Teach Us Systematic Theology: Part 2

Week 9: Redemption Part 1

Introduction
Back in the fall, we covered the Bible, God, Creation, Christ’s Person and Work, and the Holy
Spirit’s Person and Work. Over the next 8 weeks, we’ll be covering Redemption, the Church,
and Eschatology.

Today we begin the first of four parts covering Redemption, or how God has worked from
eternity past to eternity future to reconcile a chosen people to himself through the atoning
work of Christ on the cross.

Why Do We Need to Be Saved?

 The Enlightenment marked a huge shift in the way people viewed the world. Outside of
the western context, nearly every person on earth believes in a God or multiple gods.
Within these worldviews, salvation makes sense. People believe that our thoughts,
words, or actions can offend God or the gods, and therefore that atonement has to be
made – we must be saved from the consequences of what we’ve done.

 But many people reject that worldview. They do not believe in God, and therefore they
see no need for salvation. In the west today, if we need to be saved at all, we only need
to be saved from low self-esteem, our pasts, or other people who turn us into victims
through the injustices they have committed against us.

 But the Christian worldview is very different. We believe that we are born with sinful
hearts, and as a result, that we need to be saved from the power of sin and from the
penalty of sin. Let’s consider each in turn.

o We Are Born with Sinful Hearts

 Job 15:14: What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he
can be righteous?

 Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me.

 Jeremiah 17:1a: “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of
diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart...”

 From these Verses: we see that we aren’t born innocent, and then become
sinners through the bad example of others or through our own poor
choices. No, we are born sinners, and that is why we sin.
o We Need to Be Saved from the Power of Sin
 Genesis 4:6-7: The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face
fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is
crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

 Genesis 6:5: The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

 Matthew 15:17-19: Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into
the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the
heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder,
adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

 Romans 7:18-20: For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I
have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the
good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not
want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

 James 1:13-15: Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for
God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is
tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has
conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

 From these Verses: we see that sin affects every part of us and in some
sense, desires to master us. God’s judgment is that the intention of the
thoughts of our hearts (he gets down to base-level motivation here) is only
evil continually. We might do good things, but we do them for reasons that
are sinful at the core. All the bad things we think, say, and do originate in
our hearts. Nothing good dwells in our flesh, corrupted as it is by sin. When
we are tempted, it’s because we are being lured and enticed by our own
desires.

o We Need to Be Saved from the Penalty of Sin

 Genesis 3:19: By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the
ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

 Jeremiah 31:30: But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats sour
grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

 Matthew 25:41-46: “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you
cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and
you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you
did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did
not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or
 thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he
will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of
these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life.”

 Romans 1:18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

 Ephesians 5:5-6: For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral
or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things
the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

 From these Verses: we see that every person is going to die because of
Adam’s sin, and his or her own sin. Death is part of the penalty for sin. But
the wrath of God is the much bigger part of the penalty. Death lasts a
moment, but the wrath of God burns forever against those who sin against
him and never repent and believe. So we need to be saved from death, but
even more, we need to be saved from the wrath of God.

o So: we are born with sinful hearts, and we need to be saved from the power of sin
and the penalty of sin. The Good News is that God has promised to save all who
turn to him in repentant faith.

o Now: we’re ready to begin our study of redemption, and to do that, we want to
think about it in a logical order – what theologians call the “Ordo Salutis” or “The
Order of Salvation.”

The Order of Salvation (Ordo Salutis)

 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. 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 Order of Salvation: isn’t something you find explained in the Scriptures outside of
this text, and Paul isn’t really explaining the order of salvation here, either. He’s
comforting Christians going through affliction with the truth that their salvation – and all
of its benefits – are guaranteed.

 But Logically Speaking: there is an order to this text, and an order to how God redeems
us. And that’s what we’ll be talking about the rest of today and the next 3 weeks. Here is
the Ordo Salutis:
 o Election (God’s choice of people to be saved)
o Calling (proclaiming/hearing the message of the Gospel)
o Regeneration (being born again)
o Conversion (faith and repentance)
o Justification (right legal standing; righteousness of Christ imputed)
o Adoption (membership in God’s family)
o Sanctification (growth in obedience and knowledge; increased conformity to Christ)
o Perseverance (continuing in the faith; abiding in Christ)
o Death (going to be with the Lord)
o Glorification (receiving a resurrection body)

 Again: this is not meant to say that everything happens in a sequential order, one after
another. For example, we know that the moment we repent and believe, we are
justified and adopted into God’s family, and the sanctification process begins. We also
know that obviously, we have to be born again before we die and are glorified. So some
things happen simultaneously, while others happen sequentially. But this chronological
order can help us understand what God’s Word teaches about redemption.

 Today: we’ll begin with Election or Predestination, Calling, and Regeneration. Let’s move
to Election or Predestination, the first step in the order of salvation.

