What Does It Mean to Be Saved? - Louie Giglio

3:15 discharge all the duties of your ministry. The goal for us is sound doctrine. And to understand what we're talking about. And today we're looking at the doctrine of salvation. And that's why we're calling this collection Jesus Saves. We took our graphic from Big Bethel AME Church. Does anybody know about it? This is an Atlanta landmark. If you didn't know, when you're going downtown on the connector, if you're going southbound, look to the right. If you're coming northbound, look to the left, and you'll see Jesus saves right in the heart of downtown Atlanta. And that's where we're kicking off today to talk about the doctrine of salvation. More specifically, and you're going to want to take some photos along the way because a bunch of information is coming really fast. Going to have a great heart in it, but head and heart today as we talk about soteriology. I just thought I would pull one back out from the old seminary days. Soteriology, let's just say it together. Soteriology. What is that? Ology, we know, is in theology, is the study of something, and sotere here is salvation. So soteriology is the official word, if you're in seminary, for the study of salvation. So welcome to grad school, everyone. You're getting a little extra today. It is theology dealing with salvation, especially as affected by Jesus Christ. That's according to Merriam-Webster. That's what soteriology is. And I want us to be excited about the doctrine of salvation. Now, I know today that I'm speaking to people who primarily would say that they're saved. But I'm also remembering where we were at State Farm Arena as church when we were kicking off the new year, talking about JP, Jonathan Picluda at Passion in State Farm Arena with 17,000 people who came to a Jesus event to sing

5:22 songs of praise to Jesus with Bibles in their laps to learn about Jesus who came with friends from their church or their campus ministry. And he asked with eyes closed so people could be honest on a scale of one to ten, how certain are you that if you died today, you would go to heaven? I'd like to see hands from two to five. And in privacy, people not too concerned about what their neighbor was going to say, hundreds of hands went up across the arena. six to seven, hundreds of hands, eight or nine, hundreds of hands, thousands of people at a Jesus event,

6:09 very few confident tens. I know that I know that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt if my life ended today, I would be in eternity with God. And so even though we're in a gathering where I think most people would say that they're saved, we need to dig into the doctrine of salvation. Because people say all the time, in fact, some people said to me this week, I've always been a Christian. Tell me about your journey with the Lord. I've always been a Christian. You hear other people when you're asking, they say, well, I prayed a prayer and invited Jesus into my heart. Or maybe other people have passions in each church. At the end of one of those gatherings, I raised my hand when they said, does anybody want to put their faith in Jesus? And I raised my hand that day. Or I know I'm saved because I prayed the prayer. And I just want to say as a friend today, that's not good enough.

7:11 I want to say as your friend today, that's not good enough. that's like saying I had this incredible pain in my chest and that's the last thing I remember. But you know what? It was pretty crazy. Nine months later, I was back at work feeling really actually better than I ever had.

7:33 I'm sorry. But what happened? I don't know. versus saying, you know what I learned? I had a massive, rare blockage in my widowmaker artery. And my artery had a defect from birth that no one knew about. And they rushed me to the hospital. Fortunately, the best heart hospital in my city was only five minutes from where I was. and crazily they were having a symposium at that hospital of leading heart surgeons from around the world there were 57 surgeons there for a consortium and that morning a doctor from India had made a presentation on the particular concern that I was having in my artery and when they got me on the table my cardiologist the person who treated me told me later I had a 6% chance of living. And he said, if you'd gotten on this table two minutes later, you would have died, even here with the best care in the world. But as soon as we diagnosed what was wrong with you, I remembered at 9.30 this morning, that doctor from India had just made a presentation on this particular thing, which I've only seen once or twice in my lifetime. He was still in the building. We got him here in seven minutes and made a legal document signature valid so that he could perform on you the procedure that he is best at in the world. And they ripped your chest open, cranked open your sternum, and did quadruple bypass on your heart because all of your arteries had damage and blockage, but it was that one artery that had that specific concern.

9:26 and fortunately three days later you had a blood clot go to your lungs and you blacked out and you suffered brain damage as a result of it while your heart was getting better your motor skills and your vision were affected but thank god right down the street there's the best recovery center and rehabilitation center in the world with brand new technologies including this crazy VR thing that you wear several days after one of these events, and it was able to tell your brain that it could do things that it actually couldn't do, but it kept thinking it was doing them so that by the time they finally got the procedure done to take the blockage out and to get you back into motion, you could get into a rehab protocol that here you are nine months later actually feeling better than you did before going through a grueling process you can walk and with a corrective lens that was inserted in your eye you can actually see and regain the vision that you lost from the damage that happened in that moment and you're back at work today Okay.

