FOLLOWING JESUS If any man serve me, let him follow me… (Jn 12:26) Lesson 5 Salvation Outline Introduction I. My past condition A. I was a lost sinner B. My sin separated me from God C. I could not save myself D. Consequently, I needed a savior II. How salvation is accomplished A. By grace! B. Through faith! C. Jesus must be the object of saving faith for only He is the Giver of God’s Grace D. Only Jesus is qualified to be the Savior III. My present relationship as a redeemed child of God A. I am “born again” B. Being born again makes a child of God C. Being God’s child makes me a joint-heir with Christ! D. My relationship with God is permanent E. This relationship carries a responsibility — To pass on the good news! IV. The four-fold test of salvation A. Were you under conviction when you were saved? B. Did you do what the Bible said to do? C. Has there been a change in your life after your salvation? D. Are you ever chastened by God? Many of these lessons are going to be basic in nature so this is just one more opportunity to remind us all that we should not be tempted to disconnect from the lesson because it is something we have already heard or studied. The willing learner can get something out of every lesson if he/she will continue to be open and teachable throughout the process. Furthermore, as a disciple our goal is to introduce OTHERS to the Gospel! This course should make us more able to do just that! Introduction Have you ever heard anyone ask, “What is the meaning of life?” I think we all have heard that question voiced in at least some form. Perhaps, before we were saved, we asked that question in a moment of adversity or reflection. The answers to that question, “What is the meaning of life?”, are these… • to discover our Creator, • to obtain His forgiveness for our sin nature, and thereby establish an irrevocable father-son relationship, • to establish a loving fellowship with the Him • to serve Him with a motive of love and appreciation, and • to introduce others to Him! God’s summation of the purpose of life is found in the closing verses of Ecclesiastes! - Eccl 12:13, 14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. It is GOD—not human relationships, possessions, activism, or experiences—Who establishes meaning for our lives. Solomon in this same book tells us that God has put a sense of longing in our souls that 1
Transcript
FOLLOWING JESUS If any man serve me, let him follow me… (Jn 12:26)
Lesson 5 Salvation
Outline
Introduction I. My past condition
A. I was a lost sinner B. My sin separated me from God C. I could not save myself D. Consequently, I needed a savior
II. How salvation is accomplished A. By grace! B. Through faith! C. Jesus must be the object of saving faith for only He is the Giver of God’s Grace D. Only Jesus is qualified to be the Savior
III. My present relationship as a redeemed child of God A. I am “born again” B. Being born again makes a child of God C. Being God’s child makes me a joint-heir with Christ! D. My relationship with God is permanent E. This relationship carries a responsibility — To pass on the good news!
IV. The four-fold test of salvation A. Were you under conviction when you were saved? B. Did you do what the Bible said to do? C. Has there been a change in your life after your salvation? D. Are you ever chastened by God?
Many of these lessons are going to be basic in nature so this is just one more opportunity to remind us all that we should not be tempted to disconnect from the lesson because it is something we have already heard or studied. The willing learner can get something out of every lesson if he/she will continue to be open and teachable throughout the process. Furthermore, as a disciple our goal is to introduce OTHERS to the Gospel! This course should make us more able to do just that!
Introduction
Have you ever heard anyone ask, “What is the meaning of life?” I think we all have heard that question voiced in at least some form. Perhaps, before we were saved, we asked that question in a moment of adversity or reflection.
The answers to that question, “What is the meaning of life?”, are these…
• to discover our Creator, • to obtain His forgiveness for our sin nature, and thereby establish an irrevocable father-son
relationship, • to establish a loving fellowship with the Him • to serve Him with a motive of love and appreciation, and • to introduce others to Him!
God’s summation of the purpose of life is found in the closing verses of Ecclesiastes!
- Eccl 12:13, 14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
It is GOD—not human relationships, possessions, activism, or experiences—Who establishes meaning for our lives. Solomon in this same book tells us that God has put a sense of longing in our souls that
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only He can fulfill. Some have used the analogy of one of those children’s shape-puzzles and likened that yearning to a “God-shaped hole” that nothing and no one but God can fill. The bottom line is that without God, life is reduced to a meaningless existence. Philosophers call it “despair philosophy”.
And so, if a relationship and fellowship with our God is the very meaning of and purpose for life, then the biggest question of life deals with what we Christians call “salvation”. The biggest question of life is preparing for the next one! “After death, what then?”
And so it is sadly ironic that the vast majority of humanity never stops to seriously consider life’s biggest question: “What then?” Most people meticulously plan their lives with all kinds of long-range goals. They plan for their education, they plan for their employment, they plan to attain a certain level of income, they plan for their marriage, they plan for a family, they plan for their family’s education, and then they plan for that BIG GOAL… financial security in a comfortable retirement.
I don’t watch much network TV anymore but I suppose the investment firms are still represented in the world of commercials. Back when I used to watch TV there was a very clever ad from an investment company called Smith-Barney that was all the rage. When someone in a private conversation said the phrase “Smith-Barney”, everyone around them would stop talking and immediately eavesdrop.
Investment firms urge people to start planning for retirement the day they get their first job. And this is smart if you want a financial nest-egg when you retire. I honestly wish I had! Most people want to retire as early as possible and then enjoy lots of leisure, with solid, worry-free financial security! And this requires good planning and a good investment strategy. And there is nothing wrong with this IF money and investments do not become an obsession.
But, ironically people plan their entire lives for the retirement years… but not spiritually for THE END of life! They plan for the motor home, the retirement cottage, and the hefty 401k or IRA investment… but they never stop to think, “What happens post-retirement? What then?”
