The Specialties of Saved People
BY JOSEPH BROWN
Mary was espoused to Joseph, but before they were officially married, she was found to be with child. Joseph, being a just man, thought of putting her away privately. Then an angel came and told him in a dream not to do so, for that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit. The angel continued in verse 21:Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name"For he shall save his people from their sins." The people that Jesus came to save is the subject of what I want to talk to you about. Specifically, what are they saved from? And how do they differ from the unsaved?
JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.What are we saved from?
One day, while I was in my hometown Philadelphia doing some evangelistic work, I asked a man, "Are you saved?" He looked at me squarely in the eye and asked, "Saved from what?" I'll never forget that look because he really didn't know what I was talking about. So, I opened the Bible and showed him Matthew 1:21 and told him, "The answer to your question is sin. Are you saved from your sins?"There are three ways to look at one being saved from one's sins, and every believer should nail this truth down in his soul. If you get this right, you'll never be in a cult. You won't know everything in theology, but you'll at least be deeply grounded in the truth relating to your salvation.
Sin's penalty. When we say we are saved, we could be referring to our having been saved from sin's penalty. Christ paid the sin debt. That's once for all. That's not questionable; it's not repeatable. When we place our faith in Christ as our Savior, we know immediately we have been delivered from the penalty of all our sins.
Because we have been saved from sin's penalty, we need not ever worry about our being condemned to hell. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).
Sometimes, people forget that they've been saved and so they keep coming down the aisle asking Jesus to be their Savior. They keep coming down because they have done something wrong or because they have some weakness and they want to be saved again from being punished in hell. But that has nothing to do with sin's penalty. For the true believer, the penalty of all sins was paid 2000 years ago.
Sin's power. The problem with these people has to do with sin's
power. When we ask someone "Are you saved?", we could also be asking, "Are you being saved from sin's power?" You see, trusting in the Lord Jesus is just the first phase of our salvation. That's when the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and when the second phase of salvation from sin begins. The second phase is the sanctifying, progressive ministry of the Holy Spirit.The penalty is past tense, but we are being saved from the power of sin every day of our life. We are being saved every day from somethingfrom pride, from greed, from selfishness, from sexual immorality, from the power of alcohol and drugs, from ignorant people, from worldly philosophy and the list goes on and on.
If you are saved, you don't need to be saved again. You may have a problem with the power of sin and you need the indwelling Holy Spirit to give you victory, but you don't have a problem with the penalty of sin.
Sin's presence. The third phase of being saved from sin comes when we drop off this body. When we die or when we are raptured, we will be with Christ in heaven, and we'll be saved from sin's presence.
In heaven, there'll be no sin around us, and no sin in us. We'll be saved from the very presence of sin.
How are we different?
But specifically, how do saved people differ from the unsaved of the world?Faith in Christ. First of all, all saved people have received Christ as their personal Savior. We read in John 1:12,13: "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
That which puts us into the family of God is our having received Christ. It emphasizes here that we become sons of God not through our mother's womb, nor by the will of any human being. Rather, we enter into the family of God by means of a new birth. This new birth comes to all saved people the same waythrough faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are given that faith when we are baptized by the Holy Spirit.
You know, there are some folks who say, "I'm saved, but I am looking for the Holy Spirit's baptism." They don't know what salvation is all about. There is no such thing as an unbaptized believer. All of us were baptized by the Holy Spirit at the moment we were born again. "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." It isn't water baptism, it isn't tongue-talking, it isn't falling sideways, forward or backward. It's the Spirit of God baptizing us into the family of God.
Inseparable from Christ. Second, all saved people have the seal of the Holy Spirit. Not only were we born of the Spirit, we have since been indwelt by Him. We read in Ephesians 1:13,14, "ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest (or deposit) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." We have been given the Holy Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing that we will inherit the new earth in heaven.
Saved people are preserved from ever being separated from Christ also by the new covenant"Behold, I will make a new covenant with you," and "This is the covenant in my blood."
