Sunday 02/01/26 – Adams Village Baptist Church
Sermon Title: “How
do we Receive Salvation?”
John 14:6-7, Romans 10:9
As I asked the
kids during our Children’s Corner this morning, I will now ask all of us: What
is a Christian? For many, the answer can vary. About ten years ago, I asked
a man if he was a Christian. He responded, “I go to church on Sunday, Pastor
Paul.” I then politely asked again, “Are you a Christian?” He said, “Well, I
give to the church, if that’s what you mean?” I asked a third time, “Are you a
Christian?” He replied, “Well, I help out at church dinners and events.”
The
man was not mad at me, and I was not mad at the man. It did seem though that
the man did not have a solid definition of what a Christian is. The word
Christian is actually an ancient word that goes back to about 43-44 AD. This
title was given to the followers of Jesus Christ in the city of Antioch. Here
is a little history of the word Christian. The word Christian started:
“as a label for followers of Jesus, as recorded in Acts 11:26. Initially used by outsiders, possibly as a descriptor or taunt, it became a, formal title for believers by the 2nd century. It appeared as a personal name in Europe by the 12th century” (https://www.google.com/search?q=When+did+Christian+be+a+name).
In fact, the first Christians, who were
all Jews, until the Apostle Paul spread the gospel to non-Jews, or “gentiles,”
were called “The Way.” While these Jewish converts turned to Christ, they were
seen as a sort of branch of Judaism that followed Jesus or “Yashua” in the
Hebrew. All this is to say that the name “Christian” started as an insult, and
that name stuck. We are followers of Jesus or “Yashua.” We followers of Christ,
or “Christians.” The Book of Acts 11:26 says:
26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they associated with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called ‘Christians’ (Acts 11:26, NRSV).
This
scripture is talking about the Apostle Paul and Barnabus, as they spent an
entire year together with the Christian Church in Antioch and taught many
people the gospel of Jesus Christ, and about Jesus Christ. This scripture once
again, tells us that the name “Christian” was first used at this point, which
again, was about 43-44 AD. Antioch was a city in what is now the country of
Turkey in the Middle East, and today is called Antakya.
If
someone were to ask you today though, “What is a Christian?” How would you
respond to that? It is possible that some might have never really though very
deeply about it, but I think that knowing who we are as Christians is very
important for us. This is very important for our family and friends, and for
the world. Why? As Christians we are representing Jesus, and this is very
important.
With
all of this said, my sermon title for this morning is “How do we receive
salvation?” Someone might say, “But I thought you wanted to know what a
Christian is, and what does that have to do with salvation?” Well, the word
salvation means:
1. preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss.
2. deliverance from sin and its consequences, believed by Christians to be brought about by faith in Christ. (https://www.google.com/search?q=salvation+definition)
In the city of Antioch, which once again in
the modern-day country of Turkey, the term “Christian” was a title or a
description. If we say that we are “Christians,” is that just a title?
I
believe that who are as “Christians” needs to be much more than just a title.
Who we are as “Christians,” I believe, is the very core of who we are. To be a “Christian,”
means that we repent of our sin, our shame, our brokenness, and we turn to Jesus
Christ. We put all that we have done wrong on the cross of Jesus Christ, we
make the Him the Lord and the Savior of our lives, and we will be forgiven. When
we pray silently to God before Communion or the Lord’s Supper after this sermon
this morning, if we humbly ask God for forgiveness for whatever we may have
said or done, we will have it.
When
we meet Christ, and when he dwells in our hearts, then we can feel the power of
the Holy Spirit of God move in us, and we know we are forgiven. We are
spiritually free, Jesus is our Lord, and we will be with Him one day in glory
forever. Imagine the feeling the first time someone feels that kind of freedom.
To truly know that through God our past is gone, and our future is with Jesus.
To be a “Christian,” is to have freedom through Jesus Christ.
Further,
every day that we are on this earth after we meet Jesus, we are called to live
and love like Jesus. Coming to Jesus is something that is supposed to change
us. It is not just buying a new shirt or a pair of shoes, it is something that
is supposed to transform us from the inside out. Every morning, I surrender my
life to Christ and ask God to help me pick up my cross and follow Jesus. I ask
God to use me to love and serve others, so that Adams, and the world may be
better. The very center of my life and my hope is Jesus Christ. To me, this is
what a “Christian” is.
