What is Salvation?
Dr. Tim Rivers | May 4th, 2025
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Transcription
How many are glad to be in God's house?
I'm about to gather myself. This has never happened to me. It's a curveball. I'm glad that you're here. I'm excited about getting into the Word. Today is baptism Sunday. Come on now. And I'm gonna explaining a little bit what baptism is here in just a moment. But I just wanna let you know that if you have never been water baptized and you have given your life to Christ, my encouragement to you is by the Word of God, get water baptized. It's the next step in your faith journey. Now, you may be in here and you got water baptized as a child or, and your parents meant well, maybe they presented you. But baptism has to be a personal decision that you make. So if you have been baptized and it wasn't your decision, then I encourage you, before this day is over, you get water baptized as a conscious decision that you're making to go public with your faith in following Jesus. And you may say, well, I didn't register. That's all right. You don't have to be registered. If you're here today and you feel the prompting to get water baptized, get water baptized. We got shorts nobody's ever worn, brand new, brand new t-shirts. And we got a towel for you, freshly laundered. You ain't taking that one home. You can take t-shirts. And the water's warm. So as one individual said in the Scriptures, what does hinder me from getting baptized? So today is the day. Amen?
Amen.
We're going to the Word of God. If you would stand to your feet, we're going to Acts 16. The book of Acts 16. Book of Acts 16:25, Acts 16:25. If you have one of the fans with my face on it, please don't put it in the trash, that would hurt my feelings. Take it home with you. Just know, let it be a reminder that I'm praying for you. And lo, I am with you always. Acts 16:25, about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open. First of all, I've read this passage so many times, but as I read it this time, I thought, why is this guy asleep in the first place? He was sleeping on the job.
He drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." And the jailer called Paul and Silas. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And he said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household." I love how the promise of salvation is not just available to you, but it's available to everyone you're connected to. And he spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced, along with his entire household that he had believed in God. And somebody say Amen.
Amen.
We are in a series that we're calling Unapologetic. And what we're doing is we're tackling some of the questions that present themselves in the area of apologetics. Apologetics is just a fancy word of, that means in defense of. So we are standing in this place, we really wanna look at Scripture, and we wanna be able to defend what we believe. And there's several ways that you can approach apologetics. One of the ways is called a prepositional way. And that's what we're doing. We believe... We established that last week. We believe Christianity is true. Most individuals, you're here because you've had an experience with God, or at least you are drawn to inquire about God more.
So now we wanna break it down a little more so that you can have the tools necessary to present the gospel to others, but also that you have an understanding of what God's done in your life. So today we're... This is the topic we're going to cover. We're asking the question, what is salvation and why should I get baptized? What is salvation and why should I get baptized? Let's pray. Dear Lord, I thank you so much for your goodness and mercy. Thank you, Lord, for all those who have been water baptized already. I thank you, Lord, for allowing us to be in your house to experience your presence. I pray that we would never take it for granted, that we would wake up every morning with the realization that you are good to us and you're gracious to us, and you save us. I pray that those that are in this place that may not understand what salvation is, give them revelation today. Give them rhema through your Word. If those that are saved, I pray that you would give them a broader understanding of what you've done in their life. Help us to be witnesses and to testify of your goodness to others. We give your name, the praise, the glory, and the honor because you're worthy of it. In Jesus name and everybody say amen.
Amen.
Turn to your neighbor and say, neighbor.
Neighbor.
Are you saved?
Are you saved?
Turn to your other neighbor and say, hey, other neighbor.
Hey other neighbor.
Are you saved?
Are you saved?
You may be seated. Some of y'all were like, I think so, but we're about to find out. [laughter] Let's talk about salvation. Now, I'm gonna use two words interchangeably, salvation and saved. And I wanna explain to you what they are. I wanna give us a working definition so that when we use either one of these words, we know what we're talking about. The word salvation, in Christian terms, the theological term for salvation comes from the Greek word soteria. This is where we get the word soteriology. When you're studying theology, soteriology simply just means the study of salvation. The other word is saved. And we use that probably more often than anything. We say, I'm saved, sanctified, Holy Ghost filled, water baptized. Has anybody ever said that?
Yeah.
