VIDEO: -OLOGY INTRO SLIDE 1 -OLOGY SOTERIOLOGY July 17 th, 2016 INTRODUCTION Good Morning! Welcome to Fox Valley Christian Church! - Online Giving YouVersion Live and www.fvcc.com/give Salvation is more than the forgiveness of sins. As we have seen, sin causes two basic problems for sinners: it makes us guilty; and it produces an inward sickness, weakness, or corruption of the soul. But God s gracious salvation includes a remedy for each of these problems. Last week we talked about how justification solves the problem of our guilt. But if that were all there is to salvation, we would still be weak and helpless. We would still be held down by the chains of sin. We would be unable to make much headway in conquering our sinful habits, tendencies and desires. But maybe that doesn t matter. After all, if we are justified by grace through faith, are works even necessary? Do we still have to obey God s commands? Does it really matter whether we keep on sinning or not? Grace is so amazing, it is so radical, it is extraordinary why wouldn t we be led to ask questions like this.
ROMANS 6:1 SLIDE 2 1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul in the last few chapters in Romans has been talking about being justified by faith, saved by grace. So he says what shall we say, are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ROMANS 6:2 SLIDE 3 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Sin still matters. How could anyone think otherwise? This is why God has made provision not only to remove the penalty of sin, but also to restore our sin-weakened natures to a state of spiritual life and health. This is the second part of the double cure in which God destroys sin s power over us and makes us pure. SLIDE 4 This is what we are going to be looking at today. We are going to look at regeneration and sanctification. The second part of the double cure. REGENERATION What is regeneration?
It is an instantaneous one-time event. Regeneration is the moment that a sinner goes from lost to saved, from guilty to justified. Where justification is the legal outward change, regeneration is a metaphysical change it is a change in the sinner s very nature. Some would say that regeneration is just a moral change, but it is more than that. A moral change occurs prior to regeneration, in fact it is a prerequisite for regeneration. You must have a repenting heart, you must put your faith in Christ. These are prerequisites to regeneration. God describes, or foreshadows regeneration in Ezekiel 36:26 EZEKIEL 36:26 SLIDE 5 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. The event of regeneration is also described in Romans 6:1-14 ROMANS 6:1-14 SLIDE 6 1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? SLIDE 7
2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? SLIDE 8 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? SLIDE 9 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. SLIDE 10 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. SLIDE 11 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. SLIDE 12 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. SLIDE 13 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. SLIDE 14
9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. SLIDE 15 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. SLIDE 16 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. SLIDE 17 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. SLIDE 18 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. SLIDE 19 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Regeneration is the moment that we are dead to sin and alive in Christ. It is the moment that we are given new life, we are born again, we are reborn. It is a one-time instantaneous event.
CAUSE OF REGENERATION SLIDE 20 So what then is the cause of regeneration? Is it something that we must do or is it something that is done to us? Some believe that regeneration is a moral change of the heart. It is something that we do. The Holy Spirit works in us through the word of God. The Holy Spirit s power in this is the fact that He inspired the all scripture. That inspired scripture then works on our hearts and we decide through faith and repentance to make a moral change in our lives. That decision then would be regeneration. I can t except that. I can t except that regeneration is something that we do. Because there is something happening here that only God can do, that can only be done by the power of God. JOHN 1:12-13 SLIDE 21 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, SLIDE 22 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Not by the will of man, reborn by God. COLOSSIANS 2:11-13
SLIDE 23 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, SLIDE 24 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. SLIDE 25 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, This was God s doing. God has made us alive. God will make you alive. He is the giver of this new life. This is why we are called His workmanship, His new creation. SLIDE 26 Regeneration, like justification, is part of the free gift of God. It is part of grace. We cannot cure our sin depraved soul, only God can restore us from that. RESULT OF REGENERATION So then, is it a complete change or a complete healing of the soul s sin-sickness? No. It is a reversal in direction. It is the
beginning of a process of further change. It is the beginning of a lifelong process of healing. Think of it like this. Have you ever watched those old western movies? Someone in the story gets wounded and they develop an infection and a fever. There are no antibiotics, it s just watching this person die but hoping they will pull through. Then there is this moment, everyone is excited, there seems to be this relief in the sick person. They say, the fever broke. This is the turning point. The fever has broke. Can he stand up, do jumping jacks, go for a jog. Is he healed? Nope. But he is also no longer dying. The fever has broke, he is now on the road to recovery. Regeneration is the time when the sin-fever breaks and the lifegiving power of the Holy Spirit sets the sinner on the road to spiritual wholeness. Because of regeneration the saved person can now say, I can obey God s will; I am able to obey the law s commands. I am no longer a slave to the sin in my life. SANCTIFICATION Where regeneration is the turning point, it is the one time event, sanctification is the process that regeneration initiates. Sanctification literally means to be set apart, to be holy. So when we look at sanctification we see two aspects of sanctification.
