THREE FACTS CONCERNING SALVATION

“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne

1. Salvation is NOW – the believer is saved and delivered from sin now.

Luke 19:9-10 (KJV) – “And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
2 Corinthians 6:2 (ERV) – “God says, “I heard you at the right time, and I gave you help on the day of salvation.” I tell you that the “right time” is now. The “day of salvation” is now.
Romans 10:9 (KJV) – “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.“
Today is the day of salvation! The moment you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, believing that He died and rose again for you, you are saved. It is not a future event – it happens instantaneously! You are not a sinner, saved by grace. You were a sinner – now you are the righteousness of God in Christ! Galatians 3:13 says that, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us.” Sin loses its power over us and the fear of death and judgment has been erased.
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 (NKJV) says, “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are sanctified and made righteous in God’s eyes, by the Holy Spirit. It is a supernatural thing precipitated by faith in the truth of God’s word.
1 John 1:9 (KJV) says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Once we are born again, all sins are forever forgiven and washed away and our place in heaven has been assured. It is up to us to walk in the light of God’s word from then on. Thank God – when we sin – we can go back to God to ask and receive forgiveness and continue to walk in fellowship with Him.

2. The believer is being kept from sin as he walks in the light.

Philippians 2:12 (KJV) – “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
Without faith in God, there is no salvation. No good works of your own can save you. However, once you are saved by His grace, you have an obligation to yourself to walk it out in your own life. Your spirit man is a new creation and the Holy Spirit has come to live in you, but your mind and body must learn to be submitted to the Word and the Holy Spirit so that you can continue to grow in Him and see His life and blessing and peace manifested in your body and mind.
2 Timothy 3:14-15 NKJV – “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.“
Titus 2:11-14 (NKJV) – “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
We choose to walk in the righteousness, already purchased for us, because we have received and understood the great things God has done in us and how we are His purchased possession. We do not belong any more to ourselves, but to Him. We are washed in His blood; we are His peculiar people; His special treasure. We know that we will see Him again, so we live and conduct ourselves like people who are living, even now, in His very presence.
Hebrews 2:1-4 (NKJV) – “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”
1 John 1:7 (NKJV) – “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

3. The believer will eventually be saved from all the fall.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 (KJV) – “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Hebrews 5:9 (KJV) – “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”
Hebrews 9:28 (KJV) – “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
1 Peter 1:5 (KJV) – “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
1 Peter 1:9 (KJV) – “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”
1 Peter 1:13 (KJV) – “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
When Adam and Eve fell in sin, they lost everything. We who are born again walk in the light, but are subject to the results and products of sin and death. There is coming a time when we will be restored to God exactly as Adam and Eve were before the fall. Except this time, we will never, ever be plucked from His hand for all eternity! Hallelujah!

THE HUMILITY TO WORSHIP THE LORD

“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24 KJV

For we [Christians] are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit and by the Spirit of God and exult and glory and pride ourselves in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence or dependence [on what we are] in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances. Philippians 3:3 AMP

The name, Christian, means “Christ-like” or “little anointed one” — a worshipper, a follower and an imitator of God. You are not a Christian because you call yourself one; you are not a Christian because you are better than the next person; you are a true Christian because you know that you don’t deserve the free gift offered and given to you — the gift of God in Jesus — and you have humbled yourself to accept Him as YOUR Lord and Savior. You have put no confidence or dependence on what you are in the flesh or on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances. You know that there is no advantage to you to be proud and boastful of your own accomplishments, for they mean nothing in the presence of God. You know that your only value is in how HE feels about you; what HE thinks about you. Because HE loves you and sees you as valuable and precious; because HE died and rose again for you; you have value and worth. Without Him, you are nothing. You can’t even worship Him without the Holy Spirit, but by and through the gracious work of the Spirit of God, you can worship Him. You must worship Him and exult and glory and pride yourself in Jesus Christ and Him alone.

As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him [with reverence, worship, and awe]. 14 For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16 For the wind passes over it and it is gone, and its place shall know it no more. 17 But the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord are from everlasting to everlasting upon those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, and His righteousness is to children’s children — 18 To such as keep His covenant [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it] and to those who [earnestly] remember His commandments to do them [imprinting them on their hearts]. Psalms 103:13-18 AMP

Again — we must recognize our frailty and complete dependence on God and His grace and mercy. Thank God — He remembers how weak and frail we really are and He is gentle and merciful with us. We are the ones who need to remember that we are not “all that” and we desperately need Him every day that we live!

Be not wise in your own eyes; reverently fear and worship the Lord and turn [entirely] away from evil. Proverbs 3:7 AMP

Someone who is arrogant and self-confident cannot or will not recognize and acknowledge how much they need God’s help and intervention — neither will they worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Don’t be a know-it-all, because you will prove yourself to be a fool. It takes humility to reverently fear God; it takes humility to worship Him and Him alone. The humble person understands that sin is not something to be trifled with. They recognize its power to separate them from God and so they are wise enough to keep their distance and humble enough to run to God for His strength to overcome sin. The fear of the Lord is a deep, reverential sense of our accountability to Him!*

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; tremble before and reverently fear Him, all the earth.
Psalms 96:9 AMP

For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation and adorn the wretched with victory. 5 Let the saints be joyful in the glory and beauty [which God confers upon them]; let them sing for joy upon their beds. Psalms 149:4-5 AMP

But as for me, I will enter Your house through the abundance of Your steadfast love and mercy; I will worship toward and at Your holy temple in reverent fear and awe of You. Psalms 5:7 AMP

I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with thanksgiving, 31 And it will please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that has horns and hoofs. 32 The humble shall see it and be glad; you who seek God, inquiring for and requiring Him [as your first need], let your hearts revive and live! Psalms 69:30-32 AMP

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My life makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble and afflicted hear and be glad. 3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. Psalms 34:1-3 AMP

The humble worship God, love to see and hear others worship God, and experience the presence of God in worship. Anyone who is proud and arrogant cannot stand to hear the Father, Son and Holy Spirit being worshipped, but the humble love to worship Him and also to hear others worship Him.

*Darlene Zschech – Extravagant Worship