[laughter]
All kinds of songs, right? I know I've been saved. I could go on and on, but the word saved comes from the Greek word sozo. And both these words means to be delivered or rescued from sin and its consequences and given eternal life with God. Salvation, or being saved is a fancy way of saying that you're safe. Anybody been to a baseball game or watched a baseball game? You know that when a batter is up and the pitchers throw, they hit the ball no matter where it goes. Unless it's in the foul line. But no matter where it goes in front of them, they have the opportunity to run from the home plate to first base. Right? As they are running, they're susceptible to be caught out or tagged out. Unless they get to first base.
Once they get to the base, the official will call them what? Safe. So salvation, in the most elementary term means to simply be safe from being able to be tagged out. Oh, that's a... That wasn't in the first service. That was right off the top. But to fully understand the purpose of salvation, we have to ask ourselves four questions. So if you take your notes, there are four questions that we're gonna answer, and we'll have a bonus one, a bonus question that we'll answer. But I encourage you to have your notes ready and your Bible because we're gonna do a lot of movement in the Bible. All right? Here's the first question we wanna ask. What are we saved from? The second question, by whom are we saved? Third question is, what are we saved to? And here's the fourth one, what must I do to be saved? So we'll answer those four questions and then we have a bonus question as well. The first one, what are we saved from?
Now in order to be saved, when we talk about soteriology, when we talk about salvation, when we talk about being saved, we are assuming that there is a looming threat or condition that we need to be saved from. In fact, the very term saved assumes that you're in trouble, right? Think about this. Soteriology also assumes that we cannot save ourselves. If you know that you're in trouble and you can get yourself out of trouble, there would be no need to ask anybody else to help you to get yourself out of trouble, right? If you are calling for help, you're assuming that you can't help yourself. So what we have to understand is that salvation or to call out to be saved is the same as... Anybody ever been on a cruise ship? You've been on a cruise. Janice and I, on our second anniversary, we had just bought a house and we had a trip planned to Guatemala. And then when we bought the house, we're like, well, all our money is going to the house, so. But we still wanted to celebrate our two year anniversary.
But we wanted to do it in the most economically cheap way possible. So what we did is we said, I wonder how cheap we can find a cruise. I don't recommend this, by the way, I don't recommend this. But we started looking all over and we found a Carnival cruise. Some of y'all fell out. I'm sorry, we didn't have Norwegian money. [laughter] We found on their website they were doing a sale, a 36 hour sale, five day cruise, $139. Book it, two. We went ahead and booked two. We said, listen, if we're going out, we're gonna go out in style. At least we'll be by the beach and together. And can I tell you, it was just, it was the best. I mean we were $500 all in, all you could eat, all you can sleep. It was amazing. But just imagine that you're on a cruise and you're having a good time. You're chilling, you're on the deck, you're spending most of your time probably eating food because it's all free and you wanna get your money's worth, right?
And you have a little entertainment in the evenings, the little shows and stuff. You're having a good time, and someone comes to you and says, hey, there is a hole in the ship and the ship is taking on water. Now, you got one or two options. One, I don't care. Another round of ribs, please. That could be one, right? Or the second is, you start screaming for help, right? And you get ahold of the captain. Captain, we're taking on water. What's the captain gonna do? He's gonna dial a little something something, and then he's gonna go over the intercom, over the radio, he's gonna say, mayday, mayday, SOS, save our ship, right? Because when he has become aware that the ship is in trouble and he can't do anything about it, he has to call out for someone else who has the ability to fix the problem or at least rescue them, to come rescue them. So when we talk about salvation, we have to understand that we are in a sinking ship and we require rescuing.
That's what it means to be saved. Now, in order to understand what we're saved from, we have to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. 'Cause God, if he created everything that we see, the vegetation, the earth, all those things, God created Adam and Eve, humanity, mankind. And God placed mankind in the garden. And God says to Adam and Eve, I want you to be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it, have dominion. And God gives them a promise. Then God also gives them all the things that they need to sustain life. He gives them, the Bible says, every fruit that you can eat and every bit of vegetation. So now Adam and Eve are living in perfect harmony with God, in a great relationship with God, with the other animals, with each other. They're naked and unashamed. They also have everything to sustain their life. Now, this is God's intended purpose for humanity from the beginning. God desired mankind to live eternally in perfect union with himself and with other humans and with the animals sustained by everything that God has provided, living in their purpose. And God says, this is what my intention is for you.
