PT7, Back To the School of Faith: Salvation

October 28, 2018                                   NOTES NOT EDITED

Back to the School of Faith, Pt7:  Salvation

John 3:16

SIS: Many people will go to hell because they are unsaved, but nobody will go to hell because they are unloved by God.

Most people have heard of Milk Carton Kids. During the late 70's through the 80's, the picture of missing children began appearing on milk cartons--a ubiquitous staple in American life. While no data was kept to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy, it certainly raised awareness of "stranger danger." 

Of course, this practice was not without critics, for various reasons. One such critic was the famed child-rearing "non" expert, Dr. Benjamin Spock--aptly named, "The Father of Permissiveness."  Dr. Spock complained that the practice of putting the picture of missing children on milk cartons, "terrified small children at the breakfast table with the implication that they, too, might be abducted.” Warnings are by nature “disturbing,” in the sense of pointing out a potential danger.  The greater the danger, the more terrifying the warning.  There is no doubt that any such "terror" likely resulted in countless numbers of children being saved from abduction (and murder).

This same type of objection is often made when preachers dare to speak of the hell that awaits the unsaved person. The fact that one who is not saved will spend eternity in a “fire that is never quenched and where the death worms never die” is an unpleasant thought--perhaps even terrifying.  It may be unpleasant to contemplate the fact that unsaved people will spend eternity in hell, but it is helpful--it is necessary. Hell’s fire is not quenched by either ignorance or apathy.

One cannot preach on the doctrine of salvation without mentioning hell--as unpleasant as the issue of hell might be. Yet, a gospel that does not address hell does not save anyone. The idea of salvation implicitly suggests a saving "from" something and "to" something.  A follower of Christ is saved "from" hell and "to" heaven.  Salvation involves both a “dire warning” and a “Divine Promise.”  The reason the gospel is “good news” is because, through Jesus Christ, the horrors of hell can be avoided.  In one verse, we see the entire panorama of God’s beautiful plan of salvation outlined.  John 3:16:

¹⁶ “For God loved the world in this way:  He gave His One and Only  Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

As we examine the doctrine of salvation further we will investigate three important aspects:  Terms, Tenses, and Times as they relate to salvation. 

1.  TERMS related to the doctrine of salvation.

Understanding terms is the first step in understanding doctrine.  In logic it is called the “First Act of the Mind.”  Terms help us grasp concepts.  For example, when you hear the term, “Walkie-Talkie,” you immediately grasp the kind of communication device one is talking about.  We should name everything as clearly as a “walkie-talkie.”  Like stamps.  Call them “Lickie-Stickies.”  Or, bumble bees could be called, “Fuzzy Buzzies.”  And of course, in the case of an emergency one would want to grab the nearest defibrillator, or more correctly the, “Hearty-Starty.”

When speaking of salvation, many terms are used in the Bible and no one single term can encapsulate all the truth related to the doctrine of salvation.  One very important term serves as an “umbrella term” for many other terms.  Theologians talk about the “Ordo Salutis.”  It means, the order of salvation.  Salvation is both an event and a process. [REPEAT]  Salvation is like physical birth.  It is a process of many months of labor, but it is also an event.  There is a specific time in which a baby is “born.”  And, the event of birth is not only proceeded by a process, but it is also followed by a process—the process of growth, or life.  There is an “order” to birth just as there is an “order” to being “born-again” (Jn. 3:3).  Theologians debate this “order” to great lengths, particularly debating whether repentance occurs before faith (Aminian, et. al.) or after faith (Calvinism).  The order is more logical than chronological.  The order can simply be stated as, pre-salvation, salvation, post-salvation.   We will look this from a more theological perspective in a moment. For now, I want to grasp the “big picture” of salvation.

As I said, this view is commonly referred to by the Latin term, “ordo salutis, order of salvation.  Much confusion and disagreement happens when you break the order down too specifically.  The simple order I have presented is helpful.   FIRST, every person has a “pre-salvation stage,” we commonly call:  being lost.  Or in our text in John, it is called, “perishing.”  This is the one stage of salvation every single believer experiences equally.  In this stage theologians talk about election, predestination, calling, and in some circles, prevenient grace. In this stage, God is working His plan for our lives from “before the foundations of the world” (Eph. 1:4).  Election is a great mystery known fully only in the heart of God.  Election teaches that God has “chosen certain persons to be a recipient of His grace.”  What election does NOT mean is, “God has predetermined that some will not be saved.”  Salvation is “available” to every person, but only effective for those who respond to God’s call.  This mystery can be discussed and debated but not fully comprehended or articulated.  What we KNOW is this, every person who has not at some point in time “surrendered to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior” and dies in such a condition, will remain “lost” forever.  What is “pre-salvation” for one who BECOMES a believer is a “permanent status” for one who dies without being saved. 

