SALVATION

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Rom1:16

For many of us the word gospel has come to mean anything that is preached on the pulpit. However that is so far away from the truth. Paul tells us here that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. This is a very rich statement in every way.

1)      Gospel. (Euaggelion)

The word gospel simply means good news or a good message. Thayer defines it simply as glad tidings of the kingdom of God…

This might seem like a simple thing but it has profound ramifications to us if it be true indeed. The gospel is Good News.

First it has got to be good. It can’t be bad or condemning or judgmental. If what is being preached to you isn’t good, it’s not the gospel! It must be good. Isaiah calls it good tidings of good.

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Isa52:7

Secondly it has got to be news. The dictionary defines news as ‘a report of recent occurrences; information of something that has lately taken place or something before unknown…’

That means that it is in the past. It has already happened. It has already occurred. It has taken place already. It is done. It is finished. It is accomplished.

It is not a prophecy of what is going to happen, that wouldn’t be news technically, or a warning. The gospel is news. Good news.

When a preacher stands on a pulpit, their message should first of all be good and it should be news. It must be about a finished work. That is what the gospel is; glad tidings of good things.

2)      Of Jesus Christ

The gospel is all about Jesus. It is the good news concerning Jesus Christ and what He has done, accomplished and finished on the Cross. It is the good news of Christ and His kingdom which has already come.

The gospel is not about you. It does not proclaim your works and your efforts. The gospel proclaims the work of God in Christ. Today we love to stand on the pulpits and tell the people what they should be doing for God. We give them formulas, steps and methods to get God to do things for them or to please God. We are at the center of the messages we preach.  None of that is gospel. The Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. He is at the center of it all.

3)      It is the power of God unto salvation

“When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony of God. For I decided to be concerned about nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling. My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God.” 1Cor2:1-5NET

The gospel is power. It is not rhetoric, it is not just talk, and it is not clever arguments and wise sayings. Today most preachers are experts at sounding clever, making wise quotes, telling very captivating stories and telling very funny jokes. Many preachers have become inspirational and motivational speakers. We should not be deceived. Talk is cheap. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

The word for power here is the word dunamis. It’s the word from which we get the English words dynamo, dynamic, dynamism etc. it means the following; force, ability, abundance, might, strength, violence. Thayer defines it as inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth etc.

In a nutshell Paul is saying that the gospel is the ability, the dynamism, the working, the strength, the might of God that leads to or produces salvation is us.

The way that God has ordained for us to partake and enjoy the salvation that He worked in Christ on the Cross is the gospel. Through hearing and believing the gospel of Christ, God is able to produce His salvation in every area of our life.

The gospel is the power of God that releases the effects of salvation in our lives. The problem today is that the truths of the gospel are not commonly preached or understood in many churches. This is the reason that so many Christians are not walking in all the benefits of their salvation. They don't have the power of the gospel working in them.

The law and its works are not the power of God unto salvation. The law and its works never produce salvation. Fasting, praying, giving, tithing, philanthropy, attending church and any other works of the law will never produce salvation in us. Only hearing and believing the gospel will produce salvation in us. Only the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

4)      Salvation (sōtēria)

For many of us salvation means going to heaven. However the scripture doesn’t teach that. Salvation refers to everything that Jesus accomplished through His death, burial, resurrection and glorification. 

In fact the Greek word used for salvation here is the word sōtēria and it means rescue or safety (physically or morally), deliver, health, salvation, save, saving. Thayer defines it as deliverance, preservation, safety, salvation, deliverance from the molestation of enemies.

Another common word used throughout the New Testament to convey the same meaning is the Greek word sōzō which is translated as saved in Rom10:9

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Rom10:9

This word means to make safe, to save, that is, deliver or protect, heal, preserve, to do well, be (make) whole etc.

Salvation is much more than just being born again. It refers to every benefit to which the believer is entitled through Jesus. It refers to every work and good thing that Jesus has obtained for us on the Cross.

Very few words if any are as pregnant with meaning as the word salvation. Salvation is a word that encompasses all that we have come to in Christ. All that He has done, and all of its effects on and in us. Salvation is everything that God has done to you and in you through the finished work of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

Salvation is an all-encompassing word that includes EVERYTHING that Christ has brought you to through his death burial and resurrection. It is everything that God has done for you, to you, and in you through the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Illustration.

