(Christ--the Way God Makes Man Righteous) 1. God's So Great Salvation — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

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These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Well, good morning. God bless you brothers. I was thinking about it yesterday with relish.

I get to spend a whole month with you fellas. What a joy to do that. How many of you have, this is just a little introduction here, first of all. How many of you have your little Romans book? You have that in your hand?

Let's see. Anybody didn't bring yours today? Okay. Okay, that's fine. But I just want to explain to you why we've given you that and how I would like for you to use it. It's been laid out that way on purpose so that you can keep your notes right there with the Scriptures.

So that you can circle, so that you can draw lines, so that you can write a definition of a word, circle it, draw a line, write a definition of a word. Any illustration that catches your heart, you can write it right there, right where the Scriptures are.

I thought that that would be helpful to you. That's the way that I study the Bible all the time. My Bible's full of those. So we laid it out that way on purpose and also the definitions that you'll find there in the beginning.

Those definitions, you will be memorizing them each day. I believe there's enough for you to take one every day until this course is over. I expect you to be able to quote the verse that goes along with the definition and we will expect you to be able to quote those definitions.

And we'll call upon you impromptu, maybe at the beginning of a class. Brother Joe, stand up and give the definition of number five. And, you know, you'll need to stand to your feet and quote that definition.

And let me just explain the importance of that. If not everyone, almost every one of those definitions is a word right out of the Scriptures. And it's a word, a foundational word in the whole study of the doctrine of salvation.

So you will find those words in the reading of the Scriptures continually. If you have that word in your heart and you understand what that word means, every time you come to that word in your reading of the Scriptures, it will bring back to you the meaning of that word.

And it will force you to stop and ponder it. And that's the purpose for it. That's why we want you to memorize it. That's one of the reasons. But the other one is it's good exercise for your own mind and good discipline.

God's So Great Salvation: A Study of Salvation in Romans

Okay. I think we'll get into our session here this morning. I have spent hours wrestling on a title for this whole session. And I'm not sure if I have the right title yet, so you leave me that room. But for now, we're going to call this session, God's So Great Salvation.

God's So Great Salvation. And the subtitle is, A Study of the Doctrine of Salvation. That's what we plan to do. You may wonder how we can do that for 15 hours, but we will surely do it. We will study the doctrine of salvation for 15 hours.

We're going to be in the book of Romans for these next three weeks. And then, we will supplement our study with the words of Jesus Christ. Specifically, we'll be in Romans 3 -8, and that's why I asked you to read those.

And we will ask you to read those verses, those chapters again. But Romans 3 -8. My first thoughts were to do the whole book of Romans, but as I began to ponder it, I realized there are 16 chapters in the book of Romans, and that would mean only one hour with every chapter, which means we will only skim those chapters.

And I don't want to skim the doctrine of salvation this week. I want us to plumb some of its depths and understand clearly what the Bible teaches about salvation. So, we're going to be using the words of the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans, and also the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ's Supremacy in Revealing Salvation

I get this focus from the book of Hebrews, if you want to turn there for a moment. Hebrews, in chapter 1, we find some beautiful words, and you'll find me using that phrase a lot. I love the Bible. The Bible is precious to me.

While I find verses, I have so many favorite verses in here, I can't even count them all. But there's a precious couple of verses here in the first part of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 1 says these words.

Verse 1, God, who at sundry times and in divers manner, spake in time past under the fathers by the prophets. Now, that's the way God spoke in times past. But, this God who spoke that way through the prophets in times past, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son.

Note that. God has chosen to speak to us in these last days by His Son. So, His Son's words override. Dominate. He has chosen to speak unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also He made the worlds.

Now, God has spoken to us by His Son in many ways. He's spoken to us by His Son's light. He has spoken to us by the very words that came out of His Son's mouth. He's spoken unto us by the death of His Son.

He's spoken unto us by the rising of His Son. And He speaks to us by His Son through the Spirit of God even this very day as we sit in this class. Chapter 2, verse 3 and 4. And this is where I get my title, but He goes on to say, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, and note these next words, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord?

There again is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to define this so great salvation, it needs to be defined first of all by the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, typical modern evangelicals have kind of skipped a lot of the words of Christ, and just went to the words of the apostles.

And I believe that is a mistake. The gospel, this so great salvation, was first of all spoken unto us by the Lord. And was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him. That's the apostles. God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will.

So we're going to look into the apostles and the things that they have to say about salvation, but we're also going to look into the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. These chapters in the book of Romans is where Paul addresses the basics of salvation in the New Testament.

