The Doctrine of Salvation:
What We Believe About God's Redemption
This is a sermon preached during a series entitled "Doctrine Matters: What We Believe as Baptist" and is based on the Baptist Faith and Message.
Romans 8:29-30 reads:
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Gift
of Salvation (vs. 30)
“Salvation”,
according to the Baptist Faith and Message (Article IV 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. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in
Jesus Christ as Lord.”
To begin, notice
that only those that are predestined are called. This follows
logically from what has gone before. God loved a people, destined
them for Christlikeness, and will now, in time, call them. Notice
also the “he” in each of these phrases. It is God who is doing
this great work of salvation. It is his plan and his action that
brings it to fruition. Note the depth of his salvation. Everything
is accounted for, every need met. From first to last, salvation
belongs to the Lord.
The first gift of
salvation is that those who were foreknown and predestined are
called. This calling is the internal call of God upon the
hearing of the external call of the gospel. The Holy Spirit draws,
woos, summons, and compels the sinner. Calling is taught in John
6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws
him.” And John 10:3, 27, “To him the gatekeeper opens. The
sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads
them out... My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me.”
This call includes
regeneration. The Baptist Faith and Message (Article IV Salvation)
defines regeneration as, “Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work
of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ
Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through
conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward
God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are
inseparable experiences of grace.”
Just as Adam died
spiritually but was called upon by God, spiritually dead sinners are
sought by God, called, and raised to new life in Christ. They are
born again. Paul proclaimed, “But God, being rich in mercy,
because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were
dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace
you have been saved...” (Eph. 2:4-5). Sinners are made able to
hear the gospel and respond. Being born again or regenerated, the
new heart cries out for mercy and forgiveness, is broken over sin,
and embraces Christ for deliverance from the wrath of God due that
sin.
This is God's work.
A spiritually dead man cannot make himself alive, or hear. The dead
cannot change their nature or replace their hard, stony heart with a
heart of flesh. Those who are called respond, and they only respond
because God has already acted upon them. God gets all of the glory
for his amazing salvation. There is no room for man to boast.
There is a
progression in the text. Those whom God foreknew, he predestined,
and then he called. Why? Because he loved them and desired to
redeem them in order that they become Christlike so that Christ would
be adored, glorified, and preeminent above all creation.
In order for the
internal call of God to be heard, the external call of the gospel
must be proclaimed. Sinners must be confronted with the gospel and
the command to repent and trust Christ for salvation. This is why
Southern Baptists do what they do. This is why we preach the gospel,
teach the gospel, visit, evangelize, give money, send missionaries,
develop curriculum, have seminaries, etc. In a word, this is why we
do everything that we do, so that the gospel will go forth. It is
not about us. We as Christians have a responsibility and the
privilege to take part in the wonderful work of God saving sinners!
The second gift of
salvation is that those who were foreknown, predestined, and called
are justified. Justification
is God's declaration that sinners are righteous in Christ and stand
before him as forgiven. The Baptist Faith and Message (Article IV
Salvation) says, “Justification is God's gracious and full
acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who
repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto
a relationship of peace and favor with God.”
This
means that our sins were placed on Christ as he hung suspended
between heaven and earth on that cursed cross and his perfect
righteousness is credited to us. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:21 wrote,
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God.” We are covered, robed
in Christ's righteousness. We are declared “not guilty.”
Imputation is
paramount to our understanding of the doctrine of justification.
Christ is not a sinner, but he took our sin upon himself. Our sin
was imputed or credited to him. We are not righteousness. But, the
righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. A transaction occurred.
Christ took our sins upon himself, bore our curse, died in our place,
bore the wrath of God for our iniquity, and we are then robed in his
righteousness. This means that we are viewed by God as sinless, as
obedient to his law. Everything that Christ did, he did for us. He
lived a perfect life. Obeyed the law perfectly. And then took our
place on the cross in order for us to go free. Hallelujah!
Believers are
acquitted and no longer guilty of all the sin we have committed or
will commit. Why? Because we are united to Christ. God sees us as
he sees his Son. God views everything that belongs to Christ as
belonging to us. What a great gift!
Adam stood
condemned. He could do nothing to alleviate his debt. He was guilty
before a just and holy God. God the righteous judge had every right
to sentence him. But, Adam received grace. God covered their “sin”
with skins of a sacrifice. Blood was shed, something died in the
place of the sinful and acted as a covering. Those whom God
foreknew, predestined to be like Christ for the glory of Christ,
called and regenerated, forgave and justified, are no longer
condemned. We are set free in Christ. We deserve judgment and hell,
but like Adam, we get grace. “There is therefore now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
There
is hope for sinners. God does pardon and forgive those who repent
and believe on Christ. Sinner, flee to Christ. You cannot bear the
burden of your sin. You cannot free yourself. You stand condemned,
guilty before God. But God is a merciful and gracious judge. He
will declare you “not guilty” if, and only if, you turn from your
sin and embrace Christ.
