Page 99 - Prophetic Word Newsletter Archive 2011

AN WE PROVE FROM THE SCRIPTURES THAT SALVATION FOLLOWS THIS PROGRESSIVE PATTERN?

PAST We know that the event known as the “new birth” is when salvation comes to man.
To what part of man does salvation come, the total man (spirit, soul and body) or
SSAALLVVAATTIIOONN BBEEGGIINNSS to a portion of man as God created him? Jesus specifically tells us what happens
IINN TTHHEE SSPPIIRRIITT at the new birth.

“…THAT WHICH IS What is “born again” is the spirit of man. However, the spirit is not the complete
BORN OF THE SPIRIT
IS SPIRIT… expression of a man, is it? Man is spirit, possesses a soul, and lives in a body, all of
“YOU MUST which God intends to “sanctify completely” as we saw earlier in 1 Thess. 5:23-24.

BE BORN AGAIN.” God works in man from the inside to the outside. Life must begin with a transformation of his
Jn. 3:5-7 degenerate spirit by the Spirit of the living God (see Rom. 8:15-16). here man receives the

first definition of grace that we studied earlier, “Divine influence upon the heart.”

However, as you also remember there is a second manifestation of God’s grace that must follow, “and its reflection
in the life” which, brings us to the second phase of God’s plan of salvation, bringing restoration to the soul of the
born again Christian. This is not a product of the new birth.

PRESENT Wow! Notice when the apostle Peter declares that salvation comes to “the
soul”! It is at THE END of your faith, rather than a thing achieved at the the
SSAALLVVAATTIIOONN IISS WWOORRKKEEDD beginning via the act of the new birth! Remember, earlier, I showed you that
OOUUTT IINN TTHHEE SSOOUULL your “Faith without works is a dead faith”, and that grace received in your
heart is now to have a “reflection in the life.” The new birth is to be followed
“…RECEIVING THE END with an outward manifestation of a new life! That is why Paul states, “If
OF YOUR FAITH-THE SALVATION anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
OF YOUR SOULS…”
1 Pet. 1:9

“WE ARE NOT OF THOSE WHO Likewise, the apostle Paul places the saving of the soul as a goal set before
DRAW BACK TO PERDITION, the Christian, not as an event that took place at the new birth. Notice, too,

BUT OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE that Paul believed that a Christian could go backwards all the way to perdition
TO THE SAVING OF THE SOUL” (“eternal misery”).
Heb. 10:39
Dear Christian, IF you accept that faith is to be EVIDENCED by works,

“…WORK OUT YOUR and IF you believe God is looking for an outward reflection of His grace
OWN SALVATION WITH EVIDENCED in your life, then you can fully understand this difficult verse penned
FEAR AND TREMBLING, by the apostle Paul instructing the believer to “work out your own salvation” as
God “works in you” to will and do of His good pleasure! God expects His “sheep” to
FOR IT IS GOD submit to the “restoration of the soul” as stated in Psalm 23:3. God expects His
WHO WORKS IN YOU people to “be renewed in the spirit of their mind” in order that they may PROVE
BOTH TO WILL AND DO
OF HIS GOOD PLEASURE…” (demonstrate) what is the “good… acceptable…perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2).

Phil. 2:12-13

God expects His people to “put off the man which grows corrupt according to its deceitful lusts” and to “put on the

new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24). Do you really believe all these things

happened at the new birth, or are they an ongoing, progressive action taken by the born-again believer as he/she

submits to the working of the Spirit of Grace (the Holy Spirit) sent by God to finish the work Christ has begun. Paul

states, “Be confident of this very thing, that He who has BEGUN a good work in you shall COMPLETE it until the

day of Jesus Christ” (Phil.1:6). Are we not to look to Jesus as the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith”? (Heb.12:2).

Can you not see the absolute folly of espousing clever clichés like “once saved, always saved” when God still has

so much “salvation” to complete in us? Are we indeed “eternally secure” if we in essence only allow God to do the

initial work of bringing salvation to our spirit by means of the new birth?

FUTURE So much to say and so little space left to say it. This is the final act of our

FFIINNAALLIIZZEEDD salvation. It is the resurrection (or rapture) of the body of the believer. This is not
IINN TTHHEE BBOODDYY a finished work, but a future work. In last month’s newsletter, I was a pleading with
you to avoid cremating the body but rather to plant it as a seed in the ground as

“…EAGERLY WAITING FOR Paul plainly argues in 1 Cor. 15. Read carefully these two scriptures in their
THE ADOPTION, contextual setting as I lack the space to print them. At the appropriate moment,
THE REDEMPTION Jesus Christ Himself will raise the bodies of Christians from the grave. It is at this
OF OUR BODY… moment that THE BODY will put on IMMORTALITY (“eternal life”). The spirit and
the soul are ETERNAL, but the body has not yet put on eternal life. That is why
FOR WE ARE SAVED we are “being saved” because the process is not yet finished! In our next issue, I
IN THIS HOPE” want to talk to you about the doctrine of eternal life. We will ponder the same
Rom. 8:23-24 premise: “Is eternal life a PRESENT POSSESSION or is it a FUTURE
PROMISE.” You might be surprised by what the Scriptures say.
“…WHEN THIS MORTAL HAS
PUT ON IMMORTALITY…”
1 Cor. 15:54

Pastor Randy Shupe