~~~~~~~~~
The
following story is well known to many people, including many of the readers of
"News & Views." I repeat it
here because it is a fitting introduction to today's
column.
Little
Johnny was only seven years old when his mother died. She was a pious woman and did everything
she could to teach Johnny about God and spiritual
matters.
But Johnny's
daddy was a sea captain, and the lure of the sea pulled Johnny in that
direction. At the age of eleven,
Johnny Newton went to sea and spent the next twenty years as a sailor engaged in
African slave trading. His life was
spent in the basest sort of wickedness.
However,
during a violent storm at sea John Newton almost lost his life. His wicked deeds passed before him in
vivid review and caused him to cry out to the God he had known as a child. His life was
spared.
His next
several years were spent in preparation for the ministry. He studied Latin, Hebrew, and
Greek. He diligently studied the
Scriptures. He became a preacher
and author of great note. But the
world knows him best for a hymn which he wrote which was
autobiographical.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound;
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
Beyond all
doubt, mankind's only hope of redemption from sin and everlasting life in heaven
is the amazing grace of God. In a
recent sermon I emphasized that God's grace seeks the sinner, saves the sinner,
and sustains the saved. Yet God's
grace must be appropriated by all who would be blessed by its benefits. Paul the apostle wrote, "For by grace
you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). One is neither saved by grace only nor
by faith only, but rather by
grace through
faith!
A Bible
professor who was purported to have a great appreciation for and a superior
understanding of the grace of God was asked what day he was saved. With a smile on his face, he replied,
"It happened about 2,000 years ago on a hill called Calvary." Yes, that is obviously true. But from that perspective, everyone will
be saved and nobody will be lost because "Jesus . . . by the grace of God"
tasted "death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9).
Yet the reality is that not everyone will be saved "for wide is the gate
and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in
through it" (Matthew 7:14). At His second coming, Christ will take
"vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ" (II Thessalonians 2:8). Christ is "the author of eternal
salvation to all who obey Him" (Hebrews 2:9). So, while it is gloriously true that
everyone was potentially saved "about 2,000 years ago on a hill called
Calvary," it is
equally true that only those who through faith appropriate the grace of God by
obedience to the gospel are actually
saved. Sometimes in an effort to
appear super spiritual or super wise, some religious professors and preachers
make statements that are not founded on what the Scriptures fully teach about a
matter. In such cases they need to
heed the admonition, "Do not be wise in your own opinion" (Romans 12:16c).
Forty days
after His death on
Calvary, Jesus
appeared to His apostles and said "that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in His name to all nations, beginning in
Jerusalem" (Luke
24:47). Ten days later still, on
the Day of Pentecost, and fifty days after Calvary,
"repentance and remission of sins" began to be preached (Acts
2). On that occasion, the murderers
of Christ were convicted of their sin and said to Peter and to the rest of the
apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). Neither Peter nor any of the other
apostles responded by saying, "There is nothing for you to do; you were saved
fifty days ago on a hill called Calvary." Instead, Peter said to them, "Repent,
and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts
2:38). "Then those who gladly received his word
were baptized; and the same day about three thousand souls were added to them"
(Acts 2:41). It was at this point that they were
saved and that Christ's prayer on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do" (Luke 23:34), was
answered—when the people for whom it was prayed complied with the conditions for
appropriating the grace of God to their lives!
Were the
"about three thousand souls" saved by grace? Most assuredly! Were they saved "on a hill called
Calvary"? Yes, potentially . . . and so was
everyone else in the whole world!
But in reality the "about three thousand" were saved on the day they came
to faith in Christ as the Messiah, turned from their sins in repentance, and
were baptized for the remission of their sins. And the day I did those very same things
is the day I was saved by the grace of God through faith! The day you did those things (or will do
those things) is the day you, too, were (or will be) saved by the grace of God
through faith! Let no one deceive
you into thinking otherwise.