Salvation is of the Lord!
In an article on Youth Ministry Dave Wright said, "... we lost sight of the Great Commission, deciding instead to make converts of many and disciples of few."
I could not agree with this statement more. Except I see it as being for more indicative of Church in general. If we forget or ignore what Paul says in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (the gospel), then we turn salvation into something that can happen willy nilly, and frankly, in doing this we have removed the very power of the gospel that Paul was writing about in Romans 1:16!
Sadly many churches today have substituted the 'sinner's prayer' or 'standing to be saved' for the preaching of the gospel. But lest we be deceived, no one has ever been saved from saying the sinners prayer or from standing at the end of a church service when a generic message about a few Bible verses have been taught. That is simply not the way that God has designated that people are to get saved. Paul is very clear in Romans 10 people are only and can only be saved through the preaching of the gospel, which leads to faith and repentance. The hearing of the gospel proclamation MUST come first. Only as a response to the message of what Jesus has done and accomplished in our place can a person truly receive the gift of faith and then respond as verse 9 says, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;"
Now let us also consider Ephesians 2:8-10 - "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no man may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
John MacArthur comments on this verse, "Faith is nothing that we do in our own power or by our own resources. ... Paul intends to emphasize that even faith is not from us apart from God giving it."
In fact the 'gift' that this verse is talking about is not just faith alone, but the whole phrase, 'by grace you have been saved through faith' is the gift of God that Paul is referring to. Paul is saying that the whole package of Salvation is a gift from God, the grace that saves us, the salvation act itself and even the faith that is required for us to believe is all supplied by God. This is why we read in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus is the author and finisher or perfecter of our faith.
Tying this all back into the first quote, I think that it is imperative that we really consider the methods that we have been using in seeking to fulfill the Great Commission. Have we been so caught up on looking for a response from people that we have been ignoring that only by the proclamation of the gospel can people get saved?
This means that all the responses of the so called 'converts' are possibly (or probably) not truly born again believers in Jesus Christ. If this is the case then there is no wonder why we have so many 'prodigals' and so many 'backsliding' Christians today. In fact, what we really have is a bunch of people whose salvation is predicated upon their response to a man made call to salvation instead of a God designed path to conversion and discipleship. Again, if God says a genuine understanding of the gospel is the only way for sinful man to respond in faith, then that is the only way.
There seems to be an epidemic in our country today of assuming the gospel. Even many Bible churches assume that everyone knows the gospel and so they simply do not teach it. They may mention it in passing, they may reference our 'need for Jesus' and most will mention every Sunday how Jesus is our Savior, but even that in itself is not the gospel.
In "Gospel Centered Hermeneutics" Graeme Goldsworthy says, "Preaching the gospel does not consist in a few generalities followed by an impassioned plea for a decision. To preach the gospel is to state clearly who Jesus is and what he has done."
In other words the gospel is the Good News of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. It has been said that to understand Good News we must truly understand the bad news first. In our case the bad news is that as Paul says in Romans 3:23 - "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." This simple but profound verse is key to understanding the first 3 chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans where he shows them that it doesn't matter what your heritage is, if you breath air you are a sinner under the penalty of death because you have not met the standard of perfection that is required to stand in the presence of a Holy, Creator God.
The whole point is that the bad news is of such a devastating magnitude that the only way to overcome it is with Good News of a far greater magnitude. And that is exactly what we have in the Gospel as Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrated his own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." The bad news is of our inability to save ourselves, but the Good News is that we don't have to because that is why Christ came and lived and died and rose again!
That might be the shortest way that I know of how to explain the gospel to someone, and according to Romans 10 and Ephesians 2, this is the only message by which the Holy Spirit can 'create' faith in the hearts of men and bring them out of the Kingdom of Darkness and into the Kingdom of Light. But if we continue to assume the gospel, not clearly expounding, even ever so briefly, the truth of what Christ has done for us, then we have not given people anything by which they can truly be saved.
The Bible truly is the sword of the Spirit, but the gospel is like a safety lock that keeps the sword in its sheath. If we do not open up that lock to people and clearly show them the centrality of the gospel to both salvation and to the understanding of the Scriptures, then we are not truly giving them the Word as God intended.
As is repeated so often, "Salvation is of the Lord!" Our job is to preach and proclaim the gospel in its entirety, including the bad news that necessitates the Good News for salvation. It is God's job is to convert sinners into disciples and He is faithful to do His part, are we doing ours?
As converted sinners continue to grow they are going to have a tendency to forget and so they need to be washed in the gospel each week. We continue to grow and be changed by remembering what Christ did for us, not what we do for Christ. Salvation is being converted from a sinner to a disciple of Christ. Through the preaching of the gospel the Holy Spirit has ignited the flame of faith in our lives and through the continued exposure to the gospel the Holy Spirit continues to mold us into the image of Christ.
There are no converts without the preaching of the gospel, and there are no disciples without the preaching of the gospel. ONLY the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for the Jew first and also for the Greek. In short, there is no salvation without the clear declaration of the incredible work of the Savior!
