The Demands of Jesus as Savior

Introduction

Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I want to ask you to take just a moment to turn in your New Testament to the Gospel of Luke. Uh the Gospel of Luke is where we will begin in our study this morning. Luke, chapter 4, if you will. You know, one thing that seems clear to me when I read the Gospels is that the people who encountered Jesus when he lived upon the earth didn’t always understand who he was or who he what he came to do. And so, for the most part, they wanted him to take care of the things that they were concerned about.

And so the sick wanted Jesus to be a healer. And the hungry wanted Jesus to be a provider of bread. One man even wanted Jesus to be an arbitrator because his brother wasn’t sharing the family inheritance like he should. Luke chapter 12. And I’m sure we could find other examples of that same principle, but you get the idea. People wanted Jesus to be concerned with their concerns.

And as I look at things today, it seems to me that people haven’t really changed much in that regard. There’s still many people who have many different opinions about Jesus today. And some people still want him to be the patron of their cause. [snorts] Do you ever notice that? And it’s almost as if people believe that really all they have to do in order to give their cause some kind of legitimacy is to associate Jesus with it in some way. And so people just assume that Jesus is primarily concerned about the things that they are concerned about.

Every now and then I will pull up a search engine and I will type in the words what would Jesus and I don’t put the three dots but you get the idea. I I leave it open and let it kind of suggest where I go from there. And as it turns out, a lot of people have given a lot of thought to what Jesus would do in various situations. And there’s kind of a partial list that I’ve received at at one point or another. What would Jesus eat? That that’s a that’s a big one right there.

What would Jesus wear? What would Jesus buy? What would Jesus drive? What would Jesus major in? What would Jesus bet? I don’t know about that.

What would Jesus do about climate change? What would Jesus say on social media? What would Jesus do about mean girls? I am not making that up. That’s my second favorite one of all of them. And the winner is what would Jesus deadlift?

I don’t even know where that comes from. I’ll be I’ll be honest with you. Now, I don’t remember the answer to each of these questions, but there was a remarkable pattern that you know, you could discern. I mean, you just it didn’t take much. And you may find this hard to believe, but Jesus would almost invariably do whatever the people who asked the question would do. If they would eat a certain thing, what do you know?

That’s exactly what Jesus would eat if he was here. If they, you know, would wear something, that is exactly what Jesus would would wear. and you go on down the line. I don’t know what Jesus would do at Mean Girls, but you know, there you have it. And it’s obvious that many people again, they they want to associate Jesus with their cause, whether it’s legitimately important or not. But when we read the Gospels, one thing that comes through, one thing that is obvious is that Jesus didn’t allow people to press him into their mold.

And I don’t think that’s changed. The people who encountered Jesus may have had a variety of ideas about his identity and a variety of ideas about his mission, but Jesus didn’t allow them to draw him away from his true mission. And so when great crowds uh you know wanted him to do nothing but heal the sick, he would respond here in Luke 4 and verse 43, I must preach the good news of the kingdom. And then at the end of that verse, for I was sent for this purpose. And so God sent Jesus into the world with a message in Matthew 4 and verse 23. That message is referred to as the gospel of the kingdom.

And of course, Jesus was more than than just a preacher. If he had been sent only as a preacher, his message wouldn’t have contained a whole lot of good news. Jesus came to be more than a preacher and more than a teacher. He came to be the savior. As Randy mentioned, that is our our theme for this month. He came into the world sent by the father to save people from their sins.

1. The Reality of Jesus as Savior

That’s what we’re going to see. That’s why he went to the cross. That’s why Jesus died. And that’s what I want us to talk about for just a little bit in our lesson this morning. And so, as we begin to talk about Jesus, the savior, let’s talk about the reality of Jesus as savior. And I put all of the passages that we’re going to we’re going to go through in our lesson uh at the bottom of each slide because we’re going to kind of go through these things rather quickly.

But we’re confronted with the fact that Jesus came to be a savior very early on in the record of the New Testament. If you remember when Joseph first found out that Mary was with child, his initial plan was to send her away. uh there’s no way the the child could have been his and and he concluded that there was only one possible explanation for what had happened and that is that she had been unfaithful. But do you remember what changed his mind in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 20? It says that as he considered these things behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.

