Sovereign God, Sweet Salvation

I believe in the total sovereignty of God and believe firmly that salvation comes entirely from God apart from any goodness, righteousness, or action on the part of man.  Many Christians, especially Southern Baptists, would nod their head in agreement.  But the truth is, some of them would have difficulty fully agreeing with that statement if fully examined. 

Let’s dig deeper into my statement so you can see the full weight and magnitude of it: “I believe in the total sovereignty of God and believe firmly that salvation comes entirely from God apart from any goodness, righteousness, or action on the part of man.”  It is broken down into three parts (1) total sovereignty of God (2) salvation totally from God and (3) inability of man to do anything for salvation. 

To break this down further, let me share with you a few sub-statements.  At first, you will be shouting “amen” as you read them but slowly, I may start to lose some of you.

Statement 1: God's sovereignty is absolute, unlimited, and unconditional.  There is no limitation or end to his sovereignty.  He has complete control over time and over his entire creation – including that which is in heaven, on earth, and in hell. 

No problem so far?

Statement 2: Because of the Fall, man is totally depraved and dead in his sin.

Still no argument?   Now let’s put these two truths together. 

Statement 3: Man is totally depraved and dead in sin and therefore unwilling and unable to seek God or respond to God on his own; therefore, before the foundation of the world, God unconditionally chose some to be saved. Election has nothing to do with man's future response.

Problem?  That last part is a problem for some Christians.

Many evangelical believers will agree that salvation is wholly a work of God, until you begin to talk about election.  Then they want to say “but wait, we must make a choice, we must have faith and choose to believe in Him and make a decision to follow Him.” 

Furthermore, according to Romans, we did make a choice and because of our sinfulness and deadness we were only capable of choosing sin.  The Bible repeatedly says apart from Christ we rejected anything holy, anything of God.

So then, what brought us from the point of rejecting God to accepting Christ as Lord and Savior? The answer has to be God.  God has to enlighten our minds, change our hearts, and instill in us the faith necessary to believe.

“For by grace are you saved through faith.  And this (the grace, the faith, and the salvation) is not by your own doing; it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8.  To point it another way: 2 Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.”

God’s Word says we cannot claim that anything necessary for salvation came from ourselves.  The faith needed to believe didn’t come from us and therefore, the choice wasn’t truly made by us.  If God changes everything about us – our heart, our mind, and our faith – it would seem his gift of grace would be irresistible.  If we have a right heart, a right understanding, and the necessary faith – there is no reason why anyone would reject salvation.  So why do so many continue to reject Christ?

They are not predestined, elected (chosen) or called.

Romans 9:14-24 says “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.  You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?”

It is not my purpose in this writing to fully defend or explain election.  Election is taught in Scripture.  To deny that is to deny large amounts of Scripture.  I leave it to the reader to pick up the Bible and to wrestle with the issue of election.  I will possibly write more in specific defense of it later. 

My purpose for writing this particular entry is to ask you two questions…how sovereign is your sovereign God and how sweet is your salvation?

How sovereign is your God?  Is He truly Creator and Sustainer of all things?  Is he truly the Beginning and the End?  He is truly the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?  Truly all-powerful?  The Supreme One?  The Great “I Am”?  Then why don’t we read our Bible that way?  More importantly, why don’t we live our lives that way?  He is the One who seals us in our salvation until the day of glory.  He is the God of life and death…of health and sickness…of the rich and the poor.  It is He who gives and takes away. 

How sweet is your salvation?  Amazing grace?  A precious gift?  Or something you stumbled over?  Something you figured out and mustered up enough knowledge and faith to believe in?  Did you find Jesus?  Or did he reach down into the depth of the grave and call out His chosen one to life?

Again I ask, how sovereign is your God and how sweet is your salvation?