My Past, My Present, and My Future

(Ephesians 2:4-7) God's perfect salvation takes care of your past, your present, and your future! The eternal Son of God has worked for our salvation. He continues to work at this very moment, and He will finish His work in us! Salvation is more than an event - it is God's perfect work in his children. (0959250307) ----more----

 Salvation by Grace Through Faith

Will you permit me one more day? Just one more day to talk to you about what the Bible says about salvation? Honestly, I'm just having a good time in the word of God, having a good time talking to you about what it means to be saved. Because I know what Jesus Christ has done for me, and I'm starting to see more and more of what God says about this in scripture.

And it's thrilling. It's thrilling to talk about. I hope you'll talk about it to someone else. I hope you'll get so excited. You'll wanna pass this along and share it with others. What does the Bible say about salvation? The last time we talked, I read you from Ephesians chapter two, verse eight and nine, famous verses, "For by grace you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." And we learn that it's all of grace and it's a gift. It's received by simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But let's return to Ephesians two, to the verses that precede those verses. The Bible says in Ephesians two, verse four, "But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith, he loved us even when we were dead in sins, have quickened us together with Christ By grace, you're saved. And it raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." Do you hear again, the past, present, and future tenses? One of the things I want you to see is that we think in time, but God who's eternal is not in time.

He's working in our lives in a way that is continual, that there's no end to. He began his work of redemption in the very beginning of time. In Genesis chapter three, that's where we started our study. He promised Messiah was coming. All of scriptures, really the story of redemption. And when the Lord Jesus Christ came, he paid for the send debt of every man. When you come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, that work of salvation begins in your life. And there's so many things connected to that. 

Key Bible Terms About Salvation

There's so many Bible words that you should study. For example, a substitution. Did you know when Jesus died on the cross? He took your place. He literally died for your sins, and he died as you. That's part of the doctrine of salvation. What about redemption? Redemption is to pay a price, to buy something back by paying a price. Did you know that's what he did for you when he died on the cross? He redeemed you with his own precious blood. How about the Bible word propitiation. He is the propitiation for our sin.

That's a big word. What does it mean? It means to satisfy. Did you know when Jesus Christ paid the sin, debt on the cross? He satisfied a holy God. He satisfied the justice of God so that you could go free, so that you could be saved. What about the word reconciliation? It means that Jesus Christ took a holy God in one hand and sinful humanity in the other, and made a way to bring the two together.

He reconciled us to God. When you come to the Lord Jesus and you take Him as your savior, what happens? How about this Bible word regeneration? It means new birth. Remember, Jesus said, you must be born again. To be regenerated is to be redeemed, made new. He doesn't make you a little better. He makes you a totally new person.

He gives you a new nature. He comes to live inside of you himself. How about the word justification? Someone said that means just as if I'd never sin. Oh, it's better than that. No, it's not just that he deals with a negative. He declares you righteous. He puts his righteousness on your account. So now it's not just as if you had never sinned, it's just as if you had never even been a sinner.

Did you know when you receive Jesus as your savior, all of his righteousness goes on your record. So when God looks at you, he no longer sees you as a sinner, though you have a sin nature, he no longer sees you as a sinner. He sees you as his own son. How about this word, the word adoption. We've been adopted, made part of the family of God.

We've been given the spirit of adoption. Isn't that glorious? It means the Holy Spirit brings us into the family conversation. That's what we have in prayer. That's how we can come boldly to God and pray because we've been given that spirit. I'm just simply saying all of these words reveal great truth about what happened at Calvary and what happens in us when we receive the Lord Jesus as our personal savior.How about this word? It's a little scary to some people. Sanctification. Did you know sanctification is in the Bible? It's found 31 times in the New Testament. It has to do with God setting us apart setting us apart to himself. Did you know that started on the day you got saved on that day, you were saved on that day.

The Lord Jesus Christ set you apart from the penalty of sin. That means God's never gonna turn his back on you. Never gonna pour out his wrath on you, never gonna send you to hell. Positionally, you are saved. You have been set apart to God. You are now viewed as holy. You are viewed as one with Jesus Christ.

He dealt with a penalty of your sin, but sanctification is still going on in your life. That's what I mean when I say salvation is continuing in me. I have been saved from the penalty of sin, but I'm being saved today from the power of sin. God is working in me right now, continuing to sanctify, continuing to work in me, to set me apart to himself to get wicked things out of my heart and out of my mind and out of my life.

Jesus Christ died on the cross so that I could be saved, but he sits to the right hand of the Father at this moment praying for me. Do you know why he's doing that? Because I need this continual work of sanctification done in my life. And someday, oh yes, someday He's gonna perfect it. 

The Future of Salvation

When the Lord Jesus comes back and I go to be with him, I'm gonna be saved on that day from the very presence of sin. I'm looking forward to that day. How about you? You won't have this sinful world to live in. You won't have the devil to deal with. You won't have sinful flesh, and those old sin, nature urges to contend with and battle with every day. Isn't that gonna be glorious? You see your salvation, you've received it completely.

There's some things that you've not yet fully realized. For example, your body's not yet saved. Have you figured that out yet? You're still dealing with that old body, aren't you? But you're going to receive a new body someday, and you're going to be with the one who saved you. The Lord Jesus Christ has already bought and paid for all of this, and someday it's going to be complete.

Isn't that gonna be wonderful? And then we're gonna spend all of eternity with the one who saved us. Worshiping him, serving him, and just enjoying him forever. I have been saved. I am being saved, and I shall be saved. Listen to Ephesians two again, but God who is rich in mercy for his great love where they loved us, even when we were dead and sins of quickened us together with Christ, by grace, you are saved and have raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

That's where I'm at right now. I'm living here on earth, but spiritually speaking, I'm seated with Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father. I have access to all of heaven's resources. I have access to God himself through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's present tense, but there's more to come. Verse seven says that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness tortoise through Christ Jesus, friends, the Lord Jesus Christ is going to perfect everything he set in motion in your life. That's why salvation truly is so great. Only God could do something so wonderful in the lives of such sinners. 

Personal Salvation

I'd like to challenge you as we conclude this study about what the Bible says about salvation today. Don't let it be academic. Oh, make it personal. Would you do two things today in application?

Number one, would you take a moment when this broadcast is done and just sit quietly somewhere and just thank the Lord. Just thank him for saving you. Thank you, Jesus, for not letting me go to hell. If it wasn't for Jesus, we'd all be in hell or on our way there. Praise God for salvation. But number two, don't keep it to yourself.

Tell somebody else today how you came to know the Lord Jesus as your personal savior, what he means to you now that you're saved what you have to look forward to and how they too can know the only savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Repeating what other people have said about the Bible is not enough.

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