SALVATION
INTRODUCTION:
There are seven facts revealed in God’s plan of salvation. It is God’s plan –not man’s – not religions – but God’s plan. There is no other plan that can save a person and make them a child of God.
All roads may lead to Rome, but all religions don’t lead to God and salvation. There is only ONE WAY and that ONE WAY is a person. That person is Jesus Christ.
God’s salvation is threefold:
Christ appeared on this earth to save us from the penalty of sin, by putting away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross [Hebrews 9:26].
He appeared in heaven, in the presence of God the Father, after his resurrection, to save us from the power of sin [Hebrews 9:24; 1 John 2:1,2].
He will appear again on this earth, the second time, as “Lord of Lords and King of Kings” to save us from the very presence of sin [Hebrews 9:28].
THIS IS COMPLETE SALVATION AND IT IS OURS BY ACCEPTIING THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL SAVIOR.
It is a fact that God loves us [John 3:16].
It is a fact that we were sinners [Romans 3:23].
It is a fact that we were dead in sin [Romans 6:23].
It is a fact that Christ died for us [Romans 5:6-8].
It is a fact that we can be saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ [Acts 16:30,31]. The Philippian jailor asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved. The answer was quick in response, and positive in content. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house.” Paul and Silas preached the Gospel to the jailor and those in his house; they believed and they were saved. “When you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” [Romans 10:9,10]
It is a fact that we can be saved and know it [1 John 5:10-13].
It is a fact that we are now children of God and we are to obey Him [Acts 5:29].
We belong to Jesus Christ – He is our Lord and Master – determine now to obey Him in all things.
Unite with a NT church [Acts 2:47].
Follow Him in baptism [Acts 2:41].
Get in a Bible study class [2 Timothy 2:15].
Attend the worship services [Hebrews 10:25].
Be a faithful steward [1 Corinthians 4; 2].
Make time in your daily life to pray and read God’s Word, that you might grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SECURITY IN SALVATION [Romans 8:35]:
“Who shall separate us” – perhaps the greatest passage on the permanence of our salvation. Seventeen things are listed which can never separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus [8:35, 38, 39], climaxing with the comprehensive “any other creation” [John 21:11 = significance of the number seventeen].
PREDESTINATION [Romans 8:29]
The word “predestinate” is used only here and in Ephesians 1:5,11, where the meaning is the same as here. Predestinate means to “plan beforehand.” Just as earthly parents make plans for the future of their children, so God does for His children. The verse doesn’t say that He planned for certain people to become His children. It says that He planned that all His children would be like His Son, Jesus Christ.
He made plans for “whom He did foreknow.” He looked ahead from the beginning of time to the end of time and saw His Son, and in Him all believers. This doesn’t in any sense take away from the fact that each person who is born into the world has a free will to receive or reject Jesus Christ as Savior.
ELECTION [Romans 9:11]
Election means “choosing, appointing” – God’s choosing is always based on His foreknowledge [1 Peter 1:2]. Nowhere does the Bible say that God chooses to save some and to damn others. Here it does say that God chose Isaac to be one of His nation and not Ishmael, Jacob and not Esau, and that His choosing had nothing whatever to do with their own goodness. As a matter of fact, Jacob’s life doesn’t show any more good works – in man’s sight, at least – than Esau’s. God’s choice of Jacob to be one of His nation doesn’t mean that Esau couldn’t have been saved, if he had cared to be. God saves individual Gentiles at any time if they will come to Him in the way that He directs. For instance, Ruth, a Gentile, was saved by accepting the God of Israel as her own [Ruth 1:16].
A TEACHING CLARIFIED [Proverbs 16:4]
There is a great deal of false teaching based on this verse. It is even taught that God made some wicked people expressly for the Day of Judgment. To the contrary – Ecclesiastes 7:29 – tells us “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” God doesn’t cause evil [James 1:13], although He can use even wicked people’s actions to further His purposes [Genesis 50: 20]. God made the Day of Judgment that He Himself might be vindicated in all His holiness, and man, wicked by His own devise, falls under the judgment of God.
