Articles by: Kenneth J. Ester
The Truth of Salvation
Not wanting to waste time with frivolities, I will begin with three simple statements. All I ask from you to begin with is to read them carefully and decide whether you agree with them or not.
1) Jesus had to die to save us.
2) It is the forgiveness of our sins that saves us.
Put those together and you get...
3) Jesus had to die in order for us to be forgiven for our sins.
Do you agree with these? The vast majority of Christians do. If I had to guess, I would say maybe even as much as 99.9% of the Christians today would say they are correct. If you agree that they are correct, I have a serious question for you.
How did Jesus forgive the sins of two different people before He died on the cross?
First there was the paralytic who was lowered through the roof to be healed.
1) Jesus had to die to save us.
2) It is the forgiveness of our sins that saves us.
Put those together and you get...
3) Jesus had to die in order for us to be forgiven for our sins.
Do you agree with these? The vast majority of Christians do. If I had to guess, I would say maybe even as much as 99.9% of the Christians today would say they are correct. If you agree that they are correct, I have a serious question for you.
How did Jesus forgive the sins of two different people before He died on the cross?
First there was the paralytic who was lowered through the roof to be healed.
Mark 2:3-11
3 And some people came, bringing to Him a man who was paralyzed, carried by four men. 4 And when they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and after digging an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralyzed man was lying. 5 And Jesus, seeing their faith, *said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 But some of the scribes were sitting there and thinking it over in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God alone?” 8 Immediately Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were thinking that way within themselves, said to them, “Why are you thinking about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven’; or to say, ‘Get up, and pick up your pallet and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He *said to the paralyzed man, 11 “I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.”
Then there is the women who washed His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.
Luke 7:36-50
36 Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38 and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, and began kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner!”
(Parable of Two Debtors)
40 And Jesus responded and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A moneylender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred denarii, and the other, fifty. 42 When they were unable to repay, he canceled the debts of both. So which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I assume the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave Me no kiss; but she has not stopped kissing My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. 47 For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” 49 And then those who were reclining at the table with Him began saying to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” 50 And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
(Parable of Two Debtors)
40 And Jesus responded and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A moneylender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred denarii, and the other, fifty. 42 When they were unable to repay, he canceled the debts of both. So which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I assume the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44 And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave Me no kiss; but she has not stopped kissing My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. 47 For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” 49 And then those who were reclining at the table with Him began saying to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” 50 And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Please take note that with the case of the paralytic, Jesus even clearly states that the Son of Man (Jesus) has the authority on earth to forgive sin, and then He even heals the man to prove it.
I want you to really consider the implications of this knowledge. If Jesus had to die to save us, and He could forgive our sins while He was alive, then it cannot possibly be the forgiveness of sins that saves us. In another way of putting it, if it is truly the forgiveness of our sins that saves us, these scriptures would mean that Jesus died a horrible death for nothing, because He already had the authority on earth to forgive our sins and save us before He went to the cross.
We know for a certainty that Jesus absolutely had to die to save us. I really doubt that He went through a Roman crucifixion simply because He enjoyed it. We also now know for a certainty that Jesus had the authority to forgive sins before He died on the cross. Do you know what I cannot find in scripture though? Try as I might, I cannot find one place where the Bible actually tells us that we are saved through the forgiveness of our sins. I find scripture saying Jesus died for our sins. I find a verse saying that Jesus takes the sins of the world away. But neither of those scriptures ever say that is how we are saved! Every verse used to support the belief that we are saved through the forgiveness of our sins is being interpreted to mean something they never actually say!
Even more interestingly, not only does Jesus forgive the sins of two people before He dies on the cross, but God was forgiving sin all through the Old Testament. All one needs to do to see that, is to look up the word "atone" in the Bible. You will find that all through the Old Testament, God commands His people to sacrifice animals to atone for their sin. Now, atonement is not the same as forgiving. The definition of 'atone' is to take actions to right a wrong in hopes of forgiveness. I cannot picture God commanding people to slaughter innocent animals to atone for their sins, if He is not willing to forgive them. In fact, in Leviticus 4:20, God even plainly states they will be forgiven.
Simple logic tell us that if Jesus had to die to save us, and He had the authority to forgive sins before He died on the cross, that it cannot possibly be the forgiveness of our sins that saves us. However, if that is not enough to convince you, I would like you to consider all of the newborn babies who have died over the 4,000 years from Adam to Jesus. In a time when technology and medicine was in its dark ages, just imagine how many newborns must have died at birth, before they even contemplated a sin much less before they actually committed one. So if it is the forgiveness of our sins that saves us, it would mean that it is our unforgiven sins that send us to hell. Since all those newborns logically could not have committed a sin yet, they should have gone directly to heaven when they died. Right? Well consider something else Jesus says.
