It may be that the greatest single misunderstanding about the nature of salvation is the teaching that its essence revolves around a person accepting Christ into his life. "Won't you accept Christ into your life?" unbelievers are so often asked. The idea that Christ wants to come into our lives is almost universally taught in most evangelical and charismatic churches. "What's wrong with that?" you might wonder. "Doesn't He want to come into a person's life?" The startling answer if we really take biblical teaching seriously is "no." Salvation isn't about us accepting Him into our lives. Instead, the gospel is the proclamation that Jesus Christ accepts you into His life." "You did not choose me, but I have chosen you," Jesus told His disciples.
The flesh loves to cling to the notion that we cast our vote for Jesus at salvation and that He then moved in and has been thankful to us ever since. The essence of salvation isn't that you accept God, but that God has accepted you. Think about it - this triune God who has enjoyed eternal intimacy within the Godhead has brought us into the inner circle! He has accepted us in the Beloved!
Apart from Him, we have no life in which He could possibly dwell. In our co-crucifixion with Jesus, our old self was crucified with Him in order that the source of sin might be destroyed. (See Romans 6:6) You have been crucified with Christ and you no longer live. (See Galatians 2:20) Now Christ is your life and in Him you find your very existence. (See Colossians 3:4 and Acts 17:28)
Christ in your life? Not a chance. We have entered into His life and now share in the koinonia of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we were God-hating, self-centered, blind-as-a-bat and dead-as-a-doornail sinners, Christ died for us. (See Romans 5:8) By His grace and through His finished work on the cross, the eternal God has brought us into the eternal lovefest. We weren't seeking God. Let's not flatter ourselves. Nobody seeks Him, not one of us. (See Romans 3:11) But he clothed Himself in the garment of humanity and came here to bring us home, where we belong. He came to seek and to save us while we were lost. (See Luke 19:10)
He chose you. He came for you. He died to reconcile you to Himself. He raised you from a walking death. He made you alive and has seated you at the right hand of the Father, squarely situated in the middle of the eternal party that will never end. Only one response fits such a reality - Hallelujah!
I really needed to read this today. Thanks for your ministry!
ReplyDeleteHi Steve
ReplyDeleteI second your Hallelujah. This is what needs to be shouted from the rooftops, but expect some rock throwers.
The gift of salvation is 100% a unilateral covenant from Jesus to man for man, and Jesus on behalf of man to the Father. He is the only one who is connected to the circle of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and He has graciously included all humanity in Himself. Since the Father in Him has reconciled the world to Himself, whoever He has not reconciled He has not accepted. We were all His enemies and sinners so where does that leave any of us?
The question is not do I accept Him into my life it is do I receive by His faith in me the gift that is already mine so that I may learn to share and participate in His life. Do I want to be saved in the salvation already given, do I want to be reconciled in the reconciliation already given, and do I want to be accepted in the acceptance already given in Jesus? It is our own rejection of the Holy Spirit as He tries to convince us of this truth that will have us live in angst, darkness and worm eating confusion. John
OH!!! So good!
ReplyDeleteThanks. :)
Good stuff, Steve. I e-mailed this to a few friends as well!
ReplyDeleteThankyou so much for clarifying this. I never could understand why the question "Will you ask Jesus into your heart and accept him?" never sat just right. How much more wonderful and beautiful is the truth.
ReplyDeleteI have a question, Steve..
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing a post from another blog it occurred to me that
one could say that by this post, you're arguing that everyone is saved even apart from receiving what Christ did for them by faith.
I trust that isn't what you are trying to argue here, but how do you differentiate? There are so many people among us 'grace guys', who start out in grace and end up in the heresy of universalism, teaching that no one needs faith to be saved, but that they are already saved whether they believe or not.
Interesting that I read this post and also saw a piece on t.v. this morning about Joe Eszterhas. He is a screen writer of many films including Basic Instinct. He related to the interviewer how Christ came into his life after many years of non believe. I am blown away by the times Christians are ostracized yet every day Christ is winning the war, by entering so many lives. How beautiful that those whose lives have been chosen and have accepted Christ now proclaim His good news and word to the world. God is good all the time!!!!
ReplyDeleteMatthew, I appreciate that your knowledge of what I teach causes you to trust that I wouldn't be saying a person is saved apart from faith. That's an assumption I make about those who read my blog. A few may stumble across it, but I assume most intentionally come to it.
ReplyDeleteI would differentiate what you've asked this way: We were living in dire poverty and were handed a bag filled with enough gold coins to allow us to live as royalty forever. To use the words of the old hymn, "At Calvary" - "Mercy there was great, and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty -at Calvary!"
It all happened for us at the cross, whether we live out of that reality or not. We can open the bag and enjoy the wealth we have been given or we can pridefully continue to live like paupers. We have been saved by grace THROUGH FAITH. Faith is the element that allows us to subjectively enjoy what is objectively ours. To enjoy what we have been given we must believe it really is true and act like it's true.
A thousand Amens!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing your blog has been and will continue to be.
Thank you,
You are blessed!
Dee
Love the teaching of the cross because it blurs the legalist thinking that's stinking that we need to 'accept Christ and that is enough.' Truly God has accepted us and we can have our attitude changed at the cross, a real sense of it, so that we can appreciate what God has Done for us in Christ's Finished Work! We grow close to being bondslaves of Christ closer all the time. He has purchased us with a price and we are not our own. It's not as if we're doing God a favor by becoming this saved person, we're on the other hand magnifying Who God is and what He is doing! has Done! will do! Great blog! Dave
ReplyDelete