Understanding Salvation

Just the other day I was asked, “How did I realise that Jesus was the answer?” The implication behind the question was how and who influenced me to take the plunge? I suppose we all play our part in leading an individual to the feet of Jesus but its God who saved, no one else can make that happen; “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth…” We must never make the mistake and think we decided to follow Jesus because of who we are and what we may have done. “It’s the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance”. He initiates the will in us to cry out to Jesus and seek forgiveness for our sins. He gives life, we do not chose life. This is a crucial fact we need to make our own. From start to finish it’s all because of the finished work of the cross that we are number amongst the saints of God, period! It took me a long time to understand this.

 

Here is a brief version of my testimony…

 

I responded to an alter call many years ago by raising my hand on the preachers request. The following couple of days confusion reigned in my life, I was tangled, and everyone tried to convince me that I had been saved, but I remained unconvinced. Then it happened, after struggling alone in a room and wrestling with my decision, reading the Bible and through prayer God brought me to a place of understanding, I was a sinner and needed a Saviour to cover my sins. Once I realised that Jesus had paid the price for my sin, I confessed and I now understood that I had been miraculously saved. The flood gates of joy opened and unstoppable tears saturated my face, such joy had now captivated my soul and I needed to tell someone the good news. I ran into the study and picked up the phone and called my travelling buddy Sledge. The conversation went something like this, “Sledge I have found the answer to life, Jesus is the answer”, there was a deafening pause of silence and then came the retort, “Huh”. He had no clue what I was talking about, God had not opened his eyes but mercifully He had opened mine. Prior to this event, we had run in the same circles and found pleasure in similar things. Why me and not Him? Why is one man saved and another not? This remains a mystery, but all I knew is God had saved me and I needed to tell the world. We cannot claimed favouritism because of who we think we are in the work of our deliverance, what was the difference between me and Sledge, I certainly didn’t behave better than him prior to salvation.

 

On further study the Bible makes this very clear and the answer is found in the text; “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  (Ephesians 2:1-9)

 

Christian we have much to be thankful for…

 

For four years or so my life had turn on its head, wine, woman and song no longer had a hold on me and then things began to change and I found myself once again dabbling where I shouldn’t and before long I was behaving like I once had, and sadly disobedience had now become a way of life. Three car accidents in a month and then in 1993 I found out that I had been infected by the HIV virus. It took these server blows to my body to once again bring me to my senses, the love of God had brought discipline into my life to wake me up, (see Hebrews chapter 12) and I thank God for his love, without His intervention I would be in some gutter somewhere with a needle dangling from my arm and begging bread. But God! My Father was and still looks out for those who belong to Him. All glory belongs to Him! There is a lot more to “my story” but time does not permit…

 

“To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.” 

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone