WEBVTT 00:00:13.130 --> 00:00:15.589 Welcome to the August 2025 session of Teaching 00:00:15.589 --> 00:00:17.670 Tuesday. Tonight we're doing the first part of 00:00:17.670 --> 00:00:20.210 a two -part series on salvation. We touched on 00:00:20.210 --> 00:00:22.109 the essentials of salvation during the session 00:00:22.109 --> 00:00:24.570 on the gospel, but now we want to do a deep dive 00:00:24.570 --> 00:00:27.129 into the who, what, where, why, when, and how 00:00:27.129 --> 00:00:29.989 of what Jesus did and does for the people who 00:00:29.989 --> 00:00:32.670 follow him. Now, a quick disclaimer. You can 00:00:32.670 --> 00:00:35.409 be saved without knowing 98 % of what we're talking 00:00:35.409 --> 00:00:37.609 about in this session, but we should never be 00:00:37.609 --> 00:00:39.869 happy with understanding the bare minimum about 00:00:39.869 --> 00:00:42.780 God. I find that when I go deep on topics like 00:00:42.780 --> 00:00:45.140 this, it's like a form of worship. Because I 00:00:45.140 --> 00:00:46.859 have a better understanding of everything he 00:00:46.859 --> 00:00:49.399 has done and continues to do, I am more grateful 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:51.539 and feel a stronger desire to share him with 00:00:51.539 --> 00:00:54.039 others. I also find that examining what other 00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:56.299 Christian denominations believe on a topic helps 00:00:56.299 --> 00:00:59.420 me test and refine my views. This first session 00:00:59.420 --> 00:01:02.060 is going to cover the what, why, when, and how 00:01:02.060 --> 00:01:04.680 of salvation, and it's going to be light on disagreements, 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:07.780 only two in their minor. The next session, however, 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:10.040 covers the who and where, and that's when things 00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:12.840 get a little bit spicy. But for now, let's get 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:15.799 started. So, I'll have a specific book recommendation 00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:17.939 for you in the second session, but tonight I 00:01:17.939 --> 00:01:19.739 want to introduce you to a type of book that 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:21.780 is crucial to studying topics like salvation 00:01:21.780 --> 00:01:24.159 and death. It's a type of book called a views 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:26.900 book, which presents all or many of the legitimate 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:29.420 Christian interpretations on a topic by having 00:01:29.420 --> 00:01:31.920 a proponent of that view explain their position, 00:01:32.489 --> 00:01:34.689 argue against the other interpretations, and 00:01:34.689 --> 00:01:36.569 then defend their view against the criticisms 00:01:36.569 --> 00:01:39.150 from the other contributors. The one up on the 00:01:39.150 --> 00:01:41.069 screen, for instance, presents five Christian 00:01:41.069 --> 00:01:43.590 interpretations on the fall of man and the doctrine 00:01:43.590 --> 00:01:45.829 of original sin. And you'll see a summary of 00:01:45.829 --> 00:01:47.430 that information when we get to that part of 00:01:47.430 --> 00:01:50.030 the presentation tonight. Combined with reading 00:01:50.030 --> 00:01:52.450 the Bible for yourself and referencing the systematic 00:01:52.450 --> 00:01:55.049 theology books we've talked about before, these 00:01:55.049 --> 00:01:57.090 views books will help you understand the full 00:01:57.090 --> 00:01:59.090 spectrum of legitimate Christian perspectives 00:01:59.090 --> 00:02:01.469 and make a more informed choice for yourself. 00:02:02.189 --> 00:02:04.849 Anytime we explore a topic in detail, we must 00:02:04.849 --> 00:02:07.049 start with a clear definition. Otherwise, we 00:02:07.049 --> 00:02:08.689 could get halfway through the discussion and 00:02:08.689 --> 00:02:10.430 realize we're talking about two different things. 00:02:10.650 --> 00:02:13.009 So we'll begin tonight by defining what salvation 00:02:13.009 --> 00:02:15.710 is. Ironically, even though salvation is such 00:02:15.710 --> 00:02:17.849 a massive topic that it requires two sessions 00:02:17.849 --> 00:02:20.409 to explore completely, it can be defined simply 00:02:20.409 --> 00:02:22.729 and briefly as the restoration of our intended 00:02:22.729 --> 00:02:25.210 relationship with God. But if you're anything 00:02:25.210 --> 00:02:28.389 like me, answering the what immediately leads 00:02:28.389 --> 00:02:31.909 into a why. Specifically, Why do we need salvation? 00:02:32.310 --> 00:02:34.469 And to answer that, we have to ask a few more 00:02:34.469 --> 00:02:36.810 questions. Like, what is our intended relationship 00:02:36.810 --> 00:02:39.610 with God? What hurt or hurts that relationship? 00:02:40.009 --> 00:02:42.069 What are the effects of that damaged relationship 00:02:42.069 --> 00:02:44.889 that we are being saved from? The book of Genesis 00:02:44.889 --> 00:02:46.969 contains the answers to most of those questions. 00:02:47.289 --> 00:02:49.590 We read at the end of Genesis 1 that God looked 00:02:49.590 --> 00:02:51.949 over all he had made and he saw that it was very 00:02:51.949 --> 00:02:55.150 good. That's Genesis 1, 31 from the New Living 00:02:55.150 --> 00:02:57.879 Translation. The situation at this point was 00:02:57.879 --> 00:03:00.639 God's ideal. Humans created in God's image and 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:02.740 serving as his children and representatives on 00:03:02.740 --> 00:03:05.439 earth, living sin -free in an intimate relationship 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:08.219 with their creator. There was no pain, death, 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:10.680 suffering, or what we would come to know as sin. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:14.280 Their sole moral directive was to obey God. But 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:16.939 that perfection wouldn't last. It was crucial 00:03:16.939 --> 00:03:19.479 to God that humans have free will. He didn't 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:21.699 want fleshy robots programmed to love him. He 00:03:21.699 --> 00:03:23.960 wanted free creatures that voluntarily pursued 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:26.759 a relationship with their creator. But true free 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:29.020 will allows for people to make the opposite choice, 00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:32.419 which is what Adam and Eve did. This disobedience 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:34.800 removed their state of innocence and made them 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:37.400 morally accountable for their choices. Choices 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:39.939 made counter to the will of God are sin, and 00:03:39.939 --> 00:03:42.259 any single sin is enough to break the creator 00:03:42.259 --> 00:03:44.939 -creature relationship. Although the Bible doesn't 00:03:44.939 --> 00:03:47.719 say so explicitly, many theologians believe that 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:49.680 God's perfect sense of justice would immediately 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:52.439 destroy any imperfect creature in His presence. 00:03:52.840 --> 00:03:55.789 So, for our own survival, God pulled himself 00:03:55.789 --> 00:03:58.990 back from the world. We call this event the fall. 00:03:59.710 --> 00:04:01.729 Now, we come to our first area of disagreement 00:04:01.729 --> 00:04:04.270 between Christians, the consequences of the fall, 00:04:04.370 --> 00:04:06.830 or in other words, the nature of the problem 00:04:06.830 --> 00:04:09.129 that we find ourselves in and need to save from. 00:04:09.389 --> 00:04:12.210 There are three possible consequences, and different 00:04:12.210 --> 00:04:14.610 Christian denominations assert different selections 00:04:14.610 --> 00:04:17.509 and combinations of the three. Perhaps the most 00:04:17.509 --> 00:04:19.730 widely agreed upon is the corruption of creation, 00:04:19.990 --> 00:04:22.069 including the introduction of death to the world. 00:04:22.540 --> 00:04:24.839 The distance created between man and God due 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:26.779 to sin leaves the world in a corrupted state. 00:04:27.100 --> 00:04:30.279 Things like disease, natural disasters, and telemarketers 00:04:30.279 --> 00:04:33.399 were never part of God's ideal. We see this confirmed 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:35.699 later in the book of Revelation. In chapter 21, 00:04:35.819 --> 00:04:37.980 God recreates heaven and earth and puts an end 00:04:37.980 --> 00:04:41.000 to death, sorrow, crying, and pain in telemarketers. 00:04:41.420 --> 00:04:43.500 The only Christians you'll see denying this aspect 00:04:43.500 --> 00:04:46.480 of the fall are the radically theologically progressive 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:49.560 ones who deny that Adam and Eve existed, believe 00:04:49.560 --> 00:04:52.279 exclusively in evolution and not at all in creation, 00:04:52.540 --> 00:04:54.939 and many argue that salvation and the events 00:04:54.939 --> 00:04:57.480 in Revelation are just allegories for human progress. 00:04:58.180 --> 00:05:00.339 How much of the Bible can you discard and still 00:05:00.339 --> 00:05:03.220 be a Christian? Probably not that much, so I 00:05:03.220 --> 00:05:05.519 think that we can accept the corruption of creation 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:08.699 as a legitimate consequence of the fall. Now, 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:10.579 you've probably heard Chris mention sin nature 00:05:10.579 --> 00:05:12.779 before. People often bristle at the concept, 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:14.759 finding it offensive that we were born with a 00:05:14.759 --> 00:05:16.680 tendency to sin but are still held accountable 00:05:16.680 --> 00:05:19.160 for it. I find it helpful to look at it from 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:22.060 a slightly different angle. We are material creatures 00:05:22.060 --> 00:05:24.399 with material needs. In God's perfect version 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:27.000 of creation, these needs are not just met but 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.339 exceeded and without any competition between 00:05:29.339 --> 00:05:32.800 us. In this corrupted creation, many things are 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:35.779 a zero -sum game. If I have a gallon of water 00:05:35.779 --> 00:05:38.240 and give you half, now we both have half a gallon 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:41.339 of water. When we each drink our water, It's 00:05:41.339 --> 00:05:44.220 gone. If I didn't share, you might die, but then 00:05:44.220 --> 00:05:46.680 I'd have enough for tomorrow. From a survival 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:49.319 perspective, I'm incentivized to take the immoral 00:05:49.319 --> 00:05:52.600 or sinful option. It's the same with food, land, 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:55.339 shelter, companionship, power, money, and sex. 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:58.199 And we want to survive, so when there's a shortage 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:00.699 of one of these crucial things, most people will 00:06:00.699 --> 00:06:03.480 sin to survive. Some of the greatest evils in 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:05.779 history, such as the Nazi extermination machine, 00:06:05.959 --> 00:06:08.160 occurred because people were convinced that their 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:10.930 survival was threatened. This constant state 00:06:10.930 --> 00:06:13.610 of unmet needs and fears over needs being unmet 00:06:13.610 --> 00:06:15.730 in the future makes us rebellious toward God 00:06:15.730 --> 00:06:18.370 in every way. For instance, we might say to ourselves, 00:06:18.709 --> 00:06:21.209 why hasn't God given me a spouse and a healthy 00:06:21.209 --> 00:06:23.629 sex life yet? I bet he's not going to do it, 00:06:23.670 --> 00:06:25.670 so I'm going to look at porn and sleep around 00:06:25.670 --> 00:06:28.689 and provide my own pleasure. And then the most 00:06:28.689 --> 00:06:31.129 controversial of the consequences are called 00:06:31.129 --> 00:06:33.930 representational or legal, in which all humans 00:06:33.930 --> 00:06:36.870 begin with a guilty verdict against them. Adam 00:06:36.870 --> 00:06:39.050 is seen as the representative of humanity, so 00:06:39.050 --> 00:06:41.129 his guilty verdict is shared with all humans. 