What Does "Salvation" Really Mean? Romans 1:16 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. And again, good afternoon and good to see everybody in for another four programs. We always like to let our television folks know that we do take four programs right in succession, a cup of coffee in between, and that just sort of saves me a lot of driving back and forth to Tulsa as well as our studio class. And then that way we can sort of set up our videos as well as our little booklets. The videos of course are three sets of these four programs for a total of twelve, six hours. And then good volunteers, Jerry Poole and his wife are doing it mostly now. It began with a young lady out in Colorado, and I'll always have to give her credit for thinking of this first. But anyway, all the videotapes are now being brought in to print, and each six hour tape we now have available in a little spiral bound book, and I'm amazed how people are responding to these little books. I would have never dreamed it, but if you're interested why don't you just give us a call on the 800 number, or write to us, and we'll send you out a list of the Table of Contents and the cost and so forth. We don't like to spend any more time in announcements than we have to, so we want to get right back in and pick up where we left off in our last program, which of course is in Romans 1, verse 16 and 17. But before we turn back to it, I mentioned in the last program that the word salvation is mentioned there in Romans 1, verse 16, and even I think a multitude of church people do not really comprehend what all is involved in that one word, salvation. Most people I think think of salvation as just a fire escape, it just means that they're going to escape, go into hell, and they're going to go to heaven when they die. But you see the word implies so much more, and as I mentioned in the last program I certainly didn't have time because I can just about list 11, 12, or 13 aspects of that word off the top of my head, and we're going to do that in whatever it takes this afternoon, one program, two, three, it may even take four, just to define that one word that the Scripture uses, salvation. We're going to start back in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, because salvation is of course based upon the Gospel, and again there is only one portion of Scripture that lays out the Gospel so completely, so clearly, and yet so simply as 1 Corinthians 15, these first four verses. We want to start with that then, that when Paul refers to the Gospel, this is what he's referring to. 1 Corinthians 15, beginning of verse 1 again, we've read it more than once on the program. "...Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel, which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand, that is positionally, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For Paul says, I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received." Now always remember, Paul is so adamant that he did not receive his Gospel from the earthly ministry of Christ. He did not go back down to Jerusalem and check in with the Twelve, but instead he had his own private seminary training with the Ascended Lord from heaven out there on the desert. When he came away from that experience, of course he begins these doctrines of grace, and I've also been so stringent in maintaining that our Gospel has to come primarily from the writings of this Apostle, because he is revealing things that are revealed to him from the Lord after His crucifixion, after His resurrection, after His ascension, from where he is now seated at the Father's right hand. So always keep that in mind. In fact when Hebrews begins in chapter 6, verse 1, and leaves behind the principles of Christ. Now what does that mean? Well you don't just stay there, those are elementary, and you don't stay in the elementary, you move on. I've always used the analogy of our high school, in fact I did in a class last night, of our secular education. There's no way you can go into higher mathematics if you haven't had 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade arithmetic. I mean it's just utterly impossible. But you don't stay in 3rd and 4th grade arithmetic, you move on, building on it. You still can't do math without those simple calculations, that's basic. The same way with the Scriptures, we just keep moving on, and moving on to further and further revelations, and so now when the Apostle Paul comes, and he says that he is referring us to what he has received, well we've got to sit up and take notice. Read on, verse 3 again, "...for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sin, and that He was buried, and that He arose again the third day according to the Scriptures." It was all back in the Old Testament, it was all prophesied, but it was never really explained, no one understood. But now it comes out so plain that when He died, He died for the sins of the world, as full payment for the sin penalty. But He didn't just stay dead, He arose from the dead victorious over sin, and Satan, and death, and hell, and the whole bit. And because He lives, we live. So that's the Gospel, that He died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He arose again from the dead the third day according to the Scriptures. Now while you're in Corinthians, I'd like to have you back up with me to chapter 1, because this is all Paul knows throughout all of his epistles. The preaching of what he calls, my Gospel, the Gospel of the grace of God, the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of God, and that's all he knows. Now in I Corinthians, chapter 1, and he says, "...for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish the unsaved world." To them it's foolishness, it doesn't mean anything, and we'll be looking at that when we get a little further down in Romans chapter 1, at how the world treats this Gospel. But to us who are saved, the Gospel, the preaching of the Cross, isn�t just a ticket to Heaven, it�s the power of God. Now I can�t emphasize that enough, because this flies in the face of Reformers. This flies into the face of the good works people. I had a letter just yesterday almost screaming at me. I mean it was so ridiculous I didn�t even bother to finish it. We have to earn our way into Heaven. Oh, horrors! How can anyone even speak it or think it, let alone write it? There�s nothing we can do but take what God has offered. And that�s what we�re going to be looking at in these next couple of programs, at least maybe even three, the power of God. Now you drop down a few verses in this same chapter, verse 23. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness with all their high level intellectual philosophy. Then they were to believe that this humble carpenter from Nazareth accomplished foolishness. But unto them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ thee, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Do you see the difference? That�s a power that man can�t even begin to touch. This is a power that is extraneous to anything human. It�s a power that has been exercised on our behalf, that we can�t explain except by faith. And that�s what we�re going to see when we get back to Romans 1. But before we go back there, I want to have you look at one more verse back here in Paul�s other letters. Ephesians 1. Remember Paul always writes to the believers, and for the most part Gentile believers. Now we don�t leave the Jew out because there is no difference today between the Jew and the Greek so far as God�s dealing in salvation is concerned. But the Ephesians of course were primarily Gentiles. So he says to these Ephesian believers, and he�d just as well be writing it to us today, in whom you also trusted, in whom you placed your faith, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel that Christ died, was buried, and rose again, of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed. Now what am I always saying? Just stop and think what a lot of people think should be in there besides believing, but it isn�t. There�s nothing else in here except believing. Then he says, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. My what a loaded verse. You know I�ve had people just almost drop their eye teeth as I read this verse, and they�ll say, well this flies in the face of everything that I�ve been taught from infancy. But see there�s nothing in here that can deal with an infant, because an infant can�t believe, an infant can�t understand the gospel. This is something that only someone old enough to understand right and wrong, and that they�re a sinner and need salvation, understand the gospel that Christ died for them. See that? And then after they�ve heard the gospel, they�ve believed it, then God moved in. We�ll be looking at this later again. He seals us with the Holy Spirit of promise. One more verse before we go back to Romans, and that will be 2 Peter chapter 3. Another verse that we look at periodically, because it�s such a loaded verse. In all my reading I very, very seldom see somebody use this verse. I think maybe once or twice in the last years and years of reading have I ever seen anybody refer to this verse in 2 Peter chapter 3, beginning at verse 15, where Peter is at the end of his ministry, just shortly before he�s martyred. Paul�s gospel has been on the scene now a good many years, and even though I think Peter had a hard time comprehending it at the beginning, he still hasn�t really got the full knowledge of it, but at least enough to tell us this much, and account or understand that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. That�s the whole theme of this Book. From the time that man is created and falls in Genesis chapter 3, all the way to the end of this Book, it�s a Book that is trying to bring about the salvation of a fallen human race. In that regard you can find Christ in one form or another on almost every page from cover to cover, because this is God�s main concern, that the human race can find salvation. That�s why it�s done so much. So the long suffering and patience of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, salvation, and all that attends it, in which are some things hard to be understood. Now get back into Peter�s shoes. He was steeped in Judaism, steeped in Legalism, steeped in Temple worship, steeped a little further along in Christ�s earthly ministry, steeped in all the covenant promises coming out of the Old Testament, and then all of a sudden have to admit that God was not dealing any more with the nation of Israel on the covenant promises, but instead He is out to bring salvation to the whole human race, unthinkable. So Peter has a hard time with it, and even here he�s hedging just a little bit, in which also are things hard to be understood, even for a man like Peter, in which they that are unlearned, that is in the Scriptures, unlearned and unstable, they rest, or they twist them, as they do also the other Scriptures, and what�s their end result? Destruction. You know I pointed out to the class last night, how many times you can take a rank liberal, or you can take somebody from maybe even a different religion all together, and they can speak of the Lord, they can speak of the Holy Spirit, it makes you think that they know what they�re talking about, and they know nothing, but they use the right terminology. They can use the right terminology, and that�s what Peter means here, that they twist the Scriptures to their own destruction. Now then, let�s go back to Romans chapter 1, and verse 16 again. We can�t begin to plumb some of these verses. Romans 1, verse 16, �For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.� See that? That Gospel that he referred to in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Corinthians 1, Ephesians 1, and various other places throughout his epistles, it�s only one Gospel, and that is that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again. He said, �I�m not ashamed of that, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that repents and is baptized and joins the Church hardly, to everyone that does good, to everyone who keeps the commandments.� Now why do I stress that from program to program? Keep your hand here in Romans, and go back with me again to Hebrews chapter 11. Drop in your Bible, and look at Hebrews 11. What does God look for first and foremost? Faith, and when He doesn�t see faith, there�s nothing He can do. You go all the way back to Cain and Abel, and I�ve said it here. I imagine Cain was probably a better guy than Abel was. He probably had a more noble personality, he was probably a harder worker, who knows? But what was his problem? No faith. He didn�t believe what God said, but Abel did. Esau and Jacob, I think there�s another perfect example. Esau was probably a better man than Jacob so far as worldly view was concerned, but why couldn�t God use Esau? No faith. He didn�t believe a thing concerning what God had said. No faith. The nation of Israel, what was God�s constant controversy with the nation? They wouldn�t believe Him, and all that He had done on their behalf in the visible manifestation of His power, yet they couldn�t believe. And that was His controversy. He said, �Why did they not enter into their rest? Because of unbelief.