Interestingly
enough, I have talked with some people that I knew years ago, and when I ran
into some of them, they were very different than I remember being years earlier.
One person specifically, told me that he met Jesus Christ and made Him the Lord
and Savior of his life, and that the Holy Spirit has and continues to change him.
This person seemed like a person that was the exact opposite of what I
remembered them as. They were “a new creation” as we often use the term in the
Christian faith. Being a Christian then, is not just a title, it is the
surrender of our lives to Christ. We put a new spiritual self and daily die to
ourselves, put on Christ, and live and love like Jesus. To me, this is what a
Christian is.
The
joke that I have had in the past, is that some people, so it would seem,
because a Christian, because they worried about what will happen to them
eternally if they do not become a Christian. The joke that we had about this
when I was in seminary school was “buying Fire Insurance.”
(Fire Insurance Picture)
The reason this was a joke for me and some
of my classmates in seminary was because it was the idea that someone wanted to
go to heaven and not go to hell. As a result, they would become a Christian for
the “Fire Insurance.” I mean they were told by their pastor or another
Christian that to get to heaven, to eternity with Jesus that they had to be a
Christian. So, they signed up, but it was only for the “Fire Insurance.”
What
I have always wondered though is this, how can person encounter the risen Christ,
our savior, and not be changed? How do you come to Jesus and leave the exact
same person as when you came? Do we believe in Jesus just to “hedge our bets?”
Someone might say, “Well Pastor Paul, how can prove there is a God or a heaven
and a hell? Or what if I just say I believe in Jesus, just in case?” I would
argue that following, living for Jesus and living like Jesus, is so much more
than “Fire Insurance.” Brothers and sisters, I am free of guilt, of shame, of
anything in my life because the Lord Jesus Christ has forgiven me. Amen. We can
walk in freedom, knowing that Jesus is the king of our hearts, and the king of
everything. We now spiritually related to the King of Kings, and the Lord of
Lords. Due to this, when we come to Christ we become royalty, as we all become
princes and princesses. For our we are sons and daughter of the king, of Jesus
Christ.
Even
so, I have had friends of mine that are atheists or agnostics say to me,
“Pastor Paul what happens if when you die, none of it was true?” I then respond
to them and say, “I am one hundred percent convinced it is true, but to
entertain you question I have a response. The response is this, I will have
lived a life of victory in Jesus, I will have served Him, I will have loved
like Him, and He will have used me to make a massive difference in this world.”
I have said this before, because being a Christian is not just “Fire
Insurance,” it is living a life of victory in the hear and the now, knowing
that we can follow, love, and be like Jesus, until we go to be with Him, or He
returns to us. So, for me, to answer the question that is my sermon title of,
“How do we receive salvation?” The answer is surrender to Christ, make Him the
Lord of your lives, and be transformed in Him. I have been asked before,
“Pastor Paul when did you come to Christ?” My answer is this, “When I was
thirteen-years old, and thousands of times since.” Our faith is lived and
pursued daily.
You
see this transformation in Christ continues after we meet Christ and receive
salvation in Him. This is because, for the rest of our lives we go through a
process of what is called “Sanctification.” By “Sanctification,” I mean
continuing daily to become more and more like Jesus Christ. After we meet
Christ, we are then called to become more and more like Him, every day. This is
why I have come to Christ thousands of times.
The
two scriptures that I picked for this morning, among many others, like John
3:16 and etc., to support the case for salvation in Christ that I making this
morning are: John 14:6-7, Romans 10:9.
While I read these a few minutes ago, let us look at these again, and talk
about them a little.
In
the gospel of John 14:6-7, it says this:
6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him’ (Jn. 14:6-7, NRSV).
These words of Jesus Christ Himself, are
Him telling us that the way to be spiritually and in everything is in Him.
Remember the first Jewish converts to Christianity were called “The Way.” Jesus
tells us that through Him, we will know hope, truth, and new life. Through Him
we will have transformation now, continued transformation, and eternal life in
Him. To me this what makes the Christian faith have its power. This is what
drives us through the Holy Spirit to do missions, and service others.
