All right, well, hey, good morning or good afternoon, whenever you are watching or listening to this, our next installment in our online series for the fundamentals of the faith, the Christian identity. And thus far, we've gone over the Bible as sole authority for faith and practice, the autonomy of the local New Testament church. We've looked at the two ordinances that are given to the local church, and I'm very adamant about those because those are two of the things that have been widely misconstrued, misused, perverted in our society today and has for the last 2,000 years. And so we're adamant about those ordinances being not sacraments, The method, the meaning, the motive all have to be the same for those ordinances to be pleasing to the Lord and for them to serve their purpose as well. So we went over baptism and the Lord's table, which is the two ordinances as well. So we've looked at individual soul liberty thus far also. So those are the things that we've covered. And we're going to get into the security of the believer or eternal security. But I wanted to take a step back. the reason you're reviewing and you're watching or partaking in this lesson. This is not only a discipleship program, a discipleship building lesson. We don't know how long it's gonna continue on. It may continue on for several, several months just to give our people an added bonus and a benefit of learning on these Thursdays on this online series. And you can look at it and watch it and go through the handouts at your leisure. However, I wanted to take a step back and go today over salvation, over salvation. I understand that the majority of the people watching and listening to this probably have already been saved. They know the Lord Jesus Christ is their Savior, or they went through an experience, or they were told something. And guys, in our society, our circles, As a minister, as a pastor, as a missionary, as a church planner, on a foreign field, we walk into a culture which is entirely different than our own. And when we do that, we have to understand that people are coming from different paths. They have different backgrounds, they have different ideologies, they have different mindsets, and the majority of those things come from what they've been taught, the churches they may have been raised in, the churches they've never gone to a day in their life. And we find, many a times, that much belief today along the large and wide populace is biblically incorrect. And I know that may sound harsh, and I'm not trying to say, hey, I'm right, everybody's wrong. I'm just saying the Bible's right and everyone's wrong. That's what I'm gonna stick to, and I don't mean to offend anyone. So I do wanna take a step back and get to the foundation of the entire thing, the foundation of the foundation, if you will, and that is your salvation. And we're going to go to Romans chapter 13 and verse 11. Romans chapter 13 and verse 11. And the Bible tells us here in verse 11, it says, and that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. And I want you to think about that for just a second. What does that verse mean? You know, when we talk about, when we speak about salvation, the next week's lesson is eternal security. Once a person gets saved, once you, it doesn't matter what happened to you in the past or you believe in today. That's what I want you to understand. If you have put your faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Then and you believed it wholeheartedly you believed as Paul says in the very last part then when we believe this is when we believed then you're saved and born again. That's the eternal security of the believer. That's next week. But that salvation that we're looking at here is the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ coming back and taking us home with him. It's something that is eternal. It is something that when you make that decision, whether it was 20, 30, 40 years ago, whether it was two days ago, or whether it will be today, my friend, your salvation, your deliverance from this world, is going to be nearer than when you believed, okay? Now, that believed is not meaning it's something that you believed once and you don't believe today. The deciding factor is that you believed on one time and continue to believe up into this present moment now. So the word salvation, salvation means the act of saving, preservation from destruction or danger or great calamity. The apostle Paul told us, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation, 2 Corinthians 6.2. Today is the day. Now is the accepted time. Salvation is not something anyone should ever put aside or put off or wait. Guys, salvation is based on the belief in which a soul has placed their undaunting trust and the Savior of mankind. The psalmist tells us in Psalm 3, verse 8, salvation belongeth unto the Lord, thy blessing is upon thy people, selah. When that word selah pops up, it means pause, wait, ponder for a moment on what you just read. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord, thy blessing is upon thy people. So now, if there is an act of saving, we must understand without a shadow of a doubt, without one fraction of confusion, that there is a necessity of salvation. If there's an act, there must be a necessity of salvation. There's the reason, so the first reason we find the necessity of salvation, point number one, will be because of the separation. There is a separation. You say, from whom? See, the need of salvation is summed up in Romans chapter three, verse 23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All means all, and that's all all means. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It is the basic, this is the basics, a basic for the necessity of salvation. There is no other way to look at it. Because we have fallen short of the glory of God, we need to be saved. There's a great necessity there because there is a separation between mankind and God. First, the separation of salvation is derived from number one, or sub-point number one, the sin in the garden. Genesis chapter 3 verse 6 tells us, She took the fruit thereof and did eat all I'm sorry and did eat and gave also under a husband with her and he did eat You know, that's the misconception that people have that he was out wandering around her own and she got out there And yes, she was beguiled means she was deceived by the serpent. She was deceived by satan She looked at that fruit. We find that all categories of sin is found right there in that fruit in that tree we find that in first john 2 16 that she saw that it was good for food and That it was pleasant to the eyes. It was a tree to be desired to make one wise That's the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life all cat all three Categories are sin all sin in this world today is encompassed in one of those if not all of those Categories that we find in first john chapter 2 verse 16 But we think that eve was out there wondering around her own that she was just kind of left, you know as prey But the bible tells us she gave also she gave also to her husband with her. He is the culprit guys You know, that's where the separation from God came. In one single move in the Garden of Eden, when two humans were alive in a perfect environment, guys, mankind fell. Mankind fell and fell hard. You know, the Bible is really clear. I don't have to go into it. Eve, yes, was deceived, but Adam was the one who transgressed. He should have had better sense, but he did not. And that's neither here nor there. And we look at a world today of 7.4 roughly billion people in the world today, in the population of the world. And it's estimated that probably only one-fourth of those may be truly saved and born again. Imagine out of 155,000 people dying every single day, 1.8 per second. Think about that for just a minute here. Think about it. the need of salvation because of this sin in the garden. There's a saturation of guilt that occurred in that garden the day in Genesis chapter 3 7 says and the eyes of them were birthed Opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. They knew they'd done wrong it was the nakedness that was seen there and this is and that's a lesson that can really would need to be in grave detail in a later date, but but when they took of the fruit of the vine when they took of the fruit of that tree that day and blood entered into them, they became apparent to one another that they were naked, and guilt saturated their soul. Man has attempted to cover his and her guilt ever since the very first sin. But then there's the shame, the shame to God. Genesis chapter 3 verse 8. They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. So there was the shame. So you have the sin in the garden. All right, so this separation comes from the sin in the garden. It resulted in a saturation of guilt. And then there was a shame to God. They were trying to hide themselves from God Almighty who had created them after his own image. And then we find the sentence from God. Genesis 319 says, in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground. For out of it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and in dust thou shalt return. God must execute the sentence. Why should he do that? Why does he have to do that? Because we are guilty of sin, no pun intended, not universally, but personally, and that's what needs to be understood. Yes, all of mankind has fallen short of the glory of God. Yes, all of mankind are sinners, yes, but we need to understand that our separation that originated in the Garden of Eden is personal to us. It's not just universal, but it is personal to each and every one of us. You need to ask yourself these questions. Ask yourself in your own heart here today. Have you ever lied? Well, if you've ever told one lie, which everyone has, it makes you a liar. Have you ever stolen? If you've stolen anything, and it doesn't mean you stole a pack of bubblegum from the local co-op. Maybe you've robbed your employer time. Maybe you got on your phone and checked your text message just while you were on the clock and not on your break, and therefore that's called purloining, and that means you were stealing from your employer, and that makes you a thief, okay? Have you ever lusted? That makes you an adulterer. Jesus Christ said, if a man looked up at a woman to lust after her, he hath committed adultery in his heart already. Have you ever placed anything before God? Have you ever skipped out on churches because you didn't want to go? Have you ever said, you know what, I'm going to put, and you put something before God. You know what that makes you? It makes you an idolater. For whatever you put in front of God is the idol that you were serving. Have you ever used God's name in vain? The word vain means empty. And you've said, we hear this phrase today, OMG, and all this and that. We know what that means. Have you