Welcome to the official podcast of the Church
of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've
tuned in for today's message. Whether you're
on your morning commute or if you're relaxing
at home, we're here to share the strength and
truth of God's Word with our community. If you're
in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in
person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean
Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather
every Sunday morning at 1030 a .m. and in the
afternoon at 230 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays
at 7 p .m. Right now, let's open our Bibles together
and dive in to today's sermon. This evening we
want to study for a little while salvation from
3 ,000 feet that'd be a low -flying airplane
30 ,000 feet 30 ,000 feet and if you'll notice
we've got a picture looking out a window and
usually whenever you say we're going to look
at something from 30 ,000 feet what you're saying
is we're going to take a high view of something
we're going to look at it in as broad an aspect
as we possibly can and what I want to do this
evening is begin a study that will take us through
maybe the next two or three evenings about salvation
and we want to look at salvation from the very
beginning to the very end and I know a lot of
times whenever we study about salvation we'll
study about certain aspects of salvation but
what I want us to do is to get a big picture
view of what salvation is because whenever we
do that it's going to help us to understand some
things maybe that aren't real clear to us and
hopefully bring us to a greater understanding
and a better appreciation for what it means that
the Lord saves us. And so this evening we're
going to go back to the very beginning and we're
going to talk about being a sinner because Paul
said in Romans 3 .23, all have sinned and have
fallen short of the glory of God and all means
all. That's all of us. Those of us who are Christians,
there was that time when we fell short of the
glory of God and if you're here tonight and you're
not a Christian and you haven't obeyed the Please
give careful attention to what the word speaks
to you this evening. And we're going to go from
being a sinner and we're going to go all the
way through to the judgment. that time whenever
there's going to be a resurrection to life that
you're going to be a time for a resurrection
to condemnation and the Bible tells us that in
John 5 28 Jesus said don't marvel for the hours
coming in which all who are in their graves will
hear his voice and come forth those who have
done good to the resurrection of life and those
who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation
so all of us sitting here tonight have fallen
short of the glory of God. And all of us here
tonight are going to hear the voice of the Lord
one day and we're going to come forth from our
grave and we're going to go to the resurrection
to life or the resurrection to condemnation.
All of us. So when we study about salvation,
it's something that all of us need to listen
to because whether you are a sinner tonight,
you haven't obeyed the gospel, you're not a Christian,
and if you are a Christian, we need to understand
what this looks like from beginning to end and
understand the truth of God concerning salvation.
Well this evening we want to talk about what
does it mean to be a sinner Okay to be a sinner
doesn't just mean well I do some bad things and
I've made some mistakes and I haven't been a
good boy No, it means far more than that. It
is much more profound than just being a group
of imperfect people The Bible tells us in Romans
3 23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God Let me ask you this. What's the glory
of God? Well, the glory of God is the standard,
because those that fall short of the standard
are sinners. So in order to understand what it
means to be a sinner, we need to understand what
the glory of God is. What is that glory? Well,
just to put it plain, it is perfect holiness
and righteousness. Perfection. You see, whenever
we talk about God and we talk about God's glory,
we don't talk about God's glory in graduated
terms. You know, He's really glorious. He's a
lot glorious, though He is absolute in His glory
and in His perfection. And whenever we consider
ourselves before God, we have to consider Him
as the perfect standard, and the question is
really simple. Am I perfect like God? And if
I'm not perfect like God, I'm a sinner. I'm a
sinner. Now you may look around this room and
think, well, I'm as good as the people that are
here. And you may follow me around during my
daily life and watch me stumble and fumble and
look at me and think, well, I'm just, I'm as
good as you are preacher. But the only problem
is the people in this building and the preacher
is not the standard of righteousness. God is
the standard and God is perfect. You're either
perfect or you're not perfect. There's no such
thing as sort of perfect or kind of perfect.
