The Application of the Work of Redemption: True Conversion

Notes from Louis Berkhof pps 131 - 137 and Myer Pearlman pps 223-237

In the very simplest terms conversion is a real turning from sin to God.

Act 3:19  Therefore, repent and turn to him to have your sins blotted out,

Act 3:20  so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and so that he may send you Jesus, whom he appointed long ago to be the Messiah.

Louis Berkhof defines conversion as that act of God whereby He causes the regenerated, in their conscious life, to turn to Him in faith and repentance.

Act 11:18  This statement of Peter's silenced his opponents. They extolled the goodness of God, and said, "So, then, to the Gentiles also God has given the repentance which leads to Life."

2Ti 2:25  He must speak in a gentle tone when correcting the errors of opponents, in the hope that God will at last give them repentance, for them to come to a full knowledge of the truth

2Ti 2:26  and recover sober-mindedness and freedom from the Devil's snare, though they are now entrapped by him to do his will.

The Holy Spirit is the Agent of the Godhead who causes this change to take place in the life of a Newly Born Again Person.

Php 2:13  For it is God Himself whose power creates within you the desire to do His gracious will and also brings about the accomplishment of the desire.

Act 2:38  "Repent," replied Peter, "and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, with a view to the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Act 2:39  For to you belongs the promise, and to your children, and to all who are far off, whoever the Lord our God may call."

It consist as a momentary change like regeneration, and is not a process like sanctification. It is  a change in the conscious life of a new believer.

Questions for research and Review.

1. Name some instances of outstanding conversions in the Old and New Testaments?
2. What elements are found in a True Conversion?
3. How do the Roman Catholics conceive of Repentance?
4. How does Conversion differ from Regeneration?
5. Who is the author of Conversion? Does man cooperate in conversion?

Verses to Memorize.

1. That God is the author of conversion.

Act 11:18  This statement of Peter's silenced his opponents. They extolled the goodness of God, and said, "So, then, to the Gentiles also God has given the repentance which leads to Life."

    b. That man cooperates in Conversion.

Isa 55:7  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Jehovah, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

Act 17:30  Truly, then, God overlooking the times of ignorance, now He strictly commands all men everywhere to repent,

   c. The Necessity of Conversion.

Eze 33:11  Say to them: As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I have no delight in the death of the wicked, except in the turning of the wicked from his way, and so to live. Turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?

Mat 18:3  and said, Truly I say to you, Unless you are converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

True conversion involves Repentance and Faith. See next time.

The Work of Christ in the Redemption of Mankind: The Source of our Justification : God’s Grace.

Grace means primarily favour, or that kindly disposition in the Mind of God.

It has been called, “Pure un-recompensed kindness and favour”; or “Unmerited favour”. As such, Grace cannot incur a debt. Whatever God bestows He bestows as a GIFT. So we cannot recompense Him or pay for it.

Salvation is a gift not a reward.
www.jesus-is-savior.com

Salvation is always presented in the Bible as a Gift, an undeserved and unpayable favour, a pure benefit from God.

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Myer Pearlman: Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible. P. 233

Grace is God dealing with the sinner absolutely apart from the question of merit or demerit.

It is God treating the sinner graciously without the slightest reference to his deserts. Grace is ‘God’s Infinite love expressing itself in infinite goodness’.

Grace is seen in the fact that God does not just overlook sin, but as the perfect Ruler of the Universe, through the Atoning Death of Christ, paid in full the penalty for our sin; therefore He can justly pardon our sin without regards to the sinners merit or demerit.

We can be pardoned, not because God just excuses our sin, but because there is Redemption through the Blood of Christ.

Rom 3:24  By his grace they are justified freely through the redemption that is in the Messiah Jesus,

Rom 3:25  whom God offered as a place where atonement by the Messiah's blood would occur through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because he had waited patiently to deal with sins committed in the past.

God’s pardoning of sin is based upon strict justice. God is both Faithful and just. 1 John 1:9. God’s Grace is revealed in His providing an atonement whereby He could both justify the ungodly and yet vindicate His Holy, unchangeable law.

 gracelovetruth.com

Under law or Under Grace.