10:40 That's a testimony. And so I'm just putting it as an opener today. If your whole understanding of salvation is that you prayed a prayer. then you don't have a testimony. I was at camp and I invited Jesus into my heart. That's not a testimony. And so that's why Scripture unpacks for us soteriology, the whole doctrine of what it means to be saved. And I want us to dive into that today. We say in our core class here, salvation is the redemption plan of God received. In other words, he has this plan that he's been working on through the ages, but it's us coming to understand that plan and then to personally receive it into our story and into our lives.

11:44 And I want to break that down a little bit today, particularly in Ephesians 2, verse 1. But we're going to see all these ideas today. And I know you're going to get fired up about seeing where we're going today, but we're talking about depravity today. Can you say that with me? Depravity. What does that mean? And so this is where you might want to take a quick snapshot. It just simply means all are sinners. It means more than that. There's deeper underpinnings than that. But it means that left to ourselves, it is impossible for us to do anything but fall short of the glory of God. We're going to talk about wrath today. Wrath is the judgment of a holy God against all sin. we're going to talk about love today because God is God of love amen and God has mercy on his people we're going to talk about atonement it's not a word you use every day but atonement is just simply the idea that Jesus dies as a payment for all sin we're going to talk about forgiveness amen because we all need that what is forgiveness It's that moment when our debt is canceled by the sacrifice of Jesus.

13:00 We're going to talk about justification because this is where salvation gets really ridiculous and amazing. And justification means that Christ's righteousness is transferred to us. And then next week, we're going to really focus in on sanctification because getting saved is a process. Yes, you do get born again, but then you grow up. learn how to play little league baseball, learn how to drive, take responsibility, make good decisions, become a contributor to the common good of the world. Why? Because I was born and that's what people that are born do. So we're going to see that salvation is a process that transforms our lives. Now, where'd all these words come from? Louie, this is one of the things I don't like about religion is it has all these words in it. Depravity and wrath and atonement and forgiveness and justification, sanctification. Where did all those words come from? They came right out of scripture. They didn't come from a denominational meeting.

14:05 They didn't come from a seminary class. They didn't come from a theology book. They came right out of the word of God. And we'll see them today. I want us to look into a text that's been a bellwether text for us at Passion City, but it's going to help us see a lot of what we're talking about today. This is Ephesians chapter two, beginning in verse one, and this is Paul really explaining the doctrine of salvation. How do you get saved and what does it mean to be saved? He said, as for you, now he's talking to people who are saved. As for you, you were dead. So before you got saved, and we'll see that word a little bit later, you were dead. Now, we've said this a thousand times. We will say it a thousand more times. Before you get saved, you're not bad.

14:58 Before you get saved, you are dead. So we're throwing out the window right off the bat the conversation of, well, I think I'm a pretty good person. Doesn't matter. Not pertinent. Well, I'm doing my best. Doesn't matter. Before we are saved, we're not bad people. We're dead people. Spiritually dead. And we'll see that a little bit later in the talk. Before, you were dead. Why were you dead? Because you were in, is the key word there, you were in your transgressions and sins. So in sin, you were dead. In which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom, the heir. The spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient. All of us.

15:50 Now this is where we're getting the idea of depravity. All of us. Can we say that? All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. So this is where we get this idea of depravity and wrath. We all were in sin. We all were dead. We all walk that way. This is what scripture teaches us. Isaiah 53, 6, we all like sheep have gone astray. Now, if there's anybody in this gathering who's never gone astray, praise God for you. You are running contradictory to the word of God, but it's a great testimony you got going right now.

16:49 Each of us has turned to his own way. See, this is the heart of depravity. It's not that you killed your neighbor. It's not that you embezzled a bunch of money from your company. It's that you turned your own way. You were created by God for God, but at some point you went, I'm not going your way. I'm going my way. And all of us have done that. But we see the gospel coming here in Isaiah 53, 6. and the Lord laid on him, talking about the coming Messiah, the iniquity of us all. Romans 3.10, there is none righteous, not even one. Why? Because righteous means the standard of God. And nobody has met the standard of God. Nobody has been holy, and nobody has been perfect, and nobody can be holy, and nobody can be perfect.