You are either right with God in his perfection
and in his holiness or you're not and if you
are not, you are a sinner. There was a man in
the Old Testament that saw the glory of God in
Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1 to 5 Isaiah was carried
off into a vision and we read we won't read the
whole text but he looks into the temple and the
temple was filled with the glory of God and then
all of the hosts the seraphim were there singing
holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole
earth is full of his glory Whenever the heavenly
chorus seems about things about the holiness
of God, they don't just say holy is God They
say, holy, holy, holy. Why three times? That's
called a Hebrew superlative. Like you and I would
use, okay, something's hot, something's hotter,
something is the hottest. Whatever's the hottest,
everything else is less than that. Well, that's
like saying God is holy. No, wait a minute. He's
not holy. He's holier. No, no, that's not enough.
He's the holiest. He's the holiest. And notice
how Isaiah responds to seeing the holiness of
God. Notice verse number five, he said, so I
said, God, aren't I a pretty good guy? I mean,
after all, I'm a prophet. So you and I need to
be okay, don't we? He didn't say that, did he?
He didn't say God look around at all of these
people of the children of Israel and how wicked
and corrupt they are God Don't I look really
good? Aren't you and I good? Isaiah when he saw
the holiness of God said what every sinner should
say Whenever they consider themselves in light
of the holiness of God. Woe is me The word woe
that's used there is a pronouncement of a curse.
Isaiah cursed himself before God. He wasn't going
to stand before God and try to make, you know,
to try to reason with God and talk to God and
convince God that he was a pretty good guy. He
knew immediately when he saw the glory of God,
he says, woe is me. That would be the same as
saying condemned is me doomed is me ruined is
me for I am undone And if you're here tonight
and you're not a Christian and you consider the
glory of God don't look at the people in this
room and compare yourself to them. Don't look
at me and compare yourself to me. You look directly
into the holiness of God and you say the only
thing that a sinner can say before the glory
of God, I am lost. And you are just fooling yourself
if you say anything different. That's the only
reasonable and possible response. to the glory
of God. Why are you getting so worked up about
this? Well, because if we don't understand this,
we're not going to appreciate everything that
follows after that. We're going to look at salvation
like, yeah, when I was before God, I was a pretty
good person, but because of God's salvation,
I've become a better person. No? It's not about
a good, a bad person become a better person.
Whenever we look at the words of the Apostle
Paul and he characterized lost people, he referred
to them as dead people. What can a dead person
do for themselves? Nothing. And as we're going
to study this evening, as you stand and you look
at the glory of God, you have to understand,
and I have to understand before I was in Christ,
that I was a dead person. I was doomed in light
of the glory of God. Paul says in Romans 1, 18,
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Throughout
the history of God's dealings with His creation,
He has manifested His wrath towards all ungodliness
and worldly lust. Our God is an angry God. Our
God's an angry God. Notice what the psalmist
says in Psalm 7 verse 11. God is a just judge
and God is angry with the wicked every day. You
know what happened today? God was angry. God
was angry today. You know what's going to happen
tomorrow? God's going to be angry. You know why
He's going to be angry? Because there's wickedness
every day in this world. And we look at this
and we think, well, I thought God was a God of
love. Hey, God can do two things at the same
time. He's God. He can love and he can plead
with humanity and cry out to them with the voice
of grace Saying be saved and be saved today and
all the while he's doing that He's over here
with the other hand sharpening his sword Excuse
me sharpening his sword and getting his quiver
of arrows ready to go out and bring about judgment
against the wicked He can do both. In fact, when
you read verses 11 and 12, that's exactly what
the psalmist tells us that he's doing. He's angry
every day with the wicked. Every day the Lord
sharpens his sword and every day the Lord gets
his bow and arrow ready to execute vengeance
and wrath against the wicked. And that's what
makes God's love so amazing. So amazing. But
in order to appreciate his grace and his love
we have to understand his anger and his wrath
and again He can do two things like that at the
same time because he's God Because he's God Roman
623 the wages of sin is death the gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord So if
you're here tonight and you're not a Christian,
this is where you are. You're standing before
a God who is perfect, that a God who looks at
your sin and your iniquity today and he's angry
with you. He's angry with you. But while he's
angry with you, he's also speaking to you and
pleading you from the mercies and love of his
heart. Be saved. because this sword over here
that I'm sharpening for the wicked, I don't want
to use that on you. These arrows and this bow
over here that I'm getting ready to use on the
wicked, I don't want to use that on you. And
so we don't need to, if you're a sinner, to sit
there and try to rationalize and reason about
your situation before God because it's very simple.
