Some Things Never Change: Jesus Still Saves

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Well, good morning everyone. How’s everybody doing? Alright, three of you are doing great. All right. Praise the Lord. There’s hope for the, we only got one way to go, Brian. Straight up. Okay, well good morning everyone. I’m Virgil Grant. I’m the senior pastor here at Eastside and I’m so excited about today. I have been anticipating this day for some time since we planned this sermon of series of messages I have been praying, anticipating. Today we’re finishing up the sermon series that:

“Some things never change.”

And we’ve talked about how the Bible still speaks and we talked about how the spirit still empowers. And we talked about how the church will always prevail because Jesus is a great promise keeper. And today I’m super excited because I believe that some of you are going to encounter and you’re going to encounter a Jesus that still saves, amen. And that’s the title of today’s message. Would you say it with me?

“Jesus still saves.”

He saves us from our past, he saves us from our sins and our mistakes and our regrets. He’s the one who paid the penalty that we should have paid. And today, if you have your Bible or your Bible out, let me invite you to turn with me to Acts chapter 16. And we’re going to read a story in a moment about a man who when he got up on this ordinary day, it was nothing special. He got up, he got dressed, Josh, he had breakfast, probably a donut and some coffee. And he went off to work and it was just a lovely day. But what he didn’t realize that when he went to work that day, he was going to come face to face with a savior with Jesus who still saves, exactly.

And so man, before he goes to bed that night, he’s going to encounter Jesus. He started out the day paralyzed, if you will, by the fear of his past. And he’s going to be set free from his fears of the future and he’s going to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior. And what he doesn’t realize is that him and his family, they started the day bone dry, but they’re going to end the evening being dripping wet because he and his entire family are going to get baptized. And I believe that some of you that are here today, when you woke up this morning when you got ready to come to church after had your donut and coffee and you’re here this morning and you came in bone dry, you’re going to leave dripping wet. And wouldn’t that be awesome this morning if that happened?

Amen. And we had 12 to do it in the first service. We already have five already scheduled in this service. And I believe there’d be many, many more. And I’m convinced that the story of Acts chapter 16 is a story that we all can relate to. And I believe that God’s going to move in your life, in your heart, and you’re going to experience firsthand that Jesus still saves. Yes, the guy in Acts chapter 16 is a prison warden. When we pick up the story, he is he on the verge of going to sleep because it’s almost midnight and nothing particularly has happened on his shift. It’s been just an ordinary day. A couple of prisoners have been locked up. And these prisoners are unique prisoners because they’re actually singing songs and the prison cell and they’re praying prayers. And these two guys, their names are Paul and Silas.

And the reason they got locked up in prison in the first place is because they went around the streets of the city declaring that Jesus still, yeah, you’ll get this. Eventually a hundred percent participation is coming. I fill it in my bones this morning, he that Jesus still saves and he transforms lives. And so as the clock is approaching, midnight is the prison warden. You have to understand the prison warden. He has tortured these prisoners, he’s beaten them, he’s ripped their flesh. So he’s a little confused of why they’re receiving the beating and the torture that they’re still singing songs and praying unto the Lord. But anyway, it doesn’t really settle with him. And so he begins to snooze, he begins to go to sleep. And as he’s dozing off to sleep, look what happens in verse 26, it says this:

“Suddenly there was a massive earthquake and the prison was shaken to it’s foundations and all the doors of the prison immediately flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off.”

Acts 26:16

And so here’s the warden who is suddenly woken from his sleep because of this massive earthquake. Now notice what he does. The jailer woke up to see the prison warden woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He makes the assumption that the prisoners had done what they had escaped. If you was in prison, is that not what you would’ve done? Absolutely, 100% right. So the prison warden drew his sword to do what? To kill himself. Now let me ask you a question. Why is the prison warden suicidal?

Two reasons you might want to just write these down. Number one, the government required that if you lost a prisoner on your watch, the prize for losing a prisoner on your watch was your own life. So he’s thinking, well, the government is going to kill me. I let all the prisoners go, but I think there’s a second reason. The second reason is that this prison warden has been beating and torturing and ripping open the flesh of all the prisoners as they come into his custody. And he’s thinking all the doors are open, who may be out for revenge, who may be out to rumble, who may be out to even the score, who may be out to release some anger. And he’s thinking to himself that somehow or another that if my boss doesn’t kill me, then most certainly the prisoners certainly will. And so he draws his sword and he’s ready to end it all.

