The Gospel of Salvation

Content of the Gospel — Steve Gregg

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What Must I Do to Be Saved

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The Gospel of Salvation

Content of the GospelSteve Gregg

Steve Gregg explores the significance of the Gospel in relation to salvation and the transformative power it offers. He emphasizes that salvation goes beyond the common belief of merely securing a place in heaven after death. Salvation encompasses being redeemed from bondage and entering a life of zealous good works. Gregg discusses the three aspects of salvation: past, present, and future, highlighting that while justification frees believers from the penalty of sin, ongoing sanctification is a vital journey towards victory over sin. His teachings encourage a changed heart, a humble attitude, and a life that reflects obedience to God's commandments.

Transcript

In our first session in this series, we were talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the most common term the Bible uses in speaking of the Gospel. And we were talking about how it is that the Gospel is a message concerning Jesus Christ. It is also, several times in Scripture, referred to as the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

And so last time, we examined what the Bible teaches about what is the good news about the Kingdom of God. If you were not here and missed those, I would encourage you to obtain at least the notes, if not the tapes of those. Very important aspects of what the Bible teaches about the Gospel.

Tonight, I want to look at another of the labels for the Gospel that the Scriptures use, and that is the Gospel of Salvation. It is so referred to a few times in Scripture. In Ephesians chapter 1, and verse 13, the Apostle Paul wrote, "...in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, the good news of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise." So, here we have the expression, the Gospel of Salvation, or the Gospel of your salvation.

In Romans chapter 1, and verse 16, the Apostle Paul wrote, "...for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." That's one of the cases where it's called the Gospel of Christ, but then he goes on to say, "...for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." So, the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, hence the label, Gospel of Salvation. In Acts chapter 13, when Paul was preaching in the city of Antioch, in the synagogue there, he also referred to the Gospel message as a message of salvation. In Acts 13, and verse 26, Paul again was the preacher in this case, and he says, "...men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent." The word of this salvation is sent, the Gospel of Salvation.

Well, what is salvation? Many people think of salvation principally of a ticket to heaven, really. I mean, when we think of salvation, those who think about salvation, and many people don't think about it at all, especially unbelievers. Many times they don't think about it at all, but when people do think about salvation, many times they're thinking of what happens after I die.

Am I right with God? Will I be welcomed into heaven, or will I be turned back at the gate? Do I have what it takes to get in? Do I have my pass? And salvation, for many people, is thought of as nothing else but the ticket that it takes to get through the gate, into heaven. And salvation itself being realized in eternal life in heaven. Now, I want you to make it very clear, I believe in heaven.

I believe that those who are saved are going to heaven. But I don't believe that salvation is to be truncated in our thinking to only the idea of how do I get myself into heaven. Certainly, in terms of magnitude, that is the biggest issue, because if my whole life is miserable, and then I die and go to eternity in heaven, then that's good, that's positive for me, it's a good experience for me.

But the question is, if I live a whole life that is not glorifying to God, and then die and go to heaven, maybe I made out pretty good in the deal, but did God make out? Did God get anything out of the deal? We need to remember that salvation is not strictly for us. Salvation is for God, not that He needs it. But the inhabitants of heaven in the book of Revelation say, salvation belongs to our God.

It's God for whom salvation exists. He saved us not for us, but for Himself. I don't mean to make it sound like He was selfish and that He didn't care about us.

Obviously, He cared a great deal for us, and He loved the world, and He sent His Son. But the fact of the matter is that our thinking about salvation needs to be very much primarily God-centered, God-ward. Why would God save me? I've heard people say, why would God save me? And it's really a rhetorical question.

They're not really looking for an actual answer. They're just suggesting, I'm not very savable, I'm not very attractive in the sight of God. Why would He save me? And they're not really looking for an answer.

It's more of a way of expressing astonishment. But we should ask, why did God save me? There was a reason after all. And it wasn't just because I needed it, although I desperately did.

But He saved me for something. He saved me for Himself. And if we think only in terms of salvation as the means by which we assure ourselves of going to heaven, then we are missing the essential element of salvation, that we were saved for God, for Him.

And many people think that as long as they have their salvation pass in their back pocket, that they can just kind of cruise through life without making much change, without any different objectives in life than they had before. And when they die, their salvation pass, they can pull that out and show it to St. Peter at the pearly gates, and he'll let them ride in, and that's what salvation's all about. But that's not what the Bible teaches about salvation.

Salvation has a future aspect, but it has a present aspect. And much of what the Bible teaches on it is concentrating on what salvation is supposed to have done to us and the way we live our lives for God and what God gets out of us as a result of it. After all, we acknowledge that Jesus paid a price for us.

Well, did He pay a price for nothing? Or did He hope to acquire something? Or did He hope to get something for His payment? Well, the Bible makes it very clear that He did. One place it says that is over in Titus chapter 2. In Titus 2, verse 14, speaking of Jesus, it says, "...who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us." That means buy us back. He paid a price.

"...that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and to purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous for good works." Now, the reason Jesus gave Himself was, first of all, to redeem us. Now, we think, I've been redeemed. What a glorious thing for me that is.

I'm redeemed. Now, redemption in biblical times usually was an image that came from the slave market. A person who couldn't pay his debts, or who perhaps was captured in war, might be made a slave.

And he was now chattel. He was owned by somebody. But if he had some relative or someone who really wanted to pay the money, he could be redeemed out of slavery.

Now, in most cases, if someone is bought out of slavery, they are bought by someone else, and they became the slave of the new person. The slaves were bought and sold like property in the biblical world. And that is the scenario in which we find the word redemption occurring in the New Testament.

We are redeemed out of one bondage, out of one slavery, and we've been purchased now. We've been bought with a price. We're owned still.

We weren't redeemed just to walk free without a master. We were redeemed from one master in order that we might belong to another master. Then he redeemed us for himself.

That he might, what does it say? That he might purify unto himself a peculiar people. And peculiar means particularly his. Peculiarly his.

Distinctively his. Who are zealous for good works. This is what he saved us for.

And there's more. There's more on this. But I'd like to go through this exploration in an orderly manner, which is why I made the outline that I've handed out for you.

So we can, there's so many points I want to make, I thought I'd try to take them in a, decently in an order. Let's talk about what salvation is basically. There are different aspects of salvation of which the Bible speaks.

Sometimes the Bible will speak about salvation as if we don't have it yet. And sometimes it will speak as if we do have it already. And it might be confusing.

You know, are we saved or are we not saved? In conversations with the Jehovah's Witnesses, I've learned that they don't believe that they are saved. Or they don't believe you can be saved, or at least you can't know that you're saved until you die. Because you're not really saved until you die faithful, as far as they're concerned.

Now, Calvinists actually have a similar belief, although they wouldn't admit it. And that is that unless you die faithful, you were never saved. Right? I mean, and in Calvinism, which some Calvinists argue that Calvinism is the only system of theology that can grant true assurance of salvation.

I consider it to be a system that denies assurance of salvation. Because in Calvinism, you may appear to be saved. You may have all the evidences of being saved.

But if you fall away and die in a fallen away condition, you never were saved. You see? Now, there's non-Calvinism that teaches you might be saved today and not saved tomorrow. You know, if your faith is in Christ today, but some years hence you die without faith and you've rejected Christ, you're lost.

Now, there's all these different views out there, and we're going to explore some of this. But it's not my purpose to enter into a great deal of controversy. But on one level, it is true that salvation is looked forward to.

But at another level, it is here now. We have it now. And so I'd like to show you some of the scriptures that speak of salvation as present, as something that's been accomplished and appropriated by believers.

In Luke chapter 19, I like to return to the words of Jesus as often as possible. Many times in evangelistic work or in discussing the gospel, I think it's more customary simply to read Paul's words. You know, go through the Book of Romans or something, the Romans Road or something.

