WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET SAVED by Pastor Shah, Clearview, Henderson
We are in our 6th week of the series on salvation and guess what? Someone else got saved and baptized! So here’s another message on salvation titled – “WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET SAVED.” If you asked the average Christian to explain what happened when they got saved, you won’t get just one answer. You will be shocked at the different answers you will hear. Some will say that their sins were forgiven, others will tell you that they are going to heaven, someone else will talk about a feeling of peace that came over them, and yet others will tell you the name of the church they joined. There is some truth in all that but salvation is so much greater!
Hebrews 2:1-4 1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
Overall Background: The Book of Hebrews is right up there with the Book of Romans for me. It was written to help Christians who were having doubts regarding their salvation. They were wondering if all this “getting saved” stuff was just a mistake. The Book of Hebrews was written to prove that Jesus Christ was the culmination of everything in the Old Testament. He was indeed God’s Son that we were all waiting for. His sacrifice is all we need for our salvation. By the way, did you notice how salvation is described in verse 3 “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.” Meaning: This is not just any salvation but “so great a salvation!” Our salvation is worth so much more than we think!
For e.g.Søren Kierkegaard was a philosopher, theologian, and social critic. He told a story of some thieves who broke into a jewelry store but they did not steal anything. They simply rearranged the price tags. They took the price tags from expensive jewelry and put them on cheap jewelry and took the price tags from cheap jewelry and put them on expensive jewelry. The next morning, they simply came and paid next to nothing for million of dollars worth of jewelry.
Sadly, that’s what we have done to getting saved. We have taken the price tag from “so great a salvation” and put it on worthless things and taken the price tag from worthless things and put it on our salvation. But our salvation is truly so great.
This morning we will see what our salvation is worth from 7 different perspectives:
1. FROM GOD THE FATHER’S PERSPECTIVE:
Galatians 4:4-7 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Previously, we were children of wrath. Previously, we were under the Law. Previously, we were just God’s creation. But now we are His children with all the inheritance.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Our adoption has changed the way we communicate with God. Previously, it was as if we were talking to the man upstairs but now as to our Heavenly Father.
7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Some people have a hard time with that – how can you say that I have all that God has when there’s only $5 in my bank account? Having all that God has is more than just having all the gold and silver in this world. It is having God’s power in you – the power to bring life where there is death, the power to bring hope where there’s defeat, the power to bring joy where there is sadness.We are recipients of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Earthly gifts include money, land, protection, etc. Spiritual gifts include peace, grace, joy, wisdom, discernment, maturity, insight, etc.
FROM GOD THE FATHER’S PERSPECTIVE WE ARE HIS CHILDREN. We have everything that belongs to Him.
2. FROM GOD THE SON’S PERSPECTIVE:
Ephesians 1:7“In Him (Jesus Christ) we have redemption through His blood…”
“Redemption” means payment of a ransom. According to the Old Testament law, if a person were to lose his inheritance or be sold into slavery, he and his property could be redeemed if a family member could come and pay the money. We were in slavery to sin but Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. He redeemed us through His own blood. I Peter 1:18-19 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
What else? 7 In Him (Jesus Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
Meaning: Once you are saved, you are forgiven for everything past, present, and future. It is not a license to sin. Now you are a slave of Christ. You have to ask permission from Him to sin.
FROM GOD THE SON’S PERSPECTIVE WE HAVE BEEN REDEEMED BY HIS BLOOD. We belong to Him.
3. FROM GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT’S PERSPECTIVE:
Ephesians 1:13-14 13“…in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
“Holy Spirit of Promise” – When Jesus was with His disciples, He had promised them that when He left, He would send to them another Helper. John 14:16-17 14 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. The moment we are saved, He comes just as promised.
What does He do? 13 “…you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise…” Meaning: The moment we are saved, the Holy Spirit comes and puts His seal upon our lives. The seal says that now we belong to God. No one can break that seal. What else does He do? 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Meaning: It’s His responsibility to guide us and bring us to our inheritance. All I have to do is let Him have control of every area of my life.
FROM GOD THE SPIRIT’S PERSPECTIVE WE CARRY HIS SEAL. We are His responsibility.
4. FROM SATAN’S PERSPECTIVE:
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Why is there this hatred? Ephesians 2:1-2 1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
“Prince of the Power of the Air” – This is a title for Satan. He is the one who has temporary rule over this world. He is doing all in his power to keep people in his control. He is behind the evil that goes on in this world.
When we are made alive from trespasses and sins, we are set free from Satan’s control and brought into the Son’s control.
Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
How does he handle this? He doesn’t like it. You are his target. Watch your back.Hence you have to put on the whole armor of God.
FROM SATAN’S PERSPECTIVE WE ARE HIS ENEMIES. We are his targets.
5. FROM THE WORLD’S PERSPECTIVE:
I Peter 4:3-4 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles— It’s another way of saying “the way of the world.”
What did it include? When we walked in lewdness, (shameless behavior that is not stopped in a person’s life) lusts, drunkenness, revelries, (long parties than are filled with drinking and immorality of every kind) drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.
So what now that you don’t do these things anymore? 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. Your old friends cannot understand why you don’t want to hang with them anymore. They cannot understand what has happened to you. They think you are such a bore.
For e.g. I was never a bad kid. Praise God that he guided and protected me. Nonetheless, I had my friends who would do things that were not good. When I went back for a visit, they were there waiting for me to go hang with them. After the first few attempts they said to me – “Man, you’ve changed. You’re not the same anymore.”
1 John 2:15-16 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
FROM THE WORLD’S PERSPECTIVE WE ARE NO LONGER ONE OF THEM. We are different.
6. FROM THE CHURCH’S PERSPECTIVE:
Romans 12:4-8 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
2 things stand out in that verse: First we are a body. The church is not just an individual or a family. It is a body. Second, we are members of one another. We are connected to each other.
When a person gets saved, it’s as if a part of the body that was previously paralyzed has come alive. Now, it is up to the rest of the parts to welcome the new part.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Are you missed when you are not at church? Do people notice that you’re not here?
FROM THE CHURCH’S PERSPECTIVE WE ARE ONE BODY WITH DIFFERENT GIFTS.
7. FROM OUR OWN PERSPECTIVE:
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
FROM OUR OWN PERSPECTIVE WE ARE A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST.
Do you have all that we just talked about? Are you Saved?
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