The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying salvation. Salvation is deliverance from danger or suffering. To save is to deliver or protect. The word carries the idea of victory, health, or preservation. Sometimes, the Bible uses the words saved or salvation to refer to temporal, physical deliverance more often, the word “salvation” concerns an eternal, spiritual deliverance.
Salvation can be and has been defined in many ways. Among them, four stand out as the most comprehensive and functional.
First, salvation can be defined as the deliverance from the power, penalty, and presence of sin. To receive salvation is to receive God’s mercy and His grace.
Second, salvation can be described as a finished work, an on-going work, and a work to come. It is a finished work because Christ died once to bear the sins of humanity. “It is finished,”
Third It is an on-going work because He is continuously conforming us to His image and working to maintain our relationship with Him.
This study is designed to enlarge our concepts of what God has provided for us in and through Jesus Christ. He came to do something more than just give us a ticket to heaven.
Leviticus Recap
Leviticus is a book about holiness and obedience. The messages in Leviticus include holiness, obedience, God’s faithfulness, the sanctity of sex, and trusting God’s wisdom.
HOLINESS ISN’T A PRIVATE AFFAIR
The Old Testament believer was part of a worshiping community; he or she didn’t try to “go it alone.” The priests were the overseers of the spiritual life of the nation, the Levites assisted them, and each member of the nation had a part to play.
One of the dangerous tendencies today is the emphasis on “individual Christianity,” as though each believer is a “Lone Ranger” and doesn’t need anybody else to assist him or her in the quest for holiness. Of course, we need individual and personal daily devotional times with the Lord, but it mustn’t end there. We also need the help of our spiritual leaders and other believers in the church, and they need us.
Each Passover was another opportunity to review God’s mercy toward His people. When we forsake “the assembling of ourselves together”, we rob ourselves of the blessings God gives to those who are a vital part of a worshiping fellowship.
HOLINESS GLORIFIES THE LORD
Only God can make a person holy, a godly life is a trophy of His grace and a tribute to His power. Teachers can take credit for instructing us, pastors for mentoring us, and friends for encouraging us, but only God gets the glory when people see Christ reproduced in us.
HOLINESS MEANS LIVING TO PLEASE GOD ALONE
If a Jew, walking alone in a field, accidentally became unclean, he could do one of two things. He could stay outside the camp and take the necessary steps for cleansing, or he could return to the camp, do nothing about it, and remain defiled. Nobody would know the difference, but he would be “toxic” and secretly defiling everything and everyone he touched, and the Lord would know all about it. Unless he obeyed the regulations given in God’s law and became clean again, he would be living a lie, doing a great deal of damage, and inviting the discipline of God.
One of the principles Jesus stressed in the Sermon on the Mount is that we live our lives before the eyes of God, to please Him alone, and not before the eyes of people in order to impress them.
Matthew 6:1-8, 16-18 NIV “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Jesus wants us to concentrate on building character and not just building a religious reputation.
A. W. Tozer: said “To know God is at once the easiest and the most difficult thing in the world.”
Knowing God and becoming more like Him is the easiest thing in the world because God is for us and gives us all the help we want as we seek to attain the goal. But it’s the hardest thing because almost everything within us and around us fights against us, and we have to exercise a holy determination to run the race and keep our eyes on the Lord.
But it can be done; otherwise, God would never have said eight times in His Word, “Be holy, for I am holy!”
Salvation - Definitions
Merriam - Webster
: deliverance from the power and effects of sin
: the agent or means that effects salvation
: liberation from ignorance or illusion
: preservation from destruction or failure
: deliverance from danger or difficulty
Dictionary. com
the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.
the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
Doctrine of Salvation Got Questons.com
Salvation is deliverance from danger or suffering. To save is to deliver or protect. The word carries the idea of victory, health, or preservation. Sometimes, the Bible uses the words saved or salvation to refer to temporal, physical deliverance, such as Paul’s deliverance from prison.
Philippians 1:19 NIV for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.
More often, the word “salvation” concerns an eternal, spiritual deliverance. When Paul told the Philippian jailer what he must do to be saved, he was referring to the jailer’s eternal destiny.
Acts 16:30-31 NIV He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
Jesus equated being saved with entering the kingdom of God.
Matthew 19:23-25 NIV Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
What are we saved from? In the Christian doctrine of salvation, we are saved from “wrath,” that is, from God’s judgment of sin.
Romans 5:9-11 NIV Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 NIV For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Our sin has separated us from God, and the consequence of sin is death. Biblical salvation refers to our deliverance from the consequence of sin and therefore involves the removal of sin.
Who does the saving? Only God can remove sin and deliver us from sin’s penalty
1 Timothy 1:9 NIV We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,
Titus 3:4-7 NIV But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
How does God save? In the Christian doctrine of salvation, God has rescued us through Christ.
John 3:17 NIV For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Specifically, it was Jesus’ death on the cross and subsequent resurrection that achieved our salvation.
Romans 5:10-11 NIV For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Ephesians 1:7-10 NIV In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
Scripture is clear that salvation is the gracious, undeserved gift of God.
Ephesians 2:4-5, 8 NIV But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
Salvation is only available through faith in Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:12 NIV Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
How do we receive salvation? We are saved by faith. First, we must hear the gospel—the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Then, we must believe—fully trust the Lord Jesus. This involves repentance, a changing of mind about sin and Christ, and calling on the name of the Lord.
A definition of the Christian doctrine of salvation would be “The deliverance, by the grace of God, from eternal punishment for sin which is granted to those who accept by faith God’s conditions of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus.” Salvation is available in Jesus alone and is dependent on God alone for provision, assurance, and security.
God purchased salvation and offers it to everyone as a free gift with no strings attached. This is the simplicity of the gospel or “good news.”
John 3:16-18 NIV 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Romans 10:9-13 NIV If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
When you look inside our great salvation, you will see things that are not understandable without being led by the One who provided the design salvation according to His will through the Word and the Holy Spirit. God made salvation simple for us to obtain, but His plan to make it a reality is complex.
Sort of like computers, you know that turning them on is simple, opening a file is simple, sending an email is simple, and turning them off is simple. It’s what we find on the inside of the computer that makes it a complex machine. There are wires, gadgets, drives, motherboards, fuses, capacitors, processors, etc., which are quite confusing to the unfamiliar eye.
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