There is perhaps only one doctrine more hated by the netherworld than the holiness of God, and that is the doctrine of the exclusivity of salvation. Today we want to take a brief look at the intrinsic exclusivity that defines the work and message of salvation.
We begin by realizing why the doctrine of salvation exists. Salvation exists because the attribute of divine holiness exists, and that attribute has been violated by the spirit world and in turn by the creation—specifically, by us (man). If it were not for the issue of violated holiness, there would be no need of salvation. The need and demand and requirement of salvation only exists because divine holiness has been universally breached, requiring a repair. As believers in Jesus, we of course know what the remedy for that breach is. Faith in the atoning work of Jesus is the only means to restoring harmony in the universe within the holiness of God.
For most of mankind, the holiness of God is a non-issue and therefore so is salvation. There is no need for salvation from anything or to anything. Just don't bother us with it. God, if He exists, doesn't care and doesn't see. And it is in such a place the devil is desirous and content to keep mankind bound.
Nevertheless, the issue of salvation has still managed to break forth upon the human consciousness, despite the devil's efforts to keep man blind to it. God has succeeded since Abel at getting across that man indeed needs to be saved because the holiness of God has been violated. And so a salvation message has gone forth over the centuries from Abel to Enoch to Noah to Abraham to Moses to the Prophets to Christ Jesus and the apostles to the faithful Church of each generation since, whose words continue to permeate many of the world's cultures.
Since the devil has failed at squashing the knowledge of divine holiness as presented through scripture, his hatred has necessarily become fixated upon the message of salvation that repairs its violation. Since he has failed to stop the spread of the knowledge of divine holiness, he has had to resort to Plan B, which is to do everything possible to nullify the implications of holiness wrapped up in true salvation preaching:
"If the spread of the knowledge of divine holiness can't be stopped, then at least let's stop the implications of holiness that attend the message that is supposed to repair the relationship to holiness. Let us remove all components relative to holiness from the salvation message, so that we can short-circuit any significance to the idea that God is Holy, even if the fact of His holiness still be preached."
As a result, satan has labored surreptitiously generation upon generation to remove every vestige of holiness from the message of salvation in order to nullify its real meaning and implications. This has included the necessity of removing not only the call to holy behavior, but of every holy-ordained exclusion that necessarily attends salvation.
What do I mean by exclusion?
As divine holiness is itself exclusive by nature of all that runs against it, so too the saving message given to repair the breach with divine holiness serves as a holy divider of men from men according to the intent and design of the Holy Savior.
The message of salvation that repairs the breach with the Holy One is authored and directed by One who is a holy selector and divider among men in the extending of His offer of holy salvation to mankind. While this truth is plain from the beginning of scripture--seen in the choosing of a select seed all the way through Israel unto Christ and thence to the Church--it is a most hated and resisted truth within the very body of the church itself.
To the average believer today, the idea that God can and does selectively delimit and exclude anyone from His offer of holy salvation for any reason according to His holy will over the ages is simply not tenable:
· That God chose Seth over Cain is not acceptable.
· That He selected Isaac and not Ishmael is not acceptable.
· That He loved Jacob and hated Esau is not acceptable.
· That He chose Israel for His Covenant and destroyed other nations for their sake is not acceptable.
· That He preserved a remnant out of Israel and not all of Israel is not acceptable.
· That He selected twelve disciples and His disciples did not get to select Him is not acceptable.
· That there are only "few that be saved" is not acceptable.
· That only the wheat is saved and the tares are all left to burn is not acceptable.
· That He told Paul He could go to Greece but not to Bithynia is not acceptable.
· That the Holy Spirit chose to sanctify the gospel westward through the world rather than eastward is not acceptable.
· That not everybody in the “outer court” is part of the “temple” body of Christ is not acceptable.
· That not everybody in the church is part of the Bride of Christ is not acceptable!
The saving call to repair the breach with the Holy God is made to a people who have been selectively sanctified by that same Holy God to an identity and life that is set apart from all the rest of unholy mankind. Salvation history is a history of remnants culled out from among remnants culled out from among remnants across the ages according to His holy grace.
The Holy One neither owes salvation to all mankind, neither here nor hereafter, nor owes an explanation of how or why He calls or chooses who He sanctifies when He does where He does. Rather, He wants all to know that, as He Is Holy, so is His saving message one that divides some from others according to His Holy purposes. In other words, the character of the saving message is the same as the character of the divine attribute to which that salvation reconciles us--it is exclusive in its dealings.
Make no mistake. Yes, the church must understand that the Holy One forbids man-made barriers to the extension of His salvation. He forbids man-made exclusions. He sanctifies from among every race, tongue, tribe, people, culture and strata of society. Any exclusions based on prejudices over these carnal factors He forbids. And when He says He is "no respecter of persons," that is what He means. He is no respecter of man-made criteria for who can relate to Him. He is no respecter of rich or poor, white or black, American gentile or Israeli Jew. He respects no one according to their own flesh.