Grace is independent of man’s works or activity. When a person is ‘under law’ he cannot be ‘under grace’; when he is ‘under grace’, he cannot be ‘under law’.

A person is ‘under law’ when he attempts to secure salvation or sanctification as a matter of reward, by the performance of good works or the observance of religious ceremonies.

He is ‘under grace’, when he secures salvation by trusting in Christ alone. It is faith in God's work for him and not his work for God.

The two spheres are mutually exclusive.

Gal 5:4  Those of you who are trying to be justified by the Law have been cut off from the Messiah. You have fallen away from grace. ISV

Gal 5:4  Christ has become nothing to any of you who are seeking acceptance with God through the Law: you have fallen away from grace. WNT

Adam Clark comments:

Christ is become of no effect unto you - It is vain for you to attempt to unite the two systems. You must have the law and no Christ, or Christ and no law, for your justification.

Ye are fallen from grace - From the Gospel. They had been brought into the grace of the Gospel; and now, by readopting the Mosaic ordinances, they had apostatized from the Gospel as a system of religion, and had lost the grace communicated to their souls, by which they were preserved in a state of salvation. The peace and love of God, received by Jesus Christ, could not remain in the hearts of those who had rejected Christ. They had, therefore, in every sense of the word, fallen from grace; and whether some of them ever rose again is more than we can tell.

The Law says, “Pay all”; Grace says, “All has been paid.”

Deeply rooted in the human heart is the idea that man must do something to make himself worthy of salvation. In the early church Jewish Christian teachers insisted that converts are saved by faith and the observance of the law of Moses. Acts 15.  Today some sections of the Christian church insist on this error by opposing forms of self-punishment; or the performance of certain rites, or the making of pilgrimages, or the giving of alms.

The underlying idea to all these things is: ”God is not gracious, man is not righteous, therefore man must make himself righteous so that god can be gracious.” False. Martin Luther thought ”Oh when I am pious enough then I may have a gracious God.” But he finally discovered the truth, that is at the basis of the Gospel, : God is gracious and therefore wills to make man righteous. The Grace of a loving heavenly Father revealed in the atoning death of Christ is an element in Christianity that differentiates it from all other religions

Louis Sperry Chafer says: “Salvation is the imputed righteousness of God; it is not the imperfect righteousness of man. Salvation is Divine Reconciliation; it is not a human regulation. Salvation is the cancelling of all sin; it is not the cessation of some sins. Salvation is being delivered from and being dead to the law; it is not delighting in or doing the law. Salvation is Divine regeneration; it is not human reformation. Salvation is being acceptable to God (by faith); not becoming exceptionally good. … Salvation is always and only of God: it is never of man.”

The Necessity of Justification because of Man’s Condemnation.

ilovemuslims.net

“How should a man be just before God”? Job 9:1. “What must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:30

This is the Greatest Question and we must know the answer how a man can get right with God.

The New Testament especially the Letter to the Romans, presents the Plan of Salvation in a systematic manner. The theme of the letter is : the Gospel (the Good News of Jesus Christ) is God’s power for men’s salvation, because it tells how sinners can be changed so as to be right with God. Romans 1:16-17

“The Righteousness of God” is an outstanding phrase in this book. The man who possesses it is right with God. This comes from Faith in Jesus Christ.  All men need this righteousness because all men have sinned.

Note these steps downward of man.

Rom 1:18  For God's anger is being revealed from Heaven against all impiety and against the iniquity of men who through iniquity 1. suppress the truth. God is angry:

Rom 1:19  because what may be known about Him is plain to their inmost consciousness; for He Himself has made it plain to them.

2. Man knows there is a God in His Innermost consciousness.

3. They failed to serve and worship Him and their minds became darkened.

Rom 1:20  For, from the very creation of the world, His invisible perfections--namely His eternal power and divine nature--have been rendered intelligible and clearly visible by His works, so that these men are without excuse.

Rom 1:21  For when they had come to know God, they did not give Him glory as God nor render Him thanks, but they became absorbed in useless discussions, and their senseless minds were darkened.

Rom 1:22  While boasting of their wisdom they became utter fools,

4. Spiritual Blindness lead to Idolatry.

Rom 1:23  and, instead of worshipping the imperishable God, they worshipped images resembling perishable man or resembling birds or beasts or reptiles.