17:46 And then Romans 3.23, a verse that a lot of us have grown up around, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And what's the result of that? It's right down here at the end of this first paragraph. And like the rest, we were by nature deserving. The translation I grew up with said objects of wrath. In other words, God's, remember what wrath is. We're just going to go back and forth. Wrath is the judgment of a holy God against all sin. This is the ultimate collision of holiness and sinfulness. It is not a God who is angry at you and saying, I'm going to really smash you into the ground.

18:40 It is a God who is holy, who's coming against all sin. Yours, mine, and everybody else's on this planet. And if you want to just picture it with me for a moment, it would be like setting a teacup on this table and dropping a bowling ball from the top of the ceiling.

19:01 And we are experiencing the wrath of God now because the earth is broken because of sin. But we read in Revelation about a coming wrath of God that is going to absolutely banish all evil. And imagine that teacup getting released. I mean, that bowling ball getting released and hitting that teacup. Imagine if the bowling ball was the size of the sun.

19:30 That's what's coming. And right now, without salvation, that you can. The bowling ball is over your head. We are. were by nature deserving of wrath.

19:56 This is what depravity and judgment bring. And that's a problem because the teacup's dead. the teacup can't go, just a little teacup. I don't even know how this song goes. And I better do something because the bowling ball's coming down. I think I'm going to scooch around on the saucer until I can finally get off the side because I see the bowling ball coming and I'm going to be a really good teacup. The teacup's dead.

20:33 And the bowling ball's coming. that's why it's important to understand the doctrine of salvation verse 4 goes on to say but maybe the best word in the whole Bible right there. Because I got a life that's dead and I have a holy God who's going to banish all sin. but I don't know what's coming after the but but thank God you didn't say amen but because of his great love for us God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in sin. It is by grace you have been saved.

21:35 so the operative agent in salvation is the love of God who is rich in mercy the operative agent in salvation is the love of God who is rich in mercy the operative agent in salvation is not the effort of man who is rich in works. It is the love of God who is rich in mercy. Jesus said in the most famous verse in the Bible and the two verses after it, who need to become the second and third most famous verses in the Bible, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believed in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

22:31 That's the verse everyone knows. We all need to learn this verse. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. God did not invite you to church today to condemn you. he invited you to church today to tell you that he loves you well why why didn't he invite us to condemn us next verse should become also a verse that we know whoever believes in him jesus the one talking his son that he sent into the world is not condemned but whoever does not believe in him check this out stands condemned already because he's not believed in the name of God's one and only son. God didn't invite you to church today to condemn you because he already knows you're a teacup sitting under a bowling ball.

23:34 he invited you to church today to tell you that he loves you and he's got mercy toward you even though you went your own way. That's why when you look at salvation, although it starts off with bad news, depravity, and wrath, it turns pretty quickly to amazing news, which is a loving God who has mercy on his people. But then we see atonement in the story. It says that he made us alive. I just want you to focus on that. He didn't make us good when we were bad. He made us alive when we were dead. And how did he make us alive? You're looking right at it, but I want you to look closely and tell me, how did he make us alive? How do we get alive right here?

24:27 It's underlined in blue. With Christ is how we got alive. So in the working of Jesus, in the life, death, and burial of Jesus is how we got alive. And this is where we see atonement and forgiveness. And so let's just pause there and excavate a little bit around this idea. In the Old Testament, there was a sacrificial system. Most of us know this. It was pointing to or foreshadowing the salvation plan of God in Christ Jesus. And so all through the Old Testament, God already was showing people that he was holy and they were not. and that there had to be some intermediary process to allow them to continue to live as his people. And this was the sacrificial system, the temple, the altar, the sacrifice, the blood, an animal slain.

25:26 This was God's way of saying something better is coming, but for now, I'm still holy and you're not. And for now, only one person can go in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and all the rest of you can't Because I am a righteous God. And no works that you do will atone. On the day of atonement, a goat was killed. Its blood was taken into the Holy of Holies by the high priest. And sprinkled on the mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant. As a covering for the sins of the people for that year. Pointing to Jesus who is going to finish this work. But another goat was taken by the priest, and the priest would lay hands on that goat on its head in a sign of transferring the sins of the people onto the goat.

