Christocentric Salvation

The Elders have Asked Me to Preach on the Topic of Salvation

If I’ve Tried to Preach Anything These Past 2 Months…

It’s that Jesus is to Be the Center of Everything to Us

There is Nowhere that is More True than Our Salvation

Our Salvation has Everything to Do with Jesus

And Without Jesus, Salvation is Impossible

But…

What is Salvation?

Most of Us Grew Up in a Bible-Friendly Environment

Our Parents Taught Us the Bible

We Attended Bible Classes and Worship Services

Our Culture is Very Influenced By the Bible

Because that is the Case, Most of Us Approach the Bible with a Lot of Baggage

What I Mean is:

It’s Nearly Impossible for Us to Approach the Bible Without Pre-Existing Beliefs/Biases

And that’s Why Some of Us have Such a Hard Time Learning Anything New

We Already Know What We Believe About a Certain Passage, Topic, or Teaching…

And it’s Very Hard for Us to See it Any Other Way

Whenever Most of Us Hear the Word “Salvation”…

We Automatically Think of:

Sins Being Forgiven

There is Some Connection Throughout the Bible Between Forgiveness of Sins and Salvation

But for the Most Part, They are Separate Things (Esp. in the OT)

“Salvation” = Being Saved, Delivered, Rescued From Something

And in Most Cases Throughout the Scriptures…

The Salvation God’s People are Praying for…

Is From Sickness, Disease, Enemies, Death

The Salvation that Humanity has Always Desired From God is…

Salvation From the Effects of this Broken/Fallen World

But that Brings Up the Question:

Why Would a Good God Put Us in a Broken/Fallen World?

Well that’s the Thing - He Didn’t

In Creation Week, God Created Everything that Exists

And After Each Day of Creating, He Called Everything “ṭôḇ” (tove) - “Good”

There was No Sickness, Disease, Enemies, or Death

But There was a Serpent

A Spiritual Being We Primarily Know By 2 Descriptions:

The Adversary = Satan

The Slanderer = Devil

This Being Tempted the 1st Humans to Disobey God

After Their Disobedience, We See an Entirely Different World Emerge

A Broken/Fallen World…

Filled with Pain, Sickness, Disease, Evil, Corruption, and Ultimately Death

“Salvation” Throughout the Bible Isn’t Primarily About Having Our Sins Forgiven

It’s About Being Rescued From All the Effects that Sin has Brought into God’s Good World

But We Can’t Rescue Ourselves From the Effects of Sin

Why?

Because We All Participate in it

Paul Tells Us that the Wages of Sin is Death in Romans 6:23

Everyone Who Participates in Sin Deserves Death

So Our Only Hope of Salvation/Rescue is for Someone to Come Along…

And Choose to Not Participate in Sin

And Then Choose to Sacrifice Himself for the Rest of Us

This is Exactly What Isaiah 53 Prophesies:

He will Be Despised, Rejected, and Looked Down Upon

He will Experienced Much Pain and Suffering

He will Be Pierced, Crushed, Chastised, and Wounded…

Because of Our Sins so that We can have Peace and Healing

He will Take All of Our Guilt and was Punished in Our Place

He will Do Nothing Wrong, But He will Be Put to Death Because We Choose to Do Wrong

He will Knowingly and Willingly Suffer, Die, and Intercede for the Guilty…

So that He can Make the Guilty Righteous

We’re Looking for a Human Who can Make the Sinful Sinless

Who can Make the Guilty Innocent

The Jews Referred to this Prophesied Man as:

The Anointed One, Messiah, Christ

When We Get to Our New Testaments, All of the Foreshadows and Prophesies…

Converge at a Man Named Jesus

Listen to How Peter Describes Jesus in Acts 10:38-43

Acts 10:38–43 (NASB95)

38 “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power (He’s the Anointed King, Messiah, Christ), and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. (He Went About Restoring the Effect of the Fall)

39 “We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. (He Died a Painful, Shameful Death)

40 “God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible,41 not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. (He Resurrected, Defeating Death Itself)

42 “And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.43 “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” (He is the Judge of Humanity and Whoever Places Their Faith in Him will Be Forgiven of Their Sins)

This is Good News!

This is the Gospel!

