The Pre-eminence of Christ In Salvation

Q: What does the Bible say about the preeminence of Christ in salvation?

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is preeminent in all things related to salvation, as indicated in 1 Corinthians 1:30-31. The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 1:30-31, emphasizes that Jesus Christ is essential for salvation, made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption by God. This signifies that everything required for salvation is found in Christ alone. Believers are in Christ as a result of God's will and work, affirming the sovereignty of God in the salvation process. Christ's preeminence means He is not just a part of salvation; He is the very essence of it, and all aspects of salvation flow from Him.

Q: How do we know election is true?

Election is taught clearly in Scripture, notably in Ephesians 1:4, which states that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Election is not a hidden doctrine but a fundamental aspect of God's sovereignty in salvation. Ephesians 1:4 explicitly affirms that God chose believers in Christ before the world was created, underscoring His sovereign decision and love. This teaching is not based on human ability or decision but on God's will and purpose. The assurance of election provides comfort to believers, as it demonstrates that our salvation is secure in God's eternal plan rather than our frail efforts.

Q: Why is justification important for Christians?

Justification is crucial because it is the act of God declaring a sinner righteous through faith in Christ, as seen in Romans 3:24. Justification is the divine act where God considers a sinner righteous based on faith in Christ's finished work. Romans 3:24 states that we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. This doctrine is essential because it assures believers that they stand accepted before God, not based on their own works or righteousness but solely on Christ's righteousness. Justification provides peace with God and security for the believer, enabling them to approach the throne of grace confidently.

Q: How does sanctification work in salvation?

Sanctification is the process by which believers are made holy, grounded in the work of Christ, and not a work of their own. Sanctification involves the believer being set apart for God's purpose and is intimately connected to the work of Christ. The Scripture teaches that Christ Himself is our sanctification, meaning that our holiness is derived from His righteousness and not our efforts. As we grow in grace, we mature in sanctification, but this is a continual work of God, reflecting His grace in our lives. Believers are sanctified not by their works but by the mighty work of the Holy Spirit, transforming us into the image of Christ.

Q: What does the Bible say about redemption?

Redemption involves Christ's payment for our sins and our release from bondage, as outlined in Ephesians 1:7. Redemption is a multifaceted concept that denotes being bought back from sin's curse and bondage through Christ's sacrificial blood. Ephesians 1:7 presents this profound truth, stating that in Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. This highlights that Christ paid the price for our sins, securing our release and reconciliation with God. Moreover, redemption also encompasses our deliverance from the power of sin and the promise of our future resurrection, affirming God's comprehensive plan for salvation.

Corinthians chapter 1. First Corinthians chapter 1. Sunday before last you will recall that I tried to preach to you on the preeminence of our Lord Jesus Christ in Colossians chapter 1 verse 18. In that passage we are told that it is the purpose and the pleasure of the triune God that in all things the Lord Jesus Christ as our mediator, as our substitute, as the God-man, the incarnate God, that in all things he might have the preeminence. When I made the statement that the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Savior, is preeminent in the whole affair of salvation, I briefly set before you ten things in which salvation is described in the scriptures. I told you then I'd come back later and deal with it in a little more detail. Well, it's later, and I want to deal with it in a little more detail.

So I want you to look with me here this evening for our opening text in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30. Read with me and read it carefully. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, Now that's a very important statement. If you're in Christ, he says, of God are ye in Christ Jesus. Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord.

Now in those two verses, the Apostle Paul is inspired by God the Holy Spirit to tell us three things that are vital. Three things that are vital to the understanding of the gospel. Three things that are vital to your soul's everlasting welfare. See that you understand these three things.

First, he tells us that salvation is God's work. Now, in this place we stress that. We emphasize it, we declare it over and over and over again, and we do so particularly in this day of religious delusion and darkness, because everybody in the world, nearly, is of the opinion that salvation, at least in some measure, depends upon them. That salvation is, at least in some measure, determined by them. But our text says, are ye in Christ Jesus. The fact is, if you and I are in Christ, we are in him by the work and operation of God Almighty, and not as the result of our works, our decision, or our will. The scriptures are so abundantly clear in this regard. Wherever the scriptures declare salvation to be by grace, lest we be so foolish as to think that grace and works can be mingled together, we are told, not of works, not of works, not of works. I emphasize this, but I find it was emphasized constantly throughout the epistles, because it is ever the tendency of proud, fallen, depraved flesh to presume that we can, by something we do, make ourselves acceptable to God. Therefore, we're told repeatedly, salvation is God's work alone. By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

Secondly, the apostle here teaches us that the whole of God's salvation is in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. He is made of God unto every believer. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Everything we need is in Christ. Everything we need done for us, Christ has done. Everything God gives to sinful men, he has given to all his elect in Jesus Christ.

