Hebrews 2:3: For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?
This verse tells us that "so great salvation" began to be preached by the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham had salvation; David had salvation; Moses had salvation and their salvation always came by faith. But what we have received is so much more than what the heroes of the Old Testament ever received. Salvation for us is past, present, and future.
We were made righteous the moment we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We were also sanctified through salvation. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us through salvation helps us come through tests and trials and troubles. The Bible says many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all. You may be going through trials and afflictions and troubles in life, but God promises to deliver us - now, in the present.
Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace are you saved through faith.and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast."
Romans 3:22 says righteousness came to us by faith. There is a developing righteousness in us each and every day, but we have an absolutely perfected righteousness in us that we received the moment we accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Romans 3:28 says a man therefore is justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 3:26 says we are the children of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but James tells us we are also justified by works.
In James 2:24, James is refuting the fact that we are saved only by faith, and says by works a man is saved and not by faith only. We are justified by the production of our faith, or faith accompanied by works. Works are really what perfects our faith before the world. Our faith is perfected before God in our heart, but the world needs to see our faith perfected and that comes through our actions each and every day.
I think it's interesting that the very first book we have after the four Gospels is called Acts. People often say, "Well, it's not the acts of the apostles. It's the acts of the Holy Spirit." It is the acts of the apostles with the Holy Spirit bringing all the power the apostles needed. The world can't see the Holy Spirit. The world can see us, and therefore the acts God does through us is what the world sees. God didn't say go out there and the Holy Spirit will lay hands on the sick. You lay hands on the sick. It doesn't say the Holy Spirit will cast out devils. You cast out devils. Now thank God when I cast them out the Holy Spirit takes over, and thank God when I lay hands on the sick the Holy Spirit takes over, but I've got some acts to do. I've got some works to do, therefore acts is what we're talking about here in the book of James.
James is really talking to a group of people who come to church each and every week, get filled with the Word of God, walk out the door, and do nothing with it. Does that sound familiar? God has called us as a church to perfect the saints, but the saints are to 'do' the work of the ministry. Jesus began both to do and to teach. He gave us His power. He gave us His anointing so the works that He would do, we would do also. Not only that, He said we would do greater works than Jesus Christ ever did.
He had only three years on this earth. We have many more years on this earth, and there are many more of us. That's where the greater works actually come into play.
So let me just simply put it this way: we are saved before God by faith, but we are saved before the world by works. Notice which comes first - faith; faith in God, faith toward God, faith which God can see, or as it's declared in the Old Testament before David went to battle that man looks on the outward appearance. Although God looks on the heart, works comes through me to where people can see it on the outside.
Saved by Hope
We are saved before God by faith, and we are saved before the world by works, but there is one more - we are saved before all of creation by hope. Salvation by hope is our future redemption, our future salvation, the salvation of our body yet to come.
In essence, we've been talking about three types of salvation: one before God, one before men, and the third one before all of creation is literally spirit, soul, and body. The rearranging of our thinking or the renewing of our mind is something we have each day and this is how we live it out before the world, but one day we're literally going to have a resurrection body.
Romans 8 declares that all of creation will be able to see the manifestation of the sons of God. Romans 8:23 says not only they [they is creation, they are the plants and animals and all that is in creation around us] groan under the pressure of daily life and the curse that's in this earth, but ourselves also. This isn't just all of mankind. Ourselves is referring to believers, which have the first fruits of the Spirit. The first fruits of the Spirit is the new birth. He is speaking to born-again people.
Can you say that as a born-again believer you face pressure in life? Can you admit sometimes those pressures cause you to groan under the pressure of them? Of course, we've all been there, but aren't you glad God brings us through? This verse is saying as nature groans we also groan. It says we who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, which is the redemption of our body. The adoption here means the final part of our redemption.
