•             the sovereignty of God’s grace in the salvation of sinners (Acts 13:48),

•             the wrath of God over all mankind as the greatest threat to the world (John 3:36),

•             the terrible reality of eternal suffering (Matthew 25:46),

•             the greatness of God’s mercy in propitiating his own wrath in Christ (Romans 3:25–26),

•             the necessity of hearing the gospel of Christ in order to be saved (Romans 10:13–17),

•             the stupendous Reformation truth of justification by faith alone (Romans 4:4–5),

•             the compassion of missionaries who are called to suffer for the good of all men, especially the eternal good (Galatians 6:10),

•             the necessity of reaching all the peoples of the earth and the motivating certainty that God has a people in each one (Revelation 5:9; Acts 18:10),

•             and the summons to joyfully sacrifice anything to reach these nations, because to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).

  

 

Earlier I had stated that my goal in life was to proclaim and reflect each of these statements (presented by Pastor John Piper:  God is Finishing His Work Now) in my life.  I wanted to look at little deeper at each of these to explain what I meant by that.

 

1.                   The sovereignty of God’s grace in the salvation of sinners.

 

Acts 13:48 “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

               

“Ordained to eternal life” is the key phrase here.  The idea here is that eternal life was assigned to certain individuals.  This coincides with God’s Word where He says that the saved were chosen before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).  God has always had a plan.  Salvation is not some reactionary movement by God in response to man’s fall.  It was DESIGNED this way.  This message, when properly understood, creates a ROCK SOLID foundation of immovable faith.  It creates a trust in God that unshakeable.  It gives security beyond all doubt.  It is the very essence of hope.

 

Knowing man’s fallibility and our tendency to mess things up, having to rely on us for ANY PART of salvation creates a shaky foundation.  If it is up to us in any part, our faith is very weak and fluid.  If man has ANY say in it, there is room for error and all security is lost.  But knowing that it is God’s plan, that He designed it this way from the beginning, and that His people were secured before they ever took a breath, is the most reassuring and joy producing truth in all the universe.  The saved can rest securely in their loving Father’s hands.

 

This message of God’s sovereignty has always been a burning issue in my heart.  I want God’s people to understand it for three reasons.  One, it assures that God is given ALL glory.  Every ounce of it.  NOTHING is credited to man.  Which leads to the second reason, it completely humbles man and assures that he can NEVER EVER see himself as something more than any other man.  There is NO room for boasting in effort, ability, knowledge, understanding, reasoning, or morality.  NOTHING IN US is used in salvation.  It is ALL God.  And three, it produces a hope that is beyond words.  A foundation of faith that simply cannot be moved.  And that produces joy and contentment.

 

2.                   The wrath of God over all mankind as the greatest threat to the world.

 

John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

 

This message is one for the lost.  People who do not know Jesus Christ are blind to the fact that God’s wrath abides on them.  They have the misfortune of being focused on the here and now and seem to be either unwilling or unable to look to the future and see the judgment that awaits them.  Knowing God as I do, this is terrifying!

 

Scripture says that because judgment is not swift, people think they are getting away with it (Ecc. 8:11).  How many times have you heard someone say, “God, if you don’t want me to do this, strike me down with lightning right now?”  This mentality leads people to think that God does not care.  This is a grave mistake.  The wrath of God is being stored up for judgment day (Rom. 2:5).  God will execute judgment all at once at the end. 

 

3.            The terrible reality of eternal suffering.

 

Matthew 25:46 “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”

 

And this is why the wrath of God is so terrifying.  It is “everlasting punishment.”  Never ending and COMPLETE justice poured out for each and every offense a person has ever committed.  And it is completely reasonable to expect such overwhelming justice (Why Hell Is Eternal ). ***Click Link***

 

4.            The greatness of God’s mercy in propitiating his own wrath in Christ.

 

Romans 3:25-26 “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

 

Propitiation.  Perhaps the greatest word that has ever existed.  It means to appease, to make atonement, to reconcile, and an expiatory sacrifice.  This means that the entire wrath of God, due to us, was placed on a substitute to bring peace between God and us.  Jesus Christ willingly offered Himself as a perfect and spotless sacrifice to appease God’s wrath and restore us to a right relationship with Him.  AMAZING.

 

It’s the idea that, while we deserve the wrath of God, He loves us so much that He made a way of escape by satisfying the demands of justice on His Own Son, who willingly took it upon Himself to save us.  God’s justice DEMANDS that each and every sin be accounted for.  But His love desperately wants to see us spared that wrath.  So He made a way!

 

5.            The necessity of hearing the gospel of Christ in order to be saved.

 

Romans 10:13-17 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

 

Now God has decided that the means of bringing this propitiation to individuals, is through faith, which is produced and given to these individuals through the proclamation of the Gospel.  An ingenious and perfect plan.  God makes sure that no one can take credit for their salvation by means of a work.  In other words, nothing we DO can say “I have earned Heaven.”  That would be counterproductive to the sacrifice of Christ.  It’s not about earning anything, it’s about satisfying justice. 

