Our Response To Salvation

Salvation has always been available!

There are three distinct time periods for salvation. The first is pre-Christ. This is the days of the law and prophets. There are the days of Christ. These are the days that Christ walked the earth. Days of Grace (post-Christ). These are the days we are living in today. Salvation has been available in all three periods. This is because salvation is predicated on faith.

Pre-Christ days

These are the days that Peter is writing about to the Church that is in the das of grace. He teaches them that the prophets never got to see the fulfillment of the promised Messiah, but were responsible for telling the next generation to be on the look out because he is coming. God promised a Messiah that would redeem mankind and restore the relationship between man and God.

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?2 For He grew up before Him like a tender [a]shoot,And like a root out of parched ground;He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him,Nor appearance that we should [b]be attracted to Him.3 He was despised and forsaken of men,A man of [c]sorrows and acquainted with [d]grief;And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him

4 Surely our [e]griefs He Himself bore, And our [f]sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, [g]Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was [h]pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our [i]well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To [j]fall on Him.

4 Surely our [e]griefs He Himself bore,And our [f]sorrows He carried;Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,[g]Smitten of God, and afflicted.5 But He was [h]pierced through for our transgressions,He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our [i]well-being fell upon Him,And by His scourging we are healed.6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way;But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To [j]fall on Him.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the [k]living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? 9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

10 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, [l]putting Him to grief; If [m]He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His [n]offspring, He will prolong His days, And the [o]good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 11 As a result of the [p]anguish of His soul, He will see [q]it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out [r]Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

The prophet Isaiah gave a detailed account of the promised Messiah. Though he never saw the day of Christ, he had faith in the promise of God. This is what got him salvation.

The Bible teaches this through Abraham.

3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,

For those that believed in the coming Messiah and never saw it, it was their salvation.

They passed it on to the next generation. This is why Peter says that the prophets were working for the new testament church.

Days of Christ

The days of Christ were those days where Jesus walked the earth teaching, doing miracles, and giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins, and being resurrected from the dead

14 Now after John had been [h]taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, [i]preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God [j]is at hand; repent and [k]believe in the gospel.”

Mark 1:14–15 NASB95

Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus revealed Himself as the Son of God through His miracles, teaching and resurrection. Those that placed their faith in Him recieved salvation.

Days of Grace

The days of grace are the days we are living in today. These are the days between Jesus resurrection and his second coming. These are the days of grace because we still have time to respond in faith to Jesus Christ for our salvation.

Though we have never seen Jesus, or witnessed his miracles or resurrection, we can have faith that they happened. We can have faith that Jesus sacrifice on the cross is enough to pay the penalty for our sins. We can believe that He is the Son of God. This is our salvation.

Not only do we get to experience salvation, we have a responsibility to pass the gospel on to the next generation. We must share the gospel with our kids, grand-kids, and however many generations the Lord allows us to see. We must also share the gospel with all people!

So the question is how do we do this?

Response to Salvation

Peter gives 4 directive responses to our salvation: Prepare your mind for action, Keep sober in the Spirit, fix your hope completely on grace, and be holy in your behavior.

Prepare your mind for action

The first thing we must do is prepare our minds to walk in our salvation. Paul tells us in Romans why we should do this.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, [a]acceptable to God, which is your [b]spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this [c]world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may [d]prove what the will of God is, that which is good and [e]acceptable and perfect.

In order to keep from being conformed to the world, we must be transformed in the mind. The things we allow our sensory parts of the body to be exposed to will transform our minds. For example, the things that you watch on television, phone or your computer will transform your mind. The kind of music you listen to will transform your mind. The type of conversations you have will transform your mind. The things we engage in slowly become our gods. This is because we begin to crave the things that our minds engage in.

So how do we engage our minds in a way that transforms them into a way that we are not conformed to the ways of this world.

8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is [a]lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, [b]dwell on these things.

Are the things that you allow your mind to be exposed to filtered through the list of things Paul lists here. You will not go wrong if you allow your mind to be exposed to these things. A perfect start that meets all these requirements is the Word of God!

Keep sober in spirit

Peter tells the church not to be intoxicated with the world. The word sober means to be self-controlled. When a person is drunk they have very little self-control John MacArthur puts it this way:

1 Peter: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Believers Must Respond with Hope

Metaphorically it means not to lose spiritual control by imbibing the world’s sinful system. It connotes the entire realm of spiritual steadfastness or self-control: having clarity of mind and discipline of heart, being in charge of one’s priorities and balancing one’s life so as not to be subject to the controlling and corrupting influence of the flesh’s allurements (cf. Matt. 16:26; 18:7; John 15:18–19; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 1:20–21; 2:12; 3:19; Gal. 4:3; 6:14; Eph. 2:2; Phil. 2:15; Col. 2:8, 20; 1 Tim. 6:20; Titus 2:12; James 1:27; 2 Peter 1:4). Obedience to this charge comes through the work of the Word and the Spirit (Eph. 5:18; Col. 3:16).

We must be disciplined in the disciplines of the faith: Bible Study, Prayer, Worship, Meditation, Solitude, Fasting, Teaching, Discipling, ect.. It is when we replace the disciplines of the faith with other things that our priorities get out of order and we begin to loose self-control.

Fix your hope completely on grace

The Christian’s hope is in the grace of Christ. It is not in ourselves but on who Christ is and what He has done, and what He is doing in our lives.

1 For the grace of God has appeared, [a]bringing salvation to all men, 12 [b]instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of [c]our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, 14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Our hope is in the salvation that comes through Christ alone by faith alone. We are to fix our hope on Christ and the salvation he promises through faith in Him.

What Jesus has done for paying the price of our sins is enough for our salvation. He took the wrath of God upon himself on our behalf when He was on the cross. This is enough for our sins.

Not only did he give grace through salvation, but He also gives sanctification through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. When a person receives Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior the Holy Spirit comes to reside in that persons heart. The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin ans well as guides them into the will of God.

All of this is given by grace and not earned.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [a]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

How can you know you have the Holy Spirit? You become more Christ-like.

You Shall Be Holy, For I Am Holy

Peter says that our behavior should be Holy. AS believers in Christ we will be different from the world. We will not operate by the ways of the world but by the Spirit of God.

5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

When you are living by the Spirit you have life and peace. When you live in the flesh you have survival, confusion, and animosity towards God.

God has given you life to be in a relationship with Him. He has made a way for that to happen. He has sent His Son Jesus Christ to forgive us from our sins and redeem us from our sins. He has sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us.

I want to ask you this morning, Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ as your savior. Are you being transformed into His image?

You can be saved today. Share the gospel and give invitation.