Good morning again, it's good to be here. I guess I think some of you maybe weren't here earlier, so I'll just introduce myself. If you don't know who I am, my name is David Butterbaugh. I'm a member of Grace Community Church in San Antonio. It's the church that Tawfiq came from, and so it's a delight to be back here with you all. We were here in March, and so it's good to be back. My wife, Adella, and my sons, Michael and William, and a friend of ours, John Salus, came along. So it's good to be with you. So what I wanted to do for this hour is look at something. A number of years ago at our church, I preached a series of messages on something called the order of salvation. So looking at the different aspects of salvation that we have in Christ. And so at the time, I thought that would be profitable for our church and beneficial, and so I hope it'll be beneficial for you all this morning. So we're gonna be looking at just kind of an overview of this subject of the order of salvation, and I'll explain what I mean by that. And then if I have an opportunity to come back here at some point in the future, then we can maybe look a little more in depth at these different aspects of our salvation. So when we think about salvation, We can do so in really two broad categories. One is salvation or redemption accomplished, and then the other is salvation or redemption applied. And so what do I mean by those terms? Well, salvation accomplished has to do with everything that Jesus Christ accomplished for us in obtaining, in submission to his father's will and in obtaining salvation for everyone who would believe in him. And so that refers to his incarnation, the fact that he came into the world as a man, his perfect life, his fulfilling all of the demands of God's law that we could never keep, his fulfilling all of the prophecies that were written in the Old Testament, a couple hundred prophecies that were written about the Messiah. He came, he fulfilled those perfectly. And then ultimately his sacrificial penal substitutionary death on the cross where he satisfied the wrath and justice of God in the place of everyone who would put their faith in him. And so by the work, by all of that, his work, his life, his death, he accomplished the atonement, right? And so he confirmed that he had done everything when he died on the cross and he said, you remember in John 19.30, When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished, right? And he bowed his head and he gave up his spirit. So everything that he came to accomplish in order to procure salvation was finished. And then three days later, he was raised from the dead to further fulfill the scriptures and to vindicate all of his claims, okay? That's kind of when we talk about salvation or redemption accomplished, everything that Christ did to obtain our salvation. But what I wanna look at today is not any of the aspects of the accomplishment of our redemption, as wonderful and as glorious that is, as the application of that redemption to sinners, okay? So in other words, I'm gonna try to answer the question, how does a sinner partake of Christ's accomplishments on the cross? in procuring salvation? How does someone obtain the virtues and the benefits of Christ-finished work? Okay, so that's what we're gonna look at, salvation applied to sinners. And so if I ask that question today to you all, I think many of you and many other Christians would respond if I said, well, how does this happen? How do we receive the benefits of all, everything that Christ has done, right? Well, I think many of you would say probably what Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailer in response when they were asked a question by the Philippian jailer. Do you remember what he said in Acts 16? What must I do to be saved, right? And so I'm just gonna read that passage to you. You can turn there if you want. And we're gonna be looking at a lot of different passages, so this may be kind of like a Bible study, So, Acts 16, 27 to 31, it's a well-known passage. We read this, Acts 16, 27 to 31. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, do not harm yourself for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. Okay, and of course that's a, a proper answer and we all know that faith in Christ is absolutely essential and necessary to salvation, right? But certainly more than that can be said, right, because how can sinners who the Bible says are dead in their trespasses and sin, Ephesians 2, how can anybody who's dead believe and why do some sinners believe in Christ and yet many other multitudes of other sinners continue in unbelief their whole lives? Well, the Bible says a great deal about this subject that we want to look at, how the salvation that Christ has accomplished is actually applied in the lives of sinners. And so, for example, the biblical authors teach, among other things, that salvation is of the Lord, right? Jonah 2.9. And not only in the terms of the accomplishment of salvation, everything that Christ did for us, but in the terms of its application to sinners, that's of the Lord also, right? The authors of the Bible also make it clear that the divine application of salvation, in the words of a theologian by the name of John Murray, who I'm gonna quote a couple times, he says, it is not one simple and indivisible act this act of salvation. Rather, it comprises a series of acts and processes such as calling, regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification, each of which has its own distinct meaning, function, and purpose in the action and grace of God. And the New Testament authors also teach that this series of acts and processes follows a very definite order. leading reformed theologians to conclude that they can speak of this series, these aspects of our salvation as the order of salvation. And there's a Latin term, does anybody know what the Latin term is? Ordo salutis, yeah, exactly, that just means the order of salvation. And so that's what I want to look at today, just kind of give an overview of what do we mean when we talk about the order