The Work of Salvation

God’s Work of Salvation
God’s work of salvation was done by Jesus when He came down to earth: when He became the Godman, when He died on the cross, when He was buried, when He arose from the tomb, when He ascended back up into Heaven.

From the beginning of time, He wants all of us to be saved. And now HE is saving people from Hell — in that very moment when they first believe.

God promises – and He delivers
Jesus did not come down to earth to condemn us (Verse 17 of John 3:14-19). He does not get angry with our sinfulness so that He then angrily takes away our salvation.

For those who have accepted Him with sincerity and truth — all sin is forgiven – past tense. It was done for us by Him. And further sin by us does not “undo” that salvation that He gave us.

We are saved by His grace and sheer mercy. Not by anything we could do to deserve it. The work of salvation is of God, not of us.

He does not count our sins until such time as we suddenly go past His sin limit, and His patience is then lost, and then He damns us all to Hell again! Not a chance.

our sufficiency
and qualifications
come from God”
– 2 Corinthians 3:5

…and then
He damns us all
to Hell again?
Not a chance.

God does not wait
God does not wait to really really save us until after He sees how we did years later. He is not sitting up there twiddling His thumbs anxiously, wondering if we will endure to the end — and THEN really really saves us if we have held on good enough.

But, but, but if we faltered — He THEN damns us again (unsaving us), right? No. That scenario is not found in Scripture.

¹⁹Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God [which He has laid] stands [sure and unshaken despite attacks], bearing this seal:

“The Lord knows those who are His,”
– Verse 19 of 2 Timothy 2:11-19

He THEN
damns us again
(unsaving us)?
No.

We bear His seal of approval – His Holy Spirit inside us (Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30; 2 Corinthians 1:22). So, you think the Spirit will leave us if we sin too much? Do you believe that God will break His promises?

Jesus promised eternal salvation

²⁷My sheep know my voice, and I know them. They follow me, ²⁸and I give them eternal life, so that they will never be lost. No one can snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father gave them to me, and he is greater than all others.^[a] No one can snatch them from his hands, ³⁰and I am one with the Father.
– John 10:27-30 ^{CEV version}

Does God UnKnow you, ever?
If Jesus knows His sheep, then, what? Does He then un-know you after you falter, waiver, and sin?

How much clearer could Jesus have put it? He said here, “I give them eternal life, so that they will never be lost.” When will they be lost? Never. “…They will never be lost” (v28).

Elsewhere He said this about that:

If Jesus could “lose” you — then this verse is false, because it says “I should not lose any“. When God saves you, He does not need to say,

“Get a grip. Hold on tighter. Don’t want to lose you!”

No way no how.

“So that you will know”
It is written …so that you will know:

¹³These things I have written
to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God
[which represents
all that Jesus Christ is and does],
so that you will know
[with settled
and absolute knowledge]
that you [already] have eternal life.
– 1 John 5:13

You [already] have eternal life
If 1 John 5:13 is true, then we know (beyond the shadow of a doubt) we are going to Heaven. We know we are saved. We know we have been saved (past tense). We know we have the promised eternal life that Jesus gives.

God is not the UnSaving God
God does not change His mind. He does not “save us for all eternity” — and then turn around and “unsave us” because we sinned too much.

His forgiveness is way bigger than all of our sins. He is The Saving God, and The Damning God – but He is not The UnSaving God.

He promised He would never leave us
So how do we interpret this? Interpreting Scripture requires we match it up to other same topic passages to get one meaning, because we know that God will not contradict Himself.

Paul puts contrasting positions in juxtaposition, in order to contrast them. Those who are truly saved – endure ^(v12), and will reign with Him. It’s a given. But if, at that moment of decision, we do not accept Him, we reject Jesus, we “deny Him” ^(v12), and we are not saved.

Later, if we were truly saved – and yet slip into being “faithless” ^(v13), God does not deny us. Why? Because we are in Him (in Christ), and in our faithless moments “He remains faithful”. He remains “[true to His word and His righteous character]“ (v11-19).

He promised He would never leave us nor forsake us, so, though we sin, He remains in us, for He forgave our sins, ‘past, present, and future’. In Hebrews 13:5 we find:

He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!”
– Hebrews 13:5

Denying Christ
We deny Christ if we never put our faith in Him. Once our faith is placed in Him, He gives us permanent eternal life.

We are His forever. And He will continue forgiving our sins, all of them (even our “unfaithfullness”) – right up to the Pearly Gates.

