We Believe: God Reveals Himself through the Experience of Salvation
We Believe: Pillars of Grace • Sermon • Submitted
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Pillars of Grace
Pillars of Grace
We believe God Reveals
We believe God Reveals
We Believe God Creates
We Believe God Creates
We Believe God Redeems
We Believe God Redeems
When we accept God's grace and salvation, the Holy Spirit reveals our need for Jesus and recreates us. The Spirit builds our faith and helps us leave our broken lives behind.
When we accept God's grace and salvation, the Holy Spirit reveals our need for Jesus and recreates us. The Spirit builds our faith and helps us leave our broken lives behind.
In infinite love and mercy God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might be made the righteousness of God. Led by the Holy Spirit we sense our need, acknowledge our sinfulness, repent of our transgressions, and exercise faith in Jesus as Saviour and Lord, Substitute and Example. This saving faith comes through the divine power of the Word and is the gift of God’s grace. Through Christ we are justified, adopted as God’s sons and daughters, and delivered from the lordship of sin. Through the Spirit we are born again and sanctified; the Spirit renews our minds, writes God’s law of love in our hearts, and we are given the power to live a holy life. Abiding in Him we become partakers of the divine nature and have the assurance of salvation now and in the judgment.
Prayer
The Boston Habor
The Story of Ami losing her hat on the ship (experience) (4 minutes or less)
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
Acknowledge
Repent
Experience
Every experience we have leads us into a process. In our relationship with God this process starts with first Acknowledging He is God and Salvation is only in Him.
Acknowledge
Acknowledge
We are told in Isaiah to:
“Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
In Acts chapter 4 God tells that this salvation comes:
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
You see God says In Ezekiel:
Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
He have this knowledge by hearing the Word of God according to
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
In a night time visit, Nicodemus, Jesus explains what it means to be saved.
In a night time visit, Nicodemus, Jesus explains what this all means through something we all can understand, birth.
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Born a second time
You see Nicodemus did not understand. You see we are all sinners needing that same rebirth.
According to Paul:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Paul goes on to tells us in that:
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Faith by hearing
Faith by hearing
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
No condemnation in Christ
So what do we do now? We have now had this experience with God that has lead us to either reject Him or Acknowledge Him. If we acknowledge Him the next part is to Repent.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
All have sinned
All have sinned
Repent
Repent
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I want us to dwell on this passage for just a minute. This is what is called a conditional statement or an if/then statement. Our part is to confess and His part is to forgive and cleanse. A lot of people get stuck right here. Either they confess expecting God to only forgive then it is our part to cleanse ourself from unrighteousness. That is not what this passage says. It is God that does the cleansing. On the other hand some people believe that their sin is to great to be forgiven so they never get to the cleansing. Remember what the passage says… If we confess… He is FAITHFUL and JUST. But even the confessing, which is our part, is not completely our part. John would later say in his gospel that he would send a helper:
And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Confess
Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
In Colossians we are told that:
the Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Even the act of repentance is something that God does in us. We are never alone in this process. Why is that? Ephesians tells us that:
Ez 33:11
Even repents is the work of God in us
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
His rich mercy saves us when dead in our trespasses
You see it is important that we repent but even in repentance we are not alone. It is in that repentance that we truly experience salvation.
Experience
Experience
So what is experience so important? The simple answer is because that is the way God made us. Just think about your day to day life. Do you have any experiences? Of course. We have experiences every day. God made us with five senses to experience the world through. Some are good and others not so good.
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The experience of salvation is an important one. When we experience God through salvation we become children of God. In Galatians we are told:
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Sons of God through faith
In Paul’s letter to the young preacher Titus we explains how we change:
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The change from sinner to saved by his works (long)
A few things to notice in this passage. Paul says that “we ourselves were once...” He is not condemning others but acknowledging that Christians have a past but notice what it is that changes that. “the kindness and the love of God our Savior.” Paul puts it another way in 2 Corinthians:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
new creation
We are a NEW creation. He is repairing the broken relationship we all experience. Then he makes us ambassadors! This is all the work of God then he sends us into the world to share with the world even though he knows we are going to mess up. And in Jeremiah he tells us how he is going to do this.
