Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

As we continue our study of the BFM, we come to one of the most controversial subjects in all of Christianity - Grace.

What we are going to do tonight is approach this topic from Scripture and then discuss what Christians think about “grace” in the Salvation process.

The key that we must remember is that the BFM was written by great men of the faith who were on both sides of this “issue” if you will.

Because of this, the BFM (and the Bible, for that matter) supports both sides.

As a church, this is something that we must remember as well because it can be easy for us to automatically get dismissive or offensive of someone who has a different viewpoint than we do.

The BFM reminds us that there is Scripture that talks about this and that we must examine said Scripture.

After that, though, we still might have a different opinion than a brother or sister.

That’s ok! “In essentials, unity.

In non-essentials, liberty.

In all things, charity.”

BFM: Grace.

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners.

It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end.

It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable.

It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

All true believers endure to the end.

Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.

Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Romans 11:33-36

We see throughout Scripture that we are saved by Grace through Faith.

We see that we are sinners and that there is certainly something mysterious about being “drawn” or “called” by God in the salvation process.

There are 2 specific words that are key in this article of the BFM and we will spend the majority of our time tonight on them: election and perseverance.

Election

We know that we are born as sinners.

We are in need of saving.

Regardless of your view on the word “election”, we can all agree that it is a wonderful and gracious word!

We know that God’s election cannot fail.

One of the things we talked about last week regarding Salvation is that if you are justified, you are also glorified.

God’s election cannot fail or “stop”.

Once you are saved, you are saved.

Some denominations believe that you can lose your salvation and that some sins cause you to need to be saved again… That’s not the Baptist understanding of Scripture or Election.

We believe that once you are saved, you are saved.

This is a wonderful truth because it is not up to our obedience but up to God’s obedience.

Thankfully, God’s is completely faithful.

This gives us hope.

One of the reasons that I think the word “election” gets under our skin or makes us feel uncomfortable is because we think that it means that we have no free will or that we cannot choose to do things.

By no means is this what election means (it is what some people will say, but solely off Scripture, this is not what we see).

Whenever a person acts, he or she acts freely.

You have the ability to choose what you will do.

What is important to note is that before Christ, we are “dead” in our sins!

Therefore, before Christ we sin freely and we freely sin.

What we see with the word election in Scripture is that it is a good thing!

It displays mercy for sinners.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly!

This is not a bad term that should be met with negativity, even if you don’t agree with everything about election, it should be a positive word.

WA Criswell (former pastor of 1st Baptist Dallas and a non 5 point Calvinist)) had this to say about the importance of election: “We have a tendency to back away from the word „predestination,‟ to hesitate before the word „election,‟ but not so with God, and not so with the Word of God.

They are words much used.

It is a revelation employed and it is a truth of God, functional, on which this earth stands and by which the Kingdom of God abides forever.”

What matters when we look at some of these terms like election, predestination and chose is that we look at what Scripture says about them, not what our human mind thinks or what our preference is.

So what does “elect” even mean?

The Greek word (eklegomat) means to chose for oneself.

We know that God’s people in the OT is a commonly seen term referring to the Jews.

We know that in the NT this designation refers to God’s people - His family/children.

We see in and 7:6 that God chose Israel.

We know that in the New Testament, God chose certain people to proclaim His good news (Paul comes to mind in ).

We must remember that election is Christocentric - centered around Christ.

Christ was elect (), we are saved through Christ () and election is done in love - not in condemnation.

What are some implications of election?

If you are in Christ (elect), you should act like Christ.

There is a tie between being saved and living a holy life.

We also know that there is assurance and hope because of this term - again, not a bad term.

What does the BFM show about election?

God does not “chose” based upon human ability or goodness.

This is a good thing because none of us are “good enough” to deserve salvation.

We saw last week that there are several different terms to describe Salvation and election is part of that process as well.

A non-Christian is not justified or glorified, they are condemned.

A Christian is justified and glorified.

One thing that the BFM does a great job of is showing how God’s sovereignty and human free will do not contradict one another but rather are compatible with one another.

One of the knocks on “election” is that people will say that if someone is elect then there is no reason to go out and share the Gospel because God does all the work.

That is not the message we find in .

Salvation comes by hearing the Word.

They must respond in faith.

There is certainly responsibility on the part of human beings in this process.

As I mentioned from the get-go, the BFM gives us a generic statement about election that all parties involved can truthfully affirm.

Whether you believe in conditional election, unconditional election or corporate election rather than individual election, you can affirm this statement - again, this is a unified statement, not a divisive one!

There is mystery and tension in election.

We do not have to agree on everything regarding this topic, but we do see the need to be active in missions regardless of where you stand on election.

Perseverance

We made it through the difficult term! Perseverance is something that Baptists are unique compared to other denominations in, however we have a strong Biblical basis of what this term encompasses.

The BFM rejects the negative sentiments associated with “once saved, always saved”.

Surely you’ve heard this statement, right?

What follows, normally?

Well I will pray the prayer and then go off and life a very worldly and self-gratifying life because I’m “saved”!

Nothing could be further away from the truth.

The BFM affirms the strong assurance that Believers have in salvation, though!

Our assurance is not placed in praying a prayer, it is through the power of God Himself.

Because of this, perseverance is every bit as much about the perseverance of God with us as it is us.

We see the trinity acting in this process.

The Father helps to keep us.

We can have confidence that we will persevere not because we are able to do so but because it is a part of God’s nature.

As Peter writes in 1 Peter

1 Corinthians 1:8

We also see that Jesus Christ plays a role in this perseverance.

We see that Jesus talks about His sheep in and says

This is a double negative (no not) in the Greek language which is bad English grammar but only adds to the theological importance.

In Greek a double positive or double negative adds to the magnitude of what was stated.

It strengthens the case of what was said.

In the most strong way possible, Jesus taught that it is impossible for one of His sheep to perish.

We see Him talk about sheep often and in several parables He talked about how a shepherd would leave His flock to find one that has gone astray.