Short Review

We’ve been investigating not just any old model, but the model for salvation. We’ve identified the Biblical example--one that's there for us to emulate. Specifically, in the Book of Acts, where thousands of people got saved during the initial years of the Church's growth you can see the salvation model repeated time and time again.

This model authoritatively demonstrates what it looks like for someone to get saved. With so much falsehood and hypocrisy in the Church today, you've got to get to know it!

Anyone who calls himself an evangelist needs to get serious and imitate this model, this pattern. The Bible says 'He who wins souls is wise' (Proverbs 11:30), and evangelistic wisdom is scarce in the Church today. So where is that wisdom to be found?

It's ancient wisdom. It's the wisdom of the Primitive Church. We mentioned a famous verse from the Book of Jeremiah in the last lesson. It's a verse in which the prophet encourages us to seek the ancient paths. Do you remember it? It's Jeremiah 6:16 and it says:

Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.

With that, we're certain that the right approach to establishing, organizing, and promoting evangelism in your congregation is the ancient one. You have to go back to the beginning and follow the approach of the First Church regarding evangelism. To establish a model for evangelism, you must ‘ask for the ancient paths.’

The first principles--that is, the elementary teachings of Christianity--are clearly laid out for us in Hebrews 6; the only passage in the Bible that uses that term foundations. There are no others, but Hebrews 6, and it lays out seven foundations for us.

No other set of doctrines is worthy of being called the fundamentals of Christianity. And among these Seven Fundamentals is the doctrine of baptisms. That is why we can say without any doubt that sound doctrine on baptisms is the key to establishing, organizing, and promoting a model for evangelism in your congregation.

In other words, a clear teaching on baptisms is the key to getting people saved!

Confused About What Salvation Is

But today’s Church is in bad shape. It doesn't even know what it means to get saved. It invests much of its energy in human-engineered "seeker friendly" easy-believism. It's so-called "evangelism" has no basis in the Word of God.

Today's Evangelical Christians feel certain that their message of faith in Jesus is the source of salvation for millions of souls. In particular, they think that if they lead people to perform a prayer of faith, that the ones who pray will get eternal life.

The Church is supposed to be the steward of salvation--the facilitator of eternal redemption. But the Church is doing very poorly today, and that's mainly because it is confused about what salvation even is. It's in such bad shape we could compare the modern Church to the church of Laodicea.

That’s what we did in the last lesson. We studied one weakness of the church of Laodicea: It was poor. Now, remember that Laodicea was one of the seven churches of John’s Book of Revelation. It's a church that existed 2000 years ago, but its defect of poverty matches the defect in today's Church.

Okay, it's poor, but the Church of today is not only poor. It's poor while it says that it is rich. But it never became rich. From the early centuries of its existence, it sold off the treasures of its forefathers. That's not simply poverty. It's self-destruction. It's self-induced poverty. It's like someone who was born into a wealthy family, but who ends up homeless on the street.

Purchasing Power

Jesus warns today's Church with the same warning he gave to the church in Laodicea two thousand years ago:

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

I [Jesus] counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see (Revelation 3:17-19).

The theme of the passage is purchasing power. There are three things the Church must purchase from Jesus. He is a merchant, and he is selling: 1) gold, 2) white clothes, and 3) eye salve. We looked at the gold in our last lesson. It is the Faith—the sound Christian doctrine.

Today we are going to investigate how to acquire the white clothes, and the eye salve--the second and third wares Jesus offers--but don't forget: He's selling us the clothes and the eye salve. They're not for free.

Jesus tells the Church that we are poor, blind, and naked to make us aware that we need the gold, the eye salve, and the white clothes. First he points out the need, then he points out the solution.

The Church is as apostate as it has ever been in its 2000-year history, and we need Jesus’ wares desperately— even more desperately than the church in Laodicea needed them 2000 years ago.

Again--no freebies here! On a spiritual level, Jesus is a capitalist. He doesn't dish out entitlements through a centralized bureaucracy. The economy of his Kingdom is based on entrepreneurship and private initiatives. You and I must pay for each of the blessings he offers.

So, let’s look at what Jesus' white clothes and eye salve represent. And let’s figure out the price we must pay to obtain them.

Purchase White Clothes

Firstly, let’s look at these white clothes Jesus invites us to buy.

You might ask yourself why we need clothes from Jesus, but we are not talking about material clothes. These are spiritual clothes. Call them “coverings” if you wish because that’s their purpose. We need something to cover our sin, our shame, and disgrace.

