Intro:

Today, there is a lot of confusion within the Christian church about something so very basic to the Bible and the Christian faith: Salvation.

The confusion centers around how God interacts with mankind and our sin problem?

1. Salvation by my own effort
2. Salvation by God’s grace
3. half/half “I do my best, God makes up the rest”

To confuse the matter some churches teach that God’s method changes. Some say that those before the cross were saved in a different way than those after the cross and point to two Covenants an Old and a New Covenant to show that God had one way of saving people under Old Covenant and another way under the New Covenant. — Does God have two methods of Salvation?

This confusion in the church is an attack by Satan to distract us from the truth of the gospel! He will do whatever he can to keep men and women from understanding and knowing the truth of gospel — because he knows that his power is broken through the power of the gospel!

[Opening Prayer]

We begin this morning with a question which Paul asks his Roman audience as he seeks to open up the truth of the gospel to their minds:

“For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?” – Rom 3:3 NKJV

I have to admit, I struggled over this verse trying to understand it. At first glance it seems to be saying that God’s faithfulness is not dependent on humanities response, right? Does our belief change God’s faithfulness?

Paul follows this verse up with verse 4: 

“Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar…”” – Rom 3:4 NKJV

Without a doubt, Paul drives home a point that has brought so much confusion into Christianity. God’s faithfulness is not dependent on our faithfulness.

This has led some to take the stance that God will save the entire human race, in the end “No one will really be lost.” — It’s a Universalist approach. As recent as January, a professor from La Sierra University — A Seventh-day Adventist University, told all the Pastor’s of the Arizona Conference that Revelation teaches that God will save the majority of humanity and very few will actually be lost. — Now I have to admit she didn’t stretch as far as to say that everyone will be saved, but definitely the majority. This is based on God’s faithfulness despite humanities failures.

However we come into some big problems if we hold this view, when we look at what Jesus said:

“…broad [is] the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” – Mat 7:13

NKJV

In fact you don’t even have to go outside of Revelation to find that the majority will be lost, not saved:

“Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number [is] as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” – Rev 20:7-9 NKJV

I asked this professor who this group of people were, and she couldn’t tell me.

Others look at the above verse and conclude that it’s talking about God’s faithfulness to the Jewish nation. These are the zionists!

They declare that even though the Jews have rejected Christ, they are God’s people and He will re-establish them as His kingdom on earth. The temple will be rebuilt, and the Jewish nation restored.

But Paul couldn’t possibly mean us to interpret it this way, since he says a few verses before:

“”28 For he is not a Jew who [is one] outwardly, nor [is] circumcision that which [is] outward in the flesh; 29 but [he is] a Jew who [is one] inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise [is] not from men but from God.” – Rom 2:28-29 NKJV

And then you have the Calvinist, who say that our Salvation has been pre-destined by God. You can not change God’s Sovereign will for He will save who He wants and condemn who He wants.

The Calvinist, like the Universalist also says that human’s don’t have a choice, it’s up to God. However, what do you do with the fall of Satan from heaven? Was it’s God’s will that Satan sin, or Satan’s choice against God’s will?

What about the fall of Adam & Eve? Was it’s God’s will that Adam and Eve sin, or was it their choice against God’s will?

And why would God send prophets to call men and women to repentance, if we really didn’t have a choice? Why send warnings and why commission your church to evangelize and spread the gospel if people are predestined to be saved or lost?

Why would God hold us accountable as it says in Ezekiel, to warn the wicked, and we don’t warn them and they die, if they were predestined to be lost anyways?

Calvanism has more than 80 million adherents.

As we read this passage from Romans we ask ourselves, what does it mean? What is God faithful too? What does not change?

If you go to Romans 3:1, it gives us a clue

“1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what [is] the profit of circumcision?” – Rom 3:1 NKJV

Circumcision was based on God’s Covenant to Abraham — In Genesis 17, it is called a sign of the covenant.

God is faithful to the “Conditions of His Covenant”… — We could simply say “God will not go back on His Word — You can trust what He says — He is faithful to His word even when we turn our backs on Him — He will back up every promise He has made.

God is faithful to His Covenant which He made with humanity, neither His Covenant or the conditions of His Covenant will ever change.

That is why it says in verse 4  “Let God be true but every man a liar” — Romans 3:4

Those who lie are willing to go back on their word — They tell you one thing but do another… And people will even lie to God — God I promise to serve you and then when life hits easy street and they don’t need God any more their promise turns into a lie!!!

But God is not fickle or changeable like human beings — When God makes a promise He sticks to His promise, not for a few years, but FOREVER!

