Have You Been Saved? (part 2)

Your status at the end of part one was that you were justified. But as we noted in that last sermon justification does not look forward into your future… it has to do with your guilty past. (SEE LINE DIAGRAM)

Where does that leave you?

·        You were under the law’s penalty of death for your sins

·        Christ’s life paid the penalty and satisfied the justice and justness of God

·        You are no longer “under the law”… subject to its penalty

·        You have been pardoned by grace

·        Your slate is wiped clean and you got a fresh start

·        The barrier between yourself and God has been removed

When Are you Saved?

Romans 5:1-9 (SEE TENSE DIAGRAM ABOVE)

·        Verse 9a Having been justified by His Blood (Past) Verse 9b we shall be saved by Him (Future)

·        Verse 10a we were reconciled to Him (Past) Verse 10b how much more shall we be saved (Future)

Caveat: does the word salvation also appear in the past and present tense? Yes it does, and I will get to that in a few moments. Describe what tense means… gave sermon, am giving a sermon, shall give sermon. If your salvation through Christ is spoken of in the future tense then it is a yet future event. The scriptures are telling you that, you are not yet saved… but you shall be!

What is it you need to be saved from?

You need to be saved from death. Receiving a pardon from the penalty for your sins does not give you eternal life… That pardon from sin is termed “justification” which we covered in part I.

Justification reconciles you with God, heals the breach, removes the barriers, you are now on friendly terms, it restores you to a state of being considered righteous, etc. And that reconciliation makes it possible for God to offer you something quite wonderful… eternal life. But its not the same thing as actually receiving it. (analogy of buying food)

Your mortal body may be on good terms with God but that doesn’t free your mortal body from the natural deterioration and decay of the flesh, wrinkles, graying hair.There is a medical term for it…. senescence-associated distension of satellites…SADS . Your chromosomes start unraveling at the endpoints leaving an ever increasing number of cells in your body metabolically active but unable to divide, or reproduce. Over time the cells that are no longer metabolically start to take over and you have fewer and fewer metabolically active cells.

You are, in a way designed to die? But you should know that… flesh and blood is not intended to go on forever… flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Even if Adam had never sinned he would not have lived forever in corruptible flesh. To live forever He needed the gift of eternal life just as much as you do, he needed to eat from the tree of life. But his sin separated him from God and separated him (and us) from eternal life.

Getting Eternal Life Is What The Bible Is All About

(SHOW ABOVE PICTURE) Some people think the Bible is a book about being good, how to be a good person (for some that means it’s a book of virtues, some see it as a tool of oppression)… But the goal, the hope, the promises of God’s word are a message about attaining life permanently instead of just temporarily.

I Corinthians 15:14-19… 26 … 29-32

When am I saved from death? Paul proceeds to provide the answer… When you are resurrected… at Christ’s return.

Salvation in the Past Tense – (distribute handout on word tense)

In part one we talked about your life as a graph line with a point in the middle. We called that point “justification”. Through faith you accepted Jesus sacrifice to pay the penalty for your past sins and you were declared righteous, justified, reconciled to God. His blood pays the penalty for all those sins in your past… we just now added an end goal of eternal life… but what about that section between justification and eternal life? (SEE NEXT SLIDE)

·        Can you go on living in sin? Definition Sin = Breaking God’s Law

·        Are you under no further obligation to follow God’s law?

·        Did Jesus lead His righteous life so you don’t have to?

·        Does your faith in His sacrifice give you a perpetual “get out of jail” card for any and every future transgression? Does this justification extend backwards and forward on the graph of your life?

Romans 3:31; 6:1-2; 6:15

Your remittance of sin is not advance remission of all the sin you might want to do in the future. God’s grace is bestowed upon you because you repented… you demonstrated a sincere desire to turn around your life and live His righteous way. 

Why? So that you might enter into life Matt 19:17

But now we have another twist to consider... You Need Help Keeping God’s commandments, understanding them, interpreting them, applying them… where will you get that help?

From God’s Holy Spirit. John 16:7-8, 13-15

Jesus goes to the Father’s throne in order to send the Holy Spirit for us. This Holy Spirit enters the heart and mind of those who have believed, repented and been baptized Acts 2:38 

Romans 8:8-14

Where does that leave you now?

·        You have been pardoned from the penalty of death

·        You are still mortal, temporary, destined to break down and die

·        You have reconciled and gained contact with God

·        He has eternal life… you don’t

How will God give you that precious gift of eternal life? The answer should be apparent from the verses we just read in Romans 8. But let’s ask also… WHY will God give you eternal life? Will He give eternal life to you because you keep his law perfectly from this point forward? No…

First, because eternal life is God’s free gift to you not wages you have earned.

Second, because God has already given it to you as a free gift… it comes to you through the Holy Spirit that enters into you when hands are laid upon you after baptism. The Holy Spirit is the living and life giving power of God in you. He has already given you new life and you are already walking in it.

·        Why? – because He wants to

·        How? – through the power of the Holy Spirit

·        When? – He’s already given it to you

At this point you should be wondering “how can this guy say we have already been given eternal life and at the same time say salvation is a future event”?

Use illustration of giving the gift of concert tickets for a future event (2 Cellos)

The main reason I am saying it the way I am saying it is because I am passing on to you what the scriptures themselves say on the matter. Ephesians 2:4-10, Ephesians 1:13-14 – Also found here: I Cor 1:22; II Cor 5:5

Why does God talk like this? Because God is very big on making promises… saying He is going to do something and then faithfully following through and doing it. (expand on this idea)

Salvation in the Present Tense

If the past tense refers to something that has already happened, and future tense refers to something yet to happen, present tense refers to something that is happening. The Holy Spirit brings with it aspects of God’s character, His outlook on things, His priorities, His attitudes, His way of doing things, His justice and fairness… John 7:37-39

·        Rom 5:5 His love flowing through you

·        II John 1:6 the riverbanks of this flow of love is the commandments of God, the banks of a river are what give it power and direction (otherwise it would be a lake or a puddle)… and he who does not walk in the love is not of God and does not have God’s love in him (read I John chapters 3 and 4)

·        Romans 13:10 the love of God in you helps you to fulfill the intent and purpose of His commands

·        Rom 8:7-10 You do not inherently have this love in you. You learn this love from God.

It is not just you trying on your own to “keep the commandments”… it is God in you, building in you His character… His life… His love of righteousness. You cannot brag or boast about how righteousness you are… it is God at work in you… teaching you… instructing you!

And that is why the scriptures also speak of being saved as something that is happening to you right now. You are in a state of becoming, a state of maturing into the fullness of Christ, growing in grace an knowledge, learning to judge righteously, being groomed to receive your full rights of sonship in the family of God… eternal life… and a whole lot more!

James 1:12

Nothing can come between you and this wonderful future except you. I said in Part 1 that you had to grab hold of it… but you also have to hang on to it and not let it go.

Do not grow weary, do not let anyone trick you and get you onto another path, do not give up your love of God for love of the pleasure this world has to offer, do not give up.