Articles
What It Takes to Be Saved (9): God's Part - A Revelation to Guide Us
What It Takes to Be Saved (9): God's Part
A Revelation to Guide Us
Mike Willis
Previously in this series, I have written about God’s part in man’s salvation. I included articles on A God Who Loves Us, A God of Grace, A Long-Suffering God, A Qualified Savior, A Self-Sacrificing Savior, A Savior Who Died, and A Savior Who Was Raised from the Dead. All of the things God has done would be useless to mankind unless God revealed what He has done to save us from our sins. Fortunately, man does not have to “seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him” (Acts 17:27). Rather, God provided a revelation to tell us what He has done for man’s salvation and what man must do to receive God’s gracious gift. Writing to the church at Corinth, Paul explained what God has done to reveal His will to man:
“Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But WE IMPART A SECRET AND HIDDEN WISDOM OF GOD, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’— THESE THINGS GOD HAS REVEALED TO US THROUGH THE SPIRIT. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. NOW WE HAVE RECEIVED NOT THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD, BUT THE SPIRIT WHO IS FROM GOD, THAT WE MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE THINGS FREELY GIVEN US BY GOD. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (1 Cor. 2:6-13).
This passage announces to non-Jewish people that God has given His revelation to mankind. The Jews already knew this from what Moses wrote.
“For this commandment that I command you today IS NOT TOO HARD FOR YOU, NEITHER IS IT FAR OFF. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ BUT THE WORD IS VERY NEAR YOU. IT IS IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART, SO THAT YOU CAN DO IT” (Deut. 30:11-14).
So, God has revealed His work and His will for mankind through the pages of inspired Scripture—The Bible. We learn what God has done through the Bible and we learn what we must do to be saved from sin through Scripture. No wonder, then, that Paul commended those in Berea who heard him preach because they were “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). We should do the same as the Bereans. We should not be guided by men telling their “conversion” experience. I should not “find a religion or church that suits me.” Rather, God communicated to mankind in words that are readily available and comprehensible what He has done for our salvation and what we must do to receive it. Without that revelation to guide us, we will become and be like those described in the book of Judges when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 17:6; 21:25). Isn’t this an apt description of what is happening in 21st century American religion?
