How Long Does it Take to Be Saved? STC2411

Are you ready to embark on a thought provoking journey of discovery? Curious to explore an alternative narrative that challenges the theory of evolution? What impact has the war in heaven had on our planet, and what are the implications for humanity? What can we learn from this epic battle that is unfolding between good and evil? Here is your opportunity to unlock a treasure trove of spiritual insights from the Bible that will answer these and many other pressing questions, illuminating the path to eternal life which lies just a choice away. Here is Bill Gates presenting how long does it take to be saved? Our subject today is entitled, how long does it take to be saved? And to get the answer to this question, we will need to read three Bible verses from the new king James Version of the Bible. Ephesians two, verse eight says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. And then in one corinthians 118 for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. And then in romans five, verse nine, much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Bible critics love these three Bible verses. They go on to ask, how can you say that the Bible contains inspired facts when in one place the writer Paul says, you have been saved, in another place he says, you are being saved, and in the third place he says, you shall be saved? These Bible critics then say that either Paul was having a bad day or the Bible is simply full of contradictions, and therefore the Bible cannot be inspired and cannot be trusted. Let me assure you that Paul was not having a bad day. He knew exactly what he was talking about, as we shall soon see. Notice the tense of the words that Paul used, past, present, and future. And this is because there are three things that we need to be saved from, not just one thing. And the three things are as follows. The penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the presence of sin. Three different aspects of the salvation process. These three aspects of salvation have theological names, justification, sanctification, and glorification. Coming back now to the process of being saved from the penalty of sin or justification. Another term for justification is imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness at the justification stage simply means that Christ's perfect righteousness is credited to our account in the books of heaven. This is because our own righteousness is tainted with sin and not good enough. And it happens when we personally accept as our ransom the death of Jesus Christ as our personal saviour from sin. Only the blood of the innocent substitute, Jesus Christ, will pardon us from the penalty of sin, and therefore we need to accept it with gratitude. But, you know, I've heard people say I'm a good person and therefore I'll be going to heaven. But they overlook a very important point. In the Bible. God says in romans three, verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Therefore, every human being needs the plan of salvation so freely offered by God. Which begs the next question, why would anybody turn down the chance to be saved from sin and the end of this world when they could choose to be saved and therefore live forever in a perfect universe? The combination of Christ's innocent shed blood, which gives us our passport to enter heaven, and the robe of Christ's perfect righteousness, which is the wedding garment, gives us the visa to enter heaven, providing, of course, we choose to connect with God. But there are two things. Christ's perfect sacrifice and perfect righteousness will not cover unrepentant sins and spiritual neglect. But Christ does cover the earnest seeker of salvation when they're living up to the light that they have received. Another term for sanctification is imparted righteousness. This happens when we allow Jesus Christ to write his law and his character on our hearts over our lifetime. It is called having on the wedding robe of Christ's own perfect righteousness. When God does this, then our love response will be that we will want to obey God's holy law. And when we reach that stage in our walk with God, we'll be able to say, as psalm 40, verse eight, says, I delight to do thy will, o my God, your law is within my heart. The power to obey comes from God, but the will to obey must come from us. He will not force himself or his character upon us. So providing the wedding robe of Christ's own righteousness through the justification and sanctification stage is God's job. Wearing that robe during the sanctification stage, which is to reflect the character of Christ in our own lives, that is our job. And this essential part of the salvation process allows God to restore in us his image and reflect his character again. And then he can come back the second time to take us to the heavenly mansions that he is preparing for us. So having on the wedding robe of Christ's own righteousness through the sanctification process gives us a fitness for heaven. And God would want that, because if we're going to live with a holy God and holy angels for eternity, we need to be in harmony with them before we go to heaven. Amos three, verse three says, can two walk together except they be agreed? And here is some