OUR PART IN SALVATION??

Our Part in Salvation...                    (Ephesians 2: 1-10)                   5/11/03

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved 
us,  even when we were dead in sins,  hath quickened (made alive) us 
together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)  And hath raised us up 
together,  and made  us to  sit together  in heavenly  places in  Christ
Jesus."  Eph. 2:4-6                   

  Has it occurred to you that there has only been one who raised Him-
self from the  dead?   This is true unless  we believe we have any part 
in effecting our salvation. If the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one with 
power to raise Himself  from death,  then those of  us who  claim to be 
“Children of God,” have no part in raising ourselves to “...newness of  
life.”  We are recipients of the “Gift of  Eternal Life,”  Romans 6: 20-
23.  There are  many  passages of  Scripture indicating the  redeemed 
has no power within  himself, nor a predisposition  qualifying him for
eternal life.  In his  letter to the  Ephesians in 2: 1-8, the Apostle Paul 
wrote; “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 
in which you once walked according to  the prince of  the power of the 
air,  the spirit  who now  works in  the sons of  disobedience.  But God, 
who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which He loved us, 
even when we  were dead in  trespasses,  made us alive  together with 
Christ,  by grace you have been saved, and raised us up together, and
made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus...  
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of your-
selves;  it is  the gift of God,  not of works,  lest anyone should boast.”  
Here we see no evidence you or I had anything to contribute to our sal-
vation.  The word  death or  dead  is used to  describe our condition 
prior to “life" in Christ.  

     When one is dead:  Can he think good thoughts, do  good  deeds or  
contribute  anything to  a conversation or  transaction?   That seems a  
ridiculous proposition, but is it not the same if  we say that because of  
an action on our  part we were  saved?   The Apostle Paul  goes on  in 
this  passage to  indicate  we  are  the “workmanship” of  Jesus Christ, 
and  are  “created”  by Him to  “good works..”   We were  predestined 
to be  about  these  good works  before  we were born.  We  are  His in  
predestination,  creation and  redemption.  We  claim  no part  in any 
of this since we were His, in the mind of God  before time and are now 
considered by  the Lord to  be seated near  the  throne of  grace in our
Father’s  presence  with the Son.  Continuing  along  this vein, we find 
in  Philippians 1: 3-7,  He has taken it upon Himself to perfect or com-
plete  the transaction  He started  in us.  In Galatians 4,  He has  taken  
us from  being “bond slaves” and  has adopted us as  His  children and 
heirs. He has set up the means whereby we might retain fellowship with  
Him,  if we sin,  and  has  given us  a responsibility in  this  matter.   In 
1 John 1: 9,  we are  told  to  confess our  sin  in  order  to  be  cleansed  
from  unrighteousness  that comes  into our  lifes  through our walk  in 
the world  as men  of  flesh.  He does  not condemn  us for this  sin and  
states if  we say we have no sin His Word is not in us.  This, should not
not be construed as license to sin since God  hates sin.  His love for the 
sinner  motivated  grace and  mercy,  two of  his attributes  seen in  the
redemption.  His provision for  cleansing along the way,  by confessing
our sin, proves His determination to perfect us through our experience.

In 1 John 3, there are several references of the child of God kno-
wing he is in Christ. The first is about our hope of seeing Christ and 
the purification of life that follows.  Other references are concerning 
our potential for living above sin, living a righteous life, loving a bro-
ther, alienation from the world, our  practice of  assisting  those who  
are not  blessed as are we, and  the confidence in Him that  is possi-
ble in our hearts. All of these indicators are just that. Nothing in the 
passage hints that any or all of  these attributes of  the life in Christ 
facilitates a relationship with Deity.  These are signs that follow the
Child of God, just as naturally as similarities exist between  parents 
and  their children.  The apparent similarities  between a parent and 
child do not make the child an offspring of the parent. They are indi-
cative of that  relationship.   In  chapter 4, a similar situation  exists.  
            It is clear, however; anyone who loves is of God.  

