A Sovereign God

Posted on by kevinjandt

paulwritinghisepistlesinprison

I had the greatest of intentions when I began this little series to post three articles from Second Timothy. Well since this is part three, I will continue to write and see where we end up. Today, hear the word of the Lord, as He speaks through the Apostle Paul to Timothy.

…who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. 2 Timothy 1:9-11

I think it’s important to see the Sovereignty of God in this section of text, because outside of the calling, purpose, grace and salvation of a Holy God nobody would ever be saved. Given the discussion we had last time I think this is easily missed. It’s easily missed, because just like the mission, it’s an often times unpopular message. But if we don’t understand the goodness and mercy of God that controls all things, then we are to misunderstand the majority of what Scripture teaches us. So much of what I want to say can be summed up by the Prophet Ezekiel. So let’s see what God tells us through His Prophet.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. – Ezekiel 36:22-27

Why does God, do what He does? Isn’t it simple? He does it for His name’s sake. That is it. My work is over. You’ve been informed. Now, that wasn’t all that hard was it, or was it?

Question number one from many reformed catechisms is the same thing.

  1. 1. What is the chief end of man?
  2. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

Whew, again, that’s pretty simple to understand, but the bottom line, for most people is that’s really difficult if not impossible to swallow. Here is the problem. I will make a pretty bold statement here, in that it’s not only the problem, it’s the reason all heresies and false teachings arise. It all goes back to the garden and the attempted coup by Adam and his desire to kick God off His throne and become “god” himself. I’m sure by now you are hanging on a thread, well… what is it?

Man replaces God honoring worship with man honoring desires. Man-centered theology replaces God-centered theology. Man wants to rule, and he wants to subject God under his feet.  But guess what? God will have none of it, and although man believes sometimes and most of the times that he is the center of the universe, God has declared that’s not so.

Psalm 2:1 – Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?

Psalm 2:4-5 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath. And distress them in His deep displeasure.

Brothers and sisters, friends and anyone else that might look upon these words, I hope you will consider today that the God of the universe, the King of all creation, the Holy One, sits on His throne and He is in charge. Not a thing escapes His attention, not a sparrow falls to the ground outside His sovereign will. Not a single human being is saved without His enabling. He calls and the elect respond. Those saved are not any more intelligent or any more capable than the worst of all the sinners outside of God’s decrees. He does His good pleasure, because He’s God.

Well, there is so much more to say, and I don’t have the time and space I desire, but we can see the gospel has been established by Christ Himself through His revelation. He came to this earth and He did what no man could accomplish. He fulfilled the law of God that sinful man might be saved; He proved this by conquering death and rising from the grave. He is worthy, and we have the written word that Paul has given us, to know the truth and the validity of the message.

As we go out today and consider God’s plan, as one that sows seed, we must sow good seed; the seed of the pure gospel. When we boldly and unashamedly proclaim the gospel, God saves. He uses the foolishness of the message to save some, for His glory. What a marvelous message, what an amazing privilege we have.

Kevin

Ordo Salutis and Other Big Sounding Words – Part 1

Posted on by kevinjandt

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I recently was asked to respond to some questions about certain biblical terms that many people will hear that attend church or engage in Christian conversations. Sometimes these seem like such big and overwhelming words, but they are important to understand, not to sound important, but to understand how God works in the lives of His people.

I thought it would be good to share these, as others might have some of the same questions. To some it might be review, or basic knowledge, but please don’t just excuse them because you understand them.

Ordo salutis, which is the Latin term for order of salvation.  When and how does salvation occur and what happens and in what order.  Some of these steps may occur simultaneously while others are progressive, such as sanctification.  Here is a link to a great infographic from Tim Challies that really shows a beautiful picture of how this looks; I often refer back to this in discussions that I have with people about salvation.

In short here is the order:

Election

Calling

Regeneration

Conversion

Justification

Adoption

Sanctification

Perseverance

Glorification

The definitions I’ve utilized are from “Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically” by Dr. John Snyder, unless marked by an * which come from the infographic and include my own personal comments.