Four Purposes of Studying Salvation

The purpose of this course, overall purpose, is to define. But I have four sub-purposes underneath that. Number one, because the doctrine of salvation is foundational to all other New Testament doctrines, we feel the need to lay this thing out in detail.

Number two, if you go to any Bible school and study theology, this is where they start. After a study of God, there is the study of salvation. What does it mean to be saved? The next point, salvation has been so watered down in our land, there's a great need to clarify and define.

The next point, the next purpose, to affirm and challenge you in your own walk with God. Surely you would know that we're going to do that. We're not going to be like a seminary who just sits around and fills our heads with all the doctrines of what salvation is.

Having the doctrines of salvation in our head mean nothing at all if we don't have the reality of salvation in our own lives. So, you're going to get a mix of both. Recall what I call experiential theology is what you'll be getting.

So, we want to affirm and challenge you in your own walk with God. And last, a good soul winner knows what salvation is all about. And we want you to be soul winners. Amen? This so great salvation is not just for you.

It's for the rest of the world. But if you understand the depths of it, you will be able to explain it to those who do not know. If you ask multitudes of people in America today, what does salvation mean?

You would get many different answers. But most of them, sad to say, will be shallow answers. People will say things like, it means I get to go to heaven. Or, I'll have a good life here on earth. Or, it means that I ask Jesus into my heart.

Or, some would say, that's what happened when I got baptized. And many other such answers would be given. We want to define salvation. Let's look at the first definition. And this definition, I want you to memorize.

Salvation as God's Deliverance from Sin

That's your first definition to memorize. But let me give it to you. But you can turn open to your definition there. Because I want you to write a little more on to it. And this will happen more than once.

But here's a good definition of salvation. And by the way, I spent about two hours writing this definition. So, I didn't just flip it off the top of my head. I spent two hours. Salvation. God's provision for man's deliverance from his sinful condition through the person and work of Christ.

It is deliverance from the penalty of sin, past. The power of sin, present. And the presence of sin, future. Into the glorious liberty of a righteous life. Read it again. Salvation is God's provision for man's deliverance from his sinful condition through the person and work of Christ.

It is deliverance from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the presence of sin into the glorious liberty of a righteous life. Hallelujah! What a lovely definition! Salvation means to salvage. That's a nice, simple word.

To salvage. We understand what salvage is. You know, that's when you find something on a junk pile. Then you decide that it's got some value. And you take it home with you, and you restore it and make it good again.

To salvage from a junk pile. Salvation means to save, to rescue, to deliver, to heal, to make whole, to save from yourself. These are all small little definitions of what salvation is. That's what we're going to be looking at through this course.

I have the blessed privilege of preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ to you for three whole weeks. And I'm pretty excited. That is what salvation is. Salvation is the unsearchable riches of Christ in all of His ever-expanding fullness.

The word unsearchable. I studied that a bit. It doesn't mean that you can't search it. It means you'll never search it to the depths. We're going to search it in these three weeks. We're going to search out the unsearchable riches of Christ.

But, the truth of the matter is, we'll still be searching out the unsearchable riches of Christ when we get into glory. Because He's unsearchable. He's God. But anyway, we're going to make an attempt at that.

Salvation, which is another little definition, is the whole process by which God delivers man from all that would prevent his attaining the highest good that God has prepared for him. I like that one also.

That's a definition out of the ISBI, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. The whole process by which God delivers man from all that would prevent him from attaining the highest good that God has planned for him.

Amen? And that highest good is now in this life and an unimaginable future in eternity with God. 1 Corinthians 2, 9 and 10 says these words, as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.

But, God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. So in a sense, brethren, that's what we're going to be doing for three weeks. We are going to be searching out the wonderful things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

And it's done by the Spirit of God. God's Spirit. He is the One who reveals. Let's stand to our feet for a prayer. Let's do that. Now I'm going to pray, but I want you to also pray in your heart. Because it's not just, Lord, help Brother Denny to say the right things.

It's, dear God, would You open the eyes of my understanding that I may understand the depths of that which You have planned for me. That makes the prayer a little different, doesn't it? Let's pray. Lord God, we do acknowledge that salvation is of the Lord.

We acknowledge, Father, that You, You are salvation. But we are men. Lord, we ask You, we ask You right now, Father, that You would open the eyes of our understanding. That You would give unto us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ.

God, I pray that You'll give us teachable hearts. I pray, dear God, that You'll give us humble hearts. That we may learn. Father, we pray that You'll quicken our minds. That You'll bring Scriptures to our minds.

