Can I Lose my Salvation?

I'm sure that any christian that has professed Jesus Christ as their personal savior has asked themselves this question. It is a hot topic of debate amongst denominations all across the world. Some believe that salvation can be lost by continual disobedience and sin done in ignorance of Christ's death on the cross. Others believe that salvation once recieved cannot be lost no matter what you do. Can a case be made for or against eternal security from Torah?

I have begun to realize from studying scripture that salvation is a one time, free gift for all mankind. We don't have to do anything to earn this salvation. It is given by faith. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. The covenant God made with Abraham was unconditional. It was by faith. I have posted previously on this blog about the covenants ("Covenant Complications") and how one covenant does not cancel out the other. Let us consider the Mosaic Covenant for a moment. The Mosaic Covenant made with the Israelites and Moses is conditional. If you read Leviticus you will see the language used is "if" "then". IF you do this, then I will do this. In addition, the covenants established by God with his people were everlasting. The covenant God made with Abraham was everlasting. Why? It was made by faith. Obedience brings the blessings. If we obey the Lord in all of his ways then blessing will come to us. The opposite is true also. If we disobey God, there will be curses. Please remember that God is still as faithful to the blessing as He is to the cursing. He never changed between two testaments.

I believe the reason this topic is so debated within evangelical christian circles is because we don't really understand the difference between redemption and righteousness. Have I been redeemed? What does it mean to be redeemed? It means to be bought with a price, ransomed, somebody else paid my punishment for me. Righteousness is what we do with that redemption. How do I live after I've been redeemed? Remember the Mosaic covenant is conditional; "if you do this then I will...you fill in the blank. The Mosaic covenant is what shows us how to live rightly within our redemption. If we obey the Lord we are blessed. If we disobey the Lord we are cursed. Remember also the Torah was not given for salvation, it was given for teaching and instruction. It is there so we know how to walk in our redemption. Am I giving a license to sin? No, I'm not. Humans make choices. We choose to obey or disobey. If we disobey, forgiveness awaits us at the cross.

Salvation is a one time gift given once for all people. Salvation is not conditional. Salvation is an unconditional gift freely given and freely recieved. We make salvation conditional by saying that if we sin too much over a specific period of time we lose this free gift. Why would God revoke a free gift? Is that the God we know? "The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love."

The Lord's Appointed Times: Part 1

The photo to the left is a pie chart of the appointed times of Yahweh. The very first appointed time is the Sabbath day. You can read more on the Sabbath by reading the post called "The Sabbath and God's People." The first feast of the year is celebrated during the Spring season. The Spring season is marked in green on the pie chart. The Spring season begins with Passover or Pesach in Hebrew. This celebration commemorates the Lord's deliverance of Israel out of slavery in Egypt and is also prophetic of our deliverance from sin through Christ. The second feast of Yahweh is Unleavened Bread. Unleavened bread is significant because we leave behind all of the contamination and "fermentation" (meaning of 'leaven' in Hebrew) of the world and focusing on keeping ourselves faithful and obedient to the Lord. Then we have First Fruits. This feast celebrates the harvest that comes when we enter into the Lord's promised blessing. Our first fruit is Christ. He is the first and the last sacrifice for sin. We are the first fruit of that sacrifice. We are the harvest of Christ. After firstfruits, we count 49 days from the sabbath. The fiftieth day is the Shavuot or the Feast of Pentecost. If you would like to read the story of Shavuot or Pentecost, check out these scriptures: Genesis 11, Exodus 32, Numbers 5, and Acts 2. I will go into the amazing story of Pentecost from the beginning to the end in another post. The feast of Pentecost celebrates new life in the Spirit of Torah (teaching and instruction). When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we have the power and strength to obey all of the Lord's teachings and instructions.

Some of you maybe thinking, what about all the sacrifices and offerings. You don't need to go out and buy a lamb or a bull, all you need to do is honor the Lord by encouraging a brother or sister, and sharing the blessings God has given in your life (i.e., food, drink etc). I will close part 1 with this; at the end of every command concerning a feast the Lord says, "This is to be an everlasting ordinance for you and the generations to come." Are we one of those generations? Christ celebrated with his disciples, and Paul celebrated these feasts thirty years after Christ died. If we are, these feasts are for us today.

To be continued...

Passover and Communion: The Big Picture

It has almost been a week since I last posted. I had an interesting conversation with a young man at work last night. He has only been a Christian for about 3-5 months. We began by talking about communion and its meaning, proceeded to talk about Paul, and finished by talking about the church and Constantine. This conversation inspired me to post about the relationship between communion and the Passover. Connections like these can be seen all over the bible.

Communion and Passover are both done in remembrance of what God has done. Today, communion is a remembrance of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross for us. Passover, was a celebration of God's deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. As we all are aware, Israel was enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. For 400 years, Israel cried out for a deliverer to come and deliver them out of the hard hand of Pharoah. God's ways are not our ways. The deliverer would come from among them. He was one of them. His name was Moses. Remember, Moses, just like Jesus went into the desert and wandered for a long time until he came to a watering hole and the house of Jethro. Jethro would become Moses' father in law. Anyways, we're all familiar with the burning bush, where God called Moses. Moses went back to Egypt and commanded Pharaoh by the words of the Lord to let Israel go. Nine times he commanded Pharaoh, nine times Pharaoh disobeyed. The tenth time, a serious plague would come upon Egypt. Every male firstborn in Egypt would die if Pharaoh did not let Israel go. What about the Israelites living in Egypt? The Lord had a plan. He instructed Moses to have every Israelite slave cover their doorposts in the blood of a pure spotless lamb. When the Spirit of God moved through Egypt, those doors with the blood on them would be passed over. From that time forward, Israel was to celebrate Passover every year in the Hebrew month of Nisan on the fourteenth day. Israel did as the Lord commanded. In fact, some Egyptians decided to believe and stay with an Israelite family until the Lord passed over. Pharaoh had seen enough; for even his firstborn son was dead. He let the Israelites go free. Deliverance had come to Israel!!

Fast forward to the time Jesus earthly ministry. In Jesus we have another deliverer. He would deliver us from sin and death. How? Jesus is often referred to as the lamb of God. What animal did the blood belong to at the time of Israel's deliverance? A lamb, a pure and spotless lamb. Jesus is the pure and spotless lamb sacrificed for us. The lamb in the story of Israel's deliverance is a picture of Jesus. What would wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus...you all know the song. We were covered in the blood of the pure and spotless lamb of God just like the doorposts of every Israelite home in Egypt were covered with the blood of a lamb. We have passed over from death to life because of the blood of Jesus. In hebraic thought, Egypt is a picture of the world system. We are to be in the world but not of the world. Israel was in Egypt but were to remain faithful to the Lord. Passover and Communion are one in the same. The facts and details of Israel's deliverance from Egypt and our deliverance from sin are identical.

Remember, please feel free to test everything you read on my blog. Paul says we are to show ourselves approved through study of God's word.