26:24 The goat was called the scapegoat. Oh, that's a phrase I've heard before. I wonder where that came from. Leviticus 16. and the scapegoat now symbolically taking on the sins of the people the blood of the animal on the mercy seat for forgiveness but now the sins put on the head of the scapegoat who is sent out into the wilderness that's what scapegoat means by the way it means wilderness and now the scapegoat is into the wilderness to say the sins are now leaving the camp, leaving the people, leaving the city. So with blood sprinkled on the mercy seat, we can live with God another year. This was the system of atonement, a blood covering, and then sins transferred and out of the camp. And these were pictures that were pointing to Jesus. But even Hebrews 10, 4, where you can get the unpacking of how Jesus is the new covenant and is the atonement, it says in Hebrews 10, 4, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. So even though it was a system that God put in place, God knew even then. The bulls and the goats, they can't take away the sin.

27:52 This is just a year-by-year system that is getting us to the moment where Messiah comes, and he is the one-time final sacrifice for all sin. And we see that fully in 2 Corinthians 5.21, where atonement has happened and forgiveness is possible. God, think about those two goats, made him who knew no sin, Jesus. him who knew no sin to be sin for us. The blood of Jesus shed on the mercy seat of God, a covering for all time for all sin, but also all the sins of the people transferred onto the innocent life of Jesus as he's now sent out into the wilderness.

28:48 God did that. He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him, in Jesus, hello, we might become the righteousness of God. Salvation is not about going to heaven when you die. It is about going from guilty to righteous in Christ. from death to life in Christ made us alive with Christ means I was joined with him by baptism into his death and I was raised with him into brand new life it means my record was guilty but his record was innocent then his record became guilty and my record became innocent And more than that, I now in Christ am righteous in him.

29:47 That's what it means to be justified. Justified means Christ's righteousness is transferred to us. Praise God. So atonement brings justification. I remember growing up and I loved it. I said, you can remember it this way. It's just as if I never sinned.

30:18 Righteous in Christ. It's a whole other collection for another day. But the way you snuff out the enemy's lies that you've got to hang on to your shame and guilt is to understand that you are righteous in Christ. No, you're not living it out perfect yet, but it's who you are.

30:43 It's not your behavior fully right now, but it is your identity. And it is your standing with God. It's how you're going to get into his presence. We'll unpack that a little bit more next week. But we're made alive in Christ. The music's telling me that I'm wrapping up, but I'm not. Let's go on and keep reading. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved. There's our word, Jesus saves through faith. And this is not from yourselves.

31:40 Remember the teacup. It is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork. This is next week's talk. I'm so excited about it. This is that sanctification word created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. It is by grace you have been saved. That's why we're calling this collection Jesus Saves. every faith, every religion has somebody in it. And that somebody is most likely a moral teacher. a divine prophet, possibly a culture shifter, culture thinker, potentially a miracle worker, someone who points to the way every religion.

32:50 You're going to find some central character who is known as or claims to be a moral teacher, divine prophet, a culture thinker. Maybe that movement has somebody who does miracles. I know mine does, Jesus. Someone who points to the way. Jesus was all those things. He was a moral teacher. He was a divine prophet. He shifted culture more than anybody. He was a miracle worker, and he was someone that pointed the way. And that's, a lot of religions have that. but there is one thing about Jesus that you will not find in any other religious system on earth and that is that he claimed to be a save your and no other story has a Savior in it but our story. That's what the angel said when they showed up on day one.

33:52 They said, today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. If you're a teacup under a bowling ball, that's what you want the angel to say. Now, today in the city of David, the greatest moral teacher alive has showed up. Not going to help you if you're dead.

34:14 We see in the Old Testament, in Isaiah 43, the prophecy, Before me no God was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the Lord. And apart from me there is no, can you say it? Savior. I have revealed and saved and proclaimed. and I am not some foreign God among you. You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, that I am God. I love it. When you go to Titus 3, at one time we too were foolish. This is like the language that Paul was using to Timothy. Disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God, our Savior appeared. He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Yes, he's a moral teacher.

35:27 Yes, he's a divine prophet. Yes, he's a culture shifter. Yes, he's a miracle worker. Yes, he pointed to the way himself, but he was savior so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs, having the hope of eternal life. Acts 4, then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we're being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who is lame, and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Now this whole thing was about healing, but look what they're about to do. Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.

