Restored in Christ

Q: What does the Bible say about restoration in Christ?

The Bible teaches that restoration in Christ is a reversal of the loss experienced in the fall, bringing believers back into fellowship and inheritance. Restoration in Christ is pivotal in the biblical narrative, emphasizing how God's plan through Jesus rectifies the relationship between humanity and Himself that was broken in the Garden of Eden. The story of Elisha and the restoration of the woman's son mirrors how Christ raises those who are spiritually dead due to sin. Just as Elisha restored life, so too does Jesus offer spiritual rebirth and access to a heavenly inheritance, as described in Galatians and 1 Peter.

Q: How do we know the resurrection is true?

The resurrection is affirmed through the fulfillment of scriptural prophecy and transformative implications for believers' justification. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to Christian faith, proving His divine authority and the efficacy of His atoning work. Scriptural evidence asserts that Christ's resurrection validates our justification before God, serving as the pivotal point of our hope. Throughout the Gospels, the resurrection is connected to the promises made in the Old Testament, where His victory over death demonstrates that those united with Him are also promised eternal life and restoration of all that was lost.

Q: Why is grace important for Christians?

Grace is essential as it signifies that salvation is unmerited and solely the result of God's mercy, not human effort. Grace underpins the entirety of the Christian experience, emphasizing that salvation comes not from works but by faith in the finished work of Christ. This biblical principle counteracts the human inclination to earn God's favor through deeds. Instead, grace assures believers of their identity in Christ, offering comfort in the promise that what God begins in His people, He will complete. The beauty of grace demonstrates God’s commitment to restore His creation and reveal His glory through mercy, making it crucial for the believer’s faith.

Q: What does the Bible say about fellowship with God?

Fellowship with God was lost in the garden due to sin but is restored through Christ, who reconciles believers with the Father. The concept of fellowship with God is rooted in the relationship intended between God and humanity from creation. However, sin severed this relationship, making restoration essential for true communion. Through Christ's atoning work, believers are restored to a state of grace, allowing them to experience intimate fellowship with God again. This is not merely a return to innocence; it encompasses a deepened revelation of God’s character and mercy that surpasses what Adam experienced, providing believers with a unique and eternal connection to their Creator.

Q: Why is the message of God's sovereign grace important?

God's sovereign grace underscores that salvation is entirely God's work, freeing believers from the burden of self-effort. The message of God's sovereign grace is foundational to Reformed theology, emphasizing that salvation is initiated, sustained, and completed by God alone. This truth liberates believers from the oppressive notion that they must perform to gain or maintain acceptance before God. Instead, it reassures them that they are secure in Christ's completed work. The distinction between the true Gospel of grace and false gospels lies in the understanding of what has been accomplished through Christ's finished work, granting believers both peace and assurance in their salvation.