But He is a respecter of His own criteria and of His own elect choices according to the kind intent of His holy pleasure. He has mercy on whom He will have holy mercy. He will choose whom He will choose. He will sanctify to Himself whom He will sanctify. And no one will tell Him otherwise. No one will tell Him He cannot select those who are to be His own. No one will tell Him who the Bride for His Son must include. No one will tell Him He has to "save everybody" or offer an "equal opportunity" plan to the whole earth for hearing the gospel.
No matter how far and wide the casting of the Spirit's net of salvation is thrown, the divine selectivity that actually effects salvation belongs to the realm of holiness, and thus the nature of the message which saves us back to His holiness must be divisive. Salvation is by nature ultimately exclusive, not inclusive, because the One to Whom we are saved back is Exclusively Holy.
Yet the work of satan is in overdrive to convince the church otherwise. "Inclusivity" is the commanding word regarding the preaching of salvation. "Everyone is included. God loves everyone unexceptionally and equally. God's grace is extended toward all unconditionally and universally." The stampede is on to find the way to dumb "grace" down to the lowest possible denominators of belief and behavior and fleshly existence possible so that absolutely no one can be left out—until there is no separation between anyone and anyone.
Get people to say anything so that they can "be saved." Never offend and appease reason at all costs. Say nothing that could possibly give any man a reason to turn away from the message. Divine choice has nothing to do with it. There are ultimately no remnants. And if we can't find a way to make that so here, we'll find a way to make it so on the other side. We will succeed at finding a way to get every creature and soul "saved by grace," even from out of the Lake of Fire if necessary. God must do this. He has no choice because of who "He is."
This is the lawless spirit of anti-holiness infecting the teaching on salvation now in most quarters of the church to one extent or another. To whichever extent, it is all an attack against the sacredly exclusive nature of the gospel and of spiritual truth. It is teaching driven by false spirits of compassionism, humanism and universalism--all ultimately aimed to remove the salt of sovereignly dividing holiness from the message that purportedly repairs the breach with holiness. And all of this is besides the diverted emphasis that tries to apply the message of salvation directly to human cultures and to sanctifying all their fleshly works and systems (“mountains”).
The end times are times of exceeding deception. And if you want to know what the chief deception is in the preaching of the gospel today, this is it—the removal of all holy exclusivity from the message, rendering repair of the breach of God’s holiness by that message a nullity.
The gospel of universal inclusivity whether in the here or hereafter is an anti-gospel. You will find it nowhere in the thought foundation of the apostles and prophets. Division and enmity between the holy and profane remain to the unending ages of the last chapter of Revelation.
Salvation back to the holiness of God will always be a salvation of exclusively holy grace. To deny the exclusivity of salvation is to deny the very holiness to which salvation repairs us. And that has been the enemy’s plan. If you have wavered in your doubt of this, waver no more. If you have been suckered into the now-rampant humanist spirit of unholy inclusivism, ask the Spirit of Truth to purge you of it. If you believe you have been saved back to the holiness of God, then give humble thanks for the sanctity of your election by His grace. Remember Who chose whom. Continue in that same spirit of humility to keep making sure of your calling and election.
It remains a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Selah
Chris Anderson
Commentary
I really appreciate the few quick responses that have come in since this message on exclusivity was just released. Normally, I wait a few days for a message to digest and responses to accumulate before forwarding. But in this case, Michael and Robyn raise some important points that deserve immediate attention. My comments will follow below.
Blessings to all.
------ Original Message ------
From: "Michael" <Israel>
To: "littleflock"
Sent: 4/27/2018 1:24:25 AM
Subject: Re: First Love Readers Circle: The Exclusivity of SalvationWow! I have been pondering these very thoughts in much fear of my own soul. Then how does one know if they are a part of God's body or not. How would I know if any of us? I guess this sums up why I had asked so many questions before about assurance.
------ Original Message ------
From: "Robyn" <Memphis, Tennessee>
To: "littleflock"
Sent: 4/27/2018 3:02:20 AM
Subject: Re: First Love Readers Circle: The Exclusivity of SalvationChris, you say salvation is by grace alone? It seems to me you also believe it is our holiness that saves us. Is salvation eternal, or sometimes lost due to not having perfected ourselves blamelessly?
------ Original Message ------
From: "Hillary" <Kenya>
To: "littleflock"
Sent: 4/27/2018 5:19:35 AM
Subject: Re: First Love Readers Circle: The Exclusivity of SalvationAmen Chris. Thanks for this sure voice coming at such a time when we need it most. Exodus 28:36 Aaron the High Priest was required to put on a plate written HOLINESS TO THE LORD.The doctrine of universal salvation attacks prayer, evangelism and other aspects of Church life-- finally believers will be left believing nothing and doing nothing.Thanks
My comments:
Several key questions are raised in these responses that I want to address. These questions confirm to me why it is necessary to re-lay our foundational understanding in the truth of the gospel at this time. The questions raised are these:1) how can I or anyone know if we are truly part of God's saving body in Christ,
2) what is the relationship of our holiness to God's grace in salvation, and
3) is salvation eternal or can it be lost through failed holiness?
