Divine Order of Salv

Divine Order of Salvation
by Sylvester Hassell

THE GOSPEL MESSENGER
Devoted to the Primitive Baptist Cause
Sylvester Hassell, Editor ---- W. M. Mitchell, Associate Editor


Williamston, N.C., December 1896

The Divine Order of Salvation
1st, Regeneration
2d, Repentance towards God
3d, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
4th, Obedience to God
5th, The Certainty and Fullness of Eternal Life in Heaven, of which Life, Regeneration, Repentance, Faith, and Obedience are the Fruits and Evidences on Earth. John 3:1-21.

Mr. W. A. Short, of Putnam, Texas, requests me to write a sermon on John 3:14-17: 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,' etc. In partial compliance with his request, I will present, in a brief manner, my understanding of the text which he mentions, in connection with the context, which is absolutely indispensable to a full, Scriptural, and accurate view of the subject -- a subject which, in its comprehensiveness and importance to sinful men, is surpassed by no other subject in the Scriptures. The text upon which I will write a few thoughts comprises the first twenty-one verses of the third chapter of the Gospel of John -- the conversation of Nicodemus and Christ, which I understand ends with the 15th verse, and in the commentary of John, in the next six verses, upon that conversation, the language of Christ and of John being equally inspired and infallible. Divine wisdom, most instructive and important to us, is shown in the order and connection of the truths presented in these verses. The fact that a human being has eternal life, and will therefore be safely housed in heaven at last, is manifested here in time, at least in the case of adult and rational persons who live where the gospel is preached, by these four occurrences, in this invariable order: lst, regeneration; 2d, repentance towards God; 3d, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and 4th, obedience to God; and no human being, even though dying in infancy, irrationality, or heathenism, will, without regeneration by the Spirit of God here on earth, and redemption by the blood of the Son of God, enter the heaven of immortal glory. There is no salvation, no eternal life, no enjoyment of heaven, without the renewing power of the Holy Ghost and the atoning death of the Son of God; and, unless we are first regenerated, or born again, or born from above, or born of God, or born of the purifying power of the Holy Spirit (called by Paul 'the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,' Titus 3:5), we will never truly repent or believe or obey or enter heaven; and, if we are thus born of God, we will certainly repent, believe, obey, and inherit the fullness of eternal life. That the new birth precedes faith and obedience is shown clearly by John in his First Epistle, 5:1, and 2:29 'is born' should, in each of these verses, be rendered 'has been born',' for the verb is in the perfect tense. 'Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God'; 'Everyone that doeth righteousness has been born of Him.' In Ezek. 36 and 37, and Zech. 12 and 13, it is perfectly clear that the renewing work of the Holy Spirit precedes and causes evangelical repentance, faith, and obedience. This fact is further demonstrated by such Scriptures as Acts 5:31; 11:18; Gal. 5:22; 1 Cor. 12:9; Eph. 1:3,19; Heb. 12:2; Philip. 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:21; Philip. 2:13; Heb. 13:20,21; John 5:25; 6:37,39,45,47; 10:15,26-30; 17:1-3,24. The first step in time, in the manifestation of eternal life is the new, heavenly, spiritual birth, which is the work of God alone (John 1:13; James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23; Eph. 2:1-10; 2 Cor. 5:17,18), and which Christ illustrates by the water to devote its purifying power, and by the wind to set forth sovereignty and irresistibility of the Divine Spirit in this work. The word rendered 'man,' in the third and fifth verses, 'Except a man be born again,' or 'born of water and of the Spirit,' is not a noun but an indefinite pronoun -- tis, and means 'one,' referring, as the context shows, to a human being. That the work of regeneration takes place in the soul or spirit of man is just as certain as that the Scriptures are true (Eph. 4:23; Rom. 2:29; Philip. 3:3; Psalm 19:7; 66:16). In the new birth, a new life, a new nature, a new heart, a new mind, a new principle, a new will, are imparted; the former nature or principle was fleshly or corrupt, the new nature or principle is spiritual or holy. The second step in the manifestation of eternal life, which may seem to us simultaneous with the first step, but which we know from the Scriptures that I have cited is caused by the regenerating Spirit of God, is conviction of sin, repentance for sin, indicated, in our text, by the pain and terror of the Israelites bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness, and applying to Moses, the law, for relief (John 3:14; Num. 21:5-9). The serpent was cursed by God; and the fiery serpents represent the curses of God's