The Firstfruits to Be Saved

“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 ESV)

These words were penned by the apostle Paul, as he was carried along by the Holy Spirit. But the letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy, and to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And at least this section of the letter was for the purpose to encourage the church, the body of Christ, the body of believers in Jesus Christ who were of genuine God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in the Lord Jesus.

Paul stated that the Christians were chosen of God from the beginning to be saved, and the Scriptures bear that out that those who are of genuine faith in the Lord Jesus were chosen by God even before the creation of the world to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. And that last phrase there is critical to our understanding of what true salvation from sin really is. For it is not generated by our own flesh.

And this salvation is not what is commonly being taught today. For we who believe in Jesus with God-provided faith in him were predestined to be conformed the likeness of Jesus Christ. And we were saved and called to a holy calling, by God’s grace, and to be holy is to be separate (different) from the world because we are being made to be like Jesus. And we are to be obedient to God, no longer conformed to the passions of our sinful flesh.

[Jer 1:1-19; Psalms 139:13-16; Acts 26:18; Rom 1:6-7,18-23; Rom 6:15-21; Rom 8:28-29; 1 Co 1:9; 1 Co 12:1-31; Gal 5:13; Eph 1:3-4; 1 Thess 4:1-8; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:14-16; 1 Pet 2:9; 2 Pet 1:3] 

So, this salvation does not come about by us giving lip service to the Lord and claiming faith in him and in what he did for us on that cross. It is persuaded of God and is gifted to us by God, as is the faith to believe in Christ, and not one of us can be saved by our own human effort. For our faith and salvation are not of the flesh of man, not of our own doing, but we are saved from our sins only because the Father drew us to himself.

[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44]

Now let me go back to that highlighted phrase. We are saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. And sanctification is a process of the Spirit in making us holy, different from the world, because we are now being conformed to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ. But this involves our cooperation with the Spirit’s work of salvation and sanctification in our hearts and minds, resulting in godly behavior.

And we are saved through belief in the truth. And this is where it gets sticky, for “the truth” that so many are teaching today is not the truth that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught. It is partially the truth, but which dilutes and alters that truth to make it more acceptable and appeasing to human flesh and less offensive to the ungodly of the world. So they teach that you can profess faith, but still continue in sin, and still be saved.

But Jesus taught that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to (save) our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self (lose our lives), die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience to his commands, in practice, then we have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God (Luke 9:23-26).

For we are called to faith in Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught, as taught in the appropriate biblical context. And they taught that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness, and that constitutes genuine salvation.

Now when Paul said, “stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us,” these were not human traditions passed down to us by our ancestors from generation to generation. These were biblical instructions of God, given to the apostles, and then handed down from the apostles to the people, which then have been handed down to us from generation to generation. We are to hold firm to the teachings for us of the apostles.

But let me add a word of caution here. So many people today are teaching the Scriptures out of context. They pull certain verses out of context and then they twist them to make them say what they don’t teach if taught in context, and believe me when I say that is absolutely deliberate! At least it is deliberate by those who initiated the teachings of these Scriptures out of context, but it is negligent for teachers to not teach them in context.

And please know that the grace of God is not free license for us to continue living in sin. God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. For Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” “which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10)

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

Songs in the Night  

An Original Work / December 18, 2013

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

Lord, I praise You forevermore.

You, my Savior, I now adore.

Hope in heaven awaiting me,

Because You died at Calvary.

I have been forgiven,

And I’m bound for heaven.

Jesus set me free from

All my sin, I say.

I will praise Him always!

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:

Overcame death, my vict’ry won!

Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!

I rejoice in His love for me.

I will walk in vict’ry!

My sin is but hist’ry!

I am free to please Him

With my life today.

I will love Him always!

Lord, I thank You for giving me

A new life bought at Calvary.

Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.

Tender mercies now flow within.

Lord, I am so thankful;

Through my Lord, I’m able

To sit at His table;

Fellowship with Him.

I will thank Him always!

https://vimeo.com/379484387