00:06:41.389 --> 00:06:43.910 You'll hear this called original sin, original 00:06:43.910 --> 00:06:46.889 guilt, imputed sin, or imputed guilt. There's 00:06:46.889 --> 00:06:49.750 a lot of different terms for it. Romans 5 is 00:06:49.750 --> 00:06:51.970 often cited as the primary inspiration for this 00:06:51.970 --> 00:06:55.290 doctrine. Here Paul writes, Adam's one sin brings 00:06:55.290 --> 00:06:57.949 condemnation for everyone, but Christ's one act 00:06:57.949 --> 00:06:59.730 of righteousness brings a right relationship 00:06:59.730 --> 00:07:02.810 with God and new life for everyone. The doctrine 00:07:02.810 --> 00:07:04.930 is controversial because it goes beyond what 00:07:04.930 --> 00:07:07.610 the Bible says, and God holding someone guilty 00:07:07.610 --> 00:07:10.490 for the actions of another violates his characters 00:07:10.490 --> 00:07:13.209 expressed elsewhere. Adam's sin leading to a 00:07:13.209 --> 00:07:15.170 corrupted creation where we're incentivized to 00:07:15.170 --> 00:07:17.529 make immoral choices but are held morally accountable 00:07:17.529 --> 00:07:20.129 for those choices seems to explain our current 00:07:20.129 --> 00:07:23.149 situation well. But like we learned in our theological 00:07:23.149 --> 00:07:26.610 triage session, holding this view doesn't make 00:07:26.610 --> 00:07:29.009 somebody an illegitimate Christian. It's simply 00:07:29.009 --> 00:07:32.240 a difference of interpretation. One final interesting 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:34.720 discussion is the timing of the fall in God's 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:36.980 plan to save humanity. In other words, did God 00:07:36.980 --> 00:07:39.459 know that humanity would fall and devise the 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:41.879 plan to send Jesus to save us before he created 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:44.459 us, or was the plan conceived in response to 00:07:44.459 --> 00:07:46.879 Adam and Eve sinning? The traditional Christian 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:49.180 understanding of God's omniscience, or perfect 00:07:49.180 --> 00:07:51.639 knowledge, is that because God is outside of 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:53.959 time, he knew the outcome of the universe before 00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:56.519 creating it. He knew that if he created humans 00:07:56.519 --> 00:07:59.129 with free will, they would disobey him. But because 00:07:59.129 --> 00:08:01.689 a freely chosen relationship with him is of crucial 00:08:01.689 --> 00:08:04.310 importance to God, he couldn't create us in any 00:08:04.310 --> 00:08:06.829 other way. So before the creation of the universe, 00:08:06.930 --> 00:08:09.269 he had already devised a plan to send the sun 00:08:09.269 --> 00:08:11.810 and demonstrate his perfect sense of love and 00:08:11.810 --> 00:08:15.310 forgiveness. The only disagreement to this traditional 00:08:15.310 --> 00:08:17.889 view comes from a heresy called open theism. 00:08:18.230 --> 00:08:20.790 There are slight variations, but open theists 00:08:20.790 --> 00:08:23.050 generally claim that God is limited within time 00:08:23.050 --> 00:08:25.689 and doesn't know future events that are the result 00:08:25.689 --> 00:08:28.579 of human free will. In other words, he knew it 00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:31.139 was a possibility for humans to sin and may have 00:08:31.139 --> 00:08:33.600 planned for that possibility, or he may have 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:35.519 been surprised by Adam and Eve's sinning and 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:37.440 came up with a plan to send Jesus in response. 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:41.200 In its extreme forms, open theism makes God fully 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:43.779 subject to human free will and gives humans the 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:45.879 ability to interrupt, change, or even thwart 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:49.100 God's plans. This isn't just heretical, but an 00:08:49.100 --> 00:08:51.960 indication of an immature thought process. It's 00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:53.759 like when I see one of the kids steal a toy from 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:55.860 another kid, then get offended when I make them 00:08:55.860 --> 00:08:58.639 give it back. God is both fully sovereign and 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:01.059 perfectly loving, and we should do the work to 00:09:01.059 --> 00:09:03.460 understand that instead of retreating to a comfortable 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:07.220 heresy. So to sum up what we've covered so far, 00:09:07.379 --> 00:09:09.200 we know that our relationship with God has been 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:11.559 damaged by sin. It's created distance between 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:14.019 us and God, and not just us, but all of creation. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:16.860 The world is not what it's meant to be. Some 00:09:16.860 --> 00:09:19.220 even believe that we're held legally guilty by 00:09:19.220 --> 00:09:21.720 God for Adam and Eve's sin. And if you're sitting 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:23.600 there thinking that fixing all that sounds like 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:26.039 an impossible task, you're right. We can't even 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:28.620 stop sinning on our own, let alone undo all the 00:09:28.620 --> 00:09:30.440 damage that sin has caused in our own lives. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:37.259 It says Paul in Romans 3 .23, Fortunately, for 00:09:37.259 --> 00:09:39.620 us, God is good and He desires a relationship 00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:42.100 with us so much that He made a way to take all 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:44.840 of the consequences of sin upon Himself. Let's 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:48.419 discuss the when and how of salvation now. We 00:09:48.419 --> 00:09:50.500 often think of salvation in terms of a single 00:09:50.500 --> 00:09:52.500 event in a person's life. The precise moment 00:09:52.500 --> 00:09:55.299 that you heard about Jesus is said, yes. That's 00:09:55.299 --> 00:09:58.460 not necessarily wrong, but it is a huge oversimplification, 00:09:58.460 --> 00:10:00.840 and it doesn't give God the credit he deserves. 