This is a 8 lesson series designed to encourage and motivate Christians in the joy and privilege of being a Christian.
God's Eternal Plan
May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ
The Bible says “God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth,” 1 Timothy 2:4.
We welcome you today to The Gospel of Christ program. In this series of lessons, we're going to be discussing the great subject of salvation. And friend, how good it is to know that the God of heaven wants
all men to be saved! 2 Peter 3:9 the Bible says that ‘The Lord is not slow concerning His promises, as some men count slowness, but He's long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but all should come
to a knowledge of the truth.’ God wants everybody to be saved. Jesus has delayed or is slow in His coming in that God wants to give all men time to repent.
(The full transcript is available in the "Download Document" button above.)
Jesus is the Only Way
May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ
The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me." John 14:6
We welcome you today to our study of Jesus as the way of salvation.
You know, in the world we live in today there seem to be in a lot of peoples' minds a variety of different ways that you can be saved. Some would say that you can be saved under the Hindu religion or by being a Buddhist. Others would say that you could be saved by Allah or Muhammed under Islam. Whether it be Judaism, whether it be some kind of spiritual "-ism" today or something like that, there's just a whole host of different religions and people claim that all these and all the followers of and leaders of can save you. Well friend, is that true?
(The full transcript is available in the "Download Document" button above.)
I Need Salvation
May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ
The word of God says, "It is appointed to man once to die and then the judgment." 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, ‘We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may give an account for the things done in the body whether good or evil.’ One day all of us will leave this life, and one day we all stand before the almighty throne of God. In view of that, I need and you need salvation from God.
Welcome to our study of the subject of salvation. Today we're going to be thinking about the fact that I need, that every individual needs salvation, and what it is we're saved to, and what it is we're saved from in eternity. The fact that heaven is going to be wonderful, and the fact that we're going to be saved to heaven, and the fact that hell is going to be horrible, and that we're saved from a sinner's hell.
We welcome you today to our study of this wonderful subject relating to salvation.
Let's then begin to think about our soul in view of eternity. Let's think about the fact that I need salvation from a sinner's hell and to the beautiful place we call heaven.
I want you to think with me in this first part of our lesson about how that nobody would ever in their right mind want to be lost in hell. You know,
when we think about hell, what's it going to be like? What is hell, what does the Bible teach about that subject of hell?
You know, we don't hear much today on the subject of hell and probably in most places it's been a long time since we heard a sermon on what hell is going to be like-but friend there's a value to that. As I think about what is hell, and as I think about the subject of hell, this motivates and this challenges a person to be saved in view of that. I don't want to go to hell. I want to live in such a way that I'm right in the sight of God, and it is a preventative to make sure that I remain true to God's teaching.
I want to invite you to open your Bible with me to Luke the 16th chapter, and let's think about a man who went to hell. Let's think about this man's journey through torment. Let's see just how horrible it was for this man and see what lessons we can learn that'll promote and prevent us from being lost for all eternity.
Open your Bible if you would to Luke 16:19. The Bible says, "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate desiring to be fed with the crumbs which feel from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried." Now notice this, "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom."
Friend, as you think about this man's journey to torment, what is torment going to be like, what's hell going to be like? Friend, it's a place of horrible, horrible torment. If you can imagine being in such agony, being in such pain and torment that you would almost hope to die, you would beg to die-and you would live forever. You know, as you think about the idea of torment think about maybe when you felt sick in your life. Think about maybe when you felt really, really bad. You were so sick and you felt so bad that you'd probably say to yourself, death would almost be better than this. If you've ever been in that kind of torment, whether it is mental or
whether it be emotional torment, you know how bad that is. Can you imagine living forever in a state where you would almost wish for death and yet living in that moment of time for all eternity, being in that kind of torment for the rest of your life. Can you imagine that?
Well look a little further as you think about the rich man and what he had to face. We also learn that hell is a place of fire. Notice in your Bible in Luke 16:24. The scripture says, "Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’" What's going to be so horrible, why do I need salvation from hell? For in hell it's going to be a place of unquenchable fire. Listen to the words of Jesus in Mark 9:44. Hell is a place, Jesus said, "where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched."
When you think about the rich man's words here, ‘have mercy on me, send Lazarus, I just need one drop of water, for I'm tormented in this flame.’ Have you ever had to deal with a burn? Everybody in their life at one point or another has maybe burned themselves. Maybe you were in the kitchen and you accidentally touched a hot pan and it burned you. Maybe you've played with fireworks and got burned, maybe in your work you somehow got burned, or maybe even worse, you were in some type of fire and you got burned by that fire. You know how bad a burn hurts and how it makes your skin boil up. When you pop it and touch it, it just hurts so much- the pain and the anguish. In fact I once heard a story of a preacher who went into a hospital and he was in the burn wing. He said you just cannot imagine how horrible that part of the hospital was. He said from the moment you walked through those double doors, the screams and the anguish and the pain of those people with those burns on their bodies as they're tending the wounds, as they're dressing them, as they're taking care of them- the agony and the pain that they're writhing in can't be rivaled with anything. Truly nothing hurts nearly as bad as a burn.
Now why do we say those things, why do we make you think about that? Friend, the Bible describes hell as a place of fire. 'The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever,’ Revelation 14:11 says. ‘It's a place of
burning brimstone, of fire and brimstone,’ as described in Revelation chapter 20. Imagine now living in a place of eternal fire forever. Nobody'd want to do that.
Let's say, would you do this, you think about this, if you had a cigarette lighter would you light that lighter and hold your finger over it and burn yourself? Well of course not. If you were at the house and your oven was cranked up to 500 degrees, would you stick your hand in there and hold it in for a good while? No. Why? It'd burn you. You'd do whatever you could to prevent being burned. You're not going to burn yourself. You're not going to stick your hand in a hot oven. You're not going to jump in a fire. Why not? I don't want to be burned. I'm going to do whatever it takes to prevent that.
And yet now is the opportunity, now is the time, to prevent living forever in torment. Many people are living as though they have no fear of the eternal torment in the fire of hell.
What else do we know about this man's journey to hell? This is probably the worst thing. It's not necessarily the physical torment. It's not necessarily the pain and the torture of the fire. Friend, probably one of the worst things about hell is that there's going to be mental recognition in hell. Listen to Luke 16:25. "But Abraham said," now listen to this, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented."
What's going to be horrible about hell? Your memory will not be erased. You will remember in hell. God said to the rich man, ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember now you had it pretty good back on earth. You had all the fine things, all the luxuries; Lazarus not so.’ Now the roles are kind of reversed, aren't they? This man squandered his opportunity. He didn't use what he had to glorify God. He didn't help Lazarus. He wasn't a very good man, and he's going to remember that for all eternity.
Friend, what's going to be horrible about hell is the fact that I will remember. Think about this for a moment- can you imagine sitting in the halls of hell thinking about what you should have done, thinking about the
opportunities that you overlooked, thinking about the time that you almost changed your life and obeyed the gospel? You think about ‘I almost became a Christian. I almost gave up this sin,’ whatever it may be. ‘I almost.’ Almost is going to be one of those haunting words in hell. Don't let that be in your heart, and your life for all eternity. Instead of thinking ‘if I should have or would have or could have,’- make changes now because your memory and mind will not be erased in eternity. We will be able to remember some of those things.
Then of course the Bible teaches another horrible thing about hell is that hell is a place of eternal separation. Listen to Luke 16:26. This man's journey then goes further when the Bible tells us "And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us." What do we know about hell? It's a place of eternal separation. There is no crossing over. The rich man says ‘just send Abraham to get one drop of water to cool my tongue, I'm tormented in this flame.’ Son, remember you had it good on life. He's got it good now. He says ‘well let me go back and,’ no- no crossing over. There's a great gulf. The word gulf means a ‘wide, deep chasm that nobody could get across.’ You just can't get across it. No going back and forth. The idea is that of separation. There's no going back and forth. If one is lost, it's eternal. The separation will be eternal.
Friend, hell is going to be horrible because if I don't live right and obey the gospel and become a Christian no- it's too late on the other side. You're not going to buy anybody out of there, that's not taught in the Bible. You can't do enough good works to get somebody out of, that's not taught in the scripture. Now is the opportunity. This is my one chance to get right with God or I'm going to be separated for all eternity. Think about that- I'm going to be separated from God. I'm going to be separated from Jesus Christ. I'm going to be separated from all good, righteous, and holy people. I am going to not only be separated from God and all that's good, I'm going to be with, without the possibility of getting away, I'm going to be with the devil and his angels, and evil ungodly immoral people without the possibility of ever being separated from them either. Think about how horrible that would be on the other side.
When you think about this separation you also have to think about how good it's going to be to go to heaven.
I need salvation not only because I don't want to go to hell and be lost for eternity, but I need salvation because I want to be saved and I want to go to heaven.
I want you to think about the beauty and the splendor of that place called heaven. You know, Christians often sing the song “How Beautiful Heaven Must Be.” How true that is, we sing songs like the “Paradise Valley” and we think about how wonderful it's going to be. Friend, heaven really is a beautiful place of rest. I want you to look in the Bible in Hebrews chapter four, and I want you to notice, now let's think about some passages that relate to heaven. Hebrews 4:9 listen to what the word of God says about the beautiful rest of heaven. Scripture says, "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." Think about how beautiful heaven's going to be. Think about how wonderful that place called heaven is and don't you want to go there? It's a place of rest.
You know, when you think about rest, imagine it this way. Let's say that you've gone out and you've worked harder than you have ever worked before. You have been involved in some type of strenuous manual labor from sunup to sundown, whatever that may be. You're tired, your body aches, and the one thing you want is rest for the old weary body. When you think about that, think about it in a spiritual sense. The soul and the spirit, which has fought with sin, which has struggled every day with the world, which has done battle against Satan, which is worn out and tired from all that- it's a place of rest for the spirit and the soul. There'll be no more sorrow, death, pain, or crying. All the sin, all those former things will have passed away. Don't you want to go to that beautiful place of rest where God himself is?
I need salvation, and I want to go to heaven because evil is going to be absent in heaven. I want you to notice next Revelation 21:4.The Bible says, "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there'll be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the
former things have passed away." The things that bring us so much heartache in this life don't exist on the other side. There'll be no death. Won't it be wonderful that when you get to heaven you'll never hear the news, you'll never read the obituary in the paper, and you’ll never have somebody call you and say, did you hear so and so died? No more death. There'll be no more crying. I won't have to shed tears on the other side. There'll be no more sorrow. There'll be no more pain. You won't hurt. We won't have to deal with disease, sickness, cancer, heart attacks, and strokes. All those former things will have passed away. Isn't it a beautiful picture of God in Revelation 21:4? God is pictured as wiping away every tear from their eyes.
When I think about this I think about an illustration. When I was a young kid sometimes we would stay at my grandmother's house, and I remember specifically we would play. We'd sometimes get rambunctious and as kids do sometime- you'd fall down and scrape your knee or sometime you'd hurt your elbow or you'd get hurt sometime. You go to your grandmother crying maybe. I remember every time, grandmother would take us up, and she'd take that apron that people in that day and age wore, and she'd take that apron, bring us up in her arms and she'd just wipe away every tear and before you knew it you didn't even know why you were crying. You didn't even know what was wrong. All you knew was that you were in that place of safety and grandma had wiped away every tear.
Friend I want you to think about God like that. What's heaven going to be like? It's a place of safety. There isn't the heartache and the pain that we face now. God is going to bring us up and wipe away every tear from our eye. We won't feel the things that we feel in this life. Heaven's going to be wonderful because God is going to be there. When I was a young person and I used to hear things about heaven, and I used to read the Bible as it spoke about heaven, I would often think that the things that are going to make heaven great are the jewels and the diamonds and the pearly gate, and the river, all those physical touchable images that we think about. I don't really think now that's the main thing that's going to make heaven great.
What is the number one thing that makes heaven great? I think Jesus mentioned it in Matthew 6:9. Jesus said, "In this manner, therefore pray Our Father who is in heaven." What makes heaven great? If God is in heaven that's what'll make heaven great-the God of love, I John 4:8, and the God of light, John 8:12. If Jesus Christ, the great sacrifice is there, that'll make heaven, heaven. Being in the presence of God for all eternity is Heaven. Living with the saints of old, being with loved ones who've passed on- that's heaven. That's what makes it wonderful! It's not necessarily the jewels or the pearly gates or the river- no, all those images are wonderful things, don't get me wrong, but if God's there, that's what makes heaven heaven.
Don't you want to go to heaven? I'll assure you of this today, heaven, no matter what you face, no matter what you have to go through, no matter what things you have to give up… heaven will be worth it all.
There's a final Bible passage that I want you to think about with me that really illustrates how heaven is worth whatever you've got to face and whatever you've got to give up to go there… heaven's worth it.
Listen to what Paul said in Romans 8:18. "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." What'd Paul say? Heaven's going to be worth it all. The sufferings you face now and the difficulties that you incur will all be worth it. People may laugh at you. People may mock you. You may have to face difficulties and challenges in this life. You may have to give up, and you may have to suffer to be a Christian.
Heaven's going to be worth it. The glory that's one day going to be revealed in us- it doesn't even compare. Those things don't even compare to what heaven's going to be like. Paul could definitely say that, could he not? He'd done a lot of things that were not pleasing to God. When he changed his life he truly gave up, didn't he? He spent his life spreading the gospel. Paul was stoned at certain times in Lystra and other areas, Iconium, Acts 14. He was beaten. He was stranded out in the sea. He
faced shipwreck. He was put in prison. All that, Paul said, isn't even worthy to be compared with what we'll one day receive.
Friend, I hope today that you'll think seriously about why we need salvation. I hope that you'll think with a view toward eternity. Are you thinking seriously about your soul? Are you thinking about the judgment day? Remember, Hebrews 9:27 says, “It’s appointed to man once to die and then the judgment.”
There are two things, only two that you can be sure of. We will all one day leave this life, no getting around that, and we'll all one day stand before the judgment seat of God.
Now in view of that, we've got to think seriously about our soul. This life is not what's important. The things of this life, the stuff, the pleasures, the junk that often gets in the way of people putting God first-that's not what's important. What's important is my soul and yours. Are you really thinking about eternity?
Have you really thought about how horrible hell's going to be? Can you imagine, just think seriously in your own mind, if I die outside of Christ, and I go to hell. Have I really thought about what that's going to be like? Friend, we're saying this because God doesn't want anybody to go there. We don't want anybody to go there. We love your eternal soul, and we want you to be saved. You've got to think seriously. The reality is, I will die, and I will be judged. The reality is, if I haven't obeyed the gospel and lived right, or I live and die in sin, I will be lost in hell. Hell is a place of torment, fire, and a place of mental recognition. It’s a place of separation and a place where you'll be with the devil and his angels for all eternity.
Are you thinking seriously about your soul in view of heaven, a beautiful place of rest? Heaven is a place where God is, a place where evil and all the things of this life do not haunt us, and a place where you can spend eternity with loved ones who've gone on before you, who are also saved.
Now friend, if you're thinking about these things seriously today, the question you need to be asking is, am I right with God? Have I obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ? Am I a Christian and have I obeyed God's will? Now here's what we'd ask you to consider. Some people think they are a Christian, think they've obeyed the gospel, and they've not really been taught the truth on salvation.
What does the Bible say you've got to do to be saved? Friend, you must hear the word of God to be saved. “Faith comes be hearing, hearing by the word of God.” Are you willing to listen to what God and God alone says in the Bible? If you are, do you believe that Jesus is the savior of the world? Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will surely die in your sins,” John 8:24. Would you be willing to repent and turn to God? Luke 13:3 and 13:5, Jesus said, "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish." Are you willing to change your way of thinking and change your way of acting? Would you turn from sin and turn to God? Would you confess in the name of Jesus before men? Romans 10:10 says, "With the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." And friend would you, to have every sin washed away, to become a Christian, be baptized in water for the forgiveness of your sins?
Here's what the Bible teaches. Jesus said in Mark 16:16, "He that believes and is baptized will be saved." Peter said in Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins.” Saul was told, "Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins," Acts 22:16. Baptism is that which puts us into Christ, Galatians 3:27. Peter so clearly said, “Baptism does now also save us.”
More than anything we want you to be saved. We want people to go to heaven and to miss out on hell.
We urge you today; we're begging you, if you've never obeyed the gospel, if you are not a Christian or you've got sin in your life, please make that right.
More than anything we want to see you one day in heaven with all the saved.
Study Questions for:
“Salvation: Lesson 3”
1. According to 2 Corinthians 5:10, what will we all do?
2. In Luke 16:24, why did the rich man want relief?
3. What does Jesus say about hell in Mark 9:44?
4. What does Revelation 14 say about hell?
5. According to Luke 16:25, is there mental recognition in hell?
6. According to Luke 16:26, is there eternal separation in hell?
7. According to Hebrews 4:9, what will the people of Heaven receive?
8. According to Revelation 21:4, what will Heaven be like?
9. What will be absent in Heaven according to Revelation 21:4?
10. According to Hebrews 9:27, what will we all experience?
Saved From What?
May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ
The greatest question ever asked is found in Acts 16:30-31. The Philippian jailer said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" No greater question in all the world can be asked and answered by the Bible and by every individual. But today as we think about the subject of salvation, we want to ask the question- saved from what?
If the Philippian jailer realized he needed to be saved, what did he need to be saved from? Did he need to be saved from society? Did he need to be saved from modern thinking of that day? Did he need to be saved from the threat on his life that might be made by being a part of the Roman government and these men getting out? What exactly did he need to be saved from? Those are the things that we're going to be thinking about today in our study of salvation.
What did the Philippian jailer need to be saved from? Friend this is such an important question that is really worthy of every person's serious consideration. To answer this question properly, we don't want to give human opinion. We don't want to go to some poll or look at what might be popular today. The only way to answer this question is to go directly to the source, the Bible. Romans 4:3, we want to let God's word answer it. For Paul asked the question in Romans 4:3, "What does the scripture say?" That's all that matters. That's all that we're concerned about today.
What does the scripture say that man is being saved from? Let's also realize that once we go to the right source, we've got to also realize human wisdom, (my thinking, your thinking, society's thinking) can't adequately answer the question. We're not here today to tell you what we think, or to tell you what others think, or what some theologian somewhere might think They can't answer that question correctly. Only God can.
Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 10:23, "Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It's not in man who walks to direct his own steps." Man can't figure out his own path to salvation. He needs God's direction. In Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 says this, "There is a way that seems right to a man." What about that way? "The end thereof is the way of destruction." The way it seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death or destruction. Let's not put our trust in human thinking on this subject. Let's put our trust in God. Notice the words of Proverbs 28:26. The Bible says, "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool. But whoever walks wisely will be delivered." God and His wisdom and His teaching can deliver me from the problem that I need saved from. But only God can give me that advice. And so what is it man needs to be saved from?
Let's realize that it's sin that we need to be saved from. Now friend, let's each be honest today. Sin is a reality that every person of an accountable age has to deal with. Like it or not, want to think about it or not, I've got to come to terms with the fact that if I'm of an accountable age and a right mind, - I have sinned. You have sinned. We need salvation from that sin. Listen to Romans 3:23. The Bible says, "All". How many? "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." If all have sinned, then I have sinned. Ecclesiastes 7:20, the Bible says, "There's not a righteous man on the face of the earth who does good and does not sin." Every person, even the most righteous among us, has to deal with the sin problem. I need salvation from that sin because if I remain in it and if I die in it- I'll be lost. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death." Isaiah 59:1-2, "Sin separates a man from God." Why? Habakkuk 1:12-13 says, "God is of purer eyes than to behold evil. He cannot look upon wickedness."
It is our sin that every one of us at one point in time or another has committed that we need to be saved from. Let's realize that God does have a lot to say on the subject of sin in His word. We live in a society today that we almost don't like to think about and talk about sin. People don't want to mention anything that might be sinful or wrong today. They don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, don't want to make anybody feel bad. Let's realize we've got to say what God says on the subject of sin so that people can be saved. Our responsibility is to "speak as the oracles of God", 1 Peter 4:11.
Why would we ever allow anyone else outside of Jesus and the words of the Bible to teach us on this subject? I love the words of Luke 11:1, the disciple said to Jesus, "Lord, teach us." 'Teach us to pray' was their request. That’s how we ought to think today on the subject of sin. We want Jesus to teach us about sin.
Now friend, as you think about this subject, and as we think about listening to the voice of God, letting God speak to us on this problem, let's also realize that sin is a reality that man has no cure for. No matter how hard he might try, no matter how long he might look, man can't solve the sin problem. In Jeremiah 2:22, here's what God said to Israel about their sin problem. God said, "Though you wash with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is ever before me." If you get something on your hand, or if you get something on your clothes, you can go to the sink, you can get a bar of soap or a bottle of soap, you can put that on your hands, and you can wash it. Most of the time you can get it off. You get something on your clothes, you can put a little detergent in the washing machine and run that through a cycle, and you can get rid of it. God said that's not how it works with sin. "Though you wash with lye and use much soap, yet your iniquity is ever before me." What's God say? You're not going to take care of the sin problem with soap and water. You can't get enough lye and enough soap to deal with the sin problem. Man needs God's help. Man needs God's direction to deal with it.
Listen to Proverbs 30:12. God said, "There is a generation that is pure in its own eyes, yet it is not washed from its filthiness." Man can't deal with it in and of himself. He needs God's help to be right with Him.
Let's also realize God does have the cure. Thank God that He has the cure and the remedy for the sin problem. What is that cure? Jesus is the answer. Matthew 1:21, "You shall call his name Jesus." Why? "He'll save His people from their sins.” Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." 1 Peter 2:24, "He bore our sins in His own body upon on the tree that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness by whose stripes we are healed.” God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life," John 3:16.
Those verses clearly and beautifully illustrate that the remedy for sin is found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God wants to forgive, Micah 7:18. "God wants to pardon man from sin," Nehemiah 9:17. And God is willing to abundantly pardon or forgive us of our sins,” Isaiah 55:7. He can only do that through the plan and the person of Jesus Christ.
Let's think today about the subject of sin and how one can overcome this problem.
We ask first and foremost- what is sin? When you think about sin, there's a very descriptive, there's a very clear way of describing and defining that from the scripture. We mention three passages that help us with that.
What is sin? 1 John 3:14, "Sin is a transgression of God's law." When we think about sin, we think about breaking God's law. If you're driving in a car and you go over the speed limit, you break the laws of that land. The police or the department of safety individual may be able or will give you a ticket if he catches you doing that. Why? You've transgressed the law. Well friend, this is God's perfect law of liberty, James 1:25. This is the law that I'm going to be judged by on the Day of Judgment, John 12:48. If I break this law, if I transgress this law, if I know what the Bible tells me to do, or if I do something that I'm not supposed to in the word of God, then friend I have broken or transgressed God's law. That is a sin. 1 John 5:17 would be the second verse. "All unrighteousness is defined as sin." Not only transgressing, but when I know it's right that I do this, and I know it's right
that I have this type of character or this type of action in my life, and I do the opposite- I have done that which is unright, or unrighteous. I have fallen into sin. Breaking the law of God is doing what is wrong in the sight of God. Then a third passage helps us to understand what sin is so we can avoid it and be saved from it is James 4:17. "For him that knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is a sin." Now this is more of not doing anything that may be right-we haven't really gone out and broken any law maybe. We haven't really gone out and done anything that's wicked-but if I know that it's good to help the poor and if I know that it's good to spread the Gospel and encourage and I just don't do anything- that inaction, knowing when I ought to act, knowing that I should have acted, knowing that I should have done right and doing nothing on my part- the Bible says that's also contrary to the will of God, and is a sin.
