Understanding Salvation: Objective and Subjective Dimensions

during my 45 years of ministry in East Africa in the United States in Europe and other places I have discovered that most of our people most of God&#39;s people are insecure about their salvation you ask them the question if you die today will you make it to heaven and they say I&#39;m not sure I hope so I asked myself what&#39;s the problem and I&#39;ve come to the conclusion there are two main reasons why our people are insecure about their salvation the first one is that they have not come to grips with what the Bible has to say about a sin problem that is why in our last study we dealt with the universal sin problem the Bible definition of sin because it paints a very dark dismal picture of mankind the purpose of that is to destroy all confidence in self we need to realize our salvation is based entirely a hundred percent on the righteousness of Christ the second main reason why people are insecure about their salvation is that they have failed to see the distinction between the gospel itself and its application and so I would like in the second study of this series to turn to the two dimensions of salvation the purpose of this study is to show the distinction between the objective facts and the subjective experience of salvation or the gospel and these two terms the objective and subjective are theological terms and you may say what what do they mean well by the end of this study I hope you will clearly understand this distinction between these two now here is the Christian problem one of the main reasons why so many Christians have no assurance of salvation is because they have faith to see the distinction between the gospel and his experience to them it is the same that his Christian living is the gospel not true folks the gospel and Christian living are related but they are not the same thing this is the major problem that has robbed most believers of the joy and the peace of salvation as a result they have become poor witnesses of the incredible good news of the gospel so what we are going to study now is the two dimension of the salvation to remove this problem the Bible speaks of two dimensions of salvation that are related he had distinct on the one hand it speaks of salvation as an entirely or completion already accomplished and tally accomplished fact in the birth life death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ I would like to take you through a series of texts that bring this out there are many texts but this one will help us let&#39;s turn to a very famous message John 3 most of you know verse 16 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth should not perish but look at verse 17 John chapter 3 verse 17 for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world even though that&#39;s what we deserve but that the world through him might be saved that is why Jesus came to this world 2,000 years ago to be the savior of mankind then going to chapter 17 of the same book John 17 and verse 4 notice what Jesus says to his father as he approaches the end of his earthly mission John 17 verse 4 I have glorified you on the earth because the devil had perverted mist breath represented the father so now Christ is saying to the father I have clearly represented you and number two I have finished the work which you have given me to do what work did the father give him to do we saw in chapter 3 verse 17 to save the world and then on the cross chapter 19 of John as Jesus before he bowed his head and died he cried out in John 19 and verse 30 it is finished in other words salvation full and complete was finished on the cross you can add nothing towards it you cannot improve on it and that is the objective facts of the gospel so when you hear the word objective is referring to the birth life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ period these are the objective facts of the good news of the gospel you remember when Jesus was born in this world 2,000 years ago how was he introduced to those frightened Shepherds at Bethlehem on Christmas night don&#39;t be afraid I bring you good news of great joy for all the people that&#39;s what the objective facts of the gospel is all about but on the other hand scripture speaks of salvation as a subjective experience by those who have accepted Christ by faith as their personal Savior now if you look at John 3:16 both objective and subjective are there the first part is objective God so loved the world that is the entire human race that he gave his son to the entire human race the second part says but whosoever believeth that is the subjective who&#39;s ever believeth shall not perish but have everlasting life I would like to read another statement regarding this subjective experience from John chapter 5 this is the words of Jesus Christ himself John chapter 5 and I&#39;m reading verse 24 most assuredly I say to you if his I guarantee you Jesus says he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me now remember the father sent him to save us he who believes my word and in blue in Him who sent me has please notice has ever lasting life not will have he already has because that is in Christ and shall not come into judgment the Greek word is condemnation birth has passed from death into life have you got it based on the objective fact the moment you believe in Jesus Christ you have passed from death to life now to avoid confusion between the objective facts of salvation that is his birth life death and resurrection and in subjective experience what the Holy Spirit produces in us one must realize the distinction between the two dimensions of salvation and that is what we&#39;re going to do otherwise the gospel becomes good advice rather than good news but the word gospel the Greek word even Gallio does not mean good advice it means good news and when it became when you make it good advice it robs believers of the peace and joy of salvation which is a major problem the devil has had tremendous success in doing this we need to get rid of that okay now let&#39;s look at the distinction between the objective gospel that is the birth life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the subjective experience that is applied to believers who accept Christ there are made a distinction the first is the gospel is universal what do I mean by that well it includes the entire human race none are excluded and there are many many universal texts in the New Testament I&#39;m going to read only two of them the first one in his first Timothy see what Paul wrote to this young intern 1st Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5 6 first Timothy chapter 2 listen to this for there is one God and one mediator that is a go-between one God one mediator between God that is between a holy God and men sinful man and that mediator is the man Christ Jesus and as we shall see in a further studies that Christ represents us before his father he is our high priest because he&#39;s our also Savior verse 6 who that is Christ gave himself a ransom a payment for all have you got it for how many for all to be testified in due time and then Paul adds in verse 7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying why does he say that because you see folks the gospel sounds too good to be true so he has to emphasize the fact that what he&#39;s presenting is true and that has to be accepted now we go to a little book called Titus it&#39;s a little book just before Hebrews in fact it&#39;s before Philemon and this little book Titus chapter 2 verse 11 makes this statement for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared have you got it Bastin has appeared to all men and the hip Greek is the all mankind so this is the objective facts of salvation it is universal none are excluded does that mean everybody will go to heaven the answer is no its experience is only applies to believers why because God has created us with a free will number one and number two he does not force this good news on anybody the gospel is God&#39;s supreme gift to all mankind and like any gift it has to be accepted it has to be received so the gospel is good God&#39;s supreme gift to mankind which has to be accepted John 3:16 is very clear whosoever believeth shall not perish but I would like to read two more statements in John 3 because people think that you are lost because you&#39;re a sinner well I have news for you as we covered in our last study the first study of the series that we are sinners by nature and God is not blaming you for being a sinner for being born 1 so in verse 18 of John 3 jesus said he who believes in Him is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already now we are already born condemned thanks to Adam but now because of the gospel you are no longer condemned once you hear this good news because of Adam but because and I&#39;m quoting Jesus because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God that is Jesus making that statement and then in verse 