10 Essentials Series: 8. Soteriology

Okay, so, as you guys know, we're going through the Ten Essentials series. So far we've gone through Bibliology, Theology Proper, Christology, Pneumatology, Angelology, and Anthropology and Homardiology.

Today, we're going to go through Soteriology and follow that up with Ecclesiology and Eschatology. We've gone through a lot of stuff up until this point, so today's lesson, they're all important, but obviously Soteriology is of dire importance because it's the Doctrine of Salvation.

Salvation is the rescuing of our souls, okay, the payment for our sins, it includes a lot of different things. So once again, I just want to open up with what John MacArthur says, because he does a great job of introducing these doctrines to us.

And he says,. And to the center of redemptive history. As previously taught in Anthropology, man was created in the image of God and was charged with ruling over creation as God's representative on earth.

Yet man has utterly failed in that commission, having sinned against God in Adam's disobedience and fallen from the original state of blessed fellowship he experienced in the garden. As a result, all of Adam's descendants are conceived in sin and are born enemies of God.

By nature, man is relationally alienated from God and judicially accountable to him, both unable to enjoy the fellowship with God for which he was created and required to pay the penalty for breaking God's laws and belittling his glory, namely death.

So this is the reason we need to be saved, right, because we're born in a state of sin. We've rebelled against God. We're enemies of God when we come into this world. And yet God is a Savior who has acted in saving grace to redeem from sin and death those who would believe.

His plan of redemption began in eternity past as God the Father set his electing love on undeserving sinners, determining to rescue them from the fall and the deserved consequences of their disobedience.

He appointed the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, to accomplish redemption on behalf of the elect by becoming man, by rendering perfect obedience to their sin. The Father and the Son have sent God the Holy Spirit to apply to the elect all the saving benefits that the Son purchased for his people.

Okay, so this basically sums up. The problem is man's sinfulness. We're born into this world in a state of sin and the solution is God sending a Savior who covenanted, the Father covenanted with the Son in the past to redeem a group of people known as the elect.

So let's go exactly what this, this was now from my paper, this was not a part of MacArthur. So it says, due to man's fallen nature, total depravity, and his broken covenantal status in Adam, mankind needs to be rescued from the covenantal penalty of sin or live separated from God forever.

That would be hell. The rescue or redemption will happen by way of a new covenant that replaces the old and is enacted by a mediator who fulfills the existing covenant of works on their behalf. So Romans 5, 12.

Just as sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sin, for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given. But sin is not counted where there is no law.

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. Basically what that's saying is before the law was given, people were still dying because they sinned.

But it wasn't because of the Mosaic law. The Mosaic law hadn't been given yet. So the wages of sin is death. There was a commentator that said once, death is guilt made visible. So if someone dies, you know at some point in time they were guilty of sin.

And obviously biblically we know we're born into a state of sin. So death reigned. In other words, every single person died because they were sinful. Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The wages of sin is capital punishment. That's how serious sin is. Even just one. Even just biting into the fruit and rebelling against God. Worthy of capital punishment. Jeremiah 31. This is where the new covenant comes into play.

Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on that day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. OK, so this is a new covenant, not like the old covenant because the old one they broke. I highlighted this stuff in white. Is it easy to see in white?

OK, good. I'm glad. All right. That's that's comforting. Right. OK, so in the new covenant, God says, I will put my law within them instead of on tablets of stone on their heart, I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying, no, the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.

So in the old covenant, you could be part of that covenant and not actually know God. You were circumcised as a child. You were raised up, you know, with the law. But you didn't know God in the new covenant.

Everyone in the new covenant shall all know him. What is entrance into the new covenant? How do you get into the new covenant? By faith. Right. You entered into that new covenant by faith. Faith means you trust in the God that you know.

So everyone in the new covenant knows God. This is a very important thing. The old covenant was not able to. It would point you to God, but it wasn't enough in and of itself to save you, to give you salvation.

That's why there was a need for the new covenant. The old covenant showcased your sin and showed you how wicked you were. The Lord is a schoolmaster to lead you to Christ. Now in Ezekiel, we've read this several times before, but I'd like to read it again.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake or house of Israel that I'm about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord declares the Lord God. When through you, I will vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

I will take you from the nations and gather you from the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses. And from all your idols, I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart.

