2-2: The Doctrine of Salvation
Notes
Transcript
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Bookmarks & Needs:
B: Ephesians 1:3-14
N: Invite card
Welcome
Welcome
Welcome. Palm Sunday.
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Opening
Opening
I touched on this doctrine in my third point last week as we looked at the doctrine of man. This morning, we are going to look more deeply at what the Bible says about our salvation.
3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him. 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, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
PRAYER, pray for Ann Carstensen (Anthony passed away last Sunday: service is 4/16 at 2pm at French on Lomas), and pray for the mission church that we used to host: Albuquerque Indian Baptist Mission and Arrow Wilkinson, her pastor.
At this point, we’ve considered the various aspects of the doctrine of God and the doctrine of man. Going forward from here in our series on our Statement of Belief, we are going to really start seeing overlap. This is because the doctrine of God: who God is (as Trinity and the divine Persons of Father, Son, and Spirit), and the doctrine of man: who we are and what’s wrong with us, both inform every other theological doctrine in some way. This isn’t a bad thing, like I’ll just have to preach the same messages over and over. It’s that we will start to see how the pieces go together. And once we see how the various aspects of our theology go together, we’ll be better equipped to live out our faith both as individuals and as the collective of the church.
So the doctrine that we are going to consider this morning is the doctrine of salvation. In a way, the doctrine of salvation is kind of how the various aspects of the doctrine of God and the doctrine of man fit together. On the one hand, we have what the Bible teaches about our God: that He’s incorruptibly holy and completely “other than” us, morally perfect, completely good, absolutely powerful, sovereign over all things, possessing the knowledge of all things, so pure that He and sin cannot permanently coexist.
Then we have what we considered last week: the doctrine of us. That each of us bear His glorious image, but that we are at the same time radically fallen in every aspect of who we are: our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our spirits. We have seen in Scripture that because of the sin of Adam, even the creation itself is incredibly broken and in need of redemption and restoration. What can be done about us?
And so we arrive at the doctrine of salvation: that this holy God we have just considered has in His mercy and grace chosen to provide a means for His broken image violators to be brought back into a state of rightness with Him. But not only that, He also gives massively above and beyond what is needed for that restoration. Our church’s Statement of Belief reads in Article 7:
EHBC’s Statement of Belief, Article 7: Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.
This morning, we will consider each of these four aspects of salvation.
0) Salvation is only available by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
0) Salvation is only available by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
We must begin here, because we have to make this completely clear. According to Scripture, there is no salvation available to humanity other than through Jesus. This is because of that radical fallenness that all human beings find ourselves in. We are broken at our core, and not only are we unable to be perfect like God is, we don’t even truly want to be perfect as God is perfect. We want control, sure. We want power, yes. We want to be able to be the center of the universe, which would mean that we are God, and God would not be.
So if we were going to be saved at all, God had to take the initiative to provide for us a means of being saved. Not only does He provide the means of salvation, He even provides the work of calling us to salvation, and the catalyst for the work that takes place in our lives once we are saved.
Dr. Malcolm Yarnell III, my professor for Systematic Theology at seminary, tweeted this this week:
“At the heart of the evangelical doctrine of salvation is the free movement of God in calling sinners to repent, believe, and be born again. Jesus correlated all 3 (John 3).”
What we see in the message of the Bible is that God is the sole initiator of salvation: He has done everything that needed to be done for our salvation, He is the One who makes the invitation to salvation, and He is the One who enables us to respond to that invitation by His Spirit’s work. He deserves all glory and praise for our salvation, because saving ourselves is simply impossible.
So there are three things that go together: repentance, faith, and regeneration. I believe that all three things happen at the same time: that at the moment a person hears the message of salvation and surrenders by giving up going their own way (repentance), they place saving trust in the work of God in Christ (otherwise, they would continue to go their own way) (faith), and God creates in them new life and a new heart by His power through the indwelling of the Spirit of God in Him (regeneration). We don’t “do” any of this work. We merely stop “doing” our own thing, and God does the work.
19 I will give them integrity of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they will follow my statutes, keep my ordinances, and practice them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
expand a little
I taught on the Holy Spirit’s role in regeneration in my message on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the first part of this series earlier this year. This regeneration, or coming to life, aspect of our salvation is also called being born again. This is what Jesus meant in John 3 when He said:
3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Regeneration is a gracious work of God. God didn’t have to offer salvation at all. The truth is that we deserve to be separated from Him forever because of our sinfulness. Therefore any offer of any means of salvation that God makes is made completely by His grace (unmerited favor). Only God brings living things out of dead things. And means by which He does this is what Jesus has done. Salvation is only available through Jesus. There is no other way but through Him.
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Because this is the case, I want to explain what God has done as clearly as I know how this morning before we go any further into the doctrine of salvation.
As we saw last week and have already reiterated today, mankind is completely broken. None of us deserve salvation. On our own, we don’t love God. We don’t want God. We don’t think we need God. In fact, we love ourselves and we want our own way all the time. We are God’s enemies. We fail to be what God has called us and made us to be. In short, we SIN. When we sin, we deserve eternal punishment because God is eternally holy. And the Bible tells us that one sin is enough to separate us from God, just like with Adam and Eve. So that’s our state without Him. And it’s a permanent state.
