BFM 2000 Series #5: Grace
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
What is grace? I’ve heard it said that Grace stands for:
God’s
Rewards
At
Christ’s
Expense
This is a helpful way of looking at grace - specifically the grace given by Christ on the cross! Grace ultimately is not something that we deserve in an of ourselves. We could never do something good enough or be worthy enough to “deserve” God’s grace or this standing before God. It’s only through His grace that we are able to do this! 2 years ago whenever we went through the BFM 2000 I shared that this topic is hands down the most controversial in all the BFM and, honestly, in all of Scripture. This is an article that keeps many people away from teaching through the BFM - but, ultimately, as we study tonight we will see that this subject should be celebrated, not corrosive. One of the reasons that this article is such a contested issue is because of the opening word and negative connotations associated with it. What we have to keep in mind is this: labels are divisive. Words have definitions and rather than assuming we know what something means because we’ve heard something in the past, we need to have an open mind to simply look at what the Bible says. Tonight we’ll look at God’s grace and how His grace gives us access to His throne and the ability to persevere through hard times.
Let’s first read the BFM article and then look at some Scripture passages
“Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.
All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.”
Where do the BFM writers, who fall on different sides of the “election” spectrum, mind you, get this idea and definition? From God’s Word.
4 The word of the Lord came to me:
5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!
34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
35 And who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid?
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will,
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,
2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials,
3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
We read in the Bible some difficult words for some. We read that God saves us by grace - not by works. We repent of our sins, place our faith in Him, we respond to His grace - certainly! But we read in these texts that without God’s grace, we would be hopelessly lost in our sins and trespasses. How do we square up this idea of God being in control and we, as humans, being free to respond? Some people can’t square these things up and they get upset whenever the opposing view is examined. The fact of the matter is simply this: We don’t understand everything in Scripture. There are some things that are a mystery to us. This is one such subject - meaning this: Just as we receive grace from God, we have to be gracious to those who disagree with us on this mystery. There’s tension - but the facts are this: God knows and is completely in control and we as humans are all individually responsible to respond to the Gospel with repentance and faith. While it might not seem like this is possible, these are the twin tracks that appear throughout the Bible.
Let’s look at these 2 ideas tonight:
Election
Election
We’ve talked about our salvation in the past and how we are saved by grace through faith in Christ - not as a result of works. We know that as humans, we are lost. We are separated from God due to our sin. Therefore, something has to happen in our lives - we must repent of our sins and trust in Christ as Lord. We must have faith in Him! Wherever one falls on their idea of divine election, we all agree on this. Every human being must repent and have faith in Christ. There are no robots. Missions are important. Evangelism and discipleship are requirements for Christians to share the good news far and wide! No misconceptions allowed tonight as we all agree about these things.
Whenever we are saved - it’s due to God’s grace, not our works. Every time we see the idea of election in the Bible, it’s a positive thing - not a negative one, as it often is in churches today. Maybe you’re wondering why election is a good thing - it’s pretty simple: If our works could save us, our works could un-save us. We looked at this idea last Wednesday night as there are covenantal curses and covenantal blessings. If you disobeyed God’s Old Covenant, you were cursed by God. Aren’t you thankful that whenever you sin, you’re not kicked out of God’s Kingdom? Why is this the case? Because you are saved by God’s grace - not by your works! Therefore He holds you in His hand because you belong to Him. Election is beautiful in this regard.
One common objection to election is this: If God elects and preselects people for heaven/hell then He isn’t loving because what if someone wants to be a Christian but they’re not elected by God?
This doesn’t match with the Bible. Whenever someone genuinely wants to repent and turn from their sins, God doesn’t “deny” them. They repent! As one scholar put it, “Whoever wants to be saved is saved.”
The major objection to election is this: If God just randomly elects people then there is no free will and there is no reason to evangelize or share the good news. We can’t do anything!
This is a strawman and not true based on what Scripture says. We see in the Bible that Adam and Eve freely chose to sin. We know that we act as individuals based on what we want to do. We make these free choices every single day. And for what it’s worth, some of the people who believe the strongest in election Some think of election as a bad thing - consider what the Bible shares. Eph 2:1-3
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins
2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
So before Christ, what did we choose to do? We choose to walk in darkness and carry out the desires of our flesh as children under wrath. That’s not a good situation to be in. We freely choose to sin. Yet, we see the idea of election being a good thing in the Bible each and every time.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,
5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
No longer do we have to choose to sin - God has made us alive. We’re no longer dead in sins, we’re saved by grace. We read in Romans 5 that
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
This illustrates God’s love for sinners - some sinners or all sinners? All sinners! This is good news for every single human and this is why we can tell all people that God loves them. Some say that this is just too Calvinistic - well if you believe in your Bible, you read the word election. Either you believe every word of the Bible or you pick and choose. WA Criswell, not a Calvinist, shared this, “We have a tendency to back away from the word predestination, to hesitate before the word election, but not so with God, and not so with the Word of God. They are words much used. It is a revelation employed and it is a truth of God, functional, on which this earth stands and by which the Kingdom of God abides forever.” Why do we not use words that the Bible uses? Because our human minds don’t always understand what they mean and they make us squirm a bit in our pews or seats. What does election mean in the Bible?
In the Greek, it’s the word Eklegomat = to choose for oneself. In both Old and New Testaments we see the word elect appear and we see that it refers to God’s chosen people. God’s family. God’s children. We’ve been studying in Genesis that God’s chosen people aren’t restricted to physical offspring of Abraham but that Gentiles are grafted in. Therefore, we can truly say that God’s chosen people include people of every nation, tribe, and tongue. We can honestly say that this is for all peoples because of Romans 10 which says
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
So, in our timeline and with our human brains this might not fully make sense. We simply know this: If I have repented of my sins and placed my faith in Christ as Lord I’m saved and it’s not because I’m so special or so good, it’s ultimately because of God’s grace. This is what the BFM article is trying to get us to understand.
