“THE ORDER OF SALVATION”
aka the Ordo Salutis Part 1 of 3
“THE ORDER
OF SALVATION”
aka the Ordo
Salutis Part 1 of 3
In 1543,
the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus discovered the sun did not
revolve around the earth, but the opposite … the earth revolved
around
the sun.
This put
the sun at the centre of the universe not man
on earth …
as previously thought.
This
discovery upset the Roman Catholic church so much … they issued the
death
penalty against all who would support this sun-centric universe
‘theory’.
You see,
prior to Copernicus, and indeed to this day, Rome said they were God on
earth
to all, and masqueraded as Jesus Christ.
Their
doctrine was that they had power over Jesus, so much so, they had the
power to
change the wafer into his actual body and the grape
juice into
his actual blood. Spooky!
The universe
according to Rome revolved around Rome and Roman Catholic
theology,
but Luther and the Reformers, with the
help
of the Copernicus discovery, turned this notion on its head.
This not
only revolutionized science, but had the knock-on effect to change
Christian theology,
with Luther, and others, putting God, not man, not only at the centre
of
salvation … but at its starting point … with Jesus Christ …
the Sun
of righteousness (Malachi 4:2) … at its centre.
This
theological
revolution overthrew the salvation heresy of how man comes to
God, with
the truth of how the gospel of God comes to man.
In
reality,
it can be said that man has always sought to be the centre of religious
attention with his problems, his wants, his needs,
his happiness
and his experiences and so on … culminating with today’s ME-RELIGION,
with its ME Churches … you know … the Church for YOU …
the I Church
… the Church for Us.
I was out
driving the other day, when I saw a sign that said The Public Church
on
a building.
So I went
home and googled it up and read that their mission was to create a welcoming
space that embraces individuals from all walks of life,
believing
in the power of community that strives to foster a sense of belonging,
where everyone can connect, thrive and grow together.
“Hellooooo!
What do you reckon Dear Reader? Code words for the LCD … LOWEST
COMMON DENOMINATOR, where no-one is allowed to upset anyone
… with
clothes, morals, religion, doctrine and so on … no need to change you
lesbians,
gender queer, bi-sexuals, transvestites and undecideds.
If God is
not the starting point of salvation, we find a twist with the Satanic
perversion of the jailer’s plea of “What must I DO to
get saved?”
And Dear
Reader, the ‘DO’ word this sticks in people’s minds … along with
Israel,
having been pricked to the heart, saying to Peter “What shall we DO?”
And indeed
Pater tells them what to do with “Repent and get water baptised
for the
remission of sins … to get the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38) … WORKS!
And so
Dear
Reader, in most people’s minds, we have the following collection of the
things
to do … ‘the doing’ … to get saved …
They are
you must repent, choose, seek the Lord, believe,
confess,
surrender, turn from sins, get baptised, speak
in tongues,
eating the mass and so on … but
all
this does is leave a person asking the question “Am I saved? Did I
really get
saved? Did I get the order right? What if I got it wrong” and
so on.
Indeed, we
have scores of books and tracts spelling out “What must you DO
to
get saved?”.
So an
unsaved man reads off one tract:
Here are
the things you must do to get saved:
1. You
must
repent
2. You
just
believe
3. You
must
choose
He tries
these 1, 2, 3 steps, but he just doesn’t feel right … and he asks
himself …
“Have I missed
something out?”
He then
reads another tract which adds a missing part, and so he has
another go
…
1. You
must
first seek the Lord
2. You
must
repent
3. You
just
believe
4. You
must
choose
But still
not satisfied, he searches for another series of salvation steps and
discovers
…
1. You
must
first earnestly seek the Lord … do you really want it?
2. You
must
then choose
3. You
must
confess your sins
4. You
must
repent
5. Start turning
from your sins
6. You
must
then surrender
7. You
must
believe
And so
Dear
Reader … What’s is the answer? What are the steps? What
is the order?
The poor
fellow is going out of his mind with worry …
Then a
denomination says to him “You have to speak with tongues”
Another
denomination says “You have to eat the mass”
Still
another says “But did you get water baptised?”
Unfortunately,
all of the above spotlights what a man must DO.
But Paul’s
DOING
is to simply believe … no works are needed …as follows …
“And
brought them out (of prison),
and said, Sirs, what must I DO to be saved? And they said, BELIEVE
on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts
16:30-31)
Even when
Christ was on earth, he said the work of God was to believe on
him
(Jesus Christ) whom God had sent as follows …
“Jesus
answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye BELIEVE
ON HIM
whom he hath sent.” (John 6:29) … that is
Jesus Christ himself.
And so
Dear
Reader, here is the key … believing is NOT a work … as follows …
“But to
him
that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4:5)
This then
puts to death any of the above order of salvation steps.
In other
words, all the works have already been DONE by the Lord.
The above
ordo salutis steps are man focussed … that is … what is needed
for man
to get his mind off himself.
To be God
focussed … it’s not what a man must DO … but what
God has
already DONE.
SO HOW
SHOULD WE PREACH SALVATION?
In a
nutshell preach the law then preach the gospel.
1. Preach
the Ten Commandments … God’s laws are holy, just and good
God gives
the law … his Ten Commandments which are pure and holy … as
stated …
“Wherefore
the
law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just,
and good.”
(Romans 7:12)
2. Preach
how God’s law
demands
sinless perfection
“For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one
point,
he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10) … it’s 100%
or nothing.