Election/Predestination
 Definition: Election is an act of God prior to creation in which he chose to save many
undeserving sinners from his wrath apart from any foreseen merit in them.

o An Act of God: election is something that God does. He chooses; we do not self-
select.

o Prior to Creation: God’s choice was made in eternity past, long before he created
the world, long before we were born.

o Chose to Save Many Undeserving Sinners: God’s choice was to rescue

undeserving sinners from the power and penalty of sin. Every sinner deserves to
be punished eternally, and God is under no obligation to save anyone. However,
God chose to save many, as evidenced by the millions, perhaps billions, who have
trusted in him throughout the ages.

o From His Wrath: God is rescuing us primarily from his own wrath against us and
our sin.

o Apart from Any Foreseen Merit in Them: the Bible does not teach that God chose
those that he knew would choose him, or that God chose those who were less
 sinful or more deserving in some way. The world consists only of undeserving
sinners, so there is no one who deserves to be saved.

 Election in the OT
o Deuteronomy 7:6-8: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God
has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on
the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that
the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is
because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD
has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the
hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

 We see here that God didn’t choose the people of Israel because they were
the most numerous, or for any other reason, but just because God set his
love on them and chose them.

o Malachi 1:2-3: “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is
not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I
have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”

 Think about the lives of these two boys. Was Esau wicked? Yes, he certainly
was. But so was Jacob – he was a treacherous, lying schemer. We can
understand how God would hate both of them, but why would he love
Jacob?

 Election in the NT (at least 25 references)

o John 15:16: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go
and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my
name, he may give it to you.

 You didn’t choose me; I chose you. It’s hard to get more direct than that!
We know from Scripture that we love because God first loved us. But it
could also be said, “We choose God because he first chose us.”

o Acts 13:48: And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of
the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

 Who believed? “As many as were appointed to eternal life.” Appointed to

eternal life is another way of saying elected, or predestined.

o Ephesians 1:3-6: 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 to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of
his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

 This is probably the clearest NT passage on predestination in the Bible. Paul

says God chose us, and that he did so before the foundation of the world.
He says God predestined us – he chose our destiny ahead of time – and that
he predestined us for adoption into God’s family.

o 2 Thessalonians 2:13: But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the
Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved.

 From the beginning, that is, before the foundation of the world, God chose
the Thessalonians to be saved. That’s true of them, and us as well.

 Summary: so we see from both the OT and the NT that God chooses to save people. He
chose the nation of Israel, and he chose Jacob, and he chose those who received the
Gospel the apostles preached. God chose before the foundation of the world, and
clearly not based on anything we would do in the future.

o This is why it is often referred to as “Unconditional Election” – there are no

conditions that we must meet in order to be elected by God; we do nothing to
deserve it.

o So when we understand that no one deserves anything from God (as we covered
earlier), then the real mystery isn’t, “Why would God only save some people?”
The real mystery is, “Why would he save any of us?”

o It’s also important to note that when people reject Jesus, God is not to blame. He
is simply allowing them to do exactly what they want to do based on the desires
of their sinful hearts. In John 5:40, Jesus says, “You refuse to come to me that you
may have life.” God isn’t shutting people out – apart from his grace, people have
no desire to come in.

 Questions on Election? (Limit to a few minutes)

Calling
 Definition: Calling is an act of God the Father, ordinarily through the human
proclamation of the Gospel, in which he summons people to himself in such a way that
they respond with repentance and faith.

o An Act of God the Father: as with election, calling is done by God, though it is
ordinarily accomplished through human proclamation. God called Abraham,
 Moses, and Saul (Paul) directly, and surely he has called others throughout history
as well. But ordinarily, he uses human proclamation.

o In Such a Way that They Respond with Repentance and Faith: this part of the
Ordo Salutis is often referred to as “Effectual Calling” because God’s call is always
effective. There is no one whom he has elected to save who will not respond to
his call.

 Calling in the OT
o Genesis 12:1: Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your
father’s house to the land that I will show you.”

 It’s important to note that Abram was a pagan from a pagan family. He
didn’t know God and wasn’t seeking God. But God sought him and called
him to leave and go to the land that he would show him so that he could
bless him, and all the families of the earth through him.

o Exodus 3:4: When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the
bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

 As with Abraham, Moses wasn’t seeking God, but God was seeking him. He
was a Hebrew, but he was raised in Pharaoh’s house as Pharaoh’s
grandson. But after he had to run away after murdering an Egyptian, God
called to him.

o 1 Samuel 3:10: And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

 Samuel was being raised by Eli the priest, and the Lord called to Samuel to
call him to serve as a judge, prophet, and priest to Israel. We could multiply
examples – I never mentioned Noah, or Joshua, or David, or any of the
other prophets that God called for his own purposes.

 Calling in the NT
o John 6:37: All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will
never cast out.

 You really see the concept of effectual calling here. Who will come to
Jesus? All that the Father gives him. Those he chose will respond to his call.
As Jesus says in John 10, his sheep know his voice, and they follow him.
 o John 6:44: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise
him up on the last day.