36 of the same chapter you have John the Baptist making this statement to the Jews he who believes in the son has I like the emphasis has everlasting life and he who does not believe the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides in him you remember in our last study the only sin that God cannot forgive is the sin of unbelief and unbelief is a verb it&#39;s a deliberate action of the will it is the sin against grace not against the law it&#39;s a sin against grace deliberate persistent ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ then in mark 16 verse 15 and 16 you have the Great Commission God said Jesus said to the disciples go into all the world and preach this gospel to every creature every human being that&#39;s in verse 15 and then in verse 16 Jesus said that he who believes and is baptized will be saved but he who does not believe he rejects this good news will be condemned that is why Romans five verse 17 Paul wrote only those who received this gift of salvation this objective gospel will reign with Christ now number two the gospel is a finished work and I want to emphasize that the word finish is the finished work to which we can add absolutely nothing listen to what Paul wrote to the Jews verse chapter 9 10 and 11 of Romans is addressing the Jews of his day in chapter 10 and verse 3 and 4 for they that is the Jewish nation being ignorant of God&#39;s righteousness and that&#39;s Paul&#39;s definition of the gospel for they being ignorant of God&#39;s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness that is salvation by human effort keeping the law and the rules have not submitted to the righteousness of God here you have two different methods of salvation salvation by human effort is referred to in the Bible as the Old Covenant salvation by grace alone is the New Covenant for they being ignorant of God&#39;s righteousness being ignorant of God&#39;s salvation by grace alone these Jews were seeking to establish their own righteousness and therefore they have not submitted to the righteousness of God now what is the righteousness of God well look at verse 4 for Christ is the end and the death Greek word Telos means completion fulfillment so Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes you know folks every requirement of the law it&#39;s positive demands obey and live and his justice disobey and died both were met in the holy history of Christ by his life and death Jesus fully satisfied the demands of the law on behalf of the human race that is why in Colossians 2:10 Paul said we who accept this gift are complete in him now what about the experience is the experience of salvation and finish work and the answer is no it&#39;s an ongoing process believers are growing in Christ we begin as a babe in Christ and we begin to grow as we learn to walk in the spirit but our salvation not will not be fully realized until the second coming of Christ that is why Paul says in Romans 8:24 25 in fact from 22 onwards he says we are groaning we are waiting for the redemption of the body we have been redeemed but our body has not redeemed and in Philippians 3 Paul says in verse 20 our citizenship as Christians is in heaven where we look forward to the coming of Christ that he will change our lowly or our vile bodies and make unto his glorious body so you see the objective gospel is a finished work you can add improve on it but when it comes to the experience of salvation it is an on-going process some are babies in Christ some have become teenagers spiritually a few have reached adulthood and a very few have reach maturity but because of the finished work of the gospel we stand perfect in Christ we stand complete but our nature does not change one iota when you accept Christ it is as sinful as it was before conversion that is why Christian living is a struggle between flesh and spirit and that&#39;s what Paul brings out in Galatians chapter 5 now number three the gospel is unconditional good news what does that mean people misunderstand that term they think that we go to heaven unconditionally no I didn&#39;t say that what do I mean with the gospel is unconditional good news we are saved by grace alone in other words unmerited favor we have done nothing to deserve salvation in fact what we have done is the very opposite so we are saved by grace alone apart from law-keeping apart from any good works now is the Bible against these things no no we are talking about keeping the law or good works in terms of contributing towards their salvation that is not true yes Christian living keeps the law as a standard of living he does good works but please make sure that the gospel is entirely the work of God&#39;s here are some texts look at Romans chapter 3 very clear statement and remember Paul is inspired God is speaking through him chapter 3 of Romans and verse 28 he&#39;s discussed this gospel from verse 21 and verse 28 is the conclusion of chapter 3 of Romans therefore we conclude this is the conclusion of the objective facts of the gospel therefore we conclude that the man or a person is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law he&#39;s Paul against the law no when we come to chapter in our chapter 13 of Romans we will discover that Paul upholds the law as a standard of Christian living but here he&#39;s dealing with how are we saved and the answer is by grace alone they&#39;re justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law then going to chapter 4 of the same book in verse 5 Paul makes this statement but to him who does not work have you got it who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly and that word ungodly in the original wicked his faith is accounted for righteousness this is tremendous good news and then in chapter 5 oh I liked you after 5:00 Paul says four things that you need to be clear on two of them are found in verse 6 chapter 5 of Romans were successful when we were still helpless without strength in due time appointed time Christ died for the ungodly so we were helpless we were wicked that&#39;s what the word means ungodly and Christ died for us then in verse 7 he describes human love for scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die that&#39;s human love limited conditional but now look at verse 8 it begins with but bends in complete contrast to verse 7 God demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were still sinners have you got it we were still sinners Christ died for us and then Paul goes one step further in verse 10 for if when we were enemies that is God&#39;s enemies it was most manuscript makes that statement for if when we were God&#39;s enemies we were past it reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having being reconciled we shall be saved so folks the gospel is incredible good news there&#39;s nothing you can add to it there&#39;s nothing you can improve on it you can simply accept it with grateful hearts but does that mean I bring that question up again does that mean all men will go to heaven and the answer is no I read I want to remind you salvation the gospel is a gift his experience is conditional in all three phases what do I mean three phases well it when it comes to the experience of salvation there are three phases the first of course is justification by faith and Paul says in Romans five verse one being justified by faith the moment you accept Christ we have present continuous tense we have peace with God we may not have peace with the government we may not have peace with our neighbors that is all horizontal kind of peace and that&#39;s up and down but vertically between you and God you have peace with God through justification by faith the moment you believe in Jesus Christ you have passed from death to life from condemnation to justification now number two requirement sanctification I wish we were automatic machines you know when we were missionaries in Africa we had to wash the dishes with the hands but you know because labor was so cheap we would employ somebody to do it them some job because unemployment is very high in Africa so if you give somebody a job and they did the washing they did the sweeping of the house and so on so when we came to the United States you could not employ somebody to do that that&#39;s too expensive so the big question was who&#39;s going to wash the dishes in the house there are four of us and we discovered that in America they have a wonderful machine called a dishwasher you dump all that stuff in that machine turn the knob press a button and it does all the work for you you know I wish sanctification was like that but I&#39;m afraid it isn&#39;t we have to learn to walk in the spirit Paul says in Galatians 5:16 walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh and he also says in Romans 13 verse 14 put on the Lord Jesus Christ that he&#39;s abide in him and he and you and you will be able to conquer the flesh but all our lives from the time we were born we were walking in the spirit in the flesh and now