Alright, 2 Kings chapter 8. There's a story here about restoration. Restoration. And as we've seen
time and time again in our study of 2 Kings, the prophet, Elisha,
is a picture of Christ and this restoration is because of what
he has done. You remember in 2 Kings 4, the
woman of Sarepta that Elisha met, and she was without child,
and she knew by the grace of God that he was of the Lord,
and so she provided for him a place where he could stay when he traveled
through where she lived. And in response to that, Elisha
asked her, what blessings she might desire of the Lord. And her response was, and I've
got everything that I could ever want. The Lord's blessed me already.
We're just glad that you're here. And so it was evident that she
didn't have any children. And so the Lord gave to her a
child, though she was barren. It was a miraculous birth. And
shortly after, within a few years after the child was born, the
child had some sort of perhaps a heat stroke, you remember,
in the field and died. And Elisha came and resurrected
that child from the dead. Remember, he laid himself prostrate
on the child, hand to hand, mouth to mouth, eye to eye. And it's
a picture of how it is that the Lord Jesus Christ raises those
who are spiritually dead because of sin. Well, several years have
passed now, and that woman hasn't been mentioned again until this
chapter 8. And now she's back on the scene.
Now, it's clear from chapter 8, not all of the Bible is written
in a chronological order. The Spirit of God inspired the
writers of Scripture to write these stories in the order that
they were to be recorded. But it's not always an order
of time, a chronological order. What happens in chapter 8 actually
took place before chapter 7. That's clear because remember
last Sunday we saw how it was that Gehazi, the servant of Elisha,
forsook the gospel and how he loved the things of this world
more than he loved integrity with Christ. And he chased after
Naaman and took the gifts, you remember, and was given Naaman's
leprosy as a picture of apostasy is what it's a picture of. Gehazi
falls from grace and never shows any real evidence of being saved
and dies in shame as a leper. Well, Gehazi is mentioned here
again in chapter 8 and so that tells us that this event actually
took place before that cleansing of Naaman. Alright, verse 1 of
chapter 8, Then spake Elisha, unto the woman whose son he had
restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou in thine household,
and sojourn wherever thou canst sojourn. For the Lord hath called
for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years.
And the woman arose and did after the saying of the man of God,
and she went with her household and sojourned in the land of
the Philistines seven years. And it came to pass at the seven
years end that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines,
and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for
her land. And the king talked with Gehazi,
the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee,
all the great things that Elisha hath done." Oh, listen to this
story. Tell me the great things that
Elisha... Who's Elisha a picture of here? Christ. Tell me what
he's done. Verse 5, And it came to pass,
as he was telling the king, how he had restored a dead body to
life, that, behold, the woman whose son he had restored to
life cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi
said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son
whom Elisha restored to life. And when the king asked the woman,
she told him the same thing. So the king appointed unto her
a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the
fruits of the field, since the day that she left the land, even
until now." Everything that land has produced, all income that
has come in from that land for rent, add that. over the last seven years to
the land itself and restore everything back to her. It's a beautiful
picture of restoration. There's many of those stories
in the Scriptures where God restored. The most well-known, I suppose,
of all those stories is the story of Job, isn't it? Job lost everything
at the beginning of the book, didn't he? The beginning of the
story. He lost his children. He lost
his health. He lost his friends. His wife
turned against him. He lost everything. In the entire
book of Job, he cries out to God asking, Why? Why? Why? And
then the Lord, towards the end, you remember, He says, God never
speaks in the book of Job. It's an amazing story. Until
finally, I think it's around chapter 36 or 37, the Lord speaks
out of a whirlwind. He tells Job, He says, Who is
this that darkens my counsel without knowledge? And he said,
Brace yourself like a man, Job. Brace yourself like a man. I'm
going to ask you a few questions now. And for four chapters, God
interrogates Job. And at the end, Of that interrogation,
Job realizes, by revelation and by the grace of God, that whatever
God does is right. That God is sovereign in all
things. And he confesses to the Lord.
He said, Lord, I had spoken without knowledge. I talked about things
I didn't know anything about. Now that I've seen you, he said,
I repent in dust and ashes. But that's not the end of the
story, is it? What's the end of the story? Let's turn over
there to the book of Job. Look at verse 42. Job 42, Then
Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do everything,
and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth
counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Here
I beseech thee, and I will speak, I will demand of thee, and declare
thou unto me. I have heard of thee, Here's
Job's confession. He said, I had heard of thee
by the hearing of the ear. Before I went through this great
trial and this great loss, I had heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear. But now my eyes see thee, and
I repent in dust and ashes. Look at verse 12 of that same
chapter. So the Lord blessed the latter
end of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000
camel and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 she-asses. He had also
seven sons and three daughters. After this, look at verse 16,
lived Job 140 years and saw his sons and his sons' sons even
to the fourth generation. So Job died being old and full
of days. His end was better than his beginning. The Lord restored everything
that Job had lost. You know, that's what the gospel
is all about. This story, we could find other examples of
it, but that's the most clear, isn't it? The gospel is about
restoration. What we lost in our father Adam,
in the garden, fellowship with God, intimacy with God, innocence. Adam was innocent. He was without
sin. What we lost in our father Adam,
we are restored in the second Adam. in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the perfect man. And not just fellowship with