It's very absolute. God is perfect. So either
you're perfect and you're okay with God like
you are or you are Imperfect and you are a vessel
of his wrath right now And if those of us who
are our Christians when we are in Christ we need
to understand that this is what salvation is
about You know, I grew up all of my life in the
church when I obeyed the gospel. I just did what
was expected of me And it wasn't until later
on in the faith that I truly realized what happened
in my life that day that God saved me in Jesus
Christ. And so if we're sitting here as Christians
and we think, well, I've already obeyed the gospel,
this doesn't apply to me. I want you to understand,
look at these verses, Romans and Romans. Who
was Paul writing to about all of this? He was
writing to Christians about all of this. Because
you can't live right as a Christian if you don't
understand your salvation. And a lot of what
we're going to read tonight about salvation of
the sinner, Paul writes to Christians about because
he wants Christians to understand. And a lot
of times as Christians we don't fully realize
until we grow in the truth and the awareness
of what God has done for us and realize that
yeah though I went to church all of my life and
the people at church sang my praises because
I was such a good boy. At that time I stood before
a perfect God doomed to His wrath. And so whether
we are someone who has been raised in the church
and did what was expected. which is a good expectation
and our parents should teach us that or if we
are the most wicked sinner in the world coming
in off the street to find out about what's going
on here and then comes in repentance to Jesus
the same miracle of salvation occurs in every
party because in every situation it's God taking
a dead person and making them alive again. So
what does a sinner need? A sinner needs to be
justified. The word justified is a forensic courtroom
term. We read the word justified in the Bible
a lot and I want us to really stop and understand
what being justified means. The definition, it's
a term to set forth as righteous, a judicial
decision to free a man from his guilt. It's a
courtroom term where you have a judge and someone
comes before the judge and then the judge declares,
You are righteous. You are righteous. What I
want us to notice is that the Bible teaches that
there are two ways of justification. It's very
clear. Paul says in Romans 10 verse number three,
talking about his countrymen, he says, for they
being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking
to establish their own righteousness have not
submitted to the righteousness of God. Very clear.
There is God's righteousness. and there is our
own righteousness. Paul talks about that in Philippians
3 verse 6 and be found in him not having my own
righteousness which is from the law but that
which is through faith in Christ the righteousness
which is from God by faith. So again there is
a righteousness of God that is God's way of providing
for our righteousness and there is our own righteousness
that is us providing our own way. for righteousness.
And what I want us to highlight is how that these
two ways of righteousness are exclusive to each
other. Paul says in Romans four verse number
four, now to him who works the wages are not
counted as greats but as debt. And whenever Paul
talks about to him who works he's talking about
someone who is going to try to be righteous on
their own. And he says, the person that tries
to be righteous on their own, what they're seeking
to do is in debt God to them because of their
goodness, where God is not constrained by his
grace, but God is constrained by debt in order
to declare that person righteous. In other words,
God looks at Jay and says, Jay, you're just so
good. I'm just doing what I've got to do. I owe
you this. You're righteous. Paul goes on to say
in Romans 11 verse number 6 and if by grace then
it is no longer of works otherwise grace is no
longer grace but it is of works it is no longer
grace otherwise work is no longer work. Say that
fast three times in a row. But basically what
that saying is is that grace being justified
by grace and being justified by works are mutually
exclusive and this is a point that I want to
emphasize this evening because sometimes whenever
it comes to these methods of justification we
get them confused and come to some false understandings
about certain doctrines pertaining to salvation.
