SALVATION

Introduction

The BBC website [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16573312] illustrates a way the Costa Corncordia could be salvaged.

By this means, it might be possible to right the ship; to save it from complete destruction; to redeem it; to restore it.  In other words, by this means, it might be 'saved'.  The 'righting' of a ship like this results in the ship being brought into a state of right-wise-ness: the state of being in the direction of right.  The English language turns 'right-wise-ness' into the word righteousness.  Righteousness for the ship is to be in the right position and condition for it to do what it was made to do.

This illustrates well the concept of salvation as it applies to us humans.  Corruption at the very heart of man has brought about what we might call 'shipwreck'.  But there is a way to 'right'; to 'redeem'; to 'salvage' man - to save him, so to speak.  The result would be for man to be righted: to be in the right position and condition for him to do what he was made to do.

A 'renovation' is a renewing: the Latin nova meaning new and the prefix re meaning back or again.  For the Costa Concordia, to be set to right would be a renovation: a new life; a new beginning; a restoring to its original purpose or to another useful purpose.  The ship could have a new birth - it could be re-born.

This is the concept Jesus was talking about in his disciple John's record: to be born again; to receive the free gift of righteousness; to be “In Christ” — these and other expressions mean to be saved or to receive salvation; a re-birth; a new life.  Salvation describes the process whereby a person is converted from the corruptions of self to Jesus; from serving self to serving God.

Jesus referred to it as being born again and it means to be rescued, healed, retrieved from the jaws of death or destruction — spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally.  Totally!

Salvation is to be completely and utterly changed.  In every respect made “whole” and truly alive.  It is the marvellous position of being no longer “sin-sick” and no longer tied to powerlessness in the face of right and wrong.

Whether we like it or not, we humans have a problem with sin.  We live in the presence of sin all of the time.  We are also enslaved by sin; it has very real power over us.  Many of us, if we look this far, do not look any further, and we overlook a very real danger — of the spiritual kind.

Popular philosophy tells us that man is basically good.  If you follow that idea logically, however, you eventually come to a dead end because you still have to explain the presence of evil.  Go back as far as you like: somewhere, sometime, somehow, someone had to introduce evil.  If it were a human, where did he get it from?  Our theories don’t hold up, I’m afraid.

However, if we accept God’s idea we at least have an explanation.  He declares that we — each one of us — introduce sin and evil into the world, and that we inherited it from the first man, Adam.

We do have a problem, though, because God also declares that sin will never go unpunished.  We all face a penalty for this sin baggage we bring with us into the world.  And what is that penalty?  Death!  He says, “The soul that sins shall die” and “The wages of sin is death.”

We not only have a problem of sin present in the world and its having some real power over us, we also have the more serious and life-threatening problem of having to face the penalty for sin.  What are we to do?  The answer is: Salvation.

God invented salvation!  Available to us right now is the prescription for the penalty of sin, for the problem of the power sin has over us, and for the problem of the presence of sin in the world.  It is called salvation.  By it we are rescued from the jaws of death.

The Substance of Salvation

One might describe a tree and paint a magnificent picture of a tree or take a spectacular photograph of one, but that does not tell me what is the substance of a tree.  Or one might describe a pineapple and make me want to rush out and buy one for lunch, but that does not tell me what is the substance of a pineapple.

A doctor may prescribe a medicine for me and that medicine may have a wonderful name — or a name I cannot pronounce.  What concerns me of course is not its name but its substance.  What is the active ingredient in that medicine?

Similarly, we may be able to describe salvation or even paint a picture of it, but that does not tell me what is the substance of salvation.  What is the ‘active ingredient’ of salvation?  What is in it that will save me?

The substance of salvation is Christ-likeness — being made like Christ.

John 1:12 - “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”

This tells us that by His authority we become sons of God through a commitment of our life totally to Him.  This comes about by a second birth — by the Spirit — and we become, in one sense, a brother of Jesus.  The writer of the book of Hebrews in the bible says of Jesus that he is not ashamed to call us brothers.

2 Corinthians 3:18 - “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

This tells us that the Christian life here on earth is described as being made like Jesus as we contemplate the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ.  By this we are transformed into the likeness of Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit.

1 John 3:2 - “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”

This tells us that we will be like Jesus for ever when he appears, because we shall see him as he is.  When he is revealed in power and glory, we shall see him.  When we see him, we shall be changed to be like him in glory and power.

Three-Dimensional Salvation

One of the most basic and most important statements concerning salvation is that it exists in three dimensions: past, present and future.

Ephesians 2:5 & 8

“[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved...  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God...”