more good news. In the judgement, God judges a person by what they do with what they know. He couldn't be fairer than that, could he? And he also notices the opportunities he gave us to learn about how to be saved, and yet chose to ignore the chance to learn, thinking that by being ignorant we might slide into heaven on a banana skim. Sorry, it doesn't work like that. God won't be mocked, nor will he make a mistake in that area either. So do note that there's a huge battle going on for the hearts and minds of us humans and the two supernatural persons involved. Jesus Christ, the creator God, who was the author of all that is good, and God's new enemy, Satan, is the author of all that is bad. This enemy of God was a perfectly created being called Lucifer, who turned himself into a devil. God did not create a devil. The devil, by making wrong and rebellious choices, turned himself into a devil. Therefore, by making correct choices as to who we will follow, we actually decide our own destiny beyond the grave. Now I choose to be saved and have eternal life. What is going to be your choice first? Peter one, verse 20, tells us that the plan of salvation was predestined by God before this world came into existence. But the human's response to that plan is not predestined. That is in our hands. After all, we were not made robots. For true love to exist, there must first be the freedom to choose. And God gave us that choice as a precious gift. Therefore, if God does the saving and we do the choosing, then this is not the time to sit on the fence as if there is some value in being neutral. We're not to be neutral. For Jesus, speaking as God said in Luke eleven, verse 23, he who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. So what is to be your destiny? Jesus said, repent of your sins and come back to Jesus who is God, before it is too late. And to do that, we need a knowledge of the Bible so that we can make intelligent decisions. And we get that intelligent knowledge by doing topical Bible studies, which is what we're doing today. And it will be worthwhile too. For there's a beautiful new world coming for the saved ones, because there will be no more sickness, suffering, pain or death. No more funeral parlours, hospitals or jails in heaven. These beautiful Bible promises also answer mankind's most basic question. What is the purpose of life. Well, the purpose of life is to grab the opportunity to become citizens of God's second kingdom of glory that is coming. And we start that process by joining God's first kingdom of grace here on earth. And that is the Judea christian church that God set up in the beginning. And this sermon will help this sincere person know how to do this. And when we get to the glory land, we will be reunited with our loved ones, if they have accepted the same invitation. What peace and security there will be. And freedom from want and fear and sorrow will be a thing of the past. Once we have been glorified, another term for glorification is completed, righteousness. And this happens just before the greatest event the world will ever see occurs. And I'm referring to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a magnificent artist's portrayal of the event, isn't it? This is when we become victors in the battle between God and the devil, between truth and error, and between good and evil. So a major discovery has been made. The plan of salvation, designed by God before sin ever entered the world, envisages a complete restoration of man back into the image of God as Adam was originally made for. Revelation 22, verse eleven tells us that God will have some holy people on this earth before Jesus returns. It says here, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he that is holy, let him be holy still. So once the unfollowen angels in heaven see that the saints on earth have been made holy and righteous by God, then they also have the assurance that sin will not appear a second time ever again. And so God has books in heaven for the benefit of his holy created beings, for he doesn't need books for himself due to him knowing all things. So here are some of the books that the Bible tells us about. In Exodus, verse 32, verse 33, God has the names of all who claim to belong to him in heaven. Daniel seven, verse ten, we have the book of judgement. Malachi 316, we have the book of remembrance. And in revelation 17, verse eight, we have the book of life. So far, we've talked about being saved from three things, the penalty, the power and the presence of sin. So now that we realise that God has instituted a three fold plan of salvation, what aspect is affected by the three parts of salvation? Well, in the Ephesians column, that's the first one there, Paul is dealing with the record of sin in heaven. Whereas in the next column, first Corinthians, Paul is concerned about whether we have allowed God to perfect holy characters in us here on earth. And the last column in Romans, Paul deals with the fact that our sinful nature is to be removed at the second coming of Christ, thus leaving us with the divine nature that God gave us when we became spiritually awoken and thus became committed christians. Then at the second coming of Christ, our imperfect human bodies become changed instantly by