of salvation. And so before we kind of dig into this, let me give you just some, by way of introduction, if you're interested in studying this yourself, there are some good resources available. One is a book by John Murray called Redemption Accomplished and Applied. Has anybody ever read that or heard about that book? You read it? Okay, good. Yeah, it's a wonderful book. It's small, it's not very big, but it's, you know, you gotta read it very slowly to really understand what's being said. That's an excellent book that could be very helpful in this whole subject. Another one is Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology. Last time I was here, we talked about that a little bit and how helpful that's been to me, and Wayne Grudem has written a lot of helpful books, but his Systematic Theology, chapter 32, addresses this idea. Robert Raymonds is another theologian. He's written A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, chapter 19. is titled The Application of the Benefits of the Crosswork of Christ. Okay, it's very helpful. So those are some other resources for you. And let me just also say, just by way of introduction, that there are some kind of slight variation in the events and the order of these events between different theologians. If you look at different lists, there's some slight variations. But the nine or 10 major aspects of the application of salvation are all consistent, okay, and they're biblical. So, okay, that's just by way of introduction. Let me just, let me pray. Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you that we can gather together to study your word. I pray that you'd help me to teach it accurately and rightly, and I pray, Lord, that you would help us all to grow in a deeper understanding and appreciation of what you have done in accomplishing our salvation and in applying it in our lives, Lord. And I pray that you'd be merciful to save any here who don't know you. We ask for your help and we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. All right, so what is the scriptural basis for thinking in these terms, thinking about like an order of salvation? And let me just say one other, by means of introduction, when I was down at Corpus a number of years ago, you guys had a, there was a chart on the wall, you remember that? Yeah, it was, I think Tim Challies actually kind of listed these different aspects of our salvation and kind of the order that they go in, so that was helpful. So there's not a single verse in the Bible that you can go to that mentions every one of these acts in the Ordo Salutis, but by carefully studying and correlating different passages in the New Testament, we can deduce a list of about 10 distinct aspects or parts of salvation. And so again, all we're gonna do this morning is kind of look at an overview of them, and then maybe at some point in the future or on your own, you could do a little study, a little more in-depth into these different aspects of our salvation and how they kind of relate to one another. So although no one verse really identifies all of these parts of salvation or puts them into a specific order, There is one passage in the New Testament that identifies at least three distinct parts, and it does put them in a specific order for us. Does anybody know what passage that is that I'm thinking of? Romans 8. Yeah, Romans 8. So let's turn there. Romans 8, 28 to 30. Romans chapter 8, verses 28 to 30. All right, I'll read starting in verse 28. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, In order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. Verse 30. So we can see at least three aspects of our salvation that Paul identifies here in verse 30. And those are calling, or what theologians call effectual calling, justification, and glorification, okay? And they're right there in verse 30, okay, we can see those. And so there's an order here to the application of these three acts. And so, you know, maybe you could ask the question, well how do we know that Paul had like a sequential order in mind when he wrote this? Well, I think a couple reasons, one is we know that that the Holy Spirit inspired him to write this verse, right? You know, 2 Timothy 3, 16. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, training, and righteousness. So even the order of verbs in a verse is inspired by the Holy Spirit, okay? But also there's a logical progression of thought in verse 28. So let's look at that one, verse 28. those who are called according to his purpose." There at the end of the verse. All things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. So God had a purpose in calling certain people unto himself. And that purpose is explained in verse 29 in terms of God's eternal foreknowledge and predestination. So we could ask the question, what came first? God's purpose and his plan or his calling sinners to fulfill that purpose? Well, clearly his purpose came first, right? He purposed to do this. So the verse says, they are called according to or as a result of God's purpose. So, and again, his purpose being to predestine a group of people to be conformed to the image of his son, okay? So that's one clue that there's a progression, a sequential progression here in these in these aspects of our salvation. Also, in verse 29, there's a, again, a sequential progression of thought. And just kind of bear with me here, I'm trying to hopefully explain this clearly. So we see there's a progression in verse 29 from foreknowledge to predestination. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed. Foreknowledge has to do with God's knowing us and choosing us unto salvation before the foundation of the world. That's what foreknowledge is. And it's not, some people, maybe you've heard this, they talk about God's foreknowledge like he's looking down the corridors of time and he looks down and he sees that so-and-so is gonna believe the gospel. That's not what foreknowledge means. Foreknowledge means God foreknew ahead of time His knowledge, he had an intimate knowledge or a love ahead of time for a people, okay? So that's what his foreknowledge means. So foreknowledge focuses attention upon the distinguishing love of God whereby the sons of God were elected or chosen. And informs us that the ultimate source of our salvation is in God himself. Now, predestination teaches us what is the ultimate goal of our salvation, to be conformed to the image of Christ, all right? And so we see this kind of same progression of thought. If we turn over to Ephesians one, we'll look at this quickly, Ephesians one. Ephesians chapter one, verses three through five. Ephesians chapter one verses three through five, we read, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. All right, so it's the same idea of God foreknowledge, his foreknowledge, and then predestining us for a specific purpose. And here it says we're predestined to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ. So back in Romans, the verbs foreknew and predestinate both speak about God's acts before the creation of the world. So before the creation of the world, God foreknew a people that he was gonna choose and set his love on. and he predestinated a people to be conformed to the image of his sons. And this all happened, you know, in eternity past, right, before the creation of the world. But these other verbs that we're looking at that we're gonna talk about, called, justified, glorified, refer to aspects of the application of salvation which occur in time after the creation of the world. Okay, so it shows an order, we have some pre-creation acts, God's foreknowledge, his predestination, then we have some post-creation acts, calling, justification, glorification, and some other things that we're gonna talk about. So again, I'm just trying to show that there is kind of a sequential order here in these things, that's what I'm trying to establish. And so, now what's the last thing that's mentioned in verse 30? Those whom he justified, he also glorified. And so we know clearly that what glorification is our ultimate end, right? When Christ returns or we go to be with him, we will be glorified, right? That's the ultimate goal that our salvation is working towards, right? And so Paul places that at the end here, at the last. And so since he does that, we can assume that God's effectual calling that he mentions in verse 30, Those whom he called, he also justified. Those whom he justified, he also glorified. We can assume that the calling is the first act in the application of salvation. And that justification falls somewhere between calling and glorification in terms of a logical sequence. Okay, does that make sense? Hopefully. Okay, so we have kind of a framework or an outline for this order of salvation. So we've got three aspects of God's working that he does in bringing about salvation. Three of them are listed, we've got them in place. God's effectual calling, justification, and glorification, okay? And I don't have time to, you can spend a lot of time talking about each of those individually, right? And so maybe at some point in the future, or maybe Tawfiq has already done this or he can do this, but right now I just want to look at kind of an overall picture of the order of salvation. And so, so we need to kind of fill in the missing aspects of salvation, kind of like pieces in a puzzle, right? And the benefit of doing this, one of the reasons to do that is to see the beauty and the full scope of the great salvation that God has not only accomplished, but applied to our benefit, for those of us who have put our faith and trust in Christ. All right, so we've got calling, you know, if you were like, and let me just say that these, you know, these things happen really simultaneously, right? So, you know, somebody is called, and we're gonna talk about they're regenerated, they're justified, most of these aspects happen at the same time. just trying to understand them logically, we can kind of separate them out and say, well, you know, there's a sequence here just so we can appreciate them better. That's what we're trying to do. All right, so we've got calling, justification, glorification, and then we've got some other pieces to fit in. So how about faith and repentance? Where do they fit in this order? So you know that true faith and true repentance go hand in hand, right? You can't have, one, genuine faith, without the other, genuine repentance. And we see this correlation between faith and repentance illustrated in several passages in the New Testament. So let's look at a couple. One is, we looked at Acts 16 31, the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, what must I do to be saved? And they say to him, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. So now in that verse, He's told that you need to believe, but there's no mention of repentance in that verse, right? Let's look at Acts 2, 37 and 38. Acts 2, 37 and 38, we read, this is at the end of Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, and we read this. Now, when they heard this, his sermon, and he's quoting, quoting from the Psalms and quoting from Joel, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? In light of the fact that they recognize now we've crucified the Messiah. And Peter says to them, verse 38, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Okay, so here, Peter says to them, what do we need to do? Essentially, they're saying, what do we need to do to be saved? Well, you need to repent, okay, for the forgiveness of your sins. So he mentions repentance. There's no specific mention of faith here in this verse, right? Let's look at another passage, Acts 20. Let's flip over to Acts 20. Acts 20 verses 20 and 21. So now this is Paul, he's reminding, he's speaking to the Ephesian elders at Miletus and he's reminding them of several things and Acts 20 verses 20 and 21 we read this. I'll start in verse, let me start in verse 18. And when they came to him, the elders, he said to them, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and the tears of the trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews. Verse 20, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so here we see repentance and faith both mentioned together, right? All right, and then one last one, 1 Thessalonians 1, eight and nine. 1 Thessalonians 1, eight and nine. You read, Paul commends the Thessalonians for their faith, and he writes in verses eight and nine of chapter one, 1 Thessalonians, for they themselves I'm sorry, this is verse nine. Yeah, I'm sorry, verse nine of First Thessalonians chapter one. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Okay, so turning to God is a representation of faith and from idols is a representation of repentance. Okay, they turned to God from idols, faith and repentance, to serve the living and true God. So that's just a kind of a sampling of verses, but there are a lot of other verses that demonstrate there's a very close connection between faith and repentance, okay? So that we have to understand them as interdependent graces. They depend on one another. And so, and you can even define repentance and faith together as conversion. The word conversion means turning. So in the spiritual sense of turning from sin and repentance and turning to Christ in faith. So when I was a young Christian, I heard an illustration that was helpful to me to think of true repentance and true faith as two sides of the same coin, okay? So they're inseparable. So neither one can occur without the other, all right? and John Murray makes this comment, I think it's helpful, he says that the faith that is unto salvation is a penitent or repenting faith, and the repentance that is unto life is a believing repentance. It is impossible to disentangle faith and repentance. Saving faith is permeated with repentance, and repentance is permeated with faith. Okay, so repentance and faith, go hand in hand. And so if we're trying to figure out, well, where do they fit in this order of salvation? Well, they need to fit together, they go together, right? But where would they fit in this sequence that Paul gives us in Romans 8.30? So we've got calling, justification, glorification. So do you think repentance and faith would fit before or after justification? Before, yeah, because the New Testament makes it clear in many places that faith in Christ, in Jesus, is the precondition of justification. So let me just give you these verses. We don't have to turn to them, but Romans 3, 20 to 22, Romans 3, 20 to 22, we read this. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, in verse 22, righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Okay? And remember, justification is a legal declaration that a sinner is righteous in God's eyes. It's a legal declaration that someone is righteous, absolutely righteous in God's eyes in a legal sense. And so how does that righteousness come? Through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Another verse, you don't have to turn there, Galatians 2.16, Galatians 2.16 says, Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified, how? By faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law, no one will be justified. So faith in Jesus Christ and its necessary corollary repentance must precede justification in terms of this logical sequence, right? And again, Not in terms of chronologies. In other words, someone believes that they repent and they believe they're justified. You're not justified down the road. Now, it's interesting, I'll talk about this a little bit later, there's a kind of an aberrant thought on justification called the new perspective on Paul. Y'all heard about that, some of you? Okay, well, it's an aberrant teaching on justification that we'll talk a little bit later. But the Bible is clear, we're justified by faith. We believe on Christ, we put our faith and trust in him, we're declared righteous, okay? So, all right, so we can add repentance and faith to our order of salvation. So we've got effectual calling, God's effectual calling, repentance and faith go hand in hand, justification, and then ultimately glorification. Now, how about some other aspects of salvation? How about regeneration and adoption? Okay, two other terms that the Bible uses to describe what happens to us when we're saved, right? It's not just, we're not just saved, we are saved, but a lot of things happen, right? So let's look at adoption first, and then we'll come back to regeneration. So the place of adoption in the order of salvation can be, we can determine by looking at John 1, let's turn there, John 1. 12 and 13. John 1 verses 12 and 13. So we read But to all who did receive him, Christ, who believed in his name, he, Christ, gave the right to become children of God. And then verse 13 says, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Okay, so verse 13 clearly speaks of regeneration, of being born of God, born of the will of God and not of the will of man. But verse 12 is speaking about adoption, okay, and not regeneration. And we know that because the word right, where it says, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. That word right is a legal term that means authority. So John is saying that all who received Christ Okay, and I don't want to get too technical, but in the Greek that means, that refers to the initial act of faith. To all who received Christ, believed on Christ, those who believed in his name, that's a present participle referring to the ongoing and continuing faith in Christ. Everyone who does that, who believes in Christ, continues to believe in Christ, are given the authority and the privilege to be adopted as a child of God. And so where does adoption fit in this order of salvation? Well, we see that you have to have faith in Christ as the necessary logical precondition to adoption. And John teaches that faith in Christ is the means by which the believer obtains the tremendous benefit and privilege of being adopted as a child of God. And we don't have time to get into all the wonders of what it means to be adopted as a child into God's family. But listen to what J.I. Packer, he wrote a book called Knowing God, anybody ever read that? Okay, really helpful, really helpful book, yeah. So he says, J.I. Packer