NB - Salvation

I have entitled this series NB!

Short for the Latin, Nota Bene, which in English means Note Well.

NB is usually put next to something that is very important and needs special attention.

And in this series, I want to put before you some very important things that you must note well, must pay special attention to.

They are very important ideas that come from God’s Word and as such are very important to God and should be very important to us in our thinking and living.

For them to be very important to us we need (and are promised) the help of the Holy Spirit. So, before we start, let’s ask for that help.

[Pray]

The very important idea we looked at last week was truth, in particular, the Bible as truth.

The very important idea that I want us focus on this morning is salvation.

What God has done, is doing and will do for men and women who suffer from the misery, mortality and meaninglessness of the human condition.

And it is because of the human condition that we need salvation. It was the drastic change of the human condition that set in motion the need for salvation in the salvation history of the Bible.

Because although the Bible tells us in Genesis 1 + 2 that God created humans in perfect condition, they were perfectly happy, immortal, full of soul satisfying meaning, in no need of salvation … we see in Genesis 3 that humans rebelled against their Creator (sin) and their condition changed to the terrible condition it is in now, with the terrible consequences that followed that and the reason the world is in the mess it is in now.

Now I know that some of the people we have braais and fondues with, live the kind of life that tricks them into thinking that the human condition is ok unless you make some dumb decision and then things can become a bit uncomfortable, and even then you learn from your mistakes…

But the bible (remember it is truth, God’s truth) sees it differently (All ESV, all on screen) Romans 3: 10 – 18…

All quotes from the OT – Psalms / Ecclesiastes / Proverbs / Isaiah. An OT summary of the natural human condition from God’s perspective. Very unflattering – sorry.

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

• 10 – 12: Paul is not saying that human beings can’t do things that conform externally to goodness … but that these actions no matter how good, cannot save them. And that without faith in God (and no one seeks after God) these actions are stained by sin, since they are not done for God’s glory and for the sake of the gospel.
• 13 – 14: Their speech (which reflects their heart) is shown as having the agenda of the grave, the deadliness of life without Christ. They deceive through flattery or lying. Their speech will often have a poisonous affect on those around them (asp = venomous snake).
• 15 – 17: Because sin is in their heart not only their speech, but their actions are also negatively affected. Want proof? Look at history. It is full off bloodshed and not just in war but also domestically. The legacy of sinners is ruin and misery. Peace never lasts long in the country, community and family.
• 18: And this is what it is really all about. Sin exists and gets worse because there is no fear and worship of and obedience to God, which is really at the root of the fallen condition of humans.

But God is infinitely gracious. It is not in his nature to leave us in such a terrible condition.

And so, he begins to reveal his plan of salvation. As soon as the humans rebel, God reveals that salvation is on its way.

Genesis 3: 15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

[Unpack the first announcement of the gospel]

There are two great peaks of salvation history in the Bible.

Firstly, in the history of God’s chosen people Israel … the great salvation act being the Exodus.

• When God through his servant Moses liberates his people from slavery in Egypt.
• The blood of a lamb on the doorposts of God’s people prevents them experiencing the death of the last plague.
• They are miraculously led out of Egypt and miraculously sustained and lead in the wilderness.
• Gives them his word/law as their constitution and constitutes them as a nation as promised.
• Eventually takes them into the Promised Land.

But it is clear that God has not yet finished revealing his plan of salvation. He can’t be. The severe problem of the human condition is still messing up the kingdom.

• Israel doesn’t live out their salvation with the obedience that God required from them.
• As a nation they go from promising to bad to worse.
• Living in such sin and rebellion against God that they are exiled from the land … and even when they get back it continues to be a disaster … and they continue to be occupied and oppressed by foreign forces.

The only hope of true salvation was the Messiah, promised in many places in the OT, but perhaps nowhere as intense as in Isaiah 53. Let’s have a glimpse of it in Isaiah 53: 4 – 6, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

The one who will come to accomplish God’s plan of salvation and radically deal with the human, sin condition once and for all.

And so, the second great peak of salvation history … the Messiah arrives. We know him. Christ Jesus.

And the salvation he brings resonates so strongly with Israel’s Exodus that we realise that Israel’s Exodus was a foreshadowing, a pointing forward, to the ultimate Exodus of all people by Christ.

Let me show you what I mean:

• Similar to Israel in Egypt, all people are slaves. Not to a political power but to sin and to death. Jesus is very clear on that in John 8: 31 – 34, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ They answered him, ‘We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.’” (Unable to escape sinful patterns of conduct – indicating the hearts sinful condition)
• Similar to Israel all people need a deliverer, a saviour who will liberate them from sin, because they can’t liberate themselves. And that Deliverer and Saviour is Jesus. Like Moses, Jesus is sent to tell the people that their freedom slavery was at hand, listen to Jesus reading from Isaiah in Luke 4: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed”
• The Exodus reminds us that salvation always comes with the shedding of blood.
  • In Egypt, the shedding of the blood of a spotless lamb so that death and judgement would Passover (there because of sin)

• Jesus is the spotless lamb whose blood stains the cross so that death and judgement can pass over us John 1: 29, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” 1 Corinthians 5: 7, “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
• And just as Israel is eventually delivered out of Egypt and the tyranny of Pharaoh and go into The Promised Land, their new kingdom … so Christ’s salvation provides deliverance from the kingdom of darkness and the tyranny of Satan and provides entrance into the kingdom of light, the Kingdom of Christ and his loving rule Colossians 1: 13 – 14, “He has 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.”

And there are many other similarities.

But the end result is that the Messiah, the Deliverer, has brought salvation. Salvation from the misery, mortality and meaningless of the human condition.

And that salvation is so radical, the sinful human condition so radically dealt with, that Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5: 17 about anyone who in faith accepts Jesus as Lord and Saviour, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

• With love now the controlling motive
• Jesus and his will at the centre
• The old fallen creature now a new creation and part of a new creation

So, salvation is achieved.

But remember our definition of salvation? (Slide – Has done / is doing / will do)

In the Bible salvation is seen as achieved but also ongoing and being ultimately fulfilled one day in the future 2 Peter 1: 10 – 11, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

But that is only half the story. God is at work in us to accomplish this ongoing salvation Philippians 2: 12 – 13, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Salvation is very important to God

It must be.

The whole Bible is the story of God’s plan of salvation.

God’s plan to save sinners.

God’s plan to save sinners ultimately through his Son.

Why?

Because all humans are sinners and desperately need saving, whether they agree with that or not. God says so.

That includes you!

Nothing else matters much until you have that salvation, until you are saved from your sin.

If you die a sinner not saved and pass on into eternity to face God…

You will not only face the misery of eternity but also discover just how meaningless your life was, even though you and all those around you convinced you it wasn’t so.

But God loves you so much he made a way for you to be saved.

Are you saved? If so rejoice.

If not catch a salvation CAB (Confess / Ask / Believe) = He will save you and protect you right through to the end when that salvation will be fully experienced.

St Matthews…

• Preach the Gospel of salvation
• Invite people to hear that good news
• Share the gospel with whoever you can
• Nothing matters more than that

Questions

1. What is salvation?
2. Why is it necessary?
3. What is the highpoint of salvation history in the Old Testament and why is it incomplete?
4. What is the highpoint of salvation history in the whole Bible?
5. What is the past, present and future nature of salvation in the New Testament?
6. “Salvation is very important to God” and therefore should be very important to us:
   1. What does that mean to us as individual Christians?
   2. What does mean to us as a church?