---
John 3:13 NASB
13 No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.
---
Since Jesus never lied, at the time He said this, it had to be 100% true. Nobody had ever ascended to heaven yet! Which means not one of those newborn babies could possibly have gone right to heaven when they died at birth!
So we know the babies who died at birth did not go directly to heaven. This means it had to be something other than their sins that kept them out of heaven, because they had not committed a sin yet. It also means that whatever it was, must have been something from the very beginning! Otherwise, at least one of the newborns would have made it to heaven. So it had to be something from even before the very first newborn to ever die at birth!
So consider these facts...
1) Jesus could forgive sins before He died.
2) God was forgiving sins all through the Old Testament.
3) Even newborns who die at birth and had never sinned yet, went to Hades and not heaven.
The only logical conclusions is that it is not truly the forgiveness of sins that saves us. It must be something else that took place in the very beginning! So, if it is not the forgiveness of our sins that saves us, what is it that does save us? Why does God's word tell us that Jesus died for our sins?
Most teachings paint God as sort of a tyrant God. He sits in His throne watching for us to break his rules and when we do, he gets angry and places us on his bad list of those he will throw into the fire. Only if we come crawling to Him on hands and knees begging for His forgiveness will he grant us forgiveness and not throw us in the fire. But that is simply not what happens.
Sin, for lack of a better way to put it, is like a spiritual cancer. It corrupts whatever it touches and it never heals on its own. It will only grow worse and worse. When Adam sinned, it did more than just upset God. It corrupted his soul. In a sense, it stained Adams soul with the corruption of sin. To make it even worse, if a child is born from the seed of a man whose soul is already stained with sin, that child is born with a soul that is already stained as well. We are not held responsible for our father's sin, but the corruption of that sin is carried down to his children.
Now God on the other hand, is perfect. He is perfectly holy. He is so perfectly holy that the corruption of sin cannot exist in His presence when He is in His full glory. The one place where God is in His full glory, is heaven. So if God was to allow anyone with a soul that is corrupted by sin to enter heaven where He resides in His full glory, His very presence alone would destroy that soul. God loves us too much to allow that to happen. He will not allow His presence to destroy those who love Him. So God banned everyone from entering heaven. From the moment Adam sinned, everyone who was born of the seed of man would go to Sheol/Hades until they could be cleansed. This is why newborn babies who died at birth did not go directly to heaven. They may not have any sin on their record, but their souls were still stained by the sin they were born from. This is why when Moses asked God to show him His glory, God replied to him that man could not see His face and live.
The Word of God took on flesh and was born fully human. Because Jesus was born of a virgin, He was not born through the tainted seed of man, and thus, He was born with a soul that was clean. He was not a perfect sacrifice simply because He never sinned, He was a perfect sacrifice because He was perfectly clean, without blemish. Without the corruption of sin upon His soul.
When He died for us, Jesus accomplished two things. Not just one!
1) He was the last sacrifice. We no longer need to sacrifice animals to atone for our sins in order for God to forgive them. We now can simply ask and He will forgive them. This is not what saves us. This is about our personal relationship with God.
2) He made it so God can wash us clean of the corruption of sin by the blood of the Lamb! This is what saves us! Having our souls washed clean, we can now enter the presence of God in heaven without fear of being destroyed by His holy presence.
Today God offers that salvation, the cleansing of our souls, as a free gift from God. He offers it to absolutely anyone who will accept it. They dont have to intentionally do anything at all to receive it. But there is a little catch with that. It is not a physical gift that we can just reach out and take. It is a spiritual gift, the cleansing of a soul. There is only one way we can truly accept a gift that is spiritual. We must truly believe in our hearts that it is real.
This is why the Bible tells us 19 times that we are saved by believing in Jesus or through faith in Jesus. This is why it never once actually says we are saved by any other means. Every scripture used to support a salvation by works or water baptism or any other means is always a scripture that is interpreted to mean something it never actually says. We are truly saved by believing because by believing in Jesus as Lord and savior, we believe He has saved us and we accept the gift of salvation.
When you break down those 19 primary salvation scriptures, these are the technical rules of what we must believe to be saved.
1) We must believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.
2) We must believe that Jesus died to save us.