Now in those four statements, or those four words, the Apostle Paul summarizes for us the whole affair of salvation. He says this matter of salvation involves wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. It involves us having wisdom to know God. You can't know him apart from Christ. Christ is the wisdom of God. And Christ speaks for us as the wisdom of God from everlasting. And the Lord Jesus Christ imparts to us wisdom from God that we may know the living and true God, and he gives us the tongue of wisdom and guides us in the way of wisdom. He intercedes for us now with wisdom at the throne of grace, for he is our great high priest.

More than that, if we would come to God, if we would be accepted of God, if we would be saved, we must have righteousness. That is, we must be justified before Him, and we must be sanctified by His almighty grace. We'll look at those again in a little bit. And then the Apostle says we must be redeemed. Christ is made of God unto us, redemption as well. And redemption involves three things, as the word is used in the Scriptures.

First, redemption involves the payment of a price for atonement. Secondly, redemption involves deliverance from the dominion and bondage of sin by the power of God's irresistible grace in regeneration. And thirdly, redemption involves the deliverance of our bodies, souls, and spirits from all the consequences of sin in resurrection glory.

Now all of those who were redeemed with Christ's precious blood shall be delivered from the dominion and power of sin by God's irresistible grace in the effectual call of the Spirit in what we call the new birth, and they shall all be delivered from all the consequences of sin in resurrection glory when Christ comes the second time without sin unto salvation.

I think one of the best illustrations of redemption to be found anywhere in our ordinary thinking, everyday thinking, is out of a pawn shop. Now, this is an inexpensive Walmart watch, but let's suppose it was one of those Rolex watches, one of those Rolex watches, and I got hard pressed for a little cash. I go down here to the pawn shop and I hawk this thing, and I make certain that I take the ticket with me because my full intention is to come back and get it. After all, I'm not about to sell that $1,500 or $2,000 watch for $50. I'm not that dumb. So I'm going to take the pawn ticket, and I'm going to come back down there when I've got my money and get the watch back.

So I go down to the pawn office again, pawn shop, and I take my stuff and I sit here to pick up my watch. And I give them the $50 they gave me, plus the $50 interest they charged for a week or so, and I say I want my watch. There's no need to take the watch with you, you can leave it here, it'll be alright. I didn't come to leave it there. I came to get the watch. And only a fool would pay the price and leave the watch in the shop. Only a fool would pay the price and go away without that which he had redeemed by a rightful purchase.

And I'm telling you, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, contrary to the popular opinion of this world and the religious world in which we live, is no fool. That which he redeemed with his blood, he will deliver by his grace and raise by his power into everlasting glory. There is no possibility that even one soul for whom Christ shed his blood shall perish under the wrath of God.

Now, in this whole affair of redemption, I want you to understand that Jesus Christ is preeminent. In this whole thing we call salvation. And I remind you, one more time, don't ever think of salvation as being one thing. We're so inundated with religious nonsense and so inundated with the cliches of our day. Folks talk about somebody being a born-again athlete, a born-again boxer, And now I get called sometimes, you go, he's a born again Christian. I get noticed any other time. All who are born of, all who are Christians are born of God. All who are saved are born again by God's grace. But don't ever, don't ever think that salvation is limited to the new birth experience. Don't ever imagine that salvation is limited to your experience of God's grace in time. Salvation includes everything. everything God Almighty has done, is doing, and shall hereafter do, to bring chosen sinners from the very gates of death and hell and destruction into the presence of his glory in perfect holiness. Everything, everything.

