Celebrating God’s Sovereign Will and Grace in Salvation

The true and living God (Jer 10:10; 1 Thess 1:9) is eternal (Rom 16:26) and His purpose is unchanging (Heb 6:17). His glory, majesty, dominion, and authority are before all time, now and forever (Jude 1:25). As the architect and builder of all things (Heb 3:4; 11:10), all things exist because He created them (Rev 4:11).

In the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23), that is, in the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus (Eph 3:11), He saved us (Titus 3:5). The true believer, made alive in Christ (Eph 2:5), knows the exclusivity of so great a salvation (Heb 2:3). Therefore, he is not ashamed of the Gospel of our salvation because he knows that God has mercy upon whomever He wills (Rom 1:16; 9:15–16; Eph 1:13).

The sons of Adam, the first man, are all sinners by inheritance (Rom 5:12), nature (Eph 2:3), and practice (Rom 3:23). Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4); and the Scriptures have shut up everyone under sin (Gal 3:22). The same holy Scriptures are the life-giving Word implanted in the hearts of those who hear the Word and believe it (Jn 6:63; Rom 10:17; Jas 1:21). We believe in Jesus Christ who has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself on Calvary’s cross (Heb 9:26). In fact, He bore our sins in His body on that cursed tree, having become a curse for us (Gal 3:13; 1 Pet 2:24).

The sin-bearing Son of God came into the world, sent by God the Father, to save His people from their sins, by His precious blood shed for their forgiveness (Mt 1:21; Jn 3:16; Eph 1:7; Heb 9:22; 1 Pet 1:19). Jesus Christ is the Savior who is God in the flesh (Jn 1:14; Titus 2:13), like us yet without sin, so He could serve the purposes of God as our great High Priest (Heb 4:14–15; 9:11). He offered Himself to God as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29).

With the removal of sin, unjust sinners are declared righteous before God in Christ who is the Lord, our righteousness. There is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). This is the believer’s freedom in Christ (Gal 5:1). Having been saved by God’s grace through faith in God’s only begotten Son, the Christian is on a new path, walking by the indwelling Holy Spirit (Jn 14:6; Rom 8:9, 11; Gal 5:16; Eph 2:8–9).

The Spirit of truth guides us into all truth (Jn 16:13), which is found in the Word of truth (Jn 17:17). The same truth, as it is in Jesus that set us free from bondage to sin now leads us on our walk of faith (Eph 4:21). This life of faith is in the Person and work of Christ who is the fulfillment of the promises of God’s Word spoken to Abraham c. 2000 B.C. God’s Word is true because God is true (Rom 3:4). Simply put, God keeps His promises.

The promised seed (singular) of Abraham who would deliver His people Israel, arrived at the fullness of time born of a woman, born under the Law (Gal 4:4). When His work in life and death was finished, He was resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven where He sat down at the right hand of majesty on the glorious throne of God (Ps 110:1). Having been given all authority in heaven and on earth, King Jesus rules and reigns over all as the Lord of all (Mt 28:18; Acts 10:36; 1 Tim 6:15).

All things have been put into subjection under the King of glory, yet we do not yet see that reality ourselves (Heb 2:8). Thus, we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe. In fact, the just shall live by faith.

Faith is a gift of God’s grace (Acts 18:27; Eph 2:8–9), which is granted to those who are the offspring of Abraham (seeds). By God’s grace, those who receive God’s Word (2 Pet 1:1) will hear the Word and believe it (Rom 10:17). This is evidenced by the accompanying grace of repentance (Acts 5:31; 11:18), which is a turn from idols to serve the true and living God (1 Thess 1:9).

Faith grows by God’s grace when one is in vital union with Christ. The life of God is now willing and doing God’s good pleasure in the soul; and His promise is to never leave nor forsake His people upon whom He has set His love from eternity, at the cross, and which He poured out in our hearts (Rom 5:5, 8; Eph 1:4–5; Phil 2:13; Heb 13:5). The love of God in Christ now controls us and serves as the Christian motive for doing the good works prepared beforehand for us to walk in (Eph 2:10; 2 Cor 5:14).

As a final exhortation, my dear reader, may I remind you that your life is but a vapor (Jas 4:14) therefore you should redeem the time during your days in this present evil age (Gal 1:4). The world does not know you nor does it understand the very things I have written to you for your benefit. In fact, the truth of God is foolishness to those who continue to walk in the futility of their minds (Eph 4:17).

Not having the mind of Christ, nor the faith handed down to the saints, unrepentant sinners do not believe in Jesus because they do not belong to Jesus (Jn 10:26). Many are called to come to Jesus, but few were chosen by the Father in the election of grace before the foundation of the world (Rom 11:5–6). But as many as were ordained to eternal life, these believed because of grace — not by the will of man — but of God’s will and gracious choice (Jn 1:12–13; Rom 11:5–6).

The unbeliever without God in the world is not seeking God because he is a hater of God (Rom 1:30; Eph 2:12). As Christians, we suffer for the sake of God’s elect (2 Tim 2:10). We preach Christ crucified, the very power of God unto salvation for those who believe. Through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God is still calling His elect redeemed people to come and see, to taste and see that God is good to have given us the bread of heaven, on which he that is spiritual feasts day and night to his delight (Ps 34:8; Jn 6:33, 41).

May God bless you with this brief reminder of His sovereign will and grace in the salvation that is ours and secure in Christ Jesus, reserved for us in heaven (1 Pet 1:4), from whence He shall come again to judge the living and the dead. This is our blessed hope and our glorious future with Him in the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness dwells…and we with Him.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

August 28, 2023