Let's think a little bit about how the Bible describes sin so that we can better understand the heart of God on sin. 2 Corinthians 7:1, the apostle Paul describes sin in the terms of defilement, something that makes man defiled or dirty, unclean in the sight of God. Listen to these words. Paul said, "Therefore having these promises beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." What is sin? It's defilement or it's filthy. Think about the last time you got mud, or you got oil, or you got just something filthy on your hands. How'd that make you feel? How bad did you want to get to the sink and get some soap and wash that off? Well pretty quickly right? It made you feel pretty nasty. Well sin, in God's way of thinking, is a defilement of His creation.
God also describes sin in the sense of a stain or a spot on that which ought to be pure and holy. James 1:27, James says, "Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this, to visit the widows and the orphans in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained or unspotted from the world." If you've got a white shirt, let's say you've got a white shirt on, and you've got an ink pen in the pocket, and you probably may have had this happen. That black ink pen eventually leaks. And now you've got a big black spot right here on this white shirt. How bad does that look? How much did it mess up that white garment? Can you use that? Probably not. Probably
have to throw the thing away. Why? Because now it's spotted or it's stained. God wants us to be pure and holy. "Be holy as he who called you is holy," 1 Peter 1:15. When we have sin in our life, God describes that as a sin or a stain on that which ought to be holy and right in His sight.
There's a third description that I want you to think about with me today. Psalm 38:4. David said this. "My sins have gone over my head like a heavy burden. They're too heavy for me to bear." How does the scripture describe sin? It's a heavy burden that you just can't bear on your own. You ever tried to lift something that you just knew was too heavy for you? Have you tried to lift some big heavy load and you hurt your back? Or maybe you've tried to lift something and you kind of got under that weight and you almost couldn't get out from under it. Friend, sin is a burden around your neck. It's a burden on your back. It's something that you cannot bear. If you've been in sin, you know what the scripture is talking about. Carrying that weight around, knowing that you've done something wrong, knowing that you're not right with God, knowing that that burden is on your heart and mind and you need to have it dealt with, and until you do, you'll never release that weight that's bearing you down.
Sin is a filthiness or defilement. It's a stain or a spot. It is a burden that will bear you down until you let God and Christ help you with that. This is why Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. My yoke is easy, my burden is light." Jesus is able to help us with the weight and the burden of our sin.
Now as you think about sin, and that which we need to be saved from, let's also think about God's thinking about this subject of sin. The Bible says "God has no pleasure in sin," Psalm 5:4. I think sometimes, men kind of take pleasure in. We talk about it in words that describe it as very pleasurable. And yet Psalm 5:4 says, "God has no pleasure in sin." Hebrews 1:9, "Jesus hates lawlessness or wickedness.” God doesn't delight in it. Christ hates it. And Nahum 1:3 says this, "There is no acquittal for the wicked." Governments, presidents, pardon boards, parole boards, they may acquit or they may pardon somebody. They may have committed a crime, and they may eventually be free from that. There's not going to be
any acquittal for sin unless we obey the Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The problem again is that all have sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. The problem is that sin is of my own doing because sin has entered my life I have the effects of that in my heart and mind.
The penalty of sin, if it's not dealt with, is going to be devastating to one's life. Realize these things with me today. The Bible teaches that sin, ultimately, is going to bring spiritual death. Ephesians 2:1 Paul said, "To those who have obeyed the Gospel that although they once were dead in their trespasses and sins, they'd been set free." But listen to those words again. "You He made alive who were dead in your trespasses and sins." Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death."
When we think about sin and why a person needs to be saved from that, sin is going to lead to spiritual death. Matthew 25:46, "The righteous will go away into eternal life. The unrighteous into eternal death.” What else does sin do? Sin separates me from that which I need the most, God. Isaiah 59:1-2, "The Lord's ear's not heavy that he cannot hear. Lord's arm's not shortened. Your sins and your iniquities have separated you from your God.” What makes sin so devastating? Sin separates me from the source of all light. "God is light,” John 8:12, and "the source of all love", 1 John 4:8, and that which is good and holy and right. You do not want to be separated from God for all eternity.
Thirdly, we mentioned sin is so devastating because it is sin that sent Jesus to the cross. When you think about the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the shame, the horror, the tragedy, the pain that was involved in that where Jesus actually had nails nailed into his hands and feet where he hung, suspended between heaven and earth, and struggled for every breath until he died-why'd he do that? For sin. "He bore our sins in his own body," 1 Peter 2:24, "He was chastised for our sin, bruised for our iniquity. By His stripes, we've been healed."
When you think about the devastating effects of sin and the length, the depth that God went to save man, look at what Jesus had to suffer. We
want you to think real clearly about this with us today from the scripture. When we talk about being saved from sin, that is the ‘what’ that we're saved from. Let's realize if a person remains in sin, the end result is that person will be lost in a devil's hell for eternity.
I know nobody likes to think about Hell. Hell's a bad place. You're right it is. But to really understand the necessity of salvation, let's realize there is a place called Hell. Mark 9:44, Jesus said, "Hell is a place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." That word for worm would be akin to our word for maggot. What's Hell like? It's a place where the maggot never dies and the fire is never put out. Think about the words of Luke 16:19-31. You've got the illustration of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man awoke in torments. "Father Abraham have mercy on me. I'm tormented in this flame. Send Lazarus to get just one drop of water that I can be comforted." Nope, there's no getting out. "Send word back to my brothers.” They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them." Can't you hear the echo for all eternity of the rich man? I'm tormented in these flames. Friend do you want to spend eternity in Hell in torment and fire and anguish forever?
Then realize that's the penalty of living a life in sin and dying in that. Matthew 13:40-42, it's going to be a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. When you think about- what do I need to be saved from, nobody in their right mind, honestly thinking about their soul, would consider sin and the fact that it's going to cause you to be lost in Hell for eternity and not do anything about it.
Now let's shift gears though and let's think about the positive.
There is a cure. There is a remedy, and there is a sacrifice for sin. That is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you say to yourself today, ‘I want to be saved from sin. I don't want to be lost. I don't want to be separated from God. I don't want to keep living with this burden around my neck for all eternity, or all this life. What do I need to do to get rid of the sin problem?’
Friend, the good news is Jesus is the answer to that. Jesus is the cure to the sin problem. Hebrews 10:12, "This man, Jesus after He had offered one sacrifice for sin forever sat down at the right hand of the Father." Jesus said, "This is my blood on the new covenant that is shed for many for the remission of sins." ‘He tasted death for every man,’ Hebrews 2:9. God sent His son to die for sin and to die for us so that we don't have to be lost. Do you remember what Jesus said about being saved from sin? Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No man comes to the Father except by me."
Friend, you cannot be saved from sin outside of Jesus Christ. “You'll call His name Jesus,” why? "He'll save his people from their sins", Matthew 1:21. Jesus is the cure. We realize Jesus is the only way to be saved. We need to realize there can be no salvation without obedience to the words of Jesus and recognizing and honoring him as Lord.
Do you remember again Matthew 7:21? Jesus said to those of his day and age, some said, "Lord do we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out many demons in your name; do many good works in your name?" Jesus said, "Depart from me you workers of iniquity. I never knew you." And then He would go on to say, "It's not everybody that says ‘Lord, Lord’ is going to heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven."
Let's think about that for a moment. What does the Bible say you've got to do to be saved from sin? Friend, the Bible makes it abundantly clear. On the first day that the Gospel was preached on the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and he proclaimed the message of salvation. They heard the word of God. You've got to listen to and hear what God says before you can even begin to be saved, Romans 10:17. They believed Jesus was the son of God. They cried out ‘men and brethren, what shall we do?’ That implies when Peter said, "let all the house of Israel know surely, God made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ." They realized, then and there, Jesus is the son of God. Jesus said, "Unless you believe that I am he, you will surely die in your sins." Once you have heard the word and believed in Jesus, you then must be willing to repent. Peter said in Acts 2:38, "Repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of your
sins." Once you have repented, then friend you've got to do what Peter said. You must be baptized to be saved. Listen to what Jesus said. Jesus said, "Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
Have you heard the message? Do you believe in Jesus? Are you willing to repent of sin? Would you acknowledge Him as Savior? And would you be baptized in water for the forgiveness of your sins? That Philippian jailer knew it. "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Do you realize that you've got to be saved from sin?
I hope and pray today that you realize that and that you'll get your life right with God before it's too late.
Study Questions for:
“Salvation: Lesson 4”
1. What great question is asked in Acts 16:30-31?
2. In Romans 4:3, what question is asked that we should always ask today about matters?
3. What does Jeremiah 10:23 say about the way of man?
4. According to Romans 3:23, who has sinned?
5. What are the wages of sin according to Romans 6:23?
6. According to 1 Peter 4:11, how should we speak?
7. According to Jeremiah 2:22, can man deal with the sin problem?
8. According to 1 Peter 2:24, who bore our sins?
9. According to John 3:16, what did God give? Why?
10. How is sin described in Psalm 38:4?
Things That Save-1
May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ
The Scripture says, “God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth,” 1 Timothy 2:4.
We're so glad that you joined us today for our study on the wonderful subject of salvation. In this series we've been discussing things that brought salvation about the importance of it- why a man needs salvation.
Now we're going to think about-what does the Bible say plays a part and is essential in man's salvation?
As we think about these we want to see the practicality of them in our lives as well. What is it that the Bible says is essential to salvation?
We begin at the top of the list with the source and originator of salvation himself - God. The Bible teaches that God saves. God is the source of all salvation. I want you to notice with me the words of Romans 8:33 as Paul discusses salvation and how there is no condemnation in Christ. ‘It is God who justifies the word.’ Justify carries the idea of being free from sin. ‘Just as if I'd never sinned’ is the idea. Justify and salvation are terms that go hand in hand in this idea. Who is it that justifies? Friend, it is God who is the author of salvation. Hebrews 5:8-9 teaches us Jesus or God is the author of eternal salvation. It's God who in
the beginning put the plan in place. Genesis Chapter 3 when sin entered into the world, when Adam and Eve were lost because of their own sin, God at that point began to make a way of salvation. The seed of woman would bring a death blow, a crushing blow, to the head of Satan, Genesis 3:15. Throughout time with the patriarchs Abraham, to David, and through Solomon up to the point of Jesus God was working putting His plan into action to save mankind.
Without God, without a belief in God, without a conviction of God, without knowing that God is the true source of salvation- there is no hope for mankind. God is indeed essential to our salvation. Do we have that belief in God? Are we convicted that the Bible is indeed the word of God? Are we willing? Here's what's so practical and important about this- it doesn't matter what I think or you think or what somebody else says about salvation. Are we willing to go to God and His word? He is the source of salvation. If I don't factor in God, there is no salvation. I've got to be ready to listen to what God says on the matter.
Secondly, and this goes hand in hand with God, we also realize that Jesus Christ is essential to salvation. Without Christ there is no salvation. You're very well familiar with it probably if you've ever read or heard much about the Bible at all. John 3:16 says this, "For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Without Jesus, there's no salvation. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me," John 14:6. When Jesus came into the world it was said, “You will call his name Emmanuel,” which is translated God with us. “You'll call his name Jesus. He'll save his people from their sins,” Matthew 1:19-21. Even back in time we see God's promises that through that seed of woman he was going to crush the head of Satan. It was made to the promised Abraham and Genesis 12, "That in your seed, all nations will be blessed.” That same promise was reiterated to Isaac, Genesis 22:17-18. Further down the line to David it was said that someone of his seed would sit on the throne of David and would reign forever. Who is that? This promise was made to Mary in Luke 1:32-33. “He'll be great. He'll be called the Son of the Highest. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he'll reign over the house of Israel forever and of his kingdom there will be no end." Who is that seed? Who is that one who's going to reign? It's Christ. Without Jesus there is no salvation. Galatians 3:15-19 Paul specifically says, "And to your seed who is Christ."
