{"id":19145,"date":"2017-04-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-054\/"},"modified":"2023-09-08T08:14:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T13:14:16","slug":"soteriology-054","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-054\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 054"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[92],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19145","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-2-corinthians","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 054","sermon_date":"20170402","sermon_month":"04","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":4522,"sermon_slides":4479,"sermon_mp3":4533,"sermon_id":"42171018175","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":92,"chapter_and_verse":"5:21","sermon_transcript":"
Note: Soteriology #54 is a continuation of #53, so the same PowerPoint file was used for both sermons. Soteriology #54 picks up on slide #20 of the PowerPoint.<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\nAndy Woods\r\n\r\nSoteriology 54, 2 Corinthians 5:21\r\n\r\nMarch 26, 2016\r\n\r\nFather we thank You for this morning, we thank You for getting us up, getting us here, we\u2019re thankful for the cool weather and we\u2019re also thankful for this time of the year where next week we celebrate Palm Sunday and then the following week we celebrate the death of Jesus for our sins and then His resurrection.\u00a0 So we thank You, Father, that we serve a living Savior and He is alive and active at the Father\u2019s right hand and actively makes intercession for us so we praise You for that.\u00a0 And we lift these things up in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said Amen.\r\n\r\nAll right, I guess if you\u2019re looking for a verse to open up to you could do Philippians 3:9; you should have a handout and also the test which we\u2019re kind of combing through.\u00a0 But you\u2019ll recall that what I have there on the screen are the different categories of soteriology that we\u2019ve looked at over 52 weeks, which is a lot of information, isn\u2019t it.\u00a0 So the test that I gave you, and by the way, we have an active classroom outside this church.\u00a0 How do I know that?\u00a0 Because I got a bunch of e-mails this week, are you going to post the test?\u00a0\u00a0 So it\u2019s posted, those of you that are watching via live streaming, it should be posted under soteriology number 54 I think it is, the PowerPoint that I\u2019m using it\u2019s posted there under Sermon Archives and then a copy of the multiple choice test is there too.\u00a0\u00a0 So the test really isn\u2019t there to terrorize you; it\u2019s just really there to get the cobwebs out and get you to think about some of the stuff that we\u2019ve covered over 50 plus weeks.\r\n\r\nSo if you have the test we\u2019re on page 3 and I think we did the first 20 questions last time, didn\u2019t we?\u00a0\u00a0 This takes us to question number 21 and the PowerPoint that I used last time I didn\u2019t have posted so you should have the whole thing; these are just review slides, I just went through past slides that I grabbed, relevant slides to the questions.\u00a0 But we are around slide number 20, I\u2019m not sure how your page numbers are set up, so right after the stuff on regeneration you should have a chart that looks something like that.\u00a0 Are you guys able to locate that?\u00a0 What page is that on?\u00a0 Page 4.\r\n\r\nSo question 21, now going back to what we\u2019re doing in this section is matching the concept with the appropriate scriptural address and the reason I asked about that is because a lot of people have theology but they don\u2019t know where it comes from in the Bible.\u00a0 So your theology is really only as good as the biblical text it\u2019s found in.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have a biblical support for your theology it\u2019s time to readjust your theology, amen!\u00a0 So we have this question number 21, imputation; anybody remember what imputation means?\u00a0 It starts with a T\u2014Transfer.\u00a0 So there are three transfers in the Bible, we may have gone over this.\u00a0 The first transfer is in hamartiology, the doctrine of sin.\u00a0 So Adam\u2019s sin has been transferred to us, so we are all born into the world guilty because of Adam\u2019s sin.\u00a0 Romans 5:12 teaches that.\u00a0 [Romans 5:12, \u201cTherefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned\u2014\u201c]\r\n\r\nSo that\u2019s transfer 1.\u00a0 And people say well, that\u2019s not fair; well, nobody complains about transfer 2.\u00a0 Transfer 2 is a pretty good deal, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Our sin is transferred to who?\u00a0 Christ, that\u2019s Christology.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a02 Corinthians 5:21 is a good one on that.\u00a0 [2 Corinthians 5:21, \u201cHe made Him who knew no sin to\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.\u201d]\u00a0 And finally at \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the point of personal faith in Christ, Christ\u2019s righteousness is transferred to who?\u00a0 To me, and a wonderful verse on that, I may have shared this last time but if I only had one verse of the Bible they\u2019d let me take onto a desert island (these are the weird things I think of) if they\u2019re going to put \u00a0\u00a0me on a desert island and they\u2019re only going to let me take one verse which verse would you pick.\r\n\r\nI would pick the verse that best explains Christianity and so I would pick Philippians 3:9, where Paul says, \u201cand may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own\u201d so Paul was not into self-righteousness, earlier in his life he was into self-righteousness and he describes that earlier in this chapter, that he counted these things as but lost for the surpassing revelation of transferred righteousness.