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salvation

Man is Basically Good

March 30, 2009

In survey after survey, most Americans say that mankind is basically good. It is hard to square this view with the picture of man presented in the Bible. In the Bible we see that man is born in slavery to sin as a result of Adam’s original sin. Yet, many within the church today are far more likely to see man as basically good instead of totally depraved.

Back in 2001, R.C. Sproul wrote about this in an article for Modern Reformation magazine entitled “The Pelagian Captivity of the Church“. In the article Sproul says:

At the time of the Reformation, all the reformers agreed on one point: the moral inability of fallen human beings to incline themselves to the things of God; that all people, in order to be saved, are totally dependent, not ninety-nine percent, but one hundred percent dependent upon the monergistic work of regeneration in order to come to faith, and that faith itself is a gift of God. It’s not that we are offered salvation and that we will be born again if we choose to believe. But we can’t even believe until God in his grace and in his mercy first changes the disposition of our souls through his sovereign work of regeneration. In other words, what the reformers all agreed with was, unless a man is born again, he can’t even see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it. Like Jesus says in the sixth chapter of John, “No man can come to me unless it is given to him of the Father” — that the necessary condition for anybody’s faith and anybody’s salvation is regeneration.

Jesus’ words in John 3 and John 6 are still as offensive today as they were in the first century. As a result, fallen man keeps leaning on his own understanding instead of resting in the glorious truths presented in the Bible.

So, is man basically good? Most emphatically, no he is not! Only God is good. Soli Deo gloria, to God alone be the glory.

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Grace is the Gospel – The Glory of the Incarnation

January 3, 2009

Grace Is Gospel – The Glory Of The Incarnation
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: jesus god)

Creation

Grace is the Gospel – Part 1

  • Eternal Triune God
  • Author of Creation
  • Creation is Good
  • Created in God’s Image (Male and Female)
  • Created with Purpose
    • Glorify God
    • Enjoy Him Forever

The Fall

Grace is the Gospel – Part 2

  • We Betrayed God
  • A Declaration of Independence
    • Shame and Guilt
    • Death
    • All of Creation Cursed

God’s Plan All Along

  • All of Mankind
  • Sinners from Birth
  • We are Depraved
  • Slaves to Sin
  • Unable to Submit
  • Subject to Justice
  • and Wrath of God
  • Dead in our Sins

Back to God’s Plan…

Grace is the Gospel – Part 3

Election

  • First step of God’s love
  • God’s purpose to save us

Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV

  • He chose us in Him
  • Before Creation
  • So we could be holy and blameless
  • He predestined us to adoption through Christ

When we were dead

Ephesians 2:4-9 ESV

He chose individuals unconditionally

Romans 9:1-23

Election is nothing but the preparation of Grace

The Stairway to Heaven

Ever since the fall, mankind has been on mission. One such example is the tower of Babel in Genesis 11. This mission however is not back to God, but to elevate ourselves.

no one understands;
no one seeks for God. — Romans 3:11 ESV

Thankfully Salvation belongs to the Lord — Jonah 2:9 ESV

Jacob’s Ladder

Points toward a point in history when God would become human.

And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

— Genesis 28:12-17

Compare John:1:51:
And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Michael Horton explains Jesus is Jacob’s Ladder!

The Incarnation

John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jeff Purswell explains “the Incarnation is the ultimate display of God for the ultimate need of sinners.

  • To understand God we must understand Jesus
  • To know God we must know Jesus

3 things about the Incarnation

God became man

In the beginning

  • The Word (logos)
    1. He is God
    2. The Father is also God
    3. The Son is not the Father; he was with the Father
    4. He is uncreated and eternal
  • All things made through Him (Jn 1:3)
  • Source and sustainer of life (Jn 1:4)
  • Gives supernatural, spiritual rebirth (Jn 1:12)
  • Became flesh (Jn 1:14), (Matthew 1:23)

Wayne Grudem defines the Incarnation as “the act of God the Son where He took to Himself a human nature.

The Word, the Son, became human without ceasing to be God.

The second Adam

Jesus lived all that constitutes human existence in an archetypal way.

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

– Hebrews 2:8-9 ESV

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

– Romans 5:12-19 ESV

He can relate to us all.

Hebrews 4:15 says For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

God’s glory is revealed

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Dwelt is the same word as tabernacled (pitched a tent) in Exodus 25:8.

Moses asks to see God’s Glory (Exodus 33:18) and God responded in v 19-23

Glory is not something we do, it is something God has. J.I. Packers calls it Divinity on Display.

