B.m.o.c.

BMOC

HEBREWS 10:11-14 & EPHESIANS 2:8 &9

Have you ever thought about how the believers in the Old Testament times were saved?-----if Jesus Christ hadn’t yet come to die for the sins of the world, could they trust in Him as Savior?

-------If we had asked them if they had trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior----they would not know what we were talking about

Does this mean that there are two ways of salvation----one way for Old Testament believers and another for New Testament believers

------well----doesn’t the Bible teach that there is only one way of salvation----regardless of time and culture?

------Well how do we answer these questions-----and what does the Bible have to say about these questions

Believe it or not----most of these questions can be answered using the acronym “BMOC”-----now many of you will recognize BMOC as a familiar old university acronym for “Big Man On Campus”

-------but that has nothing to do with becoming and growing as a Christian------

You see BMOC can also represent “Basis, Means, Object, and Content”------still confused---------this acronym can help us to remember the four important aspects of God’s way of salvation for mankind throughout history----------The basis of salvation,—the means of salvation, ----the object of faith-----and the content of faith

-------The basis of God’s salvation for mankind has always been the same ---------the finished work of Christ

------The means by which people receive salvation has always been the same------by grace through faith

-----The object of saving faith has always been the same------the one and only true God

------But the content of faith has grown over time as God has progressively revealed His truth

You see the Bible doesn’t teach two ways of salvation----there is only one way of salvation for all time for any member of the fallen human race

John 14:6-----“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father but through Me’”

But the body of truth which must be accepted and believed in order to be saved has been amplified as God has revealed more truth over the course of human history

Now let’s look at each of the initials of our acronym in more detail to understand God plan of salvation—for all folks

I)—The Basis of Salvation

The basis of salvation has always been the finished work of Christ

Hebrews 10:1-4 & 9-18

I John 1:9

You see in these verses it tells us that all the Old Testament sacrifices never took away a single sin—not even the 142,000 sacrifices Solomon offered in one day-----I Kings 8:63

You see all the sacrifices of the Old Testament were only a portrayal or an anticipation of the one Great Sacrifice to come

John the Baptist realized and emphasized this fact when he pointed to Jesus and made this statement—John 1:29----“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”

Notice that John the Baptist —an Old Testament believer, did not announce a new way of salvation

------John proclaimed that Jesus would be the sacrifice that would atone for the sins of the whole world----past and present and future

When the Lord Jesus said----“It is finished”----and then “Sat down at the right hand of God”----the basis for the purification of sins for all time was completed

Hebrews 1:1-3--------Hebrews 10:12

The only basis of salvation for any person from any culture at any time in any situation is the finished work of Christ

It is sometimes said that Old Testament believers were saved “on credit”----in view of the future work of Christ on the cross

----That is an okay way to put it, as long as we remember that God is not limited by time----------------neither past, nor present, nor future

With God all is Present-----God is outside of the time dimension, because time is part of this space-matter-time universe which He has created

-----so the basis of God’s salvation for all the redeemed is, and was and will always be----the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross for the sins of the world, which was accomplished in “time” and history

Revelation 13:8

II)--The Means of Salvation

Ephesians 2:8 & 9

The means of salvation has always been by grace through faith---

-------You see----no one is saved apart from God’s grace and no one is saved apart from the way of faith

Titus 3:5-7

Now we need to notice the phrase-----“by grace through faith”

-----you see our salvation does not come about with a fixture of God’s grace and our good works------Notice Ephesians 2:9

If God’s grace is combined with human works, it is no longer grace----------because by definition grace is God’s unmerited favor towards mankind

------Unmerited means that there is absolutely nothing at all anyone can do to merit or earn salvation---- not even the act of faith itself