Written Sermons

The Basics of Salvation

Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by (grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

God’s will is for all of us to walk in His righteousness and that good works follow us. The bible makes it clear good works alone cannot save us apart from faith in Jesus Christ but once the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin, good works will surely follow. We bring forth the fruit that is evident in one who has partaken in the holiness of God. Ephesians 2:10 says that we are "We are created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are even ordained that we should walk in them".

Notice that verse one said that before Christ, we are dead in trespasses and sins. We were lost, on the way to a burning hell without God and without hope. There is none that does good, no not one of us. We were hopeless, in despair, our sins separating us from a Holy Just God. There was nothing we could possibly do to save ourselves from the mess we were in.

We walked according to the prince and power of the air who is Satan himself; we were in bondage the same as if chains were covering us from head to toe. There was no escape. Satan could laugh at us and mock and do all he can to keep us from obtaining salvation and help from God.

While we were in this state of a lost condition, we were loved by that Holy God that created us. He saw us in our sin and gave to us a way out. God wants us to have eternal life and live forever. He wants us to be free and stay free. It is not His will that any should perish.

Yet the law of God declares that the soul that sins, it shall die. Death of course means eternal death in hell for all natural men and women suffer physical death. The soul that sins shall be eternally separated from God in a place called hell.

This was our state before God sent Jesus Christ His own Son to save us.

The law says the penalty for sin is death. Someone had to die. Someone had to die though that didn’t die for His own sins. Someone had to die that had not sinned but alas, there is not one in the entire earth that was without sin. All were born with Adam’s nature. Adam allowed sin to come into the world when He disobeyed God’s commandment. God doesn’t make commandments for us to ignore and assume that He is a good God and will not carry out the penalty. What kind of law and order would we have if there was no penalty and that we could go ahead and break the laws of our land knowing we would not be held accountable for breaking them?

There is a penalty and that is why we are careful not to go over the speed limit, pay our taxes, and abide by the law. We know there is a penalty if we do not.

There is a penalty for disobeying the law of God and that is death and eternal separation from God. So why are we separated from God? Because sin separates us from God. God and sin cannot mix.

So how do we reverse this? How do we get rid of the sin that is separating us from a holy God? We can’t. There is no way. Only a sinless man that lives upon the earth and then dies without committing one single sin can possibly reverse the curse put upon us by the fall of Adam. If there was only one perfect sinless one, that curse can be reversed. However, there was never one man that could ever do that. So then God had to become a man and do it for us.

God became flesh and dwell among us. God sent His Son which was the same as sending Himself. Jesus was with God and was God from the beginning. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all God that has existed eternally with no beginning and no end. This perfect Son of God came into human flesh and became the man that could live until adulthood and die without once committing a sin.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Since the penalty for sin is death, when Jesus died, He died not deserving to die because He had no sin.

That way all who simply believe in Him, can have the curse of eternal death removed from them and they can be “Born Again” by the spirit of God.

When Nicodemus asked Jesus how can a man when he is old re-enter his mother's womb and be born again Jesus told him in John 3: 5-7 that he must be born of water and the spirit to enter God's kingdom, and to marvel not when he said Ye must be born again.

We have to be born by the Holy Spirit to be saved from sin and enter eternal life. It is something that is done by the Spirit of God. We cannot do this by being baptized in water, doing good deeds, partaking of sacraments, going to church, joining the church, or any other earthly thing we can think of. Being saved from sin is only something that God can do. The Spirit of God comes into our lives and we become children of God. He has to do it. We have to allow it, we have to believe it but He has to do the saving.

The Spirit of God comes into our lives and we are changed from death unto life. Christ comes into us by the power of the Holy Spirit. I’m not talking here of the baptism of the Holy Spirit that gives us power for service along with the gifts of the Spirit but the baptism of the spirit that makes us part of the body of Christ and causes us to have eternal life. We receive the Holy Spirit when we come to Christ and He cleanses us from sin, there is no doubt about that because without the Spirit of God we do not belong to Him. Some receive these things all at once like we see in Acts chapter 10 but some of us receive the full baptism of the Holy Spirit later. Whichever way it happens though, all who receive Jesus Christ, receive a measure of the Holy Spirit. Awesome to think about. When we read the book of Acts we see that many times the followers of Jesus receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit and joy when they gather together and pray. This is continual.

This salvation is for men, children and women: God doesn’t leave out women or children .

Children:

Luke 18:15 And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

Lets turn to John chapter 4 for the women.

John 4:1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,
2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)
3 He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee.
4 And he must needs go through Samaria.
5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

Jesus took the time out of His busy schedule to see this one woman. I believe He send His disciples to town on purpose so that He could save this one lone woman. Of course we know that this woman in turn quickly went to the men in town and shared what she had learned to the men, but I believe God would have saved this one, even if no one else had believed.

From Nicodemus we learned of the New birth, now we hear the same salvation called the living water. Remember Jesus said we must be born of water and of the spirit. The living water is another name for being born again of the spirit. It takes the Spirit of God entering into our lives to make us right with God.

First of all the blood of Jesus has to cover our sins and then the Holy Spirit brings us the new birth.

In the Old Testament it says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. Abel gave his sacrifice in faith with a heart that believed and trusted in God. He may have been seeking the salvation that would come later by the one we now know as Jesus who died for our sins. His sacrifice though was accepted by the Lord. Perhaps he knew that when He offered his sacrifice it pointed to the one to come that would die for sins. All Old Testament sacrifices pointed to the one that was to come to die for sins and make the way for us to be cleansed from sin. How much they knew, we don't know but for some reason Cain's offering was rejected by God because it was not of faith according to what was recorded about this in the book of Hebrews.

Remember Jesus didn’t come to save us in our sins but He came to save us from our sins. Why would He die such a horrible death and shed His blood just so we can claim salvation and return to the sin He saves us from?

He saves us from sin and then covers us with His righteousness, giving us the living water of the Holy Spirit and we are born again by the same spirit so that we become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Sin is bondage, slavery, and misery. He came to get us out of the stuff that is separating us from God. Saving faith gets us out of sin and reunites us with God the Father. Remember sin is separating us from God. Jesus came to redeem us back to God and take away our sin.

Now we become His workmanship. Now we are a new creation made for good works. We don’t do good works to be saved, we do good works because we are saved.

Romans 10: 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

We cannot confess Jesus with our mouth and not believe in our hearts to be saved. We can’t believe in our hearts and not confess with our mouths and be saved.

To believe in Jesus means to believe that He died for our sins, believe that He rose from the dead and believe His words whether the words are "Love thy Neighbor as thyself" or Go and sin no more."

To believe in something means to partake of, to become part of, to accept.

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

How good is the message of salvation. In fact there is no message greater than this one.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

So why am I preaching the gospel this morning?

Because we tend to forget the basics. We tend to forget the simple message of the gospel that saves the soul from eternal death. We need to be constantly reminded of the price that was paid for our salvation and the seriousness it is not to depart from this way of eternal life.

We need to be reminded of these things just in case someone should ask us what must they do to be saved.

What would we answer them?
Would we say, go to church?
Would we say, be a good person?
Would we say, I’m not sure?

It wouldn’t hurt us to read and study the words about salvation so that in case someone asks us, we can point them to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is God’s greatest gift.

Dorna J Chambers

Message Given March 29, 2009