The Biblical Worldview on Salvation | Learning to Think Biblically

We're glad you're joining us for a new beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast supported by Harvest Partners. Get more encouraging audio content when you subscribe to Pastor Greg's Daily Devos.

Learn more and sign up at harvest.org. Because that will mislead you. Go with the Bible.

It will never take you in the wrong direction. Learn to think biblically. We live in the information age. Facts and figures fly at us faster than we can absorb.

And opinions, suppositions, rumors, and innuendos come screaming at us from every form of media, especially social media. Where do we find an escape? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out our respite is right in the pages of God's Word. Not only do we find solace. We find a soothing salve of Scripture. Today, let's ponder on things above. Philippians chapter two.

Philippians chapter two is our text. And sometimes people ask me, Greg, what happened to your hair? But after that, they do ask that. But after that, they'll say, why do you do these crusades? Because, you know, honestly, they are a lot of work. There's months of prayer and planning and more prayer and more work and money and more prayer that is involved.

Our team works tirelessly, putting in hours and hours. Why do we do this? It's a very simple answer. We do this so people can be saved. So people can be saved from their sin. Because when it's all said and done, there's nothing more important than people coming into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Do you agree with that?

I hope you do. Nothing. You know, sometimes people say, no, the most important thing is feeding people who are hungry or clothing them. Or it's helping people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol to get off of the substances they're on or maybe to put their marriages back together. All those things are very important. But the most important thing is having people change their eternal address from a place called hell to a place called heaven.

And here's the thing. If that happens, I believe all these other areas of life will sort themselves out. If you put Christ at the forefront of your life, he can heal your marriage no matter what you're going through.

If you put Christ at the forefront of your life, he can restore you and you don't have to be into the influence of any drug or any other thing. So this is why we do what we do. And I love the word saved. Saved. Salvation.

Because that's exactly what happens. By the way, that's a biblical word. It is used many times. In fact, in Romans 10, 9 to 10, it says, If you will declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe, and you are justified, and it is with your mouth you profess your faith, and you are saved. When Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost, he said to the people gathered, be saved from this perverse generation. Then later on in Acts 2, we read, The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Then in Acts 2, 21, it says, Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Hebrews 7, 25 says he's able to save completely those who come to God through him.

It's a perfect description because that's what it is. You're being saved. It's a phrase we would use if a lifeguard rescued a person. Or if a firefighter ran into a burning building and brought someone out, we would say they were saved. And when we go and share our faith and someone believes in Jesus, literally, if they put their trust in him, they are being saved in the truest sense of what that word means.

Well, we're in this new series. We're calling it Worldview, and the objective of this series is to help us to learn how to think biblically. See, everybody has a worldview.

There's no question about that. And your worldview is influenced by many things. It's influenced by culture, your upbringing, your education, or lack thereof, the books you read, or the lack of books you read, the media you expose yourself to. And a worldview is comprehensive. It will affect every area of your life, from your personal morality, to how you spend your money, to your politics, to how you vote even.

It affects everything about you. And so what we want to have is a Christian worldview, and more specifically, we want to have a biblical worldview. The only way to have a biblical worldview is by studying and memorizing Scripture and spending time in it each and every day.

So we run everything through a biblical grid, and we ask ourselves the question, what does the Bible say about this? Because sometimes people have an emotional worldview. They base their views on how they feel. And you don't want to do that because your emotions can mislead you. You know, sometimes people will say, well, I just go with my heart because the heart wants what the heart wants.

What the heck does that even mean? Let me tell you something about your heart. The Bible says it's deceitfully wicked above all things.

Who can know it? So don't just go with your heart because your heart can mislead you. Don't just go with your emotions because your emotions can mislead you. Certainly don't go with culture because that will mislead you. Go with the Bible. It will never take you in the wrong direction. Learn to think biblically.

C.S. Lewis said, and I quote, I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Son has risen, not because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. That's how we have to view life, through the lens of Scripture, through the eyes of a follower of Jesus Christ. And I want to talk about the biblical view of salvation. But let me take a quick poll. How many of you would describe yourselves as being saved? Raise your hand if you can. That's almost everybody.