I could not agree with this statement more. Except I see it as being for more indicative of Church in general. If we forget or ignore what Paul says in Romans 10:17 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (the gospel), then we turn salvation into something that can happen willy nilly, and frankly, in doing this we have removed the very power of the gospel that Paul was writing about in Romans 1:16!
Sadly many churches today have substituted the 'sinner's prayer' or 'standing to be saved' for the preaching of the gospel. But lest we be deceived, no one has ever been saved from saying the sinners prayer or from standing at the end of a church service when a generic message about a few Bible verses have been taught. That is simply not the way that God has designated that people are to get saved. Paul is very clear in Romans 10 people are only and can only be saved through the preaching of the gospel, which leads to faith and repentance. The hearing of the gospel proclamation MUST come first. Only as a response to the message of what Jesus has done and accomplished in our place can a person truly receive the gift of faith and then respond as verse 9 says, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;"
Now let us also consider Ephesians 2:8-10 - "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no man may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
John MacArthur comments on this verse, "Faith is nothing that we do in our own power or by our own resources. ... Paul intends to emphasize that even faith is not from us apart from God giving it."
In fact the 'gift' that this verse is talking about is not just faith alone, but the whole phrase, 'by grace you have been saved through faith' is the gift of God that Paul is referring to. Paul is saying that the whole package of Salvation is a gift from God, the grace that saves us, the salvation act itself and even the faith that is required for us to believe is all supplied by God. This is why we read in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus is the author and finisher or perfecter of our faith.
Tying this all back into the first quote, I think that it is imperative that we really consider the methods that we have been using in seeking to fulfill the Great Commission. Have we been so caught up on looking for a response from people that we have been ignoring that only by the proclamation of the gospel can people get saved?
This means that all the responses of the so called 'converts' are possibly (or probably) not truly born again believers in Jesus Christ. If this is the case then there is no wonder why we have so many 'prodigals' and so many 'backsliding' Christians today. In fact, what we really have is a bunch of people whose salvation is predicated upon their response to a man made call to salvation instead of a God designed path to conversion and discipleship. Again, if God says a genuine understanding of the gospel is the only way for sinful man to respond in faith, then that is the only way.
There seems to be an epidemic in our country today of assuming the gospel. Even many Bible churches assume that everyone knows the gospel and so they simply do not teach it. They may mention it in passing, they may reference our 'need for Jesus' and most will mention every Sunday how Jesus is our Savior, but even that in itself is not the gospel.
In "Gospel Centered Hermeneutics" Graeme Goldsworthy says, "Preaching the gospel does not consist in a few generalities followed by an impassioned plea for a decision. To preach the gospel is to state clearly who Jesus is and what he has done."
In other words the gospel is the Good News of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. It has been said that to understand Good News we must truly understand the bad news first. In our case the bad news is that as Paul says in Romans 3:23 - "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." This simple but profound verse is key to understanding the first 3 chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans where he shows them that it doesn't matter what your heritage is, if you breath air you are a sinner under the penalty of death because you have not met the standard of perfection that is required to stand in the presence of a Holy, Creator God.
The whole point is that the bad news is of such a devastating magnitude that the only way to overcome it is with Good News of a far greater magnitude. And that is exactly what we have in the Gospel as Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrated his own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." The bad news is of our inability to save ourselves, but the Good News is that we don't have to because that is why Christ came and lived and died and rose again!
That might be the shortest way that I know of how to explain the gospel to someone, and according to Romans 10 and Ephesians 2, this is the only message by which the Holy Spirit can 'create' faith in the hearts of men and bring them out of the Kingdom of Darkness and into the Kingdom of Light. But if we continue to assume the gospel, not clearly expounding, even ever so briefly, the truth of what Christ has done for us, then we have not given people anything by which they can truly be saved.
The Bible truly is the sword of the Spirit, but the gospel is like a safety lock that keeps the sword in its sheath. If we do not open up that lock to people and clearly show them the centrality of the gospel to both salvation and to the understanding of the Scriptures, then we are not truly giving them the Word as God intended.
As is repeated so often, "Salvation is of the Lord!" Our job is to preach and proclaim the gospel in its entirety, including the bad news that necessitates the Good News for salvation. It is God's job is to convert sinners into disciples and He is faithful to do His part, are we doing ours?
As converted sinners continue to grow they are going to have a tendency to forget and so they need to be washed in the gospel each week. We continue to grow and be changed by remembering what Christ did for us, not what we do for Christ. Salvation is being converted from a sinner to a disciple of Christ. Through the preaching of the gospel the Holy Spirit has ignited the flame of faith in our lives and through the continued exposure to the gospel the Holy Spirit continues to mold us into the image of Christ.
There are no converts without the preaching of the gospel, and there are no disciples without the preaching of the gospel. ONLY the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for the Jew first and also for the Greek. In short, there is no salvation without the clear declaration of the incredible work of the Savior!
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