The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

REDEMPTION THROUGH GRACE (1 Peter 1:2c-d)

So when we are facing times of terrible persecution, or difficult trials, when things are so bad that they are out of our ability to control, what are you most grateful for?

Certainly, I am grateful for a loving God who cares for me, watches over me, and provides for me.  I am grateful for the power of the Holy Spirit living within me.  I am grateful for the promises of God that we find in His word, such as, that we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

So this verse is interesting because it doesn’t promise that all things work together for the good of all men, it puts a qualifier on this promise.  What is that qualifier?

You have to be someone who loves God, and someone who is called according to His purpose.  This means that if you want to claim the promise of this verse, that no matter what you are going through, that it will work out for your good, then you must meet the requirements of this promise.  And in order to meet those requirements you must be saved, a born again child of God.  

So, the first thing that you need to have in order to face persecution, trials, or difficult times in your life, is the certain knowledge that you have been redeemed by God, and that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Master.  This is the basic minimum for this promise to be true.   

The next most important thing that I believe we need is the grace of God.  When I am facing a difficult time, the one thing that I cherish most from God is His grace.  It is His grace that allows me to be forgiven.  It is His grace that allows me to be justified freely before God.  It is His grace that allows the blood of Christ to wash my sins away, in spite of the sin in my life.  That is God’s grace.  

This leads us to the third thing that we must have to face persecution.  The result of knowing that we are saved, and that God’s grace has been bestowed on us, is the peace of God in our hearts.  When we have God’s peace in our heart, we have comfort in the knowledge of God’s provision for us.  

So salvation, grace, and peace, are what I consider the three most important things that I must know, claim, and be sure of, when I have hard times.  Everything else that God is going to do for me flows from these three Biblical truths.  The presence and power of the Holy Spirit resides in my heart because of the redemption and grace that God has given me, and it is because I am redeemed, and that I am the recipient of God’s grace, that God’s peace is there, as well.   

Listen to this podcast to learn what it means to be redeemed by God, and to have God’s grace and peace, to give us comfort during times of persecution. 

GOD'S GIFT AND GOD'S GRACE (Romans 5:16-21)

Each day that I live I am grateful for the gift of God and the grace of God.  It is by the gift of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, that I can have eternal life in Heaven, and it is the grace of God that makes it all possible.

Nothing can stand in the way of God’s grace.  It is absolutely sovereign.  Eternal life through Jesus Christ is assured.  God’s abundant grace will reign through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, for all who believe on Him, unto everlasting life.  That is our security as a believer.  It was God’s gift and God’s grace that allowed us to have salvation, and nothing can stand in the way of God’s grace.  Absolutely nothing.  We are secure in God’s grace.  

This whole concept of sin and death, and of God’s gift and grace, is so amazing that it is hard to believe.  Yet, it is also so simple and direct that it truly brings out the divine nature of God, His omniscience and omnipotence, and most of all His love for each of us.  His desire that none should perish but that all should have everlasting life is one of the great promises of the Bible.  I know that God loves me because the Bible has told me so.

On this week of thanksgiving, I praise God that:

John 3:16-18

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

KJV

JESUS IS THE SOLUTION (Romans 5:15)

Sin has caused the death of every human that has ever lived.  So you might ask Is there a solution to the problem of sin and death?

The answer to this question is found in the love and grace of God.  God loves us so much that He planned the solution to the problem of sin and death before the world was ever formed.  

The answer is where one man created the problem, a second Man is the solution, or a last Adam.  Jesus Christ.  The One who through His obedience to will of the Father restored all that the first Adam threw away by his willful rebellion against the command of God.  

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO DEATH? (Romans 5:12-14)

There is no question that one of the greatest trials that we will face in our lifetime is the loss of a loved one.  As we face that event we often begin to ask God questions like, why did my parent, or spouse, or child have to die?  Even more difficult is the day the doctor tells you that you are going to die.  When faced with the death of a loved one, or even our own death, we ask God, Why must everyone die?  