In
the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, or the Book or Romans we read
in Romans 10:9
this:
9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom. 10:9, NRSV).
The Apostle Paul is telling us that if you
are a follower of Christ, or a “Christian,” then we must confess with our lips
that Jesus is Lord. Further, we must believe in in Jesus in our hearts, that
Jesus truly rose from the dead on that first Easter, and that is alive in us,
and alive in glory. With Jesus we have eternity, we have hope, and we have
newness of life.
So,
what is the bad part about all of this? The bad part is that even though Jesus
has changed us, and even though the Holy Spirti is continuing to change us,
often times it seems like the world around us has not changed at all. Some days
it might even seem like the world has gotten worse, or better, depending on the
day. Our faith in Christ, our spiritual transformations, and our continued
spiritual transformation exist in a fallen and a broken world. Individually and
as a church family we live out our faith in Christ. Sometimes we are burning
bright in our faith, and sometimes our lives might be filled with pain. Jesus
is always with us, and we have each other, our church family. The hope of Jesus
is real, the transformation in Jesus is real, but the world is often as it has
always been.
One
of the shows that Melissa and I have really like watching is called “The Crown”
on Netflix. In this show it portrays the now late Queen Elizabeth II of the
United Kingdom, who died in 2022. It is a show that tries to show what life was
like for the British royal family from Queen Elizabeth's perspective.
Interestingly enough, Queen Elizabeth had a good friendship with Rev. Billy
Graham. Billy Graham was arguably the most effect and impactful Christian
evangelist in the pastor one-hundred years. God has used Billy Graham to
literally bring millions and millions of people to faith in Christ. In the
Netflix show “The Crown” queen Elizabeth meets with Billy Graham throughout
both of there lives. There were times when Queen Elizabeth needed prayer and or
spiritual council, and if Billy Graham was England for one his famous Crusades
for Christ, or some other reason, she sometimes called on Rev. Billy Graham.
In
this same show on Netflix, an actor portraying a young Billy Graham reenacted a
sermon that Billy Graham literally preached to Queen Elizabeth and some of her
family. The scripture that Billy Graham actually used in this actual sermon,
not this video recreation, was from Colossians 1:27. In this video clip, the
great Rev. Billy Graham tells the Queen of England and others what “Christian”
is. Billy Graham also explains how to receive salvation in Christ, as well.
These are the questions I had us thinking about at the beginning of this
sermon. What is a Christian? “How do we receive salvation in Christ”?
Here
is the clip that I want to you from “The Crown” on Netflix:
(Show Billy Graham “The Crown” Clip)
Did
this message change Queen Elizabeth? Well, she called on Billy Graham other
times after that, so you tell me. If we remember nothing else about this
morning’s message then, remember answering these two questions, “What is a
Christian,” and, “How do we receive salvation” in the Lord Jesus Christ?
So
that this sermon sticks in our brains, and walks out of the doors of this
church with us this morning, here are some application points for us to
consider:
A Christian
is a follower of Jesus Christ, believing He is the Son of God who offers
salvation from sin through His death and resurrection, forming the largest
religious community globally, with diverse denominations united by faith in
Jesus as savior, Lord, and teacher, striving to live according to His
teachings.
Core Beliefs:
- Jesus
Christ:
Central to Christianity, Christians believe Jesus is God incarnate, who lived, taught, died for humanity's sins, and rose again.
- Salvation:
Through faith in Jesus, believers receive forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and eternal life, a gift from God, not earned by works.
- The
Bible:
Seen as God's authoritative word, guiding faith and life.
- Trinity:
Belief in one God existing as three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit.
- New
Life:
A transformed inner life, empowered by the Holy Spirit to follow Christ's example.
What it Means to Be a Christian:
- Faith & Confession: Believing in Jesus's divinity and confessing Him as Lord.
- Following Jesus: Modeling one's life after Christ's example, characterized by love, service, and obedience to God's will.
- Relationship with God: Cultivating a personal relationship through prayer, Bible study, and fellowship.
- Transformation: A commitment to change direction, turning from sin toward God.
So
once again my friends, my brothers and sister, “What is a Christian?” “How do
we receive salvation” in Christ. Amen.
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