Salvation (Part 2)

“There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 NLT)

In a very real sense, personal salvation, the ability of an individual person to be saved, wasn’t available until the Holy Spirit was given. How do I know that? Because according to Paul (Romans 8:9): “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.)”

So, the key, at least as I understand it, is the presence of the Holy Spirit living in someone. Paul goes on to say that it’s the Spirit that gives us life, because it’s the presence of the Spirit that bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s child (Romans 8:16). So, can it be that the Spirit resides in us, but we ignore, negate, or refuse His leadership in our life?

In Romans 7 Paul outlines the struggle that is present in every believer’s life, but he goes on in Romans 8:2 to declare that “because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” Is it safe to say that the power to deliver and being delivered are two separate issues? What’s my point?

My point is simply this, not everyone who begins their journey with Jesus ends up in heaven. Judas was the first to illustrate that in a very dramatic way, while all of the remaining 12 except John, died a martyr’s death. But my conviction is while at the moment of conversion we may get all of God, I’m quite sure, based on my own experience and many others I’ve known over the years, God doesn’t get all of us.

Salvation is a process, a journey if you will, a journey that some, by their own admission and choice, don’t complete. But why? In previous posts I’ve talked about the issue of free will, but I’d like to look at our will from another angle. What if there comes a point in our walk with the Lord where our will is wed to and becomes one with God’s will?

As Jesus prayed in the Garden, “Not My will but Yours be done,” He gave illustration to the fact that, while He had a will, He didn’t want anything except what the Father wanted for Him. That’s the conclusion I’ve come to in my life. There’s nothing this world could possibly offer me that’s of higher value to me than my walk with Jesus, or, in other words, my salvation in Christ alone, by faith alone.

But haven’t I always seen or understood it that way? While I might have used those words, they wouldn’t have meant what they now mean to me. Here’s the bottom line as I understand it. Here’s what I see happening in our “salvation” journey, resulting in why some people can walk away from their salvation while others never will.

I’m out of space. Let’s discuss this in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