Category: Salvation

Sermon: Romans 8:1-4 In Jesus You are Free

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Main Point: Those who are IN CHRIST are saved from the penalty and power of sin.

 

  • What does it mean to be IN CHRIST?

 

  • IN CHRIST we are saved from the penalty of sin (v. 1)

 

  • IN CHRIST we are saved from the power of sin (v. 2-4)

Sermon: The Good News of the King in the Conquest of Goliath 1 Samuel 17:41-58

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  1. The Lord of Armies is greater than all earthly powers
  1. The Lord delivers His people through His messiah
  1. The Lord saves for the glory of His name
  1. The Lord saves so that we can trust Him

 

Sermon: The Armor of the World or The Armor of God 1 Samuel 17:31-40

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  1. In our weakness we step out in faith (c. 31-33)
  1. In our weakness we point to the Lord’s power to deliver (v. 34-37)
  1. In our weakness we rely on the Lord’s power to deliver (v. 37-40)
  1. In our weakness Jesus is the greater David.

Sermon: God Saves the Humble 1 Samuel 2:1-10

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Text:

1 And Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart exults in the Lord;

my horn is exalted in the Lord.

My mouth derides my enemies,

because I rejoice in your salvation.

2  “There is none holy like the Lord:

for there is none besides you;

there is no rock like our God.

3  Talk no more so very proudly,

let not arrogance come from your mouth;

for the Lord is a God of knowledge,

and by him actions are weighed.

4  The bows of the mighty are broken,

but the feeble bind on strength.

5  Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.

The barren has borne seven,

but she who has many children is forlorn.

6  The Lord kills and brings to life;

he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

7  The Lord makes poor and makes rich;

he brings low and he exalts.

8  He raises up the poor from the dust;

he lifts the needy from the ash heap

to make them sit with princes

and inherit a seat of honor.

For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,

and on them he has set the world.

9  “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,

but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness,

for not by might shall a man prevail.

10  The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces;

against them he will thunder in heaven.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;

he will give strength to his king

and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

 

 

It Is Finished

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The last thing that Jesus spoke before He breathed his last breath was “It is finished”.  In English, this phrase takes up three words but in the original language, Jesus spoke a single verb which we in English translates “It is finished”.  This word that Jesus spoke before He breathed his last breath, “it is finished,” is an interesting word, because it is not a past tense word such as “It finished”.  It is not a future tense word such as “It will be finished”.  It also is not a present tense word such as “I am finishing”.  It is what we call a perfect tense word. This is hard to translate in English but it is edifying to understand.  A perfect tense action is an action that was completed in the past but has present effects in the present and into the future.  This is the thrust of Jesus’ statement as He dies on the cross.  Two central aspects:

First: The work that I have come to accomplish is done: The wrath of God that sinners deserve is finished being paid for on the cross.  The obedience to the father that He was supposed to do perfectly is done.  No more payment for sin must be bore.  It is finished.

Second: This finished work of redemption has present effects that continue into the future.  The finished work on the cross means, you don’t have to go searching for forgiveness anymore.  You don’t have to work your way to right standing with God! It is finished! Jesus has finished defeating the power and penalty for sin.  You can now walk in newness of life for all the was required is finished on the cross.  As Hebrews 10:14, “By a single offering he (Jesus) has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

This changes the way we live life.  There is no longer a need that was not addressed and taken care of as Jesus suffered for us.  Do you need healing?  Jesus says, “It is finished.”  As a sinner, you need forgiveness.  Jesus on the cross says to you who have turned to him in faith, “It is finished.”

Pilate’s Need and Yours: Regeneration

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While Jesus stands before Pilate he proclaims this “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). What we see in this passage is Jesus bringing Pilate to see his need for the truth.  Pilate thinks that Jesus is insignificant to his life as long as Jesus does not cause a revolt or military war.  Jesus corrects Pilate’s misunderstanding with this confession to him.  Jesus proclaims that he “bears witness to the truth” and “everyone who is of the truth listens to His voice”.  This explains Pilate’s condescending response, “What is truth” (v. 38). Jesus sought to make clear to Pilate and to make clear to us, he calls people to become part of “the truth”.  Jesus is calling for a supernatural transformation.  There are many terms that the Bible uses for this transformation but here are a few.

  • Regeneration
    • Titus 3:5 “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”
  • Reconciliation
    • Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
  • New Birth
    • John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
    • John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
    • 1 Peter 1:23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God
  • Born of God
    • John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
    • 1 John 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
    • 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
    • 1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
    • 1 John 5:4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
    • 1 John 5:18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
  • Made Alive
    • Ephesians 2:1–7 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
  • Made a New Creation
    • 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The Anonymous Christian

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I would like to say up front, that the ‘anonymous christian’  which is the teaching that I am addressing and will describe in more detail in the second paragraph,  is un-biblical and dangerous. The idea of an anonymous christian is contrary to what the Bible teaches and destroys any motivation for missions and evangelism. I do not write this to bash or hate on any person or any denomination including the Catholic Church but merely to point out a false teaching that is present in many churches including the Catholic Church. The Bible teaches us that Jesus is the only way to God.  He says himself, “No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you had known me, you would have known my Father also” (John 14:6).  In the text I preached on this morning Jesus says, “This is eternal life; that they know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).  This is the fact of the matter; there is no true God honoring, eternal life bringing ‘religion’ accept that which is centered on repentance towards the God of the Bible and faith in Jesus Christ.

Yet in our day there has surfaced a false teaching that says that there are many ways to God besides Jesus and that one can be an ‘anonymous’ (unknowing) Christian who does not have a relationship with Jesus.  In other words, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and even Atheists with a ‘good heart’ who are ‘seeking moral goodness’ can be seeking God unknowingly and be a Christian unknowingly.  This does not line up with Jesus’ words that eternal life has at its center, knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ as well as accepting Him in faith.  Romans 10:13-15 puts it this way, “all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.  How will they call upon him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?”  This is the heart of our mission work.  Jesus is the only hope of eternal life for the world, therefore we preaching Jesus to all people in view of eternal life for all who turn to him and eternal damnation for all who reject him.

Here is what the official Catholic Catechism says in relation to Muslims being ‘anonymous’ Christians:

“841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims: The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”¹

This teaching is dangerous and un-biblical.  We must recognize the need to share Jesus will all people of every religious for apart from Jesus there is no salvation.