Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20010909.htm

GOD'S GRACE AND THE BELIEVER
Part I: God's Grace And The Believer's Positional Sanctification

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Though we know from much teaching we must believe in Christ for salvation from sin and hell, sometimes a question arises as to whether something is additionally necessary to get us to heaven:

(1) One of the tracts that used to be in our sanctuary tract rack is placed into a cartoon format. In it, a little girl, Ruby is being given the Gospel. She is at first asked if she is going to heaven, and then how she can go there, and the man speaking with Ruby begins to give her the Gospel. When little Ruby comes to the point where she prays to receive Christ as Savior, she says, "Dear Lord Jesus, I do believe you died for me. I'm sorry for all the naughty things I've done . . ."

Does this mean one must NOT ONLY believe in Christ, BUT ALSO feel SORRY for his or her sins in order to make it to heaven? WHY?!

(2) Another one of the tracts that has been in our tract rack says, "If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved . . ."

Does this mean one must NOT ONLY believe in Christ, BUT ALSO VERBALLY CONFESS Jesus is Lord if he wants to make it to heaven? What if the person in question has had a stroke since hearing the Gospel and believing it, and can not speak or write legibly so that he dies in that condition -- does he go to hell because he wasn't able to communicate that confession? WHY?!

(3) This tract ALSO states "by our faith . . . we are put right with God," and some Christians tell us our faith ITSELF saves. Hence, they would claim if a believer DENIES Christ, he would thus LOSE his salvation. Well, does this mean we have to KEEP our FAITH FIRES going well or we will LOSE our salvation and go to hell even if we've walked with the Lord for 50 years? WHY?



CAN the believer EVER in his EARTHLY life FREE from the THREAT of eternal damnation? How do we KNOW this?!



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )



Need: "I know salvation is by faith in Christ, but to get to heaven, some Christians tell me we must repent or be baptized or trust solidly in Christ BESIDES initial faith or we will not make it! Is this so?!"
  1. When Jesus died on the cross, He so absorbed God's wrath against man's sins that God is fully propitiated regarding the world's sins:
    1. 1 John 2:2 reports Christ is the "propitiation" for the sins of the world.
    2. The word in this passage for "propitiation, " hilasmos, signifies the satisfaction of God's wrath against sin, Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, p. 125-185.
    3. This satisfaction on God's part came as a result of Christ's dying in the place of every human in history, and bearing his sins in His own body on Calvary's cross, 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24a.
    4. As a result, God's wrath is so satiated He will not hold those sins against man, but has reconciled the world to Himself, 2 Cor. 5:19.
    5. Indeed, the only sin that now sends man to eternal damnation is the sin of rejecting the solution to man's sin problem -- the sin of rejecting faith in Jesus Christ for justification, Revelation 20:12, 15.
  2. Thus, when one trusts ALONE in ONLY Christ's death for sin, he is justified by God, Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:24-26.
  3. The believer is then POSITIONALLY and UNCONDITIONALLY SANCTIFIED in Christ with wonderful, abiding results:
    1. As a result of being justified by God through faith in Christ, the believer needs no OTHER function to be saved (such as repentance or confession or works); God's wrath is so satiated regarding man's sin that these added functions are of no value for man, Col. 1:14.
    2. Another result of being pronounced righteous by God through faith in Christ is that the believer does not need to retain a commitment of faith to STAY justified, for he is unconditionally eternally justified:
      1. Some promote the belief that one's faith itself contributes to his salvation, meaning that to stay justified, one must not deny Christ.
      2. However, being justified by faith leaves no room for humans to boast according to Romans 3:27, so faith itself can NOT justify!
      3. Also, Christ's death -- NOT the believer's faith -- pacifies God's wrath; hence, God pronounces one righteous when he puts his faith in Christ because of Christ's work in his behalf, and that means only Christ's CROSS -- not the the status of the believer's faith from then on -- has bearing on his justified status!
    3. Another result of being pronounced righteous by God through faith in Christ is the fact the believer does not need to fear he will experience any part of the coming Great Tribulation under the antichrist:
      1. Various groups in Christendom teach the believer will experience part if not all of the seven-year Great Tribulation under antichrist:
        1. Some teach the Church will be raptured out of the world in the midst of the future Great Tribulation after having lived under antichrist's reign for that time's first 3 years (Midtribulation Rapture or Pre-Wrath Rapture View). (cf. Daniel 9:27)
        2. Others teach believers will be raptured in various intervals throughout the Tribulation Period as they spiritually mature under antichrist's persecution (Partial Rapture View).
        3. Still others teach the Church will go through the Tribulation and be raptured at its completion (Posttribulation Rapture View).
      2. However, the believer's positional sanctification in Christ does not permit him to experience any of the Great Tribulation, so every believer will experience the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church:
        1. Paul taught God did not appoint Christians to experience His wrath, but to obtain salvation by Christ whether they lived godly Christian lives or not, 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 in light of 1 Thessalonians 5:5-6's use of the ideas of "wake" and "sleep."
        2. Now, the entire Tribulation Period time's exposure to antichrist is designed to express God's wrath: even the deceptive first 3 years of antichrist's reign are God's judgment on the world for rejecting Christ according to 2 Thess. 2:8-12; Zech. 11:1-17.
        3. However, the believer is to be saved out of that time unto the reception of Christ's glory in the rapture, 2 Thess. 2:13-14.
        4. Hence, because of God's grace in having His wrath against the believer's sin fully PROPITIATED at the cross, no one who has trusted in Christ will experience any of the antichrist's reign, 2 Thessalonians 2:13. God's gracious, unconditional, positional sanctification of the believer means every Christian will unconditionally experience the Pretribulation Rapture!
Lesson Application: (1) When one is justified by God through faith in Christ, he so FULLY eludes God's wrath in his standing in Christ because that standing rests on Christ's FINISHED, ABLE work of the cross, (a) he needs nothing else to GET to heaven, (b) nothing else to KEEP himself QUALIFIED to GET to heaven and (c) nothing else to escape God's wrath in the Great Tribulation because of the PREtribulation Rapture. (2) Thus, we must (a) trust in Christ and (b) rejoice in these blessings of God!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 The Tuesday before our vacation, my wife, Nadine and I attended a funeral in a Church of another faith. We were there out of respect for a relatively new believer whose mother had passed away.

Of course we were not comfortable as far as the service itself was concerned. (1) Nadine and I were saddened to hear the minister and antiphonal singers implore God to let the deceased's soul enter heaven, implying she was now in purgatory! (2) We were dispirited to see the fourteen "stations of the cross" in carved art forms posted about the sanctuary as though one's mentally dwelling on them improved his spirituality or access to God. (3) We were saddened to see the minister proclaim the wafer was the actual body of Christ so his parishioners would think they were keeping their souls justified by partaking of it. (4) I was deeply bothered to see a little boy kneel before entering his pew much to the approval of his adoring mother and other onlookers, showing they too had been taught that faith plus works saves the soul!

Yet, in the midst of such spiritual need, I saw that new believer we had come to support, when approached in the front row by the minister with the wafer, decline the wafer! I knew it meant she knew her salvation was not sustained by faith plus her regularly partaking of the mass, for salvation was by God's merit alone. Even at her own mother's funeral mass, she was glowing as a testimony to the fact that God's wrath was so satisfied on her behalf so that her eternal destiny was unconditionally settled by God alone! She would have no need to implore God to rescue her soul from purgatory, and she had no room for flagellating her soul at the 14 stations of the cross. The finished work of her Lord was all she had and would ever need to gain heaven!

So, in the midst of that service where there was so much around us to make us sad, I was moved with indescribable JOY at seeing this new believer in that time of her great loss have the presence of mind and conviction of heart to REFUSE the WAFER! I will always remember its encouragement in my own walk!