What does this mean for us living today?

If God never goes back on His Word, if the conditions of His Covenant have been the same from the beginning and have never changed, then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were saved through the same way we are saved today. God’s method of Salvation has been consistent from Genesis right through the pages of the Bible and history until today.

Some wrongly conclude that in the Old Testament men & women were saved by works, but since the cross, we are now saved by grace.

This Theory is known as: Dispensationalism

1. This doctrine teaches that God has related to humanity differently through history according to the Covenants He made during different “Dispensations” or history. They teach that we used to be under the Law but now we are under Grace. Anyone heard this Theory before? It says that before the cross it was the dispensation of the Law, after the cross it is now the age of Grace.
2. It began in the 1830’s by an Irish Bible Teacher named John Nelson Darby
   1. He also taught a pre tribulation rapture
   2. He taught that the Jews would be re-established as a nation on earth and that the temple would be rebuilt
   3. He traveled extensively through Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand to win converts to his ideas.
   4. His teachings became extremely popular among the baptist denomination in the United States, and exploded when Scofield released a translation of the bible with a commentary that taught Darby’s ideas of Dispensationalism.

“The American church denominations rejected Darby’s ecclesiology but accepted his eschatology. Many of these churches were Presbyterian and Baptist, and they retained Darby’s Calvinistic soteriology who had applied it to his notion of dispensations.” [1] Click link at bottom of notes.

1. A contemporary of John Darby was a preacher by the name of Charles Spurgeon, who condemned Darby’s teachings as heresy. Charles Spurgeon said that Darby’s interpretations destroyed the gospel.

3. Today there are as many as 40 million believers in dispensationalism, and the flagship of dispensationalism is Dallas Theological Seminary in Texas.

Dispensationalism

1. Destroys the Gospel — Separates the Law from Grace

“8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” – Gal 1:8-9 KJV

How many gospels are there? — (Just One)

“5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” – Eph 4:5 KJV

“31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” – Rom 3:31 KJV

“17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:

but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” – Mat 5:17-19 KJV

“15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.” – Jhn 14:15 KJV

The Law and Grace were never meant to be separated.

2. Dismantles the Unity & Authority of Scripture

Dispensationalism teaches the idea that different sections of the bible belong to different dispensations, therefore not every verse of the bible belongs to the “current dispensation”, our job then according to Darby was to “rightly divide the word of truth”, and discover which verses belong to which dispensation. The verses that deal with the law, belong to the dispensation of the law, but not to the dispensation of grace, etc.

“J.C. O’Hair in the early 1920s understood the “sign” gifts to be not for this age of grace and thus not for the present church. Soon thereafter, he understood as a correlating dispensational truth that water baptism could not then apply to this dispensation either.”  [2] Click link at bottom of notes.

“16 All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” – 2Ti 3:16 KJV

“18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.” – Rev 22:18-19 KJV

We must view the Bible as a unified whole or we will gain a distorted view of Salvation, and every other doctrine in God’s Word.

3. Perverts the doctrine of the 2nd Coming of Jesus by teaching the rapture theory

“16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:” – 1Th 4:16 KJV

“7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” – Rev 1:7 KJV

4. Distracts Christians, by focusing on Jewish Nation & a Rebuilt Temple

Many do not want to evangelize to the Jews, or introduce them to Jesus for they see them as God’s people already, not realizing that the Jewish people ceased to be the chosen people of God with their rejection of God’s Son.

“37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” – Mat 23:37-38 KJV

“Political analyst Richard Allen Greene has argued that dispensationalism has had a major influence on the foreign policy of the United States [4] Click link at bottom of notes.  This influence has included continued [5] Support for the State of Israel. Click link at bottom of notes.

[3] Click link at bottom of notes”³

It is this twisting of scripture by Protestant America that has brought so much confusion, and this is the work of Satan in the churches:

“Satan will quote Scripture in order to deceive. He tried to deceive Christ in this way. So he still tries to deceive men. He will lead them to misconstrue the Scriptures, and make them testify to falsehood. Christ came to adjust truths that had been misplaced and made to serve the cause of error. He recalled them, repeated them, placed them in their proper position in the framework of truth and bade them stand fast forever…” — Manuscript Release, Vol. 17, P. 21

The Bible calls Christians everywhere to “…rightly divide the Word of Truth.” — 2 Timothy 2:15

The Conditions of God’s Covenant Promise has been the same from the very beginning!

