Is salvation only for the “elect” of God? Some say Jesus only died for his chosen people. Is it for everyone?
That is a very good question. Who did Jesus die for? Who can be saved? The Bible is very clear about this. We read in 1 Timothy 1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” The Lord Jesus, Himself, said in Luke 5:32, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” We read in 2 Peter 3:9 that, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
So…can you be saved? If you are a sinner; yes, you can be saved. Let’s read Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” That’s pretty clear, isn’t it? We have all sinned, and most of us have sinned a lot! We are all sinners and it’s for us sinners that Jesus gave Himself as the perfect sacrifice to God to put away our sins and give us eternal life. It is said of the Lord Jesus in Hebrews 9:26 that, “…He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
As sinners, we need to be forgiven of our sins because “The wages of sin is death…” as we read in Romans 6:23. We also read in Ezekiel 18:20 that, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” As sinners, or those who have disobeyed God, we all deserve death. We have rebelled against the Lord with our sins. However, the Lord wants to forgive us. Let’s read Romans 6:23 in its entirety, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Instead of giving us what we deserve, the Lord has a gift for us, “eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” How do we get this wonderful gift? We receive it by faith when we take the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior. As we read in Romans 10:9-10, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Salvation comes completely through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. All our good works and efforts to earn salvation are useless. We read in Titus 3:5-7, “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.”
So, who can be saved? All who take Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, believing that He died for your sins and rose again the third day. The Lord said in John 6:37, “…him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” The Lord does not reject any who come to Him for salvation. The Lord’s invitation to salvation in Matthew 11:28 is this, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” ALL! For such a small word, it has such great importance.
Is there an elect? Yes, there is as we read in Romans 8:33, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” We read throughout the scriptures about the elect of God. What does ‘elect’ mean? It simply means ‘chosen’. The Lord Jesus said to His disciples in John 15:19, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” It is said of the Apostle Paul in Acts 22:14, “And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.” It is said of the Church in Ephesians 1:4, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” Who are the chosen? Who are the elect? No one but the Lord knows the answer to that question. Someone once said that there are two wills of God: the ‘known will’ and the ‘unknown will’. We know nothing about the ‘unknown will’ of God, but we can know the ‘known will’ of God. We know from reading 1 Timothy 2:4 that the Lord, “…will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” If you have never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, the Lord wants you to be saved. He will save you; He will not reject you, if you come to Him by faith. 1 Timothy 2:6 tells us that Christ, “…gave himself a ransom for all…”