Gods Great Plan of Salvation - Jason Schrock

Good morning to each one this morning, and greetings in the name of our

Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glad for the presence of each one,

and for the privilege of gathering together once more. I know we've been having

some beautiful days, and I was just wondering, let's suppose with me just

a little bit, that on one of these beautiful days, you would like

to go relax a little bit, and you decide to go to the Halsey

Park just to sit there and relax a little bit. And as you're there,

someone comes up to you and says, could you explain to me the

way of salvation? I've got If it's in the morning, maybe a airpolo

coff here. If it's an afternoon, maybe a picture of lemonade, and

we'll just sit here and share a little bit. I've gone about forty five

minutes. If you could just share with me the way of salvation? Could

you do that? What would you say? How would you go about that?

Well, I'm going to try to tackle that this morning in forty five

minutes. It's a big subject, and yet I would like to condense it

to the point where we can just simply understand. And I have entitled the

message this morning, God's Great Plan of Salvation. You know, we often

talk about various aspects of salvation, but this morning, I'd like to summarize

that just into one message. And this is the greatest subject of all time.

How God and his love and his mercy to mankind he sent his son

to die first ends that we might be saved. And you know, this

is a subject that is so simple that even a child can grasp its concepts,

and yet it is so profound that even the most knowledgeable theologian cannot fully

understand it. I guess a lot of our messages I was thinking about that,

a lot of our messages have to do with various aspects of Christian life

and conduct. And that's good, it's necessary. But sometimes I wonder if

our children even have the basic concept of what salvation is, what it entails.

So, first of all, I'd like to say that this was conceived

in the mind of God, his Great plan of salvation. Man had nothing

to do with his great plan. It was God's plan, It was his

idea, and he is a one that has brought it to pass. I'm

going to quote a couple of verses, and I would like for you to

notice the phrase before the world begin. Now when was that before the world

began? Okay? Second Timothy one nine says, who has saved us and

called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according

to his own purpose and grace which was given in Christ Jesus before the world

begin, and tied us one too in hope of eternal life, which God

they cannot lie, promised before the world begin. And so before the world

begin, before the time of creation, God looked forward, and he saw

that there was going to be need of saving man from destruction. He saw

that man would sin. He knew that man would need a savior, and

so he purposed in himself according to his purpose and grace. I read there

also a Pheesians one nine says, having made known unto us a mystery of

his will according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself.

So God purposed this before the world ever begin. Secondly, there are two

spiritual forces that are at work. And so to understand the need of salvation,

we must understand that there is God and there is Satan. There is

good and evil, there is light and darkness. And first of all,

we'll talk to us a little bit about God. God is without beginning,

He's without end, which means he is eternal. He's unlimited in wisdom and

greatness and glory and majesty and mercy. And we could go on and on.

PSALMNIGHTI, verse two says, before the mountains were brought forth or ever,

thou hast formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting

our God. So he is powerful. He created the world, and he

controls It is he that controls the storms and the earthquakes. And we've been

reading recently in a mount a volcano, and in Mexico and different places where

there's natural events. God controls all that, and is he that can calm

a troubled storm. He knows all things. Proverbs fifteen three says, the

eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

I'd like to read familiar passage from Psalm one thirty nine. Maybe you

could even quote this, but I think it's good to take a look at

again. Psalm one thirty nine Versus seven to eleven. Whether shall I go

from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy preser? If I

ascend up into heaven. Thou art there. If I make my bed in

hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell on the othermost part of the sea, even there shall thy hand

lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,

surely, the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about

me. So we find here that God is everywhere present, sometimes children saying,

he sees what you do, he hears what you say. Psalm seventeen

says the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his

works. And so God is only righteousness. He cannot sin's contrary to his

nature. In fact, he cannot allow sin in his presence. He just

he's holy. He cannot allow sin his presence. All right. Now,

on the other side we have Satan. We know that God created angels to

worship and serve Him, and he gave them also the power of choice.

And Lucifer and one third of the angels fell. What a disappointment this must

have been to God, that these creatures that he had created to worship and

praise and serve him be his messengers. They fell and went after Lucifer.

