Why I am Convinced You did not Decide to be Saved
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “The ultimate aim and object of our salvation is that we may glorify God. The essence of sin is that we do not glorify God.” According to the Bible, there are two classifications of people in the world: saved and unsaved. One glorifies God, and the other has no interest in salvation, evidenced by their lack of interest in the Savior (Rom 3:11).
Everyone is born into the world unsaved (Ps 51:5), and only through a number of actions by God is anyone saved. Further, there are two main views of how people are saved: one view believes salvation is all of God (Ps 3:8; Jon 2:9; Rev 19:1); and one believes salvation is a joint effort by God and each saved person. In short, the latter category claims they have made a choice; or they decided to be saved by choosing Jesus Christ to be their personal Savior. It is not possible for both views to be right about how God saves His people from their sins. Here are some reasons from the Bible why I am convinced you did not decide to follow Jesus, nor choose to be saved.
First, if you have not been saved, it is clear, you did not decide to follow Jesus and be saved. Before a person is saved, she is elect, or chosen by God for salvation before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4–5; Rev 13:8; 17:8). Once she has been born, God does what is necessary to ensure her salvation. Every elect soul is ultimately saved. Paul argued, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6).” We must learn: God started salvation before Creation and God completes the work of salvation when we are glorified with Him (Rom 8:30).
If God never begins the work of salvation in someone’s life, that person will not be saved. There is a distinction when God says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy (Rom 9:15).” Mercy is not getting what we really deserve, which is judgment and punishment for our sins (Mt 25:46; Jude 7). God has had mercy upon the Israel of God, which is the church of Jesus Christ (Gal 6:16).
The distinction between those who receive mercy unto salvation, and those who do not receive mercy is found in Romans 9:22, where a group of people Paul calls, “vessels of wrath” have been “prepared for destruction.” Those who were not chosen for salvation are prepared for destruction. God has even made the wicked for the day of evil (Prv 16:4).
Second, God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4; 1 Pet 1:20). God’s choice was made in the kind intention of His will (Eph 1:5). In other words, God used His free will to choose who He would predestine unto salvation (Rom 11:5). He had mercy.
When Christ came from heaven, taking on flesh, living impeccably (Heb 4:15; 7:26), and then laying down His life to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21), He saved us (Titus 3:5). Nowhere in the Bible does it say or suggest that Christ’s work made salvation a possibility. Rather, it is a finished work, just as Jesus said, “It is finished (Jn 19:30),” just as all His works were finished from the foundation of the world (Heb 4:3).
So, God the Father chose us in Christ before Creation. God the Son entered the world to redeem a covenant people for God (Eph 1:7; 1 Pet 1:18–19), who were predestined to be saved in the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23).
God the Spirit also works for our salvation, having been sent by the Father and the Son (Jn 14:26; 15:26), to give new birth to God’s chosen race (Jn 1:13; 3:5; 1 Pet 2:9), by baptizing (Mt 3:11; Acts 2:38; 10:47; 1 Cor 12:13) and indwelling them (Rom 8:9, 11). This new birth is called, “regeneration.” He made us alive in Christ (Eph 2:5; Col 2:13). Paul distinguishes between those who, “live in the flesh (unsaved),” and those who, “live by the Spirit (saved).”
Third, Christ died for us, His chosen people, who received Him, believing in His name (Jn 1:13). The apostle Paul helps us with the imagery of a married couple. Christ is the groom, and Christ’s church is the bride (Eph 5:25). A groom chooses His one and only beloved. He does not choose another. He does not divorce His one and only bride. He does not commit adultery. He is faithful and true (Rev 3:14; 19:11).
Some claim Jesus Christ died for everyone in the world at all points in history. If this were true, we would be called, “Universalists,” believing all people are saved, whether they knew it or not. We have already seen a couple of points of distinction, and there are many more. In this view, God is benevolent, but all the talk of hell and the lake of fire makes Him a liar and the Bible untrue. Jesus was clearly not a Universalist (Lk 16:23), nor Unitarian (Jn 8:58; 10:30; 14:26; 15:26). Therefore, we must reject universalism, even though it is more consistent than the next claim.
