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3.6.24 Foundations Week 8 Pastor Sam Porges · HBCWestminster

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Okay, we are going to continue in our foundations lessons tonight, and we are in week eight.
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Week eight.
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We've covered a lot of ground in this series, and we've got notes coming around.
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If those are helpful to you, take them.
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If not, pass them by.
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But the topic, as Carla mentioned earlier, the topic of our study tonight is soteriology.
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Soteriology.
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So the plan for this series is we're going to continue two more weeks.
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And so next week, we're going to cover ecclesiology.
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What is the church?
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What is our role in the church, right?
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And then our last study will be eschatology, the study of the final things.
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Not just end times, but the final, final things.
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And so tonight, soteriology.
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And as we begin, I'm going to ask you yet again, and this should be our strongest response yet,
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because we've been in this for seven weeks at this point, but theology is for what?
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Doxology.
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Good.
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Theology is for doxology.
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Tonight is soteriology, which is the study of salvation.
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And that was...
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The word comes from the Greek words sozo and soteria.
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I keep wanting to say soteria, but it's not that.
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Soteria.
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Greek is not Spanish.
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They're close, but not the same.
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So, sozo, to save or rescue, and then soteria, you can see it in there, right?
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Soteriology, salvation, or deliverance.
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Now, I want to begin with this question tonight, because I'm just curious to see,
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where we're at in this room, but how old were you when you got saved?
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Six?
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Good.
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Twelve?
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Awesome.
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Twenty-two?
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Thirty-seven?
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Praise the Lord.
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I heard some more over here.
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Nineteen.
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Awesome.
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Awesome.
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Who was, like, five years old or under?
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Yeah, lots of us, right?
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What about five to ten?
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What about ten to twenty?
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I'm in that group.
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That's, man, that's a lot of us.
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Twenty to thirty?
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Thirty to forty?
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Forty to fifty?
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Above fifty?
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Yeah.
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Nice.
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So, let me ask you this.
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When you say, when you're sharing your testimony, I was saved when, for me, when I was saved,
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when I was sixteen, or when I was six, or when I was nineteen, or thirty-seven, what do you mean?
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What exactly do you mean when you say, I was saved at fill-in-the-blank?
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What events happened to get you from not saved to saved?
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And, are there more pieces moving on the board than just moments?
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It's just all of these Here, look at the question.
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In this lesson, as you're interesting yourself in more detail, I want to wear something that
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gives us a piece of sense of simplicity, I'm going to assert the Owen idea.
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We're not meeting at the Eastern Front.
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We're meeting at the Eastern Front in the Eastern Spirit.
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But right now, if you decide to just, just, you know, they're not meeting when you say,
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well, shut the Hell.
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of the events of salvation, but I want to give you a little bit of a disclaimer as we get into this.
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When we think about salvation, the way we're studying it tonight and in this series,
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systematic theology, is just one way to study it. I think it's a good way to study it,
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but as we study, just remember that salvation is a personal living process. It's not so mechanized
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and transactional. I do this for God. He does this for me. I put the coin in. Out comes my bag
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of chips, right? So, let's just remember that as we're going through these steps, and then,
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of course, remember theology to doxology, and so, again, we're going to look at these 10 steps,
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but before we do, I must mention this basic foundational truth of soteriology, which is God's
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grace. Highland, if we are going to talk about
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how people get saved, we have to talk about grace, don't we? Grace is God's unmerited favor
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toward those who are undeserving. It's a gift, and every part of salvation, which we will cover,
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is saturated with God's grace and kindness, and what I love about this topic, soteriology,
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is that soteriology can't, it's like it can't help but become doxology.
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It's illogical. It wants to just praise God. God is so gracious to the entire world
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that one aspect of, in our study of God's grace, is called by theologians common grace,
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common grace, and this is God's grace by which he gives non-salvific gifts to all people. Now,
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what are some gifts that God has given us? God has given us a gift of grace. God has given us a
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gift of grace. God has given us a gift of grace. God has given us a gift of grace. God has given
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everybody, regardless of whether they believe in him.
