Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
In our last lesson we spoke on how readily people oppose the grace of God whether it was over how much they thought they had to do to get forgiveness of sin, or get to heaven, or what they try to do to get others to live like they live. We spoke on how we can impose our own likes and dislikes and restrictions on fellow believers in an attempt to validate our own righteousness. Let us all please remember that not only are we dependent on the grace of God for our acceptance to God, but so is everyone else. We all stand or fall separately before our Master. Rom.14:12 says we will individually give account of our lives to Jesus Christ. And Heb.13:17 says every believer will stand at that day along side his or her pastor. The purpose for this joint gathering of pastor and parishioner is to give an account of the doctrines he taught which they had the opportunity to apply to their lives. You may say this is not possible, that this is too invasive, that it violates your free will and Christ wouldn’t do that, but I Cor.3:13-15 says otherwise. All the excuses we use to say we don’t know better, or couldn’t have behaved better will be revealed and they will be exposed and the rewards we could have had are burned up before us. Excuses are hay, wood and stubble just as works done with the wrong motivation are burned up.
I. Our Grace Relationship with God
I said in our first message that we will look at the grace perspective from three different avenues; our relationship with God, with fellow believers, and with the unsaved.
The grace perspective we have in regard to God is our first order of business to discuss. If this issue is not clear, then there is no way we can manifest the grace life to the rest of the world. Again, the word grace, charis, means God’s non-meritorious favor. This is why Christianity is so different from religion. Religion is man doing something for God to impress God, or appease God. Whereas Christianity is God doing something for mankind that we cannot do for ourselves.
1. We are totally dependent on God for certain things in this life, and the one thing that causes this life to be bearable is to know we are going to heaven when we die. Jesus Christ is the one who paid the price for our salvation. He was not just some historical religious figure or leader; he was God, sent in the flesh to become a ransom payment for our sins. The Greek word for propitiation is hilasmos, and this word means to satisfy as an expiation whereby sin is not only covered but it is pardoned.
I Jn.2:1-2
He died on the cross and paid the price for all the sins of the whole world. From the first sin Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden to the last person who draws the last breath this side of eternity future; all sins have been purchased by the propitious sacrifice of Jesus Christ. However, only those who accept Christ as their Savior receive this pardon.
Propitiation is an act of the grace of God, but God only makes the offer in grace, he does not force the offer.
Calvinism limits the grace of God for salvation, and Armenianism limits the grace of God for eternal security.
The Armenian theology, which is practiced by some denominations, teaches that salvation is probationary and that salvation depends upon the convert’s living a holy life and maintaining constant vigilance to keep one’s salvation.
Ultimately, this theology teaches salvation is not of grace but is human merit based. Look, if salvation is not of grace it is not salvation, and it simply becomes wishful thinking.
This person is forever hoping they are good enough or that they have done enough, but the word of God says differently as noted in Eph.2:8-9. You are never good enough and you can never do enough to earn the forgiveness of sins and earn heaven as your eternal home. Salvation is not a conditional promise predicated upon acceptable follow up with your life, though you and I should seek all means to please the Lord with our lives. Salvation is a personal legal transaction between you and the justice of God as you accept that you are a sinner; that Christ is your sin substitute and you have accepted his substitutionary death as the ransom payment for your sins.
2. The believer’s eternal position in the family of God is completely held together by God. It is not held together by imperfect, stoic, rigid religious persons who strive to earn or keep their salvation by muscling their way through the temptations of life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved is God’s word and God cannot lie because he is sinless. We on the other hand not only lie to others, but we also lie to ourselves. When God’s word, which is settled forever in heaven as Ps.119:89 says, then we should not doubt what God’s word says in John 3:16 “that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
So, after this appeal on the part of God for sinners to receive Christ is accepted nothing more must be done.
3. The next phase of the Christian’s life, which runs from the moment of salvation to going to heaven, is to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ as noted in II Pet.3:18. As we grow we come to understand our position in the family of God and our responsibilities to God.
How does the pastor show his love for his congregation? He teaches them the word of God. Jesus Christ told Peter, “If you live me feed my sheep”, John 21:16-17.
The pastor-teacher, who is given by the Lord as a gift to the congregation, is given to oversee and communicate Bible doctrine in season and out of season. This is how he shows his love.
With the impartation of God’s word the saint is given the necessary wisdom and understanding to cope with the many trials of life. And in this coping effectively for the Lord, the saint prevails through, the Spirit of God, to get the victory over sin, and the cosmic system of both overt hatred and covert arrogant antagonism against God and his word.
With this biblical understanding the believer develops a healthy relationship with God and that healthy relationship with God #1 produces the fruits of the Spirit of God and these fruits translate into #2 a proper relationship with both believer and non-believer.
We will talk about the connection we have with God and how that connection is manifest to the world in our next message.