#30) Main Character or Supporting Cast?

Main Character or Supporting Cast?

The last month has been spent covering the dangers of false teaching as well as covering some of the false teaching out there in ministry. Tonight, we are going to cover an even greater subject. It is the subject of salvation. Even more detailed, it is the subject of how much of a part God plays in it. Is He the main character in this play or is He just a supporting cast member who cheers us on in our quest for eternity? My hope is that by the end of the lesson, you will know with certainty who the composer really is.

Ask congregation what role they believe God plays in salvation.

The answer really is a simple one. God is not only the composer but He also orchestrates the entire play. He came up with the concept, wrote the script, designed the set, directed the show, and closed out the credits with two words: JESUS CHRIST!

John MacArthur
Who is responsible for individual salvation – God or the person? Put another way, “Did God sovereignly elect us and save us? Or did He act in accord with what He knew we would do?” In other words, “Who makes the first move?”

There are many today who place God at the forefront in their speech yet their doctrine reflects otherwise. Many say God is in control of all things yet then yield this control in favor of their own control. These people make the claims that God calls and makes possible salvation but we must do the rest of the job on our own in order to make anything legitimate. Sadly, this is not what Scripture teaches.

1 Corinthians 1:30
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

It is by God’s doing and by God’s doing alone. We are going to cover some of these areas from a Scriptural standpoint tonight to see what it is exactly that God does while orchestrating His plan that came from eternity.

1 Peter 1:1a & 2a
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens,…………..who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,

There are some out there who teach that God chooses people based on His foreknowledge of what they would choose of their own doing. In other words, they believe God makes salvation possible but then leaves it up to the individual person to accept it or reject it. They agree that there is an Elect but they say this election was based on the free will choice of the individual. In other words, God looked into the future, saw the choice man would make, and then elected him to be one of His own down the road in His own good timing. With this school of thought, it gives man something to boast about. It says that man made a righteous choice, man accepted a universal offer, man stepped up to God, and man essentially saved himself. It is compelled to teach that God does not save but only makes a way to save. Either that or it must say that God does the saving but only if we allow Him to which places us over God in the sense that we start telling Him what is acceptable and what is not. Furthermore, if salvation is only based upon God’s foreknowledge of the choice of man, where did the saving faith come from to begin with? It certainly wouldn’t have been initiated by God if He is only reacting instead of initiating. This is clearly not the Truth.

Romans 8:7
because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,

Ephesians 2:3
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Colossians 1:21
And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,

1 Corinthians 2:14
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

As the Scriptures point out, there is nothing in us that would ever choose God. Before salvation, we were hostile toward God. We were children of wrath. We saw the things of God as foolishness. In essence, we hated God and had no desire to turn to Him. Even if we didn’t consciously hate God, our actions proved otherwise. We were at war with God and most of us didn’t even know it. Therefore, we know God’s foreknowledge was not of an action we would make as the only possible action we could have made was to continue rejecting Him. As a result, we must continue to look and see what the true context of “foreknowledge” really is.

Romans 8:29-30
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

We see here that everyone whom God foreknew, He also predestined. By itself, one might be able to argue that salvation is based upon God’s foreknowledge of a choice. However, that is the problem. It is a doctrine that stands alone. When used in context with other Scripture, we see an entirely different meaning. The word used for “foreknew” is the Greek word proginosko which simply means to know in advance. However, the Greek word used for predestined is proorizo which means to ordain in advance. Did God simply ordain something that He saw in the beginning? Again, this is impossible because, as pointed out in the above verses, every part of our being was against God.

Acts 2:23
this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

Everything hinges on the election of God; His predetermined plan. All Scripture is saying is that God had full knowledge of what was going on. God is omniscient. He knows all things. He was well aware of the plan He was setting in place. He knew it in advance because He ordained it in advance. The two phrases go hand in hand and actually share the same interpretation of each other.

1 Peter 1:20
For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you

Notice Scripture says that Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world. If we follow the same school of thought that many people do, we would be forced to say that this passage means nothing more than Jesus was known by God in advance. However, we know that there is much more to the meaning of this phrase.

