Salvation, God's unfinished work

In a world where everything seems to be in continual flux, it’s good to be reminded of one thing that will never change – and that is that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). It is amazing that God, in the person of his incarnate Son entered this world of ours with one specific purpose in mind, and that was to save sinners. This fundamental truth is focused and comprehensive. It is focused on our need to be forgiven. It is comprehensive in that the faith that makes it possible is available to all. Nature itself reveals enough of God’s “eternal power and divine nature” (Rom 1:20) to make man responsible and the redemptive intervention of Christ clarifies the issue even more.
       Other religions picture people as pursuing God. They are involved in a struggle to gain the favor of some god who isn’t particularly interested. In dramatic contrast is Christianity in which a loving God takes the initiative and in his Son, Christ Jesus, pays the necessary ransom for our sins.  (Cf. Philippians 2:6-11). The  formula is simple: Repent, believe, and be saved. And what is the repentant sinner saved from? The first thing is permanent separation from eternal goodness. Matthew pictures it as a place of “eternal punishment” (25:46), where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (13:50), and John, in the book of Revelation, calls it a “fiery lake of burning sulfur” (Rev 19:20). Not a pleasant picture, and even if the writers were speaking metaphorically, all that means is that the place called hell is so incredibly terrible that there is no other way to portray it. As we read earlier, Christ came into the world to save us from that place. 
       But the saving activity of God isn’t limited to what can happen at death, but is described in scripture as something He is doing right now. Paul describes believers as “those who are being saved” (2 Corin 2:15). And what is it that I am being saved from right now as I complete this column?  It is the continuing power of my old sin nature.  While defeated on the cross, it continues its battle to make my life (and yours!) as least beneficial as possible. But God is at work in the believer’s heart to help transform us from the egocentric disaster we were to the loving and outgoing person that God wants us to be. It is absolutely true that justification inevitably involves transformation. To fail at this point would be to reveal that our commitment is fraudulent. 
       “Come, Lord, and keep up your saving work in us right now. It began when we turned to you in faith and we want you to continue it until we arrive home.”