But actually, the gospel began with Jesus. It didn't begin with Paul. Certainly, Paul preached the true gospel, but so did Jesus.

And since Jesus is the root of it and the subject matter of it, I always like as much as we can to see what Jesus had to say and to show that it's not any different than what Paul said. In verse 19 and verse 9, Jesus was in the house of Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus had stood up after a meal with Jesus and said, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I've taken anything from any man by accusation or false accusation, I restore it to him fourfold.

In other words, I'm going to make restitution for any money that I've ripped people off for. And Jesus said to him, This day is salvation come to this house. Salvation has come to this house, and this man is a possessor of it.

Jesus could tell. Jesus could tell because the man had repented of his sins, was serious about it, he was going to make restitution. It was very clear to Jesus, Salvation has come, it's here, this man is saved.

He doesn't have to wait to find out later if he's saved. He's saved now. Over in 2 Timothy chapter 1. I hope you will be able to turn to all these passages, but I do have them in the notes in case you can't keep up.

In 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9, Paul said, Knowing this, that the law is not made... I'm sorry, this is... Oh, I'm sorry, 2 Timothy. I'm looking at 1 Timothy. Those books look alike, you know.

At least their titles do a lot. In 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9, he says, Who hath saved us... That's past tense, already happened. And called us with a holy calling.

That would be a calling to holiness. Not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the foundation, or before the world began. Now there's a very similar verse to this over in Titus chapter 3 and verse 5. Emphasizing the same points, that we have been saved.

Of course it has not been by our works. It's been by God's undeserved mercy. In Titus 3, 5, Paul said, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.

Past tense, it's been done. By the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. So, we have been saved.

That's accomplished. It's been appropriated by those who believe. We have it.

We're saved. But it's also an ongoing thing. Salvation isn't just past tense.

I got saved. Many people say, Well I got saved when I was 5 years old, and therefore I expect to go to heaven. Well, maybe they did get saved when they were 5 years old.

I wonder if they're still saved now. The Bible actually indicates that salvation isn't something that just happens one time. It's not an event.

It's a journey. It's something that we possess and that we must maintain and not neglect so great salvation. It says in 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 and 2, Moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.

Now, he says, This is the gospel you have received and by which gospel you have been saved. You are presently saved if you keep these things in memory, if you continue in these things. There's quite a few places actually where Paul places that kind of a condition upon things.

This if you continue kind of thing. And so does the writer of Hebrews, whoever he may have been. It may have been Paul, it may have been someone else.

But in Colossians, for example, in Colossians 1, 21 and 22, Paul wrote, There's another one here. There's another one here. 23.

I should have read further. I should have read further all the way to 23. Thank you.

If you continue, I want to read 22 in the body of his flesh through faith to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven. Now, he says, if you are not moved away from the hope of the gospel.

He will present you holy and unblameable before him. That salvation is an ongoing reality to be maintained is in the present is stated in many ways in the scripture. In 2nd Corinthians 6, 2, we have the place where Paul is actually quoting from Isaiah.

He says, for he sayeth, I have heard thee in a time accepted and in a day of salvation or the day of salvation. I have a second day, which means help you. Behold, Paul says, now is the accepted time.

Behold, now is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation. We have to look forward to it merely.

It's here now. We can be saved now. And today, as long as it's called the day to borrow a phrase from the writer of Hebrews, we are saved insofar as we are.

We are in the faith as far as we're in Christ. It is an ongoing salvation. It is a salvation that is maintained permanently and eternally, really, so long as we continue in it, according to the scripture.

Now, in Hebrews chapter seven and verse 10. It says of Jesus for. I've got the wrong verse there again.

What am I doing here? Did I write down 7, 10? I must have been in a hurry here. Okay, it's verse 25. I have no idea why I put down verse 10 in the note.

Correct that in your note. It says, wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. Now, what Paul is saying in this place or the writer of Hebrews, I should say, is saying is that unlike the Old Testament priests, which could not continually serve their people because those priests would eventually die and have to be replaced by another one.

Jesus has an everlasting life. He can continually make intercession without ending. His life isn't going to end again, so he can keep it up until the goal is reached.

And what is the goal that we'd be saved to the uttermost? Now, he doesn't say save from the uttermost. Many times people think of that expression, save to the uttermost, meaning that, you know, well, I think it was Moody who said that God not only can save you to the uttermost, but even to the guttermost. And he was referring to the fact that no matter how low you are, God can save you.

But that's not what the writer of Hebrews is talking about. He's not talking about saving you from the uttermost, but saving you to the uttermost. God has a goal for you.

And his salvation, he wants to save you unto that goal, to the uttermost realization of that goal, which is that you would someday be glorified in the image of Christ, that you'd be like Jesus. That's the goal. And he is able to save you to that goal because he's not going to die before you get there.

He's already died and he's not going to die anymore. High priests and priests in the Old Testament, they could serve their generation for a while, but then they died and they couldn't keep it up, had to be replaced. And that's what it's saying here.

Because he ever lives to make intercession, he can take us all the way to the end result that he's seeking, that we're desiring. Now, of course, there is that future aspect of salvation often spoken of in Scripture as well. In Romans chapter 8 and verse 24, it says, For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope.

For what a man seeth, why doth he hope for it? And I'm reading the King James, the New King James says we are saved in hope. I think it says that in the New King James. But the idea is that hope is something still out there.

We're looking forward to it. We don't call it hope if we've already got it in our possession. So there's a sense in which our salvation has a hopeful aspect.

There's a future aspect to it. And that salvation, of course, that hope is that we will be like Jesus. It's the hope of salvation.

It's the hope of glory. In Romans 13, 11, Paul said, And that knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. Obviously here he's talking about our future salvation.

It's nearer than when we first became Christians, because more time has elapsed and there's a shorter interval to remain. So he's looking forward to an end result, our salvation. It's closer than it was before.

Don't lose hope now. I knew people 30 years ago in the Jesus moment who got saved under the preaching that told them they were going to be raptured probably within the next 48 months at the most. And great hordes of people came pouring into the Jesus moment under this kind of preaching.

Many of those hordes, well, they left by droves too. After about 5, 6, 10, 15, 20 years, they kind of tended to trickle out because they lost hope. I mean, they kind of were interested in missing the tribulation, is really the way the gospel preaches, you know, get saved now and miss the tribulation.

And they were interested in missing the tribulation, but they were kind of told that it was going to start at any moment, any day now. Without warning, it's going to be here. And so they jumped on the bandwagon, but many of them, when it didn't happen soon, they just jumped off the same bandwagon.

Now, it never struck me as a good reason to jump out of the thing, just because Jesus didn't come as soon as I thought he would. Because even though he didn't come as soon as I thought he would, his coming is nearer now than it was then. The interval is shorter now to look forward to than it was then.

He still may not come in my lifetime, but one thing is for sure, our salvation, our future salvation, that which we're looking forward to, is not further away than before. It's nearer. And so there is that future aspect of salvation that we're looking forward to.

The reason I'm not being more explicit about its nature is because I have saved later in the notes to talk about some of these aspects. I'm just trying to show you at this point that the Scripture talks about salvation as something that's been accomplished and done, and we have it, we were saved. It talks about us as, in the present tense, saved, if we continue.

And then there's, of course, these places where it talks about salvation as if it is future. And it is. It's all of those things.

It's past, it's present, and it's future. In 1 Thessalonians 5.8, no, 5.9. Wrote it down in the notes long again. Don't trust my notes.

