Jesus Saves HIS People (Pt 2)

> [!title|noicon] **Jesus Saves HIS People (Pt 2 of 6)** [< Part 1](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%201).md)   [Part 3 >](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%203).md) ^top **Old Testament Corroboration** In the Old Testament, a picture of salvation is seen in Ezekiel 37 where God makes dead, dry bones come to life by His very Word: >*The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley, and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live....So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone...So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came upon them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel....Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel....And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.* This passage is again a demonstration of salvation. Before salvation, we, like the scribes and Pharisees mentioned in Part 1, are spiritually like these dead, dry bones. And God Himself must *speak life into us through His Word.* Other examples of God alone doing the work of salvation are seen in the Old Testament. One example is Ezekiel 36:25-27, where God says: >*Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you' shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you' shall keep my judgments, and do them.* Notice how many times God says, "I will" in this passage. *God* cleanses us and gives us a new heart and His Spirit, and thereby causes us to walk in His statutes and to do His will. It is completely by God's action. This is seen again in Deuteronomy 30:6,8, where God circumcises our hearts *to love Him*, that we may *live* so that we do His will: >*And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God will all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live....And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.* We are given life by God as He circumcises our hearts, only then do we return to Him and obey His voice and do all His commandments. Ultimately, this means that He chooses to save us, and causes us to draw near to Him: >*Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts....* (Psalm 65:4) ***Whosoever* Believes and Calls Upon God are First Born Again** Many quote the famous verse, John 3:16, to say that anyone at all who responds to the Gospel might believe of their free will. It says, >*For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.* If we read that with our natural understanding, that's what we might conclude: “Whosoever believes.” But, as we read earlier, I John 5:1 says, >*Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God....* We learn from this verse that the "whosoever" who believe in Christ are those who are first *born of God*. Remember we saw in Part 1 that we must be born again from above? God must give us spiritual life in order to even see the kingdom of God because we are spiritually dead before salvation. And, according to the verse above, "whosoever" God saves (makes born again) are those who believe in Christ, they are the ones who shall not perish but have everlasting life. It is not "whosoever believes of his or her own free will," but rather, "whosoever believes because they are born again." This necessity is seen again in Acts 13:48: >*...and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.* A similar verse where we find “whosoever” is Romans 10:13, which says: >*For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.* But yet again, according to the Bible, not one of us will call upon the Name of the Lord until God makes us spiritually alive first: >*So will not we go back from thee: quicken us [that is, make us alive], and we will call upon thy name. Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.* (Psalm 80:18-19) > >*And there is none that calls upon thy name, that stirs up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.* (Isaiah 64:7) So before anyone will actually believe in Christ and call upon God it is necessary that they first be born again by God. Thus, "Whosoever (is born again from above by God) shall call upon the name of the Lord and shall be saved." **Those Who *Come* to Christ are Drawn by God, He Inclines Our Will** Another verse that appears as though anyone can come to Christ of their free will is Matthew 11:28, where Christ says, > *Come unto me, all [ye] that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.* (Matthew 11:28) But then Jesus says in John 6:44-45,65: >*No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that has heard, and has learned of the Father, comes unto me....Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.* (John 6:44-45, 65) Now we see that no one *can come* to Christ until God Himself *draws* them as He directly teaches them through the Bible. The Truth must be opened to them by way of spiritual understanding, from God Himself, for them to come to Christ. The word "draw" here is the same word used in John 21:6, which refers to dragging a heavy net full of fish: >*...They cast therefore, and now they were not able to **draw** it for the multitude of fishes.* It is seen again in John 21:11: >*Simon Peter went up, and **drew** the net to land full of great fishes, and hundred and fifty-three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.* The believers are as these fish who are caught in the Gospel net by the “fishers of men.” That is, they are spiritually *dragged* (drawn) to the Lord, ultimately by God Himself: No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me *draw* him. As we saw just a moment ago in Psalm 65:4: >*Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts....* (Psalm 65:4) So when Christ calls those who labor and are heavy laden to come to Him, this will only happen once God has revealed to us the serious nature of our sins through His Word, so we realize we are in terrible trouble with God and headed for eternal death. Only then will we seek the Remedy in Christ for our heavy burden that we might find Life. So whenever we read a verse such as Revelation 22:17 that declares, *Come*, or, *Whosoever will*... > *And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.* ...we must remember the salvation context that we will only do so after God has drawn us to Himself by grace, because He has given us new life and inclined our hearts toward Him: > *Thy people [shall be] willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.* (Psalm 110:3) A final verse that many cite out of context is Philippians 2:12 without verse 13, attempting to prove we are saved through our co-effort with God. Verse 12 reads: >*...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.* This verse might appear to teach we must work in order to secure or at least maintain our salvation that God has given us. Unfortunately, that's a serious misreading because it says we are to "work out," not "work for" our salvation. That is, *after we are saved* (born again by God), we then have *the Spirit of God dwelling within us*, leading us to do God's will more and more. And that's exactly what we find in the next verse, verse 13, >*For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.* That's the import of 1 John 4:15, where we also find another "Whosoever": > *Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God.* (1 John 4:15) > > *And he that keeps his commandments dwells in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us.* (1 John 3:24) > > *Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you?* (1 Corinthians 3:16) God does not dwell in any person just because they verbally confess Jesus is the Son of God. Otherwise, there could not be so many false prophets such as there are -- false ministers of righteousness and so on. God only dwells within those who are born from above, and only their confession is genuine because God is working in them to will and to do of His good pleasure. So the reason we can be motivated to work out our salvation is because God has first of all given us eternal life (Himself dwelling within us) and inclined our will according to His sovereign good pleasure. This agrees with I Kings 8:57-58: >*The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us: that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers.* **[< Part 1](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%201).md)   [Part 3 >](Jesus%20Saves%20HIS%20People%20(Pt%203).md)** Tags: #library #grace