Jesus - Our Saviour

“Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.” - D. Elton Trueblood

George Bernard Shaw is perhaps most renowned as a free thinker and liberal philosopher. In his last writings we read, “The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, led, instead, directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions of worshipers in the temples of a thousand creeds. And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith.”

We have been working through our church’s statement of faith and today we are in week four. And throughout this series we have maintained that what you believe matters. It’s important because what you believe determines how you live and the choices you make. Your life, at this moment, is the sum total of all the choices you have made based on what you truly believe. So what you believe matters and what you believe about God matters most.

In today’s portion of our statement of faith, we are going to look at the heart of the Christian faith - the core truth that we cling to that gives life to our souls and which changes us in the deepest and most profound way.

So let’s read today’s portion of our statement of faith.

“We Believe Jesus died in our place, reconciling sinful humanity to God, and offers salvation as a gift received by faith.”

Pray.

We Believe Jesus died in our place

A couple of weeks ago, as we looked at our statement on sin we saw that, right from the beginning, God told us what the punishment for sin would be. And so, for God to have integrity, he has to do what he says he’s going to do. Just like those of us who are parents. If you set a punishment for a bad behaviour, you know you better follow through with it, or else your kids won’t learn about authority, consequences or responsibility. You have to follow through, no matter how tough it is. I remember the first time we had to “ground” Rebekah, our oldest. I don’t remember what she did, but I remember grounding her; I remember her crying, and I remember feeling so bad about it, that it took everything in my power to resist getting up, scooping her into my arms and releasing her from her punishment. But I had to follow through. Just like God had to follow through with the consequences of sin that he warned us about. Moses records in Genesis 2:17 that God says to Adam and Eve:

Genesis 2:17 NIV

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

We had one rule, and we broke it, knowing that the consequences of breaking that rule is death. And so, when God gave Moses the religious law for Israel, he created a means for the people to get right with God by sacrificing an animal and using it as a substitute.

Leviticus 1:3–4 NIV

“ ‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you.

But that was just to prepare and point people toward Jesus, who would be that substitute for us. The prophet Isaiah said,

Isaiah 53:4–6 (NLT)

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

I came across a story this week about the British-French war that lasted from 1778-1783. During the war between Britain and France, men were conscripted into the French army by a kind of lottery system. When someone's name was drawn, he had to go off to battle. There was one exception to this, however. A person could be exempt if another was willing to take his place. A few years after the war started, some authorities came up to a man and told him he was among those who had been chosen in the lottery. The man refused to go, saying, "I was shot 2 years ago." At first they questioned his sanity, but he insisted that this indeed was the case. He claimed that the military records would show that he had been conscripted 2 years previously and that he had been killed in action. "How can that be?" they questioned. "You are alive now!" He explained that when his name came up, a close friend said to him, "You have a large family, but I am not married and nobody is dependent upon me. I'll take your name and address and go in your place." And that is indeed what the record showed. This rather unusual case was referred to Napoleon Bonaparte, who decided that the country had no legal claim on that man. He was free because another person had died in his place.

We believe that Jesus died in our place and in doing so, paid the debt of death on our behalf so that we could be free - free from fear of the future - free from fear of death - free from our enslavement to sin - free to know God relationally and enjoy him forever.

We believe that Jesus reconciled sinful humanity to God.

Have you ever been in an argument type fight with someone? Years ago, I was working running a warehouse for a small courier company and I was able to get a good friend of mine a job there. His job would be to come in on Saturday afternoon/evening, and load a truck that would be leaving at 9:00 to Vancouver. One saturday, we are sitting on the patio of our favorite local coffee shop when I realize that it’s almost 7:00pm. Shouldn’t you be at work now, I asked my friend who was acroos the table for me. “Meh,” he said, “I’m not going today.” I lost it. You can’t just not show up at a place like this: there was no one else. So, furiously, I got up from the table, drove to work and did his job for him, making sure that truck got loaded in time. I was so enraged, I didn’t speak to him for over a week. I had recommended him for this job and by not doing it, he was ruining my name. In spiritual terms, he sinned against me. Well, I eventually got over it and one day, we sat down across the table at that same coffee shop and looked at each other and did the guy “head nod” which meant all was okay. We needed to be reconciled because there was this thing - this sin - between us.

The Bible tells us that there is this thing between us and God - our sin.

Isaiah 59:2 (NLT)

It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

Any chance at a relationship with God - which is what every person was created for - is broken by our sin. But we believe that Jesus reconciled humanity to God. When Jesus died on the cross, his sacrifice wiped away the the debt of death that we owed God for our sin and now we are relationally reconciled to God. Christianity isn’t about rules and good living. It’s about being reconciled to God through Jesus. Paul the Apostle said...

