December 05, 2020
In the spring of AD 31 Satan became a defeated foe, but the war is not yet over and full victory is in the future. We are living in the MEANTIME between the defeat of Satan and final victory.
Today we are going to learn how to Experience Salvation while we wait for Jesus to return. But before we can experience salvation, we need to understand why we need to be saved in the first place:
• John Eldredge {Epic pg. 64} – The challenge God faces is rescuing a people who have no idea how captive they are; no real idea how desperate they are.
War in Heaven –
According to Ez. 28:12-15 Lucifer stood in the very presence of God. Little by little he came to indulge his desire for self-exaltation. The Scripture says:
• Ezekiel 28:17 - Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor…
• Isaiah 14:13-14 - But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'
Creation –
Sometime later God came to our little corner of the Universe and He said…. Let there be….. And there was…. And it was GOOD. Then came man, the crowning achievement of creation week, the object of God’s greatest affection and a target for Satan. He hates us for the very fact that we are so loved by God.
• John Eldredge {Epic pg. 39} – I am staggered by the level of naivete that most people have regarding evil. They don’t take it seriously. They don’t live as though the Story had a Villain. Not the devil prancing about in red tights, carrying a pitchfork, but the incarnation of the very worst of every enemy you’ve met in every other story…… life is very confusing if you do not take into account that there is a Villain. That you, my friend, have an Enemy.
Fall –
Our need for salvation came the second Adam and Eve chose to believe the lies of Satan. We became a doomed planet enslaved to sin with no power and no natural desire to resist it. Notice how quickly sin took over --- Genesis 3:6 Eve took the fruit and then shared with Adam:
• V 7 - They notice that they are naked and they try to cover their own nakedness with leaves.
• V 8 - They hear God walking in the garden and they are afraid and they hide.
• V 12 - Adam blames Eve for giving him the fruit.
• V 13 - Eve blames the snake for lying to her to get her to eat the fruit.
Saved –
As we’ve noted in previous sermons, there was a Plan in place --- just in case. When Adam and Eve sinned, The Plan kicked in:
• John Eldredge {Epic pg. 65-66} – God himself --- the King of all creation --- takes on human flesh and enters our story as one of us. He sets aside his glory, clothes himself with humility, and sneaks into the enemy camp, under cover of night, to whispers words of love to hid own; “I have come for you.”
• Genesis 3:14-15 - So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
• John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
• Romans 5:6-8 - For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
How do we Experience the Salvation that cost heaven so much?
We sense our need: The road to Experiencing Salvation begins when we become aware that there is something terribly wrong in our lives and we are no longer content with how things are.
• Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
• Romans 3:10-12 - As it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one."
• Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
We acknowledge our sinfulness: Scripture shows us our true condition. We are sinners in thought and action. Even our very best is tainted by sin. But knowing that truth is not enough, we must acknowledge that it applies to us personally.
• Luke 18:13 - But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'
• Psalm 51:2-4 - Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight,
• 1 John 1:8-10 - If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess (Greek – to agree) our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
We repent of our sins and seek forgiveness for those sins: Once we know our true condition and acknowledge that it applies to us personally, we need to repent. Repentance is not just simply saying “sorry” – It literally means to turn around. So, repentance means to acknowledge my sin before God, seek forgiveness for that sin and then STOP committing that sin.
• Psalm 51:9-12 - Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Thy presence, and do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.
• Acts 3:19 - Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
We accept Christ’s sacrifice for us – Justification by Faith (free from the PENALTY of sin): Through Christ’s sacrifice we have been set free from the penalty of sin – we call this justification. By accepting this gift, we can stand before God and He looks at us as though we have NEVER sinned – Because He no longer sees us – He sees Jesus. It is a free gift that cost heaven the life of Jesus and it is ours if we accept it as true for us personally.
• Romans 5:9-10 - Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 - Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
• Colossians 1:13-14 - For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
• Ellen White {DA Ch. 78} - The spotless Son of God hung upon the cross, His flesh lacerated with stripes; those hands so often reached out in blessing, nailed to the wooden bars; those feet so tireless on ministries of love, spiked to the tree; that royal head pierced by the crown of thorns; those quivering lips shaped to the cry of woe. And all that He endured--the blood drops that flowed from His head, His hands, His feet, the agony that racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled His soul at the hiding of His Father's face--speaks to each child of humanity, declaring, It is for thee that the Son of God consents to bear this burden of guilt; for thee He spoils the domain of death, and opens the gates of Paradise. He who stilled the angry waves and walked the foam-capped billows, who made devils tremble and disease flee, who opened blind eyes and called forth the dead to life -- offers Himself upon the cross as a sacrifice, and this from love to thee.
This is the process of Experiencing Salvation. Next week we are going to focus on Victorious Christian Living. How Abiding with Jesus and growing in Him will transform us into His image. We call this Sanctification - being free from the POWER of sin.
