Salvation

Boy: Good question! Jesus came to Earth from Heaven because He wanted to tell us how much He and His Father God, both love us. It doesn’t matter if we live in a big city, or out in the countryside, in a desert, or on a tropical island. Jesus wants to live in our hearts no matter where we live.

Girl: He wants to live in my heart more than in a fancy palace?

Boy: That’s right. And the best way we can show Jesus we love Him is by letting Him live in our hearts. Jesus even promised that if we let Him live in our hearts in this life, then He’ll save a special place for us in Heaven.

Girl: So, how do I ask Jesus to live in my heart?

Boy: Just tell Him…

Boy and Girl: “Jesus, thank You for coming to Earth to show us Your love. I want You to live in my heart forever. Thank You also for saving a place for me in Heaven.”

Girl: Is Jesus in my heart now?

Boy: Yes! Now Jesus is your special, invisible friend, He’ll always be with you, no matter what.

(end of tract)

The Family has produced countless tracts, most containing some form of the salvation prayer, the so-called ‘sinner’s prayer’. Most include the phrase ‘Jesus come into my heart’, which of course is loosely based on the wording in Revelations 3:20. The Family claims millions of ‘souls saved’ to their credit, some of whom were people who prayed personally with Family members in one-on-one witnessing situations, but many of whom, of course, were rough estimates of crowd numbers at public performances. The Family does not see anything wrong with this method of collecting statistics and performing teams will regularly ask for a show of hands in order to come up with a number to put down on their monthly report.

Anyone who repeats the phrase “Jesus come into my heart” is counted as a soul saved, regardless of their level of understanding, their motive in praying or whether there is any change in their lives.

Family members generally feel very good about convincing people to pray with them, counting it as their work for the Lord, gifts they give to Jesus, the justification for their lifestyle and indeed the justification for the very existence of the Family. Whenever there is any negative publicity, Family spokespeople hotly point to statistics of souls saved and Gospel preached and often quote the verses in Matthew seven about the good tree bearing good fruit. The logic goes like this:

The Family preaches the Gospel and gets large numbers of souls saved; in fact the Family has much higher witnessing statistics than any other organisation its size. Therefore the unorthodox doctrines and practices are fully vindicated, and are obviously better doctrines and practices than those of the underachieving churches of mainstream Christianity. “By their fruits you shall know them.”

But what is salvation? Is someone really saved if they repeat the words, ‘Jesus come into my heart’? Do they really get saved when they raise their hands at a public performance? Is the purpose of salvation really to gain a new friend, as in the tract above? Is the reason that Jesus came to earth to ‘tell us how much He and His Father God, both love us’? Is someone saved if they do not ‘repent’? What place does such ‘easy-believism’ have in the Scriptures?

These are vital questions for many reasons. Primarily each one of us must be assured of our own personal salvation. We must know that we have been made right with God or we are literally in grave and eternal danger. Secondly, if there are questions about the validity of claiming salvation for every person who repeats the Family’s salvation prayer, then a large proportion of the Family’s statistics are also invalid. This would mean that the vindication for the unorthodox doctrine is gone, and the justification for each member’s choice of lifestyle is in doubt. Thirdly if we are giving people a flawed ‘salvation’, we are giving them no salvation and could in fact be causing them far greater harm than if we never spoke to them at all.

These are crucial questions, and the answers may only be found in the Bible.

Salvation from what?

If a woman is trapped in a burning building, and the firemen rescue her, she is saved from the fire. To be saved means that we were in mortal danger and then we were rescued so that the danger no longer exists.

There is a very real danger facing all of mankind, and it is something of which we should be justifiably afraid.

Luke 12:5 “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!

The fear is not of hell itself, or of the Devil, or of our own sin; Jesus said we are to fear God before Whom we will stand for judgement and from Whom we will receive our deserved eternal fate.

Judgement day is coming, and there seems to be Scriptural evidence to say that there will be a general judgement at Jesus’ 2^nd coming.

II Th 1:7-9

7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,

8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

Who will be punished? Those who do not know God, and those who do not obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their destruction seems to be an eternal separation from the Lord’s presence.

II Th 1:9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power (NIV)

This passage in Thessalonians echoes Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, where Jesus Himself will separate all nations before Him. Some will enter into eternal joy and others into eternal punishment.