 The SECOND step in a broad order of salvation is “salvation proper.”  This is an event in time.  It is an EVENT of being born-again.  Salvation proper is a dividing line that divides eternity into two parts—before salvation and after.  The terms used to discuss this phase are:  regeneration, faith, repentance and justification.  There is a logical order to each of these aspects of “getting saved.”  The chronological order, particularly of faith and regeneration, continue to be debated.  I prefer to see all of these different aspects as describing the same event of salvation, as parts of one whole.  The logical or chronological sequence is of less importance.  The terms, regeneration, faith, and justification primarily deal with God’s initiative in the process, and repentance (conversion) views that same process from the perspective of man.  We are never instructed to “regenerate or justify” ourselves. In fact we cannot do so (Eph. 2:8-10).  We are admonished, however, even by the Lord, Himself, “to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mt. 4:17).  Repentance means “change one’s mind; turn around and go the other way; be converted.”  In the event, or the crisis moment of salvation, through the work of the Holy Spirit we are united with Christ by the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit (rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:13).  This is an event with an exact time and place in human experience, though one may not always be able to easily identify when that time and place actually came about, as with some very young children.  This is why we mark the invisible experience of salvation with the outward symbol of “baptism.”  Certainly, regardless of when one has been actually saved, “one’s baptism” reminds us there was, indeed, an actual time.  Baptism is a memorial marker of a person’s “death” to sin and rising to new life in Christ.  Regardless of “when” salvation actually happened in time and place, there must be a time of “union” with Christ, or a person is NOT saved.  I do not in fact remember the event of my birth, but I am absolutely sure there was a time and place.  There is a memorial that establishes this event.  It is called a “birth certificate.”  In a like manner there must be a “birth certificate” when someone is “born-gain” and their birth is recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev. 20:12).  True salvation always requires a time of genuine repentance.  There must be a response of faith.  There must be a sorrow for breaking God’s Law.  The precise order in which these things happen is not of primary importance, but the fact that they did, indeed, happen.  Jesus said, “Repent.”  Throughout the gospels the apostles made a call to repent.  Repentance is an important thread in the tapestry of God’s plan of redemption.

THIRD true repentance leads to holy living, the post-salvation stage.  Jesus said to the Woman at the well, “Go and sin no more.”  (Jn. 8:11).  This does not mean when we repent,  we “stop sinning” altogether.  The Bible does not teach a doctrine of “sinless perfection” in this life of flesh.  True repentance means our hearts and minds, now controlled by the Holy Spirit, battle our sin nature in order to continually strengthen our new, spiritual nature.  We do fail, and sometimes fail often, but the difference after repentance, is we no longer fail “permanently.” 

There is much to debate and discussion in regard to the “ordo salutis” and finer points of the doctrine of salvation, but what we can say with absolute certainty is this:  at a point in time in a specific place, one must “repent” in order to be saved.  So, let’s examine the term, “repentance.”  Either one has repented, or one has not.  There is no middle ground.

The call of Jesus to sinners was simple and direct: “repent and sin no more.”  Not long ago a church was getting bids to repaint the outside of the church.  Randy was the low bidder.  Now, the church did not know, Randy, the painter, often thinned his paint to make it go further. He bought the paint, and, yes, thinned it with turpentine. Well, Randy was painting away, the job nearly completed, when suddenly there was a clap of thunder. The sky opened, and the rain poured down. It washed the thinned paint off the church. Randy fell from the scaffold, landing among the gravestones. He was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the Almighty. Randy raised his voice to the heavens, crying, "Oh, God, forgive me; what should I do?" And from above, a mighty voice roared: “Repaint! Repaint! And thin no more!  Whatever Biblical terms are used to discuss salvation, true repentance is at the very core of the issue.  We must also consider

