ANNOUNCER: Talking about atonement and belief, how do we get eternal salvation truth to its simplest form? Hello friend, thank you for joining us once again here on Grace in Focus, this quarter-hour ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our office is in North Texas and our website is faithalone.org. There’s lots to learn about us at our website. We have a store where you can buy books, you can learn about our events, our free magazine, and our online seminary with scholarships for those who maintain academic high standards. All of this is possible because of our generous donors. Come visit us at our website, faithalone.org.

Now with our discussion of the day, here’s Bob Wilkin along with Sam Marr.

BOB: Well Sam, I believe you have a question from someone named DR and what is DR asking?

SAM: Yeah, DR doesn’t give too much context but he says I don’t fully understand Christianity and the atonement. How exactly does me believing save myself? If Jesus defeated sin, death, and the devil, then why do I have to make a decision to believe it? If somebody sacrifices their life for another, then the other person who is saved doesn’t have to believe it to be true. So basically, Christ died on the cross, defeated sin and death. Why do we even need to believe? Didn’t he just save everybody?

BOB: Okay, so that is, what DR is basically doing is explaining the Calvinist dilemma. You see, the Calvinist believes that anybody Christ died for will be saved because God, whenever He determines to do something, He brings it to completion. So if God, by the death of Christ, desires to save humanity, everybody He died for is going to ultimately be saved.

Now Calvinists will say, of course, that does require them to believe, but in the Calvinist perspective, regeneration precedes faith. So in the Calvinist view, if Christ died for everybody, then everybody was going to be regenerated before they believed and then they were going to be given the gift of faith and everybody would be a believer and everybody would be born again.

Now DR doesn’t know probably about Calvinism and certainly isn’t asking from a Calvinist perspective. But Arminians and Free Grace people say, no, Christ died for everybody and we call that unlimited atonement. It’s Christ died for everybody. But we don’t believe as Free Grace people that that means everybody is saved, nor do Arminians believe that.

SAM: Right, there’s a distinction that we have to draw between the atonement and everlasting life. So maybe quickly define what the atonement is. What does that refer to?

BOB: Okay, so the atonement is the shed blood of Christ and ultimately all of the Old Testament sacrifices anticipated the shed blood of Messiah on the cross.

SAM: A sacrifice was an act to atone for a sin, right?

BOB: Right. And ultimately what the cross of Christ does is quite a few things. The blood of of Christ does quite a few things. I have an article called “The Benefits of the Blood of Christ, Restricted and Unrestricted.” And I talk about the fact that one of the things His shed blood accomplishes is it removes the sin barrier. In John 1:29, John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” So it removes sin as a barrier to everlasting life. That’s why if you look at the Gospel of John, how many times, Sam, do we find Jesus confronting people and telling them that they’re a sinner and they have to turn from their sins in order to be saved?

SAM: Can’t think of any in the Gospel of John.

BOB: None. Because when Jesus evangelizes, He never makes sin the issue. Never. When He talks to Nicodemus, He doesn’t bring up his sin in John chapter 3. When He talks to the woman at the well, He does allude to the fact that she’s had four husbands and she’s currently living with someone that’s not her husband. But He doesn’t say anything about, that’s what you need to deal with. You need to turn from that sin. Instead, it’s clear in the context of John 4, the reason He brings that up is because He wants to prove to her He’s the Messiah.

SAM: Right. And that’s the reaction that she has. She doesn’t say I’m so ashamed and runs away and hides or something. She says, how could you know this?

BOB: And then she ends up going to the men in her village and says, could this be the Messiah? Because He’s told me all things about myself. And she said to Jesus, we know when the Messiah comes, he’ll tell us all things about ourselves. So she’s convinced He’s the Messiah. She believes in Him. She’s born again. And if you look at John 5, John 6, all the way through, you don’t find Jesus pointing out sins. And of course, you never find the words repent and repentance in the Gospel of John because turning from sins isn’t a condition of eternal life.

So coming back to DR’s question, one of the purposes of the atonement was to make people savable, but savable is different than saved. I’m able to be saved because of the blood of Christ, but I still have to do something to gain everlasting life.

SAM: Right. I mean, all throughout that same book, the Gospel of John, Christ makes it clear that it’s not everybody that has everlasting life, not the world that has everlasting life, but the ones who believe in Him. Every time it’s tied to belief.

ANNOUNCER: The Grace Evangelical Society’s recently published Old Testament Commentary, Volume One is now available. Find it at faithalone.org/store. It’s where you can also find Bob Wilkin’s latest book, The Gospel is Still Under Siege, as well as many other titles by Grace Evangelical Society authors. Please come by and have a look today. You’ll find the GES store at our website, faithalone.org. That’s faithalone.org/store. Now back to today’s topic.