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:03.580 If we really want to understand the full scope 00:10:03.580 --> 00:10:05.940 of salvation, we have to look at the entire process 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:08.419 of God working in history, the moment of Jesus' 00:10:08.620 --> 00:10:10.860 death, the moment of an individual's salvation, 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:13.539 and what God did in that person's life before 00:10:13.539 --> 00:10:16.679 and continues to do after. I like to think of 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:19.519 salvation in terms of two processes and two events, 00:10:19.700 --> 00:10:22.679 one of each for all of humanity and one of each 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:25.509 for the individual. all accomplished by God alone 00:10:25.509 --> 00:10:29.730 and then freely accepted by each believer. Starting 00:10:29.730 --> 00:10:32.190 with God's actions to redeem humanity, we begin 00:10:32.190 --> 00:10:34.450 with his work in history. It doesn't do the Old 00:10:34.450 --> 00:10:36.570 Testament justice to be summarized so briefly, 00:10:36.730 --> 00:10:38.909 but for the purposes of this session, let's summarize 00:10:38.909 --> 00:10:41.610 everything from Genesis 4 to the end of Malachi 00:10:41.610 --> 00:10:44.169 as God preparing the world and the people for 00:10:44.169 --> 00:10:47.250 Jesus. A common question with inherent criticism 00:10:47.250 --> 00:10:50.009 is why God waited to send Jesus, why he didn't 00:10:50.009 --> 00:10:51.850 immediately redeem the world after the fall. 00:10:52.409 --> 00:10:54.350 The answer is that neither the world nor the 00:10:54.350 --> 00:10:56.590 people were ready for Jesus. We had a lot of 00:10:56.590 --> 00:10:58.529 hard lessons to learn, and the Old Testament 00:10:58.529 --> 00:11:01.029 records humanity learning those lessons so that 00:11:01.029 --> 00:11:03.309 we would benefit from them in the future. Here 00:11:03.309 --> 00:11:05.669 are just a few of the big ones. From the time 00:11:05.669 --> 00:11:08.070 of the fall of Noah, God leaves humanity alone, 00:11:08.289 --> 00:11:10.649 and the results are horrific. We learn from this 00:11:10.649 --> 00:11:12.730 that an existence without God's presence is as 00:11:12.730 --> 00:11:15.710 close to hell as one can get on earth. Fast forward 00:11:15.710 --> 00:11:18.190 many years past the world -cleansing flood, we 00:11:18.190 --> 00:11:20.289 see God call Abraham and found the nation that 00:11:20.289 --> 00:11:22.639 would give birth to the Messiah. God's people 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:24.820 would be forced into slavery in Egypt to survive 00:11:24.820 --> 00:11:27.000 a famine, but he would save them through Moses 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:28.940 and give them the Ten Commandments and the rest 00:11:28.940 --> 00:11:32.120 of Mosaic law. As Paul wrote 1 ,500 years or 00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:34.980 so later, God knew that the absolute moral perfection 00:11:34.980 --> 00:11:38.000 captured in the Mosaic law was unobtainable by 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:40.679 humans and was meant to inform us of a need for 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:42.940 a direct relationship with God over a set of 00:11:42.940 --> 00:11:45.879 rules. God's people would go on to take the promised 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:47.919 land and found the physical nation of Israel, 00:11:48.100 --> 00:11:50.720 continuing to learn lessons on the need for a 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:53.340 direct relationship with God through the shortcomings 00:11:53.340 --> 00:11:56.440 of the judges and the kings. Now I mentioned 00:11:56.440 --> 00:11:58.840 that there is a process and an event, and if 00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:01.139 we wanted to point to a single moment in God's 00:12:01.139 --> 00:12:03.360 plan to save humanity as the moment of salvation, 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:06.639 it would be Jesus' death on the cross. God had 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:08.580 finished preparing humanity and came down to 00:12:08.580 --> 00:12:11.700 earth taking on human flesh. As fully man, Jesus 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:14.070 could be our representative. But as fully God, 00:12:14.389 --> 00:12:16.490 he could live a sinless life and take our sins 00:12:16.490 --> 00:12:19.129 upon himself. I like to illustrate this with 00:12:19.129 --> 00:12:20.789 the kids by writing a bunch of different sins 00:12:20.789 --> 00:12:23.029 on pieces of paper and having several of them 00:12:23.029 --> 00:12:25.409 hold on to the papers. I then go around with 00:12:25.409 --> 00:12:27.590 a trash can, taking the sins and throwing them 00:12:27.590 --> 00:12:30.250 away, which explains what Jesus did on the cross 00:12:30.250 --> 00:12:33.009 before he died. I then put the trash can into 00:12:33.009 --> 00:12:35.549 the kitchen and come back out, which represents 00:12:35.549 --> 00:12:38.789 Jesus' resurrection. But the sins stay dead in 00:12:38.789 --> 00:12:40.909 the kitchen, just like they did when Jesus came 00:12:40.909 --> 00:12:44.220 back to life. Jesus' resurrection not only proved 00:12:44.220 --> 00:12:46.559 that he was who he said he was, but showed that 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:48.919 he had the power over life and death. And then 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:51.120 he promised that same eternal life to all who 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:53.860 would follow him. What's truly fascinating is 00:12:53.860 --> 00:12:55.960 that Jesus' death and resurrection, when taken 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:58.519 together, offer the solution to every consequence 00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:01.259 of the fall. Some of these solutions will happen 00:13:01.259 --> 00:13:03.639 far in the future, such as the fixing of creation. 