Imagine that I give you a super computer with 1 million Gig hard drive, 10 Gig of RAM, wireless everything, an incredible software package, amazing graphic and sound capabilities, a gigantic flat screen, etc. And you say thanks…and only ever use it to play Ms. Pac-Man. Or solitaire.

Salvation is like that super computer. It is such an incredible package with incredible potential and yet you can’t experience and enjoy any of that super potential because all you know to do is play solitaire.

Salvation is exceedingly abundantly more than what you could ask or even imagine.

It is so much more to us than being forgiven, or going to heaven, or getting out from hell.

God accomplished a lot through the death of Jesus, He accomplished a lot through His burial, he accomplished a lot through His resurrection and He accomplished a lot through His glorification. It is your role to find out what God has done in Christ.

And all that has been finished and is NOW in Christ. It is accomplished. It is done. It is not something He is going to do. It is something He has already done. It is in the past. It is news.

• Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

• 2Co 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God by us.

Salvation is a reality that is now in Christ. It is all that we have come to NOW in Christ.

Let us look at some scriptures;

• We have righteousness now.  Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed

• We have been justified. Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

• We have been reconciled. Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation.

• We have been freed from sin. Rom 6:22 But now, being made free from sin, and having become slaves to God,

• We have been freed from the Law. Rom 7:6 But now we having been set free from the Law, having died to that in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

• We are not condemned. Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

• God has revealed the mystery of salvation to us. Rom 16:26 but now the mystery has been made plain, and by the prophetic Scripture

• We have been made members of Christ’s body. 1Co 12:20 But now indeed many are the members, yet there is only one body.

• We are triumphing in Christ. 2Co 2:14 Now thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and He revealing through us the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place.

• We have been made a spiritual person. 2Co 5:16 So as we now know no one according to flesh, but even if we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we no longer know Him so.

• We no longer wait for the future. 2Co 6:2 (For He says, "In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation, I helped you;" Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.)

• We have been crucified with Christ. Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I live; yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And that life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith toward the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself on my behalf.

• God knows us Gal 4:9 But now, knowing God, but rather are known by God, how do you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements to which you again desire to slave anew?

• We are close to God. Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who were once afar off are made near by the blood of Christ.

• We are God’s family and citizens of His kingdom. Eph 2:19 Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,

• We are light. Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light

• We are God’s friends. Col 1:21 And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled you

• God has revealed His mystery to us. Col 1:26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.

• God has revealed His purpose to us. 2Ti 1:10 But his purpose has now been manifested by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has made death of no effect, bringing life and immortality to light through the gospel;

• Jesus has put away sin forever. Heb 9:26 but now once in the end of the world He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

• We are God’s people. 1Pe 2:10 you who then were not a people, but now the people of God, those not having received mercy then, but now received mercy.

We have been blessed already, healed already, anointed already etc.

So let me ask you. What exactly are you waiting for? What are you waiting for God to do? Are you waiting for Him to heal you? Bless you? Prosper you? Anoint you? He has already done all of that in Christ.

Christ is the NOW of it. Christ is the salvation promised. And Christ has come. This is why the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. The only thing the Father is waiting on is for us to know, experience and express that life.

“That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Philemon1:6

God didn’t leave something out of Christ for us to find somewhere else. He had all things of inheritance and promise wrapped up in Jesus. When He gave us Jesus, He gave us everything.

What you need is not in the future, it is not in the past, it is in Christ. We need to look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.

We look at Him to know what He has accomplished for us and in us at the Cross. We look unto Him because as we know Him and experience Him, we know and experience our salvation. He is our salvation.

Our salvation is Christ. Salvation is not something that Jesus gives us. Salvation is Jesus Himself being given to us.

And so when Christ is revealed, salvation is revealed. When salvation is revealed, Christ is revealed. Christ is salvation. Indeed this is what His name means. He is Jesus. The savior. If you do not know the truth you are not made free. If you do not behold the truth, you are not transformed.

But how much do you know of what He has done? Has he just gotten you out of hell? Has he forgiven the trespasses that you committed? Has he given you gifts of the Spirit?