Welcome back to our Zoom Theology class. We are currently studying the 12 Essentials of the Faith. We're working our way through those 12 focal points that are essential to defining our relationship with the Lord and our understanding of his plans and purposes for us as his people. Today for our study, or tonight, we are doing class number 10. This is on the plan of salvation. We're going to be covering this from a high-level or a big-picture perspective. Let me give you a brief overview description of the plan of salvation. God's plan of salvation is to save all of those who will ever be saved in all of history. This plan includes four essential elements that can be traced chronologically, starting in eternity past, working throughout history, including our moment in history, and concluding in eternity future or eternity to come that's still ahead of us. These four essential elements to the plan of salvation are identified by four key terms. We're going to look at each one of these four terms in order. These four elements are predestination, regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. And all who are truly saved or ever will be truly saved experience all four of these essential elements and they define what it means to truly be saved. All right, so our first element is predestination. For each one of these four terms I'm going to give you a brief description, then I'm going to outline some basic principles of that specific concept, and then we'll look at at least three or four passages of Scripture for each one of these four essential elements. So the first one is predestination. Of course, this has to do with the part of God's plan of salvation that occurred in eternity past, before we were born, before we even were alive, before we even existed. So the description of predestination in a brief sense, even though it's a very deep concept, is that in eternity past, Before even the universe itself was created, God, in his wisdom and according to his plan of salvation, chose specific individuals to save when their time in history would arrive. The Lord did this from a motive of agape love. for those that he has chosen to save. And he also did this for his own glory, meaning that God will be more greatly glorified in predestination than he would have been had he not chosen those to save. Now, basic principles of predestination. The first thing I should say is the The principle of predestination is probably the most challenging principle of salvation to the natural perspective, or what we would call the natural mind. Most young believers—I say young not so much in age, but young in the faith—those that have recently come to know the Lord, most struggle or have problems with understanding, comprehending, and believing that God chose them to be saved before the foundation of the world. But even though it's difficult for the natural mind and the natural perspective to understand and to believe, the Bible very clearly declares that this is true. While the natural mind would say the idea that God chose certain people to be saved before anyone ever even existed is simply not fair, God is not bound by our human concepts of fairness. And as we study the concept of predestination, as we learn it from what God has revealed in Scripture and what God himself has spoken about predestination, It begins to form an understanding in our minds and hearts that is deeply satisfying and ultimately comforting to the truly saved and regenerated person. So, I will just say by way of my personal testimony, as a young believer when I was first saved, and this is going all the way back to February of 1979, I did not understand the concept of predestination, and I struggled with it at the beginning when I first heard of it, when I first read about it in Scripture. And so I focused my heart's attention in learning about it and understanding it, because I did believe this. I believe that the Bible was inspired by God as we studied in our very first Zoom theology class, the inspiration and the authority of Scripture. the sufficiency of Scripture. And so I had an understanding that what God says about this principle must be true. And over the years of studying it, meditating on it, asking the Lord questions about it, and interacting with God's Word about it, I came to understand that this was the truth. And it came to ultimately satisfy my heart and mind I hope it will for you as well as you dig into your own studies. What we should understand is this. If the Bible declares that God has predestined some for salvation but not all people, then we should add the concept that we know for a fact as God has revealed himself to us in Scripture, that everything that God does, everything that God chooses, is righteous and is wise, and that God deciding in eternity past who would spend eternity future with him is something that he is absolutely right and wise to do. The best example, before we look at some passages of Scripture, the best example I could give you is this. Let me give you an example from our common circumstances that we're all familiar with. There comes a time in a young man's life when he reaches an age of maturity and it's time for him to get married, to find the woman that he will join himself to and spend the rest of his life with in holy marriage and then to build a family together with for the future. When it comes time for that young man to find a wife and to get married, there are multiple many options in terms of what woman he would choose to spend the rest of his life with. And he will look out over those options, and out of all