00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:06.700 More on that in just a little bit. But some of 00:13:06.700 --> 00:13:08.580 these solutions happen immediately when a person 00:13:08.580 --> 00:13:11.279 decides to follow Christ. More on that after 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:13.279 we finish talking about God's work in humanity 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:16.600 collectively. Now, Jesus didn't just have disciples 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.059 for company. Instead, he picked 12 men, well, 00:13:19.179 --> 00:13:21.600 11, and then one replacement, and then Paul, 00:13:21.820 --> 00:13:24.059 who would go on to found the church and spread 00:13:24.059 --> 00:13:26.679 the Christian faith. The Bible calls the church 00:13:26.679 --> 00:13:29.139 the body of Christ because it is meant to continue 00:13:29.139 --> 00:13:31.240 the work Christ started empowered by the Holy 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:34.090 Spirit. The church is responsible for sharing 00:13:34.090 --> 00:13:35.950 the gospel and making disciples who are going 00:13:35.950 --> 00:13:38.269 to share the gospel and make more disciples themselves. 00:13:39.370 --> 00:13:41.990 I've heard many atheists criticize God for founding 00:13:41.990 --> 00:13:44.470 and using the church. They sneer at God and ask 00:13:44.470 --> 00:13:46.610 why, if he's so powerful, he needs humans to 00:13:46.610 --> 00:13:49.450 do his legwork. The truth is, he doesn't, any 00:13:49.450 --> 00:13:51.509 more than he needed humans to do any of the work 00:13:51.509 --> 00:13:53.870 in resurrecting Jesus or any of the other miraculous 00:13:53.870 --> 00:13:56.870 events captured in the Old Testament. He could, 00:13:56.990 --> 00:13:59.629 if he so chose, beam information on Jesus into 00:13:59.629 --> 00:14:03.179 every person's head. But God exists in a tripartite 00:14:03.179 --> 00:14:05.860 relationship with himself. There's the Father, 00:14:05.940 --> 00:14:08.720 the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Relationships are 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:11.259 fundamental to God and are a benefit and blessing 00:14:11.259 --> 00:14:14.399 to us. God founding the church and allowing us 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:16.860 to participate in sharing the gospel is a gift. 00:14:17.019 --> 00:14:20.179 It's a blessing. We get to participate in God's 00:14:20.179 --> 00:14:24.259 plan to save humanity. That's amazing. And then 00:14:24.259 --> 00:14:26.899 finally, at some point in the future, we'll see 00:14:26.899 --> 00:14:28.620 the events described in the book of Revelation. 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:31.360 There's plenty more atheist sneering directed 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.580 at God over what seems to be an overdue promise, 00:14:33.779 --> 00:14:35.820 but it again reveals a tragic misunderstanding 00:14:35.820 --> 00:14:39.039 of God's character. Paul writes in Romans 11 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:41.539 .25 that God is waiting on the fullness of the 00:14:41.539 --> 00:14:44.179 Gentiles. What most scholars understand is God 00:14:44.179 --> 00:14:46.960 waiting until every possible soul has the opportunity 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.259 to accept Christ. Peter is even more explicit, 00:14:50.539 --> 00:14:53.799 writing in 2 Peter 3 .9, The Lord is not slow 00:14:53.799 --> 00:14:56.600 in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. 00:14:56.919 --> 00:14:59.429 Instead, he is patient with you. not wanting 00:14:59.429 --> 00:15:01.990 anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 00:15:02.769 --> 00:15:05.149 When this time arrives, there will be a final 00:15:05.149 --> 00:15:07.230 battle between good and evil, with evil being 00:15:07.230 --> 00:15:10.129 defeated and destroyed. Sin will be eradicated 00:15:10.129 --> 00:15:13.029 and creation will be reborn. This is the future 00:15:13.029 --> 00:15:15.250 solution to one of the false consequences that 00:15:15.250 --> 00:15:18.149 I mentioned a few moments ago. Creation can't 00:15:18.149 --> 00:15:20.629 be reborn while sin exists, for the same reason 00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:22.610 that God had to pull back from creation when 00:15:22.610 --> 00:15:25.210 sin entered the world. But the paradise waiting 00:15:25.210 --> 00:15:28.070 for us is so far beyond what any of us can imagine. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:30.500 while we're still trapped in these sinful bodies 00:15:30.500 --> 00:15:34.759 and living in a fallen world. Now, if you've 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:36.840 been a Christian for any length of time, the 00:15:36.840 --> 00:15:38.820 stuff we just talked about probably isn't brand 00:15:38.820 --> 00:15:40.779 new to you. But I mentioned at the beginning 00:15:40.779 --> 00:15:42.580 that I consider this type of deep study to be 00:15:42.580 --> 00:15:44.919 a form of worship. I find that as I learn more 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:46.820 about God, I am more grateful, and I want to 00:15:46.820 --> 00:15:49.220 become closer to Him. And if anything will have 00:15:49.220 --> 00:15:51.220 that effect on a Christian, learning how God 00:15:51.220 --> 00:15:52.940 applies the work that He did to save humanity 00:15:52.940 --> 00:15:56.330 to the individual human has to be it. There may 00:15:56.330 --> 00:15:58.549 be a lot of new stuff here. These are things 00:15:58.549 --> 00:16:01.049 that we just can't fit into a normal church service 00:16:01.049 --> 00:16:03.070 because they're super deep and they can really 00:16:03.070 --> 00:16:05.429 throw people off if we don't spend the appropriate 00:16:05.429 --> 00:16:08.649 amount of time on them. Now, one disclaimer on 00:16:08.649 --> 00:16:11.110 this section before I start. I mentioned there 00:16:11.110 --> 00:16:12.889 would be two disagreements between Christians 00:16:12.889 --> 00:16:15.190 covered tonight. The first was over the concept 00:16:15.190 --> 00:16:17.370 of original sin or us being born with a guilty 00:16:17.370 --> 00:16:20.250 verdict applied to us because of Adam. The second 00:16:20.250 --> 00:16:22.269 concerns the order of the steps that we're about 00:16:22.269 --> 00:16:24.450 to look at. I'm going to present them in the 00:16:24.450 --> 00:16:26.850 traditional historical Christian view that most 00:16:26.850 --> 00:16:29.210 Christians hold to, but keep in mind that when 00:16:29.210 --> 00:16:31.610 I discuss regeneration, that there's a sizable 00:16:31.610 --> 00:16:33.629 minority of Christians who believe that it comes 00:16:33.629 --> 00:16:36.649 first in the process. I'll explain why in our 00:16:36.649 --> 00:16:38.690 next session on who gets saved, because those 00:16:38.690 --> 00:16:41.190 two ideas are linked together. So traditionally 00:16:41.190 --> 00:16:43.590 speaking, the first step in an individual's salvation 00:16:43.590 --> 00:16:46.370 is called calling. This is when God reaches out 00:16:46.370 --> 00:16:48.190 to a person and provides them with the information 00:16:48.190 --> 00:16:51.340 on the gospel. Most of the time, God uses the 00:16:51.340 --> 00:16:53.600 church to do this, as Paul writes in Romans 10, 00:16:53.700 --> 00:17:08.339 14 -15. He says, But God doesn't hold the circumstances 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:10.880 of someone's birth against them. There have been 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:13.259 thousands of testimonies from Muslims who prayed 00:17:13.259 --> 00:17:15.509 to Allah that he would reveal the truth, and 00:17:15.509 --> 00:17:17.589 they received a vision telling them about Jesus. 