Salvation Terminology

 

 

There are some terms

That we use rather loosely

And in most salvation sermons

They are used profusely.

 

Their usage is not wrong

But they need to be explained

So that in this poem

I shall attempt to do the same.

 

Let us start with “salvation”

To which the others are related:

It is the saving of a “sinner”

That sin had decimated.

 

In explaining salvation

You would have noticed another

The term that I speak of

Is none other than sinner.

 

“Sin” is whatever is contrary

To the law of God or His will:

A sinner was born in a state of sin

And unless “saved” is of that state still.

 

 

Salvation is the saving of a sinner

From the clutches of sin,

This is a simple explanation

And the best place to begin.

 

You would notice the word clutches

For there is more than one

Each one begins with “P”

In this you should be warned.

 

There is the “penalty” of sin

And there is also its “power”,

There is the “presence” of sin

In which we live every hour.

 

The wages of sin is eternal death

Here we speak of its penalty,

Its power influences the way we live

In our day-to-day activity.

  

Sin’s penalty is waived

When a soul becomes saved

And the loosening of its power

Is demonstrated in the way we behave.

 

“Transformation” is initiated

And in that life the change continues,

Such a change is noticeable

In that person’s outlook and views.

 

 

One day the presence of sin

God will forever remove,

He has a time appointed

When this fact He will prove.

 

A sinner is miraculously saved

By his “faith” and God’s “grace”

Such that in the eyes of God

His sin is removed without a trace.

 

“Confession” of our sin is made to God

Not to some earthly priest,

Acknowledge Christ as the only “Saviour”

And receive God’s wonderful peace.

 

“Faith” is a person’s “belief” and “trust”

In the finished work of Christ

Who on the cross of Calvary

Suffered sin’s ultimate “sacrifice”

 

Go back to verse 9 now

And there you’ll find “sin’s wages”

Jesus Christ suffered death

For every soul across the ages.

 

For God the world so loved

That His only Son He gave

That whosoever believes in him

From sin shall be saved.

 

 

The world is under God’s “judgment”

Ever since “Adam’s fall”,

God’s “justice” does not excuse sin

Absolutely no sin at all.

 

Hence God’s judgment on sin

And on the entire world:

Remember sin is any “transgression”

As shown in God’s Holy Word.

 

But God demonstrated His mercy

When He sent Jesus, His Son

To break all of sin’s shackles

And bring us glorious “freedom”.

 

This speaks of our redemption

And our freedom from sin’s bondage,

Making Jesus our kinsman “Redeemer”

That relieved us of sin’s luggage.

 

In Christ we are set apart

This in fact is our “sanctification”:

It is the work of the Holy Spirit

That follows our “justification”.

 

In Christ we are made “righteous”

And set apart for God’s holy use,

It is “just as if I’d” never sin,

Satan has no grounds to accuse.

 

 

There are three key words

At this time I would wish to recall:

Without these three attributes

There could be no salvation at all.

 

I am talking about God’s “justice”

His “mercy” and His “grace”

And without the latter two

We would never see Christ’s face.

 

Justice is what we deserve

It is simply sin’s wage,

Death is what we have worked for

At each and every stage.

 

God’s justice was “appeased”

When Jesus hung at Calvary,

His judgment was visited on His Son

When Jesus died for you and me.

 

Mercy is not getting what we deserve

Death was our just dessert

Bur God in His mercy smiled on us

When Jesus experience the hurt.

 

So justice was the death I deserved

But in mercy I was divinely rescued:

The sin on Jesus was my own

But mercifully he paid my due.

 

Grace, grace, God’s marvelous grace

Extending what I did not deserve,

After rescuing me from a deserving death

Now a place in heaven has reserved.

 

Justice is the death that I deserve

But mercy rescued me,

Grace did much more than either of these

For I am God’s eternally.

 

 

Atonement means to remove our sin

It was Jesus that made amends,

Through the Spirit we have the power

To break our sinful trend.

 

Being “born again” is our experience

“Regenerated” by the Holy Spirit,

The work of God in a believer’s life

And a “walk” in Christ our habit.

 

Every born-again believer

In Christ is a new creation

His spiritual condition has been renewed

And this is called “regeneration”.

 

Now there is no “condemnation”

To any that walk in Christ,

We are God’s covenanted children

Because of Christ’s sacrifice.

 

There is now a right relationship

“Reconciliation” has been achieved,

Through the precious blood of Jesus

Our sins have been repealed.

 

God’s cancellation of our sin:

This is expiation,

Jesus’ sacrifice to appease God’s wrath:

This is propitiation.

 

 

 

 

Jesus is our mediator:

The only one between God and man,

He mediated for us a better covenant

As was the Father’s plan.

 

Our “conviction” was through the Spirit:

The conviction concerning our sin

And in repentance of our wrong doing

We submitted our life to him.

 

Remorse is not “repentance”

These are not one and the same,

Remorse is simply a person’s way

Of responding to his or her pain.

 

Repentance on the other hand

Is a Godly sorrow for our sin,

God shows us where we are wrong

And we turn right back to Him.

 

There is true and false repentance

True is when we turn away from sin,

False repentance is of the world

And death is all the world will win.

 

 

Just a few more I will mention

Deliberately left for the last:

“The Kingdom of God” will ever be

Even after “The Church” is passed

 

The Church is the “called out”

That is the “body of saints”:

It comprises all of the born again

Whom Satan cannot taint.

 

Jesus Christ is its Head

For the Church he gave his life

And as such his relationship to it

Is likened to a husband and wife.

 

The Kingdom of God has always been

From where the Godhead rules alone,

God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit

Sit upon its throne.

 

Holy are they: all three of them

And their holiness is imputed to us,

Our fellowship is in the Holy Spirit

And we are united with Jesus.

 

Salvation therefore is in no other

Save in the Lord Jesus Christ,

In him resides the glorious Gospel

And naught but him will suffice.

 

These several salvation terms

Explain our present hope

With faith and trust in Jesus Christ

In this life we can cope.

 

But not only in this life

Does the “Christian” have hope

But in the life to come

There will be unlimited scope.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2018