The salvation of a sinner involves two seemingly parallel truths: the sovereignty of God in the work of salvation and the sinner’s response to God’s work. These two truths appear to be exclusive, contradictory. If God is sovereign in saving sinners, then how is there anything required of the sinner in order to be saved? And if anything is required of the sinner, how is God sovereign?
It is true that an almighty, all-wise God, who is the source of all power and authority, who knows all truth from beginning to end, therefore needs no assistance from a mortal, human sinner in order to do anything in this universe. But in salvation the Lord limits His sovereignty — He will not save anyone against their will, will not violate a sinner’s will.
However, in our natural state we do not will to be saved nor can we initiate the work of salvation nor do we even understand that we are separated from God by our sin. So God awakens the sinner, opens the heart of the sinner to the truth of our lostness and the possibilities of grace. We must then respond, must turn from sin and place our faith in God’s provision of salvation.
So these two seemingly contradictory truths are not really contradictory. Salvation is entirely a work of God but we are responsible for believing. Parallel lines never intersect but these two parallel truths do intersect: God in His sovereign power saves sinners and sinners must freely respond by believing in the God of their salvation.
Let’s review what the Bible says about the condition of sinners.
The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one (Psalm 14:1-3). In our natural state, sinners do not seek after God.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons (huios, children) of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh (Eph. 2:1-3).
Sin creates death by separating us from the Lord and Creator of life. Therefore sin works death in all who sin. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches (John 15:5). A branch separated from the vine does not need reformation. It needs resurrection through reconnection. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). This is no mere figure of speech. It is the true biography of all sinners, that is, all people who dwell on earth.
In what ways is the sinner dead?
1. Separated from God, we are dead relationally, alienated from God, dead in our capacity to know the Lord.
2. We are dead in our spirit, unable to understand spiritual truth, as Paul reminds us, In whose case the god of this world (age) has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4). Again Paul says, But a natural man (someone who is unredeemed) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (I Cor. 2:14).
3. Death is at work in our soul. When Adam and Eve sinned, they immediately experienced shame, fear, guilt — emotions which they had never experienced before. These forces began the process of disintegration in their souls.
4. Death is at work in our physical bodies and we will each someday succumb to that process.
5. Death is at work in our relationships. Immediately after falling into sin, Adam and Eve’s union was marred by accusation and blame shifting and so it has continued.
We are subject relationally, spiritually, emotionally and physically to the destructive influence and presence of sin. Prior to our new life in Christ, we walked in sin and therefore in death. What a paradox: as long as we walked in separation from God, we walked a living death. In our life of separation from God, we often spoke of our freedom, how we were liberated from the chains of traditional morality and religion. But in reality, we were not free in any way.
Separation from God subjects the sinner to the conforming influence of a fallen world which is itself under the domination of the powers of darkness in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons (huios, children) of disobedience (Eph. 2:2).
We walked according to the course of this world. World —kosmos — refers not merely to physical creation but also to the values which define an age. Though we believed we were living an autonomous, liberated, self-controlled life, it was not our own path at all. It was a path controlled and determined by the corrupt customs and values of a world that is in violent rebellion against God. We were slaves, conformed to the dying ways of this dying world.
But it was worse than that — we walked according to the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2). The life of sin, the life lived according to the course of this world, is lived according to the standards and values of a society which itself is ruled by powers of darkness — ranks and governments of fallen angels, demons. Behind, beneath and within the political, economic, cultural, artistic, moral structures and customs of this world is an evil, living, demonic reality which incarnates its values into human personalities who then establish and infuse those values into the governing fabric of human society — its economic, educational, and governmental systems, its philosophical and religious systems, its artistic and cultural expressions.
The life of sin is a life lived under the dictatorship of the demonic principalities which rule this world. To be ruled by the world is to be ruled by that which rules the world and the world is under the power of the spirits of darkness. Satan manifests in many forms tempting, seducing, deceiving to the point of blindness, promising freedom and life but delivering only slavery and death. He is the god whom this world worships, though not directly, usually. Certainly his rule is deadly and absolute through false religions and false philosophies but more subtly, he is worshipped through secondary idols of power or wealth or fame or pleasure or greed or lust or blind national pride or racial prejudice or religious hatred or any of a thousand demi-gods.
Satan’s presence is also referred to as, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:2). Though Satan can manifest through physical forms, he normally lives and works in a spiritual realm, acting upon and working in those who disobey God. Children of disobedience refers to those who do not believe in or obey God. By virtue of their rebellion against God and their resulting separation from Him, they have made themselves vulnerable to Satan’s power and influence. Satan responds by infecting and corrupting every aspect of human personality and endeavor. The root of evil is not in the institutions and structures of society and not merely in the individuals who build and shape the structures, institutions, laws and customs which define human society. The root of evil is located in the demonic power that shapes the people who shape the world system.
