A Fourfold Salvation by A. W. Pink - Salvation from the Penalty of Sin

I really enjoy reading A. W. Pink; it is like taking a drink of cool, refreshing water. This "water" that Pink dispenses to the reader is crystal clear. That is, Pink is concise and easy to comprehend. And yet, his writing is not simple. This "water" comes from a well that is deep too. Good writers, in my estimation, are ones that can take profound and weighty truths and present them in a manner which the uninitiated can grasp, and yet the weightiness of the subject is not removed. Pink is this type of writer and his article A Fourfold Salvation is a great example of this.

The second application of salvation that Pink endeavors to explain is Salvation from the Penalty of Sin. Pink writes, "This follows upon our regeneration which is evidenced by evangelical repentance and unfeigned faith. Every soul that truly puts his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is then and there saved from the penalty—the guilt, the wages, the punishment—of sin." Pink indicates that there are two viewpoints through which we should contemplate this aspect of salvation: the Divine and the human.

The Divine:

The Divine side of it is found in the mediatorial office and work of Christ, who as the Sponsor and Surety of His people met the requirements of the law on their behalf, working out for them a perfect righteousness and enduring Himself the curse and condemnation which are due them, consummated at the Cross. It was there that He was “wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5). It was there that He, judicially, “His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (I Pet. 2:24). It was there that He was “smitten of God and afflicted” while He was making atonement for the offenses of His people. Because Christ suffered in my stead, I go free; because He died, I live; because He was forsaken of God, I am reconciled to Him. This is the great marvel of grace, which will evoke ceaseless praise from the redeemed throughout eternity.

The Human:

The human side of our salvation from the penalty of sin respects our repentance and faith. Though these possess no merits whatever, and though they in no sense purchase our pardon, yet according to the order which God has appointed, they are (instrumentally) essential, for salvation does not become ours experimentally until they are exercised. Repentance is the hand releasing those filthy objects it had previously clung to so tenaciously; faith is extending an empty hand to God to receive His gift of grace. Repentance is a godly sorrow for sin; faith is receiving a sinner's Saviour. Repentance is a revulsion of the filth and pollution of sin; faith is a seeking of cleansing therefrom. Repentance is the sinner covering his mouth and crying “Unclean, unclean!” Faith is the leper coming to Christ and saying, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.”