There is a part of our redemption yet to come to pass and that is the redemption of our body. Our spirit has been redeemed. Our soul is being redeemed each and every day. In fact, when we were born again, it was called salvation. Each and every day we live we are being saved as the word 'salvation' not only is a past completed work but also something that continues each day in our life as we walk in sanctification or perfection or maturity. But there's also a future salvation yet to come, and this one calls it the redemption of our body.
Verse 24 says we are saved by hope, but we have to go back to the previous verse. We're talking about the redemption of our body not the redemption of our spirit. You're not saved in your spirit by hope. You're saved by faith. This verse declares that the salvation or the redemption of our body is that we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that which we do not see, then do we with patience wait for it?
He's talking about the fact that we do not yet see the rapture of the Church. We do not yet see the redemption of the Church. We do not yet see the resurrection of born-again believers where our bodies will be transformed into the same type of body Jesus Christ had, but we do know it's coming. How do we know it's coming? Because the Word of God says it is coming.
You know there are things in your life that God has told you about and they've already come and gone. You know you're living out promises each and every day as you watch them come to pass in your life, but you also know there are a lot of promises yet to come to pass in your life. How do we know they're going to come to pass? Because the past ones have come to pass, the present ones are coming to pass, and surely as God has taken care of the past and the present, He's going to take care of the future. God will do that. That's our trust in Him. We believe it because the Word of God says so, but there's also that comfort inside of us, there's that rest inside of us, there's that assurance inside of us that comes because we have watched God perform it over and over and over again, and by doing that we know we have a hope for the future. In essence, faith in God produces a hope for the future. The greatest hope we have is not the fact He's going to bring us through trials and troubles next week, next month, or next year. The greatest hope we have as believers is the fact that Jesus Christ is coming back one of these days.
There is some stupid thinking on television. I see people on television talk about their world views, and I want to reach through the screen and choke them right then and there. I hear liberal theologians or liberal politicians expounding on their belief that everybody has a spark of good in them and if we'll all just get together, we can live in peace. I want to cram Scripture down their throat and ask them, "What world are you living in? What naïve place did you come from? How do you think that all of our problems can be attributed to government or to what side of town you were born in, and if we just had more money here and fixed the projects up over there, everything would be okay?"
It's all just a bunch of talk because I know good and well it comes by redemption and salvation. About the time we get a good man for president or someone good on the throne somewhere, some klutz gets elected and seems to undo all the good that's been done. Then, we have to elect somebody good to undo what the bad guy did. Folks, despite all the people on the throne, good and bad, one day it's all going to come to an end and the King of kings is going to come back and rule and reign forever. And the first thing that kicks all of that off is the redemption of our body. Therefore, I'm looking forward to the rapture of the Church, not of the tribulation that follows. I'm looking forward to the rapture of the Church because it kicks off all these end-time events that will culminate with the coming of Jesus Christ to rule and to reign for a thousand years on this earth.
Keep that good news in mind whenever you're watching Dan Rather or Peter Jennings on the evening news. Remember the future hope we have in Christ when you're watching CNN spin the news with their liberal viewpoints. With all the events we see happening in the Middle East, with all the revival we see, and with all the things we know in our heart, we can rejoice because we know Jesus Christ is coming back soon.
The hope of the coming of Jesus Christ helps us walk in sanctification today. Notice that Romans 8:24 doesn't say, 'We will be saved by hope.' It says 'we are saved by hope'. 'Are' is present tense. The fact that Jesus Christ is coming back one of these days helps me to walk in sanctification today.
There is a lie that has been perpetrated in the church for years. People who don't believe in the rapture tell us that if we preach the rapture we make Christians lazy; if we preach that Jesus is coming back, people will want to sit down and do nothing until Jesus Christ comes back. They even say if you keep on preaching about the coming of Jesus Christ, you're actually going to stop evangelism so we shouldn't preach about the coming of Jesus Christ. Others have gone so far as to say He's not coming back at all. I can tell you this: preaching Jesus is coming back will actually inspire people to live a holy life today.