Tragically, most planning ends with life insurance for the family, “should the time come for the policy owner to depart”. Should? Should the time come? I hate those insurance company/funeral home phrases! People we are all going to “cash it in”, policy or no! But, insurance companies and funeral homes attempt, if at all possible, to avoid using the big “D” word. “DEATH” is not mentioned or discussed. The attitude seems to be this: if we don’t mention the “D” word or think about it… then it might go away! Our society attempts to soften death with phrases like, “should the time come”, “If something should happen”, “passing”, and “departing”. You know, departing is a very good and accurate description. Paul wrote, …the time of my departure is at hand (II Tim 4:6). It’s just that worldlings* don’t plan their final destination! And let me define that term “worldling”. A “worldling” is a person who has no spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ by grace through faith, but instead has Satan as his/her father and has only this vaporous, transient world as his/her home, and source of meaning.
The Bible however, is frank and blunt! It warns, “…it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment…” (Heb 9:27). Men and women invest great amounts of time, energy, and money into planning their short, vaporous lives on this ball of dirt and rock, but little or NO thought is given to planning for their eternity!
Here at the very beginning of our lesson I want to dramatize our World’s spiritual blindness with an audio drama. Let me set the scene. Two young, up-and-coming attorneys named Joe and Bill, are eating lunch in a busy, upscale, street-side restaurant in BigCity, USA. Joe is a born-again believer and he wants to witness to Bill who is unsaved. So Joe steers the discussion toward Bill’s big focus and love in life: planning and goal-setting. You will discover that Bill is quite the planner! So let’s seat ourselves adjacent their table, amidst the hustling waiters, the clanking of dinnerware, the rumble of traffic, the drone of street voices… and let’s eavesdrop as Joe guides Bill to consider the big question of life: “What then?”
Listen to “What Then?” Dramatized by Steve and Tim Patrick
This imaginary story drives home the sad state of the vast majority of our world and especially what we
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call our Western world. People live fast-paced, appointment-driven lives, chock-full of intricate, self-made plans. They live for fun, they exist for entertainment, they live for experiences, they live for human relationships, and they live for possessions and money. They sacrifice their lives and sometimes their families for that future “comfortable retirement”, but with nary a thought about “What then?”, about… eternity. Most men and women simply play the proverbial “ostrich with head in sand” when it comes to thinking about death and what, if anything, might follow.
But our imaginary questioner Joe asked the most important question that can be asked of any man and woman. It is the most important question of life and ironically it pertains to death! Joe asked, “What then?” Jesus asked a similar question, For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36, 37). Jesus essentially asked, “What then?”
“What then?”, is the question that we as born-again disciples need to be presenting to our family members, our friends, and our acquaintances. We need to lovingly remind those whom God leads across our pathways that the very focus of LIFE is really that doorway called DEATH: “Where will you spend eternity; what then?” Because, as Jesus warned, if humans leave this life unredeemed, it would have been better if they had never been born (Mk 14:21).
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I. My past condition
A. I was a lost sinner
• Every human is born a sinner, i.e., it is our very nature. Our sin nature is one of the most verifiable realities in our reality!
- We inherited our sin nature from our father Adam
- Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned….
- And the Bible is very blunt, and even graphic, in regard to our sin-guiltiness!
- Ps 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
- Ps 58:3 The wicked are estranged (alienated, separated) from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
- But just because we are sinners by nature doesn’t mean we can use our “nature” as an excuse. Perhaps we have heard or even used these justifications…
- “Oh, that’s just the way I am! I grew up an only-child so I just have that selfish personality”, or
- “My dad spoke very roughly so us boys just picked it up naturally”, or
- “I’m Irish! My family has quite the temper!”
- Or worst of all, “It’s just the way God made me!” I had a friend at a former church, a much older lady, who used the excuse, “It’s just the way God made me!”, to supposedly mitigate and assuage the effects of her often sharp and harsh tongue. I don’t suspect that God was in any way pleased that she used Him to justify her often caustic and harsh remarks.
• The truth is that we can’t use our “sin nature” as an excuse for our sins. It’s not one of those, “I can’t help it” scenarios! This is because we are also sinners by practice or choice! When we sin, its not by accident; we choose to sin! Yes, sinning IS natural, i.e, it is our nature, but we actually of our own free will and volition CHOOSE to participate in sin acts.
Solomon and Isaiah were on the “same inspired page” when they wrote…
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- Prov 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
- Is 59:7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
And note in Acts 5:4, as Peter confronted Ananias, that he appropriately asked, …why has thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. The import of these verses is that men literarily RUN to do evil; they create lies and deception in their hearts… and on purpose! Evil is something that human being’s relish; it is something they make a great effort to participate in!
Paul writes these truths in Romans…
- Rom 3:10-12 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one…
- Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
• And so, what is the consequence of our original sin?
B. My sin separated me from God
- Is 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
- Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity (actively opposed or hostile) against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
- I Cor 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- I Cor 6:9, 10 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
C. I could not save myself
- Eph 2:1, 5 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins… 5 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)…
Please note that a dead man cannot revive himself. Only God can “quicken” or make alive. Only He can do it physically (e.g., Lazarus) and only He can do it spiritually (through the new birth).
- Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
I can do nothing to be saved. I can’t do enough to be saved!
- Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost…
D. Consequently, I needed a savior
- Is 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
The word here translated undone means to be silent in the sense of one failing or perishing away. Isaiah essentially said, “I have been reduced to silence in your holy presence. What can I say? What can I do?” While men are “in their sins”, while they remain captured by their sin nature, there is nothing they can do about it; there is no hope! Or is there?!
- Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
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Lord.
Our ONLY hope is a person, Jesus the God-man, who overcame our hopeless estate. He offers complete release from the bonds of sin and death!
II. How salvation is accomplished
A. By grace!
• I like this mnemonic phrase that really defines the word “grace”. It is: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
• We are saved ONLY by God’s GRACE, i.e., we cannot earn or merit salvation in any way.
- Eph 2:8, 9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
• Grace is often defined as the unmerited favor of God. Grace and mercy are two sides of the same coin. Grace is God giving us what we DON’T deserve. Mercy is God withholding what we DO deserve.
B. Through faith… alone (adding nothing)!
• Faith is the key that unlocks God’s grace! Paul explains in Ephesians 2:8…
- Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith….
God absolutely demands that we trust Him implicitly. God demands that we anchor our eternity in Him through faith in the promises of His Word.
