Sermon Brief
Date Written: May 18, 2010
Date Preached: May 23, 2010
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Great Questions of Our Faith
Sermon Title: What is Salvation?
Sermon Text: John 3:14-17 [ESV]
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. 18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Introduction:
To be saved… this is a phrase that carries with it many, many definitions. We think about our computers and the files and data we store on them. For us NOT to lose that data or file, it needs to be saved! I want you to think about the data you put on your computer… let’s say you are typing a paper!
You do all the research; you carefully craft the introduction and the body of the paper and skillfully wrap up your presentation with a clever conclusion that seals the deal for the reader.
You have created this paper on your computer… it is a great work… but your work is NOT finished. For this work to live on, you must save it to your hard disk or to some other destination.
The paper is saved by YOUR keystrokes and is stored and kept by your decision. My point is simply this… your paper was saved not by its merit or how good IT was, but IT was saved because of YOUR actions! Without your actions your paper would have been LOST… and not recovered!
Now as we look at the question today of ‘What is Salvation?’ I think about this illustration. We are God’s creation! He did all the research [as if He needed to do any] and then He carefully crafted the creation of this world and His ultimate creation, US!
It was His work that formed us, and it only stands to reason that it is only His WORK by His hand that can save us! Without God we would not exist, but more importantly without God we would have NO hope of salvation!
In Luke 19:9-10 Jesus tells us what His purpose in this life was…
9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
The purpose for Jesus here in this world was to save the lost creation of God! Jesus came to open a door that had been shut by sin and rebellion! And as Jesus speaks with a religious leader one evening, He reveals 3 things about why He had come, and what He was about to do for all of humanity!
This morning I want us to look at those 3 things and see how they apply to us today! The 1st thing Jesus speaks to is…
An Example of what was to come: v.14-15
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.
Here Jesus was referring to a time in history when the children of Israel were being very obstinate and rebellious toward Moses and God. We find this story in Numbers 21 we find the children of Israel were once again complaining against God and Moses’ leadership.
They hated the manna God had been providing and could only dream about going back to Egypt to eat meat and have what THEY wanted, even if it meant that they had to go back into slavery… it was a continuous cry of the people that God became angered against and so God decided to deal with their complaints by sending what the Scripture calls ‘fiery serpents’ into the camp.
Fiery serpents were poisonous snakes, and many people were bitten and many people began to die. Through their actions and the constant rebellion of their hearts against God, judgment was being brought against them.
The people saw how wrong they were and they that they had sinned against God by their rebellious attitudes and actions… they came to Moses and cried out in fear and desperation! They asked Moses to cry out to God to deliver them from these snakes. Moses prayed to God and God instructed Moses to fashion a serpent on his staff and raise it up in the midst of the camp and ALL who just looked upon it would live!
Moses did so and God’s promise was true and sure, all who looked upon the bronze serpent that Moses had made…at God’s instruction… they lived, and the plague of the snakes was eliminated from the camp.
These people were being bitten by these snakes and they were told that if they were to look upon the bronze serpent, in faith, that God would heal them! They had to believe that God would do what He said He would do! And all who believed and looked… were saved!
This is the first reference to the Cross that Jesus mentions in His ministry. The first mention of how God was going to cure the ‘sin’ problem and make a way of forgiveness for His creation!
Jesus said to Nicodemus…that just as the serpent was lifted up to save those people from snake bites, so the Son of Man must be lifted up… so that all who look to Him in faith… believing… can be saved from their sin! Saved not from physical death, but from eternal damnation!
Here we find Jesus using well known history so that He could relate an eternal truth to Nicodemus and all those who were listening. Just as God saved those people in the wilderness by the act of a serpent on a stick… God will save all who look to the Son, but this salvation is one that will last…it will be eternal!!
You see all those who were saved by looking upon the serpent in the wilderness eventually died a physical death. In fact most of them never made it out of the wilderness. But what Jesus was offering, as we will soon see, was far beyond mere physical deliverance…Jesus goes on to reveal that His deliverance would be eternal!
Now Jesus points to the past and a real life example for His first illustration or point, but we find Him moving to the 2nd point very quickly and that point is the exclusivity of the salvation that He was bringing to this world.
2. The Exclusivity of what was to come: v.16
16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Today in the life and belief of many evangelical Christians there is a very sad reality! That sad reality is that there are people sitting in the pews of Evangelical Christian churches that have been convinced and deceived to believe that Jesus is not THE way, but that Jesus is merely A way to get to God.
Today in our society of pluralism and syncretistic belief, many believers have been confused and their minds twisted by a lie! There is an Eastern Mystical belief that just as there are many roads to a city, that there are also many roads that lead to God, and there are many people within the evangelical church who have fallen prey and are being deceived by this lie from Satan!
Jesus says here in this verse that whoever believes in HIM should not perish… He offers NO other path, no other option. In fact later in the book of John Jesus tells His disciples in John 14:6 [ESV]
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Jesus drew a line in the sand here! Jesus set the standard to how one can obtain eternal life, and it was NOT a list of options to choose from… it was not for one to choose between what they liked or disliked, but the sole option for eternal life is found in Jesus Christ!
This is a doctrine we cannot stray away from… we cannot allow this LIE to erode our witness of salvation in Christ alone! Christ alone was a doctrine in which the Apostles preached with vigor and ultimately were killed for their stance for the exclusivity of Christ!
