Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to the fifth session
of our eight-part series of studies on the topic, What is Salvation? We've been studying what I call
the four realms of salvation. First of all is the eternal realm
of salvation. which is the origin and cause
of salvation, salvation purposed and planned. Secondly, the legal
realm of salvation, that's the ground of salvation, or salvation
accomplished and secured. Today we're going to begin talking
about the third realm, which is the spiritual realm of salvation. This is the fruit of salvation
or salvation as it is applied in the experience. of God's people
in time. And then the fourth realm is
the glorified realm of salvation, which is the fruit of salvation
as completed and perfected in glory. Now, these four realms
of salvation cannot be separated as if you could be the subject
of one realm without the other. All four realms are necessary
in the complete salvation of a sinner. All four realms are
of the Lord. All are founded upon and centered
around the Lord Jesus Christ as the salvation of His people.
Christ has the preeminence. All four realms are of God's
free and sovereign grace conditioned on the Lord Jesus Christ and
not on the sinner. Now in this lesson we're going
to begin studying what the Bible teaches concerning the spiritual
realm of salvation. The spiritual realm of salvation
is the specific work of God in applying salvation to each and
every one of his elect people personally in each successive
generation. It is the sovereign, powerful,
and invincible work of God the Holy Spirit, beginning with the
new birth, the new birth being regeneration and conversion,
as the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual life, knowledge, grace, the fruit
of the Spirit, and continuing throughout their lives to preserve
them and bring them unto glory in heaven. The spiritual realm
of salvation involves a born-again person indwelt by the Holy Spirit
and by the power and grace of God in Jesus Christ living the
resurrected life, the spiritual life, the life of faith and repentance
and obedience as a willing, loving bondslave or bondservant of Christ. You see, righteousness for justification
and spiritual life in the new birth both come from and by the
Lord Jesus Christ, not from the sinner himself or his works.
Now let's begin by putting these things in their proper perspective.
Spiritual life is the fruit, the result, or the effect of
the cross work of Christ. Over in the book of John chapter
12 and verse 32, listen to the words of the Lord. He says, And
I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto
me. And verse 33 says, this he said
signifying what death he should die. His being lifted up from
the earth refers to his death, his crucifixion. And the death
of Christ not only secures righteousness, which is imputed to a sinner
for their legal justification, but also spiritual life imparted,
beginning with the new birth, where Christ draws all for whom
he died to himself in faith. The work of Christ for his people
is the ground of salvation. The merit of his work imputed
is our righteousness before holy God. The work of the Holy Spirit
in a person is not a work that makes a sinner righteous before
God, It is only Christ's work on the cross that makes His people
righteous in God's sight. But the Holy Spirit's work in
God's people brings them to see and submit to Christ as their
righteousness before God. So the work of the Holy Spirit
in His people is the fruit, the effect, of Christ's work for
them. The Apostle Paul stated this
in the book of Romans, chapter 8, verse 10. He writes, and if
Christ be in you, the body is dead, that's the physical body,
because of sin. But the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
is life because of righteousness. In other words, spiritual life
comes as the result of righteousness worked out by and found only
in the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Christ
indwells His people spiritually by the Holy Spirit and by His
Word because of what He has accomplished for His people on the cross.
As I said, salvation does not stop with justification. All
who are justified in and by Christ, based on His righteousness imputed,
will, without fail, be born again by the Holy Spirit and brought
to faith in Christ, and live by the grace and power of God
unto glory in heaven. The spiritual realm of salvation
involves God's elect being brought into His spiritual family. You
see, it's a great blessing to be cleared of all charges and
to be declared righteous in God's sight. But it's another great
blessing of God's love and grace in Christ for such sinners to
be made part of His family. All who are justified before
God in Christ shall also, without fail, be adopted into His family. The Apostle Paul wrote of this
in Galatians chapter 4. Listen to verse 4. But when the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, and listen
to verse six, and because you are sons, God hath sent forth
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. So in the eternal realm of salvation,
God chose his people and predestinated them to be conformed to the image
of his son. In the legal realm of salvation,
God eternally justified them in Christ, their surety, and
in time redeemed them by the blood of Christ, thus establishing
the ground of justification. In the spiritual realm, God brings
them into his family and fellowship by Christ and establishes them
in their hearts as his children and heirs. In the eternal realm,
we spoke of salvation as a sinner's election by God in Christ. Recall
how this took place before the world began in the eternal mind
and purpose of God. Some object to that by saying,
well, then it means that it doesn't matter what I do or don't do.
If I'm one of God's elect, I'll be saved no matter what. And
if I'm not one of God's elect, I won't be saved no matter what. Now that is sinful human reasoning. You see, the Bible states otherwise.
