What is salvation? Salvation is being saved (another word is delivered) from God s righteous judgement.

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1 What is salvation? Salvation is being saved (another word is delivered) from God s righteous judgement. A Closer Look What Are the Consequences of Sin and Lostness? Sentenced to physical and spiritual death (John 3:18; Rom. 6:23) Separated from God (Eph. 2:12) Dominated and controlled by sin (Eph. 2:1-3; Rom. 6:6) Spiritual blindness (2 Cor. 4:3-4) Without understanding (Rom. 3:11) Enemies of Christ (Matt. 12:30) Objects of God's wrath (Eph. 2:3) The Bible portrays mankind's lostness as the most pitiful condition imaginable. Not only is our life on earth wasted as we live for self and selfish desires but the consequence is eternal separation from God (Luke 13:3; Matt. 25:46). What happens during salvation? Lots! Some theologians have put together lists of what happens, and the order in which they take place: 1. Election God s choice of people to be saved 2. Calling The Gospel being proclaimed 3. Regeneration Being born again 4. Conversion Saving faith and repentance 5. Justification Right legal standing before God 6. Adoption Membership in God s family 7. Sanctification Right conduct in life 8. Perseverance Remaining a Christian 9. Death Going to be with the Lord 10. Glorification Receiving resurrection body In this module we ll be looking at: 3. Regeneration Being born again 4. Conversion Saving faith and repentance 5. Justification Right legal standing before God 1

2 Regeneration: What does it mean to be born again? In some parts of salvation we play an active part (conversion, sanctification and perseverance). But in being born again we play no part at all. Regeneration is an act of God in which he imparts new spiritual life to us It is totally a work of God. John explains that a human can do nothing to bring about this type of birth. John 1:13: 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband s will, but born of God. In Acts, Luke says of Lydia The lord opened her heart (Acts 16:14) God s role was also predicted in the old testament: Ezek 36:26: A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you What actually happens to us in regeneration is a mystery. We know that somehow we who were spiritually dead (Eph 2:1) have been made alive to God, and so in a real sense have been born again (Jn 3:3-7, Eph 2:5, Col 2:13). But we don t know how. But, it is not just our spirits that are made alive every part of us is affected by regeneration: 2 Cor 5:17 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come Application: Regeneration has results: 1 Jn 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 1 Jn 5:4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Question: If regeneration is totally a work of God, what s the point in preaching the gospel? Question: What do you think about the fact that your regeneration was totally a work of God, and that you contributed nothing to it? 2

3 Conversion: What is conversion? Whilst regeneration is totally a work of God, conversion is our response to the gospel. It can be defined as our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation. Conversion means turning and has two elements. The turning from sin is called repentance, and the turning to Christ is called faith. Conversion: Repentance Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, renouncing it, and a commitment to walk in obedience to Christ. 2 Cor 7:9-10 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. Repentance can happen in an instance, and will result in a changed life. But, we should never think that there is a period of time, some sort of probation, where we have to live a changed life before we are confident in our conversion. Question: Do we: a) turn from sin and then trust in Christ; b) trust in Christ and then turn from sin; c) do both at the same time? When we turn to Christ for salvation from our sins, we are simultaneously turning away from our sins. So repentance and faith are different sides of the same coin. Application: Read Matthew 11:28-29, then answer the question: 28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Question: Can someone accept Christ as Saviour, but not as Lord? (Hint: immediately after inviting sinners to come to him, Jesus adds take my yoke upon 3

4 you ) 4

5 Conversion: A personal faith We may know about the gospel, we may agree with it, but in order to be saved we must decide to depend on Jesus to save us. So we move from knowing about God, to depending on Jesus for our future. So in conversion we trust Jesus for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God. John 3:16 whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life The unbeliever comes to Christ because his sin has separated him from fellowship from God, and to have his sin and guilt removed. Jesus speaks of coming to him in many places: Jn 6:37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. Jn 7:37 Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Mt 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Question : Does this help you to think of faith in Christ in more personal terms? Avoiding a confusion Lots of bible verses only mention faith as what you need for salvation Jn 3:16, Acts 16:31, Rom 10:9, Eph 2:8-9 But, lots of bible verses mention repentance for salvation Acts 2:37-38, Acts 3:19, Rom 2:4, 2 Cor 7:10 So, we need to know scripture to come to a full understanding. Proof texting, where we make too much of a single verse, comes with risks. Remember from the module on Interpreting the Bible to ask are there other passages in the bible that help us to understand this passage? 5

6 Justification : Right legal standing before God Regeneration made it possible to convert. When we converted we trusted Christ for forgiveness of sins. The next step is that God declares our sins forgiven. Justification is one of the most important teachings of the church. It is absolutely critical to the whole Christian faith. Paul says that God justifies him who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:26) What is Justification? It is an act of God in which he does two things: 1. thinks of our sins as forgiven; 2. declares us righteous in his sight. Justification is central to our faith. Paul says in Romans 8: Who shall bring any charge against God s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Those who are justified, have no penalty to pay for sin. There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1) Question: How can God declare us righteous, when he knows that we sin? By Imputation or, in other words, Christ is our righteousness. God declares us righteous because God thinks of Christ s righteousness belonging to us. God made Christ to be our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor 1:30) No-one can make themselves right before God. Romans 3:20 For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law We cannot earn favour with God, we can t impress him with how good we are. Isaiah 64:6: All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Question: What do you say to Christians who feel that they have to do good things to be right with God? Question: Have you ever wondered if God is punishing you from time to time for sins you once did, even from ages ago? 6

7 Key Personal Perspective Does someone have to be able to understand all the truths we've discussed today to be saved? No. To be saved you need to know only three truths: 1. I am a sinner. 2. Jesus died in my place. 3. If I ask God to forgive me for rebelling against him and I trust in Jesus as my Lord, he will save me. No one can say these three truths are difficult to understand. The truth of our salvation is simple enough for a child to understand, yet deep enough to study the rest of your life and never fully comprehend. The bottom line question: Have you accepted God's gift of forgiveness for your sin, paid for by Jesus' death on the cross? 7