00:17:17.890 --> 00:17:20.430 We hear similar stories from Hindus and Buddhists 00:17:20.430 --> 00:17:23.430 and even some Jews, but what we don't hear is 00:17:23.430 --> 00:17:25.869 Christians getting visions for any of those other 00:17:25.869 --> 00:17:28.710 religions, other than some very few, very fringe 00:17:28.710 --> 00:17:31.569 cases. One crucial thing about calling is that 00:17:31.569 --> 00:17:33.750 God continues to place primary importance on 00:17:33.750 --> 00:17:36.170 free will. There are very few people who have 00:17:36.170 --> 00:17:38.589 encounters with God, like Abraham, Moses, or 00:17:38.589 --> 00:17:40.930 Paul, who experience things so dramatic that 00:17:40.930 --> 00:17:42.690 it would be impossible for them not to believe. 00:17:43.450 --> 00:17:45.789 Often God works for years in a person's life, 00:17:45.869 --> 00:17:47.690 allowing them to learn lessons while protecting 00:17:47.690 --> 00:17:50.369 them from the worst consequences, preparing them 00:17:50.369 --> 00:17:52.490 to accept the truth of Christ freely without 00:17:52.490 --> 00:17:55.569 coercion. That's how it was for me. I made a 00:17:55.569 --> 00:17:58.190 lot of huge mistakes, and I was incredibly arrogant 00:17:58.190 --> 00:18:00.750 and I needed to be humbled. But when I was finally 00:18:00.750 --> 00:18:02.990 ready to hear and believe, God made it happen. 00:18:03.670 --> 00:18:05.809 And that brings us to the single event part of 00:18:05.809 --> 00:18:08.349 this process, the moment that a person goes from 00:18:08.349 --> 00:18:11.349 unbeliever to believer. Conversion is repentance 00:18:11.349 --> 00:18:14.220 followed by faith. When I said that I was arrogant 00:18:14.220 --> 00:18:16.180 and needed to be humbled before accepting Christ, 00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:18.660 it's because I was not capable of repentance 00:18:18.660 --> 00:18:21.359 prior to that point. If someone had told me I 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:23.259 was living my life wrong, I would have been angry 00:18:23.259 --> 00:18:25.559 or offended and refused to listen. But once I 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:27.900 was humbled, hearing about Jesus' death on the 00:18:27.900 --> 00:18:30.279 cross filled me with sorrow. I realized that 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:32.680 my actions, and collectively all of our actions, 00:18:32.859 --> 00:18:35.099 are what put him on the cross. But he went there 00:18:35.099 --> 00:18:37.880 willingly because he loves us. At that moment, 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:40.680 I repented. I turned away from my old lifestyle 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:43.839 and my old beliefs, and I gained faith by trusting 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:46.880 in Christ's work on the cross. But let's be careful 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:48.819 here that we don't take credit for the step of 00:18:48.819 --> 00:18:51.759 conversion. Salvation is entirely God's work, 00:18:51.819 --> 00:18:54.240 and the most we do is say yes to accepting the 00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:57.359 results of His gift. And again, this is the traditional 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:00.240 majority Christian view. We'll look at how these 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:04.180 steps work in another order next time. Now, at 00:19:04.180 --> 00:19:07.190 that moment, a person is saved. But to use a 00:19:07.190 --> 00:19:09.750 car analogy, there's a lot going on under the 00:19:09.750 --> 00:19:12.089 hood when you turn the key. In fact, four things 00:19:12.089 --> 00:19:14.710 happen simultaneously, and then another process 00:19:14.710 --> 00:19:17.230 starts that runs for the rest of your life. You 00:19:17.230 --> 00:19:19.269 see, at the moment of your conversion, the Holy 00:19:19.269 --> 00:19:21.369 Spirit comes to live inside you. It's called 00:19:21.369 --> 00:19:23.970 the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and he's about 00:19:23.970 --> 00:19:26.569 to get busy. The first of his tasks is called 00:19:26.569 --> 00:19:28.750 regeneration, and it's God's solution to the 00:19:28.750 --> 00:19:31.259 problem of sin nature. When someone speaks of 00:19:31.259 --> 00:19:33.059 being born again, they're speaking of regeneration. 00:19:33.579 --> 00:19:36.500 As was Jesus when he told Nicodemus, no one can 00:19:36.500 --> 00:19:38.599 see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. 00:19:38.980 --> 00:19:41.940 It is a spiritual rebirth of a person as a child 00:19:41.940 --> 00:19:44.539 of God instead of a slave to the flesh, what 00:19:44.539 --> 00:19:47.420 Erickson calls a transformation of inclinations 00:19:47.420 --> 00:19:49.839 and impulses in his systematic theology book. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:52.799 This spiritual rebirth allows us to understand 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:54.980 elements of the faith that were previously hidden 00:19:54.980 --> 00:19:57.980 or incomprehensible. Due to the Holy Spirit's 00:19:57.980 --> 00:20:00.440 permanent presence in our hearts, our lives become 00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:03.500 oriented toward God, and we are no longer burdened 00:20:03.500 --> 00:20:06.480 with the irresistible urge to disobey Him. The 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:08.579 Holy Spirit's second task is called justification, 00:20:09.059 --> 00:20:11.799 and the just part of the word is in the same 00:20:11.799 --> 00:20:14.619 sense as justice, like the criminal justice system. 