Do you think that if you absolutely, positively, beyond any shadow of a doubt knew that Jesus Christ was coming tomorrow, you would do a whole lot of shaping up today? I know there would be a whole lot of repenting going on tonight if you knew for sure Jesus Christ was coming back tomorrow. There would be a lot of phones ringing up to Aunt Lulu and Cousin Jim and all those unsaved family members, trying to talk to them about Jesus Christ coming back. I'm here to tell you He could come back before tomorrow and now is the time to realize that. We are (present tense) saved by the hope we have that Jesus Christ is coming back. That future tense hope of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ inspires me to walk in sanctification today because when Jesus Christ comes back, I don't want to be found sitting down, doing nothing. I want to be found working for the Lord Jesus Christ.
I've heard people say, "I'm not going to go to Bible school. Jesus is coming soon. I need to run out there and witness for the Lord Jesus and get on the mission field and be an evangelist. I don't have time to go to Bible school." The best thing to do is to go to Bible school so if Jesus came back He would find you preparing the right way for the ministry He has for you. Do not delay doing the things God would have for you to do.
Some of you have a knowledge on the inside of you that God has called you to work within the local church. I admonish you to attend the School of the Local Church next year. Sign up now. Quit putting it off year after year after year because you're waiting for everything to get in order. I believe you should have some finances in order, but you don't have to wait until your house is paid off before you can go to school. Step out there by faith and God will show Himself faithful that He will come through. In the meantime, God wants you to do what He's called you to do and today is the day to be obedient. Now is the accepted time; not for just salvation, but for also doing what God would have for you to do.
In the second chapter of Titus, he tells us that today we can look back to the past when we were saved and to the future when Jesus Christ is going to come back and both of them are designed to help us walk in sanctification, in holiness, and in maturity today.
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God even our Savior, Jesus Christ." Titus 2:11
This verse is saying we look to the past when we were born again and the grace that brought salvation teaches us to walk in daily sanctification, but that same grace of God also teaches us to look forward to the soon coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us if all we have is hope in this life, we are of all men most miserable. Do you enjoy living the Christian life every day? Do you enjoy walking in prosperity? Divine health? All of His blessings? Of course! But there is something that adds to all that. It is the fact that you can walk in divine health and know that one day Jesus Christ is going to come back. You can walk in prosperity today, knowing that Jesus Christ is going to come back. This verse tells us that as great as prosperity is, as great as divine healing is, if Jesus Christ wasn't coming back and there was nothing after death, then we would be of all men most miserable. The coming of Jesus Christ brings joy into our heart.
When I teach on the rapture I get more shouts, more 'Amen's!', and more people excited, because there's something about the coming of Jesus Christ that brings excitement into a congregation, into God's people. No wonder every book of the Bible somehow has a reference to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether it be the rapture of the Church or the Second Advent of the Lord to usher in His kingdom in this earth. Every book references it and some many more than others. We are to be looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God even our Savior Jesus Christ. This is part of our so great salvation. So great salvation reaches to the past; so great salvation reaches into the present; and so great salvation reaches into the future. The coming of Jesus Christ is an incentive for us to live holy today.
"Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure." 1 John 3:2
This great hope the Church has by knowing that Jesus Christ is going to come back one day helps us to walk in purity, in sanctification, each and every day. Therefore, teaching on the rapture, looking forward to the rapture, making sure every day we realize Jesus could come back that day, waking up every morning with the assurance that today could be the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is an incentive to walk holy.
I'm sure many of you probably start your day with a Bible study. You start with praise and worship. You may have praise and worship cassette tapes or CD's in the car. But another thing you should do is rejoice each and every day as it says in Revelation, even so come Lord Jesus. That could be today. Looking forward to the coming of Jesus Christ is a powerful part of our life that helps us to walk in sanctification every day.