Now, God also says, listen, because I am a Lord, because I am a King, because I rule, I also have some laws. So God says, I'm gonna give you one law. Here's the law. Do not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. The day that you eat thereof you will surely die. Now, Adam and Eve, who don't know what death means, they have no idea what rebellion actually is or the consequence of rebellion. They find themselves hanging around the one tree that God says, don't hang around. Anyone have kids? Why is it that you could be at a park, every swing is available, the slides are available, the climbing ladders are available. And then you tell your child, you can have everything that you want, do whatever you want, run as wild as you want, but I do not want you to go right here. What's the one place out of the entire park that that child is going to? Right to the spot that you said, don't do it. Right? So first of all, Adam and Eve are hanging around the tree. They haven't eaten yet.
They're hanging around the forbidden tree. They're curious, right? So Satan then has a conversation with Eve. Eve says, all right, I'll try it out. She takes the fruit, realizes nothing happens. She gives it to Adam. Adam's like, well, nothing happened to Eve. That was beta. Let me try it. And then all of a sudden, boom. The Bible says their eyes were open. Now, their eyes were open the whole time. So what is the Bible actually saying that their eyes were open to? The eyes of their intellect was open to realize that they were no longer in a state of innocence. Because when they rebelled against the Law of God, this was the first act of human sin. And sin, it means to violate a divine law. So when they did, the first thing that happened is they realized their own vulnerability. They were overtaken by sin, by... Not just by sin, but by shame and guilt. And the first thing they tried to do was hide their nakedness.
The result of sin is that you always try to cover it in human efforts. This is not something that you have to be taught, right? Have you ever seen... Okay, let's go back to children, and I'm talking about other people's kids. A kid takes a piece of candy they're not supposed to, and you go, "Hey, where's that candy?" They go like this, "What candy?" "Let me see your hand." They're like, "All right." "Let me see your other hand." Right? You don't even have to teach kids that. It's their human nature to try to cover up exposure. And whenever you try to cover your exposure, it never works. Adam and Eve tried to sew fig leaves to make underwear. God's like, nah, that ain't enough. That's not enough. Right? So what Adam and Eve, when they sinned against God, their eyes were open. This is what they realized, this was the result of their sin. Separation from perfect union with God, expelled from the garden, strained human relationships, frustration in work, pain in childbearing, guilt and shame, and ultimately death. In scriptural terms, death means eternal separation from God.
Not just separation from God, but separation from each other. They were physically dying and they were spiritually dying. Now, here's a big question we have to ask, especially when we're dealing with apologetics. Would Adam and Eve have eaten from the tree had they known the result of their sin? It was like, I don't know if I should answer or not. That's the question that we ask, right? What... Could they? Maybe. But let me ask you this. If you didn't know what the result of sin would be, 'cause remember, they had no awareness of the result of their actions. They just knew that there was a law, don't do this, if not, you're going to die. They didn't know what death was. They didn't know what separation from God was. They didn't know these things. They were just acting out in their flesh.
They decided consciously to disobey God. And now, because they disobeyed God, now they're dealing with the consequence of sin. But here's the problem. It didn't just stop with Adam and Eve. This is what we call the doctrine of original sin. So when Adam and Eve sinned, what they did is they imputed into humanity sin and its consequences. Now, those who have come after Adam and Eve are living in the consequences of their sin. Here's a perfect example. You're in a boat that's leaking, right? So the boat is now sinking. When you have a child on the boat, by nature, the child is also on a sinking boat. This is what sin is. This is what Scripture says about it. Paul makes it perfectly clear in Romans 5:12. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, he's talking about Adam, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Romans 3:23, for all have sinned. Somebody say all.
All.
You know what all means?
Everybody.
Everybody. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. As descendants of Adam, we receive the sin nature passed down from our fathers. And that makes us born in sin and naturally inclined to sinful behavior. So what Adam and Eve did not know was gonna be the consequence, we now are living in the consequence. Think about it. Now, unless you're in relationship with Jesus, if you're just existing in the world, these are the things you're gonna deal with, separation from God, frustration in finding purpose, strained human relationships, shame, guilt and death. Romans 6:23 makes it plain, for the wages of sin is death.
Death.
But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. See, sin deserves to be punished. Why? Because God is holy. We love to talk about the grace and the mercy of God, and that is true. But first and foremost, we have to understand that God is a Lord. He is a King, and he guards his kingdom. Meaning, as a holy and just and righteous God, when he says, if you eat of the fruit, you will die, in order to be just and righteous, he's got to execute on his Word. Now, we as humans have a hard time dealing with that. But let me ask you this. Back to the child, if you say, if you eat this candy... I know none of y'all talk like that. If you eat this candy... Gentle parenting. You will not play on the iPad for 15 minutes.
