The Gospel: How We Live Part 1
The Gospel: Our Lifeblood • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 34:52
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· 51 viewsThis series tackles foundational issues about the gospel and the Christian life. What is the gospel? Why is the gospel important? How do I know if I’m saved? How does a person go from being dead in sins to being a citizen of God’s kingdom? What is our identity in Christ? How should we live now that we are children of God? Regardless of whether you’re a mature follower of Christ or an unbeliever, these are truths that, for the sake of eternity, you can’t live without.
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Three Foundational Components of Salvation...
Three Foundational Components of Salvation...
We are looking today at . This is a passage many find difficult to understand. But we will look at three foundational components of salvation that I believe will help us understand this text and this series. Let’s begin by looking at our text.
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
So let’s jump right in...
Salvation involves a change.
Salvation involves a change.
Salvation involves a change.
This is fundamentally what happens at the core of who you are when salvation begins. It’s what we talked about last time. You are born again according to . This takes place at a point in time. The Scripture talks about it as...
A past event.
A past event.
This is something that happened to you at a specific time, at a specific place. The Scripture doesn’t give evidence of anybody just oozing into the Kingdom. There is a specific point in time when we make the decision to trust Christ and God declares us righteous before Him. He gives us a new heart. He enables our faith to turn from sin. All the things we talked about the last time together. And the question we asked is, “Have you been born again?” Let’s look at ,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
This is something that has happened to you.
We have been saved.
We have been saved.
A point in time. The Bible often refers to this as...
Often referred to as justification.
Often referred to as justification.
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
It is something that happened to us that affects us now. We are justified before God. The language that the Scripture uses is at that point when we are born again, God declares us righteous before Him.
This justification occurs at a point in time. Whether you are a 10-year old raised in a Christian home or a 40-year old with little or no exposure to the Gospel. One may be a bit more dramatic than the other, but I assure you, the same thing takes place. At the point of salvation, we are born again, and the Scriptutre refers to that as justification.
Salvation involves a change, and second...
Salvation involves a journey.
Salvation involves a journey.
If we stop at justification, then we will miss biblical salvation. We will understand it incompletely. We won’t understand salvation as the Bible teaches it. Salvation involves a change, and that leads to a journey. That begins a journey, by which, we are made righteous, with God now conforming us into His image. He is transforming us.
This is where for many, the lines get kind of blurred. We are immediately declared righteous when we trust in Christ. At the same time, this transformation that begins at salvation is not necessarily immediate, that all of a sudden everything is right, and everything is transformed. We are declared righteous by God positionally at salvation. But salvation is also...
A present process.
A present process.
talks about how we are being transformed with ever increasing glory into the image of Christ.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
We are being transformed. So in a sense...
We are being transformed. So in a sense...
We are being saved
We are being saved
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Salvation is a one-time event, but it’s also a process. Salvation is not static. At the moment of salvation a number of things take place. We’ve talked about a number of those. But God does not expect us to remain as we are. Just as stated, we are being transformed by the Spirit.
You may have a translation that reads, “which are saved”. But that translation is a bit misleading. That’s not what Paul wrote. The Greek Textus-Receptus, the manuscripts upon which the King James is translated read differently. It’s actually one word in the Greek - sodzomenois - it’s a verb, present tense, passive voice, participle, plural, dative, masculine. I know that may not mean much to you, but a literal reading of the Greek (remember, the syntax in Greek is not the same as English) would be: “For the word of the cross to those perishing foolishness is but who are being saved to us power of God it is.” If we unjumble it and read it with English syntax, the Greek would read, “For the word of the cross to those perishing is foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”.
Before we get too hung up on this distinction, just know that this more accurate reading in the Greek is in perfect keeping with the doctrine of salvation. This aspect of salvation is...
Often referred to as sanctification.
Often referred to as sanctification.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;
3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
1 Thessalonians
This passage goes on to list a number of things we should abstain from. At the moment of salvation we are declared righteous before God, but daily, God wants us to be growing in sanctification. So what we have is salvation is a past event, and a present process. Then third...
Salvation involves a destination.
Salvation involves a destination.
Not only is salvation a past event and a present process. Salvation is also referred to as...
A future prize.
A future prize.
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
1 Corinthian
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
You see, Paul is talking about the goal of his salvation and running after the goal of his salvation. It culminates our salvation when we are finally in the presence of God. So if we take into account everything that is happening in our salvation, we can say we are saved, we are being saved, and...
We will be saved.
We will be saved.
17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
This is the picture that Scripture often refers to as...
This is the picture that Scripture often refers to as...
Often referred to as glorification.
Often referred to as glorification.
We will be glorified with Him. Let’s look again at ...
11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
Paul says that our salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. What does that mean? It doesn’t mean that we are still working on our salvation, or trying to earn it. That is not what it means. Instead, what it means is the future glorification, culmination of our salvation, is still to come, and we are closer now than when we first believed.
We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. I’ve heard it put this way, “We have been delivered from the penalty of sin, we are being delivered from the power of sin, and one day, we will be delivered from the presence of sin.
Salvation is a one-time event. We are not saved more than once. Salvation is a process. We don’t trust Christ one day and be expected to remain the same. We are to be consistently growing in our sanctification daily. And salvation is a destination. The goal of our salvation is our future reunion with God.
30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
We have to remember, is not talking about the point of salvation, instead, it’s talking about the process. We’re going to go into more detail next week. But I want to close with this. The context is Paul is addressing believers who were struggling in their relationships with one another. They had become very selfish in their relationships with one another in the church. So Paul is helping them to understand how to live out their Christian lives.
Next week we’re going to look at three foundational truths in salvation.