“Therefore, He is able to save completely.”
Hebrews 7:25
Sometimes followers of Jesus can forget or grow spiritually numb to the foundational facts of salvation. Sometimes the personal journey of discipleship, although intended to be wondrously challenging toward becoming more like Jesus, can actually become dangerously stifled with spiritual complacency.
David once prayed, “return to me the joy of my salvation” (Psalm 51:12). An entire congregational community (the church at Ephesus) fell to the dangerous plight of apathy as the very voice of Christ charged them with, “you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4). What causes good people of faith to grow seemingly indifferent to the saving work of God? For David, the instigation was personal sin (and an unrepentant heart), and for the church at Ephesus it was work (busyness in the things of God) being valued over genuine love for God and for others. So, whether our challenges are caused by personal unconfessed sin, or the busyness of good things, the damage is the same: loosing perspective of our salvation in Christ.
So today, the call to remember some of the basic facts of salvation becomes extremely necessary. And in a day of uncertainty, such a recollection is very opportune.
There are three verses I often recall concerning the reality of salvation:
“Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.” (Romans 6:6)
“Now those who belong to Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24)
“May it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)
Each of these verses contain a verb that expresses in the original language, completed action. Crucified. This indicates our status with self, with Jesus, and with the world.
First (Romans 6:6), because of salvation, the status of our self-identity has been gloriously changed. “Crucified with Christ,” indicates that our whole identity has been surrendered to the work of salvation through the cross of Jesus, and our new identity is, “no longer a slave to sin.” This does not indicate spiritual perfection, as some would falsely believe, but rather spiritual transformation. The sinful self we entered this world with (the sin nature, Romans 3:23) no longer defines us.
Second (Galatians 5:24), because of salvation, we belong to Jesus. We are not simply free from the slavery of sin; we live under the loving rule and reign of our Savior. Our new identity gained through the cross becomes our new way of living under the Lordship of Christ. This elevates Christian living over mere moralism to the wondrous reality of abundant life that supernaturally defines every aspect of the new creation we have become. Concisely phrased, sin ceases to be our taskmaster, and Jesus now lovingly rules and reigns over us.
Third (Galatians 6:14), because of salvation, we are no longer of this world. The apostle ensured that his life’s testimony matched the effectual work of the cross. He no longer felt any attachment nor affection with the world. In contrast to the Judaizers of Paul’s day (those who placed their whole spiritual identity in the works of the Hebrew Law), Paul made his boast singularly in the cross of Jesus. Such boasting would have been in vain had not Paul reconciled his life with two truths. Because of the cross of Jesus, he was no longer affectionate for the system of values in this world, and that same system no longer had influence over him.
The above three descriptions of a life changed by the cross of Jesus may seem exceptional and only apparent in strong spiritual lives such as the Apostle Paul. But, in reality, the very tense of completed action with the term crucify indicates that this is the reality of every believer. This is, or should be “normal” and not exceptional.
So, today, if your faith is indeed in Christ, are you living in the reality of the cross of Jesus? Do you celebrate the beauty of the cross and the powerful transformation in you? Do you strive daily to remain dead to the impulses of sin and alive to Jesus and His purposes in you?
The facts are in. God is able to save completely. And He has done so once for all in Jesus Christ. Celebrate that your faith is in Him. And today, having trusted in Him, commit to live with fresh awareness of the fact that because of the cross of Jesus you are saved.
Blessings,
Ken
