The Father In Salvation
The Godhead • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Theme: The Godhead
Hope: To draw closer to God the Father, Son, and Spirit through this study.
Last week we discussed…
God The Father’s Mercy and how he mercifully takes care of us physically and spiritually.
Not because God is required to but because he wants to.
God the Father Is Personal and takes pride in his creation which includes us.
He knows us better than we know ourselves, even each hair on our head.
He wants us to know him on a personal level as well.
Today, we are going to turn out attention to that personal pride God takes in us his creation by looking at “The Father In Salvation.”
As we have already discussed, but should continue to mention, God the Father’s role is of architect and as such determines the will of the Godhead (John 12:49; John 16:13).
So when it comes to our salvation it is no wonder we read passages such as…
John 3:16 (NKJV)
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Romans 5:8 (ESV)
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
I can think of no greater way to demonstrate the Father’s role in salvation than examining this “scheme of salvation.”
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
The word scheme simply means “organized plan” and as such when it comes to salvation and the plan to bring about the “fullness of time” it is most impressive and divine.
With this in mind let us examine our lesson for this morning.
After Adam and Eve introduced sin into the world we find…
God Quickly Made His Plan Known
God Quickly Made His Plan Known
God Never Hid His Intentions.
God Never Hid His Intentions.
Right there in the very beginning, as Adam and Even sit there in their sin, God gives them hope by telling Satan…
Genesis 3:15 (ESV)
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
From this point on God continuously reminded his creation that he had a plan to bring us a Redeemer.
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
From this point in Genesis on the Father would remind his creation that he was establishing a “new covenant” for the redeemed.
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
From this point on in Genesis the Father would remind his creation that he was establishing a “new everlasting kingdom” for the redeemed.
44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
Summary
Summary
God the Father, after the fall of man, could have just set back in disappointment and let us be consumed in his righteous vengeance.
But instead he devised the “scheme of redemption” and reminded his creation over and over that he was preparing the fullness of time for their salvation.
When we consider God the Father in salvation and his plan of redemption we would be remiss if we didn’t mention…
How God Brought About The Right Time
How God Brought About The Right Time
God’s Providential Working.
God’s Providential Working.
The book of Daniel is a most powerful book that demonstrates God’s “scheme of redemption” through providential means when God details how he will use the Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman empires to establish the fullness of time.
And yet it couldn’t be until more recently that mankind could more fully grasp the magnitude of God’s hand in bringing about the fullness of time.
Our modern knowledge of history and ability to combine that information has made it possible to see more clearly many of the powerful and wonderful things God did in these empires to make that perfect moment in time for the Messiah to come.
Let’s take a moment then to see God’s scheme of redemption through the empires he prophesied would be used by him throughout the book of Daniel.
Let’s being by looking at the…
Medo-Persian Empire.
Medo-Persian Empire.
God prophesied that the Medes and Persians would combine to over throw Babylon through three different prophets.
17 Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. 18 Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children.
11 “Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for his temple.
24 “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. 25 And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. 26 This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; 27 Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; 28 Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
God used the Medo-Persian empire in his scheme of redemption.
This empire established a new way of both conquering people and allowing them to serve under his empire.
Before this empire the custom as seen with the Assyrians and Babylonians was to not just conquer but to then disperse the people all over the empire so they could not “revolt.”
Cyrus, the king of Persia, not only didn’t disperse those he conquered but he also respected their customs and religious beliefs.
He allowed them to live and worship has they always had but pay him tribute for his protection, and it is obvious from scripture that God was the one that directed him to this new conclusion.
2 Chronicles 36:23 (ESV)
23 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth…
After the Medo-Persian empire had served it’s purpose and forgotten the God of heaven, God raised up the next empire the…
Greek Empire.
Greek Empire.
Unlike with Cyrus there is no secular nor biblical record of God directly communicating with Alexander the Great but we do know from the book of Daniel God would use him and his empire.
3 Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. 4 And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.
God used the Greek empire to establish a universal language.
Cicero, a first century BC Roman said this, “Greek is read in almost all nations; Latin is confined by it own narrow boundaries.
This language was so dominant that the Old Testament, in 300 BC, was translated to Greek so the average Jew could continue to study God’s word. In fact most quotes in the N.T. are from the LXX.
That brings us to our last empire, the…
Roman Empire.
Roman Empire.
This empire was the largest and final empire prophesied about because it is the empire that would be reigning when Jesus was sent in the flesh to earth.
The only kingdom to grow larger than the Roman empire is the kingdom of God (Daniel 2:35, 44).
The Roman empire was prophesied about more than 500 years before it came into existence.
32 The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
What about the impact it had on the “fullness of time.” There are two specific things the Roman empire brought.
First was security as the Romans military was so successful that it didn’t take long for there to be no one left to fight.
This allowed the church and those like Paul, Barnabas, and Timothy to move safely from one town to the next typically speaking.
Second was the roads Rome built.
In order for their military to easily get anywhere in their empire vast and greatly built roads were made throughout which allowed missionaries to travel much quicker than they had ever been able to in history.
Summary
Summary
God the Father spent centuries ,in the scheme of redemption, bring about the fullness of time when Jesus could be sent for our salvation.
If everything had not been providentially and perfectly done you and I would not be redeemed today.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God the Father loves us and has demonstrated his love for us in salvation in more ways than we can fathom.
His perfectly executed plan is what allows us to enjoy the peace and hope of eternity we have today.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