[laughter]
Right? They eat the candy. Now you have a decision to make as their parent, either you will do what you said you will do and not let them play on the iPad, or you let them play on the iPad. What happens when you let them play on the iPad? They don't take you serious. Right? They don't do... Let me go get another piece of candy. Right? So in order for God to be just and righteous, he has to execute on what he said he would do. That's a fact.
Yes it is.
Right? Do we like it? No. Are we God? No. Right? Breaking the law is not merely an impersonal reality. For sin represents rebellion against God himself. The heart of sin is the failure to glorify God and to give thanks to him. Sin, check this out, represents a flagrant refusal to submit to God's Lordship. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they did it consciously. They knew God told them what the result was gonna be.
He said, if you eat, you will die. And she even... Eve even said it to the serpent. Well, yeah, I'm not supposed to. She added a little more to it. She said, if I touch it, I'll die. But she was very well aware of the result. And yet she still rebelled against God. Which means that sin is a flagrant refusal to acknowledge the Lordship of God. Now, what does that mean then, that we're born in this sin and shapen in iniquity? It means inherently we are imputed with an original sin that makes us prone to rebel against God naturally. So what are we saved from? Sin and its consequences. So, first of all, you have to know that the boat is sinking. If you're going to even approach the conversation of salvation, you have to realize that we are in need of saving, right? That brings us to question number two, by whom are we saved? Because listen, if I'm calling SOS, I wanna know who's coming. I don't want you coming with no small little kayak. You know what I'm saying? We are sinking. This is a cruise ship. We need somebody to come with all the power. Don't come... I need you to have a motor. This is what I love. Let's continue with the story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve sinned against God.
They became aware of their nakedness. They were overcome by condemnation. And the human instinct again was to try to cover their own shame. And with the realization that this is a consequence, they tried in their effort to cover their shame, but also with that is, they tried to hide from God, right? 'Cause they didn't wanna deal with the guilt and shame. Remember, these are the first humans. They had no language for what they were feeling. In retrospect, we can say they were feeling guilt and shame. But at the time, all they knew is, I'm naked. I've been naked, but now it feels different. So let me cover up the thing that God actually created to expose. Because in my human efforts, I feel uncomfortable with this. So now I feel that separation, right? But because God is holy, so he's going to execute on his judgment and he is merciful, which means that he did not want to leave Adam and Eve exposed by their own efforts.
So God himself took an innocent animal. Remember, at this point, we have no indication that animals were killed at all. But God takes an innocent animal, slays it. The Scripture says that God create... He sews together a covering for Adam and Eve. So this is the first example of a sacrifice. God takes an innocent animal, kills it in order to take its hide, and then cover the sin, the shame, the guilt of a human who actually is guilty. This right here is called atonement. When God takes, he sheds the blood of an innocent animal and covers humanity. This is the foreshadowing of what is to come in Christ. But God is already demonstrating, hey, I know I'm gonna execute on what I said I would do because I'm a righteous God, but I'm also a merciful God. I am not okay with you continuing to be exposed. So I'm gonna give you some covering. And yet it's very clear when you read the scriptures, that the first animal sacrifice and every animal sacrifice in the Old Testament was simply a foreshadowing, an act, the out of atonement.
But the Scripture says that it is not possible for the blood of goats and sheep to take away sin forever. It was possible to move sin one more year. So God says, here, I'll make you a deal. If you bring me a sacrifice, I'll push the consequence of your sin one more year. And so as long as you bring sacrifices, I'll continue to push it. Why was there a requirement for a human sacrifice to take the place of another human? Because it was impossible for something made of a different material to fully atone and be a substitute for another material. It could represent it, but it couldn't be it. So in the law of God, God says, I need one for one. If you're the human and you sinned against me, I need another human to take your place. So God starts looking around, he's like, all right, animals will do. I can push for it. I can work with that. But I need a substitute. Why? Because he's a righteous God who requires things to be made right. So after God looks around and realizes that there is no one perfect because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, God himself says, the only one perfect is myself. And if I'm the only perfect one and I'm God, then what if I become the substitute for all of humanity so that what Adam did in bringing sin into the world, God says, I will become the second man Adam, and I will become the substitution for all of humanity. So God himself robed himself in flesh and came down as a human. 100% God, 100% human.