Now, I want to show you these ten things, and I just listed them for you a week or so ago. Let's look at them together, and let's look in the scriptures. At least ten things are clearly revealed in scripture as being God's salvation. These are ten different aspects of one thing. Now, what I'm talking about is God's salvation as being that which he is accomplishing for us, that which he has done for us, is doing, and shall do. So that all of these things are involved in salvation, and if one is missing, there's no salvation. These ten things are absolutely vital to the saving of our souls.

We will begin back in John chapter 15 and verse 16 with that which is the beginning, and that's God's election. Election, oh what a blessed, blessed word. Election, the choice of God of those people to whom he was determined from eternity to be gracious. Election is God's election of a people unto salvation before the world began.

Now don't take my word for it. Look in the Bible and see if this is so. I recall, I was telling someone the other day, we were asking about when I was in school out in Springfield, Missouri, how I got along out there. I said, Russ, we had a, they had an edict passed by the president of the school. He said, now you fellows are no longer allowed to talk about election and predestination while you're on this campus. And I thought that was kind of strange. This is a Bible college. We're here training preachers.

And they made the mistake one night of calling on me to have devotions in our dormitory, a large group of male students. And so I turned to Ephesians chapter 1 and started to read. And everywhere I came across the word elect, or choose, or chosen, or predestinate, I just said bleep, bleep, bleep. The fellow that came to me who was the President's grandson, he said, what are you doing? I said, well, your grandfather, Pastor Edith down here, he said we cannot mention the words election and predestination on this campus, so the only thing I know to do is to just cut that part right out of God's Word. Just censor the Word of God in this fine theological institution.

That is utter nonsense.

Election is not some profound, deep, mysterious doctrine, hidden in the back corners of scripture, so that if you really, really study hard, you can find out what it means. Election is one of the simplest things in the world. It's one of the simplest things in the world. Most of you, I presume, in just a few weeks, are going to go to the polls and cast a vote. You're going to cast a vote either for Mr. Clinton, Mr. Perot, or for Mr. Doe. And in doing so, you're going to exercise your constitutional right in this country to elect your next president. And, well, enough said about that. I'll leave that alone. But you're going to exercise your constitutional right to elect your next president. And we have gone to war to defend that right. We've gone to war several times over to defend that right. because we consider election to be a viable part of freedom. The only objection men have to election is to declare that election not in their hands, when we talk about spiritual election. to declare that God is the one who does the choosing. Men are perfectly happy to have election in their hands, but not in God's hands.

You see, the problem is not that men don't understand election, they understand it exactly well. They understand God chooses some and passes by others, and they despise God Almighty who does the electing.

But our Lord says here, John 15 and verse 60, You have not chosen me. You had not. You didn't. You wouldn't. You couldn't. It doesn't lie within the realm of man's ability of his own nature to choose Jesus Christ as his Savior. Man by nature is dead in trespasses and sins. He says, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. so that the choice of salvation is in his hands. It's according to his will and his purpose. And I have ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.

Now then, because I've chosen you and I've ordained you, our Savior says, whatsoever you shall ask of my Father in my name, he will give it to you.

All right, look at Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians the first chapter and verse 4. I know by now you folks who hear me regularly can quote this passage of scripture from memory. I hope you can quote it from heart, but I want you to look at it. The apostle says, according as. That is, this is how the blessings of grace and salvation are bestowed. According as he hath chosen us in Christ before. You see that? before the foundation of the world. That simply means before God hung the world out in this universe on nothing but His Word. When God, before God ever established His decree that this little ball of dust should be fixed in this orbit, in this galaxy, according to His will, before ever God made the worlds, He chose it. He chose us that we should be holy and without blame before him. He chose us so that when he stands with us, he'd make us holy and unblameable in his name. Bless his holy name. God has ordained you, you who believe, you, Bob Ponce, to salvage you from eternity. to make you holy and blameless in his sight. That's God's election.

All right, look at another passage over in the book of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 13. I want you to look at this passage and the next one, and then I'll just read a few to you that are familiar to you, but look at 2 Thessalonians 2.13. The apostle had been describing that day when God would send a strong delusion that men should believe a lie, and they would be damned who received not the love of the truth. But lest these Thessalonian believers should be overwhelmed with discouragement and fear, he says, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord. Not brethren who love the Lord, though that's certainly true. But God's election is not based on your love of Him, rather on His love of you. And the sole basis of comfort is not your love for Jesus, but rather the Lord's love for you. You see, when you start looking to yourself for comfort, and yourself for assurance, and you seek of your love for Him, you'll find that your love for Him is nothing. Your love for Him will do you no good. Your love for Him will benefit you nothing, because your love for Him is full of selfishness and sin. But the basis of comfort and consolation is His love for us. That's an everlasting, unchanging love.

