Storyline | Pastor Matt Pennington | Week 4

Well, thanks for joining us today online for part four of this series that we've been in called Storyline.

Just a quick recap of this series that we've done.

This is the fourth week, and up to this point, a couple other things that we've talked about, we've been looking at the overall big picture of the Bible.

And like any story, we began in the beginning.

And the Bible reads that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And what we see in the Bible and the origin story of the universe and everything in it is that a good God created a good world.

But then by the time we get to Genesis chapter 3, we see that part of that good creation, man, Adam, and his wife Eve, that they deliberately and intentionally disobey, rebel against God, and do what God said not to do.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

In Bible terms, we call this sin.

And in Genesis chapter 3, sin entered the world.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

But sin is not just this isolated event that happens, but sin is a nature that we inherit now from Adam, and so we see the effects of a sin broken world.

We see that today on the evening news, scrolling through our social media feeds, that we see a world today that is not as it was intended.

It was intended to be a good world created by a good God where everything functions and flourishes the way that God designed, but because of sin entering the world instead, we now live in a sin corrupted, distorted world.

And it's not hard for us to see the effects of sin in the world that we live in today.

But the good news and the encouraging news for us is that all the way from the very beginning, we see that God had a plan to redeem a sin broken world.

And specifically, what we see foreshadowed and foretold in the Old Testament, fulfilled in the New Testament, especially the Gospels, is that Jesus is that plan.

God had a plan to redeem a sinbroken world, but that plan is not an ideology, is not an abstract concept.

That plan is a person, God Himself, descended from heaven, wrapped in human flesh.

And the way that we ended last week's message was this: that Jesus is the hero that God sent to rescue the world.

Now here's the big idea for today.

If you can imagine the storyline of the Bible, if you can picture it as we have, in theory, read the Bible together, or at least summarized the entire Bible up to the Gospels at this point, we've now completed the Gospels, and the very next book that we see after the Gospel of John is the book of Acts.

And from the book of Acts all the way to the beginning of Revelation, in scholarly terms, in the academic world, we know this as the church age.

But the big picture of the Bible, the storyline of the Bible, is that God sent Jesus to rescue the sinbroken world, to rescue us from our sin.

And then, beginning in Acts, here's the big idea that we want to summarize today in this message is this is that Jesus didn't just save us from something.

He did.

Jesus saved us from the penalty and the power of sin.

But he didn't just save us from something, he also saved us to something.

And so in this message, what we're gonna see is we're gonna summarize those in-between books, starting in Acts all the way up to the book of Revelation.

We're gonna basically summarize what that means for us.

What does it mean to live a life like Jesus, to follow Jesus?

What does it look like to have been rescued by Jesus?

That he saved us from the penalty and the power of sin, but also he saved us to something.

And here's why I think that matters.

I think that matters especially, I don't know where you're watching this from, but here in the Bible Belt South, everyone is familiar with the story of Jesus, at least in part.

It may be a small part, but most people have heard the name of Jesus.

Most people understand a little bit about him or know a little bit about him.

And a lot of people think that if I just know certain things about Jesus, that he died on a cross, that he rose from the grave, if I just know those things, then I'm good.

Me and God have this thing worked out.

I'm good.

I've been saved, and then I just cease to really worry about my future.

I just kind of live life and go through the motions the rest of my life, kind of doing whatever I want to do, knowing that Jesus saved me, so when that day comes, I'm good.

I think this message matters because Jesus didn't just save us from something, the penalty and the power of sin, although he did, he also saved us to something.

And that's what the New Testament teaches.

It's that now who are you in Jesus?

And so what I want to do is I want to walk through and I want us to see and summarize the New Testament teaching on what Jesus saves us to.

Beginning with this.

Paul says this in Colossians chapter 1.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

He, that is God, has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.

Did you catch that?

Paul writes to us in summary, remember, Jesus is the hero that God sent to rescue the world.

And he says that those of us who are in Jesus in Christ is that God has rescued us in Jesus from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves.

What Paul says is this new reality for those who are in Christ is that you have been transferred to a new kingdom.

You no longer belong to the kingdom in the domain of darkness.

You have through Jesus been transferred to be a citizen of the kingdom of God.

Or as Jesus says in Matthew over and over again, the kingdom of heaven.

And then Paul concludes, he says, this in him, Jesus, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

And so Jesus doesn't just save us from the penalty and the power of sin, although he does, in Jesus we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin, but he also saves us to his kingdom.

Our citizenship is now that we are citizens of the kingdom of God.

And this is not a visual that we can see, this is a spiritual reality that we experience.

And I think this is really important because Jesus taught a lot about the kingdom, especially in Matthew's gospel.

He would talk about the kingdom of heaven.

But what we see is that those who are in Christ are the ones who belong to the kingdom of God.

Jesus saves us to his kingdom.