I will give you a new spirit. I will put it within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Who's the one doing all the actions in that passage? God. He's the one acting.

We're passive recipients, goes on to say, and I will put my spirit within you. I will cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God.

And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord.

Let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded of your ways, O house of Israel. You don't normally hear this being preached from the pulpits in the American church. In the American church, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Right. What happened to my life for God's wonderful plan? It is not for our sake, the sake of our name, but for the sake of his name. He says, be ashamed and confounded for your ways. Right. Yes. And what stands behind that is the problem.

Because we can say, I trusted in the Lord and know that it was God who gave me the faith and eyes to see and ears to hear. Here's the bottom line. We actually do have a choice. The problem is we won't make it.

There are two choices. Right. Repent and believe or trusting yourself. Right. Those who repent and believe actually chose to repent and believe. The question is why? It's because God's changed their heart first to desire that.

So we don't want to tell people, look, you don't have a choice. You do have a choice and you're going to be held responsible for that choice. Right. Right. And they would say, well, God is no respecter of persons, so he can't choose one and not the other, because then he's respecting them.

And I tell them, no, what God is no respecter of persons means that just because you say, yes, I want the Lord and he doesn't doesn't mean he has to take you. Right. There are many who say to me, Lord, Lord.

Right. Didn't we prophesy in your name? They professed faith in Christ. Says I never knew you because it's it's the action of God alone to open the eyes, the ears and the heart and have mercy upon whom have mercy.

Due to man's fallen nature, total depravity and his broken covenantal status in Adam, mankind needs to be rescued from the covenantal penalty of sin or live separated from God forever. Hebrews 8 through 13.

In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. There are people who still hold that we need to to keep the old covenant commands.

The Hebrew Israelites, the Hebrew roots movement say we need to go back and we need to keep those feasts. Those feasts are a type and shadow of what's to come. The New Testament says, why are you walking in the shadows when you have the substance of the covenant, which is Christ?

We cling to Christ. We don't hold to the Old Testament dietary laws. We don't hold to the Old Testament cleanliness laws. Could you imagine if we had to do that? First Timothy 2, 5 through 7. For there is one God and there was one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

So this covenant has a mediator and we know that the mediator is Jesus. Right. Why is that important? Because Jesus is fully God and fully man. You needed someone who's fully God and fully man to mediate that covenant so he can properly represent humanity and then stand on this side and properly represent God in the transaction.

And who is the only one who can absorb the infinite weight of the of the consequence of our sins? Only an infinite God. No one human man could do that on his own. Right. We needed the God man, Jesus. That's why this is important.

There are other religious traditions that say there are co-mediators. The Bible says there's one mediator between God and man. If there was more than one mediator, well, then maybe there's more than one God.

If you're going to use that hermeneutic, be consistent. Maybe there's more than there's more than one media and maybe there's more than one God. Well, there is one God. It says one God. Yes, there's also one mediator, but you'd think there's more.

This isn't hard. Hebrews 9 .15. Therefore, he's the mediator of the new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

See, there's a first covenant and a new covenant. That's very important to distinguish because our Presbyterian brothers say, no, it's all one covenant. It's one covenant with many different administrations.

The scripture is crystal clear. It's two different covenants. If you're going to look at the scriptures and hold them up as your infallible authority, first covenant, new covenant, not like the old covenant.

These are two separate and distinct covenants. The new covenant is unbreakable. The old covenant is unkeepable. I'm not kidding. It's unkeepable. The only one who could keep it was who? Christ, the mediator of the new covenant.

Praise God. Hebrews 12 .24. And to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkle blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Right. Abel's blood was crying out to God from the ground.

What does Jesus' blood do? Cries out to God for those whom he redeemed. John 19 .30, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. That's the Greek word tetelestai. It means paid in full.

They would stamp that on the bottom of your receipt after you paid your bill to whatever merchant or merchandise that you bought. Paid in full. I just recently heard a debate where the guy says, well, it doesn't mean paid in full.

It means he gave some other thing. And I'm like, that means paid in full. Like it is finished. Well, he still had work to do after the cross. He had to go down and preach to the saints in Hades and then ascend and sit at the right hand.

