THEOLOGY- LIVING WHAT WE BELIEVE- SALVATION
WORKING THEOLOGY
I Peter 1:13-23
by Pastor Eldon Reich
We began our series with Original Sin.
Then we talked about Grace.
Today we want to look at SALVATION
What is it? Who can have it? and how can we apply it to our lives?
Daniel Boone explored the great wilderness of Tennessee and Kentucky,
marking the wilderness road that brought settlers into the new land.
He often wandered over vast areas of forest,
living off the land and dodging arrows.
Once he was asked if
he had ever been lost. He replied, " No, I’ve never been lost,
but I was a mite confused once for three or four days!"
Whether it is our pride, affinity to sin, or human nature,
many of us won’t admit that we are lost and in need of a savior.
In fact according to the North American Mission Board Research Division,
there are 192 million
lost people in
and that number is growing by almost 2 million each year! SOURCE: NAMB, 1998.
The Bible says we had a perfect start.
Made in the image of God, but we chose to disobey
and sin entered the world and the Bible says:
There is no one who is righteous, not even one. Romans 3:10
So we attempt to change ourselves.
We run around like Spiderman hoping for a radioactive spider to change us.
But really it is God who changes us.”
So let’s look at a working theology of God’s salvation for us
I. OLD TESTAMENT SALVATION
Began in the garden of Eden.
God set to work to save ADAM and EVE immediately after the fall.
He reached out to them
but it seemed their children wanted nothing to do with it.
Then Cain killed Abel
And the families of the earth were split in two
Evil pervaded the land and
Evil reached a pinnacle during Noah’s time.
God intervened again to try to save the world.
This time he used Noah who had “found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
Noah built an ark to spare those who would believe, from destruction.
But only Noah and 7 adults believed and entered the
All the earth was destroyed by water and flood.
But soon even Noah’s family was in chaos, and rebellion
and sin returned in full heat.
So God decided to demonstrate his salvation at an even larger scale
He would not just save a family like Noah’s, but
He would save a nation-
to demonstrate his salvation to the whole world.
To do this God had to create a nation.
So Abram and Sari were chosen.
Now what an unlikely couple they were
They had no children
Sara was barren.
Abram was old.
How could they parent a nation?
However, God chose them precisely to show us that
Salvation is not a human ability.
Abram and Sari could not produce a child much less a nation by themselves.
Oh they tied.
Sari took matters into her own hand and chose a surrogate mother and said to Abram
Genesis 16:2 “The Lord has kept me from having children. God, sleep with my maidservant (Hagar) perhaps I can build a family through her.”
And look at the mess created in the
Muslims today believe Ishmael, Hagar’s son is the true son of Abram
not Isaac the God-given son of Sarah..
God had promised to this couple ‘
In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Gen. 12:3
Isaac was born.
But sin escalated into the next generation.
And soon all
Pharaoh was killing them off in the mud pits.
God called Moses as a kind of new Messiah
to lead 2 million enslaved Israelites out of the sin and death of Egyptian captivity.
You see in the O.T. salvation was a national matter.
If you belonged to the nation
And God would deliver and protect you if you stayed with the nation..
Listen to King David pray: for the nation.
Psalms 33: 10-12 The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen for His own inheritance.
OT salvation was seen for
the physical protection of the nation of
That’s why the Hebrew writers saw that their physical enemy
in time of war was also a Spiritual enemy.
They didn’t distinguish between physical and spiritual,
Their enemies marched into battle carrying mementos of their manmade gods.
Which contained the commandment of the living God.
To lose to their enemy nation was to lose to their enemy’s gods,
and dishonor to the Lord God Jehovah.
People were saved when they belonged to the nation.
They were circumcised to show membership to the covenant of that Nation.
We see some carry over of this into the NT writings where
When the Philippian Jailer asks Paul and Silas about salvation.
They answer. “Believe on the Lord
Jesus can you will be saved, you and your household. Acts.
Just as circumcism showed outwardly you have joined
the nation of
Baptism shows outwardly that you have joined the
Salvation has come to him and his whole family.
Even today God still blesses
When Jesus returns, as Biblical prophecy tells He will.
Jesus feet will touch ground in
And the Jews will have a chance to repent and receive salvation in Christ.
Haven’t we come a long way?
In OT time the Prophet of God led the people
And promised salvation for the nation if they would obey God.
Today it’s the politicians who make the promise
To restore us to goods and freedom.
And many of them do not even believe in God.
Much less live according to God’s commandments.
I am from the old school
Where I believe that when we elect leaders who believe in God.
And who pray and seek his face for direction
God will bless their nation and forgive their sins.
II Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
And I still believe today that our physical wars with other nations are also spiritual ones.
Even,
It disclaims our God.
Islam god is not our God.
It is a god of idolatry, violence and works.
A god who sets out to win by killing its own people for its cause.
How different is Jesus, our God who came to die for us.