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Air. What was it? The sun. Rain, right? Matthew, chapter 5, right? God makes the sun rise on the
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righteous and the unrighteous. He gives rain to the righteous and the unrighteous. This is
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simply his grace. What about intellectual gifts and capacities? It's not like believers are the
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only people who can be smart.
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Right? What about moral capacities? Right? Romans 2 says we have consciences. That's a gift from God.
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Or what about creative abilities? Right? We as believers, we can appreciate music and art and
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movies that are made even by people who don't believe because there are all these evidences
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of truth and goodness and beauty that are in the world because we're made in the image of God
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and because God's grace.
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just, I mean, his fingerprint is everywhere. We have social gifts like home, family, and government.
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All of these things are gifts from God simply out of his kindness. And unfortunately, although God
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has been so gracious to the world, John chapter 1 tells us that the world doesn't know him. The
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world doesn't receive him or thank him, and we don't do that because of our sin. And additionally,
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2 Corinthians chapter 4 tells us that the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers
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to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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And so just think about this. As we jump into this order of the events of salvation,
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last week we ended with where we're left in the state of sin, that the world is just in shambles,
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right? We're blinded by our own sin. We're blinded by
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the enemy of our souls, and therefore we are entirely dependent upon God's grace to respond
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to the gospel, to be saved, and to live the life of faith. And so again, as you and I consider our
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walk with Jesus, it's all founded upon the grace of God. And that should cause some doxology to
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well up in us, right? Now, let's get to our ordo salutis. So the first
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sentence is,
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step, if you will, in our ordo salutis is the foreknowledge of God.
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God's foreknowledge is his relational knowledge of all who are his from before the foundation
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of the world. Now, this goes beyond a simple knowledge of future events, like God knows
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things beforehand. That is certainly true, but this goes beyond it. It involves love for those
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whom he predestined for salvation, and for those whom he predestined for salvation.
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And in fact, John Stott, an English theologian, has said that no here is used synonymously with
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love. So it's not just that God knew those who are his, he loved those who are his.
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And think about this, before Genesis chapter one, verse one ever dawned, God possessed intimate
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knowledge of every person. And so God knew those who are his, and he loved those who are his.
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He knew every person who would be saved. Martin Lloyd-Jones, a Welsh evangelical minister in the
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20th century, he said this. He says this, God knew me before the foundation of the world.
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There is no greater ground of assurance. You want to be grounded, assured of your salvation?
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Then take it all the way back to the beginning, where God knew you, and he loved you.
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So that's, if we could say the first step,
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would be kind of the first step. But the second step we have here is election.
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Election. This is closely connected to God's foreknowledge, and sometimes we call this
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predestination, which I'm sure you've heard that word. But the doctrine of election is a
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very difficult doctrine, which is full of mystery and tension. And when we try to eliminate the
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mystery that the Bible has set up, or we try to release the tension that the Bible
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has set up, we end up coming to false conclusions, such as believing that God predestined everything
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in the universe so that the universe is basically a machine. That is not true. Or another one,
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we don't need to evangelize because if God elected people, and there are people in the world right now
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that are his elect, but they haven't come to salvation yet, God can't elect them and that
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not happen. So what's the point of us evangelizing? We don't need to evangelize. We don't need to
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evangelizing. They're going to be saved. That is disobedience, flat out. And so when we think
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wrongly about this idea, we can come to some bad conclusions. But John Calvin, whom many think of
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as the chief predestinarian, cautioned that the doctrine of election must be handled carefully
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so as not to cast a shadow on the integrity of God. We don't want to cast a shadow on the
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integrity of God in dealing with something that is very difficult. We don't want to cast a shadow on the integrity of God in dealing with something that is very difficult.
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We don't want to cast a shadow on the integrity of God in dealing with something that is very difficult. Which, to be honest, we
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probably will never fully understand. And so we would be wise to heed John Calvin's
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advice. And so that being said, let's define election. Election is God's choosing certain
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people in Christ to be adopted into the family of God or, in simple terms, to be saved. That
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definition is not mine. That comes from R.C. Sproul, who wrote that book, Everyone's a Theologian,
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that I've been recommending throughout this series. Before the world existed, God decreed that
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certain people would be saved. And the reformed understanding of election is that it is a free
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choice of God that is not based on human action, but on God's sovereign good pleasure.
