Soteriology - the profound truth about the doctrine of Salvation #bibleschool #soteriology101

[0:00] So tonight, the doctrine of salvation, soteriology. So we'll go to some of the scriptures here and what salvation means.

[0:13] ! So you could variously define it, but in your notes there it talks about salvation means to deliver and salvage. Think of salvation, it's a wonderful free gift from God, isn't it?

[0:24] Not something that we earn. So you've got the first scripture there, Titus 3 verse 5. It's not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

[0:37] So in salvation we see both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. And salvation is by repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

[0:47] See that there in Acts 20 verse 21. It's faith in Christ and his finished work on the cross of Calvary. And then 1 Peter 2 verse 24, it tells us of our Lord who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye are healed.

[1:08] So we see that Christ died for our sins. He paid the penalty. Of course the death penalty actually, which is the wages of sin is death.

[1:20] Christ paid for those wages. Our death penalty, he paid it in full. And so this is the finished work. And of course the gospel is about that as Paul defines it in 1 Corinthians 15.

[1:33] He defines the gospel there. He says, By which ye are saved. I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

[1:48] So when our Lord cried out, It is finished, John 19 verse 30. He said, It is finished. Everything was done to save us. And that final physical sacrifice that Christ paid for our sin on the cross, he paid it in full.

[2:06] He paid it completely. He did everything needed to satisfy God's wrath and anger against our sin, against us as sinners. And Christ satisfied the just demands of a holy God.

[2:19] And that sin he paid by the perfect sacrifice of Christ himself. So God is satisfied forever. And Christ is the author of our faith, the finisher of our faith.

[2:33] Hebrews 12 verse 2. And it tells us there that God considers the believer in Christ perfected forever by the work of Christ on Calvary's cross. Once for all. We see that there in Hebrews 10 verse 14.

[2:46] It reads, For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. So man is unable to save himself. He's condemned. He's guilty. We need a saviour.

[2:57] And really, biblical Christianity is the only religion that has a saviour compared to all the others. And we're unable to save ourselves.

[3:09] We need a saviour. We're condemned. We're guilty. And salvation is the work of God. And Christ is the source of salvation. And he's able to save. As we read there, Hebrews 7 verse 25.

[3:20] He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. And then Jude 1 verse 24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

[3:36] So he is able to save and he is willing to save. We see that there in 1 Timothy 2 verses 3 and 4. It tells us that this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our saviour who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

[3:52] It's God's will that people get saved. 2 Peter 3 verse 9. It says that all should come to repentance. So he's willing to save and he's able to save.

[4:03] And we think about salvation. How does it come? It's always by the blood. We read there that without the shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 9 verse 22.

[4:15] And right through the Old Testament types, the prefiguring of Christ to come, we see that the blood had to be shed. And it was innocent, shed blood and applied blood.

[4:26] And secondly, we know that salvation is always through God. It's of the Lord, as it says in Jonah 2 verse 9. And it's always by grace.

[4:37] For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Titus 2 verse 11. So always by blood, through God, faith in God, by grace. Those three, always.

[4:50] And of course we know the Old Testament sacrifices never took away sin. But they were a picture of Christ's sacrifice to come. And so we think of, while Christ was on the cross, what his blood means for us.

[5:04] And what does the blood show for us? There's five things here. We see firstly that the blood of Christ shed for us satisfies the wrath of God. God's judgment against our sins.

[5:16] As you see those scriptures there. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. To declare his righteousness. And of Christ it says he is the propitiation for our sins.

[5:28] And not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. So to satisfy the wrath of God against our sin, the blood has to be shed.

[5:41] Secondly, we see that there's cleansing from all our sins, past, present and future, because of the blood. It tells us there, Ephesians 1 verse 7, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.

[5:57] 1 John 1 verse 7 it says, The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. So we had to have the blood shed for a cleansing for our sin. And thirdly, we see we needed the blood shed to justify us before God.

[6:12] It tells us Romans 3 verse 24, Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. There's free justification. It's by the blood shed for us.

[6:23] And then we see Romans 5 verse 1, Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So the blood was required to justify us.

