A. I want to start with a true story: Jorge Rodriquez was new to our country and did not speak English.
1. He had no lawyer the day he appeared in court for hitting a parked car while driving drunk.
2. He went before the judge with what he thought was his “trump card.”
3. Rodriquez approached the bench and handed the judge a “Get Out of Jail Free” card from the game of Monopoly.
4. He had believed someone who had told him that this card was all he needed.
B. I wonder if the scene on Judgement Day is not going to be all that different.
1. I picture many people approaching God’s judgment seat that day thinking they have their spiritual matters in order.
2. Tragically, they will be shocked and horrified to discover that what they had put their hope in was false.
3. Maybe they had trusted in their own goodness.
4. Maybe they had trusted in the promises of some religious leader.
5. Or maybe they thought they could work out some deal in the end, or that there would be a second chance.
6. Just like Rodriquez, there will be many on the day of Judgement who not be able to escape judgment.
C. Please understand that I’m not making this up or trying to scare anyone today.
1. Jesus himself warned us about these things in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7.
2. In verse 21 and following he said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers!’ ”
3. I don’t want to be among those who will be surprised on that day, and I don’t want any of us to be among them.
4. So, how can we know if we are prepared?
a. How can we know if we have done the will of the Father who is in heaven?
b. How can we be sure that we are saved and will go to heaven?
5. The answer to these questions is found in God’s Word.
D. Look with me at Romans 1:16 and 17. Let’s see what Paul has to say here about salvation.
1. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ ”
2. So what do we learn from this passage?
3. We learn that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed.
4. And we learn that for the gospel to be saving someone and to be imparting this righteousness from God, that person must believe.
5. Also, we notice that the belief must be more than just something in a person’s head, it must be the description of their life. The righteous will live by faith.
6. So, we can conclude that if anyone is going to be saved it is because of the gospel and one’s faithfulness to the gospel. Would you agree with me about that?
E. But what is this gospel that is the power of God for salvation? Let’s look now at 1 Corinthians 15.
1. Look at verses 1-2: “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you have received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.”
a. We immediately note that Paul is again stressing the gospel.
b. He preached the gospel to them. They received the gospel and have taken their stand on it.
c. He reminds them that they are saved by the gospel, if and only if they hold firmly to the word he preached to them. What had he preached? The gospel.
2. But what is the gospel that he preached, that saves, that they have received, and on which they have taken their stand?
a. Look at verses 3 and 4, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…”
b. What is the gospel that Paul is reminding them of? It is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
c. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is what saves – it is the gospel, the good news.
3. Romans 3:22-25 makes this clear, “this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”
a. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection brought about our redemption.
b. Through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement. Jesus’ blood atones for our sins – that’s good news – the gospel.
4. Look at what Paul says that the gospel has accomplished for us in 2 Timothy 1:10 and 11: “but it (God’s grace) has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
a. Through the gospel, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus we can have life and immortality (eternal life).
b. Through the gospel Jesus has dealt with our sin problem and our death problem.
c. He indeed is our Savior.
F. Now that we know what the gospel is and that it is God’s power for salvation, then comes this important question: How do I know if I am saved by this gospel?
1. Let’s look now at Romans 6:17-18: “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
a. Speaking to the Romans, who are Christians, Paul reminds them that once, before they were Christians, they were slaves of sin, and separated from God and salvation.
b. But they changed. They made a transition.
c. They were set free from sin and became slaves to righteousness.
d. And just how did they make that transition?
e. Paul says that they wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which they were committed.
2. We notice then that the gospel is something that must be believed and obeyed.
a. Look with me at 2 Thess. 1:8, “He (God) will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
b. To be saved a person must know and believe in God the Father and his Son our Savior.
c. We must know and trust in the gospel, the saving effort of God that comes through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
d. As we saw a moment ago in Romans 6, Paul pointed out that they were people who believed (wholeheartedly) what they were taught, and then they obeyed the form of teaching they were given.
e. They believed and obeyed the gospel.
f. What is this form of teaching that they obeyed? How does a person obey the gospel?
