BFM 2000 Salem Study: Grace

BFM 2000 Salem Study  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Introduction

What do you do whenever things get hard? Each one of us have faced a difficult situation in the past, or possibly we are facing one right now. Whenever you find yourself in such a situation, what is your tendency? Some of us are naturally wired to run away from the opposition. When things get hard, we run to something else that makes us comfortable or secure. For others whenever things get hard they try to run through the hard thing as fast as possible so that they can move on with things and get to whatever comes next. For others they slow down and think the situation through and proceed only after making a plan that they feel confident about.
In a world where things are confusing and opposition seems to be all around us, we desperately need to be reminded of God’s amazing grace. I’ve hard it said that grace stands for this:
God’s
Rewards
At
Christ’s
Expense
Ultimately grace - specifically the grace that God gives to us is something that we could never deserve. We could never do enough good things to warrant His grace or enter the kingdom on our own righteousness as we talked about this morning from Matthew 5:17-20. So if we can’t earn it on our own, why is it so hard to accept God’s grace? Because deep down, we always think that there’s more to the story. There’s no way that God could give me grace when I don’t do anything to get it. There’s got to be a string attached - I have to earn it somehow. We make things harder than they should be - and as a result, the topic of God’s grace has turned into a controversial cancer in the church. As the hymn Amazing Grace puts it, “Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” We need God’s grace because without it, we’re hopeless!
The doctrine that should be celebrated instead is often condemned. Article 5 of the BFM has stopped more churches from studying this document than any other article. Why is this the case? Because of negative opinions, definitions, and ideas that people have in their head concerning God’s grace. What we have to keep in mind as Christians is this: Labels are divisive. Words have definitions and instead of thinking that we’ve got it all figured out and mastered - we desperately need to have Gospel unity and individual humility as we simply examine what the Bible says.
Tonight we’re going to look at a neglected doctrine that should encourage us as we remember that we have access to God’s throne and the ability to persevere through hard times because we are adopted as God’s children. May we never take this for granted!
First in article 5 comes election:
“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.”
Wherever you fall on the election spectrum, the BFM statement is something that you can affirm because it rightly emphasizes God’s sovereignty in Salvation and man’s responsibility. Further, any Christian can affirm this statement because it’s taken from Scripture - look at some of the references below the statement:
Jeremiah 1:4–5 CSB
4 The word of the Lord came to me: 5 I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
Ephesians 1:11 CSB
11 In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will,
Romans 11:33–36 CSB
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? 35 And who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid? 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
Ephesians 2:8–9 CSB
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
2 Timothy 1:9 CSB
9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
2 Thessalonians 2:13–14 CSB
13 But we ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, so that you might obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We read in the Bible some truths that are hard for us to fully understand at times. We read that God created the world and everything that there is in 6 days - some cannot grasp that truth. We read that the Son of God came to the earth, died on the cross, and rose on the 3rd day - some cannot grasp that truth. We read that Jesus is coming back and that we will live for eternity in glory with Him - some cannot grasp that truth. Tonight we read about a doctrine that reminds us that God saves us by His grace - not by our works or goodness. Some cannot grasp this truth. So what do we need to know more than anything? Simply what Scripture teaches - we need the facts.