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God did not look down the corridors of time, see who would choose him, and then decide to
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elect him. God did not look down the corridors of time, see who would choose him, and then decide to elect him.
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God did not look down the corridors of time, see who would choose him, and then decide to elect him.
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Because in that situation, who gets the glory? We do. Because we made a good choice.
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And so God rewards us for making the good choice, right? That is not the case. Scripture teaches
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that election is based entirely on God's righteous and inscrutable will, and that it results in the
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praise of his glory. Now we naturally have all sorts of questions and maybe even some objections
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to this doctrine, and Hyland, that's okay.
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That's okay. That's okay to have questions about this. It's okay if we feel uncomfortable
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when it comes to this doctrine. But here is a passage that I think can help us understand it.
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If you have your Bibles, open them up to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9, beginning in verse 10,
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Paul writes this,
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And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
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though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of
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election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told the older
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will serve the younger, right? You guys remember that story? Jacob was the younger son, and yet he
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was the promised child, not the oldest son, Esau. Verse 13, as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau
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I hated. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he
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says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have
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compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the
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scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power
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in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
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Then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me
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then, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer
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back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no
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right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for
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dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his wrath, is not
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power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make
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known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory,
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even us whom he has called, not only from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. As indeed he says
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in Hosea, those who were not my people I will call my people, and her who is not beloved I will call
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beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they will be
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called sons of God.
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The living God. Why does God elect? Why does he elect? Because he wants to, right? Sorry, I'm
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trying to fix this here. Because he wants to. It's because of his grace. Why did God choose
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Jacob and not Esau? That was not how culture worked at that time. I mean, the firstborn son
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was the guy. And yet God says, in this case,
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going to be the younger. Why did he choose Jacob and not Esau? It even says this before they even
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did anything good or bad. Why? Because he desired to. It was just his free choice. In the end of all
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of it, God gets the glory. God, or the scriptures always ascribe God with the salvation of men.
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Always.
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It's not like a bunch of people were saved by God, and then a bunch of these other people,
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they were saved by themselves because they made a good choice. No, salvation is always credited
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to God. God is not the author of sin, and I think he does give us an authentic choice to follow him
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or not. And yet, Highland, as believers, we are chosen. We're chosen. Again, there's mystery here.
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There's tension here.
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And the doctrine of election, it's so funny that it causes so many Christians to fight
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when even this passage, and Ephesians chapter 1, says that we have been predestined in Christ
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to the praise of the glory of God. And so we get so distracted fighting against one another,
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and trying to define all these minute details of how God does it, and what about our free will,
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and all this, and all. The Bible teaches that we are chosen, and that should cause us to praise
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God for his grace. If we don't do that, we completely miss the point of this entire thing.
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It's like, it's not getting in, man.
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So,
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this has to turn into doxology, and I'm going to make one last point on this. When it comes to
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election, our job as Christians is not to decide who is elect and who is not.
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We can become very sidetracked in saying, oh man, is this person elect? What about this person? I was
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sharing the gospel with this guy, and I don't really know if he's elect or not. We pour all
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this mental, emotional energy into trying to define who is in and who is out. That is not our prerogative.
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God knows those who are his. Our job simply is to spread the gospel and witness to the truth,
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right? And so, for us, there's a lot here which we just go, man, I may never fully understand this.
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What I do understand is that I'm chosen. God, why would you choose me?
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There was, there's nothing naturally, like, good in me. I'm not pleasing to you.
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And I'm by myself. And yet, you've welcomed me in. And so, this isn't a doctrine we can jettison,
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but it should just well up praise within us. Are you with me on that? Okay. I'm sure you have a lot
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of questions regarding this doctrine specifically, but tonight's not a sermon on election because we
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have eight more steps, okay? So, we're going to keep moving. Number three here. Number three, after election,
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is what we call the gospel call. The gospel call. Long after God's decree of election,
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every Christian at some point heard the gospel and was called to believe in Jesus. And the term
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for this is this gospel call. It's the general proclamation of the gospel and the call to
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believe. This is what Jesus did when he preached to the crowds. He would teach, and then he would,
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I mean, he would preach to the crowds. He would preach to the crowds. He would preach to the crowds.
