Salvation:Past,Present,Future

Curtis Pryor

The Future of History - 1 Peter • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Love and trust Jesus with unspeakable joy, knowing that His plan saves and keeps us today, all the while leading us to it's intended destination in His presence.

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Series Theme: Past Tense -Jesus' sacrifice brought hope and light into a dark world.

Past Tense: Jesus' sacrifice brought hope and light into a dark world.

Future tense - HIStory continues to bring hope and light to all who worship Him alone.

Introduction:

1 Peter 1:3–9 The Message

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

PRAYER

Salvation: past, present,future — what does that mean? In essence, we are talking about the future of HISstory.

The prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah — where he was born, how He lived,died,and rose again. These past prophetic pronouncements spoke clearly of Jesus. The prophets only spoke what the Lord gave them — the had to pray and study to understand.

Jesus’ birth, life, teaching, miracles, suffering, death, and resurrection happened many years ago. They are HIStory, but they also made a way for all humanity and future generations to experience the joy of salvation through Jesus.

So, what is the future of HIStory? The prophets, Jesus’ birth, etc., happened in the past, but they have impacted the world throughout history. As we move forward, His plan that was fulfilled in the past, continues to be fulfilled today

What is salvation? A means of preservation. It is redemption, rescue, deliverance, regeneration, reanimation, etc.

Chapter 1:3-9 is a little snapshot of salvation: past, present, and future

What is salvation? A means of preservation. It is redemption, rescue, deliverance, regeneration, reanimation, etc.

What does salvation deliver us from? Sin, judgement, death, eternal separation from God

Salvation is a work of God’s grace…a means of justification, forgiveness, and mercy

Some people understand salvation to be most beneficial down the road — a future thing, when we finally see Jesus. Others only see it in terms of the present. “I’m saved…it’s done…nothing else really matters!” They believe they are going to Heaven one day, but they don’t enjoy the understanding that their salvation is both now and future — they ultimate goal of our faith in Christ is to reach our destination. We haven’t arrived until we get there.

Sanctification: set apart, made holy and worthy to approach the Lord

Some people understand salvation to be most beneficial down the road — a future thing, when we finally see Jesus. Others only see it in terms of the present. “I’m saved…it’s done…nothing else really matters!” They believe they are going to Heaven on day, but they don’t enjoy the understanding that their salvation is both now and future — they ultimate goal of our faith in Christ is to reach our destination. We haven’t arrived until we get there.

1 Peter 1:

1 Peter 1:6–9 The Message

I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don’t see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you’ll get what you’re looking forward to: total salvation.

Here’s the challenge we need to unpack this morning:

Love and trust Jesus with unspeakable joy, knowing that His plan saves and keeps us today, all the while leading us to it's intended destination in His presence.

Interrogatory: How can our salvation be complete when we give our lives to Christ, while still looking forward to its completion in the future?

Transitional: It’s not either, or…it’s both

Salvation: Here and Now

Christ paid our debt in full

“Jesus paid it all, all to Him owe”

In this sense…there are not a whole list of steps we must take to gain God’s grace

“Jesus paid it all, all to Him owe”

Salvation is completely and totally found in Jesus and Him alone

Since Jesus is ours when we express faith in Him, our redemption is complete — we have been purchased and rescued from slavery and we have no reason to go back

The pardon which God gives to believers in Jesus is not a semi-pardon, it is not a putting away of some of their sins, or a putting them away for a time; but it is a perfect putting away of their sins for ever, a casting of them, once for all, behind God’s back, into the depths of the sea, so that they shall never be found again; yea, they shall be so completely put away that they shall cease to be. — Spurgeon, C. H.

Since Jesus is ours when we express faith in Him, our redemption is complete — we have been purchased and rescued from slavery and we have no reason to go back

Spurgeon, C. H. (1910). Salvation as It Is Now Received. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 56, p. 542). London: Passmore & Alabaster.

Christ restores our relationship with the Father

At one time, our backs were turned away from God

If we have placed our faith in Jesus and our hope is in Him, we are indeed saved

Our desire was for many things…and God was not one of them

When we place our faith in Jesus — we are transformed

Now our face is towards God…we hang on every word of His…we are painfully aware of how unworthy we are to be in His presence, and yet, He has welcomed us in.

