Jesus Saves HIS People (Pt 1)

> [!title|noicon] **Jesus Saves HIS People (Pt 1)** ^top   Part   1   [2](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%202).md)   [3](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%203).md)   [4](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%204).md)   [5](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%205).md)   [6 >](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%206).md) *He that has ears to hear, let him hear.* ([Mt 11:15](Matthew%2011.md#^15)) Everyone who believes in Jesus would say that He is the Savior, that He receives all the glory in providing salvation. Yet, many will then they say that we must first receive Him *of our free will* to be saved. They quote: ^d16b6a > *But as many as received him [Jesus], to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:* ([Jn 1:12](John%201.md#^12)) That verse clearly says those who *receive* Christ become sons of God. But the very next verse clarifies this, saying: >*Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.* ([Jn 1:13](John%201.md#^13)) How can the first verse say that as many as received Him, they've been given power to become the sons of God, but then in the very next verse it says they are born, not by the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God? It is a mistaken presumption to conclude that we first receive Him and *then* are born of God. It is the other way around. The point God is making is that those who receive Him have done so because they first were born of Him. Another verse declares this principle: >*Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born again [or, from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God.* ([Jn 3:3](John%203.md#^3)) Unless we are born again, or, born from above (from God), we cannot *see* the kingdom of God. Spiritually speaking, we cannot *truly* perceive or understand the Kingdom of God and receive His Word unless God has given us a new, spiritual birth. It is simply impossible in our natural, sinful state: >*But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.* ([1 Cor 2:14](1%20Corinthians%202.md#^14)) So no one can *genuinely* receive, see or believe on Christ and the kingdom of God without first being born again: > *...A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.* ([Jn 3:27](John%203.md#^27)) > > *Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God....* ([1 Jn 5:1](1%20John%205.md#^1)) **Spiritually Dead In Sin** We must be born again unto salvation because we are spiritually dead in sin beforehand. This is seen in the following passage which says that God *makes us alive who were dead in sins*: >*And you He has made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins....Even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, [God] has made us alive together with Christ (by grace ye are saved;) and has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.* ([Eph 2:1](Ephesians%202.md#^1), [5](Ephesians%202.md#^5), [6](Ephesians%202.md#^6)) God declares here that we are *raised up* together with Christ Jesus to sit with Him in heavenly places. That is, salvation is a *resurrection*. Since we are already physically alive, we know that God is speaking of a *spiritual* resurrection, making us spiritually alive. This is what it means to be *born again* unto salvation: >*And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.* ([Col 2:13](Colossians%202.md#^13)) An illustration of salvation as a resurrection is seen in the raising of Lazarus from the tomb in John 11. While Lazarus was physically dead and brought back to physical life, through it Christ demonstrates how salvation takes place. To make sure we understand this, just before raising Lazarus from the tomb Jesus said to Martha, Lazarus’ sister: >*Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.* ([Jn 11:25](John%2011.md#^25)) Lazarus was physically dead. He was a stinking corpse ([Jn 11:39](John%2011.md#^39)) so Jesus had to give him life in order for him to come forth out of the grave. The same is true of salvation, spiritually. In order for us to be resurrected from spiritual death we must first be given new life by Christ. Before salvation we are like stinking corpses before God because of our putrid sins, we are in need of Christ to call us out of our tombs, spiritually speaking. Consider what Christ said to the unsaved religious leaders in Matthew 23: >*Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchres \[tombs\], which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.* ([Mt 23:27](Matthew%2023.md#^27)) That these scribes and Pharisees were like unto sepulchres (tombs) and full of dead men's bones was indicative that they were unsaved and still under the power of sin and Satan. That is the condition of each one of us before salvation. Thus, God teaches concerning salvation: >*But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead.* ([2 Cor 1:9](2%20Corinthians%201.md#^9)) Like the resurrection of Lazarus, many of the physical healings in the Bible also represent salvation. We are spiritually lame, blind, deaf, mute and leprous (sick, unclean) before salvation. This is why Jesus said, >*And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.* ([Lk 5:31](Luke%205.md#^31), [32](Luke%205.md#^32)) Here Jesus equates sin with sickness. He is the Great Physician Who heals His people from the fatal disease of sin that has no earthly remedy. Consider this picture of salvation through Christ’s healing of a blind man: >*Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.