Great Doctrines of Salvation

We got as far as question. We're in the second group of questions and conversion. Had we gotten to question eight? What's that? Are we in eight or seven? We talked about what the accomplishments of the general convert on a genuine conversion. All right. But did we talk about Luke 22, 31 through 32? I don't think so. OK. So let's read Luke 21, I'm sorry, 22, 31, and 32. Somebody. And then we'll have a bit of a discussion about it. Anybody. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.

But I have proved to thee that thy faith will not, and when the hearts convert So my question was, how do you apply this verse to a believer? What was our definition of conversion? It's just a turning. So, repentance is to have a change of mind. Conversion can be a change of direction.

We're hopeful it's always in the direction of the Lord, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. Do believers need to be continually converting? Because Peter here says, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith won't fail. And when you have returned to me, returned is the word converted, strengthen your brethren. So should the believer be in a position where he is continually turning, confessing his sins? Could he be doing that? No. I mean, if he has to, he should. But the Christian life is not a continual sin and confess, sin and confess, sin and confess and turn, sin and confess and turn. Except for Courtney, his life is like that. When I was a little girl, Mike, I had a terrible time with the idea that I need to remember all my sins, what God would consider sins, in order to confess them, and I couldn't remember.

I know. I know. It got worse as you got older, right? You sinned more and forgot more. No, that's true and I understand what you're saying because I grew up in Catholicism and that was the deal and every Saturday we had to go to confession and we'd have to sit down and make a list and then go in to the box and tell the priest what we did wrong. And it was up to him to forgive us.

Isn't that cool? What I used to do when I was in high school, sometimes he would say, I know who you are, I recognize your voice and you're doing the same thing every week and I'm not going to forgive you. I'd say fine, so I'd go to the guy next door. I sometimes have to make things up. What's that? I sometimes have to make things up. Yeah, that's exactly right. You make things up. Well, you've got to go in there and say something.

It seems to me very often, especially with Christians, that a lot of our sins aren't obvious. You know, they aren't, you know, things that you just automatically look for or whatever, you know, viewing as sin. Usually they're sins of omission instead of sins of commission. And sometimes we aren't even aware of them ourselves because we're just being oblivious or whatever to what we really need to be doing in Christ.

And what does a believer do? What does a believer do about that? Is he going to walk through the rest of his life thinking, well, you know, I'm going to get kind of lazy about this, or I don't really know how much sinning I'm doing or not doing. I guess I'm just trusting God that I'm doing okay. What's... God says he forgives, so that's why Christ died. So let me just remember that, which is hard. Well, let's say you don't have a good memory. What are you going to depend on? The Spirit of God.

If there's an issue between you and him, trust me, he's going to let you know about it. He will let you know about it because his desire for you to have fellowship with him and to turn to him is much greater than yours is. So you can trust him to do that.

So the issue is that believers do sin and non-believers observe that you do sin. The issue is that they recognize, hopefully, that you are forgiven and that you walk in the light. That's really important. Because what happens to a non-believer and sin in his life? It gets to be such a big deal, it causes them anxiety. Most of mental illness is sin, isn't it? Isn't that really the issue? Wait a minute. What? Mental illness? Sure it is.

Well, you can have chemical imbalances, But I remember having a long conversation with Hal Malloy about this one time. He said people will feel guilty about something or whatever and it's a psychological issue. And if they can't get over it, it will eventually work into a physiological issue. Their hormonal structure will change because they worry all the time. And counseling won't help them because now it's a physical thing. So sin is devastating in a lot of ways. The freedom we have to walk away from sin is so healthy. Do you understand what I mean by healthy? You get to walk away from it. And others see that.

Maybe the best verse I know of that would demonstrate to a non-believing world how Christians live their life would be 2 Corinthians 3.2 Paul says you are our epistles written in our hearts known and read by all men clearly you are an epistle of Christ ministered by us written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in tablets of the flesh that is of the heart I don't think we realize that you might be the only Bible that somebody gets to read. Understand what I just said?