• And then once we are born-again by repenting and exercising our faith in God’s promise, we must then live out our Christian life by faith.
- Rom 1:17 …The just shall live by faith.
- Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
- Heb 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Faith is, very simply, how God set up His system (His economy) from eternity past. We either come to God by faith, i.e., trusting Him alone, or we don’t come at all. And then we must live by faith, else God is not pleased nor glorified. And we will not be blessed!
• Now, it is critical at this point to define what saving faith IS and contrarily, what it is NOT!
- You see, everyone—believer and unbeliever, creationist and naturalist, worshipper of Christ and skeptic— has faith whether they admit it or not. Even the atheistic evolutionist has faith, because they cannot observe, test, or prove their ridiculous theories of the Big Bang, the origin of life, and Darwinian Evolution. They must assume much of what they propose, and contrary to what they claim, they have absolutely no foundation in science to believe what they believe.
You see, we all—both born-again believer and the secularist/naturalist—have the same physical data. We have the same physical laws, the same fossils, the same geologic strata, and the same biological marvels (such as the eye and ear!). So, how we interpret all of this data is totally dependent upon our worldview! If we start with the assumption that there IS no God, then obviously we are going to come up with our own naturalistic theories to attempt to explain our
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reality. On page 6 note a cartoon by Dan Lietha (which was published in Answers 1
in Genesis) that rather humorously depicts the naturalist’s bias when it comes to interpreting physical data! Lietha depicts two men wearing what he calls “Worldview Goggles”. His point is that we ALL start at a baseline of beliefs or accepted “facts” when we interpret what we see around us. The Christian interprets this world and reality through the Lens of “God’s Word”; he has a Biblical Worldview. The secularist/naturalist/humanist interprets this world and reality through a Naturalistic Worldview. For the Naturalist, anything is on the table, anything can be considered, as long as it does not involve a Creator God in the equation. This is why Ph.D. scientists can stand without shame and propose ludicrous fairy-tale explanations of the beginning of life on Earth such as Spontaneous Generation of Life (which biologists already 2
knew was a fairy tale even in the 19th Century) and Panspermia and Directed Panspermia (the 3
seeding of life on Earth by aliens!). The idea of “directed panspermia”—that the Earth was “seeded” with life by aliens from other planets—was proposed by Dr. Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize winning scientist who discovered and described the DNA molecule. In the early 1970’s Crick and biochemist Leslie Orgel authored a “scientific paper” about their theory of Directed Panspermia in which they wrote,
“It now seems unlikely that extraterrestrial living organisms could have reached the Earth either as spores driven by the radiation pressure from another star or as living organisms imbedded in a meteorite. As an alternative to these nineteenth-century mechanisms, we have considered Directed Panspermia, the theory that organisms were deliberately transmitted to the Earth by intelligent beings on another planet.
We conclude that it is possible that life reached the Earth in this way, but that the scientific evidence is inadequate at the present time to say anything about the probability. We draw attention to the kinds of evidence that might throw additional light on the topic.” 4
The bottom line is that if men preclude the possibility of God and special creation, then they must fabricate up the most bizarre hypotheses to explain what simply could be understood by faith and the evidence of Creation: God said, In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth (Gen 1:1).
- But for those without Jesus Christ, their faith has no foundation. They simply have faith in … “faith”! They have a “hope so” faith. If you ask them if they are going to Heaven when they die they reply, “I hope so”. This is faith, but there is no foundation supporting it! They have no assurance. They simply hope that “everything will turn out”… whatever “everything” is and whatever “turn out” means!
- You see, the faith that God demands, the faith that unlocks God’s grace and allows Him to regenerate our sin-deadened spirits, is what the Bible describes as “Heart Faith”, as opposed to “Head faith”. Paul wrote in Rom 10:9, 10, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart (i.e., not just the intellect!) man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
- So, what does the Bible mean by “heart faith”?
• Let’s contrast Head Faith vs. Heart Faith.
- Head Faith — Head Faith is simply intellectual acknowledgement, i.e., a person willingly acknowledges something to be a fact, to be genuine, or to be true.
- How do we arrive at truth or fact? True scientists determine physical and biological truth by testing hypotheses with the Scientific Method. They test or measure their data empirically and also test for repeatability, to confirm or create an axiom.
Ironically it is the Naturalistic contingent of scientists who cast dispersions upon our Christian faith and insist they will only believe what they can test, see, feel and confirm. Yet, they turn right around and embrace Big Bang creationism, fairy-tale theories of biogenesis, and molecules-to-man evolution EVEN WHEN none of these can be tested, proven, or OBSERVED! These deluded people are exercising faith, but unfortunately, their faith has no foundation.
- Acknowledgment is not saving, spirit-regenerating faith! I acknowledge a lot of things to be accurate and true… but I don’t trust them for my eternal salvation!
Unfortunately the vast majority of the world doesn’t go deeper than just an intellectual understanding! At one time most of the Western world readily acknowledged the reality of God and of Jesus, God’s Son (…not so much anymore and become less and less the case). In times past they even acknowledged that God sent His Son in the form of a human man and that this is THE story of Christmas. And many will even acknowledge the fact that Jesus died on the cross to save men from sin. But these all remain as just facts in their heads, in the same category as the fact “George Washington was our first president”. It is just an acknowledgement such as, “The Earth is a globe”.
James teaches that even the devils (fallen angels) exercise this “head” or “acknowledgement” kind of faith (James 2:19). These fallen angels or devils (we call them demons) most assuredly “believe” in God; they understand reality and they know the facts for indeed they were at one time in God’s presence, serving Him! And they completely understand and admit that Jesus is the Son of God, for they were created BY the Son! For example, in Mat 8:29 we read a testimony from the devils that inhabited and possessed the two Gergesene demoniacs. These devils readily acknowledged Jesus’ Divine nature:
- Mat 8:29 And, behold, they (the demons) cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
They not only knew Who Jesus was, but they also knew about their end! But James says this acknowledgement only causes them to tremble (the word means to bristle, to chill, or shudder) in fear!