The Bible tells us that all whom God chose before the foundation
of the world will seek the Lord and will find Him in salvation
by believing in Him through God-given faith under the preaching of
the gospel of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit uses means to apply this salvation. And He begins by bringing
God's elect under the preaching of the Gospel in power. Over
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, the Apostle Paul addressed the
members of the church at Thessalonica in verse 4, and he says this,
he says, Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God For our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and
in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what manner
of men we were among you for your sake." You see, election
in and of itself is not salvation, but election is unto salvation. The Bible teaches that election
can only be known by the calling. Over in the book of 2 Peter,
chapter 1 and verse 10, Peter writes, Wherefore the rather,
brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fall. In other words, make your calling
and election sure. Notice he didn't say make your
election and your calling sure. You see, calling comes before
election, not in time, but in evidence. The only way I know
I'm elect of God is by the calling of the gospel that drives me
to Christ in faith. Now remember how in the legal
realm we spoke of salvation as a sinner's justification before
God. Justification is a legal work of redemption based on the
sins of God's elect, imputed, charged, accounted to the Lord
Jesus Christ for which he suffered and bled and died in payment
of their debt to God's justice. Justification is the imputation
of his righteousness, the entire merit of his whole obedience
unto death to their persons whereby God is just to justify them.
Justification is totally a work of Christ for His people and
has nothing to do with our works or even our experience. Christ
alone by Himself suffered unto death as the representative,
the substitute, the surety of all God's elect. However, we're
seeing how in the Bible We're shown that the legal realm is
not the only realm of salvation. Salvation also includes what
we're talking about now, the spiritual realm, the work of
the Holy Spirit within God's people. The spiritual realm begins
with a person's experience in the new birth as he or she is
regenerated or given spiritual life by the Holy Spirit and converted
to Christ. It's a sinner being brought to
faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. So that not only
must a sinner be chosen of God and justified legally in salvation,
that is set free from condemnation and wrath, he must also be set
free from spiritual death and darkness. In the spiritual realm
of salvation, sinners are brought by God to experience and know
of that salvation within themselves, within their minds, their affections,
and their wills, their very hearts. You see, this spiritual realm
of salvation is the realm of salvation that is a heart work. Some people often refer to the
new birth as salvation itself because this is when a person
first comes to know and experience within himself or herself salvation
by the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's first
consider the new birth. The Bible teaches that no one
becomes a true Christian until the Holy Spirit gives that person
spiritual life in regeneration and brings that person to a saving
knowledge of and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in true conversion. This is why the Bible often repeats
the gospel commandment of faith, which basically states, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. No one will
be saved without believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. But people
have come to misunderstand both the cause and the nature of true
faith. For example, many believe that
faith is the exercise of man's free will and that all men have
some spark or degree of faith so that all that is needed is
some form of gentle persuasion to get them to accept Jesus as
their personal savior and give their lives to him. But that
is not the case. You see, all of salvation, including
faith, is a free gift that comes by the sovereign will, power,
and mercy of God. It's the mercy and grace of God,
not by the sinner's will, which is not free, but in bondage to
sin and ignorance. Many people believe that man
has a free will because we make choices in life every day. We
decide what to eat, what not to eat. We decide what to wear,
what not to wear. And we even make moral choices
in so many areas of life. But that only proves that we
are free to choose what we know and what we desire. The Bible
teaches that by nature, as we are born in sin, dead in trespasses
and sins, none of us know the way of salvation by God's grace
in Christ. That's why the Bible refers to
the lost sheep. And by nature, none of us desire
God's way because it will not give us any room to boast in
the matter of salvation. It's not our free will choice
that makes the difference between saved and lost. If it were, we
would have room to boast. I chose. They didn't. It is God's
grace alone in Christ. Salvation is not accomplished
within us by the gentle persuasion of the Holy Spirit, but by the
sovereign power of God the Holy Spirit irresistibly drawing His
people to Christ and imparting spiritual life and knowledge
and grace, even faith, into their hearts. In the Bible, this miraculous
work of the Holy Spirit is called being born again by the Spirit
or born from above. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke of
it in John chapter 3 when he told Nicodemus, you must be born
again or you cannot see or enter the kingdom of heaven. Consider
what the Bible teaches of this new birth. Number one, the new
birth is necessary because we, by nature, as I've stated, are
spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. The Bible teaches that
all of us, by nature, as we fell in Adam into sin and death, and
as we're born naturally into this world, we are spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. Now, as we read the following
verses of Scripture, let's ask ourselves, who is He describing
here? I've read these verses before,
but it's in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1, where we read,
And you hath He quickened, that is made alive, who were dead
in trespasses and sins. And verse two, wherein in time
past, before you were quickened, you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
that's unbelievers, among whom also we all had our conversation
in time past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. Now this passage teaches us that
by nature there's no difference between those whom God chose
and those whom God passed by. No sinner deserves or can earn
salvation. When we speak of spiritual death
we're speaking of what is known as the total depravity and inability
of man. Total depravity. Think about
that term. Now total depravity does not
teach that all men and women are as bad as we could be. Could
you imagine what kind of world this would be if we were all
let go to fulfill our sinful desires and goals? Total depravity
teaches that all of us fell in Adam, and sin has affected us
in every part of our being, our minds, our affections, our wills,
our very hearts, so that if left to ourselves, we will not seek
the Lord. Over in John 6 and verse 44,
the Lord said, no man can come to me except the Father which
hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
This is why in order to be saved we must be born again by the
Holy Spirit. We must be given what we by nature
do not have, spiritual life, spiritual knowledge, desires,
all evidencing what the Bible calls a new heart, a new spirit,
a circumcised heart, and the washing of regeneration. So the
Bible declares first the necessity of the new birth. The Bible also
teaches us that. Secondly, the new birth is a
sovereign, powerful work of God the Holy Spirit by the will and
Word of God. Over in the book of John chapter
1 and verse 11, it speaks of Christ coming into the world.
