December 7, 2017 Show with Greg Nichols on “The Doctrine of Christ: The Plan, Promise & Accomplishment of Salvation”

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

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It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

Now here's our host, Chris Arntzen. Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming. This is Chris Arntzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Thursday on this 7th day of December 2017.

And before I introduce my guest today and our topic, I just wanted to say a few words about the historic significance of today. Today, as most of you may know, it is 76 years ago today, on December 7th, 1941, on a day that will live in infamy, 2 ,403 Americans who were prepared to do battle to preserve the freedoms we Americans cherish, perished when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

Many more Americans, along with our Allied soldiers already in battle, would also perish, multitudes of them, in unspeakably gruesome ways for the cause of freedom after entering into World War II. Let us pray that God has mercy on all of us in countries who accomplished victory and ended that war, and yet still witness cherished freedoms stripped away from us one by one.

I am quite certain that not a single one of those brave soldiers who sacrificed their limbs and lives had even for a second thought of the notion that they were risking all to preserve the hellish activity that the left calls behavior bought by liberty.

And that's just my word for today on December 7th, 2017. Well, today we have returning to the program a dear friend of mine who I love to interview. He's one of my favorite guests, and according to those of you listening, apparently he's one of your favorite guests, too, to listen to on Iron Trip and Zion Radio.

His name is Pastor Greg Nichols, and he's one of three pastors at Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He's the author of What Does the Bible Say About God? The Biblical Doctrine of God, Truth for Eternity, and the multi-volume series, Lectures in Systematic Theology.

And today he's going to be addressing the doctrine of Christ, the plan, the promise, and the accomplishment of salvation. And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron.

Trip and Zion Radio, Pastor Greg Nichols. Thank you. Well, I really appreciate that. And before.

We go into the topic, once again, because of the fact that we do have new listeners that are joining our program, it seems, every single day, tell our listeners something about Grace Emanuel.

Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church and the Lectures in Systematic Theology

Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1889 London. Confession of Faith, a society of sinners saved by grace, a society of people that loves the gospel of Christ, wants to see. And right now, I'm thankful to say that we enjoy peace and unity and a sense of church family and love.

And God has abundantly blessed our church in many, many ways. We're especially thankful for a young man, been a pastor now with us for 10 years, and now is taking preaching responsibilities, named Jeff Johnson, that you mentioned.

The other is Dave Merrick, and then, of course, myself. Great. Well, anybody that is either living in the Grand Rapids,.

Michigan area, or if you are visiting there, or if you have family and friends who are living there, you can find out more about that church, Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church, by going to their website, which is girbc .org, g-i-r-b-c .org, which stands for Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church.

And hopefully, we'll be repeating that later on during the program. If anybody would like to join us with a question of your own today, our email address is chrizarnsen at gmail .com, C-H-R-I-S-A-R-N-Z-E-N at gmail .com.

Please give us at least your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside of the USA. And please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter, such as you disagree with your own pastor on an issue we are speaking about.

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Well, I know that this topic that we are discussing today, the doctrine of Christ, the plan, promise, and accomplishment of salvation, that is a part of your lectures in Systematic Theology, is it not?

That is correct, it is.

And which volume is this?

This, God willing, is volume three.

Great. And I know that Solid Ground Christian Books carries everything that you write, and I'm sure they'll be carrying this as well. And if anybody wants to look up that information to keep up to date as to when volume three will actually be in print, that website is solid-ground-books .com, solid-ground-books .com, solid-ground-books .com.

Pastor Greg, do you want to give an overview of the lectures in Systematic Theology as a whole before we go into this specific topic?

I think that's probably good to put it in perspective, thank you. Volume two is the doctrine of man or the original creation. Volume three, the doctrine of Christ. Volume four, the doctrine of the church.

And volume five, the doctrine of the Christian life. Volume six, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And then volume seven, the doctrine—I know that's not the doctrine of Scripture—focusing on what I call discerning God and the great focal points, God and salvation.

And with respect to salvation, you have salvation planned, salvation promised, salvation accomplished, salvation applied, a typical structure, a three-hour course. When you start talking about applied and completed, it winds up with the amount of material.

