Brought Out to Bring Us In: The Gift and Assurance of Salvation

At the Wednesday evening prayer meeting, Pastor Chris Parker took a single verse—Deuteronomy 6:23, “And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land”—and used it to open up the great theme of salvation. Tying the thought to the church’s ongoing study of Joshua, he reminded the congregation that God brought Israel out of Egypt in order to bring them into the Promised Land: God does what God starts, and God finishes.

The same is true of salvation. Salvation, the pastor explained, is the redemption of a person from the bondage of sin and the liability of eternal death—a present possession of every believer, and a gift of God that belongs to Him and cannot be earned or lost. He then walked through what that salvation provides.

First, a forgiven past. Drawing on Ephesians 1:7, Jeremiah 31:34, and Micah 7:19, he showed that God not only forgives our sins but casts them into the depths of the sea and remembers them no more. Second, a new nature: “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17), for the old Adamic nature can never enter heaven. Third, an Advocate—when Satan accuses, Jesus Christ the righteous pleads our case (1 John 2:1). Fourth, a Friend who calls us not servants but friends (John 15:15), and an abiding Comforter, the Holy Spirit.

Salvation, Pastor Parker concluded, always moves us—it never leaves us where it found us, but carries us toward God. Though believers still stumble and struggle, they will not continually sin, for God’s own nature now dwells within them, making them victorious. As with Israel, the victory is already won; we need only walk in obedience to the One who brought us out to bring us in.