That's why you've got to look things up in the Bible and don't trust any man, see? In 1 Thessalonians 5.9, Paul said, Now, wrath and salvation are two alternative end results on the day of judgment. I realize some people think that this is the proof text for pre-tribulation rapture, but there's really nothing in the book of Thessalonians to indicate that wrath somehow means the tribulation, and that God has not appointed us to obtain wrath means He's not appointed us to go through the tribulation. It seems as if, I mean, if that's what Paul was saying, he'd say, God has not appointed us unto wrath but to be raptured before the tribulation.

But instead, he talks about wrath as simply the opposite of salvation. You're either saved, and on the day of judgment, salvation is what you'll receive, or you're lost, and wrath is what you'll receive. So there's this anticipation of a salvation in the future.

It's a hope that we still look forward to. It's nearer now than when we first believed, and Peter talks about it that way, too, as something ready to be revealed in the last time. Over in 1 Peter 1, in verse 5, he says, Now, there's a salvation we have, but there's a salvation, or at least an aspect of our salvation, that's ready to be revealed in the last time.

And we're being kept unto that time by the power of God. Someone might think, well, that means that you could never, of course, lose it, because if you're kept by the power of God, what power is greater than His? Well, there is no power greater than His, and that's why I'm confident in my salvation. I'm kept by the power of God.

But he also says, through faith. I'm kept by the power of God through faith. If I had a big, you know, home entertainment system, which I don't and don't want, but if I had a big, you know, home theater system, and it took a whole lot of wattage, I thought, boy, how am I going to run this thing? And once I, even if I get it on, will it keep going? You know? Well, the answer is, well, you plug it into the wall, and there's plenty of wattage in the wall.

And you get all that electricity coming through there, and there's plenty of power to keep that thing going, as long as it's plugged in. You take the plug out, and there's no power getting to it. The power's still there.

But it's not getting into the system, see? And faith is the means by which we attach to God. We are attached to Him by faith. We're saved by grace through faith.

By faith, we have access into this grace by which we stand, it says in Romans 5. Faith is the means. And, of course, God's power is the power. Fortunately, we don't have to save ourselves or keep ourselves saved by any power of our own, because we could never do it.

And faith isn't a work. The Bible always treats faith as the opposite of a work. Faith is simply a surrender.

Faith is simply an outreached hand to God, saying, you know, I'm a beggar. I need you. And as long as you've got that outstretched hand, you're kept by the power of God.

Once you've stretched, if you have that hand outstretched, still, His hand takes you, and His power is sufficient to hold you. That's why, you know, even though I don't believe in this eternal security doctrine, I've never had the slightest insecurity about my salvation, because it's, you know, it's childlike. It doesn't take a spiritual giant or a spiritual strongman to have faith.

It just takes a decision to stay yielded, really, is what it amounts to, and then His power keeps us. But notice, Peter says that we are being kept by the power of God through faith unto this salvation, which is going to be revealed in the last time. So we've got that future salvation, plus we've got the present salvation.

Now, what is this salvation from? If someone was asked, are you saved? If someone asked you, are you saved? Or if you asked that to someone, have you been saved? What would you say if they said, from what? Quite comfortable as I am, thanks. I don't feel any danger. What do I need to be saved from? I grew up in an evangelical culture where everyone knew that saved was a religious term.

You know, saved meant like, you know, you got your ticket to heaven, salvation. But I think we're in an increasingly secularized culture, where people are going to hear a word like saved, and it's not going to immediately click that we're talking about a relationship with God or heaven or anything. I mean, saved is a normal secular word.

It has to do with, you know, getting rescued from something. And if you said to someone, are you saved? And they said, from what? What do I need to be saved from? What would you say? Well, in many cases, I think when I was growing up, I would have said, well, from hell. Because I thought salvation is heaven.

And, you know, if salvation is going to heaven, then what you're saved from must be going to hell. And I still agree that that's an important part of what being saved is. But the Bible actually has a better answer, I think, to what it is from which we are saved.

And it's announced in the very first chapter of the New Testament, before Jesus was ever born, when the angel announced to Joseph what the purpose of Jesus' coming would be. It's in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21. The angel Gabriel said to Joseph, And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, which means Jehovah is salvation.

That's what the name means. For he shall save his people from their sins. Now, before the time of Christ, and even in the time of Christ, the Jews did not think of salvation in terms of being saved from hell, necessarily.

They thought of salvation as being saved from their political enemies. Salvation was their escape from Rome. Rome was their oppressor.

And they were looking for a Messiah who would come and save them and rescue them and deliver them from this bondage of Rome. But the angel told Joseph that's not the kind of salvation or deliverance that Jesus is coming to bring. It doesn't say he will save his people from their oppressors.

It says he will save his people from their sins. Which suggests that sin is an oppressor of another kind, and a far more important kind to overcome. Because you can be godly and go to heaven and still be a slave of a man.

If you're literally a slave and he's your master, you're owned by him, you can be saved. A lot of Christians were slaves and went to heaven. But I don't think you can be saved and still be a slave to your sin.

Now, if I say you need to be saved from hell, I'm only thinking about one aspect of being saved from sin. Hell is the penalty for sin. Hell is the condemnation of sin.

But there's more to sin than just the penalty that we're saved from. It is the first part. I'm sure that everyone here has heard the word justification associated with salvation.

If you haven't, you haven't read the New Testament much because it's a very common term associated with salvation. We're being justified freely by his blood. And we're justified by faith.

Abraham believed God and was counted to him for righteousness. That means he was justified. He was counted righteous.

Well, justification is one part of what it means to be saved. It's the part that has to do with God settling the matter of our guilt for things that we've done. We've done things.

Even if you got saved as a child, you did things. You've done things that are sin. And because they are sin, there must be a penalty for them.

God is a righteous judge and he will judge sin. And he cannot but condemn sin. Although he would rather justify sinners if he could.

Some don't believe that. Some believe God wants to justify some and condemn the rest. Though I don't find God talking that way in the Scripture.

He says he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He wishes that all wicked men would turn from their evil ways and live. And he begs them to do so.

And so my impression is God doesn't want anyone to be condemned. But he's got a bit of a problem. Well, he solved it, but it was, you know, there is a problem there.

He's got compassion for sinners, but he's got an obligation within his own nature to be just. He cannot violate it himself. He can't violate his own justice.

And a just judge can't just tell a criminal who's guilty that he's free to go. And so we have this problem. God wanted to be just and the justifier of those that he cares for.

And so Paul tells us in the book of Romans in chapter 3 how that God put forth Jesus as a propitiation for our sins so that those who believe in him could be counted righteous and that God could be just and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus. He can declare someone not guilty when they really had done things for which they were guilty. That's what justification is.

But it's not on the basis of works. No one can be justified by works. And Paul made that very clear.

By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified, Paul said. But we are saved and justified by faith in Jesus Christ. We'll have more to say about that next time.

But I just want to clarify that justification, that is the release from the penalty of our sins and the guilt of our sins, is the first part of salvation. It is salvation from sins, condemnation and penalty. And we have even a very early recognition of that on the part of, I believe this comes from, let me take a look here.

I believe this comes from old Simeon in Luke chapter 1. Yeah, this is Simeon in the temple. No, I'm sorry, this is not. This is Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, prophesying over John when he was born.

And it's a long prophecy he gave. But in verses 76 and 77, he said, And thou, child, speaking to John the Baptist, shall be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins.

So this prophetic old man recognized at that early stage, even before Jesus was born, that the salvation that God would bring would be through the remission of sins. Through the forgiveness of sins, in other words. And so the justification and life, eternal life that we're given, is because of Jesus' death and he has acquired the forgiveness of our sins.

And that is obviously the part that most people probably think of most when they think of salvation. But if you look at Romans chapter 5 and verse 9, Paul says, Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. This is, what Paul is saying is that we have, because of the blood of Jesus, been justified, been declared innocent of all past crimes.

