Are You Saved?

A college professor wanted to teach his business students an important truth that if properly understood and applied would change their lives. He used the following object lesson to illustrate that truth:

He placed a one-gallon, wide-mouthed Mason jar on a table in front of the class. Then he carefully placed several fist-sized rocks, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top, he asked his class, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class said, "Yes." He then reached under the table and pulled out a bag of gravel. He poured some gravel into the jar and shook it so the gravel filled the crevasses between the big rocks. Then he asked the class once more, "Is the jar full now?" Exasperated, the class shouted, “Who knows?” So, once again he reached under the table and brought out a bag of sand and poured it into the jar. It easily slipped into the empty spaces and filled the jar to the top. The professor then asked the class, "What is the point of this object lesson?" One thoughtful student said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some more things into it!" “That is a good insight but it is not the TRUTH the illustration teaches,” replied the professor. The truth it teaches us is: If you don't put the big rocks in first, you will not be able to get them in.

The Bible encourages everyone to…Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (II Cor. 13:5)

The most important question of life to which one must get the right answer to is “Are you saved?” No matter if you answer “yes” or “no”, there is some important scriptural information you need to consider. There are two “big rocks” that must be considered and understood in order for a person to be saved.

The first “big rock” is KNOW WHO TO LISTEN TO! The Lord Jesus Christ selected the Apostle Paul to be His spokesman to the world of unsaved sinners… For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: (Rom. 11:13).  Paul was personally taught by the Lord Jesus Christ to proclaim a unique message called the “the gospel of Christ” and the “revelation of the mystery”… “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).  “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,” (Rom. 16:25). 

The second “big rock” is KNOW WHAT GOD HAS DONE ABOUT YOUR SINS. Paul calls this information the doctrine of reconciliation. Your eternal destiny depends on your response to this one central issue.

Paul defines the Gospel of Jesus Christ in I Cor. 15:1-4:  1. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. 2. He was buried.  3. He rose again the third day according to the scriptures. You will be shocked to know that merely believing these claims of the Bible will not save you. Salvation results when a person UNDERSTANDS how the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ APPLIES to them and what His work on the Cross ACCOMPLISHED for them. While no one will ever fully understand all that went on at the Cross between the “Godhead”, Paul presents the one truth that must be understood and then believed in order to experience Biblical salvation. He explains that truth in II Corinthians 5: 17-21…“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. [18] And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; [19] To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. [20] Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. [21] For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”   

“Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures”…The doctrine of reconciliation is the good news from God to a world of unsaved sinners that He is not imputing their trespasses unto them…To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; He imputed them to Christ at the Cross 2,000 years ago. You do not need to ask God to forgive you for your sins, YOU ALREADY ARE FORGIVEN. DO YOU BELIEVE IT? The focus of salvation is not what I MUST DO TO BE SAVED (admit, believe, confess); it is about WHAT CHRIST DID FOR US 2,000 years ago in His mercy and grace. The moment you believe how Christ’s death at Calvary APPLIES to you (God imputed your sins to Jesus Christ… Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Rom. 4:8) and what His death ACCOMPLISHED for you (total forgiveness of sins) you are declared justified (saved) by the Father and imputed with the righteousness of Christ. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.  (Romans 4:5)

“And that He was buried”… In the fact of the burial of Jesus we have a powerful confirmation that the issue of the sins of the world, from God's point of view, has been removed and settled. God is fully satisfied with what Jesus did about our sins. Reconciliation is not complicated. What do we do with dead people? We bury them; we put them out of our sight. That is precisely what God has chosen to do with our sins even though preachers keep digging them up and making the forgiveness of sins the issue of salvation, when God makes what Christ has done about those sins the issue of salvation.

“And that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures”…The Lord’s resurrection from the dead was proof positive that God fully accepted His payment at Calvary for the sins of the world thus satisfying God’s divine righteousness and propitiating His wrath against sinners.

Don’t confuse Reconciliation with Justification.  Just because someone forgives a debt you owe them does not mean they will also make a deposit in your bank account. For a person to forgive a debt simply means you are back to zero. That is why even though the world has already been reconciled to God that does not mean the whole world is justified.  Reconciliation does not guarantee salvation. You need RIGHTEOUSNESS to gain entrance into heaven---PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS. No one has it but God will give it to you as a free gift if you simply take Him at His Word that He has forgiven your sin debt which was charged to Christ's account at Calvary.

Hasn’t Satan hidden the glorious gospel of Christ from you long enough? “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: [4] In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (II Cor. 4:3-4) Understanding what Christ accomplished for you at Calvary and how it applies to you results in salvation the moment you believe it.