Some claim Jesus Christ died for everyone in the world, at all points in history, but each person must choose whether they will accept what Christ has done for everyone. At this juncture, salvation moves from being a work of God to being a work of man. In this scheme, God does all the work, and man approves or disapproves of what God has done. If a man judges God’s work is worthy, then he receives salvation. If a man decides God’s work is not worthy, then he does not receive salvation. Thus, man, not God, is in control of his own eternal destiny. God has made salvation possible, but the ultimate choice belongs to each person. Theologians refer to this as the “Arminian heresy,” which closely follows the older, “Pelagian heresy.”
Also, in this scheme, God pleads with sinners to repent, hoping they will make the right decision. Almighty God has done everything He could, but on the day of decision, it is man who must make the sovereign choice that determines his eternal destiny. Clearly, in this view, God is made impotent, having lost control of salvation and the sovereignty necessary to save someone.
The Bible claims, “Salvation belongs to God (Jon 2:9).” Those who receive Jesus Christ, who believe in His name (Jn 1:12), were appointed to eternal life and believed (Act 13:48). Jesus appointed His disciples (Mk 3:14; Lk 10:1), even explaining to them with the utmost clarity, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you (Jn 15:16).” It is simply arrogance to disagree with our Lord in this matter. God chose, Christ died for the chosen, and the chosen are saved.
Fourth, the spiritual power and wisdom necessary to save someone who is spiritually dead must come from God. Paul calls the unregenerate, “dead.” The difference with the regenerate is that they were “made alive together with Christ (Eph 2:5),” and noted in another passage: “He made you alive together with Him (Col 2:13).” Regeneration is the work of God the Holy Spirit, who, “caused us to be born again (1 Pet 1:3).” In God-centered soteriology, God is the prime mover, but in man-centered soteriology, man is the catalyst. Who are you trusting in, God or man, God or yourself?
Being regenerated and being born again mean the same thing. How many times have you heard a preacher quote Jesus saying, “You must be born again” (Jn 3:7)? How many times have you heard a preacher then quote Peter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Pet 1:3).”?
Too often, this is the disconnection where preachers wrongly shift the onerous of responsibility to people. You can tell them what is required of them (Jn 3:7), but unless you tell them it is a work of the Holy Spirit to accomplish what is required (1 Pet 1:3), you have led the sheep astray into the Arminian error. Many have gone this way of error and need help in understanding. Man is responsible for sins, but God is responsible for salvation.
Man is controlled by the Spirit. The Spirit is not controlled by man. The “you must be born again” deficiency is typically extended to a misunderstanding of faith. What is the difference between the Hindu faith, the Muslim faith, and the Christian faith? When one is “converted” to a particular faith, it is recognized that she has decided to follow the teachings and obediently adhere to them. The idea of a person believing in a set of teachings is her choice, and how diligent she is in obedience is also her choice. This is true in all man-centered religions in the world.
Christianity is not a religion, and people do not choose to be Christians, as we have already discussed. Conversion to Christianity has two components. The negative component is called, “repentance.” The positive component is called, “faith.” Do repentance and faith come from the will of a person? Do they come from God? Our premise must hold true here, too. Salvation belongs to God; therefore, repentance and faith are works of God, who grants them to His own (Acts 5:31; Phil 1:23).
Someone may quote Acts 17:30, Paul preaching at Athens, cries out, “God is declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.” We have already seen where requirements issued by God have been met by God (ie. born again). To repent means, “to change one’s mind.” How does God change a person’s mind?
When a sinner is born again, she is given the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). The mind of Christ is the mind of the indwelling Spirit (Rom 8:5–11), who is God (2 Cor 3:17). How can a person change a mind set on the flesh and the world? Her mind must be renewed by the Spirit (Eph 4:23; Rom 12:2), who washes God’s people by the water of the Word (Eph 5:26). Paul does not say, “transform yourself” or “wash yourself,” as if you could actually do it, but he explains how the Holy Spirit gives us the grace of repentance to turn from wickedness. The credit always belongs to God.
Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of Christ (Rom 10:17). God’s Word opens the ears of the deaf, and plants the seed of the Word of faith (Jas 1:21), in the heart opened by the Spirit (Acts 16:14). Many people have heard God’s Word preached at different times, but unless the Spirit opens the heart, indwells the heart, and takes up permanent residence in the heart, a person has no salvation.