2.  The THREE TENSES of Salvation.

What does it mean to “be saved.”  The word translated “saved” in the N.T.  In our text which we read earlier, John 3:16 promises that those who accept the free gift of salvation God provides through Jesus Christ, “will not perish.”  The word perish means, “be lost or killed in battle” (among other things).  In verse 17 the Word says that God sent Jesus so that, “the world might be saved through Him.” The word translated saved is, “sōzō.”  This word and its forms are used throughout the New Testament (and Greek translation of the O.T., the Septuagint), to describe the various aspects of salvation. It is often translated, saved or was saved, being saved, or will be saved—past, present and future.  Regeneration, Sanctification, Glorification.  It is also used to describe exorcism (Lk. 8:36).  The word describes a deliverance from a severe ordeal, such as drowning.

When used of our salvation, it refers to an absolute deliverance from the penalty, power, and ultimately even the presence of sin.  Salvation refers to our past, present, and future.  The word, “sozo” occurs grammatically in all three of these tenses.  So, technically when one says he or she is “saved,” it means, “I was saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved.”  Remember that I said earlier, “salvation is both a process and an event.”  Salvation technically refers, not only to the moment of repentance mentioned earlier, but it refers how God’s grace is active in regard to our past, our present and our future.  Let’s look at those three technical aspects of the word, “sozo.” 

(1) Let’s deal with the past.  When someone says, “I am saved” it refers to the event in which a person was justified by God, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and united with Christ.  It means that the penalty of sin—John called it “perishing.” It is also called, “being lost or going to hell—that penalty has been paid by Christ’s death on the cross.  The Bible says, “Jesus became sin [a sacrificial payment] for us, so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him.”  (2Cor. 5:21).  To be saved means we are saved FROM the penalty of past sins.  This aspect of salvation is referred to as “regeneration or justification.”

(2) Being saved also means we are saved, in the PRESENT from the power of sin.  Let me say this “power” in this body is NOT absolute.  Saved people still sin.  John said, “If anyone says, ‘I have no sin, they are deceived and the truth is not in them” (1Jn. 1:8). To be saved from the power of sin in this present world means, though we fail in our pursuit of holiness, that failure is no longer permanent.  We have the power to make progress toward the goal of holiness.  To the degree we surrender to the Holy Spirit that entered our lives at the moment of salvation, we have “power” to beat back the influence of the old nature.  Paul said it like this, “If we walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).  Sadly, so few church-goers walk in the Spirit and demonstrate any real progress toward holiness.  This aspect is referred to as sanctification.

(3) A final aspect of the technical term, saved, is the future aspect.  Being saved means we are saved from the penalty of sins when we repent, we are saved from the power of sin when we surrender to God’s Holy Spirit power in our lives, and finally and ultimately, we WILL be saved from the very PRESENCE of sin.  This is called glorification.  Isaiah 35:8-9 tell of our future in the sinless bliss of heaven:    

And a great road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-minded people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways; fools will never walk there. (NLT)

As we have seen there are many terms related to the doctrine of salvation.  One extremely important, perhaps the most important term, is repentance.  In order to be saved we must intentionally and genuinely turn from allowing sin to control our lives to passionately and enthusiastically inviting Jesus, through the Holy Spirit to control our lives.  Repentance “marks” us as a “saved” person.  Then, we have seen that the doctrine of salvation not only describes that moment when we were saved, but also describes what happens to our past sins, our present lives, and our future state as it relates to the technical term, “sozo.”  All of that is quite important, but none of it is “MOST” important.  What is most important is not the terms used, or technical aspects of the word for saved.  [TWO SUMMARY SLIDES] 1.  Past, Present, Future: Penalty, Power, Presence  2. Regeneration, Sanctification, Glorification.   What is most important is not terms or tenses, but

3.  TIMES  (Isaiah 55:6; 2Cor. 6:2) 

Listen to this verse from Isaiah 55:6, ^“Turn to the Lord before it’s too late. Call out to him while he’s still ready to help you.” (NIVr).

We have seen that the terms related to the stages of salvation are important.  We now recognize that understanding the different grammatical expressions of “sozo” are important.  But, none of this very important stuff is as important as understand the “TIME of Salvation.”

