Bill Acton :: Acts 4:12 - The Salvation of the Soul

Sermon Outline for Acts 4:12

The Salvation of the Soul

1. From the Natural to the Spiritual
   1. The teaching of Jesus in the Gospels
   2. From the “limb” to the Spirit
2. Salvation!
   1. What is included
      1. Cleansing of our conscience from all guilt
      2. Delivery of our soul from the dominance of evil
      3. The undoing of all that Adam did
      4. The total restoration from our fallen estate
      5. Lifted far above principalities and powers
      6. Salvation crowns us with Christ forever
   2. The way of salvation
      1. The negative
         1. The tolerance of religion
         2. The intolerance of God
            1. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” – Exo 20:3
            2. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one LORD” – Deuteronomy 6:4
         3. The tolerance of liberalism
            1. The many roads to Heaven
            2. The pursuit of the ecumenical
         4. The intolerance of Christianity
            1. “I am the way...” – Jhn 14:6
            2. “There is no other name...” – Act 4:12
         5. A thousand errors can live together
         6. But truth must stand alone
         7. There is no salvation apart from Christ
      2. The positive - there is salvation in Christ
         1. His purity is greater than our depravity
         2. He is almighty God
         3. God the Father has accepted the sacrifice of Christ
         4. God the Father has accepted Christ as our substitute for punishment
         5. The judge is satisfied
         6. The guarantee; the resurrection
   3. The approach to salvation
      1. Confess the need
      2. Believe that Christ is the Saviour
      3. Submit to His process
      4. Trust Him
3. Salvation Is God’s Work
   1. The negative
      1. Not by ritual
      2. Not by self-righteousness
      3. Not by good works
      4. Not by our own will
   2. The positive
      1. By God’s love – 1Jo 4:10
      2. By God’s grace – Eph 2:8
      3. By God’s will – Rom 9 and Rom 11
4. The Doctrine of Sovereign Grace
   1. Grace is God’s blessing upon the unworthy
      1. The least likely from human viewpoint
      2. The ability to change the worst of sinners
   2. Salvation is all of grace from first to last
      1. By God’s choice before creation of the world – Eph 1:4
      2. By God’s will (decree) – Jhn 1:13
      3. By God’s drawing work in the sinners heart
         1. Jhn 6:64-65, 44
         2. Lydia – Act 16:13-14
      4. By the gift of faith – Eph 2:8-9 He who gives the Gospel to believe also gives the faith to believe the Gospel
      5. Man left to himself is an unbeliever and will remain so
      6. Grace continues our believing what God initiates - He maintains what is born of self - will die of self
   3. The Gospel of the grace of God – Act 20:24
      1. Worth dying for
      2. Worth living for
   4. Grace
      1. No goodness can commend us
      2. No badness can shut us out
   5. Grace
      1. Casts us entirely upon God
      2. Carnality is counting on self
      3. Spirituality is resting on the activity of God