And because of that, we shall be saved from wrath in the future. As we stand before God on the day of judgment, this justification acquires us freedom from wrath, which is the penalty for sin. So justification deals with the issue of the penalty of sin.

And when Jesus saves his people from their sins, one way he does that is he saves them from the penalty of the sins they've committed. But there's more. And that is seen in the fact that even though a person may be forgiven of sins and freed from the penalty of sins, that person still struggles with sin.

Still struggles with temptation and sometimes succumbs. Paul describes what sounds like a grueling struggle in Romans chapter 7. Desiring to do what's right but falling again to do what's wrong. There's differences of opinion as to whether he's talking about his present state or some other.

I have my own opinion, but I don't want to branch off into that tonight. What I need to say, though, is that everyone knows that struggle. Everybody who's a Christian knows what it means to desire to live a holy and perfect life and to fail to do so.

And that failure is frustrating. And we think, well, why is this that this happens? I remember my father once asked, when I was a little kid, my father asked our pastor who would visit our home. He says, Pastor, I've always wondered.

He says, I understand why God would let the devil tempt us before we're saved, you know, to test us to see if we're going to make a decision for Christ or not. But once we get saved, why doesn't God just tell the devil, back off? You know, he's mine now. He's broken through.

He's made the right decision. Now leave him alone from now on. And I was young.

I was old enough to remember the question, but I wasn't old enough to remember the answer. And my suspicion is the pastor didn't give a very memorable answer. I don't know if he even knew the answer.

But it is the case that even though we make a decision to surrender to Christ and we are justified, there is an ongoing battle. And that seems strange sometimes to us. Why does God let that happen? Well, there may be a number of reasons.

One of them is that we are perfected and matured through the trials. And the temptations were tested by those too, according to Scripture. But the point is there is an ongoing struggle and battle with sin.

And there is this thing in our members that Paul calls sin in my members that brings me into bondage to sin and death when I'm not walking in the Spirit of God. So that even though I'm justified, I may still have other problems with sin. It's not, no longer the problem of the penalty.

That's taken care of. It's the issue of the power of sin in my life to dictate behaviors to me that I don't want to do. Now that I want to be righteous, I still have struggles with that.

And that power of sin, believe it or not, is something that Jesus saves us from as well. Sometimes theologians call the process of salvation from the power of sin, they call it sanctification. Though actually if you look up sanctification in the Bible, it's not really used distinctly the way the theologians use it.

Usually it is said that the salvation from the penalty of sin is justification and the salvation from the power of sin is sanctification. And I repeat that sometimes because it's a neat little theological paradigm. But technically the Bible doesn't really use the word sanctification that way.

Sanctification is used a variety of ways. It literally means to be made holy. But salvation from the power of sin is always described as a victory, to be won in battle.

We wrestle, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this age. Against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. We are to be vigilant, be sober, because your enemy, your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour.

Whom resist, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in you brethren that are in the world, Peter said. We resist, we fight, we wrestle, we struggle. And the enemy is sin, and of course the devil who seeks to draw us into sin.

Now, yet the Bible teaches us that our salvation is related to victory in this ongoing struggle too. It's not simply that we have to lose. I know when I was younger, my impression was, I don't have any power over sin, but at least I'm forgiven.

You know like that bumper sticker, Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven. Well, it's true. Most Christians I know are not perfect, myself included.

In fact, I don't know if I've met one that was. And they are forgiven, so the bumper sticker is technically true, except I don't like the word just forgiven. Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven.

I'd rather say Christians aren't perfect yet. They are forgiven, but they're not just forgiven and that's all there is to it. They're forgiven and empowered.

They're forgiven and enabled. They're forgiven and given grace to overcome and given the Spirit of God to walk in the power of the Spirit so that we don't have to fall every time we're tempted. In fact, the Bible indicates that God is not going to let you be tempted beyond that which you're able to endure.

In 1 Corinthians 10, 13 it says, God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond that which you're able to endure, but will whip the temptation, provide a way of escape that you may be able to overcome it, to endure it. So there is, in salvation there is victory over sin at least available. Certainly not realized by all Christians as much as they would like, but there must be some biblical principle that helps because the Bible certainly talks about it being normative for us to overcome sin in our lives.

And many Christians don't even have a vision for doing that, don't even think of that as part of what they're supposed to be doing necessarily. They just think, well, I've sinned and I'll be forgiven. Like the prodigal son, he comes home and he goes again, and comes home and goes again every weekend.

He goes out and sleeps with the prostitutes every weekend, comes back groveling again. In the story he only came back once as far as I know, and he stayed home. He didn't go back out and drink and consort with the prostitutes anymore.

He didn't bring reproach on his father anymore as far as we know. At least the story doesn't go on, but the impression is given that he came home to stay. And the Christian life is not simply one of continually falling in the same degree for the rest of our life and just having to ask forgiveness again.

Now I do believe, and here probably different people in the room have different opinions about this, I do believe that a sinless perfection is not what the Bible presents as the average Christian experience. And I'm not sure that I read of anyone in the Bible except Jesus who experienced sinless perfection. I realize that theoretically, if every time I'm tempted God gives me the ability not to fall, He gives me a way of escape so I can take it, theoretically I could be sinlessly perfect, but that's a theory.

It doesn't happen in my life. And I don't know anyone it does happen with. I do believe though that the Bible teaches that as we walk with Christ we become wiser and stronger and more consistent.

We grow in grace and in the knowledge of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. There's growth to be had. We're changed from glory to glory in that same image.

These are all scriptural statements. I believe there's to be progress. I don't claim, and Paul never claimed to have reached sinless perfection.

In fact he said so himself. I don't claim to have arrived. But this one thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind and looking on to the things that are before, I press on toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

I know some Christians who claim they've gotten further than Paul did because they claim that they are perfect and they have arrived. But Paul didn't make that claim for himself even though he wrote that book quite late in his life. I personally think that the struggle with sin is going to be one we continue in for the rest of our lives.

But I believe that there is progressive victory. We should learn not to fall into the same traps all the time. And we are supposed to learn how to walk in the Spirit and how to appropriate the grace of God as we go along.

If we can't do that anymore, if we've been Christians for 20 years than we could when we were Christians for 20 days, I think our growth is stunted. I think there's something subnormal here. It says in Philippians chapter 2, in a well-known verse, verse 12, Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Now, when he said, work out your own salvation, he went on to say, For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. God's work precedes ours. But it doesn't eliminate ours.

We work out our salvation. Now, it doesn't say we work for our salvation, and I certainly don't believe that we do work for our salvation. But I believe that when there's a change inside, out of the inside proceeds outward behavior.

And works, you know, Christians sometimes are, especially evangelicals, are afraid of the word works, as if works is a dirty word. You know, like if we say, well, brother, we need to do more good works, someone's going to say, ah, no, we're not saved by works. I never said we were saved by works.

Neither did Paul. He said we aren't. But he certainly promoted good works.

He certainly argued that we have to do good works. He said we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. He says that Jesus gave Himself to purify for Himself a people zealous for good works.

He said, let our people be careful to maintain good works. He said, it's not circumcision or uncircumcision that avails anything, but it's faith that works through love. And that's just Paul.

James had a whole bunch of things even stronger to say on the subject. But the point here is, I think sometimes we shy away from talking about works because we're afraid that someone is going to get the impression that we believe we can work our way to heaven. And I don't believe we can work our way to heaven, and Paul didn't believe that.

But he did believe that if you are saved, it will be worked, whatever you are inwardly is going to be worked outwardly in your life. It says in the Old Testament in Proverbs chapter 4, verse 18, is it? Or verse 23? It says, guard your heart with all diligence for out of it outward things of life issue forth from your heart. Well, if God gives you a new heart, won't there be new things issuing from your life? Won't your life be different? When the Bible speaks of works, more often than not in the New Testament, we could substitute the word acts, actions.

