Saved?

SERMON OUTLINE FOR DIGITAL DOWNLOAD

Lesson Title: Lesson Two: Saved?

📅 Date: September 21, 2025

📖 Text: Acts 2:21; Acts 11:14; Acts 16:30–31

I. INTRODUCTION: WHO’S SAVED? WHO’S NOT?

There’s growing confusion and debate about salvation. But let’s be clear:

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Yes — fruit matters. Yes — truth matters.

But our job is not to condemn, but to contend:

Proclaim the Gospel

Live it faithfully

Call people to surrender to Christ

The world desperately needs Jesus, and the church must stay strong at the core.

II. THE ENEMY’S STRATEGY: DISTRACTION & DIVISION

The kingdom of darkness can’t undo the cross — so it distracts and divides:

Through pride, emotion, offense, and pain

It causes us to fight the wrong battles

John 13:35

“By this all will know… if you have love for one another.”

Galatians 5:15

When we bite and devour each other, we destroy our own witness.

Salvation reconciles us to God and to each other (2 Cor. 5:18–19)

III. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SAVED?

Common Questions:

“Are you saved?”

“Saved from what?”

“Saved to what?”

Many know Romans 10:9–10, but few truly understand what salvation means.

Culture wants:

✔ Jesus as friend ✘ Not Lord

✔ Love ✘ Not Holiness

✔ Heaven ✘ Not Repentance

Salvation is rescue from sin, death, wrath, and reconciliation to God through Christ.

IV. THE BIBLICAL PROMISE OF SALVATION

Romans 10:13 – “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Acts 2:21 – “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Acts 4:12 – “There is no other name… by which we must be saved.”

Acts 11:14 – Peter would deliver a message “through which you and your household will be saved.”

Acts 16:30–31 – “What must I do to be saved?” “Believe on the Lord Jesus…”

V. SAVED FROM WHAT?

John 3:16 – “...should not perish…”

Perish – Greek: apollymi = to destroy, ruin, be cut off

Not just death — but eternal separation from God.

1 Cor. 1:18 – “...to those who are perishing…”

THE ROOT OF PERISHING: SEPARATION IN THE GARDEN

Genesis 2:17 – “...you shall surely die (mot tamut)...”

Hebrew: emphatic – “dying, you shall die” = certain, layered death

Spiritual death (immediate separation from God)

Physical death (inevitable consequence)

Genesis 3:23–24 – God drove them from Eden = cut off

Without Christ, humanity remains in this state of death and separation.

SALVATION MEANS RESCUE FROM WRATH

2 Thess. 1:8–10 – Judgment = eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord

John 3:36 – “...the wrath of God abides...”

Romans 5:9 – “...we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

Wrath (orgē) – settled, holy indignation against sin

Not rage — but just judgment of a holy God

Ephesians 2:3 – “...by nature children of wrath”

VI. THE CROSS: WHERE WRATH WAS SATISFIED

Isaiah 53:8,10 – “He was cut off... It pleased the Lord to crush Him”

1 John 2:2 – Jesus is the propitiation for our sins

Romans 11:17 – In Christ, we are grafted in, not cut off

Jesus was cut off so we wouldn’t have to be.

Salvation = rescue from death + reconciliation to God.

VII. SAVED FROM SIN’S POWER INTO CHRIST’S LIFE

1 John 3:4–6,9 

The one born of God does not continue in sin

Sin – hamartia = to miss the mark

Lawlessness – anomia = rebellion, rejection of God’s authority

Practice (poieō) = habitual lifestyle

Abide (menō) = to remain, stay connected (John 15)

True salvation = no longer practicing sin

We are saved into Christ’s sinless life and empowered to live by His righteousness

DIVINE SEED PRODUCES NEW LIFE

1 John 3:9 – “His seed remains in him...”

Seed (sperma) – divine life planted in believers

1 Peter 1:23 – “Born again by incorruptible seed”

When you’re truly saved, the new nature resists old patterns.

VIII. SALVATION IS SURRENDER

Romans 10:9–10

Confess with your mouth & believe in your heart = you will be saved

Key Words:

Confess (homologeō): to declare openly, to agree with God

Believe (pisteuō): to trust, to rely on with your whole being

Lord (kyrios): not just Savior, but Master

Confession is covenant.

Faith is surrender.

Salvation is transformation.

SALVATION IS NOT:

 Saying a prayer once

Attending church occasionally

Trying to be a good person

XIII. SALVATION IS:

Calling on the name of Jesus

Trusting in His finished work

Surrendering to His Lordship

Being rescued from wrath

Being grafted into His life

Living in righteousness

Being empowered to reflect Him

FINAL DECLARATION:

If sin is lawlessness, then salvation is surrender.

In Christ, we are no longer defined by sin — but by the life of the One who conquered it.