[6:36] And then we see number 4, The blood was required to make atonement for our souls. We see that there, Romans 5 verse 11, We also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

[6:51] And then Leviticus 17 verse 11, For the life of the flesh is in the blood. It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. The blood had to be shed to bring atonement.

[7:02] And then the fifth one, The blood had to be shed to purge our conscience from dead works. Hebrews 9 verse 14, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

[7:20] Romans 3 verse 10, There is none righteous, no, not one. Sadly, some try to cleanse their conscience through dead works.

[7:31] And that's dangerous, isn't it? Because, as you note, say, these works are called dead because they cannot give life. Some think that they can earn their eternal life or have some merit for their works to merit salvation.

[7:44] But this is clearly false. As it says in Isaiah 64 verse 6, That all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And we have to have the justifier to be justified.

[7:57] The blood of Christ purges our conscience from dead works. It makes us realise how silly really it is to trust in ourselves and what we can do rather than to trust in our Lord and what he has done.

[8:09] So, as an example, if you committed 10,000 crimes, you had to stand before a judge, would you tell him how good you are? So, if a person sins just three times a day, that's over 1,000 times a year.

[8:23] And if you're 40 years old, that's over 40,000 sins. Crimes against God's law. And, of course, in James 2, it talks about if we offend in one point, we're guilty of all.

[8:34] So, no amount of good works can erase one's sin. And that's why we call good works dead works. And we're expected to repent of them, of dead works.

[8:46] And so, it tells us that Hebrews 6 verse 1, that we should go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.

[8:58] It's like an elementary thing that we should repent of our good works in the sense of trying to get some merit for heaven from any works that we do. And so, the foundation really is the essential things, isn't it?

[9:11] The first things that you build. And so, the first thing to build really is that relationship with the Lord, to not trust in your works. Don't trust in that. And salvation, it's entirely of God's work, isn't it?

[9:25] A work of his grace without any works. For by grace he is saved through faith, that not of your souls. It is the gift of God, not of all works, lest any man should boast. So, we think of God's grace, it's unmerited.

[9:37] He draws us to himself, he grants us repentance, faith to believe, and the Holy Spirit has come as that agent, as it reads John 16, 7 through 11. The agent of salvation is the Holy Spirit, and it tells us there that he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.

[9:54] Of sin because they believe not on me. Of righteousness because I go to my Father, and you see me no more. Of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged. So, the Holy Spirit is that agent to affect salvation.

[10:08] And we see right through the Word of God, really salvation, it's a free gift. We don't deserve it. It's the righteousness of one that gives us the free gift, the free gift of God.

[10:22] And of course, salvation is a free gift, not a reward too. It's entirely a gift. Now we see salvation is by repentance and faith. And so repentance, it means a change of mind, as we've talked about in recent times, to think differently.

[10:38] It's a mind shift. As the notes say here, this is picked up from someone else that I picked up. It says, repentance is when an unbeliever has a change of mind, brought in them by God.

[10:49] So they're no longer trusting in their own works or religion, their own efforts or merit for their salvation, but they trust in Christ completely, only in Christ and his finished work on Calvary for their salvation.

[11:04] So again, Hebrews 6, 1, leaving aside the principles of the doctrine of Christ, to go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.

[11:15] So repentance means that mind shift that we need a saviour and he's the saviour and it's trusting him, going from unbelief to faith. So faith is the essential ingredient here.

[11:28] It's the gift of God. He enables us to believe on the Lord. He helps us to trust him, yield to him completely for salvation. And Romans 12, 3 says, God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.

[11:41] Now when we talk about faith, it's not just a mere mental assent or acknowledging of facts. It's a trust. It's a dependence. It's like a little girl jumping into the arms of their father to protect her from an attacking dog.

[11:55] Her faith is completely in her father. Another example is if you're jumping out of an aeroplane, you've got 100% trust in that parachute that's on your back to get you to the ground.

[12:07] So the word of God is the agent that brings faith to us. It says, so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It's the word of God as we hear it. It's like that seed that's planted.

[12:19] And faith comes as we hear the word of God. At salvation, a person believes in Christ and on Christ. Of course, that familiar one, John 3, 16, it 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.

[12:37] And then we see when the question was asked, how shall I be saved? What must I do to be saved? Paul and Silas, they say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house.

