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The Ordo Salutis

The Ordo Salutis

THE

CLASS 5

EFFECTUAL CALLING OR

All whom God has chosen He, in His appointed time, calls by the Word and the Holy Spirit out of sin and death to salvation in Christ. He regenerates His people by enlightening their minds to understand the things of God, replacing their hard hearts with new ones, and renewing their wills. The man who is made alive by this call must and will act according to his new nature. He is now able and desires to embrace salvation as it is offered to him (Titus 1:15; Jn. 3:1-8; 6:44; Acts 16:14; Rom. 8:29,30; I Cor. 2:14; II Cor. 4:4).

CONVERSION

A. Regeneration is inseparable from its effects, and repentance. There cannot be one without the other. Repentance is when our soul turns from sin, faith is when our soul turns to Christ. Faith and repentance are not momentary acts, but describe the perpetual condition of our soul subsequent to regeneration.

B. Saving faith ordinarily comes through the ministry of the Word. The teaching and preaching of the word, prayer, and the are God’s means to increase our faith. The Reformed movement has always had a high view of preaching and believes it is God’s chosen means to convert His people. Romans 10:14-17 asks, “How shall they believe on Him whom they have not heard.” I Cor. 1:18-21 says that God was pleased to save men through the foolishness of the message preached. In I Cor. 2:1- 4, Paul recognized that the power of his preaching was not dependent on oratorical skill or academic preparation, but on God’s “foolish” message and the Holy Spirit.

C. Saving faith involves knowledge, assent, and trust. The child of God must have some rudimentary understanding of God’s word and give assent to its truthfulness. He must also trust the God who speaks by it so that where God commands us, he will yield; where God threatens, he will tremble; and where God issues promises, he will trust. To have saving faith is to put our trust in Christ alone for a right standing with God and eternal life and not on ourselves. A temporal exercise of faith or a mere intellectual assent to the truths of God’s word should not be confused with saving faith. Mt. 7:21 indicates that not all who profess allegiance to Christ are in fact His. Mt. 8:29 and James 2:19 show that even demons give assent to God’s word, and accept the deity of Christ but are not saved. Jn. 6:64-66 indicates that there are even disciples that do not truly believe.

Acts 16:31 - In response to the frightened jailer’s question “Sirs, what

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must I do to be saved?,” Paul and Silas answered “Believe in Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and your household.”

D. Repentance involves the recognition of our danger apart from Christ and the filthiness of our sinful condition in light of the purity of His righteousness. This recognition compels us to grieve for our sinful rebellion and turn from our sins to a life pleasing to God (Psalm 51; Acts 2:38).

E. There is no sin so great that it can bring damnation upon the truly repentant. The oft discussed unforgivable sin mentioned in Mt.12:31, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, is the sin of hardening your heart against the voice of God and refusing to repent.

1. There is for David’s sins of adultery, dishonesty, and murder (II Samuel 12:13).

2. There is forgiveness for the “many” sins of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair (Luke 7:47,48).

3. There is forgiveness for Simon Peter’s triple denial with profanity (John 21:15-17).

4. There is forgiveness for Paul’s merciless pre-conversion persecution of Christians (Philippians 3:6, 8, 9).

F. We should not be content with a general repentance of our sins, but it is our duty to repent and confess to God our individual sins. Sins that are against our brothers are to be confessed to them privately and sins which bring scandal on the church of Jesus must be confessed publicly.

1. Prov. 28:13; Ps. 32:1, 5; and I Jn. 1:9 - Confessing our sins to God.

2. Lk. 17:3; Jam. 5:16; and Mt. 18:15 - Confessing our sins to one another.

JUSTIFICATION

A. is an act of God’s free grace, where He pardons our sins and accepts us as righteous, not because of any merit of our own, but only by virtue of Christ’s righteousness imputed to us and received by faith alone (Romans 1:16,17; 3:21,22; 4:5; 5:18).

B. Justification is not a process, it doesn’t take time. It is a judicial declaration, an instantaneous act of God by which He declares sinners righteous in His sight. We are legally absolved of all guilt and punishment for our sins whether original or actual, past or present. How can a righteous God come

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to regard us as without guilt? The sole legal basis for our justification is the great exchange: our sins were imputed to Christ on the cross, and His righteousness is imputed to us at conversion. We may never say we have no sin, but we can say that there is therefore now no condemnation or guilt for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

C. Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: How are you right with God?

