We believe salvation

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Please take a seat. Thanks Dylan and the crew great to lift our voice in song isn't it sing God's praise he is so worthy of our praise and has done so much for us as uh we'll discover again this morning uh my name's Dave one of the pastors here and it's uh my privilege to uh to open up God's word uh for us this morning we're continuing our We Believe series series looking at our Church's statement of faith looking at some of the key doctrines that we hold to as a fellowship as a family of Faith here at the Kabula Baptist Church as we've been discovering along the way it's important for us to understand what it is that we believe particularly around some of these key doctrines of our faith because what we believe significantly impacts who we are as well as what we say and what we do as Disciples of Jesus who are seeking to live out the Great Commission of making disciples and teaching them to obey all that Jesus taught us it's fundamentally important that we understand what we believe because what we believe is foundational to how we respond how we act and how we live for the kingdom of God in his plan of discipleship this morning we're going to be looking at our fifth statement which concerns the doctrine of salvation if you haven't guessed already as we've been singing this morning this is good news good news because if you've been tracking along with us in our series uh last week we looked at what we believe the Bible has to say about humanity and if you were here last week you know that it's not good those three words that we unpacked last week Fallen sinful lost summarize for us the state of our human condition as Pastor Dylan mentioned this is an uncomfortable truth of our humanity and yet by God's grace and his mercy and love to us he doesn't leave us there he set about a a rescue a A Plan of Salvation and this is what we'll be focusing on this morning as we look at section 3.1.5 of our constitution our fifth statement of belief that's a big one we believe the salvation of people from the penal consequences and the power of sin through the perfect Obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ his atoning death his resurrection from the dead his Ascension to the right hand of the father and his unchanging priesthood that's a bit of a mouthful it's quite a lot wrapped up in that statement so we're going to try and unpack it piece by piece what we'll do is we'll spend a bit of time at the beginning so it might go a little bit slower there there but then hopefully we'll pick up the pace as we get towards the end pretty sure we should be out of here by lunchtime no I'm just kidding that's a that's a joke uh that I will have a bunch of Bible verses on the screen uh on the slides don't worry if we flick too fast past those we'll make the slides available during the week uh so we'll pop them up on the on the web or whatever or send them out on email uh if you'd like to to get those if you don't get them automatically send us an email into the office and we can send them out to you so so don't get worried about uh behind you can get all of the slides uh for your leisure and study during the week uh but first let's look at the first part of that statement we believe in Salvation specifically the salvation of people you might have heard this referred to in theological terms soteriology or the doctrine of salvation soteriology just discusses how Christ's death secures salvation for those who believe this is what we believe here at Kucha Baptist Church church and and this is what we should all believe as Christians it's the very center of our faith the fact that God acts to bring about salvation for his people this is the good news this is the the the good news of the gospel and it should fill us with gratitude and praise but what is salvation as as the Bible explains it as as we understand that in in the scriptures in a general sense salvation comes from a a a Greek word which reever refers to persevering or preserving rescuing or delivering from danger and you can see this uh play out in kind of two different aspects in the scriptures on the one hand we see salvation used of physical Deliverance as God works in and throughout salvation history to physically bring about salvation for his people some examples of that we might see in in the the New Testament where the disciples were in the boat with Jesus in the middle of the storm in Matthew 8:25 and they wake Jesus up because he's asleep and there's this storm going on and they think they're going to die and they're like Lord save us um so that that's what we're referring to there a physical saving from from drowning in a storm uh when Peter walks on water towards Jesus he he goes okay at the beginning and uh then he gets distracted by the wind and the wav and he starts sinking and he cries out Lord save me again uh referring to the physical deliverance from drowning we see the word salvation used in a physical sense uh in relation to healings and there's a number of those throughout Jesus ministry a couple of prominent ones you might recall uh Jesus healing the woman who'd been afflicted for 12 years in Matthew chapter 9 or in the same chapters uh uh you might see it in Mark Mark Mark's account gyrus comes to Jesus and asks him in the middle of all of this to save his daughter who's unwell in Mark chapter 5 you can read about that we see the term salvation also used in the physical sense for a release or a a a rescue from demonic powers or demon possession there's a number of those that we see across uh the New Testament it's not just a new testament idea though in the Old Testament God brought about physical salvation for his people for the nation of Israel as he saved them from their enemies in battle as he brought them out of slavery in Egypt as he rescued Daniel from the the lion's mouth as he saved Daniel and his friends from the the fiery furnace this is all the aspect of physical salvation in the scriptures but the second aspect and the one that we want to focus in on this morning has to do with spiritual salvation our being saved from both the penalty and the power of sin this is the good news