[12:50] So there's a kind of twofold thing here, believing in, as in believing who he is, and believing on what he has done. And of course the scriptures tell us the gospel, as we read before, Christ died for our sins.

[13:06] So the moment we are saved, there's a lot of things that happen, and there's different words that talk about that truth of salvation, and there's different truths that you could talk about.

[13:19] We're just going to touch on some of them, essentially. So what takes place, or begins to take place at that moment, that the work of salvation is effected.

[13:30] See, regeneration, justification, redemption, adoption, sanctification, that's kind of following on, imputation, propitiation, reconciliation, atonement, and then ultimately in heaven, glorification.

[13:45] So lots of big words. We'll try to unpack that a little just tonight as we go through. I like this little summary here. So regeneration is a new nature, justification is a new standing, and conversion is a new direction.

[13:59] So first we're going to look at regeneration as the first one. Regeneration is the new birth. We're spiritually born. Born again.

[14:11] Of course that one is, our Lord talked to Nicodemus, and he said, you must be, you must be born again. So the one who believes in the gospel of Christ is born again by the word of God.

[14:23] We made a new creation, a babe in Christ, and we're born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God. As we see there, 1 Peter 1, 23, born again by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

[14:41] And then John 1, 12 talks about, as many as received him, to them gave you the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

[14:56] So regeneration is when we put our trust in Christ. It's, whosoever believer that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him.

[15:09] So we're born again, born of God, born again. And the agents of the work of salvation, of that regeneration, it's the Holy Spirit, and the word of God.

[15:21] It's not human effort to become a better person. And some might think, well, I'll turn over a new leaf. It's not that. It's having a new life. It's not that we try hard to better ourselves or reform ourselves.

[15:33] It's a miraculous, supernatural new birth from God, where God creates an entirely new person in us. And it's like, oh, the old me is the different person. They're gone.

[15:43] So as it reads there, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, that's a lovely scripture to remember. It says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away.

[15:54] Behold, all things are become new. And here's a good summary, too, of what happens at regeneration. Some fourfold aspects there. The author is God of regeneration.

[16:07] The agent is the Holy Spirit. We see the instrument of regeneration is the word of God. As we talked about, like a seed, it's compared to a seed. And then the attainment of regeneration, how he gets it, is by faith, faith in Christ.

[16:23] So this new man that God has created in us, it's talked about in Ephesians 4, 24. It's a new man created in righteousness and true holiness.

[16:36] So next section, what does regeneration do? So there's a threefold thing here. What does regeneration do? It gives us a new birth. Beloved, now are we the sons of God.

[16:48] An experience, not a process. Some might think, well, salvation is a process. No, it's a one-time event. Like, you're physically born, you've got a birthday, you've got a spiritual birthday, in effect.

[17:01] When you trust Christ, as much as some people might find it hard to narrow it down to a particular date or time, but it's a one-time event when we're born again. We're placed into the family of God and we're called the sons of God.

[17:14] Beloved, now are we the sons of God. So we're given a new birth. Secondly, we're given a new life. As we read that one there before, we're a new creature, old things have passed away. And thirdly, when we're born again, when we are regenerated, he gives us a new nature.

[17:31] See that one there? In 2 Peter 1.4, it tells us how it has given unto us exceeding great, precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

[17:47] And then, as we talked about, Ephesians 4.24, put on the new man. So there's a new nature. So that's regeneration. We'll move on to another truth, which is justification.

[17:59] Justification. So here's how someone's defined it. Justification is the judicial act of God's grace, so a legal term, whereby he declares the believing sinner not guilty, declared innocent, acquitted.

[18:15] God not only forgives us the sin and lifts the penalty from us, but forgets the crime and sees us as though we had never committed it. And some have used the phrase to describe it just as if I'd never sinned.

[18:36] Just as if I'd never sinned. And so it's really a fundamental question of any religion. How can a man be just before God? That's what Job asked in Job 9 verse 2.

[18:48] How does justification work? It's by imputing or putting to another's account the believer's sin to Christ and Christ's righteousness to the believer.

[19:00] So here's a classic scripture here. 2 Corinthians 5.21 For he hath made him, Christ, to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[19:11] So this transfer, this exchange, our sin, his righteousness. That's what happens when we justify it. And then another scripture there, 1 Peter 3.18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just, for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit.

