The Pilgrimage that Brought Salvation pt 2

SPEAKER A You once to every time in the sight of the good or evil sky don't break on you that I choice of life forever with that darkness. And. SPEAKER B The Bible assures us in Ephesians two, verses eight to ten, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Welcome to faith to faith Here are your hosts, Ettienne McClintock and Braedan Entermann. SPEAKER C Dear listener, greetings and a warm welcome. Thank you for joining us on the program again today. We're glad that you could be with us. And as we start, as we always do, we just invite you to bow with us for a word of prayer. Gracious Father in heaven, we're so grateful for the information we receive from the Scriptures. But not only that, Father, also the impression you leave on our minds through the Holy Spirit that salvation is very near to each one of us, father, we know that in you we live and move and have our being. But more than that, Father, you not only sustain us in this life, but you offer us eternal life through Jesus Christ. This day, we come to you in his name, asking for a fresh measure of Your Holy Spirit to be poured out on each one of us so that we can understand these spiritual truths and apply them to our lives and have that close relationship with you that you desire for us to have is our prayer. In Jesus name, amen. SPEAKER D Amen. SPEAKER C So this is part two of the program. We look at the pilgrimage that brought salvation. Now, last week we spoke about righteousness by faith and how righteousness by faith works. And we looked at the text that was quoted by Paul in Romans, chapter ten. He's quoting out of the Old Testament, out of Deuteronomy, chapter 30. And he says, now, the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. So how does it speak? Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven. So what is telling us? Righteous or by faith doesn't speak this way. He said, don't say that. Don't speak. Say in your heart who will ascend into heaven. That is, to bring Christ down from above. Now, why is he saying that? As we discussed last time, because Christ has already been down to earth and purchased salvation for every single person. SPEAKER D He brought heaven down. SPEAKER C He brought heaven down. That's right. And then the other one is don't say will descend into the abyss. Now, you don't have to go beneath to try and find it, because that is to bring Christ up from the dead. Christ has already risen from the dead. The Bible says he was delivered because of our offenses and he was raised because of our justification. But then what does it say? So what does the message of righteousness by faith say? It says that the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. It is the word of faith which we preach, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Now, that doesn't sound too complicated to me. Braedan no, it doesn't. It actually seems very simple. So in many religions, people do a number of things to be saved. As I mentioned, I've got a friend of mine who had to go and do his pilgrimage. If he didn't do this pilgrimage, he would not receive salvation. Because if you're able financially and if you're physically able to take this pilgrimage in your lifetime, you have to do it. Otherwise you'll be lost. Now, in Christianity, we believe that we don't have to go on any pilgrimages. We don't have to go to any holy sites, leave your place of abode and go to a holy place somewhere. We don't believe in holy relics that we have to go and worship. We believe that God has actually taken the journey. He's covered the gap between himself and us. The Bible tells us there in Isaiah 59, verse two, that our sins, our iniquities, have separated us from God in Christ Jesus, god has closed that gap and brought salvation near to every single person that ever would be born on this planet. SPEAKER D And how different is that from every world religion throughout human history? All human man made religions, I'll put it that way, all man made religions can be summarized in this. It's human beings trying to climb their way to get to heaven. Yes, trying to climb their way to that paradise, as it were, trying to earn the favor of God by doing various things, taking a trip to go to this holy place, counting these beads or praying this many times, or else you'll be lost. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D It's all based on you do this and then you will merit and earn salvation. The Biblical Christianity. And I say Biblical Christianity because there's so much that is called Christianity that isn't Christianity. SPEAKER C Yeah, that's true. SPEAKER D There's a lot of pagan Christianity. It's a combination of ancient pagan culture and religion mixed with things of the Bible. But when I say Biblical Christianity, it's the religion that if you would open the Bible and learn straight from the Bible, that's the Christianity you'd have. SPEAKER C Right. SPEAKER D So biblical Christianity tells a different story. It tells a story of a God who brought heaven down and actually brought it not just to the people who were the most worthy. In fact, Jesus, one of the things he was accused of, the Pharisee said mockingly, this man spends time with sinners and eats with them. So he brings not only salvation and kindness to the rich and the famous and the powerful. He brings it right down to the people who are the low lives of society. He brings salvation right to their doorstep. In fact, he says, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. SPEAKER