As I said earlier, every person shares the first stage of salvation we call, “being lost.”  Every person born is headed straight to hell unless he or she intentionally and genuinely “repents” and turns away from their sin.  Biblical theology recognizes two exceptions:  children before the age of reason, and people who never achieve the age of reason due to intellectual handicaps.  The Bible says very little directly about these two exceptions, so they are best left to God and His mercy.  For all others:  there must be a “time” in one’s human experience when one “repents and is saved.”  When is that “time?”  The Bible gives two answers to that very, very important question:  “now, and too late.”

For many people the chime of God’s Redemptive clock strikes two notes:  “too late.”  The Prophet Isaiah reminds us that it that the time will come when it will be “too late” to get saved.  After one dies, it is “too late” to get saved.  Hell will be the eternal and awful abode for all those who wait until it is “too late.”
 According to our text in John this is called, “perishing.”  Unsaved people do not cease to exist after they die, but they will forever exist in torment, like someone wandering in a barren desert with the baking sun and never a drop of water to drink.  Perishing forever. The word “perish” is the diametrically opposite but parallel of “eternal life.”  Just as the saved experience “eternal” life, the unsaved experience “eternal perishing.”

Life has deadlines.  An article appeared in the  Atlanta Journal, June 5, 1997 that illustrates the importance of meeting deadlines.  Clarence Jackson was 24 and working in a small cleaning business in Hartford, Connecticut to help support his elderly parents. A year earlier he had bought a lottery ticket, never expecting to win. The Connecticut Lotto jackpot in was worth 5.8 million dollars.  Jackson had given the ticket to his ailing father and didn’t realize it was a winner until fifteen minutes before the deadline which was one year later. His elderly father had the ticket all that time.  Jackson didn’t know he could verify the ticket at his local lotto dealer. Instead, he waited until Monday to redeem the ticket at lotto headquarters. It was too late. The Connecticut House of Representatives voted 82-63 to award Jackson the money. Senator Alvin Penn refused to allow the bill to come to the floor of the Senate, and thus the bill died.  Deadlines are deadlines. Jackson left the Connecticut State Capitol a dejected, “almost millionaire.” What’s it like to be too late and lose 5.8 million dollars? I am sure it would be devastating. But it wouldn’t be nearly as devastating as being too late in acknowledging Jesus as your Lord and being lost in hell for eternity!  It reminds me of King Aggippa after speaking with Jesus, “I am almost persuaded.”  (Acts 26:28).

The Bible declares that there is a time when it will be “too late” to get saved.  That time is after one dies.  There are not second chances.

I said there are two “Times” referred to in Scripture in regard to salvation.  One is “too late.” The other TIME related to salvation is “now.”  Listen to what the Bible says about the time you should get saved (2Cor. 6:2):  For he says, “I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation! (NET Translation).

Just this past Saturday, a group of about 50 people were worshipping in a Jewish synagogue in a tiny suburb of Pittsburgh, PA.  A crazed gunman entered shouting racial slurs and shooting people.  Eleven people entered eternity in a matter of seconds. None of them planned to be killed that day.  This is just one of many, many reminders that we do not know the day or hour that we will slip into eternity—or in the case of these Jewish worshippers, be dragged into eternity.  We need to share the gospel with urgency because “Now” is the only time anybody has to get right with God!ssss

Yesterday is gone.  Tomorrow in this world may never come.  The only time we are guaranteed is “Today,” right “Now.”  The Book of Hebrews implores us (Heb. 3:15):

As it is said: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

We began our study of the doctrine of salvation reading a verse that presents the most beautifully simple outline of the doctrine of salvation.  Let me read an expanded version someone pinned of that verse in John 3:16:

GOD the greatest Lover SO LOVED the greatest degree THE WORLD the greatest number THAT HE GAVE the greatest act HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON the greatest Gift THAT WHOSOEVER the greatest invitation BELIEVETH the greatest simplicity IN HIM the greatest Person SHOULD NOT PERISH the greatest horror BUT the greatest difference HAVE the greatest certainty EVERLASTING LIFE the greatest possession.

This is the doctrine of salvation in one simple verse.  It is the most important doctrine in the Bible.  One preacher reminds us, “It doesn’t matter what you are RIGHT about if you are WRONG about Jesus.”  As I often say, “Whether you miss heaven by an inch or by a mile you miss it by eternity.”

Get saved.  Get right with God, TODAY.  Do it NOW!