Very good. That's very important that we're saved. Again, what does it mean to be saved?

So I want to kind of drill down a little bit into this because we throw the word around, but do we understand it? Back to Romans 10 again. If you will declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for it is with your heart you believe, and you are justified, and it is with your mouth you profess your faith and are saved. So one of the great benefits of salvation is God justifies us. So what does that mean?

That's a word we may use and repeat, but we don't necessarily understand it. One aspect of justification means that God has forgiven you of all of your sin, but even more, He's removed all of the evidence of your sin as well. Now that's important because we've all done things we wish we had not done, right? We've all said things we wish we had not said, but God can forgive us of our sin if we repent of it. And not only does He forgive us, but then He forgets our sin. God says in Hebrews 10, 17, I will never again remember your sins and lawless deeds.

Now let's understand, God is omniscient, which means He knows all things. So it's not like God is literally forgetting things, but it means that He is choosing to not hold those things against you. Sort of like when you're having conflicts with your spouse and marriage and they bring up something you did like 30 years ago. Remember that time you said this to me?

Seriously, that was 30 years ago. Can you just let it go? See, that's what it means to forgive and forget that you don't keep an account of all those things and bring them up over and over. So God says, I choose to no longer remember that thing that you did that was a sin against me and affront to me. I love this passage in Jeremiah where God says, there'll come a day when you'll look high and low for a sign of Israel's guilt. And you'll find nothing. Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah's sin.

You'll find nothing. These people that I've saved will start out with a clean slate. That's what God does for us. That's what it means to be saved.

I have a clean slate. My sin is removed. Now if that's all salvation was, if that's all justification was, that would be more than enough. No wonder the Bible calls it so great a salvation in Hebrews 2-3.

But that is not all there is. Because in addition to that God has placed the righteousness of Jesus Christ into my spiritual bank account so to speak. The Bible tells us in Philippians 3, 9, being found in Him not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. You see I am a righteous man.

You say, well Greg I don't know. I saw how you drove earlier today. Wait. I didn't say I always do righteous things. But I am positionally righteous before God. And this is true of every Christian because the day I believed he removed my sin, he forgave my sin, he forgot my sin, he removed every trace of my sin, and in the place of that he put the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

That's what it means to be justified. We know salvation is a gift from God. So what does it mean to work out our own salvation? Well Pastor Greg answers that next. Hearing about listeners who find Jesus because of Harvest Ministries is so encouraging. Pastor Greg, as a 20 year listener to your radio show and fellow Harbor High graduate, I thought you would appreciate hearing how I used your salvation prayer to bring my dad to the Lord in the final moments of his life. My father was a big gregarious man who played football for the Missouri Tigers back in his early years. He became a successful businessman in California and was married four times. However, through the years he was a very good father to me and my three siblings. Just recently my dad flew out for a visit and got to hold his great granddaughter for the first time.

It was on this trip that he fell down a staircase which set in motion a domino effect of health issues that were insurmountable, leading to a heart attack days later. Knowing he had just hours or minutes to live and not knowing if he had accepted Jesus Christ as his savior, I asked him if he would like to repeat after me the prayer of salvation that I've heard you pray, Pastor Greg, and he promptly said yes. After leading my dad in this prayer of salvation, I said to him, Dad, congratulations, you're going to heaven.

A quiet peace settled over him and he was no longer afraid to meet his maker. Have these daily studies in God's word touched your life or the life of someone in your family? If so, why not drop Pastor Greg an email and let him know. Send it to gregatharvest.org.

Again, that's gregatharvest.org. Well, today Pastor Greg is giving us a correct view of sin, salvation, and our standing before God. We're developing a biblical world view. Let's continue.