ever used God's name in vain? It makes you a blasphemer. And guys, with all that said, think about it for just a second. What is a good and righteous judge gonna do to the guilty? He would, as God has to be, he has to pass that sentence. If he's a good, righteous God, he has to pass the sentence upon the guilty. You wouldn't be happy if somebody had committed a crime against your family and they go before a judge and he says, you know what, man? I know that you've committed these crimes before. I know you're guilty. We've seen the footage, all this and that. I'm just going to let you off right now, man. Go and do well. Hey, have a good time." You wouldn't be happy about that, would you? You'd say that's a fraudulent judge. You would say that's an unrighteous judge. It's no different with God, man, who is righteous and perfect in all ways. Numbers chapter 14, verse 18 says, the Lord is long-suffering. Now, that is a blessing, amen? yes he's a righteous judge but boy he is long-suffering with us he says the lord is long-suffering and great and of great mercy forgiving iniquity and transgression and by no means clearing the guilty now he forgives the sins yeah He's long-suffering, He has great mercy, but that doesn't mean He clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and unto the third and fourth generation. Understand that today. That's what the Lord does, and we see it in our society, guys. We see it in our world because you say, well, you know, a child should not have to give an account for their father's sin, and they're not, personally speaking. But when you find one father who's a drunkard and he teaches his son or his daughter to be a drunkard, that one comes out to be a drunkard and it destroys and robs the future families and the generations to come. Just think about it. Think about it for a second. One family has one child. This man's a drunk or an abuser or a drug addict or a pornographer or a filth or whatever he may be. And that child right there is brought up in that environment. It has to be brought up in that environment. Therefore he adapts to that environment that cycle continues that one child marries or doesn't marry Hooks up with us another lady and now there's two people they have a child they have two then they're gonna be four and then there's six there's eight and then we find 12 24 40 think about how that cycle progresses all the way down that cycle of sin progresses in a community and that's what we see in our villages throughout our land guys and It's just a continual cycle of sin and debauchery and vileness. It all originated in the garden, but the cycle has to break because of the necessity of salvation. That's how that iniquity is passed on from this generation to the next generation to the next generation. My soul. You know what? You should get saved for your eternal life and for your eternal soul to be in heaven. But my soul, you ought to get saved so that it can be passed down to your children and then to their children and their children so that you can break the cycle of sin that we see that is destroying our nation today. It's simple. It is the simple result of one man's sin, one man's transgression against God, one simple rebellion, and the death sentence that Sam was cast upon all that followed. So understanding the salvation, understanding salvation, there is the necessity of salvation. And one can see that it's separation, okay, separation by sin that necessitates, number two, substitution. So we have the separation that we understand, you know, that we find the necessity of salvation, we find there's the cost of the separation, but now it is the separation by sin which necessitates the substitution for us, and that's where our salvation comes in. 1 Timothy chapter two, and verse 5, 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5, the Bible tells me, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. There's one go-between, there's one mediator. In order to possess salvation, in order to have salvation, someone had to take your place in the sentence upon sin against God. Someone must have had to be a go-between for you and God to annul the judgment upon mankind. Somebody had to do that. And we know who that someone was. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have your Bibles, turn over to Colossians chapter one. Colossians in chapter one, with me real quick. We'll look about two-thirds way down the scriptures. Colossians chapter 1 verse 19 through 22 the Bible tells us here verse 19 It says where it is pleased is pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell and have a made peace through the blood of his cross By him to reconcile all things unto himself by him. I say whether they be things in earth or or things in heaven, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." There's your substitution today. Remember, the necessity of salvation is brought upon by the separation from salvation through sin, guys, and therefore we need a substitution. So just as the separation from God fell upon mankind, so did the substitution for salvation. Colossians 2 verse 13 says in you being dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was Contrary to us and took it took it out of the way Nailing it to his cross. He removed it from us the Bible says about Christ for he hath made him to be sin and for us who knew no sin. I mean, that's the substitution. It had to be someone who knew no sin, who have never committed sin. It had to be someone who was perfect in all his ways in order to pay that price for everyone. Otherwise, he'd just have to pay for his own sins. So just as we've had the separation from God and the reconciliation to God by the substitution, one needs to ask today of salvation as a summation. All right, so we're gonna ask of salvation a summation of his existence. So what is there to look for in salvation? What is there to have, to look for, to experience? What do you get, what do you receive? You're like, I'm a preacher, I get eternal life. Well, what else do you get? It's not just that. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, have your Bibles there, look this up, mark this in your Bible, underscore this verse, learn it, if you will. Let it ride upon the table of your heart. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 says, Therefore if any man be in Christ, again there's if, that's the conditional clause. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. So we are back to that single word, all. Just like we saw in the very beginning of this lesson, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, if any man be in Christ, we find that all things become new, yeah? Your outlook on life and interpretation of living, all of these things become new. There is an inward man now that forever lives within you, the Holy Spirit of God, the new man who has regenerated, experiencing new things in life that you can now understand through the true beauty of God's creation. New choices, Paul said in Romans 13, 14, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. I mean, guys, listen, you got to understand that. You got to understand that when you become a child of God, when you become born again to live that Christian life, you're going to have to put that new man on and put that old man off. And don't make provisions for the flesh for the lust of. What does that mean? Guys, listen, if your major struggle, if your big struggle is alcohol, simply don't walk down the alcohol aisle. Don't go to a bar. It's not that hard, guys. It's not that difficult. We just, you just gotta be, my goodness, if you can't say no, you're just weak, man. I mean, I'm not trying to be arrogant or mean or anything, but we've all been there. Just say no to it, you understand? Be strong, grow a backbone, stand your ground, be a man if you're, I mean, be a woman. But I mean, just take your stand to do the right thing. If your issue is lust, man, stay away from lustful things. I mean, whatever it may be, but there's some things that you'll have to cut out of your life, which sometimes and oftentimes means, man, there's some people you gotta cut out of your life. Albatrosses that may drag you down, maybe dragging you back into traditions of a religion that is incorrect. You've got to take your stand. You've got to have a backbone. You've got to do the right thing. That's summing up what salvation is. Guys, what should attract someone to be saved? The forgiveness of sin? Absolutely. The granting of eternal life? You better believe it. The opportunity to earn rewards in heaven? Most certainly. You better believe that is. But what about now? What about in today's world? What about where we are in our life right here and right now? Well, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9 gives us a beautiful answer to that. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9 says this, now listen carefully. but God getting out of heaven into man, being reconciled, being reconciled. Oh, it's a beautiful thing, salvation is. So lastly, my friend, it goes without saying that salvation, the separation, the substitution, the summation are utterly useless without point number four, the simplification, the simplification. And I emphasize that. I believe that to be something vitally true that we should all know. Very simple salvation is. You don't have to jump through a hoop. You don't have to throw down three sticks, jump over them four times, land on your foot once. I mean, that's just, that's not what salvation is. The word simplification means the act of making something simple. The act of reducing to simplicity or the state not complexed. Simple definition for a simple word one of the finest evidences that mankind cannot create salvation Is that man never does anything with without complexities man always makes things complex Do you know why they do because mankind wants to have that control? I'm the one that knows the secret formula to xyz I'm the one hey, you got to come to me bow down. You've got to be baptized as an infant You got to wear this certain gown you got to follow through this ritual you got to do this and this and this and this and this and guys that right there is purely of the devil there's only two paths if it doesn't line up scripturally 100 then it's not of it's not of god it's of the devil and you need and it doesn't matter how kind how nice how many of the homeless they feed that that matters zero okay Satan's more than happy in keeping the homeless fed and doing all that kind of work out there as long as he can hoodwink other people into believing the lies of a false pagan religion, even if it is using the name of Jesus. It's all about control. That's why mankind makes things so stinkin' complex. One of the finest evidences that mankind cannot create these salvations is that simple point. They always do things with complexity. No matter what we touch, no matter what we do