“Such As Should Be Saved”

Acts 2:41-47

41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

42. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

43. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

44. And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

45. And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

46. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

47. Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

B

ecause of the overall series that we are now considering, “Are you saved,” we need to understand that all are not saved, neither will be. The primary explanation for this failure is that many have found, will find and are finding that the requirement of salvation is simply insurmountable. That “sacrifice” is that one must be willing to give up one’s life (that is, oneself).

The One Who gave us the plan gave His life that we might have life, thereby illustrating for us for all time that the way to “life” is through “death.” We prove to have such a time with this aspect of salvation because of our concept of the permanence of death. This is enough to make it “undersirable,” at best. The only thing that lends desirability to the concept of death is the understanding that the only way to salvation is through death.

The human mind rejects that which is spiritual because it is contrary to human thought. You see, neither the “rightness” nor “wrongness” of a concept is what the human mind processes. The sole basis for acceptance or rejection becomes limited to the finite human mind.

It is essential that the human being understand that the process of spiritual life was begun in Man when Jesus died, was resurrected and then left us instructions that we, also, must be planted in the likeness of His resurrection. That resurrection is that which brought about the “spiritual being.” Subsequently, all that is related to the human, fleshly being passes away. Why, then, do we still work so hard at being “human?”

The crux of the matter lies in the fact that now our lives must be lived for the glory of God. Not doing this points to an “identity crisis” which explains why one attempts to live in two different “worlds.”

We can very easily see for ourselves that the time that we have always counted upon to have to “get ourselves together” with God is quickly coming to a close. Every day, the world seems to get more-and-more outrageous and unrighteous. So, what better time for the Lord to want to reveal His ultimate glory and what better time for us to confront whether or not we are saved?

Salvation is an issue that must be “confronted.” It is actually not salvation that one is confronting, but rather, one’s own “status” in it. Therefore, the “confrontation” comes with oneself as one measures oneself according to the Word of God.

The fact that our subject scripture says “such as should” indicates that perhaps, not all “should” nor “will be.” What is meant by this is that those who “should” are those willing to put God in control of their lives! Everyone is not willing to do this and therefore, “should” will not apply to him or her.

In many instances, we have been taught “bad habits” in God. You see, even when we had no mind to change, we would be taught to go to God and pray continually that He would be able to “overrule” our minds and make something happen. What we miss is that God will not usurp our authority over ourselves—or anything else. If He is not invited in, He will never take one step over our “threshold.” We appreciate hearing that He is a “perfect gentlemen,” yet would prefer He be less “gentlemanly” in our situations.

If we have not yet accepted this revelation, we need to entreat the Lord to impress upon us the “danger” of flesh and being associated with it. Spiritual warfare has escalated to the point that “forward progress” is the only move that can be made. This excludes the survival of any flesh!

Many of us do not seem to realize the danger in attempting to retain even one little “piece” of our fleshly identity. We have wondered why our lives are continually “messed up” and why we can never seem to retain any happiness. You see, full joy will come only when we have surrendered fully to Him.

What appears to be part of the concern of the flesh is that surrendering fully to anyone, even the Lord, puts us “at risk.” All we can seem to understand is that “trusting” opens one up to hurt. Granted, that is the fleshly, human experience and as long as we choose to live as a flesh-bound being, we will never go beyond those experiences.

We can trust that what “belongs” to God, He will care for. Throughout the scriptures, we have the Lord promising to provide for His people—and His people steadfastly attempting to provide for themselves. And what was the result? Always pain, misery and suffering.

The redeemed of the Lord have no delusions concerning the enemy. We know that he exists, he is real and that he is “bright” enough to know that we are not very bright. You see, he “banks” upon the fact that we will remain mistrustful, uncertain and “scared” of God and knows that as long as he can keep us there, he will have plenty of “nourishment.”

You see, the devil “feeds” upon the flesh—and the more that he has, the stronger he gets. So, if we intend to “starve him out,” we will have to make a concerted effort to deprive him of his “food!”

One of the “hazards” that we face in our spiritual lives is to remain unyielded to the Lord. You see, the harder we “fight” Go, the more tired we become. Just as with the human body. “fatigue” leaves one susceptible to a host of “infections.”

Because of flesh, some of us will never advance for we refuse whatever we cannot understand through it. We attempt to measure spiritual experiences through our “memories” of what our life was like in the flesh. This will doom one to having no concept of the greatness of God.

It is “resurrection” and resurrection alone that brings power to one’s life. Even the study of the Shroud of Turin has concluded that whatever made the image on the cloth would have had to have required tremendous—power the power one could imagine being released upon the “raising” of a dead body. Is it so hard for us to imagine that indeed, the act of transforming us from the fleshly to the spiritual would release in us a phenomenal Power? The Power to resist sin; the Power to overcome; the Power to accept change!

The bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon us made us “winners;” the “triumphant ones.” With the onus of this responsibility, we cannot give up and we cannot turn back! Salvation is not a “deal” made with the Lord wherein we sign a contract agreeing that if we are “pleased with the product” we will remain a “customer.” Ours was an unsolicited “partnership,” in which we heard, we decided that we wanted what the Lord had to offer and consequently, “signed up.” Because of the price paid for the contract we signed, we are here for the duration!

Living salvation means that one must undergo “deliverance” from the flesh. This suggests that the flesh is not something that will simply “go away,” but that we must be removed from it. Once that “excision” has taken place, we must still be willing to die and remain dead!

Ironically, in salvation, death must become “comfortable” to us. The death of Jesus must take on a far greater significance than just that which made us “feel bad” when we were children. That horrible death depicted for us so many times is our entrance into the only life worth living. Jesus died that we might be put to death with Him and then able to live the life that comes with the Spirit. This is why we are baptized “into his name,” that we might be identified as being dead with Him. If we will not change, do not intend to change, we may as well have been baptized into the “Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”

It is not hard to be saved, but rather the important question to ask would be “Do you want to be saved?” If so, a change will be required of you and that change will never happen apart from the Lord being allowed to accomplish the change. Once the mind has been “fully persuaded” to becoming submitted to the Lord, you will become one of those “…such as should be saved.”