That’s what he came to do. Now after Jesus was born, after the birth of Jesus in Luke chapter 2 and verses 10 and 11, there was an angel who appeared with an announcement to some shepherds who were out in the fields watching over their flocks. And and what they would say to these shepherds in verse 10 is fear not for behold I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord. That’s the message Jesus when he began to to preach the gospel of the kingdom he would say some things about his reason for coming into the world. When he was criticized, for example, for spending time with the wrong kinds of people, he would say in Luke chapter 19 and verse 10 that the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. That’s why he was here.

And then after his death, the apostles when they were brought before the the very group of men who were responsible for putting Jesus to death in Acts 5 and:es 30 and 31, these men who had deserted the Lord when he was arrested stood boldly before the Sanhedrin council. And they said to them in verse 30, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And and that’s the message that the apostles preached all their days toward the end of God’s revelation to mankind towards the end of the New Testament revelation. The apostle John made the same basic point in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 14 when he said these words. We have seen and testify that the father has sent his son to be the savior of the world.

2. Something From Which People Need to Be Saved

So even before Jesus is born, even to the end of the of the new testament revelation, that message is hammered home time and time again. The reason Jesus came into the world to begin with was to be a savior. But let’s take a moment this morning to talk about the implications of Jesus as savior. Yeah, one of one implication of the fact that Jesus is presented in the Bible as savior is that there is something from which people need to be saved. And we’ve alluded to that already. We’ve pointed that out already.

But isn’t that implied in the very concept of a savior? If God saw the need to send a savior into the world, it seems obvious to me that he recognized that there was something from which people needed to be saved. And what people needed to be saved from, the scriptures tell us, is sin. And that’s not a popular message these days, is it? For one thing, you’d be hardressed to find many people today who actually believe that there is such a thing as sin. It’s just not a popular thing, a popular view.

And so to suggest that some activity is sinful is to run the risk of being looked upon as an unsophisticated person who subscribes to some antiquated moral code that we need to get with the times and and see that they may there may be some problems in this world, but to call those things sin is is going a bit too far. Because conventional wisdom says that that people may make mistakes from time to time, but to to call them sinners, that’s just a bit too harsh. And yet Paul would say in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23 that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It’s not having it. The scriptures are not. Sin is more than a mistake.

And it’s not something that can just be swept under the rug or ignored or pretended that, you know, that it’s not a it’s not a big deal. Sin is something from which people need to be saved. And since, as Paul says there, all have sinned, this need to be saved is a universal need. You won’t run into anybody who doesn’t have that need. And thankfully, God provided an answer that is as universal as the problem. In Matthew chap 20 and verse 28, Jesus would say that the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

3. There Is Salvation in No One Else

And I just going to tell you that may sound like the sacrifice of Jesus was only for a few people, you know, for many, not doesn’t say everybody, but that’s not really what Jesus meant. In John chapter 1 and verse 29, John the Baptist would refer to him as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In 1 John 4 and:14, John just refers to Jesus there as the savior of the world. In Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9, the writer of that letter says that Jesus became a man so that he might by the grace of God or that so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. There’s no reason for anybody to be left out of the salvation that Jesus came to to provide other than by choice. But another implication of the fact that Jesus is presented in the Bible as our savior is the fact that there’s salvation in no one else.

There are only two kinds of people in this world. There are those who are saved from their sins in Christ and those who remain in their sins apart from Christ. There’s not another option there. There are no alternatives to that. And and again, that’s not a popular thing to say in our world today. People don’t want to hear that there’s some kind of limitation that is placed upon who will be saved, but the scriptures do.

In fact, we’re, you know, what we’re told in our world is that we we need to respect the beliefs of other people and we need to never question whether or not they’re right with God. Most people seem to believe what what one religious leader a few years ago just said in the news. Heaven is open to all as long as they are good. There’s no telling how many people heard that. And I’ll just go and tell you, I don’t mean to be unkind when I say this, but it’s hard to imagine a statement that is more biblically incorrect than that. It just is.

