01 Salvation's Foundation in God's Free Will
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Object Lesson
Object Lesson
>>>
No object lesson perfectly demonstrates Biblical truths.
But object lessons can illuminate some Biblical truths visually.
Set:
Cookie sheet to catch water
beaker with saran wrap
play-dough to hold stick
stick with “God” on it
>>>
||||| Relationship
Let’s pretend the ping-pong ball is people.
God wants to have a relationship with people. (Place ping-pong ball on the saran wrap)
He created Adam and Eve to be in constant fellowship with Him.
But then Satan came to tempt Adam and Eve to sin.
||||| Temptation.
Most of the time, we think of temptation as a bad thing.
But temptation is not necessarily a bad thing.
The Bible says that Jesus was tempted in all points like us, yet without sin.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
A temptation is an opportunity to make a decision.
On one hand, temptation is an opportunity for you to trust God by faith.
The Bible calls this obedience.
On the other hand, temptation is an opportunity for you to rebel against God in doubt.
The Bible calls this sin.
||||| Lapse/Fall.
The Bible talks about temptation being like fire.
When Adam and Eve were tempted, they sinned. (Melt the plastic with a torch.)
And because of their disobedience, they fell.
They lapsed.
Lapse means to fall to an inferior condition from previously high standards.
In their lapsed condition, Adam and Eve could no longer fellowship with God.
In fact, there was nothing they could do to get back to God.
||||| Grace.
But then something miraculous happened.
God offered salvation to all people by grace.
God’s grace is freely offered.
The Bible often talks about God’s gifts to the world being like water.
Jesus is the living water.
The Word of God is the living water. (Eph 5:26)
In the believer, the Holy Spirit produces spring of water welling up into everlasting life. (John 4:14)
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
When we accept God’s grace, the gracious water of living Spirit floods our lives. (Pour water for ping-pong ball to float)
And we can fellowship once again with God because of His grace.
||||| Temptation
Now when temptation comes, we can endure because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. (Place torch over the water.)
That’s God’s grace.
Series Introduction
Series Introduction
Series of lessons on Salvation.
Basic questions I’ll be answering as we study the Bible’s teachings on salvation.
Where does salvation originate? (God)
Do I have any sin left to pay for? (Substitutionary Atonement)
Can I work my way to heaven? (Faith, Works, and the Catholic Church)
Can a person be sure of their salvation? (Assurance and Security)
Did Jesus only die for those He knew would believe? (Limited and Unlimited Atonement)
Will everyone eventually go to heaven? (Universalism)
Is salvation only by faith in Jesus? (Pluralism)
Will those who have never heard the gospel go to heaven? (Salvation of Infants and Heathen)
Are there multiple ways to receive salvation? (Repentance and Faith)
How much does a person have to believe before they can be saved? (The Gospel)
Broad outline for my series is based upon Geisler, Systematic Theology.
If you have a particular question concerning salvation that you would like me to answer, I would like to hear from you.
Salvation’s Foundation
Salvation’s Foundation
What is the foundation or the basis of salvation?
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
1. God designed salvation.
1. God designed salvation.
Consider the origin of God’s design for salvation.
Salvation is designed by God.
In plain language…
God invented salvation.
A. Salvation exists because God alone willed it to exist.
A. Salvation exists because God alone willed it to exist.
The origin of salvation is the will of God.
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.
16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Conclusion.
Salvation originated in God’s decision to save us.
Now, think about this…
B. Nothing required God to create people.
B. Nothing required God to create people.
But to understand that, let’s think about God for just a moment.
All that God is, He is at all times.
And any single idea we use to describe God is always operating in symphony with all other of God’s attributes.
Our God is a God of power.
Our God is a God of love.
Our God is a God of wisdom.
Our God is a God of truth.
Our God is a God of righteousness and justice.
Our God is a God of infinite presence.
Our God is a God of foreknowledge.
Peter spoke of the “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” (1 Peter 1:2)
2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
God is all-knowing.
There is no knowledge, past, present, or future, that the LORD God does not know.
Now remember...
All that God is, He is at all times.
And any single idea we use to describe God is always operating in symphony with all other of God’s attributes.
Therefore…
Because God is love, He must act lovingly.
At the same time…
Because God is just, He must act justly.
And these attributes of His always operate in unison with all of His other attributes.
So,
God chose to provide salvation based out of a free, self-determination.
There was not external or internal compulsion for God either to create or to save.
He did both freely.
God was not forced to provide salvation.
Salvation exists because God willed it to exist.
On top of that, it was never required that God create free, moral creatures.
C. Nothing required God to create morally free people.
C. Nothing required God to create morally free people.
God could have created robots to worship Him.
But God did not create robots.
Instead, He created free, moral creatures.
What is required is that ...
Since God did choose to create moral creatures, …
He must then act consistently with His unchanging nature of love and justice …
together with the freedom He chose to give His creatures.
So, God decided to create and to save morally free creatures, ...
but He does this in accordance with the freedom He gave them.
>>Skip
So what I see is that there is no condition for God’s giving salvation, but there is one (and only one) condition laid down for receiving the gift of eternal life: faith. (Acts 16:31; Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-9)
The question is, “How much relationship is there between foreknowledge and election?”
As a simple Being, God’s will and knowledge are coordinate; He knows what He wills, and He wills what He knows.
An eternal Being does not really foreknow anything as future; He knows it all in His eternal Now.
>>Skip
Transition: The source of salvation is God’s free choice to save us, and the nature of salvation is God’s grace.
2. God designed salvation to be provided by grace alone.
2. God designed salvation to be provided by grace alone.
God invented salvation.
