SERMON: MALACHI 4:5-6, GOD'S LOVE FOR OBEDIENCE - PART 5 - GOD'S FINAL WORD

 

SERMON: God's Love For Obedience - Part 5 - God's Final Word

SERMONAUDIO: Audio

YOUTUBE: Video

TEXT: Malachi 4:5-6

SERIES: Malachi

ORDO SALUTIS - CALLING

In this series we’ve been looking at the Ordo Salutis which is Latin for the Order of salvation. We’ve tackled foreknowledge, predestination and atonement. Today we take a look at the word CALLING which is next act by which God saves us. In Romans 8:29-30 we see what some have called the Golden Chain of Redemption. There are words in these verses that are linked to each other in a particular order to describe what God has done to save us. 

Romans 8:29-30 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. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

The word called means just that. To bid. To summon. To utter in a loud voice. It can also mean to invite. In regards to our salvation, it is God calling or summoning us to salvation. And while the word call has a range of meanings, including invitation, the word invitation isn’t necessarily the wrong word, but the word call carries more strength than just being an invitation. It’s not as if salvation were like a birthday party or a wedding to which you were invited. While the gospel call is something that can be rejected, like an invitation, the gospel call is not just an invitation but a summons or a command to repent of your sin and to believe that Jesus is the Savior.

When using the word calling, we often distinguish between two types of calling, both of which are necessary if you are going to be saved. We distinguish between the outer call of God versus the inner call of God. The outer call of God comes through the proclaiming or heralding of the gospel through Christians.  The gospel is the good news of how Jesus’ perfect life, death and resurrection are the means by which you saved or reconciled to God.  It is Christians, or followers of Christ, who are commanded to proclaim this message from God to the nations.

Acts 17:30  the times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

This message or this gospel, this good news, is from Christ, who is God.  And the God-man, Christ, calls you, bids you, summons, commands you to repent and to believe this message. Jesus summons you to turn from a self-ruled life and to turn to Him as your ruler. That’s repentance--calling upon Him as Lord.  He also summons or calls you to believe that He can save you and reconcile you to the Godhead through His perfect life, death and resurrection. This initial call from God through Christians is called the outer call because it is heard externally with your ears and it is transmitted to your brain. Once you understand the information presented to you then you either believe it or reject it. In that sense the outer call is a summons or a bidding or a command that can be disobeyed, rejected and disregarded.  Scripture shows us and experience agrees that the outer summons, the call to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, can be rejected.

In Acts 26 the apostle Paul is speaking to King Agrippa and sharing how he’d been calling people to repent of sin and to trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection as the means by which people are saved and reconciled to God. In sharing this story, Paul was also calling King Agrippa to do the same. King Agrippa replied, “Paul, you almost persuaded me to follow Christ in our short time together.”  That indicated that King Agrippa rejected the call of God through Paul to be saved and to follow Christ as Lord.

So we know that the outer call or summons of God can be rejected. Maybe you’ve shared the gospel with someone and called them to repent or to believe and they scoffed or downright rejected the outer call of God through you. There was also a time when you also rejected the outer call of God. You deemed the gospel foolish, worthy of scorn, but something changed inside of you, right? You believed on Christ and repented one day. Why? That’s because there is more than one call. There’s also an inner call that works in conjunction with the outer call. 

Romans 11:29 says that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.

In other words, God’s gifts and calling are without repentance or without regret in regards to both Israel and those us from other nations that are being saved.  Irrevocable means final, unchanging, immovable, unshakeable, certain, for sure. God will never undo this calling you into salvation. It stands forever.

Now what’s interesting about the Golden Chain of Redemption is that those whom God foreknew already have their final destination mapped out by God. They will be conformed to the image of Christ which is what salvation is about—restoring us in a way that brings eternal union with God. The road to that destiny is already paved. One of those paving stones is calling. The Golden Chain of Redemption starts with God loving you before creation—that’s foreknowledge. Then He predestines or elects you to be conformed to the image of His Son. That’s the final outcome for which He chose you. This is the very reason God created humans in His image. Sin wrecked that. God is fixing that. Those who are predestined to be conformed to Jesus’ likeness have their sins atoned for by Christ and then God calls those predestined ones to believe. Those who are not predestined continue to reject the outer call. Those who are predestined answer the call. Why do some believe and why do some reject the outer call? It’s because not everyone is called inwardly even though everyone is called outwardly.

I want you to notice the language of Romans 8:29-30. The words foreknew, predestined, called, justified and glorified are considered to be past tense actions and events even though some haven’t happened yet in space/time. It’s as if in God’s books, they are as good as done.  And they are. But since not everyone responds to God’s outer calling of Acts 17:30, we have to distinguish between that and this calling in Romans 8 where the calling is as good as done. Another way we might say it is this inner call is effective or effectual. God views it as certain and irrevocable. Just as when God called light out of darkness on day one of creation, it was certain to happen when God spoke. So, too, God’s inner call is certain and meant to lead to your final destiny. It’s for sure. You will be summoned. God won’t violate your will though. Instead, He will change your nature. He will cause you to move from spiritual death to life so that you can respond to His call. In fact, Scriptures uses creation language to describe God’s calling. He will call you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).  This helps us to understand what Jesus meant when He said, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” In other words, many hear the outer call to repent and believe that Jesus is the Savior but few are chosen, elected or predestined to respond to that call leading to salvation. Those who are predestined are called outwardly as well, but they are called inwardly by God and they do believe. His effectual call will not fall on deaf ears because He enables dead sinners to come to Him in order to be saved by belief and repentance. Those two things are gifts from God so that His grace is no longer rejected outwardly but believed inwardly. That is God’s grace brothers and sister.