says, talking about adoption, he says, adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers, higher even than justification, okay? And so at some point we can or you could study a little study on your own on adoption What all does that entail that we've been adopted as a child of God? So so faith in Christ is a logical prerequisite to adoption Okay, just as it is to justification so we can conclude that adoption must follow faith now, but we can also you know surmise or presume that God would not adopt someone into his family whose sins he had not forgiven and who had not been declared by him to be perfectly righteous, since God is perfectly righteous. So we can conclude that adoption must logically follow justification. That make sense? Again, all of these acts happen simultaneously, but we're just trying to separate them in a sequence so we can try to understand them better. So we have effectual calling, repentance and faith, justification, the declaration that the sinner is now righteous in God's eyes, adoption into God's family, all the privileges that go along with being a child of God, and then ultimately, glorification, right? All right, now how about regeneration? Where does that fit, regeneration? Well, what is regeneration? Anybody wanna give a definition? To make new? Yeah, to be made new, to be made alive. Regeneration, to be given spiritual life. And so it's the doctrine of being born again, of being given life from above. So regeneration, and this is kind of important, regeneration must precede faith. So here in John 1, 12 and 13, we see that those who believe in Christ by faith and who continue to believe in Christ are adopted into God's family as a result of faith. But in the first place, it says in verse 13, it says they were born of God. They were regenerated by God. So regeneration, being given life, spiritual life, must logically or causally precede faith. Okay, before anybody can believe, you have to be made alive, right? You have to be given spiritual life. And we see the same truth in John 3. Remember that account, John and Nicodemus? If you wanna turn over, you can. John 3, verse 3. John 3, Nicodemus, Jesus answers Nicodemus. He says, well, Nicodemus says to Jesus, This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, verse 2, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. And then Jesus answers him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again or born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And that's a figurative language, cannot see the living cannot see the kingdom of God, is language for believing or having faith. And there are also some verses in 1 John that teach the same truth, that regeneration, being born again, must logically precede faith. So let's just look at one of those. 1 John 5, I'm gonna turn over there. 1 John 5. Christian 5, verse 1, chapter 5, we read, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ, everyone who has faith, believes that Jesus is the Christ, has been born of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. So if you believe in Christ, you have faith in Christ, that's an evidence that you have been born of God. That's already happened to you. You've already been regenerated. Now again, these things, they happen simultaneously. You're regenerated, you're given life, you believe and you repent and you're justified. But we're born again, we're regenerated in order that we can exercise faith and believe. And some people confuse those. And also in Ephesians 2, same truth is taught in Ephesians 2, you can just listen to this, I'll read this to you. Ephesians 2 verses four and five, well Paul teaches in Ephesians 2 that he and every other Christian had been spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins until God made us alive. And that's Paul's term for regeneration. Ephesians 2 verses four and five, says this, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. And so, you know, a spiritually dead person can't believe in Christ or repent because a dead person, what, can't do anything, right? Until he or she has been given spiritual life and that occurs in the act of regeneration. So as a result, Regeneration must be placed before repentance and faith in Christ in this order of salvation, because regeneration really is that which produces repentance and faith. Earlier I said that glorification, we know, is the final act in the process of salvation, and Paul places that last, back in Romans 8, he places that last. And then the first thing he says that happens is this calling, God's effectual calling. And so if effectual calling, turn back to Romans 8 if you want, Romans 8 verses 30. So if effectual calling is first, the first act in this process, then regeneration must follow immediately after calling, or maybe it's even the force within God's calling that makes it effectual, okay? And again, regeneration is something you could study on your own. And if we get a chance, I'll try to do that if I ever come back. So we're trying to put this framework together. We're just trying to look at all these different aspects of our salvation so we can appreciate more what God has done for us, right? That's the whole objective. So we've got effectual calling, and then regeneration, and then repentance and faith in Christ, then justification being declared righteous by God, adoption, being adopted as a child into God's family, and then ultimately glorification. All right, now there are a couple others that we still need to talk about. Positional and progressive sanctification and perseverance in holiness. Positional and progressive sanctification and perseverance in holiness. Now, when we talk about sanctification, we normally think of sanctification as a progressive work, right? That following justification and adoption, we're justified, we're adopted. And our sanctification is this process by which we're growing and maturing, putting off sin, becoming more and more like Christ, right? And that's correct. The Bible talks about sanctification as a progressive work, all right? But the Bible also talks about, in