A Long Line of Godly Men

God does not merely make salvation possible.

It's not a hypothetical salvation that now depends upon man to accept or reject. At the cross, Jesus actually saved sinners. He did not merely put the world into a savable position. He didn't make us merely reconcilable. He actually reconciled us through the blood of His cross. He did not merely potentially propitiate the wrath of God.

He actually placated the holy vengeance of God upon hell-deserving sinners. When Christians speak of the doctrines of grace, they'll often reference Martin Luther and John Calvin. But these Gospel truths were not an invention of the 16th century during the Reformation.

No, they're actually taught throughout the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and thank you for joining us today for Renewing Your Mind. This week, Ligonier Teaching Fellow Stephen Lawson will take us on a journey through the Old and New Testaments, not only to show us that the doctrines of grace are taught in every book of the Bible, but also to help us better understand these Gospel truths. So to begin his Foundations of Grace series, here's Dr. Lawson. Our series that we're now beginning is the doctrines of grace in the Old Testament. And what we will discover is that there is a long line of godly men that extend through the Old Testament, but that line continues through the New Testament, and it has continued through every century of church history to the present. It's a long line of godly men who have taught the doctrines of grace.

And it really begins in the Old Testament. That's the beginning point with the prophets and with the judges and with kings and princes and the psalmists and sages. They all taught the doctrines of grace. They spoke with one voice. There was no contradiction.

There was no inconsistency. They all spoke with great lucidness on the doctrines of grace. And as we come to the New Testament, we find exactly the same. There's not a different way that God applies His grace to the lives of people. As it was in the Old Testament, so it is in the New Testament. And the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was the greatest teacher of the doctrines of grace. And in the four gospels, it comes through loud and clear. A blind man could see it.

A deaf person could hear it. If your Bible is open, and then as He sent out His disciples, they continued to preach the very same message in the book of Acts. And as they recorded the epistles in the New Testament, there was perfect consistency with the doctrines of grace. And as we walk through the centuries of church history, obviously there has been some disagreement.

But I want to say that by and large, those men who had the greatest impact upon this world, those men who launched reformations and great awakenings, and who launched missionary movements, men who impacted continents with the gospel of Jesus Christ, were those men who held forth the doctrines of grace. And so it has come down to this present hour. So, there is one line, one long line of godly men.

Not two lines. There wasn't one in the Old Testament, and now a totally different line in the New Testament and a different standard of teaching in the New Testament. No, it is all one and the same. And the way people were saved in the Old Testament is exactly how they are saved in the New Testament. There's not two different gospels.

There's only one saving gospel of Jesus Christ. And people were saved in the Old Testament by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, right? And it is the same in the New Testament.

It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. They looked forward to the coming of Christ, just as we look back to the first coming of Christ. But Old Testament, New Testament, we preach Christ in Him crucified. Now, how this saving work of Jesus Christ is applied to the lives of sinners is also exactly the same from the Old Testament to the New Testament.

There is this perfect continuity from the Old to the New that now extends throughout church history regarding the doctrines of grace. Now, when we say the doctrines of grace, what are we saying? Well, with the doctrines of grace to succinctly state it in three words, this will be so simple.

God saves sinners. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all work together to be one Savior. God the Father is a Savior. God the Son is a Savior. God the Holy Spirit is a Savior. That's why when we baptize, we baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We don't just baptize in the name of the Father, and we don't baptize just in the name of the Son, nor in the name of the Holy Spirit. We are commanded by Christ in the Great Commission. We baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Why? Because all three persons of the Trinity are a Savior. They work in perfect unity of purpose and economy of effort in saving one and the same sinners. Now, the doctrines of grace are taught from cover to cover in the Bible, from the table of contents to the maps. It's all, the doctrines of grace are found throughout the Bible. Now, when we say the doctrines of grace, the doctrines of grace are five statements of truth, five theological doctrinal statements of truth concerning how God saves sinners, and they all hang together. They are like five links in one chain, and they are inseparably connected together.

And if there is a break in one of these links, there is a break in the entire chain. And so, in this sense, a person either accepts all five or they reject all five because they stand together. And what these five doctrines of grace are, radical corruption, sovereign election, definite atonement, effectual calling, and preserving grace.