That You'll... Oh, Father, would You sit jealously and watch over this Bible school this year, God. And do what only You can do in every one of our lives. We ask You, Lord, for Your Spirit. For the Spirit reveals these deep things of God to the heart of man.

So, oh Lord, yes, God, come by Your Spirit. Settle down upon us. Fill us. Be our teacher through these sessions all month long. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. You may be seated. As I said, we will be spending the next three weeks studying this blessed salvation.

You may have a limited knowledge of what salvation means. That's okay. You can be born again and not understand the depths of what happened to you. I would have to give my own testimony. Having no Christian background at all, God saved my soul because somebody was willing to take a few verses out of the book of Romans and stick them into my heart.

And God saved my soul. But I didn't know all of this when God saved my soul. And you don't need to know it all either. Don't worry about it. God will deepen your heart as we go. But I guarantee you at the end of three weeks your heart will say, ah, this is a so great salvation that God has given to me.

Humanity's Need for Salvation

The very word salvation, soteria, implies a great need. When Peter was out on the water in the midst of the storm, remember? And he got his eyes off of Christ and on to the storms around him when he was there walking on the water, he said these words.

He said, Lord, save me. This is the word sozo, which is salvation. So you see the word salvation and the word save, it's used in many different ways besides salvation, but yet no word describes what God has done in the heart of man better than, save me!

It implies a need. No need. No salvation. Isaiah said it this way, all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. Yes, man has a need. The light has gone out in the soul of man.

He has no fellowship with his Creator God. He is in great bondage to every kind of evil. He is under the power and the authority of Satan. Lord, save me! Yes, man has a great need. Paul said it this way in Ephesians 2, v. 1 -3.

He said, and I'm putting a couple of words in here. He said man is dead in trespasses and sins. Man walks according to the course of this world. He walks according to the prince of the power of the air.

Man lives after the lusts of his flesh. He lives fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And mankind is by nature the children of wrath. That's what Paul says as he's presenting that beautiful statement of salvation in Ephesians 2.

By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God, not of works that any man should boast. He lays this out before. Salvation, the very word salvation, implies a great need.

It's going to take a supernatural work of God to change this man that we just described. Reformation is not enough. Good intentions is not enough. To change a few things on the outside is not enough. This man has a need.

Jesus Christ's Words of Invitation and Life

Hebrews 1 says that in these last days God has spoken unto us by His Son. And this is done in many different ways. But let us consider a few of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in this introduction of salvation.

When Jesus walked this earth, He found mankind in this sad condition that I just described. Remember, He's God in the flesh. And He's walking around in the midst of mankind. And the Bible says that Jesus knew man and He knew what was in man.

What did He do? What is His response? He began to preach the gospel of salvation to them. In some places it says He preached the gospel of salvation. In other places it said He preached the gospel of the kingdom.

And they're both the same thing, by the way. But let's listen to what He said to these needy men as He walked around in humanity. He said words like this. Matthew 11, 28 and 30. Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.

And I, I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Remember, Jesus is preaching the gospel.

John 10, 10 He says, The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they may have life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd and the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.

That the sheep might have life more abundantly. These are the words of our Lord. This so great salvation which the Lord began to speak. He said in John chapter 7 and verse 37. If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, Jesus said, and drink.

He that believeth on Me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 11, 25 Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. I am, Jesus said, I am. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

Oh, that's good news, isn't it?

John 8, 12 and I just picked a few out here for you. I'm trying to get you to get a glimpse of this so great salvation. We're going to go deep, but just to lay it out here. This is what Jesus said to these men and women who walked around dead in trespasses and sin, in bondage to the enemy, walking after the course of this world, being driven by the lusts of their flesh and the lusts of their mind.

This is what Jesus said to them. Come unto Me, Jesus said. John 8, 12 He said, I am the light. I am the light of the world. He that followeth Me shall never walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 14, 23 If any man love Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make Our abode with him. And the last one, Jesus said in John 17, 3 And this is life eternal.

This is what eternal life is, brethren. That they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. This is eternal life. Here's salvation. Here's a definition of salvation in simplicity.

Man lost the all-consuming reality of God in his life in the garden. And Jesus has come to bring man back into that all-consuming reality of His Father. That's salvation in its simplicity. Now, we're going to take three weeks and look at that thing.

But that's it in a nutshell. And I think it's important for us to look at the simplicity of it before we dissect it into many other things. Because, brethren, that's the bottom line. Salvation is God in your life.