this is the The Hope in the story of God that God doesn't leave us in that Fallen sinful lost state that We examined last week but he brings about a rescue a a a Salvation in the spiritual sense through Jesus finished work on the cross through this act of Salvation we're fully restored into right relationship with God not only that God gives us the gift of eternal life that's again the good news of the Gospel if you've got your Bible there I'd like you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 we'll look at the first eight verses here in 1 Corinthians 15 it's important passage for us the Apostle Paul writing to the Believers in Corinth his purpose in this section of the text is to remind them of the Gospel to remind them of the good good news of Salvation let's uh read verses 1 to3 together Paul says in this way he says let me remind you dear brothers and sisters of the good news I preached to you before you welcomed it then and you still stand firm in it it is this good news that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you unless of course you believe something that was never true in the first place I passed on to you what was most important and what has also been passed on to me just pause the reading there notice in verse three that Paul says he's passing on what is of most importance of first importance this is the good news that he has received Paul says this is the good news that saves you in verse two so long as you go on believing it it's important that we understand what we believe we continue reading this there I passed on to you what was most important what's been passed on to me Christ died for our sins just as the scriptures said he was buried and he was raised from the dead on the third day just as the scriptures said he was seen by Peter and then by the 12 after that he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time most of whom are still alive although some have died then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles last of all as though I'd been born at the wrong time I also saw him and so Paul gives this account of the Gospel this this summary statement of the Salvation message that we hold to that we believe that Christ died for our sins in verse four just as the scriptures said that he was buried and that he was raised from the dead on the third day just as the scriptures had said Paul's highlighting for the Corinthian Believers here that this was God's rescue plan all along that's what he means when he says this happened according to the scriptures he's saying it's it's not some Plan B that God came up with at short notice it's something that he planned from the very beginning this was this was promised in the scriptures this was prophesied and foretold this was God's Plan of Salvation from the beginning what we understand in this doctrine of salvation is that it's trinitarian in nature we looked at the doctrine of God in our second week of our series we we understand and believe that we have one God but God exists in three persons Father Son and Holy Spirit and in the doctrine of salvation which we unpack today we see all three persons of the of the Trinity the all three persons of the godhead at work in Salvation God the Father plans the rescue plans the gift of salvation for us God the son Jesus enters into history takes on flesh becomes like us fully human and yet also fully God he enacts the father's salvation plan as he lives a life of perfect obedience and willingly lays down his life for us that's the reason Jesus came into the world we know that Jesus name which was announced to Joseph and Mary by the angel before he was born Jesus name means Yahweh saves or Yahweh is salvation the angel said to Mary and Joseph you to call him Jesus because he'll save his people from their sins you can read about that in Matthew chapter 1 or Luke chapter 1 and finally we see the action or the the work of God the holy spirit in Salvation Works to draw us to Christ to open our eyes to the reality of our sin and our need for a savior and then in that moment when we put our trust in Jesus the spirit Works to regenerate us begins the process of transforming us to be more like Christ the spirit continues to work in our Salvation helps us to fight against sin and preserves our salvation and we're going to dig into more of what the Holy Spirit does in our Salvation next week when we we dig into that a little bit more but Salvation is trinitarian in nature it also involves three tenses you can kind of think about salvation in three different tenses past present and future salvation happens in the past and is effective in the past for us at that very moment when we believe in Jesus when we trust him to be our Lord and savior when we believe in what Jesus did on that cross for us at that moment we are saved from the penalty of sin which is death we're declared righteous and innocent before the Lord all of our past sin that we have com committed Is Forgiven salvation is effective in that past tense it's also effective in the present because scripture tells us that we are uh going through the process of being saved from the power of sin and we'll learn more about that in coming weeks as the Holy Spirit Works in us to bring about salvation from the power of sin in our life right now in our fight against sin the Holy Spirit helps us to to walk in obedience to resist the devil and to flee from him so salvation is effective in the present salvation is also something we look forward to in Hope for the future because the script scripture tells us that we're saved from the presence of sin forever when Christ comes again and we are brought into the presence of God when Christ returns sin will no longer be a problem for us you can think about those three tenses maybe you've heard of them talked about in theological terms justification as salvation works on our sin in the past uh sanctification as salvation Works its way out in our present or glorification as we look forward in hope to being brought into Christ's presence no longer having to deal with sin again what we see in all of this is that salvation is God's Gift of Grace to us through faith in Jesus finished work on the cross we think about