Are You Saved?
Table of Contents
Are You Saved? No. 1
The cover of a magazine from Cornwall, for March, 1885, has been sent us, containing one of the boldest denials of the gospel we have ever seen in print. It surely ought to have been headed " A Churchman's Answer," &c, as we trust there are many who would utterly repudiate such an answer. The clergyman who signs this article or answer, gives three reasons why, as he says, the clergy never ask such a question when speaking about church-going and sacraments, as " Are you saved?"
"First, your clergy cannot ask you this plain question, whatever others may do, because it would be unscriptural; secondly, misleading; and thirdly, impossible for you to answer in the affirmative." " It," scripture, " tells us, of course, that God has saved us (Eph. 2:5; Titus 3:5 Pet. 3:21) so far as He can do so," fee. " It nowhere permits us to call ourselves c saved/ but them that are being saved' "
It will be seen that the very foundations of Christianity are here attacked. And surely this is a case in which we are called to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints. Far be it that these pages should be taken up in mere controversy; but when thousands of souls are being betrayed by such false teaching, is the servant of the Lord to be silent? No, reader, we solemnly assure you that we write for your soul. It is the question of your soul's salvation.
Is the certainty of a believer's salvation scriptural? turn to Luke 7:50. Jesus speaks to a sinner. He says, " Thy skis are forgiven." " Thy faith hath saved thee: go in peace." Were her sins forgiven? Was she saved? May she believe Jesus and say, Yes, my sins are forgiven; Yes, I am saved? J. H. says it would be unscriptural. Reader, shall you, if a believer, and I, receive the words of Jesus, or the clergyman's?
In 1 Cor. 15:1, Paul speaks of the gospel which he preached, he says: " Which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand: by which also ye are saved." He then tells them that Christ died for our sins; and that all depends on whether He is raised from the dead. " And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain." (Ver. 14.) Yes, if Christ is not risen, then the clergyman is right, ye are not saved, ye are " in your sins." (Ver. 17.) Is it not blasphemy to say, God has done all He could do? Has He not raised Christ from the dead, the absolute proof that the believer is saved, is justified, accounted righteous before God? Again, in Eph. 2:5-9, " By grace ye are saved!' " For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." One would think no man could be found to say after all this, God had done all He could; but you must not believe Him, that you are saved, though He says it is so. Shall we believe the word of God or the word of a clergyman? That is really the question.
" Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works," &c. (2 Tim. 1:9.) Am I to say: No, He hath not saved us, the clergyman says we are not saved, it is unscriptural? " Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." (1 Pet. 1:9.) "But unto us which are saved" (1 Cor. 1:18.) " In them that are saved, and in them that perish." (2 Cor. 2:15.) "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," &c, &c. (Mark 16:16.) Then how many other scriptures state the certainty of accomplished salvation in other words. Is not Jesus set before us as the Author of eternal salvation. "By his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." (Heb. 9:12.) "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." (Col. 1:14.) "For by one offering he hath perfected forever, them that are sanctified." " Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." " There is no more offering for sin." (Heb. 10) "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, HATH everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (John 5:24.) " By him all that believe ARE justified from all things." (Acts 13:39.) There are these blessed divine certainties true of every believer: he has peace with God, being justified by faith; he has access into the present favor and grace of God; and the future before him is the glory of God. In Christ he is without condemnation: and nothing can separate him from the love of Christ. (Rom. 5:1, 2; 8:1, 38, 39.)
And will you now say that the knowledge of salvation is unscriptural? Will you give up all this which God tells you in His holy word? Fellow believer, we are invited to give up this divine soul-sustaining certainty, for what? Positively nothing with any certainty. If I understand this doctrine it is this: God has done His best to save you: He has failed, for you are not saved. Now you must do your best: the clergyman will do his best with sacraments, and the like, yet after all, it is still uncertain whether you can be saved.