of them, he will choose one person to join his heart to, and to pursue, and to marry, and to then commit the rest of his life in this world to spending his life side by side with. And when he chooses that one person to marry, And of course we're presuming that the woman that he chooses is also choosing to spend her life with him. But when he chooses that woman to marry, what he does in essence is he commits himself to exclusively pursuing that one woman. And in that choice he is excluding all other women and all other choices. He chooses to enter into a covenant relationship of marriage with one, but in doing so he's excluding all others that he could have potentially joined himself to. And when he makes that choice, we do not look at that choice and say he's doing a bad thing by not choosing all of the rest. We say to ourselves, and we understand that this is true in our hearts, that this is a good and righteous and holy thing that he chooses one and excludes all others. This is, in essence, what the Lord himself does in the plan of salvation. He chooses those whom he is going to join himself to for all of eternity And in doing so, he excludes all others. And just like that young man is free to choose whom he wishes, the Lord himself is free to choose whom he wants to spend eternity with. And so this concept of predestination as the foundational principle of the plan of salvation is ultimately about the freedom of God himself. the freedom that he has to choose whom he desires to join himself to in covenant commitment for all of this life and all of eternity to follow. All right, so let's look at some passages of Scripture that declare these principles and explain them to us in more detail. The first I'll give you is in the book of Ephesians, chapter one, and we'll look at verses three through six. Now, I won't read all of these passages that we're going to be covering. I won't have time to read each one, but I'll select certain ones to read that are especially helpful for our study. So let me read this one. This is my personal favorite passage in all of God's Word concerning the doctrine of predestination. Ephesians 1 verse 3. Paul writes, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world." So this passage clearly declares that God chose us for salvation. He chose us to be in covenant relationship with him, a relationship that would last for eternity. But that choice took place before we even were alive, before we even existed. In this moment of the choosing, we existed only in the heart and mind of the Lord in his plans and future purposes for us. He chose us in him before the foundation of the world. That means before the world was created, before the world itself even existed. And he chose us that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." Now that second declaration beginning at the end of verse 4 and continuing through verse 5, describes for us the motive that was in the heart of God, the motive that directed him to choose as he did and act as he did in the plan of salvation. His motive was love. And of course this English word love here translates the Greek word in the original text of Ephesians. The Greek word is agape. So the motive that was in the heart of the Lord in making this choice, just like the motive that's in the heart of the young man who chooses one woman out of the community of options is a motive of love. In the Lord's heart, there was in eternity past, as he thought of us, as he considered us, he in agape love predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. And he did this in verse 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, meaning that in some mysterious way God will receive at the end when we stand before the throne of God on the final day and it will be made evident who is saved and who is not saved. God's glory will be magnified in the choice that he made to save us. Now the second passage that we'll consider is in the book of Romans, chapter 8, verses 29 and 30. This passage is just as important as the Ephesian passage in revealing to us the mystery of God's plan of salvation In this passage, we're told that God predestined us, that us here are those who are truly saved, those that in saving faith in Christ Jesus are actually changed and transformed in the experience of what we call salvation. In just a moment, we'll dig into the other details of what it means to truly be saved. But God predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. Now this tells us the ultimate goal of salvation. Yes, our salvation began in eternity past before we even existed. That's the predestination aspect of our salvation. But it also tells us that we were predestined for a purpose, a great and eternal purpose. And that predestination purpose that the Lord had in his heart and mind for us was for us, each and every one who was truly saved, for us to be conformed to the image of his Son. meaning that in his predestining purpose for us, he planned for us to be changed and transformed and to be made like his Son, to bear the image and likeness of Christ himself, ultimately when our salvation is final and complete. All right, our third passage then. This is also in the book of Romans. And now we'll look at a portion in Romans chapter 9, and I will read this portion as well. We're going to look at verses 10 through 16. Now for those among you that may still have questions, or may even struggle with the concept of predestination, I will tell you that for me, in my own experience, as I was studying the principle of predestination in my younger years in the Lord, and first