The Story of Salvation is All About Jesus

This is the story of the grace of salvation through Jesus Christ. 

God created us in love for his glory and for our joy. We were made in the image of God to glorify God in all we do, especially by loving God, seen in our lives by our love for each other. However, every one of us has fallen short of this glory. By demanding our autonomy and seeking the right to judge ourselves we’ve traded the glory of God for a false glory of self and Creation rather than the Creator. The Bible calls this failure to glorify God, sin. Because of our sin, every one of us deserves to be separated eternally from the God we have willingly abandoned. Instead, God offers us a free gift of grace, by which we may be rescued from our death penalty and returned to our original purpose. He accomplished this by sending Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to the fallen, wicked world he dearly loved, not with a message of condemnation, but an open invitation to be saved from our own corruption. Jesus, both God and human, lived a perfect, God-glorifying life, as God had always intended for humanity, and then willingly went to his death so that all of us, no matter how sinful or far from God, may have our debt paid for us. Jesus, who never sinned, took the curse of our sin for us once for all, and offers us his eternal life with God in return. When we receive this gift of grace through faith in Jesus our old life, corrupted by sin, dies on the cross, and we are given Jesus’ resurrection life in return. By his grace we are then given the power to live for the glory of God from that point onward and for all eternity, in love, satisfaction, and joy.

That was a lot, so here it is again:

God created us in love for his glory  

I will say to the north, Give up,
    and to the south, Do not withhold;
bring my sons from afar
    and my daughters from the end of the earth,
everyone who is called by my name,
    whom I created for my glory,
    whom I formed and made.

 Isaiah 43:6-7

and for our joy.

You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

 Psalm 16:11

We were made in the image of God  

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27

to glorify God in all we do,

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

especially by loving God,

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind..."

Matthew 22:37

seen in our lives by our love for each other. 

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you..."

John 15:12

However, every one of us has fallen short of this glory.

...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...

Romans 3:23

By demanding our autonomy and seeking the right to judge ourselves we’ve traded the glory of God for a false glory of self and Creation rather than the Creator.

For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Romans 1:21-23

The Bible calls this failure to glorify God, sin. Because of our sin, every one of us deserves to be separated eternally from the God we have willingly abandoned. 

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

Instead, God offers us a free gift of grace, by which we may be rescued from our death penalty and returned to our original purpose. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10

He accomplished this by sending Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to the fallen, wicked world he dearly loved, not with a message of condemnation, but an open invitation to be saved from our own corruption. 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16-17

Jesus, both God and human, lived a perfect, God-glorifying life, as God had always intended for humanity, and then willingly went to his death so that all of us, no matter how sinful or far from God, may have our debt paid for us. 

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit...

1 Peter 3:18

Jesus, who never sinned, took the curse of our sin for us once for all, and offers us his eternal life with God in return. 

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Galatians 3:13-14 

When we receive this gift of grace through faith in Jesus our old life, corrupted by sin, dies on the cross, and we are given Jesus’ resurrection life in return. 

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

By his grace we are then given the power to live for the glory of God from that point onward and for all eternity, in love, satisfaction, and joy.

✝

In short, it’s all about Jesus. Our sin separated us from God, who loved us so much that he paid the penalty himself, in Jesus. His death for our sin and his resurrection made available to us his life so that by grace, through faith, we could be restored to God.

✝

Would you like to hear more? This blog entry is part of a longer sermon, and you can read the transcript for it here. Or, the audio is available in a forty minute YouTube video, linked below.

All Bible quotations from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Anglicized Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers

Salvation and the End of Suffering (1Peter 1)

We Christians often speak of our salvation as merely a personal and inward miraculous phenomenon. However, the story of salvation in the Bible is much larger than a single event in the life of an individual. Our salvation, God’s work of grace in us, is also a journey of a lifetime as we are being saved. The story won’t be complete until we see justice done not only in our own hearts, but throughout the entire world.

