Salvation, pt 1

When you’re driving a car, how conscious are you of what is going on under the hood? Some of you more than others. And for those of you that are, it can be a little surprising to talk to someone, maybe even your own wife, who isn’t interested at all. Lots of people drive cars, who have no idea and maybe even no interest in what’s happening under the hood. They might think: “All I care about is that it works. I press the gas, and the car goes! It’s that simple. I don’t need to worry myself with all the technical details. I’m not a mechanic.”

Well that might acceptable to some, but it’s not a very safe or wise position. You may not be a mechanic, but you need at least a basic understanding of how a car works. Why? What’s the big deal if I know nothing about how a car works? I’ll give you a quick list.

First of all, you ignore warning signs. A light can come on saying the car is too hot or a tire is low, but there’s no urgency or concern because you have no idea what difference it makes.

Secondly, you neglect regular maintenance. If I don’t know the benefit of clean oil, then my consistency in getting an oil change is going to diminish. It doesn’t seem that important.

Number three, you make silly mistakes. If you don’t have a basic understanding of what makes a car work, you can do silly things like put diesel gas in it because it’s cheaper. One of my siblings did that in their first year of driving. I won’t tell you who it was because I love her so much. Lesson learned. Back to our list...

Number four, you can’t deal with emergencies. What happens when you run over a nail and you get a flat tire? Or if your car starts overheating and smoke is coming from the hood? Or if you start hearing strange noises? Do you pull over? Do you keep driving, hoping to fix it tonight? You can’t even make that decision if you don’t know something about how a car works. And this is connected to the last one on my list.

Number 5, if you don’t have a basic knowledge about how a car works, you won’t be able to help others. Even if your own car never breaks down, what about when somebody else’s car breaks down? You’ll be useless.

Without a basic understanding of how a car works, you ignore warning signs, you neglect regular maintenance, you make silly mistakes, you can’t handle emergencies, and you’re no help to anybody else.

Well, you didn’t come here today to learn about cars, obviously, so why am I telling you this? I say this because the way some of us think about cars is very similar to the way some of us think about salvation. “I believe in Jesus. He saves me. It’s that simple. I don’t need to bother myself with all the technical details. I’m not a pastor.”

And the results are the same. People ignore warning signs, they neglect their spiritual life, they make silly mistakes, they can’t handle life’s emergencies, and they are of no benefit to anybody else.

And tragically, that is what has led to the decline of healthy churches in our culture. People, including some pastors, have stopped caring about doctrine, about theology. This is part of the reason we are making our way through our current series.

What does Christianity actually teach? And for the next 4 or 5 weeks, we’re slowing down for a month to focus on the gift of salvation. The fancy term for the study of salvation is Soteriology. From the Greek word sotería, which mean salvation.

You need to know more about salvation than just saying that “Jesus loves you” or “Jesus saves” or “Jesus is the answer.” You need to be able to unpack that for the benefit of the church, and for the benefit of your own soul. Jesus talked about those who claimed to find salvation, but ended up in hell. It’s a frightening idea. And it’s connected to a misunderstanding of what salvation is or what it includes.

So where do we start when we talk about salvation? Today, we’re going to start with what many consider to be the foundation of salvation. It’s the doctrine that sets authentic Christianity apart from any other belief system. And that doctrine is called justification. Justification. Some of you might learn some new words today, and that’s a good thing.

Justification is not a doctrine reserved for pastors or church leaders, or those interested in it. It’s a doctrine every Christian needs to understand. And I say that with confidence because it’s a doctrine emphasized in the Bible in the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.

We’ll get to a definition of justification in just a little bit. But you should know that justification has to do with words like just or justice or right or righteousness. If you gather the group of words that talk about justification or righteousness, you find that one book stand out in this topic.

One book uses these words almost twice as much as the second-place book. That book is Paul’s letter to the Romans. The theme of the book is righteousness. And although we know that God is righteous or just, the question is: how can a man be saved if he is an unrighteous sinner?

Turn with me to chapter 3. The first two and a half chapters of Romans emphasize man’s sinful condition. We are all worthy of God’s wrath and judgment. No one is righteous. No one can be good enough. But then in chapter 3, he takes a turn and starts to about salvation. And we’re going to be in this passage for our time today. Look with me at Romans 3:20.

What does it mean to be justified? This is a legal term. And it means to be declared righteous. You are not actually made righteous here, but you are pronounced as righteous. You are declared innocent or free. And Paul’s point in verse 20 is that nobody can be declared righteous by God by keeping the law. You can’t be good enough.

And this was so important because the church in Rome had Jews and Gentiles and there was a division forming. The Jews elevated themselves because they had the Old Testament Law. And they were trying to hold other to that same standard.