Paul Wrote in 1 Cor 15:1-4

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 (NASB95)

1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

He Goes on in the Chapter to Explain Our Own Resurrection When Jesus Returns

A Resurrection to Glorified, Powerful, Incorruptible, Immortal Bodies

The Good News of King Jesus that Paul Preached…

Was the Message that was Believed and Accepted By the Corinthians

And Because They Believed it, Accepted it, and Were Living According to its Precepts…

They Were Being Saved By it

That Good News, in a Very Summarized Nutshell is this:

Jesus Died to Take Away Our Sins, was Buried, and Then Rose From the Grave

And Because He Did, Those of Faith in Him Will Rise as Well

Paul Wrote in Romans 1:16

Romans 1:16 (NASB95)

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The Good News of Jesus’ Death, Burial, and Resurrection…

Is How God Saves, Delivers, and Rescues Humanity

Those Who Believe/Place Their Trust in King Jesus Will Be Saved

Saved From What?

Saved From Sickness, Disease, Enemies, and Death…

The Effects of Sin

But He Doesn’t Just Save Us From Sins Effects

He Cleanses Us From Sin Itself

When Jesus Returns From Heaven…

He is Going to Restore All things

Sickness, Disease, Enemies, and Death Will No Longer Exist

And Neither Will the Sin that Causes Them

So What Do I Need to Do to Earn this Salvation?

See that’s the Thing About Salvation…

It Can’t Be Earned

Romans 6:23 Tells Us that Only Death can Be Earned

We Earned that Through Our Sin

But Let’s Read the Full Quote From Paul

Romans 6:23 (NASB95)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Salvation is a Free Gift Because of What Jesus has Done for Us

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NASB95)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Titus 3:3–7 (NASB95)

3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Salvation is a Free Gift that Comes From the Grace, Mercy, Kindness, and Love of God

It Can Not Be Earned!

It is Only Given to Those Who Have Faith in Jesus

Only to Those Who are Made New…

Through Washing (Baptism) and the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit…

Who is Given at Baptism According to Passages Like Acts 2:38

Acts 2:38 (NASB95)

38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Whenever the Authors of Scripture Say a Person Must Have Faith to Be Saved…

This is a Large Aspect of What They are Talking About

They Aren’t Talking About a Simple Belief in Something

Faith is Complete and Total Trust

Faith is Allegiance

Allegiance is Giving Yourself, Mind, Body, and Spirit, to Jesus

Notice How Paul Describes the Conversion Process:

Romans 6:3–13 (NASB95)

3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

In Baptism, We Die to Ourselves, are Buried, and Rise to Live for Jesus

We are Made a New Creation/Humanity

That Death into Baptism has Freed Us From Sin…

And Now We are Expected to Live Righteous Lives

When We Hear the Gospel of Jesus, We Have a Choice

To Surrender to Him as King and Live According to the Standards of His Kingdom

Or to Reject Him

If We Believe the Good News of What He’s Done, is Doing, and Will Do for Us…

Then We Should Choose to Surrender to Him as King

We Should Accept His Standards for How We Ought to Live

We Should Make a Sincere Change of Heart/Mind on How We Will Live Our Lives

The Bible Calls this Repentance

And Once We By Faith Have Made that Change of Heart/Mind…

We Should Die, Be Buried, and Resurrect as a New Humanity with Jesus

We Do this Through Baptism

Here is Where a Lot of Important Things Happen All at Once:

We Enter into a Covenant Relationship with King Jesus

Our Sins are Forgiven and We are Made Innocent/Righteous

We are Adopted into the Family of God and Made Citizens of the Kingdom

We Receive God’s Holy Spirit, Who…

Lives Within Us

Causes Us to Love and Desire the Standards, Principles, and Commands of Jesus

Helps Us to Live Holy Lives Like Jesus

And Who Will Resurrect and Transform Our Bodies When Jesus Returns

Without Faith in the Gospel of Jesus…

And Repentance and Baptism into Jesus…

There is No Salvation

Neither Faith, Repentance, nor Baptism Earns Us Salvation

They are an Act of Surrender that Tells Jesus, “I’m Completely and Totally Yours”

“You are My Only Hope of Salvation From Sin and its Horrible Effects”

And Once We’ve Surrendered to Jesus, the Real Work Begins

And From that Point Onward We are to Live Our Lives in Imitation of Jesus:

Loving Others

Abstaining From Sin

And Telling Others About the Wonderful Gospel of Salvation

Christocentric Salvation

Our Salvation Entirely Depends on the Ministry, Death, and Resurrection of King Jesus

And for that We Love Him, Praise Him, and Serve Him as We Await His Return

He’s Coming Back to Restore All Things

To Fix the Brokenness that Sin has Caused

But He is Also Going to Judge Those Who Reject Him

You are Presented with a Choice Right Now

Will You Reject Jesus the Judge and Allow the Effects of Sin to Be Your Destruction?

Or Will You Place Your Faith in Him and Confidently Expect His Coming Salvation?