What Does Being Saved Mean | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from acts Church. We hope this message

will light up your day. I've simply just entitled it. What does being

Saved mean? Might sound like a theology class, but I hope it's simple

enough to understand, because again, Heaven rules is our team for this year,

and Heaven can only rule if we are subjects of the Kingdom of Heaven.

And to be subjects of the Kingdom of Heaven, we need to come

into the safe boundaries of the kingdom. And this is the king that we

are subject to, the King who wants to rescue us, us who are

outside his kingdom to being in his safe presence. That's the perspective that we

need to understand. We need to see firstly as believers. And if those

of us here who do not really know who this Christian God is, who

this Jesus is, I hope by today you will get a picture of who

he really is. This is a perspective in which we must have when we

say Heaven rules, because what does it really mean. Okay, so I've

got about forty minutes. Let's see where this goes. But suffice to say,

I'm going to go through some step by step explanation of what being saved

really means. So I want to start it off by asking us to imagine.

Can we imagine everyone, okay, everyone looking at me like, oh

man, this guy is going to go. It's okay, it's okay.

The Mandarine Service survived with the translation I think y'all will do too. Okay,

let's imagine a swimmer out in the open sea, okay, swimming,

swimming, and then he gets into difficulties while swimming, and he struggles,

and then a good thing is there was a live guard at the beach side.

And when I mentioned live guard in all the different plans that I've precied

this message, bay watch comes to their heat. I don't know why I'm

trying to not get bay watching it, but anyway, that's the power of

media, right yeah, every okay, like me, in cludella, every

kid who grew up in the eighties and nineties, somehow bay watches in our

hit. But okay, so there was a lifeguard by the beach, and

then he sees what's happening, he decides to dash out, swims over to

the spot where he last saw this person in distress, and by now he

founds that this person has stopped struggling. This person is ready floating. This

person is motionless. The lifeguard, that's what the lifeguard is supposed to do.

He pulls this person, swims back to show with this person and begins

CPR, and moments later the first breath of life is weakness. Hallelujah,

praised the lot. He's alive, He's been safe. Okay. It's in

such a situation like that, it's natural to use the word saved. Someone

was in dangers, someone was at the point of death, and by their

efforts and by the efforts of another third party, they were rescued from their

struggle. Saved. Okay. In Indonesia, in Barzara science, I get

mixed up with the word rescue and safe because rescue is actually panila matan.

Safe is actually carsalam matan, say, salvation is casalamatan is. It's same

yet different. Okay, So we understand, No, if there's a struggle,

no, someone rescues you from this point of death, you've been saved.

But when we use this same verb and we put it into the context

of our religious experience and someone asks you are you saved, sometimes we feel

it's quite a strange thing to us. I mean, under normal circumstances.

Where is the need for us, pleasant people living in this normal world?

Why is there need for us to be saved? The word save seems a

little bit too extreme, you know, like an overkill like that, And

no, we need to take notre of this. The word salvation has the

same root with the word save, saved, salvage, these are all all

the same family. It's a very big word with many shades of meaning.

Actually, and it is this that is at the heart of our belief system,

this whole entire thing. You know, until today, I still remember

my salvation experience. To start the beginning of my salvation experience, I remember

it like it was just yesterday. And I can tell you this, It's

nothing dramatic. Okay. I know different ones have stood up here in the

pupen and shared their dramatic experience. No, I had nothing like Paul Awad,

blinded for days, none of that. You know. I did go

through some terrible childhood before I discovered God. Nothing. I was just seated

in my room at my desk, presuming presumably studying, but I guess not

because I'm not a very studious. But I remember I was on my table

reading the Bible, and that was when I told myself, this is someone

I want to follow, regardless of my family outside my room, who's probably

going to lynch me if they find out that I'm going to follow him.

I made the decision that many years ago, when I was sixteen, to

follow Jesus and Loland Behold. I did go through a lot of challenges at

home, but that was a miracle. There was nothing short of a miracle.