a number of places, sanctification being a once-for-all definite act that God has done, okay? And we don't normally think about sanctification in those terms, but let me give you some verses. Acts 20. verse 32. If you want to turn there you can. Acts 20 verse 32. This is back in that passage we just looked at. Paul is speaking to the Ephesian elders. I think this is just the next verse. Acts 20 verse 32 and Paul says this, And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Okay, so he doesn't say those who are being sanctified, he says among those who are sanctified. And the idea of sanctification, sanctified means to be set apart, to be set apart as holy, okay? So here Paul says, He's talking about the inheritance among all those who are, who have been sanctified. Another passage, Acts 26, 18. If you want to turn there, you can, a couple of chapters over, Acts 26, 18. This is Paul, he's retelling his conversion to King Agrippa and how Christ commissioned Paul to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. So he's telling this to King Agrippa. And he says, we read in verse 18 of Acts 26, he says, um, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Okay. So, so Paul is quoting what Jesus told him. And so Jesus says, that they may receive forgiveness of sins in a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. So it's not being sanctified, but who are sanctified by faith. And then a couple other references in 1 Corinthians. I'll just read these to you. If you want to jot them down, you can. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2. Paul writes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. Okay, so Paul's talking to the believers, he's writing to the believers in Corinth and he says, he calls them, he doesn't say to those who are being sanctified, he says to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, okay? Set apart to be holy. And then in 1 Corinthians 6, 11, 1 Corinthians 6, 11, he says the same thing. He says, and such were some of you, but, he's talking about what they came out of, right? Some of the conduct, some of the sins that they came out of. He says, and such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Okay, so there's a sense in which all Christians, if you're a Christian, you've already been sanctified positionally. You've been set apart by God to live a holy life. That's what it means, okay? And so we learn that from that passage in Acts 26 that this positional sanctification, it follows faith. Remember he said we are sanctified by faith. So it would fit logically in the order after justification and before adoption, being set apart to be holy, all right? Now, so that's positional sanctification, and that's something that's happened to you. If you're a Christian, you are sanctified. Now, you're not as sanctified, practically speaking, as we're gonna be, because there is this progressive sanctification where we're growing in grace, we're growing in holiness, we're putting off sin, right? But in this sense, you are sanctified. You've been set apart to be a holy vessel to serve God, okay? And so that's helpful to think about, you know, to motivate you to, to live a life like that because you have been sanctified. We all have been sanctified, set apart to live a holy life unto the Lord. Now, progressive practical sanctification, which is what we usually think about, that is a continuous process rather than a one-time act. These other aspects are basically one-time acts. We're called, we're regenerated, We repent and have a faith initially, we're justified once, we're declared righteous once, and then we're adopted one time into God's family. That's a permanent adoption. It's not like human adoption. Sometimes human adoptions get unwound. If you're a child of God, you're a child of God, all right? And then we're set aside positionally in this sense of being sanctified. Those are all one-time events, Progressive sanctification is a continuous process, but we're still living, we have flesh, we have remaining sin, we're still gonna be growing and maturing as Christians, right? Okay, so sanctification in the progressive sense is gonna be a lifelong process, right? We're not gonna be totally, fully sanctified until Christ returns and we go, or we're glorified, right? In this progressive sense. But that happens, that process begins immediately when someone is regenerated. All these things, the other things happen to us at one time and then there's this ongoing growth and process that we, over the course of time. So if you've been a Christian for, you know, 20 years or 30 years or whatever, or six months, you know, hopefully you can look back and you can see, we know that I'm seeing some progress, you know, it's not going to be perfect. You know, there are going to be ups and downs, but I'm seeing some progress in my growth in grace, my growth and holiness. Um, okay. And then the last aspect to talk about is this idea of perseverance or persevering in holiness. And we read, uh, in Philippians three, Philippians 3, 13, and 14. If you want to turn there, you can. It's a well-known passage. Philippians 3, 13, and 14. Let me read. Paul writes, brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And so if you're a Christian, if you're a genuine Christian, if you've been regenerated and you've demonstrated true faith and repentance and you've been justified and you've been adopted, well, you're going to persevere in holiness until the end. And that's something that God works in us, but we also, we have a duty to persevere, right? Jesus says, those who endure to the end shall be saved. Philippians, another verse in Philippians that's related to this, Philippians 1.6, Paul says, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. All right, so perseverance is, would be placed in this order of salvation, probably alongside progressive sanctification, right? We're progressively, we're growing in holiness, and we need to persevere in holiness. All right, so that kind of completes this framework, just kind of a skeleton. So let's review. We can see this order