And Paul says, No. The Law is not a staircase that gets you to God. It’s a mirror. It reveals to you how far down you are. The reason God placed such an elaborate system of rules over Israel was (1) to separate them from other nations, and (2) to show them that they couldn’t keep the law perfectly. Through the law comes (not justification, or salvation) but the knowledge of sin. The law was to bring humility, not pride.

But if the law didn’t bring salvation, how can you get saved from the condemnation of eternal hell? I’m going to give you the answer upfront. That way, if we run out of time, you can still have it. Here’s Paul’s answer. Here is God’s answer. Salvation (or justification—being declared righteous) happens by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Justification is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And we want to unpack that today. Let’s follow Paul’s argument and see how he fleshes this out. Rom 3:21-22.

How can you be declared righteous by God, who is the Judge? It doesn’t come by the Law, it comes through faith in Jesus Christ. This was specifically addressing those Jews who didn’t want to think a Gentile could be allowed in because they didn’t keep the Law. Paul says “there is no distinction.” Everyone is saved by faith.

Now you have to ask the question: What kind of faith? If I owed you ten dollars, you wouldn’t be satisfied if I gave you ten Monopoly dollars, right? It’s not real money. The same is true with faith. It’s not just a generic faith that saves people. There has to be real, authentic faith. What is genuine faith? What is saving faith?

Well, in the New Testament it includes repentance. Repentance is the negative side. It means you are turning from a lifestyle. It’s a change of mind that is so strong it results in a change of life. It includes a sorrow over sin and a commitment to forsake sin.

John the Baptist called for repentance. Jesus called for repentance. And over and over, through the book of Acts, the gospel call is … what? Repent of sin!

Repentance is the negative side, but the positive side is genuine faith. This is trusting in Christ. It means you believe something is true. But it’s a personal trust. You’re not just believe facts. You’re believing in a person. You’re entrusting yourself to Jesus Christ. He is Lord. He’s not just God. He’s the rightful Ruler of your life, and you are ready to submit to Him. Your entire life belongs to Him now. That’s genuine faith. It includes repentance.

And if that is there, you are saved! There are no hoops to jump through. There’s no trial period. You’re saved on through genuine faith in Jesus Christ.

A person is not saved because they became a member of a church. Or because they were baptized. Salvation is not a process that combines faith and works. It is by faith alone. It is instantaneous at the moment of faith. Justification happens in the courtroom of God. Biblical salvation is about being saved from sin and hell and judgment. The biggest problem in the world is not social injustice or oppression; it’s the sinful human heart. And justification releases you from your guilt before God. It declares you innocent. It declares you righteous.

There will always be people trying to minimize what authentic faith looks like. And there will always be people trying to add to the requirements of salvation. Be ready to reject that!

Let me tell you one specific person that you, at times, might struggle to believe is saved. Are you ready for this? It’s not the Gentiles. It’s yourself. You will sin. You will blow it. You will ruin something. But you can’t sin enough to cancel salvation or to make it impossible.

God calls us to examine our faith. But examining your faith doesn’t mean do some more good stuff to balance out the bad stuff. It means, ask yourself: Have I genuinely repented of my sin? Have I forsaken sin? Am I willing to do whatever it necessary to fight sin and obey Jesus Christ? Do I believe Jesus Christ? … And if your genuine answer is “Yes,” then you are saved. That’s justification by faith alone. No hoops to jump through for salvation. That’s why Paul says “There is no distinction.” Rom 3:23-24a.

We are all unworthy of salvation. But we can all be saved. We can all be justified the same way? How? We are justified through by grace through faith in Christ. And the beginning of verse 24 says that. It’s by God’s grace. What does that mean?

It means it comes as the result of God’s unmerited favor. It’s a blessing we don’t deserve. Last week we talked a little bit about the human sinful condition. We can’t come to God on our own power. Apart from Christ, we are dead in our transgressions. We can’t fix what is wrong with us. We can’t even take the first step. God has to step in.

It’s not just that God’s grace helps you make a better decisions. It is God’s grace that gives you faith. Ephesians 2—By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. What is a gift? All of it! The faith! The salvation!

Philippians 1:29 says it like this: For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should believe in Him.

This is saving grace, not common grace. Everybody receive God’s common grace. But those who are saved have received God’s saving grace.

Second Corinthians 4:6 says: just like God said “Let there be light” on the first day of creation, He has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

We are saved by God’s grace. We are justified by grace. This is so important! God saved you. You didn’t save yourself. He isn’t obligated to save anyone, but He promises to save anyone who comes to Him in genuine, repentant faith. And when they come, it’s because He started the work in them. His Spirit was working in them to draw them to Himself. Justification is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Now, there are two very important words that Paul uses to actually tell us what Jesus Christ did. What is the connection between Jesus dying on the cross and our salvation? What happened? Why does that save us? Look at Rom 3:24-25a.