“It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness… It excludes boasting and promotes humility.” Being a Christian is a wonderful thing - but it should humble us, not buff us up and make us arrogant. The BFM does a wonderful job of sharing how the Biblical picture of election is consistent with human choice and free will. How are both of these things consistent with one another? It’s hard for us to fully see.
Do you remember our Trinity study? That was a good study and we learned a lot, but we also learned that there’s a lot that we’ll never fully grasp. The same idea exists with election, pre-destination, and free-will. Most people want to stress one or two and neglect the other. Some want to say that some of them don’t even exist! That’s not fair, though. We see both truths in the Bible. We see that God has a chosen people and we see in Acts 2 that we must repent
37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
While we might not all agree on definitions or the “how” of this question, we all agree that this is important and we all agree that we are all called as Christians to go and make disciples. We are all called to go out into the world and proclaim the Gospel
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Perseverance
Perseverance
We survived the difficult topic so it’s all downhill from here!
We, as Southern Baptists, believe that a genuine Christian will persevere and that salvation is not something that can be lost.
You’ve heard this statement, right? Once saved, always saved. It’s a good statement with Biblical truth but it can lead to dangerous paths. Because of this idea, someone might be tempted to say this, “I prayed the prayer, I’m saved, therefore it doesn’t matter what I do or how I live, I’m always saved!” Is that the mentality that a genuine Christ-follower possesses? Absolutely not! We read in Scripture that we are called to live for Christ
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Our life is no longer about ourselves, as a Christian, it’s all about Christ! Therefore, we live for Him by faith each day of our lives - faith is not looking back at a previous decision so much as it is a daily reminder and choice to trust in the Lord and be satisfied in Him.
The BFM shares that true believers endure to the end - they will persevere! This doesn’t mean that we don’t struggle with sin or temptation or discouragement - we do! But what it shares with us is that because of God’s grace we don’t have to worry about Him kicking us to the curb. His Spirit is with us and serves as the earnest money of sorts. It’s God’s downpayment of our future inheritance. God makes good on His promises and, as a result, we persevere because of the power and help of the Holy Spirit in our lives! This is encouraging news!
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
We read here that God gives His children eternal life and that no one will snatch them out of His hand. Jesus is the good shepherd who cares for His sheep dearly. He gave His life for His sheep - surely He will protect us from those who would do us harm.
Think of a time where you were struggling with sin or a situation and questioned your salvation. This happens from time to time in our lives - it happens with every Christian, if we’re being honest - what helped get you through that difficult storm? For many, the assurance of knowing that we belong to Jesus is the hope that gets us through such moments.
Tim Keller once put it like this, “To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known but not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is a lot like being loved by God.” As a Christian, you are fully known and fully loved by the Creator of the Universe! You know that He is with you and you know that He has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore, we are called to trust in Him.
One helpful definition of perseverance is this, “Enduring in spite of opposition.” Did you know that arguably the greatest basketball player of all time was cut from his high school basketball team? Michael Jordan, who would go on to win 6 NBA championships and numerous personal accolades was deemed not good enough to make his high school team his freshman year. Imagine being a basketball player who was told by the head coach that you weren’t good enough to make the team. On one hand, this would deflate you - but on the other, this could motivate you. For some, whenever we face opposition, we fold and we stop. For others, that marks the start of our comeback. We are opposed but we don’t stop - we endure, we train, we try harder, we work longer, we continue fighting the good fight because we know whose we are.
As Christians, we have faith in Christ. While some people believe that you can lose your salvation, again, we disagree. We continue to hold true to our faith. Our faith to God’s Word. Our faith to His promises. Our faith in God’s love.
35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
13 But as for you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing good.
Love one another. Don’t grow weary in doing good. These are helpful reminders for us each day to battle through and let our light shine.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God’s grace is truly amazing. It changes our lives and gives us a purpose day in and day out to bring Him glory with each breath we draw in. While Christians might feel differently regarding the Election/Free Will debate - which has been raging for hundreds and hundreds of years, mind you - what we cannot miss is the truth in Scripture. God’s Word is truth. God’s Word must determine our thoughts, not the other way around. Jesus Christ is the only way one can be saved. Each one of us must repent of our sins and place our faith in Him as Lord and Savior. If we want to argue back and forth about the order in which salvation occurs, we can do that, but we have to get the essential parts right first. You can come down more on the Free Will side or more on the God’s Sovereignty side and still worship with and love brothers and sisters on the other aisle! What we cannot do is this: We can’t say that the other side is heretical or unBiblical. God is sovereign and we are called to respond to Him in faith. We also cannot get riled up in labels and the over-prioritization of secondary theological points.
Labels, by nature divide. They divide churches and Satan wins whenever this happens! I’m willing to say that I’m a Christian and I’m willing to say that I’m a Southern Baptist, but further than that any label that I share will lead to unnecessary division in the body. Therefore, what do we need to do? We need to have great humility with those who disagree with us. We need to live out this expression, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.” Are the specific nuances of this subject an essential to our faith? No. Are they a non-essential? Yes. Therefore, we need to be gracious and offer liberty to those who disagree with us. If someone disagrees with us about the virgin birth, the inerrancy of Scripture, or the empty tomb then we’d say that we cannot worship with those people because we have to be united in those essentials.
As people who have received His grace - share grace with others inside and outside the church. Persevere through hard times. Build one another up and continue to abide in His Word.