36:21 Salvation, you would think that would say healing. got a lame man walking nobody turns the corner to something greater than healing a lame man salvation praise God is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved And how does it happen? it happens by grace through faith. For it is by grace, that's God doing the work, that you have been saved through faith. That's you putting all of your trust in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus that allowed for righteous to be imputed to you.

37:23 and you said, I believe that with every fiber of my being, I receive it. I don't know if you've been tracking with Lulu strong or not. Lulu Gribben, does anybody know that name? Anybody know this story? This is Lulu.

37:50 She's in my feed because I follow Lulu Strong and have since last summer, June 7th and 30A, Lulu and her sister, I believe, and some other friends were swimming on Rosemary Beach and she was attacked by a shark. And ultimately you can see that it's a miracle that she lived.

38:20 This story was posted this week and it says in the caption, this weekend Lulu and her family were reunited with a very important hero from June 7th. And I'm just thinking all week long and last week I'm thinking about rescue, I'm thinking about salvation, I'm thinking about God stepping into our story because he loves us and has great mercy. Stephen Bean, who is a married father of three daughters from Baton Rouge. Stephen was swimming in the water near the girls that day when he noticed Lulu struggling. He saw fins and realized what was happening. He didn't think twice about swimming to her to help her. He pulled her from the shark's grip and carried her to shore. saving her life.

39:20 We truly believe Stephen was put there for a specific reason that day. it just so happens, and this is not an illustration, that there was a doctor right there in the water who had specific training, who knew exactly what arteries needed to be under pressure. Also in the water was another doctor nearby. Also in the water was a nurse who had had a dream that a shark attack was going to happen in the water. And in the dream, the Lord had given her specific steps of what to do. Take the jawstring out of a man's swimming trunks. Find five beach towels and make a big square on the beach and smooth the sand and other steps that she had seen in the dream.

40:20 And so as they're carrying Lulu out of the water, she's preparing the place that she's seen in the dream. and the doctors instantly are treating her in ways that they specifically know how to do so that she can be ultimately airlifted to a place that can save her life. And what was Lulu gonna do?

40:45 15 years old, an arm's gone, a leg's soon to be amputated. What's she gonna do? she's gonna die in that water at rosemary beach but a father of three daughters who didn't have time to think i got my own daughters no he just swam up to the shark and grabbed her out of the shark's mouth and carried her to shore Thank you. our text says it is not by works so that no one can boast it is by grace through faith that we are saved and i am grateful and i don't know him and will probably never meet Stephen Bean, but praise God for him.

41:51 I have been inspired by no person more since last June than Lulu. And I'll talk about that more next week. You talk about someone who realized that their life was saved. my word. This girl can hit a golf ball with one hand. She can work a robotic arm. She can go downstairs by herself without holding rails. She has the most positive attitude. There's nothing she has taken on that she hasn't crushed since the day that her life was saved.

42:36 That's what salvation looks like. It does not look like, oh, I've known I'm a Christian all my life and I am sitting here looking like the same avocado I looked like on the day I came off the tree. I say this respectfully. I'd rethink all of what you've been thinking. but just take it to another level.

43:06 It's Jesus. He knew what was happening when he got in the water. and he knew that the shark that he was grabbing you out of the jaws of was going to devour him because there was going to be an exchange that day an innocent man was going to give his life so that a guilty one could go free and he grabbed you out of death. How did he do it? The teacup.

43:55 If this cup can pass from me, let it happen. But if it can't, not my will but your will be done and the wrecking ball fell on Jesus all of us like sheep have gone astray every one of us turn to our own way but the verse right above it says but he was pierced for our transgressions and he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we're healed.

44:53 that's what it means to be saved and then as we'll see next week, the last verse in Ephesians 2 just shows us how to start walking it out, start using our new hand,

45:14 start learning how even though we got big time scars, we can still walk, start realizing that, yeah, I got a limp, but I'm totally healed inside, and I'm saved and I'm alive, yeah, stuff happened to me in the past, but I've been saved. I got carried out of the water. I got life flighted to a whole new place. I got a brand new life. I got Christ in me and I am made righteous in him. So don't anybody try to tell me I got to carry guilt and shame around because I was guilty, but now I have been made righteous in Christ. Salvation doesn't just get me to heaven. Salvation got me alive and it made be righteous in Christ. My behavior is not 100% there, but my identity is. And I'm walking it out.