What is Salvation?

Psalm 27 "The LORD is my light and my salvation . . . the LORD is the strength of my LIFE"

Mark 1:14-18 "...Jesus came. PREACHING THE GOSPEL of the kingdom of God, and saying (NOW!), The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: REPENT YE, and BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. Now as He walked by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said to unto them, COME YE AFTER ME, and I WILL MAKE YOU to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, AND FOLLOWED HIM."

We have been considering the profound questions of our faith: "Is there a God?" "What is God like?" "What is man?" "What is sin" And we have been looking, in each question, to the Lord Jesus Christ, not only FOR an answer, but as Himself the Answer to the questions of life.

Today we ask the question, "What is Salvation?" And I would ask you to think with me for a few minutes as we look at a theological, scriptural answer to the question, for it is good and necessary that we understand in a systematic way what the Bible clearly teaches about being saved. Each person is (finally) his or her own theologian; but it is also very true that there is a great deal of conflicting misinformation passed off second-hand as God's truth of salvation. I would challenge you to think soberly about the scriptural concepts of God's Sovereignty and man's free will.

And then in closing, I would look at what we could term the irreducible minimum of salvation.

First, then,

I. A THEOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO THE QUESTION, WHAT IS SALVATION?

The Bible teaches that salvation is ALL of grace, initiated by God Himself.

(Ephesians 2:8,9 For by grace are ye saved...etc.)

  1. PRE-SALVATION GRACE (What theologians call "Preliminary States of Grace")
    1. Election & Predestination,

      ("Salvation begins in the loving heart of a holy God." Ephesians 1:4 "God hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." (and many more!) (And this opens up an age-old Calvinistic / Arminian controversy: Often we have either glossed over it, or have spoken pejoratively of those on the "other" side of the dilemma: How can God be Sovereign and at the same time our wills be free?)

      J. Calvin: "Predestination we call the eternal decree of God by which He has determined in Himself what He would have of every individual of mankind, for they are not all created with a similar destiny; but eternal life is foreordained for some, and eternal damnation for others. Every man, therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say he is predestinated to life or to death. . . .In conformity, therefore, to the clear doctrine of scripture, we assert that, by an eternal and immutable counsel, God has once for all determined both whom He would admit to salvation and whom He would condemn to destruction." (Institutes of the Christian Religion)

      Arminian view of predestination is (Wiley) "...that gracious purpose of God to save all mankind from utter ruin." In other words the atonement is not limited by God's decree: PROVISIONALLY all men are saved.

    2. The Call to the Gospel
      1. Universal in scope; to all mankind
      2. Awakening (Becoming aware of "lostness.")
      3. Conviction (A proper sense of guilt for sin; but of HOPE and not of DESPAIR!)
    3. Prevenient Grace (Grace: "The unmerited favor of God)
      1. Both Arminians and Calvinists agree on the depravity of human nature; that man, unassisted, cannot save himself. Both magnify God's grace in salvation.
      2. But Calvinists say that "grace is irresistible." Wesleyans say God's prevenient grace makes it possible to respond to God's call. We believe that every movement toward God is a movement of His grace, and yet at the same time man is a free agent; free to choose good or evil.

        [I have no pleasure or selfish purpose in escalating this division, but I do need to point out that (1) I know of NO major evangelical denomination which emphasizes man's total helplessness in receiving salvation. Appeal is made: "Hear God's call! Come forward! Pray!" And that sounds to me like free choice, a response, by grace, to grace. Fine! But (2) then once man has responded, modern Calvinism, or neo-Calvinism, says that he cannot lose that salvation. It is like a ticket to heaven which cannot be lost. Nothing can pluck the believer out of God's hand. One cannot be un-born. Arminianism is seen as a heresy of maintaining salvation by works, instead of by God's sovereign decree. But it cannot be BOTH ways! If we are saved simply by God's sovereign decree, and not by responding to God's call, then we are in no way responsible for our relationship to God, and can neither resist or lose our salvation, IF indeed we are among the "elect". But if we are saved by God's graciously enabling us to RESPOND to God's call and conviction, then why should we be KEPT without regard to our on-going RESPONSE AND FAITH toward God? ] I do not state this antagonistically, and many great and good and holy men disagree here.