So we want to be very clear about what these
two methods of justification are. To be justified
personally means that I'm trying to earn salvation
and that there is no grace and there is no faith
in Christ. I mean, when it says your own salvation,
it is your own. You're saying, God, God, I don't
need you. I don't need your grace. I don't need
Jesus Christ. I can do this by myself and I can
do such a good job at this that I'm going to
earn your righteous favor towards me. That's
what it means to seek to be justified by personal
righteousness. That's what it means to seek to
be justified by works. That whenever a person
and whenever the Bible talks about being justified
by works He's talking about trying to be justified
in a way that you earn God's righteous favor
and you do it without God's grace and you do
it without faith in Jesus Christ Whenever we
look at God's righteousness, it's a gift In other
words, we look at the glory of God and say I
can't earn this Once you become imperfect, you
can't go back and be perfect. Once you ring the
bell of sin in your life, you can't unring that
bell. You can't un -sin. Well, how many sins
does it take to separate us from God? Well, how
many sins did it take to separate a creation
from God? How many sins did it take to separate
a creation from God? So if one sin separates
an entire creation from God imagine what one
sin does to you in God You see we're talking
about it. No, it's so it's not a matter of how
much it's a matter of have you And as we read,
we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory
of God. And so we realize, I can't earn it. God,
I need your gracious favor. I need your mercy.
I need someone other than myself to save me because
I can't save myself. I need to put my faith in
Christ Jesus. Now understand how clearly distinct
those two things are. Because a lot of times
what happens is whenever we preach the gospel
and we preach what's necessary for salvation,
people want to say, oh, but you're preaching
salvation by works. And we're going to illustrate
tonight that we're not. The idea is in the religious
world, well, if you think you have to do something
in order to be saved, then you're trying to be
justified by works. Where in the Bible did that
come from? Nowhere. That's just an idea that
we've gotten in our mind and it's one of those
things that's been repeated so much and you hear
it so much that you think, well, it's just got
to be in the Bible somewhere and it has to be
true, but it's not. To do something to be saved
does not mean that you're trying to be justified
by works What determines whether you're trying
to be justified by works or not is am I trying
to earn salvation? Am I trying to do it without
the grace of God and am I trying to do it without
faith in Jesus Christ? That's what it means to
be justified by works Notice what Paul says,
Galatians 2 .16, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of law but by faith in Jesus Christ.
Notice how these are exclusive to each other.
Works of law, faith in Jesus Christ. Those are
exclusive. I can't do something out of faith
towards Jesus Christ and it be something that's
a work of law because they're exclusive to each
other. He goes on to say, justified by faith
in Christ and not by works of law. Notice how
faith in Christ and works of law, personal pursuit
of righteousness, that those things are mutually
exclusive and you can't conflate them in some
way. So let's remember that point. Ephesians
2, 8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved.
And again, notice that it's contrasted with not
of works, not of yourselves, but it is the gift
of God. Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us. Again, notice that these are exclusive
to each other. And you'll understand why I emphasize
this here in just a moment. So if we were going
to make a summary statement of this when the
Bible speaks about works that do not save or
justify It's speaking specifically about the
works that a sinner does Absent of God's grace
and void of any faith in Christ to earn righteousness
from God To determine whether something is you're
being trying to be justified by a work by works
the question to ask is not Well, are you doing
something to be saved? The question to ask is,
is this of grace through faith in Jesus? If it's
not of faith, if it's not of grace and not of
faith in Jesus, then it's seeking to be justified
by works. But if something can be shown to be
done because of grace and out of faith in Jesus,
even though you're doing something, you're not
doing something to merit salvation of your own
self, but rather you're seeking to be saved by
the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Notice what Paul said in Galatians 2 .21. Paul
was writing to some Christians at Galatia. who
had begun in the faith, they had begun in the
gospel, but then they decided all of a sudden
because of some false teachers, you know what?
We're going to forget about Christ and we're
going to forget about grace and we're just going
to try to be justified by ourselves. So we said
up here a while ago that to be justified by works
means no grace and no Christ. Listen to what
Paul says. in Galatians 2 .21 as he's responding
to these teachers and these people who were believing
that they don't need grace and they don't need
Christ and they can be saved on their own. I
do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness
comes through the law then Christ died in vain.
Okay, so trying to be justified by personal righteousness,
righteousness through the law, Paul said implies
here that if a person tries to do that, they
don't embrace God's grace. They take God's grace
and they set it over here and they say, I don't
need that. I don't need that. And he goes over
here to the cross of Jesus and says, I don't
need that. I don't know why you died. There's
no need to die for me. I can make myself righteous.