And he's still mediating. He's still interceding. Yeah, but the work of redemption was finished at the cross. The old covenant and its rules and regulations were nailed to the cross. Yes. Amen. If you could do me a favor, send that to me.

I'll put it in a link in the info box so that people can. Yes, Ted. It is ongoing. No, it is not. Here's the problem. For man, it is ongoing. For Jesus and his people, it is finished. You will never live up to God's expectation of you apart from Jesus Christ.

You need perfect righteousness to get into heaven. You can't do that as a man. Let's continue. Salvation in this covenant is the work of the triune God alone, apart from the efforts of mankind, such that God gets all the glory.

Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. This is probably one of my favorite verses. For by grace, you have been saved through faith and this not of your own doing. It's the gift of God, not as a result of what works so that no one may boast.

For we are his workmanship. We are new creations. He's created us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Our good works are a result of our salvation and an indicator that we are saved.

We do not rely on our good works to get into heaven because it is finished. By one act of righteousness, he justified and redeemed mankind. One act. The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Titus 3, 5.

He saved us. He saved us, not because of works done in righteousness. Full stop. He did not save you because of what you did, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the one that comes inside of us, gives us new hearts, new eyes, new ears, and new desires to carry out the works that God's commanded us to do. We're not saved by works done in righteousness.

It couldn't be any clearer. 2 Timothy 1, 9. He saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works. See a recurring theme here? But because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

James 1, 18. Of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. You're given ears to hear. You hear the call upon your life to repent and believe.

Holy Spirit changes your heart so that you do it. Romans 11, 36. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. We do not boast. Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.

God saved me. It wasn't because I chose him. 2 Corinthians 1, 20. For all the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why through him that we may utter our amen to God for his glory. All the promises are yes and amen in Christ.

Jesus completes everything he set out to do. He does not fail in his mission. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. And guess what? He will seek them, find them, and save them. The monergistic work of salvation.

Monergistic. It's two compound word. Mono meaning one. Erg meaning a work or energy. The one working of God. The monergistic work of salvation is most clearly seen in Romans 8, 29 through 30, where we read for those whom he God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son.

In order that he might be the firstborn among many brethrens. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified.

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who's the one doing all the work in that verse? God. Thank you. You scared me for a second. God is the one doing all the work in that verse.

This, I think, is a parallel to Ezekiel 36, where God does all the work. I will, I will, I will. Here Paul's saying, God is the one who predestines. He's the one who calls. He's the one who justifies.

He's the one who glorifies. It is all the working of God to us, not by us. It is God alone who begins and ends all of the work. Philippians 1 .6, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ.

He's the one working, and he will bring it to completion. Ephesians 1 .13 -14,. In him also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

The only way salvation can be guaranteed is if it's done by God alone. God can't sin. So you do not have to worry about your salvation if it's in the hands of God. If it's in your hands, what's going to happen?

Somewhere along the lines, we're going to sin. Probably within a minute, right? So the old saying goes, if you could lose your salvation, you would. It's that simple. It has to be secured. The only way it could be a guarantee is if God completes it.

If he starts it, works in the middle of it, and completes it. 2 Corinthians 1 .21,. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ Jesus and has anointed us, and who has also put a seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

If you are born of the Spirit of God, that is the deposit on your salvation. It is the guarantee of eternal life to come. The only way it's guaranteed, again, is if by God begins it, works in the middle of it, and completes it, apart from the work of man.

So salvation consists of several things. Election, atonement, calling, justification, sanctification, and glorification. And this is to redeem the whole person, body and spirit. So election is God choosing you in Christ before the foundation of the world.

He elects you. Atonement means he makes satisfaction for your sin to God on your behalf. He atones for your sin. Calling, there's an outward call and an inward call. The universal call of the gospel goes out to everyone, but not everybody is given ears to hear.

Those who are given ears to hear and eyes to see have an internal calling and will be brought into the covenant by faith. Justification is the legal declaration by God that your sins are forgiven and you have peace with him, imputed to you by Jesus Christ.

Sanctification is the molding and shaping process, the conforming you to the image of Jesus that begins the moment you're justified and doesn't end until you're glorified. And glorification is the perfection of your body when you're given your new body on the other side in heaven where we're going to live on the redeemed heaven and earth.

