God’s Plan of Salvation
Phil 2:12 in this verse we are called to work out our own salvation. The most important thing we can concern ourselves with in this life is our salvation. 2 Pet 1:10 we are to be diligent to make our call and election sure. Do we treat our salvation as urgently as we ought to? Getting to heaven after this life ought to be our priority! But we must know the plan that God has set out for us to receive salvation. In the religious world there are many different “plans of salvation” but there is only one that will get us into heaven. It is not my plan, it is not my dad’s plan, and it is not our elder’s plan nor any other religious body’s plan but God’s plan. Tonight we will look in the bible for God’s plan for our salvation.
a.
God sent his son-
i.
John 3:16. God loved us so much that he
was willing to allow his only son to come to this earth.
1 John 4:10 because God loved us he sent his son to redeem us
from our sins.
ii.
Jesus had this purpose as he lived on
this earth. Luke 19:10 Jesus came to save Luke 5:31. God sent his son
with the purpose of saving us from our sins.
iii.
Jesus
simply coming to this earth did not save us. He did more for us.
b.
Jesus shed his blood-
i.
1 Pet 1:18, 19 we are redeemed by the
blood of Christ. The old law was not sufficient for cleansing us from
our sins. We needed a better sacrifice and that sacrifice was Jesus. Heb
9:12-14. Christ’s shed blood, the blood of a perfect man can cleanse us;
can heal us from our sinful state. 1 Pet 2:22-24. God allowed Jesus to
come to this earth, to shed his blood so we can be cleansed of our sin.
c.
The Holy Spirit Revealed the Word.
i.
John 16:13 God sent his spirit to reveal
his word. While this verse applies directly to the apostles, the Holy
Spirit has revealed God’s message for us. 1 Cor. 2:9-13. The Holy Spirit
dwells in us, John 14:17 Today the Spirit dwells in us and guides us
through the God’s revealed word.
d.
Are we saved yet?
i.
No! If I was drowning and someone was to
throw a life raft out to save me, this life raft wouldn’t do a bit of
good if I did not grab on to it. I have to choose to be saved. I have to
grab on to the life raft and be pulled in to be saved.
ii.
God has sent his son and Jesus died so we
can be saved. We have to accept that salvation. We have to do our part
so we can receive salvation.
Phil 2:12. What then is our part?
a.
Hear-
i.
First, we must hear the word of God.
Rom10:17, John 6:44, 45. Now what does it mean to hear. This word
literally means to listen or to come to the knowledge of. If someone
were outside shouting, we would hear him. Would while we wouldn’t
understand what he was saying, we could most definitely hear him. When
we hear God’s word its more that simply hearing it read or hearing a
sermon, we must become acquainted with God’s word.
We must listen to God’s word. This is more than listening to a
couple sermons. We must read the bible; study the bible to see who God
is, how we can know him, how we can be one of his children.
AS we read in John 6:45 when we
have heard and LEARNED, we can come to Christ.
Once we hear God’s word what is next?
b.
Believe-
i.
Once we hear God’s word we will begin to
develop faith. Heb 11:6 we cannot be a child of God, we cannot be
pleasing to God if we do not have faith. John 8:24 Jesus speaking here
tells us we will die in our sins unless we believe that he IS.
ii.
What does it mean to believe that he IS?
1.
Let us look at the Ethiopian Eunuch for a
brief moment. Acts 8:37 Philip here when asked what hinders me from
being baptized? He responds with “if you believe will ALL your heart you
may.” First of all I want to point out that this is more than simply an
inclination or a leaning towards. This is a firm persuasion. You must
firmly believe with all your being.
Now let’s notice the eunuch’s response.
2.
He answered “I believe that Jesus is the
Son of God.” He believed that Jesus IS! Jesus is the Son of God Jesus
came to this earth and died for our sins. Jesus was buried and was
raised from the dead. This is the belief we must have as well or as
Jesus stated we will die in our sins.
iii.
Now according to many, the steps of
salvation stops here. All you have to do is believe. This is not God’s
plan however. James 2:17-26. Our
faith is complete or made perfect through our works. While our belief is
our foundation, our faith calls us to do more than simply believe.
We cannot simply stop at faith and say we have salvation. God in
his word has told us there is more that we must do.
c.
Repent-
i.
Once we have heard the word of God and
believe in him, we must realize that we are sinners. Rom. 3:23 all have
sinned.
ii.
1
John 1:8 we must not deceive ourselves into thinking we have no sin.
Once we realize we are a sinner and we are lost, we must repent.
iii.
Acts 17:30 God commands us to repent of
our sins. But what does repentance mean?
Repentance means to change one’s mind. Literally we are to turn
away from sin or darkness and walk towards light.
iv.
Eph 4:20-23 we are to put off our former
conduct. Our sinful actions our sinful ways of life must go.
v.
Col 3:9 we must put off, do away with the
old man and his deeds, and put on, embrace the new man.
When we seek to become a
Christian we must understand that we must change our life.
We must repent turn away
from the sinful ways and turn to God and embrace godly standards of
living. Once we have repented we must confess.
d.
Confess-
i.
We must confess our faith in God. Rom
10:9, 10. We must confess our belief in our Lord Jesus, and that God has
raised him from the dead.
ii.