Deeds. In other words, it's just talking about behavior. It's not talking about doing religious, well sometimes it is.

In Galatians, it's going to be talking about religious works of the law. But when the Bible advocates that we do good works, it's talking not about religious works that we do for brownie points. It's talking about simply a changed behavior.

That the things that proceed from our lives are of a different character than they were before. We've been worked in a salvation, and we're supposed to work out that. And we're supposed to work out that salvation in the way we live our lives, the actions we do, the works we perform.

And so this is an ongoing working out of our past sinful behaviors into a behavior pattern that's more consistent with God's high calling in Christ. That we be holy and blameless, and that we live out a life that glorifies God. So we're to be saved from sin's bondage and power as well.

Although I believe this is progressive and moment by moment. I believe I can have victory over a temptation as I stand here right now. And then when I leave here, face another temptation and not have victory over it if I neglect.

I mean, just because I have victory at this moment doesn't mean I'll have victory five minutes from now. It's a walking in the spirit that gives us victory over the... That's how Paul said it in Galatians, I think it's 5.16. He said, walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. It's that easy.

When you sin, you'll fulfill the lust of the flesh. But if you walk in the spirit, you don't. You will not fulfill the lust of the flesh if you're walking in the spirit.

But the thing about walking is, walking is made up of individual steps. I didn't fall one time walking in here. Every step I took from my car to this place I'm standing now was successful.

But if I get real cocky and careless, and I walk out here, I could trip over something. Just because I've taken a hundred or a thousand successful steps the last time I tried it, doesn't mean my next one won't be... you know, I won't slip or fall or trip. Because a walk is made up of individual steps.

Each one is an accomplishment in itself. And to accomplish a successful step right now doesn't mean the next one's going to be successful. That walking in the spirit means that moment by moment, I am to rely on the power of God, rely on the grace of God, rely on the spirit of God, to give me victory in my life.

I don't do that as consistently as I walk physically. But that's my task, is to learn to walk more consistently in the spirit, so that I will not fulfill the last of my... that's working out my salvation, that God works in me. He does the inward part, because I can't do that.

I can't change my heart. I can change my mind. That's what repentance is.

I'm required to do that. But I can't change my heart. God works in me to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Then I have to work out my salvation. Now, the final aspect, the future aspect of salvation, is not a matter of being saved from the penalty of sin or from the power of sin, but from the very presence of sin. This is often called glorification by theologians.

It makes a really neat little triad here. We are saved three ways, from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin, makes a good little... what's it called? Numenic device when you have... they all start with P. And from the presence of sin. And these three things are justification and what's usually referred to as sanctification and glorification.

Those are the three aspects, the past, present and future aspects. In the past, we were forgiven. We're justified of past sins.

In the present, we are being sanctified from overcoming the power of sin. And in the future, we will be glorified, which means that we will be even saved from the presence and the annoyance of sin. And it is an annoyance to anyone who's trying to live a holy life.

And we will come into rest. This battle that we fight day by day is going to be over someday, forever. In Romans 8, verses 22 and 23, Paul says, For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, namely, the redemption of our body. Now, the redemption of our body.

I've been redeemed spiritually, but the redemption of my body is an awaited thing. My body is still the same one I had when I was born. If you got saved late in life, you had a body that was trained in sin and in habits of sin.

And once you become a Christian, you'll find that your body is the same body it was before. You've got to control it. You've got to bring it under.

Paul said, I buffet my body, I bring it under subjection. And the body is a problem in its present form. Now, the body is not evil.

And salvation doesn't mean we someday shed bodies and don't have bodies anymore. The Bible says we'll be resurrected in the likeness of Christ. Our bodies, this mortal, will put on immortality.

This corruptible will put on incorruption. It will be buried in shame and indignity, but it'll be raised in glory. It'll be buried, or as Paul put it, planted in weakness and raised in power.

It says in Philippians chapter 3, I think it's verse 21, Paul says that when Jesus comes, he will change our vile body. And change it into the likeness of his glorious body, of his glorified body. So we will be glorified in the image of Christ.

And the whole creation groans and travails to that, and we groan a bit too. Because we're looking forward to that, and in the meantime we have the struggles of which I've been speaking. In Ephesians, we have another reference to this redemption of the body.

That is that which we look forward to, that future aspect of our salvation, when we're really made like Christ, even physically. It says in Ephesians 1, 14, that the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. It's like the down payment, the earnest money of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.

So God's given us his Holy Spirit as sort of his, well one image Paul uses, he's a seal, like a seal of ownership. God's ownership seal is on us in the Holy Spirit. Also he's like the down payment, to guarantee that he's going to come and purchase the whole thing.

It's like we're on layaway, you know. He put down a down payment, and he's going to come back and claim the goods later. And that's when he comes back and delivers us completely from all the presence of sin and the annoyance of our body's propensity towards sinfulness.

Now how is it that God saves us from these things? How is salvation accomplished? Well, as far as justification and freedom from the penalty of sin is concerned, it seems to me the Bible attributes this to the shed blood of Jesus and his ongoing intercession for us as high priest at the right hand of God. The blood of Jesus is spoken of throughout the scripture as a price that was paid, a price of redemption. It says in 1 Peter that we were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold from the vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish, without spot.

And so we were not redeemed with money. We were bought with the blood of Jesus. It says in Ephesians chapter one and verse seven in whom that is in Christ.

We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. In Hebrews chapter nine, there's quite a bit said there about how the blood of Jesus is shed for the cleansing of our conscience from dead works and and to to cleanse us completely in ways that the blood of the old covenant couldn't do and so forth. So the blood of Jesus is everywhere spoken of as the means by which we are redeemed from the from the penalty of sin and from wrath.

And there's the intercession of Jesus to you see, Jesus continues to intercede for us at the right hand of God. We're told that twice, once in Romans eight. First, thirty four for Paul said, who is he that condemns it is Christ that died, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Intercession means he stands. An intercessor stands between an angry party and the recipient of that wrath stands in between and pleads on behalf of the guilty. That's when intercessor does.

And now we should not picture it. That God is, you know, remains angry with us and that Jesus was the nice guy and God was the mean guy. You know, Jesus was the good cop and God was the bad cop or something.

It's actually the case that God so loved the world that he sent his son. It was God who loved us and sent Jesus. It was not Jesus who was somehow of a different nature than his father.

Some people think the God of the Old Testament, that's the wrathful, vengeful God and the God of the New Testament. You know, Jesus, he's he's the one who saves us from that wrathful God. No, that wrathful God of the Old Testament is also the loving God of the Old Testament.

He's also the wrathful God of the New Testament. You read of in the book of Revelation. And so is the lamb.

People in the book of Revelation continually are hiding under rocks and things from the wrath of the lamb. And of him that sits on the throne, Jesus and the father are not different in character or nature. They're the same.

But it is true. There is a wrath and there is a need for something to to plead for us. Before God and Jesus blood and Jesus presenting his blood as high priest in heaven in the book of Hebrews is presented as the means by which this this forgiveness is common.

The wrath is a burden. So the blood of Jesus and his intercession at the right of God is the is the means by which salvation from the penalty of sin comes to us, as I understand it. As far as the salvation from the power of sin, this is accomplished, as I suggested earlier, by the spirit of God and the grace of God.

The spirit of God is an empowering spirit. Some people think the spirit of God is mainly interested in getting us to fall over or laugh or act drunk, or some people who aren't quite in that mode think that the main thing the Holy Spirit wants to do is work signs and wonders and speak in tongues. Now, I believe in signs and wonders and I believe in speaking in tongues.

