Spartan Christianity

When it comes to salvation, many people want to just keep living the way they have always been living even after they become Christians. Even though this is the philosophy of Calvinism, once a person is saved, they are always saved, even if they went on to murder, rape, and do any number of diabolical deeds. But the reality is that a person must repent and change the way they live if they want to receive and maintain salvation.

But the reality is that there must be a change of action in the person who is becoming a new Christian. You cannot continue to live the way you were living before. It simply is not possible. Instead, you must repent.

The Bible clearly teaches time and time again that repentance is necessary for salvation. Yet many various denominations and religions do not push their members to actually change or to maintain their change. 

“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'”

Acts 2:38

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Matthew 9:13

“I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

Luke 13:3

Repentance is a change in the way a person acts. This change is generally brought on by a change in a person’s pattern of thinking. 

“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance”

Matthew 3:8, indicating that repetnace has observable action tied to it.

Many people try to define repentance as “A change in heart that results in a change in action”. But as you know, I’m not a fan of the word “heart” because of its excessive emotional connotations. If we want to use the word “heart” correctly, we need to understand that it includes more than the way a person feels. Even though I’ve denied it in the past, emotions are a part of a man’s heart, but they are not the only part. 

When it comes to repentance, not only must your emotions eventually shift, but your thinking and attitude about your life must change as well. This all results in a change in your actions. You must think differently about your life purpose and goals. You need to change your attitude towards sin from one of acceptance to one of hatred of sin. 

Also, you must recalibrate your conscience. A Conscience may be defiled, Evil, Seared, or irrelevant before it can be good.

When we live as part of the world, there are many things that do not bother our conscience. If a person does not know the gospel and engages in many sexual relationships, he/she may not feel a sense of guilt because he/she does not know the law of God. Only once the law is heard, understood, and believed does an individual begin to feel the tug of their conscience. 

That is just an example, but there are many various sins like the sin of extramarital sex that may cause no guilt in the heart of the person engaging in those sins until they become aware of the commands of God. But once these laws are known, a person must change their action, hopefully, spurred on by a  sense of shame from living in opposition to God.

Once understood and obeyed, a person must repent – he/she fundamentally changes the way they live their lives. That is the next step in the process of salvation. 

You have heard the gospel message, the story of Christ. You have accepted it as true, which is what it means to believe. And now what you must do is change the way you are living your life. You can no longer live just in anyway you want. You need to completely renovate your lifestyle. That old life you were living is dead, and you cannot live it any longer. 

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Romans 6:1-4

Many people try to skip this step in the process of salvation. They complete all the necessary steps in order to accept the free gift of salvation from God, but they do not change their lifestyle. This is unacceptable. The life of a Christian is one of constant change and of constant war against the desires of the flesh. Constant repentance is the lifestyle of the Christian.

So you heard the gospel and believed it. Are you willing to change the way you live? Will you repent? Are you willing to have a paradigm shift in your lifestyle? That is the next requirement on the path to salvation. I would encourage you to study with your local church of Christ, continue to learn, and complete the steps of salvation.

So you heard the story of Christ – so what? Many have heard the same story and have done nothing with their lives. They pass on by after hearing the story, unwilling to take action. They are unwilling to obey the simple gospel message of Christ. This was one of the many meanings of the parable of the sower – the seed cast to the wayside was immediately eaten by the birds. Most people simply lack belief.

Read the Parable: Matthew 13

In the previous post we underscored the value of hearing the gospel message, the question now is, do you believe it?

What does it mean to believe something? Belief is accepting that something is true, typically by valid evidence or testimony. We know that without faith and belief that salvation is impossible. 

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Hebrews 11:6

You read the brief gospel message, and I would encourage you to read more on your own to fill out more of the details. But do you accept it as being true? 

This is difficult for many people and it is something that remains difficult for many Christians throughout their lives. It is difficult to accept the fact that God clothed Himself with humanity, lived perfectly, was killed for sins, and then resurrected from the dead. No one is trying to say that it is easy to believe these things. 