And that's really important for us because not everybody can say that.

Not everybody belongs to this kingdom.

In fact, Jesus tells a famous parable in Matthew 25 about the sheep and the goats, and he says, The kingdom of heaven is like, and on that day there will be a sorting that takes place.

There will be a division with sheep on the right and goats on the left, and only one of those, the sheep on the right, are referred to as the righteous, and only those who are righteous are granted entrance into the kingdom.

And so Jesus saves us to the kingdom of God.

Jesus also says this in Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

He says, Look, not everybody who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

And so for us, we need to understand that Jesus saves us from something, the penalty and the power of sin, but Jesus also saves us to the kingdom of God.

And entrance into the kingdom of God is dependent solely on Jesus, in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of sins.

Jesus has rescued us and he has transferred us to his kingdom.

We now belong to the kingdom of God because in Jesus we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.

So Jesus saves us from the penalty and the power of sin, but because we are saved from the penalty of power of sin, we're also transferred to his kingdom.

We have a new citizenship that we are now citizens of the kingdom of God.

The second thing that Jesus saves us to is Jesus saves us to a heavenly hope.

Here's what I mean.

I mean that salvation is future, but the promise of salvation is present.

Look what Paul says in Romans chapter 5, starting in verse 18.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is justification leading to life for everyone.

Just a quick summary, and we've talked about Romans 5 for the last few weeks, is that what Paul is arguing is that through one man Adam is that sin entered the world, that sin has been passed down to every generation, and death as a consequence of sin has been passed down to every generation.

So what Paul says is through Adam all have been condemned because of sin, but through Jesus, one man Jesus, all can be justified rather than condemned, which leads to life for everyone.

For just as through one man's disobedience, Adam, the many were made sinners, so also through one man's obedience, Jesus, the many will be made righteous.

The law came along to multiply the trespass, but where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now here's what I want us to understand, because I think a lot of people don't understand this side of the New Testament, is that salvation is both present and future.

And that's why I said earlier is that ultimately salvation is future.

Ultimately, salvation looks like what Paul says that this justification will result later on, future in eternal life.

It's where that kingdom that we just talked about, where that kingdom is ultimately realized, where Jesus rules and reigns over that kingdom in the new heaven and the new earth, and that we live with him for all of eternity.

That is future, and yet what Paul says is what is present is the promise of salvation.

That salvation is future, but the promise of salvation is realized right here, right now.

In other words, what Paul would say is that although you haven't yet fully been saved, at least not in its full extent, you can know right here, right now, today, in the present, you can know that that promise is already yours.

And the word for that is justification.

Justification is a legal term that means not guilty.

And what the Bible teaches, the New Testament teaches, is that through Jesus, we, although we are sinners and we are guilty and we deserve condemnation, is that through Jesus we can be made righteous.

Therefore, God in heaven, when he sees us because we have been made righteous by Jesus, is that we can actually be declared not guilty.

But that pronouncement of not guilty is not based on who we are, it's based on who Jesus is and what he has done on our behalf.

The many will be made righteous, and yet what Paul says is that you are justified right now.

And your justification is God's promise to you that you are not guilty based on the merit of who Jesus is, that you have been made righteous because of Jesus.

Therefore, future, the hope that you have is that one day you will be saved in the fullest extent, that you will inherit, receive eternal life.

Now here's the question.

The question is, well, how do I know I've been justified?

How do I know if salvation is technically future?

How do I know in the present that that is the promise that I can hold on to?

And Paul would answer that in Ephesians chapter 1, as well as elsewhere.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

Remember, we are summarizing basically the 27 books of the New Testament.

We're summarizing it.

So we can't talk about everything, but how do we know we've been justified?

One place that Paul talks about this is in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 13 and 14.

Ephesians 1:13

This is what he says.

In him, that's Jesus, you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.

What Paul says is that the moment you believed that when Jesus died on the cross, he paid the penalty for your sin, that he died in your place, is that the moment that you believed that he rose from the dead, that he has victory over sin and death, the moment that you believed that what Jesus did was accomplished for you on your behalf, that the moment that you believed you received the Holy Spirit, but the word Paul says is that you were sealed.

That sealed is a reference to in these days a king or an emperor, a high-ranking official, is that whenever they would send out official documents, the way that you knew this was an official document is usually they would drip hot wax on this document and it would be sealed with a signet ring.

It would be sealed with some type of logo or wording that was distinct to that particular ruler.

That way, when the people saw it, they knew that this was not a counterfeit, that that seal came from the king or the emperor, that person himself.

And what Paul says is the moment that you believed, the moment that you put your faith in Jesus, you were sealed by God with his signet ring, so to speak, but it wasn't just a ring that stamped you, it was the Holy Spirit living inside of you.

