your Bible, please, to the Gospel. The book of
Romans, chapter 1, verse 16. I am not ashamed
of the Gospel because it is the power of God
for the salvation of everyone who believes. First
for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the
Gospel, A righteousness from God is revealed.
Perhaps you would agree with me that life is
complex. And it seems the older we become, the
more complex life becomes. Last weekend, I was
with a group of people I haven't seen in 30 years.
We graduated together from high school. It's
amazing how old they have become. Now I shouldn't
say old, probably I should call them chronologically
challenged to be more politically correct. But
one thing I determined after having chatted with
them for a while, that for all of us, life has
become a lot more complex than it was when we
were seniors in high school. And for that matter,
our whole culture has deteriorated, become more
anti -Christ, so that for the Christian, life
is even tougher in its complexity. Life is filled
with difficult alternatives and hard choices.
It's often perplexing. It's good to know that
there are some things that are still simple.
Salvation is that way. Now our critics label
us as offering a message that makes people troubled
by modernity more comfortable. They say people
in this complex world are looking for simple
things, therefore people who are evangelicals
offer a simple message. In a demeaning way they
say that. and therefore they have their followers.
Well, the fact is that our message is a simple
message. It is not simplistic. It is not old
fashioned. It is not ordinary. But our message
is uncomplicated enough to be grasped and applied
by anyone with the capacity to understand biblical
truth. Salvation's basics haven't changed through
the centuries, nor have they been altered by
the changes in culture. The message that we proclaim,
the message of salvation, is the same straightforward
message that was valid 2 ,000 years ago when
it was proclaimed by the apostles. Maybe it'd
be good for me to define salvation because that
is a term that has a lot of different meanings
these days. When I talk about the simplicity
of salvation, I'm referring to deliverance from
the penalty of sin, which is separation from
God, and the establishment of an eternal relationship
with the living God that dramatically changes
who we are and what our destiny is. That's what
I mean by salvation. It changes us so that we're
no longer enemies of God, we are children of
God. No longer is our destiny hell, our destiny
is heaven because of this simple message of the
Gospel. Salvation is simple. although some have
encrusted the message with centuries of religious
tradition, or complicated it with lists of rules,
or overlaid it with sacraments and rituals, thus
perverting its simplicity. The fact is that the
message itself is a simple message. It is not
cheap. It is not common. It is not trite. but
it is, thank God, simple. In the first place,
it is simple in its origin. Paul says in this
verse, I am not ashamed of the Gospel because
it is the power of God unto salvation. The Gospel
did not originate with some kind of religious
evolution. There are those who have applied the
Darwinian theory of evolution to theology And
they say that man as he was coming out of his
caves Developed a certain kind of simple theology
and through the years that has evolved into what
we believe today baloney The gospel is not the
result of some sort of evolution in theology
and religion Nor is it the result of human invention.
The Gospel is not the kind of message that human
beings will invent because it calls human beings
sinners who are dead in trespasses and sins and
helpless to save themselves. Human beings will
not create that kind of a message. Rather, the
origin of salvation is in divine intervention.
It is in God Himself. The psalmist says salvation
belongs to the Lord. In Jonah we read salvation
is from the Lord. And over and over again the
Apostle Paul, for example, calls God our Savior.
Salvation originates in the heart of God. Contrary
to what the New Age religion tries to tell us,
man cannot be his own savior. He is helpless.
He is without hope. He needs someone who can
intervene on his behalf. I acknowledge that when
we say that it's simple in its origin that there
are some profound mysteries in this. It is a
profound mystery how a holy God could come into
this world and become a man, unite himself to
sinless humanity. It is a profound mystery how
God could then become sin and die for the sake
of sinful, rebellious humanity. That is a profound
mystery. But at the heart of it, it is simple.
With all of its complex mysteries, the Gospel
originates in the heart of God. It is God's Gospel,
not man's. It's simple in its origin. It's from
God. It's given to us by divine revelation. Secondly,
salvation is simple in its definition. Paul says,
it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone
who believes. The Gospel saves. But what does
that mean? Well, the very word means to rescue.
And so in the first place we would say that the
definition of salvation is that it is a rescuing
action. It is somebody taking action on behalf
of someone else to deliver them. My mother -in
-law was driving her automobile a couple of weeks
ago. And as she was passing a semi, somehow the
bumpers got caught. And she was tossed sideways.
