Those That Can Be Saved

Those That Can Be Saved

King Street Baptist Church

February 5, 2012

INTRODUCTION:  Two weeks ago, I preached about the underlying theme of the New Testament--Jesus Saves.  John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  In that sermon, we concluded that the Bible teaches there are really only 2 kinds of people:  Those who have been saved and those who can be saved.  Today, I’d like to follow with this line of thought and explore what the Bible says about those who have been saved and how they are to relate to those who can be saved.  Let’s turn to II Corinthians 5 for that insight.  In verse 11, we see the thesis statement of what is to follow.  “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.”  There it is in a nutshell; the saved and their relation to the yet to be saved.  The Apostle Paul then elaborates on this in the rest of II Corinthians 5 and he makes three points to emphasize this relationship.

1. Christ died for all people.  II Cor 5:14-15 says, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should not longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” Paul was convinced that Christ died for all people.  This is the very essence of the whoever in John 3:16.  Whosoever will may come. Romans 10:13 says “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  John 1:12, “Yet to all who receive him, to those that believe in his name, he gave them the right to become the children of God.”  Salvation, eternal life, what was once thought to be only for a certain group of a certain group, exclusive to the point of rejecting all but the very few, was, in fact, open to everyone.  To Paul, it now didn’t matter what your race was.  It didn’t matter what your socio-economic background was.  It didn’t matter what your gender was.  In Christ, there is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. (Gal 3:28).  The world doesn’t look at things like that.  The world divides.  By race.  By money.  By class.  By education.  By gender.  By age.  By nationality.  By anything imaginable.  But because Christ died for all, those who have been saved are to look at things differently.  Which brings us to the second point.

1. Those who have been saved are to regard no one from an worldly point of view but view everyone as potential brothers/sisters in Christ.  II Cor 5:16:17 says, “So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  The world looks at each other and sees differences.  Paul used to look at the world that way.  Now he looks at the world and sees similarities.  “There is none righteous; no not one.”  (Rom 3:10)  “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  (Rom 3:23)  Paul writes that he used to look at Jesus the way the world views things.  Let’s examine this a little more thoroughly.  Paul, the haughty, religious, Pharisee, looking at Jesus.  Jesus of Nazareth.  Ok, he was a Jew but he was a Galilean. Jesus, son of Joseph.  The illegitimate son of a teenage mother who had to get married. His dad was a common laborer.  Jesus, a carpenter.  He was a common laborer.  Jesus, who ate with sinners,  whose followers ate with unclean hands.  But then, on the Damascus Road, Jesus met Paul and saved him.  And during Paul’s life, he saw Jesus save all different kinds of people.  A lame man in Lystra.  A business woman, a slave girl, and a jailer and his family in Philippi.  Jews and Gentiles in Thessalonica and Berea.   Scholars in Athens.  A synagogue ruler in Corinth and many others there as well.  This is not exhaustive; these are but a few of many examples.  The book of Acts list many more that Paul saw Jesus save of both genders, all races, all religions, all classes.  Is it any wonder that Paul wrote in II Cor 5:17, right after he writes we regard no one from a worldly point of view, these words, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  Anyone---regardless of worldly distinction---can become new creations in Jesus.  They don’t have to die.  They can live forever.  That is how Paul looked at those that haven’t been saved.  That they can be saved.  And that is how we that have been saved are supposed to view them too.  And that brings us to point number 3.

1. The ministry, message, and mission of those who are saved is that of RECONCILIATION.  (II Cor 5:18:20)

1. In verse 18, we see the ministry of reconciliation.  “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”  We have this viewpoint because God had this viewpoint toward us; that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).  And because he reconciled us to himself through Christ, he gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
2. In verse 19, we see the message of reconciliation.  “That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”   We the saved, the reconciled, have been given the message of reconciliation which is simply this:  In Christ, God does not count men’s sins against them.  In Christ, the books are balanced.
3. In verse 20, we see the mission of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us.”  We are His ambassadors, his representatives.  God makes His appeal through us.  Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he became all things to all men so that by all possible means he might save some. (I Cor 9:22)  On Sunday nights, we’ve been studying Philippians 1, where we have found in all aspects of Paul’s life, whether with his friends, his circumstances, his future, or his enemies, Christ was the message of his ministry.  A friend of mine put on Facebook the following quote:  “Live in such a way that those who know you but don’t know God will come to know God because they know you.”  Exactly.  Here’s the point:  Individually, whether it’s through singing, preaching, teaching, praying, visiting, Sunday school, Bible school, public school, eating, drinking, work, home, play, vacation; our mission and ministry should be the message of reconciliation.  If it’s not, we are off message.  And corporately, as the gathering, as the ecclesia, as the church, regardless of whether it’s King Street Baptist Church in Cocoa, Florida, or First Baptist Church in Westville, Oklahoma, or First Baptist Church Merritt Island, or the churches of my missionary friends in Niger and India, if our mission and ministry is not the message or reconciliation, we are off message.   Verse 20 concludes with, “We implore you on Christ’s behalf:  Be reconciled to God.”  Verse 21 continues with the thought, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  And Chapter 6 verse 2 concludes with: “Now is the day of salvation.”  For those that have been saved, this is our ministry; this is our message; this is our mission.

CONCLUSION:  And what will be the response of those that can be saved?  You see there is John 3:16.  And there is also John 3:17.  But there is also 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.”  You see, there are two types of people that can be saved.  II Cor 2:14-16 says this:  “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.  For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.”  Joyfully, there are those that will be saved and to them, we are the smell of life.   Tragically, there are those that won’t be saved and to them, we are the smell of death.  If we are on ministry, message, and mission of Reconciliation, we are the fragrance, the aroma of God, to those who are being saved, and to those who are perishing.

INVITATION:  There are two types of people here today;  those that have been saved and those that can be saved.  If you are among those that have been saved, are you on ministry?  Are you on message?  Are you on mission of reconciliation?  And if you are not, what needs to change in your life to get you back on task?

And if you are here and you’re not yet saved:  Jesus saves is the message, ministry and mission of reconciliation of this church.  That can be a sweet aroma to you; or the stench of death.  It’s your decision.  Today is the day of salvation.  Will you trust Jesus to save you?