JESUS SAVEZZZZ!!!!!!

God’s Way of Salvation

    Dear Friend,

Recently I contacted a cousin I don't normally get the chance to see. Looking back, I do not remember spending much time at all with this dear cousin, running into her only occasionally at a few family reunions. Sadly, I had never seized upon any available opportunities through the years to reconnect. It seems this may be the case with many in today's fast paced lifestyles where families everywhere seem to have lost touch with one another. But as time marches on I've come to regret not having kept in closer communion with many more of my extended family members.

    I've since discovered my cousin Nancy is a bright, sincere, outgoing individual with a radiant personality that draws many to her. She has a natural ability of making all those around her feel accepted and comfortable in her presence. With our own move to this area some months ago Nancy and I are now living in closer proximity to each other and giving her a call had been increasingly on my mind. I definitely enjoyed catching up with her. As we reminisced about several family members, who have now passed on, Nancy expressed hope, as many of us do, that we will once again see all our loved ones in Heaven. To my surprise, she quickly added, "No. . .God chooses who are saved".

     Now to many, of course, the idea that all our cherished family members are in a good place would be very comforting to contemplate. But does this popular idea, which many hold on to, have any truth to it according to God's Word?

    This will be the focus of this study. As we dig deeper into God's Word we will better understand God's plan of salvation. We may have heard many conflicting voices in the world on how we are saved or if God has a chosen or elect people. (It may not be as some would like to think!) Was it for the elect alone that Christ died? Was this choice based upon, as some say, God looking through time and knowing those who would one day make a decision to follow after Him? And was it your decision to freely make, perhaps as you answered an altar call, accepting Christ as your Lord & Savior? Or, possibly you believe as some are taught, that you must lead a good life, go to a good church, receive Communion regularly and follow God's Commandments and then, only in the end will you know if you are counted worthy to be saved?

    Sadly, most in the world today believe in a Salvation of works. They believe they will be saved through the good works they have accomplished in this life, and therefore believe they will earn salvation through their own merits.

    But what does the Bible say regarding all this?

    Let us discover God's truth as He Himself reveals it in His Word. God does not leave us to speculate. He gives us these answers and more by revealing all through His Holy Scripture.

Let us begin at 2Timothy 1:9:

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

As we study the above verse we will receive some answers to a few of those earlier questions:

1. God reveals that He has saved and called us not because of anything we have, or have not done (not according to our works!) but according to His own purpose for us, a holy calling.
    
   
2. We are saved by Grace. Grace is. . . . God's undeserved kindness (or favor), given to us freely, this is only through His Son, Jesus Christ.
   

   Before we go on, we should understand God is Holy; there is no darkness in Him. He cannot look upon sin or the sinner. His perfect justice demands payment for sin and this payment was satisfied through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are now reconciled to God and are able to freely have Fellowship. When God looks upon the saved, He sees the righteousness of His Son and not our sins. We have also received the gift of eternal life. Without God's grace, given through His Son, this would be impossible. We would be eternally lost.
   

3. Finally, we see that this was given us in Jesus Christ before the world began. Some have suggested that God's plan of salvation was thwarted by what happened in the Garden of Eden and a new plan was necessary! But God tells us "before the world began" His plan of salvation was by grace through Jesus Christ.
   

It should be clear from the verse we just studied that God did not look through time to see who would choose to follow Him. Neither is one saved by going to a good church and doing good works. As we read above, He calls us and we are saved by Grace, not Grace plus works.

Let us turn again to God's Word to get a clearer understanding of just what God says concerning man and his efforts at righteousness (or goodness).

Romans 3:10-12

"As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one."

"There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God."

"They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."

One more verse:

Isaiah 64:6
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

God tells us that whatever righteousness we think we have, 'are like filthy rags!'    

Now let us turn to the O.T. where we find an interesting story:

Numbers 15:32-36:

^"And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses."

This little story above, not mentioned too often, illustrates how the anger of the Lord came upon this man's work (gathering sticks). He was put to death. It is the Sabbath, the Day of God's rest, which we also must enter into spiritually, (not the physical day of the week) and this man was working rather than trusting in (resting in) the promised Savior who would come. This is also the same picture for many today that trust in their own works to save them. They will perish as this man did. (Old Testament saints looked forward to the promised Messiah who would come to take away their sin. New Testament saints look back and trust in the finished work of Christ.)

We must not be mistaken into thinking that by our own efforts at good works we will be saved from God's wrath.

Man without God is blind and in darkness. The Old Testament Law was a schoolmaster to teach man what sin is. It also showed sinful man he was incapable of keeping all of God's Law. But God promised He would send a Savior who would come to do just that and heal us (from sin) and save us from our sins (and its consequences). Sin brought death into the world (not only physical death), a Spiritual death. With sin came a separation from God.

