- So this is Christianity for Beginners
lesson number five in this seven-lesson series.
Tonight's topic, the topic of salvation.
And I've mentioned already that this
is a special group of lessons to introduce
the Christian religion to those
who may not be familiar with it.
And also for those who want just a refresher course
about the basic things of Christianity.
So far in our series we have discussed number one,
belief in God, in other words why do Christians
believe in God.
Second lesson, the Christian religion itself.
We compared the Christian religion to other
world religions to see how it was different,
what were the advantages of the Christian religion
in comparison to Buddhism for example, or Islam.
Then we studies the history and the writing
of the Bible itself.
How did we get the Bible?
How did it come to us and some of the reasons
why we believe that the Bible is inspired of God.
And then last time we studied the person of Jesus Christ,
who is Jesus Christ according to what the Bible
says about Him.
In our lesson today we're going to talk about
the subject of salvation,
the most important issue in the Bible
spoken of by Jesus and of course the Christian religion.
Now first of all we need to realize that every religion
has an idea of salvation.
That's not unique to Christianity.
Usually salvation, whatever the religion
you're looking at, usually refers to some altered
or improved state of being in this life
or a new existence of some kind after death.
Every religion, we have learned, has a different name
for salvation.
For example the Taoists called it balance.
Finding the balance between the ying and the yang.
That's the ultimate state of being.
Buddhists refer to salvation as nirvana.
The Hindus call it Muksha.
Islam speaks of paradise.
So no matter what other religions call it or describe
its experience, however, they all share
a similar pathway to their own concept of salvation.
Each religion has a way to get to that salvation,
each one of them has it in the point I'm making is
it's the same pathway for all of these other religions.
In all religion except Christianity,
salvation is achieved by some kind of human effort.
For example, Buddhism requires meditation and knowledge,
self-denial, in order to reach its salvific goal.
Islam demands that its adherence, practice
and maintain the five spiritual exercises,
the five pillars, we talked about that,
if they wish to arrive at paradise.
So these are only two examples,
but all other religions, aside from Christianity,
demand some form of moral or religious law keeping
in order to become worthy or acceptable
to a higher power and thus saved.
That's one thing that all religions
all Christianity share.
So the basic premise is always
the same from religion to religion.
Mankind is flawed and subject to death.
God or a higher power or a higher force of some kind
provides the knowledge and the method
to improve this flawed condition and ultimately
escape death in some way.
That knowledge and method is mediated
by religious leaders who teach and maintain
the spiritual discipline to eventually be saved.
Again, salvation has different names
depending on the religion.
And then if the individual works hard enough,
trains well enough, is zealous enough in his practice
of religious customs and rules,
he or she will win the prize of salvation.
Now except for customs and names, this has been
the pattern for obtaining salvation outlined
by most of the major religions in the world
throughout the history of mankind.
They have different names, different practices,
different languages, different outfits,
you know, different everything.
But the pattern is always the same.
The way to achieve salvation, whatever you call it,
always the same in all of these religions.
Christianity's idea and approach to salvation, however,
is completely different.
And that's what we want to talk about tonight.
So let's talk about Christianity now
and the issue of salvation, the problem first of all.
Christianity begins with the same premise
concerning mankind's general condition
than other religions have.
Human beings are flawed.
They're subject to moral failure
and physical suffering ultimately death.
The Bible, which reveals Christianity's view
on human salvation, teaches that the source
of this condition is mankind's sinfulness.
Paul, for example, the Apostle,
summarizes this idea in his epistle to the Romans
when he says for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God.
There in one verse he summarizes man's condition.
And then he declares what the consequences
of this sinfulness is.
In Romans 6:23 he says for the wages of sin is death.
What causes death?
Sin, sinfulness.
In another epistle, John the Apostle this time describes
what sin is.
He says everyone who practices sin
also practices lawlessness.
And sin is lawlessness.
In other words, disobedience,
breaking of God's law.
That's what sin is.
And then in the Book of Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet,
Isaiah explains in more detail the effect
that sin has on us and why it leads to death.
So Isaiah says the following.
He says but your inequities,
that's your lawlessness, your sins,
but your inequities have made a separation
between you and your God.