So God gave the means of our salvation when God the Son came in the flesh as a human being named Jesus. As a human being yet also fully God, He lived the perfect life that we need to live in order to deserve salvation. So Jesus is the ONLY One who deserves it. But because of the love that God has for His wayward creation, Jesus traded places with us. We deserve death. He died instead. He deserves life. We receive life because of Him. He is the Savior. He died in our place so that we can be forgiven of our sin, because He’s already taken the punishment we deserve for it.
And after Jesus died, He was placed in a tomb, but He didn’t stay dead. Because of His power, He defeated death and rose again, and He appeared to many witnesses after His resurrection. Then He ascended to heaven, but the Bible tells us that He is going to come back to judge the world, and those who belong to Him by faith will receive eternal life, while those who do not belong to Him will receive eternal death. He is the Lord.
When we hear about our sin and the work that Jesus has done so that we can be forgiven, we have two choices: Repent or not. Surrender or not. Trust or not. Believe or not. There’s no middle ground. Either Jesus is your Lord or He’s not. Either Jesus is your Savior or He’s not.
If you don’t hear a single other thing I say today, hear this: Only those who have trusted Jesus as Savior and surrendered to Him as Lord, those who have been born again through the work of the Holy Spirit—those are the ones who are forgiven and who will live eternally. Everyone else will not. Those who believe will be made new in Christ, born again into a new kind of life:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
This is the beginning of salvation. I want to call on those of you who have never surrendered your life to Christ, those who are not saved, to surrender—to give up. While we don’t earn salvation at all, and we do nothing to deserve it or apply it to ourselves, God will not force us to be saved. You are not here or hearing this right now by accident. I believe that the Spirit of God is at work in your life and in your heart to draw you to faith in Jesus. Will you respond by faith, trusting in Christ for your salvation instead of yourself? This is of first importance.
Maybe offer a small invitation now? Or tell them that they should prayerfully consider their relationship with God and their belief about Jesus for the rest of the service, and that they’ll have an opportunity to respond to the work that God is doing in their lives at the end of the service.
Our remaining points are all kind of intertwined in our focal passage, but we’re just going to look at it in pieces to keep our thoughts organized. These points are all primarily for those who have already trusted in what Jesus has done, those who have surrendered their lives in faith already.
1) Our salvation is historical—it was accomplished in the past in Jesus Christ.
1) Our salvation is historical—it was accomplished in the past in Jesus Christ.
I know it’s kind of weird to say that our salvation is historical. However, we understand this picture when we talk about things like our nation. There was a particular date: July 4, 1776, when a particular people: the United States of America, declared a particular thing, and thus became an independent nation from the British Empire. Granted, we had to fight a war over it, but what day to we commemorate as “Independence Day?” July 4. Our independence was declared in the past… it was accomplished historically.
Similarly, in one sense, the salvation that is offered to us in Christ was a one-and-done kind of thing. In a very particular place called Israel, at a very particular time we call the first century, was a very particular man named Jesus, who died a very particular death on a cross. These things happened in reality past. They are historical fact. Jesus really did die in our place so that we could have eternal life. And what we see in our focal passage from Ephesians is that those who have believed, those who have been united with Christ by faith, those who are as Paul puts it multiple times in this passage: “in Christ,” have had their salvation accomplished in the past.
3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.
We’ll give some thought to the concepts of election and predestination in the third part of our We Believe series. For now, I don’t want us to get too far off of what we are looking at today. But notice what we see here: there’s a movement regarding our salvation before we are ever born. He “chose us”, “predestined us”, and His grace has been “lavished on us.” These are things that have occurred in the past. When we are “in Christ,” we are identified with and recipients of the work of Jesus. The things that He has done and accomplished for us were accomplished back on the cross of Calvary.
For example, Paul tells the believers that if we are in Christ, then we have somehow already died:
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
And how is it that we have died? We have been crucified with Christ if we belong to Him by faith.
Galatians 2:20a (CSB)
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
In this way, two aspects of our salvation were completed in the past by Jesus: Redemption and Justification.
Redemption is being set free from bondage, as if you are a slave. It’s a process by which someone could purchase you for a price, and then turn around and set you free once they had purchased you. Seen in this light, redemption is an incredible gift of grace: there was no way for us to be set free from the bondage that we are in to our sin, so we were destined to be enslaved to it forever. But Jesus came and has set us free from the bondage that we find ourselves trapped in, redeeming us by his blood shed on the cross, taking our place in the curse we deserve, as Paul would write to the church of Galatia:
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.
So our redemption was paid for in the past. The other aspect of our salvation that was taken care of in the past is our justification. To be “justified” is to be declared to be in a right standing before God, guiltless, having all sins cleansed from our ledger, so to speak, because since Jesus was our substitute in death, we receive the ledger of His perfect life. Being justified means that the ability to have a relationship of peace with God has been paid in full by Jesus. None of us deserve it, but our justification was already covered when Jesus went to the cross.