Are You Saved? No. 2
" The question would be misleading. It would—nay, it does—naturally lead men to think that the work is done, whereas it is only just begun. Why, not even Christ's work for our salvation is finished, for ‘he ever liveth to make intercession for us;' nor is the Holy Spirit's work accomplished; much less our work done. We must work out our salvation.' (Phil. 2:12.)"
Here we have a direct attack on the truth of the finished work of Christ on the cross, as the sure foundation of our eternal salvation. Such a question as Are you saved? would imply that a sufficient work had been done by Him to save you. That is how it would be misleading! And this, not by an open infidel, but by a churchman!
Let us take an illustration. Here is a sailor seated at a supper provided, who yesterday was on a wreck going to pieces. The lifeboat put out and took him off. There are present with him a friend, and also this churchman. His friend says to him, " Are you the man that was saved from that wreck yesterday?" " Hold," says the churchman, " that is a misleading question. It will lead this man to conclude naturally that his salvation from that wreck is completed; that the captain of the lifeboat has actually finished the work he went out to do. He has only just begun to get him off the wreck, to save him. It will not do to give the captain all the credit of saving him. It is commonly believed in these parts, that I have a large share to do by my sacraments in saving shipwrecked sailors. And if you tell him it is done, where am I? Besides it is our doctrine, that he himself has a great deal to do, to save himself."
But the friend who has listened to all this says, " The man is saved, he is in this chair, he is mating his supper." " He is not," says the churchman, instead of eating the supper you have spread before him, we must, I tell you, take a pair of oars, and pull, he must work out his salvation. He must save himself by his own works." You will say no person could be so ignorant as to talk in that way. But does it not truthfully illustrate our subject. Did not the Lord Jesus come from heaven and go to the cross to bear our iniquities? Was He not raised from the dead for our justification? Does not God say, " Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things." (Acts 13:38.) Yes, through the mighty principle of faith, they have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Surely they rest—for they now enter into rest—yes, their rest, and peace, and joy in God is as real, as the sailor's rest in his chair. It is absurd to tell him to pull at the oars to save himself, as he sits in the chair, in a house on land. He may eat the supper with real thankfulness that he is saved from the wreck. It is equally absurd to tell a saved sinner to save himself. He now has peace with God; he cannot seek to get peace. He is now accounted righteous. God is righteous in so accounting him righteous, through the finished work of Christ. Christ is made his righteousness; and he in Him is made the righteousness of God. How then can he want the churchman to help him to acquire righteousness, or salvation, when he is saved, and is clothed with the very best robe, the righteousness provided and given to him by God his Father?
The churchman dares to deny that Christ has finished the work. Think of that work: " Lo, I come to do thy will." He says, " Why not even Christ's work for our salvation is finished, for He ever liveth to make intercession for us." The priestly intercession of Christ is thus perverted in order to deny His finished atoning work which He came to accomplish for our salvation. Now for whom does He intercede? Let John 17 answer that question. It is for true believers only, who are saved, who have eternal life, and. he says, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me." Read the whole chapter in proof. If we look at the type, priesthood was not to save them out of Egypt. The blood of the lamb must be shed for that. Priesthood was instituted for a people already redeemed, to sustain them in worship. The priesthood, and intercession of our great High Priest, is for those only who are already saved, who have redemption through His blood. It is not to save them in that sense; but to keep them when saved. And, precious truth, He is able thus to keep them saved even to the very end, to preserve them, and restore them, to wash their feet. And even should they fail or sin, they are restored to repentance and communion, through His intercession as their Advocate. (See John 13; Hebrews, and 1 John 2:1, 2.)
Neither in scripture is the work of the Spirit in us the ground of our salvation. He testifies of Christ and His finished work for us. The sailor had not to pull to save himself from the wreck as he sat in the chair. The Philippians were all "saints in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 1:1.) Therefore they could not have to work for their salvation, or to get to be saints in Christ Jesus. The context plainly shows they were to work, and work now Paul was away, to show they were saints, or holy ones, in Christ Jesus.
The sailor had not to eat his supper as a means of helping him to get off the wreck. He could
C. S.