 What has to happen for someone to come to Jesus? The Father who sent
Jesus has to draw them. God has to effectively call them to himself, or they
can’t come. Jesus doesn’t say “No one will come to me.” He says, “No one
can come to me.” We lack the ability without his effectual call.

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

 All that God predestines he calls to himself. There is no one chosen by God
whom he does not effectually call.

o Romans 10:14: How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are
they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without
someone preaching?

 This verse highlights that one word in our definition, “ordinary.” How does
God ordinarily call people to himself? Through human preachers. On rare
occasions he doesn’t use a human mouthpiece, but ordinarily he does.

 Summary: it is a wonderful reality that God chose us in him before the foundation of the
world. But unless he calls us to himself, we can’t experience the benefits of our election.
We saw through these verses both specific people who were called by God, and general
statements about calling.

o Ordinarily, God calls people to himself through the proclamation of the Gospel,
using regular, everyday believers like you and me. God’s general call goes out to
everyone – generally through what he has made (Psalm 19, Romans 1), and
specifically through the preaching of the Gospel.

o As Jesus said, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22). God calls
everyone to repent and believe in a general sense, but his calling is effective only
for those whom he has predestined.

 Questions on Calling? (Limit to a few minutes)

Group Study: Real Questions from Your Friends (11:35-11:50am)

Group Breakdown:
 Group 1: Your friend, who is a newer Christian, just came across the doctrine of election
in a book the other day. He brings up 1 Timothy 2:3-7, where Paul states that God,
 “desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” How do we
reconcile this with the fact that God has not chosen to save everyone?

 Group 2: You’re at coffee with your professor and some classmates, and the subject of
predestination in the Bible comes up. Your professor says that predestination
necessarily means that people don’t make real choices, since everyone’s eternal destiny
has already been decided by God. How would you respond?

 Group 3: Your opinionated uncle, who is also a Christian, finds out that you’ve been
studying election in a class at church. He tells you, “If election is true, evangelism is
pointless.” What would you say to your uncle?

 Group 4: After Life Group one evening, a friend pulls you aside. He’s been reading 2
Peter 1:10, which says, “be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.”
He asks you how to do that. How would you respond?

 Group 5: Your friend is discouraged because she’s been ministering to a family member
for a long time, calling him to repent and believe in Jesus. She asks you whether she
should keep up her evangelism, wondering if she is “casting her pearls before swine”
(Matt. 7:6). How would you respond?

Group Responses (11:50am-12:15pm)

 Group 1: Because God is love, and because he created us in his own image and likeness,
God certainly does desire that all people would be saved and to come to know and
believe the truth. But all people won’t be saved. In fact, no one will be saved unless God
chooses to save them, draws them to himself, changes their hearts, and grants
repentance and faith. In other words, for his own reasons, God has chosen to pass over
many and to leave them to the consequences of their sins, and he has chosen to save
many others. In this way, as Romans 3 says, he is both just and the justifier of the one
who has faith in Jesus.

 Group 2: A choice does not have to be absolutely free in order for it to be a real choice.
To have “free will” in the way many people seem to define it, we would have to have no
constraints whatsoever on our choices, and that is not possible in this world. For
example, in one sense, you’re free to marry whomever you wish, but in another sense,
you aren’t, because the person you choose must also be willing to marry you. The Bible
both assumes and affirms that we make real choices. Moses tells the people to “Choose
life,” as does his successor, Joshua. The Book of Jeremiah is essentially one long lament
about how God has called his people to repent, but they wouldn’t do it. In Romans
10:21, Paul cites Isaiah 65:2, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and
 contrary people.” Our choices are voluntary because they represent what we want to
do; the problem is our sinful hearts do not want to listen to or obey God.

 Group 3: Far from it! As we’ve seen today, God ordinarily calls people to saving faith
through human preachers like you and me, and no one can call on Jesus if they’ve never
heard of him (Romans 10:14). Evangelism is necessary because this is the way God has
set up the world. And further, election is what gives us confidence in our evangelism.
Because God effectively calls people through us, we can focus on being faithful and
leave the results to him.

 Group 4: In 1 John 5:13, John says, “I write these to you who believe in the name of the
Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” The whole book is written to
help us make our calling and election sure. Do we walk in the darkness or in the light?
Do we love God? Do we love others? Do we confess that Jesus is the Son of God who
came in the flesh? Do we bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, showing that he lives in
us?

 Group 5: This is a tough question with no easy answer. In my own life, I had to stop
sharing truth with my sister because she told me that she didn’t want to hear about
Christianity any more from me. My dad functionally said the same to me two years ago
after I shared the Gospel with him explicitly and called him to repent and believe. Since
there are so many people who need to hear the Gospel, and so relatively few of us to
share it, I take Matthew 7:6 to mean that we shouldn’t go on spending time and energy
on people who continually reject the Gospel so that we might share it with others who
will receive it with joy.