The Glory of Salvation
Notes
Transcript
Body deficiency - symptom after symptom, treatment after treatment, never getting to the root cause
Deep genetic scan - identify deficiency
Choice to address root cause, realize what is killing you; some may just not want to know…
Spiritual genetic scan? - must be willing to get to root cause
What’s wrong with the world? SIN
What’s the root cause of evil? SIN
Can treat the symptoms - you can go to church, you can try to be good, you can give money, you can get baptized, say a superficial prayer
You’ll feel better, for a while
And you’ll still be spiritually sick, dead spiritually, actually
Popular song - He looks at me and wouldn’t change a thing.
Disagree - He looks at sinners, desires repentance; He looks at believers, desires growth, every day
Two kinds of people - saved and lost
Big word for the day: Soteriology
Soteriology
Soteriology
The study of the doctrine of salvation
READ: Ephesians 1:3-14 - the plan to heal the sick
(one long sentence - summary)
The plan of salvation, through Christ, for the Glory of Yahweh!
(ASIDE) - Election, predestination - all are drawn, drawn to THIS plan, to be in Christ
TODAY: SALVATION - what it is, what it is not, man’s nature, Yahweh’s nature, how to “get saved”
Salvation: Defined
Salvation: Defined
Deliverance - from harm, ruin, loss
Theological - deliverance - from sin and its consequences
SIN - yeah, need to discuss
Missing God’s perfect mark (the bullseye on the dartboard)
Mankind has a deficiency - born sinners - born spiritually deficient
ONE - just one remedy, one solution
The penalty for sin is eternal, spiritual death, separate from Yahweh in the Lake of Fire
That’s not nice, that’s not happy! IT’S TRUE
Jesus wasn’t “nice,” - He was kind, He spoke truth
Brood of vipers, hypocrites, you make followers more of sons of hell than yourselves
That’s not ‘nice’ (origin of ‘nice’ is ignorant, stupid)
Truth is - to understand salvation is to understand WHY we need it, why Yahweh offers it.
Grace - The “Why”
Grace - The “Why”
Nature of man - sin
Nature of Yahweh - grace
Defining grace is easy - unmerited favor, not earned…GRACE, just because…Yahweh said He is gracious, full of grace
Seeing grace applied to sinners - feels good when you are the sinner
Grace is perhaps best displayed in these instances:
He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.
JONAH - the reason he did not want to go to Ninevah, to the Gentiles? He knew Yahweh would forgive if they asked
Because he knew…Yahweh said it Himself
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
Then there is the account of Jesus in the synagogue, in Luke 4, where He reads from Isaiah 61, about Messiah, Himself
Verse 28 of Luke 4, after He describes how God has, in the past, present and future, has saved and will save Gentiles, they are enraged and want to kill Him
Gentiles, sinners, don’t deserve God’s grace! TRUE. And yet, He applies His all-sufficient grace, abundantly!
Go back to Ephesians 1 passage. See how GRACE encompasses Who He is:
God is BLESSED - and He has blessed us
He chose mankind to be saved, through His LOVE
Why? (v. 14) to the praise of His GLORY!
Don’t fully understand all that? Just accept it
Praise the LORD, for HIS GLORY, when we ask forgiveness, and He says YES!
He shows us WAY more grace and forgiveness than we deserve
Repentance
Repentance
So…just HOW does one get saved?
Easy, humbling, it takes putting your own self-interests aside
Turn to Romans 10, look at verse 9
Confess (homologeo)
Confess (homologeo)
Confess - say the same thing, acknowledge what God has already stated
You are a sinner (nature of man, born sinners)
Hi, my name is Pastor Chris, and I’m a sinner - so are you!
Believe (pisteuo)
Believe (pisteuo)
Believe - also in verse 9, active trust, turn your life over to the LORD, trusting him with that life
You WILL be saved! No wondering or guessing or “not being sure”
Repent
Repent
Turn, change direction
Not just “I’m sorry”
More like, “God, I know I have sinned, I ask you to forgive me. My life is yours.”
EVERYBODY is commanded to do this!
EVERYBODY has the choice
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
“I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
QUESTION - what about the heart?
Salvation is not “asking Jesus into your heart” - more next week
Salvation in Romans 10:10, fully trusting with your heart, your heart is the WHOLE self!
Yahweh wants your heart - not your words, not your actions, not our stuff
When you give Him your heart, your whole self - the rest follows
How do you know you’re saved? The work of the Holy Spirit
QUESTION - What’s wrong with the world?
The sickness is sin
The deficiency is the lack of Christ
The world looks for other remedies
“Religious” people seek solutions
Works, baptism, church, giving, and so on
ALL these FOLLOW trusting in Christ, salvation
I heard Cobie talk about the light, Jesus shining the way out of darkness
Salvation is deliverance from the darkness, the slavery of sin
QUESTION - Does salvation fix every problem?
It fixes the ONLY problem that matters forever
Where you, you, the spiritual you, will spend forever, eternity
GET SAVED - THEN WHAT?
We tell others, invite others
If you truly understand the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and all that that means for you, you cannot help but be excited about that and tell others about that. If there is a lack of excitement about that, it requires a heart check about really understanding what salvation is all about for you
Spend this week, being excited about being saved
Spend this week, thanking Jesus for saving you
If there is ANY doubt
Spend this week searching these Scriptures, Jesus BEGGING you to come to Him, repent and ask forgiveness
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
If I could BEG you to do ANYthing…
Understand salvation - realize what it means to be a sinner - realize what it means to repent
Then settle that with Jesus!
?? CHURCH - how excited are you to be saved, to know Jesus?
When is the last time you shared that excitement, even with someone else who is, too?
“Hi, I’m Pastor Chris. I’m a sinner. I’ve been saved by the grace of Yahweh. How about you?”