A: Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned, nor been a sinner, as if I had been perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is accept this gift of God with a believing heart.

ADOPTION

A. Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of .

“You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctly Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. `Father’ is the Christian name for God.” J.I. Packer, Evangelical Magazine, 7, p. 19f

B. Adoption is the highest privilege offers. Justification is a forensic idea, conceived in terms of law with God as the judge. The free gift of acquittal does not of itself imply any intimate or deep relationship with God the judge. In adoption, however, God takes us into His family and establishes us as His children and heirs. Closeness, affection, generosity and intimacy are at the heart of the relationship. Daily we ought to remind ourselves, “I am a child of God, God is my father, is my home, every day is one day nearer.”

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1. Jn.1:12; I Jn. 3:1, 2; Gal. 4:4 - Those that believe in Christ become the sons of God.

2. Jn. 8:44; Eph. 2:3; I Jn. 3:10 - Indicate that we are by nature children of the devil.

3. Rom. 8:16, 17; Gal. 4:6, 7 - Declare that we are joint heirs with Christ of the glory of Christ, and on such intimate terms that we may address Him as Abba - Daddy.

4. Mt. 6:9; 7:7-11 - Our adoption is the basis for our right of access to God in prayer.

5. Heb. 12:6-10 - The sons of God receive His particular provision, protection, and discipline.

C. It should be understood that God is not the father of all men and that our sonship is not equal to that of Jesus who is the same in substance as the Father, and equal in glory and power.

SANCTIFICATION

A. Three errors in regard to need to be mentioned.

1. Nominalist believes that spiritual growth is optional. But the Bible teaches that any long-term friendship with sin should alert us to the deadness of our hearts and perhaps an unsaved state.

Carnal Christian - An idea popularized by C.I. Scofield and Bill Bright that divides men into three classes: natural man (non-Christian), spiritual man (Christian who trusts God), and carnal man (the Christian who doesn’t trust God) based on I Cor. 3:1-3. There are not two classes of Christians, however. There are no believers who know Christ as Savior and not as Lord. This doctrine seems to be a consequence of man- centered evangelistic methods in which decisions are sought without adequate explanation of the cost of discipleship. This “carnal man” category has been invented to explain the spiritual state of countless people who have made “decisions” for Christ but show no outward evidence of regeneration.

2. Passivist believes that we make no real contribution to our spiritual transformation except to relinquish the control of our lives to God.

Quietism - “Let go and let God” is a phrase often used to characterize this movement also called the Kesick movement or “victorious life teaching.” It was popularized by Hannah Whitall Smith and Bishop H.C.G. Moule. Its adherents deduced from scripture a formula for

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entry into a “higher life” which would entail total and endless victory over every form of temptation and moral weakness. This holiness came by faith in Jesus, not by our effort. They censured all exertion toward obedience, the believer was instructed to be deliberately passive. Any effort to defeat sin was considered prideful and symptomatic of unbelief; it was the “enemy of the flesh.” The way of faith was to let Christ win the victory in you.

3. Moral/Religious

a. Perfectionism - John Wesley taught that there was a second transforming work of grace subsequent to our regeneration in which God would utterly root out our sinful desires and cause us to be motivated only by an inner love for Christ at all times. This work was instantaneous and could lead to an absolute freedom from committing any voluntary transgression of God’s law. Wesley himself unfortunately called this coveted position “sinless perfection.”

b. Moralism/Religion – A final false solution is that of the Moralist, whose motto is, “Just try harder!” The view is packaged to look a lot more sophisticated and spiritual than that, but if you listen closely you still hear one core message: try harder to spend more time in the Word and prayer—try harder to be a better witness—try harder not to be angry or worried—try harder to be a more loving spouse or parent. We can hear only so many motivating pep talks before we find ourselves lapsing into either a lifestyle of spiritual denial or despair over the glaring lack of inward reality in our lives. Steve Childers, The Transforming Power of the Gospel, RTS magazine.