Jeremiah 1:5a
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

John 10:14
I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,

God did not merely know the Son in advance. He ordained what would happen in advance. We also see that Jesus knows his own in an intimate way that goes beyond the normal bounds of general knowledge. The same is said in Jeremiah where it speaks of foreknowledge on an intimate level before even being in the womb. In other words, those whom God foreknew on an intimate level in advance, He also predestined.

Romans 11:2
God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

Notice it says nothing about God foreknowing a choice. It specifically speaks of God foreknowing the individual. Of course, God knows every person inside and out so it cannot be speaking of a general knowledge. It is differentiating this by referring to the intimate knowledge that God foreknew of His Elect before the foundation of the world when He ordained His plan. This concept is also found in Romans 9.

Romans 9:23
And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

Romans 9:15-16 & 18
For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy……… So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

God prepared His Elect beforehand in order that we could share in His glory through an intimate relationship with Him as the Father. All of this was from Him and our own choices had no bearing on anything because our choice was bound by our nature of wrath.

Now that we have clarified the proper relationship between God’s foreknowledge and His predestined plan, let’s go back to the beginning and move on from there.

1 Corinthians 1:30"]But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

Every single part of salvation is accredited to God. We are going to touch on a few of the actions God initiates and completes regarding the plan on salvation.

God wills

John 1:12-13
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.[/quote]

Ephesians 1:5 & 11
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,......also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

Nothing is outside the will of God. The only reason we have salvation is because God willed it in the beginning. He ordained it to be so.

God draws

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.

God grants

John 6:65
And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."

God calls

1 Thessalonians 2:12
so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

2 Thessalonians 2:14
It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 1:9
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

1 Peter 2:9
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

God appoints

Acts 13:48
When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

1 Thessalonians 5:9
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

God predestines

Romans 8:29
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

Ephesians 1:5 & 11
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,.......also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

God prepares

Romans 9:23
And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

God causes

1 Corinthians 1:30
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

God chooses

1 Thessalonians 1:4
knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you;

1 Thessalonians 2:13
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

Ephesians 1:4
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love

God purposes

Ephesians 1:11
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:

God delivers and transfers

Colossians 1:13
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

God saves

2 Timothy 1:9
who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,

Titus 3:5
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

God makes us alive

Ephesians 2:5
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

God pours out His Spirit

Titus 3:6
whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

God brings us forth

James 1:18
In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

God justifies

Romans 8:30
and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Titus 3:7
so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

God sanctifies

1 Thessalonians 5:23
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God glorifies

Romans 8:3
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,

As we can see, God is at work in all areas of salvation. He is the initiator as well as the accomplisher in every aspect. All glory is to be given to Him. We have absolutely zero room for boasting as we had nothing within us to save ourselves. Because of this work that God performs in us and around us, we can truly come to understand the plan of salvation.

That plan consists of calling, regeneration, faith, repentance, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification.

In a nutshell:

First, we are called by God. He then regenerates us and gives us a nature of Christ. At this point, we are saved because we have been renewed. Upon this transformation, we immediately gain faith and cling to Him just as a newborn clings to his mother and father. It is at this point, and only at this point, that we now feel guilty of our past nature and confess it before God whereas before, we embraced the evil. Upon this point, we are justified of all wrongs because we now have an Advocate in Christ. We are then adopted into the family of God where we can cry Abba, Father. As new creatures in Christ we are fully sanctified and cleansed by the atoning blood of Christ. Those who belong to God and are given to the Son will persevere until the end for no one can snatch us out of the Father's hand and Jesus will not lose any that are given to him. Upon our entry into Heaven, we will then be glorified in our heavenly eternal state with God.

Ask congregation if they still feel the same way about the role they believe God plays in salvation.

1 Corinthians 4:7
For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

2 Corinthians 10:17
But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD.

Always remember, it is God who gets the credit. Outside of His will and plan, there is no salvation. To say we initiate our own salvation is to take glory away from God and apply it to ourselves. To say God is compelled to give us something if we ask for it makes God our servant and takes glory away from Him. To say God is only reactionary based on our choices removes His sovereignty. It is to say we are more powerful than God and that He must bend to our decrees and desires. This also robs God of His glory by giving it to ourselves. We have no reason to boast. Every single part of salvation was composed and orchestrated by God. Everything we have is only because we received it by a God who gave it to us.

Soli Deo Gloria! Glory to God alone!