coming to grips with the challenge of understanding this principle, This passage in Romans chapter 9 was particularly beneficial, particularly helpful to me to change my mind, to change my perspective. And as we'll be looking at in just a few minutes when we consider the principle of sanctification as part of our salvation experience, one of the most important things that happens to us as we grow in the Lord is that our minds are renewed. meaning we begin to see things differently than we did before we were saved. We have our opinions changed, our perspectives are modified, and they're changed because of our exposure to the revealed words of God in Scripture. God's Word convinces us to think different thoughts than we would naturally think otherwise. And this entire section, it's not just the verses I'm going to read, but really all of Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 11, but especially Romans 9. is dedicated to this concept of predestination and the principles that we need to grapple with in order to fully understand and to comprehend God's plan of salvation. So let me read from Romans chapter 9, and we'll start, as I mentioned, in verse 10. At this point, Paul the Apostle is teaching the Roman church. He's teaching them about this principle of predestination, but he's using an example from Old Testament history. And the specific example that he's focused on here is from when Isaac, one of the three great patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when Isaac was the primary man of the covenant in covenant relationship with the Lord. And it mentions here in verse 10, Isaac and his wife, Rebekah. And of course, they gave birth to twins. Those twins were Jacob and Esau. Let's read what the Lord has to say about these twins. So starting in verse 10. And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather, Isaac. Though they were not yet born, he's speaking now of the twins that were in the womb at this moment of their mother, Rebecca. Though they were not yet born and had done nothing, either good or bad, as babies are in the womb of their mother, They have no history. They have no track record. They haven't done any actions. They haven't done anything good. They haven't done anything bad. And so while they were in this circumstance of babies in the womb of their mother, Paul says, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, Now, election is a key word to understand the concept of predestination. It's a word that the Lord uses throughout scripture to explain to us his freedom in regards to who is ultimately going to be saved. Election simply is a word which means choosing. For instance, when we hold elections in our nations, whether it's in Kenya where you live or in the United States where I live, When we hold elections, the people that are voting in those elections are making choices. They are electing one person, one candidate, and excluding another candidate. When they make the decision to cast their vote for one candidate, they are excluding all other options. So the principle of election is the freedom that we enjoy to make a choice of one over the other. But here the concept is applied not to our freedom, but to God's own freedom. If we are free to choose, how much more free is God himself to choose? So the emphasis here is on God's freedom to choose. Paul is setting up a scenario here that will help our understanding. We have two babies. The babies are Jacob and Esau. They're not yet born. They're still in their mother's womb. They haven't done anything either good or bad. And in order that God's purpose of his freedom to choose by election, in order that that purpose might continue, Not because of works that either baby has done, but because of him who calls. See, salvation is a call from the Lord to come to him in order to be saved. But because of him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger. Now, the older in this case was Esau. Even though they were twins in the mother's womb, One is born first and the other is born second. The firstborn is considered the elder child. And so this is in reference to Esau as the older would serve Jacob who is the younger. Verse 13, as it is written, Jacob I loved. But Esau I hated." Now this is quoting the Lord himself. This is the Lord's statement. This is not the statement of the mother, Rebecca. This is not the statement of the father, Isaac. This is the statement of the Lord as he considered these two children in their mother's womb. Neither one having done anything either good or bad. So this isn't a case of one deserving something over the other. It wasn't. God's choice was not affected by Jacob being more deserving than Esau. Neither child deserved the Lord to choose them. The Lord was free to choose based upon his own plans and purposes. not based upon the child being more deserving. So as it is written, Jacob I love, but Esau I hated. Now Paul at this point in verse 14 anticipates the objection of the natural perspective, the natural mind. The Lord knows that this concept of predestination will be hard to understand, hard to comprehend. And so he anticipates the objection and he says, what shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? The natural mind thinks that for God to be free to choose one over the other, that there's something wrong in that choice by the Lord. But Paul's answer inspired by the Holy Spirit of God is to answer the question, is there any injustice in God's freedom to choose? His answer is, by no means is there any injustice in God's choice. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. The meaning of verse 15 is God is free to show mercy to whom he wants to show mercy. God is free to show compassion to whom he wants to show compassion. The conclusion of all of this is in verse 16. So then, it depends, and the word it here refers to salvation, God's choice to save whom he saves. It depends not on human will, meaning salvation ultimately doesn't depend on our choice. It depends on God's choice. Neither does it depend on exertion, meaning human effort to be saved. But it depends on God, who has mercy. All right, so that's a brief introduction to the first of our four essential elements in the plan of salvation, which is predestination. Now I spent more time on this first principle because it's the most challenging one, the most difficult one to understand and to believe in. But we'll go a little quicker now for our remaining three principles. These principles I'm confident that you've already been exposed to, that you already have some clear understanding of, but let's review them and make sure that we're all on the same page because these are essential elements of the true plan of salvation. All right, so our first principle is predestination. The second principle of the plan of salvation is regeneration. Let me briefly describe regeneration. Regeneration refers to God's gift of new spiritual life, what we call eternal life. God's gift of new spiritual life to those whom he chooses to save, who were previously, prior to receiving this gift of eternal life, they were all spiritually dead. This includes you and me. Regeneration is what happens to our soul the moment that we were born again. So regeneration is just a theological description of what we call being born again. So the new birth is regeneration and regeneration refers to the new birth. All right, so basic principles of regeneration. First, the new birth occurs in a single moment of time. It's not a process. It's not stretched out over time. A person in one moment is not alive spiritually, and then when God gives this gift of new life, the very next moment they are truly born again. In that moment, second principle, our soul is saved and forever changed. Third principle, once a person is truly born again, that soul which is born again can never, from that moment forward, can never spiritually die again. Once you are truly made alive, You're made alive with what the Lord describes as eternal life. This is a life which lasts forever. And then the final principle, regeneration produces in us this eternal life. This is a life, as I mentioned, which lasts forever into eternity future. never-ending life. All right, so let me give you four passages of Scripture that describe the new birth or regeneration to us and establish some essential principle for our understanding. The first passage is Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. Now, in this passage It's actually Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4, which begins to explain to us the moment of regeneration, the moment of our experience of salvation. But I'm giving you verses 1 through 3 because those three verses describe for us what our common experience was just prior to being born again, to receiving this new life. prior to being made spiritually alive by the new birth, all human beings prior to that experience are described in Scripture in Ephesians 2 verses 1 through 3 as being spiritually dead. Now this is a super important principle to understand. This is a common misunderstanding, sadly, even among many Christians, even among many pastors and Bible teachers. that somehow people who do not know the Lord, somehow the unsaved, people who are not yet born again, have the ability to choose any time they want to choose to be saved. But the Bible teaches otherwise. The Bible teaches that prior to the new birth, Every individual is described as being spiritually dead. In this passage, we are spiritually dead in our sins and trespasses before God gives us new life. Now, a dead person is unable to act to think, to choose, or to speak. If a person next to you were to suddenly and unexpectedly die in your presence, you could poke them, you could prod them, you could speak to them, you could shake them, they would not be able to respond at all because they would be dead to you and dead to this world. So it's important to understand that the unsaved out there in the world, those that are currently unsaved, and this was true of us before we were saved, are spiritually completely unable to respond. They are spiritually dead to God because of their sins and their trespasses. In order for them to respond to God in a saving way, they first must be made alive. All right, this brings us to our next passage. And this passage I'm sure you're all familiar with. This is from the Gospel of John, chapter three, and I'll reference verses three through seven. This, of course, is the event where one night in the public ministry of the Lord Jesus, during the three years of his ministry, one of the Pharisees, one of the leaders of the Jewish people in the city of Jerusalem, approached Jesus in order to meet with him and have a discussion with him. This man was named Nicodemus, and he was one of the leaders of the Pharisees, meaning he was one of the leading Bible teachers of the Jewish people in those days. And Nicodemus approached Jesus with questions about salvation, questions about what it meant to truly have a saved relationship with the Lord. And what the Lord Jesus declared to Nicodemus, and I know, as I mentioned before, that you've read this and you're familiar with