I believe those are legitimate gifts of the Holy Spirit. But I think that Christians sometimes become obsessed with minor things and because they're more sensational and miss the real important thing. The Holy Spirit's main interest, according to Scripture, is to sanctify us, to make us holy, to change us, to be like Jesus.

Now, he does other things besides that, and he does empower us. He gives us gifts of the spirit, including, I believe, all the gifts that ever existed in the church are still available to the church. I find nothing in Scripture to suggest otherwise.

But principally, the Holy Spirit is not focused on getting us to do sensational things, although that's part of what he might do. His main concern is to give us power over sin in our lives and sanctify us from sin. In 2 Thessalonians, and this is a good Calvinist verse, by the way.

I'm not a Calvinist, but there are some verses I think are very good Calvinist verses, and this is one of them. In 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, Paul said, For this cause we thank God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. Now, I'm doing the wrong thing here.

I'm looking at first verse. Where are you, Steve? I was reading 1 Thessalonians, another good verse. Not the right one, though.

2 Thessalonians 2, 13. But we are bound to give thanks always for you. It begins with the same words.

It took me a while to realize it was in the wrong verse, because they both start with the same statement. In 1 and 2 Thessalonians. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth.

A belief in the truth is, I believe, where justification comes in. Sanctification is here attributed to the work of the Spirit. Likewise, Peter talks that way about the sanctification of the Spirit, the Spirit as a sanctifier.

In 1 Peter 1, 2, he says, We are elect. Another good Calvinist word, but Armenians like it, too. They just think of it differently.

Christians are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Much better as an Armenian verse. The Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

So we've got the Spirit is the one that sanctifies us, and so does grace. But you see, He is the Spirit of grace. According to Hebrews chapter 10, the Spirit is the Spirit of grace, and the Bible speaks of grace as that which enables us as well as acquires forgiveness for us.

Grace enables us. Paul said, Through the grace of God that was given to me as a wise master builder, I laid the foundation of the church. Through the grace of God that was given to him, he did.

Or, as he put it in another place in 2 Corinthians, God said, when Paul complained about his thorn in the flesh, God said, My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. And many times Paul talks about how the grace of God enables him.

In fact, in the book of Hebrews, it says we should come boldly before the throne of grace to find grace to help in time of need. It says that you may find mercy and grace to help. We get mercy in the forgiveness of sins.

We have grace to help us. It's an enabling that God gives us through grace. And in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, very well known verses on this subject, says, For by grace are you saved through faith.

And that is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, list, any, should boast. Now we are saved by grace.

This salvation by grace. Includes our justification, but I think also our sanctification, the grace of God working in us. Grace is a working active thing.

Grace doesn't just it's not just sort of a blanket forgiveness of sins. It is a dynamic of God's own nature given to the believers so that Jesus has said to have been full of grace and of his fullness. We have received even grace upon grace, says in John chapter one.

Jesus was full of grace. And when he spoke, the people marveled at the words of grace that came out of his mouth. It says in Nazareth when he spoke there.

And so he was full of this thing called grace. And the Bible says and of his fullness, we have all received even grace upon grace. That's John one verse probably 16 and 18.

In Titus chapter two, we read of grace having an active role in our sanctification also, not just our justification. We usually think of grace as something related to our justification, you know, because of grace, God doesn't hold our sins against us. So we're justified by grace.

But there's our sanctification to check this out. Titus chapter two, verse 11 and 12. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men teaching us.

Now, who's teaching here? The grace of God that brings salvation. The grace of God is teaching us. What does it teach us that we can get away with stuff because we're under grace, not under the law? No, the grace of God has appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.

The grace of God doesn't just tell you we're going to heaven in the next world. The grace of God teaches us how to live in this world. The grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world.

So the grace of God at work in you will teach you another way of living, will enable you to live it. His grace is sufficient. Paul said, for God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you having all sufficiency in all things may abound unto every good work.

Second Corinthians, I think it's eight, nine or else it's nine, eight. But the point is, all grace abounds to you so that you have all sufficiency in all things. So grace is not only God's kindness toward us, it's also his sufficiency given to us.

So we have a sufficiency in all things. His grace is sufficient. And we need something to be sufficient.

Paul, when he's talking in second Corinthians or first Corinthians about his accomplishments in this, he says not that we would boast of anything as as being sufficient in ourselves for anything, but our sufficiency is of God. Through the grace of God, we're made sufficient to overcome sin in our lives. Now, I'm I'm concerned that most evangelicals know a great deal about justification.

And they know a great deal about the role of grace in terms of canceling out our sin debt. But I I don't meet as many Christians who seem to know as much what the Bible talks about the function of grace in sanctification, in teaching us to live a godly life in this present world and in enabling us and giving us the sufficiency of all things necessary to do so. That is the grace and the spirit of God acquiring that salvation for us from the power of sin on a daily basis.

And then, of course, our salvation from the very presence of sin, that future aspect is accomplished by the return of Christ. When Jesus comes back, he'll put an end to all sin. Forever.

And we will never have to face sin as an option again. Some people think that we will, because in the premillennial scheme, there will be sin again at the end of the millennium. But but there are other schemes that I think are better that tell us that when Jesus comes back, that's the end of sin forever.

In Hebrews 9, 28 says for the law. No, that's wrong. Wrong page.

Hebrews 9, 28. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation? Now. That without sin is usually understood to mean not to he's not coming to deal with sin again, he's coming to save us.

In his second coming now, he's already saved us from the guilt of sin and he's saving us from power sin, but he's going to come and save us from the presence of sin. And that's what his second coming is going to accomplish for us in second Thessalonians. Chapter one, the second coming of Christ is also spoken of as a time where we rest from our labors and this labor and striving, of course, is against sin and against sinners.

In first or second Thessalonians, one. Versus six through eight. Paul said, seeing it as a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So Jesus is going to give us a rest when he comes from heaven with his mighty angels. Not earlier. Our rest comes when Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, reconvened on the earth, not three and a half years earlier or seven years earlier.

Some other time, our rest, Paul says, happens when Jesus comes back, which is what the whole scripture teaches. Now, that is our salvation from the presence of sin. When Jesus comes back, he accomplishes that final aspect of our salvation.

So there's this ongoing salvation while we live. There's the past accomplished salvation of our justification. And there's the future glorification where we'll be taken out of the very presence of sin by the return of Christ.

Now. All of that is the good news, but that's not all there is that the Bible says about salvation. It's very important that we know that salvation looks like something.

It's not just something that's invisibly applied to you in some unseen register in heaven. Your name gets written there and nothing else visibly changes. Bob makes it very clear that saved people look different than unsaved people, not in the way they look and dress, but the way they live.

In the Hebrews chapter six. After describing the fate of those who fall away, which I won't discuss at the moment. He says this, Hebrews six, nine, he says, but beloved, we are persuaded better things of you.

Namely, we don't expect you to fall away. What we expect are the things he says that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. Now, we don't expect you to fall away, but we expect the things in your life that accompany salvation.

Salvation doesn't come alone, it comes accompanied. There are things that accompany it. There are many people who claim to have salvation, but they don't have any of the accompaniments of salvation.

Salvation comes and with it come some other things. And you can tell when salvation has come because it's accompaniments that are there. Salvation in one respect could be considered invisible, but the things that accompany it are quite visible.

And therefore, you don't have to be in the dark as to whether you're saved or not. And in many cases, you don't have to be in the dark as to whether someone else is saved or not. Now, it's a little harder to know someone else is, and it's not as important for you to know that.

But nonetheless, salvation has its visible. Aspects, it's visible accompaniments, there's two in particular I want to talk about, one is a changed heart and the other is a changed life. When salvation occurs, there's a changed heart.

