The Condition of the Heart that receives Salvation

The Condition of the Heart that receives Salvation

In the beginning God created the heavens and earth, and He also created a tree of knowledge of good and evil, warned Adam not to eat it, however Adam and Eve went against God’s Word and after they ate the fruit of good and bad, we see two types of people emerging in the bible. People that were DESTROYED  by God and those that were SAVED by God, those were blessed or received Grace  and those that were cursed. Heaven being the shadow of the SPIRIT and Earth being the shadow of the FLESH, these two NATURES are also evident in us and become fundamental in understanding spiritual life. Those two options are evident from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, Abel and Cain, Esau and Jacob, Orpah and Ruth King Saul and King David etc. Friends our spiritual analysis of such people may help us to understand true spiritual life prepared by God, or spiritual life that connect us to the heart of God and it will also show spiritual life that is just religious and in error. Nothing has changed, Today we can clearly see these two types of people. Today let’s dwell on another interesting pair in Genesis 40, the Chief Butler and the Chief Baker. Genesis 40:1-“And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.” What we read happened when Joseph was locked in prison for resisting temptation of Potiphar’s wife.

When Martin Luther began the Religious Reformation, it started with the words, “The just shall live by faith”. (Romans 1:17) Faith is not relying on yourself, its having a relationship with God and  believing in  His Word and relying on Him  alone. The Chief Butler’s Faith in Genesis 40, that we read, is precisely about that. On the surface, the chief butler and the chief baker committed sins and were locked up in prison. Each had different dreams, and in accordance with the interpretation by Joseph, the chief butler lived and the chief baker was killed. Both of them had sinned. But at the end of chapter 40, what happened was, “And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand: But he hanged the chief baker”: as Joseph had interpreted to them. (Genesis 40:21, 22) In Genesis 40:1, both of them sinned against Pharaoh, but the chapter ends with one person receiving salvation and the other receiving destruction. This is not just any story, but the story of mankind. We (mankind) had sin (Romans 3:23). But there are those who are saved and there are those who are destroyed. What kind of people are saved? People like the chief butler receive salvation. People like the chief baker are destroyed. Let us look into the kind of heart the chief butler had that he received salvation and the heart of the chief baker that led him to be destroyed. If you see this, you can clearly see the path of how you should live your spiritual life. It is very simple. What did the chief butler do? Let’s read Genesis 40:9 together: “And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, in my dream, behold, a vine was before me”; this is talking about the  landscape  of our hearts. I was so amazed upon reading verse 9. Why, you ask? If you are the chief butler of the king, then you have a high position and it’s expected that he lived well. One day, however, he did something wrong and ended up in prison. How frustrated he must have been. “How long will I be in prison? Will the king forget me and leave me here for the rest of my life? How many years will I be in prison? How will my children get along while I am in prison? What will my wife eat to live?” He would probably have many complicated thoughts such as these. When the chief butler saw the VINE in his dream, he no longer saw any of those things; only the VINE. Behold, a vine was before me; friends, look. It says that there was a vine, so if I hide behind it, can I be seen or not? I cannot be seen. The vine completely covered all his problems. He had many troubles and problems, but before him was the vine and those problems were covered. It is not that a person who lives spiritual life has no problems at all. It’s just that Jesus covers thousands and thousands of problems. If Jesus is inside a person, in his spiritual life, thousands or even tens of thousands of problems are taken care of. This is something that’s very amazing. The flowers on the vine bloomed; and the fruit ripened. The Bible is so amazing because the chief butler did not look anywhere else other than the vine. He only looked at the vine. He saw the vine sprouting, flowers blooming, and fruit being borne. As we know the VINE  represents Jesus Christ. The butler had many complicated issues in his home, but those things were not problems because he had known precisely that there was no other way outside of Jesus Christ. That is why he was only looking at the vine. Our spiritual life doesn’t work  because we don’t wholly rely on Jesus Christ, we think we have merits to present to Jesus Christ. “If I fast and pray for 40 days, if I have good deeds the Lord will receive me, God I always give at church please bless me for deeds.” This is how people give offerings to God. People think Christianity is about religious activities, these activities without indwelling of Jesus Christ remain as activities without any LIFE as Christ is the Life, this is  many people are holding onto in their hearts. Such people see  other ways other than Jesus Christ. The story of the chief butler continues as the things in his heart are revealed in his dream. The vine budded, its blossoms shot forth, and it bore fruit. He pressed the grapes and made juice to present to the king. Friends there is no other way for you to be presented to God other than through Jesus Christ who died on the cross, Christ is the only one who God accepts. Do You Boast about Jesus and His works or Do You Boast about what You Have Done? In the story of the chief butler and the chief baker, in Genesis 40, the chief butler had nothing to place his expectations in other than the VINE. He plucked some grapes and brought them forward. The grape juice represents the blood of Jesus Christ. “God, what I have done is dirty, and all I have done can only be destroyed and cursed. Jesus, when you were crucified for my sin, didn’t you receive the curse?  You had no sin but you became the sin for me ”Therefore, this blood is the proof that my sin is forgiven: “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness “ (Hebrews 9:22). Friends, from time to time, you have Holy Communion in your church, don’t you? You break the bread and drink wine, don’t you? Why do we have Holy Communion? As you break the bread, you say, “Just as this bread is broken, the body of Jesus was broken for my sin. You have washed away my sins.” As you drink the wine, you say, “To receive the punishment for my sin, Jesus shed His blood. “Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven,  whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one  whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” (Romans 4:4-8)