Friend, as we think about salvation and how that's possible, we've got to factor in the life the death the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Think about how His life made salvation possible. “He was tempted in all points as we are yet without sin,” Hebrews 4:15. When John the Immerser saw Jesus approaching he said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” His perfect life was a perfect sacrifice and offering for the sins of the world. “He himself bore our sins in His own body upon the tree,” 1 Peter 2:24. And so, we look at His life, His death, and look at what Jesus did so I could have salvation. “He was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. By His stripes we are healed,” Isaiah 53:3 - 5. Look at His burial. Jesus was buried in the ground. Death did not contain Him. He rose up out of the grave. He conquered death, and His resurrection based on the hope and the joy of Christianity as well. That's where we put our trust and our hope that although I may die and leave this life- because I am a Christian and I have obeyed the gospel, because of the blood of Jesus- I have the hope of overcoming death and the hope of the resurrection. Without Christ there is no salvation. How thankful to God we ought to be for the son of God.
Thirdly and again directly related to God and to Jesus, we also realize that the Holy Spirit played a vital part in man's salvation. He is attributed in part to the sanctification or salvation of man. Listen to the words of 1 Corinthians 6:11. The Bible records this talking to Christians in Corinth Paul says, "And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord God or the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God.” The Holy Spirit also played a part in man's salvation. The Spirit revealed God's message. That spirit worked through the prophets and the Apostles and the men in the first century in getting that plan, the revelation of that plan and the knowledge of it, to mankind. This is how the Holy Spirit is how we received the word of God. The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it is this message. Without the message, I wouldn't know about salvation. The Holy Spirit is also important equally important in the sanctification and salvation of mankind.
How thankful I ought to be to God for being the author and originator of salvation and to Jesus Christ for making the ultimate sacrifice and offering for salvation and to the Holy Spirit revealing that message and that plan to mankind!
Now as we think about other areas other things that the Bible says are also important in man's salvation. We need to realize that the Bible says faith is an essential attribute that man must possess if he's going to be saved. Notice the words of Hebrews 11:6. The Bible says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him." Can I be saved, can I please God, and can I live with God if I don't have faith? No. Without faith it is impossible to please Him.
When we talk about faith we're talking about that conviction that we have based on the evidence of God in both creation and in the word of God. Hebrews 11:1 says “faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not yet seen.” Faith is based on substance and evidence. Where do we go to get that faith? Romans10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." If I don't have a conviction based off the evidence from the word of God and other evidence as well that there is a God that Jesus Christ is His son and that the Holy Spirit revealed that message to us in the Bible, there's no way I can be saved. I've got to trust in God if I'm going to be saved.
And friend, please understand when we talk about faith we talk about trusting in God. We're not just talking about ‘Ok I accept the fact or accept the idea’- that's not Bible faith. Romans 1:5 and Romans 16:26 says that it is the ‘obedience of faith.’ John 6:29, "This is the work of God that you believe." That's the same word used for faith that you believe on Him who he sends. Faith is an action word. It requires us to respond properly to the evidence that we see in the Word of God. If I don't have the faith to trust God and to follow Him, I can't be saved. There's no way salvation can be possible without faith in Almighty God.
We also want to mention this idea to you. Without the Bible, the revelation of God's message, there can be no salvation. Notice James 1:21 the word of God says, "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word (notice now) which is able to save your soul." 1 Peter 1:22-25, "We are born again by the word of God which lives and abides forever." I understand as well as you that it is God who started salvation. Jesus made the offering and things like that and how essential we've already mentioned that is, but how would you know about that without the Bible? You cannot be saved without learning about God's plan of salvation that's found right
here in the word of God. How essential and important the Bible is to my salvation and yours! You see this is where I learn about God. The Bible tells us this is God's word. 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable." Psalm 119:160, ‘the entirety of God's word is truth.’ And you remember what Jesus said about that truth. ‘You've got to know the truth and then the truth will make you free,’ John 8:32. We want to factor in that the Bible teaches the Word of God is essential unto salvation. If there were a way to be saved, I'd have to know about it. Right? I'd have to know what God said. Well that's what the Bible is about telling us- God's plan of salvation. Men can't save us. “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death,” Proverbs 16:25. And yet in the long ago Jeremiah said, "Oh Lord I know the way of man is not of himself. It's not in man who walks to direct his own steps." God is the source of salvation. I've got to follow His word if I'm going to be saved.
Friend, this is why studying the Bible for yourself is so important. Don't just believe it because somebody says it. Don't just go somewhere on a Sunday and sit in a building and listen to somebody and say well that must be true. Romans 14:10-12, each of us shall give an account of himself to God. I'm accountable to study, 2 Timothy 2:15, and to prove all things, 1 Thessalonians 5:21. This is why I have a copy of the Bible. This is why God gave us the Bible, so we can make sure that we're right with Him. The word of God is also essential to salvation.
The Bible also says the proclamation, the telling, the preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ, is an essential part of salvation as well. Listen to the words of 1 Corinthians 1:21. Paul said, "For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, (Listen to this) it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." Is preaching the gospel essential to salvation? There are people who have never heard about God. There are people that don't know about the Bible. There are people who, don't take this wrong way, who just don't know and are ignorant of the message of salvation- meaning they've never heard that. When people take the Bible and go places and preach the Gospel to those who have never heard it, that's an essential element for without hearing it. Without hearing the gospel that there is a God that Jesus made a way of salvation that that's available to mankind-there can be no salvation. We need to preach the word, 2 Timothy 4:2. We need to speak as God speaks, 1 Peter 4:11. We need to teach sound doctrine, Titus 2:1. We always just want to put the emphasis on- "Is
there any word from the Lord?" "What does the scripture say?" Romans 4:3. It's not man's ideas. It's not funny stories or cute tales or things like that are going to get me into heaven. It's the preaching of the good news. It's telling others about Jesus, His salvation, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and what this book the Bible says man must do to be saved.
Another element that the Bible says is essential to salvation is listening to or hearing that message with the right attitude. If I'm not willing to listen to what God's word says or hear God's word, I can't be saved. I want to direct your attention to the Bible passage that teaches that Romans 10:17. The Bible says, "So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Now we understand that verse and that verse just simply teaches that if I'm going to get faith, it comes by hearing reading, studying, listening to the Word of God and so we say what that says and we understand that. But I want you to back up in your mind just a minute to a verse that we mentioned earlier. How do we know hearing saves and is essential?
Do you remember Hebrews 11:6? “Without faith it's impossible to please God.” And so we recognize that if I don't have faith, I can't please God. I've got to have faith. That's essential right? Well if faith is essential, whatever process by which I get faith is also essential. Correct? Listen again to Romans 10:17. How do you get that faith which is essential? "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." Friend, I cannot get faith, which is essential to please God, without hearing the word of God. Therefore I need, if I'm going to be saved, I need the attitude that I'm ready to listen.
I love the words of Isaiah 6 and the statement of Samuel in 1 Samuel 2 and 3. Both in essence were given messages by God and they, in essence, said “Speak Lord. Your servant hears.” I want to listen. Jesus said to every one of the seven congregations in Asia Minor Jesus said, "To him that has ears to hear let him hear." I've got to be very careful, very attentive, very open minded to what the Bible says. We want to go the right source. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the voice of God came down and said, "This my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him." I want to go to the right source. I want to realize Jesus has all authority, Matthew 28:18. If I don't have that attitude and that willingness- there's no way I can be saved. That's why that that is essential to salvation.
We also learn from the scripture that not only is hearing essential to salvation, hearing what the Bible says, but once I hear the message the Bible teaches that repentance is also essential to salvation. I can't be saved if I'm not willing to repent. Listen to the words of Luke 13:3. Jesus said, "I tell you no, but unless you repent, you'll all likewise perish." Listen to 2 Corinthians 7:10. Paul says, "For godly sorrow produces repentance (Notice now) leading to salvation not to be regretted but the sorrow of the world produces death." Godly sorrow produces repentance which leads one toward salvation. Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. The Bible teaches that to be saved, I've got to change my ways. Acts 2:38 Peter preached, "Repent and be baptized for the remission of sin." Acts 3:19, "Repent and turn again or be converted that your sins may be blotted out."
When we say repent it means that I've got to change my way of thinking, and I've got to change my way of acting. When I hear the message of God, if there are things in my life that are not like they need to be- what does it mean to correctly hear God's word? I'm willing to change. I'm willing to address those issues in my life and willing to change that. I realize my thinking has not been the thinking of God on that issue and because of that my actions have not been what God would like for me to do either, and therefore I'm going to amend my ways. I'm going to think the right way and I'm going to act the right way. If a person is going to be saved that individual must be willing to repent and change their life to what God wants them to do.
Along with repentance we also realize from scripture that a person must acknowledge with his mouth that Jesus is the son of God to be saved. Did you know that the Bible says I've got to with my mouth confess Jesus is God's son to be saved. Look at Romans 10:10. "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation." We're not talking about somebody getting in a cubicle and another religious person across on the other side of the window and somebody is saying, "Father forgive me, I've sinned." You don't read that in the Bible. You don't find it. That's not what Jesus nor the Holy Spirit is talking about there. In fact we're told exactly what Jesus is talking about. Matthew 10:32-33 Jesus said this: "If you won't confess me before men neither will I confess you before My Father who is in heaven. But if you will confess me before men and I'll also confess you before My Father who is in heaven." We see an example of it in the conversion of the Ethiopian
eunuch. Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch are traveling down the road. He sees water asks the great question, "Here is water what does hinders me?" "If you believe with all your heart you may." And the man says this: "I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God." Friend, if I'm not willing to acknowledge the one I believe in, if I'm not willing to acknowledge the savior who died for me, if I won't orally have the courage to confess Him as Lord of my life and the master who I'm going to follow -there can be no salvation.
The Bible also teaches that baptism saves. Baptism is essential to salvation. There are a lot of folks who don't like that and a lot of people don't believe that. They say that's just not true. Well let's turn our attention to the Word of God. Does it matter what I think in all honesty as it relates to salvation? It doesn't matter what you think. What matters is- what does God's words say? Listen to the very clear words of 1 Peter 3:21. The Bible says, "There is also an anti-type (Listen to this) which now saves us - baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Now you can study the context and you can tell that's water baptism because its water that's dealing with Noah and it's that anti-type as well. That all applies to Christians in that context. But what does he say in context about water baptism there? "Baptism does ..." King James says it this way: "Baptism does now also save us."
Friend, may we ask it kindly to you in this way. If the Bible says and we just saw it in our own Bibles, if the Bible says baptism does now also save us- why in the world would anybody say baptism is not essential in salvation?
Today we ask you to think about these matters concerning salvation. Are they a part of your salvation? Have you put your trust in God and Christ and the Holy Spirit? Have you studied the Bible? Have you obeyed God's plan of salvation?
And if not, then friend, we urge you today to obey the Gospel become a Christian. Do what God says so you can be sure you can be sure that you have obeyed the gospel that you have God's salvation, and that one day you'll be in heaven forever.
Study Questions for:
“Salvation: Lesson 5”
1. According to 1 Timothy 2:4, what does God want?
2. According to Hebrews 5:8-9, who is author to eternal salvation?
3. According to John3:16, what did God give? Why?
4. According to John 14:6, how can we get to God?
5. What did Matthew 1:19-21 say Jesus would do?
6. How was Jesus tempted according to Hebrews 4:15?
7. According to 1 Peter 2:24, who bore our sins?
8. According to James 1:21, what does the word of God do?
9. What does 1 Peter 1:22-25 say about the Word of god?
10. According to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, where does scripture come from?
Things That Save-2
May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ
The Bible says that ‘the Lord is not slow concerning His promises as some men count slowness but He's longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.’
