Session 3: Redemption Through Christ
Hickory Corners Bible Church Basics • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 41:37
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We come now to the third session in our Hickory Corners Bible Church Basics class, giving a quick overview of what we believe, and how we operate based on what we believe.
In this third session, we will look at the redemption solely available in Christ Jesus, the only escape from the righteous judgement facing all who sin against the righteous and holy God.
Now, it is critical that we remember that most basic principle – that our foundation is not upon what we come up with on our own, or even tradition. Instead, everything we believe ought to be founded upon some precept or example taken from the Word of God, which we believe is the final authority for faith and practice; and what we believe ought to then determine our practice, what we actually do.
And I’m certain that you will notice, especially in the subject we cover today, how very much each of these doctrines “bleeds over” to the others, for they are intricately related to one another.
Let’s pray before we begin.
Oh Lord our God, righteous and holy sovereign of all, Your understanding is as unsearchable as it is infinite, Your wisdom, power, and ways are ever holy. It is by Your compassionate and merciful forbearance alone that we are not consumed altogether on account of our numberless, aggravated offenses against You. But You, God of all grace, have given unto us a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And You alone, God of my salvation, can produce in a person the faith to live by Him and through Him, to make Him our desire and our refuge. Help us this day to deplore our own foolishness, and grasp upon Your own overtures of grace and to cleave to Him by faith. We pray to You, holy Father, that our time this morning bring glory and honor to Your blessed Son. Amen!
Salvation
Salvation
Last time, we faced some things that some people quite honestly don’t like to talk about – namely, that although we believe that man was created in innocence, we didn’t remain innocent. And if you missed that second session, I strongly recommend that you watch that video on our YouTube channel, because today’s subject is directly related to it – so much so, that if you were to just look at today’s material and not that material, you will have a malformed and incomplete view.
For we take Romans 5:18 as absolute, literal truth, “…through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men.” Through the one man Adam’s disobedience, all people everywhere of every age have been appointed sinners, set down in the realm and under the rule and dominion of sin. That although God created man, male and female, in His own image, for His own purposes, and declared His un-fallen image-bearers to be “very good”, through Adam’s sin we are all now totally depraved, there is only enmity against God on our part, and that we are entirely incapable of earning His favor.
Even when a person comes under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and the Law comes alive to a person, they understand its requirements such as to not covet, they can only come to the inescapable truth – Romans 7:21–24 “I find then the principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members.”
We see this same truth confirmed for us in Ephesians 2:1-3, where we read Paul, speaking of people who are now Christians, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul reminds us of what was once true of us:
And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
And so thus, we believe that man needs a salvation. And we use that term very specifically, for it is inherent to salvation that a person cannot truly save themselves – the coming of the Law to a person, and the realization that even now in my understanding of it, I cannot keep it. And if I do manage to keep a part of it like “You shall not murder”, I still am powerless to prevent myself from coveting.
And the only thing we can do, having proven beyond doubt that I am unable to provide my own righteousness, is to cry out the same as the man in Romans 7, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” I need salvation, I need to be rescued – and it has to come from a person rather than some thing.
The Savior
The Savior
And so, then, we come now to the answer to that question in our doctrine of the Savior.
For we read in Galatians 4:4–5, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
Paul would later admonish believers to have a humble mind like that of Christ, to regard one another as more important than ourselves, saying
Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
God displayed Jesus publicly as a propitiation – a big, complex word that means Jesus Himself was the sacrifice necessary to atone for sin – a demonstration of God’s righteousness, for what kind of holy God could ever accept unrighteousness without atonement? Such a thing would be absurd, it would be rightly subject to ridicule. And yet at the same time, Romans 5:8 God also “…demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Paul put it this was to the Corinthians:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
And Peter says
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that He might bring you to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
And finally, the writer of Hebrews declares,
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us take hold of our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.
And then in Hebrews 12:2
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Unlike the high priests who had no place or opportunity to rest, but had to stand to serve God continually for their work was never finished, Jesus work was finished upon the cross, when He exclaimed “Τετέλεσται, it is finished!” in John 19:30. He alone has the right which no angel, no man, no created being has – namely, to sit down in the presence of God on His throne. Our faith is based upon the finished work of Jesus.
