The Spiritual Treadmill and the Life of Grace Or Salvation: Our Two Identities
Scott Kardash
19th July 2026
Introduction: Two Identities
I named this talk "The Spiritual Treadmill and the Life of Grace," and today I want to contrast both of these. The song we heard talked about letting go. That represents the left-hand side... the treadmill that we're on. I had a little alternate title: "From Striving to Flow: Our Two Identities," because we all live out of two identities. It's a matter of moving from one identity, our old self, to our new self. In my view, that is in fact what salvation is all about.
We have a bit of a different view of salvation which has been taught, particularly in the Western church. If we step back and think about it, what actually is the gospel? What is the good news? If someone asked you today, "What's the gospel? What's the good news?" your answer might be a bit different to what's commonly taught... or even preached... today.
Let me give you an example, because some of us might have heard a version of it that goes a little bit like this: "God is sending you all to hell forever. Well, unless Jesus stops him, of course. And that's the good news."
It's a caricature, obviously. No-one actually says it quite like that, but it's a little clip just to give you an example. It's a fear-based gospel presenting an angry God, not a God of love, but an angry and unforgiving God. Now, God tells us to forgive even our enemies, but this view says, no, God can't forgive. There's actually something wrong with this picture.
The Impact of a Fear-Based Gospel
I lived in Japan for three years. Some of you may know that Japan is only about 1% Christian. It's not because there haven't been missionaries going there; there have been. But it has something to do with the Japanese culture, and even the broader Asian culture, where they revere their ancestors. In fact, they have these ceremonies where they practice ancestor worship. When their ancestors were alive, they didn't hear this gospel, so they didn't know Jesus. For them to accept this modern Western gospel message is essentially to condemn all their ancestors to hell forever. So, it goes down like a bit of a lead balloon, as you can imagine. It's not well received.
It can be experienced a little bit like this: picture Jesus knocking on the door of our heart... which is a misquote of Revelation 3:20... and the little guy inside saying, "Well, why should I let you in?" And Jesus replies, "Because of what I'll do to you if you don't." It comes across a bit like a threat. Where is this loving God that we're talking about? I think it's a complete distortion of what the gospel actually is.
Paul's Gospel to the Gentiles
If we look at Paul the apostle, his job was to go and preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Jesus preached to the Jews... His mission was for the Jews first, then the Gentiles. So Paul went and preached to the Gentiles. Not many people realise that Paul didn't even mention the word "hell." He didn't even mention it. He wrote most of the New Testament and didn't mention the word hell. He talked about judgment, and Jesus did warn the Jews about Gehenna... which is a physical place outside Jerusalem with a very shady past... and he talked about outer darkness, and John warned about the lake of fire. Paul... I'm sure he will cover the lake of fire in his upcoming Revelation series if he hasn't already, and talk more about its purpose.
But there's a good example in Acts 17 where Paul is preaching on Mars Hill. You might remember when he talks to the men of Athens. He doesn't go up there and say, "Turn or burn forever." He doesn't say that. He says, and I'll quote, "God is not far from each one of us, for we are all God's offspring. The times of ignorance God overlooked. God now commands all men everywhere to repent"... which means to turn to him. "He has appointed a day in which He will be judging the habitable earth in righteousness by a man he has appointed"... which is Jesus. And listen to this: "...offering faith to all by raising him from the dead."
I want to pick up on this phrase later... "offering faith to all." This is something very much in line with what Paul's been talking about.
The Modern Transactional View vs. True Transformation
The common, modern-day process of salvation goes something like this: you'll likely begin with a prayer. More often than not, before you know what's happening, you'll be asked to pray at the end of a meeting. You'll be asked to "repeat after me" and just say these words. The words might include a declaration of future repentance, but that's optional. But repentance isn't something we say we will do; repentance is something we do. It's not a verbal promise, it's an action.