This faith in the promised coming Savior was the hope of all O.T. Saints.

Romans 3:20
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

Galatians 3:24-25
  "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."

God's justice against sin was totally satisfied when Christ died at the Cross. The sins of all whom Christ represented (all those chosen for salvation from before the world began) were imputed to Him and He suffered the just penalty that these sins deserved. It is the only sacrifice accepted by God, payment has already been made! Our faith must be in His finished work.

Romans 3:23
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."

    Christ alone led the perfect sinless life that God demanded. His righteousness is imputed on those who are His, so that they are perfectly righteous in the eyes of God's Law and justice.

    The Atoning Blood of Christ:

It was the blood that God demanded for sin because Christ became a physical man (flesh & blood) for us. The life of all flesh is in the blood. His sinless, perfect life (blood)
was the perfect sin offering that was required for our imperfect lives. God accepted the blood of Christ as full payment for sin.

Leviticus 17:11
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."

There are many "shadows' or pictures in the O.T. These 'shadows' were meant to teach us some kind of a Spiritual truth. The Old Testament animal sacrifices were a 'shadow', a picture, they could not take away sin but pointed us to Christ, the One Who would one day come and take sin away completely.

Ephesians 2:8-9
⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast.

If trust rests upon one's own good works his belief is in vain. This is trust by his own faith in his own works, not the faith of Christ given us.

The burden on this sinner has not been lifted. He may be so blinded and totally unaware that this is so with him. He will continue to believe his own works will be rewarded, and sin overlooked by a 'God of love', not the God of love and of justice.

So then who can be saved? This is also the question Christ's disciples asked Him.

Let us read what Jesus Himself told them:

Mark 10:27
  "And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible."

God does a work in the lives of those elected for salvation:

Ephesians 2:10

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."    

It is only through God's work in our lives that we are changed. We become new Creatures in Christ.

2Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

Without God's transforming power in our lives we would yet be blind and continue on in sin. Left alone, there are none who would turn from sin and seek after God. Man is powerless, in himself, to break this bondage to sin without God's powerful intervention in his life.

    Jesus tells us that we must be born again. We have been born physically but we must be born of God's Spirit.

John 3:3
"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God"                    

1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
²  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
³  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
⁴  Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
⁵  Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
⁶  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
⁷  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
⁸  The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

John 3:16

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."             

Some will say that the above verse proves Christ died for all . . . each and every single human being, the 'whole world'! But God's grace falls upon all nations, it is no longer confined to the nation of Israel. This is the meaning of 'world'. Salvation is now no longer confined to just national Israel but the gospel of Christ has gone out into all the world and the saved are taken out from among all nations (the world).

Micah 5:8

"And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver."

Christ did not pray for all mankind (the whole world), but only for those which the Father gave Him. Those alone are whom He died for at the Cross. They are those found in Him.

John 17:9-12
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

¹⁰  And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
¹¹  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom
thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
¹²  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that
thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.         

The word Election is used by Paul in the book of Romans. He cites the rejection of Esau before either twin was born, or good or evil done, as an example of God's election.

Romans 9:11-16

¹¹  For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;
¹²  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
¹³  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
¹⁴  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

¹⁵  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
¹⁶  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

In these revealing verses found above, God makes things very clear. His mercy was on the elect before they were born, not because of any good or evil they have done. It is His election and calling that will stand! God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. Let us turn to:

Romans 8:29
  "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."

Here we find the word predestinate. It is used along with 'whom he did foreknow.' So those He, 'saved and called according to His purpose' were predestinated to be 'conformed to the image of His Son'. We know this was, 'given us in Christ Jesus before the world began'. (2 Tim. 1:9) These are the "chosen" (or elect) kept in Christ.    

    What is God's purpose in saving a certain people?

We are only told God 'works all things after the counsel and good pleasure of His own will.' It was God's good pleasure to save a chosen or elect people from among mankind for His own purpose. They are a people chosen for His name, a Holy priesthood.

Ephesians 1:4-5

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will."

Ephesians 1:11
  "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."

The redeemed of the Lord are a chosen generation and a royal priesthood.

1Peter 2:9
  "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Isaiah 62:12
  "And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken."

 Since it was not our decision to follow Christ, how does it happen?

It is God Himself, who draws us (causes to come near to Him) with bands of love.

Hosea 11:4
"I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them."

John 6:44
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

The original Hebrew meaning of the word 'draw' is 'to drag' or to 'forcefully compel'. It is not possible for the blind to choose to follow after God. It is not up to man. The unregenerate heart is in need of a healing, we cannot and could not choose to follow after God. We may think that it was our decision to follow after Him but it is entirely God's work in our lives.

