Character Salvation
Notes
Transcript
We are changing from sanctification to characteristics of a Christian. I think it is important for us to know what a true Christian looks, sounds, and acts like for one purpose - to know we are truly saved.
Why would I be so concerned with your salvation? Because of the lack of clear understanding of what it means to be saved. As we have discussed before, there are people who have responded to a sermon, a talk, an experience with emotion but never truly experience the urging - the calling - the conviction of the Holy Spirit. This can be something that happens when we hear or read of something that scares us, we may even have concern whether we are truly saved, and we may want to make things right, but never have conviction, never make a decision, but may fall into the trap of “just pray this prayer”, or “come to the altar” to receive salvation.
There are four basic categories of people:
1) Those who think they are saved, but aren't. Matthew 7:21–23
“21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
2) Those we think are saved, but aren't. 1 John 2:18–19
“18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
3) Those who are saved, but don't act like it: 1 Corinthians 4:1-2.
"1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.”
4) Those who are saved, and they act like it.
Church, I hope we ALL are saved and act like it. But, what about those who may fall into either of the first three categories, those who think they are saved, but aren’t; those WE think are saved, but aren’t, and those who are saved but don’t ACT like it? How is it we can know, change, conform, become more like Christ?
Today, I want to scratch the surface of salvation and how it impacts each and every person.
By Faith, Belief, and Confession
By Faith, Belief, and Confession
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down)
7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
If we go back to the Old Testament saints,
Abraham:
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Enoch
24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
Noah
20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
Moses
6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
David
6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
When we look throughout scripture, we do not see a list of qualifications to apply for Christianity, we don’t see a list of actions we must take to become a Christian, we don’t even see anything other than belief by faith that brings us to salvation.
We proclaim our faith! It is by faith we must approach God’s promises, it is by faith we must believe in Jesus Christ as His Son who died on an old Roman cross for a sinner like me and like you. It is by faith we believe in His death, burial, and resurrection that provided a way for us to be justified and seen as righteous (right in Gods eyes). It is by faith we believe Jesus when he says he will send the Comforter - the Holy Spirit - to those who believe. Romans 10:10 “10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” In the heart, we are convicted of our sins.
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
Wayne Grudem, in his book on Systematic Theology, explains the process of salvation in this manner:
“When Adam and Eve sinned, they became worthy of eternal punishment and separation from God (Gen. 2:17). In the same way, when human beings sin today they become liable to the wrath of God and to eternal punishment: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). This means that once people sin, God’s justice would require only one thing—that they be eternally separated from God, cut off from experiencing any good from him, and that they live forever in hell, receiving only his wrath eternally. In fact, this was what happened to angels who sinned, and it could justly have happened to us as well: “God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment” (2 Peter 2:4).
But in fact Adam and Eve did not die at once (though the sentence of death began to be worked out in their lives on the day they sinned). The full execution of the sentence of death was delayed for many years. Moreover, millions of their descendants even to this day do not die and go to hell as soon as they sin, but they continue to live for many years, enjoying countless blessings in this world. How can this be? How can God continue to give blessings to sinners who deserve only death—not only to those who will ultimately be saved but also to millions who will never be saved, whose sins will never be forgiven?
The answer to these questions is that God bestows common grace. We may define common grace as follows: common grace is the grace of God by which he gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation. The word common here indicates something that is common to all people and is not restricted to believers or to the elect only.
In distinction from common grace, the grace of God that brings people to salvation is often called “saving grace.” Of course, when we talk about “common grace” and “saving grace,” we are not implying that there are two different kinds of grace in God himself but only that God’s grace manifests itself in the world in two different ways. Common grace is different from saving grace in its results (it does not bring about salvation), in its recipients (it is given to believers and unbelievers alike), and in its source (it does not directly flow from Christ’s atoning work, since Christ’s death did not earn any measure of forgiveness for unbelievers, and therefore did not merit the blessings of common grace p 804 for them either). However, on this last point it should be said that common grace does flow indirectly from Christ’s redemptive work because the fact that God did not judge the world at once when sin entered it was primarily or perhaps exclusively due to the fact that he planned eventually to save some sinners through the death of his Son.
Even exceptionally large amounts of common grace do not imply that those who receive it will be saved. Even the most skilled, most intelligent, wealthiest, and most powerful people in the world still need the gospel of Jesus Christ, or they will be condemned for eternity! Even our kindest and most moral neighbors need the gospel of Jesus Christ, or they will be condemned for eternity! They may appear outwardly to have no needs, but Scripture still says that unbelievers are “enemies” of God (Rom. 5:10; cf. Col. 1:21; James 4:4) and are “against” Christ (Matt. 12:30). They “walk as enemies of the cross of Christ” and have their “minds set on earthly things” (Phil. 3:18–19) and are “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph. 2:3).”
But while we are enemies of God, there is a way for us to respond to our conviction - the realization that we are against Jesus and living in sin.
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
We, given free-will, have the opportunity to do one of two things. We either accept Jesus as our PERSONAL Savior, or we REJECT His offer of salvation. But it is when we, through conviction by the Holy Spirit, recognize our depraved (sinful) state, and accept Him as our Savior, we receive the assurance of life in Heaven with Him for eternity.
But, if we reject Him, we choose our sinful lifestyle, and instead of receiving the gift of eternal life, WE INSTEAD PERSONALLY CHOOSE to live the sentence of our sins in hell for eternity.
You see, God doesn’t send anyone to hell, we CHOOSE hell by rejecting Jesus and salvation.
As we close this morning, I want to challenge you to examine your relationship with Jesus. Bow heads, close eyes.
Raise hands?
Do you THINK you are saved, but can’t remember a time when you felt conviction and acted on that conviction by believing in Jesus through faith?
Maybe you have been living a life that make others “think” you are saved. You’re not a bad person, don’t do anything really “wrong”, try to treat people right, but have never accepted Jesus as your personal Savior.
Maybe you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, but you have lived a life that He is not pleased with (backslidden) - living a life in spiritual decline and turning away from our relationship with Jesus. Today is the day to know that you know Jesus is YOUR PERSONAL SAVIOR.
I am pleading with you to examine your life, would you examine your relationship with God, would you examine the time in your life when you felt conviction - and maybe to day you feel that conviction and need to make a choice to follow Jesus. What better time than now?
