A very delightful story is told of a certain lassie who had been recently converted and was in all the freshness and zeal of a new found joy in the Lord. She went up to a grey-haired gentleman in a Co. Durham town, and enquired, “Are you saved?”
He looked at her with a kindly smile, and said, “My dear, do you mean esothen, sozomenos, or sothesomai?” This was all Greek to her. She had in the warmth of her new found joy addressed her question to one of the greatest Greek scholars of his day, Bishop Westcott, a leading member of the revision of the Bible, published in 1881.
His enquiry put into plain English meant, Are you enquiring if I have been saved, or am being saved, or shall be saved? The Bishop then explained his meaning to the lassie, and she went on her way with a clearer understanding of what salvation meant than she had before.
It might be put this way for clearness,
Salvation past—from the penalty of sin.
Salvation present—from the power of sin.
Salvation future—from the presence of sin.
SALVATION PAST
What a mercy, what a wonderful privilege it is that every believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, however recently conversion has taken place, can say, “Thank God, I am saved, and saved for ever.”
When the Saviour died on the cross, He died a sacrificial death. He endured the judgment of God that the believer might never come under it. So the believer can re-echo the words of Scripture, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). How many of our sins did the Saviour bear on the cross? Surely all. Do we not read, “The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). And again, “By one offering He has perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Heb. 10:14). So we can say we, believers, are saved “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5).
SALVATION PRESENT
Believers need a present salvation—not a question of the forgiveness of sins between God and the sinner, that is the happy portion of each the moment he or she believes on the Lord Jesus. But believers have three foes to contend with as they pass through this world. The flesh, that evil fallen nature we all inherit from Adam, the traitor within the gate; the world, that subtle appeal to the flesh through eye-gate and ear-gate; the devil, a real antagonist with mighty powers.
We certainly need present salvation or else we shall make shipwrecks of our Christian profession. More than half the battle is lost if we are not duly conscious of the nature of the flesh. Romans 8:7 tells us the carnal or fleshly mind is not merely at enmity, but “is enmity against God.” No wonder that to a man, in whom the flesh was dressed up in its most respectable habiliments, Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, the Lord said, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). Salvation from the power of sin is given in the new birth and in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the power for true Christian life.
As the believer walks through this world in all the true and holy desires of the new life and in the power and joy of the Holy Spirit, the world does not attract him; the flesh is mortified and kept in the place of death; and the devil resisted will flee from him. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
SALVATION FUTURE
God is not going to leave us in this world for ever. The flesh is not going to be present in the believer save for this life. The world is passing away, and the devil is to be cast into the lake of fire, no more to organize his mad, unavailing revolt against God and His people. “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom. 13:11). We are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by [in—N.Tr.] hope” (Rom. 8:23-24).
The bright day soon comes when the summoning shout of our victorious Lord will be heard in the air, when He will call all His own, whether sleeping in the grave for long centuries, or alive on the earth when He comes, to be for ever with Himself.
In a moment believers will leave the flesh behind for ever; nothing but new creation will enter the paradise of God. In a moment the world with its lust and violence will be left behind, and we shall be beyond the reach of the devil. Nay, more, our very bodies shall be redeemed, for Romans 8:23 speaks of “the redemption of our body.” All trace of sin shall be removed. There will not be crooked limbs, or aching joints, or the weakness of old age yonder. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we shall be changed into the image of our Lord. He “shall change our vile body [body of humiliation—N.Tr.] that it may be fashioned like to His glorious body [body of glory—N.Tr.], according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Phil 3:21).
Thus we can say that, as believers on the Lord Jesus,
We ARE saved from the penalty of our sins.
We ARE BEING saved from the power of indwelling sin, and
We SHALL BE saved from the presence of sin.
What a salvation is ours! “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25). The Lord has saved the believer from the penalty of sin by His all-sufficient, atoning death upon the cross, He saves or delivers His people through His priesthood and advocacy on high on His side, and in the power of life and of the Holy Spirit on our side, He will save our very bodies when He comes for His own at His second coming.
We may well rejoice to have such a salvation, such a Saviour, such a full and eternal provision for our blessing.