1.5 About Salvation

You know, one of the biggest questions that sometimes people carry around, whether they say it out loud or not, I think everyone at some point in life has wondered, is everything good between me and God? Am I right with God? I mean, what does that mean to be right with God? Am I, am I a good enough moral person? For a lot of people, faith feels kind of like a scoreboard. Good days count for something and bad days kind of count against you. And somewhere along the way, we kind of just hope that we've done enough good to outweigh the bad, that our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, and that somehow we get in. But the message of salvation, the message of salvation is not about trying harder. It's not about stacking up enough good deeds or performing enough good things to somehow get God appeased with our performance. No, no, no, it's the cross. It's the finished work of the cross and believing that it counted for you, that Jesus did on the cross what you could not do for yourself nor could ever do, that I could not do for myself nor could ever do. It's not about stacking up performance. Salvation is a gift from God to humanity. It is not earned. It is not deserved. It is not achieved through effort or self-improvement. It's not inherited from family just because you had a good grandmother or grandfather or a Christian mother or father. It's not automatic just because you attend church. It's deeper than that. Romans 6, verse 23 teaches that sin is what leads to death, but eternal life is a free gift from God through His Son, Jesus Christ. That word gift is so vitally important for you to double down on. A gift cannot be earned.

A gift is something that is given, and you just receive it. You just receive it. The Bible is honest about the human condition, that all of us are guilty of sin, and that brokenness creates separation between us and a perfect God, and no amount of good behavior can undo that. No amount of good deeds can ever undo that separation. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9 teaches us that we are saved by faith through grace, by grace through faith, that it is not a reward for the good things that we have done, lest we would boast or brag about it. So the Bible makes it clear that if somehow we could earn our salvation, we'd walk around bragging about it. If somehow we believed we could earn our salvation, we wouldn't humbly rejoice into heaven. We would strut into heaven, thinking that somehow we made it. We did it. We fought. We earned it. We deserve this. We're entitled to heaven, when the Bible actually gives us a picture in heaven that one day in Revelation, it says that when we behold Jesus Christ Himself, the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the earth, we are gonna be hit with the awareness that the only reason that we escaped death, the only reason that we escaped hell, the only reason that we made it to life everlasting was because of what Jesus did on the cross. And even though we will be rewarded with crowns of righteousness, the Bible gives us this picture that one by one, we're gonna take our crown, and with tears in our eyes, throw them at His feet, and sing a song, only He is worthy, only He is worthy, the King of all kings and the Lord of all lords. Bro, listen, that don't sound like a bunch of prideful, entitled people to me. That sounds like a bunch of people who finally understood once and for all in more graphic detail than ever before that He did what we could not do, and that salvation was just given to us as a gift that we simply received by faith.

It comes from trusting that Jesus did what God sent Him here to do. This matters because many people walk away from faith thinking that somehow they failed God. The truth is, salvation was never about perfection in the first place. We receive the free gift of salvation when we place our trust in Jesus and the cross. He said in John 14 and verse 6 that He was not a way, not a truth or a life, He is the way. He is the truth and the life that no man will ever come to the Father except through Him. That is exclusive, I know, but it's true. He is the only way that we have access to the Father. That statement isn't about shutting people out, it's about God making a clear way back to an intimate relationship with Him. He is not one option among many. He is the only answer to our separation from God. John chapter 1 and verse 12 teaches that those who confess their sins and believe in Jesus have been given the right to become the children of God. Salvation is not just about forgiveness, it's about restoring our relationship that God desired to have with us all along and it's an invitation to an intimate and intimate personal relationship with Him forever. And if you don't know Him, if you've never I prayed that prayer. It's very simple, but it's so powerful. And it's not the words, it's the faith that you put in these words. The Bible says in Romans chapter 10, 9 and 10, that if we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and that God hath raised him from the dead, we shall be saved.

As many as call upon the name of the Lord, he said in one place, shall be saved. That means that whoever you are, wherever you come from, salvation is possible and accessible to you through what Jesus did on the cross. And all you have to do is pray a simple prayer of faith like this. It goes, dear heavenly father, I love you. I love you because you first loved me. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for me, but I'm so thankful that he didn't just die, that he wasn't just buried, but that he rose again the third day. Because he rose again the third day, it is proof positive that all you promised me is true. And today I receive that salvation into my life. I receive the forgiveness that you give me and by faith I believe that it's true. Now fill me with peace and fill me with purpose and let all of my life bring glory and honor to you. Amen and amen.