fiery law against sinners. When the Holy Spirit comes to us, He first convicts us of sin (John 16:8,9). The bitten Israelites exclaim, 'We have sinned' (Num. 21:7). If they had been dead, they would not have felt the bite of the serpents; and so, when we are dead in sin, we do not mourn because of our sins. But, being the chosen people of God, and being alive, they were distressed by the poison rankling within them and the fear of death, and they penitently and earnestly sought healing and relief. By the merciful command of God, Moses raised a fiery serpent of brass, having no poison in it, upon a pole, a banner-staff (or cross), as the word literally means; and the bitten Israelites looked upon the brazen serpent and lived -- that is, as explained by Christ, they did not perish or die, but they were healed and saved. And so the ceremonial law -- ordained by God, and given by Moses -- points the convicted sinner, the bitten Israelite, to the sinless and crucified Son of Man, who was also the Son of God, made a curse for the sins of His people, and forever putting away those sins by the sacrifice of Himself. No agonizing and dying Israelite in the wilderness would for a moment refuse to look upon the brazen serpent for healing; and, when he looked, he was instantly and forever healed of the poison within him; he never died so far as death by the poison was concerned; he did not, after he looked, have a different life from what he had before, but the life he already had, continued -- he did not perish or die. And in the same manner the quickened and distressed sinner, led by the Holy Spirit, who takes of the things of Christ and shows them to him (John 16:14) -- third step in salvation -- beholds, by the eye of faith, 'the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world' (John 1:29), sees 'Christ as the end of the law for righteousness to him as a believer' (Rom. 10:4), feels 'the fellowship of Christ's sufferings,' is 'crucified with Him,' and 'conformed to His death,' and 'lives by faith of the Son of God, who loved him, and gave Himself for him' (Philip. 3:10; Gal. 2:20), mourns over his wretched sins that pierced and slew his Lord with an inconsolable mourning except by the consolations of the blessed Gospel, and feels the cleansing and emancipating efficacy of that precious blood that poured from the veins of his dying Redeemer (Zech. 12,13), and rejoices in the Lord Jesus Christ as the God of his salvation, and -- fourth step in salvation -- delights in obedience to God (John 3:21), and lives on forever, and can no more perish or die eternally than Jesus Himself can die an eternal death (Philip. 3:3; John 14:19; 3:16; Col. 3:3,4). He is a sheep of Christ, for whom Jesus laid down His human life, and to whom He has given spiritual and eternal life, so that he can never perish (John 10:15,16,26-30; 17:1-3,24). His believing in Christ, instead of being the cause, is simply one effect and evidence of his having already been born of God, and having eternal life (1 John 5:1; John 6:47). When he comes to the moment of temporal death, instead of perishing eternally, as he feels that be richly deserves to perish because of his sins, he shall by the wonderful mercy of God in Christ, enter upon the fullness of eternal life; so far as his disembodied soul is concerned, he shall depart and be with Christ (Philip. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:5); and, when Christ shall come a second time, in His glorified humanity, to the world, He will, by His almighty power, raise the dead bodies of His saints, and conform them unto His own glorious body, and -- fifth step in salvation -- they will be forever in His likeness, both in soul and body, and then they will be perfectly satisfied (Philip. 3:20,21; Psalm 17:15; 1 John 3:2). The first and sole cause of this salvation is the eternal love of God (John 3:16), which is manifested to His people in all the world, in every nation and kindred and tongue (Rev. 5:9; Gen. 12:3; Tit. 2:11-1 4), in the gift of His Son and His Spirit and eternal life through them; and this holy and everlasting salvation is for every quickened, every sensible, every convicted, every penitent, every hungering and thirsting sinner -- every human being who sincerely desires it, whether Jew or Gentile, in all ages and countries (Isa. 45:22; 55:1; Matt. 5:6; 11:28; Rev. 21:6; 22:17). Everything in the Scriptures, everything in the doctrine of election and predestination, everything in the doctrine of special atonement, everything in the doctrine of divine regeneration, everything in the mind, purpose, wisdom, love, power, unchangeableness, and truth of God, is not at all against, but is all together in favor of the certain and everlasting salvation of every human being to whom sin is the greatest burden and Christ is the greatest desire. Such is the gospel, the good news, the glad tidings of a free and full and holy and everlasting salvation to every person of the Adamic family who really longs for it.
Elder Sylvester Hassell

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