When Does God Give Up? Understanding Salvation
This is part of a series giving an overview of theology and Neighborhood Church’s doctrinal statement. (Introduction, The One True God, The Lord Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, The Bible, Humanity, Salvation, Church, Christian Life, Angels, Satan, Demons, Future Life)
Imagine going out of your way to befriend someone who's had a rough go of it. Maybe they come from an unreliable family or just don't have much support. So you invest in them—you're kind, generous, and try to bring them into your life. You really love this person and want what's best for them.
But you start noticing something. When they're with you, they're always distracted, thinking about someone else, constantly on their phone. They stop responding to your invitations and eventually stop showing up altogether. Then they start hanging out with people who are actually harmful to them.
You keep reaching out because you care. You even send mutual friends to check on them. But they reject all help and eventually look you in the eye and say, "Leave me alone. I don't want you in my life. I don't need what you're offering."
When do you give up on someone like that?
Most of us would say "never"—but let's be honest, we all have our limits.
Here's the thing: that story isn't hypothetical. It's our story with God, played out over and over throughout history. We've all been the person who rejects help, who says "I didn't ask to be born" or "I don't want you telling me how to live my life."
So the real question becomes: when should God give up on us? And when does God give up?
What the Bible Says About Salvation
This summer we've been walking through what we believe as a church, taking our core beliefs and diving deep into what the whole Bible teaches about each topic. Today's focus is salvation—and it's more personal and powerful than you might expect.
Here's our official statement from the Charis Commitment to Common Identity: "The salvation brought by God is a complete and eternal salvation by his grace alone, received as the free gift of God through personal faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work, as he declares believers righteous in him."
That might sound like textbook language, but by the end of this post, we hope you'll feel the weight and wonder of what that actually means.
God's Gift That Changes Everything
The apostle Paul, writing to a young pastor named Titus who was working in a difficult, self-centered culture (sound familiar?), explains salvation this way: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works".
Let's break this down into three parts:
1. Justification: Saved from Sin's Penalty
The foundational message of Christianity might surprise you: there's literally nothing you can do to make yourself right with God. Even when you decide to be a good person and try to do what's right, we don't actually have the ability in ourselves to consistently do what we know we should do.
We can describe what a perfect society would look like, but when it comes to how we live on a Thursday? It's not going to happen. Even religious people who force themselves to be good discover that when they do moral things for selfish reasons, it's still tainted.
The message of Christianity is that Jesus came and his death made it possible for us to be right with God. And it's just a gift—not something you earn, but something you ask for.
Here's what might surprise you even more: it's not even just the asking that makes it possible. It's God's grace that he answers your asking. As Titus 3:4-7 puts it, "when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy."
Picture a courtroom where you're the defendant. The judge—who happens to be the creator of the universe—knows everything you've done, everything you should have done but didn't, and all your motivations. You know you're guilty.
But Jesus steps up and says, "I'll take their place." The Father declares you righteous, free from the penalty of your sin, based on Jesus' perfect life and sacrificial death.
Justification means Jesus saved us from the penalty of sin. The question is: have you trusted Jesus to declare you righteous before the Father? Have you asked him to forgive your sin?
2. Sanctification: Saved from Sin's Power
But the story doesn't end with forgiveness. As soon as you're declared righteous, you might notice something: there's still a voice reminding you of all your failures, all your selfish moments, all your ongoing struggles with sin.
That's where the Holy Spirit comes in. When you trust Jesus, God does something supernatural—he brings your dead soul to life and the Holy Spirit begins to live in you. This starts the second phase of salvation: sanctification.
Sanctification means Jesus is currently saving us from the power of sin. Here's something you might not know: you don't have to sin. You can choose to do what's right in Christ's power.
Going back to Titus 2:11-12, God's free gift of salvation is "training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age."
It's like being adopted. When you're legally brought into a new family, you belong—but you still have to learn how to act at the dinner table. When God justifies you, you're brought into his family, but you're still learning the new rules and unlearning old patterns.
Sanctification is the lifelong process of becoming who Jesus has declared you to be. It means learning to see every aspect of your life through the lens of the gospel—your work, your relationships, how you handle conflict, even how you spend your leisure time.
3. Glorification: Saved from Sin's Presence
The harsh reality is that nobody masters the Jesus way of life perfectly this side of heaven. We're all still learning, still growing, still dealing with the effects of sin in our world.
But the beautiful truth of our salvation in Jesus is that we're "waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). When Jesus returns, we will be completely and perfectly like him, free from the presence of sin entirely.
This is glorification—the final phase where sin is dealt with once and for all and we are fully free from the presence of sin. That’s where we anchor our hope despite the harsh reality of the broken world we live in right now.
Anchoring our hope in eternity changes everything. Instead of making decisions just for the moment based on how we feel, we can think long-term about what God is doing in us and through us.
How does this hope change how you approach your work this week? How does it change that difficult conversation you're dreading or the relationship tension you're facing? How does it affect what you choose to do with your free time?
The Most Inclusive Exclusive Message
You might be thinking, "This sounds pretty exclusive—only through Jesus?" And you're right, it is exclusive. There's only one way to be made right with God: through faith in Jesus Christ.
But here's what makes this the most inclusive message in the world: Jesus took this message to everyone. Prostitutes, outcasts, the demon-possessed, people involved in all kinds of destructive behavior, women (which was unusual for that time), people from every background and nation. All people are equal at the foot of the cross.
The gospel is for every person—every family member, every enemy, every friend, every politician, every immigrant, every person living in rebellion against God, every person trying to be good enough on their own, every religious person who thinks they've got it figured out.
When Does God Give Up?
Back to our original question: when does God give up on someone?
He doesn't.
That's the heart of the gospel. While we were still rejecting him, cursing him, using his gifts for our own selfish purposes, God sent Jesus to die for us. Not because we deserved it, but because he loves us.
The salvation Jesus offers is complete—past, present, and future. He's saved us from sin's penalty, he's saving us from sin's power, and he will save us from sin's presence. It's a gift from start to finish, dependent entirely on God's grace and received through faith in Jesus.
If you've never trusted Jesus for salvation, today could be the day. You don't have to understand all the theological details. You just need to agree that you're condemned without him and trust him to sort it out with the Father. Ask him to forgive you, and he promises he will.
And if this is a familiar message for you, let it kindle a fire in your heart for those who are still far from God—because just as he never gave up on you, he's not giving up on them either.
This is part of a series giving an overview of theology and Neighborhood Church’s doctrinal statement. (Introduction, The One True God, The Lord Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, The Bible, Humanity, Salvation, Church, Christian Life, Angels, Satan, Demons, Future Life)