And what of the white color of the clothes Jesus offers? Well, if a person’s clothes are white, they are pure. White clothes demonstrate that the wearer has been purified from their sins. So, the white clothes Jesus offers us are the purity we obtain if we confess our sins.

When we confess our sins and claim the blood of Jesus, we clothe ourselves. We become pure. And, precisely, that’s the price a Christian must pay for their sins—confession. We must confess with fear, humility, and self-denial. That’s the price to obtain the white clothes Jesus is selling.

According to Jesus, we’re naked. So even if you haven't recognized it yet, each of us needs to obtain these clothes.

Official Attire

Interesting fact here: Did you know that the official uniform of the Kingdom is a white tunic? Well, it is. So, why not get used to it now? A Christian should feel very comfortable wearing white clothes since a white tunic will be our eternal attire.

To understand the Heavenly dress code, consider the people you will see in Heaven. John the Apostle looked around him in Heaven and saw people wearing white robes. He saw people dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Here's Revelation 7:9.

…  there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb. They [people who had been raptured] were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

And here's Revelation 19:14.

The armies of Heaven [that’s us at Armageddon]] were following him [Jesus], riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

As you can see, we’ll be dressed in white tunics in the Kingdom. It that’s so, then why not aim at being dressed in white robes now? We don’t have to wait for the Resurrection. Let’s dress ourselves spiritually in white clothes even now.

We must and we can! We are able to dress in white now according to this Bible passage. We just have to buy the white clothes from Jesus. Don’t forget what we already read:

… buy from me… white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness (Revelation 3:18).

Remember again: What you need to do is to humble yourself, recognize your spiritual poverty and nakedness, and confess your sins to God. That's why Jesus taught:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:3).

Do you see yourself as poor? Jesus says we are. If we can see ourselves the way Jesus sees us, we will be blessed. If not, if we deceive ourselves into thinking that we are good, deserving, and worthy people--then woe to us!

... woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort (Luke 6:24).

Purchase Eyedrops

Okay, so we've covered the meaning of the gold and the white clothes. We understand them. We'll buy them from Jesus. Finally, what is this salve Jesus offers us? Remember what the Lord Jesus invites us to do? He wants us to buy eye salve from him.

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are…blind…

I [Jesus] counsel you to buy from me…salve to put on your eyes, so you can see (Revelation 3:17-19).

So, you and I are blind. The solution: buy eyedrops from Jesus so that we can see. And yes, what used to be called salve is the equivalent of the eyedrops you or I can find in a neighborhood pharmacy. People use eyedrops for dry eye syndrome and for cleaning their eyes. Jesus' eyedrops are for healing spiritual blindness.

Best Practices

Jesus’ eye salve is spiritual, not physical, obviously. You can't buy it at the drug store.

What is it, though? Well, it's an anointing of the Holy Spirit. The salve is a spiritual anointing which clears our spiritual vision so that we can see beyond the pride, foolishness, and idolatry of our generation. The salve Jesus sells gives us a clear vision of the Biblical model for the Church. In other words, it allows us to see our example: the First Church community ever.

Have you used this salve yet? Can you see how wonderful the First Church was? If you’re passionate for Acts 2, then you’ve applied the eye salve already. You’ve got a vision of the First Church, and how to apply it as a model. If you appreciate how the first Church operated, and you value their example, then your blurriness is gone, your eyes are healed, and you can see God's eyechart well.

Any one of us is free to study the decisions, choices, actions, and behavior of that First Church. It’s all there in the Book of Acts and in the epistles. What those primitive believers thought, said, and did allows us to catch a vision for ourselves. Their example shows us how today’s Church should operate as well.

Emulate Them

In the following studies, we’ll look at the salvation experiences led by three great leaders of the Early Church: Philip, Peter, and Paul. We’ll see how these founding fathers, the original ministers of the Gospel, evangelized.

How authentic they were during that first generation of Christians! These were the men and women who not only knew Jesus in the flesh. They also knew him in the Holy Spirit.

We trust that you’ll realize through the examples of these primitive preachers that baptism has always been instrumental to evangelism. The growth of the First Church was launched through the preaching of the Gospel message. That preaching produced an immediate effect: repentance, faith, and baptism, yes—many many baptisms!

Now, you and I have a task: Emulate them. Let’s not let what started with that First Church, end with us! Let’s continue in their doctrine. Let’s also continue in their holiness and the confession of sins. And let’s press forward not with blindness, but with a vision of the First Church.

Let’s buy that gold, those white clothes, and the spiritual eyedrops Jesus is selling. He’s selling them at a fair price. The only question now is: "Are we willing to pay the price?"