LET'S TALK ABOUT SALVATION

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Today I want touch on a very important doctrine in Christendom, the very Salvation of God which is accomplished through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost. In Salvation, the God of creation, the "I AM" takes the sins of the sinner away. How does He take away those sins? . That's a legitimate question that demands a legitimate answer. But sadly, most Christians run away when they are confronted with that question. We the Christians sometimes give answer(s) that I think are not legitimate to make justice to the question. Some of us also beg the question. But in this article, I am going to give a biblical exposition of the biblical answer to 'how does God save the sinner?' .

Before I start with the biblical perspective of how God saves the sinner, I would like to give some of the answers that people give which I think are not appropriate for such important questions as this. This will make this post a part of it and probably continue the next time.

1. "God saves us because of His grace:" this answer in some way seems very true and convincing but I want us to take a critical look at it. To say that God saves us because of His grace is like to say that God did not have grace in the old covenant. God expressed His grace towards His people in a lot of ways in the old covenant. But did they receive salvation in those instances? Big no!. If they could gain salvation through the Old Testament grace, then there would be no neccessity for Christ's death on the cross. (Galatians 2:21). Yes, there was grace in the old covenant. For instance, Ezra 9:8 mentions a certain grace that gives a picture of what Christ was coming to do ,but not the actual salvation. Exodus 34:6 also gives one of the clearest description of grace in the whole Bible but that wasn't a quarantee for the Salvation of the sinners. What I am saying is that though the shadow of the grace of God in the salvation to come was made known several times in the old covenant, it doesn't neccessily give salvation to those who believed. The saving grace of God was made a reality only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

2. Another answer I think is not very appropriate to answer this decisive question is to say that "God was moved by our cry". Whenever I hear this I marvel. It may sound good and convincing to the secularist. But how does the scripture account for our forgiveness ? We can deviate in any other aspects of the Christian doctrines but if we deviate on this topic, we are really causing harm to our hearers. We better keep quite and swallow our inaccurate answers than to give a false apology on such topics as this. The very life of the hope of mankind hangs on this rope of truth and we can't treat such questions anyhow. The reason why God did anything that He did was for His glory. His glory alone and nothing of us or for us. He saved the sinner because of Himself and for Himself. Ezekiel made this clear by using 'I will... ' a couple of times in chapter 36 from verse 22-27.

"22 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. 24 For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 28 You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. 29 Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. 30 I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. (Ezekiel 36:22-30, NASB)"

This passage is one of the clearest description of the Salvation to be accomplished in the new covenant. Here, Ezekiel teaches us that it's not for us and not because of us. If so, then it can't be because of our cries. Not because of our repentance. Not because of we chose Him.

"4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, (Ephesians 1:4-5, NASB)"

But because He's chosen us to Salvation without our council and consulting us, I can say with much certainty that Salvation isn't dependent upon our reactions and feelings. God would've chosen not to save us despite our cries. But He chose to save us because of His grace. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying that these things, repentance, remorse, cries, and other things that the sinner does prior to Salvation are totally unimportant.But all that I'm saying is that those were not what triggered God to save us.

"22 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. (Ezekiel 36:22-23, NASB)"

Thanks for your time and may the almighty God bless you. Amen. Stay tuned for the rest of the discussions on Salvation.

kindly leave your questions and concerns in the comment section below.