Matt 25:31-34,41,46

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

32 “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.

33 “And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

46 “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Hell is a place of darkness, of fire, of punishment, of separation from God, of weeping, of bitter regrets.

Matt 25:30 ‘And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Why hell?

Hell is the place where we justly deserve to go. In the first place we inherited sin, death and corruption from Adam. No one is born perfect, sinless, pure. Everyone of us has inherited the corruption of sin that entered the world through Adam. Thus everyone who ever lived was born in sin and darkness and separation from God.

Rom 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man’s sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned

Before we place too much blame on poor Adam, we should remember that we also contributed to our own separation from God.

Isaiah 59:2-3

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity.

Every sin separates us from God, every lie we speak, every wrong thing our fingers do, every unkind word we ever spoke. All are ‘sin’ and all separate us from God. This is because God is perfection and no one with sin can exist in any contact with Him. If this were not so, if God could tolerate sin, He would not be God.

Without Jesus, we sit in the perpetual darkness of sin. Without Him, we remain under the shadow of eternal death, where death waits to claim us. Without Jesus our existence is little more than a living death, and upon the death of our mortal bodies we would immediately receive the judgement of eternal spiritual death.

Luke 1:79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

John 5:24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Payment for sin

The only possibility of escape from eternal death lies in Jesus’ atonement for our sins.

Rom 3:23-25

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--

(NIV)

Jesus allowed Himself to be killed that we might live.

Matt 20:28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation

By grace we are saved through faith.

We then may be justified by faith. This is not faith in Jesus’ life, not faith in Jesus having existed, or Jesus having preached on love and forgiveness, not even faith in Jesus being the Son of God, or coming to earth to show us His Father’s love. The fact is that faith in these things will not save our souls from hell.

We are justified only by faith in Jesus’ death on the cross in our place, in order to reconcile us to God. The only salvation that can come is through our acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins, which would send us to the hell we deserve. Salvation without faith in Jesus’ payment for our sins is no salvation at all.

Jesus spoke of those who believed in His name, who did good works for Him, who even performed miracles and who prophesied ‘in Jesus’ name’, but who were destined for eternal separation from Him.

Matt 7:21-23

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

22 “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’

23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Receiving a prophecy ‘from Jesus’ is no guarantee of our salvation, neither can we look at apparent answers to prayer. Therefore, saying the words, “Jesus, please come into my heart” means nothing without an acceptance of our reconciliation to God through Jesus’ death for us. Likewise, the phrase “I believe you are the Son of God” is a vain exercise in religious works unless we have received Jesus’ atonement for our sins.

Again, salvation without faith in Jesus’ payment for our sins is no salvation at all.

Repentance

Can we ‘get saved’ without repenting of our sins? Actually, the question is meaningless because salvation is our acceptance by God due to Jesus’ payment for our sins. Our part is faith in His sacrifice to pay for those sins, thus bringing us into fellowship with God the Father. Repentance is the forsaking of the sins that Jesus died for. If there is no repentance, it means we have not accepted that Jesus atoned for our sins, it would mean that we are still bearing our own responsibility for them and therefore will suffer eternal separation from God in hell. In other words, repentance is not something distinct from salvation, it is merely a description of what happens as we are accepted in fellowship with God.

Jesus came to call sinners to repentance.

Luke 5:31-32

31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Matt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Repentance cannot be separated from salvation, it is what happens at salvation.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 3:19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord

Acts 20:21 “testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 17:30-31

30 “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,

31 “because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary

In Jesus’ preaching of the kingdom of God is seen the truth that repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin: by repentance, one turns away from sin; by faith, one turns toward God in accepting the Lord Jesus Christ. Such a twofold turning, or conversion, is necessary for entrance into the kingdom. “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 18:3. “Unless you repent,” said Jesus, “you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3,5). This is the negative, or judgmental, side of Jesus’ message. The positive, or merciful, side is seen in these words: “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).

Believing in Jesus

There is not a variety of ways in which we can get saved. In other words, we cannot say that some people get saved by saying ‘come into my heart’, others by saying ‘I believe in Jesus’ and still others by repentance. There is only one way to avoid hell, and that is through our acceptance of Jesus’ forgiveness, and another word for what happens when we accept this forgiveness is ‘repentance’.

Thus we may see that it is even possible to misinterpret John 3:16.

