Our Salvation, Part 4

Dr. Alan J. Dunn

John 1:12-13: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.

Are you believing in Jesus Christ? Why? What is the explanation for your faith in Christ? The Spirit has united you to Jesus, having given you new life, the gift of faith, and the privilege of sonship. Consequently, you are believing in Jesus. The Spirit has changes you and your relationship with the Lord.

When God Saves Us, He Changes Us Personally

We were born of God. If you believe in Jesus, I urge you to meditate on what Scripture teaches about your new life in Jesus. In the gospel, God has come to you to give you resurrection life. God gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist [Romans 4:17b]. You have been made alive in union with the resurrected Jesus by the God who alone raises the dead. Therefore, consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus and present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead [Romans 6:11, 13]. Ask the Lord to teach you about this new life and how to live in and for Jesus. Let me urge you to study how Scripture describes your regeneration with four metaphors. One is the new birth, as we have already seen: you were born of God. Another just mentioned is the resurrection from the dead. This life, thirdly, is also described in terms of the future new creation, the life of the age to come. This resurrection life of the age to come has already begun in us and is said, fourthly, to be a circumcision of our hearts.

The Spirit gives the life of Christ to us. He applies His sanctifying life to our consciences and assures us that we have peace with God [Romans 5:1]. He makes us hungry for the Word of God which teaches, reproves, corrects and trains us to live a life of good works [2 Timothy 3:16-17]. We grow in the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness as we learn the truth as it is in Jesus [Titus 1:1; Ephesians 4:21]. The Spirit redirects our affections and wills to desire and to seek first Christ’s kingdom and His righteousness [Matthew 6:32]. He instills in us a compulsion to worship and serve Jesus as Lord above all other aspirations. By the Spirit, we cry, Abba! Father [Romans 8:15]! The Spirit enables us, as Jesus’s sheep, to hear the voice of our Shepherd [John 10:27] in Scripture and moves us to follow Him by denying ourselves, picking up our cross [Luke 9:23], and learning to go the way of the Lamb [Romans 8:36-37]. He gives us aptitudes and abilities to serve others, especially the household of God [Galatians 6:10]. He sustains our faith, our hope, and our love [1 Corinthians 13:13]. He transforms us with the power of the God who raises the dead, and we live because Jesus lives, because we are alive in Him, and He in us [John 14:19; 15:4]. We live. We believe. We love. We have hope.

How do we live this new life? By faith. We have received Him and are believing in His name. We must believe what Scripture teaches us about the person and work of Jesus, the Son of God. We must also believe what Scripture teaches us about the person and work of our Helper, the Spirit of God [John 14:16-17]. We must know and experience the salvation Jesus has accomplished for us, and His Spirit applies to us.

When God Saves Us, He Changes Our Relationship with Him

He gave us the right to become children of God. We are God’s adopted children. As such, we already have the legal rights to all that Jesus has achieved and obtained by His sinless, obedient life and death, and His triumphant victorious resurrection. He has conquered all our enemies and gladly shares the booty with us [Isaiah 53:12]. We have become members of God’s family. Jesus’ Father is our Father [John 20:17]. Jesus is our Brother, and we are spiritual siblings. Our Father embraces us with the love He has for Jesus, His Son [John 17:26]. Our Father protects, provides for, disciplines, and guides us as His children. He admits us into His presence as His New Covenant royal priestly sons [Revelation 1:6] as we draw near Him on His appointed Day with spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving [Hebrews 12:22ff; 13:15]. He teaches us and directs us in His love revealed to us in His gospel, which empowers us to live a new life by His Spirit in union with His Son. He teaches us to love each other by giving His love to each other [Ephesians 5:1-2]. He is with us [Matthew 28:18-20] as we travel together as His family through the wilderness of this age. Our promised land of eternal Sabbath Rest is just up ahead [Hebrews 4:1-11]. He enables us to help each other keep going as we fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith [Hebrews 12:1-2]. We are alive. We are learning to love, believe, and hope as His blessed children.

If you are not a Christian, you are a stranger to the blessings of God’s salvation. You are not believing in Jesus. You have not been born again. You are yet dead in your sins and trespasses [Ephesians 2:1-2]. Being spiritually dead, however, does not mean that you are spiritually inactive. You are believing lies and worshiping idols [Romans 1:25]. You are rebelling against the God who made you and to whom you must give an account [Hebrews 4:13]. You are not a child of God but are a child of the one Jesus calls “the devil” [John 8:44]. If that sounds severe to you, it is because the devil is succeeding in deceiving you with false gospels, false salvations, and false Christs. You are being misdirected away from the biblical Jesus by today’s versions of the Liberalism that Machen fought to expose and refute over a century ago. If you are not a Christian and you have read this essay thus far, you need to know that you are a stranger to this salvation that we have considered. My focus with you is, again, on the matter of belief. Who do you believe? Whose words do you trust? In whose promises are you hoping? For what are you living?

Scripture declares that it is appointed unto men to die once and then to come to judgment [Hebrews 9:27]? Ahh, but you are not yet dead, nor have you come to Final Judgment. It is not yet the Day of Judgment. That Day is coming. But today is the day of salvation [2 Corinthians 6:2]. Today, you hear the good news that there is forgiveness of sins and new life in Christ. Today, you are called to believe, repent, and trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Be believing today, and then, as a believing disciple of Jesus, He will teach you about His saving love and enable you to live in His love now and forever.

If you are a Christian, study your Savior and study your salvation. Live for Christ now by faith, and you will live a life of eternal significance. Know who you are in Christ. You have been born from above [John 3:3ff] and are already alive with the life of the age to come, resurrection life. Christ, by His Spirit, has changed you. You are a child of God: adopted, justified, sanctified, and glorified [Romans 8:29-30]. You say, “We did not consider those blessings of salvation.” That’s true. We have considered John 1:12-13, but the Bible has much more to teach us about our salvation. We have so much more of God’s love to experience. Jesus and His love for us deserve a lifetime of study and devotion. Indeed, Jesus and His love for us will be our eternal delight forever. We, dear brother and sister in Christ, are [those who] received Him, to [whom] He gave the right to become children of God, even to [us] who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. What a salvation! What a Savior!