Salvation and Redemption

 
Beliefs of the Biblical Christian, Part 7 Pt. 32, The Biblical Story “Salvation and Redemption” By Pastor Dan Kennedy © April 26, 2015 www.pastorkennedy.com Today we are considering the twelfth point of our church’s doctrinal statement. This point (along with the rest of our doctrinal statement) would be considered by many people in the world to be particularly “close-minded” and foolish… 12. We believe that it is absolutely essential for the salvation of lost and sinful man to accept Jesus Christ by believing in Him as Savior and Lord. John 3:16; John 1:12; John 16:31; Romans 10:9,10 Ironically, those who see these beliefs as foolish and close-minded often clothe themselves with worldly wisdom, which God, the One who created the universe, in turn, regards as foolish leading to eternal damnation. I guess it depends on the realistic truth of one’s perspective, doesn’t it? 1 Corinthians 1:18 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (See also 1 Corinthians 1:25–31) It isn’t just Biblical Christianity that points “One Way” to heaven. It is interesting that every religion promotes its own unique dogma and dogmatism…and obviously they all cannot be right. Every Religion has its Own Way The gods of each religion in the world require and demand submission to their own “enlightenment” – on what is pleasing to them and what will allow their followers into “eternal bliss”. If each religion or spiritual teaching underlines their own way as the accurate way, then, which one is the right way? The following are summary beliefs of the largest religions of the world…each believing their way as the “right way”. • The spirit of Buddhism focuses on the Eightfold Path of spiritual and moral practice, to break a spiraling cycle of suffering seen in their teaching of reincarnation. • The spirit of Hinduism teaches the goal of the Hindu’s religious life is learning to act so as to finally achieve liberation of one's soul, escaping a supposed rebirth cycle of suffering. • The spirit of the Muslims requires believers to follow the five pillars of Islam. • The spirit of Shintoism in Japan teaches the animist practice that every being and object has its own spirit. Families often have shrines worshipping their ancestors. Before the end of World War II, it taught the worship of the Japanese emperor as god. • The spirit of Atheism teaches that there is no God and no afterlife. Atheists believe in themselves until they pass away. • The spirit of Agnosticism questions the existence of God. • There are a host of other religions and spiritistic teachings – each teaching has its own spiritual source, and teaches their unique ways to earn their own after-life experience. The “All Roads Lead to God” Deception Only the deceived declare that “all roads” lead to God. Such folks have never seriously studied the definitive, required doctrines and dogmas of other religions. Their gods are completely incompatible, their concepts of after-life are totally different, and their god’s requirements for worship have no consistency at all with each other.  “All roads” do not lead to the same God. Finding God: The Religions of the World reach up to appease their gods through Good Works.  Christianity teaches that God Reaches Down to reconcile sinful mankind with Himself, through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Every worldly “god” or spiritual philosophy would prefer to use its own “way” as the primary or “only way” to eternal life. The religions of the world tell their followers to work their way up the arduous prescribed religious path to appease and find access to their god, to obtain eternal bliss. He or she can attain eternal life only through their own good deeds – offsetting their bad. Which of these spiritual gods, unique in each religion, is the true and living God? With all of the confusion, spiritual deception and self-made gods, with fallen spirits and human egos clamoring to be worshipped - and humans longing to worship something… How can we discern the One, True, and Living God? Paul, the apostle, faced this with the Greek philosophers in Athens. Acts 17:22–25 22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. Paul set aside all the philosophical and spiritistic gods of the world and focused on One God: The God who Created Everything. Our God – is The God who Created Heaven and Earth: Yahweh-El (“God, who causes to be”) Let’s take a moment to realistically adjust our vision to the amazing power and authority of the God who created our universe. In a recent article celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Hubble Telescope we have been given a very rough estimate about how many galaxies are in the visible universe. The author (see article by clicking HERE) describes how the Hubble scientists focused on a tiny spot in space, which was totally empty of stars or galaxies from the perspective