        Summary regarding the "sticky" subject of predestination:

        • Calvinism: All ELECTED are BELIEVERS
        • Arminianism: All BELIEVERS are ELECTED
    4. Repentance

      "A godly sorrow for sins..." A turning away from . . . Repentance is THE RESULT of the Holy Spirit working in the souls of sinners. Wiley says, in part:" ...true repentance is marked by an abhorrence for all sin as against a holy God. Repentance is characterized by a feeling of utter helplessness before the law of God, and an acceptance of the just judgments imposed as a result of the violation of that law." Repentance does not save us. But true repentance is the "ground" out of which saving faith can spring. There is never genuine saving faith without repentance for known sins.

  2. THE FAITH THAT SAVES! - Entering Into God's Life Faith is at once the condition and the instrument of salvation.

    Saving faith has both a divine and a human side.

    Adam Clarke says: "God never believes for any man, no more than He repents for him; the penitent, through this grace enabling him, believes for himself: nor does he believe necessarily or impulsively when he has that power; the power to believe may be present long before it is exercised, else, why the solemn warnings which we meet everywhere in the Word of God, and threatening against those who do not believe?"

  3. Justification, Regeneration, Adoption, Sanctification [What God does for us, and in us, and to us, and through us in bringing us into fellowship with Himself; I spoke at some length about these concomitant elements of salvation just last Sunday evening. Suffice it just now to say by way of reminder that...]
    1. our sins are forgiven;
    2. we have a new quality and reality of spiritual LIFE in Christ Jesus; and
    3. we are made sons and daughters of God, and are brought into His family when we are enabled to exercise saving faith and believe unto salvation.
  4. THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

    We all need assurance— but we also almost always mean "feeling." But the witness of the Spirit is a persuasion; an inner assurance that is deeper than feeling! Do we dare let our eternal salvation be a matter for anything less than certitude?

(TRANSITION: We have talked about salvation in terms that have been somewhat 'theological.' But what, in a practical, down-to-earth language does it mean TO BE SAVED? WHO is "saved?" WHAT is a Christian?)

II. A BOTTOM-LINE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: WHAT IS SALVATION?

Look at the passage from Mark 1: (a practical description)

  1. Saving faith IS doctrine, belief. But it is MORE! It is pursuit of truth, and is expressed in doctrine; but it is more than simply intellectual trust in what we know. Orthodox Christianity can be extremely ugly.

    We must always remember that being truly Christian is more than knowing and even than believing with all our hearts the truth of the Bible. There must be submission to Jesus, and life-changing involvement with HIM.

  2. Saving faith IS life-changing encounter with God, and means there WILL be feeling! It is an experience; but experience can never be either the center or goal of our faith. It may sound heretical, but it IS possible to be a 'born again' Marxist.
  3. Saving faith IS giving, serving, loving in Jesus' Name: It is service and ministry to need (and here we're getting close to Jesus! Mother Teresa is much more appealing to a needy world than any great theologian, say, J.I. Packer or John Stott— they want to see compassion, not simply know truth.

    Yet it is possible to SERVE and still not be saved! I Corinthians 13 "though I give my body..."

  4. Salvation is LIFE IN GOD BY JESUS CHRIST.

    It is being inextricably linked with Jesus Christ; HE is the VINE, our LIFE is abiding in HIM! And then you may or may not agree with Wesley or Calvin in every dot of the "i" or cross of the "t", but if there is LIFE IN YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE MET JESUS CHRIST AT THE CROSS . . .THEN YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN!!

Conclusion:

Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, and by His Word, is able to make Himself known to you. He comes by where you are, and He says, "Follow Me!" You say, "I don't understand all the doctrines, Lord."

He says, "I will teach you. Follow me!"

You say, "I don't feel any thrills or any profound inner moving of emotions."

He says, "I will change you, inside and out. Follow Me!"

You say, "I see a lot of things that need to be done in this world, Lord!"

He says, "I see them more clearly and feel them more keenly than you do. And I will use you. But first you have to submit to Me. Follow Me!"

[#81(EH) My Faith Has Found a Resting Place]