We welcome you to our study of the subject of salvation. As you've just heard from the Bible verse that we mentioned, the God of heaven, Jesus Christ, wants every person to be saved. That's the heart and that's the mind of God. God doesn't want nor is it His desire that anybody would be lost. And so today, we're thinking about the second part in a study of the things the Bible says are necessary in man's salvation. In our previous lesson, as we discussed this subject, we noted that God was necessary for salvation, that Jesus Christ made it available, that the Holy Spirit played an integral part in that and that salvation is given to man through the Godhead, that our faith is important, that faith only comes by hearing the Word of God, which is essential to our salvation, and that the preaching of the gospel and God's plan of salvation- all those things are indeed essential.
Today, we're going to notice some other things the Bible says are essential in man's salvation. One of the things that the Bible indeed says is essential to salvation is the grace of our God.
I want you to notice the words of Ephesians 2:8-9 with me. The Bible says, “For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” No doubt about the fact that grace is part in man's salvation. Without grace, there'd be no salvation. It's by grace that salvation is available. The word grace is an interesting idea. You look at its root meaning and it carries the idea of undeserved or unmerited favor. God found favor in man although man did nothing to earn or deserve that. God wanted to save man, although man was without hope and lost- Ephesians 2:1, Romans 5:6-8. It's God good pleasure, His desire, to save man. That grace is one of the most beautiful ideas that you find in the Bible. The exhibition of it, the showing of that grace is found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. John 1:17 says ‘the Law came through Moses but grace and truth are in Christ.’ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, ‘though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor, that we, through His poverty, might be made rich.’ Our God is the God of all grace and therefore, He has made that salvation available by His grace. We're saved by grace and as we've already mentioned, through faith. Faith is essential as well. Hebrews 11:6 says without faith, it's impossible to please God. Grace, that's God's part. God gave man His unmerited favor when man was completely hopeless and lost in sin. Man responds to that gift of grace in faith. That's man's part. We must obey God, Matthew 7:21 and following.
We want to especially identify and show the richness of God's grace found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Bible also teaches that another thing that saves us is God's mercy.
Listen to the words of Titus 3:5. The scripture records, ‘it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.’ I haven't earned it. I haven't merited it. I can't look up to heaven and say ‘God, I've done these things, therefore I deserve.’ No, through His mercy He saved us. Someone put a kind of a unique definition on that fits what the scripture teaches about both grace and mercy. They said grace is when God allows us to receive what we don't deserve -that's His unmerited favor and His gift in His Son. Mercy is when God allows us to escape what
we do deserve. How true that is. What am I being allowed to escape that I do deserve? Well, think about it for a moment with me. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. The scripture says the soul who sins shall surely die, Ezekiel 18:4. When I think about the idea of mercy and man being allowed to escape what he deserved, I've sinned. You've sinned if you're of an accountable age. The wages of that sin is spiritual death and separation from God.
Where's the mercy of God in salvation? The very fact that through the sacrifice of Jesus and the love of God, I don't have to get what I deserved for my sin. Psalm 103:10-12 I think illustrates the mercy of God as beautifully as any verse in the scripture. The Bible says ‘the Lord's not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.’ What's that verse say? Exactly what mercy says. I didn't get what I deserved for my sins. How thankful I am to God for the fact that mercy is an integral part of God's salvation to mankind.
Let's think about another idea that goes right hand in hand with grace and mercy and is really the motivating factor of God's salvation-it is the love of God that is so essential to my salvation and yours. Again, we remind you of the words of John 3:16. “God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Why did God make salvation available? Friend, because God loves you and God loves me. 1 Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your care upon Him. He cares for you. While we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man one might die, yet perhaps for a good man, some would even dare to die. God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God loves you and how do you know that? Through the demonstration of His love. What is that? Look at Jesus on the cross. Look at Jesus as He faced the suffering He faced. Look at Jesus as He was buried in the tomb. That's the demonstration of just how much God loves you and just how much God loves me. Were it not for the love of God, there'd be no salvation. I would be hopeless, helpless, lost, and headed down to the road of destruction without the marvelous love of God. I'll
assure you, no one has ever loved you like God loves you. No one has ever done more and given more and sacrificed more for your betterment and your salvation than God has. The fact of that alone, the fact of how much God loves me and how much He loves you ought to motivate us to want to be obedient to the God of Heaven and spend eternity with Him in His salvation.
Let's then turn our attention to another item that the Bible says is essential to salvation-the blood, or the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want you to notice the words of Hebrews 7:27. The Bible says ‘of Jesus who does not daily as those high priests, those under the Old Testament, need to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the peoples.’ Listen to this, ‘for this He did, once for all, when He offered up Himself. Jesus gave His life, His blood once for everybody for sin.’ Hebrews 10:12 puts it this way, ‘and this man, after He made one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.’ What was that sacrifice? It was His own life.
You remember the events surrounding the cross of Jesus, Calvary, and Golgotha. Think about it in your mind for just a moment. Jesus is taken by ungodly men. He's bound by them. He's taken to be questioned in the praetorian. He's laughed at. He's mocked. People spit in His face. They take the hand and they strike Jesus. They beat Him with something like a whip with large metal shards put in it or glass, bone maybe. His back is bloody, and the blood begins to flow from Jesus. Then a purple robe was placed on Him, a crown of thorns piercing into His brow, reopening the wounds that have been beaten. His hands and feet are nailed to a cruel cross. He's suspended in agony between heaven and earth and that blood of Christ that flowed down freely on Calvary is what saves me and you. Jesus said it this way. In Matthew 26:28 Jesus, as He taught His disciples about the Lord's Supper said, “This is My blood of the new covenant shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Without the blood of Christ, there is no salvation. It's what paid the price. It's the offering that appeased God's wrath and His hatred for sin. Because of His Son's perfect life and sacrifice, salvation could be available for mankind. Jesus' blood is such an important part of salvation.
As I think about what the Savior did for me, as I think about all the things He gave up, leaving Heaven, coming to this earth, doing all the good that He did, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, helping the poor, casting out demons of those who were possessed, and then I think about that great sacrifice- how moved I am to want to live every day for Jesus Christ and to be thankful for the salvation that God has offered!
Along with the blood of Christ, we also want to realize that the Bible says that the life of Jesus also played an integral part in salvation. I want to direct your attention to the words of Romans 5:10. Listen to these words. Paul says, “For if when 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.” It's the death that reconciles us, but notice, he says “we're saved by His life.” But what about the life of Jesus that plays, what part of His life is important to salvation? I understand His death, but how does Jesus' life save us?
Well Friend, that life was a perfect life and that life sets the pattern and I have and you have. Christians have that life to follow, and we're promised if we set the pattern of Jesus' life for us to follow, that's the life that'll get us to heaven. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:21 ‘for to this were you called, because Christ also suffered and died for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in His footsteps.’ 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul said ‘imitate me as I also imitate Christ.’ If I'll have the mind of Christ, Philippians 2:5, if I will try to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, study the life of Christ, deal with problems and situations and life and the devil and sin the way Jesus did, for in that life will save you. That mindset, that attitude and that caliber of life will ultimately lead to one doing the things that please God.
The encouragement is: let's emulate the life of Jesus! Let's look at it as the premier example of a life that is dedicated in service to God and a life that I need to hold up as a role model and follow every day.
As you think about Jesus and His blood and His life, let's also realize, and I know we've mentioned this as well, but we want to surely make note that another thing the Bible says is so essential in salvation is the death of
Jesus. Listen to Romans chapter 5, and I want you to notice what the Bible says about Christ's death. The Bible says in Romans 5:9, ‘much more than, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.’ What are they talking about when they say the blood of Jesus? The death, the sacrifice, and the offering. We're justified and saved by the blood of the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The fact that He did not love His life more than He loved me, more than He loved you and more than He loved God is a testament to the magnitude and the power of His salvation.
Friend, we then mention this as well as it relates to salvation the Bible teaches that the good news, or the gospel of Jesus Christ saves us. Notice Romans 1:16. Paul says, ‘for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it, the gospel of Christ, is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.’ What is it that's the power of God to salvation? The gospel. Paul says ‘I'm not ashamed of it.’ Why? ‘The gospel is God's power to salvation.’ When we say gospel, that's a word that means really in its basic sense means good news. The good news of Jesus Christ is God's power to salvation. That good news, of course, we mentioned many of the facets of it already- His life, His example, His death, and His sacrifice, the death, the burial and the resurrection of Christ-1 Corinthians 15:1-3. Friend, that's God's power to salvation. We don't want to underestimate the gospel of Christ. We read about it in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the good news of the life of Christ. You can't have salvation without that good news. And aren't you thankful there's good news today?
There's so much negative in the world. There's so much negative on the internet. There's so much negative in television. You watch the news, whether it be international or national news and the majority of that news, like it or not, is going to be negative. It's not good news. It's not something you turn on and are glad to hear. The gospel is good news.
Now Friend, sometimes people will understand these ideas that grace and mercy and the gospel and those things are essential in salvation, but they fail to realize the Bible also teaches that doing the will of God and
obedience to God are also essential to salvation. How do we know that? Look in your Bible or notice Matthew 7:21 with us. The Bible says Jesus speaking, “not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Is doing the will of God essential? Is it an item the Bible says is essential to salvation? Yeah, Jesus said ‘it's not everybody that just looks look looks up and says Lord Lord.’ No, that's not enough. I've got to do the will of my Father in heaven.
Here's a question Jesus asked in Luke 6:46. He said this to the hypocritical people of His day who probably recognized He was a great teacher, maybe even Savior, but weren't willing to follow Him. Jesus said, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do the things which I say?” I want you to think about Jesus' words in John 14:15 for a moment. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Friend, let's realize Jesus is the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, Hebrews 5:8-9. In doing the will of God, in keeping the commands of God, which Jesus has taught us are clearly essential to salvation can I then somehow reach the conclusion I've earned it? Of course not. We recognize salvation is by grace.
Friend, do I not have to do what God says? Do I not have to obey God's terms? Do I not have to submit to God's will to receive the salvation that He's freely offering to mankind? Well, absolutely I do and thus obedience to the will of God is essential to salvation as well. You know, in line with that idea, Christians, the Bible teaches that Christians must live a righteous life to continue in the salvation God wants them to have. Listen to Matthew 5:20. Jesus said, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Can somebody be saved who's not living a righteous life? Can somebody be saved who's not walking in the light? 1 John 1:7. Who doesn't have the mind of Christ? Philippians 2:5. And who is not following in the footsteps of Jesus? 1 Peter 1, 2 verses 21-22. Well, of course not.
Jesus taught us, if our righteousness is just out there for people to see and we really don't mean it like the hypocrites and the Pharisees of His day, you'll not enter the kingdom of heaven. Friend, again, we're not saying any of us are perfect. We're not saying that it is our righteousness that earns us salvation. That is absolutely not true. We are saying the Bible says we've got to live like God wants us to. The Bible says that we must walk in the light and the Bible says we must live holy lives. 1 Peter 1:15, ‘Be holy, as He who called you is holy.’ Hebrews 12:14, ‘without holiness no one can see God.’ I want to live my life in harmony with the will of God to the best of my ability and strive every day to be pleasing unto the Lord.
Another thing the Bible says is essential to salvation is being faithful unto the end, or enduring to the end. Listen to the words of Matthew 10:22. Jesus said, “And you will be hated by all for My namesake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” “Be faithful unto death and I'll give you the crown of life,” Revelation 2:10. If I quit halfway through, am I going to be saved? If I throw the towel in and give up, am I going to be saved? No, ‘he who endures to the end.’ “Be faithful until death.” To the very last breath I take, I've got to live up to the best of my ability and strive to do God's will.
Again, we're not putting our salvation on ourself, but we do want to follow the will of God. We do want to live the best life we can and we do want to strive to do those things which are pleasing unto our God.
As you think about salvation and as I think about salvation, and God's plan of salvation, we realize that to be saved, we've got to put our trust and our hope in God who is the source of that salvation. I've got to turn from sin, from the error of my way, James 5:20. I've got to put my trust and hope in the power and the authority of Jesus Christ, Acts 4:12. It is His doctrine or His teaching that saves, 1 Timothy 4:16. I've got to be willing to look to God and to call on Him for salvation, Acts 2:21. The Bible says this, ‘And it shall come to pass whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ I've got to reach out to God. I've got to call out to God. I've got to put my trust in God to be saved.
