What It Means To Be Saved

This is the manuscript of the sermon delivered at Christ Church on February 21, 2021. This is the second sermon in a series "The Answer To Eternity's Most Important Questions"

We have all heard stories of people and have known people whose lives appeared to have changed overnight. One day we saw them drunk or high, which was a usual occurrence, and when we saw them a week, a month, a year later they had completely changed. I don’t mean they appeared to change, I don't mean a cosmetic change; I mean a complete total change inside and out. We may have even been that person. These kinds of stories tell us something about what it means to be saved. To be saved means to change your way of life, attach yourself in faith to God so that His plan for your life can be accomplished.

For an audio recording of the sermon click the YouTube link at the end of this manuscript.  

To see a video of the entire service click this link https://youtu.be/ZeNYuA4wP1E

Scripture Reading: 

1 Corinthians 6:9‭-‬11 NIV Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men  nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Text: 

1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord , my strength and my Redeemer.

Introduction

We have all heard stories of people and have known people whose lives appeared to have changed overnight. One day we saw them drunk or high, which was a usual occurrence, and when we saw them a week,  a month, a year later they had completely changed.  I don’t mean they appeared to change, I don't mean a cosmetic change; I mean a complete total change inside and out.   We may have even been that person.  

There's a story of a man who was called “Old John,” and he was notorious as the town drunk. Someone met him on the street  one morning and said, “Good morning, Old John.” He said, “Who are you talking to? My name is not ‘Old John.’ I’m new John.” He had been born again, and a transformation had taken place in his life.

These kinds of stories tell us something about what it means to be saved. To be saved means to change your way of life, attach yourself in faith to God so that His plan for your life can be accomplished.

Last Sunday we talked about what it means to be lost. Today we are going to look at what it means to be saved. In our scripture 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, Paul expresses quite well what it means to be saved.  

In verses 9 and 10 he mentions some sins of the unrighteous. 

1 Corinthians 6:9‭-‬10 NIV Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men  nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

We read a scripture last week that also addressed the condition of the lost or unrighteous.

Galatians 5:19‭-‬21 NIV The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

These are all sins against self and against others. 

Then in verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 6, he says that some of them, and I dare say some of us, were those unrighteous people, but he didn't stop there, he followed this list of sins with the statement that they,  and we who are saved, are now transformed.

1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

I. To be saved means to be cleansed from sin.

“But you were washed.” This word “but” is used to show a clean break between what was said before and what follows.  You were unrighteous but, now you have now been cleansed.

Cleansing from sin is the forgiveness of sins. When Christ saves us, he forgives our sins. 

Ephesians 1:7 NIV In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace

Forgiveness equals redemption. 

The first step in forgiveness of sin is to realize our need for forgiveness. This is the greatest hindrance to salvation, it is admitting we really need forgiveness. 

How does this forgiveness come about?

Revelation 1:5‭-‬6 NIV and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Jesus is the one who loved us and washed away our sins with his own blood. This is exactly how forgiveness and cleansing from sin come about, through the blood of Jesus which washes our sins completely away.  Not partially away, but completely away.

A preacher said to a dying woman, “Have you made your peace with God?” “No,” she said. “Do you realize,” he said, “that you are dying and that soon you must go to face God and give an account of your life?” “Yes,” the woman replied, “but I am not disturbed about that. I do not have to make my peace with God; Christ made that peace for me on Calvary.  I am simply resting in the peace which he has already made” 

Christ has already made peace for us, which is the forgiveness of and cleansing from sin. We need only to enter into that peace through faith.  

II. To be saved means to be set apart for service.

1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

“But you were sanctified.” 

When we are saved, our sins are forgiven. But along with forgiveness comes sanctification, which means to separate, or to set apart. When God saves us, he sets us apart for his use. The verb tense for this word is the same as the tense for “washed.” This means that sanctification is a decisive action that God has taken. At the time of our faith and belief in Christ, God not only forgives our sins but also sets us apart for his service.

When there was a great need for ventilators early in the pandemic automakers Ford and GM turned the lights back on at some of their idled facilities to start producing ventilators.

Instead of making automobiles or trucks, they began to make ventilators. In other words, these plants were set apart for a new type of work; the entire purpose of their machinery was changed. And so it is that when a person is saved, the entire purpose of his or her life is changed.