And here’s how we put it:
We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the appointment of the Father, freely took upon Himself our nature, yet without sin; honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and by His death and shed blood, made a full and vicarious payment for sin; it was a voluntary substitution of Himself in the sinner’s place, the just for the unjust; Christ, the Lord bearing our sin in His own body on the tree; that having risen from the dead, He is now enthroned in heaven, and is in every way qualified to be a suitable, compassionate and all sufficient Savior. Isaiah 53:4-6; 53:10-12; Acts 15:11; Romans 3:24-25; 5:8; 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 1:7; 2:4-10; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 2:14; 4:11-15; 7:25; 12:2; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 2:24; 3:18; 1 John 2:1-2; 4:10
Questions:
Read Isaiah 53:4-12. What did God the Father do to God the Son while He was on the cross? What part did we play in each of these things? (Hint, Hebrews 9:22 may help in this second question.)
Read Hebrews 7:23-28. Explain why it is important that we understand the role of the former priests, and how that helps us know and understand Jesus as Savior.
The Saved
The Saved
The question is not “why does God send some people to Hell”, but rather the question is why God doesn’t simply send all people to Hell. He would be right and just in doing so.
When Christ was walking in the flesh on earth, a ruler of the Jews by the name of Nicodemus, John 3:2 “this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.””
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.
“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
In a sense, Jesus is admonishing Nicodemus, to say “Nicodemus, you’ve got it all wrong. Nothing but a supernatural miracle can possibly save you from your sins!” Man, in his arrogance of unbelief, errantly thinks that he can save himself, when that is the furthest thing from the truth! Just as a man cannot re-create Himself, neither can he save himself. Let’s read on…
Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness of what we have seen, and you do not accept our witness. “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
“And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
Do you catch this? The people of Israel were dying because of serpents biting them, a plague sent among them due to their sin. The people repented of their sin, and God had commanded that Moses set a bronze serpent on a standard, and if a bitten person looked at that bronze serpent Moses lifted up, they were healed. The crux is, they didn’t have to do anything except to focus their attention and reorient their gaze on that bronze serpent – something hard to do when you are so very concerned about the bite, and avoiding getting bitten more!
In the same way, by removing our focus from our present concerns and fixing it firmly upon Jesus, by truly believing in Him and in His finished work, there is salvation!
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
The fact is, we tend to think of it backwards. We tend to think that in the end God will weigh out our deeds, and balance the accounts, and if they turn up good we’re in, and if not, not. But what God says here, what Jesus Himself declares, is that judgement against everyone is certain and settled, but that those who believe in Him – only those who believe in only Him, and no one else – escape that certain judgement.
What is this faith, this belief?
Romans 4:16 declares “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be according to grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the seed, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all—” And James 2:21–22 “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected.”
James and Paul and even Jesus Himself are saying the same thing – this is not some mere notion or acceptance of an idea, rathe this is a faith which acts, a faith which pins its eternal hope only and solely on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. \
So, we say it this way:
We believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition; of salvation, that in order to be saved, sinners must be born again; that the New Birth is a new creation in Christ Jesus; that it is instantaneous and not a process, that in the New Birth, the one dead in trespasses and in sins is made a partaker of the divine nature and receives eternal life, the free gift of God; that the new creation is brought about in a manner above our comprehension, solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in connection with divine truth; that at the moment of salvation we are justified before Almighty God, that justification is not bestowed upon us in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer’s blood, His righteousness then being imputed to us from the foundation of the Earth. John 1:12-13; 3:3-8; 3:15-16, 36; 5:24; Acts 4:12; 16:30-33; Romans 3:24-25; 5:1; 6:23; 8:29-30; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 1:4; 1:7; 2:1; 2:8-10; 2:13; Hebrews 9:12-15; Hebrews 9:12-15; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 5:11-12;
God didn’t wait until we deserved salvation, for He knew and designed it, just as the person the Law comes to comes to understand, that a person can never deserve salvation.
But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
God, then, demonstrated that He is not only just, but also that He alone is the justifier of all who have faith in Jesus Christ.
Questions:
Read John 3:1-21, Acts 4:8-12, and Galatians 3:22-26. In light of these verses, what does it mean that “we are saved by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, in the finished work of Christ Alone”?
Read Ephesians 1:4, Colossians 3:10-11, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, and 2 Corinthians 5:17. What condition is a person in prior to salvation? Does that condition make any difference at all to their salvation? Why not?
Security of the Believer
Security of the Believer
But that’s not all He has done. Let’s keep reading:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast.
Do you understand the tremendous advantage there is, in that absolutely nothing of salvation is the result of what I do, but as a result entirely and completely of what God has done?
Assurance
Assurance
This gives us first of all, great assurance of our salvation. Here’s the doctrine:
We believe that it is the privilege of all who are born again by the Spirit through faith in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures, to be assured of their salvation from the very moment they take Him to be their Savior; and that this assurance is not founded upon any fancied discovery of their own worthiness but wholly upon the testimony of God in His written Word. Luke 12:32; John 6:37-44; 10:27-30; Romans 8:1; I Corinthians 6:9-11; Ephesians 1:3-14; II Timothy 1:8-9; Hebrews 12:5-11; I Peter 1:3-5; I John 2:19, 28; 5:13; Jude 1.