3) We must believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.
4) We must believe those three things strongly enough that we can turn to someone and say "Jesus is Lord" and mean it when we say it.
This is the full truth of how we are truly saved!
Now every false teaching that we are saved by other means is based off one other false teaching. That it is our own personal sins that send us to hell and it is the forgiveness of our sins that saves us. The belief of salvation by works, salvation through water baptism, salvation through being a part of a certain denomination even, all of them become proven false when you realize how salvation truly works.
Consider what Jesus says...
---
John 3:18 KJV
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
---
Jesus breaks down the entire population into only two groups. Believers and unbelievers. The believers are not condemned. They are saved. The unbelievers are already condemned. Not because they sin or are not water baptized or belong to the wrong denomination. Simply because they do not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
To say that we are saved by any other means than believing in Jesus, is to say Jesus is wrong. Or that Jesus is lying. To say we are condemned by our sins, is to say Jesus missed the mark. To say we are saved by the forgiveness of our sins is to say Jesus suffered through an excruciating Roman crucifixion for nothing, because He already had the authority to forgive sins and save us before He died.
All of those teachings literally contradict at least one if not several scriptures. What I am teaching here is the only one that does not contradict any of God's word. And the more it is taught, the more it is understood by Christians. The less those false doctrines will be accepted.
I want you to really consider the implications of this knowledge. If Jesus had to die to save us, and He could forgive our sins while He was alive, then it cannot possibly be the forgiveness of sins that saves us. In another way of putting it, if it is truly the forgiveness of our sins that saves us, these scriptures would mean that Jesus died a horrible death for nothing, because He already had the authority on earth to forgive our sins and save us before He went to the cross.
We know for a certainty that Jesus absolutely had to die to save us. I really doubt that He went through a Roman crucifixion simply because He enjoyed it. We also now know for a certainty that Jesus had the authority to forgive sins before He died on the cross. Do you know what I cannot find in scripture though? Try as I might, I cannot find one place where the Bible actually tells us that we are saved through the forgiveness of our sins. I find scripture saying Jesus died for our sins. I find a verse saying that Jesus takes the sins of the world away. But neither of those scriptures ever say that is how we are saved! Every verse used to support the belief that we are saved through the forgiveness of our sins is being interpreted to mean something they never actually say!
Even more interestingly, not only does Jesus forgive the sins of two people before He dies on the cross, but God was forgiving sin all through the Old Testament. All one needs to do to see that, is to look up the word "atone" in the Bible. You will find that all through the Old Testament, God commands His people to sacrifice animals to atone for their sin. Now, atonement is not the same as forgiving. The definition of 'atone' is to take actions to right a wrong in hopes of forgiveness. I cannot picture God commanding people to slaughter innocent animals to atone for their sins, if He is not willing to forgive them. In fact, in Leviticus 4:20, God even plainly states they will be forgiven.
Simple logic tell us that if Jesus had to die to save us, and He had the authority to forgive sins before He died on the cross, that it cannot possibly be the forgiveness of our sins that saves us. However, if that is not enough to convince you, I would like you to consider all of the newborn babies who have died over the 4,000 years from Adam to Jesus. In a time when technology and medicine was in its dark ages, just imagine how many newborns must have died at birth, before they even contemplated a sin much less before they actually committed one. So if it is the forgiveness of our sins that saves us, it would mean that it is our unforgiven sins that send us to hell. Since all those newborns logically could not have committed a sin yet, they should have gone directly to heaven when they died. Right? Well consider something else Jesus says.
---
John 3:13 NASB
13 No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.
---
Since Jesus never lied, at the time He said this, it had to be 100% true. Nobody had ever ascended to heaven yet! Which means not one of those newborn babies could possibly have gone right to heaven when they died at birth!
So we know the babies who died at birth did not go directly to heaven. This means it had to be something other than their sins that kept them out of heaven, because they had not committed a sin yet. It also means that whatever it was, must have been something from the very beginning! Otherwise, at least one of the newborns would have made it to heaven. So it had to be something from even before the very first newborn to ever die at birth!
So consider these facts...
1) Jesus could forgive sins before He died.
2) God was forgiving sins all through the Old Testament.
3) Even newborns who die at birth and had never sinned yet, went to Hades and not heaven.
The only logical conclusions is that it is not truly the forgiveness of sins that saves us. It must be something else that took place in the very beginning! So, if it is not the forgiveness of our sins that saves us, what is it that does save us? Why does God's word tell us that Jesus died for our sins?