Numbers 16:5
"Even tomorrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him."

John 15:16
  "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."

All men are in darkness and in bondage to sin (and Satan) since that first sin in the garden. It is only through the power of the Cross we are set free. Christ came to set the captives free . . to heal us from sin and its bondage. This was the work which the Father sent Him to do. He willingly laid down His life for the sins of His people.

Matthew 8:16

"When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick."

Yes, It is God's living Word in us (His truth), which sets us free.
 

Matthew 15:30
"And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them."

Let us briefly review a little Bible history and God's Grace:

Genesis 6

Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 'Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.' Only Noah and his family were saved in the flood, all others perished.

Genesis 25: 29-34

    Jacob sold a bowl of lentils to Esau in exchange for his birthright. Later, Jacob deceived his father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn. God loved Jacob but hated Esau.

Exodus 2:12                                    

Moses slew an Egyptian man and hid him in the sand. God later used him to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land.

Book of Jonah

Jonah ran from God's command to go to Nineveh and warn the people to turn from their wicked ways. After being in the belly of a fish for 3 days & nights Jonah prayed to the Lord whereupon the fish spew him up onto dry land. Throughout this story we see how much love and patience God had with Jonah even to comforting him by shading his head with a gourd.

Jonah 4:6

"And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd."

2 Samuel Chapters 11 & 12

David committed adultery with Bathsheba and sent her husband Uriah to a position on the battlefield where he would surely die. Despite this, David was mightily used by God.

N.T.

Paul, a zealous Pharisee, persecuted Christians but was used by God to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Before his conversion, outside of Damascus, he was blinded, healed and then filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul considered himself the greatest of sinners.        

We begin to see God's great mercy on some but on others judgment was swift, as in the story of Uzzah.

As Uzzah helped carry the Ark of God, fearful it would fall, he put forth his hand to steady it, whereupon God immediately struck him down and he died there for touching the Ark. (the entire story is found in: 2 Samuel 6)

The great people of God we find in the Bible were not perfect. . . they had committed sin as everyone ever born has done. Why was it some had such great faith? What is the reason some were shown mercy and others were not?

One reason alone . . . God's grace!

David's inspired words are found in:

Psalms 65:4

"Blessed is the man whom Thou chooseth and causeth to approach unto Thee, that he may dwell in Thy courts."

The 'chosen' of God are seen throughout the Bible. In the Gospels, we see Jesus, the Good Shepherd searching out His sheep. He calls all those that are the chosen to Himself. In the Gospels of Mark and Luke we read of a special trip Jesus made into the country of the Gadarenes.

"There met Jesus out of the tombs a certain man with an unclean spirit: 'My name is Legion, for we are many.'" He had often been bound with fetters and chains. No man could tame him. (This is a picture of Man in bondage to sin). But when he saw Jesus from afar off, he ran and worshipped Him. This certain man, knew immediately his only hope lay in the Savior.

In Mark 5:25-34 We read of the woman with the issue of blood for 12 yrs. and her great faith. In the midst of the throng around Jesus she said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." Jesus immediately knew that virtue had gone out of Him and asked, "Who touched my clothes"? When the woman came and fell down before Him and told Him all the truth, He told her, 'daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.'

Ezekiel 34:12
  "As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day."

    Whether greatly used of God or those whose names we know not, their stories reveal that they are among the chosen. These were not of the seed that fell by the wayside, but planted in God's good soil.            

Let us turn to:

^{Romans 9:18-24}

18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
¹⁹  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
²⁰  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
²¹  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
²²  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
²³  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
²⁴  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?        

According to the purpose and good pleasure of His will, God has chosen a certain people (an elect) to obtain salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, who would die for the sins of this people. His shed blood, at the Cross (the atoning blood), was accepted by God as full payment for their sins. Christ's blood delivered all those ordained for eternal life and with His blood He bought them as His very own!

Hebrews 9:12
"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."

As for the rest of mankind, God has simply left His hand off from them. They will go on to live their lives but will remain unsaved. We may hear some say, this cannot be, as it is unfair and God is a God of justice! But what is fair for All is death. It is the judgment that all are deserving of for sin.

Ezekiel 18:4
"Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die."        

It is for all believers in Christ to know they have eternal life.

1John 5:13
  "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

Acts 13:48
  "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed."

There it is friend, God's true plan of Salvation. It has been denied. It has been twisted. It has been ignored. And it is not accepted by the world … just as Christ was not, and is not. The world has found hundreds of variations (of false Gospels) with which to replace the one true Gospel of God. No, the world will not hear God's truth and even seeks to destroy it.

But God's truth will prevail throughout eternity.

Zechariah 4:6

"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."