“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH” (Rom. 1:16-17 NASB). (Read Rom. 1:1-17.) The Greek word for “salvation” or “to be saved” is sodzo. It is not always used in the sense of the first aspect of salvation. Salvation must be seen from several different points of view. It is a deliverance. It can be a deliverance from ignorance and that can be a salvation experience in the life of a Christian. It does not always go back to what people usually think when they talk about being born of God, being born again, etc. In this instance, it is not talking about regeneration, being born again. Verse 16 says, “…for salvation [for deliverance] to everyone who believes.” You cannot believe until you have been born again. To be born again is to receive the gift of grace and also the gift of faith. You cannot believe without this genuine faith. This verse is talking about the great experience of conversion which follows regeneration.

This is the question being looked at in this message: Is salvation freely offered to every person? Ninety percent of professing Christendom will tell you “yes.” However, it is not, and this can be proved if you believe the Scriptures.

There is a difference between “preaching” Christ and “offering” Christ. The gospel that is preached is not an offer made, but a power infused by the Holy Spirit of God. From the preacher’s point of view, the message is given indiscriminately. He does not know the elect from the nonelect. However, from the regenerating Holy Spirit’s point of view, the message is discriminate. He knows the elect from the nonelect. The Father gave a selected number before the foundation of the world to His Son, Jesus Christ, to be redeemed by Christ’s shed blood when He was sent into the world. This was done in eternity before time began. There was no time until God began creating. We are living in time, but time is running out. The Holy Spirit regenerates only the chosen ones the Father gave to the Son in the eternal covenant of grace which is described by Paul in Hebrews 13:20-21. Therefore, preaching Christ becomes effectual in the hearts of the regenerated because they recognize the voice of Christ (John 10:3).

Paul was an appointed preacher. “And for this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth” (I Tim. 2:7 NASB). “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me His prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher” (II Timothy 1:8-11 NASB). Life is brought to light by Jesus Christ. Preaching Christ fills the regenerate with power and joy (Rom. 1:16, 17; I Cor. 1:18-31), but it fills the unregenerate with rage (Luke 4; 5; John 3:19, 20).

The gospel preached is the power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:14-17)—for a conversion experience and for your believing the truth when it is given. That always takes place subsequent to your having been born of God. Every time in the New Testament that the Greek verb gennao is used when reference is made to the new birth, it is always in the passive voice, meaning you have nothing to do with it. That is not true in our conversion experience. You believe, and you believe because you already have faith. The faith you have is not your human faith. You have to be born of God before you can be evangelized by the gospel in a conversion experience. True preaching does not tease people by arousing their expectations that can be brought to fruition by their ability. An “external” offer by preachers is not the Holy Spirit’s “internal” work. Religion teaches that redemption’s application is from without to within, but Christianity teaches the opposite. Regeneration begins within and the result is seen without. In simple terms, an external offer by man is not the Holy Spirit’s internal work grace.

The “offer” of grace is not the “gift” of grace. Whatever is given is received; and if it is received, it is given. It must be understood that giving and receiving are synonymous terms, but offering and giving are not synonymous. How could something be given that was never received? Jesus Christ did not give His life on the cross for every individual that will ever be born. That is what you hear from most pulpits today. A gift is effectual, but an offer is ineffectual. God’s power is sent by means of His eternal purpose through the righteousness that Christ wrought out for us at Calvary and not by means of man’s offer of the gospel. Religionists act as though the Spirit is sent in their offer, or their offer is a means of sending the Holy Spirit.

To offer Jesus Christ in the gospel supposes concurrence. That is rank Arminianism because it is suited to human cooperation. The answer to this is simple. Since the grace of God is wrought in the heart by the sovereign God, the gospel is not offered for either acceptance or rejection. It is the Spirit’s work on the passive sinner to give spiritual life to a chosen person in Christ. This prepares him for a conversion experience by the power of the gospel. The Spirit of regeneration is the principle of life; therefore, grace does not dwell separately from the Spirit of life. As God did not offer to create the world, He does not offer to make His own chosen ones new creatures in Christ. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10 NASB). “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (II Cor. 5:17 NASB).