God into perfect human bodies. Consider for a moment the change that happens to a caterpillar in its cocoon. Just when the caterpillar thought its life was over, it became a beautiful butterfly. Just so, if any of us find ourselves staring down the tunnel of death and thinking that our life is over, then providing we've joined God's first kingdom of grace here on earth before we die, we will be resurrected, not as a butterfly, for that would be reincarnation which God does not teach, but as a perfect, recognisable human being, with all imperfections gone, as one corinthians 15, verse 52 says, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. And the good news is that when we are glorified, we will still be able to recognise each other and our loved ones who make it there. So what is the significance of justification when we come as we are and humble ourselves and repent of our sins? Christ justifies us, and he records the word pardon against every one of our confessed sins. And this provides us with our spiritual passport to heaven, providing there are no unconfessed sins left. So what is the significance of sanctification? This is the aspect of salvation where God changes our characters here on planet earth, which ensures that we have a spiritual visa or fitness for heaven. Isaiah 61, verse ten tells us that he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness. So the blood of Christ provides us with our spiritual passport to heaven once we accept it. And the robe of Christ's righteousness, manifested in the life of the Christian, provides us with our spiritual visa for entry into heaven. Therefore, the actions and behaviours of committed christians should be quite righteous actions, and thus different from the secular world. Let us notice this in a book called Christ Object Lessons, part of the spirit of prophecy collection, and we'll look at page 311. This robe, woven in the loom of heaven, has in it not one thread of human devising. Christ in his humanity wrought out a perfect character, and this character he offers to impart to us. So by now you should be noting that entry into God's third heaven, called paradise, cannot be attained by any human unless he or she has a personal spiritual relationship, not with the church, but with Jesus Christ. And the best way to obtain that connection is to be taught the Bible topically. So what I'm trying to say is that entry into heaven is not automatic. We need to choose to go there and accept God's terms for getting there. So what is the significance of glorification? This is the third aspect of salvation, where God sees that we're ready for taking to heaven, and therefore he comes back and either resurrects us from the grave or translates us back to the third heaven. And that'll be without experiencing death, for that'll happen at the second coming of Christ. The Pharisees and the Sadducees never understood this three fold plan of salvation, and that is partly why they called for the crucifixion of Christ. They were looking for a coming king to overthrow the Romans and did not understand that this mess first mean that he comes as our ransom by dying on a cross, and then secondly, to be our high priest in the heavenly sanctuary, ministering his shed innocent blood on our behalf. And thirdly, only after that could he then come back as the king of kings and lord of lords and modern day Sunday keeping. Christians also seem to fail to understand the threefold plan of salvation and the importance of having God's spiritual visa, which is obedience to all of God's ten commandments. And therefore they do not seem to know that the righteousness supplied by Christ is to become our righteousness, which is then to be reflected in the daily activities of our life. We will now notice in our next three Bible verses how commandment keeping at the second stage of salvation, called sanctification, and not the first stage of salvation, called justification, is directly linked to how God perfects his love in us. One John two, verse three. Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. So God is saying that this is how we can know we know God personally when we love him and keep, which means obey his ten commandments. Verse four, he that says, I know him and keeps not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. I didn't say that. That's God's word and verse five. But whoever keeps his word in him truly is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. So obedience to God's ten commandments in the second part of salvation, called sanctification, cannot be legalism when God himself says, this is how my love will be perfected in you, as this verse in one John two, verse five stated, but is there a way that I could become a legalist? Yes, if you try obeying God at the first stage of salvation, called justification, but definitely not a legalist. At the second stage of salvation, called sanctification at the sanctification stage, it makes us into loyalists, not legalists, as Jesus said in John eight, verse 31, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then you are my disciples. Indeed, in verse John eight, verse 32, Jesus said also, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. So have nothing to do with cheap grace, which denies that