CENTRAL VBS LETS TALK ABOUT SALVATION part 1
Man’s Condition Without God
- Acts 16:25-34
Many of you are familiar with this account. Paul and Silas, two early believers and missionaries, had upset some folks. They had cast a demon out of a slave, who used to tell people’s fortunes. When the woman’s owners saw that she couldn’t tell people’s fortunes anymore, they got people upset, so Paul and Silas were arrested, beaten, and thrown into prison.
While in prison, the two missionaries prayed and sang. Around midnight, an earthquake struck the prison and the prisoners’ chains fell off. The jailer woke up, believed that the prisoners had all escaped and was about to kill himself. But, Paul, called out and told him that the prisoners were all still there. The jailor called for lights. He went in to where the missionaries were and fell down trembling at their feet. He then had them escorted out of the prison and as soon as they reached the fresh air he asked the most important question and person can ever ask.
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” On Wednesday, April 25th, Joel Osteen, the popular megachurch pastor from Houston, appeared on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" and said that he considers both presumed GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and President Obama to be Christians.
Osteen, when asked about Romney's faith, said the former Massachusetts governor is indeed a Christian – which is a similar statement to the one he made in January.
"When I hear Mitt Romney say that he believes that Jesus is the Son of God – that he's the Christ, raised from the dead, that he's his Savior – that's good enough for me,"
said Osteen.
The Texas pastor did say that the Mormon faith was "not traditional Christianity," but that Mormonism still falls under the umbrella of Christian tenets. "Mormonism is a little different, but I still see them as brothers in Christ," said Osteen.
Many Christians do not consider Mormons to be Christians because they do not hold orthodox beliefs on core doctrines such as original sin, grace, the inerrancy of the Bible, and the understanding of the Trinity is different.
Osteen was also asked about President Obama's faith. Osteen said he has spent time with Obama and has no doubt that he is a Christian. "I believe with all my heart that he's a Christian, as he says he is," Osteen stated.
On Tuesday, June 17th, 2008, Cal Thomas wrote an editorial asking if the man who was later to become our president, was a Christian or not. In the article he quoted several statements made by our president, which run contrary to what most evangelical Christians believe.
Now, I admit. Some of the statements I read and some of the things that have taken place in the past several years have upset me. The increased tolerance of everything except Christianity and the beliefs we hold upset me. These things, however, do not upset me nearly as much as the letters to the editor that came in response the next day.
One letter by James Armstrong of Casselberry said:
“Thomas is a fundamentalist Christian who believes in a
literal interpretation of the Bible. He used to work for the
moral Majority. From his narrow, myopic vantage point, he
self-righteously presumes to judge the human family.
What about 11/2 billion Muslims? What about nearly 1
billion Hindus and a half-billion Buddhists? What about 15
million Jews? Are they all bound for hell? And what about
the billions of people who dwell in poverty, ignorance and
oppression and who have never been exposed to God
concepts and religious teachings? Are they all doomed to
Thomas’ hell?
More specifically, what about the Dali Lama or Mahatma
Gandhi or Aung San Suu Kyi, the courageous Buddhist
Nobel laureate who has been under house arrest in Myanmar
for 12 of the past 15 years? Their lives of meditation and
prayer make the spiritual exercises of most Christians pale
into insignificance.
If it’s a question of heaven or hell, as a former seminary
professor and a Christian minister for more than half a
century, I would much rather go to hell with Gandhi, the Dali
Lama and Aung San Suu Kyi than soar off into heavenly
‘bliss’ with Thomas and his ilk.” (Orlando Sentinel, Spiritual
exercise, June 18, 2008, A10)
The statements made in that letter, so flew in the face of what I believe, that I looked up the writer’s phone number and called him. I discovered that the seminary he taught at had a student body largely made up of Unitarian Universalists, who, for the most part, do not believe the Bible.
However, he did raise some interesting questions. What about the Hindu? What about the Buddhists? What about people who have never heard about Jesus?
Last week, our delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention discussed the same question the jailor asked Paul and Silas nearly 2000 years ago. A question that I believe is the most important question you and I can ever ask and one which we had better know the answer to. What must I do to be saved?
This week we are going to look at what it means to be saved. We are going to address some of the questions he posed about people who have never heard. We are going to look at how a person is saved, and we are going to talk about the Security of the Believer, or “Once Saved Always Saved”. I pray that this week will strengthen some of us who have questions about our faith. I pray it will encourage some of us to be more diligent ambassadors for Christ, and that our time together will equip all of us to better share our faith with others.
** PRAY
I. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE LOST?
What does it take to be lost? A while back, I had the opportunity to visit with a man in the hospital, who had little time to live. While we visited, I tried to share the Gospel with him. He told me that he had never done anything really bad, and that he believed that when it came time for judgment, that God would look at him and say, “He’s not been too bad. Go ahead and let him in.”
Is that the way it really works? Is close enough, good enough?
Turn with me please to Matthew chapter 22 and verse 34.
- Read Matthew 22:34-40
You remember this account. A lawyer came and asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. He then said, “The second commandment is like the first: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said, “all of the commandments in the Bible are rolled into these two. If you can keep only these 2 commandments, then you will be doing everything God requires of you”.
Now, let me remind you, that it is not good enough to love God most of the time, and to love your neighbor most of the time, you must love God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself, all the time. To keep all of God’s commandments, you must perfectly love God and perfectly love other people.
> Matthew 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Let me ask you, how many people do you think can honestly say that they have done that? I know I can’t. Nobody can honestly say they have done that.
> Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
> Romans 3:10, 12 … as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one; All have turned away, together they have become useless; there is no one who does good, there is not even one.
Some of you are aware that I am a chaplain with the Seminole County Sheriff’s office. Are you aware that every year, law enforcement officers in Seminole County and most other departments are required to hit the target with the weapons they carry, Every year local law enforcement officers are required to qualify on the range with the weapons they carry. They must shoot a certain score in order to keep their jobs.
Every new officer must shoot a certain score in order to be hired. What happens if they don’t reach the required score? They aren’t hired. It doesn’t mean they are bad people. It doesn’t mean they are thieves. It doesn’t mean they are dishonest. It simply means that they have not met the required score and so they cannot be hired.
That is what the word translated as “sin” in the Bible, so often means. It means, “missing the target.” It means, “Missing the mark.”
That’s what Paul means in Romans 3:23 when he says, “For all have sinned and come short.” He means, “No one has scored high enough. No one did well enough on the range. Everyone has failed.”
So, what does it take to be lost? All it takes is one mistake. All it takes is one time, not loving God with all your strength and with everything that’s in you. All it takes is one time, that you don’t love your neighbor as yourself, and you have failed.
> Romans 6: 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
II. WHAT IS THE RESULT OF OUR LOSTNESS?
- Luke 16:19-26
- Mark 9:43-48, Revelation 20:11-15
III. WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE OF OUR LOSTNESS?
> Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins
> Colossians 2:13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses.
How can you tell a dead person? How can you tell if you are not yet a Christian?
1. Lack of Movement – A dead person cannot move –
> 2 Peter 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
> Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
2. Lack of Feeling – Dead body cannot feel –
Parents harming children. Killing innocent people.
3. They stink – If a dead body is left alone long enough, it will begin to stink.
Language. Actions. Jokes.