This is the first dimension of salvation - PAST.  For us to be saved in the full sense of the word, there has to be a point in our life when we have bowed the knee to Jesus and trusted him alone for salvation.

Such an event saves us from the penalty of sin.  God accepts the death of Jesus as totally adequate for ever and for all people.  When we surrender to Jesus, the penalty of our sin (death) is covered by his death for us.  By our faith in Jesus, our penalty is paid, we become a son of God and brother of Jesus and we are credited with Jesus’ righteousness.

1 Peter 1:9

“for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

This is the second dimension of salvation - PRESENT.  For us to be saved in the full sense of the word, the truth of 2 Corinthians 3:18 (see above) has to be true in our life.

Such an on-going process saves us from the power of sin over us.  Sin is no longer our master.  Instead, we master it.  Romans 8:1-17 describe the ‘how’ of this process in some detail.  It is worth a separate study.  For our present purposes, a couple of quotes might help.

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”  (Rom 8:5)

“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”  (Rom 8:9)

“For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”  (Rom 8:13)

By our on-going faith in Jesus, we are being changed into his likeness in righteousness, holiness and power, going on towards perfection (and that's another study in itself).  And through reaching out to receive from the Holy Spirit God’s abundant provision of grace and of the free gift of righteousness, we reign in life — life does not reign over us.

1 Peter 1:5

“who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

This is the third dimension of salvation - FUTURE.  For us to be saved in the full sense of the word, we need to understand and appreciate the hope of the gospel, which is that final salvation is not some mystical notion of heaven with harps and angels and choirs.

Ultimately we will be saved from the presence of sin altogether.  Sin cannot live in the presence of God and, as we have seen before, our destiny is to become a bride for Jesus the once-born Son of God and live always in His presence.  “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.”  (Rev 19:7)

Jesus said, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved”  (Mat 10:22).

Salvation is not just a matter of ‘getting saved’ once and being right from then until Jesus returns.  We will be saved in the end IF we were saved, and are being saved as we have described in the previous two sections.

Jesus once mused, “... when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).  He also said, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold”  (Mat 24:12).

These three verses combine to show us that we need — and Jesus wants — our faith to persist right to the end.  From first to last, faith is necessary because “without faith it is impossible to please God.”  (Heb 11:6).

And, from first to last, salvation is on the basis of God’s kind favour — His grace — not our efforts.  And salvation is by means of faith.  We shall come to see later that faith is intelligent, obedient trust.

How Salvation Works

The Father desires for Himself a family who will live with Him as sons in righteousness, peace and the joy of the Holy Spirit.  Man in his natural state cannot do that because of the sin in which he was born and the sins in his life.  He misses the mark, and he regularly over-steps the line.

The Father initiated a plan to redeem man — to buy him back to Himself.  He chose to forgive their sins and to count them as holy people because of and by means of the life and the work of Jesus Christ His Son.

The human response to that initiative is to stop doing our own thing, trust Jesus only and be baptised into Christ.  The desire and power for these things are from the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  God then gives his gift (the Holy Spirit) to live within the person.  No longer is he an external force, he is now the Resident President; the Lord who lives within.

The work of the Spirit is to take these ‘men-made-new’ (saints, they are called) on to maturity.  His work is to purify the ‘sons’, removing the wrinkles, spots, blemishes, impurities, etc. which offend the Father.

As the Spirit works to do that, the human response is, as always, one of repentance and faith, laying down what is of self and sin in obedience to the Lord and laying hold of that which is righteous and holy.

The human response is to live daily in an attitude of death to the things that offend and repulse God and live to the things that please His heart and bring joy to Him.  And we know the things that offend God and the things that please Him by the Spirit who lives within.

So we live by the Spirit in the sense that, except for the Spirit making us new, we remain dead in our state of sin.  We also live by the Spirit in the sense that he reveals the heart of the Father to us and we co-operate with him by drawing on his power to do what we should and not do what we shouldn’t in the affairs of our daily life.  Thus we are saved.

This is not religion or mystical rites; Salvation is a real remedy for a real sickness.  Our biggest problem is that we as humans struggle to admit that we are "sin-sick".  And like with so many things, the first step to recovery is something like: "Hi.  My name is Kevin and I'm a sinner."  In fact, that is precisely what repentance (the first step towards salvation) is: agreeing with God's diagnosis of our problem.

The second step is agreeing with God as to His remedy and prescription: the righteousness of Jesus imputed to us when we step up and trust him fully with our lives.  It's called faith.  And faith is not religion or belief in some religion; it's being Christ-centred instead of self-centred.

The third step is bearing witness to this inner transformation by outwardly demonstrating participation in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus through baptism.

But more of that later.

Cheers,
Kevin.