THE LORD SAVED ME

On this day of Baptism I had felt the Lord wanted to remind us all of what He has done in our lives

He really truly actually rescued us from the sentence of death

Maybe you are here today or watching online and you have been feeling God drawing you to Himself

The only way man can be reconciled to God is through His Son Jesus

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Romans 5:10 (NASB95)

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Before Receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior we were enemy to God

An enemy of God is a friend to this world

But praise God we can be or are reconciled to God through the death of His Son

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Not only reconciled to God but our life has been saved - eternally saved!

When we were reconciled to God we become an alien in this world

the word reconcile here in the bible means to “change” but get this.... then it says “exchange” and then goes on to say “received into favor”

Lets take a look at this amazing miracle process and transformation

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Ephesians 2:1–2 (NASB95)

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

We were dead in sin, not only that but walked in sin - who was controlling that walk? the prince of the power of the air - this is the spirit of the air that is controlling those even today who have not received Jesus as their savior.

Can we just stop and close our eyes and picture this / this is the condition and reality of everyone who lives and breathes on this earth.

Either those of the Lord are reconciled to Him in favor and grace or you are those of the world being controlled prince and power of the air as a son of disobedience.

Ephesians 2 goes on to describe these sons of disobedience of whom we were

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Ephesians 2:3 (NASB95)

3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

we were among them before being saved by the Lord

we lived in the lust of our flesh, the desires of what our flesh wanted directed us in everything we did, how we acted, how we responded, everything for for self and self was number one.

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LUST - craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden

lust here in the bible is - craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden

Our nature was as children of wrath

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Ephesians 2:3 (NASB95)

3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Along with all the rest who have not known God we used to be children of wrath

wrath is know here in the bible as

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CHILDREN OF WRATH

WRATH - anger, natural disposition (fallen man / earthly & worldly), temper (state of mind to be angry / hardness)

agitation of the soul

violent emotions

The next part is.......but God!!

Here comes the reconciliation part we talked about at first

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RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH CHRIST

“to change” - “exchange” - “received into favor”

The “change” “the exchange” “being received into favor”....by God through Jesus His Son

So perfectly laid out as the verses continue here in Ephesians 2, look with here

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Ephesians 2:4–5 (NASB95)

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

THE BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED PART IS THE “RECEIVED INTO FAVOR” PART WE TALKED ABOUT IN RECONCILIATION TO GOD

Now the next part just gets better and better......look with me what else He has done for us through Jesus

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Ephesians 2:6–7 (NASB95)

6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

So what is the next part or next miracle that God does through our spiritual birth through Christ

Well we know by Scripture and the very words Jesus spoke that “No one can come to me except they be drawn by the Father”

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John 6:44 (NASB95)

44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

Our God is the One triune God right

When we are reconciled to God through Christ Jesus 1 God then 2 Jesus then 3 Holy Spirit

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit

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INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is one of the gifts of salvation by which God’s very presence, in the person of the Spirit, indwells the church corporately and Christians individually, drawing them into the life of the triune God.

Jesus assured His disciples before His departure from earth - the Father would send the Holy Spirit

Through the Spirit’s indwelling, the Father and the Son would also make our home within them

The greatest gift Christ could offer was not just the promise of spiritual gifts or spiritual fruit but the promise of the very person of the Spirit within us.

those who walk according to the course of this world, those who are controlled by the power of the prince of the air.They have not and cannot receive this indwelling unless receiving the saving grace of Jesus first.

Those who have not had the opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord (or maybe have had the opportunity but have not surrendered to Jesus)...... are still sons of disobedience

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John 14:17 (NASB95)

17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

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John 14:23 (NASB95)

23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

There is this radical shift that has taken place. God’s people no longer need to go to a temple to encounter his presence or stand in the sacred realm of the Spirit.

Rather we ourselves become His holy dwelling place. Through the life, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven God has come so near to His children that His Spirit shares in our lives and makes us partakers in the divine triune life.

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The Spirit’s indwelling of the full Godhead bespeaks the reconciled intimacy that has occured between God an humanity

Look this is so amazing and exciting.....check this out. All that God put into this just for us. His love for us is so amazing. Look check this out....John was baptizing the people right before Jesus came.

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Mark 1:4 (NASB95)

4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

John is saying also - Make ready the way for the Lord........This is crazy cool how it describes all we have been shown today. God’s word lays out beautifully the process our salvation transformation takes.

Keep in mind this is before Jesus starts preaching and revealing who He is. He - God in flesh is on earth and he will soon show up on the scene and John will announce Him as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”

People are coming to the Jordan River from all over ....Judea, Jerusalem and you can imagine how word gets out and people are getting baptized for a forgiveness of sins.

This is what it would be like the word of baptism spreading countryside to countryside Hey did you hear, “like we heard the Messiah is now here” John is baptizing for the forgiveness of sins “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”

But as John is baptizing at the Jordan what is he saying?

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Mark 1:7 (NASB95)

7 And he was preaching, and saying, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.

Its like....”dude can you believe it, “the Lamb of God is here and I just got baptized for the forgiveness of my sins, I believe I believe!”

“Wow you mean like no more sacrificing animals for covering my sins!”

But John the baptize is trying tell everyone amidst all this excitement for forgiveness of sins,......CHECK THIS OUT

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Mark 1:8 (NASB95)

8 “I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Now we see the beauty of the baptism / the baptism for the forgiveness of sins / the old person has died with Christ / the new person, forgiven, and being changed and regenerated and raised up by the resurrection of Jesus and now being sanctified by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!

Like it so wild and even this amazing process and transformation is backed up in Acts 19 after the resurrection right and the gospel is being spread, and its like like people are coming to Paul and this is like in Ephesus already.

Paul is like asking them, “did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

“No we haven’t even heard of a Holy Spirit”

“Into what then were you baptized?”

“Into John’s baptism” and this is so cool......wait for it wait for it!!

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Acts 19:4 (NASB95)

4 Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

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Acts 19:5–6 (NASB95)

5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.

Why did this happen to these believers? For us to see the transformation process in the believer of Jesus Christ

Later Paul would reveal to the church in Romans, the Corinthians church how The Holy Spirit would distribute His gifts through the believers of the church and in the church

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TRANSFORMATION OF THE BELIEVER

Salvation

Regeneration

New Creation

Sanctification (use gifts / follow and grow in Christ)

That’s why a new believer will now have fruits of the Spirit and gifts of the Spirit to be used to edify and build up the church, be the gospel to a dying world and using their gift to make new disciples of Jesus Christ!!

WORSHIP TEAM / CLOSE PRAYER

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