The Truth of Our Salvation

It’s a pretty straightforward question – you today sit in Church and I’m asking on what basis do think you are saved?

Put another way, if the Lord comes calling tonight, on what basis would you argue that you should have entry to heaven? It’s a salient question, and very important. It defines your gospel.

The corollary could be: what’s the purpose of being a Christian? I could ask this today, but I’ll leave it for another day. Some will relate it as the means by which a person avoids hell; a way to be saved from the wrath of God. But the question I ask of you today is: what makes you eligible for heaven?

Thank about it for a minute.

If any of you begin your answer with: “because I…” you are indeed lost. If the first-person pronoun is mentioned you have, as Alistair Begg says, “gone very [my emphasis] wrong”[1]

You say: “because I put my faith…” I say it again - you are lost, useless for Christ, unable to bear fruit. Perhaps not lost to hell, but certainly lost to being a useful person for God’s good works He has prepared every believer, because you simply do not know the gospel.

The pronoun means it is “I” plus Christ; it means your gospel can, and will, and probably is in the gutter with grace sullied by your works. You turn the good news of Christ into faith plus works.

You say I should go to heaven because I have this, I haven’t done that, because I continue to do that, because I do all sorts of things…. all these works. They all destroy the Grace of God.

There is only one answer – it is because of the Man in the Middle on the cross; Jesus Christ. Salvation depends solely upon his death, burial and resurrection. But first let’s consider the third man on the cross

Let’s consider the third man on the cross

Luke 23:39-43

Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us." (40) But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? (41) And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong." (42) Then he said to Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." (43) And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

Before going on: credits for this illustration, for its not my own doing, but rather a paraphrase of someone whose understanding of Scripture far exceeds mine. The illustration is from Alistair Begg a Scottish-born and trained Anglican minister who ministers at Parkside church in a suburb of Cleveland, which is in the state of Michigan, USA. Thus this is not my own work; but I also suggest Alistair was not the first to notice the vast difference in attitude between the third man on the cross and those in modern congregations.[2] He was very frustrated with the lack of understanding of his congregants that the cross is the central part of the gospel.

In the text we have read we see there were three men on crosses outside the city of Jerusalem, on the eve of Passover some 2000 years ago, give or take.

The first and third men on cross were criminals. Jesus, the Son of God, was crucified between these two.[3] Three of the gospels state that those watching the slow and eructating painful deaths of these three men were hurling abuse at Jesus. They said things like:

“He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.” (Matthew 27:42)

But we also learn the criminals abused Jesus. Mark records:

And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!"
Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe."
Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him. (Mark 15:29-32)

But the third man must have had a thought. Put simply, exercised his mind – indeed his emotional intelligence and at that point he realizes that the middle man was not a criminal, and did not deserve their abuse.

He then remonstrates with his criminal colleague. He sees there is light and dark between the man in the middle and himself. He sees that absolute injustice of crucifying a good man – the man in the middle, and the absolute justice of his and his colleague’s execution. He measures justice based on God.

But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? Matthew 27:40

But he does not stop there. He gets the bottom of the issue and says:

And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong." (Luke 23:41)

Essentially, he says he and his colleague was being executed justly because of their evil deeds, but this man in the middle has done nothing wrong and does not deserve execution. Think about it – an innocent man amount two criminals, all bearing the same brutal punishment.

Now, this is the reason why I want to speak to this man when I get to heaven, and I suspect along with many others. It is simply amazing that the third man understands that any hope of life after death rests entirely with the Man in the Middle. Did this criminal comprehend fully that this man was Jesus Christ, the Son of God; the Immanuel? I doubt it. Did he know this one was the just one; I suspect so. He certainly understood justice. Perhaps he had seen Jesus ministering in Jerusalem. We don’t know – we are not told.

But I suspect when many in this room came to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, they also did not fully comprehend who the middle man was – the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father. The Son who created everything in the entire universe; and further, the only reason everything in the entire universe remains in its current stable state - because of Jesus, according to the Apostle Paul. [4]

The response of Jesus should amaze us all: Jesus states – indeed more than just states, but assures the criminal that he would be in paradise with him:

"Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." Luke 23:43

Fancy that, ‘today you be with Me’. A place all our hearts desire to be; with the Lord!

Now, this is where Alistair Begg, in his Scottish brogue goes off-script. But it’s worth bearing with. Alistair asks, as many a preacher have asked, how did this event turn out for this criminal.

So facing the criminal Alistair says he would ask Hey, third man, you one minute were abusing the man in the middle – the Son of God, but you are now in heaven. I see you have never set foot in a church, never been to a bible study, never been baptized, knew nothing about church membership and yet you made it. How did you make it?” 

And the answer will indeed inform us of the cruciality of the cross of Christ.

And that must be our answer.

I am saved solely because of the Man on the Middle cross – the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for my sin, who was buried, and who rose again on the third day. There was absolutely nothing I could do to get down from the cross and get to heaven.

There is only one answer – we are saved because of the Cross

Note this: if we take our eyes off the cross we only can give lip-service to the efficacy of the cross.

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

The cross is central to the gospel. As soon as the first-person pronoun enters the discourse and I add “me” to the requirement for salvation, my gospel fails totally. Alistair goes further – if you believe your salvation has anything to do with you, with “I”, you will suffer abject despair or horrible arrogance.

The cross also deals with the pretentious arrogance of pride, because absolutely nothing of your salvation came from you. No human can figure this out: you are not saved by good works, we are not saved as a result of our profession, but as a result of Christ’s achievement on the cross.

It is only the cross of Christ can deal with the despair – it satisfies fully the heart because our entire salvation – one hundred percent of it comes from Jesus. My sinful soul is counted free of sin, because God is satisfied to look upon Jesus and pardon me. It’s the cross that deals with the wrath of God, and because we can have absolute confidence in the Man in the Middle we know that God’s wrath has been turned from me (which we call, propitiation [5]). But never mind that for the moment – suffice to say; your soul need never fear the wrath of God. The Middle Man bore it all you and for me.

You do not need to add to it. But you do need to do something with it. We are saved solely for God’s glory. Hear that! We are saved solely for God’s glory. [6]

I say again – you sit here saved by the Middle Man therefore you must do something with your life. Paul says you must present your life as a living sacrifice. [7] That is your life must be the gospel of Jesus Christ – it must demonstrate the cross. And only at this point is where work enters – we cannot work for our salvation, as the third man found – he could no more save himself than the other; but a born again person must do the workmanship God has prepared him or her. [8] The fruit of our work is what pleases God. Our despair turns to joy when we see the pleasure God has in our fruit. [9] Our arrogance fades when we realize our identity is in Jesus Christ, not what we are, or say or do.

Ponder this: I am saved and therefore am born again because Jesus Christ was on the middle cross.