Last week, we began looking at the topic of “eternal salvation” versus “conditional time salvation,” as regularly taught in Primitive Baptist churches. Today, we continue that thought by looking at the “eternal” side of salvation. Remember, whenever we see the word “saved” or “salvation” in the Bible, we must ask ourselves, “Saved from what?” And we will learn that the defining characteristice of eternal salvation is that it is wrought by Christ alone, without conditions!
Join us as we continue the discussion today. May the Lord bless you is my prayer.
Elder Chris McCool, Pastor
ARE WE SAVED BY CHRIST, OR DO WE SAVE OURSELVES? (Cont.)
By Elder Chris McCool, Pastor
Zion Primitive Baptist Church
Mat. 1:21: . . . for he shall save his people from their sins.
Acts 2:40: And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
III. ETERNAL SALVATION
We have already seen that “eternal salvation” refers to the salvation we have from the penalty of sin. One of the most basic verses referring to this type of salvation is Matthew 1:21: “for He shall save His people from their sins.” Notice that there are no conditions placed upon this eternal salvation: HE shall save; His people have no active role in eternal salvation!
A. Eternal Salvation is wrought by God alone.
Without getting too deep into other doctrines, our basic understanding of the depravity of man in nature dictates that unregenerate man can plan no part in his own salvation, including his own regeneration. 1 Corinthians 2:14: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Notice what Paul is saying here: the “natural man” (i.e., the man who is only born naturally and has never been born spiritually) not only WILL NOT receive anything that is of (or originating from) the Spirit of God, but he CANNOT receive such things! Why is he unable to receive them? Because he is “dead in trespasses and in sins” (Eph. 2:1). A dead man cannot perform any actions or exercise any will within the realm to which he is dead. Thus, as the physically dead corpse cannot move or think within the physical realm, the spiritually dead man cannot move or think within the spiritual realm.
This means that a spiritually dead man cannot even receive the gospel message! It must be a basic principle that the gospel message is a spiritual message. If a man is spiritually dead, he cannot receive any spiritual thing – especially a spiritual message such as the gospel!
So how is eternal salvation accomplished? Hebrews 1:3 tells us that “. . . when he [Jesus Christ] had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” How were our sins purged? By Himself. Isaiah 53:5 tells us that “with his stripes we are healed.” How were we healed? With HIS stripes. Romans 5:10 states that “when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. . . .” How were we reconciled to God? By the death of His Son. Hebrews 9:12 tells us that it was not “by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” How was eternal redemption obtained? By His own blood. Later on in this same book, in Hebrews 9:26, we are told that “once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” How were our sins put away? By the sacrifice of Himself. Finally, Hebrews 10:14 is clear that “by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” How were we perfected? HE perfected us.
I could go on and on, but these Scriptures show us that our eternal salvation is solely in the hands of God! He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4; Rom. 8:29), justified us by the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:18-21; Rom. 8:29), and He quickens us by the direct operation of the Holy Spirit at some point between conception and death (Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 2:1-3; John 3:1-9). We must conclude that eternal salvation is unconditional, and is solely and completely in the hands of God!
To be continued. . . .