Salvation: God's Part
Salvation: God's Part
Found by the Savior
A young man who presented himself as a candidate for baptism was asked by one of the deacons when he had found Christ as his Savior. "I didn't find Him; He found me," was the reply. That's absolutely correct. God is constantly seeking the wandering sinner, confronting him with the cross of Christ at every turn.
Predestination-Settled
A woman hearing a preacher speak on predestination said, "Ah, I have long settled that point; for if God had not chosen me before I was born, I am sure He would have seen nothing to have chosen me for afterwards!" The Concealed Angel
It is related that Michelangelo, the famous Italian sculptor, painter, and poet, once stood before a great block of marble that had been rejected by builders and cast aside. As he stood there with eyes staring straight at the marble, a friend approached and asked what he was looking at. "An angel," came the reply. He saw what the mallet, the chisel, and patient skill could do with that rejected stone. He set to work and produced one of his masterpieces. Likewise, God sees possibilities in us. The World's Ignorance
The richest man in the world, Croesus, once asked the wisest man in the world, Thales, "What is God?" The philosopher requested a day in which to deliberate, and then for another, and then for another, and another-and at length confessed that he was not able to answer. The longer he deliberated, the more difficult it was for him to frame an answer. The fiery Tertullian, the early Church Father, eagerly seized upon this incident and said it was an example of the world's ignorance of God outside of Christ. "There," he exclaimed, "is the wisest man in the world, and he cannot tell you who God is. But the most ignorant mechanic among the Christians knows God and is able to make Him known unto others." If God is to be revealed at all, He has to reveal Himself, and He has done so through Jesus Christ.
Jesus, a Seeker
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. The Lord finds faith in a Roman soldier. He finds faith in heathen women. He finds lost womanhood in the Samaritan woman at the well. He seeks and finds generosity in that tight person called Zacchaeus. He seeks and finds courage in Peter, that coward who wouldn't reveal even to a little maid who he was while Jesus was being tried. The Lord seeks and finds an apostle in a persecutor like Saul of Tarsus and makes him Paul.
God's Part
A man once rose up in a meeting to give his testimony to the saving grace of God. He told how the Lord had won his heart and given deliverance from the guilt and power of sin. He spoke of Christ and His work but said nothing of any efforts of his own. The leader of the meeting was of a legalistic mind, and when this man's testimony was ended he said, "Our brother has only told us of the Lord's part in his salvation. When I was converted, there was a whole lot I had to do myself before I could expect the Lord to do anything for me. Brother, didn't you do your part first before God did His?" The other was on his feet in an instant and replied, "Yes, sir, I clean forgot. I didn't tell you about my part, did I? Well, I did my part for over 30 years, running away from God as fast as ever my sins could carry me. That was my part. And God took after me till He ran me down. That was His part."
God Sets the Condition
A young man attended an informal gathering in a Christian home where those who attended were encouraged freely to express any perplexities that stood in the way of belief. "I went into the woods one day," this young man said to the group, "and sat down on a sandy patch of ground and said to God, 'God if you will destroy that little pine tree I am looking at, I will believe in you.' I sat there a long while, but nothing happened. Now, if there was a God, why didn't He reveal Himself to me when I asked Him to?" He was honestly troubled and obviously in earnest, yet, not knowing the Scriptures, he erred. Man does not set the conditions by which he will condescend to believe in God, but God sets forth the conditions under which He will reveal Himself to man. Man must come to Him through the provision He has made in Christ, repent of his sin, and yield his heart to the purifying action of the Holy Spirit. Then and only then will he "see God."
We Have Received!
In John 1:16, the verb elabomen, "we received," has an active sense. It means "to take, to take hold of, to seize." This always indicates man's part in the process of his salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. It should never be thought that man either merits this salvation or takes the initiative in its process. It is as if I had a piece of candy to offer to my child. It is my offering that prompts his receiving. My little boy would not say, "Daddy, give me that," if "that" were not there. Or here is a spring of water; I am thirsty. I can take a cup and fill it with water to satisfy my thirst. My cup would be absolutely useless if there were no possibility of getting it filled. Or I am sick; medicine is available which the doctor prescribes for me. It is up to me to take it or leave it, and my choice would determine the consequences. But I, the patient, could never boast that it was my receiving the medicine that cured me. My receiving was actually nothing more than an active passivity-obedience and submission to the doctor's advice. No man, therefore, who is given the privilege of receiving of the fullness of God in Christ can boast of it, for without the offering and the giving there would have been no receiving. But, on the other hand, the offering and the giving would do a man no good if he did not receive it.