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I mean, essentially, demand a response. Like, choose what you're going to do with this teaching,
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if you're going to keep following me or if you're going to leave. This is also what happens when
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pastors preach the gospel and call people to believe. What happens when you're talking with
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somebody about the gospel and you call them to believe? You invite them to know Jesus.
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We don't know who will respond and who's part of the elect, but again,
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we're simply going to do it. We're going to do it. We're going to do it. We're going to do it.
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We're simply fulfilling our responsibility to proclaim the gospel and invite people to
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believe. And so just remember those two words when it comes to the gospel call and our
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responsibility. We proclaim and we invite. That's our job, right? It's a come and see
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kind of thing Jesus would tell his disciples, right? Come and see.
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Our gospel call includes basic information, right? If you're going to share the gospel,
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there are certain things you have to include. And we covered those in week three of this study with
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that gospel acronym.
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And then after Easter, when we come back for Wednesday nights, we're going to get to hear from
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brother Alex Kirk about what the gospel is so that we can know exactly what we're supposed
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to share with people when we share the gospel. But what happens after this general call?
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After the gospel goes out, what happens? Can humanity who is stuck in their sin
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rightly respond to the gospel? Can we who are blind rightly respond to the gospel? There's
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only one thing that can make that possible. And what is it? Man, the grace of God, the Holy Spirit,
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right? The grace of God. This is called the effectual call. Gospel call and then the
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effectual call. And this is the work of the Father in which he draws people to himself
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through his spirit by convicting them of their sin, enlightening their minds in the knowledge
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of Christ, renewing their wills,
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and persuading them to respond with saving faith. In the gospel call, the gospel is proclaimed. But
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in the effectual call, the Father allows the gospel to strike a person's heart. This is why
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the gospel call can go out and some will respond and some won't, right? But the Father is allowing
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the gospel to strike a person's heart. Turn in your Bibles with me to John chapter 6, verse 35.
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Small left-hand turn in your Bibles. John 6, 35. In these verses, see if you can find evidences of
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both the gospel call, the general proclamation, and the effectual call, right? Where people are
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responding, where the Father is doing his work. Jesus said to them,
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I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never
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thirst. But I said to you, I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life.
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And I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me
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will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven
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not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me,
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that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
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For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should
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have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
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So,
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the Jews grumbled about him because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven.
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They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
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How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus answered them, do not grumble among
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yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise
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him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, and they will all be taught by God.
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Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
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Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. He's talking
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about himself. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. Okay. Did you see
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evidences of both in there? Both the general proclamation and the effectual call, right? The
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passage that we just read begins with, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger,
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and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
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That's a general call. The gospel is going out. His message of life is being proclaimed,
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and he's inviting them to trust in him. And yet, multiple times in this passage, I mean,
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so succinctly in verse 44, he says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
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And so there's this invisible work of God that has happened in us. If you're a believer tonight,
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it happened for you.
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And for me, where to us, we're hearing the gospel, and yet spiritually, it's like the Father's
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pulling you to him. Like, all right, it's time, right? And so even our faith, our response to
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the gospel is founded upon the grace of God. Even our choice, we can give God praise for that because
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he was the one who was drawing us, right? And so when a person responds to the gospel,
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to this effectual call, right?
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Or this effectual call has happened. But when they respond to the gospel in faith and repentance,
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they are converted. And this is the fifth step of our ordo salutis tonight. It is conversion.
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Conversion is to be brought from death to life, from darkness to light, from sin to righteousness.
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There are two elements of conversion. And I think what's interesting is that we often emphasize
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one of them.
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We're really good at emphasizing that in order to be converted, you must have faith. And is that not
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true? Of course it is, right? Not by works, grace alone, faith alone. But there's another element of
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conversion, which we must also emphasize because Jesus and the apostles emphasized it. I mean,
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it's really emphasized in the entire Bible. But that second element is repentance. It's repentance.
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Both are necessary for salvation. You cannot be saved if you don't believe in Jesus, if you do not
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trust God, nor can you be saved if you don't turn from your sin to God. They go together.