You may know them by other titles using the acrostic tulip, T-U-L-I-P, moral depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. These are the five doctrines of grace, and they were not forged in the Reformation. They were not found in Geneva or in Wittenberg. In fact, they were not even discovered in North Africa during the time of the church fathers. In fact, they are older than what was taught in Galilee and Jerusalem. They go all the way back to the very beginning of time.

They go back to the Garden of Eden. They go back to the time of creation. They go all the way back to the beginning of the Old Testament. And the doctrines of grace are taught throughout the entire Scripture. They were simply proclaimed by the church fathers and declared by the Reformers as well as the Puritans and those in the Great Awakening.

But it did not originate with them. They were simply the messengers. They were simply the mouthpieces who proclaimed these truths, but they are rooted and grounded in Scripture. These are biblical teachings.

These are God's truths. Now, as I walk through those five doctrines of grace, what we discover is the first deals with man, the last four deal with God. The first, radical depravity, it begins with the state of man in sin, and then each successive heading deals with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and then the three of them together preserving those who are saved.

Now, we'll be coming back to this many times. The most succinct statement of these doctrines of grace, as I've said, is God saves sinners. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

They all three work in perfect unity together. God saves. The word saves means to be delivered from destruction.

It means to be rescued from ruin. And the Bible teaches that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. And the Bible teaches that all of mankind is under the wrath of God. Romans 1, verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. Men and women need to be saved.

That's a Bible word. And it means, as I've already said, to be delivered from the wrath to come, to be rescued from the final judgment and eternal hell. Now, in the doctrines of grace, they teach that God does not merely make salvation possible. It's not a hypothetical salvation that now depends upon man to accept or reject, and some, for example, that the Son would have saved, never end up being saved.

No, the doctrines of grace, God saves, actually saves. And at the cross, Jesus actually saved sinners. He did not merely put the world into a savable position. He didn't make us merely reconcilable. He actually reconciled us through the blood of His cross. He did not merely potentially propitiate the wrath of God. He actually placated the holy vengeance of God upon hell-deserving sinners. There was an actual transaction with finality that took place upon Calvary's cross.

This is critically important. And God the Holy Spirit brings it home to the heart through conviction and drawing and through the miracle of regeneration. So when we say God saves sinners, we mean He actually saves sinners.

And this is the language of both Old Testament and New Testament. There was a powerful, triumphant saving of sinners at Calvary's cross. God saves sinners, sinners who are in rebellion against God. Whether they grew up outside the church, inside the church, wherever. Sinners outside of the kingdom of God. Sinners dead in trespasses and sin. Sinners unable to deliver themselves or to save themselves. Sinners who are unable to merit the grace of God and the salvation that He offers.

Sinners who are totally, completely dependent upon the work of grace in their life. And the doctrines of grace bring this out in most vivid color and in greatest presentation. The doctrines of grace begin in eternity past. The doctrines of grace consummate in eternity future.

The doctrines of grace span from before the foundation of the world throughout all time and then throughout all eternity future. Those whom He foreknew, He predestined. And those whom He predestined, He called. And those whom He called, He justified. And those whom He justified, He glorified. I know that's taught in the New Testament, but it is also rooted and grounded in the Old Testament as well. These doctrines of grace are doxological.

They promote our worship of God. As we understand these doctrines of grace, we have so much more for which to give praise and honor to God than if we only knew a part of the story of our salvation. The doctrines of grace are comprehensive. The doctrines of grace become a full disclosure by God to us of what He has done to bring His grace to our lives. And when we see this and when we understand this in the doctrines of grace, it is jaw-dropping.

It is knee-bending. It is heart-igniting. It is really, I think, the ultimate paradigm through which we rightly see our salvation. To fail to see the doctrines of grace is to have a blurred understanding of how it is that we came to be in the kingdom of God. But to understand the doctrines of grace is to see with 20-20 vision the saving purposes of God. So, this is where we're headed, and this is what we will be looking at, these doctrines of grace. They are God-exalting, Christ-glorifying, pride-crushing, life-giving, joy-producing, soul-humbling, faith-building, evangelism-launching, missions-motivating.