So I cover it in the doctrine of Christ and accomplished. The doctrine of salvation explodes and it develops into the doctrine of the church, the doctrine of the person, and the doctrine of the Christian life, which would involve the blessings of salvation, regeneration.

You wind up with an awful lot. What I'm speaking about today is volume three, which, God willing, will be out. Volume two is sometime Christmas 2007, should be out. Calling the Doctrine of the Church 2018 for the doctrine of 2019.

That's my plan as I sit here.

Darrell Bock. That's right. I know that our mutual friend Rob Ventura had a lot to do with this project, correct?

Robert Ventura. It is true. If it had not been for Rob Ventura, this would not have ever have happened. I would not. Myself have promoted it, and he has been very much involved in helping with the production of the various ways and edited it himself.

Darrell Bock. And it's been a while since I've had Pastor Rob on the program. I would appreciate it if you could extend to him my greetings and also my invitation to him to be on the program sometime, God willing, within the next couple of months.

Robert Ventura. Okay, it's the least I could do. I laugh when I say that because one of my friends in Grand Rapids told me his interpretation of what that expression, the least I could do, really means.

He says, he alleges that it means I would do less if I could.

Darrell Bock. Well, just to give Rob a plug also, if anybody is visiting or living in the North Providence, Rhode Island area, or if you have friends and family that live there already, you can look up information for the church where he serves as pastor, Grace Community Baptist Church in North Providence, Rhode Island.

And the website is gcbcri .org, gc for Grace Community, bc for Baptist Church, ri for Rhode Island .org. Well, this is a vital topic to the Christian faith. I'm sure that a lot of what we discuss is actually essential to the Christian faith and essential to the personal faith of each and every individual that wants to have assurance that they are genuinely one of God's children.

But if you could even start with the title, people might be scratching their head, especially if they are outside of Reformed theology or outside of those who are typically more meticulous when it comes to doctrine and theology.

They might be puzzled by that phrase, the doctrine of Christ. In some people's minds, that's even an oxymoron, because they think that doctrine is what's dividing the body of Christ, and we would be all better off if there was more focus on Christ and less on doctrine.

So this may puzzle some, or many, the doctrine of Christ.

If you could explain that. That you make. According to Ephesian knowledge, no longer children of doctrine, but as slight of men in love. So it's not sound doctrine that divides people. It's false doctrine.

Sound doctrine, in the very context of that section of Ephesians, gives diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Then he goes on to describe what are the essential aspects.

What do you need for unity? Well, first of all, you need grace in your heart. You can't. You're not going to have unity if your heart is full of selfishness and carnal anger. That's going to create...

Then he goes on to say that the next thing that you need for unity is you need to have a converted group of people, because you can't have unity between the devil's children and Christ's children. But then the third thing that he goes to say, 16, is that if you're going to have unity, you have to have faithful pastoral ministry that is grounding God's people in the sound doctrines of the Christian faith, and grounding them to the point where all of God's people, the people sitting in the pews or the chairs, attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.

So the knowledge of Christ, what the Bible says about Christ, about his person, about dividing God's people, is the.

Very thing that unifies God's people. Amen. Well, let's move on to the first thing under this umbrella heading. Let's move on to the plan of salvation, if you could start by that. There are even some who militate against using that term, the plan.

They'll say, salvation is a plan. It's not a plan, it's a person, I'm sorry. It's Jesus Christ, it's not a plan. So if you could explain.

What you mean by the plan of salvation. Well, the Bible very clearly teaches that God designed, decided, before the foundation of the world, when only God was. Emphatically. Yeah, I think that some.

People, when they use that phrase, salvation is a person, not a plan, I think that many of them are referring to the fact that it is not a series of steps in a plan that we must accomplish before achieving eternal life, like some non-reformed religions that would profess to be Christian might say, that we have our salvation in Christ.

It could be that that was what most people mean by that. But tell us about what you mean by Christ having a plan. Well, what I mean,.

Let me just, let me back up. Okay, I understand what you're saying, that's a very good point, and in that sense I would agree that salvation isn't a person, not in a group of, not in a, what I mean by plan is an eternal plan.