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Faith and repentance are one movement. And so when we're calling people to Jesus, and especially
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Highland, when we're discipling people into maturity, we're calling people to Jesus. And so
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we're calling people to Jesus. And so we're calling people to Jesus. And so we're calling people to
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Christ. We don't just emphasize trusting in God. We must also emphasize you have to turn away from
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this and turn to God. We must repent of our sins. We just studied recently Acts chapter two, right?
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Peter's sermon at Pentecost. At the end of that sermon, it says they were struck to the heart.
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What must we do to be saved, right? Repent and be baptized. I mean, Peter emphasizes repentance.
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Turn from your sin, okay? Now, alongside conversion comes the sixth step in our
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salutis, which is regeneration. Regeneration. Now, someone mentioned the Holy Spirit earlier,
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and they were ahead of the game. They're just going down the track. I love it.
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But regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit that gives life to a dead sinner.
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We studied this a few weeks ago in our study of pneumatology, right? The person and work of the
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Holy Spirit. But regeneration, we call this being born again, right? Being born again. Regeneration
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is this working of living cookie. You sit down at
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the word of the Holy Spirit and you pray for the death. You say to the devil,
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are you really looking to return to that planet?
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I was thinking we should pray for it. I didn't know there was that dart regard.
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lot of transgressions the last time I did preserved because I was properly incognito towards the
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In fact, it does that right. It does that because the law Snapshot said God is the greatest saver.
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God. I don't know if there are foods you don't like, right? With our son Hudson, there's not
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much he doesn't like, I mean, to be honest. But when we first started feeding him, like, real food,
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you know, like, pureed broccoli was just the worst. Like, I mean, he full-on gagged, and I didn't know
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a baby could gag like that. And I was like, oh, oh, like, is there going to be a mess we have to
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clean up? But it was just, oh, I do not want this. For the spirit who hasn't been regenerated,
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God is like that. I don't want him. I'm not hungry for him. But when we're regenerated by the spirit,
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now we're given this new appetite. Yes, I do want the things of God. And that appetite grows and
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grows and grows, right? It's like eating a meal that is the best meal you've ever had and where
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you're never satisfied, right? You're just, man, I want more. I want more.
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But that's what the spirit does in us. We get to experience a small taste of the eternal life we
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will get to enjoy with God forever. We just get to taste it now, right? Look at Paul's description
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of conversion and regeneration in Ephesians chapter 2. Turn with me there. Right-hand turn
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in your Bibles. After Romans and the Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians chapter 2. This is kind of
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the famous gospel passage.
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The picture of regeneration we get here. Ephesians 2 says,
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And you were dead, not just sick, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,
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following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is
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now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our
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flesh, carrying out the discipleship of God. And you were dead, not just sick, you were dead in the
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desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
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But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us,
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even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have
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been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
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so that we may be saved. And you were dead, not just sick, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked,
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so that, this is one of the most beautiful pictures, so that in the coming ages he might show
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the immeasurable riches of his grace in what? In kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
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And then here it is, for by grace you have been saved through faith.
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And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works,
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that no one may boast. Do you see the regenerating power of God here?
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We were all enemies of God, children of wrath. We don't want anything to do with God. And then
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the grace and life and kindness of God just crash into our world. And he says,
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no more. You who were once dead, I make alive. Get up. And I love even that at the end of verse 5,
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it's like he just, he has to praise the grace of God. In between those little dashes there,
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he just says, by grace you have been saved. He can't, he can't wait to get to verses 8 and 9.
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He's got to say it in verse 5 too, right? Man, by grace you have been saved. And so notice just
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how passive we are in all this. It's not, and then I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and
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decided to get my life together and follow the Lord. No. By grace you have been saved. God raised,
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raised us up with Christ. It's not our own doing. This is the regenerating power of
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the Holy Spirit. And again, it's all because of the grace of God.
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Now, as we get to number seven in our list here, we get to a big theological idea
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that sets Christianity apart from every other religion. And it is this. It is justification.
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Justification. The doctrine of justification answers the question, and hear me when I say this.
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The doctrine of justification answers the question, how can I be made right with God?
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And is the hinge upon which all religion turns. False religions will tell you we're made right
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with God through works, but Christianity says it's by grace alone through faith alone in who?
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Bingo. Christ alone. And so the types of God's access to holiness that God has to us,
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So justification is an instantaneous legal act of God
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in which he forgives sins and imputes Christ's righteousness.