The first is initial sanctification. This is when the sinner accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior and now they are sanctified. They are set apart from the rest of the world. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:11 SLIDE 27 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. We have been set apart, that is why anyone who is in Christ is called a saint. Biblically, being a saint is not an elite group of especially righteous Christians. The word saint means, a set apart one so all Christians are referred to as saints in scripture, because we have been sanctified. The second aspect of sanctification is called progressive sanctification, because this is the ongoing process in which the Christians becomes more and more separated from sin itself. EPHESIANS 4:20-24 SLIDE 28 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ! SLIDE 29 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, SLIDE 30
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, SLIDE 31 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, SLIDE 32 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 1 PETER 1:13-16 SLIDE 33 13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being soberminded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. SLIDE 34 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, SLIDE 35 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, SLIDE 36 16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
Sanctification is a process and it is a process that you are involved in. It is something that you do. We are part of this process of being made holy. There is scripture upon scripture talking about the sanctification process and just like the ones I just read to you they are pleas to Christians who have already been sanctified (initially) set apart. This part of sanctification is a process to be holy, like God is holy. To be perfect, like God is perfect. So then, when does this process come to an end? When do we as Christians attain complete sanctification? When are we holy like He is holy, perfect like He is perfect, pure like He is pure? SLIDE 37 Well since we are told that we ought to be perfect like He is perfect, then ought implies can. God would not tell us that we should strive for something that we can t attain. That being said, because we can become perfect, that does not mean that we necessarily will. Look at Paul, Paul is a saved Christians. He has been justified and regenerated, but He is still a sinner. Paul laments and says I do what I don t want to do, what a miserable man I am. There is this intense conflict in Paul. He hates sin, but still finds himself sinning. Do you get that? I get that. My dad once told me, the more I know God, the further away I realize I am.
I get that. God I want to be holy. I want to be perfect. God I want to be completely free from sin. But the more that discover God s holiness, the more I realize just how far I have to go. But that is what we are to strive for. We have been made in His image and we should strive and pursue to be holy as He is holy. How? How could we possibly accomplish this? God has told us to abstains from every evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22) and to not let sin reign in your mortal body (Romans 6:12) We have an obligation to obey him and we also have the free-will to choose whether we want to obey or not. That means that progressive sanctification is our responsibility. It will only happen by our decision and effort. But how? How could I possibly accomplish this? Haven t I already proven that I couldn t be obedient and that is why Jesus had to take my penalty? Because God, through Christ, gives us the power to conquer sin. To flee temptation. To be holy as He is holy. This began in regeneration when we were given a new heart. No longer a heart of stone, but one of flesh that is soft and responsive to God. But His help does not end there. God also gave us His Spirit and the Holy Spirit lives in us. He gives us power to strengthen our wills. He gives us the power to do what we know is right. PHILIPPIANS 2:12 SLIDE 38
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, What a daunting task. We are commanded to obey God s commands, to be holy as He is holy. This is something that we do, that we take part in. It takes effort and work. But don t stop there. Because God doesn t. check out the next verse. PHILIPPIANS 2:13 SLIDE 39 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. You must be obedient and work out your salvation, but God is working in you. To will and to work. He gives us both the desire to do right and the ability to actual obey. On a practical level, I have been told that there is an eightfold path to sanctification. Or eight things that help us along this path of sanctification. SLIDE 40 1. INFORMATION know from scripture what sin is and how God wants us to live. SLIDE 41
2. AWARENESS be aware that God s spirit is in you and know why He is living in you. SLIDE 42 3. PRAYER Pray for the Spirit s aid in developing a hatred of sin, pray that He helps you to grow as a Christian in resisting temptation and building up defenses and doing good work. SLIDE 43 4. DESIRE Have a sincere desire to be rid of sin and to be holy SLIDE 44 5. SURRENDER Yield to the Spirit s power, acknowledge personal weakness. Abandon an exclusive dependence on will power and self-help. SLIDE 45 6. TRUST have faith that the Spirit will really provide the needed and promised power for sanctification. SLIDE 46 7. ACTION Being fully informed and filled with the power of the Spirit, exercise your will and do what is right. SLIDE 47 8. THANKSGIVING Thank God for this awesome gift of spiritual power, and give Him the praise and credit for every victory.
WHY? WHY TRY? SLIDE 48 Before we leave today, I want to answer a question that might be nagging in some of you. That is why? Why should Christians seek to do good works? Why should we make every effort to obey God s commands? Why should we be serious about sanctification? What motivates us? We are under grace. We do not need to obey to be saved. It is by faith, not by works. So why? Because we have been saved from the penalty of our disobedience, we have not been saved from good works. We still have been told to obey, we still have an obligation to obey. When we are not obeying God, we are attacking Him. We are attacking the one who has taken our penalty. Good works are not a means of salvation, but they are still necessary because God commanded them. We should obey God simply because it is the right thing to do. So why do we pursue sanctification? Simply put, it is because of love. Because Jesus loved us so much that He took our place. He took our penalty. He took our punishment and He has given us new life. And then He asks us to obey Him why? JOHN 14:15 SLIDE 49 15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
We obey the Creators commands, not so that we can be saved, but because we are saved. EPHESIANS 2:8-10 SLIDE 50 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, SLIDE 51 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. SLIDE 52 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. SLIDE 53 Good works are the result, not the cause of our salvation. God does not save us because we are good; we are good because God is saving us. We need no greater motive for sanctification. But if we are really honest, this is one of the reasons why we are on mission, isn t it? Last week we talked about justification. We talked about being saved by grace. We talked about no longer having this penalty that we have to pay, it has already been paid. That is why we are on mission. We want the world to know God so that the world can be saved from that penalty.
But when you look at the present state of this world. What troubles you? Sure you might see a world full of people that have a penalty to pay and you are troubled thinking that someday they will have to pay it. But I hear the present groan of the world. I hear the groans for what is happening in Dallas, Minnesota, Orlando, Turkey, and France. Our world is in pain, it is in suffering. Our nation is in pain. Our communities are in pain. Our homes are in pain. This world is broken. No President is going to be the magic cure, no new rule or policy is going to fix it We want to point our finger at the problems and the hopes that they are fixed but there is only one cure for the state of our present world, there is only one Savior and that is Jesus. He not only saves us from the penalty that we are due, but He restores us now. In this present life. We can be regenerated, restored, reborn, renewed and then we can be transformed and sanctified daily. Being made more like Him. Being made holy as He is holy. That s the way to fix the world. That is the way to restore our country. That is the way to heal your family. If every member of your family accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior and through the power of the Holy Spirit was being made Holy how strong and healthy would your family be.
We are on a mission to make God known, why? Because we want the world to be saved. Not just from the eternal penalty that we are all rightfully due, but also from the current pain and suffering that occurs when people live apart from God. PRAY COMMUNION MEDITATION Something here