Romans 5:2 says by hope we wait for our future salvation at Jesus' coming, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in what? We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. The hope of the glory of God is the coming resurrection defined in 1 Corinthians 15. That day will be a glorious day. A manifestation of the glory of God will appear on that day and we are to anticipate, look forward to, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Becoming a Glorious Church
Ephesians 5:27 says that He might present us (the Church) to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
When the rapture occurs and we receive our resurrection body, the nature of the flesh will be gone, but the production of the flesh will still be there which is why we will spend seven years in heaven. The tribulation will be taking place on this earth while the Church will be spending those seven years in heaven so the Lord Jesus Christ can burn up the works of the flesh. When the tribulation period is over we will come back with the Lord in a resurrection body, the nature of the flesh be gone, and, glory to God, all the production of the flesh will be gone once and for all as it says in Revelation 19. We will be coming back as a bride adorned for her husband. We will be coming back without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Amen!
Many teach that Jesus is coming back for a Church without spot or wrinkle. He's not. He's coming back for you with all your flaws intact, as many as there may be. Ephesians 5:27 tells us He will present us to Himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle. He'll get rid of the spots of wrinkles in heaven. Until the time Jesus comes back, we're going to have lots of spots and lots of wrinkles. Who are the spots and wrinkles? Look at yourself. There are your spots and wrinkles. Although you're the righteousness of God in Christ, how many of you know you still have a long way to go to where your natural life lines up with your spiritual life? That's why 1 John 3 says by this hope we purify ourselves even as we are pure. We walk in holiness as we are holy. Every day we are to walk in more holiness but we will never in this earth reach a point of pure holiness. To even get close, we'd have to quit getting people saved. To even get close, we'd have to kick all the carnal ones out of the church, and I'm not sure about you as you're not sure about me. Jesus Christ is coming back for us, just as we are, to take us to heaven where He will purify the Church and we will be that Church without spot or wrinkle.
Folks, it comes down to this, he which hath begun the good work in us will complete it. The God that saved us is the God that will clean us up in heaven. In the meantime, I walk in as much power every day as is available to me. I confess my sins when I commit them. I walk in holiness each and every day, but I also know when I get to heaven He's going to cleanse some things in me, take some things out, burn them up. Glory to God! And we will come back with Him as that bride adorned for the Lord Jesus Christ. So that verse tells us that He'll present us to Himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle.
Walking in the Unity of the Spirit
Ephesians 4:13 tells us there's going to come a day that we will come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Mark that verse. That verse will not be attained on earth. Now every day we get closer and that should be our goal each and every day, but we are not to strive for the unity of the faith. Verses before this tell us we're to strive for the unity of the Spirit. The unity of the faith will not occur until we get to heaven.
You may ask, "What is the unity of the faith?" We're all going to believe the same thing! How many of you know we have a long way to get to there? How do Charismatics walk hand-in-hand with Baptists? How do Charismatics and Baptists walk hand-in-hand with Methodists and get together for a Billy Graham meeting to minister to the community? We have to forget the unity of the faith and walk in the unity of the Spirit.
The unity of the Spirit says, "Let's get together for one common purpose. Let's win souls. Let's get people into the kingdom of God without bringing up our denominational differences and all the things that separate us here in this earth." What's going to happen in heaven is the unity of the faith, once and for all, will come to pass. God's going to clear up all the misconceptions we have and it's going to take a long time. But we're not going to achieve that down here. It's going to happen in heaven where we will come to that perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Next of all, the coming of Jesus Christ is called salvation just as we have had salvation in the past and just as we have seen that salvation is spoken of each and every day. The coming of Jesus Christ and our resurrection body being given to us is also called salvation.
"Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." Romans 13:11
This is a reference to the rapture of the Church. It's a reference to the coming of Jesus Christ for us. Notice that the coming of Jesus Christ is called salvation.
"Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Hebrews 9:28
The coming of Jesus Christ for us, the second time He comes to this earth is also called a salvation.
First Peter 1:5 says that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last day. We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. That is a salvation yet to come and that salvation is called ready to be received or revealed in that last day. So at the appearing of Jesus Christ for us, we will have a resurrection body, free from the nature of sin, just like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
"For our citizenship is in heaven; from which we look for the Savior." Philippians 3:20
Read that again. He's called the Savior then, just like He's called the Savior now, because salvation is not yet complete. Oh, it's complete in our spirit. It's being worked out each and every day in our soul, but it's yet to be completed in our body. This is the hope we look forward to, the hope of the coming of Jesus Christ.