Therefore, Head Faith could be called “the faith of devils”.
- Heart Faith — Heart faith moves beyond intellectual acknowledgement. It RESPONDS to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and it moves us to conviction, contrition, and repentance. Heart faith must be Holy Spirit-initiated! Heart faith is produced by God’s Holy Spirit when a man yields his free will to what could be considered for study purposes, three steps or phases. The first is…
- CONVICTION — Conviction is the terrifying realization of the reality and consequences of sin, i.e., that we are LOST SINNERS BEFORE GOD AND WE ARE SEPARATED AND HELL BOUND BECAUSE OF OUR SIN!
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Only the Holy Spirit can produce conviction. We can warn, we can urge, we can plead, but only the Spirit can take the Word that we or a preacher has implanted and then use it to convict. This is why no person can be saved unless the Father through His Holy Spirit draws him! Jesus plainly explained, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him… (Jn 6:44).
And according to Calvinists, God chooses to draw only a few, right? No! Jesus said point blank that ALL are drawn! And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me (Jn 12:32).
The Bible is very plain! Every human being ever born will be confronted by the Holy Spirit! Paul writes in Titus 2:11, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men…
The next step or phase is…
- CONTRITION — Conviction then should then lead to contrition. Contrition is a state of brokenness because of our sins. It is being emotionally crushed because of our sins. Contrition is the attitude being expressed by the publican in Jesus’ parable of the praying publican and Pharisee (Lu 18:13).
Then God desires that conviction and contrition leads us to…
- REPENTANCE — God designs contrition to lead us to repent! The word translated “repent” is from the Greek word pronounced met-an-o-eh´-o. It literally means to “think differently or afterwards” (Strong’s Concordance). It connotes a change (meta) of mind (noy-eh´-o) and hence one’s direction! Here is the idea of repentance.
- Before the Holy Spirit convicted us about our sins and our estrangement from God we most likely had the mindset of the world, i.e., we enjoyed our sins, we had no compunction to abandon our sins, sin was no big deal with us (they were a light thing), and most important of all, we did not see our sins as any great affront to God. In fact, we probably considered ourselves as relatively good people and that after we died we would go to Heaven because we didn’t do really bad stuff like murder, abuse children, or rob banks!
- But after the Holy Spirit brought conviction, and that conviction produced contrition, our mindsets should have radically changed! We should now see sin as a horrendous affront to a Holy God, and as a spiritual death sentence for mankind!
- And this “change of mind” should be accompanied by a CHANGE OF DIRECTION! Paul is very, very plain in II Cor 5:17. He writes, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And so, if a person claims to be born again, but we can see no change in attitude toward sin and then no change in the direction of their lives away from sin, we have good cause to be alarmed for them! For there is Biblical evidence that they are still deluded and lost!
- Repentance is the critical step; it is that act of turning to God and crying out to Him for His forgiveness! This is why Jesus warned that unless we repent, we will perish! We must cry out to God, as did the publican in the parable, And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner (Lu 18:13). Yes, asking is THE critical step. We can be convicted, and that conviction can even produce contrition (sorrow over our sins) but unless we move to repentance and cry out to the Lord, we are still lost! If we don’t move to repentance, we are just convicted, sorrowing lost people, like that rich young ruler who went away sorrowful (Mat 19:22) because he understood exactly what Jesus was demanding.
Now, all of these “steps” in reality happen almost concurrently. The Holy Spirit will convict us, but then WE must allow that conviction to bring us to contrition (brokenness over our sin) and then we must REPENT, a conscious choice of the free will. Jesus was very plain. He told the Jews, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish (Lu 13:3, 5). The Holy Spirit convicts, but WE
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must repent!
C. Jesus must be the Object of saving faith for only He is the Giver of God’s Grace.
- Acts 4:10-12 (Peter’s sermon to the Council) Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
- Acts 16:31 And they (Paul and Silas) said (to the jailor), Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
- Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
We can’t trust in ordinances (baptism and the Lord’s Supper). We can’t trust in good works (because we have none!). We can’t trust in confession and penance. We can’t trust in membership in some religious organization or group. We trust ONLY in the sacrifice that Jesus the Christ made, giving our lives to Him in return, or we will eternally perish.
D. Only Jesus is qualified to be the Savior
- Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
- John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
In our next lesson we will finish Lesson 5, Salvation, in Part 2, starting with…
III. My present relationship as a redeemed child of God
A. I am born again
• This phrase born again—literally, “born from above”—refers to all of humanity’s need for a spiritual rebirth, for spiritual life! Original sin destroyed Adam and Eve’s eternal spirit and subsequently we inherit those consequences: a sin nature and a dead spirit. We come into this world physically alive but spiritually dead! Consequently then, Jesus told Nicodemus (who was a very religious Pharisee) …Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Peter also uses the phrase “born again” and explains that it is a supernatural spiritual process performed by God.
- I Pet 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed (not through the natural biological process of a sperm fertilizing egg), but of incorruptible, by the word of God (Jesus the Logos!), which liveth and abideth for ever.
Therefore, mankind’s greatest need is to be made spiritually alive! This can only be accomplished by and through the creative prowess of the Holy Spirit, and it IS accomplished at that moment that we bow our hearts to Jesus in contrition and repentance and call out for His free gift of salvation. Ephesians 2:1 reads, And you hath he quickened (make alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins…, and Paul wrote in Colossians 2:13, And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened (make alive) together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.
• But alas, the World has ruined the phrase! “Born again” has been taken from the very mouth of the Savior and turned into a New Age-nebulosity. Taken from it’s proper context, which is spiritual regeneration, it is now used to refer to one “turning over a new leaf”, or being saved from some disease or tragedy (and given a “new lease on life”) or even to explain a so-called “religious” experience or “miracle”.
Hence the phrase has become cheapened and almost meaningless to most worldlings, and sadly even to most people of religion. Being born again is understood by worldlings to be either…
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1) a nebulous spiritual catch phrase (that no one can really define) used to describe some sort of new beginning, second chance or deliverance OR
2) an intolerant, radical, cult-like term, used only by ultra-rightwing religious nuts!