That's what it looks like to be justified by
works rejecting grace and rejecting Christ. It's
very clear Galatians 5 for Paul talking again
to these people who were believing they could
be justified without grace and without Christ
He says you are become a strange from Christ
you who attempt to be justified by law you fallen
from grace So notice here the same things. Those
who were attempting to be justified by law, justified
by personal righteousness, He tells them, you're
estranged from Christ. In other words, you were
over here with Christ, but now you've looked
at Christ and said, I don't need you, and you've
walked away from Christ and you're estranged
from Him. And that grace that you once were standing
in and hoping in and living in, you have just
fallen away from it. And so whenever we speak
about being justified and being justified by
works, we're talking about a method of trying
to be justified by earning God's righteous favor
without God's grace and without faith in Jesus.
And so Paul says in Romans 3, 24 to 25, you need
God's grace and you need Jesus. being justified
freely by His grace. Not a one of us could be
righteous were it not for the gracious disposition
of God and His willingness and His loving favor
upon us. And we could work and we could work
and we could plead and we could cry all we want.
And it never happened if our God was not gracious.
And here's the thing about God's grace. Not only
does God's grace give him the willingness, but
also God's grace also gives us the provision
that we need. It's not enough for God to just
want to save us if he doesn't provide for what
we need. And out of his grace, he sent Jesus
and through Jesus, we have redemption. The word
redemption means releasing upon receipt of a
ransom, deliverance as the result of expiation,
whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood
through faith to demonstrate his righteousness.
So God demonstrated his righteous plan when he
sent Jesus to the earth, and then Jesus walked
among us perfectly, went to the cross, died on
the cross to pay the price for your sin and my
sin, and then God says, That's my plan for righteousness.
He demonstrated it. But what's a propitiation?
A propitiation is an expiation. How many times
this week have you used the word expiation? Probably
not a lot. Not a word that we use a lot. An expiation
just simply means the removal, the wiping away,
or the cleansing of sin and guilt through a paying
penalty or substitute sacrifice. God is not a
God that justifies us and makes us righteous
by just looking at us and saying, oh, that's
okay. I understand. You're just human. Nobody's
perfect. He can't do that because he is perfect.
And if God compromises with your sin and God
compromises with my sin, he's not perfect anymore.
And so for God to maintain his perfection and
his righteous justice, sin has to be paid for.
And the paying of that penalty came through Jesus
Christ. For he made him who knew no sin to be
sin for us that he might become, that we might
become the righteousness of God in him. You ever
wonder why did God choose us to save us this
way? I mean, after all, He's God. He can do anything
He wants, can't He? Well, no, He can't. God is
bound by His own justice. God cannot go against
Himself. God cannot deny His righteous demands,
and because of His holy, holy, holy nature, sin
has to be punished. And the only way that sin
can be punished is either all the sinful people
die and go to hell or the perfect Son of God
who is sinless dies upon the cross for our sins.
And that's what He did. He sent Jesus who knew
no sin. Jesus was perfect. But he became sin
for us. What does that mean? He became the sin
Sacrifice for us he went to the cross and died
as a sinner even though he was not a sinner So
those of us who are sinners can live as if we
had no sin You see the transaction That we might
become the righteousness of God in him When Jesus
went to the cross and died on the cross, he had
no sin. He paid a debt that he didn't owe. So
there is this big open account at the cross.
An account where a price for sin was paid but
no sin was committed. So then what God does is
he takes our sin and he puts it at the cross.
And that is how righteous and how holy God is.
That when the righteous and holy son of God dies
as a sinner even though he's a perfect man that
price is so Spectacular and so amazing that it
can take upon itself the sins of all mankind
throughout all Generations in every part of this
world for however long the world exists to make
that person righteous You see, folks, we're not
just playing church here. This is amazing. This
is magnificent. And if we don't understand it,
then if you're a sinner, you're going to die
in your sin. And if you're a saint and you don't
understand this, you're not going to be able
to live out your salvation that we've been called
to live out. Paul said in Romans 6 verse number
7, for he who has died is freed from sin. When
you see the word died that's used there, or rather
freed actually, whenever you look in the Greek
and you look at the Greek word, it's actually
the same Greek word as justified. It's as if
Paul says for he who has died has been justified
from sin for he who has died has been freed from
sin Well, how can we die you see the wages of
sin is death so we have to die But if we die
for our own sins, then we're hopelessly lost
for all of eternity And again Paul says being
justified freely and so this statement right
here says that he who has died has been freed
from sin Here's the question. Have you died tonight?