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
Jeremiah 31:33
He puts His law on our hearts and minds… then he tells us that he will be our God and we will be His people. Have you ever felt unloved or unwanted? God is telling us that he loves us and wants us.
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Romans
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
We will be his people and he our God
When I three months old I was taken away from my parents. From what I have gathered there was a party at my parents home and one of their friends got drunk and fell on top of me. I was taken to the hospital. I was fine but it seems this was enough to deem my parents able to take care of me. My grandparents we end up raising me. However, I was never told anything about my Mom and Dad. I grew up thinking that I was not wanted. Even though my grandparents raised me and loved me there was alway this feeling of “why wasn’t I good enough,” I must be broken in order for my own Mom and Dad to not want me. Outside of one time I would not see my Mom again until I was 18 and my dad… that is a whole story on its own.
After finding out that I had brothers and sisters, I was raised as an only child, and that my brother Chris was getting ready to graduate from High School I decided to go met my “family.” I was not expected at first by all my siblings and it seems to hurt me even more. Did I make the right choice meting these people. Sure I was related to them but I did not know them.
We will be his people and he our God
The weekend after Graduation it was Memorial day weekend and everyone would get together and hang out on the river. Every heard the term Redneck yacht club? That what this was. Everyone got there boats and just had a great time on the water. As we where getting my step-dad’s boat in the water one of his friends walked up and ask how Chris was doing that he noticed me. The guy said who is that. My step-dad said this is my son Tommy. He did not say my wife’s lost son. He simply said this is my son.
Their is something about being called a son or daughter that just changes things. Even though I know I was loved growing up this was the first time I was I could remember being called son. My Mom and step-dad have since divorced and I have never met my biological father but I will always remember that feeling. It is a feeling, an experience I had again five years later when I asked God to be my father, my abba.
The Process
The Process
Kolb’s Learning theory
Kolb’s Learning theory
Concrete Experience>Reflective observation>Abstract Conceptualization>Active Experimentation
Acknowledge
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Repent
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Experience
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
The Process in Action
The Process in Action
Kolb’s Learning theory
I have an experiencing (Concrete Experience) with God, in reflecting(reflective observation) on that experience I come to Acknowledge that He is God and I am not. As I come to understand my sinfulness I want to change (abstract conceptualization) and I repent (Active Experimentation). This is as much a feeling as an action. This act of repenting then leads me into a new experience with God. Sometimes I fail and go through the process again. Other times I succeed but still need to go through the process again. Paul describes this as dying daily.
Paul on the Road to Damascus
Woman at the well
The three Hebrew boys in the fire
My testimony
Way to often we try to boil the Christian faith into a belief system. If I just believe, or if only my faith where like… But the true of the matter is that God created us to be creatures of experience. He is the one that gave us our five senses. God is the reason that we see beautiful, hear wonderful music, taste amazing food, feel the cool breeze and smell delightful flowers. Many Christians fail because they feel they don’t measure up. The good thing is that God does not expect us to do it along. God is the one to give us the power to experience Him. Have you ever met an unhappy Christian? Are you an unhappy Christian? Do you feel like you just don’t measure up? I fully believe that it is because we stop at repent and try to do it in our own power. This week I challenge you to EXPERIENCE God and if you fail that is okay. The process does not end there. In two weeks we will be talking about what it means to grow in Christ and how to continue to live the Christian life. As we live here today I want us to all remember that we all need Jesus. We are not in this alone. He is with us. Our closing song is called Jesus. As the song plays I want you to meditate on the words of the song. If you chose to sing along let it be your prayer.
Play video
Closing prayer
Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
“Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.
, ; ; , ; ; ; ; ; ; , , ; ; ; , ; ; ; ; , ; , ; .)
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
“Who committed no sin,
Nor was deceit found in His mouth”;
as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.