Believer, you may
be assured of your salvation and your standing before God. You must
not punish yourself or feel guilty. You are forgiven. Have
confidence in God, he has thrown your case out of court because you
are covered by his Son's righteousness. He will not punish you for
your sins or past. Christ bore your shame and took your place. So
stop punishing yourself and live in the freedom that Christ has
provided. Learn to live joyously. You are free.
The
third gift of salvation is that those who were foreknown,
predestined, called, and justified, are glorified.
Glorification is the perfection, the end of our salvation. Finally,
it is complete. Believers will be in the presence of Christ, have
resurrected bodies, be completely sanctified, be unable to sin, and
love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. There will
be no sinful flesh, weakness, suffering, or affliction. Just
unending glory and joy!
The
Baptist Faith and Message (Article IV Salvation) defines
glorification as, “the culmination of salvation and is the final
blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.” Salvation, when the
saints are glorified, will be complete. And greater yet, Christ will
be exalted above all and preeminent. Mission accomplished. God's
plan worked perfectly. Those whom he foreknew, he predestined, and
called, and justified, and glorified. No one is in heaven that does
not belong or was not on the mind of God before time began.
What a great
salvation. From the beginning to the end, God put on display his
power, wisdom, sovereignty, love, grace, mercy, justice, wrath,
patience and gave us everything that we needed. He did it all!
Go back to Eden.
Remember the great Fall, the promises, the curses. We see it all
unfold in Scripture. It culminated in Christ taking on flesh, living
for us, dying for us, being raised from the dead for us, ascending
for us, interceding for us, and coming back for us. He did all of it
for those whom God foreknew. Now, we can be assured that we are
saved by God, from God, for God. We follow the chain backwards.
Although we are not yet glorified, we can know that we are justified,
called because we heard God through the gospel and responded, are
being sanctified, predestined because we are being conformed into the
image of Christ, so we must have been foreknown by God.
We are not yet
glorified, but there is something very exciting about our text. All
of the gifts of salvation are in the past tense. Why? Because it is
a certainty! Our God cannot fail. The links in this chain cannot be
broken. It is as good as done. What God began he will bring to
fruition. It will happen. We will have eternal life. Those whom he
foreknew will be glorified. Period.
Christian,
know this, we cannot lose our salvation. If God chose you, he will
see to it that you will be glorified. What happens in between is for
his glory and for our good. It may be painful. It may include loss,
sleepless nights, cancer, and unanswered questions and prayers. But
it will also be glorious, and joy-filled, and awe-inspiring, and
God-glorifying. We cannot lose what God has given. Also, we cannot
out-sin God's grace. We should not try, but we can be assured that
God will kill the sin that so easily besets us and grant us the grace
to finish our pilgrimage.
We have seen our
salvation from eternity past in the mind of God to the distant future
after the resurrection. When viewed in this way, our present
sufferings and momentary afflictions are seen from the perspective of
God's grand and glorious plan. They then pale in significance when
compared to the glory that awaits. We see, dimly, that they serve a
greater purpose. We may not understand everything but we know that
they come from the hands of God and are for our good (Rom. 8:28). We
trust our great and glorious God.
Christians have
hope. Within the context of the book of Romans, we are exposed to
the law, sin, the flesh, suffering, corruption, bondage, and
weakness. Even in this, believers can have hope. Why? Because our
hope is in God and not our circumstances or the world. We can have
hope because we trust his providence and his ability to use all
things for his glory and our good. We can have hope because we trust
his purpose, we trust him.
So,
believer, worship your great God and Savior. Adore this God who gave
you such a wonderful gift. Meditate on who you are in Christ. Think
on all that Christ has done and graced you with. Never stop being in
awe of who God is and what he has done to bring sinners to himself.
Sinner,
you stand under the righteous judgment of a holy, sin-hating God.
You deserve an eternity of his wrath being poured out on you in hell.
But God commands sinners to repent, to turn from their sin and trust
in Christ and his work, his righteousness. We cannot concern
ourselves with the thought if we are elect or not. That is not for
us to wrangle with; we do not know who God foreknew. All we know is
that we are sinful and God is gracious. Humble yourself and turn to
Christ before it is too late.
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