00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:18.359 When we sin, we are violating God's laws. When 00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:20.200 we break laws created by the government, we are 00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:23.180 punished with varying degrees of severity. Being 00:20:23.180 --> 00:20:25.579 regenerated doesn't erase our rap sheet, and 00:20:25.579 --> 00:20:28.140 since God is perfectly just, we are still deserving 00:20:28.140 --> 00:20:30.789 of punishment. It's at this point that the Holy 00:20:30.789 --> 00:20:33.390 Spirit applies Jesus' work on the cross to us. 00:20:33.869 --> 00:20:36.490 Our guilt is now legally transferred to Jesus, 00:20:36.650 --> 00:20:38.730 who paid the price for those sins 2 ,000 years 00:20:38.730 --> 00:20:41.829 ago. God's perfect sense of justice no longer 00:20:41.829 --> 00:20:45.289 demands we be punished. Atheists will often criticize 00:20:45.289 --> 00:20:48.170 this as unfair to Jesus, but they fail to understand 00:20:48.170 --> 00:20:50.950 his immense love for us. He wasn't forced to 00:20:50.950 --> 00:20:53.670 the cross. He went there willingly and gladly, 00:20:53.829 --> 00:20:57.019 even though the experience was horrendous. Paul 00:20:57.019 --> 00:20:59.240 describes the Holy Spirit's third task, called 00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:01.640 union with Christ, in almost every one of his 00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:04.539 letters, writing that we are in Christ, and Christ 00:21:04.539 --> 00:21:07.819 is in us. This unity is the restoration of how 00:21:07.819 --> 00:21:10.180 our existence was meant to be, a perfect relationship 00:21:10.180 --> 00:21:13.359 with and complete reliance on God, where we are 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:15.539 filled and refreshed by his continuous presence. 00:21:16.019 --> 00:21:19.019 When Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. 00:21:19.220 --> 00:21:21.920 If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:24.359 much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:27.000 He is referring to this renewed relationship. 00:21:27.740 --> 00:21:30.220 Consider how Peter, an uneducated fisherman, 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:32.660 was able to give the first public Christian sermon 00:21:32.660 --> 00:21:35.539 to great effect. This wasn't a work of man, but 00:21:35.539 --> 00:21:37.779 a spiritual and intellectual enrichment made 00:21:37.779 --> 00:21:40.920 possible by unity with Christ. In a sense, we 00:21:40.920 --> 00:21:43.799 also share in some of Christ's experiences. Although 00:21:43.799 --> 00:21:46.819 none of us will likely ever be crucified, we 00:21:46.819 --> 00:21:49.220 are called to carry our crosses daily by denying 00:21:49.220 --> 00:21:52.599 our old desires. Now, for those who agree with 00:21:52.599 --> 00:21:54.559 the somewhat controversial idea we discussed 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:57.019 earlier of being born with Adam's guilt applied 00:21:57.019 --> 00:22:00.000 to us, union with Christ is seen as the solution 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:03.339 to that problem. When God looks at us, He doesn't 00:22:03.339 --> 00:22:06.200 just see us anymore. Instead, He sees a combination 00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:10.000 of us and His Son. With our sins erased, He now 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:12.859 gives us credit for Jesus' sinless life, giving 00:22:12.859 --> 00:22:14.960 us blessings that we could never earn on our 00:22:14.960 --> 00:22:17.609 own. The final of the Holy Spirit's immediate 00:22:17.609 --> 00:22:20.170 tasks involves the restoration of our intended 00:22:20.170 --> 00:22:22.710 relationship with God the Father, our adoption 00:22:22.710 --> 00:22:25.750 as His children. In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, 00:22:25.769 --> 00:22:28.009 he writes that the Father predestined us for 00:22:28.009 --> 00:22:30.869 adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance 00:22:30.869 --> 00:22:34.170 with His pleasure and will. It comes with a change 00:22:34.170 --> 00:22:36.170 of heart and understanding that when God gives 00:22:36.170 --> 00:22:38.690 us laws like the Ten Commandments, it's out of 00:22:38.690 --> 00:22:41.049 care and concern and not a desire to control. 00:22:41.569 --> 00:22:44.089 It also makes us co -heirs with Jesus and all 00:22:44.089 --> 00:22:46.349 of the Father's promises. including the bodily 00:22:46.349 --> 00:22:48.769 resurrection of believers after the final battle 00:22:48.769 --> 00:22:51.990 between good and evil. To me, it's also a profound 00:22:51.990 --> 00:22:54.529 change in our conception and perception of the 00:22:54.529 --> 00:22:57.710 Father. It's easy to imagine Jesus since he had 00:22:57.710 --> 00:23:00.490 a human body. It's easy to feel the Holy Spirit's 00:23:00.490 --> 00:23:03.049 presence in our hearts. But the Father has no 00:23:03.049 --> 00:23:05.470 human body, and his immense power was seen as 00:23:05.470 --> 00:23:07.309 terrifying to the people of the Old Testament. 00:23:07.930 --> 00:23:10.609 We are now capable of seeing him as the loving 00:23:10.609 --> 00:23:13.450 Father he always was, and that is an incredible 00:23:13.450 --> 00:23:16.589 gift. Although regeneration sets us on a new 00:23:16.589 --> 00:23:18.910 path spiritually, it's only the beginning of 00:23:18.910 --> 00:23:20.750 a task the Holy Spirit will continue for the 00:23:20.750 --> 00:23:23.450 rest of a believer's life, making a person more 00:23:23.450 --> 00:23:27.710 like Christ. This is called sanctification. These 00:23:27.710 --> 00:23:29.910 changes will include our attitudes, actions, 00:23:30.150 --> 00:23:32.849 reactions, and desire to spend time in prayer, 00:23:33.049 --> 00:23:35.730 Bible study, and contemplation. We may come to 00:23:35.730 --> 00:23:38.170 love things we previously hated, like volunteering 00:23:38.170 --> 00:23:40.710 with children. We may come to hate things that 00:23:40.710 --> 00:23:43.289 we love, like pornography, partying, and drug 00:23:43.289 --> 00:23:46.569 use. At the same time, God is generous and understands 00:23:46.569 --> 00:23:48.829 that we still live in a sinful world with physical 00:23:48.829 --> 00:23:51.230 bodies that have unmet needs. Sanctification 00:23:51.230 --> 00:23:54.130 speeds up and slows down depending on our circumstances, 00:23:54.490 --> 00:23:56.970 attitude, and cooperation with the Holy Spirit, 00:23:57.069 --> 00:24:00.470 but God's grace is never removed. For instance, 00:24:00.589 --> 00:24:02.509 God is not going to be upset that a single