Here's the problem. We know these things, we say these things, but do we live like saved people? Because sometimes you don't see the impact of one's salvation on a person's lifestyle or on their choices. They'll say, oh, yes, I love the Lord, but they'll do things that seem to contradict that. They'll say, oh, yes, I'm saved, but you wonder, are they really saved? And I think if a person has really met God, there will be evidence in their life. If a person has really come into this encounter with Jesus Christ, you will see the results.

And this is sort of the transitional moment of what I'm talking about here where I want to talk about working out your salvation, which will bring us to our text in Philippians. And here's an illustration that will help us to understand it. I read recently in USA Today that there's a lot of lottery tickets that have never been claimed. In fact, this article said there were $46 million waiting for people that bought a ticket and technically won some of that money but never received it because they never brought their ticket in. They missed the deadline.

And they say this happens every year. They have millions of dollars that is never collected. A few years ago there was a $25 million prize here in California that went unclaimed. And by the way, this is not an endorsement of the lottery. In fact, I hope you don't spend your money on lottery tickets.

But I'm using this merely as an illustration. I read about a man in Pennsylvania who read about time running out on a $20 million lottery prize. And he wondered, wow, I wonder if I bought that ticket. Apparently he had bought quite a few.

So he went through a bunch of old boxes and sure enough he found the winning ticket and brought it in one day before it expired. And in many ways God has given us something, well, far greater than a lottery ticket. Worth far more than millions and millions of dollars in salvation. So what I want to do is I want to take hold of or live out what God has given to me. So let's look at Philippians 2, verse 12. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed not, as in my presence only, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and do of His good pleasure. Work out your own salvation.

What does that mean? It means only you can work out your salvation. Wouldn't it be nice if you could hire someone to work out for you? You say, you know what, I don't want to work out. Why don't you go work out for me? But you can't do that. You have to go work out for yourself. So work out your own salvation. This is not something someone else can do in your place.

This is something you must do for yourself. It's a personal choice. But Paul throws in an interesting thought here in verse 12. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed not only in my presence but more in my absence. So basically Paul is writing to the believers here in Philippi from a prison.

He's been arrested. And he can't go and be with them as he was in the past. And so he misses them and they miss him. So basically he's saying, now guys I'm not with you but I still want you to work out your own salvation. I think the New Living Translation is helpful here where Paul says, Dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions when I was with you. But now that I'm away you must be even more careful to put into action God's saving work in your lives.

So here's what Paul is saying in effect. Guys you need to grow up spiritually. You can't build your spiritual life on me. Don't even for a moment think you guys can go into spiritual cruise control if I'm not personally there for you because it's God that works in you.

Not Paul. I'm not doing the work in your life. God is doing the work in your life. Now I bring this up because sometimes we can allow people to take the place of God in our life. I'm not going to church if so and so isn't speaking. I only go when he speaks. Well I'm not going to do that because I don't know that person.

I only like this person. And we can become far too willing to put a person in the place of God. We can allow our hearts as one said to become idle factories. A husband chooses to not go to church because his wife doesn't go anymore. Or maybe the kids don't go to church because their parents don't go anymore. Listen you need your own relationship with God. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You say but Greg my parents were hypocrites or I saw a hypocrite in church. Yeah get over it.

Grow up. Put your faith in Christ and follow him. So Paul is saying it can't be all about me being there with you because I won't always be there with you. But the Lord always will be there with you. So work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

As I misunderstand this Paul did not say work for your own salvation because salvation is a gift of God. And by the way this is a gift that grows more valuable with the passing of time. Isn't it interesting how things that were so valuable on the day you received them have no value now.

And that which didn't have as much value has become more precious to you now. For instance you may have gotten a gadget. Oh it was the cutting edge gadget.

You were so excited when you got it. But now as you look at that cassette player it makes a nice doorstop. It is a nice nostalgic item you know.

Or eight track player or whatever it is. See it is outdated but maybe that little drawing your child did for you that you just put away in a box has become more precious to you with the passing of time. Salvation is like that. The longer we live the more valuable we see it is. It is not that it becomes more valuable.

It always was. But we are just discovering the value of it. Because the salvation God gives us saves us from our past, our present, and our future. First it saves us from our past. The sins we have committed.