I mean, there is a sense in which it’s true. But here’s the problem with it. The problem with it is that as the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 3 and verse 12, no one does good, not even one. So that’s what we’re relying upon. We’re not going to make it and that’s why we need Jesus. Paul would say in that same chapter as he as he goes down making his case in verse 21, “Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That’s the only way that’s going to take place. As Jesus would put it in John 14 and verse 6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.

Or as Peter would say in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12, there is salvation in no one else. It’s hard to get clearer than that. There’s salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Salvation is found in Christ alone. But there’s one more thing I want us to talk about this morning.

4. You Can’t Separate Jesus the Savior From Jesus the Lord

That is that that there are some demands. Talk about the demands of Jesus as savior. You know there are many people who are comfortable with the fact that Jesus is the only savior. Not all of them though are comfortable with a savior who demands something from us. And so when we look at what is said in the New Testament, one thing is that is clear is that you can’t separate Jesus the savior on the one hand from Jesus the Lord on the other. There are people who teach that you can do that but you can’t.

Some people say that you can accept Jesus as your savior and you don’t you don’t have to accept him as your Lord. You can benefit from that as long as you believe that he came into the world to save people from their sins. Yeah, but you don’t have to accept him as the one with authority over your life. And the only thing I can say about that is either they have missed or they have ignored some passages in the Bible that tell us that you can’t really separate those two principles. Again, following the birth of Jesus when those angels appeared to the shepherds who were watching over their flock by night. Do you remember what we what we read there?

what they said Luke 2:10 and 11 fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is this day is is born in the city of David a savior who is Christ the lord that’s who the savior is the savior is lord and when the jailer from Philippi would ask Paul and silas I don’t know how he came to understand this is the question that he needed to ask but he would ask in acts chapter 16 and verse 30 sers what must I do to be saved you remember the initial response that uh that that Paul and Silas gave to him in the next verse verse 31. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. You can’t separate those two concepts. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippi, he would urged the disciples in Philippi to follow his example and the example of people like him rather than to follow the example of those who were not living the way they should. And he would say to them in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 19 about these other people that their end is destruction, their god is their belly and they glory in their shame with mindset on earthly things. Don’t follow people like that.

Paul said, but then he went on to give the reason why they should follow his example. And he said, our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior. Who is that? The Lord Jesus Christ. And so you see, the fact that Jesus is Lord has nothing to do with the decision that I make. I don’t make Jesus Lord.

It’s just who he is. His authority doesn’t doesn’t uh doesn’t stem from my decision to make him Lord of my life. God gave him that authority just as surely as he sent him into the world to save people from their sins. That’s the great commission. Matthew 28 and verse 18, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And that’s why Peter in the sermon that he preached on the day of Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus would say to those who were listening in verse 36 of Acts 2, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

5. What Does the Lord Demand?

God did that. Jesus is Lord. But let me ask you a question. What does the Lord demand? What must a person do to be saved? That’s an important question admittedly.

And the reason it’s important is because although the New Testament tells us that Jesus tasted death for everyone as we saw a moment ago in Hebrews 2 and verse 9 that he is the savior of the world. 1 John 4 and verse14. It also makes it clear that not everyone is going to benefit from what Jesus came to do and who he came to be. The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 5 and:9 that Jesus is the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him and that can’t be changed. People may refuse to believe it, but they can’t change what’s said. And so the scriptures tell us that we must do something to receive the forgiveness of our sins.

People have trouble accepting that fact, but it doesn’t change the fact. And so let’s look at a few passages and see if there’s any other reasonable way to to understand these things. I need to maybe get with the times here and catch you up on the passages we’re looking at. There you go. Mark chapter 16 and verse 16. Jesus said there, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

That’s not terribly difficult to understand. Or in Acts chapter 17 and verse 30, Paul would say, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” That’s part of the deal. That’s essential. You can’t be right with the Lord without repentance. In Romans chapter 10 and:es 9 and 10, Paul would say there, “If you confess Jesus with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes with the view to righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses with the view to salvation.” It’s not he’s not saying there’s nothing else involved, but this is part of it. You confess Jesus as Lord. And then on that day in Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost, after Peter had confronted the the people of Israel with the fact that God had made uh Jesus both Lord and Christ, he would say in response to their question, what must we do or what shall we do? He would say in verse 38, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Or as Paul himself when he was Saul of Tarsus was told in Acts 22 and 16, rise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on his name.