All right? He says, We're bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you Not to service, though that's certainly included. Chosen you not to be apostles, though he did choose his apostles, but rather he has chosen you to be saved. He's chosen you to salvation. Election is not salvation, election is unto salvation, and God has ordained the means by which you would save as well through sanctification of the spirit. That simply means through making you holy by divine regeneration. God chose you to salvation through the new birth and belief of the truth.

Now notice the order in which Paul gives it. He says, first you were chosen to salvation. The means by which you would be brought to salvation is regeneration or sanctification of the spirit, and the means by which you would experience this blessed regeneration is the word of God being preached to you, bringing you to belief of the truth. Your regeneration is not the result of believing the truth, but rather the cause of believing the truth, and here is the way God would do it.

whereunto he called you by our gospel. He called you by our gospel. God chose you to salvation through regeneration and religious belief. Ron, that's not what this text says. God chose you through salvation, through regeneration, and believing your own ideas about God, so long as you're sincere. That's not what this text says. That's not what it says. Most people these days say, well now, now it's, it's all right what a fellow believes. We recognize some fellows that they're There are many, and some free willers, some fellow believing salvation by works, but we're all going the same way, serving the same God, long as you're sincere, it's all right. No, it's not all right. No, it's not all right.

I recall what Bobby Estes here said to me after God was pleased to reveal Christ in him. He said, I was raised in that church over in Lancaster, and he said, I made a profession when I was a boy. But he said, I'd never heard this gospel, and God's given me faith. Salvation doesn't come by believing a lie. Salvation does not come by believing a lie. Salvation comes, Mark, by belief of the truth. The truth. Jesus Christ is the truth. It is believing that which is faithfully and truly revealed concerning Christ in this book.

whereunto he called you to this sanctification, to this salvation, to this faith, to this belief by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. All right, move on.

The second thing, the second aspect to salvation is predestination. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 5, The Apostle says, in love, actually the last two verses of verse, the last two words of verse four, I am fairly strongly persuaded should be the beginning of verse five. In love, having predestinated us. Somebody says, well, you fellows believe that God just arbitrarily predestinated this, that, and the other. Oh no, no, no. But God didn't do anything arbitrarily, he did it because he loved us. In love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. Something, God's predestination arises from his everlasting love of us, and he has predestinated us to obtaining the full blessedness of adoption as the sons of God, and he has predestinated us to that by Jesus Christ, not according to our will or our decision, but according to his will.

All right, now look at verse 11. God's predestination has to do with people, not things. Be sure you understand that. The love of God has to do with people, not things. And God's loving predestination is to our everlasting salvation. He has predestinated you and I who are saved by his grace, all who have been saved and all who shall be saved, he has predestinated us to the attaining of the glory of the sons of God.

Now then, in order to accomplish that, Lindsay, he predestinated everything that comes to pass. Look at verse 11, Ephesians 1 verse 11. In whom, that is in Christ, we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

So this is what God does in prophetess. God Almighty from the beginning created angels. Why'd God create angels? I know one specific reason. To be ministering spirits to those who should be the heirs of everlasting salvation. Hebrews 1.14. So that when God created the angels, he did it because he predestinated you to eternal life. When God said, let there be light, and there was light, God cast the sun in the center of the solar system. He cast the stars and the moons and every planet in its place and made light! And he did it because he predestinated you to everlasting salvage. And as he rules this world and brings to pass everything that comes to pass, be it good or evil, what you read about Joseph, be it good or evil, God Almighty did it! He did it to exalt his Son, typified in Joseph, and bring us at last to be with his Son in everlasting glory.

Predestination is the purpose of God to conform us to the image of his dear Son from everlasting.

