Salvation

 INTRODUCTION

Salvation

• What is Sin?
• Who is a Christian?
• What does Conversion mean?
• Why is conversion necessary?
• How does conversion take place?
• The Process of Salvation.

1. Who is a Christian?

Many people call themselves Christians, even though they have no personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus harshly criticized people who attended the synagogue or the temple prayers regularly but had no personal contact with God.

Mark 7:6-7

⁶ He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

⁷ They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules.’

⁸ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

 Christian

People answer this general question in many different ways. See answer each one with True or False as you understand it:

A Christian is the one who….

• Lives in a Christian country.
• Was baptized as a child.
• Lives a good, orderly life.
• Has decided to follow Jesus.
• Reads the Bible regularly.
• Is raised in a Christian home.
• Is serious about his religion.

The word ‘Christian’ was used for the first time in the Bible in:

Acts 11:25-26

²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

What word was originally used to describe them?

Acts 11:26

The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

What did the people at Antioch do to become Christians?

Acts 11:19-21

¹⁹ Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. ²⁰ Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. ²¹ The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

From the account of the Christians in Antioch, we see that:

• A Christian has come to Jesus through faith.
• One who believes in Jesus and has turned to the Lord.
• One who is a disciple of Jesus.

What is sin?

1 John 3:4

Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

How does sin affect our relationship with God?

Isaiah 59:1-2

¹ Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,

nor his ear too dull to hear.

² But your iniquities have separated

you from your God;

your sins have hidden his face from you,

so that he will not hear.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

⁹ Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men ¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

What Do People Who Do Not Receive Christ Face?

Hebrews 9:27

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment…

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9

⁸ He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

Matthew 25:31-33

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

What does “Conversion” mean?

See Paul’s testimony before King Agrippa:

Acts 26:9-18

⁹ “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰ And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.

¹² “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³ About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵ “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ¹⁶ ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. ¹⁷ I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them ¹⁸ to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

1 Thessalonians 1:8-10

⁸ The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, ⁹ for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Conversion is a radical, return to God by a person in response to God’s call.

Conversion (Turn away from sin) = Change (Return to God)

In the Bible, the word ‘conversion’ can also mean: Return, change of thinking, change of mind, repentance, turn over, or turn back.

Conversion has three Phases:

Why is conversion necessary?

A. God Commands It

God sees that people go their own way and do not want anything to do with Him. Therefore, God desires that people change their direction and turn to Him.

Acts 3:19

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

B. People Are Sinful & Lost Without Christ

No one through their efforts, does enough good things to be able to receive approval from God. We cannot know and follow God, so God has taken the initiative through Jesus Christ.

Psalm 51:5

Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Romans 3:22-23

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..

C. Because People Need To Get Saved

People without Jesus find themselves on a road that ends in condemnation and they need salvation.

The Bible gives two categories of people

How does conversion take place?

A. Recognize, Admit, And Confess Your Sins.

For a sinner to ask for forgiveness, the first person has to recognize that person is guilty before God. If the person confesses sin, Jesus gladly takes the sins away.

John 10:9

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.

John 14:6

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Acts 4:12

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Romans 4:4-5

⁴ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 32:5

Then I acknowledged my sin to you

and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, “I will confess

my transgressions to the Lord.”

And you forgave

the guilt of my sin.

Luke 18:13

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

B. Accept Or Receive Jesus Christ

To experience conversion, we need to let Jesus have control of our lives. Therefore, we accept Him and invite Him to come into our lives to be our Lord.

John 1:12

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

John 3:36

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Revelation 3:20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

C. Believe In Jesus Christ

We must claim the promises in God’s word by faith, and trust Jesus Christ completely. Real faith is not a vague hope or a fact thought to be true; real faith is trust.

John 1:12

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:36

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

1 John 5:13

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

D. Thankfulness

Salvation is a great gift from God and brings great joy. Therefore, we should continually thank God for the salvation.

1 Peter 1:3-4

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.

The process of Conversion:

• Repentance
• Confession
• Conversion
• Accepting Jesus.
• Believing
• Following Jesus.

The term conversion or repentance also refers to people who have already become followers of Christ but have fallen back to sin.

1 Samuel 7:3

So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

John 3:1-7

¹ Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

For more related sermons

Paul – An Encouragement to Believers

Jesus – the Great I AM | John 8: 51 – 59