God, not just innocence, we are made inheritance. We've been given an inheritance
and we have been given more than Adam ever knew anything about.
Someone asked me yesterday, they said, why did Adam sin? Talking with this man about the
gospel, he said, why did Adam sin? And I said, well, God obviously
ordained the fall for this very purpose. God's purpose is to
make himself known to his people. Adam was responsible for his
sin, but Adam would have known nothing of the grace and mercy
of God had it not been for sin. Adam knew about God's holiness,
he knew about His righteousness, he knew about His glory, but
he didn't know about His mercy. There's no need for mercy until
there's sin. And God's purpose is to make
the fullness of His glory known to His children. And so sin,
the fall, was necessary for that. And so those who are saved by
grace in Christ are restored in that they're given more of
the revelation of who God is than Adam ever had. If you compare the first few
chapters of Genesis to the last few chapters of Revelation, you'll
see very quickly that what we're given in glory in Christ is much
better. Much better. That's what this
story is about. This woman. who had received
grace years earlier was warned of the prophet that there would
be a famine in the land. It is amazing how it is that
the Lord takes care of His people and provides for them in spite
of the circumstances around them. There truly is a spiritual famine
in this land. There is not a famine of bread.
But there's a famine of hearing the Word of God. There's a famine
of hearing the Gospel. Well, the Bibles preached on
radio stations and television stations in practically every
corner of the city. But the Word of God, according
to the Gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ, is rarely heard.
Rarely heard. This man I was telling you I
was talking to yesterday, 43 years old. He said, all my life I've listened
to preachers. Well, I'll just tell you, he
spent a good bit of time in jail. And he said, there's two or three
a day that come in, and you can hear everything under the sun.
He said, I have never in my life heard what you just told me.
Never heard that. That's the famine. Lots of preachers. Lots of messages. Lots of Jesuses. Lots of Gospels. But they're
not good news. Every message that's being promoted
in the world has something to do with something you need to
do. And as we've seen time and time again, the difference between
the false gospel and the true gospel is two little letters. Two little letters. N-E. That's the difference between
the false gospels of this world and the truth of God's sovereign
grace. N-E. Every religion in the world,
every religion in the world has the same message. Do, do, do,
do. The only difference between one
religion and another is what's necessary for you to do. The
gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ Jesus says, done. That's the difference. It's a
gospel of works, or it's a gospel of grace. Is it something we
have to do, or is it something that God has already done? It
makes all the difference in the world. The Lord provides for His people
in a time of famine, and He sends them to a place where they can
be fed. Now this particular woman went
to the land of the Philistines. But the Lord takes us to Bethlehem,
doesn't He? He takes all of His children
to Bethlehem, the house of bread. That's where we are right now.
We're sitting in Bethlehem. And we're feeding on the bread
of life. We're listening and worshiping the living bread of
life. And pray that we'll hear His
voice. Brian, you read from John chapter 10 in the study this
morning before the service. My sheep hear My voice. They
shall all be taught of God. A hireling they won't hear. A
false shepherd they won't follow. But I'll speak to them. I'll
call them by name. And they'll hear my voice and
they'll follow me. That's our hope. That's our prayer. This
written Word is given to us in order to reveal. Let me make
clear this as clear as I can. Listen very carefully. The Bible
is not a rule book for Christian living. The Bible is not a rule book
for Christian living. In the volume of the book, it
is written of me. You search the scriptures because
you think in them you have life. But what you don't see is that
these are they which testify of me. The Bible is not written
as a rule book for Christian living. The Bible is written,
the written word is given to us in order to reveal the living
word. Oh, if God's ever pleased to
reveal to our hearts the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, then
we'll have somebody to follow. Then we'll have somebody to listen
to. Then we'll have somebody that'll take care. of every aspect
and every need in our lives. That's what the Scripture is
written for. The Bible is a book that is written to reveal Christ. To reveal Christ. That's its
purpose. That's its purpose. And, oh, how much has been lost
by sin. Another wonderful story of restoration
is, remember that story in 2 Samuel chapter 9, where David now becomes
king of Israel. Saul has fallen on his sword. Jonathan has died in battle.
And David says, is there not anyone left? He talks to his
servant Ziba. You remember? He says, is there
not anyone left of the household of Saul that I can show mercy
to for Jonathan's sake? And Mephibosheth is hiding out,
fearful for his life. David fetches him, tells him
to come, fetching grace. Mephibosheth is sure that he's
going to be brought before the king and be put to death, lest
there be some threat of someone in Saul's household taking the
throne back. That was the way it was done.
And David looks at Mephibosheth and he says, He sees the likeness of Jonathan
in Mephibosheth, doesn't he? He remembers that one that he
loved. And for Jonathan's sake, he restores
to Mephibosheth everything that belonged to the house of Saul.
And he tells Ziba, he says, you get the servants and you tend
the land. Mephibosheth was crippled. Mephibosheth is going to sit
here at my table. I'm going to hide his crippled legs underneath
my table. But I'm going to restore to him.
Everything that was lost. Well, that's the story here,
isn't it? That's the wonder of the Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ
restores for us what was lost in our Father Adam. It came to pass that the woman returned
out of the land of the Philistines and she went forth to cry unto
the king for her house and for her land. There is but one person
that can restore to us what we lost in Adam. And that's the
king. He's the only one. He's the only
one that can do it. the King of kings, the Lord of
lords. He holds the keys to the kingdom. He is the only one that has the
authority to convey the gifts of grace. That's why the Scripture
says, He has mercy upon whom He will have mercy, and whom