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Both of these aspects: redemption and justification were both accomplished in the past when Jesus went to the cross, and now when we come to faith, when we are “in Christ,” we are seen as having been fully redeemed because of what Jesus has done for us, and we are seen as having been justified because of the wrath Jesus took for us. So that covers the past. What about the present?
2) Our salvation is actual—it is occurring right now in Jesus Christ.
2) Our salvation is actual—it is occurring right now in Jesus Christ.
Just as there are particular aspects of our lives as Americans that were accomplished in the past, there are things about what was accomplished on July 4, 1776, that still play out in our day-to-day lives. We get to live out our citizenry in the United States of American every day.
Likewise, while our redemption and justification were purchased in the past, we get to live out and enjoy the benefits of our salvation day by day by day. This is what I mean by actual: that our salvation is actually being played out and happening in a practical way right now.
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.
Notice that Paul says that we have redemption through His blood: right now, we have it. The forgiveness of our trespasses: right now, we have it. If we are in Christ, we are walking in redemption, walking in forgiveness. both in the power of the Holy Spirit. This process is called sanctification, and it begins at regeneration and continues through the rest of our earthly lives. The Baptist Faith & Message defines it as:
Baptist Faith & Message 2000, Article IV. C.: Sanctification
Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.
While we can’t go back and change the means of our redemption or our justification, we have the blessing of getting to participate in the process of sanctification as we go through it. Our choices matter as far as the effectiveness of our sanctification is concerned. Notice how Paul said it in the rest of Galatians 2:20:
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.
The life that he now lives, he lives by faith in the Son of God. This is an active, day by day, faith that is being played out in Paul’s life.
Are we aware of the fact that we are in the process of being sanctified? Do we notice that we are supposed to be on the path toward moral and spiritual maturity? We didn’t trust in Jesus and suddenly arrive, even though in the historical sense, we did. But now, we come alongside the Holy Spirit and join Him in the work that He is doing of making us more like Jesus:
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient, 7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.
“Put to death,” “put away,” “put off.” These are all words of choice and instruction. We choose to engage with the Holy Spirit in the work that He wants to do of cleaning out the things in our lives that shouldn’t be there in the life of a follower of Jesus. And not only that, but then Paul goes on to explain that sanctification involves putting other, new things on in the place of the old things:
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love. We are called as part of our sanctification process to put these things on every day, maybe even over and over throughout the day, every day. This is the actual work of our salvation. But there is one more aspect that we didn’t consider this morning: The future perspective.
3) Our salvation is eventual—it will be completed in the future in Jesus Christ.
3) Our salvation is eventual—it will be completed in the future in Jesus Christ.
This is the place where my national comparison falls apart, because we have no ability to be confident in what the future will hold for our great nation, because we can’t see the future. Wouldn’t that be nice if we could? Anyway,
When it comes to our salvation, we read the Scriptures and we see that there is a future in store for us that we can look forward to confidently. That future involves us receiving everything that has been promised to us by God because of what Jesus has done, because we are joint heirs according to Romans 8:17. And all of that future promise begins with an inheritance:
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, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in Christ might bring praise to his glory. 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.
We look at what Paul wrote here and we get that an inheritance is something that we receive in the future, but we already have it in Christ. It’s a promised thing, because while it is assured that it will be ours (notice the confidence that Paul speaks of), we haven’t actually received it yet. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us is a down payment, according to Paul—He lives within us to remind us of the assurance of our inheritance in the future. This “eventual” nature of our salvation is called glorification. There will come a day when we will experience everything the way it should be because of our relationship with Jesus: we will know what it is to be without sin. We will know what it means to be fully known. We will know what it means to know someone fully. We will see Jesus for who He really is, in all of His glory. This is an incredible promise that we have the blessing of hanging on to because we are in Christ!
Brothers and sisters, this life is not all that there is. We have so much more to look forward to because of what Jesus has done for us, because of being united with Him. He’s going to come back and take us home, and when He does, we will experience a radical change, and the glory that we have received as a part of our inheritance will be revealed:
20 Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Closing
Closing
To be “in Christ” is to have salvation. It’s being united with Him in His death, His resurrection, His ongoing work in our lives, and His future glory. We are regenerated when we hear the call of God to surrender in repentance and faith, born again into new life in Christ. We are declared redeemed and justified at the moment of our salvation because of what Jesus did for us nearly 2000 years ago We are living out the work of our salvation in Christ day by day as we are sanctified, and we look forward to the day when everyone in Christ will see Him as He is in all His glory as we reflect that glory perfectly in bodies made whole again. What an incredible gift of salvation the Lord has given to us!
Offer that gift to those who have not believed.
Church membership for those interested.
Prayer available.
Giving during invitation.
PRAYER
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Bible reading: We read Obadiah and Jonah this week. Starting Micah today. Read it straight through, one chapter per day, and then on to James.
Instructions for guests
Benediction
Benediction
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.