we have to learn to walk in the spirit it&#39;s an ongoing process and in that process we will fall many times but thank God in Jesus Christ we stand complete but there is a third requirement and that&#39;s glorification glorification is the ultimate experience of salvation when Christ will come to take us to heaven for that ultimate salvation to be a reality our faith must endure to the end you know when Jesus was about to leave this earth he spoke to his disciples in Matthew 10 beginning in verse 17 and he said to them when I leave you you will be much trouble you will be persecuted you will be taken to court you will be flogged all kinds of problems you will face don&#39;t give up your faith and then he adds in verse 22 he who endures to the end he whose faith remains solid to the end will be saved you have the same thing in Hebrews chapter 10 which I would like to read for you now Hebrews was written to the Jewish believers of the New Testament time they were being persecuted both from their Jews for turning their backs on Judaism and they were persecuted by the Romans a Gentile and the writer of Hebrews is concerned that their faith do not fail in fact he begins in chapter 10 verse 35 onwards let me just read verse 35 then we&#39;ll go down to 38 and 39 Hebrews 10 verse 35 therefore do not cast away your confidence your confidence in whom not in yourself but in Christ which has great reward that is eternal life and heaven and new earth so do not cast away your confidence in Christ which has great reward for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God which is to believe in Jesus Christ John brings that out in first John chapter 3 you may receive their promise now let&#39;s go down to verse 38 now the just shall live by faith or better translation is he that is just by faith shall live bird is a bird if anyone draws back if anyone turns his back on Christ by unbelief my soul has no pleasure in him you know my dear people nowhere in Scripture does it ever teach that once you&#39;re saved you can never be lost once saved always saved is a heresy but as long as you&#39;re a believer as long as you your faith in Christ is not given up you can be sure your salvation is guaranteed that is why I like verse 39 but we are not of those who draw back to perdition have you got it we are not of those who draw back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving of the soul so my dear people the most valuable thing you possess in this world is not your stocks is not your houses it&#39;s not your bank account because all that will go as we approach the end your most valuable thing you possess is your faith in Jesus Christ don&#39;t you ever allow anything to deprive you of that faith the devil will do his best he&#39;ll make life difficult for you but remember as long as you&#39;re a believer Christ is on your side he will defend you and vindicate you in the judgment now let&#39;s go to number four distinction the gospel is meritorious now that&#39;s a big theological term what does it mean it comes from the word merit well this is what it means this is what it could this is what qualifies believers for heaven now and in the final judgment we read John 5:24 the moment you believe you have passed from death to life in Romans 8 verse 1 in the context of the struggle of us Christian that he explained in chapter 7 he says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ it&#39;s part of your struggle there is no condemnation why because then law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus has passed dead set us free from the law of sin and death and that&#39;s in verse 2 now in 1st John there is something you need to know that we will study in a later study the judgment but the judgment especially the investigative judgment has produced much fear in the lives of God&#39;s people and one reason for that is they have not understood the unconditional self everything love of God that is why we in this series we&#39;re going to spend two studies on the love of God now in view of this let&#39;s look at what first John chapter 4 says I&#39;ll first read verse 9 and there is none the screen but I read verse 9 and 10 and then he will come down to verse 16 to 18 first John chapter 4 verse 9 in this the love of God was manifested Postell toward earth that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him that&#39;s the objective facts of the gospel the birth life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and verse 10 in this is love not that we loved God please notice we are not saved because we love God but that he loved us he took the initiative and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins that word propitiation confusing to some people the Greek word is hella stereo it is the same word that was used for the covering the mercy seat over the Ark of the Covenant in the most holy place of the sanctuary message God gave the Jews in the ark itself were the Ten Commandment the tables of ten come on which condemns us the mercy seat the covering covered that condemnation and that is the word propitiation or expiation some Bible put it now with this in mind let&#39;s go down to verse 16 17 and 18 and we have known and that is what we need to know that&#39;s why I&#39;m going to spend two studies on the love of God in this series now we have known what do we know and believe so please do things we have to know and believe because the love of God is to go to be true it sounds completely contradicting human love and we&#39;ll see that in a future studies and we have known and believed the love that God has for us and that what is agape unconditional self-emptying love of God we believe the love of God for us God is love please notice John does not say one of God&#39;s attributes is love God is love period everything about God&#39;s behavior his judgments his dealings with the human race he&#39;s dealing with you with the universe he&#39;s always founded on his love sometimes he doesn&#39;t seem so especially when you read the Old Testament but the fact is God is love and he who abides in love that is the moment you abide in God&#39;s love abides in God and God in him now look at verse 17 love has been perfected among us that is our understanding of love has been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness I like that we may have boldness in the day of judgment how many of you have boldness in the day of judgment why should we have boldness here is the reason because as he is the he is Jesus Christ our Savior because as he is so are we in this world in other words when you accept Christ God no longer looks at you as you are in yourself a sinner he looks at you as you are in his son holy and blameless you know in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 we read these words God chose us in Christ to be holy and without blame that is how God looks at you the moment you accept Christ verse 18 there is no fear I&#39;m not reading first John 4:18 there is no fear in love so you&#39;ve really understood the love of God the fear of the judgment goes but perfect love that is the perfect love of God which we know and believe cast out fear because fear involves torment are you afraid of the judgment are you afraid of the punishment that judgment brings to sinners no because the love of God has set you free but he who fears if you&#39;re still afraid about the judgment has not been made perfect in love that is why we need to spend two studies on this wonderful truth now what is the subjective experience all about you know if I&#39;m already saved if I&#39;m understand perfectly in Christ if I&#39;m already justified in him and have peace does this mean that I can live as I please and folks the bible does not teach cheap grace cheap grace is living as you please because you are saved in Christ there are some Christians who fall for this let me give an example I was in I was working as a missionary in Uganda and since my parents come from India one of these new gamers came up to me he thought he was a Hindu I was a Hindu and he said to me he asked me a question are you saved and I said saved from what and he said are you saved from sin and I said can you be more specific are you talking of the guilt punishment of sin are you talking of the power in slavery to sin ye talking about the nation present of sin which one and he looked at me he said you sound like a fast and I said yes I am a pastor you see when the Bible talks of salvation as an experience it uses all three verb tenses the moment you accept Christ and you have passed from death to life you can say I am saved but only from the guilt and punishment of sin but now in the process of sanctification you have to say I&#39;m being saved daily as I learn to walk in the spirit that is the present continuous tense but that doesn&#39;t change your nature and one day when Christ comes and you are glorified then you can say I am fully saved but until then you can say I will be saved so you are saved already