This second definition is what my wife believed before she was saved. She grew up in a dead Protestant social-club in our home town and had never even heard the phrase “born again”. Obviously her ministers never taught from John 3 much and she never read her Bible. When I asked her if she had been “born again” she asked, “Is that a Baptist belief?” I replied, “No, its a Bible doctrine”. To which she replied, “Well, I’ve never heard of it!”
• So, because of the confusion and mystical nebulosity surrounding this phrase, we need to turn to the Scriptures and re-establish 1) God’s definition of the phrase born again, 2) what actually transpires when we are “born again”, and 3) the absolute necessity that we BE born again.
- God’s definition of the phrase
- The Scriptures teach that human beings are made in the image and likeness of God, Who is a three-part (tripartite) being, a Trinity. And so this is how God created our “kind”. We too are a trinity of body, soul and spirit.
The body is our tent, our house, and our machine.
The soul can be thought of as our essence, i.e., our consciousness, our mind, our personality and our will. The soul is the part of a human being that makes us… us!
But the spirit… ah, the spirit, it is hard to describe, define and analogize. Our spirit is what makes us unique from all other animals.
- Plants only have bodies. - Animals have bodies and souls (minds). - But human beings—created in God’s image—were made body, soul, AND spirit. We are
spiritual beings!
And our spirit makes us eternal creatures! When Rover dies, his body and soul goes out of existence. But when a man dies, his body goes back to the dust, but his soul and spirit live on… forever!
Beyond these concepts, I’m not sure how much farther we can go to try to describe a “spirit”. Angels are spirits (with souls, i.e., they each have a unique identity and personality). God is a Spirit (with a soul… and now with a body in the Person of Jesus the Christ). And human beings are spirit, soul and body. Ironically, we act like the body is the most important part of our tripartite existence. But in reality our current body is the least important part of a man. It is a temporal shell at best! Our current body, cursed by sin, is passing away moment by moment. We should view our body as merely our current tent. A tent that will mar, and tear, and stain, and eventually be cast off.
- So when sperm and ovum join and a human being is marvelously conceived, the body starts to form and function physically. Our soul also comes into existence and will be manifested more and more as we grow to maturity. But because of original sin—Adam’s sin—we somehow inherit a “dead” spirit. We come into this world with a spirit, but the Bible describes it as “dead”. Paul uses the phase dead in sins.
- Ephesians 2:4, 5 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) …
- Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses….
- So what we (all humanity) need is not just spiritual renovation, and not just spiritual repair, but a re-birthing of our dead spirit!
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- What actually transpires when we are born again?
- So what is a “dead” spirit? Well, that is a difficult question and I don’t know of anyone who has formulated an adequate answer. We understand what death is to the physical body but that paradigm doesn’t fit the spirit. It isn’t as if the spirit has expired and is now slowly decaying inside us.
Furthermore, a “dead spirit” hasn’t gone away or become non-existent or been buried in a grave… or dissolved back into some sort of parent media (like the soil)… because spirits are eternal; they never go out of existence . We ARE born with a spirit, and that spirit is there inside us, but the Bible uses the only term we can understand: God says that sin KILLED our spirit; it is dead.
- Here is how I try to wrap my mind around this condition. This analogy probably is not technically accurate, but it does help me understand the concept of spiritual deadness.
Very simply, I think of a “dead” spirit as a spirit that has no connection, fellowship and relationship with its Creator: God. I use the analogy of an electrical circuit. I believe our spirit is where we were originally connected to God; it is where we plugged in to God. It was the connection point for our relationship and fellowship with God. I believe the spirit is the human INTERFACE to God.
And so, when Eve and then Adam sinned, they “pulled the plug” so to speak! They cut the wire. They broke the connection. They unplugged themselves from God at that spiritual interface. They unplugged from their spiritual life source and from His fellowship and communion.
But the Bible says that when they unplugged, it was no longer a matter of just plugging back in! When they unplugged it did irreparable damage. It short circuited all the wiring, it opened fuses, it shorted out capacitors, it burned out resistors and melted inductors and it fried our transistors. Once connected to God, our spirit was alive, vibrant, humming, and communicating with its Creator. But now it is shut down, lifeless, smelling of burned and shorted components!
Oh yes, our “dead” spirits are still inside us, they still exist, and they will exist for eternity, but they are totally estranged from the Creator. They are not powered anymore, they don’t function any more because they are disconnected from their power source and destroyed. Admittedly, that is a very difficult concept for us to get our minds around.
- So our spirit has been wrecked; it has been “totaled”. It is beyond repair. It needs to be totally recreated (re-birthed). And so this is the picture generated by Scripture. At our salvation, God re-creates within us a new, vibrant, alive, re-connected spirit. Suddenly the system is humming again! Suddenly there is an eternal re-connection to God. Suddenly, there is a relationship again, with fellowship and communication. His Spirit bears witness to our spirit. Romans 8:16 reads, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God….
- It is imperative and urgent: we MUST be born again!
- So what is our need? The Bible teaches that a man or woman’s spirit needs to be made alive again, meaning put back into fellowship and right standing with God. But, this isn’t something we can do or accomplish because sin “totaled” our spirit. It requires a Divine act of the Supernatural God. Only God can give life, be it physical OR spiritual.
- And the condition is urgent! Jesus explained the absolute urgency of Nicodemus’ need in the famous John 3 discourse.
- John 3:3, 7 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. … 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
- Jesus makes it clear that the new birth (the spiritual re-birth) is an ultimately urgent need. By God’s decree, the deadline for repair has been set at the death of our body (the putting off of our
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tent). It is at that time every human being enters his/her eternal state. If our spirit has not been recreated and reconnected to God by that critical moment, God has to cast it away. It is not something that He desires. But He will not violate our free will. The late Dr. Adrian Rogers used to say something like this, “If men and women are determined to go to Hell, they will have to climb over a bloody cross to get there.”
