A True Salvation
Genesis 32:27,28
God must deal with the individual, they must realize their sinfulness, and confess that wickedness to God, and trust God for everything. No such thing as taking Christ as Saviour, but not accepting him as Lord. No such thing as a simple “making up the mind to trust Christ”, but must be accompanied by the “wooing” (Holy Spirit conviction) of the Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament, it is often difficult to determine the exact time people were saved. That is because there is more to salvation than a one time event, as is preached and practiced by many today. Salvation involves not only the salvation of the spirit, but also the salvation of the life, and will include the salvation of the body. There are three tenses to salvation – past, present, and future, just as there are three tenses to salvation – salvation of the spirit, the soul (life), and the body (resurrection).
Salvation is always instantaneous, but sometimes it takes a long time (to us) for this instantaneous salvation to happen. None of the things I will say this morning is meant to diminish the fact that salvation is instantaneous. But sometimes it takes a long time for that instantaneous salvation to come.
Genesis 32:27,28 – Is Jacob saved at this point? If he is not saved at this point, he is changed forever. His name, Jacob (One who follows on another’s heels; supplanter), is changed to Israel (God prevails). Is this what has happened in your life? Are you still the supplanter, or has God prevailed over you?
Compare to Abraham, who is apparently saved in Genesis 15, after traveling with the Lord for nearly 25 years. Compare Genesis 15:6 (And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness) to Romans 4:1-4 (where Abraham ceased from working to achieve the promise to believing God must provide the promise) to Galatians 3:13-17 where Abraham heard the gospel message was concerning the “seed”, not “seeds”. Galatians 3:8 states, And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Compare to Cornelius who was a devout man and feared God, yet according to Acts 11:14, was not saved until Peter preached the gospel to him, as revealed in Acts 10:44-48.
Compare to all the people who have been saved at IBC who followed Christ for a long time:
None of this is to diminish the fact that salvation is instantaneous. But sometimes it takes a long time for that instantaneous salvation to come.