God our Savior

The God of the Bible has revealed Himself as a Triune God. That is, one God in a trinity of three sacred Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There are many mysteries to us concerning this union but there is one thing we know for sure: as such, all three divine Persons in the Godhead have engaged themselves actively in the salvation of God’s elect. When you read the Bible, each divine Person seems to attribute the glory for this work to the others and the apostles as they write surely acknowledge each the same. Neither is said to be greater than the other and neither Person’s work to be less important than the other. Think how many times the apostles speak as Paul does in EPHESIANS 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing.” Listen to them all as they ascribe salvation to the Son and His work on the cross. Listen to the Son as He speaks of the necessity of the Spirit’s work, saying, “Ye must be born again.”

Yet, today very little is said of the Father’s part in salvation or of the Spirit’s work. I think I can see in part why. Men have neglected to speak of the Father’s essential work because to do so, since it is said to take place before the world began, takes this salvation totally out of the hands of man and makes it to come solely out of the sovereign grace, mercy, will and power of God the Father. This the Son rejoiced in! This assures that all the glory in this salvation goes to God alone! Likewise the same is true of the Spirit’s work. Men avoid speaking of the necessity of it because to do so would be to admit the true condition and inability of fallen man. It would be to acknowledge his spiritual death, the bondage of his will and his inability to come to Christ. In short, to preach the truth concerning the Father’s work and the Spirit’s work would be to deal a death blow to modern so-called evangelism. In it the Son is reduced to being a savior who has made salvation available and whose success ultimately depends on the sinner’s decision for or against Him. This is not our God!

Christ suffered the death of the cross for a people given Him by the Father, who because of His death before divine justice, shall be quickened by the Spirit and brought to life and faith in Him. To diminish the work of the Father and the Spirit is to leave the work of the Son for men to make of it what they will! Listen to the apostle ascribe salvation to the triune God:

“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” -TITUS 3:4-7 [KJV]

-Gospel report by preacher Gary Shepard