The verse goes on, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it might be fashioned like unto His glorious body according the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself."
When Jesus Christ comes back for us and our vile body is changed into a resurrection body, our salvation will be complete. After that we'll get to enjoy the rewards and the benefits of our salvation for all of eternity. We'll be with Him. We'll be with each other. We will have resurrection bodies. We'll rule and reign with Jesus Christ forever. We'll be on the earth. We'll be in heaven. We'll have the whole universe literally at our disposal.
That's yet to come, but notice in the part of our salvation yet to come we look for our Savior. I have seen my Savior in salvation; I see Him each day in my daily salvation. But I'm looking forward to His appearing one day and He will be just as much my Savior on that day as He was when I was saved, because there's part of my salvation yet to come which is the transformation of my body into a glorious body according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. Whenever He comes for the Church is the beginning of Jesus Christ subduing all things under Him.
Psalms 110:1 says, 'the' Lord, God the Father, said to 'my' Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.
Jesus Christ will literally make all enemies His footstool on the day He comes back and literally changes the earth, casts Satan, all demons, and unbelievers off the earth, and we'll enter into the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. That is the day the whole earth is looking for when Jesus Christ is able to subdue everything unto Himself.
Looking Forward to Our Resurrection Body
First John 3:2 says we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. How many of you know it's going to be great one day to have a resurrection body? Amen?
Although you still walk in divine health, still expect God to heal you, there are some parts that start getting old, a little bit worn out. On the other hand, 1 John 3:2 tells us that no matter if you have a 20-year-old body, a 40-year-old body, a 60- or an 80-year-old body, you have a vile body. It has the curse in it and, yes, it's going to get old. Now, God has promised us redemption and healing and redemption from poverty and all of that, but He never promised us redemption from getting old. That just happens, but one day we're going to have a body that will never wear out, never get old, the nature of the flesh will not be there, and we're going to have a resurrection body just like that of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to have a body just as eternal as His. Glory be to God!
In other words, salvation was great in the past, it is great each day, but we have a wonderful salvation yet to come, therefore we look for our Savior, the Savior of our body. The One who is also the Savior of our spirit and our soul will one day be the Savior of our body. We look forward to that because we will see Him. We will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is. Praise God. And then we know also this is something that was promised us. How do we know it's going to come to pass? "Whom He justified, then He also glorified." Romans 8:30
Seeing Ourselves as God Sees Us
It has not yet come to pass but in God's mind it's already completely done. Whom He justified (past tense) He also glorified (past tense). Oh, Hallelujah! When I was saved, God said, "Yes, you're saved and I even see you in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, by the way, I also see you glorified and glorification is yet to come to pass."
I can imagine myself in heaven, but God already sees me there. So when the devil says, "This time you're going under."
I say, "No, no, no. God already sees me in heaven. I'm going to make it. I'm going to make it."
He already sees me glorified. Hallelujah! God's past tense also deals with my future. God said it's already done. How many of you know before you ever accepted Jesus Christ, God saw you already saved? Before you ever started walking in sanctification, He already saw you conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the good news - He already sees you glorified, past tense, and He saw it before the foundation of the world. That's a hard one to imagine. Praise God! It's fun to try.
One day I'll stand there and God will say, "I saw you here all the time. Now you're standing where I have seen you from eternity past. I saw you as glorified."
Folks, it's a done deal. I'm just waiting it for it to come to pass. The transfer has already been made in God's eternal kingdom. The transfer of God's wealth, as far as my salvation in all areas, has already taken place. I just need to take advantage each and every day of what He has given to me. But there's going to be a final transaction when I'm going to meet my Savior face to face. It could be tonight; it could be tomorrow, but each day we wake up with that assurance, that anticipation, and that excitement that today could be the day of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Bob Yandian
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