Unelect, unregenerate, unbelievers have no interest in Christ, Christianity, or salvation. The Bible claims no one is seeking God or the things of God (Rom 3:11). If a person is dead in sin (Eph 2:1), not seeking God, logic demands that she is never going to choose Christ or decide for salvation. She must be born again, not by the will of the flesh, nor by blood relations, nor by works, nor by the will of man, but she must be born of God (Jn 1:12–13). A baby is a beneficiary of birth, but birth happens to her. She does not choose.
The common Christian faith is received (Tit 1:4; 2 Pet 1:1; Jude 1:3) by those to whom it (faith) was granted (Phil 1:29). Faith was granted by grace, before the foundation of the world, in Christ Jesus (2 Tim 1:9). In other words, God’s chosen ones received the grace unto salvation from eternity.
Salvation manifested when faith appeared in a person’s heart and mind. Faith appeared only after the Holy Spirit opened her heart and indwelt her. Faith cannot precede the arrival of the Holy Spirit because it is the Holy Spirit who brings the appointed faith at the appointed time of regeneration. For by grace you have been saved through faith (Eph 2:6, 8). Faith does not save a person, Christ does.
Faith is the evidence of God’s Word and Spirit at work in a person’s heart (Jn 6:63). Out of the mouth comes the substance of the heart. A new believer can be heard. He sounds like this, “I was blind, He touched me, and now I see,” or “I was dead in my trespasses and sins, He touched me, and I was born again to a new life,” or “I was deaf to the Word of truth, He touched me, and I can now hear and understand the Bible.” We are witnesses, not decision makers.
Christians are beneficiaries of a trust established between God the Father and God the Son. With the death of the testator, Jesus Christ, God’s will and testament granted all of the riches of His grace, all the spiritual blessings in heaven (Eph 1:3), to the heirs of salvation (Rom 8:17). Our inheritance is in Christ, reserved for us in heaven, so it cannot be lost (1 Pet 1:4). A born again Christian knows she cannot lose her salvation because salvation belongs to the God. He Himself is her salvation. As to our patten, we note that heirs do not decide to be heirs, nor do they choose what their inheritance will be, nor when they will receive it.
When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, there was no choice made by Lazarus (Jn 18). When Jesus saved Saul, who became Paul on the road to Damascus, there was no choice made by Saul (Acts 9). Samson was chosen by God from his mother’s womb (Jdg 16:17), and so was David, who wrote of God, “Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts. 10 Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother’s womb (Ps 22:9–10).” Isaiah affirmed, “Yahweh called me from the womb (Is 49:1).”
John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb (Lk 1:15). Paul confessed to the Galatians that God had set him apart from his mother’s womb (Gal 1:15). In retrospect, Paul knew his conversion was not his choice, it was God’s predetermined plan. It is obvious from looking at other saints in the Old and New Testament that the common thread is God’s choice from the beginning (Rom 11:5; 2 Thess 2:13). God is not crossing His fingers hoping you will make a decision for Jesus.
To sum: God has predestined His elect. God has chosen. God has appointed. God has given grace. Christ has come. Christ has died. Christ was buried. Christ is risen. Christ ascended. Christ is enthroned. The Holy Spirit was sent. The Spirit bears witness of the Word. The Spirit baptizes. The Spirit opens the heart. The Spirit indwells. The Spirit causes new birth. The Spirit makes alive. The Spirit manifests conversion. The Spirit adopts. The Spirit sanctifies. It is God who glorifies the saint, He Himself has justified, called, and predestined (Rom 8:30).
Read this summary as many times as necessary until you understand, “Salvation belongs to God.” It is His plan, His decree, His will, His work, revealed to us in His Word, by His Spirit, for His glory.
Salvation has been proclaimed to us, and we have heard and believed because He opened our ears and our hearts. May He open your mouth to proclaim this salvation…not the man-centered version…but the biblical version where God gets all the glory, honor, and praise because He did all of the work, by His own will and choice. This is why we say it is so great a salvation. Take all of this into consideration, and you now know why I am convinced you did not decide to be saved. God decided. To God be the glory, great things He has done.
David E. Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
March 8, 2021
