What is real salvation issues?

Posted : 6 Feb, 2010 10:41 AM

The Real Salvation Issues

In the final analysis, we will all be judged according to what we DO with what we KNOW. The apostle James declared, �To him that knows to do good. But does it not, to him it is sin� (James 4:17). Also, the apostle Paul wrote, �whatsoever is not of faith is sin� (Rom.14:23).

The priests and Pharisees of Yeshua�s time kept God�s law minutely � but they missed the spirit of the law. Merely observing the letter of the law leads to death, but observing the spirit of the law leads to LIFE (II Cor.3:6).

Ultimately, what are the true �salvation issues�? Christ illustrated them this way. A lawyer asked Him what was necessary for eternal life. He answered that one must �love the Lord your God with all your heart . . . and your neighbor as yourself� (Luke 10:27). Then the lawyer asked him, �And who is my neighbor?�

He then spoke the parable of the good Samaritan, saying that a Samaritan, who did not worship the God of Israel, but was deceived much in doctrine, nevertheless showed love and compassion to a downtrodden victim of a thief and marauder (Luke 10:33-35), whereas a law-abiding, knowledge filled worshipper of the God of Israel, such as a priest and a Levite, did not do so (verses 30-32), but ignored the poor man�s injuries and calamity.

He told those listening to Him, �So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among thieves?� The answer? The SAMARITAN! He was justified, rather than the others!

So says your Bible! Notice! This man �fulfilled the Law.� Christ Himself, the One who will pass judgment on all mankind, says the Samaritan, despite his ignorance, is the one who fulfilled God�s Law and will receive salvation!

To whom much knowledge is given, of him much is required. To those to whom less is given, of them God requires less. The bottom line is everyone will be judged according to what he DOES with what he has been given (Luke 19:12-26).

What are the �salvation issues�? There is no strict, ironclad �list� of such issues. The matter depends on the person and what they have been GIVEN, whether or not God has truly OPENED THEIR MIND to understand, and how much He has opened their mind.

All Who Ever Lived

In the same vein, after Christ returns, at the end of the Millennium, all mankind will be gathered before Him to be judged (Rev.20:12-15). All who ever lived will be resurrected as flesh and blood human beings (see Ezek.37). At that time they will be judged according to their �works.�

Matthew continues the judgment scenario: �All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides His sheep from the goats� (Mat.25:31-32). Read the whole account (verses 31-46). What is the CRITERIA OF JUDGEMENT that Christ will use to determine who will be SAVED, and enter His Kingdom, and who will be CAST into GEHENNA?

The ones who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, visited the sick, and those in prison, will be told: �COME, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world� (verse 34). They will continue to live and be taught the full truth of God � the things they did NOT know or understand in their previous life! They will learn the FULL TRUTH of God, and will accept it and obey it, and when God�s time comes, they will become immortal spirit sons of God, like those of the first resurrection.

Among these will be the ancient citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, who did not understand (Matt.10:15). Small children who died, never really having had a chance for salvation. Perhaps even children who had been aborted by their parents, who would have been viable human beings, if given a chance to live. All these who did not deliberately, presumptuously, willfully REBEL against God, knowingly, but who lived the best they could, overall, according to their conscience, will be given a true opportunity for salvation!

This would include the Thief on the Cross who said to Christ, �Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom� (Luke 23:42). Christ said to him, �I say to you, today [referring to the day He said it], you will be with Me in Paradise� (verse 43). In other words, he will come up in this Great White Throne Judgment, and be among the sheep, who will be resurrected back to mortal life, in the Kingdom of God, Paradise, and will be taught the truths of God and the way of salvation, and be allowed to live out their lives, at the end of which they will be translated into immortal, glorified sons of God.

Isaiah says of that time, at the end of the millennial reign of Christ, �For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

�No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed� (Isa.65:17-20). Isaiah continues of that halcyonic, tranquil, day of salvation � �They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands� (verses 21-22).

But to those who did NOT DO these acts of compassion and mercy on their neighbor, those who deliberately lived lives of EVIL, wickedness, cruelty and brutality to their neighbor � who were guilty of deliberately, premeditatedly lying, stealing, rape, murder, and gross iniquity � He will say to them: �DEPART from Me, you CURSED, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels� (v.41). When they remonstrate, saying they were innocent, they never failed to do these things to HIM, He will answer them: �Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me� (v.45).

�And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the RIGHTEOUS into eternal life� (verse 46).

True Righteousness = True Love of Neighbor

What is the conclusion of the matter? �Righteousness,� in God�s sight, is, by definition keeping God�s commandments. David wrote, �All Your commandments are righteousness� (Psalm 119:172). Those who love God, and who love their neighbor, and show it by their deeds, are RIGHTEOUS in spirit, even if they are ignorant of technicalities or other legal aspects of the Law.

The apostle Paul declared this clearly. He wrote, �Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

�Love suffers long, and is kind; does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil [keeps no accounts of evil]; does not rejoice in iniquity [lawlessness], but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never fails� (I Cor.13:1-8).

Or, as Paul told the Romans, �Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another HAS FULFILLED THE LAW. For the commandments, �You shall not commit adultery,� �You shall not murder,� �You shall not steal,� �You shall not bear false witness,� �You shall not covet,� and if there is any other commandment, ALL ARE SUMMED UP IN THIS SAYING, namely, �You shall love your neighbor as yourself.� Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore LOVE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW� (Romans 13:8-10).

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