Whatcha think? Salvation is an easy thing? I
have heard it said–it’s easy to be saved.
One
side of the fence says, “Just believe and you’ll be saved.”
The
other side of the fence says, “Work, work, work and you will earn your way into
heaven.”
Scripture
says something different. Ask the apostle Paul. Was it easy for him when he was
saved? How about Peter? Was his salvation a walk in the park?
How
about the greats all down through history? From Spurgeon to Washer to every
soul saved by the sovereignty of God. Salvation is never easy. It wasn’t easy
for Christ to procure salvation for His chosen few nor is it easy for that
salvation to be born in us.
Salvation
is born out of humility, suffering and violence. It takes tears, pain and a
tearing down of the walls of pride and ego.
Humility:
The
proud will never find himself in heaven. The proud will be cast out into outer
darkness where he can curse and rail against God. The one God saves must be
brought low and stripped of all self-reliance.
Suffering:
Have
you been saved dear reader? Then you will understand the suffering one must
endure while being crushed and broken by the just and holy hand of God. To be
brought to the end of one’s self. To have the strong hand of the God you have
sinned against, hold you up off the ground, as it were, eye to eye with the
Lamb you killed with your sin–if you don’t suffer with this reality, you are
indeed beyond saving.
Violence:
The
Gospel of Christ forces itself upon the minds of men and only those who are
chosen by His sovereign predestination will bow to it. The others will rebel,
fight, and reject it with all hatred and anger. The devil has set his sights on
you and will fight tooth and nail to keep this Gospel from finding its way into
your heart. There truly is a fight in the spirit realm where God reefs the
damned soul from the selfish clutches of the adversary. Only those God has
violently rescued shall enter into salvation.
Salvation
is God birthing children. Mothers is giving birth a violent process? Point made.
I have read that there is no greater pain than when a woman gives birth. I
concur being in the room with the births of my four children. It would take a
small army to get me to go through that I can tell you! The process of birthing
a Christian out of sin and rebellion is a process that is so grand that heaven
celebrates when someone is redeemed.
The
soul who is born again undergoes a fantastic change. From a sinful, damned worm
to a justified and redeemed butterfly…well, everything changes! God works the
greatest miracle in creation when He saves a soul.
Leonard
Ravenhill said it best (paraphrased), ‘The greatest miracle is this, God takes
a sinful man out of the world, makes him holy, puts him back into the world and
keeps him holy.’
Salvation is not an easy thing. There is no such thing as
‘Easy Believism’. The only easy thing to believe is a lie.
Originally posted at Paul the Slave
Originally posted at Paul the Slave
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