Who Is Saved?
I John 5:1
Let no one deceive you.
If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the Scriptures,
you are born of God. It is of absolutely no importance for you to determine
when you began to believe, how you began to believe, or who was preaching when
you first began to believe. These are questions often raised by men, but never
once raised in the Bible. If you trust Christ Jesus, the Son of God, you are
saved. If you do not trust him, you are lost.
However, we know that
faith is based upon knowledge, knowledge of God's revealed truth. It is not
necessary that you know everything God has revealed. But you must know some
things. The dying theif, the Philippian jailor, and the Ethiopian Eunuch did
not know much. But they did now something. And that which they knew was the
basis of their faith. What did they know? What is that knowledge which is
essential to salvation? It is essential to faith that you know these three
things:
1. RUIN BY THE FALL -
You must know yourself to be a sinner, utterly helpless, totally depraved,
fully deserving the wrath of a holy God. Anyone who really acknowledges his sin
is saved (I John 1:9).
2. REDEMPTION BY THE
BLOOD - You must know that the only way a sinner can be accepted with God is
through the merit of Christ's obedience unto death as the sinner's Substitute.
Any sinner in all the world who trusts the crucified
Christ as his only hope of acceptance with God is saved (John
3. REGENERATION BY THE
HOLY SPIRIT - You must know that "salvation is of the Lord", by the
grace and power of God alone, without works, not by the will of man, but by the
will of God. Any sinner who truly acknowledges salvation by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone is born of God (Eph. 2:1-10).
To some, this will seem
to be a very strict interpretation of Scripture, requiring too much knowledge.
Them I ask,"Where in the Bible can you find a saved person who knows
less?" To others, this will seem to be excessively lenient, requiring too
little knowledge. Them I ask, "Where in the Bible can you find more
required?"
Don Fortner