My Past, My Present, and My Future

(Ephesians 2:4-7) God's perfect salvation takes care of your past, your present, and your future! The eternal Son of God has worked for our salvation. He continues to work at this very moment, and He will finish His work in us! Salvation is more than an event - it is God's perfect work in his children. (0959250307) ----more----

 Salvation by Grace Through Faith

Will you permit me one more day? Just one more day to talk to you about what the Bible says about salvation? Honestly, I'm just having a good time in the word of God, having a good time talking to you about what it means to be saved. Because I know what Jesus Christ has done for me, and I'm starting to see more and more of what God says about this in scripture.

And it's thrilling. It's thrilling to talk about. I hope you'll talk about it to someone else. I hope you'll get so excited. You'll wanna pass this along and share it with others. What does the Bible say about salvation? The last time we talked, I read you from Ephesians chapter two, verse eight and nine, famous verses, "For by grace you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." And we learn that it's all of grace and it's a gift. It's received by simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But let's return to Ephesians two, to the verses that precede those verses. The Bible says in Ephesians two, verse four, "But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith, he loved us even when we were dead in sins, have quickened us together with Christ By grace, you're saved. And it raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." Do you hear again, the past, present, and future tenses? One of the things I want you to see is that we think in time, but God who's eternal is not in time.

He's working in our lives in a way that is continual, that there's no end to. He began his work of redemption in the very beginning of time. In Genesis chapter three, that's where we started our study. He promised Messiah was coming. All of scriptures, really the story of redemption. And when the Lord Jesus Christ came, he paid for the send debt of every man. When you come to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, that work of salvation begins in your life. And there's so many things connected to that. 

Key Bible Terms About Salvation

There's so many Bible words that you should study. For example, a substitution. Did you know when Jesus died on the cross? He took your place. He literally died for your sins, and he died as you. That's part of the doctrine of salvation. What about redemption? Redemption is to pay a price, to buy something back by paying a price. Did you know that's what he did for you when he died on the cross? He redeemed you with his own precious blood. How about the Bible word propitiation. He is the propitiation for our sin.

That's a big word. What does it mean? It means to satisfy. Did you know when Jesus Christ paid the sin, debt on the cross? He satisfied a holy God. He satisfied the justice of God so that you could go free, so that you could be saved. What about the word reconciliation? It means that Jesus Christ took a holy God in one hand and sinful humanity in the other, and made a way to bring the two together.

He reconciled us to God. When you come to the Lord Jesus and you take Him as your savior, what happens? How about this Bible word regeneration? It means new birth. Remember, Jesus said, you must be born again. To be regenerated is to be redeemed, made new. He doesn't make you a little better. He makes you a totally new person.

He gives you a new nature. He comes to live inside of you himself. How about the word justification? Someone said that means just as if I'd never sin. Oh, it's better than that. No, it's not just that he deals with