Preaching is a command, but there is no command to offer Christ. “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction” (II Tim. 4:2 NASB). There are five aorist active imperative Greek verbs in this verse: preach, be ready, reprove, rebuke, exhort. [The aorist verb denotes point action. It can be past time or present time, but it is point action. These verbs are imperative. They are commands. God is commanding us to do this. Do it and do it now.] The gospel is to be presented higher than any man can reach. Any message that is within the reach of the natural man is not the gospel of Christ. Paul proves this in I Corinthians 2:14—“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (NASB). Can anyone deny the spirituality of the gospel? There is no promiscuous offer, but there is an invitation to the weary and thirsty because these are fruits of regeneration. The following are misapplied texts—Isaiah 1:18 and 55:1; Matthew 11:28; John 7:37; and Revelation 22:17. Those who are thirsty for grace have been made thirsty by grace. The gospel depends on the Holy Spirit to beat down Arminianism which is inherent in all men.

Jesus Christ is never offered to the nonelect, but the doctrine of Christ is sent to them for another purpose. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God” (II Cor. 2:14-17 NASB). Two things stand out in these verses. First, the aroma of the gospel of Christ has a killing effect on the nonelect. Second, the same aroma of the gospel is manifested in life by those who are appointed to eternal life (Acts 13:48).

Grace is the foundation and glory is the consummation of salvation. It must be understood that repentance and faith are neither the foundation nor the capstone of salvation. Although both are inseparably connected with the ones having been appointed to eternal life, they are neither the cause nor the consummation. Will any attempt to say it is unjust of God to determine to save some when He would have been just if He had determined to destroy all? If salvation may not be given as God pleases, then salvation is not of God. If all sinners have equal claim to salvation, then how can God give that to which all sinners have equal claim? No sinner has a claim on salvation because salvation is of God.

There is a common expression heard in the religious community today. It refers to Christians “sharing Christ with others.” The word “share” can be defined as follows: (1) the part of a whole, especially a portion allotted or a member of a group, (2) one of the equal fractional parts into which the capital stock of a joint-stock company or a corporation is divided, (3) to divide and distribute in shares. Surely it is understood that Christ cannot be divided. The Biblical word to be used is not “share” but “fellowship” (koinonia). Biblical fellowship is as wide as grace, but it is as narrow as the small gate and the narrow way that leads to life (Matt. 7:13, 14). In true Biblical fellowship, emphasis is placed on those who are bound by the Spirit of grace and the Word of truth.

Fellowship is both positive and negative. The first reference to fellowship is positive. “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship…” (Acts 2:41, 42 NASB). Paul’s statement to the Ephesians emphasized the negative by using the compound verb sugkoinoneo (sun, preposition meaning “with,” and the verb koinoneo). Therefore, the compound verb means to be a joint partaker, to participate with a person, to involve one’s self, or to be an accomplice in. Paul said, “And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them” (Eph. 5:11 NASB).

The folly of “sharing Christ” can apportion its absurdity with a statement made by a prominent Baptist at an Evangelistic Conference in 1957. He quoted a statement by C. S. Lewis: “Christianity is a good infection.” He went on to say, “That is good, isn’t it—a good infection. How many people have caught it from you? Is that not what it means to be really Spirit filled, personal evangelists? We are carriers of good infection, and evangelism is when there is an epidemic of the good infection of Jesus Christ. If any man fails to share his contagious faith, it is a question about his faith.” This became so popular that it showed up on some Baptist marquees for some time. It read like this: “A Christian not contagious is not genuine.” Interpretation of that profound error means, “If people are not catching Christianity from your infection, you are not a Christian.” That brings up an important question—Is saving faith caught from some believer, or is it the gift of the sovereign God? “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8 NASB). “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Phil. 1:29 NASB).

One person might persuade another person to believe in Christ, but that does not guarantee his faith is God’s gift. Scripture proves that there is faith by some whose faith is not genuine (John 2:23-25; Acts 8:13, 21; Luke 8:13). Saving faith belongs to the covenant of grace. It is the gift of God, the fruit of Divine election and regeneration, and is called into exercise by the effectual call.

 

 

Copyright ã   2003

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