I'm going to read Isaiah fourteen Versus twelve to fourteen. How art thou fallen

from heaven? Or Lucifer, Son of the Morning, how art thou cast

down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said

in nine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne

above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mouth of the

congregation and the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of

the clouds. I will be like the most high in my Bible. Here

I have the words I will under the land. I think it's five times

that Lucifer said, I will, I will, I will, I'm I'm

going to dethrone God. I'm going to be the one that is in control

of things. And so there's been a spiritual warfare ever since. Lucifer wants

to gain control, and it's been his purpose to try to bring the work

of God to nothing. He has tried to enter into the hearts of man,

and he goes to and fro upon the face of the earth, walking

up and down in it, seeking how he may destroy the work of God.

Now, Satan wasn't created evil. He was created and God does not

create evil, but Satan became evil by his own choice. What did Jesus

have to say about him? Jesus said, Satan is a murderer and a

liar. From the beginning. First Peter one eight says, be sober,

be vigilant, because you're adversary. The devil, as a roaring lion,

walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. All Right, now, I'd

like to think a little bit about the creation. You know, I believe

to really believe in God's great plan of salvation, we must believe that he

created all that. God created the earth as a place where humans could dwell,

and he created all that would be needed to sustain life. He made

all things according to his will and his desire. In Revelation for eleven,

it says, thou art worthy, Old Lord, to receive glory and honor

and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure.

They are and were created. So God created thanks for his glory, for

his pleasure. Now, going back to the first chapter of Genesis, we

find then that God created man Genesis one twenty six and twenty seven. And

God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and

let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the foul

of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,

and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man

in his own image, in the image of God, created to him male

and female created he them. God made man without sin, and he created

man holy, without a desire to sin. He created man with a desire

to fellowship with him. That's what God's will was. But he created a

creature that had choice, that had had a choice whether to serve God or

not. God wanted devotion only from a willing heart. God did not make

a robot that when he said jump, it would jump, or when he

said to sing, it would sing. So this man sin was unknown to

him. Everything was perfect and beautiful in the garden that God had placed him.

The relationship between God and man was beyond compare. Now God had created

an eternal soul or souls. He created a being that had the power of

choice, and this power of choice allowed him to either except God, yield

to God or rise up and rebellion against him. That brings us into the

matter of what we know was the fall Man was placed in this beautiful garden,

and he was in complete happiness and bliss. He was in sweet fellowship

with his creator. But Satan came. Lucifer came to destroy the peace and

the love and the holiness and the beautiful relationship between God and man. And

Satan suggested to Eve, why don't you eat some of the fruit of this

tree that God had forgetten you to eat of the tree of the knowledge of

good and evil. And she looked on it and thought it looked good.

So she ate some of them and gave Adam something he ate. And they

immediately knew they were out of fellowship with God. They had sinned. They

were no longer innocent, and that evening, when God came to talk to

them, they tried to hide themselves from God. God could no longer fellowship

with them because of sin, and he placed a curse upon them and drove

them from the garden. So work and hardship and sadness and sorrow became the

way of life for them, and the power of death set it upon them.

Now what could they do? They were no longer in fellowship with God,

and they were doomed to be eternally separated. From him. There was

eternal damnation upon them. But God had a plan, and we talked about

that a little bit at the beginning, a plan that he had in his

mind from the beginning. And so before God drove them from the garden,

he made a promise that he would send a savior that would come through the

offspring of Adam and Eve. In his mercy, he drove them from the

garden lest they eat of the tree of life and live forever in this in

this state of condemnation. And so what was this plan that God had.

