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Salvation
from
Ignorance
In our previous essays we
have considered how God has saved us from the condemnation
of sin, from the bondage of sin, and from the corruption of
sin. These make up our eternal salvation which according to
the scriptures are by the grace of God and not by the works
of the creature. In this essay we will begin to look at our
timely salvation. That there are two types of salvation
taught in the scriptures is plainly set forth in II Tim.
2:10, "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's
sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in
Christ Jesus with eternal glory." Thus "the elect"
already have "eternal glory" and Paul desired they would
have another salvation, for which he endured "all things"
for their sake.
One aspect of timely
salvation is deliverance from ignorance and working to "get
right" with God. Paul prayed for a people in Romans chapter
10 who were ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
trying to establish their own righteousness. In other
words, they were trying thru their efforts to "get right"
with God. That such effort is futile is evidenced by the
fact that salvation from sin is by the grace of God. They,
however, according to their ignorance thought they could do
something that would put them in judicial favor with a just
and holy God.
Please note that no one
tries to get right with God who hasn't first felt the
conviction of sin in his heart. A person who wants to get
right with God does so, because he has been convicted in his
heart of sin. Next, no one has felt conviction of sin in
his heart until God has first written his laws in his
heart. Without law there can be no conviction of sin. God
writes his laws in our heart when we are born again (born
spiritually). Jesus died and redeemed all, who are born
again, from the condemnation of sin. The born again person
being convicted by the laws of God written in his heart will
try to alleviate his heartfelt conviction of sin by trying
to get right with God. At this point in time he is ignorant
of the "righteousness of God," i.e., that Christ thru his
sufferings and death on the cross redeemed him and made him
right with God. He in his ignorance goes about trying to do
something to get right with God.
In Matt. 11:28 the Lord
said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heave
laden, and I will give you rest." The born again but
convicted child of God labors trying to establish his own
righteousness all the while he is heavy laden with a burden
of sin guiltiness. What can save this individual from the
predicament he is in? Well the answer is "coming to Jesus"
to see that he is "the end (fulfillment) of the law for
righteousness." When we see that Jesus has made us
righteous before God then we will stop all our efforts in
trying to get right with God. The true gospel brings this
knowledge to the laboring sin burdened child of God. II
Tim. 1:10 declares the gospel purpose as follows: "But is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death, and brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel." The gospel
brings life and immortality to light! It declares what
Jesus has done for us and how we are made righteous thru his
sacrificial atonement. The gospel does not give life, but
it brings that life that God has already given us (of which
we were before ignorant) to light or knowledge. Therefore
when the born again child of God who is burdened with sin
guiltiness and trying to get right with God hears and
believes that Jesus died to deliver him from his sins and
that he is thus made right with God, he is then saved from
his ignorance and from his fruitless attempts to get right
with God. Many of God's born again people are today still
in their ignorance trying to get right with God. Let us
have the same concern and prayer for them that Paul
expressed in Rom. 10:1, "Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."
Isaiah 40:1,2 illustrates the purpose of the gospel in
saving God's people from ignorance and effort in trying to
get right with God: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry
unto her, that her warfare is accomplished; that her
iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins." Many of God's people
today are fighting a warfare in trying to get right with God
when the war is already won for them by the Lord, they just
don't know it. The gospel, however, brings this knowledge
to them.
It is indeed a great comfort
and load removed from our heart when we come to believe that
Jesus has redeemed us from our sins by his sacrificial
atonement and by the grace of God. It removes the load of
sin‑guiltiness from our heart and delivers us from a
fruitless effort of trying to get right with God.
Next, we'll
consider how we may save
ourselves to the service of God and from a condemning heart.
NEXT-
Salvation from a Condemning Heart
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