Why do innocent babies die?  Why do good people die?  Why is it that bad people are not the only ones that die?  According to the way that man thinks, if it was a just world, good people would live forever, and bad people would die at a young age, in a horrible way.  But that is not the way it works in our world, everyone dies.  Little children die, moral people die, and even religious people die right along with the bad people.  Death is universal.  The question is why, and is there a solution to the problem of death?

For a universal effect there must be a universal cause.  That cause is a state of universal sin, but what was the cause of this universal state of sin?  The direct answer is that we all die because the first man, Adam, rebelled against God by violating God’s direct commandment.  

The consequence of Adam’s sin was that a universal state of sin was given to all of Adam’s descendants.  As the descendants of Adam all men must now die, even innocent children.  There is the saying that only two things are certain in this life, death and taxes.  Until the day Jesus comes, each of us will certainly face death because of sin.  

Well you say, Keith that is not fair.  Why must I die because of something Adam did?  Actually, not only is it fair, but it is to our advantage to have sin enter the world through the acts of one man.  

Listen to this podcast to learn that the wonderful thing about God’s love for man is that it is because sin and death entered as a result of one man’s sin, that the solution is provided by the death of one Man as well.  Jesus Christ is the world’s solution to eternal death.  

The death, burial, and resurrection, of Jesus Christ means that everyone who has ever lived can have eternal life if they have, or will, believe in Christ’s completed work of salvation.  We can have eternal life with Jesus in heaven because He was divinely capable of being the One man who could pay the universal penalty of our sin, and Jesus volunteered to do this for you and for me.  

HOW SECURE IS GOD'S LOVE? (Romans 5:6-11)

We live in a society where everything changes, where nothing is permanent.  A majority of people in our state can define marriage as being between one man and one woman, and yet a set of activist judges, with no regard for the constitution of the U.S., can overrule the will of the people.  

We can live in this nation for hundreds of years with clearly defined morals about what is right and wrong based on the absolute truths established by God, and then suddenly anything that God says must be disregarded.  Where man is involved, everything changes, nothing is secure.  

So it is easy to understand why people have a hard time accepting God’s gift of salvation as permanent.  Surely there must be things that we can do to take that salvation away, or perhaps God will change His mind as He looks at the depravity of man in our current world.   

This is the way man acts, right?  Our love towards others is generally dictated by how that other person treats us.  It is easy to love someone who loves us back.  It is much harder to love someone who intentionally harms us.  So this is man’s concept of love, do unto others as they have done unto me.  

However, God’s concept of love is very different from ours.  In our lesson today, Paul will tell us that God loves even the ungodly.  He loves us even if we have rejected Him.  He loves us even if we have done things that He has established as evil and wrong.  God loves us in spite of what we do, say, or even if we do not love Him back.  Paul will go on to say that it is because God’s love for us does not change that our salvation, once accepted, is unchangeable.  Once we have become a reborn, sanctified, justified, and adopted child of God, we cannot be unborn, nor can our adoption to the family of God be revoked.  Once we are in the hand of our Lord, nothing can remove us.  Our salvation is secure, because God’s love for us is secure.  

It is the love of God that guarantees our eternal security.  That same love that planned our redemption at the foundation of the universe, that sent His own beloved Son to die on a cross, will be the same love that will fling wide open the gates of glory to welcome us home. 

WHO DO YOU TRUST FOR YOUR SALVATION? (Romans 4:16-25)

Have you ever looked at the work that you asked somebody to do for you, or even hired them to do it, and ultimately said, If you want a job done right, then do it yourself.

Finding people to do quality work is difficult in a society where excellent craftsmanship is so expensive, that we have learned to settle for less.  Contractors, plumbers, service technicians, arrive late, or not at all.  The work that many of them do is poorly done, or mediocre at best, with little pride in what they have accomplished.  My father had another saying that he instilled in me, if you are going to do a job, do it right, or don’t do it all.  

Our schools teach our children that competing to win at sports, on the playground, in academics, or even at life, is degrading to those that lose.  A grading system that rewards the hard work, or natural ability, of some, discourages those who do not get those grades, so they do away with the grades.  They teach kids that not excelling is ok, when they ought to be telling our kids, that success in our society is obtained by hard work, excelling at what you do, having desire, passion, and intelligence about what to work hard on.  