Amen. God formed before the foundation of the world when only God was. And similarly, when a solemn promise that God made before he sent Christ, he started to promise salvation before he sent Christ to accomplish it, and he set up a remarkable framework of promises over some 4 ,000 years, and then he sent Christ in history to accomplish salvation in that framework of solemn promises that God himself established.

So I'm talking about an eternal plan that God made and God decided when only God was before the foundation of the world. I'm talking about a solemn promise that God gave right after the fall and enhanced it in many ways over some 4 ,000 years before he actually sent Christ to accomplish his perfect life, atoning death, bodily resurrection from the grave.

So that's the framework in which I'm.

Thinking when I use that terminology, Chris. Amen. And the thing that obviously separates we who are Reformed from not only the rest of the world's religions but from other branches of Christendom is that we believe that Christ has accomplished our way of salvation, or should I say has accomplished our salvation, our redemption.

And the issue is settled even though we have a life to live here on earth that involves us being born totally depraved and living a period of our lives some longer than others before we are regenerate.

And then, of course, we will be continually sanctified where our regeneration is a one-time event and our justification is a one-time event. Our sanctification is an ongoing development until we are glorified in heaven.

But our brethren in Christ outside of our circles militate against the fact that this is something that Christ has already finalized and perfected.

Before we were born. The Bible presents a remarkable distinction 2 ,000 years ago. It happens to us in our life history when God, through the gospel, and here's the point, what God does in our life history when he applies salvation to us through the gospel, converts us, you said regenerates us, gives us spiritual life, gives us faith, and gives us repentance.

He justifies us by means of faith. He sanctifies us by the Holy Spirit that he gives to us. All that happens in our life history precisely because Jesus accomplished salvation while he was here on earth 2 ,000 years ago.

So there's a connection that can never be broken between what Jesus did in accomplishing salvation for us, and what happens to us, and what God does to us when he applies salvation to us. Philippians 129 says, on behalf of Christ, not only to suffer, not only to believe, to you it has been granted to believe in the application of salvation in your life history on behalf of Christ who accomplished salvation for you 2 ,000 years ago.

And the reason God gives you faith, and the reason God regenerates you, is because Jesus died for you. And if Jesus accomplishes it for you, God absolutely applies it to you. And if God planned it, then Jesus accomplishes it, and God applies it.

Because he predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son, and his plan of salvation. And he sent Christ to accomplish it. And whom he predestined in the application of salvation, then he also called, then he also justified.

And whoever he calls and justifies in the application of salvation, then he also glorifies in the.

Completion of salvation. Amen. So even though God's elect people have a guarantee that they will be saved from the moment he elected us, that does not mean we were always quote-unquote saved. We lived lives just like those who were made out of the same lump of clay that we were, who are reprobate, who are rebelling against God, who want nothing to do with God.

We were living just like they were before God gave us the gift of regeneration. So even though we were guaranteed salvation before the foundation of the world, we weren't always saved.

Yes, one of the great mysteries of Scripture, and a passage that puts this in perspective so clearly is Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4. It talks about, but God, being rich in mercy with his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead, made us alive.

That's the application of redemption. He took us from spiritual death to spiritual life. But what were we before? The desires of the flesh and of the mind. We were living in sin, and here's the point.

We were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. We were children of wrath. We were not justified. I had died, but that's not going to happen. That God selected before the foundation of the world, every one of them called out of darkness to light, will be brought from death to life.

But before they are, we're not justified. They're children of wrath by nature, even as the rest. Conversion is not essential to go to heaven. You're not justified, child of wrath, even as the rest. You're not justified before the foundation of the world.

You're justified when you believe by means of faith. And before you believe, even if you're elect, you're by nature a child of wrath, even as the rest, and under the wrath of God. The marvelous thing.

Then he goes on to say, but God, being rich in mercy with his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead, made us alive together in Christ. He set his love on us before the foundation of the world.

Christ died for us. In due season, while we're yet weak, Christ died for the ungodly. He loved us with an unconditional love that we didn't earn, and we didn't merit. What did we do when we were dead and are still the dead?