The Incarnation displays the Glory of God

Want to see God? Fix your eyes on Jesus.

God’s grace is provided

And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

– John 1:16-18 ESV

It is grace substituted for grace. The grace of the cross replaces the grace of law.

The forumla of Grace and Truth

The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

– Exodus 34:5-7 ESV

We see God’s steadfast love (grace) and faithfulness (truth). His gracious love and never failing, rock solid commitment.

Jesus is Grace and Truth in fullness on display

  • Glory of the Son of God is graciousness toward sinners without compromising God’s truth.
  • Became human in order to die. Hebrews 2:14-15
  • Full payment for sin and reconciliation
  • Ultimate Grace
  • John 12:20-23

    Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

    ESV

  • The Cross is the royal throne
Seeing Spiritual Glory

The glory of the incarnation is not in the nativity scene, it is the cross.

Jeff Purswell sums it up, Do you want to know Jesus? You must know the savior who died in your place for your sins.

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It’s Reformation Day

October 31, 2008

That’s right, reformation day. We don’t need need stinkin’ Halloween here.

To kick things off enjoy this video:

Lyrical notes at The Kingdom Come.

Thank for God for using Luther to take our blinders off and allow us to see your grace and mercy!

Hat tip to Between Two Worlds.

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Grace is the Gospel – Grace Before Time

October 18, 2008

Grace Is Gospel Grace Before Time
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: grace jesus)

Creation

Grace is the Gospel – Part 1

  • Eternal Triune God
  • Author of Creation
  • Creation is Good
  • Created in God’s Image (Male and Female)
  • Created with Purpose
    • Glorify God
    • Enjoy Him Forever

The Fall

Grace is the Gospel – Part 2

  • We Betrayed God
  • A Declaration of Independence
    • Shame and Guilt
    • Death
    • All of Creation Cursed

God’s Plan All Along

  • All of Mankind
  • Sinners from Birth
  • We are Depraved
  • Slaves to Sin
  • Unable to Submit
  • Subject to Justice
  • and Wrath of God
  • Dead in our Sins

Back to God’s Plan…

Rejoice! By grace you have been saved

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved

Ephesians 2:5 ESV

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

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

Grace is…

  • Power to raise the dead
  • Power directed by love
  • Love to the ill-deserving

Salvation belongs to the Lord — Jonah 2:9 ESV

Election

  • First step of God’s love
  • God’s purpose to save us

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV

What?

He chose us in Him

When?

Before Creation

Why?

So we could be holy and blameless…He predestined us to adoption through Christ

Saved FOR Good Works, not FROM them

not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:9-10 ESV

For What Purpose?

God’s will, to the praise of glory of His grace

When we were dead

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will

Ephesians 1:11 ESV

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:4-9 ESV

He chose individuals

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

1 Corinthians 1:26-30 ESV

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

James 2:5 ESV

Is Election the Effect or the Cause of Obtaining Salvation?

It is not just that God knew we would believe…

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written,

God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.

Romans 11:1-8 ESV

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

Acts 13:48 ESV

Do we belong to God because we come to Jesus, or do we come to Jesus because we belong to God?

I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

John 17:6-9 ESV

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

John 6:37-39 ESV

Are we Jesus’ sheep because we believe, or do we believe because we are His sheep?

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

John 10:24-27 ESV

Is evangelism making or gathering sheep?

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

John 10:16 ESV

Are missions making or gathering children of God?

Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

John 11:50-52 ESV

And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”

Acts 18:9-10 ESV

Did God choose us because he knows we will come or, do we come because he chose to give us the will to come?

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

John 6:44, 65 ESV

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

Acts 16:14 ESV

Is election based on foreknown faith or is faith the effect of election?

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

Romans 8:28-33 ESV

Is election individual and unconditional?

Romans 9:1-23

Election is nothing but the preparation of Grace

According to B.B. Warfield…

Holiness, because it is the necessary product, is therefore the sure sign of election. All holy people are the elect of God and are sure of eternal life.

We need not, we must not, seek elsewhere for proof of our election: if we believe in Christ and obey him, we are his elect children.

Why not choose…

Again from B.B. Warfield…

The marvel of marvels is not that God, in his infinite love, has not elected all of this guilty race to be saved, but that he has elected any. What really needs accounting for — though to account for it passes the powers of our extremest flights of imagination — is how the holy God could get the consent of his nature to save a single sinner. If we know what sin is, and what holiness is, and what salvation from sin to holiness is, that is what we shall feel.

Resources

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