[19:34] And when you think about it, justification involves a pardon. It's the pardon of God, isn't it? And as it reads there, Romans 5 verse 9, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

[19:50] God effectively pardons us. He declares us not guilty. He cancels our guilt, the guilt of our sin. And we pardon because of Christ as our substitute, that Christ died for us.

[20:04] A question is asked here, how are we justified? And there's some five elements here you could consider. How are we justified? Firstly, by faith.

[20:14] I know some of these scriptures we're repeating a bit. Romans 3 verses 24 through 28 talks about being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

[20:27] And then you've got that one, Romans 5 verse 1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So how are we justified? It's by faith.

[20:39] Next one, number two, we're justified by the blood of Christ. Romans 5 verse 9, much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

[20:50] And then also we're justified by the free gift. Romans 3, again, some of these scriptures are repeating so I won't labour them.

[21:01] And then the next couple, we're justified by the name of our Lord. And Paul recounts a number of sinful things in 1 Corinthians 6 and he says, and such were some of you, but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

[21:22] So it's as if, just as if I've never sinned. All of the old man that I used to be, that's another person. It's not me anymore. And then we see we're justified by his grace.

[21:33] Titus 3, 7, that being justified by his grace, we shall be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. justification. Next one, another Bible term is redemption.

[21:46] And redemption to redeem, I know some of you might use cash converters and you hock something or you put it on, what do they call it? You put it, yeah, put it on down there.

[21:57] Porn. You pawn it, yeah, you put it down at the shop, at the cash converter shop and then if you want to redeem it you've got to go pay money and get it back. And so redemption means to make a purchase, a payment to purchase something back.

[22:15] And it's used to pay a ransom or to rescue from loss. And you know, in the slave markets you would buy a slave, you'd pay the purchase price to set them free.

[22:28] If you chose to set them free or I guess the Lord paid for us in the slave market of sin he made the payment price to purchase our liberty.

[22:39] And so there's a couple of illustrations there. If you lost something that was yours and had to buy it back that would be redemption. I know some tell a story of like a little boy who had a sailboat and it sailed off somewhere and he lost it and then he saw it down at the at the hobby shop that it was his boat and so he went there and paid the money to get his boat back.

[22:58] That's what our Lord has done for us isn't it? And so likewise another illustration if your child was kidnapped and you paid a ransom to get them back that would be redemption as well.

[23:10] Paying a hostage price to a ransom price. And when you think about it as far as redemption goes we're all creations of God but through sin we've become children of the devil.

[23:24] And so by the blood of Christ he buys us back that we brought brought back and become a child of God. Here's how someone's listed the effect of Christ's substitutionary sacrifice.

[23:39] So it's one of the predominant themes of the Bible that Christ is our substitute. He stood in our place paid our penalty and he's the one who's the substitute.

[23:51] And you think of all the different Old Testament sacrifices sacrifices how they correlate with Christ's sacrifice on the cross and of course those Old Testament sacrifices could not take away sin but Christ is the one that's fulfilled all of them.

[24:06] And some of the aspects about the sacrifices of the Old Covenant they were voluntary it was an unblemished sacrifice it was an innocent sacrifice it was a sacrifice of bloodshed it was a vicarious sacrifice so in our place and it was a satisfying sacrifice it satisfied God's demands.

[24:30] So how are we redeemed? By the blood of Christ and his blood is that payment for our sins to purchase us back to God we are redeemed through his blood by the forgiveness of sins by the riches of his grace.

[24:45] And it was neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood that he entered in as we read there Hebrews 9 12 he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us.