Election

To start with there are some things in Scripture that we’ll never truly understand from top to bottom. We’ll never understand every aspect of Creation, we’ll never understand everything regarding the Trinity, and we’ll never understand fully how God knows and is completely in control and we as humans are all individually responsible to respond to the Gospel with repentance and faith. This doesn’t square up in our brains naturally, at least for most. There’s tension here because these things appear to contradict one another… Yet, these are the twin tracks that appear in Scripture. God reigns and we are responsible to repent.
Wherever you fall on the doctrine of election, and contrary to what you might be thinking there are more than 2 options, here are some truths that we can all agree on:
Every human being must repent and have faith in Jesus
There are no robots
Missions are commanded
Evangelism and Discipleship are Requirements for all Christians
No misconceptions - every Christian agrees about these truths found clearly in Scripture.
Some people get uncomfortable whenever the doctrine of election comes up because they associate something negative with is: Election is only what this group of Christians believe and I don’t like that group of Christians. Or, election makes God a monster and the author of sin and evil and wickedness. God is a jerk if election is true.
Every single time the word election appears in the Bible, it’s a positive thing - not negative. Maybe you’re wondering how this doctrine can be positive: If our works could save us, our works could also un-save us. You don’t get once saved always saved - which virtually every Southern Baptist believes - if you believe that you save yourself by your works or actions. If you could do something on your own power to save you then you could similarly do something of your own power to un-save yourself. Yet we read a promise concerning our standing in Ephesians 1:13
Ephesians 1:13 CSB
13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.
God seals us with His Spirit and He doesn’t remove His seal just because you or I mess up and do something silly. Aren’t you thankful for that truth? In the Old Testament if you disobeyed God’s law, you were cursed. Today whenever you mess up, you aren’t kicked out of God’s Kingdom because He holds on to you. This is a wonderful truth that should lead us to rejoice!
Yet, the objection to the truth remains… Some say this: If God elects people for heaven/hell then He isn’t loving because what if there was a person who really really wanted to be a Christian who was left out and not elected by God?
That doesn’t match with the Bible at all - we read in Scripture something entirely different
1 Corinthians 1:22–24 CSB
22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,
Paul shares that to those who are called, Scripture isn’t a stumbling block - it’s the power of God. Meaning this, if someone reads Scripture and longs to know Christ as Lord and be a follower of Jesus Christ, that’s not a natural human thing for humans. God doesn’t deny them because He looks at His list and says, “Oops I made a mistake with this one.” God doesn’t make mistakes. If you’re being convicted then repent and realize that’s not your power - it’s His! As one scholar put it, “Whoever wants to be saved is saved.”
Another objection some have to this doctrine is this: If God randomly elects people then there’s no free will and there’s no reason to evangelize because we’re robots!
Look at the BFM article: “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.”
This objection is what’s called a straw-man. Election isn’t random and it doesn’t negate our choices. We see in the Garden that Adam and Eve freely choose to sin. We know that we make decisions that we are free to make… What’s the problem, then? We read in Ephesians 2 the problem
Ephesians 2:1–3 CSB
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
Paul shares that before Christ we walked in darkness. The choices that we made were fleshly and sinful. We have freedom - we just use it in the wrong way. So how can this be a good thing? It’s good because of the truth in places like Romans 10:13
Romans 10:13 CSB
13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
You and I can go to any person and we can tell them that God loves them and that God’s family extends to every nation, tribe, and tongue. That we are responsible to repent and place our faith in Christ as Lord. Maybe this doesn’t square up in our timeline and in our human brains… How can God be in control and elect and we do this? Here’s what we know: If I have repented of my sins and placed my faith in Christ as Lord, I’m saved not because I’m so good or special, it’s because of God’s grace. We read that election excludes boasting and promotes humility and I believe that this is where some of the problems lie. The truth of election cannot lead us to boast - it leads us to our knees as we glorify our Father and share His Gospel with others in hopes that they too will respond. This truth helped Paul in times of persecution
2 Timothy 2:10 CSB
10 This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
Paul believed that by sharing the Gospel, people would be saved. Isn’t this was we find later in Romans 10?
Romans 10:17 CSB
17 So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.
What must we do as Christians? We must tell the world about the Gospel because we know that God’s Word doesn’t return void. We know that He will accomplish something through His Gospel.
While some might wonder why missions matter if election is true, we can say 2 things:
The Bible uses the word predestine (proorizo) and election (eklegomat)- so we better familiarize ourselves with them too. WA Criswell said that the Bible doesn’t shy away from these words and we shouldn’t either!
eph 1:4 “For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.”
Spurgeon put it really well whenever he said this, “If God would have painted a yellow stripe on the backs of the elect I would go around lifting shirts. But since He didn’t I must preach “whosoever will” and when “whatsoever” believes I know that he is one of the elect.” Our obligation and conviction is to preach the Gospel to the nations in hopes that people would respond and be saved and that God would receive all the glory.

