Jesus Saves

January 22, 2012

King St Baptist Church

Introduction:  I once heard a man read Mt 7:12 and say, “Wow, I just read the entire Old Testament in 10 seconds.  You see Mt 7:12 says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”  So I got to thinking, “what sums up the New Testament?”  And of course I thought of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  That truly sums up the N.T.  For God so loved that he sent Jesus.  But I think the theme of the N.T. is found in the next verse.  John 3:17.  “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”   That’s the theme of the New Testament.  To save the world through him.  You see the theme of the N.T is “Jesus Saves!”

1.   In the New Testament, even before Jesus was born, we see the theme of Jesus saves being manifest.  

1. In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and in verse 31, said, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.”  The very word “Jesus” is the Greek form of “Joshua”, which means “ the Lord saves”  You see, Jesus saves.
2. The Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said in Mt 1:21, “...you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  You see, Jesus saves.

2.   On the day he was born, an angel, later accompanied by a host of angels, appear to shepherds watching their flocks at night.  And the angel declares to the shepherds in Lk 2:11, “Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.”  You see, Jesus saves.

3.   While he was on the earth, others testified to the fact that Jesus saves; from the very religious to the outcast.

1. When Jesus was a baby, his parents brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as the Law required.  Luke 2:25 and following describes the scene. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout.”  Later in the chapter, Simeon takes the baby Jesus in his arms and declares in Lk 2:30, “For my eyes have seen your salvation.”  You see, Jesus saves.
2. One day, when Jesus was doing his ministry, he went throught Samaria and visited with a woman who came to a well to draw water.  She was a woman of disrepute.  She had been married 5 times and the man she was living with was not her husband.  He revealed to her he was the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One.  She went and told the people of her town about Him.  The story was of the woman at the well was recorded by the Apostle John in John chapter 4 and he wrote that, “because of her words, many more became believers.  And then he wrote what they said to the woman in Jn 4:42, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”  You see, Jesus saves.

4.   Jesus, by His own testimony, declares that he saves...to the religious and the non religious alike.

1. Criticized by the Pharisees for healing the blind man, Jesus gives his great “I AM” description of himself in John 10.  In verse 9, he says, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.  You see, Jesus saves.
2. Another time in his ministry, Luke records that Jesus entered Jericho and the chief tax collector wanted to see him.  Now this tax collector was a Jew but he was despised by the religious leaders as a sell out to the hated Romans.  This tax collector wanted to see Jesus but he was too short to see over the crowd and climbed a tree.  Yes, we are talking about Zacchaeus.  We know the story. (the song when I was a kid)  Luke tells us Zacchaeus becomes a believer and in Luke 19:9-10, Jesus said, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”  You see, Jesus saves.

5.   We see this same Jesus saves theme in the history of the early church, the book of Acts, enunciated by Peter and by Paul

1. In Acts chapter 3, Peter, with John, heals the crippled beggar and used the opportunity to preach about Jesus.  In chapter 4, we see that they were hauled before the Sanhedrin for an explanation of their actions.  And in verse 12, Peter declares, in reference to Jesus “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  You see, Jesus saves
2. The Apostle Paul started the church in Philippi.  (reference to Sunday night Bible study)  Paul is thrown into jail by the authorities at the request of some of the locals who lost a lucretive business opportunity because Paul exorcised a demon from a slave girl they had been exploiting.  Around midnight, while he and his buddy Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, there was a violent earthquake and all the prison doors flew open.  The jailer woke up, saw the doors open and as about to kill himself because he thought all the prisoners had escaped.  Paul assured them they were all there.  The jailer, frightened to death, asked Paul what he needed to do to be saved.  And in Acts 16:31, Paul gives the answer of all answers, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”  You see, Jesus saves.

6.   The Epistles, letters to churches, were written during this time period.  The writers continue the theme.

1. Paul writes to Timothy in I Timothy 1:15, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance...(explanation of this)...Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.  You see, Jesus saves.
2. John, in his beautiful first epistle to “his dear children” written in a time of persecution to help them find assurance in their personal salvation writes in I John 4:14, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.”  You see, Jesus saves.

(Dottie signs, Jesus Saves by Travis Cottrell)

Conclusion:  We have established the fact that the New Testament teaches that Jesus Saves.  So now, we have to establish who he will save.

1. John 3:18-- “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
2. Romans 10:9-- “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
3. Romans 10:13--”Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

There are really only two types of people in the world:

1. Those that have been saved.
2. Those that can be saved.

The message today is actually for both types:

1. For those that have been saved, it is a message of assurance, that who you know whom you have believed and are persuaded that he is able to keep that which you’ve committed unto him against that day.  It is also a message of mission.  That in all that we do, individually and as a church, it is because Jesus saves.
2. For those of you not yet saved, the Bible is clear, you can be saved.  Only trust Him, he will save you.  He will save you now.  Today is the day of salvation.

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Prayer list for today

Jim Hoipkeimeir---cancer

Zach Green---ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease

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Bill Allison can be reached at billallison60@gmail.com