John 1:1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse number 14, and the Word was made flesh. So God himself robed himself in fleshly humanity, came and lived among men for the purpose of becoming the substitution for man. Romans 8:3, for God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. What righteous requirement? Death. Might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to flesh to the flesh, but according to the spirit. Look at 2nd Corinthians 5:20, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God for our sake. He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Galatians 3:13, Christ redeeming us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
Now, God this is so good. I don't have enough time. The reason why God came down to be the substitution, is because God is perfect. Anything that has sinned deserves death. Right? So humanity, if there was any other person that was to become a substitution, they would just die. Why? 'Cause they would just fulfill the requirement of the law and die. Right? Christ, on the other hand, was perfect. He did not deserve to die. So when he gave his life, death by nature, by the law of God could not hold him down. Why? Because he was not guilty of sin. Jesus Christ became the substitute who paid for humanity's sin by dying on the cross and purchasing redemption or atonement for anyone who believes in him. This is what we call in theology penal substitutionary atonement. You may wanna write that down.
[laughter]
I'm gonna explain it to you, because again, when we use these words, what we're doing is we're taking a large concept and we're just packaging it in, right? Penal substitutionary atonement holds that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross takes the place of the punishment we ought to suffer for our sins. As a result, God's justice is satisfied. And those who believe in Jesus Christ and recognize him as Lord can be forgiven and reconciled to God. So by whom are we saved? Jesus Christ. Why? Because he became the penal substitutionary atonement for us. He became the substitute. You were supposed to be on the Cross and yet he said, I'll go. You were supposed to die, yet Jesus said, uh-uh I'll do it. Isaiah 53, the suffering servant. I encourage you to read it. It kind of gives more indication. That brings us to question number three. So we know that we are saved from something. We know that who does the saving. Now we're asking the question, what are we saved to? Because here's the thing, salvation is not just about escaping the sinking ship. And many people who are in the church who claim to be saved only view salvation as being saved from some consequence.
Their entire Christian experience is simply like, I prayed the prayer because I was scared. I ain't trying to go to hell. Their experience with God is a one time event. Hey, I said a prayer. I gave my life to Christ, now I'm eternally secure. Here's the thing, God does not save you from only from something. But he saves you from something to put you into something. Y'all like that skip? Right? 'Cause here's the thing, let's say you're on the sinking cruise liner, right? And then they call the Coast Guard SOS, the Coast Guard responds. The Coast Guard, what do they do? They start sending out life jackets. They throw you a flotation device. And they say, grab the flotation device. You can get off of the sinking cruise liner, grab the flotation device and go, huh, I'm saved. But the problem is you're still in the ocean. You're still in danger of being caught, ate up by a shark. You still are getting tossed by the tempest. You're still in the raging storm. You have no protection. That line could be snapped. You're hanging on for dear life. And so many people's Christian experience is they had one moment where they say, Jesus, save me, and they grab the flotation device and they're still getting tossed about, ate up by sharks and salty, because their whole concept of salvation is just escaping the sinking cruise liner. But salvation is not just about you getting out of that boat.
[applause]
It's about you getting into the boat that is safe, and that's called the Church. So when God saves you, he's not just trying to pull you out of sin. He's trying to pull you into righteousness. He's not just trying to get you out of slavery. He's trying to get you into freedom. He's not trying to get you out of trouble. He's trying to get you into peace. Salvation's work is not complete until you are saved from and to. Remember Israel, they get delivered out of Egypt, they're like, yeah, party. We made it. And Moses was like, it ain't done yet. We still got to go to the promised land. Just because you're no longer making bricks doesn't mean that you're living in houses that God built for you. Just 'cause you escaped the whip doesn't mean that you're now living in houses you didn't build, vineyards you didn't plant, and wells you didn't dig. The intention of salvation, true salvation, requires there to be an out and in.
