Sermon Tone Analysis

Title: Biblical Salvation

Text:

Text: (Pew Bibles: Page 1263)

I. God Desires Salvation for All

II.

God Provides the Knowledge of the Truth

A. There is Only One God

B. There is Only One Mediator

III.

God Provides the Sacrifice

Intro: I recently responded to a question on facebook that was posted by the former foreign missions director of General Baptists, Shawn Warren.

He now works for a video company that teams up with churches, denominations, and non-profit groups to assist them in producing videos for their ministries.

The question that Shawn posted on Facebook was, "Would you watch a Christian film that has profanity in it?"

Conclusion:

My answer was no, at least not knowingly.

I then gave my reasons, all which were based on Scriptures.

What shocked me was that many didn't have a problem with it.

Of those who opposed it, few, if any, opposed it because of the teachings of the Bible.

The acceptance of the world's language, the world's attitudes, and the world's actions are a reflection of a much deeper problem than whether the Christian community is becoming more accommodating of bad language.

The last words of my reply were, "Unfortunately the fact that we are having this discussion and asking these questions is a reflection of the state of Christianity in America."

There is no doubt that the churches of America and many Christians in America are becoming more accommodating to bad language, immoral activities, and various forms of ungodliness.

The reasons behind this accommodation involves certain key aspects of Christianity.

It has to do with salvation, sanctification, and biblical decision making.

Today I begin a series of messages that will address the concept of salvation, more specifically biblical salvation, next week that of sanctification, the week after, biblical assurance of your salvation, the following week biblical decision making, and the final week, death from the biblical perspective.

As a Bible believing church we need to know what the Bible says about salvation, sanctification, assurance of your salvation, biblical decision making, and the one issue we cannot escape-the final issue of death.

So what does the Bible say about Biblical Salvation?

Let's read our text.

READ TEXT:

I use the term biblical salvation because I don't believe there is an authoritative or sure source of information on salvation to be found anywhere except the Bible.

If our salvation comes from God, which it does, the only correct information about it would also come from God.

A sure salvation must be based on biblical guidelines and biblical assurances.

As you saw in our text, the apostle Paul, who was an evangelist, extraordinaire, provided some great insight into biblical salvation in his letter to young Timothy, the pastor of the church at Ephesus.

He told Timothy to care about all people.

He told him to pray for all people, especially those in government leadership positions.

The reason Timothy should pray like this is so that the people could lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

And then he added, that Timothy should pray like this because it's good, and it's pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God desires that all people be saved.

I. God Desires Salvation for All

I believe everything that's written in the Bible.

But I don't understand everything that's in the Bible.

There are a lot of paradoxical statements in it.

For example, our text says that God desires that all people to be saved.

But in Jesus said, "For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

According to Matthew's passage, most will not be saved.

But if God is all powerful and good, which He is, why doesn't He save everyone?

After all, it's His desire to save everyone.

My answer to this question is simple, I don't know.

There is a lot about God that is a mystery.

Mysteries are things that are to be reserved until the next life.

Only then will we will have perfect bodies and perfect knowledge.

If we could understand everything about God, there would be no need for faith.

Our faith in God should be based on what we do know about God, not what we don't know about God.

What we do need to know about God, is that just because God desires something, doesn't mean that it's His perfect will for it to happen.

For instance, there are some things that I may desire from my children, but there are also some things that I require from my children.

When our children are young and living at home, we have a right and a duty to require that our kids obey certain rules and guidelines in our home.

Even after they grow up and move out of our home, we will continue to desire that they live according to the principles and standards that we have tried to instill in them.

But it is also true that after they grow up and move out, we have to give them their freedom.

Once they are on their own, we can't control them and dictate how they should live, regardless of how much they may disappoint us or break our hearts.

This is true of God in that He gives us freewill.

So on the one hand God desires that all people be saved, but on the other hand, He allows us to have our freewill.

He allows us to reject His love, reject His grace, reject His forgiveness, and reject His great salvation.

He allows us to break His heart.

He allows us to choose between good and evil, to choose between self and the Savior, and to choose between heaven and hell.

The latter part is really what we are referring to when we talk about salvation.

Salvation is foremost that of being saved from hell, or more specifically, from God's angry wrath.

In Paul's First Epistle to the Thessalonians he writes, 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come" ().

So why is God angry with us?

Why does God bring judgment on those who sin against Him?

Because God understands the pain and suffering that sin brings into the world.

He understands the horribleness of sin, and He wants us to also understand it.

As I've said before, the root of sin is self.

When we choose self over God, we choose to put ourselves on the throne and take God off it.

In other words, we choose to rebel against God.

So what then does it mean for God to desire that all people be saved?

It means He makes it possible for all people to be saved and He wishes they would be saved.

God is not pushy, He won't force us against our will.

But He will provide the means and the avenue by which we can be saved from His wrath.

We see that He does it through the knowledge of the truth.

II.

God Provides the Knowledge of the Truth

What does verses 4-6 mean?

It means that God desires that we be saved and that we come to the knowledge of the truth.

It is through the knowledge of the truth that we are saved.

Salvation is based on God's truth.

We need this truth.

We need the truth about God's wrath toward us.

We need the truth about there being only One true God.

We need the truth concerning the need for a mediator between God and men.

And we need the truth about this mediator, in that there is only one person who can be that mediator, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all.

The first truth is, there is only One God.

A. There is Only One God

Bestselling author Stephen Prothero, wrote a book entitled, God is not one.

He points out that many Buddhists believe in no god, and many Hindus believe in thousands of gods.

He also points out that some like Gandhi claimed that, "'Belief in one "God is the cornerstone of all religions,' so it is toward this one 'God that all religious people are climbing."

He also points out that some like Gandhi claimed that, "'Belief in one "God is the cornerstone of all religions,' so it is toward this one 'God that all religious people are climbing."

Even today many are putting forth the narrative that the God of the Jews, the God of the Christians, and the God of the Muslims are the same God.

While it is true that we all believe in one God, a look at the descriptions given by our Holy books, will reveal that the God of the Christians and the Jews is nothing like the God of the Muslims.

The apostle Paul wanted Timothy to know that there is only one true God, and He is the God of the Bible.

The only true informational source about God and about His salvation comes from the Bible.

There is no other trustworthy source.