That’s how you do it. Or as Peter would say in 1 Peter 3 and verse 21, baptism now saves you not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can’t work our way around that. We we can’t leave any of that out. As the psalmist would say to the Lord in Psalm 119 and verse 160, the sum of your word is truth. And when you want to know the sum of something, you don’t leave anything out.

6. Christ Demands a New Life

You add it all up. And this is what the scriptures say. But not only do the scriptures tell us that there’s something that we must do in order to have our sins forgiven initially, that’s important. And that’s we’ve looked at the passages that talk about that, but there’s some things we need to do in order to be saved ultimately. I don’t think it’s without significance. When when you see the word salvation used in scripture, it’s often used with reference to something that is yet future.

Have you ever noticed that uh it’s not something that is that is here and now that we have in its fullness but something that we are looking forward to. And and so in Romans chapter 13 again get the passages up there. Romans chapter 13 11 Paul says there you know the time that the hour has come for you to awake from sleep for salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. It’s coming but it’s not here yet. It’s nearer but it’s not here. We look forward to that.

Or in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 8, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. You don’t hope for something you possess. Hope for something you look forward to. In Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 14, he talks about uh about angels. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? That’s what we’re going to receive in the end.

That’s our inheritance as the people of God, but it’s not what we have now. Or Hebrews 9 and 28, Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, not to be a sacrifice for sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. That’s when he’s going to bring all of that to completion. Or as Peter would say in 1 Peter chapter 1 beginning in verse three, 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.

You see how it’s still to come and and that is the teaching of scripture. Let me ask you this. What is the significance of all of that? The significance is this that while there is a sense in which yes if we are Christians we have been saved it it’s not our salvation is yet future it is not it has not been brought to its completion yet. And so let me ask you, when a person genuinely believes and they repent of their sins, they confess that Jesus is Lord and they’re baptized, are they forgiven at that point? Yes.

It’s what the scriptures say. But are those the final steps? No. When a person obeys the gospel, it’s supposed to lead to something. And when it doesn’t, what kind of hope does a person have for the future? If any, it’s just a false hope.

And why is that? It is because Christ demands a new life, a life in which we grow and we develop into the people he wants us to be. We talked about this passage a couple of weeks ago or so. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse two, we are to be like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that might by it you may grow up into salvation. That’s what we’re working towards. That’s what we’re looking towards.

or Paul in Romans chapter 6. Take take a moment if you will. I’ve gone through most of these passages quickly, but I want us to read this one. It’s a few verses for one thing, and it’s a a sustained argument that Paul makes, but I I think it’s it’s worth the time to to look at it for just a moment. The people that Paul was writing to were tempted to say, “If God’s grace abounds when we sin, then why don’t we just sin all the more and let God’s grace abound all the more?” And so Paul asked the question here in verse one, “What shall we say then?

Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who’ve been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. And we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all.

But the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments of of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments of righteous. Do you see what he’s saying there? Jesus died and he was raised from the dead and he lives forever more.

And what he’s saying is, we died with Jesus and we were raised with Jesus. Our old man has been put to death and we’ve been given a new life in Christ. Live like it. Live in keeping with that. That’s that’s why Jesus came into the world. Not just to forgive us of our sins, but also to change who we are.

Conclusion

to to so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin, no longer be caught up in that, but so that we can be different people. Let’s embrace that as we bring things to a close this morning. Let me ask you a question. Do you recognize who Jesus is? I mean, he is so much more than the, you know, the baby in the manger that, you know, we’re about to see so much of in the in the weeks to come. He came into the world to save sinners.

And thankfully, he did. But we need to recognize that he will be our savior on his terms, not ours. And so, I want to ask you, have you done what he requires? If not, will you submit to Jesus the Lord in order to be saved from your sins today? We want that for you. God wants that for you.

He wants that for you so much that he sent his son into the world to die upon the cross to make it possible. If you’re here and we can help you, we ask you to come as we stand and as we sing. So fast.