Question number four. All right, so we understand the first three. Now here's the big question. What must I do to be saved? Okay, you told me this is where I'm saved from sin and its consequences. This is who does the saving. Jesus Christ, he became the substitute for my sins. Point number three. The goal of salvation is to pull you out of something and into something, out of darkness, into the kingdom of God, away from this sinking cruise liner into the boat called the Church. All right, how do I do it? Well, let's go back to our passage that we read, Acts 16. Paul and Silas are in prison. Prison doors are shut. The Bible says at midnight, they begin to sing praises. I love... This is one of my... This is one of them shouting messages, right? And at midnight, everyone goes buck wild, right? Your praise will unlock the door. Don't dare me y'all. I'll get off my notes, and I got a suit on, don't wanna... They sing praises, right? The Lord sends an earthquake. The prison doors are opened. They're all still sitting there. The jailer wakes up, most likely from the earthquake, realizes, uh-oh, all the doors are open.
He runs in there. He's like, I can't deal with this. Either they're gonna overpower me, or they'll escape. And what he knows is that as a jailer, you had a very, very important job, keep the prisoners locked up. If they escape, guess what? You, as the jailer, get their verdict. So whatever the prisoner's verdict was, now it's on you, 'cause you let them escape. So the jailer goes, I ain't trying to die by you, so I'm gonna go ahead and take care of myself. Gets his sword out, he's about to slay himself, and Paul goes, hold up. We're all still here. Now, this is how you know Paul was saved. And I'd be like, open doors. Open door after open door, miracle after miracle. Get ready for another one. Boom. I'm out of there. See y'all in Egypt. Get me? I'd jump on a camel and I'm out of there. You'll find me in India being a missionary or living in under the radar.
Paul says, wait a minute. Don't do it. We're all still here. And he's like, what? And then he takes them out. So they're escaping, and he looks at them. He goes like this, hey, guys, what must I do to be saved? Now, now, now, now, now, a lot of times we read this passage and we think, and we've used this often, right, that he was asking the question, what must he do to be eternally saved? He has no clue about that yet. He's still trying to make sure that he's saved from his bosses taking his head off. So he is trying to escape a consequence that is natural. So he says to Paul and Silas, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to escape the consequence of y'all leaving? I ain't gonna bother you, but take me with you. Paul's response to him is, I know that the natural inclination when you feel guilty and shame is to try to escape the consequences in your own power. But really, what you're asking me goes a lot further, because at some point you're gonna die anyways, Mr. Jailer, whether it be today, tomorrow, or in 10 years. But what I can tell you is it matters where you live afterwards.
Yes.
[applause]
So I can tell you, hey, go with us or I can tell you that if you really wanna be saved and you wanna secure your eternity, even if you die tomorrow, then this is what you got to do, you've got to believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. Now, this sounds so simple. All I got to do, after all this stuff you've been talking about, penal atonement for sins and all these big words. The only thing I've got to do is believe. Yes, this sounds too simple. Well, look what he said, believe in the Lord Jesus. What does the word Lord mean? The word Lord means he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has the power to decide. The word Lord also means Savior. The word Lord also means the one who is able to save. So literally, Paul and Silas, tell him, hey, if you wanna be saved, if you wanna have an experience, then you have got to make Jesus Christ the master of your life. What does that mean? It means that you recognize the substitutionary work that Jesus did for you is now applied to your life. What is required for that? They asked the same thing to Peter in the first message of the Church. What did Peter say? Repent. What does that mean? It means to make an about face. Y'all should be... I mean, that was clean.
[laughter]
So if you're going to be saved, you've got to believe that Jesus truly paid it all. That simple? That simple? Look, it is entirely possible to hear about salvation and not accept it. It is entirely possible to be water baptized and not make Jesus your Lord and Savior. It is entirely possible to go through all of the motions at an altar, falling out, whatever you wanna do and not truly be saved. How do you know that Jesus is Lord in your life? You start living like it. Now, some in this place you grew up in an environment where there has to be an evidential sign at the moment of salvation. I remember one time we had an evangelist come and there were some people praying in an altar and he was looking for the evidence of tongues, and this person was up there crying and he said, come on, da da, da, da, da. There it is.
I remember as a teen going, I don't think so, because we never saw that person again. It's got to be more than just external signs. There has to be an inward change that happens in your life. And the only way an inward change can happen is when you relinquish control of your life and give it to Jesus. Now you say, well, how do I know that others are saved? It ain't up to you. We're not the ones that determine somebody's salvation. They and God are. You know what happens? This is how you know somebody's saved, they start showing signs in their life. Let me talk about the fruits of your salvation. You ready? Here's how you know you're saved. What you love changes. We call this your affections. So let me ask you this. There may be some in here watching online, you say, I'm saved. We can tell what... By what you love, by what you have affection toward, by what motivates you. Right?
