Salvation

Ephesians · 2024-05-26 · Jason Wolin · Theology Matters

Ephesians · Salvation. Salvation — sermon from Cypress Bible Church on BibleSlides.

Salvation Slideshow for this message PDF Message Download Introduction Many of you were without power this week because of the storm. When the power is out for an hour we say to ourselves, okay, that makes sense. When it’s out for a day we star tapping our watches. When it’s out for a week we say, “This is an outrage.” Those emotions get checked a little bit when we see the actual problem. Fixing that problem is not easy. I read that 4000 out of state lineworkers were called into help restore power. That’s not easy to fix and because you appreciate how difficult it is to fix this problem it also changes how we feel. You may even move from frustration to gratitude. And gratitude will certainly be the response once the power turns back on. A month ago our power was just clipping along just fine. Nobody was writing letters to the electric companies praising them for another month of flawless power delivery. But live without power for a bit and your gratitude index goes up. Salvation is Not Easy Now move that principle into your Christian experience. Why are we not more grateful as Christians for our salvation? There are many who sit in the pew week by week and go through the motions of church. They might know a lot about the Bible. They might be culturally Christian. And they might even understand that being saved is a big deal. But if you really look at their lives, there really is no transformation. And maybe this describes you to some degree. You are not changed the way you ought to be. Why is that? Why are we not changed by the gospel? Why is there not this profound gratefulness that moves into worship which moves into transformed living? Here’s the problem: WE THINK FORGIVENESS IS EASY. Now I don’t think this is a conscience thought. But I do think subconsciously we say, well God can do anything, and he’s all-powerful and nothing is hard for him. So to forgive me is no big deal. He’s got a trillion bucks in his forgiveness vault. If he tosses me a few bucks, what’s that to him? Is divine forgiveness easy? Today we are going to talk about the doctrine of salvation. The only way to appreciate our salvation is to look at the cross. Those drops of blood he sweat, those thorns into his brow, the beatings, the tearing of the beard – that’s supposed to give you some insight. In order to be changed at the root level, we need to grapple with the cross. Because it’s the cross that that answers the question: is forgiveness easy? NO. There has never been or nor ever will be anything more difficult. Let’s take a look at the first sentence in our doctrinal statement. The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ died a substitutionary and propitiatory death as the once-for-all sacrifice to God for our sins. Our statement begins, the gospel is the good news…

Cypress Bible Church · Full sermon loading below.