\u00a0 So he says in verse 9, \u201cand may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through\u201d what? sorrow and a penitent heart\u2026 oh, it doesn\u2019t say that, does it, \u201cbut that which is through\u201d what? \u201cfaith,\u201d faith is belief or confidence, \u201cthat which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from\u201d who? \u201cGod\u201d so Paul says if the righteousness doesn\u2019t come from me it\u2019s got to come from somewhere so it \u201ccomes from God\u201d and it\u2019s accessed \u201con the basis of faith.\u201d \u00a0That\u2019s transfer three.\u00a0 So the moment a person places their faith in Christ God looks at them as if they\u2019re just as righteous as Jesus; that\u2019s your standing before God.\u00a0 That\u2019s pretty amazing, isn\u2019t it.\r\n\r\nSo for question number 21 what\u2019s the correct answer?\u00a0 It would be D, both A and C.\u00a0 So A is describing the transfer of our sin to Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:21 and C is describing Christ\u2019s righteousness transferred to me at the point of faith.\r\n\r\nQuestion number 22, \u201cGive the right scriptural address for the believer\u2019s assurance.\u00a0 Now the big tragedy of our day is there\u2019s a lot of people out there that believe in eternal security but they don\u2019t know if they have it or not.\u00a0 So what we teach here is not only is eternal security a reality but we also teach the assurance of salvation, that you can have that assurance the moment you place your trust in Christ.\u00a0 So that is your right as a child of God, to know that you\u2019re saved.\u00a0 And probably the two best verses on that would be John 6:47 and John 5:24.\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve read these verses many times in this class but let me just read you John 5:24, if I could.\u00a0 \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me,\u201d might have eternal life if he bears enough fruit at the end of his life\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that, does it?\u00a0 \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has\u201d is that present tense there? \u201ceternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death\u201d now is the passing \u201cout of\u201d past, present or future?\u00a0 Past, you\u2019ve already \u201cpassed out of death into life,\u201d the moment what happened?\u00a0 You trusted in Christ.\u00a0 \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death unto life,\u201d so this verse is giving you the assurance of your salvation because you fulfilled a condition which is what?\u00a0 Belief in Christ.\u00a0 John 6:47 says basically the same thing.\u00a0 [John 6:47, \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnd one of the problems, I\u2019ll talk about Lordship salvation a little bit later, one of the problems with it is it destroys the assurance of salvation.\u00a0 I have the seven problems here with Lordship salvation.\u00a0 [1. Changes the gospel\u00a0 [2] Places an impossible burden upon the unsaved [3] Confuses justification with sanctification [4] Confuses the result of with requirement for salvation [5] Fails to make basic dispensational distinctions [6] Ignores the reality of a carnal Christian\u00a0 [7] Destroys the assurance of salvation]\r\n\r\nNumber 7, it destroys the assurance of salvation because you have to submit to Christ as Lord to be a Christian, they say, so how do I figure out if I\u2019ve ever completely done that?\u00a0 It\u2019s never defined, is it?\u00a0\u00a0 So I\u2019m always looking in my rear view mirror not knowing if I\u2019ve submitted enough, see that?\u00a0 So you go through your whole life, am I saved, am I not.\u00a0 It\u2019s like picking daisies, the petals off the rose, she loves me, she loves me not; today I feel saved, today I don\u2019t feel saved kind of thing.\u00a0 And when people live like that they\u2019re living beneath their privileges.\u00a0 So we teach the assurance of salvation and this is one of the problems with the Calvinistic system the way it\u2019s being promoted today, is the \u201cP\u201d stands for what?\u00a0 Perseverance of the saints which a lot of them will define as perseverance and good works.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re not persevering in good works, man, maybe you never had the gift of faith, maybe you\u2019re not one of the elect.\r\n\r\nAnd what does that really mean, the perseverance in good works?\u00a0 How can that be specifically identified or defined?\u00a0 It can\u2019t be.\u00a0 So\u00a0 you go through your life with these question marks, maybe I\u2019m saved, maybe I\u2019m not, and we believe with Calvinists that salvation is eternal but we actually go a step beyond Calvinists and we teach that you can actually know you possess it.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s what we would call the assurance of salvation.\u00a0 So the correct answer to number 22 would be what?\u00a0 D.\r\n\r\nAnd then there\u2019s a question on election.\u00a0 Election is what God does on His part so before I got saved God made some kind of first move to me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I fully understand all of that because people say well, does that negate free will, and I don\u2019t think it does because the Bible teaches both.\u00a0 But it\u2019s really hard to escape this idea that God doesn\u2019t do something in eternity past in my direction and so if you look at that third bullet point down it gives you several verses that explain that.\u00a0 Some of the strongest would be John 6:44, \u201cNo man can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him\u2026.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Acts 13:48 is very strong on that, it says, \u201c\u2026as many as have been appointed to eternal life believed.