On the ground of the fact that he loved us because he would love us with his everlasting love, I draw on you. And Christ died for us because God loved us. He sent Christ to die for us, and because God loved us and Christ died for us, he made us alive together with Christ.

He that did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with us?

Amen.

So that's a great, even though we were dead in our sin, and even though if we had died in those sins, we were children of wrath and would have gone to hell just like anybody else. It's never going to happen.

He will always not perish. Then that salvation, not pray, because, well, it's going to happen, it's going to happen. Does that make us fatalists? Absolutely not. May it never be, because God uses me.

Amen. Amen. I hope that you have at least a small gathering in the room where you are, so it really could be identical to a church service, with the exception that I'm interrupting you with questions occasionally.

But I love the fact that every time I interview you, there's a sermon there being preached. I just love it.

Not just me in the room, that's all. Of course, a few of my old friends. I'm in my office, so a few of my old friends are here.

And I'm going to read you a question before we go to the break, and then I'll have you answer it before the break.

As you wish.

And maybe you could tell me right now, because you may not know this specific realm of theology, because it's, I don't know how well known to most Christians the 16th century monk Louis Molina is, but our questioner from Slovenia, Joe, says, Dear brothers Chris and Greg, grateful greetings from Slovenia.

As it relates to the plan, promise, and accomplishment of salvation, what are the specific biblical and theological errors of Molinism? In addition, does Molinism based on those errors qualify as heresy, heterodoxy, or within the scope of orthodoxy?

Thank you so very much for bringing us such a high level of theological edification. And I know that one of the, today, one of the most popular Christian apologists who identifies himself as a Molinist is William Lane Craig.

But I find it very confusing, but perhaps if you know anything about this, you can answer his questions when we return from the break. If anybody else would like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Chrisarnson at gmail .com. Don't go away, God willing, we'll be right back with Greg Nichols right after these messages from our sponsors. Tired of box store Christianity? Of doing church in a warehouse with all the trappings of a rock concert?

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Well, we are now back with our guest today, Pastor Greg Nichols of Grace Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is also the author of the multi-volume series, Lectures in Systematic Theology.

Today we are discussing the doctrine of Christ, the plan, the promise, and accomplishment of salvation. If you'd like to join us on the air, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com. Chrisarnson at gmail .com.

And before the break, I read you a question from Joe in Slovenia, and he says, as it relates to the plan, promise, and accomplishment of salvation, what are the specific biblical and theological errors of Molinism in addition, does Molinism, based on those errors, qualify as a heresy, heterodoxy, or within the scope of orthodoxy?

Let me just say, God's knowledge, God's omniscience, evaluates His plan with quite striking, almost shock-complete knowledge of what would have happened if. And He does that in Matthew Chapter 11. And He brings up, and then He warns them, and He says, But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom.

And why is that? Continue in their impenitence on judgment day than it will be for them. Well, then He gets into God's knowledge of the reprobation of Sodom, and in doing so, the mighty works have been done in Tyre and Sidon that were done in you.

They would have done in Sodom that were done in you. Think about that for a while. Jesus says, if He had gone to Sodom and done His gospel work, it would still be here. Jesus? So He looks back in hindsight, that is, does He know that?

Think about that. How could He possibly know that? But if He did know that with inspired hindsight, then certainly the omniscient God knew that with infinite foresight.

Amen.

So He knew, and Christ knew. Christ had gone to Sodom, Sodom would still be here. It isn't that He didn't go to Sodom because He foresaw that they wouldn't believe and wouldn't repent. The truth is, He didn't go there even though He foresaw that they would have repented, at least because they would have been spared because there would have been ten righteous if Jesus did not go there, not because He repented and wouldn't have believed.

No, that's a condition.

Yes, it's interesting that even the angels...

You understand what I'm saying to you?

Yeah.

So the point is, well, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. They couldn't have believed that they hadn't been regenerated. That's right. So what Jesus is saying is in the whole plan of God, and if Christ had been sent there, Christ would have pleaded with the Father.