It says, He came unto His own and His own received Him not.
But it says in verse 12, But as many as received Him, to them
gave he power, or the right, to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. Now what made the difference
between those who would not receive him and those who did? Verse
13, which were born, not of blood, not of physical birth, nor the
will of the flesh, that's the works of man, nor of the will
of man, that's the will of man, obviously, but of God. The new
birth is the invincible, irresistible calling of the Holy Spirit through
the preaching of the gospel of Christ. And it only occurs under
the preaching of the true gospel of Christ, not a false gospel.
The Lord Jesus told His disciples, as recorded in Matthew 13 and
verse 16, He said, Blessed are your eyes, for they see. Blessed
are your ears, for they hear. Do you suppose that these disciples
saw and heard the things of God because they were better people
than those who refused to see and hear? No. Their spiritual
sight and hearing was totally by God's grace. Matthew 13, 11
says it. Because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But to them,
those who believe not, it's not given. The people of God are
identified as the called of God over in Romans chapter 8 and
verse 28. We've quoted this before. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. The reason this calling is so
powerful and irresistible is because it is by the power of
the Holy Spirit in true conviction. In the book of John chapter 16
and verse 8, the Holy Spirit will come, Christ says, and in
verse 7, when He comes, He will reprove or convict the world
of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. That's Holy Spirit
conviction. So the Bible declares first the
necessity of the new birth. Secondly, that the new birth
is the sovereign, powerful work of God the Holy Spirit by the
will and word of God. And then thirdly, the Bible teaches
that the new birth is liberation from spiritual death and darkness. Consider the words of the Apostle
Paul in the book of Romans chapter 6 and verse 17. Listen to what
he wrote. He says, But God bethanked that
you were the servants of sin. Now the servant of sin is an
unregenerate unbeliever. But you have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. That's the
circumcised heart, the regenerated heart, the born again person.
Verse 18, being then made free or liberated from sin, you became
the servants of righteousness. Look into Christ. This speaks
of freedom in the way of liberation from spiritual death and darkness
whereby sinners are enabled to believe in Christ for all of
salvation and to serve Him as motivated by grace and love and
gratitude. They're not bound by law. but
by love, and this is true spiritual freedom. Consider some other
scriptural testimonies that show us this newfound freedom experienced
by the born-again believer as he or she embraces the gospel
truth of salvation by Christ alone, with no contribution from
the sinner as to their acceptance before a holy God. Here we see
the true nature and evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in
the spiritual realm of salvation. As Paul wrote in Philippians
chapter 3 and verse 3, he says, for we are the circumcision,
that's circumcision of the heart, that's the new birth, regeneration
and conversion. We're the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice or boast or have confidence
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. He went on to say
in verse 7 of the same chapter, "...but what things were gained
to me?" All of his religion, his heritage, his works. Those
I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless I count all things
but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. And here we see the true nature
of faith in Christ and the true nature of godly repentance that
turns away from everything but Christ and His righteousness
alone for salvation. All the things Paul naturally
thought were gain, that is, gained him salvation and favor with
God, all his heritage, his religion, his sincerity, were all reduced
to dung, even refuge in light of Christ and His righteousness. You see, this is the essence,
this is the beginning of the spiritual realm of salvation
in the power of the Holy Spirit. And we need to understand that
this is just as much necessary and as the fruit of salvation
as the work of Christ on the cross in the ground of salvation. Yet Christ has the preeminence
in all things. Well, I hope this lesson on the
spiritual realm of salvation has been helpful to your understanding
of what the Bible teaches on this subject. Next week, I'll
say some more on this subject as we continue through this eight-part
study. If you would like a free copy
of today's program or the entire eight-part study entitled, What
is Salvation? It's available upon request in
an attractive package set along with a complimentary booklet
of the same title. I hope you'll join us next week
as we continue exploring this vital subject, What is Salvation? We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.