sanctification is an essential part of the salvation process. And Paul also said in our next Bible reading, which is Ephesians five, verse six, let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. In verse seven, be not you therefore partakers with them. And to those who teach a false gospel whilst doing good works in the name of God and claiming to be God's children, notice what Matthew seven, verse 22, and 23 states will happen to them. Verse 22 many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your name done many wonderful works? Then Jesus said unto them in Matthew seven, verse 23, I never knew you depart from me, you that work iniquity. So why did God reject one group of Christians and yet accept other christians? First answer, the rejected group of christians loved God and did good works, but knowingly refused to obey all of God's commandments. God therefore had no choice but to reject them. There is an exception to this horrible rejection by God, and it's mentioned in acts 17, verse 30. God notes, those who disobey God but do so out of ignorance and are therefore not included in this condemnation. The second answer the accepted group of christians were allowed to go to heaven because they also loved God and did good works. But the point of difference was that as a love response, they rendered obedience to all of God's commandments in harmony with the conditions for entry into God's paradise called the third heaven. This obedience comes during the sanctification stage, not the justification stage. And obedience to God is an expression of our love for God. But the knowingly disobedient ones refuse to be obedient, believing they could be saved in their sins instead of from their sins. And the giveaway statement they make is this one, I will be sinning until Jesus comes, therefore giving themselves a licence to sin. And thus they deny the power of God to save them from their sins. Two examples will prove that we can reject the temptations to sin because the temptation always involves a choice. Genesis 39, verse nine tells us that Joseph, when tempted to commit adultery, showed that a person can say no to temptation instead of saying yes. For he said in Genesis 39, verse nine, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Jesus also proved the point that temptations can and should be resisted. When we look at how he dealt with the woman caught in adultery, he said in John eight, verse eleven, these words, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Having choice stands to reason when we consider that it was bad choices that caused the war on heaven in the first place. You see that war was over the very issue of obedience to God's objective moral law in heaven versus Satan's subjective plan to introduce in heaven a new idea that created beings could decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. God was then left with no choice but to cast Lucifer, now called Satan, and a third of the angels, out of heaven. God had to do that because the rebellious Lucifer was trying to introduce a new law that would then have required creating beings to break God's existing law. Therefore, God is not going to let knowingly disobedient people back into heaven, and that is why God does not accept them. These christians were indeed justified. After all, they had accepted Jesus as their saviour and thus had the passport to go to heaven. But they never sought to be sanctified through obedience to God's ten commandments, and thus they never obtained the visa for entry into heaven. And that is why the knowingly disobedient people won't make it to heaven. Now, Matthew 22, verse 14 teaches us something very important and confirms what I've been saying during these last few minutes. For many are called to enter God's first kingdom of grace here on earth, but few are chosen to enter God's second kingdom of glory up in heaven. And that is because only the obedient ones are chosen to enter God's second kingdom of glory up there in heaven. We know this because God had to kick out of his second kingdom of glory a third of the angels and Satan, because they were knowingly disobedient. That is how we know that God won't let knowingly disobedient christians into heaven. One of the world's famous tourist sites in Zimbabwe is the Victoria falls. However, the local zimbabwean people call it the smoke that thunders. When I went to Zimbabwe in November 2012, I had my first experience of needing a literal visa attached to my literal passport. And in order to ensure that we go to heaven at the second coming of Jesus Christ, we will need a spiritual visa attached to our spiritual passport. Now we need to see two very important points at this stage of the presentation. Jesus is our substitute and ransom for us being saved from the penalty of sin. And that is the first point. And what a fabulous thing he did. And when we accept him as our personal saviour, this becomes our spiritual passport to heaven. As I mentioned before, Christ imputes or credits his perfect character to our account at the time when we come, just as we are to God, repentantly for a pardon. And this is what Paul was referring to in the Ephesians column. But in the Corinthians column, Paul is telling us that Jesus is our example for how to be saved from