\u201d\u00a0 And probably Grand Central Station on the doctrine of election is Romans 9, which is all about God making a first move in terms of the various patriarchs of the nation of Israel.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re looking for election in the Bible the correct answer would probably be all of the above.\r\n\r\nAnd then we have question number 24 which is atonement; anybody remember what atonement is?\u00a0 It starts with an S\u2026 substitution.\u00a0 So Jesus actually stepped into the line of fire and absorbed the wrath of a holy God in our place.\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s what we\u2019re celebrating here this morning with the Lord\u2019s Table.\u00a0 So you have to have in your definition of the atonement the word \u201csubstitute\u201d somewhere or you don\u2019t really understand it.\u00a0 And probably one of the strongest verses that brings this out is Isaiah 53:3-6 which is a Messianic prophecy about Jesus, written 700 years in advance and as you read through this the concept of substitution is very prominent.\r\n\r\nIt says, \u201cHe was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.\u00a0 [4] Surely our griefs\u201d see verse 4, \u201cHe Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried;\u201d see substitution there?\u00a0 \u201cYet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.\u00a0 [5] But He was pierced through for\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cour transgressions,\u201d so it should have been me being pierced, \u201cHe was crushed for\u201d whose iniquities, \u201cour iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell<\/em> upon\u201d who? \u201cupon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.\u00a0 [6] All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on\u201d who? \u201con Him.\u201d\r\n\r\nI\u2019ll talk more about this when we get into the false views of the atonement but He didn\u2019t die on the cross to be a good moral example for us to follow as we serve others.\u00a0 That may be part of the reason He died but if you think that that\u2019s not the complete reason.\u00a0 You have to have in your understanding substitution or you miss the concept of atonement.\u00a0 So therefore the correct answer \u00a0to number 24 is what?\u00a0 C.\r\n\r\nAnd then we get into question number 25 which is propitiation.\u00a0 Now these are our salvation \u00a0words, redemption, reconciliation, expiation, propitiation and one we\u2019ve already covered which is imputation.\u00a0 And those are kind of fancy words, most of them come from the Greek text and what each word does is it brings out a facet of\u00a0 your salvation that the other words don\u2019t cover.\u00a0 So each one brings out a special nuance and I\u2019ll get more into salvation words a little bit later but this particular question is testing you on propitiation, hilasm\u00f3s<\/em>, propitiation is basically what that word means is the satisfaction of divine wrath. \u00a0So in the death of Jesus Christ the wrath of God, His holiness against sin, has been pacified, placated, appeased, satiated, satisfied.\r\n\r\nA lot of people look at God the way they look at their earthly father who was mad at them all the time.\u00a0 A lot of Christians are always trembling, is God mad at me, and the reality of the situation is they don\u2019t understand propitiation.\u00a0 If you understand propitiation, the satisfaction of divine wrath, we would all understand that God is not angry with any of us that are in Christ because His wrath has been satisfied.\u00a0 And therefore the only attribute left for Him to express towards you is His attribute of love.\u00a0 1 John 4:8, \u201cGod is love.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo the key verse that talks about propitiation is 1 John 2:2 but I have on the test here Romans 3:25, which says, \u201cwhom God displayed publicly as a propitiation\u201d there\u2019s that Greek word hilasm\u00f3s<\/em>, \u201cin His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;\u201d so God is not mad at you as a Christian.\r\n\r\nNow it\u2019s true that \u201cwhom the Lord loves the Lord\u201d what? \u201cchastens\u201d or \u201cdisciplines.\u201d\u00a0 But that\u2019s an act of love; that\u2019s not an exacting of His wrath on you.\u00a0 And a lot of my friends in the free grace movement are getting kind of fuzzy on that; they\u2019re believing that God executes wrath on the child of God.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is Romans 8:1 says, \u201cTherefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.\u201d\r\n\r\nSometimes the chastening of God can feel very severe, like it is wrath, but it isn\u2019t wrath, it\u2019s the correction of a loving Father to prevent us from destroying ourselves in sin.\u00a0 But as far as the wrath of God\u00a0 for our sin that\u2019s been taken care of.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the death of Christ is all about.\u00a0 That\u2019s Jesus\u2019 final words on the cross were what? \u201cIt is finished!\u201d meaning what?\u00a0 The wrath of God has been pacified.\u00a0 So the correct answer to 25 would be A.\r\n\r\nAnd then we have 26, this question is getting at what is saving faith.\u00a0 Saving faith has to have in it the concept of trust.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot more than just intellectually assenting to a creed or something.\u00a0 I know a lot about George Washington, I can give you all kinds of facts and figures but you see, that\u2019s not saving faith at all, it\u2019s just knowledge.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a lot of people out there, even atheists, that can rattle off data about the biography of Jesus.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t save anybody.