And when salvation occurs, there's a changed life. As far as the evidence of a changed heart is concerned, we looked earlier at Titus chapter three and verse five. Where Paul said, not by works of righteousness that we've done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

Now, regeneration is what we call being born again. Regeneration is where you have a new heart given to you. You have a change of heart.

It's actually spoken of as a brand new heart in some imagery in the Old Testament. In Ezekiel chapter twenty thirty six versus twenty five and following, God said that I will take out from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and I'll put my spirit in you. Now, a changed heart, you get rid of the heart of stone, get a heart of flesh.

That's regeneration. The way Jeremiah put in Jeremiah thirty one was God said, I will write my laws in their hearts and put my words in their inward parts. Which means it's another figurative way of talking about him changing your heart so that the law of God is actually inscribed there so that your heart is compliant and and favorable toward the law of God.

You see, before you're born again, you may wish to comply with the law of God to avoid wrath, but it's not really something you like to do. But when God regenerates, he gives you a new heart, a heart that wants to obey God, a heart where his laws are written right in there and is frustrated when you fail. You know, an unbeliever doesn't get frustrated that they're not living a holy life.

They got no intention of living a holy life. But a Christian always will be frustrated at sin or unholiness in his life. If there is no frustration, there's no new heart.

Because sin goes against the grain of a regenerate heart and you cannot be regenerate and be living in sin and have no no anxiety, no frustration, no wish to be holy because your heart. In such a case would not be regenerate. There's a difference in the heart of a person who's been saved from the heart of someone who is not.

One of those things is what we call the witness of the Holy Spirit. This is one that I never really was told when I was growing up. I, I studied, I was trained when I was 15 to be a counselor at a big evangelistic crusade that was being held in Anaheim.

And I was going to counsel people who came forward at the invitation. And as a Baptist, we were always told, you know, that one of the most important things is to make sure you give people assurance of salvation. It's not enough to say a serious prayer with them in some other way.

You have to make sure they have assurance of salvation before they leave. And so we were told the Romans wrote and all the way to get that person to say the prayer. And then once we got them to say the prayer, there was one more order of business that was indispensable.

And that was you've got to make sure they have assurance of salvation. So you say to them, do you know you're saved? Are you saved now? And I said, well, I think so. Couldn't let him go with that.

I say, no, do you know you're saved? Well, I hope so. No, that's not good enough. Not think so.

Not hope so. No. So do you know you're saved? And they say, well, I don't really know if I'm saved.

And of course, what you do then, here's here's the pat answer. You take them to first John 513. And there it says, these things I've written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you might know that you have eternal life.

And so you read that verse then and say, now, do you have eternal life? Well, I think so. Don't look at you who believe on the Internet. Do you believe in it? Yeah.

OK, that you may know that you're like, OK, I guess I know I have eternal life. OK, so they go home and they they've now been convinced that they have eternal life. Almost against their better judgment, and.

I was definitely conditioned to believe that if a person doesn't know they're saved, they might be anyway. And you might just have to convince them, you might have to go through a whole concordance to convince them they're saved, but once you get them there, then they know they are. Well, we need people today, A.W. Tozer said, who don't need to run to a concordance to know they're saved, because in the Bible, they didn't have the New Testament to tell them that that was still being written in New Testament times on the day of Pentecost.

Peter didn't pull out first John 513, say, well, let's make sure you know you're saved here. The people knew they were saved and there's a reason there's something missing from much modern evangelism and much modern teaching that was found in the early church. Paul speaks of it in Romans chapter eight.

And verse 16. Said the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. The spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God, that is, if we are.

What if you don't have the spirit bearing witness with your spirit, the child of God, maybe you're not. That's an awful thing to suggest, but I did go forward. I did say a serious prayer repeated right after that guy, all the words he said to say, I never had that witness.

Well, maybe you never got saved. The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Paul said it's not saying the right words.

It's having the power of regeneration take place in your life because you fully have come into a true salvation, not not just a parody of it. In first John five and verse 10, John said he that believes on the son of God has the witness in himself. Now.

I personally believe from scriptures like this and also from my own experience and the experience of many, many, many people I know. That when a person is born again, well, it's for this way, when the Holy Spirit comes into a person that happens at rebirth, that regeneration, the Holy Spirit comes in. Do you think it's possible that the God of the universe can invade your life and you didn't notice it? The Holy Spirit, when he comes, he's self-announcing.

He says, I'm here. You're one of mine now. And your your your whole mentality has changed.

I mean, you still got some wrong ideas and stuff got to be changed in time, you got to learn. But the thing is, you've got a total different orientation because you say, I'm a child of God now. I've been blasted out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son.

And I'm in a different world than I was a moment ago. Now, I knew that experience in my in my life. I'm sure that most of you who I'm sure all of you who are saved do.

But how many of you realize that when you're talking to someone else about the gospel, it may not be a very safe thing to convince them that they're saved if they're not convinced that they're saved? Let God convince them. If God hasn't convinced them, then maybe they're not. If the Holy Spirit isn't bearing witness with their spirit that they're the children of God, maybe they aren't.

And I think we can do a whole lot of damage to people by saying we ran you through the procedure here. We took this step and you acknowledge this person, this person, this person, you said these words in the prayer, and now all you have to do is acknowledge this person. Oh, you're saved.

And now you're a Christian. And these people, many times they never give any evidence that they're Christian at all. And they don't have any in themselves.

Certainly one of the things that accompanies salvation scripturally is a witness of the Holy Spirit that I'm a I'm a new creature and a different orientation in general. This is what is. Very obviously missing from much of modern evangelicalism, people who know they're saved only because they've been convinced by someone taking them through the proof text.

Well, proof texts are true, but the problem with the proof text, there's not a proof text in the Bible that you can find where it says that I, Steve Gregg, standing here in 1999, I am saved because the Bible didn't say anything about Steve Gregg or 1999. It says whosoever believe it than him. It says whosoever abides in me and so forth.

But and therefore, if I am believing savingly and if I am abiding in him, then those things that are said about that category are true of me. But it also says that I'll have the witness, the spirit that I'm a son of God. I mean, that's part of that's one of the texts we have to take into consideration to not just our favorite ones.

We got to take all of them in. And therefore, if I am corralled by some evangelist into saying certain words, it may be that those words don't mean as much to me as they do to him. It may be that I'm saying all the words he's saying, but they don't nothing's happening in here.

But because I've said all the words, they say, now, listen, the Bible says you're saved now and maybe it doesn't. It says that some people are. It says that people are who have this experience.

Maybe I haven't had this experience. And therefore, I can't convince you from the Bible that you are personally saved. I can only say that the Bible says that people who have come into Christ have redemption through his blood and are regenerated.

They're saved. As far as whether that describes you or not, you better talk to God about that, because he talks to you about it. If you are, he bears witness to that.

He that believes in the son of God has the witness in himself. So this witness is a missing thing in much of modern evangelicalism. And I think it's it's led to a church that is full of people who probably aren't really converted in many cases.

And I don't say that to be critical or judgmental. I just say that because I think the evidence is there that we've got churches that are full of people. Which, when you look at their lives, they don't have any evidence that they're saved, and yet they've been convinced that they are, because they went forward at the altar call.

They said the right words. They believe the right scripture, supposedly. And so they're they're they're assured that they're saved.

And all the pastor does is maintain them week by week to make sure they stay in the church. But are they saying, well, if they are, there's a witness. The Holy Spirit will be part of that new heart.

An awareness that they're saved. Another thing will be a humility that often is not. As obvious in Christian circles as I think it should be, Paul, for example, exhibit this humility in his salvation in first Timothy one fifteen, he said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.