And your sins have hidden His face from you
so that he does not hear.
So if were to summarize these few verses
about sin and its effect, we could say
the following in summary.
Sin is disobedience to God's will.
Everyone at one time or another sins.
This disobedience therefore separates us from God.
The word death in the Hebrew actually means separation,
it means to separate.
You're separated from God.
This separation ultimate leads to our physical death
as well as our spiritual suffering because our spirit
cannot be at peace or experience joy
if it is separated from the spirit of God
in whose image it was originally created.
Genesis 1:26.
So I want to give you a kind of a visual example
of this phenomenon of separation and sin and its effect.
And for this a prop here.
So let's say for argument's sake that this plant
is God and His people.
God is the main stem and the people are the leaves
that are attached to the main stem.
Now we know that so long as the leaves
are attached to the plant,
they are alive and they produce more leaves
and they produce blossoms and so on and so forth.
However, if I were to take a pair of scissors
and if I were to cut one of the leaves
away from this lovely, healthy plant here,
what would happen?
Well, I could,
I would look at these leaves and I would say,
well, this leaf over here,
it looks exactly the same as this leaf.
It's green, it has smell, it's moist.
I can even feel the moisture from the stem.
But what is it in reality?
Well, we know that after a certain amount of time,
this leaf over here would start to decay
and it would turn brown and eventually just,
eventually decay, turn brown, rot,
and just blow away as dust.
Now, the main plant, however,
would continue to grow.
I mean this leaf, even though for a moment or two
it looks like this leaf over here,
eventually this one would die.
This one would continue to grow and to blossom.
Why?
Well, it's simple.
These leaves are attached to the stem
which gives it life.
These leaves have been cut away.
They've been separated from the main stem.
And so therefore what gives it life and nutrients
to stay alive is no longer there,
and so therefore they die.
Well, this is not a perfect example.
But it does demonstrate the process
that takes place through human sinfulness
and the need for salvation.
The word salvation, another word for salvation
again in the Greek is rescue.
We were born sinless were joined to God
who brings us into being and sustains our
physical and spiritual lives because
we're attached to Him.
Eventually we sin.
We disobey His commands and His laws
concerning moral and spiritual behavior.
And in doing this we separate ourselves from Him.
Just like I cut away that leaf from the main stem,
we do that when we sin.
We separate ourselves from Him.
And in doing so we become subject to further moral decay,
physical death, and a spiritual
separation from God after death.
The idea is, remember I said this leaf over here
for a time, it looks like the leaves
that are attached, you can't really tell the difference.
Only with time this leaf begins to rot and decay.
Well, in the same way, when we're separated from God,
for a time we look okay.
We're healthy, we're walking around,
we're producing children, we're building things,
we're happy, we laugh, we have all kinds of activities,
but we know the clock is ticking.
It's only a matter of time
before we start to decay and grow older,
and eventually die.
The problem here of course is that
once we're cutoff from God,
we don't have the ability to reattach ourselves to Him.
And thus we are doomed.
Just like the dead leaf cannot reattach itself
back to the plant, it is doomed.
This is the essential difference between
Christianity and all other religions.
Let me explain.
Other religions believe and teach that human beings
are able to reattach themselves to God
through some kind of human effort.
I repeat that.
Other religions believe that they can reattach themselves
to God, to the force, to the power, whatever,
through some kind of human or religious effort.
For example, gaining some kind of
religious knowledge and insight.
Or perhaps practicing religious discipline
such as worship or meditation
or secret rituals or pilgrimages.
Some people try to achieve it through extreme denial
of human appetites or food restrictions.
Whatever the culture, whatever the tradition or religion,
the method is always the same.
An attempt to be reunited with God
by human effort in order to avoid suffering, death,
and the separation of the soul
from its natural place with God forever.
All right.
Christianity, as I mentioned, is unique in that
it reveals a method for rescuing man based on God's actions
and not on human actions.
That's so very important.
And so the Bible teaches how God rescues or saves us
from the death caused by our separation from Him
due to our sins and disobedience.
Here's how that works.
Number one.
God pays the moral debt that we owe Him.
Each sin we make, each law we break
creates a moral debt that we owe to God.
Why?
Because He's the law maker.
He makes the laws.