Notice that Satan is at work — energeo — in the children of disobedience (Eph. 2:2). A related word, energeia, is used to describe the power of God at work in the resurrection of Jesus (Eph. 1:19,20). We derive the word energy from energeo. Satan energizes the disobedience of the disobedient; empowers the rebellion of the rebellious; motivates and strengthens the wickedness of the wicked.
It is important to note that the Biblical concept of evil is not some depersonalized force or the sum of human error or the deep, dark rumblings of psycho-gas. Evil begins with a personal being, Satan, a fallen angel who has infected, corrupted and empowered other fallen angels — demonic powers, which in turn infect, corrupt and empower human beings who build the structural institutions of human society — the philosophical, political, economic, cultural, artistic and religious concepts which undergird society. Underneath the reality of evil is a living, personal fountain of demonic evil.
When people turn from God in rebellion and disobedience, they expose themselves to demonic manipulation and corruption. Demonic values are internalized and evil then works from the inside out. What a vulnerable, insecure life is the life of sin: separated from God and God’s purpose, conformed to the depravities of a corrupt and dying society and ruled by demonic powers.
How ironic that the bold, self-justified sinner will say, “I am free, liberated, not bound by the chains of religion or morality. I am setting my own course as an autonomous being.” In reality, that person lives under the most terrible dictatorship and will never be free until liberated by Someone stronger than the evil one who has bound him or her.
The Bible testifies that human beings, separated from God by their sin, are spiritually dead. Spiritual death is evidenced in the fact that the sinner is blind to the things of God and cannot understand spiritual truth. The dead sinner does not even seek the true and living God and is unable and unwilling to seek Him.
Spiritual death is inherent in human nature. We are born with a sin nature, a disposition to sin. The Apostle Paul says that we were by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3). He means that in our natural state, as sinners, we are subject to the judgment of God. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are at heart a sinner.
This will to reject God is present in every human being, it is pervasive — all the human race is infected. David the Psalmist said, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me (Ps. 51:5). We are born with a predisposition to reject God — that’s our fallen human nature — we then choose to reject the evidence of God’s existence, choose to believe God-rejecting philosophies, choose to worship gods that are not gods and are conformed to the belief system of a God-rejecting age.
Not only are we unable to change our sin nature. We are also unwilling. The sinner, separated from God, deliberately runs from the light and truth of God’s revelation of our sinfulness, running instead to darkness. Jesus said, This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed (John 3:20,21). (Light with a capitol L refers to the person of Jesus).
This running from Light began in the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned, they ran and hid from God. When God confronted them with the reality of their sin, they refused accountability — Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.
Not only do people run from the Light, they attempt to shroud or suppress Light. The Apostle Paul reminds us, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). God is not hiding truth about Himself or about humanity. Rather, people evade and suppress truth.
Why do people resist and suppress the truth? Because truth reveals, truth shines light into hearts and exposes sin. People love their sin and therefore love the darkness and hate the Light.
Jesus confronted Nicodemus with his unbelief, You do not accept our testimony (Jn. 3:11). The word You is plural; Jesus was speaking about the great majority of people in Jerusalem who, though they were fascinated with Jesus, did not really believe Him to be their Messiah. This was in spite of the irrefutable wisdom of His teaching and His miracles (which Nicodemus himself confessed when he said, Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him (Jn. 3:2).
The problem was not a lack of information, revelation or light. The problem was unbelief. Rejection of God’s truth is a moral choice and a religious choice. People reject Jesus, the Light of the world, because He exposes their sin and the self-righteousness of their religion and calls them to repentance and grace. Preferring their sin and self-righteousness, they run from the Light and hide in the dark.
The truth is that we are sinners, unable to save ourselves and unwilling to seek the God who is able to save. We are sinners in need of a Savior.
How then does God save sinners who, by nature, are blind to spiritual truth and run from truth? How does God save sinners who are spiritually dead, entirely corrupt and are not in any way inclined to seek Him? How does God do this without invading and overpowering personalities, without violating the free, moral will of sinners? Being made in the image of God means we have a free, moral will and God will not violate this gift which He gave us.
How does God save sinners? What does the Bible say about God’s saving act? We want to consider these four essential questions regarding salvation:
1. How is God sovereign in saving sinners?
2. What is saving faith?
3. To whom is this gift given?
4. How does God call us to faith?
1. How is God sovereign in saving sinners?
The Apostle Peter said, Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you (I Peter 1:18-20). We are not saved by our religious works or charitable deeds or anything we can do or earn but simply through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.