And as he’s ready to end it all, I’m imagining in my own mind that he’s having a conversation with himself. He’s like, you know what? I wish that I could have a do over. I wish that I hadn’t beaten and tortured and ripped open the flesh of the prisoners. I wish that I had a mulligan. I wish I could relive that day. I wish I could maybe relive my entire life. And the reality is, I believe that there’s many of you that are present this morning that the mistakes of your past can be overwhelming to you. And in fact, your mistakes from your past is what keeps you from really worshiping God. It’s what keeps you from really seeing the goodness of God. In my opinion, it keeps you from really raising the roof off here in the worship center because once you’ve experienced the goodness, once you’ve experienced the forgiveness of God, the only thing that you have left to do is to praise God and to raise the roof.

But that’s another sermon for another day. So don’t encourage me at all, okay? So do not do that. But let me just say something to you, some of you, you wish that you could take back all of the hurtful things and the wounds that you’ve caused to other people. Some of you, you wish that you could go back and have a mulligan with your teenage years. Some of you, you wish that you could go back and redeem your twenties or your thirties. Some of you, you like to go back and redeem your years in school where you were cheating all the time and that still haunts you to a great level. For some of you, it’s about the marriage vows that you broke when you committed a sin and you didn’t honor your marriage vows. For some of you, it is the fact that you had an abortion.

And there’s all kinds of questions that you still have about that abortion. For some of you, it’s the divorce that you walked through and you’ve never ever extended forgiveness to yourself. You’ve never reconciled that. For some of you, it’s the porn that you watch secretly on your smart device to bring comfort to yourself when you’re under tension. And here’s the reality is that most everyone in the room has something from his or her past that haunts us, that dogs us, and we wish that we would have a mulligan. For some of you, it’s not in the far gone past, but it’s actually as fresh as last night. And the prison warden is so undone by his mistakes. He says: “I do not want to live another second.” He’s ready to thrust the sword into himself when all of a sudden a prisoner named Paul shouts out to the prison warden and he says, what?

“Stop,” and what does he say? “Don’t kill yourself. All the prisoners, we’re all still here.” Now if you’re the prison warden, would you believe that is the words that you would’ve heard? No. You would’ve probably heard what? Go ahead, kill yourself. You deserve it. But he’s blown away. He didn’t expect them to say that. And these are the guys who are singing and praising the Lord at midnight and they’re still worshiping him. And after the prison warden has tortured them and beat them, and he goes: “They have something that I don’t have.” And look with me at verse 29, the prison warden called for, for the lights to be turned on. He ran to the dungeon, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And in this very moment we discover that the prison warden makes his first step toward letting go of his past.

And notice what he does is that the prison warden, he comes clean and he admits his need for something different in his life, is that he realized deep down that there was something that was wrong in his life. He knew that the life that he was trying to live was not working on his own terms. And the reality is, is that many of you, you’re here today. And the reality is, is that you understand, you know deep down that life is not working on your terms. That you’ve tried everything, you’ve tried different careers, different relationships, you’ve tried different towns, you’ve tried different sets of friends, different social activities. But the reality is that you understand that something deep inside of you is broken and that you need a different lifestyle. You need to change and you don’t know how to get it, but you feel like that you can find it here at Eastside.

So you keep coming back week after week after week after week hoping to find it. And this is exactly what happens to the prison warden. Because notice what he says in verse 30. He says this:

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Acts 16:30

And folks, this is the most important question that you will ever answer. And let me just say something to you for some of you that when you think about this question, you’re thinking about all of your sin. You think about all of your past, you think about all of your mistakes, you think about all the things that you want to hide and conceal. And the reality is, is that the first step is to admit and to reveal the sins of your past. Look what it says. It says this next quote:

“The sin that we want to conceal the most is the sin that we need to reveal the most because there’s no healing in hiding.”

Acts 16:31

And so the prison warden, he asked a very profound question. It’s a question that we all need to ask. And is this:

What must I do to be saved?

And Paul and Silas answers the question and the answer is not long. The answer is not complex, but the answer is very profound. And look what he says. They replied:

“Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”

Acts 16:31

Now, when Paul and Silas tells the prison warden to believe it’s more than just head knowledge is that you understand that head knowledge doesn’t get you anywhere in the kingdom of God because the Bible tells us in James chapter two verse nine is that the devil in his demons believe intellectually in God, but you won’t find them in heaven because why is because the belief and the believing that you need to do has to move from your head and it has to move down how far 18 inches to your heart.