All right, thirdly, in verse 6 of Ephesians 1, or verse 7 rather, the apostle talks about I'm going to speak of redemption only in one aspect, and that is the accomplishment of our everlasting atonement by the blood of Christ, the payment of our ransom, the ransom of our souls by Christ's sacrifice. We have redemption through his blood, in whom we have redemption through his blood, Get it now, this redemption involves the forgiveness of sins, and it arises and comes to us according to the riches of his grace.

The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us by his He redeemed us from the curse of the law. He entered in once into the holy place with his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He died for us, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

And the secret is that word, that. Our Lord Jesus died the just for the unjust in order that he might bring us to God, because there's no other way for him to bring us to God. justice must be satisfied, a ransom price must be paid, and the ransom price must be such as God's holy law demands, an infinitely satisfying ransom. And so the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, He assumed our nature, He lived in perfect obedience to God as a man, establishing righteousness for us, and he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, to satisfy the justice of God for all our sins. And now he's able to save the uttermost, them that come unto God by him.

Turn to Romans chapter 3, Romans the third chapter. The fourth aspect of salvation as it's set forth in Scripture is justification. Let me give you an illustration you can see. Years ago, before we got computers and word processors, when Shelby would type the bulletins, I was kind of a stickler for neatness. She'd have typed them two or three times. In order to line this side up with this side, you had to justify the right-hand margin manually. That means you type it, and then you go over here and you count the number of spaces on the end, and go in here and type it again, and start spacing letters out so that they all come out even on the right-hand side. That's called justifying the right-hand margin when the right hand is exactly equal to the left hand.

Now, this is what justification is. God Almighty, by the blood of His Son, having imputed to Him our sins, now imputes to us his righteousness, and he makes us totally equal to the demands of his law and his holiness. Now, here it is, Rex. This is what God says in his law. Be ye holy, for I am holy. And if you've heard him say that, your soul sinks in despair because you can't You can. And this is what it says in the gospel. I've made you holy through myself. And here we are. Exactly what God demands. Exactly. Not in ourselves, not by our works, not by our doings, but by his doings and by his work.

Look here in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23. The apostle says for all have sinned. and comes short of the glory of God. That's what it is to sin. Scriptures describe our sin in three ways. We're described as being transgressors. A transgressor is one who breaks through the barrier, one who breaks through the law. We have broken God's law. The Scripture describes our sin as sin. That's our nature, that's the iniquity that we are, that's what's in us. And then it speaks of our sin as iniquity. That's failing to reach the mark, that's coming short of the goal. And this is what Paul says, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God so that he's talking about here our very best efforts. Our daily best deeds, our striving after holiness and righteousness, is just to come short, infinitely short, of the glory of God.

But now, he says in verse 24, being justified freely, justified without any cause in us, by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. A justice satisfying sacrifice to declare God's righteousness. Isn't that amazing? Paul doesn't say to declare God's love. He doesn't say to declare God's grace or his mercy. that Christ was slain to declare God's righteousness for the remission of sins that have passed through the forbearance of God. He says it again in verse 26, to declare, I say at this time, God's righteousness, that he may be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? Where? At. Where is boasting excluded? By the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith. That is, he is justified receiving the finished work of Christ by faith, without the deeds of the law.

And then the fifth glorious aspect of salvation is forgiveness. In Colossians 1 14, the apostle says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. I love the way God describes forgiveness. He says, I, even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions. He says he has cast our sins behind his back. What a What a hyperbole. Oh, what a blessed figure's speech. God's spirit. Hear me back. God's spirit. He said, I cast your sins away. I've removed them from you as far as the east is from the west. He said, I've cast your sins into the depths of the sea, never to be remembered again.

Where are my sins? God. God Almighty himself declares, all who are redeemed are fully forgiven of all sin, past, present, and future. Redemption, justification, and forgiveness all go hand in hand. It's impossible to have one without the other two. God in Christ is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

I am frequently like you, I suspect. I suspect you're like this. I am frequently downcast and disturbed by my sins. And I hate it. I hate it. And no sooner have I foolishly imagined that I've gotten some problem licked until that very problems thing takes me again. And I'm cast down again and disturbed. And I often wonder How on this earth can a man who has experienced so much grace, unceasing grace? And I understand the grace that I've experienced in time honestly is nothing, Lindsay, compared to the grace God bestowed on me and wrought for me before ever I was born.