O you dear idiots of Galatia, who saw Jesus Christ the crucified so plainly, who has been casting a spell over you? I will ask you one simple question: did you receive the Spirit of God by trying to keep the Law or by believing the message of the Gospel? Surely you can’t be so idiotic as to think that a man begins his spiritual life in the Spirit and then completes it by reverting to outward observances? Has all your painful experience brought you nowhere? I simply cannot believe it of you! Does God, who gives you his Spirit and works miracles among you, do these things because you have obeyed the Law or because you have believed the Gospel? J.B. Phillips, The New Testament In Modern English, Gal. 3:1-5.

B. Biblical view: Sanctification is a process of God’s grace, where our new nature is renewed after the image of Christ, and enabled to more and more die to sin and live righteously (Rom. 6:1-2, 6, 11-14). While unregenerate man is “non posse non peccare,” the redeemed are “posse non peccare” -- able not to sin! (Eph. 4:17-32; Phil. 2:12, 13; II Cor. 5:17).

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C. The process of sanctification will not be completed in this life. We will not achieve perfection. The power of our old nature, of the “old man” within us is broken, there is a radical breach with our love of sin, sin does not rule over us, but it will remain present in us. There is, therefore, a continual spiritual war that rages within us. Our indwelling sin, which by its nature is reluctant to obey God, will urge us to be lazy, apathetic, and slothful in the pursuit of holiness. We, therefore, must employ all our faculties in attempting to kill sin and become more like Christ. In this war, our old natures may win some skirmishes, but by the power of the risen Christ His children make steady progress toward ultimate victory (Rom. 7:14-25).

D. The question is often posed, “What is the place of good works?” Rome’s view is that sanctification precedes justification. That God can’t declare a person righteous without evidence of charity and love in them. Luther differed and taught that man was “Simul justus et peccator” - at the same time just and a sinner. We are justified by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone.

Roman Catholic View: Faith + Works = Justification Dispensational View: Faith - Works = Justification - Works Reformed View: Faith = Justification + Works

We are saved unto good works, they are the evidence that God has regenerated the believer. If there are no good works, there is no salvation and never was. (Mt. 25:31-46; Jam. 2:14-17; I Jn. 3:16-19)

GLORIFICATION

The souls of believers at death are made perfect and immediately pass into glory. Our bodies rest in their graves until the resurrection, when we shall be acquitted in the day of judgment, fitted with a new body, and enjoy the blessedness of God for all eternity.

REVIEW

The ordo salutis is:

Effectual calling

Regeneration

Conversion – Faith & Repentance

Justification

Adoption

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Sanctification

Glorification

ASSIGNMENT

1. Read Essential Truths of the Christian Faith (Sproul), Sections 65-71.

2 Read The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapters 11-18.

CHAPTER XI - OF JUSTIFICATION

1. What is justification? (Paragraph 1)

2. What does it mean that men are justified? How can God declare righteous those who are really ungodly? (Paragraph 1)

3. Were the believers in the Old Testament justified in the same way as believers in the New Testament? Defend your answer from Scripture. (Paragraph 6)

CHAPTER XII - OF ADOPTION

1. What is adoption? (Paragraph 1)

2. Is of all men? Explain. (Paragraph 1)

3. How does the understanding of this doctrine affect you practically? (Paragraph 1)

CHAPTER XIII - OF SANCTIFICATION

1. What is sanctification?

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2. Can a believer become perfect (“perfectionism”) in this life, as some Christians teach today? Support your answer from Scripture. (Paragraph 2)

3. How should we respond to the popular teaching of the “carnal Christian” in the light of this chapter and even more so in the light of the Scriptures? (Paragraphs 1-3)

4. How is sanctification being accomplished? Who are the agents and what are the instruments? (Paragraphs 1-3)

XIV - OF SAVING FAITH

1. What is saving faith? (Paragraphs 1-3)

XV - OF REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE

1. What is true repentance? (Paragraphs 1-2)

2. What does the WCF teach concerning the confession of sin to both God and man? (Paragraphs 5-6)

XVI - OF GOOD WORKS

1. What is the proper relationship between faith and works in Christianity? Support your answer. (Paragraph 2)

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XVII - OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE

1. Can a Christian fall from grace? (Paragraph 1)

2. Can a true believer backslide or fall into grievous sin? (Paragraph 3)

3. What may cause a believer to backslid? (Paragraph 3)

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