You might be the only Bible that somebody gets to read, because they see what's written in your heart. An epistle is a letter, right? Oh, by the way, it's a non-verbal communication, so you don't have to open your mouth. If the letter is written in your heart, people will see it.

They will see Christ just by the way you function. That is so critical for believers. I can't think of anything in terms of testimony and ministry that's more important than that. As you walk with the Lord, others notice. They might not say anything, but they will see Him written in your heart. It's really important. According to the author, What is the substance of the human heart before it's converted? I was going to pick on Courtney, but you all have the same heart.

You're proud. You're rebellious. Hopelessly wicked. You are always seeking your own way. You can't wait to trample the rights of others for your own promotion, right? And the worst of all is you're defiant towards God. You come that way. Do you understand what I mean? You show up that way.

Because that's the way sin is. So when Jesus in Matthew 18, 1-5 said, except you be converted and become like little children, you can't enter the kingdom of God. Why did he say that? Because they were wondering what position they were going to have in the kingdom. They were concerned with that. Sure, they're stepping over each other for positions in the kingdom. Sounds like our congress, doesn't it?

When he says to be converted, that word means to strengthen from the base, to turn quite around in reverse and become. The word become there is a very interesting word. It's the word ginomai. Anybody know what ginomai is? It comes into a new state of being. It's not reformation, it's a new beginning.

As a matter of fact, we'll talk about that a little later. And it's in the middle voice, in other words, it's causing you to be regenerated. That's the next word we're going to take up here in a minute. In other words, he's talking to the Jews and he's saying, you're headed in the wrong direction. with your selfish ambition. You need to turn and become like little children. That's basically what he's saying.

Any questions about conversion? Everybody understand what it is? Regeneration. Everybody got a copy of the Regeneration? I think you'll find interesting kind of the sequence of the words that we're going to go through regeneration. I hope I have some. OK, I have. I got three.

Who needs one? Well, anybody else? OK, first question was, the Greek word that is translated regeneration, somebody pronounce that, palogenesia, it is a combination of two Greek words. Guess what the first word is? Kalen. Which means again. And the second word is genesis. What does Genesis mean? It means birth. So the word regeneration simply put just means what? It means again birth. Or as we say, born again. So the word is used two times in the scripture.

Let's look them up. Matthew 19.28. Somebody look that up. On this side, somebody look it up. On this side, Titus 3, 4, and 5. Alright, anybody? On this side, Matthew 19, 28.

So what does he mean by Regeneration or what worse does your say? So I say to you that in the. In the life story, you that yours doesn't have the word regeneration. OK, so what is the word regeneration there mean? If the if the definition holds true again, birth, what's he talking about? Okay, when the son of man sits on the throne of his glory, what's that? Who's the son of man? And he's going to sit on the throne of his glory, where's that going to be? Arvada? Where? Where's he going to sit on the throne of his glory? Huh? Is this the millennial kingdom when he sits on his throne in Jerusalem?

I don't think that's glory. Oh, I think it is. You do? Oh, yeah, absolutely. And the reason it is is because when he comes to rule and reign, he's going to come in glory. And oh, by the way, who's going to come with him and be just as glorious as him? If you know who it is, raise your hand. It's you. You aren't going to miss it. You'll be there. So, he sits on his throne in glory, and you who have followed me will also sit on the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Oh my goodness, who are those guys? Who are those twelve cats? Which Jews? Which twelve Jews? Twelve apostles. So they're going to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, but are they going to be Jews? Not at that time. They're not going to be Jews. What are they going to be? Sons of God.

So what happens at that point? When he starts talking about regeneration, what does he mean? Is the planet going to change? Are things going to change? He says there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Is this when the new heaven and the new earth comes in? It's not. This is not the time that it comes in. So what's going to go on here? What's going to happen?

Let's look at 1 Corinthians 6. This has to do with the judging of angels. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? You guys know that you're going to do that? You better get ready. You're going to judge the world and if the world will be judged by you, you are Are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? So you think about what Paul is saying to the believers. He's saying you are going to judge the world. So why can't you just judge the smallest matters in your life?