There is no sin that takes away our salvation. Only the unsaved lose the salvation of God – but that is because they never received it. They lose it as it slips away at death. There are no second chances in Hell. You lost it on earth when you refused Him.

Many say (as in Armenianism) that you go to Hell if you fail Jesus. So the question is: how many sins does it take to lose your salvation. Is it 490 times (!) and then you go to Hell (Matthew 18:21-22)? That is a very poor understanding of God and His grace.

All forgiven forever
The following are my own words interpreting the gist of what God has actually said to us in Scripture about salvation. It’s like God has said:

The Gist of God (my own words interpreting)
I do not keep count (Matthew 18:21-22). I knew from the beginning that you would sin and sin, and sin again. I forgave all your sins forever. And I keep on forgiving, forgiving, and forgiving again and again.

I saw into the secret parts of your heart in that moment of decision, and I could see you were sincere and truthful with Me.

You held nothing back. You did not lack anything! I saved you forever, in that moment in time.

I will empower you moment by moment, even in tough times, and help you endure to the end.

“…you have died
and your life
is hidden with Christ
in God.”
– Colossians 3:3

If you have been “hidden with Christ in God” (which happens in an instant when you are born again), then you still are! God is not going to reveal you as an UnHidden. Not happening.

God is not fickle – not fickly, sickly nor wobbly. God is steadfast, unchanging. He never stumbles, falters, nor falls. We do. He does not.

And if your faith falters, I still will not deny you, God is saying to us (Hebrews 13:5; 2 Timothy 2:11-19).

¹³If we are faithless,
He remains faithful
[true to His word
and His righteous character],
for He cannot deny Himself.
– Verse 13 of 2 Timothy 2:11-19

Let it go
In Matthew 18:21-22 Peter asked Jesus:

“Lord, how many times
will my brother sin against me
and I forgive him
and let it go?
Up to seven times?”

How many times?
Jesus answered facetiously that he was to let it go and forgive 70 x 7, which equals: 490.

^{Verse 22} Jesus answered him,
“I say to you,
not up to seven times,
but seventy times seven.”

Jesus did not mean that we are to keep count and stop forgiving after 490 times! He was saying:

Give it up Peter!
Let it go.
Forgiveness has no limits.

That is what forgiveness is all about. Jesus is implying: I forgive you of all of your sins, both of the past, of the present, and those in your future.

The Father of a two year old
God is not the exasperated Father of a two year old child. He does not ever say to us,

“Okay Bucko, I’ve been counting…
and that was failure #489.

You’re only allowed 490 mistakes (7 x 70).
You are definitely cruising for a bruising.

Go ahead: do it again!
Do it one more time
and I will not forgive you.

In fact – I will disown you forever.
Careful now. Careful. Careful!
Or I’m going to damn you to Hell again.”

Damn you to Hell again
The salvation that God saves us with… is not dependent on us “not sinning too much” after we get saved. That would be a “works” based forgiveness. What kind of a weak salvation would THAT be?

True forgiveness by God is a forever forgiveness, not a weak type where He could say:

“You’ve sinned too much, Bucko.
So now I’m re-condemning you
back to Hell again.
God damn you-all-to-Hell again!”

We cannot reach the end of God’s forgiveness. Absolutely cannot. His patience and His forgiveness are inexhaustible. If a person denies Him in the end – then he/she was never truly saved and empowered by His Spirit (which happens upon salvation).

“…He is good,
for His mercy and lovingkindness
endure forever.”
– 2 Chronicles 7:3

Another fictitious story:

Blessed Mary, a born again, faithful to God, little old mother of 4 young children, was driving 75 miles per hour (in a 55 speed limit area) and lost control of her car in the rain. As she hydroplaned directly towards a huge tree by the side of the road, she screamed, “Oh (bad words/blankety-blank/…bad words….), hit that wall and died immediately. She sinned in her last act on earth without confessing it for forgiveness.

Did blessed mother Mary lose her salvation in that moment? Did God re-condemn mother Mary back to Hell again because she had sin in her heart as she died? Did God say, “Damn you to Hell again, little mother Mary!”?

Endure to the end
Endure to the end passages such as these, Matthew 10:22; Matthew 24:9-14, do not put doubt on any truly born again “losing it”:

¹⁰At that time many will be offended and repelled [by their association with Me] and will fall away [from the One whom they should trust]….”
– Verse 10 of Matthew 24:9-14

¹³But the one who endures and bears up [under suffering] to the end will be saved.
– Verse 13 of Matthew 24:9-14

Verse 13 could perhaps be said this way, But the one who will be saved – is the one who was truly born again. That is the one who endures and bears up under suffering.