of any telescope on earth. After pointing our most advanced optical cameras at this microdot for a series of twenty-three days allowing the faint light emanating from objects to penetrate our digital lenses, astronomers found that this “blank spot in the sky” held 5,500 visible galaxies (each galaxy could have billions of stars) in what we would consider “deep space”, from our vantage point. “Extrapolating” the number of galaxies from this “blank spot in space”, gives the hypothesis that there could be 170 billion to a trillion galaxies within our visible Universe. How many more could there be in all of the Universe? (see article by clicking HERE) • Who Created the Trillions of profound and dynamic Galaxies in the Universe? • Who Created the Sun and our Unique Planet? • Who Created YOU and ME and all of earth’s abundant life around us? It is amazing that only in the past 25 years our generation could be “privy” to such visible confirmation that the universe is truly enormous and complex beyond any one’s imagination. Well before the recent “Hubble” revelations in space, the Holy Spirit spoke through Paul, 2,000 years ago, recording for us enduring truth: “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” Acts 17:24–25 This is the God we worship: Yahweh (YHWH) Yahweh-El (“God, who causes to be”) Our realization of Who God Is as our Creator God, Yahweh, is determined from the Source of our belief, the Holy Scripture, the Judeo-Christian Bible, which is the first point of our Doctrinal Statement. 1. We believe the Bible to be the Inspired, Infallible, and Authoritative Word of God. We learn from the Bible that: • Our God is an All-Powerful God • Our God is The Creator God • Our God is a Holy God • Our God is an All-Present God • Our God is Spirit and His Son, Jesus, became flesh: He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – • Our God is mysteriously ONE – Unified as Three Persons and ONE Let’s Stop and Review our Doctrinal Statement, for a moment… In recent messages we have been reviewing the points of our Church’s Doctrinal Statement during this message series on “The Biblical Story”. Let’s review where we are up to this point in these Doctrinal statements: 1. We believe the Bible to be the Inspired, Infallible, and Authoritative Word of God. 2. We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 3. We believe in the Deity (Divine and Human Nature) of the Lord Jesus Christ. 4. We believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ. 5. We believe in Jesus Christ’s Sinless Life. 6. We believe in Jesus Christ’s Substitutionary Sacrifice by the shedding of His own blood on the Cross. 7. We believe in Jesus Christ’s Miracles. 8. We believe in Jesus Christ’s Bodily Resurrection. 9. We believe in Jesus Christ’s Ascension to the right hand of the Father. 10. We believe in Jesus Christ’s Personal Imminent Return for His Own. 11. We believe in Jesus Christ’s Personal Return in Power and Glory. Today we review the essential elements of mankind’s need for Salvation through Jesus Christ’s atonement for our sin. 12. We believe that it is absolutely essential for the salvation of lost and sinful man to accept Jesus Christ by believing in Him as Savior and Lord. 
John 3:16; John 1:12; John 16:31; Romans 10:9,10 Why should the One True, Creator God, YHWH, allow you and I into His Holy Heaven? What would be the most likely response we would receive if we were to ask someone on the street why God should allow them to enter His Heaven? A likely response could be, “I am a good person.” In other words, “Because I am good and do good things, I can go to heaven.” Is this even remotely compatible with what the Bible teaches about heaven and who will enter there? The Bible tells us that every human is born into depravity and that we all have a carnal human nature. We are not naturally good. In fact, we naturally love to do what our selfish, carnal nature loves to do, and if you ask most folks they do not want to be a “goody-two-shoes” most of the time! We like to do what we want to do. We never have to teach our children to do wrong – they do that automatically. Parents try to teach their children to do good things not wrong things: • to be honest, • to not lie, • to not cheat, • to not steal, • to be faithful and trustworthy, • and to not hurt others – • to actually love each other! Doing good naturally goes against our base tendencies. We want to do what our ego likes; we have to choose to do right and that’s not always the easiest thing to choose. If this is the case, then human beings do not have a chance to enter a Holy heaven because we have all chosen, from time to time – and more often than not, to follow things we know to be wrong. God is Holy. Only one wrong action, word, thought or deed separates us from God’s Holiness. We can do good things as much as we can, but a lot of good still doesn’t cancel our wrong when