WEEK ONE THEOLOGY V: SALVATION - Grace Community Church

THEOLOGY V: SALVATIONWEEK ONE

WK3TH V - Week 3_Standard - May 3, 2015

SCHEDULE

4/20 Introduction to Soteriology; Predestination

4/27 Salvation - Regeneration & Conversion - Reading - Grudem ch. 32 (669-688); 34 (699-706); 35 (709-718)

5/4 Salvation - Sanctification & Glorification - Reading - Grudem ch. 36 (722-733); 38 (746-759); 40 (788-807) - Reflection Paper 1

2TH V - Week 3_Standard - May 3, 2015

SCHEDULE5/11 Nature & Birth of the Church Reading - Dever, ch. 1-4; Grudem, ch. 47 (904-945); 48 (950-963)

5/18 Organization & Ordinances of the Church Reading - Dever, ch. 5-8 Reflection Paper 2

5/25 MEMORIAL DAY - No Class

6/1 Worship in the Church. Reading - Grudem, ch. 49 (966-984); 50 (988-999); 51 (1003-1013)


OUR SALVATIONREDEMPTION APPLIED

TH V - Week 3_Standard - May 3, 2015

SOTERIOLOGY: THE APPLICATION OF THE WORK THAT CHRIST ACCOMPLISHED ACCORDING TO GOD’S PLAN FOR HIS OWN GLORY.


GOD CHOOSESIN HISTORY TO BRING ABOUT HIS PURPOSES, NOT NECESSARILY TO SALVATION ‣ SAUL AS KING (1 SAM 9:17) ‣ JEREMIAH AS PROPHET (JER 1:5) ‣ JESUS CHOOSE 12 DISCIPLES (LUKE

6:13) ‣ ISRAEL - (DEUT 4:37; 7:6)


GOD CHOOSES ISRAEL

NOT BASED ON MERIT ‣ Deut 7:6 ¶ “For you are a people holy to the LORD your

God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be pa people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

‣ Deut 7:7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,


GOD CHOOSES ISRAEL

NOT TOWARD SALVATION ‣ ISAIAH 1:1-17


PREDESTINATIONHAMARTIOLOGY’S CONNECTION ‣ Both Adam’s guilt and Adam’s corruption are

imputed to every one of his offspring. ‣ The nature of sin is such that everyone is dead in

their trespasses. That means that every human is by nature dead in sin and fully under the wrath of God.

‣ Our sinful natures lead us to hate God and hate the light. So, everyone, of their own will and nature hates God and His light.


PREDESTINATION

Therefore, we see that our understanding of Hamartiology demands that if anyone will be saved, predestination must be true. Because all men are born dead in sin, in order to save anyone, God must freely choose whom to save


PREDESTINATION

Acts 13:48 ¶ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

1 Pet 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, ¶ To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,


PREDESTINATIONEph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— Eph 2:6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph 2:7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, Eph 2:9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.


PREDESTINATION2 Tim 1:8 ¶ Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, 2 Tim 1:9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 2 Tim 1:10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,


PREDESTINATIONRev 13:8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

Rev 17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.


PREDESTINATIONRom 11:5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. Rom 11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.


REPROBATION Double predestination is the doctrine that God not only predestines those whom He will save, but those who will be damned.

R.C. Sproul points out: “It is manifestly obvious that if some people are elect and some are not elect, then predestination has two sides to it… [predestination] must be double in some sense.”


REPROBATIONAs most understand it, double predestination is the doctrine that God predestines the damned in the same way and with the same involvement as he does the elect.

Double predestination states that “God is [just] as active in keeping the reprobate out of heaven as He is in getting the elect in.” The key text for double predestination is Romans 9:18…


REPROBATION

ROMANS 9:6-24

ROMANS 9:30-33


PAUL’S ATTITUDERom 9:1 ¶ I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— Rom 9:2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. Rom 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Rom 9:4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. Rom 9:5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.


THE FAILURE OF GOD?Rom 9:6 ¶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, Rom 9:7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” Rom 9:8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. Rom 9:9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”


THE FAILURE OF GOD?Rom 9:10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, Rom 9:11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— Rom 9:12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Rom 9:13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”


THE INJUSTICE OF GOD?Rom 9:14 ¶ What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! Rom 9:15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” Rom 9:16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. Rom 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Rom 9:18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.


WHO ARE YOU, O MAN?Rom 9:19 ¶ You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” Rom 9:20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Rom 9:21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?


WHO ARE YOU, O MAN?Rom 9:22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, Rom 9:23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—Rom 9:24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?


SUPPORTING REPROBATION

Based primarily on Romans 9, the following arguments are put forth in support of double predestination:

1. God “hardens whomever He wills.”



2. The statement that God “has mercy on whomever He wills” is parallel to “hardens whomever He wills.” This implies that in the same way God has mercy on whomever He will, God hardens whomever He wills.



3. Both the vessel of mercy and the vessel of wrath are taken from the same lump of clay.


SUPPORTING REPROBATION4. God’s predestination of Jacob was before birth, and along with that election came the reprobation of Esau, also before birth.