The wrongs we have done. It is removed. It is taken away. It is erased.

We have been given a clean slate as I pointed out. But now it saves us from our present. The power of sin in my life.

I have God's power to overcome it. And lastly it saves me from a future judgment. So that is why the Bible calls it such a great salvation. You see the value of it more and more with the passing of time. And so Paul says work out your salvation.

Don't work for it. It is a gift to you from God. Ephesians 2 says by grace you have been saved through faith.

Not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Pastor Greg Laurie with insights on the gift of salvation and how we need to work it out in our lives. And there is more to come from this message here on A New Beginning.

It is called The Biblical World View on Salvation. Well Pastor Greg there are a lot of new believers who join us each day for our studies. And many of us know a new believer in our circle of influence. What are the most important things a new believer needs to learn right after they come to Christ?

Yeah great question. And by the way the things that I will share with you right now are things you have probably heard before. But you never outgrow these things.

You never move beyond these things. And in fact these are some principles we share with people who have just accepted Christ. Like when we do a harvest crusade and all those people come forward on the field. We have had sometimes 3,000, 5,000 people there. And the counselors walk up to them and they share these things with them.

And let me just share them briefly with you. We tell the new believer that they need to read the Bible. We offer them what is called the new believers Bible.

It is a special edition of the scripture and the new living translation with thousands of notes that I wrote that will encourage them. But we tell them that you need to read the scripture each and every day. Jesus said, low in the volume of the book I have come. If you want to know Jesus you need to read the word of God. Scripture says study or exert yourself to show yourself approved unto God.

A workman that does not need to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. So start by reading the Bible. And by the way you need to read the Bible every day.

Every day and every night too for that matter. Every day should have the word of God as an important part of it. Number two we tell new believers to pray. Prayer is just talking to God. It is communing with God. It is spending time in the presence of God. The Bible tells us pray about everything and don't worry about anything. And the peace of God that passes all human understanding will guard and protect your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. The Bible also says we should pray without ceasing.

And so we encourage people start praying. Just be honest to God. Be truthful with God.

Open your heart to God. Number three we encourage new believers to become a member of a church. To join a church. To attend that church on a regular basis because we need each other as Christians. We can't do this alone.

You're not meant to do life alone. And this is why the Bible says in the book of Hebrews don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. But encourage and exhort one another daily and so much more as we see the day of the Lord approaching.

I know it's fun to watch services online and we have an online service every weekend called Harvest at Home. But nothing takes the place of being a part of a local church. And finally we encourage new believers to share their faith.

Tell others about Jesus. Now at first it's going to be a bit awkward and challenging. But the more you do it the better you'll get at it. But it's just sharing the good news.

You know like if we find a good restaurant and we see a movie we like we might make a recommendation to a friend. Hey I found a killer burger. Oh you gotta check this out.

This movie's amazing. Or whatever. We're so quick to recommend movies and burgers but we never talk about Jesus. And yet he's changed our lives and he's saved our soul. So Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel.

And we cringe at that. Oh I'm not a preacher. Well you can share it conversationally.

You can share it on social media. You can share the gospel in so many ways. But I deal with all of these topics and more in a book I've written called The New Believers Guide to Effective Christian Living. I would like to send you a copy of this book at no charge.

Now let me explain. We'll give it to you for your gift of any size. So whatever you can share with us we'll take that money and put it to good use in reaching other people with the message of the gospel and the teaching of the word of God. So why don't you order your own copy of The New Believers Guide to Effective Christian Living and we'll rush it to you. And whatever you can do to support this ministry is greatly appreciated.

Yeah that's right. And here's how to reach us. You can call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24 hour phone number 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514.

Or just go online to harvest.org. And again the book is called The New Believers Guide to Effective Christian Living. Well next time more insight from Pastor Greg's message called The Biblical Worldview on Salvation. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher, Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins. Hey everybody thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries follow this show and consider supporting it. Just go to harvest.org and to find out how to know God personally go to harvest.org and click on Know God.