We are quite a ways from where we would like to be…but our hearts cry is to get there

Now our face is towards God…we hang on every word of His…we are painfully aware of how unworthy we are to be in His presence, and yet, He has welcomed us in.

Our old nature whispers at us to fall back into our old ways but God’s love and the power of the Spirit spur us on to allow God to have His way in our lives.

Christ restores us from the destruction of sin

without Jesus, we are unable to truly pray — we can “say prayers” but we do not know communion with the Father

Without Jesus, we were unable to believe — our faith was buried

Without Jesus, we were chained and locked up — in bondage to sin and Satan

But now, with Jesus’ love and life flowing through us, we no longer have to stay in bondage to our old sinful nature

We can pray, praise, worship — not perfectly yet — but the desire is there and we run after it.

Christ frees from sin in our daily life

Although we do not walk perfectly in this freedom…it should be our deep desire to be completely free from it

We will not reach a place of perfect sinlessness in this life - but please do not use that fact as an excuse to be flippant about the way we live

In this life, we will never be perfectly like Christ — but He is our model and example — no other will do

Just because we cannot attain that perfection here does not mean we should be casual about pursuing it. The more we know Him..the more we desire to reflect Him

Don’t make excuses:

“My hot temper is just the way I am…I can never change that” --- etc.

We all know people (maybe we are one) that have been delivered from sins and lifestyle that seemed impossible to escape…but for the grace and transforming power of God

Transitional: Jesus is the only way to salvation — how can a person experience this?

Salvation: Where Can I Get Mine?

It is completely from Jesus

1 Peter 1:8–9 NIV

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:

It comes to us through faith, love, and joy

Faith — though you have not seen Him, you believe

It would be nice to see Him (we will someday), but many saw Him in the flesh and still perished

The believing part (faith) is what makes the difference

Our faith must be practiced with our eye on the Cross — without that our faith doesn’t have anything to stand on

Love — thought you have not seen Him, you love Him

His love is what make it possible for grace to destroy sin and judgment

“The love of Christ and sin are like the two balances of a pair of scales; if sin goes up in our esteem, our love to Christ is going down; and whenever our love to Christ goes up, sin must go down in the same proportion” — C.H. Spurgeon

Joy — though you have not seen Him, you rejoice (joy unspeakable and full of glory)

this kind of joy is a weapon

It cuts and kills — destroys

Many sins in our lives show up when we have fallen into doubt, fear, anger, etc. and allowed those things to consume our thoughts

When we are given a beautiful diamond, the stones we’ve been collecting no longer seem valuable

Still waters run deep — before we surrender to Jesus, our joy sort of skims the surface of the day’s challenges and really does nothing to keep us from bad attitudes, depression, sin --- like a noisy, shallow brook that trickles along is narrow path and often just dries up.

But the joy experienced through Christ runs deep — it is broad — and doesn’t make much noise — like the Mississippi, the Snake, or the Columbia as they make their way toward the ocean.

There is nothing fuzzy about where and how we find redemption and freedom

Transitional: There is nothing fuzzy about where and how we find redemption and freedom

There is nothing fuzzy about where and how we find redemption and freedom

CHALLENGE

Salvation: No Middle Ground — You have it, or you don’t

You have it, or you don’t

You may know all about it — know the scriptures that explain it — but knowledge in itself is not enough

You can miss Jesus while standing right under the light of His truth

Do not shut your eyes to it

To those that have been in a very bright room, the darkness seems more stark than it does for those that live dim or dark places

Do not shut your eyes to it

Just because someones says “I am saved” doesn’t make it true

Search your heart honestly — what is your status with Jesus?

How deeply have you embraced it?

What is your spiritual temperature?

Above the freezing point?

Below zero?

Or are you at a strong and healthy temperature?

98.6

Is our temperature healthy enough that we would be willing to face anything and stay the course with His strength?

Have you believed on Him yet?

May the Lord enable each of you to believe on Him so that you may rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory…receiving the goal of your faith, salvation

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