BOB: Another thing DR says, he talks about a decision to believe. How did he word it? Why do I have to decide to believe? Belief isn’t a decision. Nothing we believe is a decision. I don’t choose to believe that two plus two is four. I become convinced when I’m a small child that two plus two equals four. I don’t choose to believe the last president was Joe Biden. The evidence convinced me that Joe Biden was the last president.

SAM: The only choice involved here is having an open heart, open mind.

BOB: Exactly. If DR is open to reading the Gospel of John and open to praying, “Lord, is it really as simple as believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then I have eternal life?” then DR can come to faith. But it won’t be because he decides to believe. It’s because he decided to be open and to pray about it and to seek the Lord. The other thing he was saying, what was the first part of the sins? Why do I have to believe?

SAM: How does me believing save myself?

BOB: Yeah, and it’s not me believing saves myself. It’s Jesus saving me. And the way in which this operates is that God has said that John 3:16, “whoever believes in Him, will not perish, but has everlasting life.” Now, why is it that believing results in everlasting life and that not believing results in condemnation, John 3:18? Well, it’s because God said so.

Now, if what DR is asking is, could God have had a different condition? Could God, for example, have had universalism? It seems there’s nothing that would have prohibited God from giving everybody everlasting life, but that wasn’t what God did. Could God have had some other condition? Maybe, but that’s not the way it is. The way it is is what God tells us. Obviously, God’s plan leads to the best of all possible worlds. We’ve talked in a previous show, could God have created Adam and Eve to where they couldn’t have sinned, so that there never would have been anybody that was going to the lake of fire? Yes, but that’s not the best of all possible worlds because that’s not what God picked. And I don’t think personally that there could have been any other method than believing in Messiah because that’s all of God’s plan, His eternal plan, is that Jesus was going to die, He was going to shed His blood.

Let me mention a quick aside and say, if you look at my article on the benefits of Christ’s blood, restricted and unrestricted, I point out that the moment someone believes they gain everlasting life and they also gain the forgiveness of sins. However, for the believer, they must continue to walk in the light in order to have ongoing forgiveness. 1 John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” Not every believer is cleansed from all sin. You’ve got to walk in the light. And 1 John 1:9, you’ve got to confess your sins in order to have forgiveness, ongoing forgiveness, ongoing cleansing.

And so, there’s other benefits of the blood of Christ besides simply being savable. But the bottom line is, DR, it doesn’t sound like it makes sense you that those who believe in Jesus Christ have eternal life and that those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ don’t have eternal life. But you need to decide, is God in charge or are you in charge? If God is sovereign, then what God says is true, whether I believe it or not, right?

You know, I remember, have you ever seen this saying, Sam, God said it, I believe it, that settles it, you’ve ever seen that? I’ve seen it in lots of Baptist churches all over the South. And it’s a good statement, except really, we don’t need God said it, I believe it, that settles it. All we need is God said it, that settles it, whether I believe it or not, it’s settled.

SAM: Yeah, the most important thing here, DR to keep in mind is, and the best advice we can give, you’ve already said it, is to read the Gospel of John, open heart, open mind, pray, ask God, is it this simple? But think of Christ, He was a person, He lived, He was among His disciples, He taught many things, He evangelized, He was there, and He made this promise that He repeated throughout John, John 3:16, the most well-known verse, so simple, every Christian child knows it. That’s the promise that He made.

So it’s about whether you believe that promise or not. And you can separate out all this other stuff that maybe is complicated or there’s debate on, but like, if you boil it down to just, okay, here’s the simplest thing I need to know, this is what we teach our children, do you believe this? And then if you do, then you have everlasting life, and it can never be lost. And then there’s a long road through discipleship for the rest of your life, but that discipleship is done with the knowledge that you’re secure forever. You can never lose what was promised to you.

BOB: There you go, and the key word there is knowledge. DR wants to know, can I be sure I’m safe forever, and the answer is absolutely. Pray about it, read the gospel of John, you don’t have to decide to believe, God will convince you if you are open to the evidence.

Well, thanks DR and thank you all, and remember to keep grace in focus. Amen.

ANNOUNCER: Our team is really great about answering questions, comments, and feedback. If you’ve got some, we hope to hear from you. Let me give you our email address so you can do just that. It’s radio@faithalone.org. That’s radio@faithalone.org. We are so thankful for our financial partners who keep us on the air. Every gift is tax deductible and very much appreciated. If you’d like to find out how you can give, go to faithalone.org.

On our next episode: in an apparent contradiction, believing versus asking, seeking, and knocking. Come back, join us again, and in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.