Jesus & Salvation (I wrote this about 13 years ago)

 John 6:35-40

The most important question that confronts every person who has ever lived and who will ever live is “Are you saved or lost?” The career the person pursued, the philanthropy they engaged in, the wealth they amassed, and what people thought of them will matter nothing on that last day as they stand before Jesus Christ. How a person is saved has been and continues to be a hotly debated and contested subject at times in many circles around the world. The Apostle Paul was the primary teacher in the New Testament books about how a person’s soul is saved by God from sin and @#!*% . The Apostle Paul taught that God had an elect group of people that He would save eternally. The Apostle Paul taught about the foreknowledge of God which means He knows everything that will transpire in human history before it ever happens, therefore He already sees every soul that will be eternally saved and eternally lost.

To us human beings this can sometimes seem unfair, unkind, or even unloving but because God knows who will truly believe and who will not truly believe does not mean that He rigged or fixed the outcome. The responsibility for truly believing still rest upon every individual soul and therefore God never shows partiality or favoritism to any person, no not one. Must we human beings forget that it pleased God the Father to bruise His only Son? He poured out His wrath against sin upon the Lord Jesus Christ. If God the Father did not spare His only Son from His wrath when sin was upon Jesus, how does any human being think God the Father will spare them when their sin remains on them, I tell you He will not.

Isaiah 53:10-11 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. NKJV

The Apostle Paul also taught individual human responsibility in salvation for every soul. A person cannot go to heaven because they grew up in Church, their Father was a Pastor or Deacon, or because they were born here in America, or because they feel they are a good person. The Apostle Paul taught that every person was responsible for their sin and must repent/turn from their sin and trust Jesus Christ for their own personal salvation. The Apostle wrote these words, Romans 10:11-13 “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’” NKJV Where did this man the Apostle Paul get this understanding and wisdom concerning the salvation of the souls of men and women? The Apostle Paul tells us that he received these truths straight from our Lord Jesus Christ and that he was privileged to be taken into Arabia for 3 years and taught by Christ Jesus as he documents in Galatians 1:11-18.

Before our Lord ever took this man Paul into His personal school of Apostleship, He taught us from His own lips that salvation is according to the Sovereign will of God but that every individual person must come to Him to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Our Lord Jesus use the word comes which is a present tense verb and all verbs are action words. Our Lord is saying that the soul that comes to Him will receive salvation His life in them which produces new affections, desires, hungers, and thirst that will be in opposition to the affections, desires, hungers, and thirst longed for in their souls when He was not present. The word comes He uses also denotes a continuous coming to Him through His Word to feed, nurture, and sustain this new life birthed in the soul. Our Lord is teaching in this very text the responsibility of the hungering soul to act upon this spiritual malnutrition individually (John 6:35).

Our Lord Jesus cements for us by the very next text the absolute reality of human responsibility. These Jews saw the Divine Son of God in the flesh, were eyewitnesses many of them to His numerous miracles, they like Pilot knew deep in their hearts/inner man there was no fault in Him, none of them could convict Him of any sin ever, they were also witness to His going about always doing good and His great heart of compassion as He healed many people of diseases as well as those who were oppressed by the devil, and yet despite Him being right before them in grace and truth they did not believe. Today, especially in this country of America, people are exposed to the gospel of Christ death, burial, and resurrection from the dead and yet they still refuse, reject, or resist believing in Him as the only way for salvation (see the article entitled “Will you Reject, Resist, or Receive Jesus Christ”, http://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=130955) (John 6:36).

Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. NKJV

It is God the Father who draws (John 6:44) the lost soul to our Lord Jesus Christ. For example it was the Father who impressed upon heart of the woman in John Chapter 4 to come to that well at that very time and hour of the day knowing that our Lord Jesus would arrive at that well also at that time. God the Father had been preparing her heart and drawing her to the truth maybe for years even before our Lord Jesus began His earthly ministry for this one moment that would change her eternal destiny. The Father did the drawing but He did not make her believe and receive Christ Jesus the Lord, she had to respond to the truth that confronted her at that very hour (John 6:37).

It was God the Father’s will which directed our Lord Jesus to go through Samaria and not take the normal route His disciples would have been accustomed to traveling all because our Lord knew from the Father that He had an eternal appointment with this one Samaritan woman that could not be missed (John 6:38). This is one of the clearest pictures of Sovereign Election plus human responsibility equaling eternal salvation. Many of the hard hearted stiff-necked Jews during the days our Lord Jesus walked the earth as the God-Man saw Him but did not believe, but many common people saw Him and did believe and the same holds true today. The gospel is preached on radio, the internet, in stadiums, on television, in churches, on the streets, in jungles, in schools, and everywhere but still all do not believe. However, the ones the Father draws that do come to our Lord Jesus and believe will never lose this new life which we have been given because it did not come as the result of our human effort but simply in our freely receiving Him forever (John 6:39-40).