Sanctification is a definite act on the part of God at the time a person is saved. At that time the person is set apart for service to God. We can also consider sanctification as the process of growth that each Christian experiences. Sanctification is not only an act but also a process. We are to grow in grace and our complete sanctification won't come about until we die and are with the Lord or at the Lord’s return to the earth.   

1 Thessalonians 4:16‭-‬18 NIV For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

III. To be saved means to be justified by God.

1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

“But you were justified.” Justification is another term used by Paul to express our salvation. Even as God forgives and sets apart, he justifies those who have accepted Christ as their personal Savior. Justification is a legal term and it is crucial in our salvation. Justification basically means to declare a person right. But this definition fails to capture all that it really includes. God does not just pronounce us right; he makes us right. This is the very nature of salvation and the new birth. In justification God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

A. Notice that it is sinners who are justified by God. 

Remember our scripture at the beginning:

1 Corinthians 6:9‭-‬10 NIV Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men  nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

These are the very people Paul said were now justified and right through faith.

B. This brings up another aspect of justification. 

It is by faith and faith alone. Paul contrasted justification by works and justification by faith. We are justified, we are made right before God, on the condition of our faith in him—not by anything we do. When Martin Luther was climbing the Holy Stairs, in Rome, kissing every step as was required, he remembered the words of Scripture that says “The just shall live by faith.” When he remembered that scripture he stood up and walked back down the stairs. “The just shall live by faith!” then became the battle cry of the Reformation.

C. Justification by faith is based on Christ’s finished work for us. 

1 Corinthians 6:11 NIV And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Let's say you work for UPS of FedEx and I go to work with you.  We are getting ready to get into your delivery truck.  I ask “How much will this cost me?”  You say “It will cost you nothing.”  I then say “That is too cheap; I don’t want to ride in anything that costs nothing.”  You say “Cheap!”  “This truck cost this company $45,000.”  I say now I understand—it cost me nothing, but it did cost someone else a great price.  Salvation came to us in the same way. It cost us nothing, but it did cost someone else a great price—it cost Christ His life.

Conclusion

Looming on the horizon of eternity there is a terrifying final day of judgment. This world is on a collision course with a final day of reckoning. The Apostle Paul calls it “the day of wrath”.

We read this verse last week when we said that the lost would be objects of God’s wrath. 

 

Romans 2:5 NIV But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

 

In Jude it is described as “the judgment of the great day”

 

Jude 1:6 NIV And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.

 

This will be the day in which God will hold court, and all the world will stand trial before Him. In this final judgment, God will open the books and present His case. Every lost sinner will be judged, and God will announce His just verdict and condemn every unbeliever to hell.

 

This final courtroom scene is described with dramatic detail in Revelation 20:11-15. 

 

Revelation 20:11‭-‬15 NIV Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

 

This is the highest court in heaven or on earth. It is the supreme court of the universe, and there is no higher court of appeal. Every lost sinner will be individually summoned to take his stand before the divine judgment bar, where every unbeliever will have his day in court before the Lord Jesus Christ. The evidence will be presented, and it will be an irrefutable case presented by God Himself. There will be no rebuttal offered, no defense rendered, and no sympathy extended. There will be no grace, no advocate to defend the sinner, and no miscarriage of justice. There will be no successful appeal by the guilty and no parole from prison as an escape. There will only be perfect judgment.

 

The only difference between us and those who will be condemned at the great white throne of judgment is the unconditional love and unmerited favor of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Every one of us who believes in Jesus Christ deserves to be condemned at this great white throne of judgment. We likewise should be cast down into the lake of fire, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Yet, God has taken our many sins and placed them behind His back. Jesus has removed our iniquities from us as far as the east is from the west. Christ has washed away our sins, imputed His perfect righteousness to us, and covered us with His blood so that our sins will never be brought into account before God.

 That's what it means to be saved. Forgiveness and sanctification and justification are all different aspects of the same act.

Closing Prayer

Lord, help me not only to hear your words but also to speak them to others and see the extraordinary power of the word of God to transform my life and those around me.

 This experience can be yours. Accept it by faith.

Sermon Audio