the power of sin. And that is the second point. He is not our substitute, he is our example. To say he is our substitute here is to replace Christ's good theology with man's imperfect theology. This is when God imparts his righteousness to us during our lifetime, which enables us to love him and keep his commandments, and that provides us with our much needed spiritual visa. Too many christians are being taught today that Christ is our substitute for sanctification instead of being taught that Christ is our example. I will tell you why it is wrong to have Jesus as our substitute for sanctification. The charge that Lucifer made to God in heaven was not whether Jesus could obey God's commandments, but whether created humans on earth could keep God's commandments. Thus, our next slide from an inspired Bible commentator makes perfect sense. Signed to the times, July 10, 1901. Those who live the life of a christian are battling against the devil's lie that man cannot keep God's law. So the plan of salvation cannot be finished until the devil's lie is exposed and proven to be false. Jesus as a human proved that God's law could be kept by mankind and thus left us a perfect example to follow, not a perfect substitution. So be an overcomer over the devil's temptations, but in the power that God will provide and you will be successful. Revelation three, verse five, he that overcomes the same shall be clothed in white raiment. I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before my father and his angels. So there is the evidence that overcoming sin is an essential part of being saved if we want to keep our names in God's book of life and be saved into God's second kingdom of glory in heaven. Therefore, sanctification is not just a lovely way of saying to God, thank you for justifying me, as if joining God's first kingdom of grace was the only part of the salvation process. Our names can be blotted out from God's book of life as we just read. But when we do allow God to do this for us, it leads progressively to a changed and obedient and happier life here on earth, and that in turn prepares us to be compatible with a holy godhead and the good and holy angels we seek to live with in heaven. Now another important point needs to be well and truly made here. God's love is unconditional. But unconditional love does not mean unconditional approval. As John 15, verse 14 states, greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. And you are my friends if you do whatever I command. You and the conditions of salvation are identical in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. So what are the conditions? We will start by reading Exodus 19, verse five. Now therefore, if you'll indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for all the earth is mine. That is the first condition for the sanctification process, but it is to happen only after we have chosen to accept the sacrifice of Christ. First, we then allow Christ's righteousness to become our righteousness through obedience to all of God's ten commandments. I stress that the conditions of the covenant are met during the sanctification process, not the justification stage. Exodus 20, verse six gives us the second condition of God's covenant from the Old Testament, but showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. The third condition comes from the New Testament and found in Hebrews eight, verse ten. For this is the covenant that I will make, says the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be unto me a people. And the fourth condition, also from the New Testament, is found in Hebrews twelve, verse 14. Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. And it is in the sanctification stage that God makes us holy. That's if we cooperate with him. As Leviticus 20, verse eight reads, I am the Lord who makes you holy. So we don't make ourselves holy. God will do that for us. And those who do not allow God to do this for them will not have the necessary spiritual visa. So if they miss out on eternal life by failing to make these right choices, then they will have no one to blame but themselves. They will be destroyed eternally. And that is so sad. So now we come to the question we've been wanting to answer. How long does it take to be saved? Well, it only takes a moment to be saved from the penalty of sin, the moment we accept Jesus as our saviour in a repentant and sincere way, as one John one, verse nine states, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Well, how long does it take to be saved from the power of sin? The answer is that it takes a lifetime to be saved from the power of sin. Why a lifetime? Because Satan continues to tempt us to sin right up until we die. But here is some good counsel. Never become discouraged if we stumble in our walk with God or forget to do what he wants us to do. The battle for the hearts and minds of humans is concerned with loyalty towards or rebellion against the creator God of the universe. It is not concerned about the occasional stumble or fall, for the righteous ones will stumble. As proverbs 24, verse 16 states, for a just man falls seven times and rises up again. But God will always be there to pick up and encourage the stumbling ones, and he will do more than that, for