as mankind, man, We confuse it. Man was given a perfect environment. What'd we do? We destroy it. Mankind was given a complete access to God. What'd we do? We broke it. I mean, mankind was given the opportunity to never die. What'd we do? We lost it. In all that man has done, we have confounded the simple. And yet the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 14.30 that God, for God is not the author of confusion. Salvation is the simplest feat men and women can ever attain. And none of it is through the might, the mind, or the multitude. mankind Paul's greatest fear was that of mankind allowing the confusion of Satan to enter into the churches which were founded and built upon the simplicity of salvation and that's what we find today I'll tell you what maybe maybe you don't go to a Bible believing Bible preaching church maybe your background is in the high church and and you know I you know we call a call a spade what a spade is maybe your background is in Catholicism. Maybe it is in Anglicanism or the Church of England, Church of Wales, whatever it may be. Go back to your roots. Go back and start reading and find out where those foundations, the decisions that were made in these organizations, and find out as to whether or not it's confusing or not confusing. You take infant baptism for an example, all right? On their very website, it clearly states that either a parent or a godparent can make the proclamation for them of salvation, that they can be a disciple in Christ. No one can do that for anyone. No one can do that for anyone. That is confusing. That doesn't even add up. When you look at the scripture, what must I do to be saved, the jailer said. Paul didn't say, go get the local priest and he can make the decision for you. What did he say? He says, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. When the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8 was born again, he said, what does hindereth me to be baptized? He said, thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest, he turns around and says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Then Philip commanded the chariot to halt, and they both went down into the water, and he baptized him there. You see what I'm saying? Guys, man, we have a way of just, I mean, confusing things, and God's not the author of the confusion, so if there is, contradictions, if there is confusion there, if religiosity has taken over a person's life and their history and their life and directed them in a wretched way. It's the same thing Paul was saying in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3. He says, but I fear lest by any means, as the serpent be gouty, there's the key, as the serpent be gouty through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. God has given mankind the perfect opportunity to be saved today and to know it. Romans 10 verse 13, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That chucks the Calvinist out the window. That chucks the high church out the window. That chucks Catholicism out the window. That chucks Jehovah Witnesses out the window. They're not Christians anyway. That chucks Mormonism out the window. It chucks it all out the window. Why? Because those are man-made religions built upon the level of control. And salvation is meant to be simple, guys. It is meant to be simple. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So I'll say this to you today, then we'll be finished. There are only two whosoevers in all the world, two of them, saved and the lost. When the dust settles and all the religions are put to the side, when the end of the time comes and we're finished with our battle on this world, the only two types of souls that are gonna be left are saved and lost. One and both of them are a whosoever. There is the whosoever shall be called shall be saved, what we just read about, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And then there's the whosoever who did not call. Revelation 20 verse 15 says, whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So remember how we opened up in our opening verse in the book of Romans today. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Time is running out, my friend. Time is drawing to a close. Time is getting to where you're not gonna have every single moment that you think you are in order to make a decision for Jesus Christ. So I beg you, if you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, haven't heard all that we have today and the simplicity of making that decision right here, right now, calling Jesus Christ to save your soul. You may say a little prayer like this. Jesus, I love you. I accept you as my Lord and Savior. I accept the belief that you died on the cross for my sins. I put my faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and I ask the forgiveness of sins and ask you to lead, guide, and direct me in my now Christian life. Simple prayer. Say it in your own words. Say it your own way, however it may be. But at the end of the day, you have to mean it. It has to be something that you mean from the heart so that you may have eternal salvation when this life ends and so that you may have that new creature while it's still here on this earth. Guys, I hope and pray this has been a blessing to you. Look forward to coming back together next week as we will go over the security of the believer, the eternal security of the saved soul. Have a blessed day, guys. See you soon.