Have you died tonight? Anybody say well, how
do I die? Well when we go to verse number eight
Paul says now if we died with Christ we believe
that we shall also live with him That's how we
die We die with Christ Here's Christ over here
hanging on the cross paying the atonement for
our sin and then I go to the cross and I take
my place with my Savior and I've died with him
and The Bible says that when I've died the penalty
for sin has been taken care of and now I am righteous
and justified How do we die with Christ? Romans
chapter 6 verses 3 through 8. Whenever we look
at the cross and we realize I cannot save myself,
that I need the grace of God, that I need Jesus
Christ and I come in contrition before the cross
and I plead out to Jesus that I believe that
you are the Son of God having that desire to
change my life. in a different direction where
in the past I have lived walking away from God
now I want to walk to God and then I submit as
the Bible talks about in baptism and it's in
baptism that I die with Christ notice what Paul
says do you not know that as many of us as were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized where
into his death When a repentant believing sinner
is baptized, they are baptized into Christ's
death. Christ's death becomes your death. You've
died with Christ and you're freed from sin. We
are buried with him through baptism into death.
We are united together in the likeness of his
death. To die with Christ to be justified and
freed from sin, you must be baptized. The Apostle
Paul said in Galatians 2 .20, I have been crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live. How was Paul
crucified with Christ? When Paul came to Christ
as a repentant believer, submitted himself to
baptism whenever Ananias told him, arise and
be baptized and wash away your sins and calling
on the name of the Lord, Paul died with Christ
that day. and he was justified and then he goes
on to live not him but Christ in him but a lot
of times the objection is raised to baptism well
if you're baptized if you think that you got
to be baptized to be saved then you think you've
got to do something to be saved and then therefore
you think that you're saved by works no That's
not right. I'm just going to be honest with you.
It's just not right. Let's look at baptism and
how it relates to being saved by grace through
faith. In Ephesians chapter 2 and Colossians
chapter 2, both of these texts talk about being
saved by grace through faith. And to fully understand
Paul's teaching about this, we have to... hear
the whole counsel of God. Notice the similarities
between these texts. In Ephesians 2, Paul is
talking to people who had been dead in trespasses
and sins. In Colossians chapter 2, what's he
talking about? He's talking about people whenever
they were dead in their trespasses and sins.
Kind of sounds like he's talking about the same
thing, doesn't it? We go a little further and
then Paul says okay, you were dead in your trespasses
and sins And now you've been made alive together
with Christ and then over here He said you were
dead in your trespasses and sins and you were
made alive together with Christ He's talking
about the same thing in each text, isn't he?
He is In the Ephesians 2 text he says okay after
you've been made alive together with Christ what
that is is you have been saved by grace In Colossians
chapter 2 he says after you've been made alive
together with him. He has forgiven you all your
trespasses So whenever we put these two texts
side -by -side What can we glean from this? Well
if I was dead in sin and made alive with Christ,
I was saved by grace. And whenever I was saved
by grace, what happened? I was forgiven of all
of my trespasses. You see how the two go together?
So many times whenever you hear baptism taught
or you read about baptism, so many instances
if you go on the internet and just bring up articles
about the necessity of baptism, most times they
don't start with verses that talk about baptism.
You know where they start? Ephesians chapter
two. Ephesians chapter two. The salvation is
by grace through faith not of works lest any
man should boast. So see their baptism is a work
because it's something you do to be saved and
so therefore it's not necessary for salvation.
