!

This is the very first step. It is the very first step because now, the inner man is saved. Your spirit is saved. But man is a tripartite being. His soul and body still need to be saved. The second step leads to justification. It is called baptism.