Salvation: A Gift of Grace Through Jesus Christ

Let me ask, are you filled with the Spirit this morning? Are you filled with gratitude and thankfulness? Praise the Lord. Because that's what these songs have been about. It is why we're here. We're here because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Washing over a multitude of sins. Setting us apart. Making us clean. Allowing us the opportunity to stand before God the Father. Redeemed. Atoned for. Purchased. Bought. And that should just stir something within you. If you ain't, there needs to be revival. Here we are. We're in the year of Jubilee. [00:00:15] (35 seconds) Edit Clip


So this Apostles Creed from from 17 centuries ago, you know, summarizing those basic tenets, those foundational truths of scripture. I've written at a time where people didn't have scripture to carry around. They did not have John 3 16 then. Now it was written, they could, they could read the passage, but the Bible wasn't even divided into chapters and verses at that time. You know, we, we can say these sorts of things today, but, but what, one of the ways that, that, that, that instead of like memorizing scripture verses, because they didn't have scripture verses, they had these creeds, they had these, these theological doctrinal principles that were, that were, that were written out for them that, yes, this, these are our core truths. These are the things that, that, that we, that, that we believe that, that scripture teaches. [00:02:45] (54 seconds) Edit Clip


jesus offers there's one that teaches you that you have to practice the five pillars successfully that you have to be and win allah's favor in order to be welcomed into paradise there's another that says you have to purify yourself from all evil that you have to become one with brahma in order to surpass in order to end infinite lifetimes of reincarnation there's another that says you have to reach nirvana by following an eight -step path eliminating all desires and feelings and cravings there's another that says there's no need for salvation that what you need to be freed from is the process or the continual process of reincarnation by ridding your mind of engrams there's not a single religion in all the world that takes the burden off the person like christianity does all the other religion says that it is up to you to be saved but we believe in a person we believe in the person's life we believe in the person's death we believe in that person's resurrection we believe and we understand and none of us here could ever be good enough there is nothing that you and i can do but there is one who was and his name is jesus christ there is not anything that you and i can do to earn our way to heaven but there is one who paid the debt that you and i owe so that we may be granted access to heaven there is nothing that you can do to earn heaven to earn nirvana to earn salvation to earn happiness to earn oneness with brahma there is no nirvana there is only jesus you name it whatever salvation you [00:06:21] (123 seconds) Edit Clip


It says when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and the other disciples, Brothers, what shall we do? And Peter replied, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And you will receive the Holy Spirit. There is only one means of salvation and it comes by way of Jesus our Lord and Savior. Jesus alone saves. That's our first point. Jesus alone saves. Acts 4 .12 says that salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Jesus alone saves. [00:10:18] (50 seconds) Edit Clip


What you've been saved from is the penalty of your sin. Your separation from God. What Jesus calls that place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. What Revelation 21 describes as that eternal lake of fire where no one dies but lives in eternal torment. And why is that? Well, John chapter 3 tells us exactly why that is so. And this is what it says starting in verse 18. It says what Jesus says starting in verse 18. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only son. This is the verdict. Light has come into the world but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through. [00:12:00] (69 seconds) Edit Clip


God if you don't know what it means to be saved that's it it means to exit the darkness and to enter the light and the only way the only means by doing that is by as Jesus says here calling on the name of God's one and only son Jesus alone saves he alone saves and if you think about it that word may actually be the most powerful word the most the most powerful verb in the Bible the word saved most powerful one the most important one the one with the most the most power the most encouragement the most excitement the most liberation and in and in the year of Jubilee that's what it's about the freedom the liberation that we've been given in Christ the word salvation means deliverance to be safe and sound from destruction from danger from judgment it means healing it means wholeness it means rescue and deliverance from the penalty of sin it means new life now and life forever it means the grace and love of God being fully cast fully realized over you in your life it is a once and for all type of a verb it's a it's a word that means that when you have it in your life it is forever here's what Hebrews 10 10 says it says and by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all what a great phrase once for all say that phrase once for all and you know I think it's important to to recognize just the the the power of that phrase because there are some who teach even in Christendom that it's not once for all and that you have to keep it you have to continue in it you have to earn it because trusting in Jesus is not all that you're supposed to do but that's not how the Bible reads it is once for all it means that he has you [00:13:51] (142 seconds) Edit Clip


Delivered you from the penalty of separation from a holy God. Because he alone is holy. And his death makes you holy. It means your slate has been wiped clean once and for all. It means that he has freed you from all guilt once for all. It means Jesus has brought new life in your dead body once for all. 2 Corinthians 5 .17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come. No one has to go back to the way that they once were. They have been saved from it. They have been freed from it. No one is bound to the life, to the life of sin that once ruled. They have been freed from it. They have been unbound from it. They are a new creation. Saved, set apart, renewed, restored, once for all. [00:15:31] (66 seconds) Edit Clip


until you prove yourself, not if you keep the Ten Commandments, although I believe you should keep the Ten Commandments, not if you are obedient to his word, although I believe that we ought to be obedient to his word, but he did that to pardon you. Do you believe that to be true? Do you believe that your sin was not strong enough to keep him in the grave? That his power and his authority over sin, death, and the grave is greater than your sin because he rose from that grave. Your sin, your penalty, could not keep him in that grave because he is Lord over it. Do you believe that to be true? Then never, ever doubt your salvation. If you believe in the person and work of Jesus Christ, there is nothing, no one, there is nothing you can do, there is nothing anyone can tell you that you're not doing. It is believing and trusting in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And when you have that in your mind, you affirm that in your heart, you are completely saved. [00:20:01] (65 seconds) Edit Clip


That tells me that because you believe in Jesus Christ as he sits the right hand of God the Father, let's just say the interaction goes like this. Here's God the Father. Well, look at her. She's doing that again. And here's Jesus. Yeah, but I died for her. She believes in that. Well, look at him. There he is. He's opening up that again. And here's Jesus. But I died for him. I shed my blood for him. And he's trusting in that blood. We have someone interceding for us. We have someone sitting at the right hand of God who is saying, I have covered over their sins with my blood. Keep reading here, verse 26. Such a high priest meets our need, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priest, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. [00:21:30] (68 seconds) Edit Clip