Until today, with all the lack of drama involved in my salvation experience,

I still view it as a miracle because we were I was once nothing,

but now I am somebody, and that is the beauty. That's the

gospel story. God uses and takes a nobody and makes this person a child

of God, makes this person as somebody. And so I want to examine

some factors about seven factors involved in salvation, involved in being safe, and

actually I think I have slights. Yeah, you must take note of the

prepositions. Prepositions, Okay, y'all, no prepositions. I to go and

google it. Honestly, Sorry, Joy, for all the teachers out there,

even though you taught as a grammar, we've conveniently forgot all the grammatical

rules, so I can't remember the difference between prepositions and conjunctions. I think

this is prepositions, right, I hope so things Okay, fingers crossed.

I don't think it's conjunction. I think it's prepositions. Correct me if I'm

wrong. Okay, Nama and Yogo figure it out. So take note of

this. Salvation is from sin, Salvation is after repentance, Salvation is by

grace, Salvation is true faith, Salvation is with assurance, Salvation is too

holiness, and salvation is for eternity. Take note of I hope it's prepositions.

Don't get correct right? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Take

note of all these connecting words because they mean something, and it's important for

us to understand what being saved really means, because when you fully understand it,

you will realize that it's nothing short of a miracle. Amen, let's

start with this Salvation is from sin. And I'm going to read a portion

of scripture from Romans chapter five, verse eight. It says he is reading

from the NLT. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ

to die for us. While we will still sinners. Okay, simple enough.

We all have got troubles right. In fact, sometimes we think that

there's nothing but trouble in this world. That's the reality of it. Problems

and troubles. They are becoming more and more apparent in this society in life

today that we are living in. You know, there's loneliness, there's fear,

there's boredom, there's poverty, there's wars, there's catastrophes. But what

is the trouble? What is the cause of it all? Ever, ask

yourself that question, what do you think the cause of all the troubles in

this world are? And you all want to answer sin, sin, And

Pastor John, rightfully, being a bastard, has answered it correctly. The

answer is sin. And that is God's explanation for all. In fact,

it's his explanation of all our troubles. If you are coming to God to

get all the other troubles out, but you do not bring him this one

sin, it's unlikely that you will ever find any solutions to your problems and

to your troubles, because no we can present our problems. But God's diagnosis

is that the root problem, the heart of the disease is sin sin okay.

In Medtheude chapter twenty four Versus thirteen to fourteen, it says this,

no, sin will be rampant everywhere. This is something that's talking about in

a way, it's like talking about the future. During that time, sin

will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But

the one who enduals to the end will be saved. And the good news

about the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations

we are hearing, and then the end will come. We have a responsibility

as believers not just to go preach about being safe. We first need to

understand and what it means to be saved. Then you can bring this all

the way out through because then only when all the nations have heard this good

news, then only will Jesus come back. So every time we are saying

Jesus come back, Jesus come back, no, we want you to come

back, looking forward to you coming back, and then we sit down and

do absolutely nothing about it. He's not going to come back until we bring

the word of God out to as many people. That's what scripture tells us.

This is what we are supposed to do. If we really want a

well come back, the presence of Jesus the Second coming back into this earth.

We've got to do this. This is something that's so important. So

now imagine with mea imagine a patient who visits a doctor. And then this

patient tells a doctor, I'm feeling lonely. I'm feeling a bit down or

maybe a bit depressed. But as they chattered, the doctor started noticing certain

symptoms okay, in the patient's eyes, in the patient's labored breathing, in

the color of his lips, and then comes to a conclusion that this patient

seems to be suffering from a very serious illness okay, And so he tries

to talk about these symptoms, and then he starts asking the patients some general

questions, you know, health questions relating to the disease. But the patient

wants to have nothing to do it. He just goes on about how lonely

he is, how bored he is, until the doctor has to sort of

almost blandly interrupt him and say, look, you mind if I tell you

something. I believe you're suffering from a very serious disease, far more serious

than your boredoms. Far more serious than your sense of isolation. If you

don't let me examine you and get treatment, I'm afraid you may not even

survive the near future. But suppose his patient still says, I'm having none

of it. No, no, no, there's nothing to it. I

can't accept that. I don't believe that I'm ill. I'm just bored.

