Salvation
The Rev. Lou Tiscione, Pastor, Weatherford Presbyterian Church (PCA)
As we prepare ourselves to worship the Lord this Sunday, I turn attention to the doctrine of salvation. You might say, and you’d be right, that salvation is the “bottom line” question of life. It is a question of life that asks how a sinner can stand before a holy God? It was the material cause of the Protestant Reformation, Sola Fides. Matthew 21 is the record of the people of Jerusalem who cried “Hosanna” as Jesus entered the city. The meaning of their cry was “Save us now we pray!”
Salvation (deliverance) can be applied to any dire circumstance. In Jesus’ day the people sought deliverance from Roman rule. Adverse circumstances drive us to seek deliverance.
Eternal or ultimate salvation, however, is to be delivered from the wrath of God. The Bible refers to ultimate salvation in three ways. Salvation is a past event, an ongoing condition, and a future hope. “For by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:8); “[the gospel] by which you are being saved” (1 Corinthians 15:2); and “for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
Before I became a Christian, my response to the question of salvation would certainly have been, “I don’t need to be saved! I’m doing fine.” If someone would have asked me, “Brother, are you saved?” I would have probably laughed or been offended. I didn’t know that I was lost. By God’s grace, I now know the truth about myself. I was far from fine. I needed to be saved, to be continually delivered, and to have the certain hope of heaven. I was blinded by sin. I was dead in sin and unable to see my need to be delivered. I was blind to the truth, lost and heading to hell.
By God’s grace alone, I was shown the profound nature of the question of salvation. God raised me from spiritual death to life by the power of His Holy Spirit. He showed me the reality of my lostness. He gave me eyes to see the Kingdom. At the risk of offending some, I am compelled to state God’s revealed truth concerning salvation. Ultimate salvation is to be saved from God by God. God the Father chose to demonstrate His love; He gave Jesus so that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life (Cf. John 3:16). God must cause an individual to see his need. When confronted with his sinfulness, a jailer cried out to the Apostle Paul and his companion Silas, “what must I do to be saved?” The answer given is the timeless answer for all. “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your whole household” (Acts 16:30-31).
When the Apostles Peter and John were confronted by the religious authorities in Jerusalem for proclaiming the bodily resurrection of Jesus, they told them God’s command for salvation. They said, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven [Jesus] given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The truth is: salvation is to be delivered from God by God. All men are born dead in sin. There are no natural children of God. The children of God are adopted. God alone must save men and women from His wrath. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church of Ephesus that all men are naturally children of God’s wrath. Paul wrote, God is “rich in mercy”. He extends grace to those whom He chooses. Therefore, salvation is by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The gospel of the Person and Work of Christ is His power to save. It is His only means to be spared from His wrath, the expression of His holy justice against sin.
Think on this truth revealing the identity of those who belong to God in Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Those whom God calls He regenerates. Those whom He regenerates He converts. Those whom He converts He gives the gifts of faith and repentance. Those who receive His gifts profess faith in Christ receiving Him as Lord and Savior are forever in union with Him by the power of His Spirit.