And here’s what I want you to see next is that he comes clean, he admits his need for Jesus. And then what does he do? He humbly believe in Jesus. Now let me just call a timeout. I want you to look at me for the next few minutes, okay? Don’t take your eyes off of me and not only for you, but I want to take this for everybody that’s in the worship center and everybody online, I want you to hone in here just for two minutes. Then you could go back on your phone, okay? There’s something electrifying taking place at Eastside. I mean folks, we had 130 leaders show up yesterday to or leader plus rally as we kick off the new year. Every Sunday for the last couple of Sundays we had 60 plus vehicles parked off campus and we’re shuttling people so that we can make more room. Last week we had over 1200 people in attendance. We baptized eight people last week. We’ve already baptized 12 and got five more in the next service. I mean, we had 21 people last week to go to Life Group for the very first time. I mean, there’s a sense that something supernatural is taking place here at Eastside. There’s something that there’s a belief that revival is about to break out. There’s a belief that there’s going to be transformation in this community because of what God’s going to do. He’s going to show up and to show off. And there’s just something that’s just pulling all of us towards this electrifying atmosphere that we have here at Eastside. But this atmosphere scares me. Let me tell you why, I’m not afraid of the Holy Spirit. I’m not afraid of the movement of the Holy Spirit. What I’m afraid of is there’s some of you that are attracted to East Side, but you’re not attached to Jesus. And there’s a difference. See, some of you, you are around Jesus, but you’re not in Christ.

Some of you are fans of Jesus, but you’re not followers of Jesus. And there is a difference, my friends and my job. My responsibility is not for you to be enamored with Jesus. It’s not my job responsibility for you to be attracted to Jesus. My job and responsibility is to make sure that you have repented of your sins, invited Jesus Christ into your heart, and to ask him to be the Lord and savior of your life. I’m talking about the belief that moves from here to here where you totally trust in Jesus. You believe that he’s the answer to all of life. You believe in his death burrow and resurrection. And because he rose from the grave that we have victory over it all. And that is what I’m concerned about. And that’s what I want to make sure that we are all about. Because once we become attractional, we become to attract people to Jesus. And they’re not in Jesus. We’re in trouble.

See folks, we’re really good at sinning, but Jesus is a better savior. We’re really good at regrets. But Jesus is better at rescuing. We’re really good at denying. But Jesus is better at delivering. We’re really good at failing. But Jesus is so much better at forgiveness. Jesus is just better my friends. And we have to make sure that we are in Jesus and we’re just not around Jesus. And what does the prisoner warden, what does he do? He comes clean. He admits his need. He humbly believes in Jesus. And this was so sincere that it changed his entire life. Look at the next verse:

“Even at the hour of the night…” What hour is it? Someone tell me it’s midnight, right? Say it together. Midnight, it’s at midnight. “….And the jailer….” What does he do? Because he’s met Jesus. “…He’s in Jesus. The belief has moved from his head to his heart.”

Acts 16:32

He’s encountered the living Jesus. And what happens is the jailer who beat the prisoners, who tortured them, who ripped their flesh open, what is he doing now? Someone tell me he cared for them and he washed their wounds. He said he’s caring for them, he’s taking care of them. He’s disinfecting these wounds. And isn’t that ironic that the one that beaten them is now the one that’s taking care of them? You see people, when people receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, then they demonstrate, look at this. They demonstrate sincerity by heading in a new direction. See folks, when you humbly admit that you don’t have it together and you humbly believe in Jesus and you admit that you don’t have it together, then what happens is, is that your life turns in a different direction. The Bible calls it repentance. And repentance is, is that you’re headed in one direction.

Jesus taps you on the shoulder and says: “Hey friend, repent. Believe in me and then start following me.” And Jesus puts us down a new path and this is exactly what happened to the prison warden, is that he came clean, he admitted his need, he humbly believe in Jesus. And we see that he walked in a brand new path, he had a new lifestyle. And let me just give you some examples of what I’m talking about, this repentance thing. It’s not business as usual, if you will. Repentance says, I once beat prisoners and now I tenderly care for their wounds. I once financially cheated people. Now I pay them back with interest. With interest. I said hurtful and wounded things to my kids and to my spouse. I no longer say those things. Now I say words to build them up, to lift them up. I used to not take our marriage vows seriously.

But now because of Christ in my life, I will be devoted to the one I said yes to on the altar many years ago. It’s the student who says, I once cheated in school. Now I will just make C’s and D’s. It is just that simple. Is it a change of direction? Because why Jesus saved them And how did he save them? He died on the cross. He was buried and rose from the grave. And listen to me, my friends, listen to me very carefully. You cannot reach for anything new in your life if your hands are still carrying yesterday’s junk. Let me say that one more time because that’s pretty good. You can’t reach for anything new in your life if your hands are still carrying yesterday’s junk. And I believe that for some of you that you are still carrying your past, you’re still carrying your junk.