-Jacob was destined to salvation before he was born, Esau was destined to damnation before he was born.

-The decision that God made is explicitly said to have been “before either had done anything good or evil.” Thus, God could not have based his decree on Esau hardening his own heart.



5. The statement in Romans 11:7 that “The elect obtained it and the rest were hardened,” makes another parallel between the elect and the non-elect.


REFUTING REPROBATION1. Although Romans 9:18 states that God hardens whomever he wills, this does not mean that God’s choice to harden has no connection to Pharaoh’s sin.

-Pharaoh hardened his own heart several times before God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.


REFUTING REPROBATION 2. While the statement “He will have mercy on whomever He wills” is parallel to “He hardens whomever He wills,” that does not mean they are identical.

-Not spoken before creation, but in the context of a fallen world


REFUTING REPROBATION

3. God forms from a sinful, fallen lump. God can take one piece and prepare dishonorable vessels, He can take another lump and make honorable vessels, He can take another and destroy it because it is all destined to damnation already.



4. Making emphatic that election is not because of works.

-Paul’s point in saying that it was “Before either had done anything good or evil” is to insist that Jacob did not merit God’s election.



5. God did not say, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” before Jacob and Esau were born. Paul quotes Malachi 1:2 to confirm that the “older shall serve the younger” came about according to God’s purpose in election.



6. Romans 11:7 does in fact indicate a parallel between the saved and the damned. God is active in both. God does not just “pass over” the non-elect. He actively hardens them.

-Is God active the same way?


REFUTING REPROBATION 7. God’s mercy is the basis of election and not works.

-If double predestination were being argued for in Romans 9, we would expect a statement along the lines of “Damnation does not depend on human rebellion or sin, but on God, who has wrath.”



8. Romans 9:31-32 “Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.”

-Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone.”


HOMEWORK

REFLECTION PAPER ‣ How does Humans Depravity Relate to

Predestination ‣ What is the doctrine of Predestination? ‣ What is the best argument for and against

Reprobation?


REGENERATION


THE ORDO SALUTIS 1. ELECTION (God’s choice of people to be saved) 2. THE EFFECTUAL CALL (proclaiming the

message of the gospel) 3. REGENERATION (being born again) 4. CONVERSION (faith and repentance) 5. JUSTIFICATION (right legal standing) 6. ADOPTION (membership in God’s family) 7. SANCTIFICATION (right conduct of life) 8. PERSEVERANCE (remaining a Christian) 9. GLORIFICATION (receiving a resurrection body)

41Grudem, Systematic Theology, 669.TH V - Week 3_Standard - May 3, 2015

REGENERATION

THE ACT OF GOD GIVING US SPIRITUAL LIFE


JOHN 3:1-8John 3:1 ¶ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. John 3:2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”


JOHN 3:1-8John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”


JOHN 3:1-8

Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. This means that in order to have eternal life, we must be born of the Spirit.

From this we can define regeneration simply as the instantaneous act of God in which He imparts spiritual life.


JOHN 1:12-13

John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God..


EPHESIANS 2:4-5, 8Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,


CONVERSION

John 3:16 ¶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Acts 16:31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”


CONVERSIONRom 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

1 John 5:1 ¶ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.


CONVERSION

1 Thess 1:9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 1 Thess 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.


CONVERSION

Matt 13:44 ¶ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matt 13:45 ¶ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,


CONVERSIONGenuine faith, or saving faith, is the only requirement for conversion. And genuine faith is the kind of faith that builds its house upon the rock of obedience, that turns from sinful idolatry to God, and that treasures Christ so highly it is willing to sell everything just to gain Him. Any faith that does not do these things is not genuine faith, but dead faith.


JUSTIFICATION

Justification is God’s legal declaration that we are righteous in His sight. God justifies us and on the basis of that justification we are given access to heaven.


JUSTIFICATION2 Cor 5:18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 2 Cor 5:19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.


JUSTIFICATION

So, on the cross, God imputed to Christ all the sins of all the people who would ever believe in Him, and treated Christ as though those sins were His own. And when we are justified, God takes the complete and perfect righteousness of Christ and imputes to us. This is the doctrine of substitution.


JUSTIFICATION

Romans 4:1-8 – Both Abraham and David were justified by their faith.


JUSTIFICATION

Gal 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.


HOMEWORK

REFLECTION PAPER • What is Regeneration? • Describe the Relationship between

Regeneration and Faith. • How is God both the just and the justifier of

the one who has faith?


THEOLOGY V: SANCTIFICATION


SANCTIFICATIONEzek 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. Ezek 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ezek 36:27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.


SANCTIFICATION

Phil 2:12 ¶ Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, Phil 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.


SANCTIFICATIONGal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Gal 5:23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Gal 5:24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Gal 5:25 ¶ If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.


SANCTIFICATIONRom 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Rom 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Rom 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, Rom 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.


HOMEWORK

REFLECTION PAPER • What is Sanctification? • How does sanctification relate to your

justification? • Is God sovereign in your sanctification?

How? Or Why Not?


WEEK ONE THEOLOGY V: SALVATION - Grace Community Church

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