\u00a0 What saves a person is when they\u2019re actually trusting in Him for their salvation.\r\n\r\nI like to use the example of Charles Blondin, which I\u2019ve used many times before.\u00a0 He was the guy that could push the wheel barrow across the tightrope suspended over Niagara Falls and crowds would gather to watch him do this and one day he yelled out to the crowd on the banks of the shores there, do you believe I can do this again?\u00a0 And they all said yes, we believe.\u00a0 And he said which one of you wants to get in the wheelbarrow?\u00a0 So once you get in the wheelbarrow you\u2019re no longer just assenting to a set of creeds, you\u2019re actually trusting this guy as your destiny hinges on his ability to do this.\u00a0 And a person has to come under the conviction of the Spirit and they have to actually trust in Christ for their eternity, for the safe keeping of their souls.\u00a0 And if it\u2019s just data in the mind but it never moves into trust then it\u2019s not saving faith.\r\n\r\nAnd probably the key verse on this would be James 2:19 which says, \u201cYou believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and\u201d what?\u00a0 they \u201ctremble.\u201d\u00a0 Now when Jesus showed up on this planet and started His earthly ministry the demons themselves knew a lot about Jesus.\u00a0 They say who are you, son of man, son of God, have you come to torment us before the appointed time?\u00a0 So they believed in a future judgment, they believed in the deity of Jesus Christ, they believed who Christ was.\u00a0 But the reality of the situation is the demons aren\u2019t trusting in Jesus for anything, it\u2019s just head knowledge.\r\n\r\nSo mere intellectual assent can\u2019t save because God has put a condition in place which involves trust.\u00a0 Other synonyms for trust would be reliance, dependence, confidence, and that\u2019s what\u2019s meant by saving faith so the correct answer to 26 would be what? B, that\u2019s a good proof text to show that mere intellectual assent is not enough to save.\r\n\r\nAnd then we come to question 27 which is this idea of believers un-yielded to Christ\u2019s Lordship.\u00a0 And that becomes an issue because in the doctrine of lordship salvation, which basically says to become a Christian you must not just believe in Jesus but submit every area of\u00a0 your life to Christ as a condition for justification, which actually fundamentally changes the gospel, doesn\u2019t it.\u00a0 It\u2019s no longer receiving a free gift from God, now it\u2019s what I do for God.\u00a0 And that is always how you recognize a false gospel,\u00a0 you try to figure out where does it put the spotlight on? Is the spotlight on Jesus and what He has done and me receiving as a gift what He has done?\u00a0 Or is the spotlight on me and what I do?\u00a0 And as that spotlight moves from Him to you, you can immediately recognize it as a false gospel or a works oriented gospel.\r\n\r\nSo there are seven problems with lordship salvation.\u00a0 The seventh we\u2019ve already talked about\u2014destroys the assurance of salvation.\u00a0 One of its basic problems I have mentioned, number 1, it changes the gospel.\u00a0 And then the second to the\u00a0 last one that I have underlined is ignores the reality of a carnal Christian.\u00a0 Now why is that?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s necessary to submit to Christ\u2019s Lordship for justification, therefore in the church you can\u2019t have backslidden Christians, carnal Christians, rebellious Christians, un-yielded Christians.\u00a0 Do you see that?\u00a0 The problem is the Bible presents three kinds of people in the body of Christ: you have the natural man (in the blue), those would be people that are unsaved.\u00a0 And then that lighter green area is the different categories of people that have been saved.\u00a0 And there are not one category of saved people, according to Paul, there\u2019s three categories.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 There\u2019s the spiritual, there\u2019s the infant and there\u2019s the carnal.\r\n\r\nAnd you say well, where are you getting this strange teaching?\u00a0 It\u2019s right there, I\u2019m not making anything up, it\u2019s right there in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 if you want to look at that for a second.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cAnd I\u201d what? \u201cbrethren,\u201d are these people saved or unsaved?\u00a0 Saved!\u00a0 \u201cAnd I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people,\u201d that\u2019s category one, \u201cbut as to carnal,\u201d that\u2019s category two, \u201cas to babes in Christ,\u201d that\u2019s category three.\u00a0 See how there in verse 1 when he talks to the \u201cbrethren\u201d he doesn\u2019t just use on word to describe the \u201cbrethren,\u201d he uses three.\r\n\r\nNow in Lordship salvation, in Reformed theology you only have two kinds of people on planet earth, saved or unsaved.\u00a0 If you\u2019re unsaved you\u2019re the natural man and you\u2019re on your way to hell; if you\u2019re saved then you have to be producing fruit and experiencing great maturity.\u00a0 So you have a very reductionist, simplistic view of the Christian through Reformed theology.\u00a0 Notice that Paul is a lot more nuance than that; Paul doesn\u2019t just deal with people as saved and unsaved.\u00a0 Obviously the distinction between saved and unsaved is probably the most important because that determines whether you go to heaven or not but Paul, in his thinking of saved people says within the ranks of the saved you\u2019ve got three kinds of people: the spiritual man is the person that\u2019s growing in Christ, so these are the people that, you know, bless your socks off in the church.