And God wants to fill your hands with grace and mercy and goodness and forgiveness. He wants to write your name in the book of heaven. He wants to give you a clean slate. He wants to give, forgive you of all of your sins, you all of your past, present and future. And I just want to ask you a question: Where are you in this sequence? I mean, I think everybody here can admit that you have a need that life is not working out. I don’t think I have to convince anyone that they’re sinner. I think we all can agree to that. But where the kind of rubber meets the road, do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe that Jesus took the hit for you? Do you believe that Jesus is the answer? He’s the death burrow and resurrection. And if you believe in that, then you have to confess him as your Lord, confess that you need him in your life.

And then you have to walk in a brand new walk in a brand new way. And many of you that are here today, you are at this moment in history because God wants to save you. He wants you to know that Jesus still saves and he wants to save you this morning. I just want to ask you to bow your head if you would. And as you bow your head, you know that if you need Jesus or not, if you have never invited them into your heart this morning, you get the opportunity to do that. And the way that we’re going to do that in a moment, I’m going to say the prayer of salvation. I’m going to say the prayer of born again. It’s going to be on the screen. I’m just going to ask everyone to read it with me. But I want to make sure that I include you in that prayer.

I want to make sure that I know that you want to be included. So I’m not going to ask you to stand, I’m not going to ask you to come down front. I’m not going to ask you to meet me in the lobby or anything like that. But what I’m going to ask you to do, I’m going to ask you in a moment to raise your hand. And in the first service, we had two people to raise their hand. And I believe that there’s a lot of people this morning in this service who’s ready to receive Christ as their savior because you admit that life is not working out. You believe in your heart that Jesus is a savior. You’re willing to confess him as Lord, confess your sins, ask him to come into your heart and walk in a brand new way. And if you’re ready to do that this morning with no one moving around, no one leaving, would you just be so kind to raise your hand, leave them up so I can count your hands.

So I’m just going to go around the room. So if you’re here this morning, would you raise your hand? One. Thank you. I see you two. I see you, sir. Anyone else? I see two people, anyone in the risers. So we have two people this morning who’s ready to make Jesus their Lord. And so would you look with me on the screen? And would just everyone, especially those two, say this prayer with me out loud. This is how you start the relationship with Jesus. “Dear Lord Jesus, I believe you’re the son of God. I believe that on the cross you took my sin, my shame, my guilt, and you died for it. You face hell for me so I wouldn’t have to go. You rose from the dead to give a place in heaven, a purpose on earth and a relationship with your Father. Today, Lord Jesus, I turn for my sin to be born again. God is my father. Jesus is my Savior. The Holy Spirit is my helper, and heaven is now my home. In Jesus name. Amen.”

So congratulations to those two. Now, real quickly ask you to look at one more verse, verse 33, then the prison warden and everyone in his household were what? Immediately baptized. Now, I believe that some of you, you need to be baptized just like the eight people last week. We have pictures of the people from the eight people from last week. You need to do that today. And for some of you, you’ve been thinking about baptism for a long time. You’ve heard messages for years now on baptism, maybe two, four, six, or 30. And the question is that many of you’re asking is: why be baptized? That’s your number one question. And I could give you a thousand biblical reasons. I could open the Bible up to Matthew chapter three and say, this is how Jesus did it. I mean, there’s a lot of things that we could do, but the simple answer is this. Jesus ask you to Jesus, ask you to be baptized. And some of you are probably sitting there saying, well Pastor, I don’t know if I want to be baptized at East Side. I dunno if I want to be a member of East Side. Well, we don’t know if we want you to be a member. So we’re in good grace right now. I’m not asking you to be baptized into the church. I’m asking you to be baptized in the name of Jesus, the name which saves all humanity.

But before I give you the invitation to be baptized, I want to remind you of the one who’s making the invitation. I just want you to listen to the one. Jesus is painted in every book of the Bible. How many books are there in the Bible? 66. Just listen to the, this is the person who’s inviting you. This is the person who’s asking you in Genesis, Jesus is our promised redeemer and creator in Exodus, he’s the Passover lamb. In Leviticus, Jesus is our high priest in numbers. He’s our ever present God with a cloud to guide us by day and a pillar of fire by night in Deuteronomy, he’s our coming prophet that is greater than Moses and Joshua, Jesus is the captain of our salvation in judges. He’s the judge and the law giver in Ruth, he’s kinsman redeemer in one and two Samuel, he’s our shepherd king who rushes out to face the giants for us all alone in one and two kings.