You should be able to, shouldn't you? I think absolutely you should. You do have the mind of Christ. Do you not know that you'll judge angels? Did you know that? You all look kind of stunned. You're going to judge angels. You always thought they were a lot cooler than you were, right? Not then. What's that? Not now.

How do the angels learn about God? By watching us. And what do they learn about God by watching us? What's the one really critical thing they learn? Grace. But more than that? Love. The angels don't love. They don't know what that's about. And they look at God and look at the relationship that we have with the God of the universe and they're just amazed. Because they're learning about love by watching us. How much more are things that pertain to this life? Now the other place I want you to look up is Romans chapter 8. Let's start with verse 18.

After Paul starts to talk about that we're sons and we're heirs and joint heirs with Christ, he says this, For I consider that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Whose glory is that? Huh? Whose? It's Christ's glory that will be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God.

And the reason is, is for the creation was subjected to futility, some of you say vanity, not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope. So when Adam sinned in the garden, the earth got subjected to futility. Understand what that means? In other words, it never has ever reached its potential. It was designed by God and created by God with certain potentialities of production and to be a support in an environment where man could live. Once sin hit, it got reduced to futility or vanity. It has never realized its potential. It's sitting there waiting for it to be put in a position where it will realize its potential. What's it waiting for? What's it say here? The revealing of the sons of God. Who are they? The Republicans, right? Who are the sons of God? Who are the sons of God? No, us. We are the sons.

Because it says two verses up from there, it says, for as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God. Are you led by the Spirit? Absolutely you are. For we did not receive the spirit of bondage into fear, but received the spirit of adoption, where we cry, Abba, Father. You know, Abba is an affectionate term, Father is a term of respect. The Spirit of God sheds abroad in your heart, because you're a son, this intimacy with God the Father, Abba. And so he goes on to tell us that the earth is going to be released from its vanity or its futility and it's all waiting for one specific event.

And what's the event? The revealing of the sons of God. When does that happen? It's when Christ comes. So when Christ comes to rule and reign in glory, you're coming with him. And you're going to be manifesting just as much glory as he is. What do you think about that? That's kind of cool, isn't it? Would you call that a regeneration? I would. I would. It's brand new.

So when you start to think about Notice in verse 19 it says, the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits. It's like this, when a woman is pregnant and she's getting very close to delivery, there's an eager expectation of a life coming. That's exactly what this word means. That the earth right now is eagerly waiting, expecting the sons of God to show up. And that could all happen in seven years and one minute from now. If the rapture happened right now, seven years from that very minute, this is what's going to take place and you're going to be there.

Pretty cool, huh? So, how would you compare the sufferings of this present time with that event? Not too big of a deal. Not too big of a deal. So, because the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of who? Of who? The children of God. You think you're important? You think you're important in the scheme of what God's going to do in the future? I would think so. I would think you're really important. We know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs until now. And then it says, not only that, but we also who are the first fruits of the Spirit. What's that mean?

What are the first fruits of the Spirit? Remember in the Jewish system, they'd have the Feast of First Fruits. Do you remember what that was all about? It was at the beginning of the harvest, and they would take the best of the harvest, and what would they do? they present it to God, and what were they telling God? That the entire harvest is going to be just like these first fruits. Who are the first fruits of the harvest?

You are! You're just like! The Lord Jesus Christ is the first fruit, you're the first fruit, you're just like Him, and the whole thing is going to be just like Him. Is there any doubt that that's going to happen? Whether you believe it or not, now that you are We had dinner last night with Vern and Nancy and they were telling us about their son, Eric. Is it Eric, the second one? Who's that? Ed. Ed. Ed came to them when he was about John's age and said, do you mean to tell me that I can't go back on my belief in Christ?

And they said, yeah, that's right, it's too late. He was mad about that. So, if you want to go back, it's too late. It's too late, you're going to be here, whether you like it or not, because it isn't up to you. No second bananas. So when we start talking about this word regeneration, or birth again, do you see what's going to happen? Do you see what's going to happen? And by the way, that's not the new heavens and the new earth. That's just the release of vanity of this existing earth which was subjected to that because of Adam's sin. And why Adam? Why our man Adam?

