Main passages: Romans 8:28–30; Ephesians 1:4–6; Ephesians 2:1; Romans 3:9–24; Hebrews 2:1–3

Let Us Not Take It Lightly

If you have been a Christian for many years, even decades, do you sometimes feel that you take what the Lord has done for granted? It becomes so familiar. Yet this topic is fundamental and prime in its importance. So let us ask the Lord to give us an open heart to receive it afresh: God's plan of salvation.

God's Eternal Plan

The plan of salvation is not something God created when Adam sinned. In His foreknowledge, He always knew what man would do. As a young boy I asked: if God knew who would be saved, what is the point of anything? The mystery of Scripture is that God has blended the free will of mankind with His foreknowledge of who would respond. After Romans 8:28 come five stages of that plan: those God foreknew, He predestined "to be conformed to the image of his Son"; "those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified" (Romans 8:29–30). Even "glorified" is past tense — in Christ, it is already done.

Chosen Before the Foundation of the World

"He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:4–5). He did not need us, but He loved us. He brought back people who did not deserve it as His sons and daughters, to the praise of His glorious grace — not so that we would have a comfortable life on this earth. His plan is eternal, and it is glorious.

Dead in Trespasses and Sins

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). You may be breathing, but spiritually God looks at a dead person walking. There is a difference between sin and sins: sins are the acts; sin is the nature within us that rebels against God. That is why the Holy Spirit convicts the world "concerning sin… because they do not believe in me" (John 16:8–9). Unbelief gives rise to every other sin.

Saved From Sin's Penalty — and Its Power

I have been reading John again — like a gospel tract: "to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). Why was He named Jesus? "He will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). And He saves us not only from sin's penalty, but from its power. "Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin," but "if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:34, 36).

Only One Bisleri

If you have lived in India, you know the Bisleri bottle, trusted there since 1959. But travel and you find Belsi, Bilseri, Brisli, Basleri: a bunch of imitations. There is only one true standard — only one Bisleri. So we grade people by morality — the churchgoer, the careful moral person, even the monk who denies himself everything — as if fewer sinful acts make a person righteous. I used to ask whether God is just to test everyone by the same standard when our backgrounds differ so much. Paul answers in Romans 1–3: the Gentiles are lost — and then he turns to the Jews: you have no excuse either. All are equally lost before Him.

None Is Righteous — Yet Justified as a Gift

Jesus raised the standard: hate is murder, and a lustful look is adultery — of the heart. So Paul concludes, "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God" (Romans 3:10–11), "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Even the motives behind our good works — acceptance, a name, a good feeling — are self-serving. But God did not leave us there: we "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24).

Godly Sorrow, and a Word That Is Near

The law brings awareness of sin; it cannot justify us. What we need is repentance. When Christ's light shines into our lives, the darkness is exposed; we do not cast out darkness where the light is shining. Then we cry out with Paul: who will deliver me? For "godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret" (2 Corinthians 7:10), and "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13): "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

Faith That Works

Are you sure that you are saved? A doctor reads symptoms; Scripture likewise speaks of outward signs, though only God knows the inside. Paul heard of the Colossians' faith and love, springing from "the hope laid up for you in heaven" (Colossians 1:5), and thanked God for the Thessalonians' "work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 1:3). The first evidence is faith that works: "Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18). And that faith will be tested — "the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire" (1 Peter 1:7). Do not wait for the eleventh hour — many who wait for it die at ten-thirty.

Love That Labors

The second evidence is love that labors. "For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do" (Hebrews 6:10). Served in our own strength, our work falls away at criticism; done in love, it stands. "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God" (1 John 4:7).

Hope That Endures

The third evidence is the endurance that comes from hope. "The one who endures to the end will be saved" (Matthew 10:22). Our hope is "a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 6:19) — not a wish list of earthly things, but fixed on things above, on being made like Him when we see Him; "everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure" (1 John 3:3).

Do Not Neglect So Great a Salvation

"Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it" (Hebrews 2:1). "How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3). We can neglect it; we can treat it lightly. This is a foundational teaching, and without it our entire life can fall apart. May the Lord give us a new understanding, a new respect, a new revelation of the greatness of His salvation. Let us bow our heads in prayer.

So Great a Salvation (Sunday, Sep 13 2026)