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. NKJV

“All that feel themselves lost, and follow the drawings of the Father, He in a peculiar manner giveth to the Son: will come to Me - By faith. And him that thus cometh to Me, I will in nowise cast out - I will give him pardon, holiness, and heaven, if he endure to the end - to rejoice in His light.” John Wesley

“Everyone that comes - that is, everyone that comes in a proper manner, feeling that he is a lost and ruined sinner. This invitation is wide, and full, and free. It shows the unbounded mercy of God; and it shows, also, that the reason, and the only reason, why men are not saved, is that they will not come to Christ. Of any sinner it may be said that if he had been willing to come to Christ he might have come and been saved. As he chooses not to come, he cannot blame God because he saves others who are willing, no matter from what cause, and who thus are made partakers of everlasting life.” Albert Barnes

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…

Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 54

 Submit to God, Resist the Devil Part 2 

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty Hand ✋ of God, that He may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you. KJV Note: NKJV=New King 👑 James Version 

The Apostle having just commanded us to submit ourselves to one another now commands each one of us something that we should already know and be aware of but need be reminded of as Peter is doing well with these words, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty Hand ✋ of God." God who is now our Father yet He is still our God, that is, although He loves us just as He loves our Lord Jesus still He must be yielded to by us as our God. He is the One that determines if our lungs 🫁 are able to breathe in our next breath 🫁 and He alone should reign and rule over our earthly lives. The little English phrase 'Humble yourselves' that begins 1 Peter 5:6 is translated by the Greek word tapeinoo which means to bring oneself low in the inner man 👞 and inner woman 👠 before God and under God. In other words, we are still mere creatures (even though we are born into His Heavenly family as sons and daughters) and He/God is our Creator, that is, He/God is the One who formed us in our Mother's womb from absolute nothing into a living breathing soul with a human body that functions even beyond our comprehension (Genesis 1:27) & (Genesis 2:7). We should make a conscious effort to see ourselves as far beneath God who is all powerful and we are powerless, for this will give us the proper perspective always and destroy all pride within us when we keep this reality close to our bosom. This Greek word tapeinoo is an old verb in the imperative mode meaning Peter is communicating action on our parts to influence our behavior that we would see the great attention and urgency required by us. The reason behind the Apostle's urgent command is that, "He may exalt you in due time." The little English phrase 'He may exalt' is translated by the Greek word hupsoo which simply means to elevate you to some service for Him and not any man ♂️ or woman ♀️ elevating themselves, for is it not written, "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the Body just as He pleased." (1 Corinthians 12:18) (NKJV). Here is what Adam Clarke had to say of 1 Peter 5:6, "Those who submit patiently to the dispensations of God's providence He lifts up; those who lift themselves up, God thrust down. If we humble not ourselves under God's grace, He will humble us under His judgements. Those who patiently submit to Him, He exalts in due time; if His Hand ✋ be mighty to depress, it is also mighty to exalt." Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of 1 Peter 5:6, "'Since God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble, therefore humble yourselves, not only one to another, but to the Great God, whose judgments are coming upon the world 🌍, and must begin at the House 🏡of God (1 Peter 4:17); His Hand ✋is Almighty, and can easily pull you down if you be proud, or exalt you if you be humble; and it will certainly do it, either in this life, if He sees it best for you, or at the day of general retribution.' Learn, (1) The consideration of the Omnipotent Hand ✋of God should make us humble and submissive to Him in all that He brings upon us. (2) Humbling ourselves to God under His Hand ✋is the next way to deliverence and exaltation; patience under His chastisements, and submission to His pleasure, repentance, prayer 🙏, and hope in His mercy, will engage His help and release in due time." 

Peter wanted to remind those early suffering saints of the thing that should have been to well known to them and also should be well known to us saints today and those saints of every era and generation and that is, "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." He/God is not only our Creator now, but He has bought us spirit, soul, and body with or at a very high price that being the precious shed Blood of His Son Christ Jesus our Lord, for it is written, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) (NKJV). Remember the Apostle Paul's words to the Church @Thessaloniki when he wrote this, "Now may the God of Peace 🕊️ Himself sanctify/set you apart completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved BLAMELESS at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it." (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24) (NKJV). Remember it is He/God/Abba who has begun this good work in us by resurrecting us from our spiritual death and making us alive to Himself (Romans 6:11 & Philippians 1:6). Therefore, when we remember this and let this resonate in our spirit we will know and be assured that we are cared for deeply despite any of our trials, tribulations, or testings we endure in our sojourn on our way home 🏠 to Heaven. So we in all of our wants and needs down here and all of our pressures and troubles we must once and for all throw our whole life unto Him for we know and can be sure and certain that He cares deeply for us. This is why we must make sure to humble ourselves under His Hand ✋ because pride within us not only produces a false superiority complex, but it is the reason for our anxiety and worry making us forget that we are in the care of the Greatest Father and the One and only Great God. Here is what Adam Clarke had to say of 1 Peter 5:7, "Your anxiety, your distracting care, on Him, for He careth for you, He meddles or concerns Himself, with the things that interest you. Whatever things concern a follower of God, whether they be spiritual or temporal, or whether in themselves great or small, God concerns Himself with them; what affects them affects Him; in all their afflictions He is afflicted. He who knows that God cares for him, need have no anxious cares about himself. This is a plain reference to Psalm 55:22: 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee. He will bear both thee and thy burden.'" 

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray 🙏 this from your heart ❤️ to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking 🗣️ directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn 🛞 from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart ❤️ and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...