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Soteriology- joel jeffers (what does a person need in order to be saved?…
Soteriology- joel jeffers
can we lose salvation?
What kind of actions do we think might remove our salvation?
Certain terrible sins
Claiming to not believe in God
Denying that Jesus is God or that he died for your sins (i.e., apostasy)
What does the scripture say?
If you believe in Jesus’ work, then you have eternal life
We are secure because we are kept by Jesus
You are sealed by the Holy Spirit “in Christ”
Unbiblical ways to evaluate our eternal security
Our emotions: “I don’t feel saved.”
Our good works: “I am not doing enough good works to be truly saved.”
salvation diamond
What is true of a person when they are saved?
Just like a diamond has many faces so a person’s salvation has many aspects to describe it.
The NT uses several terms to describe different aspects of our salvation.
Words to discuss:
Justification
Adoption
Redemption
Sanctification
Union with Christ
First facet: Justification
The word justification means to be declared righteous
They key passages are Romans 3:21-31 and Galatians 2:15-3:14
Illustration: courtroom
Characters:
God is the judge
The prosecuting attorney is God’s law
Defendant is human beings (us!)
The defense attorney is Jesus
actions
Our defense attorney steps in but he does not attempt to defend us
The judge considers the offer and punishes Jesus with giving us the righteous standing which Jesus had
The prosecuting attorney reads out the transgressions we have committed
We leave the court justified (declared legally righteous
second faucet adoption
Definition of “adoption”: the act of God where he places believers into his family.
As believers we are considered his children and call him Father (Abba) [Romans 8:14-17]
As his children, we are in community with many other siblings
The third facet: redemption
To purchase sinners out of the slave market of sin
The scripture speaks of people being slaves of sin and of the devil
One day our bodies will be redeemed: freed from the presence of sin(Rom 8:23
The fourth facet: sanctification
Sanctification is viewed from 3 different phases:
present
future
past
There are 2 aspects of our sanctification:
identification with Jesus
Jesus’ life in the believer via the Holy Spirit
Process where we work with God to live according to the Spirit and to have our behavior become more Christ-like
It is important to remember the image of the tree and roots: Sin produces sins in both believers and unbelievers.
what does a person need in order to be saved?
It is important to distinguish 2 important aspects: the Gospel and foundational information
The Gospel message (1 Corinthians 15:1-7)
Jesus arose from the dead 3 days later (v.4)
He appeared to over 500 eyewitnesses (vv 5-8)
Jesus was buried (v.4)
The Gospel message is about a person! -Jesus
Jesus Christ died for our sins (v.3)
Why is this important?
Teaching the wrong Gospel has terrible consequences (Galatians 1:6-9)
An incorrect Gospel will give people a false hope of salvation
A correct understanding of the Gospel is a crucial foundation for our walk with the Lord (Colossians 2:6)
Foundational information
This information is needed to understand the Gospel.
for example, what sin is.
for example, that Jesus is divine and human.
This information is not technically part of the Gospel, but is needed to make sense of it.
confusing terminology
“Let Jesus into your heart.”
“Accepted Jesus as my savior”
“Giving it all to Jesus.”
“Prayed the prayer.”
“Lay your burdens at the foot of the cross.”
what is faith?
The Greek verb is pisteuo – to believe, to trust, to rely
It is used almost 100x in just the Gospel of John in relation to salvation.
demands an object
Faith that is worthless or invaluable has as its object something other than God or his word.
Faith that is valuable before God is faith in the person of God and his Word, i.e., truth.
to believe, trust, rely on what or whom?
Faith is a simple, human response.
Illustrations of faith
Asking for someone to move a desk for you.
Sitting in a chair.
Faith involves human will (we have to make a choice).
What faith is not
Faith is not something supernatural given to us by God.
Faith is a not a “work,” (i.e., it is non-meritorious).
Faith is not an emotion.
Paul recognizes that he has both the old nature (i.e., the flesh) and the new nature (a desire to please God).
Paul describes the struggle he experiences when he desires to do good but finds that sin is right there with him. [Romans 7:14-25]
Paul also recognizes that he needs the Holy Spirit to produce the character of Jesus through him.
To “walk according to the Holy Spirit” means for a Christian to daily live his/her life in dependence upon the Holy Spirit to produce the character of Christ in him/her.