      Since it is impossible to love unless God’s love is in us,  we know
anyone who loves God, his neighbor, his enemy, etc., is born of God.  
He is not born of God because he loves. Because he is born of God, 
he loves.  One parenthesis here;  (It has been said, “The essence of  
God is love.”) Although I may have even said that at a time,  I have 
come to question the sentiment. While it is true that God is love, it is 
also true,  God is light, truth, just, faithful, constant, righteous, omni-
potent, omnipresent, omniscient, and  could  be described  with every 
positive superlative imaginable. He will not be pigeonholed by any of 
these superlatives.  It is true, however; God is described as love, but
 it is not nearly adequate to evaluate the many faceted person of  the 
Deity.  He will not be put in a box.  I think one of  our great sins may 
be in attempts to humanize the Lord and somehow bring  Him within
our limited scope of understanding. No matter what adjective we use 
to describe Him, as the song goes, parchment skies could not contain
the whole.  There is another adjective  used in Scripture  in reference 
to the Lord, and that's “wonderful.”  This could be  the most accurate 
one-word description of God, since the word, itself is indefinable. Our 
Lord is of  all persons  most eminent;  what should  we expect,  but to 
find infinite degrees of any superlative we might  know or learn, to be 
inadequate to begin to quantify the Deity.  (The only True and Living 
God.) 1 John 5:20

In chapter 5 we see those of us who are children of God, have victory 
in  life and overcome  the world.  Now,  can anyone stand  and say,  “I 
am victorious,”?  The only way in which we are victorious is in Christ.  
He has won the victory, and He IS our victory. We do not always seem 
to have victory, however;  by  faith in the  Son of God,  we can  say we 
have  the "Victory in Jesus".  It isn't something you or  I have earned,  
nor do we display that victory  in the flesh. Victory,  we see, is the ulti-
mate victory and may or may not be evident in  present  circumstance.
It is possible, victory  referenced here is not to  be experienced on the
earth, except by faith,  and is one of  the  many attributes of  the faith-
ful, realized fully, only upon meeting our Lord face to face.

     In verses 10-13 and verse 20 we find more proof of our relationship 
with the Lord.  We learn that God has given us His son and having the 
son is  proof of our  salvation.  He has  written;  all who  believe in the 
name of the Son have eternal life and in verse 20 we  have been given 
an understanding.  One common factor in all this is the word, “given.” 
It is used  in each situation.  This  is indicative of the gift of the Spirit. 
For all "who are led by the Spirit are Children of God."  We have the 
fruit of the Spirit in  the life of a  believer, Galatians 5:22-23, which is  
from the Lord. Finally, we have “gifts” of the Spirit in Romans 12:6-8.  
The list here is prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation,  giving,  lea-
dership  and  mercy.   In  every  instance  the  consistency is  amazing.
Each  element of  the  life of  a  Child  of  God  is  called  a "gift." This 
leaves little room for anything we might  claim as  our  contribution  to
the Lord.  
  
   The ability to give to the work of the Lord or tithe is first given to us.  
It's up to us  whether we effectively use these gifts the Lord has freely
poured out on us.  Ephesians 1 and 2  further reveal how the Lord has 
predestined us to salvation before the foundation of the earth. He has
revealed Himself to us at the right time, and predetermined works we 
are to perform, in the Spirit, with the varied  gifts matching  the work.  
Anything we might do in the flesh, without direction from  Holy Spirit, 
is disobedience.   Predestination is not  consummated until one  has a 
heart belief in  Jesus Christ,  as he becomes a  follower or disciple of  
Christ.  The works of each believer are predetermined of God.   
                                                                                                      11.02.12

