There is no subject more important for us to get right, more critical to our eternal lives, than spiritual salvation.

But it is sometimes hard to grasp how it is applied to individuals by God.

Pastor and Christian author J.D. Greear wrote:

“The Book of Leviticus provides a wonderful picture of this (salvation). Once a year each Jewish father would appear on behalf of the family to offer a sacrifice for sin.

“When the moment of sacrifice came, the father would lay his hand on the head of the sacrificial lamb, and the priest would slit its throat.

“The resting of the hand of the man on the head of the lamb symbolized the transference of the guilt of the family onto the head of the sacrifice. As the lamb bled out, the guilt of the family was removed.

“Faith is placing our hand upon the sacrificial head of Jesus. When we do so, Paul says, ‘Our faith is counted for righteousness’ (Romans 4:5). There is a moment when we first lay our hand on the head of Jesus. It is to rest there for the rest of our lives. When we want to know if we are saved, we should look at where our ‘hand, our hope for heaven, is currently resting.’

“Paul says, ‘If thou … shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.’ That is true, for, as we read in (Romans) 4:25, ‘Christ was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.’ Whoever believes these two facts will be saved. … We obtain the true righteousness of God by believing sincerely the promises of God, as we read in (Romans) 4:3, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.’

“In that moment, at last, it all made sense. Salvation was obtained by simply resting on the two ‘facts’ God had promised about Jesus: he was crucified as the payment for our sins; he was resurrected as proof that God accepted the payment. Just as Abraham was saved by believing God would keep his word, I was saved by believing he had.

“Those two facts were true whether I believed them or not, but when I rested my weight upon them — that is, when I placed my hopes for heaven on his finished work — they became mine.”

Stringing Us Along?

There is a misinformed view by many religionists that God doesn’t want us to know where we stand with God — that He wants to string us along, never knowing until after we die.

That’s because, they say, if people really knew that they were home free, they would just go out and live as they pleased, going off on an orgy of godless pursuits. Nothing could be further from the truth.

No one who has glimpsed the true grace and generosity of God’s heart would ever throw it back in His face in so presumptuous a manner.

To do otherwise would prove that such a person never had a relationship with God in the first place.

Prayerfully consider the following passage from 1 John 5:11-15, and see if you can find any limit to His generosity toward believers in His son:

“This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in His Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life. 

“My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.”

If God is not worried about His grace being abused, why on earth would we? Conditions, terms, and legalese are for humans. God doesn’t speak that language. He’s way too big-hearted for such things.

The great evangelist, Charles Spurgeon, a man known as the “Prince of Preachers,” wrote:

“Advance beyond these dreary ‘ifs;’ abide no more in the wilderness of doubts and fears; cross the Jordan of distrust, and enter the Canaan of peace, where the Canaanite still lingers, but where the land ceases not to flow with milk and honey.”

How About You?

Would you endlessly string your children along as to whether they belong to your family? Would you have them dangling on the thin thread of being obedient, sticking to the rules, going through the motions?

We all know cruelty when we see it. Do you really think God is like that?

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Click here for a fascinating AI-generated video overview of this essay“the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”