Didn't Jesus say that if you are going to be my disciples, if you love me, keep my commandments? Right? If the fruit of being saved means that your love for Christ intensifies. Not only that, but you experience humility. It is very hard to be prideful when you didn't pay for it. You can't earn your own salvation 'cause then Paul says, you can boast in that. So what does salvation do in your life, like truly do? It humbles you, it makes you aware that you are born into sin, shapen in iniquity, and that you have the consequence of sin on you unless you relinquish control and you recognize Jesus is the one that paid it all. Jesus paid it all. All to him I... Here's another sign of salvation. Obedience. This was a tough one, right? Obedience. What does that mean? You become more obedient to Christ when you recognize Jesus as Lord, as Savior in your life, you got to do what he says. So whatever Jesus says to do, do it. That's a evidence of your salvation. Here's another one, endurance. [laughter] Oh, we don't like this one. Endurance.
Remember... So this is what's interesting, you're on... Let's go back to our cruise ship. Cruise ship is sinking. Coast Guard, come. We call that boat the Church, right? You get a lifeline, repentance. I'm not going back on that ship. That ship is sinking. That's repentance, right? I'm not going back. I'm grabbing my lifeline. You make your way over, you get into that boat. That boat is still in the same ocean. There are gonna be some waves that hit that boat. There's gonna be some turbulence in that boat. There's gonna be some bumps in that route. But guess what? You are safe and secure because that boat has never sunk. And some people, they get in the boat and they're like, my life is still turbulent. I'm jumping ship. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not cast out devils in your name? And I will say to them, depart from me. I never knew you because you went through the motions, but you didn't commit. You had no endurance through trials. I'm not saying trials... Trials are coming. But how do you know that you really are saved when you can endure trials and still recognize Jesus as Lord in your life?
[applause]
You're like, I need a Bible. Okay, Romans 10:9, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Saved.
Now you may be saying, well, what are the evidences? Like, what are the evidential works of being saved? Like, what happens? Well, this is what happens, at the moment of salvation, Acts 2:38, when you truly recognize Jesus as Lord and you submit to his authority. You repented and now you recognize him as Lord. Guess what? You receive as a first fruit promise, the Holy Spirit as a gift. In a couple of weeks, I'm gonna talk about pneumatology. We're gonna talk about the Holy Spirit and the works of the Holy Spirit as you're walking through your sanctification process, I can't wait. We're gonna talk about some of the gifts. But this is the initial work. Now, as you live your life in Christ, the gift is opened, and you begin to experience all the things that you received at the moment of salvation. Believing in the Lord Jesus, you will be saved is what Paul said.
Here's the thing, God has already done all the work. All you must do is receive in faith the salvation God offers. You find this in Ephesians 2:8. Fully trust in Jesus alone as the payment for your sin. Believe in him and you will not perish. John 3:16. God is offering you the gift of salvation. But here's the thing, you cannot experience salvation unless you receive it. Many people are on the cruise liner, still in the cafeteria, right? The boat is sinking, and they're like, it's all you can eat. And they're waiting for the boat to barely have a peek out of water. And at the last moment, that's when I'll repent and give my life to Christ. At the last moment, that's when I'm gonna jump ship. You would really risk your life for the pleasures of the cafeteria? Isn't that what people do with sin? Tomorrow I'll repent, but tonight I got to turn up. Next week I'll give my life to Christ, but for right now, I got to...
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late. This is why I'm telling you. That's why I celebrate my birthday, because every day is a gift. So when you are aware that the boat is sinking. And the lifeline is thrown to you, you have a choice, do I grab it or do I not? So when salvation is offered, you have got to make the decision to actually jump off the sinking cruise liner, grab the raft and say, pull me on board. I'm all in. That's salvation. And then here's the bonus question. Hold on. I've done that now. I've given my life to Christ. I have a full understanding, and this is what I will say at the end of this. We're gonna pray, because there are some people in here that you have said a prayer, but your life was never changed. You gave God your words, but not your heart. You gave God your words, but not your life. And here's the thing. How do you know that you're saved? Your life has to look different. Right?