The car rolled twice. and landed upside down
in the median. She should have been killed. She
had her seatbelt on. She had one little prick
in her finger like a pinprick. That was the only
injury she had. Not even a whiplash. I told her
there were 14 angels just covering her as she
turned over and over. But when she landed, she
was hanging by her seatbelt. And she couldn't
help herself. Some people had to come and help
her and rescue her. Salvation is simple in its
definition because it simply means a rescuing
action. It means that we are helpless and that
God intervenes on our behalf. He comes to rescue
us from danger. How many of you watch Rescue
911? I know it's a little embarrassing, but not
bad. Or Code 3. I'm a sucker for those shows.
I don't know, there's a little bit of something
inside of me that the adrenaline gets moving.
And it's exciting to see people who are in trouble
rescued. That's what God has done with the Gospel.
Salvation is simple in its definition. God has
taken a rescuing action. But there's another
way that we can define the Gospel. It's not only
a rescuing action, it's a purchasing transaction.
The word save or salvation, its noun, means to
rescue. But there's another word that's found
in chapter 3, for example, in the book of Romans,
that is roughly equivalent to salvation, that
gives us a different insight into it. It's beginning
reading in verse 23 of Romans 3. For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God and
are justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Redemption.
Salvation is not only a rescuing action, it is
a purchasing transaction. This word redemption.
There are three words actually in the New Testament
in the original language that are translated
redeem or redemption in our English translations
One word means to buy a slave to purchase a slave
in the slave market to pay the price for him
a Related word means then to take that slave
out of the slave market. To buy it and then to
take it out of the slave market. Then there's
a third word that's translated redeem that means
to let loose, to let go, to free. Now you put
all those words together and you get the idea
behind the word redemption. It means that God
has come to the slave market of sin where we
are in bondage. and we cannot pay the price for
ourselves. And He pays the price in our behalf.
He removes us from the slave market of sin, and
He lets us go so that we are no longer under
obligation to sin. That's salvation. It is a
purchasing transaction. And the price of that
was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what it cost God. It's free to you and to me.
But it cost God dearly. Because He Himself paid
the price that we might be purchased and belong
to Him. That's redemption. Thirdly, we can define
salvation simply as a legal declaration. A legal
declaration. You see the word justify here in
verse 24. Justification. What that means is that
God declares us legally in His sight to be righteous.
Forgiveness is the negative side of salvation.
It means that our sins are removed. They're taken
away from us. Justification is the positive side.
It means that not only are our sins subtracted,
but God adds to us His righteousness. And again,
the ground of our justification, the legal ground
for it, is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why God can legally declare us righteous
in His sight because Jesus paid the penalty.
Therefore, we can be freed from that legal penalty
of sin. All of our sin was put on Christ, imputed
to Christ, and His perfect righteousness was
imputed to us, given to us, so that we, in God's
eyes, are legally declared to be righteous, and
that can't change. Good news. The gospel is the
power of God unto salvation. Our salvation is
simple in its definition. Thirdly, it's simple
in its condition. Simple in its condition. You
see, not everyone is going to be saved in the
end. Despite the power of God unto salvation,
despite the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, not
everyone is going to be saved. The verse says
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
who believes. That means that those who do not
believe will not be saved. And that this gospel
that is God's power will not deliver them or
rescue them from the penalty of their sins. Today
people are still dying and going to hell. Bad
people today are dying and going to hell. But
I'll tell you something else. Good people today
are dying and going to hell too. Today, there
will be atheists in the Twin Cities who will
die and go to hell forever. Today, there will
be church members who will die and go to hell
forever. Why is that? Because the Gospel is applied
not because people are good, not because they're
baptized. Not because they joined the church.
Not that those things are wrong. But that isn't
the reason the Gospel is applied to them. Salvation
is very simple in its condition. You don't have
to go out from here this morning wondering if
you've done enough. You can never do enough.
You don't have to go out from here this morning
wondering if there's some more ritual you ought
to go through. You can't go through enough rituals
to be saved. The condition of salvation is very
simple. It boils down to faith. To everyone who
believes, says the Gospel. To everyone who believes.
So this belief begins with the knowledge of the
truth. People have to hear in order to believe.