Salvation Is a Person, Not a Plan

Hallelujah. David said it this way. David said, God has become my salvation. David said it this way. The Lord is my light and my salvation, my fear. Hallelujah. Salvation is a person, not a plan. I'm afraid today, salvation has been reduced to a plan, to a set of beliefs, to a few things that you can make a mental assent to and say, uh-huh, as Parris Reedhead would quote it.

Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. You're saved. Salvation is a person, not a plan. It's not a program. It's the person of Jesus Christ. That's why, brethren, you can go to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and get a good glimpse of the Gospel, though you don't hear Jesus giving all the doctrinal teachings that the apostles give in the epistles.

But the reason why you don't is because salvation is standing in front of them. That's right. Salvation is standing in front of them and He's just telling them how to relate to Him who is salvation. And He says, follow Me.

Real simple, amen? Real simple. Notice all the verses that we just listed. Christ was referring to Himself. Christ was referring to Himself. It's true, He's offering different aspects of salvation in each one of these verses.

But I want you to note that He's simply offering Himself. He is inviting them to come to Himself because He is salvation. He is offering different aspects of salvation and in each one He is personally that aspect.

Salvation in the Context of Primitive Christianity

Let me give you a little warning here. For teaching's sake, I'm going to give the highest, clearest definitions out of this book called the Bible on what salvation is. For teaching's sake, we're going to put it right where it is.

Don't be shaken or condemned by that. I'm going to teach biblical salvation in the context, note this, I'm going to teach it in the context of primitive Christianity. In the context of persecuted saints.

In the context of saints that are filled with the fullness of the Holy Ghost. And in the context of saints that are filled with a divine purpose and commission to reach the rest of the world. Note that.

That's important for you to grasp that. Because we're going to lift the high standard up. But we're not going to lift a standard up that's higher than what these people lived in their day. I promise you that.

We won't lift it any higher than that which they lived in reality in their day. But it's important for us to grasp the fact that their environment was quite a bit different than ours. And our environment, whether we like to face the fact or not, it affects how we see things.

It's like looking through shaded glasses. Very different environment. Primitive Christianity with persecution and the fullness of the Holy Ghost. And a purpose which was a consuming passion in their lives.

And living in America where, you know, how life is in America and how easy it is. And all those things. We're going to look at salvation in the context of primitive Christianity. Salvation is a whole.

As I said already. Because Christ is our salvation. He cannot be divided into parts. We may experience different aspects of Him in different measures as we grow. But He is a whole. And for the sake of definition and teaching, we will be dividing salvation into parts.

I mean, we're going to break this thing down, you know, to God's demand for righteousness. We're going to break it down to man's fallen condition. We're going to look at repentance. We're going to look at conviction of sin.

We're going to write down through redemption, reconciliation. You look at your definitions there, you'll know where we're going pretty well. We're going to break it down that way. But, the bottom line is, it's all one.

Romans 1:16–17 as the Summary of Salvation

There are two key verses. If you want to turn in your booklets there to Romans now. Two key verses in Romans 1 that encapsulate all the teaching on salvation in the book of Romans. And if you're a student of the Bible at all, you will notice this, that God often does just that.

He will encapsulate the whole in one or two verses. And then spend chapters explaining what it all means. Acts chapter 1 verse 8 is a good example of that. You get in that one verse, "...and ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and in the uttermost parts of the earth.".

That's just one verse. Then you have 28 chapters to see that verse lived out in all of its entirety. And look at it from so many different angles that it turns into a beautiful diamond. Well, this is the way it is.

These two verses that we're beginning with today encapsulate the whole of Romans 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. And they're important. Important verses. Now, I want to finish our session here today with these two verses.

Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 and 17. If you want to turn there. Preceding these two verses, Paul says these words,.

I am a debtor.

I have a holy obligation to you. Speaking to the Romans. The church at Rome. I am a debtor. I have a holy obligation. And what he means by that is exactly what the word debt means. And if you've ever been in debt, you know that debt has a pressure upon you.

How many of you have ever been in debt? Let's see your hands. There's something inside of you that just says,.

I've got to get this thing paid. I've got to get this thing off of me. Isn't that how you feel?

Well, Paul is saying, I have a debt. A holy obligation. And he says, I am eager, ready to preach the gospel at Rome. Then he tells them why. And that's the two verses that we want to look at. He says these words, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.

For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith.

The Gospel of Christ and God's Righteousness

The gospel that Paul is speaking about, that he's so eager to get to Rome and preach to them, this gospel that he brought is the gospel of Christ. It's not the gospel that Christ brought. It's not the gospel that Christ preached.