Now, Paul was probably not as great a sinner as some of us, but in his conscience, the way he looked at it, he was the chief of sinners. In fact, we have that story Jesus told in Luke chapter 18 about the the Pharisee and the publican that were in the temple praying and the Pharisee boasted, basically his prayer was a big boast about all the things he did. He paid tithes of everything.

He fasted twice a week. He did all these things right. And he said, I'm thank you.

I'm not like other men, not like this tax collector over here. And Jesus said the tax collector did not so much as have the guts to look up into heaven. He just beat his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner.

And Jesus said that man went home justified. Let me say he went home safe. Why? What do you do? He just cried out for mercy and said, I'm the sinner.

And and that man didn't do any boasting. And, you know, I personally think that if you really are regenerated, one of the one of the things in your new heart is going to be a sense of unworthiness. And an awe that God would save a wretch like me.

You know, there are some hymnals that have changed the words to amazing grace. And the word wretch is a little bit too strong. And so they've changed it.

What does a one like me or such a one as me? And I've seen that modification of it. I think my kids have seen it. They've got amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved someone like me.

Well, I did save someone like me, but what's wrong with wretch? What's wrong with wretch, that's pretty good, pretty descriptive. It just doesn't it just it doesn't help your self-esteem. You know, these days, the gospel is the gospel of self-esteem.

In fact, Robert Schuller has a book out called Self-Esteem, the New Reformation. You know, he said what the church needs now is another reformation like it did 500 years ago. This time, he's a reformation of self-esteem.

Well, maybe so, but the opposite direction of what he's talking about. True salvation. Leads to brokenness and a total sense of unworthiness and astonishment that God could save and would save someone like me.

I mean, when I ask for forgiveness for my sins, sometimes I've got such a crushing sense of unworthiness. I've actually said to God, I got if you don't forgive me. I mean.

You're just you know, if I had to go to hell for this, I mean, I'm going to go to hell saying you're just in here because this is exactly what I deserve. But I know your mercy. I know you are going to forgive me.

I don't understand why I accept for, you know, it's just Jesus. But but the humility must be there if it's not there. I'll tell you, I sometimes look at your Christian magazines, seeing these advertisements for for Christian conventions and stuff like that.

All the little portraits of all the little guys who are speaking there, I think, man, I'm just looking at their pictures. I wouldn't want to go near the place. They just seem, you know, they seem so arrogant.

I mean, I don't want to judge by appearance, but. And I can't maybe the other, maybe they just look that way, but this is God hates a proud look. And I don't care from very much either.

I hope I don't look too proud very often, but I I think that humility, a deep sense of unworthiness is something that is part of the new heart and that witness to the spirit and a changed life. James, excuse me, in James chapter two, notwithstanding the opinion of some that James and Paul didn't have the same ideas, I believe they did teach the same thing, both of them. But James is well known as the guy who talked about works, but Paul talked about it more than James did.

And said the same things about him that James said. But in James, chapter two and verse 14, James said, but every man wrong chapter here. A different Bible than I'm used to, a different place on the page, he says, what does it profit my brethren, though a man say he has faith and have not works, can faith save him? Now, that last line can faith save him is rhetorical and it is implied that the answer is no.

Here's a man who says he has faith, but he doesn't have works. Can his faith save him? The implied answer is no, it can't. Why aren't we saved by faith? Yes, but not that kind.

We're saved by faith, but saying you have faith is not the same thing as having faith. The one who says he has faith and doesn't have any change in his behavior. Is making a vain profession of salvation.

He is not saved. In Galatians five, six, I quoted earlier, Paul said it's not circumcision that avails anything or uncircumcision. It's a faith that works through love.

It's faith that saves us and it's a faith that works through love, not some other kind of faith. The devil has a kind of faith that doesn't save him. The devils believe in tremble, but they're not saying and you won't be saved by having the same kind of faith they have either.

It would save you. It would save them. The kind of faith that saves is a faith that works through love, according to Galatians five, six, and that's consistent with what James says and what everything says in the scripture.

In Titus two, 14, we read earlier that Christ redeemed us to purify a people zealous for good work. So obviously a changed life of good works is something that accompanies salvation. If there are no such works, there is no such salvation.

Now, don't get this wrong. I don't know if you've ever heard of the Bible. There is no such salvation.

Now, don't get this wrong. I don't know why people have such a hard time getting this right, this works and salvation thing. As soon as you say if you don't have any good works, you don't have salvation.

People think you're saying that you're saved by your good works. I don't know why they make that jump from what I said to what they think it means. We are not saved by good works.

We are saved by grace. We're saved by Christ. We're saved by the washing of regeneration.

But regeneration means something. Sanctification means something. Something happens when that happens.

And what happens is there's a difference and any faith that doesn't make a difference to you. It doesn't make a difference to God either. And it makes a big difference when you're born again and it will be witnessed in your life.

Good works are among the things that accompany salvation. And under that category of good works, there are three things I've given you as sub points. Love.

Love is a work, by the way, not an emotion. I mean, not a work that saves, but it's a it's a it's a behavior. Love is a behavior.

Jesus said. A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you, but you love one another. So by this, shall all men know that you're my disciples, knows that you're really saved, that you're really Christians.

If you have love one for another, that should show. Now, in first John. John said that.

Love is something that is visible in works. It is works of love that show that you have love in first John, chapter three. And.

Sixteen through eighteen. John said hereby perceive with the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But who so has this world's good and sees his brother has need and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him.

How does the love of God dwell in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but indeed, and in truth, loving deeds, loving works. These are among the things that are seen in a regenerate life that you don't put yourself in the shoes of the devil. So first you put others first, you'll die for them if necessary, or lay down your life for the brethren.

You know, I said, oh, I would lay down my life for the brethren. But what you're thinking of in the crisis of, you know, martyrdom, you know, I mean, you know, some of you know, they come in here with the machine guns and they say, OK. Clinton's our new dictator, he's said all Christians need to be shot or at least one representative Christian for every congregation just to keep you in line.

Who wants to be shot? I'll do it. I'll lay down my life for all these brethren here so they don't have to do it. That'd be a very heroic thing to do.

And I think I do it probably so would you, some of you. But the point is, I think I would do that, but I have a lot of chances laid down my life for the brethren every day. Do I do it then? Do I lay down my preferences? Do I lay down my prerogatives? Do I lay down my convenience and my comfort for the brethren? If I don't do that, what makes me think I would lay down my life? In the ultimate sense, well, it's possible that I would because it's easier to die for Jesus than to live for Jesus.

It's easier to die for your brother than to live for him because you only have to die for him one time. You have to live for him all on, maybe for years. But that's nonetheless what the spirit works in a believer is love and loving behavior is laying down your life for others.

It is also obedience. If you love, you will obey, Jesus said in John 14, 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. That's obedience.

Jesus said in John 8, 31, if you continue in my words, that means in obedience to my words. You are my disciples, indeed. Truly say so, obedience to his words is something that is there when people are saved.

Here's a very good one, more Christians need to hear. More often, 1st John 2, verses three and four, and by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar.

And the truth is not in. How many of you know the Lord? I'm sure probably most of you do, probably all of you do. But if you say you know him and you don't keep his commandments, you're a liar.

Is that why you didn't raise your hand? Well. I'm not sure. Well, I'll tell you what.

Yeah. And one thing is one thing is for sure, knowing him is accompanied by obedience. Now.

I've been to a lot of places. Well. As I said earlier, I frankly don't believe that our obedience is as consistent as it can be and should be and should become.

But the inconsistency of it does not prove we're not saved, at least as I understand some people. I know some people say, if you ever sin again after you've saved, you're not saved. I had a debate with a guy on the radio a couple of times about that.

It's kind of crazy, in my opinion. The Bible says he that says he has no sin deceives himself. And it says if we are confessing our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all.