His plan was that he would send his own son into the world to be

a sacrifice for the entire world. And we know that this son was Jesus,

Jesus and Messiah. You know, this wasn't just a quick fix that

God came up with when man sinned. It wasn't something he just thought up

on the spur of the moment. God did not come up with this to

quick get man out of the trouble that he was in. But he had

carefully planned this way of redemption if man rebelled against him. Revelation thirteen to

eight says the lamb slain from the foundation of the world in God's mind at

the foundation of the world, when the world was created and man was created,

God could see in his mind that there was a lamb that was going

to be slain for reconciliation to him. In God's mind, it had already

happened. Now when was this going to be Well, you know, Eve

had a nice little baby boy, and we know how precious it is to

have a baby, and somehow had others. She held that little baby,

she thought, now here is the redeemer that God had sent. How disappointed

she was when that little baby turned out to be a murderer. Why did

God weighed almost four thousand years before he sent the Messiah, but the savior

of the world. Well, there were a number of truths that man needed

to learn, and these were foreshadowed in the Old Testament in the ceremonies and

the sacrifices, and God laid out instructions and regulations. There were ceremonies and

their sacrifices that pointed forward to the lamb of God, and they must be

followed haphazardly or just as I please. No, they needed to be followed

exactly as God required. The Mosaic Law, the law of Moses, was

detailed in what God required, and through those years it was proven again and

again that of himself, try as he would, man was helpless to live

a sinless life. He couldn't live up to the law. I couldn't live

up to God's requirements. No matter how righteous he might try to be.

He was still sin against God because of his sinful nature. Because he had

the nature of Adam in him, Man found that his sin was ever before

him. They could never be purged and taken away, And man continually lived

with a condemned conscience. Couldn't have a free conscience. It was always condemned.

So God taught man wasn't necessary to restore a fellowship with him. He

required sacrifices, and those sacrifices need to be perfect. Animals whose blood was

shed and whose body was offered upon an altar to God. Keep that in

mind, the blood and the body. And they were taught that only blood

could atoned for sin. Leviticus seventeen eleven says, for the life of the

flesh is in the blood, and I've given it to you upon the altar

to make an atonement for your souls. For it is a blood that maketh

atonement for the soul. So God was very clear there through Moses that it

is the blood, the blood upon the altar that makes an atonement for the

soul. We think of that night in Exodus where were Israel escape, where

they fled from Egypt. And God had told Moses to tell them to take

a lamb, set it aside, and to take the blood of that lamb

and put it on the lentil and on the doorposts, and that would save

their people from the death angel that was going to come and destroy the firstborn

throughout the land of Egypt. And so in faith they took that blood and

they put it upon the lentils, upon the doorposts. And when the Angel

of Death came, he looked on that and passed by. We call that

the passover Hebrews twenty two says. And almost all things are by the law

purged with blood, and without shedding a blood is no remission. And so

in this way God prepared the way for his son to come into the world

as a perfect sacrifice. This was his preparation too, that his son could

come. And so this great plan of salvation then was fulfilled through Jesus,

Jesus the son of God. How did he come as an angel, as

a being from heaven? In a way, yes, but he came as

a man. Galatians says, when the fullness of time came, was come

God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law.

And even though he was God himself, he came as a man,

and he was sinless as no other man had ever been. Peter two twenty

two says, who did no sin? Hebrews four fifteen says, for we

have not a high priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities,

but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Can we imagine a man without sin? He had a divine nature,

not a sinful nature. This Jesus was a second atom. He came as

a replacement to the first atom, and he lived a perfect life, and

he kept the law without sin. And here then was an accept was a

sacrifice that God could accept to take away sin. And so by the plan

of God, Jesus was taken and crucified on the cross. He gave his

blood in sacrifice, His body was offered to God. And we know how

he was cruelly treated. He was sped upon, he was hit, He

had a crown of thorns, He was urged, His hands and feet were

nailed to cross. He hung there and died. Why because of my sins,

because of yours? Not necessarily just a sin that I did yesterday,

but because I have a sinful nature that can only be dealt with by this

blood of Christ. Isaiah fifty three five says, But he was wounded for

our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace

was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. First. Peter

three eighteen says, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just,

for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to

death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit. Then God looked on

this sacrifice and it was acceptable. He was satisfied. He was satisfied with

his sacrifice. And now through this sacrifice man's sins could be cleansed, taken

away, and washed away by the blood of Christ. Why don't we just

stop a moment and let's sing a stanza of what can wash away my sin?

