DAVE ON TIME SALVATION
There was once a young man, whom the Lord Jesus loved, who came to Jesus and asked Him questions regarding eternal life. At the end of the conversation, Jesus advised the young man to sell everything he had, give it to the poor and follow Him. The young man refused the invitation and went away with extreme sadness.
I often wondered about this young man. Whatever happened to him? Did he ever change his mind and seek out Jesus again? He had turned down the most wonderful of opportunities, to hear the Messiah speak, preach, teach, pray and perform miracles. He could have been right there in the most historical of all moments. He could have heard the gospel preached from the Master Preacher, watched the Great Shepherd among His sheep, and viewed the King of Kings up close and personal. WOW! Me too please!
But that young man turned it all down because he loved his money too much and the Bible never mentions him again. I wonder where that young man is right now. Do you think he is in Hell because he rejected Jesus? If he is, then we have a serious problem and we ought to be very afraid. The scriptures say that Jesus loved the young man, and the Apostle Paul says that nothing shall separate us from the love of Jesus Christ (Romans 8).
I think that young man is in heaven right now but I also believe that he spent his days on earth in great sadness. The scriptures say that he went on his way sorrowfully. That is where the Bible leaves him and that is where the Bible will leave us if we likewise reject the Lord. But, if we are obedient, if we believe, if we act on our faith, then the joys that we shall receive will be awesome. It will bring heaven closer to us while we live here on earth. This is Time Salvation.
In 2 Peter 1:5-8, the Apostle tells us to add certain things to our faith. Please notice that he didn’t tell us to add faith because we cannot do that. Faith is a fruit of the Spirit and only those who are born again have faith. So, if you are born again, Peter says to add to your faith the following things: virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity. Then in verse nine, Peter says, “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.”
So we ought to add these things to our life because failure to do so will result in blindness and hopelessness. These are the consequences of disobedience; thankfully the consequence is NOT eternal separation from God. But what are the blessings if we do add these things to our life? Read verses 10 and 11: “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
I like this a lot and I really want some of that good stuff he talked about; don’t you? Here is a breakdown of these great blessings:
1. We make our calling sure: Not sure to God of course, but sure to us and sure to others as well. We know that we are God’s children and we show forth that we are God’s children. This yields confidence, hopefulness, and stronger faith.
2. We make our election sure: Not sure to God of course, but sure to us and sure to others as well. We know that we are God’s children and we show forth that we are God’s children. This yields confidence, hopefulness, and stronger faith.
3. We will not fall: The word “fall” here means to “stumble.” The silly and vain things of this world will trip us up but the knowledge of what Jesus did for us, will slice through any bad news this world offers. Some folks get all bent out of shape over everything they read and hear. Aren’t you glad to know that everything is really going to be all right?
OK, so you don’t want to live your life in sorrow like the young man and you do want those blessings that Peter wrote of then do what Peter said to do and you’ll get them. This is Time Salvation. Don’t do what the young man did and you’ll escape that sorrowful life. This also, is Time Salvation.
Now we shouldn’t obey the Lord *just* to get the blessings. Don’t get me wrong, I WANT those blessings BUT there is something greater that motivates me. That motivation is respect…I respect the Lord. Not only that, I honor and revere Him, and I am so grateful for what He did for me. Respect, honor, reverence, and gratitude are far greater motivations than fear. It makes me feel good when my children are obedient, but it makes me feel even better to know they are obedient because they respect me and their mother. We should be the same toward God. We don’t have to obey Him because we are afraid He will send us to Hell if we don’t…the gospel tells us that will never happen so what then? We should want to live the best life that we can so to thank Him for what He did for us. And I believe that when God sees that, it makes Him happy and He blesses us all the more. This is Time Salvation.
King David, in his sorrowful lament in Psalm 51:12 beseeched the Lord to, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” David did not ask for the salvation to be returned, but the JOY of it. We cannot lose our salvation in Christ, but we sure nuff can lose the joy of it. King David ached to experience that joy again. Notice also, David said “THY salvation.” Amen…It is not our salvation…we cannot claim it…we didn’t earn it. Our prayer should be to thank God for this great salvation and to live a life honoring to His name and obedient to His commandments. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 15:13, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Paul’s “joy in believing” and David’s “joy of thy salvation” is Time Salvation.
Elder Afton Richards once wrote: “When salvation refers to what God does for man by the meritorious work of Christ, it refers to salvation in its highest order; preparing one to live with God in glory. When salvation is mentioned in connection with the acts of men; or man is to perform some action to bring about a better situation for himself, it is to the child of God (one freed from the guilt of sin), and refers to a timely deliverance or something that is for man’s benefit while he lives in the world.” I like the clear distinction Elder Richards made.
The Black Rock Address of 1832 gives an excellent admonition: “Brethren, while we rejoice in the glorious truth that salvation is of the Lord, may it be manifested by our lives that we are under the influence of that grace which teacheth that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.” This is Time Salvation.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, the Apostle Paul writes, “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The concepts of eternal and time salvation are mentioned in the above text.
1. Election—God from the beginning chosen you to salvation
2. Eternal Sanctification—through sanctification of the Spirit (only the Elect will be sanctified by the Spirit. This occurs in Regeneration)
3. Personal Sanctification—and belief of the truth: (only the Elect who have been born again can believe)
4. Gospel Call—Whereunto He called you by our gospel (they have to hear the gospel in order to believe. God has to bless it to be preached and bless the listener to hear. Make sense. When you believe and rejoice in the gospel; that is Time Salvation. Can you reject this call? Well, the young man mentioned in the beginning did. What happened to him? He went on his way sorrowfully. Too bad…good thing the Lord loved him though)
5. Glorification—to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (we have not discussed glorification yet. Basically it’s when we get to Heaven, body soul and spirit. It’s going to be pretty swell thing when that happens)
Then Paul says in verse 15, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”
Here is Time Salvation again…it is our duty and privilege to believe, to continue to believe, and to carry on that belief wherever we go. A life in obedience to God is the best life anyone could ever ask for. It brings more joy, contentment and peace than any other lifestyle. It is a life that we are supposed to live and a life that we should want to live. It is a great deliverance from fear, doubt, stress, bad judgment and stupid mistakes. God has given us the ability to live this life and has provided Holy Scriptures that we should know the way. What a God we have! He has given us a future existence in Paradise to live in eternity and He has provided the means to live the best life here in time. Knowing this is Time Salvation to me.–Elder David Montgomery–August 6, 2015
