Sin and Salvation
We're looking at the basics of our faith this week, based on the Church of the Nazarene's Articles of Faith, which you can read on our website, by the way. And my hope is by the end of the week we'll be able to describe what it means to be a Christian in many different ways.
The Foundation of Salvation
Yesterday we talked about God's nature, and today we're going to talk about salvation, which is covered in Articles 5 through to 9.
Article 5 is about sin, which reminds us that when Adam and Eve sinned, creation was scarred, and so now all people are born with original sin, and the human heart is inclined towards evil, whether it knows it or not. There's also such a thing as personal sin, which is voluntary sin when you knowingly break the law of love that God has given us.
God's Path to Redemption
And so, as we read in Article 6, everybody needs atonement for their sins. Every human being is separated from God by their sin. And Jesus Christ came to atone for our sins so that we could be restored into a relationship with God based on what He did, and His death on the cross provided a way for all people to be saved.
Article 7 is prevenient grace, which says that God graciously goes ahead of us and enables us to choose Him and cry out to Him for our salvation, recognizing that we are lost in our sin and need atonement.
The Gift of New Life
And so when God's grace works in our lives, and we realize that we need His salvation, we do what Article 8 says, which is to repent, turn from our old lives of sin, to embrace Jesus.
When we do that and believe in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, three things happen: as explained in Article 9, we are justified - in other words, fully pardoned from all of our sins and accepted as righteous; we are regenerated - God gives us a new spiritual life in a new nature, able to love God, also called the new birth; and we are adopted into God's family as believers.
So that's a lot of words. But I hope, friends, that you've caught what it's all about, because this is the crux of our faith. And all orthodox denominations believe this and cherish this because, oh, this is what it's all about.
Jesus saves us. This is what we want the world to know, friends, is that there is a God who has a way for us to come back to Him. There is a God who has made a way through His Son's sacrifice for us to be saved and made new.
Let me ask you, have you been made new by God? Have you received His salvation? Oh, turn to Him in faith today if you haven't, and ask Him into your life. Repent of your old life of sin and throw all your trust into Jesus who died on the cross for you, and you'll find new life as God pours His love into you.
Oh, friends, let's share this message with the world so that we can all together sing that great hymn that says: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.