And as we have already studied, the new birth is effected when men and women humble themselves and repent toward God and place their faith only in the blood of Jesus to wash away their sin-guilt, and then call out to God FOR that forgiveness. The Bible refers to this act as BELIEF! John writes these truths in his first general epistle.
- I John 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
- I John 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
B. Being born again makes me a child of God
• The point I want to make here is very simple: as born-again believers we are not just lowly sinners saved by grace. Rather, we are saints! As the old hymn goes, we are a child of the King! John in his first general epistle writes…
- I John 3:1, 2 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2 Beloved, NOW are we the sons of God….
And Paul in Galatians 3:26 writes…
- Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
• Being born again restores the relationship that Adam and God originally had in the Garden, before their spirits died!
C. Being God’s child makes me a joint-heir with Christ!
• Paul declares this fact in Romans 8:16, 17…
- Romans 8:16, 17 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
• Now think about this unique position; joint-heirship is totally different from mere heir-ship. An heir gets an apportioned share of the inheritance when the proceeds and property are divided up. He or she has to share the inheritance with the other heirs.
But because Jesus never dies, the inheritance is never split up! He still owns it ALL! And He has chosen and pledged to share EVERYTHING He owns with each and every believer. And so what does Jesus own? He owns it all! As saints of God will literally own the Universe alongside Jesus!
• Listen to this promise that Jesus made as He closed His revelation to humanity: He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son (Revelation 21:7).
- And so who are the “overcomers”? Are “overcomers” those who attempt to keep themselves in the love of Christ by their own good works and willpower, i.e., those who lift themselves up by their own spiritual bootstraps? Are “overcomers” those “works salvationists” out there who attempt to discipline their wills so that they might not become entangled in sin again?
No! Absolutely no! John tells us exactly who the overcomers are: Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (I John 5:5). And in Revelation 12:11 we read, And they (believing Jews in the Tribulation period) overcame him (the accuser of our brethren, or Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony (that is, they proved what they claimed was REAL, insomuch that) …they loved not their lives unto the
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death.
Overcomers are those who have believed that Jesus is the Son of God and cried out to Him in repentance and faith for His new-birth salvation! We have positionally overcome the World by placing our absolute faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins!
- But there is a critical principle taught strongly in the Word by Jesus Himself throughout His letters to the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 2:7, 11, 26; 3:5, 12, and 21). And that principle is not unlike positional vs. practical sanctification. Yes, we are made overcomers positionally by the blood of the Lamb. If you have truly cried out in contrition to your Creator and repented from your sins, asking Him to forgive you and give you eternal life… then you have Heaven as your eternal home, and you ARE an overcomer in Christ. You are eternally an overcomer even if you, like Demas, one day become unfaithful to the Lord and allow yourself to be lured back into the World.
But in the realm of stewardship, discipleship, and eternal rewards we are responsible to practice a lifestyle of practical “overcomership”, that is akin to practical sanctification! We remain as practical overcomers by keeping ourselves uncontaminated by the World! Bro. Demas was a positional overcomer… but, as far as we know, he was not a practical overcomer. He did not finish well.
I am telling you that there will be many born again believers who will stand at the Bema (that elevated rostrum, stage or platform where our judgment will take place) who sadly will NOT hear, Well done thou good and faithful servant… (Mat 25:21). And they will not hear it because they have not BEEN faithful to their calling!
Yes, they overcame eternal death (separation from God in the Lake of Fire) by becoming born again, but at some point they stopped practicing the life of the overcomer; they ALLOWED sin and the World to overcome them. They did not end well.
DEAR FRIENDS, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE BE BORN AGAIN ELSE WE WILL BE ETERNALLY SEPARATED FROM GOD. BUT IT IS ALSO IMPERATIVE THAT SAINTS FINISH FAITHFUL, NOT TO KEEP OURSELVES SAVED BECAUSE ONLY GOD DOES THAT. NO IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT WE FINISH WELL (PRACTICAL OVERCOMERSHIP) ELSE WE WILL FORFEIT GREAT HEAVENLY REWARDS.
D. My relationship with God is permanent
• Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one (John 10:27-30).
People, very simply we either take God at His word or we do not. What do the words eternal and never perish mean? They either mean what they say or Jesus is a Liar and the entire Canon is a fraud.
• Note also what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ…. Paul used the past tense. He did not write, “God will bless us…”. No, God has already blessed us; it’s a “done deal”. We already possess those blessings!
E. This relationship carries a responsibility — To pass on the Good News!
- Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
- Acts 4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
- II Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us:
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we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Yes friends, we have a job to do. We are soldiers of the cross!
IV. The four-fold test of salvation
The reason for this point is that many people struggle with assurance of salvation. This happens for a multitude of reasons. Maybe we were saved at a very young age and we have forgotten the experience. Or maybe we have drifted away from fellowship with Jesus and gotten ourselves into a sinful lifestyle. Or maybe we have made a big mistake, and Satan is using the guilt of that sin to beat us down and cause us to doubt our salvation. Yes, we can struggle with our assurance. And maybe we struggle because we really never WERE born again! Maybe we just followed a group of peers down an aisle and said a rote prayer but it was not a matter of repentance and faith. So lets look at just four points that will helps us know IF we have been born again… because God through the Apostle John tells us it IS possible to know with absolute assurance. John writes, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life… (I John 5:13).
A. Were you under conviction when you asked Jesus Christ to save you?
• We can only be saved when the Holy Spirit draws (convicts) us! Jesus is very plain in John 6:44, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him….
• Some people have supposedly been saved by “going forward” during some religious service…
because every one else did. Or, perhaps they signed a card… because every one else did. Some were even instructed to repeat some prayer as if this prayer was some magic formula for salvation. But there was no contrition, there was no brokenness over their sins and what they did to Jesus Christ! Without Holy Spirit conviction, which should then lead to repentance (a change of our minds and a subsequent change in our our pathways), these so-called “conversions” are deluded, empty, and therefore dangerous religious acts.