He's the one who says though shall not,
though shall not.
And when we break His law, we owe Him a moral debt.
This moral debt is the cause of our guilt and shame
and fear of death and judgment
because we know that we're guilty.
We cannot repay this moral debt
because we are polluted by sin.
And we can't produce the sinless perfect life
required to remove a lifetime of imperfection and sin.
So in Christianity, what does God do
that doesn't happen in other religions?
Well in Christianity, God himself pays the moral debt
through Jesus Christ.
It is in this way that God rescues us.
Paul the Apostle explains it in this way
in Romans chapter five verses six through 11.
And I read, he says,
for while we were still helpless.
Well, here's helpless.
This is helpless.
While were still helpless,
unable to reattach ourselves to the stem, okay?
So while e were still helpless at the right time
God died for the ungodly,.
For one will hardly die for a righteous man,
though perhaps for the good man
someone would even dare to die.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us
in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
Much more than 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.
And not only this, but we also exalt in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom
we have now received the reconciliation.
So Paul explains very clearly,
and this passage where he explains and points out
certain features of the Christian religion.
So let me break it down for you a little bit
through a question and answer method.
Number one, so why did God take on a human form
in Jesus Christ?
Answer.
Only a perfect life could be offered
for the moral indebtedness of man
and only God in the form of man could accomplish
this perfect life.
You can't offer an imperfect sinful life
to pay for the sins of an imperfect sinful life.
It doesn't work.
You have to have a perfect life in order to substitute
for an imperfect life, to pay for those debts.
And only God in the form of man could live a perfect life.
Another question.
Why did Jesus have to die in order
to obtain this forgiveness for man's moral debt?
Answer.
Debt, death rather, was required because
according to God's spiritual laws,
human sinfulness could only be atoned for through death.
That's the only way that you can atone for sin.
Somebody say, why?
Who thought that up?
God did.
That's His spiritual law.
Where do we see that?
Well, let's read Hebrews 9:22.
It says according to the law,
one may almost say all things are cleansed,
atoned for, made pure with blood.
And without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
That's not a physical law.
That's not like a scientific law like gravity
or something like that.
That's a spiritual law.
It wasn't made up by human beings.
God made this law.
I read again.
According to the law, meaning God's law,
one may almost say all things are cleansed,
purified with blood.
What does he mean blood?
Well, with life because the life is in the blood.
Without the shedding of blood,
without death, without someone sacrificing
their life, he says, there is no forgiveness.
That's what the Old Testament is all about.
All those animals sacrificed.
They were simply a preview of what was to come,
the real thing to come which is Jesus Christ.
And so a perfect life was required to make up
for the imperfect life of mankind
that was destroyed by sin.
And so God takes the form of a human being,
we call Him Jesus Christ,
and offers His innocent and perfect life
as a sacrifice to pay the moral debt of sin
for all of mankind.
All right, another question.
Well, how does Jesus' sacrifice pay
for the sins of everyone?
Answer.
If Jesus were only a man,
even a good and holy man,
His sacrifice could atone for himself
and perhaps for another person.
One man pays for another person.
But because Jesus is also God
and has a divine nature,
the intrinsic value of His life
and thus his sacrifice is different.
As God, the sacrifice of His divine life
is able to pay for the sins of all mankind.
The divine life, the intrinsic quality,
value of His life, different than any other life
is such that it is worth the life
of every human being ever born.
That's why we needed the divine Son of God
to offer the human life.
An interesting passage in I Peter 3:18.
Peter talks about this.
He says for Christ also died for sins,
once for all the just for the unjust
so that He bring us to God
having put to death in the flesh
butt made alive in the spirit.
Another interesting passage in Hebrews 7:25.
The writer says therefore He, meaning Jesus,
therefore He is able also to save forever
those who draw near to God through Him
since he always lives to make intercession for them.
He has an eternal life.
He is always able to offer His sacrifice forever
for our sins.
The value of His sacrifice is such that it pays
for everybody's sin forever.
Another possible question.
What was the purpose of the Jewish people?
What role did they play in all of this?
Well, as I've explained in other places,
God chose one man, Abraham.
And form him he created a special people.
He gave them their religion.
