Sermon Tone Analysis

“Salvation is the work of God that delivers us from sin and its penalty, restores us to a right relationship with him, and imparts to us eternal life.”

God accomplished and is accomplishing this work through his Son, Jesus Christ.

The Bible presents Christ as the Alpha and Omega, the first and last of our salvation, and as the author and finisher of our faith.

He is the Alpha of our salvation because he is the foundation of our election in eternity past.

He is the Omega because he will be the basis of our justification in the day of judgment.

From beginning to end, salvation is the work of God and is not found in any program, process, or prayer.

Salvation is a person, Jesus Christ, and therefore, he who has the Son has life.

Tonight, we’re going to talk about all of the different components of the doctrine of salvation, but the starting point, I believe, is

Union with Christ is not one phase or aspect of salvation; it is the whole of salvation in which all other aspects are subsets.

“Union with Christ is really the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation not only in its application but also in its once-for-all accomplishment in the finished work of Christ.

Indeed the whole process of salvation has its origin in one phase of union with Christ and salvation has in view the realization of other phases of union with Christ.”

Paul uses “in Christ” 38 times; “in Christ Jesus” 51 times; “in him” 21 times; “in the Lord” 44 times; and other similar expressions 216 times.

Every aspect of our salvation is connected to our union with Christ.

Election

A hotbed topic.

The NT clearly teaches election - there’s no getting around it.

We shouldn’t let the hair on our necks stand up…shouldn’t start reaching for our ammunition of verses.

A lot of time and energy has been spent arguing over this doctrine…we’re not going to go into all of that tonight…FREE WILL vs. SOVEREIGNTY…as if these two can’t exist together.

By sovereignty, some people jump to the definition - “deterministic.”

Election is by his grace alone.

Election is through his Son alone.

Election is for his glory alone.

Also…this should be comforting to us...

Call

“God’s call is the act of grace by which he invites men to accept by faith the salvation provided by Christ.”

God communicates his call through human instruments...

The Holy Spirit oversees and accompanies the communication of the gospel working in the unbeliever’s heart while the messenger is speaking to the unbeliever’s ears.

Conversion

Upon hearing the gospel and the Spirit’s work, the hearer must respond.

To respond in faith, is what we call “conversion.”

It is the turning from sin and toward Christ.

Another word we associate with this is “repentance.”

“Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.”

“Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.”

Regeneration

“Regeneration is a secret act of God in which he imparts new spiritual life to us.”

The Holy Spirit causes us to be born again…an instantaneous event.

New birth - Old Adam

Justification

“Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in his sight.”

A legal term - substitutionary atonement//imputation

“Regeneration is an act of God in us; justification is a judgment of God with respect to us.

The distinction is like that of the distinction between the act of a surgeon and the act of a judge.

The surgeon, when he removes an inward cancer, does something in us.

That is not what a judge does - he gives a verdict regarding our judicial status.

If we are innocent he declares accordingly.”

Adoption

“Adoption is an act of God whereby he makes us members of his family.”

Privileges:

Relationship with God as Father

LED BY THE SPIRIT

DISCIPLINE

INHERITANCE

Sanctification

“Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives.”

God’s role:

Our role:

Glorification

“Glorification is the final step in the application of redemption.

It will happen when Christ returns and raises from the dead the bodies of all believers for all time who have died, and reunites them with their souls, and changes the bodies of all believers who remain alive, thereby giving all believers at the same time perfect resurrection bodies like his own.”

1 Corin