And how shall they hear unless a preacher be
sent, a missionary be sent? Like you. Like these
folks who are training to go to the other side
of the world. Like you being trained to go across
the street. And how shall they preach unless
they be sent? But God has sent us. We proclaim.
Now people are responsible to believe. That belief
begins with the message of Christ suffering for
our sins and dying and being raised from the
dead on the third day on our behalf. People have
to know the facts, but it goes beyond just knowing
them because I want to tell you something. There
are people who are in hell today who knew those
facts when they went to that awful place of judgment.
It's just that they had never personally come
to a point of entrusting themselves to that truth.
They had never let go of their own works to trust
the simple gospel. They had never believed under
the salvation of their souls. Dr. Donald MacLeod
writes, The Reformers stressed that faith did
not mean simply believing whatever the Church
teaches, nor does it mean merely believing that
we ourselves are saved. The terms used in the
Bible to describe faith Make plain that it involves
decision as well as conviction. It means turning
to, looking to, coming to, fleeing to, and bringing
all one's burdens to Christ. It means seeking
and receiving and leaning on Christ. It means
trusting Christ so much that we are prepared
to face the judgment seat with no other protection
than His obedience and blood. This obviously
implies that faith has a clear and specific focus,
Jesus Christ. Salvation is simple. Thank God
it is. Simple in its origin, simple in its definition,
simple in its condition. From beginning to end,
it's wonderfully simple, but it's also remarkably
ignored and neglected. The Scriptures say, how
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation
as this? As simple as it is, it becomes a stumbling
block to those who do not partake of it. The
same gospel that saves those who believe damns
those who will not believe. Thus, the good news
becomes their bad news. Someone says, well, I'm
not ready yet. I'm not sure this is the time.
Listen to what God says. Behold, now is the accepted
time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Today,
not tomorrow. We're not guaranteed tomorrow.
Today is the day of salvation. When I was younger,
I heard an evangelist one time illustrate faith
this way. He said there was a little boy who
loved his daddy. And he couldn't find his daddy
one day, and as he was walking around their yard,
he finally came to the well. And he could hear
something going on down there in the darkness
of that well. He said, daddy, is that you? He
said, yes, son, it's me. He said, daddy, I want
to come down there. OK, son, come on. Said daddy,
how am I going to get down there? We said son
just jump and I'll catch you Boy look down that
black hole he said daddy. I can't see you Daddy
said that's alright son. I can see you just jump
I'll catch you There may be someone here today
who says, God, I can't see you. He says, all
right, I can see you. But how do I know you'll
catch me? I've never dropped anybody. This simple
salvation can simply be yours today if you will
throw yourself upon the God who's promised that
by His power He will save everyone who believes
this gospel. He's not going to begin dropping
you. He'll catch you. But you have to jump. You
have to commit yourself. Or knowing this message
will only mean a hotter fire in hell. It takes
your commitment. It takes your faith. It takes
your step of obedience in trusting Jesus Christ
for that power of God to be real in your life.
And it can be today, right now. Let's pray. Lord,
thank you for salvation, for its simplicity.
Oh God, we thank you that you have made it so
simple that any of us who can understand these
truths can believe and be saved if we choose
to. And I want to pray for every one of us gathered
in this room that we will not be deceived by
the devil or by our own hearts into thinking
we're saved when we're not. And I pray that if
there be some excuses in our hearts as to why
we've not made that jump yet into your arms,
that you will show us the emptiness and the meaninglessness
of all of those things when compared to salvation.
God, right upon our hearts, why shall it profit
a man if he gained the whole world and lose his
soul? And so Lord, right now, would you open
the heart of some friend here? to believe. And
as we bow in prayer, I wonder if there's someone
who would say, Pastor Call, today I am trusting
the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. This day,
I'm making that commitment. I've not done it
before. I've heard the message, but I've never
made the commitment. But today I'm jumping into
the arms of God. Is there someone who would just
lift the hand as a profession of your faith and
say, that is my heart's decision this day and
I lift my hand to testify to it? Is there someone
here? Lift it high enough that I might see you.
I don't want to miss you. I want to rejoice with
you in your decision today. Let's sing together
a chorus. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul
Thank you, Lord, for making me whole Thank you,
Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so
rich and free. Amen.