Now, because it's the monergistic work of God, it goes like this. The Father appoints, the Son accomplishes, and the Holy Spirit applies. God appoints you. He chooses you for salvation. The Son accomplishes the work on the cross to redeem you, and the Holy Spirit applies that atonement to your life, raising you from the dead and walking you down the aisle in preparation for the wedding supper of the Lamb.

I also like the way that Kevin DeYoung puts it. He says, the Father plans, the Son purchases, and the Holy Spirit preserves. Another way of saying the same thing, right? Again, this is the greatest love story you will ever encounter.

The Son chooses a bride for his Son before time begins, gives them to his Son as the bride. The Son dies as the groom, dies on behalf of the bride he loves, and the Holy Spirit raises them to life and walks them down the aisle.

Beautiful. And unbreakable. That's unbreakable. Your salvation is the monergistic work of the Triune God alone, apart from your effort. These are all aspects of our salvation that are started, continued, and completed by God.

So let's go through each one. Election. God in eternity past chose a people, a bride for his Son, not based on anything seen or foreseen in them for salvation. Election is mercy. Remember that. When somebody says, oh, you believe in election?

Yeah, election is mercy. Election is not getting what you deserve, okay? And it's based on God's choice, not because of any efforts or works on the part of mankind. We are called to confirm God's election.

Okay, so Ephesians 1 .4, He chose us. We went through this one. He chose us before the foundation of the world. Anybody alive before the foundation of the world? Yeah. Did you choose Him or did He choose you?

Okay, we got this straight. Good. John 6 .37, all that the Father gives to me. This is betrothal language, right? The Father gives His daughter to the man and then gets a dowry. He gets a dowry in return.

What's the dowry that the Son pays to the Father? The payment for their sins. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.

And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. That's your guarantee. All that the Father gives to Him, of all the Father gives to Him, He will lose none.

John 17, I have manifested Your name to the people whom You gave me out of the world. Yours they were, You gave them to me, and they have kept Your word. This is John 17. This is Jesus' high priestly prayer.

This is Jesus interceding for His people. He says, I do not pray for the world, I pray for those You've given me out of the world. Romans 9. In order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles.

As indeed He says in Hosea, Those who were not My people I will call My people, and her who was not beloved I will call beloved. So this is a message to the Israelites that God is not just your God. He's the God of all the nations, of all the tribes and nations of the world.

Ephesians 2 .8 .9. You've been saved through faith and not of your own doing. This is not because of you. 2 Timothy 1 .9. Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus, when?

Before the ages began. Right? This is election. This is mercy. Romans 9 .11. Now, we all know 9 .11 was when the terrorists flew the planes into the towers and knocked them down. I call this the 9 .11 for Arminians.

This is the plane that drives right into their theology and blows it up. Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose in election might continue, not because of works, but because of Him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger.

As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Mercy is not getting what you deserve, and mercy is not something that can be demanded. You cannot look at someone and say, I demand you give me mercy. Then it's not mercy. We can cry out to God, Lord, have mercy.

And if God in His sovereignty chooses to, He will. 1 Peter 2 .9, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. A people for His own possession. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Isn't this amazing? Peter, a Jew, is using language about Israel in the Old Covenant to the church. You ask anyone, did God choose Israel out of all the nations?

Oh, of course. Absolutely. Good, he takes that same language and applies it to the church. The church is chosen. They're the chosen bride of God. Don't tell me we're not chosen. We're chosen. That's what Peter says.

So if you agree that Israel was chosen, why do you not agree that we as individuals, part of God's church, are chosen? Galatians 2 .16, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus.

So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law, no one will be justified. He says the same thing three times in one sentence.

You're not justified by the works of the law, but by faith. That's entrance into the New Covenant, different than the Old Covenant. It's not the same covenant with the different administrations. This is a completely new covenant.

Galatians 3 .2, let me ask you this. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law? Was it something you did to get the Spirit? Or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

You see what he's saying? If you think you're going to get to heaven by doing these good works, and you have the Spirit of God, do you think that the things that you're doing are the things that are perfecting you?

Or is it the Holy Spirit working in your heart that's perfecting you? He who began a good work is faithful to complete it. 2 Peter 1 .10 -11. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.

For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior. So your calling and election should manifest itself in good works and love for your neighbor and God.