*Election – Before creation, because of His sovereign good pleasure, God chooses some people to be saved.  (Ephesians 1:4-6)

*Calling – God summons people to himself through the human proclamation of the gospel so they respond in saving faith. (Romans 8:30, 2 Timothy 1:9)

Note: there is a difference between an effectual call and a general call.  The general call goes out to all who hear the gospel, but the effectual call has an effect on the elect (Matthew 22:14), also God has clearly revealed Himself to all of mankind, so man is without excuse for his lack of response, see Romans 1:19-20.

Regeneration – Regeneration is the work of God’s Spirit in which He changes the spiritual condition of a person, bringing him from death to life.  Regeneration is the beginning of all of the moral changes in the believer.  It results in a life of ongoing change (sanctification) and ends in the complete transformation of the believer into the image of Christ (glorification).  Another term for regeneration is being born again.  (John 3:3, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Titus 3:5-6)

*Conversion – We willingly respond to the gospel call, repenting of sin and placing faith in Christ for salvation.  (This of course, can only happen to those that effectually hear the call.  Examples: Acts 16:14, Acts 16:30-31, Matthew 18:3)

Justification – Justification is a legal action by which God declares the believer to be freed from his guilt and made right before God’s law.  Unlike regeneration, it does not change the soul of the believer.  Justification alters the believer’s legal position before God, changing it from guilty to innocent.  Justification is the outcome of atonement and the imputation of Jesus’ righteousness to the believer.  (Romans 3:19-26, Romans 8:30, Luke 18:14)

Adoption – Adoption describes the new relationship the believer has to God by using a family-related term.  God, by the new birth and justification, makes the believer His adopted child.  God becomes his father and Jesus his brother.  The believer enters into all the responsibilities and joys of being in God’s family.  (Romans 8:15, Ephesians 1:5)

I wanted to briefly highlight the word responsibilities, because this shows us the importance of the fact that we are not free to continue in sin that grace may abound.  We are now called to be holy and set-apart – see Ephesians 2:10, Romans 6:1.

Sanctification – Sanctification has two parts.  First, the believer is set apart to God by the purchasing work of Jesus and regeneration.  Thus, the believer belongs solely to God and no longer to the world.  Second, the believer is daily being set apart in heart and life by the work of the Spirit, making the believer holy in his practice.  (Acts 20:32, John 17:17-19, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 6:11)

This might sometimes by two steps forward, one step back, but as Dr. Snyder says, it’s a daily process.  This is a wonderful way to examine our lives, as to whether we are truly in the faith.  Do we have victory over sins that used to beset us?

Perseverance – Perseverance refers to the fact that the true believer will not fall away from his relationship to God, but rather by trusting God (faith), he will endure until the end.  (John 10:26-30, John 17:9-12, John 17:24-26, Ephesians 1:13-14)

The scripture speaks so boldly and plainly on this doctrine.  We can also understand that believer’s can fall into sin, but they will not remain there for an extended period of time, and will respond when confronted with their sin (Psalm 51).

I will address backsliding in the second article, but this gives us the truth that God’s elect can never truly fall away.  The modern church misunderstands backsliding as a state in which true converts just fall back into sin, but in reality they most likely have never been converted.

Glorification – Glorification refers to the completion of all aspects of the believer’s salvation.  It is the final step to his rescue that comes when in heaven he sees Christ face to face and is ultimately transformed spiritually and physically into an everlasting perfect person. (Romans 8:17, 8:30)

Philippians 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it maybe conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. 

Praise God that we will finally be relieved from this body of death and sin will no longer be in our lives, this will of course only occur after death or the return of the Lord Jesus.

Next time we will look at some other terms used in Christendom.

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

Kevin

The morning after…

Posted on by kevinjandt

Well it’s finally over…  I’m sure you are relieved as I am.  I wanted to share a couple brief thoughts.  I normally post on Tuesday and Friday but today thought it was worth wrapping up the election season with a brief note.

God has appointed Barack Obama as our 44th President

Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Man is still sinful

Romans 3:10-12 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.  They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Christ is on His Throne

Revelation 4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.  And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.

Pray for those in authority – not just your party of choice

1 Timothy 2:1-2 Therefore I exhort first of all that those supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

Today is a new day

Today if you are follower of Jesus Christ you have an opportunity to tell someone what Christ as done in your life.  If the topic of politics comes up ask them if they know Christ as Lord and why did He come to earth?  That will get the conversation going.

Kevin