[24:59] Of course in Revelation 5 verse 9 it talks about the folk there rejoicing that he was slain he's redeemed us to God by his blood and then we see 1 Peter 1 Peter tells how you're not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

[25:22] When you think about our redemption there's a couple of things you could reckon we're redeemed from in the present tense we're redeemed from all iniquity tells us that in Titus 2 14 of our Lord who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people sell us of good works so in the present tense we're redeemed from sin and the second point we're also redeemed from the curse of the law Galatians 3 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree so that's the present tense redemption and then there's a future tense redemption too in the sense of the redemption of our bodies we see that there Romans 8 23 tells how we're waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body so one day we'll have a redemption of the body that's not immediate that's yet future and then Ephesians 1 14 tells us about the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory again that's yet future that inheritance to come and then

[26:28] Ephesians 4 30 says that we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit whereby we seal it unto the day of redemption so there is a day of redemption that's yet ahead of us the future redemption of our bodies so that's redemption next truth is adoption and we think about salvation it means we're made children of God we're made sons and daughters of God and adoption means as we know it means in the worldly sense the placing of a son and it's the taking by one man of the son of another to be his son and that son who's adopted has all the same position and advantages of a son of birth when you think about it that we're made part of God's family we're brought into relationship with God and it tells us there Galatians 4 as one example how in the fullness of time God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons and because he our sons God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying

[27:39] Abba father so it's very endearing like daddy or dad very intimate term wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ so we made sons and daughters of the living God and what's more there's an inheritance too and so we've got that wonderful privilege we've received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba father and it tells us there Ephesians 1 having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will so the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved we made children of God sons of God so that's adoption and when you think about adoption it's the present condition of the saved so right now as 1 John 3 tells us beloved now we are now are we the sons of God he's made us sons of God in the present sense and then like it says Galatians 3 26 same thing for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ

[28:46] Jesus so the present condition of the saved you're a son a daughter of God you're already in God's royal family and then it tells us that there's a future condition in the sense that the fullness of it that the adoption to it the redemption of our body is that kind of future fulfillment of it there so adoption when you think about adoption that you're especially God's child what does that mean it means you're an object of his love an object of his care an object of his discipline if need an object of his comfort and made an heir to an inheritance so these are all thoughts that flow on from that truth that you're adopted you're especially God's child next principle is the imputation and this word it means that there's something put on your account it means that the righteousness of Christ is put on your account and that's what we see there in

[29:50] Romans 4 talks about Abraham he believed God and that was counted unto him it was reckoned unto him that was that acknowledgement that credit to him of righteousness by faith of David it says the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness so it's gifted it's counted to us and then we see as it tells us more in James 2 same thing Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and that one that we read before as well the transfer our sin his righteousness and he bare our sins in his own body on the tree and then 1 John 3 5 you know he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin so from the moment that you're saved God no longer imputes sin to you as a believer blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the

[30:55] Lord will not impute sin Psalm 32 2 blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in his spirit there is no guile 2 Corinthians 5 19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation so there's this wonderful truth that God imputes his righteousness to you and he takes your sin and when you think about the the law was nailed to the cross when Christ fulfilled all the fulfilment of the law the law was nailed to the cross there and as far as the believers concerned sin cannot be imputed to him for sin gets its strength from the law which has been taken out of the way so our sin's been paid next truth is propitiation and propitiation is this term it refers to the mercy seat in the temple there was the mercy seat which was the lid of the ark of the covenant and where the blood was shed and it's a picture as that blood was shed as it was presented once a year that

[32:10] God's wrath was turned to mercy so they called it the mercy seat so propitiation means the mercy seat it means to win over to conciliate to bring into harmony so God is shed as that payment that covering that covering that satisfies God's anger against us and our sin God has set forth Christ to be that propitiation through faith in his blood praise God so Christ propitiatory work on the cross was sufficient so in other words Christ blood shed is enough to cover all the sins of all mankind if we trust him his blood can cover our sin and it says there 1 John 2 John writes my little children these things write I unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father

[33:12] Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world of course it's not effective in some because they don't trust in Christ so but for you that trust him you can rest your faith in the fact that Christ has fulfilled completely satisfied God's requirements and that sacrifice is a full payment to affect propitiation next one reconciliation reconciliation so reconciliation means to make friends again of two people who had become enemies so it's similar to propitiation so for instance in a marriage it tells but if and she depart let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband and let not the husband put away his wife so the sense where two have become separate but there's reconciliation prospect there and that's what happens in Christ through salvation reconciliation means putting an end to hostility it's restoring a relationship it's renewing a friendship making up after a quarrel and so we think of the relationship that we have with God it's broken but we can be saved we can be made reconciled with God we can find true reconciliation reconciliation and how does it happen it's by the finished work of Christ we see that there in 2 Corinthians 5 it says and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus

[34:43] Christ and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation so not only are we reconciled to God but we've got a ministry to share to others too how others can be reconciled to God to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God so that's the gospel message be ye reconciled to God and then we see the next one Colossians 1 I'll put it from verse 20 through 22 God has made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself and it says you who are sometimes alien and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight so the wonderful truth is we can be reconciled to God and it tells us there that it's through the blood of his cross we can make peace with God so that hostility that we had as alienated as enemies in our mind he's made us his friends there's a reconciliation we've brought back to that relationship that he wants for us with him another term is atonement atonement atonement means restoration or divine favour some have described it like an at one meant at one with God so we were astray from God the atonement makes us at one with God unites us with God and it's through our

[36:28] Lord Jesus Christ so there's some scriptures there Romans 5 11 it says and not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have received we have now received the atonement and then Leviticus 17 11 it tells us the life of the flesh is in the blood I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls it's interesting the word blood is mentioned 84 times in Leviticus and the word atonement also appears in the book of Leviticus more than any other book in the Bible 49 times so they're very closely linked atonement and blood atonement and blood and atonement means to appease to placate to cancel the obligation to punish the crime so a just judge must condemn the guilty or let the innocent go free he would not be just if he did not

[37:28] God is just of course that's his nature and seeing it is against the nature of God to be unjust he must punish all for all have sin so he's obligated to punish as a just judge he must punish sin so there must be a place to punish the guilty and the truth is that Christ was punished for us through the shedding of his perfect precious us rather that Christ has borne that penalty and so Christ satisfied that obligation for justice by being the one to take our penalty atonement next one is glorification and that glorification is really yet future so we see the salvation of our souls will result in the glorification of our bodies later in glory in heaven so we'll one day be glorified and it will be in the likeness of Christ glorified body it tells us there

[38:29] Philippians 3 21 that of Christ our Lord he shall change our vile body that may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he's even able to subdue all things unto himself so one day this vile body is going to be changed into a body like unto his glorious body and of course other scriptures there Matthew 13 talks about how the righteous shall shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father as in the s un and then Romans 8 17 says that we're children heirs of God joint heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together so there's a yet future moment a yet future season when we're going to be glorified together with him and it's reckoned that there's different degrees of glory it talks about some receiving various crowns it tells us some who suffered for

[39:30] Christ and that it says for our light affliction which is but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory so there's a sense where even should it be your lot to suffer for Christ there's going to be an eternal weight of glory for that so it'll be worth it in that sense and of course it tells us there in Daniel too that those that turn many to righteousness they're going to shine as the brightness of the firmament as the stars forever and ever so if you by God's grace are used of God to lead someone to know the saviour there's a firmament so that's a good promise for you to go soul winning not that you need a motive other than just to serve him next truth is preservation 1 Thessalonians 5 23 it reads and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our

[40:34] Lord Jesus Christ now some talk about the perseverance of the saints but really the truth is there's a preservation of the saints that's the good news that God preserves his own and the Bible teaches that believers are eternally secure due to his faithfulness and power once a person has truly accepted Christ as their saviour their salvation is secure through all eternity once saved always saved we see that there in Psalm 37 28 tells us for the always saved and some of the points here even the very definition of salvation eternal life for one thing so the

[41:46] Bible says salvation is of the Lord Jonah 2 verse 9 so originates from the father it's wrought through the son it's applied by the Holy Spirit so the very definition of salvation is that God saves us you know won't he do a full work to save you to rescue you to deliver you and to preserve you from the bondage of Satan sin and sin's consequences hell and there's a sense where we may partake of his riches in the present tense so Paul gives a definite clear description of how a sinner is saved by saying that salvation is by grace through faith it's where we place in Christ the emphasis is especially on grace by grace through faith the emphasis is grace the emphasis is on God not man and another truth is the benefits of salvation prove eternal security so you see here what it tells of you that are saved tonight you can take heart in all of these truths you that are saved here tonight that if you have that full salvation you've got the present tense possession of so many things and the believer has already been saved past tense and you are in