Now, I'm dealing with sin. I'm dealing with... That's okay. You're in the sanctification process. But here's how you know that you have the Holy Spirit in you. Sin still offends God. And you know, this don't feel right. Again, we're gonna talk about it in a couple of weeks. But right now, it's important that you secure yourself in the boat by accepting the lifeline of salvation and getting into the boat called the church. After that, why should I get baptized? That's the bonus question, 'cause today's Baptism Sunday. From the earliest days of the Christian church, baptism has been a foundational step of faith following salvation. In fact, the first message of the church preached by Peter. Pastor Sarah read that earlier in Acts 2:37. They were pricked in their heart, and they said, "Men, brethren, what shall we do?" Peter's response was this, "Repent. Turn away from your sin. Be baptized, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." So the natural next step after you believe and you've repented is to be water baptized. Acts 2:41, so those who received his Word were baptized.
And there were added, that day, about 3,000 souls. Acts 8:12, but when they believed Philip, as he preached good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Acts 8:36, and as they were going along the road, they came to water, some water and the eunuch said, see, here is water. What prevents me from being baptized. Acts 16:33, the end of the story that we read. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Why should you get baptized? Well, because baptism represents saving faith. It's a reenactment of being buried in water, fully merged, and being buried, but coming back to walk in the newness of life. It's a representation of death and resurrection. Baptism is God ordained.
Jesus said at his last, his very last words, he said, go make disciples. How? Baptizing them, teaching them. Baptism unites us to Christ by reenacting his death, burial and resurrection. You can read about this in Romans 6:3. Baptism gives public testimony of the Holy Spirit's inward work of washing away sins. Why should you get baptized? Those are your reasons. If you're giving your life to Christ, your next step is water... Well, I'll be embarrassed. Don't worry, there's a lot of people out there. We'll do it with you. I'd rather be embarrassed for three moments and be obedient. We don't sugarcoat the Word of God around here. Salvation is a serious thing. We're talking about eternity, right? You should feel the weight of that, right? Could you stand to your feet. I wanna give everyone an opportunity. I'm gonna pray a prayer.
And for some of you, this will be the first time you prayed. For another, it may be the second time or third time or fourth time, but this time, prayed in sincerity, with faith. We're saved by grace through faith. It's not our works, but it's the work of God. So we're gonna pray this prayer together. And then for some of you that have prayed this for the first time, or you prayed sincerely, your next step is water baptism. Can we close our eyes. Pray this with me. Say, dear Lord.
Dear Lord.
I recognize my need for you.
I recognize my need for you.
I believe...
I believe...
You came...
You came...
In the form of humanity.
In the form of humanity.
You gifted us...
You gifted us...
Your life.
Your life.
I believe...
I believe...
You paid for my sins...
You paid for my sins...
By dying on the cross.
0:53:By dying on the cross.
I believe...
I believe...
You conquered death...
You conquered death...
By rising from the grave.
By rising from the grave.
I believe...
I believe...
You are seated in heaven...
You are seated in heaven...
Ruling as Lord and King.
Ruling as Lord and King.
Forgive me...
Forgive me...
For my sins.
For my sins.
Come into my heart.
Come into my heart.
Be the Lord of my life.
Be the Lord of my life.
I receive your gift...
I receive your gift...
And commit my life...
And commit my life...
To you.
To you.
Thank you...
Thank you...
For hearing my prayer.
For hearing my prayer.
In Jesus name...
In Jesus name...
Amen.
Amen.
Come on, somebody celebrate.
That somebody has made a decision to follow Jesus. This is just the beginning. We're gonna talk about what the Holy Spirit does in your life now. We're gonna talk about all the gifts, all the cool stuff that happens afterwards. It's a gift. Now let's unpackage it. But if you prayed that prayer for the first time, or maybe sincerely now, your next step is water baptism. So right now, if you prayed, I'm gonna ask you to be bold. Step up from where you're at, go to the foyer, there are people waiting for you and they're gonna take you to get water baptized right now. So if that's you, I want you to start moving right now and go and get water baptized. Some of y'all are like, should I? Should I? Yes, you should. Do it. And we're gonna celebrate with you. Come on, let's celebrate all those who are making a decision to get water baptized. Come on, somebody.
Listen, you don't have to do it by yourself, we're right there with you. Okay? Prayer team, would you please come? As the prayer team is coming, if you need a prayer for anything, maybe you need someone to pray with you so that you can take that step to believe Jesus is your Lord. I want you to come up here. Other than that, we love you. Invite somebody to the house of God. Go out and celebrate those who are baptized. We see you here next week. God bless you in Jesus name.