These are excellent questions. And I will offer the most concise answers I can hoping to be clear. We all need to be able to answer these questions in our own hearts.
Let's start with the question about assurance. How can we know if we are truly part of God's saved body? (I will only deal with personal assurance here. Evaluating others belongs to the last question below.) Assurance of salvation is tied to a state of present tense spiritual knowing of the Lord. Jesus said, "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." That knowing contains its own connect to God's holiness. Assurance is not tied to a present tense spiritual knowing of ourselves, wherein is no holiness. The fact is, none of us knows the bottom of what is in ourselves that is hostile to God. Paul said, "in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing." How can looking inside ourselves to measure holiness then offer us assurance of anything regarding our salvation in Him? It can't. Salvation is not about knowing ourselves. It is about internally knowing the Lord, the Father, who is holy. Spiritual knowing of the Father carries its own abiding witness to our hearts in the active present. We only have assurance as we abide in that present tense knowing of Him. It is not found in a past tense act or the future tense of an expected outcome. As we abide in knowing Him in the eternal now, we have our assurance that we know Him. But we lose assurance when we remove our eyes from Him to determine anything independently. Assurance about our relationship to holiness is ultimately a matter of choice of who we behold at any time. If I want to keep my assurance, I will keep looking at Him now who dwells in the beauty of His own holiness, and not at anything else past or future or within myself wherein is no holiness. As Eternal life is in the now, so is its assurance. There is no such thing as independent assurance of salvation.
This leads to the question about grace and holiness. Notice the critical word "our" that was used to phrase the question. The statement was made that "You seem to believe it is our holiness that saves us." Please all notice that throughout the article, I never once used the words "our" or "me" or "my." I spoke of holiness. I did not speak of "our holiness." This is the same issue as in the assurance question. The holiness that saves us is His holiness imparted into us and throughout our being. We have no holiness of our own. The concepts of grace and "our" holiness are antithetical. What this article calls us to recognize is that salvation is a matter of His divisively separating us from others unto Himself in identity and action. Because He is holy, his salvation is separational. And we must accept that. God's people are a unique people from all others. And that unique division will always exist because salvation is with respect to His holiness. But the underlying separation God's holy salvation works before all others is the dividing of us "from ourselves." That is why the phrase "our holiness" is antithetical. To paraphrase, "in me, that is, in my flesh, there is no holiness." Grace is all about the surrender to the sovereign working of His holiness toward us and in us. We are separated from others. But before that, we are separated from ourselves. When we are raised to new life in Christ, our former identity is abolished. It was put on the cross never to rise again. We have arisen as new creations separated unto God. We are holy unto God. We do not have "our" own holiness. Grace is always about the working of His holiness in us and toward us.
Finally, is salvation eternal or can it be lost through failed holiness demonstrated in and through us? Notice that I changed the original question. The original question spoke of "perfecting ourselves blamelessly." According to what I already said, we do not perfect ourselves. So I have re-worded the question to get at the real intent. If we fail to allow God's holiness to be perfected in us, do we lose our salvation? Or is salvation permanently eternal regardless? This question requires a separate treatise to answer well. But the short answer is this. God knows those who are His, whom He has chosen unto Himself in holiness, in whom He has planted the incorruptible seed of new birth that will never be lost. For all such, salvation cannot and will never be lost. They will indeed bear the holy fruit of righteousness, regardless of the satanic siftings that may knock them out of the way at any time or for a season of life under testing. David was knocked out of the way with Bathsheba. Peter was knocked out of the way at the crucifixion. The prodigal son was severely knocked out of the way for a time. But as with Peter, so it is that the Son of God ever lives to make intercession that the faith of His holy seed not finally fail--even if for some it means finally being barely "saved so as by fire." By contrast, the mystery of salvation is that the many graces of salvation short of new birth yet find their way into and upon the lives of many in whom the living seed never comes to term. They receive the Lord's forgiveness. They even taste and partake of the powers of the world to come. But because they did not have the actual seed of new birth or it did not come to term, the graces of holy salvation of which they partook eventually fail from them and their own intrinsic unholiness of identity and practice becomes revealed once again. Those graces of salvation are indeed lost, though in truth, they never were the Father's holy planting. And though in times of sifting we cannot tell the final difference between the real holy seed possessors and those only partaking of the graces, the Lord would still have us to understand that a distinction exists between the imperishable seed of holy salvation and the perishable graces of salvation upon the unholy. (I know, why does it have to be this hard!)
Thank you again Michael and Robyn for your questions. I'm sure these answers only raise more questions! But the bottom line is, when considering the issues of holiness and salvation, we are considering our relation to His holiness in all things. We are not looking at "our" own holiness or within ourselves for making determinations about ourselves in saving relation to Him. (Thank God.) Anything we are to comprehend of these things, we can only know by continuing to gaze upon Him in the beauty of His holiness, letting Him reveal all things to us.
First Love Ministry
- a ministry of Anglemar Fellowship
http://www.firstloveministry.org04/18
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