I'm just lonely. You see, when we come to God with our day

to day troubles and problems, I believe He wants to first deal with the

rut of our troubles. What's the root of our troubles sin, and that

is the daily disease two of which all our other problems in life are merely

symptoms of that disease. You see, what sin does is it enumbs your

spiritual nerves so that we do not feel the evil of sin, nor do

we even feel the presence of God all around us. Basically, what happens

is we become spiritually insensitive. And that is why sin is such a deaily

disease. It's not just a question of wrong things we do, the breaking

of God's laws, et cetera. It goes much deeper. You imagine a

sickness, a disease like leprous. I know if you ever go to one

of our mission trips in Indonesia, especially in Lake Toba, they will actually

bring you to UH leprosy settlement where you get to see many of those who

either have leprosy or is suffering from lepacy or post leprosy live there because they

are usually isolated. It's quite a contagious UH disease. But what does leprosy

there's no it's actually I can't remember the medically what it does. I know

it's a nerve, either auto immune or something to do with your your nervous

system. But ultimately what it does is it causes you to not be able

to feel. You can't feel certain things, and that's why it's untimes.

They end up losing their limbs and losing their joints and losing things just drop

off and fall off. You see. Sometimes we think, no, we

don't want to feel anything, We don't want to feel pain. No,

I don't like all those things. But there's a reason why they are pain

receptors in our body is to keep us safe from harm. That's the reality

of it. If you touch something that's hot, your pain receptors will tell

you that it's hot, and then you avoid touching it. But what happens

when you have a disease like leprosy is you don't feel anymore, and then

you can go on touching it. I think diabetes has got that kind of

effect. As if I'm not mistaken, I may be wrong. I know

there's something to do with the wounds and all where it is desensitized. And

that's the danger of sin, because what sin does is it desensitizes us.

No longer can we feel, not just wrong things we don't when we can't

even feel and know what is right, and that is dangerous. It is

what we inherited, what we inherited from our parents, what they inherited from

their parents. Basically, it's a disease that is present right at birth.

No, it's a congenital disease if you want to look at it that way.

It blinds us to the truth, It blinds us to goodness, and

until finally we are spiritually, they no longer able to relate or respond to

God at all, or even to goodness. Sin, and this is the

fate that waits all of us. Know. That's why Jesus when he talks

about sin. He always points it back and he starts talking about Hell.

I know, strong words people don't like to hear. I don't talk about

Hell. Everything is all shaped cudly nice, you know. But that's the

reality of it. That's why we need to be safe, because Hell is

just basically an eternity where God's presence is no longer there. And sometimes we

could go, Ah, God, why couldn't you just overlook the sins of

the world. Life would have been so much easier. Just look away,

lie, you know, just to talk matter. You know. Well,

I don't know whould he have done that, but it is because God loves

me. God loves you, and because his love is pure and holy,

he did something far more costly than simply just to overlook our sins. He

gave his son to die for them. He paid the price, which makes

sin the most expensive commodity in this world because it causes God the death on

the cross of his one and only son, Jesus. You see, sin

has to be paid for because this is a moral universe where God reigns and

he is perfect, he is just, he is true. God's holiness demands

that all sin must be punished. But God's love provided the Cross of Jesus

by which man can have forgiveness and cleansing. You see, God hated sin,

but he loved sinners. God wanted to destroy sin, but he wished

to save the sinner who committed it, because those are the victims of sin.

And how how could he separate this too? Even before the first man

committed the first scene, God knew the answer, and he also knew what

the answer would cause. It would cause him the sacrifice of his son.

