Let's read from Ephesians first,
and that would be verse 3 through 5. The thing I want to point
out and call your attention to is that the Scripture speaks
of order in the working out of salvation in the elect. One thing is done, that leads
to another, that produces another, and so forth. So keep that in
mind. That's what we're studying this morning. Ephesians 1 verse
3 through verse 5. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will." And then that great passage in
Romans 8, 28 through 30. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to him that are the
called according to purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now, we'll begin by raising the
question, what do we mean by the order of salvation, or the
ordo salutis, as it would be called in the Latin? Well, it
refers, let me tell you, to that process by which the almighty
and all-wise and all-sovereign God makes the application of
the merited benefits of the Lord Jesus Christ unto the elect,
that order in which God applies the merit, and the death, and
the blood, and the purchase of our Savior unto the elect. Now, we study our Bible, we recognize
several branches of what would be called Christian theology. I'll just mention some, briefly
defining them, and then go on our way. There is, first of all,
theology. And this is the doctrine or the
study of God, the study of God Himself, the person and the essence
and the attributes of Almighty God, His being and His perfection. That is theology. Then there's
anthropology. This is the doctrine or the study
of man or of men or mankind, the being and the makeup of man,
his fall and his history of depravity, and his several faculties that
God has endowed him with. Then there's Christology, and
of course that means the study of Christ, the study of the person
and of the work, the offices and the great salvation that
we have through our Savior. Then there would be eschatology,
a study of the end time and the signs of the time. But then there
is that branch of theology that we call soteriology, and it encompasses
our study for today. For soteriology means or defines
or is that work of God through the blessed Holy Spirit of God
in applying that salvation that was ordained to the elect before
the foundation of the world. Applying those things that were
willed in eternity and are wrought and merited and purchased for
us in and by the blood and the death of our Lord and Savior. When we use the word soteriology,
we understand that it is a combination of two words, and we notice that
the ending syllable, logi, is the study or the science of the
doctrine or the teaching, whatever is combined with it, a study
of. So we combine it with soteria,
and that means salvation or preservation or deliverance. The soteriology
is that branch of Christian theology having to do with the salvation
that is in and through our Lord Jesus Christ, and especially
and particularly the application, the experience, the realization
of that great salvation through Christ. It regards the communication
of those blessings that are ours from eternity and channeled unto
us through Christ. It is the experience of that
salvation purpose before the world ever began. It is the bestowment
in Christian experience of that great redemption that is in Christ
for His people. But before we proceed too far
or wade too far out into the deep, let us stop and acknowledge
something about salvation. That is that there are, or there
is, in the Scripture, actually, two aspects of the work of salvation
of God's elect. The whole, therefore, must be
viewed together, and therefore, there are two that make up the
whole of this great salvation. And I simply divide them this
way. Number one, That which God has done before the foundation
of the world toward our salvation in Christ. That which God has
done from eternity before the world ever was created or the
foundations of the world were laid. And this would include
what we read in Ephesians and in Romans. election, and for
ordination, and for knowledge. He has chosen some in Jesus Christ
before the commencement of time or of the world. And there are
those things that God did before the world with regard to the
salvation of those chosen in Christ. Secondly, our subject
today, soteriology, is what God does personally in the individual
elect to make them an experiencer and a partaker of that predetermined
salvation ordained before the world ever began. And it has
to do with the Holy Spirit's application of the salvation
in Christ unto the elect sinner. Now, of course, the connecting
link between the first, that in eternity, and the second,
that in time, is the atonement, the death of our Lord upon the
cross, the grand way. The only way whereby such things
pass unto his heirs is through the death of Christ, and by that
death they pass upon every elect by virtue of the federal oneness
or union that exists between Christ and the elect. Thus we
have a triune work. in salvation. Number one, the
Father, even God, has chosen and has ordained. Secondly, the
Son redeemed us by the blood of His death and the blood of
His cross. And thirdly, the Holy Spirit
applies this great salvation commencing with the work of regeneration. Now what we purpose to study
in this little study is the order of application. the order in
which the Holy Spirit follows in applying the sole great salvation
to God's elect, the order of that procedure that is followed
when the Holy Spirit is bringing one to that final glory to which
they are ordained. Before we do so, let us recognize
that there are many, and particularly and especially the Armenians,
who throw every aspect of salvation under one heading or in one pile. They sum up all the soteriological
blessing in the same bowl and call them by one and the same
name. To illustrate, for example, they
might use the term saved or salvation and use them in an all-inclusive
sense. We recognize at time the scripture
also does the same thing, but the Arminian without ever recognizing
the various aspects or parts of it that form the entirety
or the whole. We have found or heard them that
they scoff at considering the order of salvation, that it is
an orderly process by our God, and thus they confuse one thing
with another. And so, for example, they have
the process begin with the will or the action of men rather than
begin with the action of God or the Holy Spirit. They do not
emphasize such things individually as justification or as mortification. They do not make a distinction
between regeneration and conversion, and that leads them into many
areas. And they do not make a distinction
