A Fourfold Salvation by A.W. PInk
When does salvation begin in the experience of the Believer? Some in the present day and in past centuries as well, have asserted that it begins with the Believer's justification (when faith in Christ is exercised). This cannot stand biblical scrutiny. It must be, so Pink correctly contends, at regeneration (when God begins the work of saving His People from “The Pleasure of Sin”). It is when a person is “Born Again,” that they now have a nature that hates evil and loves holiness. Why must regeneration precede believing faith? “Fallen man can never perceive his desperate need of salvation nor come to Christ for it, till he has been renewed by the Holy Spirit.”
Christians are not delivered from the presence of sin and temptation in this life. Pink ponders some questions that often trouble believers: If I now have a nature that hates sin and loves holiness, “why do I so readily yield to temptation?” Why does this vain world still have a strong attraction for me at times and seasons? This being the case, how can one discern that they in fact are “A New Creature In Christ,” amidst all this inner conflict? This is one of the areas where Pink is especially helpful to believers in assessing their spiritual condition: “By observing its activities, particularly the opposition it makes (under the energizing of the Holy Spirit) unto indwelling sin.” (It is the Spirit warring against the flesh.) The Christian is constantly engaged in Spiritual warfare. Pink was influenced by John Owen's landmark work on “Sin and Temptation.” What is one of the ways we guard our affections from sin's deceptions?—“. . . set your affections upon heavenly things (Colossians 3:2), which enables you to mortify sin” (from Owen's “Sin and Temptation”).
In considering “Salvation from The Penalty Of Sin,” it must be viewed from both the divine perspective and the human perspective. We see Christ as Mediator, the Lamb of God, "smitten of God and afflicted" for the sins of His people—“because Christ suffered in my stead, I go free. . . .” From the human perspective, repentance and faith, though not meritorious in themselves, “salvation does not become ours experimentally until they are exercised."
“A Fourfold Salvation” is one of A.W. Pink's enduring works, which stands the test of time. It is a penetrating look at the nature of God's saving work, from the believer's greatest enemy—Sin.