salvation it's it's not something that we could ever earn or deserve we believe that salvation is by grace alone through Christ Alone in faith alone faith in what he has done for us we could never earn it imagine you have an illness you've been having headaches daily for a week you go to the doctor and they run a series of tests and the the doctor tells you some bad news they found a growth there's a a Cancer and it's terminal then he tells you the good news he said there's a there's a new drug it's an experimental medicine and it could treat it but the problem is this new drug is not on the PBS it's it's super new it's effective but it's super expensive and given your financial situation there's no way that you could afford it the doctor knows that but he reaches into his desk and he pulls out a card and he gives it to you and he explains he said a person gave me this card one time and said that if someone was ever in my office where you're sitting now and they ever needed this drug and they couldn't afford it they said to give you their details and and you to have them call me and I'll sort it out for them you leave the doctor's rooms maybe you're still a bit shocked by all you've had to take in and even though you don't know this person on the card you've never met them before because your life depends on it you give him a call you tell him your story and surprisingly just as the doctor explained this Good Samaritan this kind benefactor says to you okay you ring the doctor back you tell him to book the treatment to administer the drug I'll pay the cost I'll pay in full I want you to keep that picture in mind as I'll come back to it a little bit later on because this is exactly the picture in mind when it we have in mind when it comes to this doctrine of salvation the the cancer that we're talking about is how sin is for all of us we saw that last week it affects us all we're Fallen sinful and lost we can't do anything to save ourselves from this condition so we need a rescue we we need saving from the penalty the consequences and the power of sin and this bring BR us to the next part of our statement that we want to unpack this morning we believe that the salvation of people from the penal consequences and the power of sin through the perfect Obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to fully understand and appreciate what we've been saved from we need to understand the penalty or the consequences of our sin Pastor Dylan did a great job unpacking uh the The Human Condition for us last week so if you missed that message I'd encourage you to get online and watch the recording I'm not going to rehash everything that Dylan said but I I will recap quickly the penalty or the the consequences that we see as a result of our sin firstly sin affects our standing before God it renders us guilty liable to face his just judgment and condemnation second sin affects our condition in that it leaves us thoroughly corrupt and enslaved to Satan and sin as the power that dominates Our Lives sin affects our relationships with one another it it brings us into conflict with each other sin ruins marriages and friendships it splits churches and separates families sin affects our relationship with God it turns the love that belongs to him alone and it points it inward towards ourselves sin separates Ates us from God we become hostile towards God and His will for our lives we reject God in favor of anyone and anything else sin affects our relationship with the natural world as well and this is true in a cosmic sense in the the default settings of a universe where sin has corrupted everything but we also see it don't we as work is difficult and growing or producing anything takes tremendous effort brought that out nicely for us last week the ultimate consequence of sin the ultimate penalty that we pay for our rejection of God our Rebellion against him is the consequence of death since God is the Creator and Giver of Life it stands to reason that to be separate from him means to be experiencing death and so ultimately this is the penalty that comes because of our sin we get shut out from the presence of the one who gives us life we see that death comes both physically and spiritually physical death despite being part of the natural order as it stands today is foreign to God's design for the universe we see that it is is a Corruption of what he intended in the beginning it came as a result of Mankind's sin death also brings a spiritual death in a distortion of our relationship with God and that spiritual death continues in a permanent State when someone dies apart from the reconciling work of Christ the depth of sins effects the consequences the penalty of our sin is such that left to ourselves apart from God's Saving Grace we are nothing less than dead in our trespasses and sins as a iians 21 and 5 tell us sin leaves the sinner both inexcusably guilty and helplessly enslaved that's why I belief that God's salvation is a free gift that saves us from the penal consequences and the power of sin is good news 1 john5 tells us that God is light in him there is no Darkness at all think about that for a second if if you want to know God if you want to walk in relationship with him if you want to relate to him then you need to be able to stand under the scrutiny of this kind of light but as we saw last week sin is not something we stumble into or it's something we're born with the Bible tells us that we're Sinners by birth by nature and by choice so sadly our light has gone out we we're trapped in a dark dungeon of sin and therefore we need an advocate we need a a representative somebody to stand in that courtroom of Justice with us someone to plead our case to present our case to the holy judge we need a substitute that's Humanity's greatest need remember the purpose for which God created us for his glory yes but also to have fellowship with him and the Bible's clear that if we remain in our sin there's no way that that fellowship with God can occur because he's both holy and just because he's holy he demands Holiness from those who wish to relate to him because he's just he can't tolerate sin he must punish it he must set it right and so thankfully the