And he goes on and he says this, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 14, the Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance until the redemption of the possession to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

What Paul says is this is that your inheritance, your salvation is future, yet to come, and yet you can know today in the present that that is the promise that you have, that that is the promise that awaits you, and the way that you know that is by faith, when you believed, God sealed you with his spirit.

His spirit lives inside of you.

And so here's what we would say is that down payment is a guarantee of a future payment.

The Holy Spirit inside of you is evidence to you that you have been justified, that you have been declared not guilty, and now the Spirit of God lives inside of you.

And the other thing that we would say is this Jesus has saved us to a heavenly hope.

That means that we have the promise of salvation and the assurance of salvation here in the presence, but we might say it this way: But the best is yet to come.

Because our salvation is future, and so it only gets better from here.

The best is yet to come.

That's a real hope that we hold on to here in the present.

We watch the evening news, we scroll our social media feeds, we live in a world that was not as it was intended to be because it's been corrupted and distorted by sin.

And yet the promise that we have, that the spirit inside of us attests to is that the best is yet to come.

Is that our salvation ultimately awaits us, and we have been guaranteed that promise of salvation here in the present by faith that when we believed in Jesus, we were sealed as a down payment by God's Spirit.

And then thirdly, Jesus doesn't just save us from something, he saves us to something, he saves us to his kingdom.

We are now citizens of the kingdom of God.

He saves us to a heavenly hope.

We have the assurance of the promise in the present, but our salvation awaits us.

And then thirdly, Jesus saves us to proclaim this good news that we have.

Joby Martin, pastor in Jacksonville, he says it this way.

He says that the moment you are rescued, you become part of the rescue team.

Jesus doesn't just save us from something, he saves us to something.

And because we belong to a new kingdom, because citizenship in the kingdom of God is granted to us by Jesus, and because this Jesus gives us a heavenly hope where the best is yet to come, is that we have something worth sharing.

And Jesus saves us to proclaim this good news.

In fact, in the very first chapter of the book of Acts, remember, it is a visual.

We've turned the page from the gospels, we're working our way through the storyline of the Bible.

We get to the church age in Acts, and in the very first chapter, here's what we read.

And the disciples come to Jesus one day.

This is after his resurrection, he's about to ascend back to the Father, and they ask him this question.

They say, Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?

In other words, that kingdom that you spoke so much of, that kingdom that you say that we now belong to, like, is now the time where you're going to sit on your throne and you're going to rule over the kingdom of God here on the earth?

And Jesus responds to them in Acts chapter 1, verse 7.

Acts 1:7

He says, It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

But, verse 8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And the book of Acts begins with this declaration that, hey, guys, stop worrying about when the kingdom future will become present.

And what you need to know is that you have news worth sharing.

You have good news that you belong to a different kingdom.

You have good news that you have the assurance of a heavenly hope.

And so what you need to be worried about is not when the kingdom will come and be realized.

What you need to be worried about is that you are going to be my witnesses to go and to testify of this good news that you have.

And the rest of the book of Acts is people doing just that.

In fact, this gospel, this good news, this promise of who Jesus is and what he has made available to us is the entire book of Acts is people going to different places and sharing this good news.

Let me tell you about a man who died on a cross for your sin, defeated the power of sin, and when they killed him, he rose from the grave three days, and he is the one who assures for us that we have victory over sin and death.

He is the one who has promised us eternal life with him forever.

We proclaim the hope that we have.

Jesus saves us to proclaim this good news.

And then lastly, Jesus saves us to good works.

I know sometimes there's an in a misunderstanding in the church of like we talk about works, and works is almost like this cuss word that it's like, oh my goodness, you can't talk about that.

But what the New Testament teaches is that Jesus saves us to good works.

But here's what that means it means that we don't do good works so that we can be saved.

It means that because we have been saved, we are now empowered to go and to do good works.

Paul says it this way in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10, for you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves.

Ephesians 2:8–10

It is God's gift, not from works, so that no one can boast.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Did you hear what Paul said?

Paul says that in Jesus you have been saved.

You have not been saved from works, you have been saved for works.

That Jesus saved you, but when he saved you, now he has works for you to do.

A life that reflects the kingdom that now we belong to.

And so we might say it this way that these good works are part of a kingdom ethic.

In the rest of the New Testament, we see these different kingdom ethics, these kingdom ethics on how you treat others.

All throughout the New Testament, we read about these one another statements.

We did an entire series earlier in the year on this idea of one another's, things like this, that you love one another, you encourage one another, you admonish one another, you pray for one another, you forgive one another.

All of these one another statements are because of who you are in Jesus, not from good works, but for good works, that now because you belong to Jesus, you've been filled with the Spirit, empowered and enabled to go and to live out these good works that look like the way that you treat one another.

The way that you think about one another, that you consider the needs of others above your own.

There's a kingdom ethic, and so these good works affect the way that we treat others.