And that's why there can be no Christianity without a cross, that symbol of

torture, even though we want to take it out and purge it out from

our faith because it's so brutal. But without the cross, probably the most

creative way ever thought true in inflicting the most pain to kill a person is

the cross. There is no other method as cruel as the cross. But

that is the reality of it. No Christianity without a cross. That is

the cost of our forgiveness. It is a cost that has been borne entirely

by God through the suffering of Jesus. Imagine the physical agony of crucifixion under

the hot sun that he had to bear. Imagine the mental agony of being

executed for crimes he did not commit. Imagine the spiritual agony of being cut

off from his own father momentarily. Basically, Jesus went through hell himself for

us, and that's why we must always start off with this understanding. We

are saved from sin. That's what salvation means to us, because what happens

on the cross is a substitution our sins on him. But it's not just

a single substitution. It's a double substitution. In Basa is Burgundian Burgunda.

That means sin on Jesus, his righteousness on us, double substitution. It's

amazing what God has done for us on Calvary. But we need to come

to this conclusion. We are all saved from sin. Amen, let's move

on. Salvation is after repentance, and X Chapter three, verse nineteen says,

there is now repent of your sins and turned to God so that your

sins may be wiped away. So what is repentance then? Does it mean

feeling sorry for what we have done? That is remorse, and it's a

commendable feeling, not wrong to have remorse. No feeling sorry for what you

have done. But it is not repentance. In reality, most of us

are sorry when we did something wrong, but we are usually sorry for the

consequence of sin. We are sorry about the fact that we receive punishment.

We're sorry about the fact that there's damage relationships because of our inactions. We

are sorry about the different accusations and the scandals that came about because of the

wrongdoing. But that is not repentance. You see, repentance is being sorry

enough to stop. True repentance is basically to do it no more. And

that is what repentance is all about. It's about being willing to let our

sins go. And so it can be seen in the choices we make,

the things we do, the things we say, the way we live our

lives. Repentance is not something that you just confess. You can actually see

it. It's in action as much as it is in true the content.

It shows we really want to be saved and know what it is from which

we are being saved. And so what is quite impossible is to have this

is to have sin and to have salvation, because they are both mutually exclusive.

If you're running towards your savior, you leave your sin behind. That

is why Paul said in Acts, chapter twenty six, verse twenty I preach

first to those in da Mascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea,

and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn

to God and prove they have changed. By the good things they do.

It can be seen repentance. So remember this, saved from sin, saved

after repentance makes sense. Let's move on. Salvation is by grace and Romans

Tree, verse twenty fourth days. This year, God, in his grace

freely makes us right in his sight. He did this true Christ Jesus,

when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. You see, it

took me a while to realize a few basic things about Christianity. Firstly,

I could do nothing to save myself. Secondly that God did not require me

to do anything, and thirdly that Christ has done it all threatings. Really,

it's it's been a journey for me to even fully understand this. And

I think it's human nature for us to always be suspicious of anything that's presented

to us free of judge. Right. Sometimes we'll be a bit too proud

to accept charity, or we'll be like no, No, I got strings

attachment this one something mass be something tied true aware just of all like that.

No free. But this suspicion and this distrust is a terrible barrier.

Seriously, it's a barrier. And that is one of the reasons why it's

so hard for people to accept God's grace. For grace means two simple things.

Bad deeds are no hindrance and good deeds are no help when you come

to God for salvation. Usually the bad deeds you all understand the goodest.

A lot of people find it. But Paul says, no, none of

my righteousness counts for anything. In fact, both self righteousness has been described

by Paul and Isaiah. They actually refer it to either a sanitary path or

dune. Look for the word the root word that's used to describe self righteousness,

my own right behavior. He says, I equate it to something as

wrong and as dirty as human feces. That's how I think, Paul.