[43:04] God's possession and we see some of these things that it tells about you that are saved that all of these things are already yours for example we've already been blessed with all spiritual blessings we've been accepted in the beloved we've got redemption and forgiveness we presently possess it we've already obtained an inheritance we're sealed with the Holy Spirit it says we've already been quick and made alive with Christ and it says we've already been raised up and we're seated together with Christ so it's a great comfort for us to know that if we are saved all of these things are true in the present tense and so it tells us there by grace are saved and you still are saved so that's the grammatical terminology there that you have been saved and you still are saved by grace are you saved are you saved present tense and the

[44:07] Bible declares also that a believer has been saved from the curse of the law a believer has been saved from God's wrath a believer has been saved from death and from destruction so you can look up all these various scriptures later and a sinner it tells us who trusts in Christ becomes a child of God you are a child of God you are regenerated born again you are a new creature it says you are a heavenly citizen and you're an heir by God's grace to God's grace to that inheritance and you're complete in Christ so all of these things are true for you so again it's it says that we're saved present chance and we've got all those benefits that we talked about and another thing about salvation that it is an act of the immutable

[45:09] God so in other words immutable he's unchanging so God doesn't change God if God has declared you saved and declared you righteous he's not going to change his mind and you know flip flop about it salvation is an act of the immutable God that he's declared you righteous he's declared you sanctified he's declared you perfected forever he's declared you deliver from the powers of darkness and he's placed you on the solid rock so there's a great assurance there that Christ is your foundation and therefore it follows on that believers can know that they are that they are in him that they possess eternal life now the very term eternal life means that's what it is it's not like eternal life is something you have and then you might lose well that wouldn't be eternal then if you've got eternal life you've got eternal life and of course in the future it says that we shall be raised we shall be changed we shall be caught up we shall be like him we shall be with him we shall be satisfied so when you think there's lots of assurances there's lots of promises that very clearly tell us that we can have a confidence in

[46:27] Christ that we are his and he's going to finish what he started he that has begun a good work he'll see it through and it's the very unchanging! faithful he cannot lie his word is truth so there's a trustworthiness in God that we can know that we are saved and we can be assured of that as 2 Timothy 1 12 says Paul tells Timothy I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day talking about the end of days judgment day or the committed unto him against that day and so just lastly here's how someone's put it how can I have assurance of salvation it's a very important truth that when you're talking about salvation the truth of the doctrine of salvation and some people don't get this they're always living in this uncertainty this am

[47:34] I saved am I not saved and this constant doubt about whether they're going to glory or not whether they're born again or not you can have an assurance of salvation if scripturally these things are true that you can say I have an assurance why because I'm saved because I believe and when we believe Christ as Paul told the jailer in Philippi believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt have eternal life there's a truth when we believe on Christ we are saved s-a-v-e-d present certain tense I am saved because I believe secondly you can say I'm safe because of the blood think about the blood that was applied to the doorpost and lintel of the Hebrew homes that that was the safety for them when God's wrath was overshadowing and judgment fell on

[48:40] Egypt they were safe because of the blood and it's the same for you and me we're safe because of the blood because Jesus' blood has forever affected eternal salvation and thirdly we're safe because of the book in other words the promises of God it tells us this is the record if you believe you have eternal life there's an assurance because of the word of God lots of things to learn about salvation we've only just covered a few aspects and of course there's lots more we could talk about of particular doctrines and unfolding that which we will explore in more detail at another time but the truths of salvation you see those things that we've talked about tonight hopefully that's given you some encouragement tonight and especially I think the last one that last kind of part of it there the assurance that you can have that if you have trusted

[49:40] Christ you believed on Christ you have a certainty and because his blood has been shed you've trusted that because of the promises of God you can have assurance you can have a confidence that you are his and he is yours and nothing can take that away that you are eternally saved and you can have peace with God because of that let's pray Lord we thank you that you are the saviour of the world and there is no other Lord we thank you for your great salvation so great Lord help us to learn more about you of these truths of atonement of redemption Lord of glorification think of all of these facts of substitution Lord the imputation of your righteousness the justification that we have dear Lord about what you have done at the cross in taking and paying for our sin in your own body making the full payment for it that the full satisfaction of the father's wrath has been satisfied

[50:42] Lord we thank you for these things in Jesus precious name Amen