Originally published in "The Lord's Coming Herald & Wesleyan Bible Prophecy Advocate," Winter Edition 2004
The Simple Bible Plan Of Full And Free Salvation
In true Wesleyanism salvation is a
process, not a state in which to park. This process of salvation begins when we
first hear the voice of God and respond to him in obedience and faith. It
continues in a path that leads to heaven, nor are we "saved" or "safe" until we
get there.
Now in Acts chapter 2, on the day of the inauguration of
Messiah's kingdom of redemption though the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy
Ghost (Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27), we have the clear apostolic
directive on how to get into this wonderful highway of full and free salvation
that leads to heaven.
"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38).
Peter is telling us that we can get what the 120 in the upper
room got by following these very simple steps:
1. Repent. Without repentance and its
subsequent assurance of forgiveness, we have not yet even begun our journey to
heaven. Repentance is "turning to God from idols to serve the true and living
God" (I Thessalonians 1:9). It means confessing and forsaking sin, and
trying, as far as humanly possible, to make our past wrongs right. The result of
repentance is the introduction of a flow of grace into the soul that will lead
us straight on into the fullness of the messianic kingdom of heart purity and
perfect love, if it is not willfully neglected or opposed.
2. Be baptized. To be baptized
with water in the name of the Lord is a testimony that we esteem Christ as the
end of the law for righteousness, and have accepted his atonement on the cross
as the only and all-sufficient basis for our redemption.
3. Receive the promise of the sanctifying
Spirit. When faith has been perfected and evidenced in the above manner
we are ready to be born or baptized by the Holy Ghost (Matthew 3:ll; Mark 1:8;
Luke3:16; John 1:33; 3:5; Acts 1:4-5; 15:8-9) into the kingdom of God (Romans
6:17-22; 8:1-4; 12:1-2; 14:17; 15:16; Colossians 1:13; I Thessalonians 5:23; I
Peter 1:22-23).
Salvation is not a static experience, it is a getting and
staying "connected" to the supernatural "current" of the Divine nature--a dynamic
relationship entered into, first, by being born of water (John 3:5)—that is,
forgiveness of sins (Acts 26:18), or the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5)—,
and, second, by being born of the Spirit (John 3:5)--that is, receiving an
inheritance among them that are sanctified (Acts 26:18), or the renewing of the
Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5). He that is so born of God into the fullness of the
kingdom "doeth not commit sin" (I John 3:9; 5:18).
In the above scriptural plan of salvation the expression
"born again" as used in John chapter 3 and elsewhere is of broader scope than
referring only to what is often called a first work of grace, or the initial
conversion to Christ experience. "Born again" or "born of God" is a
comprehensive term covering the complete change wrought in the soul of the
believer that has been purified from all sin, or what we in the Holiness
movement call entire sanctification.
This is not to say that being forgiven of sin, and being
entirely sanctified are the same thing, or that we get both experiences at
once.
Nor is it a lowering of the standard of either the initial
conversion to Christ experience or of entire sanctification. It is to say that
our modern doctrine of holiness--developed only recently to accommodate our
deeper and larger commitment to dispensational premillennial ideology--is not an
accurate reflection of either John Wesley's doctrine of holiness, or biblical teaching.
It is impossible to have a thoroughly accurate biblical
doctrine of salvation, friends, while at the same time holding to a system
of foreign ideology (i.e., dispensational premillennialism) that truncates the
central message of the Bible, which central message is the inauguration of God's
messianic kingdom of redemption on earth with the appearance of Jesus of
Nazareth two-thousand years ago.
The New Testament order of salvation is without the philosophical dualism, or the metaphysical dichotomies of modern popular Darbyism. The unity of salvation is found in the concept of the kingdom. To be "in" the kingdom is to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and as a consequence thereby to have received the messianic gift of a pure heart. This is not merely imputation either, it is, rather, a full impartation or effusion of divine grace effecting a radical inner moral change. It is a real cleansing of the heart by the supernatural power of God, and not the mere human intellectual "reckoning" of an imagined cleansing that, because of the evidence of inbred sin still remaining, and/or the lack of fruit unto holiness being manifest in the life following, is only illusionary fiction.
The Holy Ghost brings the kingdom as well as purifies the heart. Preparation for reception of the kingdom includes repentance, faith, and baptism, all articles of obedience that align the human will and desire with the purpose and mind of God.
To be forgiven of sin is not preeminently
the crowning feature of the new covenant, for even under the old dispensation
such was freely available, by faith looking forward to the Perfect Sacrifice.
What is the crowning feature of the New Covenant
dispensation, rather, is the cleansing of the heart from inbred sin. This is
accomplished by the direct personal agency of the Holy Ghost, who had not yet
been given before Pentecost, because the Son of man had not yet been glorified.
With the ascension of Jesus to the everlasting messianic throne of David at the
right hand of the Majesty on High, however, provision for the realization of the
kingdom has been made final and complete.
Now redemption is provided for us all in the kingdom. It is
not a partial, or a limited salvation either, but a full and complete salvation,
meaning that the blood of Jesus Christ now cleanses from all sin. This cleansing
is always the result of a prior obedience--God gives the Holy Ghost to those
that obey Him. When we obey from the heart the form of doctrine (concerning the
kingdom) being delivered unto us, we are thereby "made free from sin, and
have our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life" (Romans
6:17-22).
God is not concerned with our modern religious terminology,
or the way that human minds attempt to systematize doctrine. If our human
attempt to systematize theology helps us enter the kingdom, well and good. If,
as a result of our commitment to human classifications of doctrine, however, we
end up in unbelief or failure in our response to the in-broken messianic
kingdom, our salvation is less than authentic.
Entering the messianic kingdom of redemption is a process,
friends, and there is no place to park along the highway of holiness. The stream
of grace that enters the soul when we first turn to God in genuine repentance
will carry us out with sweet consent till all our hallowed souls are his, if we
will but allow it to do so!
Such a paradigm of salvation as we have described above
reflects more accurately, we believe, both the positive teaching of the New
Testament itself, and John Wesley's understanding of the optimism of grace. That
optimism was lost among us when the modern Wesleyan Holiness movement fell into
the theological errors of dispensational premillennialism upwards of fifty and
more years ago.
The way back is to shed Darbyism, and return to the Bible.
It's a choice of ignorance and prejudice against truth and reality. Now the
Spirit is saying unto the churches: "wake up, and deal with it!"
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