When God saw the blood over the Israelites' doorposts in Egypt, He passed over them the night He killed all the other firstborn. On Judgment Day, when He sees the blood of His Son on our hearts, He will pass over us as He casts the unsaved into hell.
Meanwhile, we have Jesus' promise that "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out"; and "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
I used to think that I could lose my salvation. I didn't know that once saved, I am always saved. That's because I didn't read the Bible and didn't know any doctrine. It took somebody sitting me down and showing me truths from the scripture for me to realize that I cannot lose my salvation. That's why the devil hates doctrines. And that's why we must spend time to study the Bible.
Chastened by Christ. Third, saved people are not only preserved by the Lord, they are also chastened by the Lord. I'm afraid of the Lord. I'm not afraid of being sent to hell, but I'm afraid of that strap. My father had a three-inch wide razor strap. I used to just look at it hanging there in the bathroom and would get scared.
I know that the God of the Bible will whip me if I get out of line because I am His child. You don't go around whipping somebody else's child. But you will strap your own. So, when you see people in the church living like the devil and everything is going right with them, you can say what you want to but they are just church members, not true believers.
God chastens every one of His. It's good that when you do wrong and your conscience bothers you. It's good that when you do wrong and God brings something down on you. He's chastening you because you are His child.
Changed by Christ. Fourth, all saved people have experienced a significant change in their behavior, their desires and their thinking. I'm not talking about any emotional experience. But somehow, you'll notice that you are becoming a new person. God has begun to do a work in you so that you start to live a new life.
God says in Ezekiel 36:26,27: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."
I can't put my hand on the day or the hour, but there was a point in my life during the Second World War when a great change took place in my life. It was so drastic that people said, "Oh, Brown done gone crazy. All he do is read and talk to us about the Bible all the time. He don't shoot no dice with us no more on payday."
Something happened to me, and I haven't gotten over it yet. And I tell you, everybody that has been saved has been changed. If there is no change, you are just coming to church and make mock in time. You haven't really gotten serious with Christ.
Obedient to Christ. Finally, saved people are people who seek to obey and glorify God. They have a sincere desire to have a lifestyle of obedience. Hebrews 5:9 says this of Christ: "And being made perfect (or complete), he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." Jesus brings salvation to all those who obey him.
Now, don't you get confused here. I've heard all my life: "Be good and go to church and you'll go to heaven. Play crap games on the street
and take a look in the honky-tonk and you'll go to hell." That's the biggest lie ever was told. You don't do good to get to heaven. You do good because heaven has gotten you.Why do saved people seek to obey Christ? Because they love Christ. The Bible says in I John 4:19, "We love him, because he first loved us." Realizing that Christ loved us when we were sinners, rebellious enemies, perhaps even haters of God, saved people love Him in return. In fact, saved people are in love with Christ. When you are in love with someone, you do things to please him not because you have to, but because you want to.
Saved people are constrained by their love for Christ to live for Him. There's something on the inside that's pulling you to the right when you were going wrong to the left. Saved people experience a sincere eagerness to serve and glorify Christ. Isn't that what the Psalmist says? "Order my steps in thy word" (119:133). Just let me know from your word what you want me to do, Lord, and I'll do it.
Big question. Jesus says, "Not everyone that says 'Lord, Lord' loves me and does the will of my Father." The question is: Do you have a lifestyle of eagerly seeking to obey Christ? That's a heavy question. If not, you ought to begin to do so while you have a chance. You know, you could be gone and didn't have a chance. So, don't procrastinate. Make your calling and election sure today. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the One who came to save you from your sins.
Yes, I know I've been saved from sin's penalty; I'm being saved from sin's power; and one day, when I am in heaven, I'll be saved even from the presence of sin. Are you saved? Or are you just a church member? Saved people believe in Christ and are secure in Him. Saved people know that they'll be whipped by God if they get out of the will of God. Saved people seek to obey Christ and have a new lifestyle that glorifies Christ. And saved people look for Christ to gather them to heaven, where there's not even a trace of sin. o
Rev. Joseph Brown is the Speaker and Director of the Grace Memorial Hour, P.O. Box 2575, Baltimore, MD 21215