He gave them a country, he gave them laws
and formed their culture and history
and their religion.
We read about this in the old testament.
Now the reason for this was to provide a religious
cultural and historical stage upon which
he would appear as Jesus Christ.
His purpose was to offer his life for the sins of mankind.
The Jewish people were the vehicle used
to make his human appearance and to be also
the first nation to whom this forgiveness would be offered.
And then one of the question, or another question,
what is the role of the Bible?
Well, the Bible is the inspired account
of God's plan to save humanity through Jesus Christ.
It records the beginning of the world but then
it focuses in on the forming of the Jewish people,
and then it continues to tell their story
until the appearance of Jesus
and follows with the eyewitness accounts
of His death and burial, resurrection, his ascension.
And then the Bible ends with the history
of the forming of His church
and the spread of Christianity in the first century.
Its main theme, however is the salvation of mankind
through Jesus Christ.
Paul the Apostle summarizes this idea
in writing to a young minister
when he says the following.
And that from childhood you have known
the sacred writings.
Those are the scriptures.
Which are able to give you the wisdom
that leads to salvation,
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
II Timothy 3:15.
And so Christianity presents a unique way
to deal with the consequences
of human weakness and moral failure,
not by human effort and religious practice
or attempts to achieve moral perfection.
But God offers himself through Jesus Christ
as a payment for the death of our sins.
Now, in Christianity God rescues us from death,
from separation, from condemnation
because we do not have the power to rescue ourselves.
And if you remember anything from this lesson,
try to remember the main difference between
Christianity and all other organized religions
is that in Christianity God is the one who rescues us.
And all other religions, human beings try to rescue
themselves with God's help.
A very big difference.
Now, this is not to say that humans
have no participation in the rescue.
We do offer something to God.
But it's the only thing we truly have to give to God
and that is our faith.
It's the only thing that belongs to us
that we have to offer.
Everything else God gives us.
But we own our faith.
We own the yes or the no.
We own the ability to say yes to God, I believe,
or no to God, I don't believe.
That is ours to give.
And that's exactly what God asks of us
the thing that we have, the ability to give Him.
And this brings us to the second important
teaching in the Bible concerning
this subject of salvation.
And that is salvation is based on faith
not human effort.
So in Christianity, God does what is impossible for mankind.
And that is pay the moral debt for sin,
and man does what is humanly possible,
he trusts God.
That's what man can do.
This is the sum of salvation.
God offers man rescue from death
and separation caused by sin.
And man believes and trusts in God
to accomplish this on His behalf.
That's the deal.
I rescue you.
You trust me to do the work.
This beautiful reconciliation is described
in various ways in the Bible.
For example, in Romans 5:1 Paul says therefore
having been justified by faith,
that term justified means made right,
means made okay, made acceptable, forgiven,
it means all those things.
So therefore we have been justified by faith.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In other place in John chapter three verse 16,
for God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten son
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish, but have eternal life.
If I were to go back to my example of separation
with the plant used a little earlier in this lesson.
In Christianity it's as if God takes the cutoff branch
and he reattaches it back to Himself.
And we know this, people who garden
and our little plant example here
you see there on that branch there,
that little brown thing?
People do this with plants and damaged trees all the time.
It's called grafting, right?
They cut a wedge and they reattach
the severed branch of leaf or whatever,
and they hold it in place with some kind of wrapping.
In the same way God grafts us back into himself
and the element that holds us
into place so to speak is faith.
Faith is what holds us and grafts us
back into God's life, God's person.
This is the key doctrine of the Christian religion.
Salvation by faith through grace.
In other words because of God's kindness, His grace,
He offers us salvation, rescue,
based on our faith on Jesus Christ
and not based on personal goodness or human effort.
Paul the Apostle says it in this way.
But now apart from the law,
the righteousness of God has been manifested
being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
Even the righteousness of God through faith
in Jesus Christ for all those who believe
for there is no distinction.
Paul is saying that right now
aside from the law and the righteousness of God,
His goodness, His right ways, if you wish,
have been manifested.
How?
He's offered us salvation based on faith.
That's how right He is.
That's how good He is.
That's what He's saying here, all right?
Of course there are many facets and details
to the Christian religion
that I've not mentioned here.