How can a man who's experienced such grace, who has been so constantly forgiven of sin, have such an evil heart, and behave in such a way inwardly as I behaved before God. And I'll be honest with you, if I foolishly imagined for a moment that my salvation depended on my righteousness to any degree, I couldn't sleep at night. I couldn't sleep at night. I had no peace. If I imagined, Brother Hubert, that my salvation, my acceptance with God, depended in any degree on what I feel or experience, I would constantly live in turmoil of heart and soul.

But my My iniquity, my corruption, my depravity is not going to cause me to deny my God. And this is what God declares. We're justified freely, by his grace, without the deeds of the law. Without works! justified forever and being justified forgiven of all sin.

The sixth aspect of salvation is regeneration. I have deliberately presented justification and forgiveness prior to regeneration Because I want you to understand that justification and forgiveness is not the result of the new birth, but rather the grounds and the cause of the new birth. We were justified and forgiven when Christ died. We were justified and forgiven before the world began. God looked on us in Christ from eternity as being justified and glorified in Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Fully, fully, totally, totally, and lastingly accepted in the beloved.

Our regeneration is our experience of grace. It is not in any way the cause of God's grace. The new birth is that which God the Holy Spirit performs for us by the power of his own sovereign, irresistible grace because of what Christ has done for us and because of what the Father decreed on our behalf from everlasting. So that when man or woman is born again, we are born again by having the very nature of Christ imparted to us.

and talk about the new birth as though somehow man's will has got something to do with it. It'd be a heapsight easier, it'd be a heapsight easier and more sensible to talk about Ian Bartley having had something to do with his conception in his mother's womb than talk about a man having something to do with new birth. Why, it's utter folly, utter nonsense. Before conceived in the womb, you were nothing. But in this world, we're something worse than nothing. We're dead, depraved, doomed, damned, helpless sinners. And the only way a dead man can ever exercise any notion toward God, other than rebellion and unbelief, is for God himself to give him the new birth. Therefore the scripture says, The wind bloweth, thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. So is every one that is one of the Spirit.

It is for this reason I do not hesitate to say, and I declare it as boldly and plainly as I possibly can, because sinners need to hear If God Almighty passes you by, unless God stops your way, unless God does for you what you cannot and will not do for yourself, you'll perish forever in hell. The new birth's not your option, it's God's option. It's not your choice, it's God's choice. It's not the result of your will, it's the result of God's will. We were born not of the flesh nor the will of man, but of God, born again by God's power.

And then we're sanctified. And the scripture says that Christ is our sanctification. Sanctification is nowhere in the word of God presented as something that you do. I can't stress this sufficiently. Many women today talk about sanctification as though somehow God saves us, and he kindly puts us, he gives us one leg up on the ladder to a glory. And he's always there to kindly help us along, but if we're going to climb the rungs of that ladder, you know, pressing on the upward way, new heights I'm gaining every day, nonsense. Nonsense. That just ain't so. That just ain't so.

Folks, think that somehow we just strive and we'll make ourselves more and more holy and get more and more accepted with God. Our holiness is Jesus Christ. Our acceptance with God is Jesus Christ. We were sanctified in God's purpose, sanctified by redemption, and made holy, sanctified by the imparting of a new nature to us. We grow in sanctification, but we don't get more and more holy before God. We mature in sanctification, but we don't sanctify ourselves. Christ is our sanctification. Read the Scriptures. He, with his blood, has sanctified us, according to Hebrews 10, verse 10 and verse 14. He has protected forever them that are sanctified. We're sanctified by grace just as much as we were chosen, redeemed, justified, and forgiven by grace.

And then comes the matter of preservation. Listen to what our Lord says. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life. And they can keep it as long as they do good. Hold on, hang in, work out. That's not what it says. I give to them eternal life, and they shall never Folks ask me, do you believe once saved, always saved? Well, that depends on who does the saving. It's just that simple. If salvation depends on you, no. Salvation by your free will, if you can will your way in, you can will your way out. Salvation by your works, if your works get you in, your works get you out. All but the salvations of the Lord, as it is. Is salvation by grace as it is? Is salvation as Christ as it is? He says, I give you eternal life. They'll never perish.