Salvation must be a matter of the heart and NOT just the mind. Remember the contrite, heart-broken praying publican! Jesus related, And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13). Paul wrote in Romans 10:10, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
• Now, you have often heard preachers and teachers say, “You have to get people lost before they can get saved.” I think we all know what is meant by this statement… or at least I hope we do. That statement must be qualified with this understanding: we don’t and can’t convict anyone. Only the Holy Spirit can convict, and woo, and draw. When we tell people the truth, when we preach the simple Gospel, then the Holy Spirit can bring the realization of “lostness” and hopelessness to the mind of that once-blinded sinner.
Conviction is the process by which Holy Spirit opens a blind person’s eyes to their separated condition and their destiny of eternal punishment.
B. Did you do what the Bible said to do?
• So often people expect feelings and emotional confirmations. If they don’t experience some big emotional event or feeling, they may have a doubt about their conversion. Now, we ARE emotional beings. God created us this way. And I would say that an emotionless salvation was absolutely suspect. The Philippine jailor was probably moved emotionally when he cried out to Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”, and the praying publican was obviously emotional when he beat on his own breast and cried out, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” But what I am saying is that gauging our salvation based upon an emotional experience or a feeling, isn’t scriptural. Everyone differs emotionally. Some might cry. Some might shout! Some might do neither. The bottom line is were we under conviction, and did we do what God said to do? Did you do that?
• The Philippian jailor asked, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30). How did Paul answer? Paul plainly and quickly replied, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house (Acts 16:31).
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The meaning of the Greek word translated believe in relation to salvation means to adhere to, cleave to, to have absolute faith in. It isn’t just an acknowledgement of a fact. It isn’t something you just recognize. It IS something you cleave to with all your heart! I like to say it like this: It IS putting all your eggs in Jesus’ basket!
And to the Romans Paul explained, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:9, 10).
• A good mnemonic device for witnessing is: ABC. You just tell people that salvation is as simple as A, B, and C.
- A = Admit — We have to admit, agree, and confess that what God says about our condition is absolutely true. And so what does God say? He says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23) and that, …the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). This “death” is not just physical. It is also spiritual, which is eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire.
- B = Believe — John wrote, For God so loved the world that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Again, this Greek word translated “believeth” means to trust implicitly, have faith in, cling to, adhere to and cleave to. You can see that it is much more than an intellectual acknowledgement or “head belief”. This “belief” is a “putting all your eggs in one basket” kind of belief!
But there is yet one more step and it is the key step that unlocks God’s grace upon a sinner.
- C = Call or Confess — Paul wrote in Romans 10:13, Whoseover shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is THE critical step for salvation. We must act on our belief.
Think about those ancient Jews in Egypt on that first Passover night. They had to appropriate that sacrifice in order to be safe from the Death Angel. And how did they appropriate it? They had to APPLY the blood! They could have believed Moses; they could have believed that if they apply that blood in the prescribed manner that their firstborn would live. BUT… unless they actually DID apply that blood, the Death Angel was destined to strike that home.
In like manner then, we can openly and honestly admit to God that we are sinners, and we can truly believe intellectually that Jesus IS the Son of God and that He died on the cross to pay our sin debt… and still be lost and on our way to Hell! In some way we need to get that precious blood of the innocent Lamb onto the doorposts of our hearts! How do we do that?
We appropriate the precious blood of Christ by crying out like the publican, …God be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13). The thief on the cross obviously came to understand his sin and to believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah of Israel. But it was not until he asked, it was not until he confessed with his mouth, that Jesus promised, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43).
• We must agree with God. We must believe that Jesus is the Savior. And finally we must appropriate God’s gift by ASKING HIM for it!
C. Has there been a change in your life after your salvation?
• The famous hymn declares,
What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought. Since Jesus came into my heart….
This isn’t just beautiful poetry. It is really doctrine set to song! There SHOULD be a change! Paul tells us that a consequence of the new birth is that we become new creatures.
- II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
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• There is an old proverb that states, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”. I think we know what this means. It means you want to see, or in that case, taste, results! Looks and words are fine, but show me results and effects! We could say it like this: the REAL test is not in claims… but in performance! The real test is not in the say’n but in the do’n! The genuineness of a product is seeing if it will do what it claims to do!
Therefore, if you claim to have been born again, God says that other believers have a right to expect to see a change. Believers have a doctrinal right to look at your life and judge if there has been any Galatians 5 spiritual fruit produced?
• Consequently, if a person claims the new birth (salvation), but…
1) has no interest in worship, 2) has no interest in the Word of God, 3) has no interest in being around God’s people, (but rather, STILL prefers the company of worldly
buddies), 4) has no interest in holy living (but rather, STILL prefers to behave and talk like he did before his
conversion), and 5) shows no heartfelt appreciation for what Jesus has done in shedding His blood for his salvation…
then we can honestly, and with Scriptural authority, be VERY suspicious of that “conversion”. If we claim salvation without transformation, then God’s Word is a lie!
• Now, while this “new creatures” scripture is true, we obviously have to use sense. Sometimes there may not be a radical change because the person was not a gross sinner to start with… as is sometimes the case when a man or woman who has been living in gross sin and rebellion comes to salvation. Furthermore, there can be, and most always will be relapses and mistakes.
BUT, there should be a mindset or paradigm change. While we can still struggle with sin, we should have different desires and goals than the lost worldlings. And that new paradigm should lead us into OVERALL different behaviors and attitudes.
D. Have you ever been chastened by God?
• The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews wrote, And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons (Hebrews 12:5-8).
• The fact is this: every natural child disobeys at some point and they have to be “trained” (i.e., put back on the straight and narrow) by their parent. God, as our Heavenly Father, loves us too much to allow us to destroy our lives. So He will sometimes use a rod-of-correction when we disobey, when we get bad attitudes, or when we rebel.
