My Salvation Experience Reveals God’s Sovereign Grace
However, it also typifies the salvation experience of everyone else.
First, I will share my own experience. Then I will apply it to everyone else who comes to faith in Christ.
Note: Pastors and scholars will tell us that we’re not to interpret the bible based on our experiences. I totally agree with that—if that’s all we’re basing it on. However, if a particular doctrine can hold up on its own according to solid hermeneutics, then our experiences can certainly help validate or confirm our interpretations. Such is true in this case. I have an abundance of studies on this website that reveal the total grace, sovereignty and providence of God in drawing us to faith in His Son.
My Testimony
I remember hearing about Jesus when I was 3 or 4 years old, probably 4. We were living in a small town that had a small white church. Revealing my age, the year was 1959. I remember standing outside the church on a Sunday morning thinking about the song we had just sung in Sunday School. It was “Jesus Loves The Little Children.” I didn’t know anything about Jesus at that time, except that He loved all the children of the world, “red and yellow, black and white,” and that they were “precious in His sight.” While I didn’t know anything else, I believed it. It had a life–changing impact on my life, because I believe that this was when God began drawing me to His Son (Jn 6:44). That was Jesus drawing me to Himself (Jn 12:32).
The point I want to make throughout this article is that I didn’t force myself to believe in Jesus, I just did. I didn’t motivate or urge myself on to believe in Jesus. I just did. I didn’t stop to think if I should believe in Him or not. I just did. It was automatic for me. Believing in Jesus was as natural as breathing for me. And I never stopped believing. That, my friend, was the gift of faith. That was the grace of God (Eph 2:8-9). That was the Lord Jesus revealing Himself to me within that little boy’s heart of mine.
From that point on, everything that I learned about God or about Jesus, I believed it. When I was told that God was all powerful and knew all things, I believed it. When I was told that God was good and sinless, I believed it. When I was told that Jesus was the Son of God, I believed it. When I was told that God loved me, I believed it. When I was told that God wrote the Bible, I believed it. When I was told that there was a Heaven and hell, I believed it. When I was told that there was an evil being known as the devil or Satan, I believed it. When I was told that Jesus died on a cross, I believed it. I didn’t know much in those early years, but I believed every word of what I was taught.
None of that was my own doing. I didn’t put myself in a place where I could learn about God and about Jesus. That was totally God’s grace as He worked in my heart and life, as He was drawing me to Himself. The faith I had in God was totally His grace. Those snippets of truth I had learned over the early years of my life, God used to continue to draw me to His Son.
Furthermore, throughout my childhood I always loved God and tried to live for Him. I want to stress, that was not my own doing. It was just a fact of my life. That’s where my heart was. I always tried to do good (the best I knew how), because at that point in my life, I thought the way to Heaven was by being good.
Even though I was in churches for many of those childhood years, I still didn’t know or understand why Jesus had to die on the cross. I remember asking my dad, “if Jesus was all powerful, why did He allow it to happen?” He didn’t have an answer for me (he was not a true believer at that time). Thus, at this point in my life (my early teens), I had never heard the gospel of Christ explained to me. Or at least it was never explained to me in a way I understand it. Yet, God was using everything I had learned to prepare me for that glorious day, when God called me to His Son, when the plan of salvation was finally revealed to me.
I was 15 years old (1970), and me and a friend of mine were downtown during the Christmas season. There was a faithful Christian lady standing on a street corner passing out gospel tracts. It was the classic tract, “God’s Simple Plan of Salvation.” My friend, who happened to be a pastor’s son, gave me his tract, because he didn’t need it. I didn’t know why at the time, but I think it was because he had already received Christ as His Savior (he’s a faithful follower of Christ to this day, and we are still good friends and stay in touch).
I took that tract home and read it. I think I read it three times. This tract asked me if I was saved. It asked me if I was sure I would go to Heaven when I died. I learned that I was a sinner and needed to be born again. I learned that as a sinner I was condemned to death, which is eternal separation from God in hell. I learned that God loved me so much that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, to bear my sin and to die in my place, as my substitute, shedding His blood for me. I also learned that Jesus rose from the dead, ensuring my salvation as I believed in Him, as I received Him as my Savior.
And guess what? As with all the other truths that God had revealed to me over the previous years, I believed every single word. There was absolutely no way I was leaving my bedroom without getting on my knees to receive Jesus as my Savior, using the prayer provided in the tract. Here’s the prayer:
“Oh God, I know I am a sinner. I believe Jesus was my substitute when He died on the Cross. I believe His shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection were for me. I now receive Him as my Savior. I thank You for the forgiveness of my sins, the gift of salvation and everlasting life, because of Your merciful grace. Amen.
I arose from my knees as a new creation in Christ. Again, I didn’t force myself to believe. I just did. It was simply in my heart to believe. Faith in God and faith in His Son was a gift that He gave me when I was 4 years old. That never changed. So when I read the gospel message for the first time, faith came naturally for me, just as it was all those years leading up to the moment of my salvation. That’s when God called me. That was the grace of God drawing me to Himself all those years up to that glorious moment of salvation. It was the gift of faith that eventually led me to faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. And I’ve never looked back! That too is God’s grace.
This is for free: I carried that tract in my wallet for so many years that I eventually had to keep it together with tape. It eventually got so bad that I had to remove it from my wallet. I kept it in my wallet as a constant reminder of God’s grace in my life and the day of my salvation.