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When someone is justified before God,
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they are legally declared guiltless and righteous in God's courtroom
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because Christ's righteousness has been imputed to them,
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meaning they are considered by the judge to be as perfect as Jesus.
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You guys know 2 Corinthians 5.21.
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God made him who knew no sin.
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Who's that? Jesus.
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To be sin for us so that in him, what?
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We might become the righteousness of God.
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Think of Christ's imputed righteousness as Christ paying off your debt
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and then transferring his righteousness
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to your account.
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You're rich in right, like how big is Jesus's account of righteousness?
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It's massive.
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And he just says, okay, now it's yours.
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Being justified before God means I'm viewed just as if I'd never sinned.
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This is why we can say with Paul, rejoice with Paul in Romans chapter eight, verse one.
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Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
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Jesus, Christ took our condemnation so that we can be free.
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And so tonight, for believers, that weight of guilt,
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I'm not talking shame.
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I'm not talking the emotional baggage that comes with doing things that are wrong.
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Regret.
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I'm talking about guilt.
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You know you are not right with God.
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You can let that burden go.
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Because of this, the imputed righteousness is given by grace
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and it's taken hold of by faith.
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And so not only are you and I made right with God legally,
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but also relationally.
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Upon justification, we are reconciled to God.
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Romans five tells us that we were enemies of God
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because of our sin.
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But now in the gospel in Christ, God welcomes us near as friends.
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And so think about this, Hyland.
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You're cool with God.
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You're cool.
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Like there's no beef.
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That's pretty amazing.
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And not only that, but God has also adopted us into his family as sons.
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And Carla mentioned this earlier.
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But it's not with justification.
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It's not just a legal act.
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But God says, no, I'm going to adopt you as a son.
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And that son part is important.
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Because when daughters are given away in marriage,
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they change their last name to the last name of their husband.
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Right?
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But sons never lose their last name.
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And so it's almost like God says, now that you're mine,
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you have my last name.
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And because I've adopted you as a son,
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your last name will never change.
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Ever.
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You're going to carry it around with you the rest of your life.
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And what a last name you and I have to carry about.
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Do we not?
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Man, come on.
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I'm preaching, man.
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Where you guys at?
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All right.
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Man.
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And so when it comes to justification, if someone asks,
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how can I be made right with God?
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I want to have a relationship with God.
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They're asking, just know, they're asking about justification.
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And we can answer by saying, you can be made right with God
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by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
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Now, after we are justified, we're left with this important issue.
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Does God's plan of salvation for us only include a declaration of righteousness,
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or is it also concerned with making us righteous?
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Scripture clearly teaches that the people of God are supposed to be a holy people.
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And this is where the doctrine of sanctification comes in.
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Sanctification is the process by which a person becomes increasingly Christ-like
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through cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
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God is not interested in legally declaring people right,
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and then letting them live however they want.
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No, he wants to purify for himself a people who are, as Titus chapter 2 says,
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zealous for good works.
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Sanctification is an integral step in the process of our salvation.
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Hebrews 12, 14 says that we should strive for the holiness
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without which no one will see the Lord.
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Philippians 2 says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
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And then turns it back to God's grace.
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For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
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But if we don't enter into the process of sanctification,
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we cast doubt on the reality of our justification.
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If we don't enter into the process of sanctification, we never enter into it.
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We cast doubt on the reality of our justification.
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Now, although these two theological ideas sound very similar, right?
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Big long words that end in ation, right?
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Or cation, I guess.
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It even goes back further than that.
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There are key differences which we need to note between them.
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And they are these.
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First, justification answers the question, how can I be made right with God?
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How can I be made right with God?
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While sanctification answers the question, how can I grow in godliness?
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Those are two different questions, are they not?
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Very different questions.
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Justification declares us righteous.
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The process of sanctification is working on making us righteous.
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We're growing in righteousness, right?
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Justification is an instantaneous, one-time event.
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The moment you trust Jesus, you are justified.
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Sanctification, though, is a process over time.
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Justification is the work of God.
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We cannot justify ourselves.
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But sanctification, on the other hand, is cooperative with the Holy Spirit.