between calling and justification and such things as that. On the
other hand, Catholicism likewise starts with man teaching even
that infants have original sin removed, grace put in the soul
for the first time by the sprinkling of water on the brow. Then there
are those Pelagians of old. They deny depravity altogether. They deny the imputation of Adam's
sin or that it had any effect upon man. They deny original
sin. They deny that man is a corrupt
being. And so they deny any need of
internal grace within a man to turn him. They believe in absolute
and complete free will and thus Recognize no ordo salutis or
order of salvation. Now we believe that there is
an ordo salutis or an order of salvation because the saving
process follows a divine order. There are certain things that
go before, there are certain things that follow after as a
cause or a consequent. For some examples to get our
mind in the right frame. In John chapter 3, our Lord,
speaking to Nicodemus, clearly said unto that blind, ignorant
teacher that regeneration precedes seeing and entering into the
kingdom, unless a man is firstborn again or regenerate. Therefore,
it must be first. In Ephesians 1 and verse 13,
believing, according to Paul, precedes the sealing of the Holy
Spirit upon those that are in Christ and believe. 1 John is a good one. Chapter
5 and verse 1, being born of God precedes believing. Listen to this. Whoso believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born, that is, has been born of God,
showing that one is not born again by their act of believing,
but that they believe as a consequence of their having been born again
or regenerated. Now, there are two great passages
of Scripture, which I believe we read, that depict the application
of salvation as proceeding according to a set and divine order. And we read them. Now, what is
the order again of salvation? as stated in the beginning, expressed
in these words that I took from Louis Burkhoff, and I'm quoting. The Ordo Salutis describes the
process by which the work of salvation wrought in Christ is
subjectively realized in the heart of sinners. Unquote. Now, by tracing as much as possible
the subsequent movements and works of the Holy Spirit in performing
the work of applying the benefits of Christ, it is the application
of covenant blessings that the Spirit applies unto us, making
the chosen to become partakers of those things which were ordained
for them and to them in the Lord Jesus Christ. For there are two
aspects of redemption when we think about it. Number one, there
is the act of redemption. And this includes the paying
of a price or the paying of the price. the purchasing, the buying
of the blessings by the death and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the accomplishing
of redemption by the death of Christ. His blood, His death
was the redemption. It's the price that is paid for
our deliverance. Secondly, there is the application
of the purchased mercies which we have through Christ, the conveying
of all those intended blessings upon the intended recipients
of them. For the elect shall have all
that God purposed for them and all that Christ purchased for
them. And the very fact that Christ
died for them is proof that the whole of salvation will be bestowed
upon them in its entirety. Listen, if you would, to Romans
chapter 8. And verse 32, and what does it
say? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? having first given Christ, who
is the greatest gift. Christ is the good and the great
gift. Will he not also then freely
and actually give us all things, having given the greatest? Everything
included in eternal salvation and eternal blessedness. All
things intended by God's decree and by Christ's purchase and
death upon the cross. Let it be here and now understood. When we speak of the order of
salvation, of the application of that salvation, we do so from
the standpoint, not from its reception or from its acceptance
by the elect sinner, but from the standpoint of its application
by the work of the Spirit of God. We mean that the Spirit
of God applies all the benefits to which the elect are, can I
use the word entitled, because of God's purpose and of Christ's
death. Now, not that the sinner self-applies,
not that the sinner, a word Armenians use, appropriates the death of
Christ unto themselves to make it effectual, but that the Spirit
of God does a work that makes it effectual. Now, so the question
at last is, what is the order of application? What does God
do first in bringing us to this great salvation? Wherein, at
what point begins this great work? What order then is followed
out as the Spirit continues its work? But our focus and our point
now is, where, what is the beginning? In other words, what does God
do first and initially in bringing one to this great salvation? Perhaps someone would object
to throwing it into an order. Someone said, oh, that's no good
that we just say it's saved, it's salvation, it's once and
all regeneration or whatever. Because there are so many who
say, oh, we just get it all at once. That was my view when I
was a Baptist Arminian. So those people Let's take a
moment to deal with that question. Let's remind them that there
is order that is followed in God's works. First of all, let's
consider creation. That in creation, I mean in the
first creation, God followed after an order in bringing this
world to what we see of it now. Who would deny? that God might
have caused all things to appear in five minutes time and the
work be completely over. But He followed an order. And Genesis chapter 1 relates
for us a creative week. He created the heaven and the
earth. Then the firmament and the lights
and the vegetation and the animals and man. Not all at once, but
after His good pleasure and order. Secondly, let me give an illustration
that there is an order that is always followed in a harvest. First, the ground is prepared. At the time of the season, the
seed is planted. The rains come. The plants are
tended and so forth until they are brought in. We are neither
born at once or all grown at once when we look at the order
of our being. There is an orderly process in
our birth and in our coming unto adulthood. Even so, the application
of salvation follows after an order. all parts fitting perfectly
together and forming exactly the whole. We view it as a unitary
process when God is doing that great work, all parts forming
the whole, and yet not as one simple, indivisible act, but
as a series of acts and processes, as John Murray wrote. in the
order of salvation, or to use the scriptural names of them.