When we turn to 2 Peter: 1-10, our search reveals another mention
 of gifts in verse 2,  “...as His divine  power has  given to us all  things 
that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of  Him  who 
called us by glory and virtue,  by which  have been given to  us excee-
dingly  great and precious promises, that  through these you  might be 
partakers of  the Divine nature,  having escaped the corruption that is 
in the world through lust.”  According to  the Apostle Peter,  all of  the 
things having to do with life and  godliness  and the promises are gifts. 
Faith  has been established  as a gift  from God,  (“...without faith it is 
impossible to please God.”)  In verse 5 we are given opportunity to do
something. I think the passage unique in Scripture, since it instructs a
believer (faithful) to build on something established of the Lord.  This 
faith has been awarded by the Lord, without merit and  is  the founda-
tion  onto which  we are to build virtue  ("...all good and perfect  gifts 
come from above..."), and to virtue knowledge, self-control, perseve-
 rance, godliness,  brotherly kindness and love.  Each of the traits we 
are instructed to add to our faith, (in turn) are again the kind of traits 
we cannot develop on our own,  each must come from  our  God.  The  
passage comes with a warning.  If we do not add to our lives the traits 
listed above,  (in the  power of  Christ)  we  cannot  be  assured of sal-
vation.  Again  we are  faced  with a  negative  proof.  We are not  the 
Children of  God  because  we have,  or  are  developing  these traits.
The traits come upon,  or follow  the believer   because  of  that  rela-
tionship.  

      (The apple does not fall far from the tree; the "Tree of Life.")

     A way to summarize the above, we learned in 1970 from Dr. Bill 
Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for  Christ, Intl.  His messages 
at a Lay  Institute for  Evangelism  at Ridgecrest, N. C. opened my 
eyes to  the concept that;  as a child of  God everything we do is  of  
faith.  He presented  “how to” messages on walking by faith, loving 
by faith, worshiping by faith, witnessing by faith and  giving by faith.   
In subsequent sessions we learned some of  the “Steps to Christian 
Maturity,” showing everything a Child of God does is to be by faith. 
One simple example of the way he taught; explained  the Scripture,  
several passages, that the Kingdom of God is not of the flesh or this 
world.  Every  experience with  God must  be by faith.  Since  God is  
Spirit and not discerned through any of the five senses, we may only 
experience Him by substance of hope and evidence unseen.  There 
is no proof in this, and the Child of God does not look for proof,  but 
the Lord, has not left us without proofs.  As we see above,  when we 
love the unlovely,  perform good deeds without thought of  payment, 
 develop patience, kindness, self control, and begin  to become  par-
takers of the divine nature, is proof enough for us and for those who 
see we have begun, in the Spirit of God, to live above reproach. The 
proofs are established when we try  Him through giving of  our sub-
stance and are blessed as a result.  We have answers to prayer that 
could only come from the Lord. To use another frame of  reference; 
we see the Spirit of God work in, around and  through us.  We come 
to the place of  believing  the unseen more than the seen and realize 
only the unseen in life is permanent.  When our hope is  in the Lord, 
the  things of this  life are  loosely  held and  hope and faith  in  Him  
become paramount.

     On the surface, our next  passage seems to be unrelated,  but as 
we look closely,  the first chapter of  James,  verses 16-20,  issue a 
warning.  It has to do with pride that  might come as we believe cre-
dit is due us  for spiritual  gifts.  If  we have a  sense of  accomplish-
ment or feel our gifts are a result of some merit of our  own we tend 
to be verbose, unresponsive to advice of others or short on patience 
with those whom we believe to  be less gifted or "spiritual" than are 
we.  Since each is a gift from God, we are totally undeserving of  the
gift.   There  is  a Spirit of  humility that comes with each.  It follows
then; the more one is spiritually gifted, the greater the humility.  To
put it another way, when one receives a gift, meaning an ability from
God,  not naturally ours by birth,  of the Spirit, there is  an accompa-
nying sense of unworthiness on the part of the beneficiary.  A sense 
of humility might just  be  evidence that  an ability is, in truth, a  gift 
from the Lord and not a natural  ability.  As we continue in James to
 4: 6-10, we find  support for  this.  The giving  of  “more  grace,”  is 
certainly related to a humble spirit and, our God’s resistance  to the 
 proud and grace to the  humble is supported even  more strongly in 
verse 10, “Humble yourselves in  the sight of the Lord,  and He will
 lift you up.”  If we conclude;  the more one is  blessed of  the  Lord, 
realizing the gifts are from Him, the "natural  result will be a  "bro-
ken and contrite” heart from the Lord, leading to humility.