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We cannot be sanctified if we obstinately shake our fists to the heavens
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and say, no, I don't want to have anything to do with this.
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Right?
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It's cooperative with the Holy Spirit.
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We need to say, yes.
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The grounds for justification is the righteousness of Christ.
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Whereas the grounds for sanctification,
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is justification and cooperation.
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Sanctification follows justification.
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You can't have one or the other.
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But then again, it also involves cooperation.
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Now, Hyland, as we consider these two ideas,
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and maybe you're like, dude, what's the point?
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I'll give you a point, okay?
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As we consider these two ideas, we must not get these mixed up.
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When we stumble into sin as Christians,
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let me know if this is the experience for you.
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We often doubt the reality of our salvation.
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I've stumbled into sin.
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Am I actually saved?
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Maybe I haven't been made right with God.
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That's what that doubt is communicating.
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That line of reasoning reveals that we think the grounds for our acceptance to God
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is our works.
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Because then when we're not doing the works, we go, man, I must not be saved.
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You see how it reveals that bad belief, a mistrust in the gospel?
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In our hearts?
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If I'm not doing what is right, then I'm not saved.
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Therefore, I have to do what is right.
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That's not justification.
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The true foundation of our justification, which is Christ's atoning work, has not changed.
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And when we sin, you and I haven't lost our justification.
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We've simply stopped cooperating with the Spirit in our sanctification.
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We've forfeited our experience of assurance and faith.
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Now, think about it like this.
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Imagine my wife, Jellica, and I, we get in an argument.
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Do we stop being married because of that?
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We would hope not, right?
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No.
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The marriage isn't dissolved, but is our current experience of unity and peace forfeited because of that argument?
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Yes.
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In the same way,
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when we stop cooperating with the Spirit,
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or we say no,
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it's not like our entire relationship with God is dissolved,
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but we've forfeited our experience of assurance and peace.
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If you're walking in unrepentant sin,
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you should not expect to feel an assurance of your salvation.
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You're forfeiting that.
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You should not expect to feel the peace of God.
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Why?
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Because you're not cooperating with the Holy Spirit.
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You're forfeiting it, right?
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And now, some argue that this process of sanctification,
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sanctification can be completed in this life,
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that a believer can become perfect before death,
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but the scriptures do not teach this.
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The Bible is realistic about our condition.
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Even as a justified, cool with God people,
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we're not perfect.
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However, and hear me when I say this,
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because this is so important.
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The Bible is realistic about our condition,
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but the Bible is not defeatist about our condition.
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Throughout our journey of sanctification,
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we must be realistic about our stumblings,
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about the stumblings of other people,
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but Highland, we must also be grace-centric
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and Christ-centric.
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We show grace to others when they stumble.
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We don't lord it over them.
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That's not what God did to you.
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Why would we do that to others?
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We help each other get up when we fall.
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We brush the dust off and we move forward.
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This struggle against sin will be real until we die.
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But let's not become a defeatist people like,
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well, I'm just going to sin because I'm just human.
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As we talked about last week, sinning is not human.
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Sinning dehumanizes us.
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So let's not become defeatist like,
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man, there's just no victory against this one thing in my life
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that I just can't seem to overcome.
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Like, I'll get halfway up the hill and then I just slide backwards.
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There's no victory.
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The process of sanctification and the work of the Holy Spirit
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in you and in me says, yes, you can.
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You can overcome this.
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God is here to help us.
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He's leading us forward.
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The Holy Spirit is calling to mind the things that Jesus has said.
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We just must surrender.
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We must yield to him.
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Let God have the right of way in us.
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And then we can begin to overcome sin.
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Our sin.
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And so we will continue to struggle.
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But let us have faith, you guys.
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2 Corinthians 3.18.
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Let us have faith that right now in every single one of you guys
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and in me,
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God is working glory in you.
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Now that glory is one degree at a time.
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So it feels like, man, this is taking forever.
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Oh, just wait.
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God is doing it.
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One degree of glory at a time
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until that process of sanctification is complete.
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And one day it will be complete.
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This is the final step in our salvation.
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Step nine in your notes.
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But this final step is called glorification.
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Glorification is the final step in the application of redemption
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involving becoming like Jesus as fully as possible.