Those are two giant words: Redemption and Propitiation. And you need to understand what they mean. Let’s start with redemption. What does it mean to be redeemed? Well, the word redemption has to do with a payment. In those times, you could go to the marketplace and buy a slave. You would purchase him for yourself. There was a cost. And the analogy here has to do with your release as a slave of sin. God didn’t just set you free. There was a price to pay. And that price, that redemption, was the life of Jesus Christ.

So when someone is saved, they are no longer a slave of sin, they have become a slave of Christ. He owns you now. That’s what redemption means. It means there was a price. There was a transaction. You weren’t just set free. You were set free with a payment, with a ransom. And the payment for our freedom from sin was Jesus Christ.

The second word Paul uses to describe what happened gives us a clearer picture. He ways Jesus was a propitiation ,that’s in verse 25. Propitiation is a very important word, and some of the meaning is lost if your Bible translation leaves it out. You need to learn the word propitiation. What is it?

Well, the word propitiation is talking about something that appeases or satisfies God’s wrath. God’s wrath was turned aside because of an appropriate sacrifice. This is so important to the holiness of God. Some people don’t like to think of God as a God of wrath. They don’t want to imagine that God is actually angry at someone. But that’s part of who He is. We were children of wrath. We deserved His righteous punishment. But something was done to turn His wrath away from us. What was that? It was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, as our perfect High Priest didn’t just make propitiation. He WAS the propitiation. He offered Himself. That’s what 1 John 2:2 says. First John 4:10 says God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

It’s not just about a cleansing or a cancelling of sin. It’s about a deferring of God’s righteous wrath. Jesus was our Substitute. Your sin didn’t go away. Your sin was placed on Christ who then suffered God’s wrath in your place.

You need to get this. Jesus didn’t die to pay Satan for your sin. Satan didn’t demand a price for you. God did. Jesus didn’t die to vindicate God’s honor. Jesus didn’t die just to prove to us that God hates sin. Jesus death wasn’t primarily about giving us an example to follow. Jesus didn’t even die just to show us how much He loved us. His death was not simply a demonstration of something. It accomplished something.

1 Peter 2:24—He Himself bore our sins in his body.

Isa 53 — He was smitten by God. He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the punishment that brought us peace. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This is what all the sacrifices of the Old Testament were pointing to. And it is this work of Jesus Christ that God did to be received by faith. That’s what verse 25 says. Rom 3:25-26.

This is Paul’s emphasis. God is righteous. God is just. Those people who were thinking that it wasn’t fair of God to let people in simply on the basis of faith, didn’t have the whole picture. God is fair. God is just. He isn’t ignoring sin. He isn’t overlooking sin. He paid for it in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And now, as a result, God’s wrath toward you has been satisfied. Jesus was a once-for-all sacrifice paying for your sin. God receives you as His own by grace through faith in the work and person of Jesus.

We don’t always think of it like this, but it’s foundational: God killed Jesus. And Jesus died for God. God killed Jesus. And Jesus died for God. As a result, God maintains His righteousness. He is Just and the Justifier of all who have faith in Jesus Christ. God is righteous, and yet He declares sinners righteous. Because of the cross.

God is a God of wrath. God is a God of love. And both are on display at the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s the answer to what some have called the great riddle of the Old Testament. Exodus 34:6-7. God forgives iniquity and transgression and sin, but he will not clear the guilty. How does He do that? How could God forgive someone for their sins, if sin has to be punished? The cross of Jesus Christ is the answer. Justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

And how is this supposed to be applied in our own lives? Obviously the first way is faith. We preach this message so that you would believe it. Today is the day of salvation for some of you. Today, you get it. And today you can lay down your life in repentance and faith and receive the salvation of Jesus Christ.

For those of us who have already received this salvation, obviously there is joy. There is wonder. There is gratitude. And there is also humility. And this is what many of the Jews were missing in the church of Rome. They didn’t understand salvation completely and so they weren’t empowered for the life God wanted for them. Let’s close with Rom 3:27-30.

Who takes the credit for being saved? You!? Or course not! How could you?! There is no room for boasting. There’s no room for self-credit.

We are justified by faith apart from works. Whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile. No matter what our differences are, we are united by faith in Jesus Christ. We’ve all been saved the same way. We’ve all been justified the same way. By grace through faith in the work of Jesus Christ, our redemption our propitiation, our Substitute.

Is that amazing news?! It is. But it’s not the end of salvation. There’s more to what god has planned for us. Justification is just the beginning. That’s what God accomplished on the cross and what He applied to you at the moment of your faith. But God is still working. And God has much more planned. Salvation is more than just forgiveness. We’ll see more of what our salvation includes, next week. Let’s pray.