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God’s Saving Power

INTRODUCTION

We learned last Sunday that even though we have power, God’s power is greater than our power. But how do we experience God’s power? A lot of people, including Christians, do not recognize the availability of God’s power in their lives if only they would believe God’s promises. It’s actually in their mouths and in their hearts — it’s the very Gospel itself! The Gospel is truly the saving power of God to those who believe (Romans 1:16-17).

FOUR BLESSINGS OF SALVATION

  1. RECONCILIATION with God. (Romans 1:18-20; 3:19, 21-22; 5:1-2, 10-11) – The Bible clearly teaches us that we are all guilty of sin and are therefore separated from God. There is nothing we can do to remedy this. We do not have the power to bring about our own forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Many have tried but all have failed. Only God has the power to forgive us completely through Jesus Christ.
  2. ELEVATION with Christ. (Romans 5:18-20; 6:4-7; 11, 14) – Aside from being separated from God, we are all slaves to sin. We cannot help but sin. We cannot escape it. This is the reason why we are called sinners (i.e. we sin because we are sinners). No matter how hard we try, we will always commit sin. We can never be righteous in the eyes of God. The amazing thing is that through the Gospel, we can be declared righteous, holy, and blameless. Only God has the power to change our status from sinners to saints.
  3. TRANSFORMATION through the Holy Spirit. (Romans 7:21-25; 8:1-2, 10-11) – Because we are sinners by nature, we live self-centered lives. We cannot live in love. We cannot fulfill God’s purpose for us which is to reflect Him in the world. In other words, we are powerless to change our basic nature or character. But only God has the power to transform our lives and enable us to fulfill His calling, which is to reflect His love and goodness in the world.
  4. RESTORATION with the rest of creation. (Romans 8:18-21, 22-25, 28-30) – Because of sin, we are objects of God’s wrath. Death is our eternal destiny. We will be sentenced to eternal punishment on judgment day together with Satan and all those who follow him. There’s nothing we can do to escape it. But only God has the power to completely rescue us and restore us together with the rest of creation. He alone has the power to make a new world where there will be no more death and suffering and we will be in it.

CONCLUSION

  1. Only GOD’S POWER can SAVE us COMPLETELY.
  2. There’s nothing we can do to save ourselves.
  3. But by believing in the Gospel, we can experience the FULL POWER OF GOD!

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  1. Which of the four blessings of salvation do you want to experience right now?
  2. Why is faith important to experience it?
  3. How will you exercise faith to experience it from here on?

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