Once you say this prayer, you're then deemed to be saved. People will ask, "When were you saved?" and you'll say, "Well, I was saved on the day I said that prayer." It's a very common view, presenting salvation as a finishing point rather than a starting point. What I want to put to you today is that making that declaration is actually just the starting point.
Here is a bit of a challenge. The proposition is: to be saved from hell, you say this prayer, and you're now saved from eternal punishment. Try to find a passage in the Bible that talks about hell where this is the criteria for not going there. It's pretty hard to find. I can tell you the passages that talk about hell don't talk about some sort of verbal declaration. Under that view, salvation becomes a legal transaction where God is now obliged not to send you to hell forever. You were just lucky enough to find the legal loophole before you died, whilst most won't find it.
Unfortunately, this can lead to an attitude that sin doesn't matter, or "cheap grace," as it's known. Some of the most devastating moral failures occur in church leadership and congregations. I suspect this kind of mindset contributes to the problem. People think, "I said the prayer, I'm saved, I'm not going to hell, so what does it matter?" Sin does matter, because it damages us and it damages the people around us. As we will see later, it's evidence that we're operating out of the wrong, false identity.
Unpacking John 3:16 and Perishing
Here's the classic "ticket to heaven" verse, John 3:16. We can probably all recite it: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that everyone who is believing in him should not perish but have eternal life."
A couple of things here. "Believing" is the translation, but Paul would have covered pistis with you... to have faith. It's talking about having faith. It's not a matter of, "Did I believe hard enough so that I'm not going to perish?" No, it's about having faith. Paul has talked about having faith in Christ to allow the faith of Christ to flow.
People often conflate perishing with judgment and eternal punishment. But actually, this word "perish" in the Greek is apollumi. It's the exact same word used for "lost" in the stories of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the prodigal son. It doesn't mean "destroyed beyond existence" or "beyond redemption." In Luke 15, which contains those three parables, the father of the prodigal son says, "Listen to this: my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost"... was perishing, same word... "and is found." To perish doesn't mean to cease to exist.
People often conflate judgment with perishing and endless punishment in hell without any hope of redemption. But we're talking about God's righteous judgment, and God's judgment always has a righteous purpose.
What is Eternal Life?
What is eternal life? The picture many of us have had is sitting on a cloud in heaven playing a harp, thinking, "What am I going to do for the rest of eternity? Will it get boring?" Well, actually, your eternal destiny isn't up in heaven. Where is it, Zara? Where will we be eternally?
Zara: New Jerusalem.
Speaker: New Jerusalem, exactly... the new earth. Our destiny is actually here. Jesus will return here as King. Heaven is just a waiting room until he returns. We're not going to stay up there forever sitting on a cloud playing a harp; that is a waiting room.
Fortunately, Jesus defined eternal life for us. He said, "This is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." So, eternal life is not about the length of time. We have this Western mentality that eternal life means a long period of existing alive. No, it's about the quality of life. It's about knowing God. The word "eternal" is actually translated from the Greek term aionios, which means "of an age." It doesn't inherently mean endless. But when it got translated into Latin... which is where a lot of Western doctrine comes from... the Latin word used really did mean endless eternity. We've lost some of the nuances of the original language in our English translations.
It is an age of life where God is the source of our life. In Jesus' view, salvation stops being a transaction to avoid punishment and becomes the process we go through to know God and experience this life. Salvation isn't just a one-time event or a prayer; it's a process.
The Post-Pentecost Reality
I think this leads to one of the most startling verses in the Bible. How can we actually know God? Paul tells the Corinthian church that he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. That's quite amazing. When did this become possible? It only became possible at a certain period of human history: after Pentecost. God said, "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh." We now have the Holy Spirit. Prior to Pentecost, they didn't have the indwelling Holy Spirit in the same way; they were dealing with rules, regulations, and laws to try to be good or obedient enough. After Pentecost, we are equipped with the Holy Spirit for a transformation process. We're moving...