There is no doubt as to their salvation. It is saying that they will endure, they will “bear up” — because they were born again and they were made brand new creations back in that moment of decision when they said “Yes” to Jesus.

These “never born again” wannabees
Refer to Hebrews 6:4-8 with this, verse 10 of Matthew 24, in order to correctly interpret about those who “fall away”.

This Matthew passage refers to the many who merely “associated” with Christ,

those who became “repelled” by what Jesus actually taught,
“repelled” by what Jesus actually stood for,
“repelled” by what Jesus actually wanted to see in them
— the wannabees, the “almost were”,
the phonies,
the “one thing you lack” folk
…the many who never gave it up for Christ.

They kept back “bits and pieces” of their will, clung to their Unbiblical practices… and were never “born again”. I like how this article says it: Agreeing with God.

Hebrews 6:4-8 showcases these “never born again” wannabees:

“…the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, ⁵and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, ⁶and then have ^[a]fallen away….” – Hebrews 6:4-8

Verses 4-8 are saying here that there are people in the church who

know the Truth;
personally tasted what salvation is all about;
they vicariously experienced the Spirit as He moved in others;
they have seen the realities of the Word of God in Scriptures
are aware of some of the prophecies of the age to come

– yet they have never personally given their life to God through “sincere and truthful” repentance and acknowledgment of Christ as their Lord and Savior.

On That Day of Judgment, Christ will say to them, “I never knew you: depart from me….”

– Adapted from: That Moment In Time

These who “fall away” – “they were not really of us” (1 John 2:19 & Hebrews 6:4-8), never actually born again:

They perhaps knew the Truth of salvation
They associated themselves to & represented themselves as… one of those who were actually saved
In this association they tasted salvation
They vicariously were thrilled by the Holy Spirit
They liked some of the Word of God
They were perhaps aware of biblical truths
See: 1 John 2:19 nor Hebrews 6:4-8. Neither passage says they were saved.

Not really of us
“They were not really of us”…1 John 2:19. The ones who fall away “were not really of us”:

They went out from us [seeming at first to be Christians], but they were not really of us [because they were not truly born again and spiritually transformed]; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out [teaching false doctrine], so that it would be clearly shown that none of them are of us. – 1 John 2:19

Big diff! Huge difference between the two: the associated and the truly born again. Which one are you?

The “not really of us” folk are offended and repelled:

Many Charismatic Christians are of these “not really of us” folk. See: Why might many Charismatics not be saved.

Phony christians have “many conflicting philosophies and “ways to get to heaven”. These false teachings are put forth by leaders of all stripes and colors” (Source: What Jesus thinks).

They want to think they are “Christians”, but they never gave 100% of their heart to Jesus. Or they are the type, as Jesus said to the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18; Matthew 19:16),

“One thing you lack.”

Usually they know what is necessary to be saved, but they want what they want. They have “outward religion but inward… everything unclean“.

You can talk like/smell like/pray like/look like/act like/dress like/preach like/give money like/claim church membership like/go to church like… but if your heart is not genuinely His, “with all your heart…”, then you are not saved. You are a God damned “believer”.

– Source: What is necessary to be saved

Be real. Come to Jesus… sincere and truthful, not “a bits and pieces” faker of faith.

Choose now to be a true follower of Jesus – not “a bits and pieces” faker of faith (choosing “this and that” [what suits you]). Be a sincere and truthful believer. Stand for what Jesus stands for. Don’t be an empty suit faker. Be a true follower of Christ!

He requires a heart 100% given-over to Him. Nothing less. And He promises eternal life with Him in His Heaven. That is the best deal in the universe. I’ve been saved. Will you accept Him today?

– Source: Christ secured our eternal home

The test of endurance
The test of endurance is at the moment of salvation – not at the end of your life. The test is at that moment of decision – where within the privacy of your heart you show God your sincere willingness to endure to the end.

“and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come]”) – Matthew 16:24 ^{AMP version}

At that moment of decision He knows your heart. And He knows if you are faking a “willingness to endure”. Are you really willing to “take up your cross”? He knows if your heart is not 100% given-over to Him.

You are not truly saved if you fake anything in your salvation prayer. The heart is laid bare open to our omniscient Savior. He knows.

This article is an adapted excerpt from: Salvation in Christ is beyond huge

FOR MORE:

It is bare open

Discernment When Interpreting

One thing you lack

Why might many Charismatics not be saved

Faking it

Losing It

Losing my soul

Outward religion but inward… everything unclean

Being 100% given-over to Jesus