He will, He hardens. It is not of Him that willeth,
nor of Him that runneth. It's not by man's will or by
man's effort, but of God who shows mercy. It is His pleasure
to save whomsoever He wills. This woman understood that the
king was the one that had to make this decision. It wasn't
her decision. She couldn't go back and demand
her rights and say, give me my land back. She had no authority. And she couldn't get anybody
else to do it for her either. She had to go straight to the
king. The king was the only one that had the authority to do it. And that's why we find her
crying to the king. She didn't go back to the king
and present papers or present a case based on her rights. No,
to the contrary. She tells the king what Elisha
had done for her. Do you remember that? Look at verse 4. And the king talked with Gehazi,
the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee,
all the things that Elisha hath done. What God starts, God finishes. There's no such thing as Beginning
in grace and falling in disgrace. There's no such thing as that. When the Lord saves, the same
man I was talking to, I keep using this, we've just had long
hours of conversation with this young man. And he said, well,
can you be saved and be lost? He said, I hear two different
opinions. And I said, what I've told you before, I said, well,
it depends on who saves you. I said, if you got saved by another
man, or if you saved yourself by some decision that you made,
then yeah, you can change your mind. Or you can be influenced
by another man and come to a different conclusion. You can be lost if
that's how you got saved. Of course, you never really got
saved to begin with, did you? But if the Lord saved you, what
He starts, He finishes. But what He secures to Himself,
He keeps for all eternity. And He is able to present you
faultless before the throne of glory. He will keep His children. He said, I will not lose one
of My sheep. Not one of them. Every one of them will be kept
to the end. And of course, the natural man
reasoning to that truth is, well, you mean I can be saved and just
go live however I want? And I said, yeah, yeah, because
if the Lord really saves you, He's going to change your water. He's going to change your water.
Now you say, can a person be saved and just go live in rank,
shameful, abominable sin? A saved person won't do that. They won't remain in that. But
if the Lord saves you, Yeah, you can go. That's the joy of
being saved is you're free. And where the Spirit of Christ
is, there's liberty. And whom He has set free, they
are free indeed. You can live however you want.
Live however you want. Because you'll be hearing His
voice. And His want is going to be your want. And what He earned for us He gives to His bride. He restores
back everything. The king asks Gehazi, tell me
about Elisha. Look at the last phrase of verse
4. I pray thee, tell me all the
great things that Elisha hath done. My decision To restore
this woman's goods is going to be based upon the great things
that Elisha hath done. Oh, you see the gospel in that,
don't you? That's the hope of our restoration. Telling the
king the great things that our Elisha hath done. The prophet. The Son of God. What great things
hath he done? He left the glories of heaven.
He set aside His robe of glory and came into this world and
was made in the fashion of a man, in the likeness of sinful flesh. He humbled Himself to become
a servant. He perfected. He is the end of
the law for righteousness, isn't He? He was perfectly obedient
to all the commands of God's law. Something that you and I
have never been able to do. And then he laid his life down
as a ransom, didn't he? As a sacrifice for sinners. And
he took upon himself the judgment and the wrath that our sin deserved
from a holy God. And the Father sheathed into
the heart of His dear Son on Calvary's cross the sword of
justice. Tell me the great things that
Elisha hath done. And then, though he was offered
up for our offenses, He was. What is the one story that Gehazi
tells the king that convinces him that this woman gets back
everything she lost? The resurrection of her child.
What is the one thing that convinces God Almighty that we get back what our father Adam
lost? that we get by inheritance. It
is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the one
proof positive sign that everything has been done. God could not
allow His Holy One to see corruption. He must raise Him from the dead,
and though He was offered up for our offenses, He was raised
up again because of our justification. And the resurrection of Christ
proves that those for whom He lived and died are justified
before God. They are justified, and because
of what He did, they are worthy of restoration, of getting everything
back and better. Our inheritance, Peter says in
1 Peter 1, verse 4, our inheritance in Christ is incorruptible. It is undefiled. It fadeth not
away. And it is reserved in heaven
for us. Tell me what great things Elisha
hath done. And it came to pass that as he
was telling the king how it was that Elisha had restored the
life of her dead son, Then the king said, give her
everything. Everything. And more than she
had before, everything the land has produced in the last seven
years, whether it be the income of rent or the bearing of its
fruit, you give everything to her. She got it all back, didn't
she? Well, this inheritance is by
grace. It is not by works. It is not
earned. It is not deserved. In closing,
turn with me to the book of Galatians. I'll tell you what, let's look
at Acts chapter 20. Verse 32. Here's the benediction for this
message. Acts chapter 20, verse 32. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build
you up. and give you an inheritance among
all them that are sanctified. All them that have been made
holy, I commend you to the Word of God and to His grace, that
you might be blessed with the restoration of the land that
was earned by Christ. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we do ask that You would bless Your Word to our hearts and cause
us to see. For it's in Christ's name we
pray, Amen.

Restored in Christ

What does the Bible say about restoration in Christ?

How do we know the resurrection is true?

Why is grace important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about fellowship with God?

Why is the message of God's sovereign grace important?

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Restored in Christ

What does the Bible say about restoration in Christ?

How do we know the resurrection is true?

Why is grace important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about fellowship with God?

Why is the message of God's sovereign grace important?

Sermon Transcript

About Greg Elmquist

Comments

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