If we had invented it, we would have come up with countless ways for people to be proven worthy of eternal salvation and life.
God invented it to be entirely by grace.
Salvation is a gift given to people by grace and by grace alone.
6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
Principle:
A. Salvation by grace is the opposite of salvation by works.
A. Salvation by grace is the opposite of salvation by works.
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
What is grace?
Grace is unmerited favor.
Romans 6:23 – “the gift of God”
The story of David’s grace toward Saul.
17 And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.
So, Grace is unmerited favor.
And…
Saving grace is unmerited favor poured out by God upon repentant sinners.
You see…
God does not bestow His grace automatically on sinners.
God’s grace is only received through faith.
Paul qualifies just how this wonderful gift of grace is received:
Ephesians 2:8 (KJV 1900)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Romans 3:21–22 (KJV 1900)
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s saving grace is only for the repentant, through faith.
Illus: This would be like a person standing under Niagara Falls with an upside-down cup; the emptiness comes from rejecting the flow.
[[Should I pour water over an upside down cup?]]
By a simple act of repentance (turning the cup upright), one can receive the blessings intended for him.
God fills our life, and we can have a relationship with Him.
Accepting God’s grace brings God’s salvation. Rejecting God’s grace brings God’s wrath.
A great example of this is found in Romans 9.
22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
God was patient with the “vessels of wrath” because He wanted their repentance.
That’s why God was longsuffering toward them.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The people in Romans 9 became objects of his wrath because they did not repent.
So IF God decided to create people AND ...
God knew people would fall AND ...
God decided to save people by grace, THEN ...
In what order did God decree or design it to be so?
B. Salvation by grace was God’s design for the salvation of fallen man, simultaneous with all other of God’s designs.
B. Salvation by grace was God’s design for the salvation of fallen man, simultaneous with all other of God’s designs.
Many have tried to nail down the sequence of the decrees of God that brought about salvation.
Their primary question has been …
Whether or not God decreed to elect before or after He decreed to permit the fall.
This chart unpacks the basic views concerning the sequence of God’s designs...
Chart.
TRANSITION: Pastor, where do you fall on this chart? No where.
One of the primary problems with this discussion is that …
it has been based upon the assumption that …
there is an order in the decrees of God concerning salvation.
TRANSITION: In view of God’s attributes, one thing is clear:
God does not think or act sequentially.
1. God’s thoughts/designs are not sequential in time.
1. God’s thoughts/designs are not sequential in time.
God doesn’t have a thought, and then five minutes later have another thought.
God’s thoughts do not occur to Him chronologically, in time.
Because God is eternal, He does not have any time-related sequence in His thoughts or decisions.
Whatever things He has thought and ...
whatever actions He has done, ...
He has thought and done simultaneously, from all eternity.
Whatever order there may be in God’s choices, it is not chronological since an eternal Being has not chronological sequence.
TRANSITION: Well, God must have a logical order to His decrees then? No, not for Him.
2. God’s thoughts/designs are not sequential in logic.
2. God’s thoughts/designs are not sequential in logic.
One thought with God does not lead Him to think a new thought He has never considered before.
When you and I think, we think one thought after another thought.
And what I think today is shaped, in some ways, by what I though five years ago.
God does not think sequentially (one thought after another).
“God’s will and knowledge are coordinate;
He knows what He wills,
and He wills what He knows.”
He knows all things intuitively and immediately.
As such,
all that He knows and chooses
is known and performed
immediately and intuitively from all eternity.
In other words…
“Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God?”
3. God’s thoughts/designs produce a sequence of events for non-infinite beings.
3. God’s thoughts/designs produce a sequence of events for non-infinite beings.
God eternally willed things to happen in a certain temporal sequence (one after the other).
God willed that creation would occur before the fall, and that salvation would be provided after the fall.
“Although the purpose of God is fulfilled in a chronological sequence of events, to conceive of the decrees as sequential is to invite confusion and misconception.” —Robert Shank, Elect in the Son (1975), 222.
Conclusion.
All of God’s attributes, thoughts, and decisions are eternal in accord with one another, and none is logically dependent on or independent of another.
Here’s where our study has led us.
God freely decided to create morally free creatures.
God freely decided to save those same morally-free creatures in accordance with His divine, eternal nature.
C. What happened because God decided to provide salvation to people?
C. What happened because God decided to provide salvation to people?
Two things happened, primarily…
1. Salvation is provided for all.
1. Salvation is provided for all.
The Bible is clear and emphatic, the God has provided salvation to the entire world.
John 3:16 (KJV 1900)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Romans 5:18 (KJV 1900)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
2 Corinthians 5:14 (KJV 1900)
14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
2 Corinthians 5:19 (KJV 1900)
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
1 Timothy 2:4 (KJV 1900)
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Titus 2:11 (KJV 1900)
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Hebrews 2:9 (KJV 1900)
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
1 John 2:2 (KJV 1900)
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
God willed from all eternity, then, to provide salvation for all humankind; because Jesus is the “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8; Ephesians 1:4)
2. Salvation is applied to those who believe.
2. Salvation is applied to those who believe.
Salvation was provided for all, but it is applied only to those who believe.
10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Summary
Summary
God freely decided to create morally-free creatures.
God freely decided to save those same morally-free creatures in accordance with His divine, eternal nature.
For those reasons, salvation is available to every person in the world.
But the question is, has it been applied to your life?
But I might also ask you this question...
Which direction is your cup?
Are you living out of the overflow of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life?
Or are you still living as if you were stuck and unwelcome with your Heavenly Father?