3. Preach
the law’s demand for sinless perfection is a curse for man.
“For as
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is
written, Cursed
is every one that continueth not in ALL things which are
written in the
book of the law to do them.” (Galatians 3:10)
4. Preach
how Christ came to earth as a man to fulfill God’s law … he ‘defeated’
the law
… he was sinless
“For he
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might
be made
the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
“And ye know that he was manifested to take
away our sins; and in him is no sin.” (1 John 3:5)
“Who did
no
sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth:” (1 Peter 2:22)
5. Christ
was like the perfect lamb in the Old Testament, he was without blemish.
“And if
there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any
ill
blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God.”
(Deuteronomy 15:21)
Yes,
Christ
rode into Jerusalem on the Sunday, and was examined for four days by
Israel,
and crucified on Wednesday night … four days later, according to Old
Testament
law.
6. All the
sins were laid on the sacrificial animal to become a curse.
For
incurable leprosy the priest took two birds (Leviticus 14:4), with one
to be
killed and the other to fly off into heaven … a type of Christ … Christ
being
killed and then returning to heaven.
Indeed,
for
other sacrifices, the animal would have all the sins of Israel placed
on it,
and sent into the desert, thereby taking away the sins.
“And Aaron
shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess
over him
all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their
transgressions in
all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send
him away
by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:” (Leviticus 16:21)
That is,
the sacrificial animals would become cursed for the sake of Israel,
thereby
taking the curse of sin off Israel.
7. Preach
how Christ became a curse for us that we would be redeemed
“Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a
curse for us:
for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”
(Galatians 3:13)
Like
the
birds, the goats, the lambs and so on, Christ has had all the sins of
the world
… past present and future … laid on him … for you and me ... that is
all our
sins were paid for 2,000 years ago.
8.
Preach
how Christ died for our sins, being justified by his blood
“For
I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures;”
(1 Corinthians 15:3)
“Much
more
then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from (God’s)
wrath
through him.”
(Romans
5:9).
You
can
pronounce the word justified as ‘just-as-if-I’d’ never
sinned.
9. Preach
how God commends he is love to us in Jesus Christ
“But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died
for us.”
(Romans 5:8)
The word
‘commend’ means to offer, approve of, put forward. God 100% commends
his
love to us in Jesus Christ … not a shadow of a doubt.
10. Preach
BELIEVE
on the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has already done for us.
… not
repent, turn, repent, choose,
seek the Lord, surrender, turn from sins, get baptised,
speak in tongues, eat the mass and so on.
“For God
so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
(John 3:16)
And they
said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved, and thy
house. (Acts 16:31)
Instead
of
me … in my place … Christ lived the sinless life in
fulfilling/defeating the
curse of God’s laws upon me.
Question?
Isn’t Paul
being
confusing when he says ‘to repent and have faith’ as opposed to simply
‘believe’?
Note:
Repentance is changing your
mind about what your former ideas were about getting to heaven …
“God, I’m
sorry, I’ve changed my mind on how to get to heaven … it’s not me and
my works,
it’s Jesus Christ and his works!”
“(Paul) Testifying
both to the
Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward
God, and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21) … Paul to Jews and
Greeks.
And they
said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved, and thy
house. (Acts 16:31) … Paul to
the Roman jailer.
They are
both
right! There is no contradiction!
It simply
depended on the audience he was talking to.
As both
the
Jews and the Greeks had their own ideas on how to get to
heaven,
with the Greeks with their wisdom and the Jews requiring a sign
(1 Corinthians 1:22) … both lots needed to repent and have a change of mind
about what
would get them to heaven … which is the true meaning of repent.
The Romans
did not have the same idea of heaven as the Jews or the Greeks.
Their
idea of heaven was the Elysian Fields … a heaven like place …
to join
their ancestors.
When Paul
answers the Roman jailer, who is not Jew or a Greek, he simply says to “Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ” … NO REPENTANCE NEEDED!
IN
CONCLUSION:
1.
Atonement
for all sins past and future already paid for … nothing more to pay or
do.
2.
Christ
has already paid for my ticket to heaven … with his perfect life and
perfect
blood.
3.
Simply believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has DONE for us … not
what we must do.
4.
You can
forget the following … repent, choose, seek the
Lord, surrender,
confess, turn from sins, get baptised, speak in tongues,
eating the mass and so on … focussing on man not God.
5.
This is
the God centred salvation approach that must be preached.
6.
First
the law and then the gospel … savagely cut with the
knife of the
law and then perfectly healed with Christ’s perfect doing and
dying …
his sinless life and his sinless blood.
7.
Preach
the holy law, the ten commandments, its curse on us for making us sin,
and how
Christ fulfilled them … then becoming a curse for us and then dying for
our
sins in our place.
“Dear
heavenly Father, I am a sinner.
Thank you
for sending your Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins.
Your holy
laws are a curse to me and only Jesus Christ could live the sinless life that
you wanted from me.
I believe
on you Lord Jesus Christ, for dying in my place for my sins and saving me from
the fires of hell.
Thank you
for saving me for all eternity … and never to be lost. Amen.”
Harley
Hitchcock
July
2024
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website’s front page is:
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“IS THERE
SUCH A THING CALLED
THE ORDO SALUTIS?” Part 2
aka The Steps
to Salvation
“THE CHURCH OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES”