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Geesus.

What can make me pure? Within? Nothing about the blood of Geesesus,

Oh preciouses of floo Ma makes me white and snow nother foundin no, nothing

more the blood Gee. And so now no more do we need to live

with a guilty conscience. It can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

No more do we need to be condemned before a holy God. Jesus had

won the victory over Satan and his evil forces. Jesus rose from the dead

by his own power, and he proved that he had power over death,

hell and the grave. He has power over sin and over Satan and over

the world. Now God has done all that he can do to restore that

broken fellowship that was broken back there at the time of the fall. He

is still a holy God. How can he accept sinful mankind? The only

way he could accept sinful man is on the basis of the sacrifice of his

perfect son on our behalf. And so now that he has done that,

the response is up to us. And there's several things that man needs to

do or realize, you might say, to activate this salvation. The first

that I think of is being convicted of sin through the work of the Holy

Spirit. We are convicted of sin. We know we're guilty. There's none

righteous all of sin. We need to recognize that not only did we tell

a lie, but we have a sinful nature. We can't deal with our

life outside of the blood of Jesus Christ. We can never become righteous of

ourselves. Acts two thirty seven. There on the day of Pentecost, it

says, now, when they heard this, they were pricked into heart and

said to Peter and to the rest of the apostle men and brethren, what

do we do? They were convicted of sin. Secondly, then there needs

to be a sorrow for sin before we could be saved. We need to

have a deep sorrow for our sinfulness. We can't justify as well. That's

just kind of the way it is. I guess we'll just have to accept

that. No, we need to say we are truly sorry for a sin.

I think of David there in Psalm fifty one, when he repented because

of his sin with Bathsheba. Psalm fifty one Versus three and four says,

for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me against THEE.

THEE only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that

thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and clear, when thou judgest. David

did not justify himself in the sin he had committed. Seton. Corinthians seven

ten says for godly sorrow, worketh repentance to salvation. So we need to

have a godly sorrow for salvation. The third thing, then that we need

to do is to have faith to believe. We cannot be saved unless we

believe. And I mentioned about Israel there in Egypt, the night that they

left there, how they put the blood on the lentil on the doorpost.

That was faith. They needed to believe. And we need to believe what

God has said. We need to believe that Jesus has power to save and

forgive, forgive. And then we come to the golden text of the Bible.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Acts

sixteen thirty one. There when at the time when Paul and Silas were thrown

to jail and phil pie and there was a earthquake, and so they jailer

came to them and said, what shall we do? And they said,

believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Romans ten

nine says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and

shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou

shalt be saved. The next thing, then is repentance. We need to

have faith and we need to have repentance. And I guess I would say

that repentance is a complete turning around. It's one hundred and eighty degree turnaround,

a willingness to forsake sin, to change, a need to go to

God and ask for forgiveness. I'm going to refer again to the day of

Pentecost. There, I'm going to read a couple verses and acts two verses

thirty seven and thirty eight already quoted this verse thirty seven. Now when they

heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said, unto Peter and

under the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do.

Then Peter said, unto them, repent and be baptized, every one

of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and

ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So it's repent to turn

around, a willingness to forsake sin, to change, to go to God

ask him for forgiveness. Psalm thirty four eighteen says the Lord is nigh unto

them that are of a broken heart, and save as such as be of

a contrary spirit. The fifth thing that we have, then, is a

matter of conversion, and that is I guess what we would normally call the

new birth, which is a change of heart. It's a change of mind.

It's a change of a will. It's a change of affections, no

longer rebelling against God. It's a change of attitude toward God. It's a

change of attitude towards sin. I'd like to read several verses from Ephesians four.

Ephesians four Versus twenty two to twenty four. That ye put off concerning

the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful LUs,

and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that ye put on

the new man, which after God is creating righteousness and true holiness. And

so he talks here about the the old Man, which was what we had

in our former life that was corrupt according to lust. And then we are

renewed with a new Man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness.

