WHEN IS A PERSON SAVED?
\nReligion gives us many answers to that question. Some say that God\u2019s elect were saved in eternity. They tell us that election is salvation; but that in not so. Election is unto salvation. Election secures salvation and makes it certain. But election is not salvation. \u201cGod hath from the beginning chosen us unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.\u201d Some say that a child is saved when it is brought, by its believing parents, to a priest or a preacher as an infant, to be sprinkled with water. But that cannot be true. Such a practice is no where taught in the Bible. The Word of God makes it abundantly clear that salvation does not come by religious heritage or religious ceremony. The children of God are born, \u201cnot of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God\u201d. Some say that a child is saved when he learns the church catechism, when he comes to what men call \u201cthe age-of accountability\u201d and is confirmed in the church. But such foolishness is no where taught in the Word of God. Some say that a person is saved when he makes a decision for Jesus and professes faith in him. Judas decided to follow Jesus, but he was not saved. Demas professed faith, but he did not have faith. Simon Magus had a profession and a decision, but he was a lost man. My friends, profession is not possession. A decision for Jesus is not a saving knowledge of the Son of God. Some say that a person is saved when he reforms his life and starts living for God. You know that cannot be true. The Pharisees were thoroughly reformed in their lives. They were very moral and very religious. Annanias was a thoroughly reformed man. Diotrophes served the church of God zealously. But all of them are in hell today. Some say that a person is saved if he can hold on, hold out, or hang in to the end. It is true that those who are truly saved will continue in the faith; but our continuance in the faith is not dependent upon us. We continue in the faith because God keeps us in his hands, Some say that a person is saved when he is baptized, when he joins the church, when he receives the Lord\u2019s Supper or when he has performed enough good works to merit heaven. And some say that a person is not saved until the day of judgment. When we get to heaven and hear the Lord say, \u201cCome ye blessed\u201d we will find out who is saved but not till then. NONE OF THESE STATEMENTS ABOUT SALVATION ARE TRUE. They are all the inventions of men. Not one of them has any foundation in the Word of God.
\nWhen is a person saved? The Apostle Paul tells us that A PERSON IS SAVED WHEN IT PLEASES GOD TO SAVE HIM. \u201cWhen it pleased God, who separated me from my mother\u2019s womb, and called me by his graces to reveal his Son in me.\u201d \u201cWhen the fulness of time was come \u2026 God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father\u201d. My friends, \u201cSalvation is of the Lord\u201d, Salvation comes to men according to God\u2019s sovereign pleasure. He says, \u201cI will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy\u201d. God saves whoever he is pleased to save; and he saves them whenever it pleases him to do so. When is a person saved? Mark it down.
\nA PERSON IS SAVED WHEN IT PLEASES GOD TO SAVE HIM.
\nDon Fortner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WHEN IS A PERSON SAVED? Religion gives us many answers to that question. Some say that God\u2019s elect were saved in eternity. They tell us that election is salvation; but that in not so. Election is unto salvation. Election secures salvation and makes it certain. But election is not salvation. \u201cGod hath from the beginning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,32,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-don-fortner","category-the-will","category-false-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4519,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518\/revisions\/4519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}