it comes to God’s Standards. How can a Holy God bring me, a person who has done wrong, into His holy heaven for eternity, and Him still be Holy? To answer this we have to ask one more question. Why was Jesus Christ crucified? Jesus was more than a “good” man – He was God in the flesh! He never sinned. Jesus was known to be the “spotless” Lamb of God. Jesus was tempted in all the ways human beings have been tempted, but He did not sin. So, why was He crucified? Jesus died to redeem us…to reconcile us…to restore us “legally”, to a right relationship with God. Jesus bore the penalty of our sin. If we repent of our sins and accept the payment of His death as our own pardon, before God, then we, by faith, are cleansed from the guilt of our sin before His Holy Presence. We then, by the power of His Holy Spirit, are born again spiritually into His family as God’s Children. Can we know the Biblical way to heaven? Is there only one way to heaven? “Good works” is not The Way…or we could say that we earned heaven and Jesus’ crucifixion and death would be useless! Ephesians 2:8–9 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Titus 3:5–6 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, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior… This is why we believe in Jesus Christ as the Only Way for our Salvation – for Eternal Life, as our church’s doctrinal statement insists: “It is absolutely essential for the salvation of lost and sinful man to accept Jesus Christ by believing in Him as Savior and Lord.” John 3:16 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 1:12 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— John 16:31 31 “You believe at last!” Jesus answered. Romans 10:9–10 9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. The Way to Salvation and Eternal Life is through Jesus Christ Alone “It is absolutely essential for the salvation of lost and sinful man to accept Jesus Christ by believing in Him as Savior and Lord.” Look at what the Scripture says: Acts 4:12 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” John 20:31 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Luke 24:46–47 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Acts 10:43 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” John 3:18 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 3:36 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 14:6 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Conclusion and Review: • Every Religion seeks its Own Way and all Spiritual Roads do not lead to God. • The Religions of the World reach up to appease their gods through Good Works. • Christianity teaches that God Reaches Down to reconcile sinful mankind with Himself, through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. • Every worldly “god” or spiritual philosophy would prefer to use its own “way” as the primary or “only way” to eternal life. Our realization of Who God Is as our Creator God, Yahweh, is determined from the Source of our belief, the Holy Scripture, the Judeo-Christian Bible, which is the first point of our Doctrinal Statement. 1. We believe the Bible to be the Inspired, Infallible, and Authoritative Word of God. Our God is The God who Created Heaven and Earth: Yahweh-El (“God, who causes to be”) o He is the God who Created the Trillions of profound and dynamic Galaxies in the Universe. o He is the God who Created the Sun and our Unique Planet. o He is the God who Created You and Me and all of earth’s abundant life around us. The Doctrinal point studied today is: 12. “We believe that it is absolutely essential for the salvation of lost and sinful man to accept Jesus Christ by believing in Him as Savior and Lord.” If it is essential that in order to receive forgiveness of our sins and eternal life, have you invited Jesus Christ to cleanse your sins through the Sacrifice of His Blood on the Cross and choose to make Him Savior and Lord of your life? Pray to God. Repent before God of your sins. Ask God to cleanse your sins through Christ’s Blood, which He shed on the Cross. Ask Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior. Invite the Holy Spirit into your life to change and transform it and make you God’s Child, and seek to live a life honorable to God. Thank God for His Salvation offered freely through His Son. http://www.pastorkennedy.comhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/ethansiegel/2015/04/24/how-we-know-how-many-galaxies-are-in-the-universe-thanks-to-hubble/http://www.forbes.com/sites/ethansiegel/2015/04/24/how-we-know-how-many-galaxies-are-in-the-universe-thanks-to-hubble/http://www.forbes.com/sites/ethansiegel/2015/04/24/how-we-know-how-many-galaxies-are-in-the-universe-thanks-to-hubble/http://www.forbes.com/sites/ethansiegel/2015/04/24/how-we-know-how-many-galaxies-are-in-the-universe-thanks-to-hubble/shapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4