he promises to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God is the one who will help us to become the people he wants us to be if we let him, so that heaven will be a safe place that we will love to be in. Finally, how long does it take to be saved from the presence of sin? It only takes a moment to be saved from the presence of sin at the second coming, in the twinkling of an eye, as we read before in one corinthians 15, verse 52. So with this understanding that we need to be saved from three things, the penalty of sin, which is the work of a moment, the power of sin, which is the work of a lifetime, and the presence of sin, which takes only a moment. We now have the complete plan of salvation, a comprehensive plan that ensures that God is then able to get rid of sin, sickness, suffering, pain, and death permanently. All evil things that God's enemy has inflicted on the people of the world so that God will get the blame. So we've got. The penalty of sin just takes a moment. We got the power of sin as a lifetime and we've got the presence of sin which only takes a moment. Now, are there any signs that would tell us that we have been, are being and shall be saved from these three things? Yes, there are. The sign that tells us we're saved from the penalty of sin is baptism by immersion. Jesus is our example in this matter. The first stage is where we've agreed to get into the water and be baptised, as Jesus requires. The second stage has us going right under the water for about 2 seconds, symbolising death and burial to the old ways of life. And then the third is rising again to the new way of life. Sprinkling of water over a baby or an adult does not convey that message. Therefore, being baptised in the correct manner is very important. But it is also very worthy to have a dedication service for a baby, to have God's care and christian parental upbringing, which is why we encourage christian parents to dedicate themselves and their babies to God's care and keeping in a special dedication service. But that is not baptism. Well now, is there a sign that we're being saved from the power of sin? Yes, there is. It is obeying God's commandment to keep holy the 7th day Sabbath. That is because the 7th day Sabbath commandment is the only commandment that identifies the authority of the law giver to give us his law. The first humans to keep the 7th day Sabbath was Adam and Eve. Jesus kept the 7th day Sabbath. All faithful and true christians since Christ's day have been keeping it also. But in today's society, it takes dedicated men and women to choose to swim against the tide of current world opinion and religious traditions and practises. For that is what it takes in order to keep the 7th day holy. However, if you want eternal life, you will gladly choose to obey the 7th day Sabbath. God made the 7th day Sabbath holy at the end of the first creation week. Adam and Eve were not jews, so it is not a jewish Sabbath that we're talking about. It is God's Sabbath that we are talking about. Let us now prove which is the true Sabbath day by looking at Easter time that comes around each year. The order of events at Easter will firstly, on the Friday, the 6th day of the week, Jesus is crucified. That paid the price for repentant sinners. That's why it is called good Friday. Then Jesus rested in the tomb, which is the Saturday, the 7th day of the week. And then Sunday, Christ rose from the tomb being the first day of the week. He came out of victor over death. And so the keeping of the 7th day Sabbath of God is important to him. For it is God's sacred day, not the Jews sacred day, not mankind's sacred day, and not my sacred day. It is God's sacred day. And as we grow in spiritual knowledge and desire to please God, it needs to become increasingly important to us all as we seek salvation from the three aspects of the sin problem. So let us read about the 7th day being a sign between God and his people, and we find it in Ezekiel, chapter 20, verse twelve. And I gave them my Sabbath days of rest as a sign between them and me. It was to remind them that I am the Lord who had set them apart to be holy. Therefore, any Christian who refuses this sign is saying, I will accept Christ's shed blood as my spiritual passport to heaven. But I refuse to have the spiritual visa or to honour the sign of allegiance to God. By keeping the 7th day Sabbath sacred, they are therefore guilty of trying to go to heaven on their own terms, instead of God's terms, by refusing God's spiritual visa. Maybe they take this attitude because they've been told that they will become a legalist if they do that. But Jesus says the opposite in John 14, verse 21. He said, he that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me, and he that loves me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. And in Hebrews four, verses nine to eleven, we have the evidence that New Testament Christians are to keep it as well, despite what many a first day Sunday keeping priest or pastor or minister might tell us. Notice the greek word here, sabbathismos. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as God did from his on the 7th day. