Yesterday I preached about the Chief Commandment and the Companion Commandment. I concluded the message by saying that the natural man needs a changed nature and a comprehension of God’s nature ( to know Him is to love Him). Sadly some folks just don’t get it. Here’s an example:
Several years go a preacher (of all people!) suggested that we should use the word “salvage”, rather than “salvation”. I guess you could say, that’s politically correct gone wild. Worse than that–it’s just plain stupid! When you salvage something you still have the same old wreck. You can patch it up, repair it, paint it, etc. but you just have an improved version of the same thing. Salvation is different. It has to do with making something new, something different, something better.
When Christ saves us He doesn’t just give us a new improved version of self. He creates something brand new. Sinful man needs much more than a new start, he needs a new heart. Christ didn’t die to give us another shot at getting it right. He died that we might receive life –become an entirely different person. The moment we receive Him as our Lord and Savior the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our heart, gives us a new nature, and makes us a “new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17).
Admittedly we are, for the time being, still in the same old house of flesh, but a new person now lives within. We continue to be troubled by the flesh, but we’re not troubled about it. Our new nature desires to please God. His interest is now our interest. Our new desire is to glorify the Father, rather than gratify the flesh. The Christian, thank God, is not the old man reformed. He is a new man, re-born, regenerated by the life giving force of the Holy Spirit. He is not struggling for salvation, but from it. He is working out that which God has placed within.
The word “salvage” might be fine and dandy if you’re talking about cars or ships, but it is totally inadequate to describe what happens when a person is “saved”, born again. The Christian has been saved, delivered from self, sin, Satan, and the sentence of judgment that was against him. Whereas he was dead, he is now very much alive and shall never perish. Think about it!