that's set forth for us. So initially, there are two acts that are completely God's doing. Okay, effectual calling and regeneration. Okay, God is the one who calls sinners, dead sinners, effectually to himself. Okay, and now there, there's a difference between the effectual, there's a general call that goes out, you know, we call everyone to repent, right? We go out, we evangelize people. and we can and we should call everyone to repent and believe on Christ, right? That's the general call that goes out. But there's an effectual call. Why is it that only some people are gonna respond? Well, ultimately it's because God has to work to effectually call them, to hear the call, to give them life so they can respond, right? So there's effectual calling and regeneration. Those are things that God does. Those are completely divine acts. We don't take any part in the effectual calling, responding to the effectual calling and we don't take any part in regeneration because we're spiritually dead, right? Then we've got two divine human activities. So these are human activity that works both in response to and in cooperation with activity initiated by God. So that's repentance and faith. Okay, so repentance is a gift of God, but all men are commanded to repent, and you and I have to actually repent. God doesn't repent for us, right? Now, 2 Timothy 2.25 says that repentance is a gift. 2 Timothy 2.25, God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, okay? So repentance is a gift from God, but it's something that we have a responsibility to, we have to repent, and that's why we call men to repent. So we play a role in that. Faith is the same thing. Faith is a gift of God. How do we know that? Well, Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2.8, great, yeah, Ephesians 2.8, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not your own doing, it is the gift of God, okay? Whether that refers to the grace or the faith, it's a gift, okay? God gives faith. And yet, but again, God is not going to believe for us. You and I and sinners must believe. We have to put our faith and our trust in Christ. So we have a role in that. God, it's a gift, but it's also, we have a role to play in that. All right, so then, we've got three more aspects of our salvation. Justification, definite sanctification, being set apart, being sanctified, and adoption, those are all things that God does. You and I, we don't play a role in our justification. God sanctifies us. He sets us apart to be holy, to live a holy life, and God adopts us. If you've ever adopted children, do your children play any role in the adoption? I mean, they're there, you know, I mean, you know, but, but, but as far as the legal process, no, it's the, it's the parents who do everything to adopt the child, to bring the child into your, into your family. Okay. Well, same thing with God. God does it. He adopts us as his children. So now, and I mentioned earlier, and I don't, I won't spend a lot of time on this, but, but if you're interested, you could read up about this teaching called the new perspective on Paul, which has been around about the last 50 years or so. which really distorts the understanding of justification to include some human effort as to somehow earning our justification by how we live. And it's a very confusing doctrine or teaching, but it's being propagated more and more. There's a respected New Testament scholar by the name of N.T. Wright. You may have heard that name. He's actually written some things that have been very helpful, but he's now a big proponent of this new perspective, and it's really, it's a dangerous teaching. One of our pastors, just last week, he was preaching on justification, so he brought out a lot of these, some of the errors associated with this new perspective. In fact, Wayne Grudem, he just updated his systematic theology, I guess, last year. It's a revised edition, and he spent about 10 pages in his chapter on justification, refuting this new perspective on Paul. So you can just be aware that it is out there. But it basically teaches that the way you live is ultimately gonna affect whether or not you are actually justified. And the Bible, clearly, the Bible does not teach that. I mean, it's God who justifies, and it's by his grace, and we're justified by faith, right? So justification, definite sanctification, being set apart as holy by God, and then adoption, or those are aspects that God does completely, we don't have any role in that. All right, and then we have two divine human activities. Again, we've got progressive sanctification, okay, and here's a good verse that talks about both God's role in us being, you know, practically more and more sanctified, and then our role, right? Philippians 2, you know, this is a good, well-known passage, Philippians 2, 12 and 13, let's turn there, Philippians 2, Okay, Paul says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Okay, now I think that's a reference to sanctification. Okay, we don't work out justification Okay, but we work out our sanctification. We have a duty of responsibility to be seeking to be more and more sanctified, more and more practically holy. So he says, work out your own salvation. You do it with fear and trembling. And then what does verse 13 say? For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Okay, so God works in us. But we have a duty to work as well, to strive after holiness, without which no man will see the Lord, right? Okay, so that's a divine human activity. And then perseverance and holiness is kind of very closely related to this idea of progressive sanctification. And we looked at this verse earlier, Philippians 1.6. We see it's God is gonna, he's gonna persevere us. God is at work, okay? It's his power that's working in us that's gonna enable us to endure to the end. But we have a responsibility. Philippians 1.6, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. But then our responsibility, Jesus says in a couple places in the gospels, he says, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. So we need to endure in