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.

1 Corinthians 1:18

But I believe that with the evidence presented throughout history, which we will not discuss specifically here, you can come to the rational conclusion that these events happened. Even if you are a rational thinking scientist, you can come to the conclusion that God exists, that the bible is true, and that the story of Christ is reality etched into human history. 

The Historical Christ: Fact or Fiction

This is why the second step in the process of salvation is belief. Many people hear the gospel, but very few accept it as being true. And beyond that, even fewer follow through with the remaining steps required to obey the gospel (repentance, confession, baptism, faithful living). 

So the question for you is this: do you accept as truth that Christ is God, the Son of God who lived perfectly and died to take away the sins of the world? 

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'”

John 1:29

I would encourage you to continue your study. Work with your local church of Christ until you understand the truth and follow through with the remaining steps of salvation. Why are you waiting? That salvation is free.

Belief alone is not enough, because even the demons believe in God and in the story of Christ. It must be followed up with additional action, and I would strongly encourage you to take that action.

What the Bible Says about The Church of Christ

“So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” Romans 10:17.

How can you believe in something you have never heard? It is simple, you cannot. So let me tell you a brief version of the gospel message.

Through man, sin entered the world in Genesis 3:6. This sin was a violation of the commands of God and put a wall of separation between man and God.

“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.”

1 John 3:4

This wall of separation could be removed by nothing other than sacrifice – blood sacrifice. 

“And according to the law almost all things are ^[h]purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no ^[i]remission.”

Hebrews 9:22

Over the next few thousand years, the religion of Judaism would be established and through it, various animal sacrifices would be offered every day, and some every year in order to roll back the sins of the people to the next year. But these sacrifices could never fully take away sins.

“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”

Hebrews 10:4

So there needed to be a perfect sacrifice to cover the sins of man. This is why Christ, a person of the divine nature known as God, put on physical flesh and lived among men.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
¹⁴ “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:1-3, 14

He lived a perfect life, never violating the laws of God, never falling short of any of the commands of God. He was born of the correct lineage as a descendant of King David. 

¹⁴ Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:14-15

He lived this way for over 30 years before willingly dying for our sins. He suffered death through crucifixion, overseen by Roman soldiers who were experts in dragging out the crucifixions, and making them incredibly painful. In fact, we get the word “excruciating” from out painful this execution was. The word means “out of the cross”. 

Christ willingly gave Himself to die, not like an animal. Animals cannot voluntarily surrender their lives, and that is one of the reasons their sacrifice is not enough.

Animals are innocent per se because they lack rational thought not because they live perfect sinless lives like Christ.

And finally, Christ was God, clothed in flesh – God the Son gave Himself for the sins of the world. So even though the flesh that He was clothed with was tortured and died, the spirit of Christ lived on, seemingly went into the realm of the dead for a period of three days, and then came back and reanimated that same body that was killed on the cross.

⁵ But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ⁷ And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

Matthew 28:5-7

Here Christ was resurrected from the dead after being in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea for 3 days.

⁵⁷ Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. ⁵⁹ When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.

Matthew 27:57-60

The stone that covered His tomb was rolled back and Christ walked forth. He remained on the earth after this for 40 days before ascending into heaven and reentering the presence of God. 

“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, ² until the day in which ^[a]He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, ³ to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many ^[b]infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

Acts 1:1-3

That is the gospel message. It took just one chariot ride for Philip to explain to the Ethiopian eunuch what was necessary for salvation.

You have just finished hearing a short version of the Gospel message. We will continue on this path with the rest of the requirements for salvation at other times.

You’ve just read the abbreviated gospel message, and the way to obey this message is to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of your sins. Why are you waiting? Find your local church of Christ and study with them and be baptized and be saved. You have heard the good news. 

What the Bible Says about the Church of Christ