from the guilt and punishment of sin you are being saved daily from the power and slavery to sin and you will be saved when Christ comes from the nature and presence of sin so I said to this young man if you are saved because that&#39;s what he claimed to me how come I smelled Palm Bay which is the so Haley word for this banana beer the smell to the high heaven and he said pastor we are saved by grace not by what we do not technically he was correct but he was misusing the truth so I said can you please explain to me what do you mean saved by grace and he said to me Christ did it all instead of me I said really can you please explain that to me you mean to say he lived a perfect life instead of you and he said yes sir and then what about his death did he die on the cross instead of you and he said to me you&#39;ve got it now and I said no no no I&#39;m going to take your theology to its ultimate conclusion and he said what&#39;s that I said he actually went to heaven instead of you and he said no no no I&#39;m going to heaven I said brother if you&#39;re going to heaven then you have to understand that his life and his death you were involved he were implicated because before God could save you God put the human race into Christ God United the divinity of Christ without corporate humanity and Jesus became the god man disqualified came to be our Savior so when he lived a perfect life you were in him when he died on the cross you died in him if you don&#39;t believe me read your Bibles 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 14 when one died all died therefore I want you to look at your text here the New Testament Pocket Edition in his pocket I made him pull it out and I made him read I could give many texts but I gave him a statement that Paul made to Timothy a young man like him 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 11 listen to what Paul wrote here 2nd Timothy chapter 2 was devil this is a faithful saying a true saying a trustworthy saying for if we died with him we shall also live with him do you notice we have to die with Christ first before we can live with him you see in this world you are born with a life a life that stands condemned to death because of Adam&#39;s sin plus yours but in the gospel it is reversed you have to say goodbye to the life that you were born with because he died on the cross in exchange God will give you his life through the holy spirit new birth so my dear people what is Christian living all about it is demonstrative what do I mean by that well Christian living this is what witnesses or gives evidence to others of our salvation to unbelievers Jesus said in John 13:34 and 35 by this all men will know you are my disciples if you love one another in the same way that I have loved you that is why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount Matthew chapter 5 he said you&#39;ve been taught in verse 43 love your neighbor hate your enemies but I say to you love your enemies do go to those that hate you pray for those who despitefully use you that you may reflect the love of your father that is demonstrated you know if Christians will love each other they would give evidence to the world there would have been no genocide in Rwanda where Christians killed Christians and so on now Ephesians 2:10 says we are God&#39;s workmanship in Christ for good works not for our benefit but for the others and then in Titus 3:8 Paul makes that clear that Paul says to Titus it is a faithful thing you must constantly remind the Christian that they must be always concerned about doing good works not for the Peace of their salvation but for others that others may see let me give you two statements one by a very famous atheistic philosopher but he was the son of a Lutheran pastor his name wasn&#39;t Michi this is what he said to Christian if you expect me to believe in your Redeemer you will have to look a lot more redeemed and then this statement made by Mahatma Gandhi a great Indian famous man when he was working in South Africa as a lawyer he made this statement with the Dutch Reformed Church which was condoning apartheid which is a contradiction of the gospel he said when you Christians live the life of your master all India will bow down to Christianity do you know why Christianity has been given such a bad name in the Middle East in the Arab world in the Muslim world because they see the TV programme they really in the Newsweek that signed all the terrible things that are taking place in Christian countries see we are not afraid to expose our problems but to them what we are doing is a contradiction to what we claim to be a Christian country so remember that the experience of salvation is demonstrated he does not contribute towards that salvation but it demonstrates it reveals it witnesses the power of the gospel in our lives the gospel is not only saving us from death to life or from condemnation to justification the gospel also saves us from a life of selfishness to a life of love self-emptying love and that is why the gospel is important now let&#39;s look in closing the relationship between the two dimensions salvation the objective facts the birth life death and resurrection of Christ which saves us and the subjective experience that is experienced by those who accept Christ as their Savior all true Christian experience and this is something you need to know it is a must all true Christian experienced on the objective facts of the gospel I remember the objective facts is the birth life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ period you can add to that let me redo this very important statement Paul made to the Corinthian 1st Corinthians chapter 3 listen to what Paul wrote here it is something we must keep in mind chapter 3 of 1st Corinthians and we&#39;ll start with verse 11 and read right up to verse 13 for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ you see foundations are very important for example when there was this great earthquake in New Mexico in May in Mexico in New Mexico many of the buildings collapse because their foundation was weak the same similar kind of earthquake like New Mexico experienced if it took place in California most of the building would stay upright why because California has very stringent laws on their foundations because it&#39;s prone to earthquakes Christ is the foundation of every Christian experience so Paul says in verse 11 of 1st Corinthians 3 for no other foundation anyone lay then that which is lady it&#39;s already been lain the birth life death and resurrection of Christ it&#39;s a past history which is Jesus Christ now in verse 12 using building material as metaphors of Christian living in as metaphors of Christian beliefs now if anyone built on this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay or straw this is building materials of his day each one&#39;s work verse 13 will become clear for the day will be carried what day the day of persecution the day of judgment so on because it will be revealed by fire by persecution and that fire will test each one&#39;s work or what sort it is you know when we are under persecution your faith is tested but if your faith is resting on the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ it will be able to stand if it is if your faith is resting on your feelings which goes up and down and is changeable you will not be able to make it so number one we must be clear everything we experience everything we believe as Christians must be based on the objective facts of a Lord Jesus Christ his birth life death and resurrection number two if our knowledge of this gospel facts is incomplete and that&#39;s the problem with many Christian so will be our experience because my experience is related to our knowledge understanding of the gospel and number two if any if our knowledge of the gospel facts is incorrect and that&#39;s another problem many Christian so will be experienced many Christians confuse Christian living with the gospel no no Christian living is not the gospel is the application of the gospel it is the fruits of the gospel the gospel is what Christ obtained for mankind 2,000 years ago so my dear people I closed this study with a concern that we understand the objective facts of the gospel the two dimension of salvation so that our faith is resting not in what God does in us to the Holy Spirit because nowhere in the bible does it ever say that the Holy Spirit is a co-redeemer we have only one Redeemer right and he has obtained for a Salvation full and complete and as long as our faith is resting in that finished work a Christian willing living will be correct so it is my prayer that you will know this truth the truth as it is in Jesus Christ and be set free you

