John 3:16-3:17 10 7-06 Today I want to talk a little while about being saved,
Some may wonder, “saved from what”
· What does the word “save” mean to you? Well really it can mean many different things:
~To set aside money for later use, often adding to the sum periodically. Or To set something aside, keep something back, or protect something so that it can be used later.
It could also mean to collect as many items of a particular kind as possible, usually in order to do something with them later.
It could also mean to free somebody from the consequences of sin .
Jn. 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
I remember a dear man who I’m now happy to say is saved, but at one time he just couldn’t understand why he needed to admit he was a sinner and ask God to forgive him of his sin, and really as for as a good man, morally speaking was concerned, he was a good man.
So what is sin?
Sin is DISOBEDIENCE to God’s moral law. We can sin by doing, saying, or thinking anything that is against God’s rules.
~ We’ve all heard it said to sin means “to miss the mark.”
· Where did sin come from? It came because of the sin of disobedience of the parents of the human race, Adam & eve. Gen. 3: 20And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Read gen.2-3
I inherited sin from my parents, they inherited sin from their parents, an their parents, and we could say that all the way back to the parents of us all Adam & Eve.
Rom. 5:12 12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Paul here in Rom. 5:12 is not talking about our individual sins, he means that when Adam sinned the entire human race became guilty of sin.
Someone may be saying, “ Should I be guilty because of a sin committed thousands of years ago?”
But If we read the rest of the verses in Romans 5, we’ll discover that everyone can be made righteous (innocent) because of one man’s obedience (because of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross). If some people might think it’s unfair that Adam’s sin makes us guilty, then lets also think it’s unfair that Christ’s obedience can make us innocent.
~~There were two brothers, well known around town for their crooked business dealings and underworld connections. They were as mean and cold-blooded as you could imagine. One day one of the brothers died, and the surviving brother wanted to give his dead brother a funeral fit for a king. So he called the funeral home and made the arrangements, then he called the town’s minister and made him an offer, as they say, he couldn’t refuse.
He said to the minister “I’ll give you $30,000 to put that new roof on the church if, in eulogizing my brother, you call him a saint.”
The minister agreed. The whole town turned out for the funeral, and the minister began: “The man you see in the coffin was a vile individual. He was a liar, a thief, a deceiver, a manipulator, a reprobate, He destroyed the fortunes, careers, and lives of countless people in this city, some of whom are here today. This man did every dirty, rotten thing you can think of. But compared to his brother, he was a saint”
The Bible says that everyone is born a sinner. That includes you and that includes me. We all have a sinful nature that we inherited from Adam.
Ps. 51:5 5Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
One of the first words children learn is “mine.” Children are naturally selfish.
Ps. 58:3 3The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
“There is no one who does not sin” 1 Kings 8:46 (for there is no man that sinneth not,)
Rom. 3:23 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
None of us are capable of living a perfect life. We all fall short.
The whole world is a prisoner of sin” Gal. 3:22 22But the scripture hath concluded all under sin,
“We all stumble in many ways” James 3:2 2For in many things we offend all.
sin’s ultimate punishment is HELL
1. What is hell?
Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” In the Bible, there are three kinds of death:
• SPIRITUAL Death: Separation of the spirit from God.
God warned Adam and Eve, Gen. 2:17 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, we are all born into this world spiritually disconnected from God.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians, Eph. 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; He then in verse 12 he says that they were once “without God” 12 12That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: They were separated from God. Spiritually, they were dead.
• PHYSICAL Death: Separation of the spirit from the body.
• ETERNAL Death: Eternal separation from God in hell.
The apostle John describes this place in Revelation 20: 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Jesus spoke more about hell than he did heaven, why? Because He loves people, and He don’t want anyone to go there.
When speaking of hell, Jesus usually used the Hebrew word “Gehenna.”
The valley of Gehenna is a valley located on the southern side of Jerusalem. During the reign of some of Israel’s wicked kings, an altar to the Canaanite god, Molech, was built in the valley. The people would bring theirs babies to throw into the fires there as a horrible sacrifice to Molech.
Later, during the reign of the godly king Josiah, the altars to Molech were destroyed, and the valley was filled with garbage and the corpses of the wicked. It became a vast burning garbage dump. The fire is said to have never gone out.
Hell is an eternal place of conscious suffering and the destiny of all those who do not receive God’s salvation.
2. Why does sin need to be punished?
You may say, “I thought the God of the Bible was a God of love?” How could He send people to hell?
The primary reason why God punishes sin is that GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS demands it.
Jer. 9:2424But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
“God presented [Christ] as a sacrifice of at one ment, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, Rom. 3:22-26 22Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
So why do we need to be saved? Because we were born sinners and sins ultimate punishment is hell.
II. How Can a person be saved?
A. By ADMITTING that he is a sinner.
1 John 1:8-10 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
II. How Can a person be saved?
B. By BELIEVING that Jesus Christ died on the cross as our substitute, He died in our place, our sins were placed on Him as He was paying for our sins.
John 3:16-17 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Isa. 53:6 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
“Salvation is found in no one else, Acts 4:12 12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
~~in February 1941, Auschwitz, Poland.a man by the name of Maximilian Kolbe was a Franciscan priest put in the infamous death camp for helping Jews escape Nazi terrorism. Months went by and in desperation an escape took place. The camp rule was enforced. Ten people would be rounded up randomly and herded into a cell where they would die of starvation and exposure as a lesson against future escape attempts.
Names were called out to be starved to death, and one was A Polish Jew Frandishek Gasovnachek ,as he was called. He cried, “Wait, I have a wife and children!” then Kolbe stepped forward and said, “I will take his place.” Kolbe was marched into the cell with nine others where he managed to live until August 14.
This story was chronicled on an NBC news special several years ago. Gasovnachek, by this time 82, was shown telling this story with tears streaming down his cheeks. A camera followed him around his little white house to a marble monument carefully tended with flowers. The inscription read: IN MEMORY OF MAXIMILIAN KOLBE ,HE DIED IN MY PLACE
Every day Gasonachek lived since 1941, he lived with the knowledge, “I live because someone died for me.” Every year on August 14 he traveled to Auschwitz in memory of Kolbe.
Jesus said, John 15:13 13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. That’s what Christ did for us. He laid down his life for me. He laid down his life for you.
II. How Can a person be saved?
C. By CALLING to God for salvation.
Rom. 10:13 13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
These are the ABC’s of salvation: Admit, Believe, and Call.
Rom. 6:23 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
How can a clear thinking person refuse this free gift of salvation?, its free to us , but it cost Jesus His Life.
Listen dear heart, suppose someone was clinging to dear out in the middle of the ocean on an object that was soon to be fallen apart, and then out of seemingly nowhere a Hugh passenger ship comes sailing by and tosses this soon to be a dead man a life line, and the person cries out, take it back, I’ll take my chances the way I am.
That’s how much scene it makes to keep refusing Gods Salvation.