There is calling. There is regeneration. There is conversion. There is
justification. There is sanctification. There
is mortification. And finally, there is glorification. Regeneration being at the head
of the list. Now earlier, we mentioned two
aspects of salvation. Number one, that in eternity
passed. Number two, that worked in the
elect in applying it experimentally unto them in this life. Even
in the first, is there not order? Order in Ephesians 1 verses 3
through 6. Look at it. Chosen us in Him
before the world. Look at it again, predestinated
us unto the adoption of Son. Then look at verse 6, made us
accepted in the Beloved. Again, in Romans 8, 28 through
verse 30, there is order. There is purpose. There is foreknown
or foreknowledge. There is foreordination or predestination. And especially take a look at
verse 30. Whom He did predestinate, them
He also called. Whom He called, them He justified. Whom He justified, them He also
glorified. Now all of these, even Glorification
are in the past tense here in this passage of the scripture. But now at last to the question,
wherein begins the work of salvation? Where does God start the work? what is the first internal work
of God that is done in an elect in applying salvation. Our minions,
you know, begin with free will, for to them it is acceptance
or appropriation rather than application. They see free will,
acceptance rather than sovereign application of the work of redemption. Now the thing to be done is determined,
and I want you to hear this, the thing that is needed, the
thing that must be done, the thing to be done is determined
by the condition of the object upon which it is to be wrought. May I say that again? The thing
to be done is determined by the condition of the object that
is to be wrought upon. Now, if man is dead in trespasses
and in sin, then he must be given life and quickened. If he is
only a little off course or only a little astray or bruised or
sick, then less drastic measures are required for that individual. Scripture is clear. We are spiritually
dead. Read it in Ephesians 2, 1 through
5. Romans 7 and verse 5. Romans 5 and verse 21. Colossians 2 and verse 13. And the first one, Genesis 2
and verse 17. This is a vital truth of the
Scripture. A sinner must be born again. He must be born of God. He must
be born from above in order to participate in the redemptive
blessings of Almighty God. The natural man cannot go up
to heaven. Only those that are born again,
only through Jesus Christ may one enter into the blessing of
redemption and eternal life. And by the way, I understand
this question became an issue In the state's governor's race,
one candidate said he believed only those that were born again
and accept Jesus Christ will go to heaven. The others disagreed
and a great scandal came out of that a few years ago. Now, the applicatory work begins
in regeneration. This, by nature of man's case,
in the first internal work of God in applying Christ's redemption
under the experience of the sinner, the elect sinner, though his
providence has long been exercised in everyone's life who is later
in life brought to salvation. And by virtue of its nature,
it is the forerunner, the necessary forerunner of all that follows. It prepares the way, for example,
for effectual calling, and for conversion, and for sanctification,
and all else that is to come. A man named Abraham Kuyper wrote
some pretty good things on the order of salvation. He expressed
it by these words, and I'm quoting, Regeneration is the starting
point Unquote. John Gills called it, the first
principle of grace infused into the soul comes at regeneration. The experience of justification,
of conversion, of sanctification and such like, the graces of
the Christian life all take their rise out of this initial work
of regeneration. It is cause and effect. as we look at them. This is the
very foundation and the chief cornerstone upon which the building
of the Christian experience stands. Until this foundation is laid,
until this stone is laid, that is, regeneration, the setting
in place of the other aspects of salvation will not commence
or continue. This is the position that Christ
took with Nicodemus, if we look at it very carefully. He said,
except unless until one is born of God, he cannot see. or enter into the kingdom of
God. The very first thing that Christ
insisted on as the need of Nicodemus was regeneration. You must be
born again. He did not say, you must be justified,
you must sanctify yourself, or you must be glorified. Rather,
he said unto him, ye must be born again, born of God, born
from above. And yet, all of us are absolutely powerless to set
in motion their own new birth or their own regeneration. Absolutely powerless. The very analogy of a birth in
the scripture certainly is intentional, as is that of death that spiritual
truths might be reflected. or the one being born is altogether
passive, has no part in the matter. None choose their parents, their
place, or their time of birth. None choose their race. or their