One describes it as that, and the other one as the other. I

can't remember which is which. Bad deeds are no hindrance. Good deeds are

no help. It does not matter what bad things you may have done in

the past. They cannot put you beyond redemption. And it does not matter

what good deeds you may have done in the past either. They cannot save

you. Indeed, they may be a barrier if you come to God not

empty handed. That's the only requirement that he needs. You come empty handed,

but you come with one handful of your goodness. And God, I

did this after the poor. Listen to my patterns. It counts for nothing

if you come with one hand with all your wrong deeds. Definitely cannot Also,

okay, it takes two empty hands to receive grace. You can't come

with sin, you can't come with self righteousness. These two things will hold

us back. And so always remember this. Nothing you can do to deserve

grace, but you still need to receive it with your outstretched hands. It

is not an irresistible force that falls upon you and forces itself on you empty

hands to receive it. Nothing you can do to deserve grace, but you

still need to receive it in your own hands. We are saved by grace.

It may take us a whole lifetime of struggling before we realize and learn

that there is nothing a man can do to save himself or herself and God

requires nothing of us because Christ has done it all. Grace is God's riches

at chrisis expense. Amen, salvation is by grace, true faith. Efficients

to it says this, God save you by his grace when you believe,

and you can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God.

So it is by grace true faith. What does this all mean? My

hate is going to explode, don't explode. Faith is the link. Grace

provides the power. So what is faith? We have to establish this.

The first thing we need to realize is that it's not a matter of feeling.

I do not feel that my sins are forgiven, but I know they

are because God has said so in his word. It's a big difference.

Faith is not a feeling, although wonderful feelings may follow faith in Christ in

a sense. No, when the Holy Spirit takes hold of a person,

he releases his feelings in a new way, fring this person to now be

able to experience love joy. He's true, but it is not the feeling

that is the faith, but the faith can create the feeling. We must

be able to draw the distinction because a lot of people think faith is who

the feeling. But if faith is a feeling, your faith is going to

go up and down because your feelings go up and down. But it's also

this faith is also not primarily just a matter of thought, because every time

we think, oh, if it's not feeling, that is it thought?

Of course thought is involved. No, there is certain minimum intellectual content needed

for you to understand why Jesus died for you, why he went to the

cross, why he was crucified and resurrected. Some thinking and understanding is needed.

But imagine this, No, when you recite the Apostle's creed, and

we know the Apostle's creed, I believe in God, the Father or mighty

creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son,

our Lord. You know a lot of I believes in there Ah.

And you think, oh, if faith is a matter of thought, then

maybe I shouldn't just say I believe, I should say I believe all of

that with my mind. Then only it becomes faith. But if you think

I believe all of that with my mind makes it real faith, I can

tell you you are no better than the demons. Because in James Chapter two,

verse nineteen, it says this. You say you have faith, for

you believe that there is one God good for you. Even the demons believe

this, and they tremble in terror. That means that even the demons,

the demons have one up. No, not just believe, they are scared.

At the same time, I say this only because there are a lot

of people who are not scared of God. There's no reverence to Almighty God

in today's generation sometimes. But the reality is even the demons believe. Even

the demons tremble. So what is faith then, If it's not a feeling,

if it's not just merely thought. Faith is basically to take the truth

and apply them personally. To say Jesus died for me, to say that

Jesus rose for me, and to say that Jesus is coming back for me.

You see, the devil cannot share that kind of belief. The devil

cannot share that kind of faith. And so faith is in a sense and

act of trust in which the believer takes his life and puts it into the

hands of Christ. It is a daily thing, committing my life into someone

else's hands. You see, in ordinary life we do that all the time.

Every time you bought an aeroplane. What do you think you're doing?

