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
If faith is viewed as a good act which triggers God’s grace----then God’s grace is not real grace
--------you see there is no such thing as 99% grace ------salvation is 100% by grace
Faith is rather a person’s response to God’s grace------you see apart from the response of faith there is no salvation-----because we don’t receive what God wants to give us
Both grace and faith are fundamental to salvation-----salvation is by God’s grace alone-----and we receive that grace with a response of faith
By grace through faith has always been God’s means of salvation
—notice----Romans 4:1-8
God’s means of salvation has always been by grace through faith
III)–The Object of Faith
The object of faith for human salvation has always been the one true God------and the one true God is the God of the Bible------not a created supreme being in the mind of man
As we reach out to evangelize people from other cultures we must be very careful in this area------sometimes the name of the supreme being from one of the world’s religions (such as allah) has been used to represent the God of the Bible--------the reason for doing this is to bridge the communication gap, so the motive may be pure-------
----However the result is that unbiblical baggage is often brought across the gap we are trying to bridge
Notice what Jesus said to the Religious Jews in John 8:42-45
It is significant that the Lord was not speaking here to Muslims or Hindus, but to orthodox Jews-----If any religious group had a claim to the God of the Bible----it was the Jews
----But the understanding of God held by these work oriented Jews was just as off track as any other world religion
Now is there enough evidence of the one true God of the Bible apart from the Bible?------yes-------Romans 1:18-20
Now when there is a response of faith to the God of the Bible, there will be an automatic acceptance of the truth that God has revealed in the Bible---------you see–if the individual is truly following the one true God of the Bible then it is only a matter of time before the blind spots begin to be removed by the Holy Spirit----and they receive the Word of God as truth
Understand that the object of faith which is necessary for salvation is and always has been the one true God of the Bible
IV)—The Content of Faith
the content of faith necessary for salvation has not always been the same-----------------while the Basis of salvation, the means of salvation, and the object of faith----have always been the same----the content has not always been the same
Why?------is it because God has changed His mind or way of salvation?----no
-----it is because God has progressively revealed more truth over the course of human history
You see—the content for Nicodemus was different than the content of faith for Noah----because during the time between Noah and Nicodemus the content of faith had grown
-----Noah knew nothing about receiving Jesus as the Messiah
---------between Noah’s time and Nicodemus’ time the content of faith had enlarged greatly---------------so while there has never been more than one way of salvation for mankind----there has been progressive revelation of truth from God to mankind overtime
As a result----over the course of human history the way a person expresses his response of faith to the one true God will be different
For example-----today we don’t bring sacrificial lambs and goats to an altar to express our faith in the one true God because the further and full revelation of truth about the Son of God as Savior has come
God has now clearly revealed Himself as a Trinity, and now the content our faith for salvation must include is-----that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity—is God and Savior—Romans 10:9-10
Thus Unitarians and Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons and others who have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ but reject His deity are not saved
Acts 17:30-31---------Acts 4:12
God’s ultimate revelation of truth has shown that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no person comes to the Father (the true God)–apart from Christ
God’s way of salvation for man has never changed, but the content of faith for salvation has been enlarged with God’s ultimate and final revelation of Himself in Christ
BMOC may be an outdated collegiate acronym-----however its “rebirth” as Basis, Means, Object, and Content------will never be out of date because God’s plan of salvation for mankind is eternal
-------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
