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Message from Him

Salvation - A Great Change

Monday, June 29, 2015 • Gary Fleetwood • Salvation
Salvation is an important thing to understand. The enemy would have us ignorant of the impact salvation has on our lives, but the Word of God is clear. Dr. Gary Fleetwood goes directly to the Scriptures to show us the impact of Salvation on our lives and the "great change" that it has on our lives for the glory of Christ.
Salvation - A Great Change

In Romans 6:18 Paul declares the following,

18And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

Paul sums up his conclusion in v18 and then repeats it again in v22 when he says,

22But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

If Paul seems to keep repeating himself (which he is), it is because what he is saying is so critically important.  When Scripture repeats itself, it is for a reason, and generally that reason is that of emphasis and drawing attention to something that the writer considers to be extremely crucial to his argument.  What Paul is saying is very simple.  He says that a Christian is a person who has undergone a great change, and he knows that he has been changed.  He knows to whom he belongs, he knows who his master is, and he knows what kingdom he is in.  Salvation is not some kind of slight modification or alteration.  To the contrary, nothing is the same - nor should it be.  The salvific changes created in the believer's life produce very visible and evident fruit.  In fact, Paul is very clear in Romans 6:17 to remind his readers of the evidence that this great change produces.  Notice what he says - "yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered".  It is not merely that someone believed, but rather that they obeyed the doctrine that was delivered to them.  They obeyed the truth that was presented to them.  That was the evidence - obedience to what they had received.  There is no value whatsoever in a faith that does not inevitably lead to a changed life.

There is a great deal of false doctrine that has been developed to support the unfounded notion that a person's life does not necessarily have to change after the initial work of salvation has taken place in a person.  The argument that some theologians use is that such a theological position turns the gospel into a salvation of works.  So, the argument that is developed is that how a new believer lives after they are saved has nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not they were actually saved.  However, and unfortunately, what that does is open the door for a kind of Christianity that allows people to live in unrestrained sin.  Obviously, Romans 6:1-2 and Romans 6:15 certainly deny the reality of that false position.  What Paul has addressed is exactly what John was addressing with the Gnostics in 1 John.  They had developed a false gospel and a false teaching that opened the door for a lifestyle of unbridled and unrestrained sin.  However, nothing could be any further from the truth.  It is how the believer lives after the initial saving work of God that actually provides meaningful confirmation of the reality and genuineness of their salvation experience - not their initial experience.  When someone states that how a believer lives does not have anything to do with the reality of their biblical salvation, what they are promoting is a powerless and impotent gospel that has no inherent ability to change a person's life.  To the contrary, that is exactly what the gospel does!  It is the divinely ordained nature of salvation to make an amazing, life-transforming, eternal change in a person's life - both internal and external.  A gospel that does not have the inherent power to change a person's life cannot really be considered good news.  At best, it would only be a kind of superficial and meaningless lip service.  If the church is not willing to accept God's definitions and God's mandates on the Christian life, then all it will produce is a Laodicean church filled with people who will never be more than lukewarm in their commitment to Christ at best.

Romans 6:18 states very simply that the believer's life is now to be controlled and governed by righteousness.  Scripture does not allow the believer to simply set their own standard and then live how they please, but that is much too often what the modern church promotes.  However, those who are the servants of righteousness are believers who are obedient to and fully devoted to the practice of those things that reflect and embody the very righteousness of God Himself.  If someone has claimed for years to be a Christian, yet there is no visible evidence of the work of God in their life, then in all likelihood they have never been saved.  Christians are individuals who have come under the control and influence of the Holy Spirit, and their life will reflect that simple fact.  John MacArthur states that when a Christian faithfully and sincerely obeys God's Word, they become conformed to the truth of that Word.  John 17:17 states that the believer is "sanctified", or set apart, by the truth that he obeys.  Clearly, God's grace places the believer under divine obligation to obey His truth and His spiritual mandates.  Obedience to God is inherent in the very nature of the salvation call, and therefore should be a prevalent attribute in the life of anyone who consistently claims that they are saved.

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