Introduction
As the prophet Jonah says, “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). And this is also true of all the Bible writers, who unanimously concur that every aspect of this great work is left entirely to God. The message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ as Savior discloses the full measure of God’s love (1 John 4:10). Salvation is God’s loving work on behalf of fallen humanity and it is, therefore, never the work of men on behalf of God.
Salvation, as revealed in God’s Word of truth—the Bible—represents nothing less than the complete mighty working of God, by which He rescues mankind from the eternal doom of sin and bestows upon mankind the full richness of His grace; and for those who believe, eternal life now and eternal glory in heaven. This work that He has so graciously undertaken saves us from the penalty of sin, which is death in all of its terrible aspects: physical death, spiritual death and the dreaded second death.
Sin is Sin
With this stated, any believer—in obedience to Christ’s command—who would take up the cause of proclaiming God’s love must ever be mindful of the fact that sin is always equally sinful, no matter how trivial the offense may seem to some. Every sin is blatantly sinful because all sin outrages the holy righteousness of our just Creator. And because He is just, mere leniency in the remitting of the penalty of sin is not an option.
God does not deal with sin through mercy or leniency. The sinner is never forgiven because God is big-hearted enough to remit the penalty or to waive the righteous judgment. Any presentation of divine forgiveness which represents God as directly exercising clemency toward a sinner is a fatal detraction from the meaning of the Cross of Christ and is a disastrous misrepresentation of the truth contained in the Gospel of His saving grace.
Indeed, a price must be paid (Hebrews 9:1-14; cf. Leviticus 17:11): a price that we thankfully need not pay; in fact we can never pay it. If the penalty is to be paid, God must pay the price. He accomplishes this judiciously by penalizing a Substitute in our place—Christ the Savior. In God’s holy reckoning His righteous Savior, Jesus Christ, has died and He has suffered the penalty of death so that “we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14, cf. Ephesians 1:7). This work of substitution on the cross by Christ is infinity perfect, whereby the sinner who trust in this sacrifice is cleansed of all sin and justified by God for all eternity (Romans 3:24).
As you can see, God never treated sin lightly. However, His forgiveness imposes not one iota of a burden on the sinner, rather, the sinner is forgiven and justified only because the undiminished penalty for sin has been borne by Christ (1 Peter 2:24, 3:18).
Those who dare to preach the Gospel should give to the Cross its true place of vital importance as given to it in the Word of God. How can God utter a more alarming warning on this point than is disclosed in the revelation of the unrevoked anathema upon all who would pervert the Gospel of Grace: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8).
The Believer’s Part in Salvation
I spoke briefly in my previous post concerning grace, but there are much more doctrinal truths you need to learn (Romans 11:30-36). Search out these truths in the Bible (Psalms 119:105). Be attentive to the teachings of the pastor your local fellowship (Ephesians 4:1-16). Hear or read what other godly teachers publish (1 Corinthians 16:10-18). With so great a salvation imparted to those who believe it is imperative that you, the believer, do your part—get prepared to be an evangelist—which is to “be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5).
But be careful! There is so much junk out there that you must pray constantly and check everything against what Scripture teaches: pray constantly for illumination (John 16:13) and pray for truth (John 8:31, 32). Above all else keep the Pastors or the other Elders of your fellowship in the loop of all you are learning and teaching, because they—more than any other persons of God—have been put into your lives to raise you up, to oversee your good works (Acts 20:28) and to protect you from false teachers (2 Peter 2:1) and false teaching (2Peter 2:3). God forbid that through pride and misdirection you should yourself become a false teacher (Revelation 22:18, 19)!
Never cease to be in prayer for the unsaved (Colossians 4:3); for yourselves (Philippians 4:6); and for other godly workers (1 Thessalonians 5:25), who have taken up the Gospel proclamation as command of us by our Lord.
Finally, take to heart Paul’s prayer:
“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:16-21).
In other words, continuously being filled with the Spirit is key to effective evangelism, because an unbroken reliance upon the Spirit to do what He has come to do and what He alone can do insures that all of the above will fall into place. (Being filled with the Spirit will be the focus of upcoming post).
Get In The Game
I coached high school football for many years in Hawaii; right up to the moment I left Hawaii with my family for Las Vegas. I was what you would consider a strict coach—who placed a heavy emphasis on fundamentals—therefore, I treated everyone of the kids I coached as though they were my own. So much so that on game day I only played the kids who I knew where physically and mentally fit to meet every challenge of competition. No kid who did not meet my expectations ever got in one play on game day, even if we were beating the opponent 50-0. I was, however, neither mean-spirited nor was I punishing them. I was just protecting them from injury and from injuring some other player, because I know from experience that a kid who is ill prepared to play football faces grave danger and is a danger to others.
After each game it was my custom to either congratulate or encourage each and every team member. And I never failed to notice that those who played—those who were dirty, sweaty, bruised and in many instances bloody—were always satisfied, no matter if we won or lost the game. On the other hand, those who never got in the game always seemed discouraged and ashamed and many said to me, they felt as though they were not really a part of the team. I always told these kids, “When you are ready, I will get you in the game.” Not one kid that I coach ever failed to become “ready” because I got them ready to play. And by the end of every season they knew they were a part of a team and not one of them was left who was ashamed or unsatisfied!
God wants to get you in the game! Why? Faith without works is lame, it’s boring, it’s tedious: it is dead (James 2:17)! I cannot count on all of my fingers and toes the people I’ve met who though knowing Christ is their Savior, have given up on ever serving Him. Granted, for a while they busied themselves “going to church” and doing what they felt necessary (Luke 10:40, 41) but they never took the time to “be the Church,” that is, they never realize that they have a specific charge to complete Christ’s unfinished business in the world. And so they lost themselves in various “ministries” for a time until they were burnt out.
But God wants us to be involve in the true ministry—the Gospel ministry—because we are more than mere team members, we are His children: children by adoption and he wants us to be full participants of the family He has brought us into. We are: “A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
As Christians we belonging to His family: Though we are neither a natural child—Christ is the only begotten—nor are we a tolerated but unloved stepchild; we are included in the family as a loved and cherished adopted child (1 John 3:1) with full legal rights to the inheritance of the Father (Colossians 3:23, 24). He wants us to willing take part in the family and to fully understand the work of the family (John 3:16), so that we can fully feel and know that we are in fact part of the family in the knowledge that we as His children have done our Father’s will.
Conclusion
The Apostles teach us that God, through His Word by means of the Holy Spirit, imparts to the sinner the transforming knowledge that Christ Jesus is the Savior. We then come to the understanding that Christ is our Divine lover who died for our sins and rose again to “disarmed the rulers and authorities” that held us in bondage to death. We gain insight into and benefit from the fact that He sits even now at the right-hand of the Father securing our inheritance and mediating for the believer the gift of righteousness, which is our pardon from guilt and acceptance as God’s children. Through this knowledge and benefits of Christ flows the entirety of the Christian life: repentance, communion with God and good works—all this without the impossible task of trying to please God to earn His favor through our own self-effort. This truly is GOODNEWS!