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 (NLT)

... that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

We believe that Jesus died in our place, that he reconciled sinful humanity (you and I) to God, and

We believe that Jesus offers salvation as a gift received by faith.

When Jesus was crucified, when he was hanging on the cross on that hill being mocked by Pharisees, passerby’s and Roman soldiers as he slowly aphixiated, Jesus was surrounded by other criminals. In Luke’s gospel, it tells us that he was crucified with two other men, one on his left and one on his right. One criminal mocked and insulted Jesus but the other one acknowledged that they deserve to be there for their crimes but he defended Jesus and believed him to be innocent. Jesus said to that man, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

That thief had nails through both hands, so that he could not work; and a nail through each foot, so that he could not run errands for the Lord; he could not lift a hand or a foot toward his salvation and there was no escaping his death; and yet, because of his faith, Jesus offered him the free gift of grace.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

We believe that our salvation is a gift from God. That means it is something that cannot be earned, cannot be stolen, and it cannot be owed to someone. Our salvation from the power and penalty of sin is by grace - it is an unmerited favor. We weren’t good enough, smart enough, strong enough, attractive enough, or rich enough for God to say, “Look, they deserve help.” No, we deserve the just punishment for our sins. But thanks be to God who isn’t fair, who doesn’t give us what we deserve but gives to us redemption through Jesus.

After I became a Christian, I started volunteering as a youth group leader. And I loved it and found in serving there that God was calling me to be a pastor. So I went to Bible school and in my first semester at school I was planned on staying at the school through our first reading week, because, well, I was broke. I didn’t have the money for bus fare or anything and I was too prideful to ask for help from my parents, so I thought I would just hang around the school. Then, about two days before break started, I checked my mailbox and there was a card in it for me. A couple at my church had sent me a card to tell me that although I didn’t know them and their kids were many years out of youth group, they wanted to bless me and let me know they were praying for me. And they put $200 cash in the card as well, which was enough for bus fare home. I didn’t deserve it or earn it, but they showed me grace, just as Jesus shows me grace every day, even though I still don’t earn it or deserve it. It is by his grace that we are saved.

But that salvation that comes by grace is not automatically applied to everyone. It is only applied to those who have faith.

Romans 10:9–10 (NIV)

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Which leads me to the big question of today. In life, there are a few big questions that we have to answer and our response will change the course of our lives. Questions like: “Which university or college will you attend?” “Will you marry me?” “Is it time to have kids?” But greater than all of these questions is the question of “have you surrendered your life to Jesus, received the gift of salvation and are reconciled to God?” That question, for many of you, changed the course of your life. You were set free from the condemnation that you felt for what you had done. You found freedom from the guilt and shame that sat in your soul. You found a true and eternal purpose and realized that you were not alone in this life, but that God himself - the creator and sustainer of all that is - walks with you every day. But some of you, today is the day for you to say yes. You’ve been too afraid of what following Jesus might mean for you, or you’ve been too angry at God for what you’ve gone through, or you’ve been too ashamed by what you have done. But today, the Lord puts the question to you: Will you surrender your fear, your anger, your shame, and come to Jesus, the one who sacrficed himself to reconcile you to God? If today is the day that you have heard the voice of God speaking into your soul, inviting you to say yes to Jesus, will you pray with me, even now?

Prayer

If you prayed that prayer with me today, would you find me after church and tell me? This is just the beginning of your new life in God and there are some tools and resources that I want to give you to help you. And if you prayed that prayer, let me be the first to say, Welcome to the family, we are so glad you are here.

But what should those of us who already believe take away from this beautiful statement about Jesus our Saviour?

Gratefulness that Jesus took your place so that you could be free.

Reconciliation with God - maybe you believe, but you have allowed sin to overtake you lately and you feel distant from God. Know that Jesus has forgiven you of all your sins and he is calling you back to him. Just like the prodigal son, the Father is wating for you to come home so he can wrap his loving arms around you and restore to you the joy of your salvation.

1 John 1:9 (NIV)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

3. A deep reminder of how deep the father loves you, that he gave his one and only Son hat whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

I’m going to invite the worship team to come up and we are going to take communion together. Communion is a time for us to remember Jesus our Saviour - to reflect on what he did for you when he went to the cross, and to worship him with gratefulness. Communion is open to everyone who has personally made a declaration of faith in Jesus Christ, whether that declaration was first uttered today or you have followed Jesus for many years. And as we prayerfully reflect together, I encourage you to take stock of your spiritual life and if there is anything in the way between you and God, release it to Jesus and find new life for your soul.

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 NIV

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”