during my 45 years of ministry in East Africa in the United States in Europe and other places I have discovered that most of our people most of God&amp;#39;s people are insecure about their salvation you ask them the question if you die today will you make it to heaven and they say I&amp;#39;m not sure I hope so I asked myself what&amp;#39;s the problem and I&amp;#39;ve come to the conclusion there are two main reasons why our people are insecure about their salvation the first one is that they have not come to grips with what the Bible has to say about a sin problem that is why in our last study we dealt with the universal sin problem the Bible definition of sin because it paints a very dark dismal picture of mankind the purpose of that is to destroy all confidence in self we need to realize our salvation is based entirely a hundred percent on the righteousness of Christ the second main reason why people are insecure about their salvation is that they have failed to see the distinction between the gospel itself and its application and so I would like in the second study of this series to turn to the two dimensions of salvation the purpose of this study is to show the distinction between the objective facts and the subjective experience of salvation or the gospel and these two terms the objective and subjective are theological terms and you may say what what do they mean well by the end of this study I hope you will clearly understand this distinction between these two now here is the Christian problem one of the main reasons why so many Christians have no assurance of salvation is because they have faith to see the distinction between the gospel and his experience to them it is the same that his Christian living is the gospel not true folks the gospel and Christian living are related but they are not the same thing this is the major problem that has robbed most believers of the joy and the peace of salvation as a result they have become poor witnesses of the incredible good news of the gospel so what we are going to study now is the two dimension of the salvation to remove this problem the Bible speaks of two dimensions of salvation that are related he had distinct on the one hand it speaks of salvation as an entirely or completion already accomplished and tally accomplished fact in the birth life death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ I would like to take you through a series of texts that bring this out there are many texts but this one will help us let&amp;#39;s turn to a very famous message John 3 most of you know verse 16 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth should not perish but look at verse 17 John chapter 3 verse 17 for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world even though that&amp;#39;s what we deserve but that the world through him might be saved that is why Jesus came to this world 2,000 years ago to be the savior of mankind then going to chapter 17 of the same book John 17 and verse 4 notice what Jesus says to his father as he approaches the end of his earthly mission John 17 verse 4 I have glorified you on the earth because the devil had perverted mist breath represented the father so now Christ is saying to the father I have clearly represented you and number two I have finished the work which you have given me to do what work did the father give him to do we saw in chapter 3 verse 17 to save the world and then on the cross chapter 19 of John as Jesus before he bowed his head and died he cried out in John 19 and verse 30 it is finished in other words salvation full and complete was finished on the cross you can add nothing towards it you cannot improve on it and that is the objective facts of the gospel so when you hear the word objective is referring to the birth life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ period these are the objective facts of the good news of the gospel you remember when Jesus was born in this world 2,000 years ago how was he introduced to those frightened Shepherds at Bethlehem on Christmas night don&amp;#39;t be afraid I bring you good news of great joy for all the people that&amp;#39;s what the objective facts of the gospel is all about but on the other hand scripture speaks of salvation as a subjective experience by those who have accepted Christ by faith as their personal Savior now if you look at John 3:16 both objective and subjective are there the first part is objective God so loved the world that is the entire human race that he gave his son to the entire human race the second part says but whosoever believeth that is the subjective who&amp;#39;s ever believeth shall not perish but have everlasting life I would like to read another statement regarding this subjective experience from John chapter 5 this is the words of Jesus Christ himself John chapter 5 and I&amp;#39;m reading verse 24 most assuredly I say to you if his I guarantee you Jesus says he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me now remember the father sent him to save us he who believes my word and in blue in Him who sent me has please notice has ever lasting life not will have he already has because that is in Christ and shall not come into judgment the Greek word is condemnation birth has passed from death into life have you got it based on the objective fact the moment you believe in Jesus Christ you have passed from death to life now to avoid confusion between the objective facts of salvation that is his birth life death and resurrection and in subjective experience what the Holy Spirit produces in us one must realize the distinction between the two dimensions of salvation and that is what we&amp;#39;re going to do otherwise the gospel becomes good advice rather than good news but the word gospel the Greek word even Gallio does not mean good advice it means good news and when it became when you make it good advice it robs believers of the peace and joy of salvation which is a major problem the devil has had tremendous success in doing this we need to get rid of that okay now let&amp;#39;s look at the distinction between the objective gospel that is the birth life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the subjective experience that is applied to believers who accept Christ there are made a distinction the first is the gospel is universal what do I mean by that well it includes the entire human race none are excluded and there are many many universal texts in the New Testament I&amp;#39;m going to read only two of them the first one in his first Timothy see what Paul wrote to this young intern 1st Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5 6 first Timothy chapter 2 listen to this for there is one God and one mediator that is a go-between one God one mediator between God that is between a holy God and men sinful man and that mediator is the man Christ Jesus and as we shall see in a further studies that Christ represents us before his father he is our high priest because he&amp;#39;s our also Savior verse 6 who that is Christ gave himself a ransom a payment for all have you got it for how many for all to be testified in due time and then Paul adds in verse 7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying why does he say that because you see folks the gospel sounds too good to be true so he has to emphasize the fact that what he&amp;#39;s presenting is true and that has to be accepted now we go to a little book called Titus it&amp;#39;s a little book just before Hebrews in fact it&amp;#39;s before Philemon and this little book Titus chapter 2 verse 11 makes this statement for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared have you got it Bastin has appeared to all men and the hip Greek is the all mankind so this is the objective facts of salvation it is universal none are excluded does that mean everybody will go to heaven the answer is no its experience is only applies to believers why because God has created us with a free will number one and number two he does not force this good news on anybody the gospel is God&amp;#39;s supreme gift to all mankind and like any gift it has to be accepted it has to be received so the gospel is good God&amp;#39;s supreme gift to mankind which has to be accepted John 3:16 is very clear whosoever believeth shall not perish but I would like to read two more statements in John 3 because people think that you are lost because you&amp;#39;re a sinner well I have news for you as we covered in our last study the first study of the series that we are sinners by nature and God is not blaming you for being a sinner for being born 1 so in verse 18 of John 3 jesus said he who believes in Him is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already now we are already born condemned thanks to Adam but now because of the gospel you are no longer condemned once you hear this good news because of Adam but because and I&amp;#39;m quoting Jesus because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God that is Jesus making that statement and then in verse 36 of the same chapter you have John the Baptist making this statement to the Jews he who believes in the son has I like the emphasis has everlasting life and he who does not believe the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides in him you remember in our last study the only sin that God cannot forgive is the sin of unbelief and unbelief is a verb it&amp;#39;s a deliberate action of the will it is the sin against grace not against the law it&amp;#39;s a sin against grace deliberate persistent ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ then in mark 16 verse 15 and 16 you have the Great Commission God said Jesus said to the disciples go into all the world and preach this gospel to every creature every human being that&amp;#39;s in verse 15 and then in verse 16 Jesus said that he who believes and is baptized will be saved but he who does not believe he rejects this good news will be condemned that is why Romans five verse 17 Paul wrote only those who received this gift of salvation this objective gospel will reign with Christ now number two the gospel is a finished work and I want to emphasize that the word finish is the finished work to which we can add absolutely nothing listen to what Paul wrote to the Jews verse chapter 9 10 and 11 of Romans is addressing the Jews of his day in chapter 10 and verse 3 and 4 for they that is the Jewish nation being ignorant of God&amp;#39;s righteousness and that&amp;#39;s Paul&amp;#39;s definition of the gospel for they being ignorant of God&amp;#39;s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness that is salvation by human effort keeping the law and the rules have not submitted to the righteousness of God here you have two different methods of salvation salvation by human effort is referred to in the Bible as the Old Covenant salvation by grace alone is the New Covenant for they being ignorant of God&amp;#39;s righteousness being ignorant of God&amp;#39;s salvation by grace alone these Jews were seeking to establish their own righteousness and therefore they have not submitted to the righteousness of God now what is the righteousness of God well look at verse 4 for Christ is the end and the death Greek word Telos means completion fulfillment so Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes you know folks every requirement of the law it&amp;#39;s positive demands obey and live and his justice disobey and died both were met in the holy history of Christ by his life and death Jesus fully satisfied the demands of the law on behalf of the human race that is why in Colossians 2:10 Paul said we who accept this gift are complete in him now what about the experience is the experience of salvation and finish work and the answer is no it&amp;#39;s an ongoing process believers are growing in Christ we begin as a babe in Christ and we begin to grow as we learn to walk in the spirit but our salvation not will not be fully realized until the second coming of Christ that is why Paul says in Romans 8:24 25 in fact from 22 onwards he says we are groaning we are waiting for the redemption of the body we have been redeemed but our body has not redeemed and in Philippians 3 Paul says in verse 20 our citizenship as Christians is in heaven where we look forward to the coming of Christ that he will change our lowly or our vile bodies and make unto his glorious body so you see the objective gospel is a finished work you can add improve on it but when it comes to the experience of salvation it is an on-going process some are babies in Christ some have become teenagers spiritually a few have reached adulthood and a very few have reach maturity but because of the finished work of the gospel we stand perfect in Christ we stand complete but our nature does not change one iota when you accept Christ it is as sinful as it was before conversion that is why Christian living is a struggle between flesh and spirit and that&amp;#39;s what Paul brings out in Galatians chapter 5 now number three the gospel is unconditional good news what does that mean people misunderstand that term they think that we go to heaven unconditionally no I didn&amp;#39;t say that what do I mean with the gospel is unconditional good news we are saved by grace alone in other words unmerited favor we have done nothing to deserve salvation in fact what we have done is the very opposite so we are saved by grace alone apart from law-keeping apart from any good works now is the Bible against these things no no we are talking about keeping the law or good works in terms of contributing towards their salvation that is not true yes Christian living keeps the law as a standard of living he does good works but please make sure that the gospel is entirely the work of God&amp;#39;s here are some texts look at Romans chapter 3 very clear statement and remember Paul is inspired God is speaking through him chapter 3 of Romans and verse 28 he&amp;#39;s discussed this gospel from verse 21 and verse 28 is the conclusion of chapter 3 of Romans therefore we conclude this is the conclusion of the objective facts of the gospel therefore we conclude that the man or a person is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law he&amp;#39;s Paul against the law no when we come to chapter in our chapter 13 of Romans we will discover that Paul upholds the law as a standard of Christian living but here he&amp;#39;s dealing with how are we saved and the answer is by grace alone they&amp;#39;re justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law then going to chapter 4 of the same book in verse 5 Paul makes this statement but to him who does not work have you got it who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly and that word ungodly in the original wicked his faith is accounted for righteousness this is tremendous good news and then in chapter 5 oh I liked you after 5:00 Paul says four things that you need to be clear on two of them are found in verse 6 chapter 5 of Romans were successful when we were still helpless without strength in due time appointed time Christ died for the ungodly so we were helpless we were wicked that&amp;#39;s what the word means ungodly and Christ died for us then in verse 7 he describes human love for scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die that&amp;#39;s human love limited conditional but now look at verse 8 it begins with but bends in complete contrast to verse 7 God demonstrates his own love towards us in that while we were still sinners have you got it we were still sinners Christ died for us and then Paul goes one step further in verse 10 for if when we were enemies that is God&amp;#39;s enemies it was most manuscript makes that statement for if when we were God&amp;#39;s enemies we were past it reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having being reconciled we shall be saved so folks the gospel is incredible good news there&amp;#39;s nothing you can add to it there&amp;#39;s nothing you can improve on it you can simply accept it with grateful hearts but does that mean I bring that question up again does that mean all men will go to heaven and the answer is no I read I want to remind you salvation the gospel is a gift his experience is conditional in all three phases what do I mean three phases well it when it comes to the experience of salvation there are three phases the first of course is justification by faith and Paul says in Romans five verse one being justified by faith the moment you accept Christ we have present continuous tense we have peace with God we may not have peace with the government we may not have peace with our neighbors that is all horizontal kind of peace and that&amp;#39;s up and down but vertically between you and God you have peace with God through justification by faith the moment you believe in Jesus Christ you have passed from death to life from condemnation to justification now number two requirement sanctification I wish we were automatic machines you know when we were missionaries in Africa we had to wash the dishes with the hands but you know because labor was so cheap we would employ somebody to do it them some job because unemployment is very high in Africa so if you give somebody a job and they did the washing they did the sweeping of the house and so on so when we came to the United States you could not employ somebody to do that that&amp;#39;s too expensive so the big question was who&amp;#39;s going to wash the dishes in the house there are four of us and we discovered that in America they have a wonderful machine called a dishwasher you dump all that stuff in that machine turn the knob press a button and it does all the work for you you know I wish sanctification was like that but I&amp;#39;m afraid it isn&amp;#39;t we have to learn to walk in the spirit Paul says in Galatians 5:16 walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh and he also says in Romans 13 verse 14 put on the Lord Jesus Christ that he&amp;#39;s abide in him and he and you and you will be able to conquer the flesh but all our lives from the time we were born we were walking in the spirit in the flesh and now we have to learn to walk in the spirit it&amp;#39;s an ongoing process and in that process we will fall many times but