While We Were Yet Sinners – by Joseph A. Cortes

Romans 5:8. It reads, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

It reads, “while we were yet sinners.” Sinners. Now that my friend, is something that too many preachers have missed. Everyone in the Christian circles has heard of A.W. Tozer. He said,

“The idea that God will pardon a rebel who has not given up his rebellion is contrary both to the Scriptures and common sense.” (Root of The Righteous, pg 23)

I don’t care very much about common sense regarding salvation, and neither does God. I care about “Thus saith the word of the Lord,” because He is speaking and His word says, “While we were yet sinners.” But Tozer is saying,

“How horrible to contemplate a church full of persons who have been pardoned but who still love sin and hate the ways of righteousness. And how much more horrible to think of heaven as filled with sinners who had not repented nor changed their ways of living.”

What is this saying? Tozer is appealing to common sense, which is a very dangerous thing to do when it comes to biblical doctrine. I came to the conclusion that if I am going to preach a Change Of Mind and what it means in these series of messages, you’re going to know the Scripture inside and out and why I have come to the conclusion that I’d rather know the Scriptures than these preacher’s opinions about what they think.

Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right,” the common sense way, “unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

That is a profound Scripture if you can burst through your ego enough to realize God’s ways are not man’s ways. They never were and never will be. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Take an earthly court room scene for instance. Do you think a judge with a common-sense earthly point of view would pardon a person who has no intent of reforming their life? It would be a reasonable conclusion in a court of law, run by man’s law, of it not happening. Am I correct? But that is not how God works. That is not how the plan of salvation works, my friend. That is why it is extremely dangerous to use common sense. We all need our ego constantly pounded down to size— starting with this chair and whoever is reading this—because we tend to slip into thinking that we know what is in God’s mind and what He truly means. Therefore, we start adding to Scripture, or in some cases, even taking away from it, which develops extremely dangerous doctrine. Oh, it sounds good—and there are things that Tozer does say that are good and are right—but this isn’t it. And I have said it from the very beginning, if you don’t get this right, it leads people astray, down a dangerous road. I’ve said it many times over, Christ paid our sin debt, not us: Christ alone. In a sense, the Lord went into heaven’s court room with His blood and placed it there at the mercy seat. For whose benefit? Mine and yours.

Hebrews 9:12, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves [or young bullocks], but by his own blood [Jesus Christ’s blood] he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”

Verse 24, For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”

Jesus paid it all, my friend. Jesus paid our debt of sin, not a partial payment, not a halfway payment, but a 100% payment on our debt for sin. He made us righteous unto God and that is why I preach a Communion message titled Precious Blood. I’m sorry, but Mr. Tozer got it wrong. He’s dead wrong! He has the wrong mindset concerning what is required, and that is a change of mind unto salvation. Jesus Christ appeased his Father’s wrath against all of us with His blood. Period. Those who have sight to see light, you get it. But there are those whose spiritual ego can’t accept what I am saying to be true because it’s not what is preached.

Now listen to me closely, because I am going to follow up on this remark: You don’t have to give up anything to be saved. That is going to irritate so many people, even those who listen to me faithfully. They’re going to say, “What is he saying now?” I repeat, you don’t have to give anything up to be saved; “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,” [sinners who hadn’t given up anything at that point] “Christ died for us.”

By the same token, God’s wrath only abides upon those who reject His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. That is the message in John 3 in the Gospel record. God gave up His only begotten son to pay for our sins. If you really think about it, it is the greatest sacrifice a father could give, giving up his only son for someone else’s sins. Tozer teaches something different. He teaches a person must give up their rebellion in order to be saved. If that is true, and if what I am preaching is wrong, then that means man has a part in his own salvation. The Scriptures clearly say we don’t. Man has no part in his salvation, none whatsoever, except to acknowledge and recognize that we need a change of mind about what Christ did for our salvation. That’s it!

Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not [none] of yourselves:” Why? Because “it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

If that isn’t clear enough, let’s go to Titus 3:5.

“… not by works of righteousness which we [ye] have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,” [a better translation is restoration, a spiritual rebirth] “and renewing [to make new] of the Holy [Spirit] Ghost…”

To have the correct biblical mindset concerning salvation is to understand that Jesus paid fully the debt that we owe for our sins. Therefore, we are saved by what Christ did on that cross and solely by Christ’s righteousness—not partially, by what we do to try to reform ourselves, such as forsaking sinful bad habits and “surrendering to Christ.”

“Well, isn’t that important?”

Yes, but those things and many more I haven’t mentioned, are all matters of Discipleship. Don’t confuse the two. Those things aren’t matters of restoration, forgiveness, nor salvation.

What Tozer did in his book was put the cart before the horse and attempt to do the work of the Holy Spirit through manmade efforts of the flesh, which somehow (I guess), he thinks can make men holy. What is the truth of the matter? God saves ungodly sinners, (whether you like it or not) who are still in their wickedness. Then God changes those individuals over the course of their lifetime so they can grow and spiritually mature in the Lord. It’s not really complicated. The change comes after the person is saved. A lot of people, including myself, would like to see that change happen pain-free and much quicker than it does, but because we are still fighting that old man, sometimes it’s a slow process. Therefore I have said we are a work in process. Change comes to all individuals who have been saved, who now possess the Holy Spirit. And you will change. I have said that many times over. But you cannot mandate the change, and that is the problem of the church world today. There are no prerequisites for salvation. If you require prerequisites, it’s a damnable false gospel of self-righteousness and dead works.

You don’t need to manufacture feelings to think that you are saved. I wish I had a nickel for everyone who has come up to me saying, “I don’t know if I am saved or not,” because they didn’t go through all the emotional mumbo-jumbo spiritual whoopie fits, so they think that they’re missing out on something. You don’t have to speak in tongues, spiritually dance across the altar, and you don’t even have to be baptized to be saved. (With saying that, I just eliminated a whole bunch more people.) The baptism that counts is the baptism of the Holy Spirt. So how do we know that we are saved? II Corinthians 5:21.

I know that I am saved because my salvation is rooted in the righteousness of Christ. That is what Scripture is saying; that is the promise of God. Amen!

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