C That is so true. It's interesting. In previous programs, we actually looked at the qualifications to be justified or to be made just or right with God. And it says that God justifies the ungodly. We looked at that in Romans chapter three in a few programs ago. So it's the ungodly that God has come to redeem. Matter of fact, if we look at Romans chapter five, it tells us that Christ died for us while we were without strength. It says he died for sinners. He died for the ungodly. And also not only that, he died for his enemies. SPEAKER D Wow. SPEAKER C So those people that crucified Him, the Jews that handed Him over to the Romans, the Romans that nailed him to the cross, all those people were people that he died for, that he came and paid the price for their sins. That's why he could pray the prayer as an advocate and a mediator, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. They didn't have a full concept of what they were really doing, that they were actually killing the Son of God and putting Him to an open shame on that cruel cross. Now, Jesus Christ, God manifests in the flesh, was the one that took the pilgrimage, that closed the gap to bring salvation near to us. We don't have to say it's in Heaven. Still, we can't get hold of it. We don't have to say it's in the earth. Somewhere, someone's got to go and dig for it. It's near us in our mouth and in our hearts. And this is the salvation we want to discuss. But Braedan, do we have any examples of stories in the Bible that shows the simplicity of reconnecting with God by faith? In other words, trusting Him implicitly and throwing all our hopes and desires upon Him for Him to save us? SPEAKER D We do, actually, and we find one story in the Book of Acts, acts chapter 16, and it's a story of someone who was a bit of a rough individual who wouldn't be the most likely candidate in human eyes for salvation. He's a jailer, okay, known for brutality, has a bit of a bit of a rough job, and God actually brings the gift of salvation right to his doorstep, actually, right to his prison that he's running. So we're looking here in Acts chapter 16 and verse 30. Well, actually, a little bit of context before this, we might do verse 25, it says, but at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. They'd just been arrested because of doing a miracle and helping someone. They'd been arrested and put in prison and been beaten. So their backs are bloodied and their feet are put in the stocks by this jailer. And rather than cursing and swearing, these men have so much peace, because the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is their companion. That night, the angels of God are with them in that cell and the light of heaven just seems to be there with them. Heaven is with them? SPEAKER C Yeah. Can you imagine the pain of being beaten like that? I mean, their backs were laid bare and stripped open, the skin and the flesh had been exposed, but after that it happened. It says the same jailer as the one who fastened them their feet and stalks. Now, if you think feet and stalks is just a way of securing the prisoners, it was actually an instrument of torture, where they put your legs in such a way that you can't move them, you can't bend them straight. And what typically would happen with your legs being in that position, immobile, you can't move them, your muscles would end up cramping up, so they will be intense pain. So what you would expect from these people is a lot of complaining, a lot of moaning, even cursing and swearing, if they were typical prisoners. But here we see these prisoners at midnight, praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners are listening to them. So even in their distress and in their torment because of being tortured, they are still praising God. And they're having an effect not only on the prisoners, but also on the prison guard, who had been told probably on the penalty of death, you look after these people because if they escape, your life will be to pay for it. SPEAKER D It's so interesting. And for Paul this is the same Paul who wrote the epistle to the Romans and was saying about don't say who will ascend into heaven. He's actually experiencing heaven on earth because the angels of God and God himself is his companion. Even in the most unlikely place he could have know I'll praise God and everything will be fine if I wasn't in this prison. But no, heaven came right down to where he is. And it's interesting, the same God who came down on Mount Sinai and caused an earthquake, when he came near, God came near again. And it says verse 26 suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chain was loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking from sleep. And seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice saying, do yourself no harm, for we are all here. This is the one who's just caused them a lot of harm. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And they call out to him, do yourself no harm, don't hurt yourself. How easy would it have been for them to go, well, let's just not say anything here. He deserves this. SPEAKER C Yeah, let him kill himself and we'll all escape. SPEAKER D Let him kill yeah, let's get rid of him and we can escape. These men have such a deep desire for the salvation of every human being. Doesn't matter if they're Jews or Gentiles. This man's a gentile, he's a rough gentile at that. They just long for his salvation. And they say, don't hurt yourself, don't hurt yourself. SPEAKER C We're all here now. It's aging that through the praise of these people and singing hymns to God, god does a miraculous thing because this is not your standard issue kind of earthquake. And why I say standard issue, typically an earthquake, if it breaks open doors and every door is broken open, you'd think there'll be some roofs collapsing on people, people getting injured, people getting killed. None of that happened. There's no loss of life. And not only that, this earthquake is so supernatural that it lets all the change drop off all the prisoners so they can escape. However, there's a power holding them there. So not only is Paul and Silas there, but all the other prisoners with them as well. None of them escape. It just shows you the influence that they had on those prisoners when they were singing and praising God in the stocks with the supernatural event taking place, that all the other prisoners stay put as well. SPEAKER D So interesting. They were free even when they were chained. That's true, they were free. Nothing could bind their joy, nothing could take that from them, their relationship with God. And again, I love what we're seeing here is the same God who came down from heaven, who covered that distance, who covered that huge expanse to come down to Sinai, also came down to Philippi, and just by his very presence shook the place so much that the chains fell off their wrists. SPEAKER C That's incredible. SPEAKER D And all of this was done for that jailer and for those prisoners. SPEAKER C Yeah, for the jailer. For the prisoners and for the jailer's families. Because it says there, when they said, do yourself no harm, he called for a light, which was obviously dark, ran in and then fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And then when he brought them out, the first question he asked them, because there's a supernatural thing going on here, because the doors are flung open, all the prisoners have been set free in the sense that all the chains are gone, no one has escaped. He doesn't have to kill himself because they were put there in the innermost part of the prison to make sure they don't escape the habit. SPEAKER D That's always nice when you don't have to kill yourself. SPEAKER C Yeah, but I mean, he's worried because he knows that the sword's going to come down on his neck for having these prisoners escaped. Although it wasn't his fault that there was an earthquake. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C But then if the first question he asked Paul and Silas is, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now, what would make him ask that question? He just tried to kill his life. Now he wants to be saved. All of a sudden, this hope that has sprung up in his heart, how interesting. SPEAKER D You can imagine him hearing the singing, the praying of those men. Also the preaching, the preaching in the town. He would have been quite aware of what's happening. He would have seen them patiently bearing the beatings and the respectfulness that they had. No cursing or swearing. The message that they had would have just really got to him. SPEAKER C Their behavior demonstrated something that was unique because that wasn't typical for prisoners who've been put into stocks. But not only that, beaten and had their backs laid open because I mean, their wounds were open. We read that a little bit later that their stripes needed washing and cleaning. SPEAKER D And then when he was putting them in the stocks, usually people would be trying to wrestle out of his grip, but they're sitting down and maybe even encouraging him, just being nice. It makes a huge impact. And then not to mention the fact that this is a very pagan city and very, very superstitious. And so the very fact that these men claim to be servants of God and then there's an earthquake that sets them free, it kind of indicates that. SPEAKER C There'S some truth to what they've truth. SPEAKER D Here, and he's recognizing that there's something here. SPEAKER C So what's their answer to his question, sir, as what must I do to be saved? SPEAKER D Well, it's interesting. If we were to ask many different religious perspectives around the world, what must I do to be saved? You could get this whopping big list, a big document of checkboxes that you need to go through to be able to be saved. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Let's read the one that Paul gives him. SPEAKER C Okay, so that's in verse 31 of Acts, chapter 16, it says, so they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. Well, that sounds like a long list. SPEAKER D That's it. SPEAKER C I mean, can we take that at face value? Can we say that that is true? Isn't there potentially any danger in us accepting that at face value? Isn't there something more that faith in Christ requires us to necessitate salvation? SPEAKER D Well, I guess in this case we'd be adding to the word of God. Well, that's true because right on here, it just says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your it just what he highlights here is that what is necessary for this man is a trusting relationship with God, putting faith in Christ. SPEAKER C Obviously, you're talking about genuine faith. SPEAKER D That's right, absolutely. SPEAKER C I would suggest there would be a counterfeit to genuine faith as well. SPEAKER D Absolutely. SPEAKER C But as simple as that. Believe in the Lord jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household. It says, Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in the house. So now they're proclaiming the name of the Lord. They're preaching in the name of the Lord. And it says, in that same hour he took them and washed their stripes, and immediately he and all his family were baptized. So after the preaching and after receiving their word, they actually believed and were baptized. It says in verse 34 now, when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them. So they were obviously in the jail before there. He brought them out, set food before them, and they rejoiced having believed in God with all his household. SPEAKER D This is actually remarkable. He's received kindness from God on that day that those men could have said nothing and watched him kill himself with his own sword. They were the ones who saved his life. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Just in this very merciful act said, don't hurt yourself, don't harm yourself. We're all here. And then he comes there wanting salvation. He's not turned away. He says, Believe in God and you will be saved. And it's interesting, this mercy that God gives to him, what it does in his life, how he starts treating them, the mercy of God, the grace of God that was given to him motivates him. And he starts looking after their wounds, the wounds which he had on the legs especially that he himself had inflicted, he's now working to heal. Probably the crusts that he'd thrown to them in the prison now were exchanged for decent food. Decent food. He was caring for them, and God's kindness was being revealed in his life. SPEAKER C The Bible tells us that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. And we can see it is the goodness demonstrated through the lives of Paul and Silas, people who had the right to be angry at him and upset at him for being beaten and putting in stocks and being tortured. They had a right to be upset, but they're not upset at him. They are thinking about this man's salvation. So we see. The formula for his salvation is something very simple. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. So believe, saved. Then what happens is they preach the word. So that's the next step. He hears the word of God, he is baptized, and after he is baptized, and obviously he returns the kindness to them. He feeds them, he gives them food. It says that he rejoiced. So the joy of the Lord is now entered in his life. Now, this guy a few hours earlier was trying to kill himself. Now he has actually died, but he's been crucified in Christ. SPEAKER D Interesting. SPEAKER C Yeah. What a beautiful story. SPEAKER D What a beautiful story. In John, chapter six, we also have a similar situation here. Verse 28, the crowd has come to Jesus. The day prior to this there was the feeding of the 5000. So they've come to Jesus the following day and they say what shall we do that we may work the works of God. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D What do we do? That's the question that they're asking. Same as the jailer. He said, what shall I do? SPEAKER C Yeah. SPEAKER D What do I do? What do I need to do? SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D It's a very valid question. And it's interesting what Jesus said in verse 29. Jesus answered and said to them this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he sent. I find this so interesting. It says that God has sent someone. Jesus is obviously talking about himself. Yes. Just a little later in verse 41, Jesus said I'm the bread which came down from heaven. And so the Father has sent Jesus and Jesus has come to this planet to be able to save this planet and to rescue us. And the human response, the appropriate human response is to put confidence and trust in God's ability to save. SPEAKER C Now what's so fascinating to me is that the response to that question by the Jews, what shall we do that we may do the works of God? Is the same response that Jesus gave. Is the same response that Paul and Silas gave. Because Jesus said to them this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he sent. Now what did Paul and Silas say to this Philippian jailer? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. So the one who was sent, which is Jesus Christ, just like the Philippian jailer who was not a Jew, he was a Gentile, had to believe. So the Jews were told exactly the same thing. So if you want to do the works of God, what do you have to do? Exercise genuine faith. Believe in Jesus Christ. So works and faith must go hand in hand. Is there a connection or can we just say Lord, Lord and then just don't worry about anything else? SPEAKER D Because Jesus does. In Matthew chapter seven he points out that there will be a class of people when he comes who say Lord. He says, many people will come to me saying Lord, Lord, didn't we do all these amazing things and whatever. What's going on here? Yes. And so just from this verse alone we realize that just saying the name of God and claiming to follow God is not sufficient. There is a certain type of faith. It is the faith that is one that is inspired by God's goodness and leads to a revelation of God's character in our lives. Any claims to have faith that does not reveal the character of Christ in our lives is not faith at all. SPEAKER C Okay, look, I agree with you fully on that. Matter of fact, the Book of James actually deals with that issue very appropriately. Some people, when they take a surface read of James, they think, well, that may be contradictory to what Paul says, that we are saved by grace through faith. It's not of works, it's a gift of God that we should be saved. But James tells us and if we look at James chapter two and verse 14, he said, what does it profit, my brethren, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? So he connects faith and works. Now, are we saved by faith and works or by faith only? SPEAKER D It's very interesting. It's interesting with this verse. It says, what does a prophet, my brethren, if a man says he has. SPEAKER C Faith, okay, so this is someone that says it doesn't necessarily mean that he has it. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C And he claims to have it. SPEAKER D In the context here, someone who has faith has corresponding works. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Someone who has a genuine relationship with God. That will be evident in the way that they live their lives. What we have here is someone who claims to have faith yes, but does not have corresponding the corresponding impact in their day to day life. Can faith save him or can his claim to faith save him? And the answer is no. SPEAKER C His claim can't save it because if he had genuine faith, there would be corresponding works. SPEAKER D That's correct. SPEAKER C So if we go to James chapter two and verse 20 but do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? So what he is saying is if someone says they have faith but there's not corresponding works of righteousness, works of doing good benevolent acts, which is the fruit of faith, then you don't really have faith. So faith is dead. Why? Because the evidence for it is not there. If there's no evidence for faith, the faith doesn't exist. SPEAKER D And something that is dead doesn't exist. SPEAKER C Well, yeah, that's dead. Right? That's right. So going back to verse 14, then when it says can faith save him or can his claim to faith save him? The answer is definitely no. If the works aren't there, it can't happen. Now, we are told in the Bible that the principles of righteousness are embodied in the Law of God. For example, it tells us in Psalm 119, verses 172, that all thy commandments are righteousness. So if we want to know what righteousness is, we look at the Law. The law of God has embodied righteousness. But can we keep the Law? We can't because of the weakness of our flesh. The Bible tells us that what the Law could not do in that it was weak because of our flesh. So the Law wasn't weak, but our flesh was weak. God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and then on account of sin, he actually condemned sin in our fallen flesh. Why? So that the righteous requirements. So the righteous requirements of the law can be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. So the encouragement to us is that we are to receive Jesus Christ by faith. And as we receive Him, so we are to walk in Him the encouragement for us there time and time again in the Old Testament and also in the New Testament, we get these beautiful glimpses of what God's intention really is for us and the power of God, the grace of God working in our lives. Now, we're speaking about Philippians. Right? Now we're talking about the Philippian jailer who had just been saved. He'd been baptized, and then he rejoiced in the Lord. Now, in the book of Philippians, Paul says the following this is what he wrote to those in Philippi, the church that they established there, including this jailer. And he writes in Philippians, chapter three and verse nine and be found in him that is in Christ not having my own righteousness which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. So how are we to receive this righteousness? Because we're talking about righteousness by faith through Jesus Christ alone. When the Philippian jailer wanted to know how to be saved, he had to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. When they asked Jesus, how can we work the works of God? He said, believe in him whom God has sent. So, dear listener, god has sent his son. He walked this earth. He actually came. He closed the gap between heaven and earth, and he walked in our flesh for 30 odd years after he lived a perfect life of obedience as a perfect example of what the Law requires of us. He then took our humanity and he executed it at the cross. But the grave could not keep him. Why? Because he had committed no sin whatsoever. And then he was raised. And the Bible says that he was raised because of our justification. When Jesus died on the cross, all the sins of the world were placed on Him. He paid the price for all our sins. And because he was able to wipe that slate clean, he now comes with a piece of paper written saying on there you are. Pardoned. So Jesus came so close to us that when it says that the word is in our mouth that we can actually confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead. If we do that, the Bible tells us we will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. Dear listener, may God bless you as you also practice the righteousness that God has brought very near to you, willing to put it in your mouth. And also those principles, write them in your heart until next time God. SPEAKER B Thank you for joining us on Faith. To Faith. If you would like more information about today's program or if you have any questions, please contact 3ABN Australia Radio by Phoning. 02 4973 3456. Or you can send an email to [email protected] You can also contact us on our 3ABN Australia radio Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you.