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no. 1 may fall by the same sort of disobedience. And here is an amazing Bible text found in Isaiah 66, verse 23, which says that we're going to be keeping the 7th day Sabbath in heaven. I will read verse 22 first to give us the context for is the new heavens and the new earth that I will make, says the Lord. So there's the context, the new heavens and the new earth. And in verse 23 we read, and it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, not Sunday. Shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the Lord. So there is the biblical proof that we'll be keeping the 7th day Sabbath in heaven, not Sunday. So 7th day Sabbath keeping from God's point of view enables him to identify those who truly love him. So tell the world that we will be keeping the Saturday Sabbath in heaven as well, according to Isaiah 66, verse 23. Therefore, it is a sign of your loyalty towards the creator God. From mankind's point of view, our obedience to all ten commandments, including the 7th day Sabbath commandment, is our response of love to God's requirement to obey him. At the sanctification stage, people who experience a spiritual awakening will see God's requirement to obey not as a burden, but as a delightful response of principled love that obeys God because we accept that God knows best. It's also accepted by us because we recognise that this is the very law that God uses to govern the universe. So what a smart decision that would be then, if we choose to obey God and keep his 7th day Sabbath holy. And God tells us that honouring the sacredness of the 7th day Sabbath is God's appointed sign that we are being saved from the power of sin. Now, is there a sign that we shall be saved from the presence of sin? Well, we're all lost if there isn't. The sign to say that we'll be saved from the presence of sin is the resurrection of the dead saints or the translation of the living saints at the second coming of Christ. That is the sign. Now I need to reiterate and put on the chart the answer to the question how long does it take to be saved? Remember that it only takes a moment to be saved from the penalty of sin. The moment we accept Jesus'invitation to join his first kingdom of grace here on earth, which is a Sabbath keeping church. But it takes a lifetime to be saved from the power of sin. And the evidence that we're being saved from the power of sin is when we reach the stage in our walk with God, where God's laws and his wishes for us motivate our way of thinking and acting. Finally, it only takes a moment to be saved from the very presence of sin at the last trump in a twinkling of an eye, when Jesus returns the second time to take us back to the third heaven, where he has prepared beautiful homes for those of us who choose to be saved. Now I will do a summary of the three Bible verses that Paul used to describe God's total plan of salvation. He spoke of salvation in the past tense, the present tense, and the future tense. So here we go now, in the Ephesians column, Paul talked about salvation being in the past tense because it saves us from the penalty of sin. The price has been paid by Jesus. It's written on the pages of history. It's called justification or imputed righteousness, and it affects the record of sin in heaven. It provides us with a passport to heaven because Jesus is our substitute. The sign is baptism by immersion and the time factor. It only takes a moment, the moment you give your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. But then Paul talked about salvation in corinthians in the present tense because he knew we needed to be saved from the power of sin. It's called sanctification, which is imparted righteousness. It perfects our characters here on earth and provides us with a spiritual visa for heaven. And Jesus is our example for having our characters perfected here on earth by God. And thus he is not our substitute. The sign that we're being saved from the power of sin is when you're prepared to keep holy God's 7th day Sabbath. It's the work of a lifetime. Finally, Paul put salvation in the future tense in Romans because he knew we needed to be saved from the presence of sin. It's called glorification or completed righteousness. Our sinful natures are then removed and the saints are ready to go to heaven. And that happens when the sign of the resurrection or translation event takes place. And that is only the work of a moment. Now I'm going to cover everything Paul said in Ephesians chapter two. Why? Well, Jesus paid the supreme price in order to give mankind a second chance to have eternal life. His death at Calvary is written on the pages of history as a fact, and Satan cannot change that. Now, we'll also cover over Paul's comments in Romans about being saved from the presence of sin. Why Jesus cannot lie. He said he'd come back the second time, and Satan cannot stop it happening. He will try and counterfeit it, though, before the real Christ comes back. That only leaves Paul's comments about being saved from the power of sin. The middle column. This is the sanctification stage of salvation. And this is the area that Satan is attacking God's people today by trying to stop them from accepting God's plans to perfect holy characters in them. This Satan is striving to do with all his might, and it goes on throughout our lifetimes. And here is why he