Just as our culture has redefined sin, and reshaped its understanding of God, it has also radically distorted the meaning of salvation. The prevailing message is that people are essentially good, that no one is truly guilty, and therefore no one needs to be saved from the righteous wrath of God. Salvation, if it is considered at all, has been reduced to becoming a better person, doing one's best, finding personal peace, discovering one's true identity, or simply being a decent human being.
But the Bible presents a radically different picture. Salvation is not self-improvement; it is deliverance from the guilt, the power and ultimately from the presence of sin! Salvation begins with the devastating recognition that we are heinous and destitute sinners who deserve God's righteous wrath and cannot save ourselves. It is not something we achieve; it is something God graciously accomplishes for helpless sinners. We are not saved because we imagine that we are better than others and deserve to be saved. We are saved because Christ died for undeserving, ill-deserving, and Hell-deserving sinners bearing the wrath which our sins deserved.
Our society instinctively resists this message because it wounds human pride. We want to believe that we are "good people", hence we deserve to be saved. We prefer a salvation that requires no repentance, no submission to Jesus, and no acknowledgment of guilt. Many have embraced the comforting idea that there are countless paths to God, that sincerity is what matters, and that a loving God would never condemn anyone. But Scripture offers no hope for such vain delusions.
Biblical salvation is therefore exclusive by the fact that there is only one way to be saved. Salvation is not found in our goodness, our religious achievements, our morality, or our sincerity; but by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone. The same holy God whom sinners have offended, has provided the only sufficient sacrifice for their sin.
And this salvation is received only through sincere repentance and faith. We are not merely called to profess that Jesus lived and died for sinners. We are called to turn from sin, surrender to Jesus, and trust wholly in Him for salvation. The gospel does not promise that God will receive us, so long as we are sincere and desire to go to Heaven. It promises that in Christ alone, sinners can be forgiven, justified, reconciled to God, and made new.
The world imagines that we all have good hearts at the bottom, and that God will receive everyone into Heaven. But the Scripture says, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked!" (Jeremiah 17:9)
[Charles H. Spurgeon]
Romans 5:8 ... But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ❤