Your life? Whose hands are you putting it into the pilot? You jolly

well better pray that the guy isn't drinking, doing some funny thing in the

cockpit, having some mouth and mind. Don't say that, but that's the

truth, right. Every time you get will into a surgical ward, what

do you think you're doing. You're putting your life in the hands of the

surgeon. Every time you ride a bus, you're putting your life in the

hands of the bus driver. That's the reality of it. And faith is

just that, putting my ruined life into the hands of Jesus and giving him

responsibility from that point on. To make me write there are days when I

believe Carrie Underwood got it right. Jesus take over the wheels of my life.

That's the reality of it. We are saved by grace, true faith.

Amen. Next salvation is with s urance, with assurance. Romans Chapter

ten, verse nine says this, if you openly declared that Jesus is Lord,

and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the day, you

will be saved. It is God's will that you should know you are his

No when people ask you, are you safe? He does not expect his

children to answer, I hope so, I think so I like to believe

that I am. So maybe maybe not. I felt more safe yesterday than

I feel today. He wants us to be sure of it, not with

arrogance, but with faith. Not sure of ourselves, but sure of Him

and his promises. You see, this assurance comes through his word of promise.

At first, God's word tells us that we are safe. But it

also and you know, I know this may sound be profound, but it

comes also from our conscience, as they begin to assure us that at last

we are free of these destructive things called sin, and there is a change

in the manner of our life, and that we are all children of God.

But above all, God wants to plan in our hearts the power of

his Holy Spirit. It is by this gift that his children can call him

father. After all, it is the birth right of his children, and

he intends it for us. The Holy Spirit is what gives us that certainty,

is what gives us that assurance. You see, the initial birth right

that we all receive sin. Remember I said our parents, our parents are

all transferred down and it was a congenital disease. But we are all born

again. That's what being born again means. God now gives us the power

of the Holy Spirit, and that power will replace is the power of sin

at work in our life. That's why we need the Holy Spirit. Jesus

sorted out the penalty of sin. That is, no longer are we bound

by the penalty of sin. That's why His righteousness clothes on us. The

past is done, but we're still living in this world. Anyone of you

tell me right now that since the day I gave my life to Jesus,

I committed not one sin. I will worship you seriously the reality. The

reality is yes, the penalty of sin has been sorted out because the righteousness

of Christ is now here. We are counted as righteous. But the power

of sin is still at work. And the only power that can counter and

overcome the power of sin is the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in

us. For many believers know they have true faith, receive the grace of

salvage, but they still lack assurance. They worry about their standing before God,

and so sometimes their testimony is weakened. I don't want you all to

be worried about your standing before God, because when you stand before God,

you stand counted as righteous because of what Jesus has done ready for you.

But we are still living, right, We're still having to make decisions and

choices. Right, we are not We are not like the dude that was

hanging next to Jesus on the cross. Because of course Jesus promising me turner

line and so today you'll be with me in paradise is done. Of course,

he died straight re la, and that's the reality of it. You

know. Some people like to equate that that's that's what salvation is not the

minute you you everything is going to be fine. But everything was fine for

him because he died immediately. He didn't have to live on All of us

have to live on here on earth, and so we need to receive the

grace of salvation. We need this assurance. Assurance for such people. See,

the great need is to ask God to take them one step further.

Pour out your Holy Spirit into our hearts so that we can bear witness to

the fact that we are children of God bound for heaven. You know,

at the eight am service just now, I had one young chap who shared

a testimony, and he shared a testimony about how he received the gift of

tongues, which I believe is the gift of the Holy Spirit. And he

said, I resisted it. I resisted, but I didn't believe in it.

You know, I don't know what these firs are all saying no.

But just one day it happened to him, and then he realized that it

is not him and his resistance, No, it's really God at work.

