 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:11-14 Can we accept Jesus as Saviour, without submitting to him as Lord? I have heard this question in various forms numerous times over the last several years. Jesus Christ is Lord It is quite disturbing that anyone could consider separating Salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ. It portrays an inadequate understanding of the problem of sin, the nature of God, Christ’s mission on earth and our purpose and calling as Christians.  Out of Egypt Would it have been sufficient for Moses to have proclaimed to the Hebrews, who were slaves in Egypt that they should accept that in Yahweh they had perfect freedom, whilst leaving them in bondage and under the whip of slavery in Egypt? Surely, anything less than deliverance from Egypt, freedom from the bondage of slavery, would have been inadequate. God’s eternal purposes required the people of Israel to survive the Passover, leave Egypt, cross through the Red Sea and be established as a free people in The Promised Land. Delivered from Sin Sin is serious. We are far too tolerant of sin. Yet, sin is more defiling than dirt, more dangerous than an unexploded bomb, more life threatening than a deadly disease, more insidious than a virus. “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:6-9 Confronting our Problems
 Justification The Son of God died instead of me for my forgiveness. This deals with my guilt. The legal word Justification sums up this past tense aspect of our Salvation. Justification – just as if I had never sinned. Sanctification Jesus Christ lives instead of me for my deliverance. This present continuous aspect of our Salvation can be called Sanctification. This deals with the power of sin. Salvation is life-changing transforming. Glorification One day, Jesus Christ will return to this world in glory and He will raise the living and the dead. In our new resurrection bodies, we will be freed from the very presence of sin – in Heaven. This future tense of our Salvation can be called Glorification. The Blood and the Cross of Christ
Saved from Sin In a real sense, if we are Christians, we can speak of our Salvation as being past tense, present tense and future tense.
In Christ’s Blood we have forgiveness, because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” He has ransomed us. In the Cross, there is death for the destruction of sin. “The Son of God came for this very reason to destroy the works of the devil.” In our Lord Jesus Christ, we have victory to conquer satan. At the Cross, Jesus conquered sin and satan, death, hell and the grave. In Christ, we have provision for holiness. Because “without holiness no one will see the Lord.  The Narrow Gate
In the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ we have the door to eternal life. The gate to Heaven is narrow and that gate is the Cross. We cannot get to Heaven without following Jesus and you have to go through the Cross. The Cross is a requirement for discipleship. “Then Jesus said to His disciples; ‘if anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow Me.’” Matthew 16:24 The Way “There is a way back to God from the dark paths of sin, there is a door that is open and you may go in, at Calvary’s Cross is where you begin, when you come as a sinner to Jesus.” The Fount “I know a fount where sins are washed away, I know a place where night is turned to day. Burdens are lifted, blind eyes made to see. There is a wonder working power in the Blood of Calvary.” Atonement Our Salvation depends upon Christ’s Atonement alone and never upon our attainment. It is faith in the fact of Christ’s finished work, not my temporary feelings, emotions or feeble attempts. Victory The precious Blood of Jesus purifies the conscience, redeems us, sets us free, cleanses us from all sin, obtains forgiveness and freedom, sanctifies us, gives us complete freedom to go into the presence of God and wins for us the victory. Through His Blood
We are called to:
When last did God speak to you? What did He say? Did you obey? Example
Obedience
If we have a proper understanding of the problem of sin, then we must not be satisfied with anything less than full Salvation. Not only forgiven from the penalty of sin, but victory over the power of sin. Full Salvation from Sin This was one of the aspects of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformers pointed out that Catholicism was offering salvation in sin. People were going to confession, buying indulgences and partaking in the mass, without any true repentance and without the evidence of changed lives. The Protestant Reformation proclaimed a full Salvation from sin. Freedom in Christ Israel could not fulfil its calling by remaining in bondage in Egypt. Neither can we effectively serve God today if we remain conformed to this world, in bondage to its sins and idolatries, attempting to accept the benefits of Jesus as Saviour while denying His authority as Lord over all areas of our lives. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Only Saviour Jesus is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all. The only Saviour is the Lord Jesus Christ. “For the grace of God that brings Salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:11-14 Dr. Peter Hammond Livingstone Fellowship P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725 Cape Town South Africa Tel: 021-689-4480 Email: mission@frontline.org.za Email: info@ReformationSA.org Books, Audios,Data Disks and boxsets are available from Christian Liberty Books, PO Box 358, Howard Place 7450, Cape Town, South Africa, tel: 021-689-7478, fax: 086-551-7490, email: admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za and website: www.christianlibertybooks.co.za Prices exclude postage.
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