I AM SAVED!
Ephesians 2:1-10
So if we need saved, what’s our options!
Salvation Defined:
To be saved means you’re in a terrible fate, cannot save yourself, you need to
be saved by someone from the outside.
Being saved is the story of the Bible, and the story of
Jesus, and that’s where we’re at today in Ephesians 2:1–10. And
we’re looking at our identity in Christ and the fact that in Christ, I am
saved. There are two basic categories
for viewing salvation, and how we can achieve it. Paul talks about them both
and clears up the misconception, so let me start by explaining them both!
Option 1: Works
Most,
if not all, religions apart from Christianity, teach something called works,
and that is you can save yourself by doing certain things and not doing other
things.
·
In Buddhism, ceasing desire saves you.
·
In Confucianism, education, self-reflection,
self-cultivation, and living a moral life save you.
·
In Hinduism, detaching from your separated ego
and making an effort to live in unity with the divine save you.
·
In Islam, living a life of good deeds saves you.
·
In Orthodox Judaism, repentance, prayer, and
working hard to obey the Law save you.
·
In New Ageism, gaining a new perspective,
through which you see how you’re connected to all things as a divine oneness,
saves you.
·
In Taoism, aligning yourself with the Tao to
have peace and harmony saves you.
·
Some people think that just being a good person
saves you, we see it at funerals all the time!
What nearly all religions hold in common is the theme
that, if there is a savior, it’s the person we see in the mirror every morning,
but you cant save yourself, you need a savior!
Options 2: Grace!
The other option is Christianity, and that is we are not
saved by our works, we’re saved by Jesus’ works.
Eph 2:5 “Together in
Christ, by Grace you were Saved”
Eph 2:8 “ For by
Grace you have been Saved by faith”
·
To be saved by works is not necessarily bad, but
it's bad, when the one who does the works is anyone other that Jesus.
The storyline of the Bible is that we are in a terrible
fate, and there is a sentence of death hanging over us, and we cannot rescue
ourselves, and Jesus, our great God and Savior, comes in from the outside, and
he comes to rescue us, he comes to save us, and we are saved by his works.
He lives without sin, so it’s Jesus’ life that saves, not
our own. He dies on the cross in our place for our sins, so it’s his death that
saves us, not our own. And he rises from death, conquering our enemies of sin
and death, so it is his victory and not ours that is the means by which we
experience salvation and are rescued. Jesus’ very name means “God is our
Savior. God is our salvation.” That’s exactly what Jesus means, so his name
indicates his life mission.
You’re
saved in the Past, Present and Future!
The Past!
·
Here is the good news! You’re forgiven!
·
The past is forgiven
·
Your salvation is secure, if your faith is “in
Christ
·
He won’t punish you!
·
Gods Wrath was taken at the Cross-!
The Present!
·
How many of you have been saved from the power
of Sin?
·
How many of you have been relieved for the power
of sin in your life?
·
IF your “In Christ” you can continually be changed,
transformed, perfected “In Christ”
·
The Chains of Sin don’t have to bind you any
more, your not perfect but are working towards a day where you will be!
Read the stories!
The Future!
·
There will be a day, just as Jesus rose, we too
shall rise.
·
We’ll be totally new, thoroughly new, and that
sin will be no more.
·
There’ll be no suffering, no sickness, no sin.
·
There’ll be no death, there’ll be no
devastation, there’ll be no destruction.
·
It will be the world as God created it before
sin corrupted it.
·
That’s called the kingdom of God and in the
kingdom of God we’ll be saved from the presence of sin. No sin, no Satan, no
demons, no injustice, no tyranny, no evil.
·
We won’t need hospitals, we won’t need police
officers, we won’t need soldiers.
Christians have been saved, are being saved, will be
saved. My question is: are you saved? Are you saved? You can’t say, “Well, I
try to be a good person.” You’re not your own savior. “I’m religious.” You’re
not your own savior. “I’m spiritual.” You’re not your own savior. “I’m doing
the best I can.” That’s not good enough. You need Jesus to come in, God to
enter in, not only to history, but the history of your life as the Rescuer. You
need a Savior.
The Stories!
#1
First
and foremost my kids do NOT have any idea how bad my life was. I grew up in an abusive home, been thru it
all mental PHYSICAL and sexual abuse.
When my mom died (she was all I had) I became very angry with God. Why would he take the only person away that
loved me? I was not gonna show love to a
God that left me there. So I did a lot
of drugs, hard ones and drank.
I
have always believed a child is a gift from God. And I got pregnant. I NEVER wanted my child to grow up how I
did. I prayed for God to help me. I apologized and asked forgiveness for my
anger and behavior I was an awful mess.
Not one that God or my mother would have been proud of. God's grace and mercy are overwhelming to me
everyday. I never had a desire for the
things I did. It was like waking up....
the desires were just gone. Over the
last few years he has brought me to a place that people's opinion do not
matter. He knows my heart and I answer
to Him. I am a work in progress LOL I
beg of you no names...Thank God for PTCC.
I feel accepted and loved.
#2
I
smoked weed for 10 years, I could not stop it was my crutch, my life revolved
around it. I hid behind it, and I lived numb with it. I never thought I could
stop! God laid on my heart one day to stop, and one day I just stopped! No withdrawals,
no desires, no wants, no cravings! It's
amazing to me how God has changed me. I don’t want to live the life I lived! I
find comfort in Jesus, and Gods people! I cant wait to go to anything and
everything to learn more about the savior that would love me enough to change
me, and die for me!