� What�s the problem with the world tonight? Oh, it certainly isn�t a lack of technology, it certainly isn�t a lack of education and intelligence and the ability to read. What�s the problem? They can�t believe it when they read it. They can�t believe it when they hear it. No faith. And when there�s no faith, you cannot even get close to pleasing God. It�s impossible. So back to Romans chapter 1. Romans 1. For the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, that has what God is looking for, faith. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Now naturally as Paul began his earthly ministries back there in the Book of Acts, every place he went, where Where did he go first? The synagogue of the Jew. It was a logical place to start, because after all, Israel had been the covenant people of God. They had been steeped in the Word of God. They were the very writers of this Book, and it was a logical place to start. But after about 30 some years, and they continued to reject it, then Paul comes to that final statement, and he says, from henceforth we go to the Gentiles, because Israel as a nation was rejecting it. And so now for the last 1900 and some years, this precious Gospel has been going primarily to the Gentiles. But it's still open to a Jew, but he's going to have to come the same way we do, because again Paul says over and over in the Book of Romans, there is no difference. I've told my classes, I don't think I've ever said this on television, but I've told my classes over and over, we know that from the very beginning of his dealing with the nation, he called out Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. The first thing he let them know, he was going to set them apart. They were going to be a sanctified, set apart nation of people. You get into the Exodus coming out of Egypt, and at the fourth plague, the flies, God says, I'm going to put a division between My people, as He speaks to Pharaoh, and thy people. The first three plagues there wasn't, they all suffered the same. But He says, to prove My power, and to prove My dealing with My covenant people, I'm going to put a division between Egypt and Goshen, and there will be no flies in Goshen where Israel dwelt. And that was the beginning then of this great separation that God put between the Jew and the Gentile, all the way up through the Old Testament, dealt primarily, not exclusively, but primarily with those covenant people, the nation of Israel. But they were stiff-necked as the Scripture calls them, they were steeped in unbelief, and then finally God had to let the Temple be destroyed in 70 A.D. The nation was dispersed, the land was emptied of them, and this is another thing I can't understand our politicians today. Why can't they understand that Palestine has always been the homeland of the Jew? But they sure don't act like it, do they? They act as though the Jew is the imposter, he is what was the term used after the Civil War days, the carpetbaggers and the squatters. That's the way they treat the Jew today, that's his homeland. You can't take that away. But God providentially uprooted them because of their unbelief, but at the same time He uprooted them, what did He promise? I'm going to bring you back again, in My own time I'm going to bring you back. All the Old Testament screams of that, and we should be aware of it, that indeed God is still going to deal with His national people of Israel. But winding up the program now, we've got a little bit left. For the Jew first, and also to the Greek, and then verse 17. Now you know I'm a stickler for language. What does the therein refer to? For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. I think it refers to the word salvation, because that's the primary word in verse 16. So in that salvation, in that all-inclusive Word, is the righteousness of God what? Revealed. Unveiled. Not man's righteousness, not Israel's righteousness, not some denomination's righteousness, but God's righteousness is revealed, how? From faith to faith. That's the only way God can deal with the human race, is on the basis of faith. So then he concludes that statement, quoting from the Old Testament, I think it's from the book of Amos, "...the just shall live by faith." That's what Martin Luther finally came to the conclusion. And again he was cloistered in a Catholic monastery, and then all of a sudden the light shone in, and what did Martin Luther conclude? "...the just shall live by faith." Not by works, not by religion, not by ritual, but by faith. So that became then his great theme of the Reformation, "...the just shall live by faith." I think Christianity has come close to losing it again. We're all wrapped up in works, and materialism, and do this and do that, and a program for this, and a program for that. And we're losing the whole idea that the just shall live by faith. Now those of you who have been hearing me teach over a period of time, you know I have one clear cut definition for the word faith. What is it? Taking God at His Word. That's all faith is, taking God at His Word. Well in the minute or so we have left, let's go back and look at the Scripture's own definition of the word. Go back to Hebrews, and I don't want anyone to ever think that I just pull this stuff out of the woodwork. Hebrews 11, the great faith chapter. Hebrews 11, beginning with verse 1. Now faith is the substance, it's the very core, it's the epitome of things hoped for, it's the substance of evidence, things not seen, things that you can't touch, things that you can't see. There's only one way you can comprehend it, and that's by faith. What does God say about it? Verse 2, "...for by it the elders," that is the Old Testament saints, "...obtained a good report." Now verse 3, "...through faith," by taking God at His Word, what God says, we're settled on it. Now through faith we understand and know that the worlds, the universe, were framed by the Word of God. See that? By the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. We're dealing with the invisible, and the only way we can comprehend the invisible is how? By faith. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer -supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.