When faced with the failure of so many in our lives to do the things that we ask them to do, we often stop trusting in others.  We decide that when something is really important, then we can only trust ourselves to get it done right.  This is probably a true statement when our faith is in the things of this world, or man.  

But what about our eternal lives?  Who do you trust with your acceptance by God?

Do you trust your preacher with your eternal destiny?  Can you trust your friends or family to make sure you get into heaven?  Your parents have always worked hard at the church, so you must be ok, right?

Or, do you say, If I want a job done right, or if I want to be sure I am going to heaven, then I better do it myself?  

Well, this is the question that Paul has been answering over the last several weeks of lessons.  Are you going to believe in salvation by trying, or doing it yourself, or salvation by trusting?

Paul has said that no matter how hard we try, we cannot be good enough to meet the perfect standards of righteousness that a Holy God demands.  That salvation by trying is not even possible, no matter how hard you try.  Therefore, the only reasonable alternative is to depend on salvation by trusting, or salvation by faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ towards our salvation.  

Listen to this podcast as we discover who the Bible says you should trust with your eternal life.

ARE YOU TOO BAD TO BE SAVED? (Romans 4:6-15)

Many of us have lived lives where we have done things that we regret today.  Things that have had terrible consequences to our own life, and the lives of those around us.  Prison, a ruined marriage, a lost career, and personal finances that were wasted.  The question that comes to mind when you are confronted with religion, salvation, eternal life, heaven, or hell, is have I been too bad to be accepted by God?

Are there things that a person could do that would be just too bad, too ugly, or too horrific, that would make them unacceptable for God’s plan of salvation?  

What about a murderer?  Is murder the unpardonable sin?  Can a person who has committed a vicious act of murder ever hope to be saved?  

What about suicide?  Can a Christian commit suicide and still go to heaven? 

How about someone who commits adultery?  A man and a woman have been married for years and the man decides to look for a younger woman.  Can he be saved?

Can a drunk, or a thief, or name the worst sin that you can think of, can they be accepted by God?

Many of the people that I converse with on my web-pages argue that justification by faith makes no sense at all if it allows really bad people to be saved.  Are they right?

The Bible tells me that a career thief who hung on cross next to Jesus was able to join Jesus in heaven.  The Bible also tells me that there is no act of murder which is too great.  There is no act of adultery which is too awful.  There is no unpardonable act of sin, not even suicide.  

The key to your salvation is not what type of sin, or how much sin you have committed.  The key to your salvation is what you do with Jesus Christ.  If you make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior, then you can be saved.  I am not going to say that people whose hearts have been so seared by evil can do this easily, or would even want to do this, but God says that by the power of the Holy Spirit, it can be done.

God’s plan of salvation says that we must have faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God in order to be saved.  It requires that we accept the fact that we are hopelessly guilty of sin against God.  It requires that we repent of those sins by agreeing with God that it was wrong and then choosing to change our lives, to never do those things again, and then make Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives.

If we do this, if a person who has committed murder can actually do this, then I believe that the Bible is clear when it says that Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  The Bible does not say Whosoever has not done evil, or Whosoever has done more good than bad, it says Whosoever, meaning anyone who accepts God’s plan of salvation by calling upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.  

Listen to this podcast to learn that the only unpardonable sin that a man can commit is to reject the completed work of Christ for your salvation and to reject Jesus as the Son of God.   

IS GOD'S PLAN REASONABLE? (Romans 3:27 to 4:5)

Is God’s plan of salvation reasonable?  That is an interesting question, for if we are to consider whether or not God’s plan of salvation is reasonable, then we have to ask is God reasonable?

I have to admit that I have never thought of the word reasonable in relation to God.  God is divine, therefore, He doesn't have to be reasonable.  God is gracious, God is loving, God is our judge, He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, but is God reasonable?

Is God reasonable as He judges our works?  What are His standards?  Are they reasonable?

