“The Work of Salvation” - Pt 2
Notes
Transcript
BACK TO BASICS…
This morning we continue our study of "The Work of Salvation!"
I. Salvation ORIGINATES in the MIND of God!
I. Salvation ORIGINATES in the MIND of God!
4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.
5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
II. Salvation DEPENDS Upon the GRACE of God!
II. Salvation DEPENDS Upon the GRACE of God!
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
III. Salvation REQUIRES the WORK of the Holy Spirit!
III. Salvation REQUIRES the WORK of the Holy Spirit!
To understand this, we will begin in the Gospel of John!
3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.
The CONTEXT (vv.4, 6) makes it clear that being “…born of water” is a reference to our natural birth, which is in water—which is our FIRST BIRTH!
Being “born again” is a reference to being “…born of the Spirit.”
5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
God’s salvation requires the work of the Holy Spirit!
As we’ve already seen (at the beginning of last week’s message), even the ability to put your faith in Christ is caused by the Spirit of God!
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
45 It is written in the Prophets: And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to me—
63 The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
64 But there are some among you who don’t believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning those who did not believe and the one who would betray him.)
65 He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.”
God the Father, through the Holy Spirit, draws us to Jesus Christ to be born again!
ALL OF THE TRINITY IS INVOLVED IN THE WORK OF SALVATION!
Which brings us to JESUS!
IV. Salvation CENTERS in the DEATH and RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ!
IV. Salvation CENTERS in the DEATH and RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ!
Two actions of Jesus are essential for our salvation:
A. Christ’s DEATH!
A. Christ’s DEATH!
21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets.
22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction.
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.
26 God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
“Why is Christ’s death necessary?” – Two reasons:
1. Sin must be paid for!
1. Sin must be paid for!
You cannot say with one breath, "God is holy and just!" And then with the next, "You can get away with sin—there is no consequence!"
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2. Jesus paid the price for our sin!
2. Jesus paid the price for our sin!
25 God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.
5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.
6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth.
8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people’s rebellion.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.
10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.
11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.
B. Christ’s RESURRECTION!
B. Christ’s RESURRECTION!
Because you are HERE, on Easter Sunday, I’m going to make an assumption that MOST of you gathered believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!
“But what does the Resurrection MEAN?”
25 He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 How much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath.
10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
We are reconciled by His death and saved by His life!
“What does it mean to be RECONCILED?”
Our RELATIONSHIP with God is restored back to a former condition—the condition before the Fall!
12 But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.
13 He is now waiting until his enemies are made his footstool.
14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.
1 Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preached to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand
2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
The gospel really is quite simple!
Yet it’s easy to switch the emphasis of the Gospel from the centrality and foundation of the death of Christ to works!
“If I just do the best I can, somehow I'll make it!”
WRONG!
The VICTORY that you and I are looking for is based completely on faith in what Jesus Christ did!
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,
7 since a person who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him,
9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him.
10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
Jesus broke the PENALTY and the POWER of sin by His Resurrection! (v.6) — “…sin might be rendered powerless!”
The ability of the sin nature to control you was nailed to the cross! The power of sin was rendered helpless by what Jesus did!
The PURPOSE is found in the end of (v.6): "that we should no longer be slaves of sin."
The work of salvation is based, from beginning to end, on faith in the death and RESURRECTION of Jesus Christ!
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”?
13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;
14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.
15 Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ—whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised.
16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
18 Those, then, who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.
19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.
20 But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
The RESURRECTION is why we celebrate Easter Sunday each year
V. Salvation DEMANDS a RESPONSE!
V. Salvation DEMANDS a RESPONSE!
“If salvation is based on God—it begins in His mind, depends on His grace, and is accomplished through what Jesus did; then what is my response?”
I believe that human response, though caused by God, is something we must all understand because we're accountable for it!
“How can I be accountable for it if God is doing it?”
My friend, whether you ever understand that truth, you are ACCOUNTABLE (the whole world will one day stand before God)!
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Our RESPONSE in the work of salvation involves two things:
A. I need a response towards SIN!
A. I need a response towards SIN!
1. Repentance!
1. Repentance!
30 “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent,
2. Confession!
2. Confession!
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
B. I need a response towards JESUS CHRIST!
B. I need a response towards JESUS CHRIST!
1. Believe!
1. Believe!
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
2. Confess!
2. Confess!
9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
3. Baptism!
3. Baptism!
32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house.
33 He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized.
26 for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.
27 For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.
VI. Salvation RESULTS in a NEW POSITION!
VI. Salvation RESULTS in a NEW POSITION!
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,