1 Peter 1:13-16 (ESV)

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'

Peter writes to a persecuted church in exile, encouraging them to remain holy, to continue to resist their old nature, to walk according to the salvation that has been purchased for them. Peter is speaking about the action that follows their faith, a present salvation, the life they now live in imitation of Jesus. He is describing a grace as something that has not yet come, a future grace in which they should set their hope. It is for this grace, a future salvation, that they are to prepare their minds, and be holy. Peter is writing to people who are already believers. He is not describing a salvation by works. These believers were already saved by grace through faith, according to God's power at work in them, not by works or merit at all.

1 Peter 1:17-19 (ESV)

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

So, in one passage, Peter is speaking of the grace of God as a past, present, and future grace. In the life of the Christian, we call this past grace our justification, our present journey of faith our sanctification, and the future grace for which we hope, our glorification.

Past Grace – Our Justification

We have been ransomed. We belong to God, purchased from the clutches of death that owned us by the blood of Jesus Christ. Our salvation is in Christ, completed by God, and not us, an unalterable condition made sure by the total incorruptibility of the price paid, Jesus' imperishable blood. We belong to God.

1 Peter 1:1-5 (ESV)

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

We have been elected, chosen by God, according to his foreknowledge and his great mercy. This is the work of our salvation. It is entirely the merciful work of God, not our merit or strength or action. We are saved by grace. When Peter speaks of this salvation, he calls us "born again". God has caused us to be born again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, we are ransomed, purchased by God through a trade of Christ's blood for our lives, and then once given the death of Christ, we are united with him, and receive the power of his resurrection for new life for that moment onward.

Present Grace – Our Sanctification

Something of the "futile ways inherited by (our) forefathers" remain with us though we are saved. If Peter needs to command the believers not to "be conformed to the passions of (our) former ignorance", then it must be possible for us to do otherwise. Disciples of Christ are to remember that we have been ransomed, made holy as Jesus is holy, and act accordingly, in faith, as though we believe that it is so. This also is a gift, not a burden of works we must carry, any more than was our initial salvation.

It is in the present that we are guarded through faith for our future salvation. We belong to God, and as God's children we are now guarded by our Heavenly Father until we experience the fullness of our salvation. This present, daily salvation is called our sanctification. God has called us holy when he ransomed us by Christ's blood. Now he is making us holy every day as we obediently pick up our cross and follow after Jesus (v2). This is the sanctification of the Spirit, the reason we were filled with the Spirit of God at our salvation. Our present salvation is experienced by the gift of the Spirit in us, when we put our faith in the past work of Christ, and the future hope held for us by our Father in heaven (v13).

The grace to follow after Jesus daily is received by faith, just as was our initial justification. We are given the grace to resist temptation, to live contrary to the selfish patterns of the empires of the world, and to forgive those who have sinned against us.

Future Grace – Our Glorification

God’s act of saving grace is a past event, but it is also a future event. We are born again to a living hope. We hope for what we do not yet see. Our hope is for a future inheritance. We have not yet received the fullness of our salvation. We belong to God, but we still have an inheritance coming to us.

Our past salvation is our ransom by Christ's blood, and the resurrection of our beings, according to the power of God. Our future hope for salvation is the inheritance we share because we have been united with Christ. We receive both by grace through faith. It is for this reason that we may remain unsatisfied with the condition of the world as it is. In our hope for Jesus’ return, and the fullness of salvation we will receive, we also hope for the salvation of all things, the redemption of Creation according to God’s original purpose, that we have bent and corrupted so much by our sin.

Romans 8:18-25 (ESVUK)

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

We are given grace to endure the suffering that comes with our daily obedience, our sanctification as we follow after Jesus, by the hope we have that all suffering, not just our own, will end at the return of Jesus. In that hope we may live by the grace of God in the power of God to live out the love, freedom, and justice of God now, declaring the gospel and ministering the freedom of the gospel to any and all who are bound by the corruption that still remains on earth.

We set our hearts firmly on our future hope, and daily walk in obedience after the footsteps of Christ, by whose blood we have already been ransomed and born again, and all of this is entirely the work of God, by grace, received through faith.

☠

Next Thursday: 1 Peter 2 - Living Lights In A Land Of Death

Recommended: Isaiah 1 - To Hell With Religion. We Need Justice.

Click image for the entire series.