Now, how does the Bible teach, how does the Bible tell us to call on the name of the Lord to be saved?
Now here's what the world says. The world says to call on the name of the Lord just means that you look up in heaven and say I believe in God or maybe you say the sinner's prayer. ‘Lord Jesus, I recognize You as Savior and Master. I now ask You to come in my heart and save me.’ Do you find those in the Bible? Is that what it means to call on the name of the Lord, to be saved? No.
Let's let the Bible define its own terms. I want to direct your attention to a passage with me. Would you get your Bible and look in Acts 22:16 for a moment? Let's see an example of an individual who was told how to call on the name of the Lord, Acts 22:16. This is Saul of Tarsus and he's recounting his conversion. It was the Lord who told him, ‘you go in the city and be told you what you must do.’ Here is what God told him. And now, Ananias says to Saul, ‘and now, while you are waiting? Arise and be baptized.’ Don't miss this, ‘And wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’ How do you call on the name of the Lord? We'll answer it this way. If I'm in sin, if I'm in a predicament, if I've been a problem, if I've got trouble and there's somebody out there and I call out to them for salvation and they do things to offer, make that salvation available, then I've got to do what God says. I've got to do things also. I've got to follow what's said to be saved and to do what God wants me to.
Think about it this way. God's made salvation available. Man doesn't have to live in the muck and mire of sin. He can be saved. But to call on the name of the Lord properly, I've got to ‘arise and be baptized and wash away my sins.’ Baptism is essential in calling on the name of the Lord. That's how the Bible defines the term, ‘call on the name of the Lord’ by getting up and doing what God says to be saved. God's made it available, He's made it for everybody, but I've got to follow His will. This is no different than what Jesus said in Mark 16:16. “He that believes and is baptized will be saved. He that does not believe shall be condemned.” It’s no different than what Peter said. “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins,” Acts 2:38.
We encourage you today to consider your own salvation.
If you've not obeyed the gospel and done the things God wants, won't you do those and be saved so you can one day go to Heaven?
Study Questions for:
“Salvation: Lesson 6”
1. According to Ephesians 2:8-9, how are we saved?
2. According to John 1:17, what are in Christ?
3. According to Romans 3:23, who has sinned?
4. How does Psalm 103:10-12 say God has dealt with us?
5. According to John 3:16, what did God give for us? Why?
6. Where is Jesus according to Hebrews 10:12?
7. According to Matthew 26:28, why was His blood shed?
8. According to Romans 5:10, how shall we be saved?
9. According to 1 Peter 2:21, whose footsteps should we follow in?
10. According to Romans 1:16, what has the power of God?
Plan of Salvation-1
May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ
The greatest question ever asked comes in Acts 16:30-31. “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
We welcome you today to our study on the subject of salvation. In particular, we're going to be talking about God's plan of salvation and the answer to that question, ‘what must I do to be saved?’ As you think about Acts 16, you can imagine the scene in the prison in Philippi. Those walls began to shake. The prison doors flew open. At that moment, a jailer, a prison guard awoke. He realized his own fate, and he started to commit suicide. He started to kill himself. But before he did, he heard these encouraging words: ‘Sir, do yourself no harm, for we are all here.’ Upon the heels of that encouraging statement, that greatest question that's ever been asked comes: ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’
Today we're going to think about that question and as near as I can tell, that question is only asked two other times in the Bible. Acts 2:37, they cried out, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ And then in Acts 9:6, Saul of Tarsus said, ‘Lord, what would you have me to do?’
And so, what is God's plan of salvation? What does the Bible say a person must do to be saved? To really help us understand this question better and the importance of it, we might could ask the question by placing emphasis on the different words inside the question. Let me illustrate. For example, we could say ‘What must I do to be saved?’ This teaches us that
salvation is active. You can't just sit back and somehow expect you're going to magically be saved. There's something man must do. Jesus said that. Matthew 7:21, “It's not everybody that looks up in heaven and says, ‘Lord, Lord,’ that's going there but he who does the will of my father in heaven.”
But then we might ask the question this way. What MUST I do to be saved? This teaches us that salvation is imperative. We're not talking about flippant, nonchalant, lackadaisical matter that you can just take it if you want it or leave it if you want it. This is an imperative. You must be saved. You cannot get to heaven, you cannot live with God, and you cannot be forgiven of your sins, of all the essential things. This is imperative. You must be saved.
But then we might ask it like this as well. What must I, do to be saved? Salvation is personal. Friend, in all kindness, we're not asking what did your mama do, or what did your daddy do? What did your grandpa do or what did some person close to you do? The question is what must I do to be saved? Salvation is personal for this reason. Romans 14:12 says, “So then, each of us shall give an account of himself to God.” When I stand before God, I'm going to give an account of my life. I'm going to give an account of the things I've done or the things I haven't done. I'm going to be saved or lost based on whether I followed God and his teaching or not. And so what must I, the personal nature of it, is so important.
But then, we might also say, what must I do, to be saved? Not get, or not feel, but do. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands.” “You're my friends if you do whatever I ask you,” John 15:14, again implying that man has to do something to be right with God.
Then, the most important part of the question of all- What must I do to be saved? This is a question of eternal importance. If I answer this question according to the will of God and obey the gospel, the Bible says “The righteous will go away into eternal life.” I can live in heaven with God for all eternity.
If I don't follow God, and I don't answer according to the teaching of Christ and the Bible, friend, there is a place called hell. Jesus said, “It is a place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched,” Mark 9:44. God wants you to be saved. We want you to be saved. And that's the motivation behind our lesson today.
Before we look at this question and the answer to it, we want each of us to stop for just a moment and we want you to consider two very important things.
Number one, we want you to know, more than anything in all the world, that the God of heaven loves you deeply. God wants all man to be saved, 1 Timothy 2:4. God loved you so much, he sent his own son to die for you, John 3:16. We love your eternal soul. The reason we're speaking on the subject of salvation, I will promise you today, the motivation of that is out of a love for eternal souls.
Now, there's a second thing, though, that we want you to do. As we begin to think about this lesson, and as you begin to think about it in your own mind, we want you to stop for just a moment and think about your own salvation experience. I want you to think about when you were saved. Do you remember where you were at? Maybe at camp, maybe you were in a church building somewhere, maybe you were at home, wherever it may be, and I just want you to think about where were you when you were saved? Do you remember how old you were? Maybe you don't because maybe somebody told you were saved as a baby. Maybe you were 10, maybe you were 12, or maybe it was later in life. Whatever the age, I just want you to think about where you were, how old you were. And then I want you to think about, what did I do by which I knew I was saved? Maybe somebody told you to come down front and make an altar call. Maybe somebody told you to say the sinner's prayer. Maybe you did other things. All I'm asking you right now is to draw up in your own mind, to remember in your own mind, your salvation experience. As we think about God's plan of salvation today, we just ask you to compare the two. If what you've done matches what God says you must do, then friend, that's wonderful. That's the greatest thing ever.
But if they don't, then we encourage you today to make those changes where they're necessary.
So in our lesson today, and in the lesson that will precede this, that will follow this as well, we're going to be asking and answering two very important questions. What must I know to be saved? And what must I do to be saved?
Now friend, I understand and I realize there are things the Bible teaches. There are things that I must know to be saved. How do I know that? Jesus said, in John 8:32,”You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.” Must I know God's truth to be free? Absolutely. The Bible says in Ephesians 5:17, “Do not be ignorant, but understand the will of the Lord.”
Let us mention today three things specifically that one must know if he's going to be saved. What must I know to be saved?
Number one, I must know that outside of Christ, I am lost in sin and headed down the road to destruction. Friend, that's not pleasant for anybody. It's not something we like to think about. But you know what? If I'm going to be saved, I've got to come to terms with the fact that outside of Christ, I'm lost in sin and I'm headed down the wrong path to destruction. Now how do we know that's the case? The Bible says in Romans 3:10, ‘there's none righteousness, no, not one.’ ‘Nobody is perfect,’ Romans 3:23. People who are of an accountable age in mind, the Bible says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None righteous, all have sinned. What's the consequence of sin? ‘The wages of sin is death,’ Ezekiel 18:4. ‘The Lord's ear's not heavy that he cannot hear. His arm's not short in that he cannot save. But your sins and your iniquities have separated you from your God.’
When I sin and when you sin, when we're in sin, we're lost. We're in a state of spiritual death and we are separated from the God of all love and the God of salvation. Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am he, you will surely die in your sins.”
I understand nobody likes to talk about sin. We don't like to think about it. I cannot figure my own path to heaven. Until I come to terms with the fact that I'm lost and I need God, salvation is not going to be something I'm concerned about. Do we really understand how lost we are without God?
Secondly for a person to be saved, not only must he realize he's in sin, but that person must realize he cannot save himself. No matter how hard I try, no matter how many good things I may do, I'll never earn or merit my own salvation. This is the way Jeremiah said it in the long ago. The Bible says in Jeremiah 10:23, “Oh Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his own paths. I can't save myself.” John 6:68, Jesus had made some hard statements. At that point in time, some decided to walk with Jesus no more. Jesus turned to the rest and said, “Do you want to go away also?” And Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” I need to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding. ‘Yes, there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death,’ Proverbs 14:12. This is why, from scripture, we realize that salvation is in Christ. If I'm going to be saved, I cannot do it myself. I cannot make my own way of salvation. Nobody can tell me of themselves and through their own path how to get there. I've got to follow God's plan to be saved.
Thirdly once I realize I'm lost in sin, and once I realize I cannot save myself, I've got to come to terms with the fact that if I'm going to be saved, it'll be God who saves me. The Bible teaches that we're saved by the grace of God. “By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves." It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” I'm saved by God's grace, God's wonderful favor, unmerited favor, toward me. ‘The grace of God that brings salvation,’ the Bible says, ‘has appeared to all man.’ It's here and it's available for everybody, Titus 2:11-12. And friend, it's found in Jesus Christ, John 1:17. The Bible says I'm saved by the good news, or the gospel of God or of Jesus Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel; it's the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1:16.
We are to receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save our souls, James 1:21-22. Paul said to Christians in Rome, ‘God be thanked, though you were the slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.’ I'm saved by obedience to the will of God. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments,” John 14:15. Jesus said, “It's not everybody who just goes out and says, ‘Lord,’ that's going to heaven, but who does the will of my father in heaven,” Matthew 7:21. Friend, I'm saved through and in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Acts 2:47, that when men and women obeyed God's plan of salvation, ‘the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.’ I'm saved in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ that he purchased with His own blood.
We ask you today to consider these things. Do you realize that without Christ you're lost in sin? That you are headed down the path to destruction? That you cannot, no matter what, save yourself? And that only by the gospel and obedience to God's plan of salvation you can be saved? Friend, if you realize those things, then the next logical question is what must I do to be saved?
John 7:17, “If anyone wants to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine.” What does the doctrine of Christ teach? I've got to know to do the will of God. Like the Philippian jailer, Acts 16:30, what must I do to be saved? Friend, as we think about this idea, we want to mention God's steps in the plan of salvation that man must do to be pleasing to the father.
The first step is we've got to hear or listen to the word of God. I want to direction your attention to a passage in the Bible, in Romans 10:17. Notice these words with me. The Bible says, “So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Now, that passage teaches us that if we want to have faith, we've got to hear the word of God. Now, how do I know then, that hearing is essential? Because faith is essential. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith, it's impossible to please God.” Must I have faith to please God? Yes, how do you get faith? The way I get faith is essential, wouldn't you agree? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Psalm 95:7, in the long ago, David said, “Today, if you will
hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion.” To be saved and to get faith, I must hear the word of God. Friend, I want to ask you to think with me today about this. What does it mean, according to the scriptures, to hear the word of God? Does it mean that whatever anybody says, I've got to hear and accept that as gospel truth? Does it mean I got to listen to everybody? What does it mean, really, how does the Bible define hearing God's word?