Peter addressed his second epistle to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ (2 Ptr. 1:1). Received / obtained (lanchano) means to obtain something by divine will. We receive faith to believe because God wills to supply us with saving faith.
Saving faith is not something we generate within our soul. Saving faith is a gift from God, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). We receive from God the gift of saving faith.
God’s sovereignty in salvation is revealed in the eternality of His decision to offer saving grace to fallen humanity. He chose us in Him (in Christ) before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).
The Lord has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity (2 Tim. 1:9).
God’s sovereignty in salvation is revealed in His choice to lavish saving grace on sinners, Knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you (I Thes. 1:4).
God’s sovereignty in salvation is revealed in His foreknowledge of all who place their faith in Christ and are redeemed, whose names have been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain (Rev. 13:8; see also 17:8).
God’s sovereignty is revealed in calling sinners to salvation, The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself (Acts 2:39).
Only God can reveal Himself to blind, dead sinners and only God can draw sinners who, in their own rebellious will, are neither able nor willing to come to Him. But He does reveal Himself. Jesus said, No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:44). God is sovereign in revealing Christ to sinners and drawing sinners to Christ who are by nature blind and spiritually dead.
The sovereign work of salvation began in eternity past when God chose to bestow His grace on humanity. The sovereign work of salvation continued as the Second Person of the Trinity was born in human form for the purpose of offering Himself as the holy Sacrifice for sinners.
Salvation continues in time as God pursues the sinner, calls to the sinner, plants divine appointments in the pathway of the sinner. This results in a gradual opening of spiritually blind eyes to the reality of His existence, the gradual awakening of a dead soul to the damning presence and consequence of sin and the wonderful possibilities of grace.
God is sovereign in granting repentance to dead sinners. A sinner’s heart is hard and unfeeling toward God. But God is able to take the word of the cross and pierce hard hearts with the sorrowful realization of sin and sins’s consequence. God graciously grants the realization that the sinner has grieved Him, has separated himself from God and has brought the judgment of God upon himself. The Lord then grants a sincere sorrow for that sin and a willingness to turn from it. This is repentance.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached to a crowd of people who were familiar with Jesus and yet had been unmoved by both His ministry, His death on their behalf and the rumors of His resurrection. Referring to Jesus, Peter said, This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death (Acts 2:23). Although Jews and Romans were accountable for their moral choices and bore the full weight of responsibility for their rejection of Christ, the death of Jesus was accomplished by the sovereign, predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.
But as Peter preached, the people were pierced to the heart and cried out, Brethren, what shall we do (Acts 2:37). Peter called them to repent and be baptized as a sign of their faith in Christ.
That is an act of the awakened will. God sovereignly awakens the dead sinner and enables the sinner to receive His offer of grace. Three thousand souls received his word and were baptized that day(Acts 2:41).
What pierced their hearts? The message of a crucified, risen Savior. God took that word and sovereignly pierced the unfeeling hearts of dead sinners and produced godly sorrow leading to repentance. The Apostle Paul said, For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death (2 Co. 7:10).
This Godly sorrow is what Jesus was referring to when He said, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:4). He was referring to the mourning of those who realize they have sinned, who realize that their sin is ultimately against God and has separated them from God. They are not simply mourning the consequence of sin, which may be uncomfortable or costly on some human level. They are mourning their separation from God, their offense against God and the grief they have caused Him. They are mourning the loss of blessing, the eternal death and catastrophic destruction that sin has produced. And they are mourning their inability to do anything about it.
When a dead sinner is awakened to Godly grief and repentance, what accomplishes this miracle?The message of a crucified and risen Savior. Paul said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Rom. 1:16).
God sovereignly takes the powerful word of a crucified Savior and pierces the heart of the sinner, producing godly sorrow and repentance. God then grants faith to believe that the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, avails for the forgiveness of the sinner’s own personal sin.
2. What is saving faith?
As we said, faith is the gift of God: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8).
Saving faith is the God-given capacity to believe that Jesus Christ is who the Bible testifies that He is, the Messiah and Holy Lamb of God who came to give His life as an atonement for sin. Faith is the God-given capacity to believe that Jesus Christ did what the Bible testifies that He did. He gave His life as a sacrificial offering for sinners and then rose from the dead.
As He shared a last meal with His disciples, Jesus took the cup of wine and blessed it, saying, For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins (Matt. 26:28). Faith is the God-given ability to believe and receive God’s complete, perfect and everlasting forgiveness offered and released through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.
Jesus said, Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life and does not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life (John 5:24). Saving faith is the God-given ability to receive God’s gift of everlasting life.