does it. If he succeeds, then the benefit to Satan is that the sinner has to carry his own punishment on judgement Day. But the seekers for truth can be excused for feeling that they are walking on a tightrope of confusion, trying to find the answers that give them meaning to life, but struggling because of the confusion that exists in the religious world. I shall now endeavour to untangle that confusion by presenting some of the theological issues that trouble people. But always recognising the following. I will expose some of the errors that I'm aware of, but I do not condemn the laypeople who are unwittingly believing their church's false doctrines, as I will now prove. And I do this because God has his people in all churches and they need to be alerted. We will start by looking only at the judaic christian theology. For this is the religion that God himself established thousands of years ago, because all other non judaic christian religions were created by mankind and not by God. The next few slides will help us to determine if our theology is being moulded by God's word or the theology of false shepherds. We're testing theology, not the people. The great error of the jewish leaders was their rejection of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, whilst they were very earnest about keeping God's ten commandments. So they got the second half of the spiritual equation right, didn't they? So we'll give their theology a 50% pass mark. But it is not only the jewish leaders that have a theology problem. The leaders of the Sunday branch of Christianity have also created huge theological problems. So the great theological era of many current worldwide christian leaders is the opposite. They fully accept Jesus Christ as the messiah, but they reject God's ten commandments. They got the first half of the spiritual equation right. So we will give their theology a 50% pass mark also. But some branches of Christianity have created another problem. They fully accept Jesus Christ as the messiah, but they teach that a Christian only needs to keep nine of God's ten commandments and ignore the 7th day Sabbath commandment. They got the first part right, didn't they? And they almost got it right with the second part. So should we give their theology a 90% pass mark? Sorry, we can only give them a 50% pass mark because of what the apostle James says in James two, verse ten. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one, he is guilty of all. But the Bible does say a law was nailed to the cross, so it cannot be the law that James was referring to can it? Let us see what law was nailed to the cross before the saviour came? The Old Testament people needed the ceremonial law of Moses. That law showed them how God would provide a saviour future to their time, typified by the slaying of an innocent, spotless lamb. Obviously, then, when Jesus Christ, the messiah came and died as the innocent human ransom, no one then needed the old ceremonial law of Moses. And it was the ceremonial law of Moses that was nailed to the cross, not God's ten commandments. And that is why we don't have to kill innocent, spotless lambs today for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus paid the price for our sins and is the fulfilment of the symbolic lamb in Old Testament times as the Ten Commandment law of God defines sin, we still need God's moral law today to tell us what is sin. Therefore, God's moral law could not possibly have been nailed to the cross as some misguided people teach. That is why the 7th day Adventist Church is such an important christian church, because its theology has the combination right. A church whose judaic christian beliefs match the teaching of God right back to the time of Adam and Eve, who were the original 7th day Sabbath keepers, as I mentioned before. So this church gets 100% pass mark for its theology because we teach the correct definition of sin, which is the breaking of any of the ten commandments of God. And we teach that Jesus Christ is the promised messiah, mentioned way back in the Old Testament, who came to save us from our sins, not in our sins. So sin is mankind's problem according to God's holy bible. And Jesus Christ is mankind's perfect solution to the sin problem. So let me tell you about this magnificent Jesus Christ. The greatest man in history is Jesus Christ. He had no servants, yet they called him master. He had no degree, yet they called him teacher. He had no medicines, yet they called him healer. He had no army, yet kings feared him. He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified him. He was buried in a tomb, yet he lives today. And this marvellous person called Jesus said in Jeremiah 29, verse eleven, these wonderful words, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. And what a future awaits the faithful saints living in a free mansion made by none other than Jesus himself. The choice is ours, and our eternal destiny hangs on that choice. So why not make that choice today. And in the meantime, may God bless you and your loved ones forevermore. Amen. You've been listening to spiritual treasure chest with Bill Gates, brought to you by 3ABN Australia radio. For more resources like this, visit the YouTube page Bill Gates spiritual treasure chest.