gender, in these things they are completely passive and it
layeth to the sovereign providence of God. Have you ever stopped
to consider that there is in Scripture, and I want you to
listen to this, there is in Scripture neither exhortation nor instruction
to the sinner to be born again or to be regenerated. Nothing
is prescribed that will result in regeneration. Nothing at all
is set forth in the scripture that might be done to affect
being born again, because it is altogether a sovereign work
of Almighty God. Therefore, regeneration cannot
be the result of self-will or free will, nor can it be the
will of the church or the will of the preacher. Neither of those. For the simple reason, again,
due to man's spiritual deadness, the subjects of regeneration,
like those of the resurrection, are passive, having neither part
nor lot in this matter. No man can resurrect himself,
can he? Neither can one begat themselves. or even will themselves to be
begotten of God are born again. It is holy with the mercy and
the will of God whether one will be regenerate or not. Regeneration
is rooted and grounded in the purpose of God. It is His will
from eternity in conjunction with His predestination of some
to the adoption of sons in Ephesians 1 and verse 5 and Galatians 4
and verse 6. Listen. And because you are sons,
God has sent forth His Spirit into your heart, crying, Abba,
Father. But also, regeneration is connected
to our wonderful, mystical union under Christ. and the federal
oneness of the elect with our Lord and is a fruit and effect
of his redeeming death because of the unity of the elect unto
Christ. I wonder if any would dispute
that as Christ died that we might inherit everlasting life So he
died that we might have a new nature as well, that we might
have an internal work of God wrought in us. And his suffering
procured for the elect The Holy Spirit, His death, merited the
Holy Spirit for them to produce that regeneration and that new
birth in them. There is a vital connection that
is proved thereby with this union. The fact the Holy Spirit only
regenerates those that God chose and that Christ died for. Christ
purchased a people unto Himself, and yet, as Sharnock said, He
never purchased it for any. irregardless of a new nature,
but that they might have a new nature. For a sinner without
a new birth cannot be in covenant or fellowship with God, nor can
such know God, or serve Him, or worship Him, or love Him,
or any of that. Without regeneration, none can
devote themselves unto the Lord. None can sanctify themselves
so that they live sanctified to the Lord except they first
be born from above and that produce its fruit in the elect sinner. Without regeneration, none can
be converted. None can believe or know themselves
to be justified by faith unless there is that work of regeneration. Now, consider something. That
is that we are made corrupt by carnal generation. Adam conveyed
unto us his depravity by carnal generation. Even so, the process
of restoring us unto righteousness commences with our spiritual
regeneration as to experience. Without it, his suffering would
seem insignificant. For he both saves us from the
guilt of sin as well as from the pollution and dominion of
sin and also its curse. And to do the latter, he cannot
leave the fallen nature unchanged. It must have a mighty internal
sanctifying work of God wrought upon it. In other words, to say
it as simply as we can, there must be spiritual renewal. Charnock again said, quote, this
regeneration was a main end of his coming, unquote. That is,
of Christ's coming into the world. For he came to save his people
from their sin, and a large part of this consists in putting a
new and different character and temper and carriage between the
elect and the natural man. This is affected by the great
work of regeneration, which gives them a new mind, a new heart,
new volition, and new motive, and circumcises the heart of
that individual that was heavily grown over with a mass of sin. For this work is, in effect,
a spiritual circumcision. in that it cuts away, says Paul
in Romans 6 and 7, that great body of sin. Let me say something
else about regeneration. It is a sure pledge of things
to come. It is a pledge of glorification
and a pledge of all things in between. Everyone regenerate
will be called, converted, sanctified, justified, and brought to glory
and glorified. Philippians 1.6, He which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ. So this is the laying of the
foundation of the order of salvation. Regeneration is the greatest
need, yet a thing beyond our power, beyond our ability, and
beyond our control. If you have been quickened, if
God by His Spirit has caused you to cry out of your heart,
Father, Father, if God has given you a new heart, then bless God
forever for it, for it is a fruit both of election and of the suffering
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I say in closing,
here begins the order or the application of salvation, the
work of regeneration. God willing, we'll follow up
in a study to come.