Saved From What?
If someone came up to and ask you what your saved from, what
would you say??
Before we can understand and embrace our identity in Christ,
we must first accept our identity apart from Christ. Becoming a Christian is
not merely accepting the truth about Jesus as our Savior. It’s also accepting
the truth about ourselves as needy sinners.
Ephesians
2:1–3 (ESV)
And you were
dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in
which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
disobedience— 3 among
whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires
of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest
of mankind.
In Christ, We’re Saved from Sin and Death
·
Death
is first and foremost the penalty for sin.
·
Because
of sin, death entered the world and spread to all.
·
Death is
a separation from God, both spiritually and physically.
·
Every non-Christian
is a “dead man walking,” separated from the life of God because of his
“trespasses and sins.”
Thankfully, in
Christ, we’re saved from our sins and the consequence of death. Because Jesus
rose, we live spiritually alive and will one day rise physically from death,
like Jesus, to be with him and like him forever.
In Christ, We’re Saved from a Pattern of
Worldly Living
·
Consider
for a moment who you would be and what your life would be like had God not
saved you.
·
For
most people, a truthful look at who they could have been is horrifying.
·
For
the Christian, it becomes more so as we understand the severity of all our
sins—not just the “big” ones.
·
To
fully appreciate our Savior, we must first fully acknowledge our sin
·
In
Christ, we’re saved from a worldly way of living and transformed to a holy way
of living.
·
In
God’s grace, this can establish a new pattern for generations to come as our
children and grandchildren are encouraged to follow in our footsteps with
Jesus.
In Christ, We’re
Saved from Satan
In Ephesians 2:2, Paul
spoke of the non-Christian walking “according to the prince of the power of the
air,” who is the “spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
·
Satan has authority over the spiritual forces
that play out their diabolical schemes in and through humanity and the kingdoms
of the world, and “although the ruler of this world has been defeated he is not
surrendering without a struggle and without still making his powerful influence
felt.
·
In Christ, we do not have to be defeated, as his
victory and authority are our victory and authority. We get into trouble when
we forget this fact and instead give Satan a foothold, inviting him to have
authority in our lives.
In Christ, We’re
Saved from Our Old Nature
·
Paul wrote of the “spirit who now works in the
sons of disobedience.”
·
Paul pointed out that such people are those
“among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the
desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like
the rest of mankind” (v. 3 ESV).
·
That we all come from the same plight of an old
nature should move us toward compassion for those not in Christ.
·
According to the Bible, we’re born anything but
good people with good hearts.
·
Rather, we’re sinners by nature and choice, as
sin is both a nature we inherit and a lifestyle we choose.
·
As such, we deserve justice, condemnation, and
hell.
·
But in Christ, we’re saved from our old nature,
which is dethroned from the center of our lives, and given a new nature that
desires love for Jesus, love for others, love for the truth, and love for
holiness.
In Ephesians 2:1–10,
Paul contrasts our old nature with our new nature in this way:
OLD NATURE
|
NEW NATURE
|
Separated from Christ
|
United to Christ
|
Dead
|
Alive
|
Disobedient
|
Obedient
|
Ruled by spiritual evil
|
Sharing in Jesus’ rule over spiritual evil
|
Objects of God’s wrath
|
Objects of God’s affection
|
Brings vague uncertainty about sin
|
Brings specific awareness of a sin
|
Walking in sin
|
Walking in good works
|
Destined for hell
|
Seated with Christ in heaven
|
SAVED BY WHOM?
·
What we don’t need in this world is more
politics, spirituality, morality, or religion.
·
We don’t need more sinners trying to act like a
savior.
·
We need a Savior.
The answer to the question of who saves us is simple: Jesus!
Ephesians 2:4–5 (ESV)
4 But
God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our
trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ—by grace you have been saved—
·
Even when we had our back turned God loved us
·
His love brought us God in the flesh
·
Jesus is the only way!
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.
·
We are saved by Jesus alone
Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)
8 For by grace you
have been saved through faith. And
this is not your own doing; it is
the gift of God, 9 not a
result of works, so that no one may
boast.
·
Grace saves you
·
Faith in Jesus Saves you
·
There is NOTHING you can do
·
It's a gift
·
We cant say “When I ask Jesus”, Jesus Ask you!
·
He died, you wont
·
He suffered, you wont
·
He incurred Gods wrath you didn’t!
IT'S ALL ABOUT
HIM!!!!
SAVED FOR WHAT?
So, we’ve talked about what we’re saved from, who we’re
saved by, what we’re saved to. So What now? See, what I don’t want to do is
just say, “You’re saved!” You walk away and go, “I’m saved, but I’ve got a lot
of years left on the earth. What do I do with them?” Your life counts, your
life matters.
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
10 For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
How
many of you, your mind just exploded? You’re like, “No works, no works, no
works! Works, what?” The key is to get the works in the right order. Jesus’
works save us, he works in us as his workmanship, and then works through us as
an act of worship. Jesus saves you. You’re saved by his works. He works in you,
he works on you, he works through you to do good works as an act of worship.
“So that no one
may boast. For we are his workmanship.” He’s working in us, he’s working on us, he’s going to
work through us. “Created in Christ Jesus,” there’s our identity. “In Christ
Jesus for,” what? “Good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should
walk in them.”
No comments:
Post a Comment