My whole life is a picture of God’s grace. It’s a perfect example of God’s grace in how a sinner comes to faith in Christ. While we don’t all have the same life experience (since God works in people’s lives differently and at different times of our lives), we all get saved the same way, and that’s by God’s unconditional grace.
Consider: When Jesus called the Apostle Paul, he was ravaging the church, trying to destroy it, seeking to imprison everyone who identified with Christ (Gal 1:13-16; Acts 8:3; Acts 9:1-19; Acts 22:1-16; Acts 26:9-20). He was filled with rage and hatred. He had absolutely no interest in becoming a Christian. But what happened when Jesus revealed Himself to him? Paul responded in faith! He went from hateful pride and unbelief, to faith and humble surrender of his life to the Lord Jesus Christ. This was totally the grace of God. It was a true miracle of God.
Does anyone among us really believe that it was Paul’s own doing that he came to faith in Christ? Of course not. Faith was a work of God’s grace within the heart of Paul. He opened His eyes to the truth about Jesus, who He really is and what He did for us on the cross. His life was changed forever. As Paul Himself explains, God chose him even before he was born (Gal 1:15-16).
Likewise, when God called Abraham (Abram), He called him out of idolatry and paganism, where his family “worshiped other gods” (Jud 24:2-3). That was God’s doing, not Abraham’s. When he believed (Ro 4:3; Ga 3:6), again, that was God’s doing. Faith in the heart of Abraham was the gift of God. When God calls, He also provides the necessary faith.
In the same way, God also called Isaac and Jacob, chosen before they were born. Thus, when they believed, it was not my chance. They didn’t just happen to believe. It didn’t arise from within themselves. No. It was faith that God graced them with, for whom God calls, He also provides the required faith.
Consider the prophet Jeremiah. His salvation experience was much like Paul’s. He was called “before he was formed in his mother’s womb” (Jer 1:4-5). As with Paul, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God called Jeremiach to Himself according to His own sovereign will. None of these men had anything to do with their salvation. It was all God. It was all God’s grace.
I can say the same thing about myself. All of these different salvation experiences reveal something that we all have in common, and that’s God’s sovereign and providential work in our lives. While God works in our lives in different ways and at different times, we all get saved the same way. First, we’re all chosen for salvation “before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4). That’s obviously the case with Paul and Jeremiah. But the same is true of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The same is true of Steve Sewell, because God began drawing me and gave me the gift of faith at an age when I hardly knew anything about anything at all. The fact that I had nothing to do with it, is just as obvious as it is with Paul’s conversion.
I know that those who embrace the non-Calvinist position of election, have a problem with unconditional Sovereign election (or as I prefer, Sovereign grace election), But the reality is, they have no reasonable answers for how I came to believe in God and His Son within their particular belief system. Was I just an exception too, like Paul and Jeremiah? We know that can’t be true, because there are plenty of other Christians who had similar experiences as mine, who also grew up in Christian homes or Christian churches. In addition, how do we explain people who grew up in Christian homes and Christian churches, but never truly believed—who ultimately walked away from the Christian faith after they became adults? Some leave true Christianity for a cult. Some leave Christianity for a completely different religion. Others become atheists. How can proponents of libertarian free will (personal ability) explain these things? I don’t believe there is an answer. Coming to faith in Christ has to be by the pure grace of God.
I’ve made the point that God works in our lives in different ways and at different times. While God began drawing me at a very young age, there are many others whom God waited to draw and call later in their lives. Some in old age. But it’s still a work of God’s grace when He begins to draw us. No one gets saved by chance or because they “just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” That’s nonsense. That completely disregards the sovereignty and providence of God. When it’s time for God to begin drawing and calling someone to His Son, it’s according to His own time table. At the right time, God sends the gospel to everyone who comes to faith in Christ (Ro 10:14-15). Or perhaps, He positions people to be where the gospel is being preached or shared by a faithful Christian. Again, hearing the gospel of Christ and embracing Jesus as Lord and Savior, is not by chance or simply a coincidence. Such ideas rob God of His glory.
A Christian may reply, “but I humbled myself and chose to believe when I heard the gospel of Christ. I could have rejected it, but I didn’t.” Count how many “I’s” there are in that statement. That’s four times: I, I, I, I. Such a statement puts the emphasis on the humble willingness of the sinner, rather than on God’s sovereign grace. Such a belief system regarding election and the salvation of our souls places the sinner in a place where they share the glory with God, where their eternity depends completely on them to make the right decision. That’s simply a reality.
In truth, no one believes because they are more able to believe than someone else. Nor do people believe because they are more willing than others. They believe simply because it’s in their hearts to believe. A person doesn’t just decide to turn their life around and place their faith in Christ. It’s a glorious gift of God’s grace.
Conclusion
I can’t explain why God chooses to extend the grace of faith and salvation to some, while not choosing to do so for many others. No one can. That’s because we’re not God, and never will be. We simply have to trust that God is completely good and just in everything He does. We have to realize that we don’t and can’t see the big picture like He does. There are way too many things about God and how He carries out His will for us to comprehend it.
Therefore, non–Calvinists can’t charge God with being unjust or unfair in regard to Unconditional Sovereign Election. Not only is that dangerous ground to be on, but they don’t consider that we are ridiculously limited in our ability to comprehend the incomprehensible nature of God (Is 55:8-9; Ro 11:33-34).
We must consider all the evidence and simply rest in God and His goodness. In eternity, we’ll have perfect peace about everything.
