FIVE IMPORTANT TRUTHS

EVERY

CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW

1. God has a chosen people who must and will be saved. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Eph. 1:4). “...God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation...” (2Thess. 2:13). God, from everlasting, chose a multitude from among the fallen race of Adam and predestinated them to be the recipients of eternal salvation. Nothing can frustrate the sovereign purposes of the sovereign God of the Bible. These elected ones must and surely will all be saved.

2. Jesus Christ took upon Himself the guilt of the sins; past, present, and future, of all these elected ones, and He died only for them and savingly for them. He satisfactorily atoned for the sins of the elect of God. “...and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15). The sheep are the elect of God. Jesus died for the sheep, and only the sheep. “He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied...” (Isa. 53:11). Jesus will see, saved in Heaven, all those for whom He suffered at Calvary. All those chosen by the Father and redeemed by the Son must and surely will all be saved.

3. The Holy Spirit will effectually and irresistibly work the salvation experience in all those chosen by the Father and redeemed by the Son. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power...” (Psa. 110:3). “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee...” (Psa. 65:4). The elect are by nature in the same condition as the non-elect. They are totally depraved. Of themselves, they are unable and unwilling to come in repentance and faith to the Saviour. But the Holy Spirit works efficaciously in each one of them, giving them spiritual life in regeneration, enabling and causing them to repent of sins and to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. All those chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and irresistibly called by the Spirit must and surely will all be saved.

4. The means, used by the Holy Spirit, by which the elect are regenerated and caused to repent and believe the gospel, is the preaching of the blessed and saving gospel of Jesus Christ. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). “...it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1Cor. 1:21). “..for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1Cor 4:15). “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth...” (James 1:18). The Holy Spirit uses the gospel in producing the salvation experience. We are not Hardshell Heretics (not even the New Hardshells who still falsely call themselves Missionary Baptists), nor are we Calvinists. We are true Missionary Baptists. We believe that spiritual life comes through the Spirit using the word of God. Men are not saved without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not save men without the gospel. Believe this, or you are a Hardshell heretic. Those chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and effectually called by the spirit using the gospel must and surely will all be saved.

5. There is a predestinated time when each one of the elect will be brought to the salvation experience by the Spirit using the gospel. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power...” (Psa. 110:3). “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace. To reveal his Son in me...” (Gal. 1:15-16). Men do not just decide of themselves when they will be saved. Men are not saved at the time others determine. God, who chose some from among fallen mankind to be saved, also predestinated the exact time when each one would be saved. Samuel was saved as a young lad; the thief on the cross was saved at the closing moments of his life on earth. Some are saved at 8 years of age, some at 80. Why the difference? It was not that the 80 year old was so hard-hearted and rebellious that he would not let God save him till then, and it was not because the 8 year old was willing so much earlier in his life; no, no, it was because God had predestinated it this way. Those chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, effectually called at the predestinated time by the Holy Spirit using the gospel, must and surely will all be saved.

Dear friends, you need to understand these five truths about the saving grace of God. You will never understand the Bible on the subject of salvation until and unless you understand these five Bible truths. May God bless you.

- Joseph M. Wilson - The Baptist Examiner