I mean, he didn't do anything all that bad, did he? Yeah, he blamed it on his wife. No, he didn't. He blamed it on God. He said, you know that woman you gave me? It's your fault. Why Adam? Why this thing? I mean, he takes one bite out of one piece of fruit and the whole thing gets subjected to vanity? How come? He didn't obey God. What's that? He didn't obey God. He didn't obey God, but I mean, Eve could have not obeyed God, which she didn't do, but it wouldn't have caused this whole thing to go in the dumper.

But he's the federal head. Yeah, he's the federal head of the race. Whatever he does is going to affect the whole race, and God gave him in Genesis, he gave him dominion over the creation. There's two men who are federal heads. Who are they? Adam, who's the other one? Christ. And so, when Christ comes to rule and reign with you guys, the new federal head will take over. And whatever is true of him will be true of the kingdom that he has. And that's why there will be a birth again, a regeneration of what it was originally designed to be. Okay with that?

So why does the earth, oh wait a minute, we've got this other verse, Titus 3, 4 and 5, over on this side. Let me read it. Okay, the washing of regeneration or rebirth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. The regeneration word is there is also there. That's the second place. Now that's not talking about the creation, what's it talking about there? Who gets regenerated there? Individual people, don't they?

It's very interesting how he puts the phraseology, the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. How would you describe the washing of regeneration? Sounds very Catholic to me. How would you describe that? What is the substance in the word of God that does the washing? The cross. No, it's not the cross. It's the word. It's the word that washes you. It's the word that regenerates you. and it's the Holy Spirit who renews you. You see that? So, how do I say this?

It's important to understand that for an individual person who is saved, what really happens according to this verse is that that person is regenerated or born anew by the Word. Can you get saved without the Word? No, you wouldn't know anything. You wouldn't know what the substance of salvation was. So the regeneration, the washing of it is done with the Word of God. But who actually renews you? I was just going to answer a question. Where does it tell us that the Word does that? It's in Hebrews someplace.

Ephesians 5.26.

Everybody write that down, Ephesians 5.26. The washing of water with the word. See, the reason I thought it was Hebrews, because Hebrews has that verse about the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The word of God is a very unique instrument. It's a very unique instrument because it is alive. And it does things. It does things. I used to use the example that I could become an English major and love Shakespearean plays and have them all memorized and have read all the history I could get my hands on about William Shakespeare.

What's the problem compared to that with the Word of God? The problem is I never get to meet Bill. I study the Word of God, I get to meet who? Christ, because the words are life. See, that's the difference. And that's why the Word of God washes a person. Now the Spirit of God is involved in this transaction. What does He do? According to this verse, the renewing of the Holy Spirit, what does He do? Oh, by the way, when He renews, is it like a fix-and-flip? We paint the walls, we sand the floors, you know? put a few window coverings in and on the market it goes. Is that kind of a renewing? No. Brand new. It's brand new. And different. Different in kind.

So the Word washes you, the Spirit renews you. How does the Spirit do it? By placing you in Christ. By identifying you with Christ. Hi. We're talking about believers, huh? Well, in Titus 3 we're talking about what happens when a person becomes a believer.

When he says, not only by works of righteousness which we have done, not by works of righteousness we have done, we don't get regenerated that way, but according to his mercy he saved us through, and this means how he did it, the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. When you use the word renewing, to me, it's kind of like the fix and flip.

It sounds that way, doesn't it? But this word, Lutron, or no, I'm sorry, it's anachinesis, and that's a kinase word, which means to come into a new state of being. That's what it means. That's the word he uses. OK. All right. Any questions? Have I confused you yet? So, why does the earth and creation need a new birth? How come they need that?

It seems to me, if we listen to the politicians with enough money, we could fix this one up. Let's look at Genesis 1. I'm going to read some verses. Genesis 1.31 said, And God saw that all he had made, and, behold, it was very good. and there was evening and there was morning on the sixth day. So when God's done, what does he look at the creation and what does he say? Looks good to me. I think I did a good job. Perfect.

But then in Genesis 2, 6 and 7 says, But a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground and the Lord formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed in his naturals the breath of life and man became a living soul. Everything looks good so far, right?

But then if you go to Romans 5.12, I'll go up to Romans and back to Genesis, Romans 5.12 is probably the key verse on what happened. It says, therefore, as through one man sin entered the world, here it comes, and what comes with it? And death through sin, thus death spread to all men because all men sinned.

So here comes sin, and then in Genesis 3.17, then to Adam he said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree which I command you, saying you shall not eat of, here's what God does.

Here's the subjection to vanity. Curse is the ground for your sake, and toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herbs of the field. And in sweat of your face, Somebody needs to tell my son about this. No, I'm kidding. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for you are dust and in dust you shall return. So when Adam takes this bite out of this piece of fruit, in other words he disobeys God, and because he's a federal head and been given dominion over the whole creation, the whole thing gets subjected to vanity. Every part of it. Every single part.

If you can look around in the creation today, have you ever found anything that hasn't been subjected to this vanity? Have you? Have you ever found any living creature that didn't die? Even the rocks cry out. Have you ever seen anything that wasn't including your free will? that wasn't subjected to this vanity? No. Every single created thing is.

So that's why the regeneration is needed. God doesn't intend for it to be that way permanently, because he didn't create it that way. We just went over these verses, Romans 8, 19-20. The earnest expectation of the creation usually awaits the revealing of the sons of God.

There's going to come a time when there will be a release from this sin and death. Now, during the millennial kingdom, will there be death? Will people die during that thousand years? Yeah, they will. But there will also be people who live the whole time. They'll live that thousand years. Because there are still going to be sin natures around. People will be born during that time. And they come with that sin nature. But Satan has been put in a dimension and he can't pick on you and the environment that we're in is perfect.

Who determines who dies and who lives? The Democrats. Healthcare. We'll have universal healthcare by then and it won't be a problem. No, God determines. As a matter of fact, I think that one of the things that we're going to be involved in in ruling and reigning with Christ is the implementation of instant justice. If you sin, it'll be exposed and the consequences will be implemented immediately. I think we'll be involved in that, because there'll be a lot of us around. And you won't have to sleep and eat or anything. You'll just be involved in what God's administration is. The Lord Jesus. Okay, so would you agree that the earth needs to be regenerated? So, no? Anybody say yeah? Probably? Yes. Shouldn't it be? You think it does? Yeah, I think it does.

Why would Adam's sin cause the creation to be subject to vanity? We've already talked about that, but think about it. This is a really important point in terms of understanding, especially spiritual growth. Why would Adam's sin cause the whole creation to be put in a dumper?

Because he's the federal head. Does everybody understand what a federal head is? Who doesn't? See, I've got an honest person and the rest of you are stiffs. It's interesting in terms of the economy, the way God sets things up. And he starts with Adam, and he creates Adam, and if you read in Genesis, he says to him, all the plants you can eat, I've given them to you for food, this is a garden, you go take care of it, I'm putting you in charge. As a matter of fact, I'm going to give you the whole creation, you're in charge of it. the head of it. Not only that, I want you to name all the animals. I'm not going to name them, you name them. They're yours.

I have a question, I don't know if it's related and I don't want to get off track, and I'm trying to understand this, but when you read Genesis it was like God made man and then later God made Adam. So there were men but then Adam became the federal head. OK.

Adam was the first man that God made. And he made him out of the dust of the earth. See, I don't understand that when it says earlier that God made man, but then, so is it going back to that? Well, and also it talks about the fact that God made man, male and female, he made them. You know, it says, well, by that point you don't know that Eve is going to come along. He just says, I made man, and male and female, I made them. But then later he gives a description of how he did it. Okay, so it's referring back to men. Yeah.

And what's interesting about man is that he did not create man from nothing, like he did a lot of the other things. He created birds flying and trees bearing fruit. But man, what he did was he scooped up some dirt, according to the made a body and then he breathed into the substance that he had already created and man became a living soul. The breath of life, plural. So man really does, his physical substance comes from what God had already created.

And when he raises up Adam, Adam is the first man and he gives Adam headship over this creation. Later on, God says, well, it's not good that man should be alone, so there weren't any other men around, or women, and so he creates Eve as a helpmate for him. But it's important to understand that Adam, because he's given dominion, he's the head guy. And whatever he does is going to affect the creation that God gave him. Are you clear on that? Now, why is that kind of a cool concept? other than the fact that God came up with it. The reason it is so cool is that there's going to come another federal head. You see, when Adam sinned, who gained dominion over the earth? Adam didn't have it anymore. Who had it now? Satan had it. Is Satan a man?

No, he's not. He's an angel. God never intended for the earth to be run by an angel. He always intended for it to be run by a man. Enter Christ. Is he a man? Absolutely. He's another federal head. He's the head of a new race, the new creation. So when he dies on the cross to destroy Satan's power, he's buried and resurrected, he's now the new federal head. He got it back from an angel. He's now, now the creation is set up like God intended it to be in Genesis. See? He's the federal head. But what he did was, which was kind of cool, eventually he's going to blip this creation out of existence and do a new one, which he's the first born and we're the first fruit, in which there will be no sin. Now why is that cool?

Because Romans 5.12 says that by one man sin entered the world and death by sin and death by passion.

The same thing is true with Christ. By one man's righteous act, who we're in, we're declared righteous because we are now united to him as our federal head. So now whatever is true of him is true of you. Whatever was true of Adam is true of all those who are not saved because they come from Adam. You see why the economy of what God did is so important? Because once you make the transfer from Adam to Christ, then everything about Christ is now true of you, because he's now the federal head.

Does that make sense? So the principle holds through all of creation. So you could say, well, I didn't sin in the garden. Yeah, you did. 5.12 says in Adam you sin, right? But the word also says that in Christ you shall be made alive. So you're now alive because you're in Christ. Does that make sense? It's a really important point when you start thinking about regeneration, birth again or alive again. The birth again in Christ changes the whole equation.

I could say to you, this guy sitting right here isn't saved. How far back does this history go? All the way to where? all the way to Adam in the garden, right? That's as far back as he can think. So if you draw a timeline, here's Adam, and he goes, yep, that's where my line began. So if I can take you out of Adam and put you in Christ, how far back do you go? For eternity. You are now an eternal person that you weren't before. So God can say, I knew you in Christ before the foundation of eternity. Wow, that's pretty cool. He does not say that about a guy who is still an Adam.

So it's kind of neat when you begin to understand that the doctrine of the two men and the federal headship of them carries over to Christ, it starts to make a whole lot of sense in terms of grace that you live under. Because Adam lived under a law system, didn't he? He had one law. And he violated that law so he died brought sin in and everybody from his progeny on died. In Christ, everyone that's in him is made alive. So whatever is true of him for all eternity is going to be true of you from now on. And it doesn't really matter how Adamic you live. It really matters who you're lined up with, who you're in. That's why it's so important. And you learn that being in Christ is an entirely new operating system. In Adam, the operating system was sin and death. In Christ, what's the operating system? Grace. Life.

So you can be in Christ and function like you're in Adam, but it never affects your position. Do you see that? It's like somebody in Adam trying to act like a Christian. Does it change who they are? No. So if you're in Christ and you're acting like you're in Adam, it doesn't affect your position, and it doesn't give you license to stay there. What it does... I mean, when I say to you that for a believer to sin is spiritual insanity, you now understand what I mean. To live in Adam as a Christian is total spiritual insanity. It's inconsistent with who you are. But is it a choice? I'm sorry? Is it a choice to live in Adam? Sure it is. You get to choose. Don't you?

Because if you didn't get to choose, you wouldn't be responsible for your sins. That almost strikes me as being where the whole conversation of predestination comes in. Because it's Christ born way before Adam. And so because of the fact that you're in Christ now, that's where that point of foreknowledge and predestination is hinged on.

Are you going to be here next week? You better be because you opened up the question we're going to start off with. Everybody understand the question? Is predestination for salvation something a relevant point or not? That's what we'll start with next week. Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace and for your Son. We pray in his precious name. Amen.