Most teachings paint God as sort of a tyrant God. He sits in His throne watching for us to break his rules and when we do, he gets angry and places us on his bad list of those he will throw into the fire. Only if we come crawling to Him on hands and knees begging for His forgiveness will he grant us forgiveness and not throw us in the fire. But that is simply not what happens.
Sin, for lack of a better way to put it, is like a spiritual cancer. It corrupts whatever it touches and it never heals on its own. It will only grow worse and worse. When Adam sinned, it did more than just upset God. It corrupted his soul. In a sense, it stained Adams soul with the corruption of sin. To make it even worse, if a child is born from the seed of a man whose soul is already stained with sin, that child is born with a soul that is already stained as well. We are not held responsible for our father's sin, but the corruption of that sin is carried down to his children.
Now God on the other hand, is perfect. He is perfectly holy. He is so perfectly holy that the corruption of sin cannot exist in His presence when He is in His full glory. The one place where God is in His full glory, is heaven. So if God was to allow anyone with a soul that is corrupted by sin to enter heaven where He resides in His full glory, His very presence alone would destroy that soul. God loves us too much to allow that to happen. He will not allow His presence to destroy those who love Him. So God banned everyone from entering heaven. From the moment Adam sinned, everyone who was born of the seed of man would go to Sheol/Hades until they could be cleansed. This is why newborn babies who died at birth did not go directly to heaven. They may not have any sin on their record, but their souls were still stained by the sin they were born from. This is why when Moses asked God to show him His glory, God replied to him that man could not see His face and live.
The Word of God took on flesh and was born fully human. Because Jesus was born of a virgin, He was not born through the tainted seed of man, and thus, He was born with a soul that was clean. He was not a perfect sacrifice simply because He never sinned, He was a perfect sacrifice because He was perfectly clean, without blemish. Without the corruption of sin upon His soul.
When He died for us, Jesus accomplished two things. Not just one!
1) He was the last sacrifice. We no longer need to sacrifice animals to atone for our sins in order for God to forgive them. We now can simply ask and He will forgive them. This is not what saves us. This is about our personal relationship with God.
2) He made it so God can wash us clean of the corruption of sin by the blood of the Lamb! This is what saves us! Having our souls washed clean, we can now enter the presence of God in heaven without fear of being destroyed by His holy presence.
Today God offers that salvation, the cleansing of our souls, as a free gift from God. He offers it to absolutely anyone who will accept it. They dont have to intentionally do anything at all to receive it. But there is a little catch with that. It is not a physical gift that we can just reach out and take. It is a spiritual gift, the cleansing of a soul. There is only one way we can truly accept a gift that is spiritual. We must truly believe in our hearts that it is real.
This is why the Bible tells us 19 times that we are saved by believing in Jesus or through faith in Jesus. This is why it never once actually says we are saved by any other means. Every scripture used to support a salvation by works or water baptism or any other means is always a scripture that is interpreted to mean something it never actually says. We are truly saved by believing because by believing in Jesus as Lord and savior, we believe He has saved us and we accept the gift of salvation.
When you break down those 19 primary salvation scriptures, these are the technical rules of what we must believe to be saved.
1) We must believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God.
2) We must believe that Jesus died to save us.
3) We must believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.
4) We must believe those three things strongly enough that we can turn to someone and say "Jesus is Lord" and mean it when we say it.
This is the full truth of how we are truly saved!
Now every false teaching that we are saved by other means is based off one other false teaching. That it is our own personal sins that send us to hell and it is the forgiveness of our sins that saves us. The belief of salvation by works, salvation through water baptism, salvation through being a part of a certain denomination even, all of them become proven false when you realize how salvation truly works.
Consider what Jesus says...
---
John 3:18 KJV
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
---
Jesus breaks down the entire population into only two groups. Believers and unbelievers. The believers are not condemned. They are saved. The unbelievers are already condemned. Not because they sin or are not water baptized or belong to the wrong denomination. Simply because they do not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
To say that we are saved by any other means than believing in Jesus, is to say Jesus is wrong. Or that Jesus is lying. To say we are condemned by our sins, is to say Jesus missed the mark. To say we are saved by the forgiveness of our sins is to say Jesus suffered through an excruciating Roman crucifixion for nothing, because He already had the authority to forgive sins and save us before He died.
All of those teachings literally contradict at least one if not several scriptures. What I am teaching here is the only one that does not contradict any of God's word. And the more it is taught, the more it is understood by Christians. The less those false doctrines will be accepted.
