Salvation through Christ

July 4, 2010

Lesson: 1 Thessalonians 5:8–10, 1 Peter 2:4–10

Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:9, 1 Peter 2:9

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Introduction

By appointment only! Our salvation rests not in ourselves, but in Christ. He alone is the Author of our salvation. Paul writes to the saints at Thessalonica that “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). Our salvation is best understood by both the place from the darkness (wrath) we have been redeemed, and to the place of eternal life. Matthew Henry gives us this understanding: “If we would trace our salvation to the first cause, that is God’s appointment. Those who live and die in darkness and ignorance, who sleep and are drunken as in the night, are, it is but too plain, appointed to wrath; but as for those who are of the day, if they watch and be sober, it is evident that they are appointed to obtain salvation. And the sureness and firmness of the divine appointment are the great support and encouragement of our hope. Were we to obtain salvation by our own merit or power, we could have but little or no hope of it; but seeing we are to obtain it by virtue of God’s appointment, which we are sure cannot be shaken (for his purpose, according to election, shall stand), on this we build unshaken hope, especially when we consider, Christ’s merit and grace, and that salvation is by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.”

The Spirit reveals this glorious contrast: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). He calls us his own! We belong to our Father in heaven, “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God; Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fit together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:19–22). By appointment only! For by grace we have been saved, through faith. What a wonderful gift of God.

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The Hope of our Salvation: 1 Thessalonians 5:8–10

This lesson is being written while the thunder and lightning and dark clouds hide the sun. However, soon the darkness will be dispersed and the sun will lighten and warm us once more. How quick the darkness came. It will be dissolved until the next storm will bring us more rain. There is a greater darkness, that of sin and transgressions. In Christ, we no longer belong to that darkness: “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.” We begin to understand that moving into the Light of Christ is a matter of life, of living each day as children of God. This new life, this new nature, flows from the acts of God’s free grace whereby we are justified to enter into the household of God, and are given a new name as his adopted children. We are made alive by the work of God’s grace; i.e., Sanctification! Which is “the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness” (W.S.C. A. 35). The grace of God “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 and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:11–14).

Therefore the Spirit clears our eyes to see that “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are enabled to live as Christ would have us to live, “Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” We see this comfort in Christ that he is with us, and in him we are also enabled to comfort one another: “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”

Discussion: How is our hope in the salvation given to us by Christ shown in our daily lives?

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Living Stones, Acceptable to God: 1 Peter 2:4–5

Our heart’s greatest desire, as children of God, is to be with Christ. This desire is shown in our fellowship, service, and worship with one another. We, as children of God, have this greatest hope in Christ Jesus. We are not satisfied with just to walk where Jesus walked, but we want to have fellowship with him. Peter says that we come to Christ as a living stone. Christ was rejected by men. He is rejected today as the Messiah, the second person in the Godhead, whose name was Joshua, the one who took upon himself the sins of his people. Men placed him upon the cross to get rid of him. However, our Savior rose again, for he accomplished salvation upon that cross for us. We come to him, not as the Moslems—who see him only as a poor prophet, but as the Christ, alive, the Son of the living God. We come to him as one who was “chosen by God and precious,” as one who was of the divine Trinity, our Creator and Savior.

Not only is Christ our living Lord, but we are his living people. We come to Christ “as living stones,” being “built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We are first and foremost spiritual beings. In other words we are in fellowship with our Creator, having been given a soul, which has been redeemed, actually and spiritually by Christ our Redeemer. And, we are a house. Calvin wrote,  “For though every one of us is said to be the temple of God, yet all are united together in one, and must be joined together by mutual love, so that one temple may be made of us all. Then, as it is true that each one is a temple in which God dwells by his Spirit, so all ought to be so fitted together, that they may form one universal temple.”

This spiritual house is called “a holy priesthood.” As the priests went to the temple to offer up sacrifices to God, so also, as God’s temple, we offer up sacrifices to God.  Paul writes to the Roman Christians, beseeching them, by the mercies of God, to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1–2). We sacrifice ourselves by placing ourselves before God in humble obedience and worship. This position before God is followed by prayer, Bible study, deeds of love and mercy, etc. We are thereby being sanctified, being made holy in our priestly duties before out Creator and Redeemer.

Discussion: What does it mean to be God’s temple?

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Chief Cornerstone; He is Precious—1 Peter 2:6–8

Peter turns our thoughts to the Chief Cornerstone of God’s building: Christ, the Son of the living God. The words of God the Father are quoted: “Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame.” Not only is Christ the stone upon which God will build his church, but He is the stone by which the whole building will be tested and tried and held together. As there is no other person whereby we must be saved, there is no other Christ by which we must live. He is the only elect Savior of God. And, as He is most precious of the Father, He ought to be most precious to us.

“Therefore,” writes Peter, “to you who believe, he is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone’ and ‘a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’”—“We ought, then, carefully to notice this inference: Christ is a precious stone in the sight of God; then he is such to the faithful. It is faith alone which reveals to us the value and excellency of Christ” (John Calvin). It is Christ alone who is the object of our faith.

Discussion: Why is Christ precious in the sight of God?

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Chosen Generation, Proclaim the Praises of Christ: 1 Peter 2:9–10

We are not like those who stumble, who see Christ as a rock of offense; for we have been elected and chosen of God the Father, in Christ. We have been chosen to be a certain kind of people. We have chosen for a very special purpose. And we have been changed from being dead stones to being living stones. Listen to God’s view of us, who have placed our faith in Christ alone as our Lord and Savior: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

In our worship, praise, prayer, Bible study, witness, everyday activities, we must know these things:

1. We do not belong to ourselves, but to God; for God has chosen us. Our royalty is seen in our priestly functions, our love for one another and God. We are a sanctified nation (people, church); set apart to Christ our King. We are God’s own special people; for we are his because of his electing love and mercy.
2. Our major or principle goal is to glorify God, to proclaim his praises, to tell others by deed and word that which God is as revealed in Scriptures, and what He has done; as the Savior who has delivered out of the darkness of this world into His marvelous light.
3. We take no glory to ourselves; for we are a people who have received mercy, who had not obtained mercy. Nor did we deserve it. For by grace we are saved, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is a gift of God.

Discussion: In what ways can we praise our Lord and Savior?

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Lessons are based on the International Sunday School Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright © 2010 by the Committee on the Uniform Series.