There's a kingdom ethic on how you treat finances.

Jesus says things to us like, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven rather than treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.

Jesus says things like this, it's more blessed to give than to receive.

And so these good works sometimes look like us giving with no expectation of receiving in return.

Sometimes these expectations for finances look like being generous towards other people without expecting repayment or collecting interest in the process.

Sometimes, because we have been empowered and enabled by the Spirit in us, because Jesus has saved us for good works, is that now we live lives that are different and we have the ability to do so.

An ability to how we treat other people, an ability for how we view and treat money and finances.

There's even a kingdom ethic on how you respond to hardship.

Maybe that hardship comes from somebody, and yet Jesus says things like this love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

In the eyes of the world, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

That doesn't make any sense to us.

And yet, Jesus says, because I've saved you for good works and I've given you my spirit who enables you and empowers you to live out these good works, is that you have the ability to love your enemies.

You have the ability to pray for those who persecute you.

Although this is hardship on you, is that this kingdom ethic, because you belong to a different kingdom and you have the ability to do good works, is that you have the ability to respond differently to hardship, like loving your enemies.

And praying for those who persecute you.

Or as James says in James chapter 1, that we count it all joy when we face various trials.

James 1 · chapter mention

We go through things that try us that are hard.

We go through things that beat us down, that test every facet of our being.

And yet, this new kingdom ethic is how do we respond to those hardships?

As well, in Jesus we're created for good works, and so our actions and our attitudes now declare that when we face various trials, we can actually face those things with joy.

Because we know that these things are testing our faith, and what comes out of the test through perseverance is a refined, purified faith, a dependence on Jesus.

So here's what we see in the New Testament is Jesus did not just save us from something.

Because a lot of people think, oh, well, I'm saved, so I'm good, and I prop my feet up for the rest of my life.

What we see instead is that Jesus saves us to something.

He saves us to his kingdom.

He saves us to a heavenly hope.

And because we belong to a different kingdom, and because we have a heavenly hope, he saves us to proclaim this good news.

And part of the way that we proclaim this good news is by our actions and our attitudes.

That he saved us to good works, so that our good works, combined with our message of good news and the hope that we have, it becomes this living testimony for who we are in Jesus and what Jesus has made available to us.

John MacArthur said it this way He said, When God's people do good deeds, they bear fruit for his kingdom and bring glory to his name.

That's exactly what the church age is all about.

It's this living testimony that we belong to Jesus, and that we have a hope beyond this life, although we are assured of it in this life.

Here's how we would end today, and what we see in the New Testament is this is that the people of God, those who are in Christ, the people of God, empowered by the Spirit of God.

You've been sealed.

It's the downpayment of a future inheritance, and yet you have this assurance in the present.

The people of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, do the work of God.

And the work of God looks partly like doing good works.

But the work of God also looks like proclaiming the good news and testifying to the hope that I have that allows me to live differently.

It allows me to see the world differently, it allows me to approach hardships differently.

The reality is this: we've seen the storyline of the Bible.

We live in a world that is not as it was intended to be, and yet the church testifies to the hope that we have in Jesus, that we belong to his kingdom, and here's the hope that we hold on to this heavenly hope is that one day the world will be exactly as it was intended to be.

This is the heavenly hope that we cling to, and yet in the present, in the midst of a corrupted and distorted, sinbroken world, we cling to this hope, and we proclaim this hope by sharing the good news that has been made available to us through Jesus.

And this message that we proclaim is evidenced by the good works that we were created for in Jesus.

In summary, we would say it this way is that the church in this age, in the present, the church stands in the gap and points to the outside world, points to a better reality that awaits us and is possible for those who would believe.

For those who would put their faith in Jesus, there's a better reality that awaits, and the church in the present stands in the gap.

And through our proclaiming and through our good works that Jesus has made us to do, is that we stand in the gap in the midst of a sinbroken, corrupted, distorted world, and we proclaim that there is a hope beyond this life, beyond a sinbroken world.

There is a coming kingdom that is better where everything will be exactly as it was intended to be.

The hope that we have and the hope that we share is that the people of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, do the work of God because this is who God has designed his church to be.

Let me pray for you.

God, thank you for today.

God, we thank you for this series, or we thank you that we can see in your word that we do not just kick up and put our feet up, that we don't just put our faith in Jesus and say, Oh, he saved me so I'm good.

No, we see that Jesus saved us from the penalty and the power of sin, but he also saved us to something.

He saved us to his kingdom, he saved us to a heavenly hope, and because we belong to your kingdom and we have this hope, Lord, he saved us to go and to proclaim this good news that we have.

And he has given us the ability, empowered and enabled by his spirit, to go and to do good works that provide evidence for this message that we proclaim.

It's in Jesus that we have this hope, and it's in him that we ask all these things.

Amen.