Peter when preaching in Jerusalem after Pentecost, says in
Acts 4:11-12 [ESV] “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved!”
Throughout the Scripture Jesus is lifted up as the sole and exclusive way to God. We cannot ignore this, we cannot abandon this doctrine for the pleasure of convenience and our own selfish desire!
People will tell you that there are other ways to God, but Scripture is very straight forward in its revelation about Jesus and about God’s plan for salvation! Salvation is initiated by the love, grace and patience of God, and it is carried out in His Son Jesus… and there is NO other path by which we can know salvation or eternal life with God. Jesus is exclusive to our salvation.
It is full truth and totally biblical to say that if you do NOT have Jesus, you do NOT have salvation, regardless of what you think or how you feel. Jesus is the sole path we can take to find, realize and commune with our Creator and know eternal life in Him.
Jesus revealed an example of what was going to come, and that was eternal salvation…
Jesus then revealed the exclusivity of what was to come, and that was that NO other way would save you, but that you must come to salvation ONLY in Him!
But finally this morning we can see that Jesus revealed the Essential nature of what was to come…
3. The Essential Nature of what was to come: v.17-18:
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Just as it was in Jesus’ day and for almost all of human history, man has viewed God as a judgmental and harsh taskmaster who is at the ready to squash us for our sin and iniquity.
Now Scripture is very plain in its teaching on sin and how sin IS against God and how sin is WRONG in every way! But Scripture is also very clear that sin has been conquered by Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary! And we find Scripture pointing out that sin can be overcome, but ONLY through the forgiveness and grace God extends through Jesus Christ!
When we sin, we are an affront to God, but in Christ we know the mercy and grace of God and experience the forgiveness of God in the washing and regeneration of our soul!
This is His promise in 1 John 1:9 [ESV]
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Here in this world we will never be perfect and sin will always be a terrible burden we must bear and fight against. But when we believe on Jesus, His promise is that our sin is forgiven and wiped from our lives!
You see there will be a time when God draws a line in the sand and He says it is time to settle all accounts. There will be a time of reckoning where God judges our lives and the actions of our lives! This judgment will happen one day and ALL who have ever lived will have to face this judgment…
But until that day when Jesus stands as Judge before us… He has promised us that His mission here on earth was NOT to judge but to save, redeem and reconcile!
Look at v.17 where Jesus tells Nicodemus, 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
Jesus reveals that it is essential that people understand that He has come to save, and NOT to judge! That His mission is to redeem and NOT to rebuke! The world’s salvation is His goal, not its condemnation!
When you bring up Jesus to the average lost soul, their first reaction is to recoil in anger because they believe you are judging them… they believe that you are telling them you are better than them! When in fact your motives are just the opposite!
You are not judging them, because Jesus said in v.18 that they have already been judged! 18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
If they do NOT believe in Jesus, their fate is sealed. Jesus is ESSENTIAL to their salvation and without Jesus their judgment is sure. But as I said earlier, God is patient and does not wish any to perish but all to come to repentance.
Our motivation is to share that they can know the soul liberating deliverance from sin that we have experienced. It is not that we are better than them, but for those who are saved… we are better off than those who are NOT, but this is not something to brag about… but something to feel blessed about!
We are blessed because God took the initiative and drew us to His side and allowed us to become part of His family. We are called to share that experience with others so that they can know the same saving grace and forgiveness that we have experienced!
But our witness to others has to be that Jesus is essential to the equation. This is NOT a reaction, this is not a rule or regulation, but this is a relationship that they must come into to experience the forgiveness and salvation that God wants for them!
Without Jesus, no amount of good works or right living can save a person! Jesus is essential to our salvation!
Conclusion:
I want you to picture yourself as a document that God has created on His heavenly computer. His creative genius and wonder formed you and made you, and you are a wondrous work of art! His hands that created you now must move toward the action of saving what He has created…
He takes the initiative… He takes the necessary steps… It is God who saves you! You are simply there to receive that salvation when offered! Today you may be here and you may feel that you can do things on your own! Today you may be here and you may believe that there is more than one way to God!
Well, the Word of God is clear in that there is only ONE way to God and that is thru His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is the example we have! Jesus is the exclusive way God has provided and finally Jesus is the essential ingredient so that we can experience the salvation that God wants for us!
There is a God-sized void in your life today… you know it… you may not want to admit it to others… you may try to hide it and say things are fine! But there is this void that you just cannot fill… you have tried many things to fill that void, and for a time some of them worked, but eventually they failed to satisfy you!
You may have tried education and a career.
You may have tried a family and children.
You may have tried a hobby or some form of benevolence for others…
You may have resorted to things like drugs, alcohol, sex or some other form of behavior…
You may have tried other religions and beliefs…
But whatever you tried… it failed and you are still left wanting and empty!
The emptiness and void in your life is a heavy burden on your heart and soul, and it bears you down and life can become weary and disheartening! Today you may be here and you may feel that there is NO hope… that you will NEVER have peace!
Well Jesus said in Matt 11:28-29 [ESV] 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Jesus wants to bring peace to your heart, but it is a peace that this world cannot give, it is a peace with God that brings rest to your soul! It is a peace that allows you to rest in Him for ALL eternity! Today you can know that peace and can leave here certain of your eternal destiny!
As Bro Steven comes to lead us I call on you to come and surrender yourself to Him today, come and allow Jesus to bring peace into your life! Allow Christ to bring salvation into your life!