it. Jesus declared that in order for a person to be saved, one must first be born again. You must be born again. And he goes on to declare that unless someone is actually born again, they cannot even see the kingdom of God and they are not even able to enter the kingdom of God. Meaning that prior to seeing clearly the kingdom of God and prior to entering the kingdom of God, meaning to be one of God's saved people, that first a miracle must occur in that person's heart, in that person's soul, in that person's spirit. And that miracle is the miracle of the new birth, the miracle of regeneration, the miracle of receiving new life in the experience of being born again. But that experience is a gift. by the miraculous power of God, which the Lord later describes in this passage, using the analogy of the wind moving throughout this world. The wind is invisible. The wind cannot be seen. The wind cannot be grasped. But you can see the effects of the wind after it passes through. And in the same way, the Holy Spirit works miraculously in a hidden way in the heart of those that God chooses to save by bringing new life to that heart so that that person can respond to the Lord with what we call saving faith. All right, our next passage. This is from 1 Peter 1. 3. In this passage, Peter declares that it's God the Father himself who has caused all of us who are truly saved, he has caused us to be born again. Again, this is a common point of misunderstanding, even among many Bible teachers and pastors. The idea, somehow, that the individual who is saved is the one causing their own new birth by choosing to believe in the gospel of salvation. Now, I will say this. Choosing to believe in the gospel of salvation is something that must happen in the heart of everyone who is saved. But that choice to believe in the gospel of salvation is not what causes us to be born again. The Father himself, by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the heart of the previously spiritually dead individual, is the miracle that enables us to see the truth that's in the gospel of salvation and to believe it in a saving way. So the first thing that must occur in the heart of the person that's truly saved is this new birth experience that only God the Father is able to cause by the miraculous power of God. All right, our last passage on this principle is the book of Titus, chapter 3, verse 5. In this passage, Paul the Apostle teaches that God saved us according to his mercy. meaning he chose to show us mercy, not all, but us who are saved. He saved us according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration. And again, remember the word regeneration means new birth. So we could translate it and read it this way. God saved us according to his mercy by the washing of new birth, meaning it's as we're born again that God cleanses us from our sins in our old life and makes us essentially new people. All right. That's the second of our four principles. So we've covered predestination. We've covered regeneration. We still have two principles to cover. The third principle is the principle of sanctification. Now I want you to understand that sanctification covers every moment of our Christian life. So the first moment of our Christian life is the moment of regeneration. The last moment of our Christian life in this present world is the moment either of our death or the moment that the Lord returns in the second coming. So every moment between our new birth and our death, or our new birth and the second coming of Christ, is a moment of sanctification. This is the principle in which salvation is described as an ongoing present process. So biblically, in one sense, the moment we were first saved, regeneration, new birth. makes our salvation a past event. We were saved the moment we were first born again. But the Bible also declares that we are currently in the process of being saved. We are, day by day, being saved. So part of our salvation experience is an ongoing thing that continues to occur in our hearts. So let me briefly describe sanctification for us. Sanctification is the ongoing process of growing in grace. in the likeness of Christ that begins at new birth, or regeneration, and ends at death, or the second coming of Christ. So all of the moments in between the new birth and our death are moments of sanctification. And sanctification simply describes the process that God is committed to to continue to change us. So the first and greatest change that we experience in this life is the change of new birth. That's the moment in which our heart is changed, our spirit, our soul is changed. But there's more in us to be changed than our heart only. Our mind is meant to be changed. Our character is meant to be developed and to grow. And the goal of all of the growth that we experience from the new birth forward is to be transformed and changed into the likeness of Christ. So let me give you some basic principles of sanctification. Number one, sanctification begins the moment we are truly born again. Before we're born again, it's not possible for us to be sanctified. But the moment we are born again, God begins to sanctify us, meaning he begins to change us to become more like Christ. This sanctification process is a lifelong process. So I've been in the Lord now, I've been saved for over 40 years. I was first saved, I was born again in February of 1979. That began a long process of change. Every day since February of 1979, I have changed a little bit more. And all of those changes have been making me a little bit more like Christ day by day. And if the