 

Christ’s sacrifice is imputed to us through faith.  So how do we receive that faith?  As Eph. 2:8 and Gal. 3:23 clearly indicate, it is something GIVEN to us and not something that naturally dwells in us.  In other words, the ability to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ in a saving manor is a supernatural event.  And God has decided that the means of delivering it is through the Word! 

 

God will ordain and call a preacher and send him forth into whatever area the Lord desires.  He will then empower that preacher to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Those who are not given the gift of faith, will hear the Scriptures BUT WILL NOT PRECEIVE the saving power behind it.  The will either consider it non-sense, or they will accept it as “good teaching,” but they will not receive it in a saving manor. 

 

HOWEVER, those whom God predestined to be His, those who were written in the Book of Life from the foundation, will hear the Voice of the Shepherd in those Words.  As the preaching goes forth, the Holy Spirit moves THROUGH that Word and enters the elect individuals heart, instantaneously produces repentance and faith.  And that person is born again!  A MIRACLE of regeneration and resurrection!

 

6.            The stupendous Reformation truth of justification by faith alone.

 

Romans 4:4-5 “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

 

This gift of faith is given by the grace of God and is not due to ANYTHING in the saved individual.  It has to be this way.  If the gift came through something in man, than it would not be a gift, but something earned.  This would be a works salvation.  It would say to God, “I did such and such, and therefore deserve eternal life and forgiveness.”  Well, what about justice then?

 

Picture it this way.  If a guilty criminal is standing before a judge and he says, “Well, your honor, you caught me.  You’ve got me dead to rights.  BUT, I’ve been volunteering at a homeless shelter and I just donated a large sum of money to an orphanage.  I’ve done __________, and so based on all this good I’ve done, I should be set free.”

 

What does justice say in this situation?  Would it be just to let this criminal go?  NO!  Regardless of the good the individual has done, the CRIME still needs to be punished.  And so it is with us.  We stand before God guilty criminals.  Guilty of breaking His law over and over and over every single day.  Justice requires punishment regardless of what “good” we’ve also done. 

 

Jesus Christ satisfied that justice.  So now, if we again attempt to “earn” Heaven through some action of our own, we make a mockery of Christ’s sacrifice.  We are either calling God a liar and saying we don’t believe it was enough, or we are saying that it wasn’t GOOD enough and something more needs to be done.

 

No, salvation is a free gift given by God based on no merits of our own.  It’s based solely off of Jesus Christ satisfying justice.  It’s based solely on Him paying the fine for us and our complete trust in that sacrifice.  Any attempt at anything else is a tremendous insult to the grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

 

7.            The compassion of missionaries who are called to suffer for the good of all men, especially the eternal good.

 

Galatians 6:10 “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”

 

It shames me how little attention I put into this.  Knowing that salvation indeed only comes through the hearing of the Word, men and women all over the world continue to share the Gospel with the lost, even at the risks of their own lives.  These heroes of the faith realize that their lives are less important than making sure the sheep are brought into the fold.  There are people all over the world, whose names are written in the Book of Life, who have not yet received the gift of faith unto salvation.  They MUST hear the Word to be brought in.

 

In America, it is easy to proclaim the Gospel.  At worst we are shunned, referred to as crazy and intolerant, and perhaps mocked and spit at.  But in other parts of the world, they are imprisoned, raped, tortured, exiled, and murdered for proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  But these warriors go forth anyways!  As Christians, we should be praying for and supporting these people any way we can.

 

8.            The necessity of reaching all the peoples of the earth and the motivating certainty that God has a people in each one.

 

Revelation 5:9 “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;”

 

Acts 18:10 “For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.”

 

Only God knows those that are His and those that are not.  He refers to the saved as “wheat” and the lost as “tares,” and He says that they should be left to grow together until the end (Matt. 13:24-30).  This parable is peculiar in that wheat and tares look the same until harvest time.  It is only then that the saved and unsaved will be revealed.  Until then, we KNOW that God has people in every tribe, tongue and nation.  And we KNOW that saving faith is initiated through the preaching of the Word.  Therefore, we should be eager to proclaim the Gospel to everyone, everywhere, never knowing when God has chosen to put one of His elect within earshot!

 

9.            And the summons to joyfully sacrifice anything to reach these nations, because to die is gain.

 

Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

 

And this is what should give us the courage to proclaim that Gospel no matter how hostile the environment becomes.  The worst the world can do to us is kill us, but by doing that we are GAINING!  There is no greater thing than to be present with Jesus Christ and that is what death brings. 

 

Courageously share, knowing that God has elect out there who could be miraculously saved at any moment.  And do not fear anyone, because the worst they can do to us actually works out for our best.