Know Your Salvation

The Empty Tomb, the Core of Salvation

Because of the empty tomb, the triumph over death and the grave are fulfilled. The fulfillment connects back to the state and status of humanity. Cursed, dying and separated from God. Specially there are 6 connection areas that need to clarified and understood. In understanding these unique connection points the believer is established by faith in what God has completed in the Death, Resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

Get Farther than the entry level faith… “I am saved”.

yes, its true! but what is the confidence in this statement. The elements that will be shared are the points that “faith” rests upon, and will mature from. Lets do some big and special terms.

1. Forgiveness

God's gift of salvation is the forgiveness of sins. The forgiven sinner's past life, regardless of what might have been included, exists no more. Bridges are burned behind him; gates of yesterday are closed. He is dead to the past. His life history previous to conversion is considered non-existent. He is treated as if the day he became a Christian were the first day of his life. Through divine forgiveness, man's sins have been washed away (Acts 22:16) ; he has become as "white as snow" (Isa. 1:18; Psa. 51:7). His sins have been removed from him "as far as the east is from the west" (Psa. 103:12). His iniquities have been subdued, and his sins have been cast into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19.) They have been "blotted out" (lsa. 44:22), "sought for . . . and not found" (Jer. 50:20), cast behind God's back (Isa. 38:17), and remembered no more (Jer. 31:34).

2. Justification: 2 Corinthians 5:21

The scene is the supreme court of the universe. The sinner, on his own merit, stands before his holy Judge as a condemned criminal, guilty of sin and worthy of destruction. God's holy nature requires Him to condemn and punish the sinner. As an act of grace, however, God has ordered a stay in the execution of sin's penalty, eternal death. Sinners, therefore, do not fall dead the moment they sin today. The execution of sin's penalty has been postponed until the second death so that sinners can have opportunity to accept God's plan of salvation.Apart from God's grace, the total human race would have been destroyed. Through infinite love, God provided that His sinless and perfect Son, Jesus Christ, would become the sinner's Substitute. As the sinner's Substitute, Christ perfectly satisfied all the law requirements. He obeyed the law's precepts and suffered the law's penalty. This He did, not for Himself, but for sinners. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). The believer's sin is imputed to Christ, and Christ's righteousness is imputed to the believer. When repentant believers receive Jesus as their Substitute, they become vitally united to Him. They enter into Christ, and Christ enters into them. The saving work that Christ performed for them is then actually applied to them. As a consequence of this vital relationship with Christ, God can justly treat the sinner as if he himself had done those things which his Substitute did for him. The sinner is treated as if he himself had obeyed the law's precepts, and as if he himself had suffered the law's penalty. In view of the sinner's relation to his Substitute, God imputes Christ's righteousness to the sinner.Based on this imputed righteousness, which the sinner receives through faith, God, as Judge, declares that the sinner is righteous concerning the law. He is justified; he is without condemnation.

3. Reconciliation! Romans 5:10

Sinners are enemies of God. They live in opposition to God's government. Man, in sin, asserts self in active hostility and antagonism to the Ruler of the universe. Self and God move in opposite directions. There can be no fellowship between man and God as long as man is determined to live contrary to Him." Men are at war among themselves, and man is at war within himself because there is no peace with God. "Enemies of God need reconciliation. "When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" (Rom. 5:10). "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7, 8). "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled" (Col. 1:21). Christ's sacrifice provided the basis for the reconciliation of God, the King of the universe, and His enemies. God is propitiated; sinners are reconciled. Sinners have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. No longer are they God's enemies; they are His friends.

4. Redemption: (Redeemed)=purchased: Revelation 5:9

Redemption is the liberation of a slave from bondage by payment of a price. The word "redeem" is translated from three Greek words: agorazo, to acquire at the forum (Rev. 5:9; 14:3, 4), exagorazo, to acquire out of the forum (Gal. 3:13; 4:5), and lutroo, to loose by a price (Luke 24:21; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet. 1:18). God, the Redeemer, performs His work of redemption through Jesus, the Redeemer. The scene is the agora, the marketplace. Slaves of sin are in bondage, "sold under sin" (Rom. 7:14). God, the Redeemer, purchases slaves of sin in the marketplace with the precious blood of His Son, who voluntarily gave His life as a ransom price for sinners. Having paid the purchase price, the Redeemer removes the redeemed from the marketplace so they will never again be exposed to sale. The Redeemer, then, sets the prisoners free; they are given perfect freedom. Out of appreciation and love for the Redeemer, the redeemed give themselves to Him as His servants. (1 Pet. 2:16.)

In forgiveness, God is Creditor=The debtor is in the banking house with indebtedness ==The debtor receives forgiveness.

In justification, He is Judge= The criminal is in the law court with condemnation== the criminal, righteousness.

In reconciliation, He is King= The enemy is in the king's palace with enmity== the enemy, peace.

In redemption, He is Redeemer= The slave is in the marketplace under bondage== the slave, freedom.

5. Sanctification: set apart from and set apart to… Hebrews 10:10

Sinners need sanctification. They are unholy, desecrated, polluted, and profane. (1 Tim. 1:9; 2 Tim. 3:2.) In that condition, they cannot abide in God's holy presence nor be used in His sacred service. Like old silverware in a rubbish heap, they were made for the Master's use, but, in their present condition, they are not suited for that purpose. They need to be separated from sin, dedicated to God, and consecrated for service. Sanctification originates in God's grace; it is based upon Christ's sacrifice (Heb. 10:10, 14, 29; 13:12); it is conditional upon man's faith (Acts 26:18). God performs this work of sanctification through His Son, Jesus Christ. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). Christ is the sinner's sanctification. In other words, Christ's holiness is imputed to the believer at conversion. Through his vital relationship with Christ, the believer is holy before God. When a person enters into Christ, he stands on holy ground. He is separated from the world and is dedicated unto God. He has been sanctified; he is a saint.

6. Newness of Life. “the glorifying life” Ephesians 2:5

Sinners are dead in sin. They are "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1, 5), "without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12), and "alienated from the life of God" (Eph. 4:18). They are dead to the spiritual realm of life. There is no redemptive contact between the sinner and God. Blind men are dead to the realm of sight; deaf men are dead to the world of sound; paralyzed men are dead to the realm of touch; sinners are dead to the things of God. The windows of the heart are closed heavenward. Sinners have horizontal existence but no vertical life. For them, life is without a third dimension.