To Kay, My sister in Christ, 

Thank you so much for sharing such a heartfelt testimony about your own life, that of your family, and the heartaches you are going through.  I am myself a father of four (still all younger than 10), and it is one of my highest callings right now to do all I can, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, so that my children grow up and know and love the Lord Jesus Christ.  I will not rest if but one, or two, or three grow into salvation.  No, I will not rest knowing any but all four are firmly planted in Him. 

It is my prayer that what I am going to share may be an encouragement to you.  I myself grew up in the church.  The long story made short, I had a head knowledge of Christ, even a heart knowledge since the time I was in college.  But the bottom line, when it came to the regular struggle between my old man (my sinful nature) and the new man (Christ and the Holy Spirit), the old man won out far, far too often.  Looking back, I would be what I would call “overcome” by the world.  If you would relate my life to one of the parables, I would have been the seed that grew up amongst thorns and weeds, with the cares of this world starting to choke off the new life that was in me.  Now, you would not necessarily know this by looking at my outer appearance.  But deep inside of me, with the things I struggled with, this was the case. 

But lately, over the last many years, I have realized something that has made a profound difference in the way I live my life.  I will share what this is in just a moment.  But before I do, there is something else that needs to be mentioned.  All who visit this site realize, I would guess, that we are so, so close to the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Now that being the case, we are also then living during the time of the Laodicean church.
 

From Revelation, Chapter 3 (NIV)

 14"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
      These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." 

Oh, my dear brothers and sisters, I pray we humbly see what this passage says.  I know it fit me to a tee in my younger years.  Christ Himself says to this church (they are all believers) that they are naked, but do not even realize it.  This too, I will come back to.

OK, now for that profound thing that changed the way I live.  I will start in the Old Testament, for all things revealed by God having to do with salvation (and any other matter really) must be built upon foundations found in the beginning.  I could go all the way back to the first few chapters in Genesis, how God created light on the first day, then spent the next 5 days perfecting creation, and then rested on the seventh day.  But instead, let us look to the Passover.  The Passover itself certainly pointed to Christ, for Christ Himself is our Passover Lamb.  His blood was shed, and the price was paid for our eternal salvation.  This work (and NOTE THAT IT WAS A WORK, A WORK DONE BY GOD ALMIGHTY) was done entirely by God, and is a gift to us, lest any should boast.  And it is a perfect, complete work as well, never to be tarnished or taken away from us.  Praise God for His wonderful grace and mercy He has for us!  Now, I know there is going to be a “but” coming.  And to all my wonderful brothers and sisters who want to keep preaching our eternal salvation based solely upon the work Christ did for us on the cross, AMEN!  Preach it, I say.  I love you dearly, for no other foundation can be laid, other than that laid upon Christ.

Now, here is the “but”.  Passover was also followed immediately, or really, as an integral part, with the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  This was a time when those in Israel would cast out all leaven from within their homes for a period of 7 days.  My brothers and sisters, do you see this?  After the free gift of blood, there was to be a change that took place and then a work to follow, after God’s direction.  And in the believer’s life, after the gift of blood shed for us by our Passover Lamb, we are to take a period of 7 days (denoting a complete period, our entire lives), and work with God’s direction (the Holy Spirit) to cast out the leaven (sin) in our lives.  The book of 1 Peter talks about this, in Chapter 1 (gosh, I could write an entire letter just talking about this chapter, but here are the verses that show what this is talking about:

7These (speaking about trials) have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

And

14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy.”

Note a few things.  Especially from verse 9.  There is a salvation, YET FUTURE, and of our soul, in fact, it is the goal of our faith.  And there is also the call to “be holy”.  Now can I hear an “AMEN” from my brothers and sisters here?  Do we automatically become holy when we accept Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior?  NO, of course not.  Our spirits are born again at that time.  But are our souls???  No, that salvation is yet future, in fact, it is a process that we are to work on with the Holy Spirit for the rest of our lives, and we will see that final salvation when we stand before Christ Himself. 

And this is where, dear Kay, I feel we as a body are missing what God’s Word is teaching us.  We are good at preaching the sinner’s prayer, about coming to Jesus for forgiveness of our sins, and having everlasting life.  But we do not balance that by teaching what the Word says about casting out the leaven in our lives, or about being holy, or about the salvation that is yet future, of our souls.

Now, here is the big question.  Why is this “salvation of our souls” important?  It is important so that we may cloth ourselves with righteousness, and not be found naked when He returns.  And this is where it really gets important.  Look at the parable of the wedding guest (Matthew Ch 22), or the parable of the talents and pounds (Matthew Ch 25 and Luke 19), or the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew Ch 25), or the “overcomers” in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3.  There are rewards and blessings given to those who prove faithful, and who overcome, and who’s lamps are full of oil, and who are found with garments on when our Master returns.  Now to those who are not found in this category, well ... I will let Scripture and the Holy Spirit convict you of what the Master has to say about such individuals.  I myself don’t get a warm fuzzy feeling about that one ... and I think it is ok to have a healthy fear of God here to also help motivate us.

So the church today generally (I am speaking in very general terms here) preaches salvation of our spirits (a work by God, a free gift, and nothing that can be taken away from us), but neglects the salvation of our souls (yet future, works on our part following the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and incredibly important if we are to reach the goal of our calling).  And this has led to a church, which as I look around our world today, fits exactly what was prophesied by Christ Himself to be the church he would find just prior to His return ... lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, thinking we have need of no thing, all the while not realizing that we are completely naked.  It leads to a body of believers that have been overcome by the world, not a body that is full of overcomers.

Now, I wrote this to hopefully encourage you.  I have posted here at this site several other times about these matters, and they have links to the studies that I am talking about.  My postings are here:  

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2008/erikj41.htm

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2008/erikj43.htm

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2008/erikj415.htm

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/apr2008/erikj416.htm


The Bible Studies that I reference in these postings have had a profound impact on my own spiritual life.  I now realize how critical it is to cling to the Holy Spirit, and partner with Him as He works with me to bring this “removal of leaven from my life” about.  I now realize the difference between the salvation of my spirit (justification based upon Christ’s work on the cross) and the salvation of my soul (sanctification based upon daily walking with the Spirit, taking off my old self, putting on Christ, and being made holy).  And most importantly, I now realize the goal of my salvation (both spirit and soul), to be a part of the bride of Christ, and I realize that it will be those who overcome that reach this group.  God’s Word is so, so clear about these matters.  I pray that these studies will encourage you, and give you hope for you and your family.

 

Humbly in Christ,

Erik Jonson