Did you get that? Could all of that be true with just these five doctrines of grace? The answer is, yea, verily, amen, it is true. And the more we dig into this, and the more we discover the doctrines of grace, we find even greater beauties of truth in the Word of God that cause our heart to soar to the heights of heaven. They're breath-taking, and they really are life-changing. When you come to see the doctrines of grace, it's really like you get saved all over again.

It's really a whole new beginning of understanding how it is I was birthed into the kingdom of God. James Montgomery Boice used to speak of a teeter-totter on a playground, seesaw, and children playing in the playground. And he made the observation that when one end is up, the other end automatically goes down. And then when the down end goes up, the up end has to go down.

You can never have both ends up at the same time. And he says, that's the way the doctrines of grace enable us to see who God is and who we are. Because the doctrines of grace put God up and us in a very humble position. And any other way, any other way of understanding salvation has everything completely backwards. It has man in a superior position and has God in a dependent position.

That is wrong. It is the doctrines of grace that put God in His rightful place. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit from all eternity past and within time and throughout all of the ages to come, being our Savior. And it puts us, man, in our rightful place, on our knees, looking up with a grateful and thankful heart, totally dependent upon God for His work of salvation in our lives.

As we come to discover these doctrines of grace, how they build our faith, we see how God is at work in the world, how God has been at work in our lives and continues to be. We live in a very challenging hour of human history, do we not? It looks like the whole world is about to unravel like a cheap sweater.

It looks like everything is about to go up in smoke. Is it not comforting to you and me to know that every single one of God's elect will be saved and that Christ will build His church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it? Let Satan howl and prowl all that he would bring his assault against the gospel and against the church, yet God is greater. And God will call out of this world of darkness every single one whom He chose by Himself and for Himself from before the foundation of the world, every single one that He gave to His Son in eternity past to be His love gift and commissioned Him to come into this world and to lay down His life as the Good Shepherd for the sheep, everyone for whom Christ died will be brought into saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Not a one will be left behind. And God the Holy Spirit has gone out into the whole world. He is omnipresent and omnipotent and He will bring conviction of sin and will call and irresistibly draw and sovereignly birth into the kingdom of God everyone for whom Christ died and everyone whom the Father chose before time began.

What a confidence builder this is. This should so encourage us to go out into the world and to share our faith with Jesus Christ, to support missionaries, to undergird ministries that are sending the Word of God forth knowing that God Himself guarantees the success of His gospel. Christ will not die in vain. Every drop of blood shed by Christ at the cross will fulfill the eternal purpose and plan of God. So, as we study these doctrines of grace, this isn't just going up into an ivory tower and having a philosophical discussion about certain world views.

No, this is where the rubber meets the rope. This is the reality of truth being brought to bear in this world concerning what is most important, most important, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and it is and it will perform its work in the hearts of every single one for whom Christ has died. So, this is where we begin our study.

And I don't know that we could be looking at anything more exhilarating than what we are looking at in this series. So, I pray and trust that God will guard and guide through this series and that He will bring these truths home to your heart and stir them up in my heart. This is an anchor for our soul. God saves sinners. Therefore, all glory goes not to the sinner, but to the God who is the Savior of sinners. And that is why it will require all eternity throughout all of the ages to come before the throne of grace to be singing our praises to this God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who has rescued us from the wrath we so rightly deserve. Solideo gloria, to the glory of God alone.

That is an incredible picture, isn't it? That we will spend all of eternity with believers from all time praising Him for saving us because He gets all of the credit and all of the glory. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind, and that was Stephen Lawson from the Old Testament volume of his Foundations of Grace series. If you'd like to continue studying with Dr. Lawson and seeing these gospel truths, the doctrines of grace throughout all of the Old Testament, whether it's Joshua to Esther, the prophets, or even in the book of Proverbs, for your donation of any amount, we'll send you that complete series. It has 14 messages on two DVDs, and you can give your gift at renewingyourmind.org or by calling us at 800-435-4343. In addition to us sending you that DVD set, you'll also receive digital access to all of the messages and the study guide. So give your gift today at renewingyourmind.org. When you consider where does the Bible speak of God's sovereignty and salvation, your mind may go to the book of Romans or perhaps John 6. Well, tomorrow as Dr. Lawson continues his Foundations of Grace series, he takes us back to Moses and the book of Deuteronomy. It's Tuesday here on Renewing Your Mind. You