good news of Salvation the the good news of the Gospel is that God is Not Just holy and just but that God is love and so this Plan of Salvation this rescue Miss mission that he set in place from that first sin that entered into the world right throughout salvation history to the present day we see God's Plan of Salvation at work God enacting this plan to to reconcile together those who are Fallen sinful and lost to bring us back into right relationship with him we see Jesus as he steps into history as he takes on flesh as he came Among Us fully God yet fully man as he willingly goes to that cross as he dies in our place that he might satisfy the Holiness of God and the justice of God and save us from our sins it's why we can say that we believe salvation from the penalty and power of sin comes through the perfect obedience and atoning death of Jesus because Jesus is our Advocate Jesus is our substitute he's the savior that brings about this salvation turn in your Bibles to Romans 3: 23- 26 maybe familiar passage for some Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and all are Justified freely by his grace through the Redemption that came by Christ Jesus God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood to be received by faith he did this to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance he left the sins committed beforehand unpunished he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time so as to be just and the one who justifies Those Who Have Faith In Jesus it's wonderful words and it explains to us how Jesus brings about or or works out this salvation verse 24 says that we're Justified freely by his grace justification is just a a big theological term it it means God's merciful act when he declares us righteous not guilty just as if we hadn't sinned Paul says that when we believe in jesus' death for our sins when we look to what he did on the cross for us God looks at us and he declares us not guilty we're Justified we're set free from the penalty and the power of sin it's as if we hadn't sinned God is like that Doctor Who diagnoses the cancer that's killing us he shows us that we're lost but he's also like the judge who can declare us not guilty when we put our faith in Jesus he's like that Good Samaritan that that kind benefactor who offers to pay the cost of the the one treatment that will truly save us but that we cannot ever hope to afford this is the good news of Salvation justification is a free gift given to us by the grace of God and it takes place at that very moment when we put our faith in Jesus the grounds for that justification is nothing that we've done it's it's it's the death of Christ it's his finished work on the cross we don't do anything other than receive it and as we've been singing this morning as we've been reflecting on our statement God wants to give it to you the only thing that we can do is trust in Jesus and allow God to declare us not guilty notice the language in verse 25 there God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood some other translations might say um Christ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood it's the same idea that's being conveyed 1 John 2:2 says that he Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world to atone means to make amends or reparations and Paul's recipients of this letter to the Romans would have been familiar with this idea you can read about the sacrifice of atonement um that God's people were familiar with in Leviticus chapter 16 there was a a day of atonement a special ceremony once a year when the high priest was required to go into the Tabernacle behind the veil into the the holiest part of the temple the the holy of holies they called it the area that was where God dwelt the area that was never approached at any other time and on this one day on this day of atonement the high priest would bring an offering to God to make atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins and he would take some sacrificial blood and he would sprinkle it on The Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant you read about that in Leviticus 16:34 but this Ceremony this this atonement foreshadowed the process by which we would be granted atonement through the sacrifice and death of Jesus we would literally be at one with God it points forward to that day when Jesus work after his time on earth when he entered the throne room of God and presented his own sacrificial blood to reconcile all who would believe and turn from their sin in Repentance so Jesus is our advocate he atones for our sins he provides justification but he's also our substitute Romans uh chapter 5: 17-9 for If by the trespass of one man death reigned through that one man how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ Verse 18 consequently just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people for just as through the Disobedience of one man Adam many were made Sinners so also Through The Obedience of one man Jesus the many will be made righteous do you catch what Paul is saying there Adam stood as our representative for Humanity and when it came to sin it was through his Disobedience that sin entered the world Paul contrasts this with Jesus and he says Jesus perfect obedience stands as a substitute that we needed to bring us back to God when the sacrifice of atonement was made the the people presented this lamb and it it had to be spotless without blemish for the offering for their sin the priest would pray pray over it it would be offered up in place of the people who had sinned and Paul paints for us this picture of Jesus taking on this role for us he becomes the Passover Lamb The Substitute that takes the wroth of God and pays the price for the penalty of our sin Hebrews chap 2: 10 and 11 further expands on this in bringing many sons and daughters to Glory it was fitting that God for whom and through whom everything exists should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers or sisters jump down to verse 14 or keep reading since the children have Flesh and Blood he too shared in their Humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death that is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death