And I reminded him what his tongues for tongues is to strengthen you, is

to edify you. You know, there are days when I don't know what

else to pray. You know, the words that I pray, most of

it will be tinged with some element of biased nurse. I still feel,

you know, I can feel I can see some people they're like sleeping,

you know that inside the heart they're praying, no, Lord, send down

something, send like Nina or something. You know, we always have we

are not pre But you know, I know when I'm praying in tongues,

it's the spirit that spraying in and tru me. I know there is not

an inch and not a tinge of wrong. And I encourage I told the

brother brother, I'm glad you didn't continue to resist. It took God his

kind mercies to give you this gift that you were turning away. But let

us not turn God away. That's almost almost Blesspheming against the Holy Spirit is

a dane interous thing to do. Let's not do that. We welcome the

Holy Spirit in our lives. We need the Holy Spirit because we ain't going

to be able to live this life without the Holy Spirit in us. We

are safe with assurance, not just insurance from hell. No, A lot

of times we always think of salvation is insurance, and there are times no

when the Gospel is presented like an insurance policy for the next world. I

offer you an escape from hell. You don't go to hell. Okay,

say, some pictures are stand back in the seventies eighties and repent or die

and burn in hell. Ca I thing, it's not so much an insurance

from hell. It's you got to look at it as a liberation from sin.

What is it that we are saved from sin, which means in salvation,

when we are being safe, we are actually now free to not sin.

We need that. Don't just focus on death, focus on life,

because not all of you are going to go through the similar experience as the

dude hanging on the cross next to Jesus who died. Straight away. We

all have a life ahead to live, and this life has got all sorts

of trials and all sorts of temptation, and the reality of it all is

the prince of this earth is the devil. Which power is going to be

stronger, the one that lives in us or the one that's outside us.

Choose ye this day, whom you want in you. We need the Holy

Spirit. We need the assurance because it's not the assurance that we escape Hell's

assurance that we are now free to live our lives and not choose to sin.

We have that choice now. At one point, none of us have

the choice because all our faith and all our destiny was fixed if it wasn't

for Jesus dying on the cross. Forest. Amen, So don't focus on

that, focus on life. Focus on life and be assured. The next

one is this salvation is too holiness? Too holiness? Am I still making

sense? Oh? I'm making sense? Okay. First Bitter Chapter one,

verses fourteen to sixteen says they so you must live as God's obedient children,

don't slip back into your own ways of living to satisfy your own desires.

You didn't know any better than But now you must be holy in everything you

do, just as God, who chose you, is holy. For the

Scripture says you must be holy because I am holy. First, Peter,

salvation is not only from sin. It's actually too holiness. In other words,

it's not just a negative exercise. No. The Bible talks about being

safe to the uttermost, not just from the gutter. Okay, a lot

of times always we say from the long kung. But you're saved from the

long kung, yes, which is the gutter. But to the utter most

we are safe for a purpose a destiny, and that destiny is holiness.

And the reality is that we are as holy as we want to be,

no more, no less. I do not believe that there is some sort

of package deal in holiness not to be received ones and for all. Perhaps

you go to a convention, a church camp or in church no, and

then you forget about it normal boom, one time holiness. Package Holiness is

a moment by moment relationship with God. It's not a static thing. And

only when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. That's why he's called the

Holy Spirit. There's a reason. Only when we are feeled by the Holy

Spirit, then only will we realize that holiness is no longer something that we

can never attain. But it's a choice away. In reality, we all

just need to make that choice. Are we going to choose holiness or none?

It is because we now know it is possible not to sin. In

fact, I believe one day it will be impossible for us to sin because

the presence of God will be so real and intense in our lives. That's

why, ultimately, what are we say from We are saved, ultimately from

the presence of sin that will no longer be sein one day, and that

is God's transformative work for each and every one of his followers. He is

setting us aside and setting us apart for his glory. He saves us from

the penalty of sin, He saves us from the power of sin, and

then ultimately he saves us even from the presence of sin. Holiness is not

the same as happiness. A lot of times that's all we are looking at.

I want happiness, holiness and holiness now happiness, And that's why I

know in our minds, uh, I want to be happy now, holy

later, holy in heaven, because that's where everyone saying choir love Jesus,

Jesus is saying, no, I want you to be holy now and you

will be happy later. For sure you will be happy. You see,

holiness is not the same as happiness. In fact, sometimes unhappy experiences can

lead us into holiness. Sometimes he chastises us to lead us into holiness.