thank God in Jesus Christ we stand complete but there is a third requirement and that&amp;#39;s glorification glorification is the ultimate experience of salvation when Christ will come to take us to heaven for that ultimate salvation to be a reality our faith must endure to the end you know when Jesus was about to leave this earth he spoke to his disciples in Matthew 10 beginning in verse 17 and he said to them when I leave you you will be much trouble you will be persecuted you will be taken to court you will be flogged all kinds of problems you will face don&amp;#39;t give up your faith and then he adds in verse 22 he who endures to the end he whose faith remains solid to the end will be saved you have the same thing in Hebrews chapter 10 which I would like to read for you now Hebrews was written to the Jewish believers of the New Testament time they were being persecuted both from their Jews for turning their backs on Judaism and they were persecuted by the Romans a Gentile and the writer of Hebrews is concerned that their faith do not fail in fact he begins in chapter 10 verse 35 onwards let me just read verse 35 then we&amp;#39;ll go down to 38 and 39 Hebrews 10 verse 35 therefore do not cast away your confidence your confidence in whom not in yourself but in Christ which has great reward that is eternal life and heaven and new earth so do not cast away your confidence in Christ which has great reward for you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God which is to believe in Jesus Christ John brings that out in first John chapter 3 you may receive their promise now let&amp;#39;s go down to verse 38 now the just shall live by faith or better translation is he that is just by faith shall live bird is a bird if anyone draws back if anyone turns his back on Christ by unbelief my soul has no pleasure in him you know my dear people nowhere in Scripture does it ever teach that once you&amp;#39;re saved you can never be lost once saved always saved is a heresy but as long as you&amp;#39;re a believer as long as you your faith in Christ is not given up you can be sure your salvation is guaranteed that is why I like verse 39 but we are not of those who draw back to perdition have you got it we are not of those who draw back to perdition but of those who believe to the saving of the soul so my dear people the most valuable thing you possess in this world is not your stocks is not your houses it&amp;#39;s not your bank account because all that will go as we approach the end your most valuable thing you possess is your faith in Jesus Christ don&amp;#39;t you ever allow anything to deprive you of that faith the devil will do his best he&amp;#39;ll make life difficult for you but remember as long as you&amp;#39;re a believer Christ is on your side he will defend you and vindicate you in the judgment now let&amp;#39;s go to number four distinction the gospel is meritorious now that&amp;#39;s a big theological term what does it mean it comes from the word merit well this is what it means this is what it could this is what qualifies believers for heaven now and in the final judgment we read John 5:24 the moment you believe you have passed from death to life in Romans 8 verse 1 in the context of the struggle of us Christian that he explained in chapter 7 he says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ it&amp;#39;s part of your struggle there is no condemnation why because then law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus has passed dead set us free from the law of sin and death and that&amp;#39;s in verse 2 now in 1st John there is something you need to know that we will study in a later study the judgment but the judgment especially the investigative judgment has produced much fear in the lives of God&amp;#39;s people and one reason for that is they have not understood the unconditional self everything love of God that is why we in this series we&amp;#39;re going to spend two studies on the love of God now in view of this let&amp;#39;s look at what first John chapter 4 says I&amp;#39;ll first read verse 9 and there is none the screen but I read verse 9 and 10 and then he will come down to verse 16 to 18 first John chapter 4 verse 9 in this the love of God was manifested Postell toward earth that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him that&amp;#39;s the objective facts of the gospel the birth life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and verse 10 in this is love not that we loved God please notice we are not saved because we love God but that he loved us he took the initiative and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins that word propitiation confusing to some people the Greek word is hella stereo it is the same word that was used for the covering the mercy seat over the Ark of the Covenant in the most holy place of the sanctuary message God gave the Jews in the ark itself were the Ten Commandment the tables of ten come on which condemns us the mercy seat the covering covered that condemnation and that is the word propitiation or expiation some Bible put it now with this in mind let&amp;#39;s go down to verse 16 17 and 18 and we have known and that is what we need to know that&amp;#39;s why I&amp;#39;m going to spend two studies on the love of God in this series now we have known what do we know and believe so please do things we have to know and believe because the love of God is to go to be true it sounds completely contradicting human love and we&amp;#39;ll see that in a future studies and we have known and believed the love that God has for us and that what is agape unconditional self-emptying love of God we believe the love of God for us God is love please notice John does not say one of God&amp;#39;s attributes is love God is love period everything about God&amp;#39;s behavior his judgments his dealings with the human race he&amp;#39;s dealing with you with the universe he&amp;#39;s always founded on his love sometimes he doesn&amp;#39;t seem so especially when you read the Old Testament but the fact is God is love and he who abides in love that is the moment you abide in God&amp;#39;s love abides in God and God in him now look at verse 17 love has been perfected among us that is our understanding of love has been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness I like that we may have boldness in the day of judgment how many of you have boldness in the day of judgment why should we have boldness here is the reason because as he is the he is Jesus Christ our Savior because as he is so are we in this world in other words when you accept Christ God no longer looks at you as you are in yourself a sinner he looks at you as you are in his son holy and blameless you know in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 we read these words God chose us in Christ to be holy and without blame that is how God looks at you the moment you accept Christ verse 18 there is no fear I&amp;#39;m not reading first John 4:18 there is no fear in love so you&amp;#39;ve really understood the love of God the fear of the judgment goes but perfect love that is the perfect love of God which we know and believe cast out fear because fear involves torment are you afraid of the judgment are you afraid of the punishment that judgment brings to sinners no because the love of God has set you free but he who fears if you&amp;#39;re still afraid about the judgment has not been made perfect in love that is why we need to spend two studies on this wonderful truth now what is the subjective experience all about you know if I&amp;#39;m already saved if I&amp;#39;m understand perfectly in Christ if I&amp;#39;m already justified in him and have peace does this mean that I can live as I please and folks the bible does not teach cheap grace cheap grace is living as you please because you are saved in Christ there are some Christians who fall for this let me give an example I was in I was working as a missionary in Uganda and since my parents come from India one of these new gamers came up to me he thought he was a Hindu I was a Hindu and he said to me he asked me a question are you saved and I said saved from what and he said are you saved from sin and I said can you be more specific are you talking of the guilt punishment of sin are you talking of the power in slavery to sin ye talking about the nation present of sin which one and he looked at me he said you sound like a fast and I said yes I am a pastor you see when the Bible talks of salvation as an experience it uses all three verb tenses the moment you accept Christ and you have passed from death to life you can say I am saved but only from the guilt and punishment of sin but now in the process of sanctification you have to say I&amp;#39;m being saved daily as I learn to walk in the spirit that is the present continuous tense but that doesn&amp;#39;t change your nature and one day when Christ comes and you are glorified then you can say I am fully saved but until then you can say I will be