2. Let’s look at the context. Look in the same chapter, just a few verses earlier.
a. Starting with verse 1, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
b. So we see that it is in baptism that a person is united with Christ in his death, in his burial, and in his resurrection.
c. A person believes and obeys the gospel by being immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins.
d. That’s how a person comes in contact with the blood of Jesus that was poured out in his death.
3. Look at Galatians 3:26-27, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”
G. Our salvation and redemption from sin is totally God’s work.
1. It is a gift of his grace given through the saving work of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.
2. Over and over again, as the church began, as recorded in the book of Acts, the gospel of Jesus was preached, and those who believed were given the same instruction, “Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” (Acts 2:38)
3. Verse 41, “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
4. Acts 8:12-13, “But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized.”
5. Acts 18:8, “Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.”
6. After Saul of Tarsus had seen the vision of the risen Christ, which left him blind, and was led to the city of Damascus, where he fasted and prayed for three days, he was told, “And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” (Acts 22:16)
H. How in the world can a person be saved if they do not believe and obey the gospel?
1. They simply cannot. Peter lamented this fact in 1 Peter 4:17 when he wrote, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
2. To the unbaptized today, I ask what Ananias asked Paul, “What are you waiting for?”
3. If you truly believe the gospel, won’t you obey the gospel? Arise and be baptized.
I. What do I say to people here today who were not baptized by immersion, but who had water sprinkled or poured on their heads as infants?
1. I would encourage you to be thankful that your parents cared enough about you to do what they understood should be done to pledge you to Christ.
2. But now I would persuade you to understand and obey the command of Christ that says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mk 16:15,16)
3. The NT knows of no one who was baptized who did not believe and would not repent prior to their baptism – which is impossible for an infant to do.
4. And the NT knows of no other baptism than immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins.
5. The Greek word that is often translated ‘baptism” in the Bible is the word baptizo, which is properly translated “to dip, plunge, or immerse.”
J. There are many teachers and churches that are teaching many different ways to come to Christ.
1. A popular way that is taught is to simply receive Christ by faith by saying a prayer.
2. In one tract promoting this method of receiving salvation, the person wrote, “Prayer is a great way to express your faith.”
3. When a person’s salvation is in question, our ideas don’t amount to much. We need not speculate about the best way to express our faith and receive Christ.
4. We need only to believe and obey God.
5. Baptism, by immersion in water is the Biblically approved way of expressing our faith and receiving salvation.
6. Peter wrote, “and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also - not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).
a. It is in baptism that we are saved and make a profession of faith, and a pledge of good conscience toward God.
K. I’m speaking very passionately about this because these truths are so important.
1. If we don’t believe and teach what is truth, and if we don’t practice the truth, then how can we expect that God will accept us on the day of judgment?
2. God might look at us as simply being sincerely mistaken, on the other hand he may view our false teaching as informed disobedience.
3. Jesus promised, “if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8:31)
L. The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
1. If you believe today, won’t you obey the gospel?
2. Won’t you wholeheartedly obey the form of teaching to which you have been entrusted?
3. Arise and be baptized and wash your sins away – that’s the Bible command.
4. If you are approaching adulthood, don’t delay obedience to God. Believe and obey God in your youth, you will never regret it.
5. Solomon warned us not to delay obedience to God. He said, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come.” (Eccl. 12:1)
6. Amazingly, I’ve seen statistics that say over 85% of people who come to Christ do so before age 20. Only one in 10,000 come to Christ after age 30. And only one in 750,000 come to Christ after age 75.
M. The Bible says that God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but he wants everyone to come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9).
1. Jesus loved you and died for you so that you might have life and immortality.
2. Won’t you love and die for him by giving your life to him in faith, repentance and baptism?
3. Today you can experience the wonderful transformation from spiritual death to spiritual life.
4. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 6:23)
5. I will end with the question of the Hebrew writer: “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? (Heb 2:3) What are you putting your trust in for eternal salvation?
6. Don’t put your trust in some pretend “get out of hell free card.” Rather put your trust in Jesus and obey the Gospel of Jesus.
7. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