So good works are very important. They're an indicator that something's changed in your heart. You are to walk in the good works that God's prepared for us before the foundation of the earth. Atonement.

This is the second section of salvation. Jesus dies for the bride he loves to make payment for her sins. Jesus' atonement makes complete satisfaction and guarantees the resurrection of the bride to eternal life.

Ephesians 5 .25. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. This is a very important thing. Husbands, love all women the way Christ loved everyone? No. There's a special covenantal love that a husband has for his wife, that Christ has for his wife.

This is not indiscriminate love. This is love for a specific person. And this is Christ's love for a specific people, his bride, the church. Romans 5 .8. But God shows his love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.

Hebrews 9 .12. He entered once and for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. Again, the guarantee because of Jesus' perfect work on the cross.

Hebrews 9 .14. How much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? We make an appeal by our conscience to God because the Spirit has cleansed us.

Isaiah 53. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray and turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.

You feel the weight of what he's done for his people, laying himself down for his bride. John 1 .29. He saw Jesus coming and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And people will look at the world and say, I see, it's the whole world.

And yes, God loves the entire cosmos he created. The word world has 14 different definitions in the Gospel of John alone. Okay? It does not mean that every single person's sins were atoned for. Because if every single person's sins were atoned for, that would include the sin of unbelief.

Right? And that would mean everyone gets into heaven. But we know Scripture says not everyone is going to have eternal life. They're going to have eternal punishment some. Yes. Yeah. Sufficient, all efficient, only for the elect.

Right? Those whom he purchased and gives faith to. John 19 .30. Jesus received the sour wine. He says, It is finished. Right? Bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 1 John 3 .5. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins and in him there is no sin.

Right? This clearly lays it out. 1 Peter 3 .18. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, the righteous for the unrighteous, not the righteous for those who have made themselves righteous by doing good works.

He died for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit. Revelation 1 .5. And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood.

And my favorite, because I live, you will live also. That's a guarantee by Jesus to those who were given to him by the Father. He will lose none. So that's atonement. Effectual calling. I'm not going to read this because we're running short on time.

1 Corinthians 1 .23. But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to gentiles, but to those who are called. Right? This is specific. Right? This is narrowing down the field. It's not to everyone, but to us who are called, the internal call.

Both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. John 3 .8. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes, so it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

The Spirit gives birth to Spirit. The Spirit gives life. Like we learned last week about total depravity, you do not throw a rope to a dead man. The dead man can't grab it. You need to resurrect the dead man.

That's why salvation is the work of the triune God, to resurrect dead sinners to life. Romans 1 .9 -9. To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, God's purpose of election might continue not because of works, but because of him who calls even to us whom he has called, not from the Jews only, but from the gentiles.

So God calls a certain group of people, the ones he's chosen for the foundation of the earth. And we know, John 10, I know my sheep, my sheep know me. They hear my voice and I give them eternal life. 2 Thessalonians 2.

We are always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. Through this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 9 .15. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called receive the promise of eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgression committed under the first covenant.

Every single person who he makes intercession for and atonement for, he calls and brings to life. Yes. Amen. So the illustration is Lazarus being resurrected. And actually people say he wasn't resurrected, he was resuscitated because if he was actually resurrected he would never die again.

But needless to say, the point of this is when God, when Jesus called Lazarus, Lazarus didn't do anything to affect that. All he did was respond to the working of God, the Holy Spirit, in raising him to new life.

It's very funny and ironic when I think about it. Us who are reformed, who don't hold to the gifts of the Spirit, believe that the Holy Spirit can raise spiritually dead sinners to life in the midst of a congregation.

Whereas the Pentecostals don't believe that. And they're the ones who are hooting and hollering about the Spirit. Right? No, they believe you have to choose. Right? God will save you if you allow him, basically.

No, God will save you when he wants to save you. Okay, effectual calling, we're going to continue. Romans 8, 16, and 17, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and of children heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

Right? So the internal witness of the Holy Spirit confirms that we're children of God, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. So don't think that your life is, you know, your best life now.

Just to let you know, if you're living your best life now, on the other side, your best life will be behind you, not ahead of you. Right? Lay your life down now. It will be more than worth it on the other side.

1 John 5, 1, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. So when somebody says, I believe that Jesus is Christ, what must have happened first? Has been, past tense, born of God?