As we move now to Hebrews 8: 10-13, a quote from the Old Testa-
ment, we are reminded of the greatest gift of all.  Verse 12 He says 
He will:
“...be merciful  to their  unrighteousness,  and their  sins and  their 
lawless deeds I will  remember no more.”  What more could we ask?
     In an earlier passage there is the gift of the law written on our 
hearts.  The interesting  development;  we no longer need teachers, 
but may be taught what we need by the Holy Spirit.  Under the “Old 
Covenant,” the Spirit came upon certain chosen vessels of God. The 
Spirit apparently came and went like the wind. In the New Covenant, 
every  believer is baptized of the Holy Spirit and  when the Lord pro-
mises in Matthew 28, “and lo I am with you alway.”  Another  place 
He says, “...I will never leave you...”, the understanding is the Holy 
Spirit, resides upon and within the believer and will never leave.  
This gives believers of  New Covenant a great advantage over  Old 
Covenant believer.  Since the Lord is constantly available in us, the 
gifts remain,  the knowledge remains and  there is no  evidence that 
falling from that  grace is an option.  This is also  consistent with the 
orthodox position.  The Spirit of Jesus Christ, living His life in each 
believer, is  in control of the life,  perfects that believer through the 
process called sanctification.   In chapter 10:26 of Hebrews we find 
a disturbing concept. “If we sin willfully after that we have received 
the  knowledge  of the truth  there remaineth  no more  sacrifice for 
sin...”  (Hebrews 10:26)  
This must refer to one who has come face to face with our Lord and 
rejected  Him,  continuing to  rebel  against  the truth.  In this  case 
there is no hope for that person as long as this continues.  This  pas-
sage does not teaches loss of salvation for a believer who slips  into
 sin.  There is indication  that he was not  born again,  but  knowing 
 truth, continues to reject it for love of this world system.  {The rich 
young ruler})  
              
Hebrews 10: 16-23
    There are those among us who believe you and I,  as Children of  
God only  need the “assistance” of  the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ 
as we perform “Spiritual” tasks.  I disagree with that belief simply 
from references in the writing of  the Apostle Paul requiring death 
to self,  or the flesh,  and new  life in Christ.  Since we are  dead to 
our selves or the flesh, how can we do anything outside of our rela-
tionship with Christ. To try to live for the Lord God in this manner 
would lead to Spiritual and emotional problems resulting in schizo-
phrenia. We must live whole lives, preserve our integrity in Christ 
and refuse the temptation  to separate  our lives  into sacred  and 
secular,  that would result in the personal justification of sin in our 
lives.  According to Scripture, we as God’s children are born along 
in every situation we face by our relationship with Jesus Christ, no
exceptions.  When we sin, do we make Christ a  part of  sin?  That 
is why he commands us not to sin.  (Quench the Spirit?)  Sin in the 
life of a  believer  is just as  critical as is sin in  the life of one who 
does not know Him.  God help  us live that  "life above reproach" 
 He has made available to each of us as we walk with Jesus Christ 
in the Spirit of  God . The better we know  Him, the less  likely we 
are to have the sin  problem.  

  There is no excuse for the prevailing ignorance of God's will and 
his  ways apparent in the lives of  people of the church today.  We 
have his word on it.

     Do not allow it to stand when someone in your hearing denigrates 
religion.  It is clear when someone thinks of religion as a substandard
idea or fails to grasp the true meaning, they have not read the follow-
ing Scripture passage:

"Pure religion and  undefiled before God and the Father is, to visit 
the fatherless and  widows in their affliction,  and to keep himself
unspotted from the world."  James 1:27
.                  
Hebrews 10:16-17, "This is the covenant that I will make with them 
after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, 
and in their minds will  I write them;  And their sins and  iniquities 
will I remember no more."
                         donporter,sr    11.02.12, edited 12.20.14, 3.10.15, 5.24.17