There would have been at least ten converts. Christ never would have been sent there without at least what He would have done. And He knew that because He's there, because He's God. And He knew that they decided to make Sodom an example of reprobation and not to go there and spare the city.

That's God's sovereign, unconditional decree of election. Amen, amen. And it's mysterious. It's utterly, it's utterly mysterious and mind-boggling. And Jesus speaks of it in evangelism. And the reason He speaks of it, if His heart is moved, He sees these people in Capernaum that have seen miracles, that He says if Sodom had seen these miracles, at least ten people would have repented and the place would still be here.

And He sees these people and He's saying, you're facing a worse judgment because you're despising the gospel light, that the great gospel light that we never would have sent to Sodom if we hadn't intended to save.

We send this great gospel light to you and the vast majority of the people of this city. I'm not saying there weren't ten converts, but the vast majority of the people of Capernaum warned and used reprobation, that great gospel light and privilege to get right with God.

Amen.

I mean, that text may often be used with regard to this whole issue of what would have happened if, and God knows all things possible and all the rest. I'm not trying to say I can solve that mystery. I'm just saying that there is Christ used.

Amen.

And it's interesting that the angels that went to Sodom, yep, they had no gospel or no message of deliverance for anyone in that city.

Nope.

They just had the testimony of Lot saying, my brethren, what are you doing. This wicked, righteous Lot, vexed his soul day by day, living among them. He reflects on the fact that God knows what would have happened if.

God always knows what would have happened if. God knows all. He not only knows, he knows all things possible. Sovereign. He decided among all the possible things that will happen, he decided that in his eternal decree before the foundation of the world, knowing all things possible, his will determined what all things.

Amen.

And so those that militate against there being a fixed number of gods elect before the foundation of the world, who even militate against the concept, the very concepts of reprobation, they would have to ask themselves in an example like Sodom, why on earth did not the angels evangelize to the rest of Sodom?

Why didn't, when the fire was raining down upon that city, why didn't any of them that we have in the biblical record fall to their knees in repentance and cry out for mercy and get saved? It's because they were reprobate.

So yeah, nobody has the right to salvation.

That's right.

There's none righteous, no, not to God and blessed be his name. None of us is.

Amen.

He didn't go to Sodom knowing he had gone. There would still be.

Right.

And when did that get decided? That got decided before the foundation of the world.

Amen.

And who decided that? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

And that's how he knows, because he was there.

Amen.

I mean, it's a remarkable statement and he decided.

You know, there are those that would even consider themselves Calvinists of some sort, who also get things mixed up. Those that are hyper-Calvinists, and I'm speaking specifically amongst, I don't want to brush because I'm not saying that every primitive Baptist is like this, but many primitive Baptists would equate, even if they would never say it this way, they equate election with salvation.

And they do not require, as a litmus test, repentance and faith to give anyone assurance that they are saved because they believe that there will be elect of God who never come to faith in Christ on this earth, who will enter into heaven as Muslims and all kinds of pagan religious people because they so far separate the preaching of the gospel and the believing of the gospel from regeneration and from salvation that they wind up with a very strange form of Calvinism.

And not all hyper-Calvinists are like that. You have people in the Netherlands Reform denomination or on the other extreme where they have the gates of heaven being far tinier than the Bible would speak of and that we would believe.

They could have a congregation of a thousand people and only five people sometimes will have the Lord's Supper because they're the only ones that think that they're of the elect. But this is another danger of blurring when I'm speaking of the primitive Baptists, not all of them, but the hyper-Calvinist ones among them.

Do they not seem to make synonymous election and predestination with salvation?

I'm glad that you qualified what you said and said not all of them.

Right.

One of my most dearest don't just would have brought it, I'd say to him.

Well, when you're in heaven, I don't think that issue is even going to matter.

You're right. It won't, but you know what I mean.

Yes, I do. We have to go to a break right now. Actually, this is our elongated break.

Okay, all right. I'll address it when God willing, when we get back.

Yeah, because Grace Life Radio in Lake City, Florida requires a 12-minute break between our two-hour segments. So please be patient with us and please write in your questions and send them to chrisarnsen at gmail .com during the break.