3. To whom is this gift given?
Salvation is given to any and all who, having been awakened by God, are willing to turn from their sin and accept the gift through faith in Jesus Christ. It is an open invitation:
Jesus said, Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28). This is an open offer — come all of you.
Jesus said, I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh (John 6:51).
Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom. 10:13).
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time (I Tim 2:3-6).
And He Himself is the propitiation (satisfaction, appeasement)) for our sins; and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world (I Jn. 2:1,2)
We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world (I Jn. 4:14).
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Ptr. 3:9).
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (Jn. 3:16). Whoever believes in Christ as the holy Lamb of God and Risen Savior will receive eternal life.
God is sovereign in saving lost sinners. But we must believe. We see these two parallel truths at work in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. As he preached, The people were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’ (Acts 2:37).
Peter replied to all who were listening that they must repent and be baptized as a sign of their faith. The act of baptism involved confession of faith in Christ. Then Peter added, For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself (Acts 2:39). Then we read, Those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls (Acts 2:41).
God sovereignly awakened dead sinners and enabled them to receive His offer of grace. They repented and placed their faith in Christ. That was an act of the awakened will. God awakened dead sinners and enabled them to receive His offer of grace. Yet it is God who sovereignly awakens the sinner and calls us to Himself.
This leads to the fourth question:
4. How Does God Call Us to Faith?
God calls us to faith through the preaching of the Gospel. Peter preached the word of the cross and God took that word and pierced the heart of the people (Acts 2:37-41).
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17).
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).
What is the Gospel? It is the Good News of a crucified Savior who took the sins of the world upon Himself, became a sacrifice for sin, a sin offering, bearing in Himself not only our sin but also the full wrath of God against sin. The Gospel is the Good News that Jesus, the holy Lamb of God, made on that cross a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the world. It is the Good News of a Savior who rose from the dead, whose resurrection proves the acceptance of His sacrifice by the Father.
This Gospel carries in it the supernatural power to penetrate spiritually blind eyes and dead hearts: The word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (I Cor. 1:18).
We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men (I Cor. 1:23-25).
The idea of God appearing in human form to die an atoning death for sinful humanity, a crucified Savior, was scandolous and offensive to the religious Jew and absurdly ridiculous to the supposedly wise Gentile. But this crucified Savior is nothing other than God’s powerful, life giving remedy for sin and the death that sin created.
The Apostle Paul testified, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16). The gospel contains the power of God to save sinners but that power is activated only in those sinners who turn from their sin and believe the message. This is not a natural faith in the sense that we believe the sun will come up in the morning. It is a supernatural, God-given faith, as Paul said in Eph. 2:8, For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Faith is the gift of God. To whom does God give the gift of faith? To all who have come to the end of their own effort to save themselves and now, awakened by God, cast themselves on the mercy of God.
How does this gift of faith come to us? Through the preaching, the testimony, of the Good News of Jesus.
But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on him; for Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom. 10:8-13).
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed: How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news (Gospel) of good things!’ However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:14-17).
Faith is generated through the preaching of the Gospel. God takes that word and awakens souls, penetrates hearts, and then, in those who respond, God generates repentance and grants saving faith. All who believe will be saved but they must hear in order to believe. So we preach, confident that anyone who comes to Jesus in faith will not be turned away.
Notice, though, verse sixteen of the text we quoted above: They did not all heed the good news ... who has believed our report? (Rom. 10:17). The word heed has to do with listening attentively, resulting in obedience or submission. There are those who hear the gospel but do not hear with a listening ear and do not believe.
How can that be? How can a mortal sinner resist Almighty God who is sovereign in the work of salvation? All sinners are dead in sin, unable to hear or understand spiritual truth, running from God and hiding from light. No one can be saved except that God awakens and draws that person to Himself and pierces their heart with truth. Does God open some hearts and not others ?
How is it that some hear and believe and some do not? This is a mystery but a good example is found in Acts chapters two and five. In 2:14-36, Peter preached the Gospel and we read, Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do’? (Acts 2:37). Some time later Peter and the other apostles preached the same Gospel to the Jewish ruling body (Acts 5:29-32). The response was that they were cut in their hearts (or, they were furious) and intended to kill them (5:33). Same gospel. Different responses.
Two truths:
1. God is sovereign in saving sinners.
2. But the awakened human will must respond to the approach of grace.
Some people turn from sin and believe. Some reject the message.
Then how does God plant saving faith in the heart of any sinner who is spiritually dead, blind and by nature resistant to spiritual truth? In our next lesson we will examine the approach of grace.
Study Questions
1. What is saving faith?
2. How does God call us to faith?