003 What is salvation?

The Spiritual nature of Salvation…

His spirit lives in you

Receiving salvation, through Jesus Christ, is not the end of a life-changing experience, but the beginning of something miraculous in your life. A new beginning! All of your sins have been forgiven and you are clean before God. Like the lowly caterpillar you’ve been transformed into a beautiful butterfly. Now it’s time to soar!

Unless you understand and believe in the spiritual nature of your salvation you will always find yourself in religious ritual and traditions, you will dry up and then give up! Jesus died on the Cross so that you could have a Relationship with Him! A relationship implies two-way communication. 

1. You speak to Him, that’s called prayer. Don’t try to memorize a prayer and then recite it. Just talk to God as you would to a close friend. The Bible says that Jesus regards you as a friend! Why not talk to him friend-tofriend? 
2. When God speaks to you, it’s called personal revelation- He reveals Himself to you. That can happen in so many different ways. We will address some of these ways in the future. However, for now, if a thought occurs to you after prayer… a thought that you wouldn’t normally think of and it is a thought of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness or self-control- then it’s probably from the Lord.

To fully appreciate what God has done we need to look at the spiritual side of our nature. Most people tend to think of themselves as soul and body, but God created you with a spirit as well as soul and body. You are three in one spirit, soul and body just as God is three in one, the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. 

If you want to overcome the disappointments and scars of the past, the habits that have kept you in bondage, restore broken relationships and have a sense of purpose and joy in life, then you must have a “mind change”. That change begins with seeing yourself as spirit, soul and body instead of just body and soul. This is such an important change in view or paradigm it will determine your success in overcoming in this life. 

There are at least 3 important bible verses that confirm our three-part nature:

• Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (soul)”.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
• Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”.

Let’s take a closer look at the three parts of who you are, spirit, soul and body.

Imagine 3 circles, one labeled Body, then another Soul and finally one called Spirit. Where the circles intersect, or overlap is where and who you are. To ignore the spiritual side of you is to live at 2/3^rd of your potential and ability that is as soul and body. You are not just soul and body but, spirit, soul and body- all three in one. 

Body– your physical body communicates or interacts with the physical world. You communicate through your senses: touch, smell, hearing, sight, taste. Everything you know about the physical world you learned through physical experience. As a result of your experiences you have come to certain conclusions about the world we live in, of course not all those conclusions are true.

Soul– your soul is where your emotions, decision making or will, intellect and personality reside. Your mind, if you will, interprets all of the stimulus input from your physical body. The soul is also where all of your reasoning resides. Your soul communicates with the souls of other people and relationships, good and bad, are formed as a result of your soul.

Spirit- if your body communicates with the physical world, and your soul communicates with other souls… can you guess what your spirit communicates with? Yes, the spiritual realm! So, what is the spiritual realm? Briefly, there are 3 components: the spirit of God, the spirit of other people, and the spirit of the Devil. 

Your past does not have to determine your future. Being a Christian means that everything is new. You may look in the mirror and see no change in your physical body. You may not think differently right now in your Soul but being a believer means that your Spirit is made alive and you now are able to communicate with God. God’s love, guidance and power are made available to you by His Spirit.

Because of Jesus, we can now have direct communication with God. God knows what you need and wants to help you be renewed and filled with His Holy Spirit. 

Rehabilitation or Transformation?

Because of our new spiritual connection to God we are forgiven and there is no longer condemnation for sin. It was doubt, guilt shame and regret that tended to keep us living in the past with the belief that we were condemned, and that our lives could never change. However, in one tremendous miracle, when you repented and accepted Jesus into your life, you became a new creation! Forgiven, accepted and loved by God and His love means that He will never leave or abandon you. 2 Cor 5:17

Condemnation

It is true that before you accepted Jesus into your life you were “condemned” as a result of your Sin! Simply put you were going to Hell for eternity, but now you have changed your destination by trusting in Jesus Christ alone, Heaven is now yours. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:1, “There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh (or the soul), but according to the Spirit (of God)”. Don’t allow others try to heap condemnation on you. You have passed from death to life.

Sin Nature

Without getting into the theology of the “Sin Nature” today; let me say that we are all born with a “sin nature”. Sin nature means we have a natural tendency to do what is wrong in God’s eyes. We want to be in control and do what we want instead of doing what we should do as children of God. So, we could say that the central problem with mankind is that “we are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners!” Without Jesus’ you can’t help yourself.

Your sins, although many, were simply the proof that you did not believe or trust in Jesus. Let me repeat that thought, your sinful life was the evidence of your unbelief or disbelief in what Jesus Christ accomplished for you. However, now you are putting your trust in Jesus and His teachings and as a result, you are a new “Creation”. Let me repeat 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”.

A very important question to ask yourself is, “As a Christian are you trying to rehabilitate yourself or allowing God’s Holy Spirit to transform you into the person, He wants you to be”? This has been the central issue of Christian living for two thousand years! Does looking like a Christian make you a Christian or is there something deeper?

Rehabilitation means to rebuild or restore by your own efforts to be “Good”, or to sin no more. It’s like putting a coat of paint on the exterior of a dilapidated house. It may look good on the outside, but nothing has changed on the inside of the house. So, many Christians try to change by following rules, traditions and laws in an attempt to become more Christ-like. This is a form of legalism (outward works) and doesn’t deal with the root issue… Sin! Rehabilitation attempts, by self-control, to produce lasting change, it will never work! You cannot produce genuine spiritual change from the outside in. 

Before I lapse into heresy, let me say that Christianity shows us what is the right thing to do and we should try with all our strength to do the right things, but genuine change is an “inside job”.

Transformation, on the other hand, means that your spirit working with the Holy Spirit of God is changing you from the inside out. It is not just a change in mind that you need, but a change of heart. That’s transformation. Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. In other words, let God renew your mind! Transformation means that God has placed a “new heart” in you and you now have the ability to think God thoughts. Your Spirit influences your soul which then controls your body. 

Trusting in Jesus means that you believe in Him and are applying His teachings to your life. You may find that difficult in the beginning because you have a life-time of habits and wrong thinking to overcome. Remember, your spirit is reborn, but your soul still needs some work. Nevertheless, God says you are a new Creation; God is giving you an opportunity to start over, or as kids would say, a do-over.

As a new “creation” how are we supposed to live our lives as Christians. As a follower of Jesus, I don’t need to continue in the behavior of the past because that has passed away. We need instruction, but not worldly instruction. It was worldly instruction that got us into the mess we found ourselves in before we trusted in Jesus. We need spiritual instruction from God! Because we are now spiritual, we can now make sense of a spiritual book and that book is called the Bible!