• But again… we must be careful! Not every “bad” thing that happens to us is chastening from God! This was the mistaken mindset of the Jews of Jesus’ day. They saw a man whom the community knew was blind from birth and they asked Jesus, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind (John 9:2)? Did they actually think that the fetus in the womb had sinned some great sin that caused his own blindness? Their mindset (paradigm) was grossly errant! Jesus taught them that this man was born blind so that Jesus could one day work a miracle and heal that blindness! That man’s blindness was for the glory of God. That man’s blindness had a divine purpose! This is the sovereignty of God!
So, every time we get sick, or have an accident, or suffer a misfortune, we should not be asking, “What sin has caused this?” This world is a hard place, it is sin-cursed, and sometimes “bad” things happen simply because of the curse of sin. Bad things happen to good people and sometimes the reasons why God allows them are not apparent. Remember it rains upon the just and the unjust and in like manner good people are often caught up in bad and even harmful situations.
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• But, Divine chastening can come, and it can come in many forms and it will come in varying degrees. And I am convinced that when God chastens us, His Spirit will make it clear to us that we are being “spanked” because of our rebellion. When our parents spanked us, didn’t we know why? Sure we did! And did not the prophet Nathan make it quite plain to David that his sin would bring about drastic consequences? God made it plain to David and I believe He will make it plain to us!
* * * Next Weeks Assignment
• Write out: Write out a short account of your salvation experience and turn it in to your instructor in our next class.
• Reading: Read Romans 3-10 through twice this week.
• Pray: Ask God for opportunities to share your faith with others. Also, ask God to help you in all that your do! Remember… we often don’t have because we haven’t asked! We have to have the power of Christ energizing our lives else we can accomplish nothing of eternal value.
• Meditate: Study and meditate through the handout, “The Three Keys of True Discipleship”. Do this once each week through out our entire discipleship course.
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Transcript of the “What Then?” audio drama.
JOE: “Bill…, I know you are a great planner and investor; you have quite a reputation at work! If you wouldn’t mind I’d like to learn a little bit about how you have planned your life goals for you and your family.
BILL: “Why, sure Joe! Glad to help in any way. Where do you want me to start?”
JOE: “Great! Lets start short range; let’s say in a decade. Where do you want to be when you are 40? What will you be doing then?”
BILL: “Well Joe, I’m pretty excited. I got in on a great investment opportunity when I graduated from USC. I’ve been pouring a lot of capital into it and by age 40 I should have a half-million dollars invested and pulling in some generous returns. Also in 10 years my house should be paid for, so I can invest that money as well. You know that you never get anything and anywhere unless you have a good plan!”
JOE: “That’s really great Bill. Yes, planning is the key! So, how about age 50… what then?”
BILL: (Bill rubbing his chin replies) “Well… my long-range plans are to have my two kids placed in good colleges by then, and my career-track is to be a full partner in the firm by age 50. And I really believe I can make partner even at age 45 if I can just keep up with my current case load.”
JOE: (Joe nods sympathetically and replies) “Sounds ambitious! But you are a hard worker Bill and with the planner that you are I’m confident you’ll achieve your goals! Man, I wish more people understood the critical need for planning for their future.
BILL: (Nods his head graciously) “Thanks Joe. I appreciate that. Yes, a plan is tantamount to success. Most people plan to fail by not planning!”
JOE: “So… what about the 60’s? Any goals for retirement? What then Bill?” (At the mention of the the word “retirement” Joe saw Bill’s eyes brighten and a big smile crease his face.)
BILL: “Oh man! We will have our house paid off by my 50th birthday and barring any financial
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downturns I should have at least $1.75 million in my investment portfolio by age 60. We have really been profiting from the market. I should be raking in a comfortable living in just interest and dividends. The returns will give us enough to live on, do some traveling… and buy a new surf rod now and then” (Bill added with a wink).
Bill excitedly continued, “Our beach house will be paid off then too and I actually hope to semi-retire at age 55 and then take full retirement at age 62. My firm has a great pension plan. I should have at least 15-20 years of good health to enjoy if I can make the national average.”
JOE: (Joe nods again and then paused to eat a bite or two before asking his next question.) “I assume you have Nancy and the kids set up so that when you are gone they can live comfortably? What then?”
BILL: (Bill shakes his head up and down with solemn resolve.) “Oh my yes Joe! I’ve got plenty of life insurance and all the property and assets are already in a trust. And they shouldn’t have too much overhead by then. I plan on making their life as secure as I can! They’ll be just fine!”
JOE: (Joe pierces Bill with an intent look at this moment and follows up quickly…) “And your death arrangements? Have you got that taken care of? What then?”
BILL: (Assured and confident Bill replies) “Sure Joe… I’ve already got my will drawn up. The trust is planned out in great detail. The family plots are purchased at the Memorial Gardens, and I’ve got my funeral services pre-planned. It’s all on file at the firm. Nancy and the kids won’t have to lift a pencil or write even one check. I don’t want them burdened with such cares when I’m gone.”
JOE: (Joe nods approvingly and chews a while on his sandwich. Swallowing, he looks Bill square in the face and asks) “What then, Bill?”
BILL: (Bill looks back with a puzzled expression.) “Whatdaya mean Joe?”
JOE: “Think Bill! Think! You’ve told me all about these grand plans for your life, how you are working hard, saving, planning well ahead financially, taking care of your family… and that’s all good and fine. But… what about after the funeral… what then, Bill?”
BILL: (Bill’s expression changes from the self-reliant confidence that he had been showing earlier. He now looks pensive and he quietly replies…) “Well… I really don’t know what you mean, Joe”.
JOE: (solemnly yet with polite urgency) “Bill… what about your eternity? You have wisely planned the 80-plus years that you THINK you will have in this life. But have you given even one thought to eternity? What then, Bill? What then?
Bill… Jesus Christ teaches us that the most important planning that any person can do in this life is to plan for the next life… for eternity! Jesus tells us a story about a very shrewd farmer who planned and worked hard and accumulated great wealth. He was a businessman, not unlike you Bill. He was a great success physically and financially. But at the end of the story Jesus had some very hard things to say, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Are you rich toward God, Bill? Where will you, where will Nancy, and where will your children spend eternity?”