Coming to the Chief Baker who was destroyed , he tells his dream to Joseph as well in Genesis 40: 16-17 – “I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread. In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” Joseph interpreted his dream in Genesis 40:18:- “This is what it means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh.” Although that sounds scary, it was true he was destroyed, the white baskets represent Jesus Christ, when we take communion, we do it with bread and wine, and Jesus is the bread of life. Friends when the Chief Baker went forth, he should ONLY have gone forth with BREAD ONLY, but the problem was that he kept adding somethings on top of the bread, Bread plus his  own  personal works-this is not true spiritual life, its religion trying to win the heart of God through my own works, it’s the heart of Cain same heart of Esau it leads to destruction. The birds represent Satan, remember the birds that ate the seeds that were sown on the way side in Matthew 13:4. Friends, when we go to the Lord, we must rely on Jesus Christ ONLY He is the bread of life, the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). God is telling us that because we constantly add our own righteousness, our own good deeds, God cannot accept those things, if we do that we can only be destroyed, He only accept His son Jesus Christ, Paul warns us in Romans 10: 1-4“For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” Friends those of you who pile the things you have done on top of the white bread, like the chief baker, will go to hell, you will remain as the 99 sheep (Pharisees hearts) in Luke 15 that Jesus left  in the wilderness and went for the one that had gone astray, Jesus came for sinners not for the righteous or the self righteous ones.  Now, you must throw all of your merits  away. Everyone, throw away everything you have done well by your efforts before God. You have been deceived by Satan, who wishes to drag you to hell, so those things appear to be good. True good is only inside of Jesus Christ. True righteousness is only within our only Master, Jesus Christ, He is our true righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). Friends the condition of the heart that receives true salvation prepared by God is one that only relies on the works of Jesus Christ, a helpless heart, God helps those that cannot help themselves, who can help themselves are Pharisees who don’t have a need for Jesus Christ.   Throw away everything you have done well, empty yourself. When you go forward only relying on the blood of Jesus Christ, who was crucified and killed for you, relying on His resurrection, you are guaranteed of new birth in Christ therefore you will be saved and go to paradise.

Friends what kind of spiritual life do you have? Are you satisfied with the things you have done well like the chief baker? You doing something, is that something for you to be proud of or joyful about? Not so. There is nothing for you to boast about except your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Only the blood that Jesus Christ shed on the cross is what we can boast of. Only that can become our crown. Of course, there may be times when you have helped the poor or done good, there must have been times when you had done something difficult or something good. However, those things should not remain in your heart. Because you can’t go to heaven with that, you must rely only on the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Then what should we believe in? Just as the chief butler only looked at the vine, we must only look at Jesus Christ. Throw away all that good you have done, and say, “Jesus, all I have done is nothing but evil and sin, nothing God can come out of my  flesh (Romans 7:18), the ground in Genesis as the shadow of our flesh (our thoughts, our feelings and emotions, our body) was cursed,  Cain  tried to give God out of this cursed ground, Esau tried to give from this cursed ground his flesh him too was destroyed, consider everything from the flesh as dung: “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philip 3:8). Friends all of us can be delighted knowing God’s holy plan from the beginning , sending His begotten son  Jesus  Christ He shed His blood for all our sins. He received all the punishment for your sins not some but ALL, past , current and future- “ONCE AND FOR ALL” (Hebrews 10:10).  “I am cleansed and all my sins have been washed away as white as snow, I am an eternally forgiven person not by any of my deeds but by finished deeds of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). I come to you, God, relying on the blood of Jesus Christ, even as I live my spiritual life I can only rely on the works of Jesus Christ who dwells in me by His Holy Spirit ” At that very instant, you can have the spiritual life of the chief butler. You will then be able to gain the glorious heavenly kingdom. It is my prayer that God by His grace can give you the faith to receive His Word as is, throw away your thoughts live by faith on the Word of God, relying solely on Jesus Christ. Christianity is Christ in us the hope of glory, REPENT from your SELF personal deeds driven life and BELIEVE in the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour the only one whom God is pleased with, God wants to see Jesus Christ in you not you!  HEAR THE WORD NOT THE WORLD OF YOUR THOUGHTS AND  STAY ENCOURAGED IN THE LORD. Contact us for  free individual, family fellowship/Bible stidy or Christian Leaders fellowship in your area, [email protected] Whatsapp +27 71 714 6830 “ I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ”