Great Doctrines of Salvation
Mike Doyle · Aug 8, 2010
Great Doctrines of Salvation, No. 32
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926212127398

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

OK. How far do we get? What word are we on? You're supposed to remember all that stuff. Sixteen one. Sixteen one. What is that? We're selling. We're still on. But what we were doing a review. You said you were done. Did I get through all the words? No. No, I didn't.

I think the case sanctification just for the doctrines that relate specifically to salvation, a book written by a guy named John Marsh Banks. We're in the last chapter of that book and we're reviewing all of the chapters and each chapter was a word that had something to do with salvation like redemption, justification, forgiveness, assurance, reconciliation. We talked about propitiation last week, right?

We talked about adoption, and so now we're at sanctification. So what does sanctification mean? The word is You guys are all really working hard to be sanctified, right? What does sanctification mean? What's that? It means to just be set apart. And synonyms to sanctification are holy and saint. So if I said Saint Steve, what do I mean? I mean set apart Steve. It just means to be set apart for God's own use. So everybody who is saved has been set apart for God's own use.

And sanctification is a positional and a conditional term. Positionally I can say everybody here has been sanctified. But conditionally, how would I phrase it? that I'm being sanctified. I'm being set apart on a moment by moment basis. So that my condition will line up with my position. Consecrate and dedication are also words that are used with this In Greek the word is hagios. All of those English words, the word hagios is somewhere in there in Greek. Any questions about sanctification?

Next word is election. What does election mean? It means we all got together and had a vote, right? And we decided whether God is really God or not. We elected him. What does election mean? He used to choose. That's all it means. And when we talk about divine election, it means that we were chosen out from among who? All the rest of those human beings. So did God choose you? And when did he do it?

In the eternity past. In the eternity past. Well that's not fair to the guys he didn't choose, right? Huh? Come on. Did he choose us or did we choose him? Huh? Did he choose us or did we choose him? He chose us. And he chose us and eternity passed. But how about the guy he didn't choose? That seems unfair to him. He knew, but they weren't going to believe. Is that the issue? That he knew they wouldn't believe so he didn't choose them?

Well, God is sovereign. He knew what choices they would make. What does the word foreknowledge mean? Does it just mean to know beforehand? He knew beforehand. Now, is the knowing beforehand, knowing what you would do, or is it something other than that? In other words, God, here he is sitting in his throne, looking down on the earth, and he sees, oh gee, at some point in time, in the 20th century, or the 21st century, I see this guy Bruce Batey down there, he's going to choose me, so I better elect him. Is that how it goes? So what's foreknowledge mean?

He knew all of us before time. He knew us, that's right. He knew us personally. It isn't that he knows what we're going to do, which he does, but he knew each person in this room in Christ before he ever created the heavens and the earth. personally. He knew you. He knew your personality and you know what?

That's why he created you. Because once God determines about you, is there any doubt that, oh gee, I know I thought of Laura, but I'm going to change my mind about her. No. Once he determines that you're going to be a human being and he knows you in Christ before the foundations of eternity, can that be changed because they have nothing to do with you. So when he elects you, it's because he foreknew you.

You see that? But he also foreknew all those that would reject him. Not in the sense that he foreknows all those that believe in the sun. Maybe do it this way. Our minds, Courtney and I went around about this for a long time. how we kind of got it straight in our own mind.

When each person in this room was conceived by your parents and then born, from an earthly standpoint your history began then, right? But you can trace your genealogy all the way back to the Garden of Eden to Adam, right? Adam had a beginning, right?

So all of us have a history when we first show up on the planet all the way back to Adam and that's why Romans 5.12 says that by one man sin entered the world and death by sin so death passed upon all men. Why? Because all men sinned in Adam.

Now you get to a point in your existence where someone presents the gospel to you and you believe in the person and work of Christ and you are saved. What happens to you and your relationship or your genealogy with Adam at that point? Romans 6 specifically teaches us that we were baptized in Christ's blood. We were buried with him and we were raised in newness of life. If anyone is in Christ Jesus, he is a brand new creation. Well, does that mean that all of his his lineage, his history in Adam have been terminated? What do you think? I got a no and a yes. He died. Yeah it does. It does. From a positional standpoint it means that every association with Adam is gone.

Now you have a new history. Christ who is your life. How far back does Christ go? So the father could say, well I've known you in Christ since the foundation of eternity. You see how he did that? Because if you look at eternity from eons and eons of time, it's better to look at it where you collapse it all for right now.

Because eternity is all happening right now. All of God's knowledge is in play right now. He doesn't think sequentially like we do. He has all knowledge working right now. He has all knowing working right now. So when he uses terminology like I've known you in Christ from the foundations of eternity, he means now. Does that make sense? And I know with our minds we cannot think outside of time-space. We can't do it.

So when you start reading these things in the Word of God that are eternal truths, it's tough to think, oh yeah, I've got a handle on that. No, well, you know, there are lots of things that God asks you to just trust Him about and believe Him. whether you've got it logically figured out or not. Although Paul does a great job of logically laying most of these truths out.

So do you see now how God can know you in Christ from all eternity because once you're in him, he's an eternal being. He's not a time-space being. But we have two natures until we are Okay, we have two natures and the issue is, it's okay to have two natures, the issue is, which one are you identified with? If you're still identified with Adam and you've got this new nature that's trying to take over, then you only see yourself in Adam. But what happened was, is that God put you in Christ, but he left the old nature in you. So you really are from God's perspective and from your position, you really are right now and have been a son of the Most High God, an eternal man in Christ, seated in the heavenlies right now.

We're on the last chapter and we're reviewing the words. The number. I don't know the number. Fourteen. Thirteen. Twelve and thirteen. How's that? Yeah. OK. I've got 16. I'm not OK. No, you want 60. That's what you want. I want 16. That's what you got. I'm just reviewing all the chapters. Did everybody hear that?

When we talk about election, we're only speaking about believers. Yes. It's the same thing when we talk about predestination. You will never see the word predestination used for non-believers. You never see it. But once you are a believer, wow, the predestination is really something.

What God intends to do, and I don't know why. If he predestined it, is there ever a doubt that it's going to happen? On Wednesday night, we're studying Romans 8, and we're in 28 and 29. Whom he foreknew, he predestined to do what? to be conformed to the image of the Son.

Wow! Not to be a Republican, to be conformed to the image of the Son. You see that? I mean, you think about what that means. Well, you're in Christ. God has known you from eternity to be in Christ. Now, conditionally, He's going to conform you to what He's already positioned you to be. So, for all eternity, and especially in the Millennial Kingdom, every other creature that looks at you is going to say, there's a son there's somebody who is a son of God because the glory of Christ will be manifested out of you cool huh?

I'm looking forward to that, it's better than having a new car so election and foreknowledge you okay with those, any questions? I'm not okay with election but I'm never okay with election I know you're not Never, because he wants everyone to come, but only the ones come who are drawn out of their work. Miles Stanford used to have a great way he'd explain it. He would say that all humanity looks do come, and you walk through the gates and you turn around and on the back of the sign it says chosen from the foundations of eternity. So if you're not in Christ, the whole appeal to you is come. Come.

See? Now, here's the problem that people have with election. It isn't fair. Right? It just isn't fair that some should get said, so let's talk about fairness. No, I don't want to talk about fair. She knows what I'm going to say. I want to hear that all men are saved. That's what you want to hear. That it's not a contradiction for God to say He wants everyone to be saved and has provided for it, yet He doesn't draw everyone. That is inconsistent. No, it's not.

When all of the lost Is anybody there going to say to him, you know what, I think I got screwed in this deal. I would have come if I'd have been one of the elect. You think anybody will say that? No, they won't. They're going to look at him and say, it's a good thing you didn't choose me because I wouldn't have chosen you then. And I don't choose you now. I don't want to be with you.

I don't want to be saved because I don't think we understand. specifically about how they love the darkness. And the word love there is agape. They find super high value in the darkness. And they will not come to the light because their deeds are evil. They love it there.

And oh, by the way, you were all there at one time too. I know that I never have committed a sin that I didn't want to. I really like doing Didn't you? Well, some of you probably were saved from like down here. But an old dude like me, who I didn't get saved until I was 35. Trust me, darkness was really cool, I thought. And there wasn't any question in my mind, did I deserve to be saved? Absolutely not.

If God was going to act fair with me, I'd be burning right now. See? So you can't take God's attributes away from them, all of them. If you just make them fair, and nothing else, everybody goes to hell. That rich ruler in hell didn't repent and want to get out himself. He wanted his brothers to be. He didn't want his brothers to come there, but he didn't want out. He wasn't sorry. That's right. I'm convinced that, and by the way, we're all going to be there at the Great White Throne Judgment. We're going to be judging angels, right?

So these people are going to come before Christ and they're not going to be repentant at all. And they're going to be screaming, where is the door to hell? Get me out of here. Because standing in the light of the glory of God would be a worse punishment than going to hell. It's like you felt before you got saved when it felt like being around Christians. You thought, I'm not going there. When you look at God from a choosing standpoint, if he didn't choose, nobody comes. Nobody. You see that?

We've got to start there because of who we are in Adam. I know that the conservatives look at mankind and say we're essentially good. No, we're not. No, we're not. you know, we're essentially evil and we will not come to God unless he calls us and woos us, you know. Okay? I didn't persuade you, did I Jill? No, I'm not persuaded. You just ought to be happy you're in. I've been for a long time, thank you. Okay. Thank him.

The next word is the gospel. I did a long thing on the gospel, but let's... How do you get the priceless and precious thing of the gospel? Gospel means what? Good news and good tidings. And the gospel is in 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4. And without looking it up, somebody must know what it is in this group. What is it? What is the good news?

It's real simple. If Jesus died, according to scripture, she was buried and resurrected. If you believe that, God will save you for all eternity. And that's all you've got to do. Nothing else. So, to enter into salvation is just a matter of faith. Now, and I'm just going to do a quick overview of this.

Those of you who were here when we did the class on the Gospels, we talked about three different Gospels. The good news message is the same to believe in the person of Christ. What the difference is, is that, what do you say to, if you were on the planet in Palestine in 25 AD, or 30 or something, when Christ was preaching his Gospel to the Jews, Is that the same gospel you and I believe? No. But if you believed in Christ, you were saved.

To what? Where are you going? Going to the kingdom. Now, the next thing was, is that from the time of the Pentecost to the time of Paul coming on the scene, what was the gospel that was talked about then? Mostly it was a kingdom gospel. Mostly it had to do with the resurrection of Christ, and mostly it had to do with the apostles said to Jesus right before he left the earth, are you going to bring the kingdom in now?

That was their view. There was never any discussion until Paul came on the scene of the heavenly characteristic of salvation. Do you see that? All of the Jews who were Christians in the body of Christ, but their focus was on what is going to happen on the earth. What's going to go on here? Kingdom coming in, everything's cool, we're Jews, and we're saved.

But there was no, you will not find in Peter, James, and John, body of Christ, heavenly characteristic identification, those kinds of things are not there. So here comes Paul on the scene, and he preaches the gospel of the glory of Christ. He preaches a heavenly gospel that you get into it the same way, by believing in the personal work of Christ, Where do you end up or what is the message of your salvation? It's heavenly. And we talked about the first time it's revealed to us in the word is in Acts when Stephen is stoned. When they're about to fire these rocks off of Stephen's head, what happens?

What does he see? He sees the heavens open up and he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of God. than the earth. And he gives his spirit to Christ in the heavenlies. So when Paul comes on the scene, on the road to Damascus, who does he meet? He meets the heavenly glorified Christ. So his perspective is different than Peter's is, and then what Christ taught in his message. You see that?

I dare say that in today's contemporary Christianity we don't talk enough about the heavenly characteristic of the gospel and who we are and where we belong. We're always trying to get Christ to come into the earth and fix up our deal here when in fact we're there. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Does that make sense? I want to make it clear though that belief in the person and work of Christ.

It's just that, it's like the two Jewish men that Paul ran into and they said, Paul gets to talk to them and he said, well, what gospel did you believe? What was their answer? I believe John's gospel. What did John preach? Repentance, right? Repentance from your sins and turn who is So he gave them the heavenly position that they were in and they received the spirit and guess what? They're going to be with you and me. You can look them up when you get to heaven. You alright with that?

A heavenly gospel is really important and we should be able as we go forward. Most of contemporary Christianity preaches an earthly gospel with lots of additions with health and wealth and safety for you here. and maybe when you die you go to this place called heaven. What Paul preached was a heavenly position in the body of Christ right now. And that we, when he says in Ephesians, that we are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

That's where we are. And we're always asking God for the Mercedes. He said, well we don't have those in heaven. So what do you say to an earthly vessel? What do I say to the earthly gospel? Actually my attitude is you qualify for handicapped spiritual parking if you believe it. Well no, I mean you were saying three gospels, the safety of the kingdom. The focus was the resurrection of Christ and his return to the earth. Where Paul was, no, we're not focused there. The focus is heaven now.

See that? Okay. So, salvation is... I think I'm done with the words. List the four things the word salvation might include. Hopefully you read the chapter. He says that there's rescue from sin and its penalty, there's deliverance from the power of sin, and by the way, that's why the class is going to move on now to the identification truths because we're going to focus on deliverance from the power of sin. And that's part of the salvation package.

Safety and soundness. So to get my pages in order. So what do you just what do we mean when we say a person say when we mean you're safe. You're safe. So if you walk up to a non-believer and start talking about salvation, is he even aware of the fact that he needs salvation? Probably not. So salvation is deliverance.

You became a sinner last week, right? When Adam sinned, you sinned. So we all became sinners. So when your parents conceived you, in sin they did that. And I know all of you who have babies, just like when John was born, we thought, gee, this is the first kid since Christ that's born without a sin nature. And guess what he proved? We were wrong.

So we all have sin. and we're so used to it and so comfortable with it, until the spirit opens up our understanding, we don't really think we need to get delivered from it. We just need to get a little better. Salvation is deliverance. So, you get saved, but even after you're saved, even though you're delivered from sin, you still can be reaping what you've sown prior to salvation.

You can. Is that a question? Because you said, yeah. I mean, you are. Oh, sure. Yeah, so you continue to. I mean, if you're suffering a consequence from your sinfulness, the idea that comes to mind is a terrible one, because it's not associated with you, okay? Okay.

Let's say you had AIDS before you were saved. When you're saved, the AIDS isn't going away, and what's the result of sin? Of course in your country it might not be. Kids get AIDS are born with them. So the consequences may or may not go away. The deal is you have to look at salvation from two perspectives.

One, what am I saved from? And what am I saved to? I'm not saved to live on the yellow line in the middle. I've been saved from the penalty of my sins. What's the penalty of sin? from God. So I may have consequences, but the separation from God issue is taken care of. But after you're saved, all of those consequences are used for your good. That's exactly right. After you're saved, all of the consequences that are involved in your life, God starts to use them now to approve you for your good.

Romans 8.28 God uses all things for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose.

So then maybe let's say somebody who had AIDS, like maybe they could help other people or whatever it is. It's just at the time when you're in it you don't see that. No, you don't. That's right. Well, and you know, once you're saved, the physical death, the sting goes away. So what's the big fear of AIDS? You're going to die. Right? As a believer, when you die, is that a good thing or a bad thing? It's a great thing. It's a great thing.

You know, we're talking on Wednesday night about all these guys that are Christians and then they turn their back on Christ and so the Lord takes them off the planet. That's not a punishment. If you decide that you're just not going to walk with the Lord and he says, well, you're not a good witness, so I'm taking you home. Is that punishment? No. But I think it means your work is done. We're all immortal even here until our work is done and whoosh, we're gone. That's right. I agree with that. And I think it's a nanosecond. Because the Lord Jesus loves us.

He wants us home with him. He's not going to fool around while you brush your teeth. The minute your work is done, you're gone. And it may be something, he takes you out of your plan to. So you can trust him with whatever he's doing, to be absent from the bodies, to be home with the Lord. And I always caution, don't turn your life back to the world, because you're not going to get out of here any sooner than he says.

To me though, the most important thing about salvation isn't the from part, it's the to part. It's all those wonderful things you get, the position, the piece, the fellowship, and so on. There's just more than we can ever believe. To me, that's really what's important. See, I really like that viewpoint. They're not equal.

Well, you can be a joyous about what you've been saved from, but that's got to go away Like I said on Wednesday night, we're studying Romans 8. Romans 8, if you can get through all that chapter and believe everything that's there, it takes the top of your head off, what God has done. And all of Paul's epistles are like that. He starts into this litany of blessing and grace that we live in, and we look at it like, okay, next page. I mean, if you just look at what he's talking about, it's just so astounding.

I love that hymn, the third, I never can remember the name of the hymn, but the third verse has something to do, and here's the phrase, I barely can take it in. What hymn am I talking about? What's the first one in our book up there? You don't know. But every time I see that phrase, I really understand what it means is that the glory of God and the grace that he's extended to us as believers, you just can't pick it all in. And it's way more than your capacity, yet the more you take, the more there is. That's how grace works.

Marshbank said that salvation is the great inclusive word expressing God's gift of eternal life to believing sinners. The gospel itself is said to be in Romans 1 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Do you realize that the gospel is powerful? you might think that you've got to be the guy with the real persuasive story. It's the gospel that's persuasive, not you. Can you see that? Because we're God. That's right.

I think if you're ever in a position where you're talking to non-believers or you're talking to young believers, you're always trying to give them anecdotal experiences rather than letting the Word of God do the talking. I think it takes a while for you to kind of It is the thing that will go into somebody's heart, not your schmoozing. So you learn over time that the Word of God is the thing that, that's the tool that you use. You let it do the talking.

But sometimes you gotta hear it like a hundred times. So all those add up to it. You know I remember the guy that led me to the Lord, what he used to do to me, and I I was kind of irritated about it at first, but it was really beneficial. He would say to me, open up your Bible, go to this verse and read it out loud. So I'd be sitting with him at lunch and I'd be reading this stuff out loud.

And then he'd say, well, what does that say? It was very good because he never said, well, here's what I think it says. He said to me, what do you think it says? Let the Word of God do its work. And then it changes sometimes too though. I mean even if you say this is what I think it means and then you know you could read the same line a year later and somehow it means more or something or different. It's inexhaustible. The Word of God is inexhaustible. other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved. What does Peter mean by that statement? Pretty simple statement. What does it mean? He is the only way. This is it. This is the only way. There is no other name that God gave the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Him and his work. John 10 9.

I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. What does that mean? What does the Lord Jesus mean? Everybody know what the door of the sheepfold is? It's a protected area and sheep all went in couldn't get out without going through him, nobody could get in without going through him. What were you going to say? Well the word pasture would seem to mean our needs. Our food. He feeds us. Yeah, that's right.

So the person that believes on the word, the person who acquires salvation by going through Christ, which is the only way to go, they will find food for themselves. What would you consider, for the non-believing world and the earth out there, what is God's wrath against sin on all men, right now? What is the one thing that they cannot acquire, the lost, today? Rest.

So, when a person believes in a person who works is him. So he says, you know, you come into the sheepfold, you have pasture, you can feed on me which gives you rest for your soul. The Philippians in prayer said the same thing. Like are your requests known unto me and what will I give you? I will give you the peace that passes understanding. That's rest. Okay?

Romans 10, 9 and 10. If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God under righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Have I just added something to the gospel by quoting those verses? Haven't you heard people stand up in front of you and say, you've got to stand up and confess otherwise you're not saved?

Huh? What's that? Oh, you've got to be baptized, make Jesus the Lord of your life, all this other stuff. To come out of Catholicism like I did, confession means make a list of your sins and tell somebody. Hopefully God. So, it's a promise. The whole gospel message is there. That the Lord Jesus, you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Why resurrection there? What's the resurrection prove? It proves the death, blood sacrifice works. Question 8, how many different ways does God offer salvation? One I'd say. That's right. Good question, only one. Can you lose your salvation? No. How come, just because I said so? Why can't you lose it? You have nothing to do with it. That's the first premise, we have nothing to do with contribution to it. So salvation is of God, right? Another reason?

Yeah, and Vern did a great job with that verse saying that I'm I give them eternal life and no one can pluck them out of my hand or my father's hand. That I give them eternal life is in the perfect tense, which means I'm constantly giving them eternal life.

Once you have it, once you turn on the spigot, it doesn't shut off. Here's another reason. Sorry, we can't even mess it up ourselves. Can't, not great. I think that's awesome. Here's another reason, and I think probably a really confirming reason, are the identification truths.

If the Holy Spirit put you in Christ at the time that he died, and you died, and you were buried and you were resurrected, united to him the whole way, then how would you ever get back? Here's how you'd get back. Christ would have to reverse his order. He'd have to get unglorified, come back to the earth, go back in the grave, come back up and get up on the cross and come back down.

That's the only way you can get unsaved. You see that? It's settled forever in him. It's a settled issue. Because it's of God. That's exactly the right answer. Salvation is God's idea, not yours. And that's why he has all of us enter into it by faith. Because faith is the one thing that a man can do that what? He can't get credit for. All the value is in what you believe, not the fact that you believe.

Understand that? Is that okay? Does that beg why then evangelism? Say that again? Does the truth of that then beg the question why evangelize? Well, it's interesting. The most evangelistic efforts are based on the verse that says, go into all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son. One of the real gems that Hal Malloy gave us was the study of Go. You know what Go means? In the going.

Wherever you're going, whatever you're doing. So you don't need to get on a boat to Africa. You don't need to get on a boat to Sacramento. Wherever you're going, wherever God has you, that's where your ministry puts the focus on our walking in spirit because our country is the best example of what religion without the spirit can do.

We're the country that needs to be. We need missionaries to come here. We really do. We need them to come here. I'm hoping Hassan and his buddies come back. Where would they come from? Where would those missionaries come from? I'm sorry? Where would those missionaries come from? To come here? You know, it's interesting, a lot of Christian groups in Europe are sending missionaries to the United States. They really are. Of course, Europe is very...

Oh, dead. Yeah, no God. That's the purpose of us. That's a sad story that we're getting there. Very sad. Actually, it comes from the local church. Because we're to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and we are to equip saints for the ministry. Right? The reason we gather together is to get equipped for whatever ministry God has called us to do. Now we look at it as, well, we're sending a guy out to start a church or he's going to take over.

But really, where's the ministry? It's in your family, it's in your neighborhood, it's in your work, it's whoever you come in contact with. That's your ministry. That's your sphere of influence that God has called you to be the representative of Christ.

That they might see him. But most of the evangelistic effort is right here. Miles Stanford told me one time, and I thought he was crazy but I believe him now, that the greatest missionary field in the world was the local church in the United States. I think he's right. I think he's right.

Just take a couple Sundays off and go visit some places and see what I mean. There's no gospel, there's no glory, there's no grace, there's no nothing. There's lots of ritual and pomp and circumstance, but no Christ. Sadly, most people think evangelism is busyness and programs.

Yeah. And that's why. Yeah, that's exactly right. So nobody can be partially safe. No 70 percenters. No. Do all believers share a common salvation? Absolutely. If you've been saved 15 minutes or 15 years, you have the same. And by the way, I've always thought that that was a real positive way to look at it because don't you, be honest now, don't you read Paul's epistles and think, oh man, he is way up there in the hierarchy. Paul? He's a much cooler Christian than I am. Right? Don't you think that way? No, he's not. No, he's not. There's nothing, there's no blessing that the Apostle Paul has that you don't have. Nothing.

You see that? I'm going to have to start next week with just two more questions. So I think maybe I'll end that way. It's important for us to understand who we are, where we are, and what we have. Those are the three most Boy, what a salvation that we have. The information is inexhaustible. The grace that you have us in and have us growing in is inexhaustible, Father, that we may grow up into the fullness of Christ and that you might continually open up our hearts and our minds that we would understand what has been given to us, Father. Thank you. We pray in your Son's name. Amen.