He’s our righteous leader in first and second Chronicles, he’s the restorer of the kingdom in Ezra, he’s the faithful scribe In Nehemiah, Jesus is the one who restores what is broken in Esther. He’s the protector of his people in Job. He’s our redeemer and healer. In Psalms, he’s our shepherd who hears our cries. In Proverbs, he’s our daily wisdom. And Solomon Ecclesiastes, he’s our meaning for life. In Song of Solomon, he’s the author of Faithful Love in Isaiah, he’s our suffering servant and prince of peace. In Jeremiah, he’s the righteous one in limitation. Jesus is our weeping prophet. In Ezekiel, he’s the son of man. And Daniel, he’s the stranger in the fire who is with us. And Hosea, he’s our faithful husband. Even when we run away in Joel, he’s the restorer of all that the locust had eaten. In Amos, he’s our burden bearer in Obadiah.

He’s the mighty to save. And Jonah, he’s the greatest missionary in Micah. He’s the faithful messenger in Nial. He’s her strength and her shield and haah, Jesus is her reason to rejoice even when her fields are empty in Zephaniah. He’s the warrior who saves. And hey God, he’s the cleansing fountain in Zacharia. He’s the fountain flowing, taking away sin in Malachi. He’s the son of righteousness who brings healing. And that’s just the Old Testament. We still have the New Testament to go in the book of Matthew. He’s the king of kings. And Mark, he’s the son of God in Luke, he’s the Savior, born in the city of David, in John. He’s the word who became flesh dwelling among us in Acts. He’s the Holy Spirit who dwells in his people. In Romans, he’s the righteousness of God. In first Corinthians, he’s the power and love of God.

In second Corinthians, he’s a down payment of what’s to come. In Galatians, he’s our liberty that sets us free. In Ephesians, Jesus is our righteous armor in Philippians, he’s the joy of our lives. In Colossians, he’s the firstborn of all of creation. And First Thessalonians, he’s our comfort In the last days and in Second Thessalonians, he’s our returning king. In First Timothy, he is the savior of the worst of sinners. And second Timothy, he’s the leader of the leaders in Titus, he’s the faithful pastor in Philemon. He’s our redeemer restoring us to service in Hebrews, he’s our great high priests in James. He’s the power behind our faith. In first and second Peter, Jesus is our living cornerstone. In first, second, and third John, he’s the advocate pleading for us. In Jude, he’s the foundation of our faith. In Revelation, he’s the first and the last, the beginning and the end. The alpha and the omega. He’s the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He is coming again. He’s the son of God, the savior of the world, the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. One day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That is the one who still saves us.

And this Jesus is the one who’s inviting you to be baptized, to admit your need for him to humbly believe in Jesus, to head your life in a new direction and to be immediately baptized. So why should you be baptized? One reason Jesus asks you to be baptized. So I just want to be crystal clear who needs to be baptized? It’s not the perfect one. It’s not the one who is sinless. There’s none of that. It’s the baptism is for the individual who knows that they need a savior who’s confessed their sins, who’s asked Jesus into their heart to be their Lord and Savior. Now some of you’re here and you going to Pastor Virgil, I just don’t know if I’m ready. Well, it’s okay. We’re ready. Well, Pastor Virgil, I don’t have any clothes. We do. Well, Pastor Virgil, I don’t have a towel. We do. I don’t have a change. I don’t know where I would change. We have changing rooms with safe, secure, but I got kids and E-kids, it’s okay. E-kids are going to take care of your kids until we’re through. But Pastor, I wish I had some family and friends. They’re not here today.

You know what, we’ve got a photographer, we’ve got video cameras. We’ll send you the link to the video of your baptism. We’ll send you pictures. All of that is available. Some of you’re going, I got plans after church and I don’t want to go out to eat with wet hair. Well, I think that’d be a great testimony when you go out to eat with the wet hair and they go, what happened to you? You go, I was baptized today at church there’s a testimony, right?

And so you see these ladies down here in the blue shirt, ladies there in the blue shirt. They are part of our baptism team. Some of the other people standing up as staff and leaders. And so we already have five that’s already scheduled, but I believe there’s probably 15, 20 more that needs to be baptized. That’s just my guess. And here’s what we’re going to do. The worship team is going to start, and on a count of three, we’re all going to count the three together. On three, you’re going to stand. Every one of us is going to stand. And as soon as you stand, you take the next step and you go to the aisle, come down, grab one of these staff members, the baptism team, and they’ll take you to the changing room, get you clothing, and then you can come back and be baptized. So here we go. Let’s stand together.