What are the Conditions? — Paul unashamedly lays them out in Romans:

“13 (For not the hearers of the law [are] just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” – Rom 2:13 KJV

Justified = “Dikaiow” … to declare, … righteous, …

[The Opposite is to Condemn or Pronounce Guilty]

Condemn = katadikazo”  (1) to pronounce guilty 

“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” — Matthew 12:37

Dispensationalist would say that these verse belong to the Old Covenant, but we are under Grace now.

God’s Covenant has always been based on His Law: Perfect Righteousness!

“1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I [am] the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” – Gen 17:1 KJV

“3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.” – Exo 24:3 KJV

“3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do. … 7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. 8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled [it] on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.” – Exo 24:3, 7-8 KJV

Notice that God’s requirement was perfection — Perfect Obedience. The people’s answer to God was “We will do it”.

For 1,500 years God’s people failed at keeping God’s Law perfectly. So when Paul writes Romans he points out the obvious:

“…for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” – Rom 3:9-12 KJV

The Universalist seeks to solve the problem by saying — God will save everyone

The Calvinist seeks to solve the problem by saying — God saves who He wants

The Zionist seeks to solve the problem by saying — God will save the Jew

The Dispensationalist seeks to solve the problem by saying — God abolished the law

God Word says:  “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” – Rom 3:31 KJV

KJV — God forbid

NKJV — Certainly Not

NLT — Of Course Not

NIV — Not at all

ESV — By no means HCSB — Absolutely Not!

NASB — May it never be!

God can not, God will not, God has not done away with His Law — It is not nailed to the cross, or buried in the sea, or applied to a different group of people at a different time. Instead of Abolishing the Law — Jesus said God’s plan was to “Fulfill the Law”

“17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” – Mat 5:17 KJV

Greek word for fulfill = Pleroo  “To make full or fill up”, “To fill to the top so that nothing will be wanting to full measure, to fill to the brim”.

Where humanity failed at keeping the Law, God would fulfill it. God would meet the requirements of His own law in humanities place.

“21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” – Rom 3:21-23 NKJV

1. Notice it says the righteousness of God, not the righteousness of man
2. Who witnessed the revealing of God’s Righteousness? — Law & Prophets [Old Testament]
3. Clarifies that this is “Righteousness through faith in Jesus”

“1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has [something] to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”” – Rom 4: 1-3, NKJV

Did Abraham live before or after Moses? — Before

Before Moses, before the 10 commandments, before the Law — Salvation was based on “Righteousness by Faith”.

“6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed [are those] whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed [is the] man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.”” – Rom 4:6-8 NKJV

Did David live before or after Moses? — After

After Moses — Salvation was based on “Righteousness by Faith” according to Paul.

Both before Moses and after Moses, there has been “One Gospel”, “One Method of Salvation”, “One way in which humanity has Hope”… — We need perfect Righteousness, and that Perfect Righteousness is imputed to us through faith.

“Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,” – Rom 4:4-5 NKJV

Theologians toss around a term called: “Justification by Faith” — This simply means that when we place our faith completely in God — He declares us Righteous!

Where did this Righteousness come from? — JESUS CHRIST  (God’s Righteousness made available to us through the blood of Jesus). Every prayer of Faith, Every act of Faith, at every point we cast our worries our doubt our perplexities upon the Lord through faith, every time we place our whole trust in God’s Promises — He accounts our Faith as Righteousness! — The worst offender who places their Faith in Jesus might be saved!

Appeal: — What burdens are you carrying today that by faith you can place in Jesus hands? What promises are you doubting that today you will believe?

The Good News today is the same as it has always been — When we by faith we give our weak and lost condition into the hands of God, He willingly takes us under His wings and covers us with His righteousness.

Today God calls each of us to place our trust not in the empty theories of this world, but in the promises of His Word. Would you place your faith in God just now?

[Closing Prayer]

_______________

 The ark that enshrines the tables of the law is covered with the mercy seat, before which Christ pleads His blood in the sinner’s behalf. Thus is represented the union of justice and mercy in the plan of human redemption. This union infinite wisdom alone could devise and infinite power accomplish; it is a union that fills all heaven with wonder and adoration. The cherubim of the earthly sanctuary, looking reverently down upon the mercy seat, represent the interest with which the heavenly host contemplate the work of redemption. This is the mystery of mercy into which angels desire to look–that God can be just while He justifies the repenting sinner and renews His intercourse with the fallen race; that Christ could stoop to raise unnumbered multitudes from the abyss of ruin and clothe them with the spotless garments of His own righteousness to unite with angels who have never fallen and to dwell forever in the presence of God.  {GC 415.2}