This post is meant to help people of Christianity who have not yet understood that they are walking by works and not faith; it is also for religions such as the Baha’is who believe they can earn heaven by personal spiritual growth / evolution.
I investigated many religions in my quest to find God; after 15 years of searching in vain, I quit and returned to my former hedonistic lifestyle, wrecking my life. A short time later, God revealed Himself to me as I read through the Bible for the first time.
Thereby, all of my spiritual questions were answered, and I discovered that even Abraham, Moses, Peter, Paul and all the apostles, prophets…did not find God, He revealed Himself to them all, not one exception. (See Acts 9 for Paul’s conversion experience.)
So all those people who believe they can go on a quest and find God, are sorely mistaken – I spent many years discovering that it cannot be done.
God gave us the Bible so that we might obtain a saving knowledge of Him; it states clearly and plainly that Christ is the only way to God, to heaven; and that is by faith.
The sermon in this post says much about that essential topic.
I hope that God has brought you to the point that you can receive that message.
The Adoption of the Believer, by Dr. John MacArthur
[Bracketed statements, emboldening and underscoring are mine.]
SERMON HIGHLIGHTS:
- Salvation is by faith apart from works. Those who have come to Christ by faith are no longer slaves, but adopted sons of God, heirs
- All religions and false Christian sects, teach that people are delivered from judgment, saved, by their works, such as morality [kindness, church attendance, tithing, penance, helping the poor…]
- THAT IS SATAN’S BIG LIE; every society since the fall has believed it [and it is currently believed in the western world]
- The gospel of faith alone in Christ had been buried by the Roman Catholic Church for 1000 years or so before the protestant reformation [view the movie Luther for a quick study on the reformation and for a glimpse of RCC heresy]
- Even though it has been 500 years since the reformation, the church still doesn’t have the gospel right; right understanding is essential for the church’s mission in the world
- Why has the church not yet got the gospel right? Satan works diligently to overthrow truth with error
- Every generation of Christians has been required to fight to preserve biblical truth
- The apostle Paul passionately dealt with these things in his 13 epistles, clarifying, encouraging, specifying the essence of the gospel: FAITH apart from WORKS
- For example: Galatians 2:15 “We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles; 16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.
- That is, salvation is not earned but received by believing
- Justification: God declares the sinner righteous in His sight because the sinner believed in the Lord Jesus Christ [we can’t believe in Christ by seeing Him in real life; seeing miracles by Him…we must have faith that the words in the Bible about Him are true, and believe them]
- God considers such believing sinners to be the recipients of His own righteousness
- Christ’s substitutionary death more fully explained
- The apostle Paul had been contrasting the law and faith; these CANNOT be mixed [they are mutually exclusive: if you choose one, you are excluded from choosing the other WAY of salvation]
- As Paul was teaching the gospel, the Judaizers were teaching that one must also be circumcised to be a Christian [therein, they mixed the way of law with the way of faith, for salvation]
- [Paul specifically stated that in Galatians 5: 2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.]
- [Circumcision was part of the system of the Law given by God through Moses]
- Why was the law given? 1. To define sin at its broadest level; 2. God revealed His law to demonstrate to us that sin is NOT just something wrong with us, or something we did wrong in our relationships…but the violation of one of His laws; it is also rebellion against God, a high crime; 3. That having violated the law, and having rebelled against God, we are under sentence of death; 4. To demonstrate that the law cannot save: the Jews, God’s chosen people, received His covenant by oath under blood and failed miserably to keep His laws. Their sins became so great that He exiled them – only a small portion returned; Israel still exists as an apostate nation
- Example: John Wesley discovered, after he thought he was saved, that he was not. The significance of that discovery explained
- To trust in works (the law) for salvation is to be a slave, explained
- Galatians 4:1-7 read and used to explain the difference between being a slave and an adopted son
- To be under law is to experience a brutal taskmaster: no matter how sincerely, diligently…one attempts to obey the law, he will fail; that is, you cannot avoid sin and it will be your executioner [for example: in the following scripture, Jesus explains the seventh commandment to the Pharisees and other religious people who thought they were keeping the commandments: Matthew 5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; 28 but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29 “And if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.]
- [Considering that above clarifying statement by Jesus, and the society in which we live, we all know that any given TV show today could cause us to sin that way numerous times; how many thousands of times have you lusted / committed adultery, this month? Just one is sufficient to send you to hell if you expect to be saved by being obedient to the 10 commandments / law]
- The purpose of the law, per God, is to reveal sin in you; to show you that via the law, the inevitable end of your life will be hell
- If you receive that message [having observed and examined yourself, assessing your spiritual walk…] then you will be, per God, driven to Christ, to rest in Him because you will have discovered that He is the only way to be saved from God’s wrath against sin / hell [because you will have seen that you are constantly sinning against God in thought, word, and / or deed]
- The apostle Paul is striving to drive home to readers, by continually contrasting the WAY of Law with the Way of Faith, that the law causes bondage and one has freedom in Christ by faith
- This message is at the heart of the gospel; we can’t say enough about it because it is so widely misunderstood by even many that call themselves Christian
- The doctrine of adoption means to no longer be a slave (one under law) but a son (one who has believed in Christ and been made righteous by faith)
- [Dr. MacArthur did not say anything about sanctification; see the oldest post in the category Study Helps for a 4 minute video by Dr. John Piper which provides a great explanation of that process. I mention it because a Christian who has been justified by God and is believing in Christ by faith, cannot just set back and do nothing continue in sin without fighting it, etc., but must partake of the means God has provided for his continued growth in sanctification, for his being made righteous in a practical sense. The means are Bible reading; praying; hearing preaching of the true gospel, biblical preaching; Christian fellowship around the word of God and taking the Lord’s Supper]
- Surrounding doctrines noted; then Ephesians 3:1ff used to expound on adoption and link it with predestination and election
- Worldly example: when one adopts a child, he chooses him, then adopts him
- 4:1,2 used along with the above example to more fully explain adoption and benefits
- “Elemental things” of Gal. 4:1, 2 explained by an example from Roman culture about a normal ceremony children experienced, to make the transition from childhood to adulthood: they brought their toys to that ceremony and set them aside, leaving them behind; other scripture tied in
- Numerous types of “elemental things” cited
- Even the law of God is an elemental thing, as it led to the gospel, to the new covenant…expounded to show it having occurred with Christ and the old and new covenants…
For other posts in this blog about doctrines related to salvation, see Categories: Justification; Faith; Doctrine / Theology; and Study Helps — visit the earliest posts in those categories and work to present.