One of the things I learned from God as He imparts this life in me
is that if you cannot rise to the occasion, then you would do well to examine
yourself to see exactly what did you receive.
A lot of us loves saying we have received Christ, but what does that
mean to us? Better yet, what does that
mean to God and how does it work out with His vision for Salvation? As He taught me through a lengthy and painful
process the act of receiving Him, I found out the true meaning of this verse in
1John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they did not
really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained
with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”
I also found out,
although there are a lot of things in the Bible that were written for people living
in that time and we cannot interpret the Bible without incorporating this
fact. So, yes 1John 2:19 was also written with context of Acts
15:1, but it was also written for our own good today. None of it
will make sense to us if we are bent on going on about Salvation with one or
two verses, and our own explanation. We make Christ a liar as He did not need
to send the Holy Spirit to teach us His Word and His way. It is His job to take
from God, to us. There are several ways
we can depart from the faith. The only proof you have that you have truly
received His Salvation is that you keep rising to the occasions and keep going
forward with Him no matter what the obstacles or the trials
A.W. Tozer: "The Word of God
well understood and religiously obeyed is the shortest route to spiritual
perfection. And we must not select a few favourite passages to the exclusion of
others. Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.
A Fourfold Salvation
Arthur Pink, 1938
It is not that God would bewilder us—but that He
would humble us, drive us to our knees, make us dependent upon His
Spirit. Not to the proud—who are wise in their own esteem—are its heavenly
secrets opened.
In like manner it may be shown from Scripture that
the cause of salvation is not a single one, as so many suppose—the
blood of Christ. Here, too, it is necessary to distinguish between things which
differ.
First, the originating cause of salvation is
the eternal purpose of God, or, in other words, the predestinating grace
of the Father
The fact is, that the great majority of professing Christians
fail to see that "salvation" is one of the most comprehensive terms
in all the Scriptures, including predestination, regeneration, justification,
sanctification and glorification. They have far too cramped an idea of the
meaning and scope of the word "salvation" (as it is used in the
Scriptures), narrowing its range too much, generally confining their thoughts
to but a single phase. They suppose "salvation" means no more than the
new birth or the forgiveness of sins. Were one to tell them that salvation is a
protracted process, they would view him with suspicion; and if he affirmed that
salvation is something awaiting us in the future, they would at once dub him a
heretic. Yet they would be the ones to err.
Ask the average Christian, Are you saved, and he answers, Yes, I
was saved in such and such a year; and that is as far as his thoughts on the
subject go. Ask him, to what do you owe your salvation? and "the finished
work of Christ" is the sum of his reply. Tell him that each of those
answers is seriously defective, and he strongly resents your aspersion.
As an example of the confusion which now prevails, we quote the
following from a tract on Philippians 2:12, "To whom are those
instructions addressed? The opening words of the Epistle tell us—'To the saints
in Christ Jesus' . . . Thus they were all believers! and could not be required
to work for their salvation, for they already possessed it." Alas that so
very few today perceive anything wrong in such a statement. Another "Bible
teacher" tells us that "save yourself" (1 Tim. 4:16 ) must refer to deliverance from physical ills, as
Timothy was already saved spiritually. True—yet it is equally true that he was
then in process of being saved, and also a fact that his salvation was then
future.
Let us now supplement the first three verses quoted and show
there are other passages in the New Testament which definitely refer to each
distinct tense of salvation.
First, salvation as an accomplished fact, "Your faith
has saved you" (Luke 7:50 ), "by grace
you have been saved" (Greek, and so translated in the R.V.—Eph. 2:8),
"according to His mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:5).
Second, salvation as a present process, in course of
accomplishment, not yet completed, "Unto us which are being saved" (1
Cor. 1:18 —R.V.); "Those
who believe to the saving (not 'salvation') of the soul" (Heb. 10:39 ).
Third, salvation as a future prospect, "Sent forth to
minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Heb. 1:14),
"receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to
save your souls" (James 1:21), "Kept by the power of God through
faith Studies in the Scriptures July, 1938 20 unto salvation, ready
to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:5).
Thus, by putting together
these different passages, we are clearly warranted in formulating the following
statement—every genuine Christian has been saved, is now
being saved, and will yet be saved—how and from what, we shall endeavor
to show.
As further proof of how many-sided is the subject of God's great
salvation and how that in Scripture it is viewed from various angles, take the
following, "by grace are you saved" (Eph. 2:8), "saved
by His (Christ's) life" (that is) by His resurrection life (Romans
5:9), "your faith has saved you" (Luke 7:50), "the
engrafted Word which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21), "saved
by hope" (Romans 8:24), "saved yet as by fire" (1 Cor.
3:15), "the like figure where unto baptism does also now save
us" (1 Peter 3:21).
Ah, my reader, the Bible is not the lazy man's book, nor can it be soundly expounded
by those who do not devote the whole of their time, and that for years, to its
prayerful study. It is not that God would bewilder us—but that He
would humble us, drive us to our knees, make us dependent upon His
Spirit. Not to the proud—who are wise in their own esteem—are its heavenly
secrets opened.
In like manner it may be shown from Scripture that
the cause of salvation is not a single one, as so many suppose—the
blood of Christ. Here, too, it is necessary to distinguish between things which
differ.