But the issue of salvation and how it is
produced by God and received by a man
is the core teaching of the Bible
and the Christian faith.
Now, there are some questions that naturally arise
from this teaching and what most of us
already know about Christianity.
Here's one of the questions.
What is faith and what exactly are we to believe?
Well, first of all belief, by simple definition,
is to accept something as true.
That's the definition of believing.
I accept that this is true, that's believing.
In Christianity, we accept as true
that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
That's what we believe, that's what we accept as true.
When challenged to believe, Peter, one of the apostles,
demonstrated the essence of the Christian belief
when he said the following.
You are the Christ, the son of the living God.
Matthew 16:16.
Now there are many other teachings and details
of the Christian faith that one must know
and understand and believe.
However, for salvation's sake,
the essential issue is what we believe
about Jesus Christ.
Of course this belief includes our trust
that His death pays for our sins and our faith in Him
makes us right before God.
Okay, that's what we're supposed to believe.
Another question.
Well, what about repentance and baptism?
'Cause the Bible talks about that.
Well, in the Bible faith is almost always
associated and accompanied by repentance and baptism,
in the New Testament it is.
Repentance refers to a change of heart,
a turning from disbelief and sin
to belief and a desire to please God.
I've mentioned before that repentance
is a forward-looking thing.
When I repent I'm looking into the future.
I'm saying in the future, this is how I will act.
This is how what I will think.
This is what I will do.
I will not do what I did in the past.
That's why repentance isn't trying to go back
and fix things.
Repentance is looking forward and making a change
in the future.
The English word baptism comes from a Greek word
which means to plunge or to immerse in water.
And so in the Bible those who believed in Jesus
expressed that belief or that faith
through repentance, that decision to change their ways
and baptism, immersion in water.
And so when Peter the Apostle preached
about Jesus' death and resurrection,
he encouraged people to believe.
And when they responded to him and asked
how they were to do this, this is what he said to them.
Repent and each of you be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And, you know, we quote that passage a lot here.
And one of the reasons we do is because it is
the first response after the death
and resurrection of Jesus and His ascension.
Peter is preaching the first sermon,
the first full gospel sermon on the day of Pentecost,
first time the full gospel is being preached.
And the first time he's finished preaching
and that people say to him, well, so what do we do now?
And his answer is, in Acts 2:38, repent and be baptized.
That's why 2,000 years later when I'm teaching someone
and they're thinking and they say, well I believe in Jesus.
What do I do now?
My answer is always Acts 2:38 because my point is
if it was good enough for Peter,
as his response to people who are
hearing the gospel for the first time,
then it's good enough for me as an answer
to people who are asking me.
What do I do now?
Yeah, repent and be baptized.
In another passage, Paul the Apostle
describes what was said to him
before he was baptized by a man called Ananias.
It says, now, why do you delay?
Get up and be baptized and wash away your sins
calling on His name.
To summarize them.
God offers salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
And we accept that sacrifice for our personal sins
by faith, that is by believing that Jesus
is the son of God.
And we express that faith according
to God's command in repentance and in baptism.
Perhaps one last question.
Who can become a Christian?
And when can a person be baptized?
Jesus answer this question when He spoke
to His apostles recorded in the Gospel of Mark.
He said to them, go into all the world and preach
the gospel to all creation.
He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved.
But He who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
And so Jesus himself says that the good news
of salvation is for everybody.
Everybody.
Anyone who believes and is baptized,
according to Jesus, is saved.
No exceptions based on color or race, excuse me.
Education, gender, social position.
However, he also makes clear that those
who refused to believe have no alternative way to be saved.
This means that when we come to belief,
then we shouldn't hesitate to express that faith
in the way that God intended,
and that of course is through repentance and baptism.
So as we close this lesson on salvation,
let me encourage everybody hearing this message
to believe in Jesus Christ and trust in the way
of salvation that only He offers.
No one else offers that.
And if you have not yet expressed your faith
and repentance and baptism,
then you need to do so as soon as possible.
Okay, well, that's our lesson on salvation.
Next time we get together we're going to talk about the church.
What does the Bible say about the church.
All right, that's our lesson for this evening.
Thank you very much for your attention.