mother 00:24:02.509 --> 00:24:04.650 of three young children isn't spending enough 00:24:04.650 --> 00:24:06.950 time reading her Bible, but He will want her 00:24:06.950 --> 00:24:09.210 to be consistent in her prayer life and in modeling 00:24:09.210 --> 00:24:12.250 God's love to her children. At the same time, 00:24:12.289 --> 00:24:15.150 when circumstances allow for it, he will expect 00:24:15.150 --> 00:24:17.390 her to spend more time reading the Bible and 00:24:17.390 --> 00:24:21.390 working on her relationship with him. Sanctification 00:24:21.390 --> 00:24:23.529 is a wonderful thing, but it can be a source 00:24:23.529 --> 00:24:25.269 of stress for people when they find themselves 00:24:25.269 --> 00:24:28.069 backsliding or in tough situations like the mother 00:24:28.069 --> 00:24:31.230 in my example. Perhaps a person was alcohol -free 00:24:31.230 --> 00:24:33.250 for 10 years and got their life back on track, 00:24:33.329 --> 00:24:35.410 but relapsed due to the death of a parent or 00:24:35.410 --> 00:24:38.480 spouse. A person in this situation may worry 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:40.480 that they were never saved and they run away 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:44.099 from the faith in response. If you think of sanctification 00:24:44.099 --> 00:24:47.160 like a stock chart, there will be steep and shallow 00:24:47.160 --> 00:24:49.700 upward slopes and steep and shallow downward 00:24:49.700 --> 00:24:53.200 slopes, maybe even some flat lines. But the trend 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:55.119 over the course of a person's life should be 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:57.980 upward. If a person who believes they are saved 00:24:57.980 --> 00:25:00.599 is on a constant downward slope, that's an occasion 00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:06.900 to examine your salvation. Just like God's saving 00:25:06.900 --> 00:25:09.119 work for humanity concludes after the events 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:11.579 in the book of Revelation, so too does the individual 00:25:11.579 --> 00:25:14.400 process of salvation. This conclusion is called 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:17.099 glorification, the final moral and spiritual 00:25:17.099 --> 00:25:19.640 perfection of the believer that began at regeneration 00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:22.400 and continued through sanctification. There's 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:24.339 debate over whether this occurs when an individual 00:25:24.339 --> 00:25:27.220 dies and goes to be with God or only after the 00:25:27.220 --> 00:25:30.079 final battle and rebirth of creation, but it's 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:32.319 a promise concerning the eternal life that believers 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:35.230 will experience. Moral perfection is made possible 00:25:35.230 --> 00:25:37.609 through the defeat of evil, removal of temptation, 00:25:37.970 --> 00:25:41.089 and being in the immediate presence of God. Paul 00:25:41.089 --> 00:25:43.390 and John both describe increased knowledge and 00:25:43.390 --> 00:25:45.289 understanding made available to the glorified 00:25:45.289 --> 00:25:47.869 believer, and both, coming from John and Revelation, 00:25:48.289 --> 00:25:50.930 promise glorified bodies that will never age, 00:25:51.109 --> 00:25:54.009 die, get injured, or get sick. We will be what 00:25:54.009 --> 00:25:56.490 God desired and meant for us to be, living in 00:25:56.490 --> 00:25:59.890 perfect fellowship with our Creator. I hope that 00:25:59.890 --> 00:26:01.750 this deep dive into salvation has been beneficial 00:26:01.750 --> 00:26:04.220 for you. If you're anything like me, when I first 00:26:04.220 --> 00:26:06.619 studied salvation in seminary, God's saving work 00:26:06.619 --> 00:26:08.740 in history was familiar, but salvation applied 00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:11.000 to the individual was new and captivating. I 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:13.259 found myself overwhelmed by how much Jesus did 00:26:13.259 --> 00:26:15.880 and continues to do for us. It grew my faith 00:26:15.880 --> 00:26:17.579 in an incredible way, and I hope it'll have the 00:26:17.579 --> 00:26:20.579 same effect for you. Next month, we'll tackle 00:26:20.579 --> 00:26:23.140 the who and where of salvation. Unlike the two 00:26:23.140 --> 00:26:24.880 minor disagreements covered in this session, 00:26:25.019 --> 00:26:26.839 there's been a great deal of conflict in church 00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:29.000 history over who God saves or makes salvation 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:31.890 available to. I'll try to give you all the legitimate 00:26:31.890 --> 00:26:33.869 Christian perspectives and the reasoning behind 00:26:33.869 --> 00:26:35.690 them, and then we'll look at a bunch of common 00:26:35.690 --> 00:26:38.049 questions people have about salvation, such as 00:26:38.049 --> 00:26:40.430 having certainty that a person is saved, whether 00:26:40.430 --> 00:26:43.009 a person can lose salvation, and what God does 00:26:43.009 --> 00:26:45.390 about special situations like infant death or 00:26:45.390 --> 00:26:48.269 people who never hear about Jesus. I've put five 00:26:48.269 --> 00:26:50.190 questions here on the screen that I'd like you 00:26:50.190 --> 00:26:52.730 to think about. I encourage you to not just think 00:26:52.730 --> 00:26:55.569 about these, but pray over these and seek out 00:26:55.569 --> 00:26:57.880 the answers in the Bible. For the people listening 00:26:57.880 --> 00:27:00.099 to the audio version, here are those five questions. 00:27:00.500 --> 00:27:04.220 First, can everyone choose to accept Jesus? Second, 00:27:04.420 --> 00:27:06.660 what about people who never hear the gospel? 00:27:07.460 --> 00:27:10.759 Third, what about babies, children, and the mentally 00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:12.619 or physically disabled that can't understand 00:27:12.619 --> 00:27:16.880 the gospel? Fourth, can you lose salvation? And 00:27:16.880 --> 00:27:19.420 fifth, do you get a second chance after death? 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:23.339 Thank you for your time. Have a wonderful night 00:27:23.339 --> 00:27:31.259 and a blessed rest of the month. I believe that 00:27:31.259 --> 00:27:38.940 you are working now to pour it out. Oh, pour 00:27:38.940 --> 00:27:39.680 it out.