God is Sovereign over Our Salvation
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
Salvation. There is the general call to all of humanity, not just the God’s elect.
Gotquestions.org asks this. Is salvation by faith alone, or is salvation by faith plus works? This is perhaps the most important question in all of Christian theology. This question was the cause of the Reformation, the split between Protestantism and Catholicism. This question is a key difference between biblical Christianity and most of the cults. Is salvation through faith alone or through faith plus human works? Stated another way, am I saved by trusting in Jesus, or do I have to believe in Jesus and, in addition, do certain things?
The “doctrine of irresistible grace” simply recognizes that the Bible teaches God is sovereign and can overcome all resistance when He wills to. What God decrees or determines will come to pass. This truth is seen throughout Scripture.
Man’s Traditional View of the Salvation Process. Salvation by Faith, plus Works.
“Our Confession on Earth Will Lead to God‘s Confession of Us in Heaven”
Romans 10:9-11 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.””
Is God obligated to answer the sinners prayer instantly? If not instantly, when?
Daniel 12:2 “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.”
Why would a sovereign God allow any fallen sinner like myself to “make a decision for” and/or “outright verbalize acceptance of” his free gift of justification. Again, at that point, God would no longer be sovereign and I would be trying to be saved by my own works. Salvation is of the Lord.
This passage in an article published by gotquestions.org should not be understood to mean that we are saved by means of an audible profession of faith.
Saying a sinner’s prayer will not accomplish anything on its own. A true sinner’s prayer only represents what a person knows, understands, and believes about their own sinfulness and their need for salvation. However, salvation is impossible without God’s righteousness. Man’s attempt at righteousness will not suffice.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Salvation by Faith Alone
When God “effectually calls” a person to himself, the call effectively leads to their salvation. The gospel is available to everyone, but because of humanity’s sinful nature and total depravity, no one will turn to God without God first impressing Himself upon them.
God initiates the “doctrine of regeneration”, “being born again” through the Holy Spirit. Regeneration comes before faith because it is impossible for spiritually a dead man to believe and have faith. The act of saving takes place simultaneously in real time at the moment we are united with Christ. Human participation is not necessary.
1 Corinthians 2:14 “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”
Romans 8:30 “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”’
He called – John 15:16 ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bare fruit-‘
He justified – Romans 8:33 ‘Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.’
He glorified – 2 Corinthians 5:17 ‘Therefore OK thanks, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’
God imputed to man “faith in the atoning work of his son, Jesus Christ and “his own righteousness”, not by man’s power at all.
Hebrews 12:2 ‘Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.’
Romans 3:21-31 NIV ‘This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.’
“Sorrowful repentance”, “belief in the message of truth”, and “baptism of the Holy Spirit” are also given to fallen man by God along with imputed faith and righteousness.
2 Corinthians 7:10 “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
Ephesians 1:13 NIV “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,”
1 Corinthians 12:13 “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
“Propitiation”, full payment accepted by God, in order to satisfy his wrath for sin. It is the accomplished work of Jesus Christ through his death on the cross in exchange for our sin that renders us “not guilty”.
1 John 4:10 NIV “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”