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On the other side of the door of death awaits a glorious reality.
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Paradise.
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After our death, we will struggle no more.
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Nor will we be subject to weakness or temptation.
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But you and I will be raised up to the fullness of glorious life.
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I'm going to say that again.
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After our death,
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we will struggle no more.
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Think about how that characterizes your every day.
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We will be subject to weakness no more.
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We will be subject to temptation no more.
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But we will be raised up to the fullness of glorious and new life.
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Glorification is the last link
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in the golden chain of Romans 8, verse 30.
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Those whom he predestined, he also called.
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Those whom he called, he also justified.
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Those whom he justified, he also glorified.
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Believe you me.
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I like saying that phrase because it's kind of confusing.
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But believe you me.
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God will finish what he started in you.
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So don't give up.
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Now, number 10 in your notes.
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This is, it's kind of a final step,
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although it's really present throughout
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all of our Ordo Salutis,
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but the final number 10 step here is union.
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Union.
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Union is simply a saved person's unity with Christ
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which secures every spiritual blessing for them.
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While we toil and struggle now,
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longing for the final day of redemption,
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and as we cooperate as best we can with the Holy Spirit,
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we are subject to all those things,
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suffering, temptation, decay,
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and although Christ presently identifies with us,
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even now, as our groom,
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one day our union with him will be complete.
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And your Jesus, who has longed to be with you
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for so long,
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who has patiently prepared a place for you,
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will take your hand
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and he'll gently bring you into the home
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that your heart has always wanted.
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You'll walk in and you'll know
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this is where I'm supposed to be.
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That home will be better and more beautiful
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than anything you've ever experienced.
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And thus, the entirety of your salvation
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will be complete.
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And so, as we reflect on all this,
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what exactly do you mean
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when you say,
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I was saved at 19?
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I was saved at 16?
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I was saved at 6?
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As you can see, there are so many moving parts
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in your salvation.
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You guys, your salvation is a gigantic,
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trinitarian work
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with the Father electing you,
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the Son redeeming you,
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and the Spirit sealing you.
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Our understanding
49:48
of soteriology should fill us
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with praise of God's glory.
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It should fill us with joy in His grace,
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confidence in His security,
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and hope in His promise.
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You and I have been surrounded
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for a long time
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by matchless, marvelous love.
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And we have so much to look forward to
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for eternity future.
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And so, until you and I graduate
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from sanctification,
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where we're currently at,
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to glorification,
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we act as representatives of Christ
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in this world
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who tell others
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how they can be made right with God.
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Is that not the most important thing
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that they need?
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Of course it is,
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not just for their eternal security,
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but for their life right now.
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We are Christ's representatives
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in the world.
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We proclaim the gospel,
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and then we invite people to believe,
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hoping and praying,
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all the while,
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that God in His grace
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and by the power of the Holy Spirit
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would cause life to begin springing up
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from dead places,
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not only in us,
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but in the lives of those people around us.
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That is what we want.
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Amen?
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Amen.
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Let's be done.
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Father, we are so grateful
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as we consider this plan
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that you thought up
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to come and rescue us,
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to send us a champion
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who would save us,
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to take us from being dead
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to being alive,
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to take us from the kingdom of darkness
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and transfer us to the kingdom
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of your beloved Son.
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What a marvelous reality.
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And so, Father,
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help us
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as we're in the middle of this struggle
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of sanctification,
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I pray that you would help us
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where our spirits are willing,
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willing to obey,
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but the flesh is weak.
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Father, nudge us forward by your Spirit
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into obedience,
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into trust,
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into living a life with open hands,
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into being the people
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that you've called us to be.
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And then remind us, Father,
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of all those steps
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that came long before sanctification
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that you have been working.
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We are seated so securely
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in the palm of your hand,
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and no one
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can take us out of your hand.
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We want to be effective in this world, God,
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not just comfortable.
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And so I pray
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for this group here
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and for all of Highland
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that you would sanctify us
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in the truth.
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Your word is truth.
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Help us to be effective witnesses
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for the gospel
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so that other people can get saved
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and rejoice along with us
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in all this stuff as well.
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We love you, God,
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and we pray all of this
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in Jesus' name.
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Amen.