Salvation Occurring In Our Past
Past salvation is the done and finished work of our Triune Godhead whereby He establishes the supernatural foundation necessary for developing spirituality in and around a person. In doing so, we receive all of the divine forgiveness, regeneration, Holy Spirit, redemption and justification that we will ever receive and need in this life. Being assured of this foundation our subsequent present salvation can be possible, fruitful and abundant.
Conversion & Regeneration – two sides of the same coin of born again.
· Conversion is the human side of being born again. It occurs when we believe Jesus is Lord and Savior with our heart – Romans 10:9-10. It’s when in our attitude, that we actually take God’s side against our self; and view our sins as utterly sinful and an offense to a Holy and Just God - Romans 7:13.
· Regeneration is the divine side of being born again. It occurs in the instance of our conversion. The Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence within us. We are made alive and become a new creation. This new life is divine, eternal and what Jesus came to give – Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 2:4-5 2; Corinthians 5:17; John 17:1-2.
Special Note: When this occurs there is no prescribed way that a person must, or must not, respond. However, it is a joyous event worthy of celebration and commendation. Be it exuberance, solitude or whatever, the Holy Spirit chooses how to manifest Himself in the person’s response, not the person; definitely not someone else. When we prod or encourage a person to respond in a particular way, we are manufacturing something that’s not there in genuine form. Instead, we must remain in step with what the Spirit is presently doing within the person.
Foundation
Crack1: To doubt that we can change
is a rejection of this work of God.
Foundation Crack2: The
thought, “I don’t feel different. I
still like the same things. So, any
nothing happened inside me.”
Redemption – Jesus exchanged His
suffering and death for ownership over our sinful life, in order to satisfy the
justice of God. That justice was, since the
wages for sin is death, death had to occur as a result
of our sin. Jesus paid that bill in full - Romans 5:8;
Galatians 3:10-14; Colossians 2:13-15; Titus
2:13-14; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Hebrews 7:23-27; Revelation 5:8-10
· Having redeemed us by paying that bill, we are His - united with Him, and identified with Him – Romans 5:17-19; 6:1-14.
Foundation
Crack3: Reluctance to admit of
display our faith is to leave Jesus hanging on that cross suffering without a
resurrection.
Foundation
Crack4: Owning thoughts or feelings
of unworthiness is itself a rejection of the love that Jesus showed in
sacrificing His life for ours. .
Justification- God’s decision to treat us as a holy and righteous person even though we still sin - Romans 4:1-12, 22-23 (Genesis 15:6, also in verse 22); Romans 5:1-11.
Special Note: God’s justifying us is completely void of conditions
related to sanctification (see the next lesson). Justification has no dependency whatsoever on
sanctification; and no such connection should be made when ministering to new
believers. However, of necessity,
sanctification critically depends upon justification; and is mandatory for
making disciples. Scripture maintains
the integrity of this distinction, so should Christ’s Church.
Having
said that, this begs the question, “When
ministering to new believers, at what point then do we begin addressing their
present salvation need for spiritual cleansing; and how?”
·
First of all, let
me answer who the “we” must be in “we begin”.
The “we” is; 1) not the person quick to fix others – James 1:19, and 2) only a person with successful
progress addressing their our sanctification needs (preferably a similar need)
– Galatians 6:1-6, Matthew 7:1-5
·
The answer to the
first part of the question, “at what
point” is this: Since scripture offers no prescription about when, then as
God’s delegated authority on earth, the church has liberty in determining
when. The church simply has to be on one
accord with that particular point. So like
scripture, the church too should avoid being “married” to the use of a particular
formula or script for determining when.
·
The answer to the
second part of the question, “and how”
is, with truth and love - Ephesians 4:15.
Foundation Crack5: To feel
you still must earn salvation or must impress God in order to be love is to
suggest that the righteousness of Christ the God credited to you was not good
enough – See Matthew 22:11-12
Past Salvation is not:
When Believer’s Sin
When we backslide into old sinful ways, it is this guaranteed past salvation foundation that’s always available for us to appeal to through prayers of confession (1 John 1:9) and showing fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8).
J. Compton,