It is the gospel which is Christ. Do you understand the difference? There's a big difference between the gospel that Christ brought, or the gospel that Christ preached. And the gospel which is Christ.

He is the gospel. He is the good news that man can be saved through Him, in Him. And that leads us back to our first definition. Say it again. It is the good news that man can be saved through Him, in Him.

He is God's provision for man's deliverance from his sinful condition through the person and work of Christ. He is man's deliverance from the penalty of sin that's past, and the power of sin that's right now, and the presence of sin that's in the future, that He might deliver man into that glorious liberty of a righteous life.

Don't forget that. That's very important. Paul is speaking about the gospel. Notice what he says. I'm not ashamed of this gospel. I don't hang my head. I'm not afraid to speak about it. I'm not afraid to go anywhere and say it.

Why, Paul? Because it is the power of God and the salvation. It brings salvation to man. Therefore, I'm not afraid to go and preach Christ everywhere. And that's what he did, by the way. Christ crucified was Paul's message of salvation.

But Paul is speaking, not by theology here, but by experience. You know, he's not just parroting something to us. Oh, by the way, this is powerful. Oh, the gospel, it's powerful. No, he's speaking out of the experience of his own life.

Two experiences. One, this Christ so changed him into another man that he is now the Apostle Paul, whereas before he was the Apostle that persecuted everybody and everything that had anything to do with Jesus.

Now he is the Apostle of Christ and the Apostle to the Gentiles. Yes, Christ's gospel is the power of God unto salvation. But not only is he speaking from his own personal experience in his own life, but this man, he's a few years down the road of ministry now, and he has hundreds and hundreds of examples where he saw heathen who knew nothing at all about Christ totally transformed as Christ came in reality into their hearts and their lives.

Yes, he's not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. For all who believe, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek or the Gentiles. Paul knows what he's talking about.

There's no reason for him to be ashamed. He knows through the foolishness of preaching, God has chosen to save souls, and I've gone everywhere preaching this Christ crucified and raised from the dead, and I have seen people's lives transformed everywhere.

I'm not hanging my head over the gospel of Christ. How about us? Do we hang our head? I'm not a Christian! I'm a Christian! Let's move on. He goes on to say, and here's a key little word in verse 17, the word therein.

That word therein is pointing back. What is it pointing back to, brothers? It's pointing back to the gospel of Christ. That's what that word therein is pointing back to. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

Therein is pointing back to the verse 16. Now, it's very interesting to study the old commentators and the new evangelicals on this verse that we're looking at now. Very interesting. The new and the modern, as we focus on the word, for therein is the righteousness of God.

When you focus on that little phrase, the righteousness of God, it's very interesting what the old commentators say. And when I say old, I mean a hundred years ago, by the way. And the new ones say, the new ones say, the modern ones say, it simply means right standing with God.

But the old commentators say, it means how God makes man righteous in standing and in life. Quite a different interpretation, isn't it? And today, in the modern evangelical world, and I was shocked at some of the things that I read, as I read, that men would say, we have a standing with God, a righteousness which is in Christ, and however we live and whatever we do, has no effect at all on that standing.

I was horrified. It's producing what it's producing out there. Everyone is just living it up. Oh, this is a great life. Got my one-way ticket to heaven in my back pocket. It's heaven there and heaven here.

Don't count on it, friends. It's not just right standing with God. Yes, it is right standing with God. But it's also a right living that is produced by that right standing. And that's what the old commentators say about this verse.

It means how God makes man righteous in standing and living. The way God salvages man and restores him, therein, in the Gospel, is the way God makes man righteous. Therein, in the Gospel, in the Gospel of Christ, is the way that God has chosen to salvage man and restore him to the place where he was before.

The righteousness of God is revealed in Christ. The way that God has chosen to restore man to the place where he once was is revealed in the Gospel of Christ. It's very important that we grasp this. We'll look at it in more detail tomorrow.

But let's go to the next definition, which, by the way, will be your memory definition for the next day. But let's look at the definition of righteousness. What does it mean? Again, I spent about an hour and a half studying this before I wrote it.

Righteousness. It means right standing and right living. It means conformity to the will of God in thought, purpose, and action. Conformity to the will of God in thought, purpose, motivation, action, every day in my life.

That's what righteousness is. It is, yes, it is a right standing with God. But it is a right standing which produces a right living. And if there is no right living, it is not righteousness. Moving on in the verse here, he goes on to say, it is revealed, for therein the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

And I think that's a beautiful little phrase. As I studied that, it simply means this, springing from faith and leading to more faith. Springing from faith, but leading to more faith. There is a righteousness which comes from God.