And so we have here the conversion. Second Crithians five seventeenth says, Therefore,

if any man being Christ, he is a new creature, old things

are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. So not,

I'd like to ask you, So we go through all this. We have

repentance, we have faith, we have conversion, we have the new birth.

Is salvation now complete? Is that it? I don't think so.

There's more. There's more to God's plan than that, even though this entire

planet is God's and we have made the choice. When we respond to God's

plan, then he finishes the work. First of all by forgiveness. God

is ready to forgive if we meet his condition. First John one nine says,

if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us

our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Clautians one four says,

in whom we have redemption to his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

God can and God will forgive all of our sins. How on the merit

of blood of Jesus Christ, he removes our sins and remembers them against us

no more. Second is the aspect of adoption. God not only forgives us,

but he makes us his children. He gives us sonship. John one

twelve says, but as men has received him to them, gave thee power

to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.

I'd like to read several verses from Glacians four or talks about adopt Glacians

four versus four to six. But when the fullness of time was come,

God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law,

to redeem them. That we're under the law, that we might receive the

adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God had sent forth the

spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying abba Father. And so we

have here that we might receive the adoption of sons. And that because we

are sons, then God sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts,

where we can cry our Father. And then in the second Corinthians six

seventeen and eighteen. Second Corinthians six seventeen eighteen workfare, come out from among

them and be separate, Saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.

And I will receive you and will be a father unto you. And

you should be my sons and daughters, Saith the Lord Almighty, So you

should be my sons and daughters. The third thing, then, not only

does God forgive, not only does he make us a part of his family.

But the third is sanctification. Now we had that the word sanctify in

our Sunday school lesson. That word means to set apart for a special work

or purpose. It also has a thought of purity and holiness. Psalm forty

or Excuses four. Verse three says, but know that the Lord has set

apart him that is godly for himself. And a second Timothy to twenty one.

If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel

unto honor, sanctify, to meet for the Master's use, and prepared under

every good work. Now we sometimes throw around this term sanctification. Maybe we

get a little bit afraid of it or whatever, But I think it just

simply means that God has set us apart for himself, and we are to

be holy, we are to be his and that that means that we do

away with all that is evil. All right. Then God goes a step

further, and that's what we call justification justification. Now, this is a

gracious act of God in which he imputes the righteousness of Christ to all believers.

Now what does that word impute mean. Well, I think it means

to put down to a person's account. So simply speaking, God says,

I'm going to justify you by putting to your account the righteousness of Christ.

But Satan said, as you can't do that, he um, he condemns.

But God says, no, they're mine. I've justified them through the

blood of my son Jesus. Once we were guilty, once we were condemned,

but now there's no guilt twenty five, says who was delivered for our

fancies and was raised again for our justification Romans three twenty. Therefore by the

deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified. In his sight,

we're not justified by the deeds of the law, but by the blood

of Jesus Christ. And again, simply putting it in God's sight, we

stand before him just as if we had never been a sinner, justified.

One more thing that God does the and I this uh is really thrilling to

me. It's a blessing. And that's the aspect of restoration. Now God

restores man to his original condition as he was there in the garden. We're

restored back into fellowship with God. That tree of life that was taken away

from Adam and Eve, and they were drove from the garden, now it

is offered to us again. In Revelation twenty two, verses one and two

says, and he showed me a pure river of water of life, Claire's

crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And

in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the

river was there the tree of life, which bear twelve manner of fruits and

yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the

healing of the nations. So now there's coming a day. We're still in

this life where there's temptation and possible to sin, but there's coming a day

where we will be translated from this life into the next. And we will

be totally restored into the presence of God, and our sins will not stand

before Him. We will be justified. We're sanctified, we're forgiven, we're

a child, and we will be justified just as if it never happened.

So I'm thankful this morning for this great plan of salvation. I know this

is something that we we know a lot about, or we've talked about,

and maybe it seems like a fairly simple subject here, and yet to me

it's it's one of great depth and the one that throws my heart as I

think of what all God has done for us through this great plan that He

had before Adam and Eve were ever created. I just though