\r\n\r\nThe carnal\u2026 now from the word \u201ccarnal\u201d we get the word meat, or flesh, right, as in chili con carne, meat, chili with meat, so carnal is the Christian who is still living for the sin nature, they\u2019ve never really learned to live beyond the desires of the sin nature and they keep going back to it over and over again.\u00a0 And then you have the babes in Christ who are kind of cute because they just got saved and they\u2019re saying silly things and it\u2019s age appropriate.\u00a0 The problem, when a little baby is sucking their thumb it\u2019s cute, right?\u00a0 Now when the child is 16 and still in a crib sucking its thumb we have a little developmental problem.\u00a0 And it\u2019s the carnal that really put the gray hairs on your head as a pastor because it\u2019s like you\u2019re upset about this?\u00a0 You\u2019re mad about this?\u00a0 You\u2019re making an issue out of this?\u00a0 It\u2019s like how long have you been in the faith?\u00a0 You should have grown way beyond this a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThe carnal Christian can look a lot like the unbeliever.\u00a0 You say well, does the Bible say that?\u00a0 Look at what he says?\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 3:1] \u201cAnd I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. [2] I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it.<\/em> Indeed, even now you are not yet able, [3] for you are still carnal. \u00a0For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not carnal, are you not behaving like\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cmere men.\u201d\u00a0 Who\u2019s the \u201cmere\u201d man?\u00a0 It\u2019s the unbeliever, the natural man that has no idea that the Spirit is in him, he doesn\u2019t have any relationship to the Spirit.\r\n\r\nAnd this is why Paul in chapter 5, to this same group, when incest is happening he says the pagans don\u2019t even act like this.\u00a0 So a carnal Christian sometimes can even outdo an unbeliever in terms of sin.\u00a0 You know, an unbeliever can be moral, I know a lot of very moral unbelievers.\u00a0 But the carnal Christian has the capacity to even exceed that of the unbeliever.\u00a0 And how do you know if a person is carnal?\u00a0 Verse 2, \u201cI fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you are not able to receive it and you\u2019re still not able.\u201d\u00a0 The carnal Christian, any more than an infant can digest a steak, can consume and digest a steak, a carnal Christian can handle a sermon that goes no more than 20 minutes, give me my three points and a poem, give me my warm fuzzy of the day and I\u2019m out of here, and don\u2019t violate the cardinal rule of allow the worship service to go beyond the noon hour.\u00a0 So here\u2019s what a carnal Christian is always doing, always looking at their watch, always looking at Facebook, social media, we have the issue of the contracting bladder where the carnal Christian is always getting up, three or four times during the service and using the bathroom, not that doesn\u2019t have its place.\r\n\r\nBut you see, these are basically excuses because they don\u2019t really have\u2026 the reality of the situation is they don\u2019t have an ability to concentrate on something deeper in God and so they thrive on milk but they reject the meat.\u00a0 So assuming they can even stay through an entire sermon they can grab one little part of it but they really miss the whole picture on what the thing is about and it\u2019s really a digestive issue.\u00a0 So that\u2019s how you can distinguish very fast who\u2019s carnal and who\u2019s not.\r\n\r\nAnd the carnal Christian is all about, if you look at verse 3, envy, strife and divisions.\u00a0 So there are people, and it doesn\u2019t matter what environment you put them in, there is some interpersonal conflict no matter where they go.\u00a0 You\u2019re put on this committee, there\u2019s a interpersonal conflict; you take them off that committee, put them on another one, there\u2019s an interpersonal conflict.\u00a0 You take them out of church A and put them in church B there\u2019s an interpersonal conflict.\u00a0 You look at their marriage, there\u2019s interpersonal conflict.\u00a0 You look at their relationship with their children, there\u2019s inter\u00adpersonal conflict.\u00a0 You look at their workplace and it\u2019s usually a very spotty record where they can\u2019t get along with anybody.\u00a0 And so strife and envy just follows them wherever they go and that\u2019s basically how you recognize carnality.\r\n\r\nAnd Paul, what he\u2019s saying is Christians, if they stay in that state can be in that state and they should have grown up a long time ago.\u00a0 He says from \u201cuntil now,\u201d in other words, they had been in this state for a long time.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re an evangelist the goal of your ministry is to convert the people in the dark blue to the green.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re a missionary, evangelist, you\u2019re trying to convert unbelievers to being believers.\u00a0 And as my friend, Randy Price says the hard part is not catching the fish it\u2019s cleaning the fish.\u00a0 So who does God call to clean up the fish?\u00a0 It\u2019s a different gift entirely, it\u2019s called the gift of pastor-teacher; Paul explains it in Ephesians 4:11-16.\u00a0 And it\u2019s to help the carnal or the infant to grow out of that condition and become spiritual Christians.\r\n\r\nSo in the natural world you\u2019ve got obstetricians that help the birthing process.\u00a0 And then in the natural world you have pediatricians that help the child grow.\u00a0 So an evangelist is an obstetrician, a pastor is basically a pediatrician and very rarely in my experience does God give the same gifts to both people.