John 3:16, 18-21

16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19 “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

20 “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

21 “But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

In this passage, we return to the theme of all mankind living in darkness until by faith in Jesus our Saviour we may approach the light. Approaching the light necessarily means forsaking the darkness. The only way we can forsake the darkness is by recognising that this darkness is within us; it’s not external, it is inherently part of our sinful nature. Believing in Jesus is allowing Him to cleanse us from our sin, and coming to the Light of God is repentance.

Salvation in the Family

Unfortunately, we can see many problems with the salvation commonly preached by the Family, of which the tract reproduced at the top of this page is a typical example.

“Jesus, thank You for coming to Earth to show us Your love. I want You to live in my heart forever. Thank You also for saving a place for me in Heaven.”

As a ‘salvation prayer’ this falls far short of reconciliation to God through forgiveness of sin. We must therefore conclude that someone who receives this tract and prays this prayer may in fact continue in sin and darkness and ultimately spend eternity in separation from God.

“Jesus even promised that if we let Him live in our hearts in this life, then He’ll save a special place for us in Heaven. And the best way we can show Jesus we love Him is by letting Him live in our hearts. Jesus wants to live in our hearts no matter where we live. He wanted to tell us how much He and His Father God, both love us. He wants to be [our] friend…[our] special, invisible friend.”

Jesus did not come to earth with His main message being, “I will be your friend” or “Let me live in your heart” or even “I love you”. He came as God in the flesh to die for our sins. We do not pray the salvation prayer in order to show Jesus how much we love Him, but to accept forgiveness for our sins, and come to the light of God, which is the same as repentance. Having Jesus as our special invisible friend cannot save us, nor can thanking Him for a place in heaven. There can be no salvation without forgiveness of sin. The whole purpose of the ‘sinner’s prayer’ is that the sinner, realising that he is a sinner, knowing that there is nothing he can do to reconcile himself to God, accepts Jesus’ sacrifice for his sins thus repenting of his or her sins.

Our ‘place in heaven’

Matt 13:41-43

41 “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,

42 “and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

43 “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

When Jesus returns, there will be a great separation, those with any sin in them (‘all things that offend’) will be sent to hell. The only way to avoid that is to accept Jesus’ righteousness and forgiveness through repentance in faith. If hell is a place of eternal separation from God, then heaven is the place of eternal union with God, where we shine as the sun because we have been justified by the Light of the world, and cleansed from all darkness.

Reconciliation

(Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary)

The process by which God and man are brought together again. The Bible teaches that God and man are alienated from one another because of God’s holiness and man's sinfulness. Although God loves the sinner (Rom. 5:8), it is impossible for Him not to judge sin (Heb. 10:27). Therefore, in biblical reconciliation, both parties are affected. Through the sacrifice of Christ, man’s sin is atoned and God’s wrath is appeased. Thus, a relationship of hostility and alienation is changed into one of peace and fellowship.

The initiative in reconciliation was taken by God-- while we were still sinners and “enemies,” Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8,10; Col. 1:21). Reconciliation is thus God’s own completed act, something that takes place before human actions such as confession, repentance, and restitution. God Himself “has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 5:18).

Paul regarded the gospel as “the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19). And knowing “the terror of the Lord,” Paul pleaded, implored, and persuaded men: “Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20).

Conclusion

Our own salvation does not rest upon our having asked Jesus into our hearts. In fact, we may have prayed those words, and yet still remain unsaved. Therefore we should make sure that we have in fact repented of all sin and received Jesus’ atonement or we will not find any place in heaven. Secondly, we should be very cautious before claiming large numbers of statistics comprising of people who may or may not have come to the Light, which is, in effect, the same thing as repentance. Thirdly, when we witness to people, we must give them the facts about salvation, sin, atonement and repentance. Giving people the idea that they can receive Jesus as a new friend which will somehow guarantee them a place in heaven is misleading at best, and at worst may even obstruct their salvation. The person we’re witnessing to may then think, “As I have Jesus as my friend, I don’t have to worry about these religious ideas of sin or repentance, I will go to heaven, no matter what I do.” The consequences are eternal.

Salvation does not come through a magic formula, repeating a stock prayer. Neither does it come through picturing Jesus as an invisible friend, or through believing that He loves us. Salvation is repentance from sin, accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for us. There is no other salvation.

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