FULLNESS

3. The Christian Experience of Salvation 1/23/22

Matthew 1:21 NIV She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Luke 19:10 NIV For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Central Truth: From both Old and New Testament perspectives, it is foundational that God is our Savior, and His Kingdom was brought to broken man by the work of Jesus Christ.

*Exodus 13:14; Exodus 15:2; Isaiah 43:11; Psalm 68:19-20

*Luke 19:10; 1 Timothy 1:15

*There are at least 14 phrases that constitute what we call “Great Words of the Christian Faith.” (These are explained more fully in William E. Hull’s book: The Layman’s Library of Christian Doctrine: The Christian Experience of Salvation, Volume 9; Broadman Press, Nashville, 1987)

1. Words of CHOICE:

a. Repentance

b. Faith

c. Confession

2. Words of CHANGE:

a. Regeneration

b. Adoption

c. Conversion

3. Words of CONSEQUENCE:

a. Forgiveness

b. Justification

c. Redemption

d. Reconciliation

4. Words of CHALLENGE:

a. Life

b. Sanctification

c. Consummation

d. Community

*Concerns

1. Most of Christianity holds to a rather anemic view of what happened in us through Jesus.

2. “Saved”

a. Made whole

b. To become roomy, spacious or broad

*Clarifications

1. Salvation is a verb of action as well as a noun of action.

2. Christianity is understood through tenses.

a. In the PAST, there was a POINT at which I was saved. (A Crisis)

b. In the PRESENT, there is a PROCESS which I am experiencing. (A Continuance)

c. In the FUTURE, there is a PROMISE that I will receive. (A Culmination)

1. Salvation as an experience in the Past

a. Perfect Tense: an accomplished fact with continuing results as in Ephesians 2:8.

b. Aorist Tense: an event and consequence firmly rooted in the past as in 2 Timothy 1:9 and Titus 3:5.

c. Therefore: Salvation is far from finished, but the on-going process is anchored in an event of the past.

d. See also Hebrews 2:10; 5:9; 12:2 and 1 Timothy 1:15.

2. Salvation as an experience in the Present

a. Present Tense: Salvation is an on-going process that is occurring in the present moment - as in 1 Corinthians 1:18; 15:2.

b. This tense carries the idea of continuation — as in continual growth/maturing.

1) Philippians 2:12

2) Hebrews 2:3

3) 2 Corinthians 2:15

c. Significance: Since we have already been saved by the completed work of Christ, it is time now for us to live-out the fullness of what we really are in Jesus.

3. Salvation as an experience in the Future

a. Salvation is not only an event in the past that produces action in the present. It is also a process that will eventually find completion in the future.

b. This tense is the most commonly used tense in the New Testament.

c. Romans 13:11

d. 1 Thessalonians 5:9

e. Hebrews 9:28

f. 1 Peter 5:9

g. “Salvation is a thing of the past, a thing of the present, and a thing of the future” - J.B. Lightfoot[1]

h. A summary of Romans 5:1-2 “Since we have already been justified (acquitted) in the past, we now go on having peace with God in the present, and because of our current access to divine grace, we even now rejoice the hope of one day sharing the glory of God in the future. Having already been justified by the Blood of Christ in the past (that is, His death) we will one day be saved from wrath by the same Christ in the future. If God was willing to reconcile us through the death of His Son in the past while we were still His enemies, will He not even more be willing to save us in the future since we now (in the present) have Christ’s Life in us by faith? Being confident both of our reconciliation already received in the past, and of our salvation yet to come in the future, we can now exult (rejoice) in the present over what God has done, is doing, and will yet do for us through our Lord Jesus Christ.”[2]

Tying it together

1. The Peril from which we are saved

a. We were saved from the penalty of sin in the past.

b. We are being saved from the power of sin in the present.

c. We will be saved from the presence and even the possibility of sin in the future.

2. The Purpose for which we are saved

a. For an experience of Grace in the past.

1) Ephesians 4:2-9

2) Titus 3:3-7

b. For an experience of Growth in the present.

1) Ephesians 4:13

2) “Fullness”

c. For an experience of Glory in the Future.

1) 2 Timothy 2:10

2) 2 Peter 1:4

3. The Person by whom we are saved

a. We were saved by the Incarnate Christ in the past.

1) He is God.

2) He was born of a virgin; Fully God/Fully man.

3) He lived a sinless, perfect life.

4) He died a substitutionary death.

5) He was physically raised from death.

6) He ascended to The Father in Heaven where He lives forever to make intercession for us.

b. We are being saved by the Indwelling Christ in the present.

1) “Contemporization” seen in John 16:7-15

2) Victorious Living as seen in Romans 8:1-39

3) vv.1-8 Freedom

4) vv. 9-11 Life

5) vv. 12-17 Adoption

6) vv. 18-25 Hope

7) vv. 26-27 Spirit-indwelling

8) vv. 28-30 Purpose

9) vv. 31-39 Victory

c. We shall be saved by the Invincible Christ in the future.

1) Even the Indwelling Spirit is just a token of what God has prepared for us (Romans 8:23; 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:14).

2) Philippians 2:6-11

Christian Life Lessons

1. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you are saved!

2. Jesus promised to complete what He began in you!

3. Nothing can separate you from His Love — nothing can take you out of His hand!

1William E. Hull, The Layman’s Library of Christian Doctrine: The Christian Experience of Salvation; Volume 9. Broadman Press, Nashville, 1987, p. 12

[2] Hull, op cit. p. 14