But preacher, don't you believe the righteous shall hold on his way? I sure do. Don't you believe that God's saints will persevere to the end? I sure do. Don't you believe that God's saints will continue in the faith? Absolutely. Don't you believe God's saints persevere in holiness and righteousness? Absolutely they do. But the secret is not us, it's him. The secret is not our holding the Lord, the secret is him holding us. I use the illustration frequently, a father or mother holding a baby. I noticed Sunday, I think it was Debbie, had little Lex's hands, and Lexie just holding on tight as she could, those fingers, walking along with her. But that girl standing up wasn't because she was holding her mama. That wasn't the reason. Oh, no. The reason that girl was standing up was because her mama was holding her. You understand the difference?

And we, with our baby grasp of weak faith, hold to Christ. But our custodians is not our hold of him. Rather, it's his hold of us. And this is what he says. shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. Christ keeps and preserves his chosen, redeemed, called sheep in the arms of his almighty grace, and our preservation by him secures our perseverance in him.

" Then ninth, there's a day of resurrection coming. Go home and read one more time 1 Thessalonians 4. When Christ comes again, we shall be raised up from the dead by the power of God. Every chosen, redeemed, called sinner shall be raised up in the likeness of Christ. His ashes gathered from wherever they've been scattered by the word of God. Raised up immortal. Raised up immortal.

And I'll be honest with you. I don't have any real conception of what immortality is. I don't have any real conception of it. I know it involves no pain or possibility of pain. No sorrow or possibility of sorrow. No sickness or possibility of sickness. No believement or possibility of believement. No death or possibility of death. because it involves no sin, or even the possibility of sin, raised to immortality.

And then the resurrection. Our salvation will be complete with what the Apostle Paul describes in Romans chapter 8 and verse 30 as glorification. Whom he justified, then he also glorified. When we have been raised up from the dead, God's elect shall be glorified together, transformed to the very image of Jesus Christ, made to possess that very glory that Christ himself possesses as our glorified mediator.

What will glorification involve? It will involve total communion with Christ. Without interruption. Total conformity to Christ. Without failure. total commitment to Christ without adversity. That's glorification. And before he gets done with us, Rod, that's what God's going to do for us.

God has ordained that Christ be preeminent in the whole affair. Therefore he says, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am God, which exercised lovingkindness and judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these things do I delight, saith the Lord.

Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee, the psalmist said, and let such as love thy salvation. Do you love it? His salvation? I understand a little bit about what it involves. The psalmist says, let such as love thy salvation, say continually, The Lord be magnified. The Lord be magnified. The Lord be magnified.

And whatsoever you do, in thought, in word, in deed, in the house of God, in your house, in your lives, in your business, in your day-by-day relationships, whatsoever you do, do all, you who have been saved, and are being saved, and shall be saved, do all for the glory of God. Amen. Let's stand together, and we'll be dismissed with a word of prayer.

Our Father, we thank you for your great salvation, for your electing love, your sovereign predestination, your infinitely amazing redemption. For our free justification and forgiveness Thank you that when we would not come to you, you came to us in regenerating mercy and gave us life and faith in Christ our Savior.

We cannot sufficiently praise you and give you thanks that you have not left our sanctification and preservation in our hands. We recognize that if you had, be no hope for our souls, for we know ourselves to be but sinners still.

And we bless you for the blessed hope of the resurrection, the hope that sustains our hearts when we bury our loved ones who sleep in the arms of our Redeemer, and the hope that shall sustain our hearts when we ourselves sink into the grave.

And glorification. Oh, what shall it be? To be totally in communion with Christ. Totally conformed to him. and totally committed to Him. I can't imagine it, but you've spoken it, and from the depths of our souls we rejoice in it.

Now bless your word to the hearts of these who've heard it, according to your will, for the glory of your Son. Amen.

The Pre-eminence of Christ In Salvation

What does the Bible say about the preeminence of Christ in salvation?

How do we know election is true?

Why is justification important for Christians?

How does sanctification work in salvation?

What does the Bible say about redemption?

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The Pre-eminence of Christ In Salvation

What does the Bible say about the preeminence of Christ in salvation?

How do we know election is true?

Why is justification important for Christians?

How does sanctification work in salvation?

What does the Bible say about redemption?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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