That's just bad Bible interpretation and I'm
not standing up here as an authority on biblical
hermeneutics but let's just be real clear that
is just not sound reasoning about scripture.
because whenever you look at what Paul says in
each of these instances, dead in sin, dead in
sin, made alive to Christ, made alive to Christ,
by grace you've been saved, having forgiven you
all trespasses. And notice when this takes place
in verse number 12 of Colossians 2, buried with
him in baptism. in which you also were raised
with him through faith in the working of God
who raised him from the dead. When we plead,
when this congregation... for people to be baptized
to be saved. They don't do that because they
believe in salvation by works. They do that because
the scriptures teach that it is in that that
we are baptized into Jesus' death. We are raised
with Him through faith in what? The working of
God. There's not a person that walks into that
water thinking that when they're baptized that
they've earned salvation without God's grace
and without Jesus Christ. Not a one. When they
do that, they do that because they've embraced
the grace of God. They believe in Jesus. They
believe in his atoning work on the cross. And
they want to be in his death. And they submit
to baptism because the Bible says that in that,
God goes to work. God goes to work. I don't earn
it, you don't earn it. God goes to work to raise
us from the dead. Now whenever you put Ephesians
2 and Colossians 2 together, you get the full
picture. Both Ephesians and Colossians tell us
we're dead in trespasses and sins. Colossians
tell us then we're buried with Christ in baptism.
Ephesians and Colossians both tell us that we're
made alive with Christ Colossians tells us that
we have been forgiven of all of our trespasses
and then Ephesians tells us that we've been saved
by grace through faith it all works out and makes
perfect sense so is baptism a work of personal
righteousness well let's just check it out okay
we said that we that to do something by works
means that you try to earn it You don't want
God's grace and you don't need Jesus. Let's put
baptism to the test. Why does the scriptures
teach us about baptism? Well, number one, Jesus
commanded it. So whenever I or anyone else submits
to Christian baptism, we're not doing it because
we came up with the idea and we're gonna try
to earn salvation. We're doing it because the
God, the Savior and the Lord that sits at the
right hand of the throne of God commanded his
disciples to go out and to do it. We do it because
Jesus commanded it. Oh, but wait a minute. If
you're justified by works, you don't need Jesus.
Why would you listen to Jesus? because baptism
is not a work of self -righteousness. It's to
be done in the name of Jesus. In Acts 2 -38,
Peter said, Repent and be baptized for the remission
of your sins in the name of Jesus Christ. In
Galatians 3 -27, Paul says that we are baptized
into Jesus. Romans 6 -3 says we're baptized into
Jesus' death. Colossians 2 12 says baptism unites
us with Jesus Colossians 2 12 tells us that it
is done in faith through the operation of God
Baptism is not a work of man's righteousness
to earn salvation Because whenever you look at
baptism as taught in the scriptures it is all
because of Jesus. It is all because of the grace
of God. So this evening we've looked at the sinner
and if you're here tonight and you haven't been
baptized, if you're here tonight and you haven't
obeyed the gospel and you're not a Christian,
this is something that's very urgent and very
important to you because tonight right now you're
staring the glory of God in the face and you
may look at that glory and think well I'm okay
but while you're doing that the psalmist tells
us that he's sharpening his sword and he's getting
his bows and arrows ready your response needs
to be the response of Isaiah I am condemned How
can you live another moment in this world knowing
that you stand before the creator and Lord and
God of the universe, condemned before him as
a vessel of wrath? You need to go to the cross.
Thousands and thousands of people have made that
trek to the cross. and have taken their sins
to the cross and you know what there's room for
your sins there tonight there's room for your
sins there you need to be baptized you need to
be baptized because it is in baptism the bible
tells us that god operates and takes you from
being dead in your sin to being made alive with
jesus You need to be justified so that you can
become a saint. And that's what a Christian is.
A person that's justified is a saint. A saint
is someone who has been made righteous and been
made holy by God. You know sometimes we look
at ourselves and we like to say, well, I'm no
saint. Well, if you're not a saint, you're lost.
If you're not a saint, you're lost. Become a
saint tonight. And we're doing this not of personal
works of righteousness lest any man should boast.
I've been a Christian now for 40 -something years
and not one day have I boasted about being baptized.
My boast is in Jesus Christ. My boast is in the
grace and the faithfulness of God the Father
who operated in that moment in time to take me
from being dead in sin to alive with Jesus. He
can do that for you tonight. Thank you for listening
to today's sermon from the Church of Christ Wheeler
area. We hope this message encouraged you and
strengthened you in your faith this week. Don't
forget the doors always open at 1500 South Allen
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