In
the account of the Ethiopian Eunuch, in Acts 8:37 Philip is teaching the
eunuch and he what hinders me from being baptized? Philip in verse 37
the eunuch gives the good confession “I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God.”
iii.
Jesus in Matt 10:32, 33 stated, if we
confess him before others, he will confess us before his father. While
definitely applies to obtaining salvation, this also must be an ongoing
action for us. We must
always be willing to confess Christ to all we come in contact with. We
must never be ashamed to confess Christ before others.
Once we confess our belief in Jesus, we must now be baptized.
e.
Baptism-
i.
This is the most controversial step to
salvation. Most of the religious world will tell you that baptism is not
necessary for salvation. Is this what the scriptures say? Let us find
out.
ii.
Mark 16:16 He who believes and is
baptized, shall be saved.
iii.
Acts 2:38- Repent and let every one of
you be baptized for the remission of your sins.
iv.
Acts 22:16- Arise and be baptized, and
wash away your sins.
v.
1 Pet 3:21 There is an antitype which now
SAVES US, BAPTISM.
vi.
After looking at these verses, you CANNOT
separate baptism from salvation.
vii.
What is baptism?
1.
Baptism is an immersion which requires
much water John 3:23. Acts 8:39.
2.
Likeness of A Birth- John 3:5
3.
Likeness of A Burial- Rom 6:3-4
4.
Likeness of a Resurrection- Col 2:12
viii.
What does baptism do?
1.
Acts 2:38 Remission of Sins
2.
Acts 22:16 Wash away our sins
3.
Put into the likeness of his death. Rom
6:3-4 we are raised to walk in newness of life.
What makes us new?
The blood of Christ Eph 1:7, Heb 9:14.
4.
1 Pet 3:21 Saves us! Through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
ix.
Why Oppose baptism?
1.
Others may try to excuse baptism by
claiming the thief on the cross was an exception, you can claim that
Cornelius was saved prior to his baptism, and you can claim that Jesus
never baptized anyone so therefore baptism isn’t necessary. But the
bottom line is Mark 16:16 God gave his conditions for those who will be
saved. The second half of Mark 16:16 does not say he who does not
believe or is not baptized will be condemned. It doesn’t need to!
a.
If you receive a credit card and it tells
you if you make your first 5 payments on time, you are eligible for a
credit increase. Does it have to say if you do not make one of those
payments on time you are no longer eligible? NO. The condition was set
ANYTHING contrary to those conditions is ineligible.
b.
Our faith is the primary factor. As we
noted in 1 Pet 3:21 baptism is the answer of our faith to God’s calling.
Baptism is the result of our faith. Without faith anything else we may
do is meaningless.
c.
ANYONE who does not believe or is not
baptized WILL NOT BE SAVED.
x.
Baptism is absolutely necessary for one’s
salvation. Once we are baptized we must be faithful.
f.
Live faithfully
i.
We must realize that once we obtain
salvation we must maintain it. We must understand we can lose our
salvation.
1.
Gal 5:4 let us consider for a moment who
this is being written to.
Chapter 1 vs. 2 states it is written to the churches of Galatia. In Vs.
6 he begins to rebuke them saying “I marvel you are turning away so
soon.” Obviously he was writing to believers, or those who had been
saved. If the Galatians could fall from grace, we must be aware that we
can too!
ii.
We must live our lives for God not
ourselves.
1.
1 Cor. 6:20 we were bought at a price.
Jesus purchased us with his blood; he paid the debt for our sins.
a.
Let’s say you were doing a project at
home and needed six screws. You go to the store and you buy a six pack
of the screws you need. When you get home you realize that only 5 screws
were in the package. You paid for 6 screws; you have a right to six
screws and have the right to demand that you get what you paid for.
b.
Doesn’t Jesus have that same right? He
has done so much for us and yet asks for so little in return.
I heard a man say He doesn’t ask for much, he just asks for
everything. This is very true. All Jesus asks for is for us to
completely devote our lives to him. Matt 11:30 His yoke is easy and his
burden is light.
2.
Gall 2:20 our lives are no longer looking
out for our own wants or desires but for God’s wants and desires for us.
Rom 6:1-2. Christ now lives in us, he dwells in us through our obedience
to him John 15:10.
3.
Rom 12:1-2 we ought to present our bodies
a living sacrifice. When you think of sacrifice you think of Jesus’
sacrifice or the animal sacrifices of the old law. But we are to be a
living sacrifice, dying to self, sacrificing our own life, for a life in
service to God. Not to be conformed to this world but transformed by the
renewing of our minds.
4.
Finally in Rev 2:10 if we remain faithful
until death, we will receive eternal life.
If we can endure, and persevere to the end our reward will be
great. Heaven will surely be
worth it all.
Thus we see that through God’s grace seen in the
sending of his son to die on the cross, our faith, and the obedience
that it calls us to, we find God’s plan for our salvation.
Tonight we would like to offer the invitation to
everyone here. If you have not obeyed the gospel, remember that you are
lost. But you can change that this evening. We have examined the steps
necessary to accept God’s grace and to be added to his Church, and able
to spend eternity with him in Heaven. If you are a Christian but haven’t
been giving all to Christ, you can repent of your sinful actions and be
rejoined with God. If you need the prayers of the congregation, we are
ready to assist you. Whatever your need may be, if you are subject to
the invitation, please come now as together we stand and sing.