The word reasonable is defined as rational, in accord with common sense, not expecting more than what is possible, not exorbitant, and fairly good.  So with these words in mind, if you believe that you will be accepted by God based on your works, or how much good versus how much bad you have done, then will God be reasonable in His judgment of your works?

To answer this we have to ask what is the standard that God will use to judge us by? And the Bible tells us that our works must meet the standard of God’s own perfect righteousness and holiness.  Is it rational for God to expect perfection?  Is it in accord with common sense, and is it not expecting too much? 

Most people would answer that God knows that we cannot be perfect so it would be expecting too much for Him to demand perfection.  My response is that God created Adam and Eve in perfect bodies and placed them in a perfect environment called the Garden of Eden.  God expected Adam and Eve to keep that perfection.  It was man who willfully chose to sin and corrupt the perfection that God had created.  So it is certainly reasonable for God to expect man to be as perfect as He created him.

If this is true, then that leaves those who believe in salvation by works with a problem.  How can they meet the standards demanded by God when man is no longer capable of perfection?  

Does God have to change His standards?  The Bible says there is no changing in God.  What God demanded in the past, God demands today.  What God expected from Adam in the past, God expects from us today.  The bottom line is that I would not trust the best five minutes of my life to meet the perfect standards of God.  So if man’s plan is not possible, what is God’s plan?

God’s plan is salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.  In man’s plan of salvation by works, everything depends on the sinner.  In God’s plan of salvation by faith, everything depends on the perfect work of salvation performed by the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  

Listen to this podcast to learn that if you want to plead not guilty and demand a fair trial, then God will give you one, a trial where your works must meet His standards of perfection.  The more reasonable approach is to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, plead guilty, and depend on God’s mercy and grace that He is able to grant us through the perfect work of Christ.

HOW CAN WE BE RIGHTEOUS? (Romans 3:24-26)

For the believer who has Christ as his Savior, words like justified, freely, grace, redemption, propitiation, faith, and blood all have very specific meanings to their faith.  Yet how many Christians can define these words in a way that allows others to understand how God’s plan of salvation has changed their lives?  

For example, as you relate God’s plan of salvation to someone you know, can you tell them how it meets their need of being seen as righteous before God because of the redemptive price that was paid by Jesus on the cross.  How it grants them redemption?  How it serves as propitiation, and how the means of this salvation is our faith in Christ?  How the redemptive price for this salvation was so high, that it cost the shed blood of the Son of God?

The wonderful good news about God’s plan of salvation is that a holy and perfectly righteous God devised a plan of salvation that reaches down into the depths of sin and darkness that man has fallen to, and yet does not compromise God’s own inherent holiness, justice, and righteousness.  Listen to this podcast to learn what these words mean to your salvation, and to the salvation of those who want eternal life with Jesus in heaven.

IF MAN IS TO BE SAVED, THEN GOD MUST SAVE HIM (Romans 3:21-23)

When we accept the apostle Paul’s statement that we are all hopelessly guilty before a holy God, and that we are  helpless to redeem ourselves, the natural questions that might be asked are, What then?  If I cannot help myself, then who will?  Am I too bad, have I done too many bad things to be saved?

This is exactly the question that Paul wants us to ask, because this tells him that we are ready to hear about God’s plan for the justification and salvation of man.  Paul is going to tell us that we have a God that loves us, and He has a plan for us.  

God’s plan is a simple plan, yet it is a difficult plan for many of us to accept.  We do not easily admit that we cannot do something, or that we are dependent on others to something for us.  The more successful in life that you are, the more difficult is for you.

God’s plan is a complete plan that stands ready for us, when we are ready for God.  Jesus has done all of the work for our justification, redemption, regeneration, and salvation.  You only have to accept it.

God’s plan costs us nothing, it is free to us, but it cost God the Father, the most precious thing that He has, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  

God’s plan tells us that if man is to be saved at all, then it is God that must save him, and it is by God’s plan, and only God’s plan, that man can be saved.  

Listen to this podcast to learn that God has a plan of salvation for sinners, even the worst of sinners.  There is nothing that you could do, other than rejecting God’s plan, that would be too bad for you to be saved.  This makes God’s plan unique among other religions.