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen it happen where you have evangelists that are also pastors, and that\u2019s a wonderful thing to see, that\u2019s an awesome gift mix, but generally the way it works is\u2026 in the natural world I\u2019ve never met an obstetrician that\u2019s also a pediatrician, or vice versa, because those are two totally different disciplines.\r\n\r\nSo it\u2019s the same in the spiritual world, there\u2019s an evangelist but there\u2019s also pastors.\u00a0 And this is sort of important to understand because a lot of time people that are evangelists want to control the pastor and they want to turn every church service into an evangelistic rally.\u00a0 When you ask a pastor to turn every church service into an evangelistic rally you\u2019re not respecting the gift that God gave that pastor; the pastor is not there primarily to get folks saved.\u00a0 The pastor is there to help saved folks grow.\u00a0\u00a0 So my sermons are not aimed at unbelievers.\u00a0 We do give the gospel at the end because when Paul was giving instructions concerning pastors he also says do the work of an evangelist, 2 Timothy.\u00a0 But my primary gifting is not evangelism; I always wished I had the gift of evangelism but God didn\u2019t give me the gift of evangelism.\u00a0 I feel it\u2019s important to at least present the gospel in case some unsaved person hears it and my thinking is if I present the gospel every Sunday then you guys will know how to do it on your own, right?\u00a0 So if nothing else it\u2019s a role model for you on how to actually present it.\u00a0 But the bottom line is although we give the gospel every week that\u2019s not my primary focus because God didn\u2019t give me the gift of evangelism, He gave me the gift of pastor-teacher.\u00a0 How did we get off on all that?\r\n\r\nWhat question are we on anyway?\u00a0 Question four.\u00a0 So you see in lordship salvation you don\u2019t have category\u2026 you maybe have an infant but you can\u2019t have a carnal Christian.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why I asked this question, believers un-yielded to Christ, I mean is that true or not, because if it\u2019s biblically true lordship salvation is wrong.\u00a0 And I give here multiple Scriptures which indicate that a believer can be un-yielded to the Lordship of Christ.\u00a0 And when I talk like this people say well, you\u2019re against holy living.\u00a0 What are you talking about?\u00a0 I\u2019m completely in favor of holy living.\u00a0 Just acknowledg\u00ading the possibility of unholy living amongst God\u2019s people doesn\u2019t mean\u00a0 you\u2019re against holy living.\u00a0 I\u2019m just saying this is a category and I didn\u2019t invent the category.\u00a0 Paul explains the category, and all these verses we\u2019ve gone through these in the class so I won\u2019t go through all these again, show you that you have a person that\u2019s saved and going to heaven that\u2019s un-yielded to the Lordship of Christ.\r\n\r\nIn fact, in Acts 10:14 remember Peter saw the vision of the animals and the sheep and he heard the voice, arise and eat.\u00a0 Remember what Peter said?\u00a0 \u201cNot so Lord,\u201d now isn\u2019t that sort of a contradiction, if He\u2019s your Lord you can\u2019t tell Him no; that\u2019s like a self-refuting idea, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 It\u2019s like saying jumbo shrimp, Microsoft works, postal service, government efficiency, reasonable attorney\u2019s fees, I mean, these are ideas that don\u2019t go together.\r\n\r\nSo Peter says \u201cNot so Lord,\u201d now was Peter saved?\u00a0 I sure hope so, he just preached to 3,000 people on the day of Pentecost and they all got saved; it looks like the man is saved to me, and he\u2019s telling the Lord no.\u00a0 So is it possible that a Christian can tell the Lord no?\u00a0 Is it possible that a Christian can keep telling the Lord no?\u00a0 It is possible that a Christian can go through his whole life or her whole live saying to the Lord, no, no, no, no, no, no, and die in that state?\u00a0 Yes, it\u2019s possible.\u00a0 Is it good?\u00a0 No!\u00a0 Is it possible?\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0 And of course Calvinism rejects this entirely because if\u00a0 you\u2019re one of the elect\u00a0 you have to be persevering in the faith.\u00a0 And what I\u2019m saying is the Bible is a lot more nuanced than the superimposed Calvinistic system over the Bible or the superimposed Lordship salvation idea overt the Bible.\r\n\r\nSo the answer to number 28 would be what?\u00a0 D, all of the above. All of those verses show that you can have a believer that\u2019s unyielded to the Lordship of Christ.\r\n\r\nNumber 28, eternal security, what is probably the strongest verse in the Bible that reveals eternal security?\u00a0 It would be John 10:27-29 which indicates that if you\u2019re in faith you\u2019re in the Father\u2019s hand and what can take you out?\u00a0 Nothing!\u00a0 And as we were going through that I showed you that the Greek text, there\u2019s a double negation there and what that means in Greek is you\u2019re not coming out, no way Hosea (that\u2019s the Spanish translation).\u00a0 It\u2019s the strongest negation you could possibly have.\u00a0 So the fact of the matter is you got saved by grace and\u00a0 you\u2019re kept by God\u2019s grace.\u00a0 The devil can\u2019t take you out of His hand; Christ can\u2019t take you out of the Father\u2019s hand.\u00a0 The Father can\u2019t take you out of the Father\u2019s hand and you know what?\u00a0 You can\u2019t even take yourself out of the Father\u2019s hand.\r\n\r\nSo therefore the grace that saved me is the grace that what?\u00a0 Keeps me.\u00a0 This is a grace operation from beginning to end.\u00a0 So the correct answer to number 28 would be A, that\u2019s probably the strongest verse on eternal security that you can have.\r\n\r\nAnd then we go to 29 which is what is the one condition of salvation.\u00a0 It\u2019s belief!\u00a0 Now how many times is this taught in the Bible?\u00a0 There\u2019s a question coming up on that.\u00a0 Almost 200 times and people say well, can you produce a list that gives me those 200 examples?\u00a0 I can\u2019t because I haven\u2019t done the work but if you go to the website by J. B. Hixson, who by the way is going to be speaking here towards the end of April, and you go to his website Not by Works, he has a list where he\u2019s listed every single verse that teaches you\u2019re saved by faith, period.\u00a0 I just have some highlights here, some of the more well-known verses are John 3:16, \u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever\u201d what, commits to church attendance, lives a holy life, shows true contrition, bears fruit\u2026.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that, right?\u00a0 One condition, \u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish\u2026.\u201d\r\n\r\nJohn 6:28-29 is very strong, [John 6:28-29, \u201cTherefore they said to Him, \u2018What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?\u2019 [29] Jesus answered and said to them, \u2018This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.\u201d\u2019]\u00a0 They come to Jesus in John 6, like religionists do, and they say what must we do to do the works of God?\u00a0 What do I gotta do to be made right with You?\u00a0 And the problem is they\u2019re thinking what do I had to DO, and Christianity is not what you have to do, it\u2019s what He has DONE and you receive that as a gift.\u00a0 So Jesus says well, if you want to do something this is the work of God, \u201cbelieve in Him who He has sent.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, that\u2019s it?\u00a0 It can\u2019t be that easy, can it?\u00a0 And that\u2019s where pride kicks in.\u00a0 I mean, God, You bought lunch, let me at least leave the tip.\u00a0 It\u2019s harder to receive a gift than to receive a gift, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 So people are stunned at how easy this is and the human temptation is always to add something.\u00a0 But once something else is added you\u2019re no longer dealing with gospel of grace any more.\r\n\r\nAnd then in Acts 16 the Philippian jailor asks life\u2019s most important question, \u201cWhat must I do to be saved?\u201d\u00a0 And Paul and Silas say, \u201cBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and\u00a0 you will be saved.\u201d\u00a0 And then it also says, \u201cyou and your household\u201d presumably because he would share the gospel with his family. But I like the way Pastor Jim shared the gospel at the women\u2019s fellowship.\u00a0 If you want to know how to share the gospel watch Jim McGowan and how he did it at the end of the women\u2019s luncheon.\u00a0 He basically used three verses, John 3:16, John 1:12 and Acts 16:30-31 and he asked the ladies a question, what do these verses not say?\u00a0 [John 3:16, \u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 John 1:12, \u201cBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,\u201d Acts 16:30-31, \u201cand after he brought them out, he said, \u201cSirs, what must I do to be saved?\u201d]\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s a pretty good pedagogical tool, not what they say, what they don\u2019t say.\u00a0 And what they don\u2019t say is everything you have to do beyond belief because there\u2019s nothing you can do beyond simple faith to be made right with God.\u00a0 And this is the teaching of the Scripture found 200 times. \u00a0And what is happening is a very strange peculiarity where people build their gospel presentations, not off the 200 clear verses but they find some obscure verse and they gravitate towards that and they want to build their gospel presentation on some verse that has nothing to do with how an unbeliever gets saved.\u00a0 And I think people gravitate towards those other verses because it\u2019s an issue of pride; it couldn\u2019t be as easy as just receiving a gift, let\u2019s find some other verse that makes it more complicated.\r\n\r\nSo whenever people try to muddy the gospel you have to understand that it\u2019s a\u00a0 pride issue.\u00a0 They masquerade it a great theological point but what\u2019s lurking behind the surface is pride, it can\u2019t be that easy, it can\u2019t be that simple, let me do something, let me contribute, let me raise my hand.\u00a0 Well \u00a0what do you do if a person is in a wheel chair and can\u2019t move their hand?\u00a0\u00a0 Well, let me confess something, what do you do with a person who doesn\u2019t have any vocal cords?\u00a0 Well, let me walk an aisle.\u00a0 What \u00a0do you do with a person that\u2019s in a wheel chair?\u00a0 See, when you start thinking about this practically you see very fast God couldn\u2019t have added other conditions, He just added the one condition that everybody could do, which is to believe.\u00a0 So Number 29, the correct answer would be D.\r\n\r\nThen we come to number 30, we\u2019re back to our salvation words and this is salvation word number 3, expiation.\u00a0 What is expiation?\u00a0 It\u2019s a little bit different than the other words; basically what it means is God has removed from us the eternal consequences of our sin.\u00a0 The eternal consequences of sin is damnation in the lake of fire forever, and that eternal consequence has been removed the moment I trust Christ.\u00a0 Now notice this definition very carefully; we defined it as a removal of sin\u2019s eternal penalty.\u00a0 There is no guarantee in expiation that the temporary conse\u00adquences of our sin are removed.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 So if I come in here at 85 miles and hour and the policeman pulls me over I can\u2019t say well gee, officer, you\u2019ve never read Romans 8:1, it says there\u2019s \u201cno condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo as a Christian the law of sowing and reaping is still very much in effect.\u00a0 I can do all kinds of things to mess up my life through sin and expiation does not guarantee that those consequences are removed.\u00a0 What it guarantees is the eternal consequences of our sin are removed.\u00a0 Now sometimes God, in His grace, allows the temporary consequences to be removed.\r\n\r\nA case in point would be my cousin, who had a very similar background to Rachael\u2019s that we heard about at the women\u2019s luncheon, who was such a mess that his parents didn\u2019t even know what to do with him and they dropped him off at a ministry, it wasn\u2019t Jubilee Homes, it was a ministry called Team Challenge, and he was in so much problems with the law, with drug abuse, all kinds of different things, and he got saved in that and because of drug abuse he believed that he was going to give up drugs and he was going to go through heavy withdrawals, which is what happens when a person leaves chemical dependency.\u00a0 And to his own testimony,\u00a0 I mean, he told me this years ago, that as the withdrawal process was beginning the Lord did a work whereby he just had some mild headaches, which is very minimal compared to what you normally go through when you work through withdrawals. I don\u2019t know what you believe about that, I believe it\u2019s a case where God gave so much grace to him that He didn\u2019t just remove the eternal consequences of his choices, He removed in that instance a temporary consequence.\r\n\r\nSo God sometimes will grace you out but the reality of the situation is that is not guaranteed; that is not guaranteed!\u00a0 The only thing guaranteed in expiation is the removal of sins eternal penalty and the key verse that talks about it is Psalm 102:12, which says, \u201cAs far as the east is from the west,\u201d how far is the east from the west?\u00a0 It\u2019s infinite, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0\u00a0 You notice he doesn\u2019t say as far as the north is from the south, because the distance between the north and the south is not an infinite line, there\u2019s a north pole and there\u2019s a south pole.\u00a0\u00a0 You get the idea that whoever wrote this understood the geography of the earth; maybe they even understood the earth was a globe; what do you think about that?\u00a0 Psalm 102:13 says, \u201cAs far as the east is from the west,\u201d which is an infinite line, \u201cSo far has He removed our transgressions from us.\u201d\r\n\r\nSo expiation is a beautiful teaching and it is signified on the day of atonement, Leviticus 16, through two animals.\u00a0 On the day of atonement the priest would take the blood of goat A and apply it to the mercy seat, and that postponed the nation\u2019s indebtedness for one year, of those salvation words, which one does that represent, that first goat?\u00a0 Hint, it\u2019s one we\u2019ve already talked about, starting with a \u201cp,\u201d propitiation.\u00a0 So the moment he applied the blood of the lamb to the mercy seat it signified propitiation.\u00a0 Then what happened to the second goat?\u00a0 It runs off into the wilderness.\u00a0 What did that second goat signify?\u00a0 Expiation.\u00a0\u00a0 So the sin debt is attached to that second goat and he runs off into the wilderness and God is showing that your eternal consequences of your sins are removed and propitiation is applied to the mercy seat and that\u2019s propitiation, the satisfaction of divine wrath.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that cool, looking at these salvation words, and how each one is saying something the others aren\u2019t saying.\r\n\r\nYou know, Lewis Sperry Chafer would give Bible conferences on salvation words, so he would do a whole session on expiation and then a whole different session on propitiation, and a whole different session on redemption, and a whole different session on reconciliation, because each word brings out something the others don\u2019t.\r\n\r\nSo redemption is payment of a purchase price in order to be released from bondage.\u00a0 You want to think of Passover lamb, because the Passover lamb, his blood was spilled and it released the nation of Israel from Egyptian bondage.\u00a0 Reconciliation, a different Greek word, is a change of relationship from one of hostility to one of peace; you want to think there of Jacob and Esau who were at enmity with each other because Jacob stole the birthright but then around Genesis 33 the two are restored into fellowship.\u00a0 Expiation we talked about; propitiation we talked about, imputation we\u2019ve talked about.\u00a0 So the correct answer to number 31, satisfaction of divine wrath is what?\u00a0 D.\u00a0 The correct answer to number 2, removal of sin\u2019s penalty is what?\u00a0 C, expiation.\u00a0 33, change of relationship from one of hostility to one of peace, what\u2019s the right word for that?\u00a0 Reconciliation.\r\n\r\nDid you know that before you got saved God is your enemy?\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 Romans 5:10 says that, but now I\u2019m His friend, His child.\u00a0 [Romans 5:10, \u201cFor if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.\u201d]\u00a0 So the hostility has been called off.\u00a0 When you think about being in conflict with somebody and all of a sudden the relationship is healed, that\u2019s a wonderful thing when that happens and that\u2019s what God has done with us through reconciliation.\r\n\r\nAnd then the correct answer to number 4, payment of a purchase price in order to release from bondage, what would the correct answer be.\u00a0 A. All right, time flies when you\u2019re having fun so I think we\u2019ll stop here, we\u2019ll pick it up with question 35 next time.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t