saved so you are saved already from the guilt and punishment of sin you are being saved daily from the power and slavery to sin and you will be saved when Christ comes from the nature and presence of sin so I said to this young man if you are saved because that&amp;#39;s what he claimed to me how come I smelled Palm Bay which is the so Haley word for this banana beer the smell to the high heaven and he said pastor we are saved by grace not by what we do not technically he was correct but he was misusing the truth so I said can you please explain to me what do you mean saved by grace and he said to me Christ did it all instead of me I said really can you please explain that to me you mean to say he lived a perfect life instead of you and he said yes sir and then what about his death did he die on the cross instead of you and he said to me you&amp;#39;ve got it now and I said no no no I&amp;#39;m going to take your theology to its ultimate conclusion and he said what&amp;#39;s that I said he actually went to heaven instead of you and he said no no no I&amp;#39;m going to heaven I said brother if you&amp;#39;re going to heaven then you have to understand that his life and his death you were involved he were implicated because before God could save you God put the human race into Christ God United the divinity of Christ without corporate humanity and Jesus became the god man disqualified came to be our Savior so when he lived a perfect life you were in him when he died on the cross you died in him if you don&amp;#39;t believe me read your Bibles 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 14 when one died all died therefore I want you to look at your text here the New Testament Pocket Edition in his pocket I made him pull it out and I made him read I could give many texts but I gave him a statement that Paul made to Timothy a young man like him 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 11 listen to what Paul wrote here 2nd Timothy chapter 2 was devil this is a faithful saying a true saying a trustworthy saying for if we died with him we shall also live with him do you notice we have to die with Christ first before we can live with him you see in this world you are born with a life a life that stands condemned to death because of Adam&amp;#39;s sin plus yours but in the gospel it is reversed you have to say goodbye to the life that you were born with because he died on the cross in exchange God will give you his life through the holy spirit new birth so my dear people what is Christian living all about it is demonstrative what do I mean by that well Christian living this is what witnesses or gives evidence to others of our salvation to unbelievers Jesus said in John 13:34 and 35 by this all men will know you are my disciples if you love one another in the same way that I have loved you that is why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount Matthew chapter 5 he said you&amp;#39;ve been taught in verse 43 love your neighbor hate your enemies but I say to you love your enemies do go to those that hate you pray for those who despitefully use you that you may reflect the love of your father that is demonstrated you know if Christians will love each other they would give evidence to the world there would have been no genocide in Rwanda where Christians killed Christians and so on now Ephesians 2:10 says we are God&amp;#39;s workmanship in Christ for good works not for our benefit but for the others and then in Titus 3:8 Paul makes that clear that Paul says to Titus it is a faithful thing you must constantly remind the Christian that they must be always concerned about doing good works not for the Peace of their salvation but for others that others may see let me give you two statements one by a very famous atheistic philosopher but he was the son of a Lutheran pastor his name wasn&amp;#39;t Michi this is what he said to Christian if you expect me to believe in your Redeemer you will have to look a lot more redeemed and then this statement made by Mahatma Gandhi a great Indian famous man when he was working in South Africa as a lawyer he made this statement with the Dutch Reformed Church which was condoning apartheid which is a contradiction of the gospel he said when you Christians live the life of your master all India will bow down to Christianity do you know why Christianity has been given such a bad name in the Middle East in the Arab world in the Muslim world because they see the TV programme they really in the Newsweek that signed all the terrible things that are taking place in Christian countries see we are not afraid to expose our problems but to them what we are doing is a contradiction to what we claim to be a Christian country so remember that the experience of salvation is demonstrated he does not contribute towards that salvation but it demonstrates it reveals it witnesses the power of the gospel in our lives the gospel is not only saving us from death to life or from condemnation to justification the gospel also saves us from a life of selfishness to a life of love self-emptying love and that is why the gospel is important now let&amp;#39;s look in closing the relationship between the two dimensions salvation the objective facts the birth life death and resurrection of Christ which saves us and the subjective experience that is experienced by those who accept Christ as their Savior all true Christian experience and this is something you need to know it is a must all true Christian experienced on the objective facts of the gospel I remember the objective facts is the birth life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ period you can add to that let me redo this very important statement Paul made to the Corinthian 1st Corinthians chapter 3 listen to what Paul wrote here it is something we must keep in mind chapter 3 of 1st Corinthians and we&amp;#39;ll start with verse 11 and read right up to verse 13 for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ you see foundations are very important for example when there was this great earthquake in New Mexico in May in Mexico in New Mexico many of the buildings collapse because their foundation was weak the same similar kind of earthquake like New Mexico experienced if it took place in California most of the building would stay upright why because California has very stringent laws on their foundations because it&amp;#39;s prone to earthquakes Christ is the foundation of every Christian experience so Paul says in verse 11 of 1st Corinthians 3 for no other foundation anyone lay then that which is lady it&amp;#39;s already been lain the birth life death and resurrection of Christ it&amp;#39;s a past history which is Jesus Christ now in verse 12 using building material as metaphors of Christian living in as metaphors of Christian beliefs now if anyone built on this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay or straw this is building materials of his day each one&amp;#39;s work verse 13 will become clear for the day will be carried what day the day of persecution the day of judgment so on because it will be revealed by fire by persecution and that fire will test each one&amp;#39;s work or what sort it is you know when we are under persecution your faith is tested but if your faith is resting on the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ it will be able to stand if it is if your faith is resting on your feelings which goes up and down and is changeable you will not be able to make it so number one we must be clear everything we experience everything we believe as Christians must be based on the objective facts of a Lord Jesus Christ his birth life death and resurrection number two if our knowledge of this gospel facts is incomplete and that&amp;#39;s the problem with many Christian so will be our experience because my experience is related to our knowledge understanding of the gospel and number two if any if our knowledge of the gospel facts is incorrect and that&amp;#39;s another problem many Christian so will be experienced many Christians confuse Christian living with the gospel no no Christian living is not the gospel is the application of the gospel it is the fruits of the gospel the gospel is what Christ obtained for mankind 2,000 years ago so my dear people I closed this study with a concern that we understand the objective facts of the gospel the two dimension of salvation so that our faith is resting not in what God does in us to the Holy Spirit because nowhere in the bible does it ever say that the Holy Spirit is a co-redeemer we have only one Redeemer right and he has obtained for a Salvation full and complete and as long as our faith is resting in that finished work a Christian willing living will be correct so it is my prayer that you will know this truth the truth as it is in Jesus Christ and be set free you

Transcript for:Understanding Salvation: Objective and Subjective Dimensions

Transcript for:
Understanding Salvation: Objective and Subjective Dimensions