Friend, to hear God's word means these things from scripture. Number one, hearing the word of God means I recognize the absolute and final authority of the Bible. Do you remember the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus takes Peter, James and John, in Mark 9 and Matthew 17, up on that high mountain? The Bible says “He is there transfigured before them. He begins to shine. His clothes are so ultra-white, and they're so amazed as Moses and Elijah are there, discussing with Jesus. And Peter, because he's afraid, and really doesn't know what to say blurts out, ‘Lord, it's good for us to be here. Let's make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’” One account tells us before he even finished getting those words out of his mouth; this voice came down from heaven. Listen to what it said, “This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him.”
Friend, if I'm going to be saved, hearing correctly means that I recognize the authority of Jesus Christ as the son of God and that I recognize the authority of the New Testament. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 28:18. Jesus said, “All authority,” not some, not a little, not most, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” If Jesus has all authority, how much does that leave for everybody else? You can't have more than all. He's the final authority. The New Testament, His new testament, is our final authority today. ‘Whatever I do in word or deed, I'm to do all in the name of or by the authority of Jesus Christ,’ Colossians 3:17.
This is why we want to illustrate this as being so important in salvation. When I stand before God on that great judgment day, what standard am I going to be judged by? Jesus said in John 12:48, “He who
rejects me and does not receive my word has that which judges him. The word that I've spoken will judge him in the last day.” Friend, I'm going to be judged by the words of Christ. His words are the final authority. God said, listen to him. Therefore, to hear the word of God correctly, I first must recognize the absolute authority of Jesus Christ and His new testament.
Secondly to hear the word of God correctly, I must search. I must seek, and I must prove that what I'm being told or what I'm trying to be taught is according to the word of God. How do we know that's the case? I want you to think with me about, probably the perfect example in the Bible of hearing. Acts 17:11, these are the Bereans and ‘they're more noble than those in Thessalonica.’ And it says, ‘these were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica,’ Acts 17:11, ‘in that they received the word with all readiness, readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.’ Did they say, ‘Paul, we're just going to take your word at it and that's right. We believe you because you're Paul.’ No. They said, ‘Paul, we've heard what you had to say. We appreciate you coming today. We've written these things down and we've taken notes. Now we're going to check it.’ What do you mean we're going to check it? They searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. They took what Paul said. They listened intently, but it wasn't the final word until they checked it in the scriptures.
Friend listen carefully, this is where so many people are duped when it comes to religion. So many people are told something and it sounds good or it's popular. It's what people want to hear, so they just accept it, hook, line and sinker without checking it. I have a personal responsibility with anything I hear to check it by the scriptures and so do you. The Bible says, “Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good,” 1 Thessalonians 5:21. The Bible says, “Test the spirits to see if they're of God.” Why? “Many false prophets have gone out.” How do you know somebody's not telling you a lie? Study to show yourself approved unto God, 2 Timothy 2:15.
And then thirdly, as it relates to hearing, I want to listen with an ear toward eternity. Luke 8:18, Jesus said, “Take heed how you hear.” Mark 4:24, “take heed what you hear.” How are you listening? Who you listening
to? Mark 9:7 “hear ye him.” Do you remember that little statement in every one of the seven letters, or letters to the seven congregations in Asia Minor? Here's what Jesus said, “To him that has ears to hear, let him hear.” What's Jesus saying when he mentions that? When Jesus says to those Christians in Asia Minor, to him that has ears to hear, let him hear, what's he saying? How many people you know that don't have ears? What did God give your ears for? Do you have ears? And what are they to be used for? You've got ears. Jesus is saying, ‘to him that has ears to hear, let him hear; God gave you ears for a reason. Listen to my voice. Obey that. Listen with an ear toward eternity and with a heart that is directed toward pleasing God.’
And so what must I do to be saved? Friend, to be saved, you absolutely must hear the gospel of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
Again, as we started at the outset of this lesson, we want you to think about this great question, what must I do to be saved? We want you to think about your own salvation. We want you to think about what the Bible, what you've done and then what the Bible says. Do you realize that without Christ you're lost in sin? Do you realize that you cannot save yourself? And do you realize that you must be obedient to the gospel to be right with God?
If so, then have you heard the word of God? Do you believe? The Bible teaches you must believe. Do you believe in Jesus as the son of God? John 8:24, Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am he, you will surely die in your sins.” Do you really believe Christ is the way, the truth and the life? No man comes to the father except by him, John 14:6. Would you, once you have believed, be willing to repent of sin? Jesus said in Luke 13:5, “Unless you repent, you'll all likewise perish.” Would I turn from sin and maybe a life in sin or things in my life that are sinful and not right, would I turn from that and turn to God, Acts 3:19? Would you be willing to confess the beautiful name of Jesus before men? The Bible says in Romans 10:10, “With the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Would you, to be saved and to have that sin which separates you from God completely removed, would
you be baptized? Jesus said, listen to the simplicity of it. Jesus said, “He that believes and is baptized will be saved. Him that does not believe shall be condemned.” Did Jesus say you've got to believe and be baptized to be saved? You bet he did. That's the exact wording of Mark 16:16. If I don't even believe, I'm not even a candidate to be baptized. But if I believe and I'm baptized, I will be saved. Think about the words of Peter in Acts 2:38. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.”
Do you want your sins removed? Do you want that barrier that is separating you from God to be taken out of the way? Baptism is for the removal or remission of sins. John 3:5, Jesus said it this way: “Unless a man is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Do you want to live with God forever? Do you want to be a part of God's kingdom? You've got to be born of water and the spirit. And then, once one obeys the gospel, that person must be faithful unto death. Romans 6:4 describes the conversion process: “We die to sin, we're buried with Christ in baptism, we're raised up out of the water, just as Jesus was raised up out of the grave, to walk in newness of life.” We've got to strive every day to be faithful unto death.
And so friend, we ask you today, out of love and concern for lost souls, have you really answered the question, what must I do to be saved according to the Bible? Have you done the things that we've talked about today?
If not, they're not hard to do. We'd be happy to help you with any of those things.
Study Questions for:
“Salvation: Lesson 7”
1. What great question is asked in Acts 16:30-31?
2. According to Matthew 7:21, who will be in Heaven?
3. According to Romans 14:12, who will give an account of himself to God?
4. What will we do if we love Jesus according to John 14:15?
5. What does Jesus say of hell in Mark 9:44?
6. According to 1 Timothy 2:4, what does God want?
7. According to James 1:21-22, how shall we receive the word?
8. How does faith come according to Romans 10:17?
9. According to Matthew 28:18, who has all authority?
10. According to John 12:48, what will judge us?
Plan of Salvation-2
May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ
The walls began to shake. The door to the prison flew open. Right then a prison guard awoke, he realized his own fate, and he started to kill himself. But before he did, he heard these encouraging words. "Sir, do yourself no harm, for we are all here." and upon the heels of that encouraging statement, the greatest question that's ever been asked comes. "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Acts 16:30-31.
We welcome you today to our second part, in answering the question ‘What must I do to be saved?’ I hope that you've got your Bible with you and that you'll be planning on following along with us as we search the scriptures on this wonderful and such an important topic today.
In our last lesson, as we discussed what must I do to be saved, we noted that a person needed to realize that he was lost in sin. Romans 3:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” A person needs to realize that he cannot, no matter how hard he tries, save himself. “There's a way that seems right to a man, but in thereof is the way of death,” Proverbs 14:12. Only by the gospel, the good news of Jesus, Romans 1:16, and obedience to God's commands, can one be right with God.
We asked our listeners last time, just as we ask you, in view of the gravity and the seriousness of our subject today, would you stop for just a moment and consider your own salvation before we proceed any further? We ask you to think about, where were you when you were saved? Were
you in a church building? Were you at Christian camp maybe? Were you at home? How old were you? Were you a baby and somebody told you you were saved? Were you 10 or 12 or was it later in life? And then, just in your own mind, refresh the idea, what did I do by which I knew I was saved? Did somebody tell me to put my hand on the television and I did that? Did I make an altar call? Did I say the sinner's prayer? Just make it clear in your mind exactly where you were and how old you were and what you did when you were saved.
As we open the scripture, we ask you to take what you did, examine that, by the word of God, and if the two match, then friend that's wonderful. If they don't, we urge you to make changes where they're necessary today.
In the continuation of the question, “What must I do to be saved?” last time we noted that the first step in God's plan of salvation is that one must hear the word of God. The Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Now, what has that got to say about hearing being essential? Remember, faith is essential. Hebrews 11:6 says, ‘Without faith, it's impossible to please God.’ No faith, no pleasing God, right? Well, if I can't please God without faith, then whatever way I get faith is also essential, correct? “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Hearing is essential to be saved, because I can't get faith without hearing God's word. We mentioned in our last lesson that hearing the word of God means more than just okay, I've heard that, and automatically accept it. It means I recognize the authority of Jesus and the New Testament. It means I realize I have got to search. I've got to seek, and I've got to prove, for myself, from the Bible, that what I'm being told is true to the will of God. It means I've got to listen with an ear toward eternity and all seriousness of heart.
Now, today we talk about our second step in God's plan of salvation, and that is, the Bible teaches we must believe in Jesus as the son of God. If a person is not willing to believe in Christ, that person cannot be saved. I want you to notice with me the words of Jesus, in John 8:24. Jesus, as he taught about belief, in John 8:24, said these words, “Unless you believe that I am he, you will surely die in your sins.”
If a person doesn't believe Christ, and believe in Christ, can he be saved? Absolutely not. “He is the way, the truth and the life, you cannot come to the Father without him,” John 14:6. An example is given in Acts chapter 8 of the Ethiopian eunuch. Here Phillip's been talking to this man about the good news of the gospel from Isaiah 53. He teaches about Christ. Evidently he teaches him what to do. In the distance this man sees water, and he says, ‘Here's water. What hinders me from being baptized?’ Listen to what Phillip said was the condition first. ‘If you believe with all you heart, you may.’ There's no denying the fact that one absolutely must believe in Jesus to be saved.
Although belief is essential, the Bible never says belief or faith only is what saves. Now there are millions of people who have the idea in their head that all you've got to do to be saved is believe in Jesus and you're saved by faith alone. Friend, can I ask you to consider something with me for just a moment? Did you know that the only time in scripture the words faith only or faith alone are used, the Bible says the exact opposite of what millions are taught? That's right, the only times faith only or faith alone occurs, the Bible says it's not faith alone that saves. Now, don't take my word for it. Let's look at the scripture together ourselves. James 2:24 notice these words, “We see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.” Justified means that we're just as if I never sinned. Are we saying we earn our salvation? Of course not, there are works in the Bible that are just simply commands of God.
Did you know belief is a work? John 6:29, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he sent. A work from God for us is to believe. Does that mean I've earned my salvation? No, but it is a conditional work that God set forth. Now listen to that verse again, “We see that a man is justified by works,” here it is, only time it occurs in the Bible, “and not by faith only or faith alone.” Friend the Bible mentions the words faith only or faith alone one time in the New Testament and God says you're not saved by faith alone. Along with that idea, there's another false doctrine about salvation that's not found in the Bible either and that is the sinner's prayer.
Multiplied millions of people are told to be saved; you need to say the sinner's prayer. You need to say something like, ‘Dear lord Jesus, I recognize you as lord and savior, and I now ask you to come into my heart and save me.’ Friend did you know that's not found in the Bible either? Did you know that you can look from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, and you will not find a sinner's prayer anywhere in the Bible? It's just not there. Millions of people have been told that, and you don't find it in scripture.