Sickness, pain, disappointment may do for us what prosperity and ease can never

achieve. Help us to become holy and so holiness holiness first, then happiness.

You know. Sometimes what we have done with Christianity is to focus so

much on the love of God, and this will leave people feeling sentimental rather

than having a clear scriptural understanding of who God is. No science, we

think of God. No, he's someone to serve us someone No, and

we are not here to serve him. He is there to keep us healthy,

He's there to keep us safe. He's there to keep us prosperous or

as prosperous as we need to be, to keep us, in a word,

happy. That's how we always science. We share. No, God

is love. God loves you, God's going to make you happy forever and

ever. And if God doesn't make me happy, if God doesn't make you

safe, if God doesn't make you healthy, I'll call it quits and I'll

stop going to church. That's the reality of it. It's not just all

about the love that sometimes I believe we represent very wrongly. God is love.

Yes, I push a host someone on it one day. But first

and foremost God is good, which means that he is never wrong, which

means that He is always right, which means that he is eternally good.

He is always The truth is we are saved to be holy, set apart

to live righteously unto a God who is good. Because ultimately, salvation is

for eternity. Romans chapter six, verse twenty three says for the wages of

sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ

Jesus our Lord. See, when God saves, he saves for eternity.

He saves totally and permanently, and that must include holiness. That's why in

Matthew chapter five, verse for the Day, it says, you shall be

perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect. You see eternal Therefore refers to

quality and quantity of life. Eternal life is not just everlasting. Sometimes we

always talk about everlasting life, everlasting life. Yeah, yes, but it's

also abundant life. Everlasting and abundant life. You see both references in the

Gospel and in scripture. Remember this, no, remember this eternal life is

a position rather than a possession. It is not transferred to us, but

it is shared with us. We do not have it in ourselves. We

only ever have it in Christ. You see, in the parable of the

Vine and the branches, we read that the life is not in the branches,

but it's actually drawn from the vine. Only by retaining union can the

branches survive John chapter fifteen. You can. You can read that. You

see, human branches have a free choice to remain in all depart from the

true Vine. Hence the word abide. The word abide just means that decide

to stay and decision. This is a decision that we all need to make

daily. Are we deciding to stay to remain to abide with Christ? And

that is why I believe personally salvation or being safe is a process. It's

not a crisis like the guy is swimming just now, I'm safe because of

a crisis, because of something. You know. It's a process. Salvation

is continuous and the process is not yet complete in any of us. If

someone asks me, are you safe, the true answer is I'm being safe.

I'm in the process of salvation. The important question to usk is where

am I in this process and I'm making progress or am I standing still?

And I want you all to know this. We talk a lot about the

Holy Spirit, and we need the whole spirit. The Holy Spirit is continuously

sanctifying. He's continuously saving, sanctifying us, making us whole. You see

every reference, most of the reference of the Holy Spirit in scripture, whether

it's water, whether it's wind, breath, and oil. They are not

things which remain stagnant. There are things which are on the move. We

don't remain stagnant when we are being saved. We continue to move, progress,

become better. Amen. And therefore, salvation, although it is a

process, it is not mechanical. It is not like an assembly line.

We want to do the response him gram, which is the hymn the communion

him Sorry. Salvation may be a process, but it's not mechanical. It's

not like an assembly line. So as we think about it. Because salvation

ultimately is personal, because it is a person. It involves recognition of sin,

it involves repentance, it involves grace, it involves faith, it involves

assurance, holiness, and it lasts forever. But it all centers in a

person, and we doubt him. It is nothing. And so if you

want me to sum this all up, salvation in one word, Jesus,

Jesus, it's our savior. We hope you've been blessed by this message.

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be a good week, a hit for you. God bless