Perseverance

The difficult and potentially divisive topic is through, now we can all breathe.
We as Southern Baptists believe that a genuine Christian will persevere and that salvation is not something that can be lost.
“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.”
John 5:24 CSB
24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.
Hebrews 12:1–2 CSB
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
James 1:2–4 CSB
2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
In these verses we are reminded that though we will go through hard times, we as Christians can and should rejoice and press on with our eyes fixed on Jesus. We are a new creation, Galatians 2 shares this
Galatians 2:20 CSB
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Our life is no longer just about ourselves, it’s about Jesus and His Kingdom! How can we hold onto the idea that we belong to Him forever, though? Look at John 10:28
John 10:28 CSB
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
John 10 is a wonderful text as we are reminded that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. He shares here a double negative that, in the Greek, adds theological importance to what is said. It strengthens the statement. Jesus is saying not once, but twice that His sheep will never be taken from Him because they are His. He died for them. He protects them. What should this share with us? Simply that once you belong to Jesus and are filled with His Spirit, you’re eternal destination is secured in Christ!
Persevering is still something that can seem impossible at times. One definition that is helpful is this, “Enduring in spite of opposition.” Though we are opposed as Christians, we will remain true to our Savior not because its the easy thing to do but because He holds us and lives in us. We don’t have to look at suffering as a bad thing - we can see that suffering is a blessing in the big picture because it makes us more like Jesus Christ!
If you believe that you fan “fall away” from everlasting faith then that faith was never everlasting in the first place. As Vance Havner said, “The faith that fizzles before the finish was faulty from the first.” The sign of perseverance is continuance in faith. We keep on because we are kept by God. We can rejoice today because our Savior holds us close and promises to never leave or forsake us.
Romans 8:38–39 CSB
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Why Do These Things Matter?

God’s grace is amazing and as we study His Word, I’m reminded that we’re just scratching the surface of the depths of what we hold in our hands day after day. There is so much in here that we will never fully comprehend, and that can lead people to 2 dangerous places: on the one hand people might stop studying Scripture because they feel like it doesn’t matter. On the other hand people might exclusively study a topic or subject, think that they are right and die on a hill that is not worth dying on. Don’t fall into either extreme, friends! Wherever you fall on the election/free will debate - which has been going on for hundreds of years and will continue until time is no more - we cannot miss the plain truth of Scripture that every side of the aisle agrees on.
We all need Jesus Christ because Jesus alone saves sinners. God’s Word is true. God’s Word must determine what we believe and think - not the other way around. We are called by Christ to go and make disciples. We all must repent of our sins and place our faith in Jesus - this is our message to share and I pray that this is your testimony this evening. If we want to argue over specifics, we can do that but we have to get the essentials right and in order first. You can come down more on the side of free will or God’s sovereignty and still worship with brothers and sisters on the other aisle. What we cannot do is call the opposite a heretic, unBiblical, or allow division to ensue over a non-primary theological issue. This is a Biblical truth found clear as day in Acts 2:23 as we find Luke write this in reference to Peter’s sermon to the Jews Acts 2:23
Acts 2:23 CSB
Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him.
God is sovereign and we are responsible to respond to Him in genuine repentance and faith. God has a perfect plan in eternity past and we are accountable for our choices.
Labels divide. I had a childhood friend who had grandparents in the grocery business and the Walmart label made him upset. A Walmart receipt made him upset. A Walmart stop on a mission trip made him upset. Why? Because his family had a grocery store that was negatively impacted by Walmart several years before. A building made him upset. Think of how labels can bring in division. In politics you have Republicans and Democrats. That label divides millions of folks. In soda you have pepsi and coke products. This label divides billions of people worldwide. In church life, labels also divide… Yet we read in God’s Word that we are not divided but we are one in Christ!
Galatians 3:28 CSB
28 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.
This isn’t to say that we do away with every single label out there, some are helpful: I’m a Christian. I’m a husband. I’m a father. I’m a pastor. I’m a southern baptist. But there are other labels out there that bring in unnecessary division that often causes more harm than good because often times labels have differing definitions - in this world of division, what do we need? We need a whole lot of humility to give to people who disagree with us. We need to live out this age old expression, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.” If someone disagrees with you about the resurrection of Jesus or the deity of Jesus then that’s an essential and we have to stand united on them. If someone tells you that they’re a premillennialist and you’re an amillennialist, that’s not an essential doctrine to your faith and it’s not a hill worth dying on. In both cases, give people grace. Remember that you’ve received grace from God - share His grace with others. Persevere through hard times. Build one another up and abide in His Word.
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