Now I remember one time I was preaching in a meeting and I said this exact thing, that you cannot find the sinner's prayer anywhere in the Bible. And after the lesson, a lady came up to me, she said, ‘I heard what you said about the sinner's prayer.’ She was intrigued by that but she said, ‘You know, I'm going to have to go home and ask my preacher, if that's correct.’ I said, ‘Well that would be good. You go home and you ask your pastor, or preacher, to show you in the Bible where the sinner's prayer is, and if he gives you any verses, Bible verses, you bring those back tomorrow night and we'll talk about them.’ Well, tomorrow night came. She came in the door. She came right up to me. She said, ‘Preacher I went home and I asked my preacher about where the sinner's prayer was at in the Bible, about some verses about it, and he said it wasn't in there.’ She said, ‘and I told him he's a liar.’
Friend I just want you to think about that a moment. How many people have been lied to about the sinner's prayer and told to say that for salvation, and it's not even in the Bible? You can't even find a sinner's prayer like they're telling you to say anywhere in scripture? Friend there's no doubt that belief is essential. There's no doubt that we've got to do what God says, but the Bible never teaches belief alone is all that you need to do to be saved. We need to do all the things God wants us to be right with him.
First of all we've got to hear the word of God. ‘Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God.’ Secondly, to be saved, what must I do to be saved? I must believe in Jesus. “Unless you believe that I'm he,” Jesus said, “you'll surely die in your sins,” John 8:24. Then, the Bible teaches that a person must be willing to repent of sin in their life. In Luke
13:1-5 certain people come to Jesus. It's almost like they want to condemn others and elevate themselves as better. They've got these examples for Jesus. They say, ‘Jesus what about these people who had their blood mingle with their sacrifice, what about these people that Pilate killed at the time of the sacrifice? Didn't that happen because they were worse sinners than everybody else, wasn't that God's vengeance? What about these 18 people who were just walking down the road and out of nowhere, a tower came and fell on them? Wasn't that the vengeance of God, and wasn't that proof they're worse sinners than everybody else?’ You know how Jesus answered those two questions? In Luke 13:3 and in Luke 13:5, Jesus said, to those people who brought the questions, “I tell you no, but unless you repent, you'll all likewise perish.” What did Jesus teach us about salvation there? That if you won't repent, you're going to be lost. Acts 2:38, Peter told those on the day of Pentecost who cried out “Men and brethren what shall we do?” “Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins,” Acts 3:19. One chapter later, Peter preached in Solomon's portico, ‘Repent and turn, or repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.’ I have got to repent if I'm going to be right with God.
When you think about repentance, repentance may require sorrow, sorrow may be a part of repentance, but sorrow alone is not repentance. Just being sorry and crying a few tears are not in and of itself repentance. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “Godly sorrow produces repentance.” Not Godly sorrow is repentance, Godly sorrow produces repentance. Well what then is repentance? In the scriptures, repentance is a changed will that leads to a changed way. It's a changed way of thinking that leads to a changed way of acting. How do we know that? Matthew 21:28-30, Jesus told this story about people who really were doing the will of God, versus those who weren't. He said a father had two sons. The father said to his first son, ‘son go work in my vineyard today.’ He said he would, but he never did. And then he said to the second son, ‘son go work in my vineyard today.’ He said he wouldn't, he changed his mind, and went back and worked in the father's vineyard. Which one did the will of the father? The one who said he would and never did, or the one who said he wouldn't, changed his way of thinking, and changed his way of acting? True repentance is changing your
way of thinking and changing your life. Luke chapter 3:8, John said to certain people who came out to be baptized by him, just because it was popular and everybody was doing it, John said, “You brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” And then he said these words, “Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.” True repentance has a fruit. What's that mean? It has a visible attribute from which you can tell someone has changed their life. You can see their life's not like it used to be. They don't talk, they don't act, they don't do, the things they're a part of, they're not, if they're contrary to the will of God, they no longer do those, you can look at their life and tell they have truly repented. Once I've heard the word of God, and I've believed in Jesus, I must also repent.
The Bible also teaches to be saved; I must confess with my mouth that Jesus is the son of God. Where's that found at in the Bible? Notice in scripture, this scripture with me, Romans 10:10. The Bible says, “For with the heart one believes in the righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” What type of confession are we talking about? Well we're given an example of that in Acts chapter 8. The conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. Phillip tells him, if you believe with all your heart you may be baptized, and he says right then and there, with his mouth, ‘I believe Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God,’ Acts 8:34-37. Jesus told us that's what we need to do. Matthew 10:32-33, Jesus said “If you won't confess me before men, neither will I confess you before the father who is in heaven. But if you will confess me before men, I'll also confess you before my father who is in heaven.” I need to make the good confession just as Timothy did in 1 Timothy 6. Just as the Ethiopian eunuch did in Acts chapter 8, I've got to orally acknowledge that I believe Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God.
Having done that, friend the Bible teaches that I must be immersed in water, baptized, for the remission of my sins, and to be saved. I know there's a lot of confusion in the world about this. I know there are a lot of people who will say, you need to believe in Jesus, yes, you probably need to repent, but they'll also say baptism's not essential. Good to do, something you should do probably, but not essential to salvation. Friend, the Bible teaches that just like believing, baptism is essential to salvation.
Now, let's first ask the question, what exactly is baptism? If you open up Webster's dictionary today and you look up the word baptism, it might say something like sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. It may mention all three of those, and it very likely does. Well, is baptism sprinkling or pouring in the Bible? How does the Bible define the word baptism? Friend, there are four passages in the New Testament which clearly teach that Bible baptism was only by full body immersion. Now don't take my word for it, here are the passages we put before you today to consider.
Mark 1:9-10, “And coming up out of the water, the spirit descended upon him like a dove.” That's at the baptism of Jesus. Now, consider this. To come up, a lot of people ask the question, what would Jesus do? Okay, what would Jesus do, concerning the mode of baptism? Question. To come up from, or literally out of the water, what must you first do? You've got to go down into the water. Jesus wasn't sprinkled, and Jesus didn't have a little water poured on him. He came up out of, from within, is the idea, Jesus was immersed in water.
Second passage, John 3:23, what's the mode of baptism? The Bible says “John was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there.” How much water does it take to sprinkle a baby? Not much. How much water does it take to pour water on somebody's head? Not much. How much water does it take to plunge, to submerge, an adult? Much water. John was baptizing where there was much water, because the Biblical mode and definition of baptism is immerse, submerge, or plunge underwater.
Another example, Acts 8:37-40. You remember Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch are traveling down the road, they come to water, ‘Here's water, what hinders me?’ ‘If you believe with all your heart you may.’ They stop the chariot. Now watch this, ‘They stop the chariot, both Phillip and the eunuch get down out of the chariot, they both go down into the water. He baptizes him, and they come up out of the water.’ Why'd they both have to get out of the chariot? Why'd they both have to go down into the water, why'd they both come out of it? There's again an example and a picture of immersion.
Here's the clearest verse of all. Romans 6:1-4. Paul likens baptism to a burial in water. Alright, let's think about it now. I want you to think about the last time that you went to a funeral at a grave site or to a burial. What'd they do with that body? Did they take a shovel full of dirt and sprinkle it on top of it? Did they pour a few shovelfuls on it? No, what happens at a burial? They dig a hole in the ground. They place that body completely down in the hole. That body's covered on the bottom, it's covered on every side, and then they completely submerge it in the earth. Friend, that's the illustration Paul chose, the Holy Spirit chose, to show us, that baptism is a burial, a burial in water, with Christ.
Every example we see is that baptism is not by sprinkling or pouring, in the New Testament it was by immersion.
Now, let's then talk about the purpose of baptism. What is baptism all about? Why should someone be baptized? Is it just, is it essential? Is it something you have to do? Or is it just something good that you ought to do to follow the example of Jesus but not necessary for salvation?
Well again, let's not put man's ideas and thoughts into it. Let's just look to the Bible and see. Would you open your Bible to Acts 2:38 with me? The Bible teaches that baptism is for the remission of sins. They asked Peter in Acts 2:37, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Peter responded this way, Peter responded by saying “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Now remember- sin separates a man from God, Isaiah 59:1-2. Whenever sins are removed, I know I'm back in harmony with God and saved.
If baptism removes sin, and if sin separates me from God, then friend baptism is for the forgiveness of sins, and essential. Think about Saul of Tarsus for a minute. Acts 9:4-6 Jesus says to Saul, ‘you go in the city and be told you what you must do.’ Later, Ananias comes to him, and Paul recounts this in Acts 22:16. Ananias comes and says, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you waiting? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’ When are sins washed away? On a baptism when
they're forgiven. Friend let's also realize this, not only is baptism for the forgiveness of sins, baptism is for salvation, meaning, baptism, the Bible says, baptism is not just something good to do, not something you ought to do after you're saved, baptism is something you do to be saved.
Listen to Mark 16:16. Jesus said, “He that believes and is baptized will be saved. He that does not believe shall be condemned.” If I don't believe am I a candidate to be baptized? Well of course not. Now watch this though. Jesus said, “He that believes,” watch the conjoining word, “and is baptized, will be saved.” Does the Bible say you must believe and be baptized to be saved? It absolutely does in Mark 16:16. 1 Peter 3:21 “Baptism does now also save us.” Friend think about that for a moment. If the Bible says ‘baptism does now also save us,’ why in the world would anybody ever say baptism's not essential to salvation?
Did you know that the Bible also teaches baptism is how we get into God's kingdom? John 3:5, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
Do you want to be a part of God's kingdom? Do you one day want to go home with God where the kingdom is going? How do I get in the kingdom? “Unless a man is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Baptism is also how we get into Christ.
Let me illustrate the importance of that for you. In Ephesians 1:3, the Bible says “All spiritual blessings are the Christians in Christ.” According to 2 Timothy 2:11-12, salvation is in Christ, and so, if all spiritual blessings are in Christ, and if salvation's in Christ- friend I really want to know, how does the Bible teach that one gets into Christ?
The Bible says in Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have clothed ourselves with Christ.” Wait a minute now, how do I get into Christ? “As many of us as were baptized into Christ.” I can't get into Christ without being baptized. “In Christ are all spiritual blessings and salvation,” therefore it's essential that I get into Christ. Baptism's how I get into God's church. 1 Corinthians 12:13, “By one spirit,
we're baptized into one body.” Baptism is how I call on the name of the Lord. “Arise to be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord,” Acts 22:16.
Baptism is how I contact the blood and the death and the sacrifice of Jesus. The Bible says in Romans 6:1-4 that we're buried with Christ in baptism. ‘We died of sin, we're buried with Christ in baptism, and we rise out of the watery grave of baptism to walk in newness of life.’ Where do I contact the death of Jesus? I'm buried with Christ in baptism. That's where I contact his death.
And so friend, here's what we ask you to consider again. We asked you at the outset of this lesson to make fresh in your mind what you did, how old were you, where were you at, what steps did you take by which you knew you were saved. And then we just asked you to examine that according to the verses we've seen.
Does what you did match up with God's plan of salvation that we saw today? If it does, that's wonderful. You can know that you're saved. You can know that you're right with God.
But if it doesn't, then friend we urge you today, and we beg you today, to make the changes that are necessary.
God in heaven loves you and wants you to be saved. We love you and we want you to be saved. If there's something you haven't done that you need to do to get right with God, friend don't you want to do that before it's too late?
Won't you obey the gospel? We hope and pray that you will, and that you'll continue to study the gospel with us next time.
Study Questions for:
“Salvation: Lesson 8”
1. What does John 14:6 say of Jesus?
2. According to James 2:24, can you be saved by faith alone?
3. According to John 8:24, what must we do?
4. What does 2 Corinthians 7:10 say about repentance?
5. In Matthew 21:28-30, which son showed true repentance?
6. According to Matthew 10:32-33, what must we do?
7. According to John 3:23, why were they baptizing in Aenon?
8. In Romans 6:1-4, what is baptism compared?
9. According to Acts 2:38, what were they being baptized for?
10. According to Mark 16:16 say we must do to be saved?