holiness. And then there's a final act, final act which is completely God's work, glorification. God is going to, He is going to glorify us and give us new bodies, glorified bodies, where we'll never have to be tempted to sin again, right? But that's something that He does. So, just kind of wrapping this up by way of summary, so the first seven of these acts, we're looking at the order of salvation, effectual calling, regeneration, faith and repentance, justification, positional sanctification, and adoption, they all occur really at the moment of regeneration, okay? And so the instant someone is effectually called, he's regenerated. In that moment, he's given life, spiritual life. He repents and places his trust in Christ and his saving work. And in that moment, God justifies him or her, declares him to be righteous, sanctifies him or her, sets him apart to be holy, and adopts him or her as his child. And then these other actions, progressive sanctification and perseverance and holiness are ongoing activities in the Christian's life, and then glorification happens later in time, right, when Christ returns, or the believer goes to be with Christ. And so again, just these seven things that happen, they happen simultaneously as far as time, but there's a logical connection between them where you can kind of separate them out and see which actually occurs first in terms of a, you know, a sequence. So why is this important? I mean, why, why do we want to spend time even talking about this? Well, okay. I think for a couple of reasons. One is because we want to rightly handle the word of God, right? We want to have a good grasp, a good grip on the word of God, what it teaches about salvation. Um, it's not just Jesus saves me and I go to heaven. I mean, he does that, but there's a lot of things involved, right? In what salvation is. Second Timothy 2.15 says, do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. So that's one reason. Another reason is because we want to be able to understand sound doctrine in order to contradict false teachers, okay? And there are a lot of them out there. First Timothy 4.6, If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. So there are a lot of false teachers out there that, you know, some of them, this new perspective on Paul. There are other men, you know, fairly well-known men who are denying penal substitution. In other words, they're trying to deny the fact that Christ suffered the wrath of God on the cross. I don't know if you've seen the American Gospel, part two, talks a lot about this. There's kind of a whole movement, you know, people saying, well, that's cosmic child abuse, that God would put his son to death on the cross and force him to endure his wrath. And, you know, what human father would do that? And so they're trying to, well, that's undermining justification. I mean, that had to be done in order for us to be declared righteous. Some, you know, Christ had to pay the penalty, right? So there's a lot of false teachings that are making their kind of inroads into evangelical Christianity. So we want to be aware of these things. And then another reason I think why it's helpful to think about this, the different aspects of our salvation, is just to appreciate more what God has done in saving us, right? And it ought to cause us to praise and worship him more for what he's done. And so not only everything that Jesus did in his life and his death, but everything that Christ has done and God the Father and God the Spirit have done in applying the benefits of salvation to you and me. So it's kind of like if you have a diamond, you can turn it different ways and you see different facets of the beauty and so you can appreciate different aspects of the beauty of salvation. That's just kind of a quick overview of the order of salvation. You can do some studying on your own if you'd like. And if I come back up here in a couple months or something, maybe we can look at this first one, this idea of effectual calling in greater detail. And so let me just end by saying, you know, if you're a Christian, these are very glorious truths that ought to stir our hearts, right? To love God more and to want to study his word more and to appreciate more what he's done for us. But if you're not a Christian, You know, the command to you, the call to you is simply to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the call that's given. You don't have to worry about, you know, am I chosen? Am I not? Have I been called? You need to believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the call to you. Jesus gives a sincere invitation to all sinners in Matthew 11, 28 and 29. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Okay, that's a promise that you can bank on, okay? And you come to Christ. That's all you need to do. Children, you believe on the Lord Jesus, come to Him. today and put your faith and trust in him. And then all you need to know is I believe in Jesus. I trust Jesus for my salvation. And then God will start to reveal some of these different aspects of salvation to you. All right. Well, amen. Let me pray. Father, we thank you for, again, for your word. We thank you for the richness of it. We thank you for the glories of all that you have done providing salvation for sinners and sending your son to live a perfect life, to die upon the cross, to pay the penalty for sin, to suffer the wrath and justice of you that we deserved, Father, and then to apply these benefits to us, to call us and regenerate us and to give us faith and repentance and to sanctify us and to justify us and to adopt us. And Lord, we pray that you'd help us those of us who are your children to persevere in holiness and to continue to be sanctified more and more until the day that you glorify us. Father, we thank you again for all that you've done for us. I pray that you'd be merciful to save any here who are unconverted. I pray for our children that you would awaken them and draw them to yourself and cause them to run to you and to believe on your son, Jesus. We ask all of these things in his name, amen.