5. This lead to complete Moral Corruption.

Rom 1:24  For this reason, in accordance with their own depraved cravings, God gave them up to uncleanness, allowing them to dishonour their bodies among themselves with impurity.

Rom 1:25  For they had bartered the reality of God for what is unreal, and had offered divine honours and religious service to created things, rather than to the Creator--He who is for ever blessed. Amen.

Rom 1:26  This then is the reason why God gave them up to vile passions. For not only did the women among them exchange the natural use of their bodies for one which is contrary to nature, but the men also,

Rom 1:27  in just the same way--neglecting that for which nature intends women--burned with passion towards one another, men practising shameful vice with men, and receiving in their own selves the reward which necessarily followed their misconduct.

Rom 1:28  And just as they had refused to continue to have a full knowledge of God, so it was to utterly worthless minds that God gave them up, for them to do things which should not be done.

Rom 1:29  Their hearts overflowed with all sorts of dishonesty, mischief, greed, malice. They were full of envy and murder, and were quarrelsome, crafty, and spiteful.

Rom 1:30  They were secret backbiters, open slanderers; hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful; inventors of new forms of sin, disobedient to parents, destitute of common sense,

Rom 1:31  faithless to their promises, without natural affection, without human pity.

They are without excuse because they have the revelation of God in nature, and a conscience that approves or disapproves of what they do. Romans 1 :19-20;

Rom 2:14  For when Gentiles who have no Law obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they, without having a Law, are a Law to themselves;

Rom 2:15  since they exhibit proof that a knowledge of the conduct which the Law requires is engraven on their hearts, while their consciences also bear witness to the Law, and their thoughts, as if in mutual discussion, accuse them or perhaps maintain their innocence--

Rom 2:16  on the day when God will judge the secrets of men's lives by Jesus Christ, as declared in the Good News as I have taught it.

Even the Jews which had all the advantages of being God’s chosen nation and being given the Law through Moses have violated God very Laws in thought, word and actions. See Romans chapter 2.

“Paul clangs the prison doors shut of the Cells of Condemnation.

Rom 3:19  Now we know that as many things as the law says, it speaks to those under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

By the deeds of the Law no flesh shall be justified before God, because all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

The Work of Christ in Redemption Applied in Salvation of the Lost.

The Lord Jesus Christ, by His Atoning Death on the Cross purchased our Salvation. How is this salvation applied by God and experienced by man? The Truths relating to Salvation may be grouped under three headings: Justification; Regeneration and Sanctification. Man’s acceptance of God’s Provision of Salvation may be grouped under: Repentance, faith, and Obedience. Notes from  Myer Pearlman: p.217

comedivinewill.wordpress.com

1. Justification : Divine acquittal by the Judge.

The word “to Justify” is a judicial term mean to acquit, to declare righteous, to pronounce a sentence of acceptance. The guilty one stands before God the righteous judge; but instead of a sentence of condemnation he received a sentence of acquittal. The noun, ‘Justification’ means a state of acceptance into which a person enters by faith. This acceptance is a free gift of God made available to us through faith in Christ.

Rom 1:17  For in the Good News a righteousness which comes from God is being revealed, depending on faith and tending to produce faith; as the Scripture has it, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

Rom 3:21  But now a righteousness coming from God has been brought to light apart from any Law, both Law and Prophets bearing witness to it--

Rom 3:22  a righteousness coming from God, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ and extends to all who believe. No distinction is made;

It is a state of acceptance in which the believer in Christ now stands.

Rom 5:1  Standing then acquitted as the result of faith, let us enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Rom 5:2  through whom also, as the result of faith, we have obtained an introduction into that state of favour with God in which we stand, and we exult in hope of some day sharing in God's glory.

Regardless of our sinful past and of our Present imperfections, we have a complete and secure position in relation to God; “justified” is God’s verdict and none can gainsay it.

Rom 8:34  Who is there to condemn them? Christ Jesus died, or rather has risen to life again. He is also at the right hand of God, and is interceding for us.

