A0330_Great to be Saved
Date: 26th August 2007 (Sunday AM) Ref: A0330
Place: Kambah P.S.
Title: Great to be Saved
Text: & 2 Corinthians 5:12-20
Illust: We go out to witness in the streets, we are called to witness to our neighbours, our family & friends, but sometimes as the years go by we can forget what it means to be saved ourselves. – Over the years I & you have seen people backslide, cast off salvation like it was a cheap jacket. They lost sight of how great it is to be saved – Great to be saved or the 3 benefits of being a Christian
I. Heaven
A. Hell
i. 1st thing we want to do is remind ourselves of the eternal destiny of every person born on earth, born in sin.
Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. (NKJV)
ii. Every single person has a date with the grave: ~ Heb 9:27 it is appointed for men to die, (NKJV).
Jonathan Edwards in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man, that he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages, shows this is no evidence, that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought-of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen.
iii. Born in sin and die in sin – eternal destination: - Hell – tormented forever – the lake of fire.
iv. I often think we don’t think about hell enough, don’t think about where our unsaved loved ones, friends, work colleagues, people we witness to are going to end up.
Revelation 20:15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. (NLT)
B. Heaven
i. There is a reason we say that we are saved. – Saved from hell. ~ Benefit # 1
John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (NKJV)
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (NKJV)
ii. We have the assurance that heaven is our home. – Great News really no more reason to be saved than this. Think about it heaven!
I don’t think we think enough about heaven our eternal home either. Too caught up on the comforts of this life. ~ Yet the best this life offers doesn’t even compare – & Rev 21:1-7
iii. We can’t even begin to imagine. Streets of Gold, Water of life, No more night. – Heaven, in the presence of God for all eternity.
Here on this one point alone it is worth everything to be saved, it is of the primary importance. This is wonderfully summarised by C.S. Lewis.
"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, is of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."
II. Deliverance
A. Bondages
i. To make heaven your home, to escape the torment of hell, should be enough, but wait there is more. It is not just left to some day in the hereafter to receive the blessing of being saved. – In this life too we find that we receive blessing unlimited from following Jesus from being saved.
ii. Jesus said:
Luke 4:18-19 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (NKJV)
iii. People are bound in sickness, in addictions, in mental & emotional torment; this was many of us before we got saved. – Set free as you put your trust & faith in Him who came to set you free.
iv. This is the mandate of the church, this is what we are to go out & do. Preach the Gospel and see the captive loosed.
Mark 16:17-18 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (NKJV)
B. Sin
i. Not only are we delivered from every sickness & bondage, we are delivered from the power of sin.
Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (NKJV)
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (NKJV)
ii. You can reckon yourself dead to sin, it has no more power over you & I if we would but walk in this truth.
Romans 6:11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NKJV)
iii. Set free to be alive to God in Christ. To have heaven as our home when we die and to have an abundant life here on earth how great is that! & vs.17
John 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (NKJV)
III. Relationship
A. Separated
i. Think about the mess that humanity is in, destined for hell after death and in bondage to sin, sickness, addictions and torments & struggle in this life. How did we get in this mess. The real problem, the core is that we were created for fellowship, relationship with God, when Adam & Eve sinned, that relationship was broken. Man had separated themselves from relationship with God.
Genesis 3:9-10 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (NKJV)
ii. God has been reaching out ever since. Yet sin stands in the way, your self will, your pride, you are god. This is the problem today:
Man is desperately trying to find ways to feel good, to be happy to reach fulfilment apart from God, leads to:
drugs, alcohol, partying, sleeping around, chasing money, fame;
looking for meaning and purpose, in things, in family in leisure, in sport;
Anything to fill that something missing.
iii. Truth is that it is the separation from God that we feel the most keenly even if it is not acknowledged to be such.
B. Reconciled
i. This is the great benefit of being saved, it really is the most important, you can have a relationship with God. The sin that separates has been dealt with on the cross. The way is clear & vs.18-19
ii. Indeed you & I are bid to come to God, to grow in relationship with Him, to come to Him in time of need, in times of joy of sorrow, to be in relationship.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (NKJV)
iii. Mercy, Grace to help in that time of need ~ All the resources of heaven at your disposal to deal with any issue in life.
C. We Implore You
i. This leaves us with our task, our mandate: & vs.14-15 & & vs.20-21 – to be ambassadors to preach the message of reconciliation that men & women can enter into a personal relationship with their God
"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon.
ii. Implore the Lost
Revelation 21:7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (NKJV)