verse 17 for this reason he had to be made like them fully human in every way in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service to God that he might make atonement for the sins of the people Jesus is our perfect substitute the Savior we needed because he shared in our Humanity he broke the power of sin and death and then he became our high priest and mediator before God that takes us back to our belief statement we believe that Jesus Ascension to the right hand of the father and his unchanging changing priesthood has implications for salvation and they're pretty big ones number one Jesus Ascension to the right hand of the father assures us that his death on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for sin was sufficient it confirms that our sins are forgiven the writer to the Hebrews in uh in chapter 9: 24- 27 says Christ didn't enter into a holy Place made with human hands which was only a copy of the true one in heaven no he entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf he did not enter Heaven to offer himself again and again like the high priest here on Earth who enters the most holy priest year after year with the blood of an animal if that had been necessary Christ would have had to die again and again ever since the world began but now once for all time he's appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice Jesus Ascension to the right hand of the father shows us that his sacrifice was enough it explains for us his absence right now as he's enthroned in heaven making intercession for us serving God as our faithful high priest you can read that in Hebrews 2:17 or Hebrews 4:15 but then it comes back to our final piece of the puzzle our statement of faith this morning why Jesus resurrection matters to Salvation and that's because it guarantees our Salvation Jesus resurrection validates and vindicates his claims to be the Messiah it shows us that he truly did have the power to defeat sin and death and therefore he has the power to forgive our sins John's vision of things to come in Revelation 1 and verse 5 speaking of Jesus it says he is the faithful witness to these things he's the first to rise from the dead the ruler of all Kings of the world all glory to him who loves us and as has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us Jesus resurrection guarantees and makes certain his claims about the gift of eternal life to all who believe in him in now 1 Corinthians 15: 12-19 if you follow Paul's logic through he is speaking to a controversy that was happening at the time there was fol FK who were saying that we weren't going to rise from the dead and and Paul uses these verses in 1 Corinthians 15:12 to19 to to kind of blow that out of the water and say no this is a a key part of our belief Christ Jesus had to rise from the dead because if there's no Resurrection from the dead in verse 13 then Christ didn't rise either and if Christ didn't rise then all our preaching is useless and your faith is useless the apostles would be lying about God because we said God raised Christ from the grave but that can't be true if there's no resurrection of the Dead if Christ has not been raised verse 17 then your faith is useless and you're still guilty of your sins in that case all who have died believing in Christ are lost and our hope in Christ if it's only for this life we're to be more pied than anyone in the world the resurrection is key because it guarantees e for us it secures for us that our Salvation is sure because Jesus is who he claimed to be he said he would die for our sins and rise again and he did it and we did it we've unpacked our statement concerning the doctrine of salvation what's our response to this it's a it's a big topic I think there's two two responses we need need to make same response that that people asked when Peter stood on the day of Pentecost and proclaimed the good news of Salvation those who heard it asked the same question as we ask ourselves today what shall we do Peter said repent or turn from your sin turn to Jesus and believe trust in his Gospel of Salvation you can do that right now we're going to share in a time of communion where we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus for our sins those who are serving could you come and uh and begin serving that now that would be great just as I uh finish up you're going to get a little cracker and a cup of juice and these are symbols of Jesus body and blood reminders of what he did for us Jesus instructed us to remember him in this way on that final night before he went to the Cross as they'd shared that meal together he took bread and he broke it and he said this is my body given for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper he took the cup and he said this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me the band's going to play a song and uh I just invite you in your own time to think about everything that we've shared this morning if uh if you believe in Jesus if you can agree with our statement of the doctrine of salvation then you eat with gladness in your heart that you can repent of your sin you can turn away from it and turn back to Jesus and receive the Forgiveness that he offers to you today if you've still got questions about that you're not ready to to trust in Jesus that's okay don't feel um embarrassed by letting those elements pass you by just sit quietly in your seat and consider whatever it is that's still bugging you about this I'd encourage you implore you to talk to Dylan or myself or someone that you came with we'd love to answer your questions we'd love to help you understand more of what it means to recognize and respond to the love of God who enacted this wondrous salvation plan so that we might know him be restored to him and have that gift and hope of eternal life I'm going to pray and then you can eat Lord uh thank you so much for your gift of Grace to us thank you for this wonderful way that we can remember and celebrate that today as we eat this cracker as we hold on to that cup after the band of sung a song we'll we'll drink that cup together in honor of all that you are and all that you've done for us we thank you in Jesus name. Amen.