Biblical Salvation - Part 1

INTRODUCTION

- Introduction to a sermon I preached on March 15th 2008 entitled Biblical Salvation.

We live in a world that thinks in order to become a Christian all you have to do is have said a prayer once in your life. I’m not saying that praying is wrong, by no means. But, a simple prayer does not ensure one’s salvation. The only way in which a person can be reconciled to God is through repentance and faith in His Precious Son Jesus Christ. Some members of this congregation may have been saved through walking down an aisle and saying a prayer. My friends you were saved, if you were saved, not because of some magic prayer, but because that day you repented of your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ.

You know that we have a serious problem on the teaching of Salvation, when the most carnal wicked people in this world think that they are ‘saved’. You know that we have a serious problem with the understanding of Salvation, when the most popular answer to ‘how do you know that your saved’ is… ‘I said a prayer a long time ago accepting Jesus into my heart.’

Do you want to know what is rare to hear in response to the question ‘how do you know that you are saved’? “I know that I am saved, because I heard the true Gospel of Jesus Christ preached, realized that I was a wretched sinner who broke God’s law and desperately in need of a righteous savior. I shortly after that repented of my sins and put my faith in Jesus Christ, believing that through His death and resurrection, I too died to my sins and was resurrected to a newness of life. At that moment I became a new creation in Christ, and am continuing on in Christ to this very day.”

There are so many people who walk down an aisle, repeat a prayer, walk out the church and live just like the devil the rest of their lives… There is no conversion in many churches because the full truth of Jesus Christ is not proclaimed, rather a watered down version of the gospel and Jesus are presented rarely mentioning words like sin, hell, or repentance. Do you want to know what the worst part about the situation is? These people walking down the aisle think that they are going to heaven when they die because they repeated a ritualistic prayer.

A recent survey stated that around 64% of youth ‘forsake their faith’ after college graduation. Now, some may say that’s because the church doesn’t reach out to college campuses enough. Some may say that it’s because there aren’t enough Sunday Schools teaching scientific facts in the Bible. While the church does need to reach out more to college-age students and perhaps not be as shy at teaching the Historical and Scientific accuracy of God’s Word; neither of those are the reason that 64% of youth graduate from college and never return. The reason that I give to you is much more basic than that. These youth are not saved.

John 10:27-28 - My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.

1 John 2:19 - They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

One of the saddest realities in American Christianity today is that Salvation has become simplified into a five minute decision for Christ and a ‘baby step’ into Christianity. My friends, Salvation is not a ‘baby step’ into anything. Salvation is a supernatural event in which God changes the heart of a wicked man with sinful desires into one that loves God and aims to please God with his life…

The issue of Salvation is the most important issue in the universe, yet many churches have treated it as if it were the least important. We live in a day and age where the wheats are mixed in with the tares. Church buildings are filled with carnal unsaved people and many of the church services themselves are designed to appeal to carnally wicked man instead of being designed to please and glorify God. One example of this is the best sellers list on most Christian bookstore shelves…

Have you been to a Christian bookstore lately? I walk down the aisles of most Christian bookstores with fear and trembling of what I might see on the shelves. Most of the books are ‘how to live your best life now’ and ’10 steps to financial prosperity’ and ’35 ways to lose weight in 5 minutes’ ect. Most of the books on the best sellers list are man-centered garbage. The purpose of a Christian’s life is not to please himself; rather it is to glorify God. The purpose of a Christian’s life is not to indulge in blatant sinfulness; rather it is to strive for Holiness. The purpose of a Christian’s life is not to see ‘what can God do for me’; rather it is to see ‘how can I please Him, who has already done so much for me’?

“Whoever is not satisfied with Christ alone, strives after something beyond absolute perfection.” - John Calvin

This is the reason that today; we are going to be discussing three major points.
1. Why Should I Be Saved? – Because you have a desperate need for salvation.
2. How Can I Be Saved? – Only through Repentance & Faith in Jesus Christ.
3. Is there a difference between an unsaved person and a saved person? Absolutely!

+ Jakab +