Turn to Ephesians 1, to the very verses that Pastor Rich is teaching and preaching from this year in our Morning Worship Services, the same verses we
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love,
by predestining us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions, according to the riches of His grace which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and insight,
making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him for an administration of the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth in Him.
In Him, we also have been made an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, to the end that we who first have hoped in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
In Him, you also, after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
The words you hear over, and over, and over, and over again here, is “in him”. In Him (Christ) we are blessed, in Him (Christ) we are chosen by God the Father, in Him (Christ) we are predestined to adoption as sons, in Him (Christ) grace is bestowed on us, in Him (Christ) we have redemption, in Him (Christ) He makes known to us the mystery of His will, in Him (Christ) we have been made an inheritance, in Him (Christ) we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
And all of this occured before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love”. Romans 8:29-30 helps us understand just how incredible and certain this being chosen before the foundation of the world is, saying,
Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.
There is no stop, there is no maybe, there is only certainty – predestined, called, justified, glorified.
Questions:
Read Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 Peter 1:3-5, and 2 Timothy 1:8-9. Who did the work of saving us? What does this tell us about its effectiveness? What does it tell us about how long it lasts?
Read Romans 5:1-2, Romans 8:29-30, and Jude 24-25. What will God cause us to do in His presence? Is there any uncertainty in any of these statements, or any requirement other than salvation? Why is this important to us?
Eternal State
Eternal State
And with that guaranteed progression for all chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world – take careful note of this! Even before we had our first opportunity to knowingly sin – we of all people can look forward to eternity with confidence.
We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever; and that no power in heaven or earth can change either our position or relationship, which becomes ours through faith in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 37:23-28; John 6:37-44; 10:27-30; Romans 4:4-5; I Corinthians 6:9-11; Philippians 1:6; I Peter 1:3-5; Jude 1.
John records Jesus saying it this way:
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish—ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
And, if that were not enough, Jesus goes on to say,
“My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. “I and the Father are one.”
Questions:
Read Romans 8:30 and Philippians 1:6. What has been God’s plan from before creation for those He redeems? Is He able to accomplish what He purposes to do?
Responsibility
Responsibility
We believe that this does not mean that the believer is not responsible to live a godly, consistent Christian life, but that the evidence of genuine faith is manifested in a true desire to live in a manner that is pleasing to God; and that believers are clearly forbidden to use Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh. Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 5-9, 12-14; Titus 2:11-3:2; Hebrews 12:5-11; II Peter 3:14-18; I John 1:9; 2:19, 28; 3:3-6; Jude 1.
We recently went through this in our study of Romans 6:1-14, entitled “We who Died to Sin”, which you can see in its entirety on our YouTube channel.
In that Scripture, Paul is confronting those who take exception to his insistence on salvation by faith alone through Christ alone, rather than through the keeping of the Law. And the objection is pretty clear:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
And the immediate, shocked response he gives is absolutely certain:
May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
And so, he sets about to explain fully what is absolutely true of all who are in Christ Jesus in the next ten verses, culminating in his first exhortation in verses 12-13,
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
We who are in Christ Jesus, unlike all others, are able to resist sin, we are able to restrain it from reigning over our mortal bodies, we are able to not present our members to sin.
Conversely, we are able to use our members – not just our physical bodies but our faculties of reason and emotion, our affections of love and hate, all of our members, as instruments of righteousness.
Questions:
Read Romans 6:3-11. Since there are no commands here, describe everything that is true of all who are believers (there are at least 6).
Read Titus 2:11-3:2. What ought to be the prevailing character of a Christian’s life? Explain why this is the case.
Two last thoughts before we close. First, if this material is unfamiliar to you, or if you do not believe you have undergone this salvation I’ve described today, I urge you to speak with either a pastor or deacon today, we would be thrilled to have that conversation with you.
Second, on account of this teaching today, I hope that it gives all who are saved great hope and assurance, and confidence in both your daily life and in momentous occasions. I have frequently said that salvation is the most profound change a person may ever undergo, that even death is not so great a change as salvation. And I hope this teaching today gives you a glimpse into that wondrous truth.
Let’s pray!
Bonus Challenge 1: Look up all of the Scripture references, and map out what part of each doctrine comes primarily from which reference!
Bonus Challenge 2: Can you find other Scriptural references that support each doctrinal statement?