The doctrine of Justification has been defined as follows: “Justification is the act of God's free Grace wherein He pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.

www.realgospel.org

Justification is primarily a change of position on the part of the sinner. Once we were condemned, but now in Christ we are acquitted.

Justification includes even more than pardon of our sins and removal of our condemnation Romans 8:1. Now God places us in the position of a righteous man.

Illustration: The Governor of a state can pardon a criminal but he cannot reinstate the criminal to the position of one who has not broken the law. God can do both. He blots out our past with all its sins and offences, and then treats the person as if he had never committed these sins ever in his life.

A pardoned criminal is not considered as an honest and righteous man; but when God justifies the sinner He declares Him justified, i.e. righteous in His sight.

Praise God He does not justify good people, then there would be no Good news for sinners.

God Justifies the Ungodly person who believes in Jesus. Hallelujah.  Myer Pearlman: Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible Pps 227-228

The Work of Christ in the Redemption of Mankind. Atonement in the Old Testament.

Notes from Myer Pearlman, Knowing the Doctrines of the Bible pp185 ->

Introduction:

The Word, “sacrifice” is the key to understanding the work of Christ and His Death on the Cross.

Any attempt to explain the death of Christ without His atoning death is un-Biblical. Jesus, as “the Lamb of God”, who takes away the sins of the world.; that He purchased our Redemption; is to acknowledge that JESUS DEATH WAS A REAL SACRIFICE FOR SIN.

Thus a knowledge of the Old testament Sacrifices helps us in the interpretation of the death of Christ. These OT Sacrifices were more than just Judaistic rituals but were prophetic signs and “types” pointing to the Perfect Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. The first people to hear the Gospel message understood these ‘Prophetic’ pictures to their countrymen, these terms used were already very familiar.

In our Day there is a real need to learn the Prophetic Understanding of the words like redemption, justification, sanctification and atonement. We were not brought up in a Jewish context so we must grasp the meaning of these most important Biblical concepts.

1. The Origin of Sacrifice. 1(a) Ordained in heaven.

The Fall of man into depravity and rebellion was no surprise to God. God made provision for sin and reconciliation from before the foundation of the world. Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

1Pe 1:19  but with the precious blood of Christ--as of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

1Pe 1:20  He was predestined indeed to this work, even before the creation of the world, but has been plainly manifested in these last days for the sake of you who, through Him,

1Pe 1:21  are faithful to God, who raised Him from among the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are resting upon God. Cf Titus 1:2 Eph 1:4; acts 2:23

Christianity is not some Johnny-come-lately religion begun just 2000 odd years ago but is the historical manifestation of an eternal purpose.

    (b) Instituted on Earth.

Because the consummation of the sacrifice in Christ was to happen hundreds of years after the fall into sin; from the very beginning God ordained the institution which would foreshadow the sacrifice and also become a means of grace for the repentant and believing . Animal sacrifice was that one ancient human institution.

The first mention of a slain animal is found in Genesis ch. 3.

After their sin and rebellion against the clear and explicit Law of God, Adam and Eve tried to hide their shame with fig leaves for their nakedness.

Then we read that the LORD God took animals and killed them. Took their skins and covered them. Here we have a picture of God making provision for man’s redemption. We see an innocent creature dying so that sinful man might be covered; that is the primary purpose of sacrifice….. a Divinely provided covering for a guilty conscience.

Jesus is our Spotless Lamb slain to loose the guilty from their sins.

Rev 5:6  Then, midway between the throne and the four living creatures, I saw a Lamb standing among the Elders. He looked as if He had been offered in sacrifice, and He had seven horns and seven eyes. The last-named are the seven Spirits of God, and have been sent far and wide into all the earth.

Rev 5:7  So He comes, and now He has taken the book out of the right hand of Him who is seated on the throne.

Rev 5:8  And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four Elders fell down before the Lamb, having each of them a harp and bringing golden bowls full of incense, which represent the prayers of God's people.

Rev 5:9  And now they sing a new song. "It is fitting," they say, "that Thou shouldst be the One to take the book And break its seals; Because Thou hast been offered in sacrifice, And hast purchased for God with Thine own blood Some out of every tribe and language and people and nation,

Rev 5:10  And hast formed them into a Kingdom to be priests to our God, And they reign over the earth."

To be continued.......