Scripture affirms that both repentance and faith are gifts from God which will discuss during the topic of conversion. But that is why some believe the outer call. They been foreknown by God, predestined by God and now called by God inwardly to believe that Jesus is the risen Lord and Savior.  He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. 

Join me next time when we discuss REGENERATION in regards to the order of salvation. Take care and God bless you.

ORDO SALUTIS - ATONEMENT

We've been looking at the Ordo Salutis which is Latin for the Order of salvation. So far we've briefly examined foreknowledge, then predestination or election, and today we are looking at the next step in the Ordo Salutis. This next act by which God saves us is called atonement.

Atonement is an old English word that used to literally mean to be at one with another. To be in unity.  At-onement.  This word wasn’t originally used in a Biblical or theological sense. But over time it came to be used almost exclusively to the way that God reconciles sinners to Himself, the way that His wrath is appeased for our sins or crimes against a holy and perfect God.

In the Old Testament the English word atonement is used quite a bit when the Hebrew words kaphar and kippur are used. The word kaphar, which means “to cover,” is first used in the Bible when God told Noah to cover the ark with pitch or tar. In the sacrificial and ceremonial sense of the Mosaic Law, it is meant to convey the idea that sins are covered by the sacrifices that God required of the Jews. But the idea of this covering wasn’t meant to be used in the sense that something is hidden. The idea behind the word was meant to say that sins have been dealt with by this sacrifice that pacified God’s wrath towards the sinner. In other words, the sinner deserved to die for their sin. The perfect sacrifice took the punishment of death for them and it diverted God’s wrath away from them, thus God’s wrath was pacified towards the sinner, towards Israel and they were reconciled to God. Kaphar and kippur are words that reflect the reconciliatory peace brought to us by God because of the sacrifice’s death. So the idea that sins are covered does not fully convey what was going on through these sacrifices.  And that’s why the English word atonement began to be used to describe this. It’s through sacrifice that  Israel was brought to be at peace or unity with God. That’s how they were reconciled. But the book of Hebrews tells us that these sacrifices never really dealt with sin but rather they pointed towards Jesus who was our once and for all sacrifice. He’s the one who atoned for our sins, who brought us peace with God, reconciled us to God through His sacrificial death.

Now you may have noticed that the New Testament doesn’t use the word atonement in our English translations of the Bible, not unless you go the King James route.  The notion of atonement is reflected in many English words in the New Testament. 

RECONCILIATION

The idea behind reconciliation is that the relationship between two parties is restored. They are no longer divided but unified or reconciled. Hence, atonement is the focus.  

Romans 5:10-11 For while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.  

Again, the idea is that Jesus’ death appeases the wrath of God and satisfies the demands of justice by punishing evil on a substitute sacrifice so that we do not have to incur the wrath of God but can be at peace with Him.

PROPITIATION

Another word that helps us to understand the nature of atonement is the word propitiation. 

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  

Now there’s a word that we hardly use! Propitiation simply means to appease the wrath of God by offering a sacrifice in our place.  In other words, God wrath is diverted away from us and onto a sacrifice, namely, Jesus Christ. Instead of God’s fury and just judgment coming to us, it is steered away from us and on to Christ because our sins were placed upon Him so that He died on the cross for our sins, suffering the wrath of God for us.  This is how atonement is made. We can be at peace or at one with God, in unity.

REDEMPTION

Redemption carries the idea of deliverance or the fact that we are released from a ransom because payment was made on our behalf. For example, in a kidnapping, the criminal may promise deliverance of the victim if a ransom is paid. Redeeming something is to pay the price necessary to free something. Oftentimes people say, “I’m going to go redeem these aluminum cans and get money.” That’s actually the wrong way to use that word. You’re the one holding the cans captive. The redeemer is the one who pays you the money to free those cans and buy them from you. So, too, Christ is the redeemer pay the fee of His life to set us free from the wrath and judgement of God. God is the one who is paid, not Satan. 

Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.  

This is how Jesus’ sacrifice atones for our sins.

Brothers and sisters, let’s connect atonement to the gospel of Christ and the order of salvation. Before all time, God foreknew you and set His affection upon you. He predestined or elected you to be conformed to the perfect likeness of His son and He predestined you for adoption into His family. This means that formerly you were not displaying Christ’s likeness, nor were you a child of God. That’s because you had a sin nature and sinful deeds and thus were under the wrath of God. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is the means by which God reconciles you to Himself. Redemption has been made on your behalf so that you don’t have to go to hell forever. You are now free. You are at one with God now. Propitiation has been made for you. The wrath of God diverted away from you because your sins were placed on Christ and He suffered for you. Reconciliation and restoration in your relationship with God have been made through His life being offered up for you. These words help us to see a deeper nature of atonement versus the word covering. We are at one with God because of Jesus death for us. And that my friends, is the crux of the matter.

Next time we’ll be discussing calling in relation to the Ordo Salutis.

Check out my Youtube channel, The Crux, to see an explanation of ATONEMENT.

You can also find this on Instagram at TheCrux.IG.