To set us free and advance the
Salvation was not invented at
It was God’s plan before time and throughout the Old Testament.
I. OLD TESTAMENT SALVATION
II. NEW TESTAMENT SALVATION.
is more directly related to the individual.
The community of faith is no longer related to the nation of
The community of faith is manifest in the Body of Christ,
The
Where Jesus is the head.
Jesus told Nicodemus, a Pharisee,
That he belonged by water birth, through an Israelite mother and circumcision,
To the tribe of
But if he wanted to belong to the
He needed to be Spirit-born from above.
With an external evidence of Baptism.
“Very, truly I
tell you, no one can see the
Nicodemus and the Jewish leaders had a difficult time adjusting to this new teaching, and so do we. We are so set in our way.
A rabbi and a priest met at the town picnic and began
their usual " kibitzing."
The Priest teased the Rabbi: " This baked ham is just delicious, you
really should try some. I can't understand why such a wonderful thing should be
forbidden. You just don't know what you're missing. You haven't lived until
you've tried Mrs. Kennedy's baked ham. Tell me rabbi, when are you going to
break down and try a little ham?” The rabbi looked at the priest, smiled and
said, " At your wedding”.
We believe and receive this salvation by faith and Peter says:
“We become a chosen people,
A royal priesthood,
A holy nation
A People belonging to God”.
((((“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”--I Peter 2:9)))
Salvation for the Jews was from the Nation of Israel
Salvation for the world
from the
This
1. God- created,
2. Universally open for all who believe
3. Without prejudice or bias-Jews, or Gentiles
4. Entered only by new birth through the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.
John says: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
In the NEW TESTAMENT SALVATION
Jesus is the only way to heaven.
Not only for the nation
But for the world.
HOW DOES SALVATION APPLY TO US TODAY?
The English word Salvation come from Latin root SALVARE
Which means to “to save”. The word salve and salvage from the same root.
Salvation isn’t that difficult to understand
Humans are lost.
God sent Jesus to find us.
We humans need it
Because we know we are sinful in all areas of our lives.
The power mower broke and wouldn't run,
This wife kept hinting to her husband that he ought to get it fixed,
Mow the lawn-- that was now out of control, but message
never sank in.
She thought of a clever way to make her point.
The evening when her husband arrived home he found her seated in the tall
grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors.
He husband watched for a short time and then went into the house.
He came out a few moments later and handed her a toothbrush. And said:
“When you finish cutting the grass, you might as well sweep the sidewalks"
The doctors say he’ll probably live, but it will be quite awhile before the casts come off.
We need salvation
And God provided it in a new covenant of blood.
I Peter 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
Salvation is more than a new resolve or personal reformation
it is a radical change—
From the inside out.
You cannot be a Christian without being born again.
Nicodemus said How can this be? John 3:9
Jesus said:
Just as Moses
lifted up the snake in the desert, ( so that the people of
In an instant in the twinkling of an eye,
We are forgiven
Adopted into the family of God.
And converted forever.
“For it is by Grace you have been saved , through faith--and this not from ourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Eph. 2:8-9
Paul did not say you will be save.
Or you’re being saved,
But you have been saved by God.
It is present salvation.
It is an accomplished act.
And all we can do is believe it.
And Ask Jesus to come into our heart
And be born again by the Holy Spirit.
Rev. Henry Moorhouse was holding evangelistic meetings in a southern church.
In the meeting was a rough, wicked coal miner
who had a terrible
temper, and was a heavy drinker who often mistreated his wife and children. His
name was Ike Miller.
Moorhouse was notified that Ike would be attending the service.
And that many were praying for his salvation.
So Moorhouse went out there and preached his heart out.
But Ike Miller didn’t respond.
Instead he went straight out the door after the meeting and disappeared.
Those who were anxious for Miller’s salvation told Rev. Moorhouse,
"
You blew it.
You failed to touch the town’s biggest sinner."
But what those men did not
know
was that Ike Miller had gone straight home.
He kissed his wife,
Tenderly gathered his two children into his arms –
Something he had not done for years.
and with tears running down his face, he said,
" Oh God. I am so sorry. Forgive me for treating my family so poorly."
And then he recited an old prayer that he learned as a child:
" Gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Look upon a simple child.
Pity my simplicity. Suffer me to come to thee."
That old wicked coal miner, asked for mercy- And he got it!
If God’s love was not far from a man like that,
God’s love is not far
from anyone.
If the Holy Spirit is touching your heart today
And saying things are not right.
It’s not too late to make things right.
Getting
right with God isn’t a building project that has to last for months
It can happen today, if you repent of your sins, and ask Jesus to come into our
hearts.
Hebrews 3:7-8 " Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."
1. Salvation set us free from sin,
2. Saves us from guilt and fear
3. Welcomes us to community of faith believers.
4. Secures for us an Eternal glory God has prepared.
Salvation by Faith is the keystone to Christianity!!
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