* ([Jn 9:24](John%209.md#^24), [25](John%209.md#^25)) To illustrate salvation, at the same time Jesus healed the man's physical blindness He opened his spiritual eyes (his understanding) to believe on Him. This is portrayed also in [Isaiah 35:4](Isaiah%2035.md#^4), [5](Isaiah%2035.md#^5): >*Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.* God came with vengeance to save us as Christ suffered the wrath of God in our place, if we are His. As a result, God opens our spiritually blind eyes and spiritually deaf ears so that we begin to see our sins, as we hear the Gospel, if it is His will to save us. This is seen again where the Lord Jesus draws the connection between preaching the Gospel and recovering of sight to the blind, among a few other illustrations: >*The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.* ([Lk 4:18](Luke%204.md#^18)) Christ preaches the Gospel to the spiritually poor and needy, to those who are desperately without help and in need of salvation. He comes to heal the brokenhearted and to preach deliverance to those taken captive by sin and Satan. And He gives sight to the blind that they might see their sins and their need of the Savior. We learn from this that we are completely helpless until Christ delivers us. He receives *all* of the glory and credit for our salvation and we receive absolutely none. It is by His will and good pleasure, by His grace and mercy, by His Work completely without our contribution whatsoever. It is not even by our free will in receiving Him as we exist naturally in spiritual blindness, dead in sins. Our entire mindset is against God while we remain unsaved: >*...the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.* ([Ro 8:7](Romans%208.md#^7), [8](Romans%208.md#^8)) This is why God ordained the sending forth of the Gospel, the Word of God, to accomplish the salvation of His people. It is the power of God to save. The idea that we can "accept" Christ of our free will is thus entirely unbiblical, and, in fact, impossible. It ignores the spiritually *dead* condition of humanity under the total blindness of and absolute bondage to sin outside of Christ. Though we may be alive physically, until God breathes spiritual life into our souls we are both unable and unwilling to turn to God. And just as God gave us physical birth without our contribution, so He makes us born again spiritually without our contribution according to His Will. He gives His people eternal life and gathers the sheep of His pasture that He plans to save: >*Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.* ([Ps 100:3](Psalm%20100.md#^3)) So it is of *God*'s own will, not man's, that He has begotten us through His Word if we are saved: >*Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.* ([Jam 1:18](James%201.md#^18)) **We Must Be Given Immortality** Some wrongly teach that people are created by God with an immortal soul. They believe being created in His image means we have some kind of eternal existence, even if our soul has become deeply corrupt in sin. That's why some mistakenly believe the unsaved will spend an eternity in hell. But that is not biblical. The Bible insists that *only Christ has immortality*: > *That thou keep [this] commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall show, [who is] the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom [be] honor and power everlasting. Amen.* ([1 Ti 6:14](1%20Timothy%206.md#^14), [15](1%20Timothy%206.md#^15), [16](1%20Timothy%206.md#^16)) When we become saved, it is because Christ has given us of His immortality: > *For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality. The sting of death [is] sin; and the strength of sin [is] the law. But thanks [be] to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.* ([1 Co 15:53](1%20Corinthians%2015.md#^53), [56](1%20Corinthians%2015.md#^56), [57](1%20Corinthians%2015.md#^57)) > > *Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who has saved us and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:* ([2 Ti 1:8](2%20Timothy%201.md#^8), [9](2%20Timothy%201.md#^9), [10](2%20Timothy%201.md#^10)) Eternal life in Christ is the very essence of immortality as He is the very Essence of eternal Life ([Jn 14:6](John%2014.md#^6)). Thus, we can only possess immortality when Christ, Who alone has immortality, dwells within us by His Spirit, making us born again unto eternal life. Now, some might quote Romans 2:6-7 to show that God gives immortality and eternal life to those who seek for it through their good deeds: > *[God] will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life:* ([Ro 2:6](Romans%202.md#^6), [7](Romans%202.md#^7)) But God insists that no one seeks God in their fallen state: > *There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.* ([Ro 3:11](Romans%203.md#^11)) So the fact is, those who seek for immortality in well doing are those who are born again of God, because God Himself must give us immortality in Christ and through His work of redemption. Only then can we begin to seek God and to do His Will. **Part   1   [2](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%202).md)   [3](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%203).md)   [4](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%204).md)   [5](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%205).md)   [6 >](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%206).md)** Tags: #library #grace