Lord were to give me more years beyond this day, then I will continue to change every day to be a little bit more like Christ. So it's a lifelong process, and it is the primary focus of the Holy Spirit's current work in our life. So the Holy Spirit does empower us and he gifts us in order to serve him. But his primary concern in the work that he does in our hearts and in our lives, even more important than the work we do in our service to him, is the change that he develops in us to conform us and to transform us and to make us more like Christ. So that is the goal of our sanctification. The goal of our sanctification is to be transformed fully into the likeness of Christ, and that is a long process. The reason it's such a long process is because there's so much in us that still needs to be changed. Even though our hearts were born again, our spirit was born again, Nevertheless, our mind didn't automatically think everything the way that we should think it. We didn't see everything the way we should see it. We didn't understand everything the way that we should understand it. And our character hasn't been fully formed and developed yet. So, the last principle is the Spirit works in us every day to make us more like Christ. All right, let me give you some passages. I'm going to give you a few more passages. I'm going to give you a total of six passages on sanctification. I'll just briefly describe each one of these, but you can read them in your own time. I would encourage you to meditate on them. And especially those of you who are pastors and are shepherding a church currently, these passages are incredibly important because this is your responsibility as a shepherd to help or to encourage this process of ongoing sanctification in the hearts and lives of all of those that are truly born again in the churches that you pastor. First passage, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18. Paul tells us in this passage that we are, and this is referring to all who are truly born again, we are currently being transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus himself. from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. See, when we were regenerated, when we were born again, that was a glorious thing that the Lord did. It was a miraculous thing. It was a heart-transforming thing that occurred in our lives when we were born again. That was a true expression of God's miraculous glory inside of us. But the next day, you were changed a little bit more to be a little bit more like Christ. And so you gained an additional degree of God's glorious work in your soul. And each successive day since that day you were first born again, you've been changed to become a little bit more like Christ. And so you are continuing to be transformed or sanctified to be more like Christ. Next passage, and I referred to this concept earlier, Romans chapter 12 verse 2. Paul says, and he's speaking here to all true believers, we are to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. Meaning, even though our soul, our spirit is made new the moment we're born again, our mind is still an old mind. We still think the same thoughts that we thought before we were saved. And so we need to learn a new way of thinking that will match the new heart, the new life that God has given us. And we learn, of course, these things by applying our minds to reading, studying, meditating on the Word of God, the revealed words in Scripture. But Paul says that as our mind is renewed, we are being transformed. And he uses the Greek word here metamorphosis. Metamorphosis describes a complete change from the inside out. The best example I could give you is from the natural world around us when a caterpillar weaves a cocoon around itself. And what is inside the cocoon when it first weaves the cocoon is a caterpillar. But over a period of time, through a process of internal change, what emerges from the cocoon is not a caterpillar, but a transformed creature, a new creature. What emerges is a butterfly. What has happened to the caterpillar? The caterpillar no longer exists. The butterfly has replaced the caterpillar. This is the concept of our sanctification. We're in the cocoon of the Lord's sanctifying process of transforming us from the inside out. And so Paul describes this as a renewal of our minds, meaning we're experiencing replacement a process of replacing old thoughts, old perspectives, and old priorities from our old life with new thoughts, new perspectives, and new priorities that are formed in us by our study of God's words. Now, in the book of 1 Peter 2.2, Peter gives us a practical understanding of how it is that we grow in this process of change. We grow by feeding on God's pure Word. As a brand new believer, we're feeding only on the milk of God's Word, meaning the basic principles of the gospel of our salvation. But as we grow, we change our diet. And we're talking about our approach to studying the Word of God. We no longer, as we grow, drink milk only. We also begin to eat the meat of God's Word. which is, of course, what we're doing in this Zoom theology class that we're engaged in together. So we grow up in our salvation by feeding on God's pure words. A baby can't grow unless you feed it. And in the same way, as we're born again, we're like infants in our new life. And we cannot and will not grow unless we feed on what God provides for us to eat. The pure words of God is revealed in Scripture. Next, I'll give you a section in the book of Colossians chapter 3. I won't have time to read this section for us, but I would strongly encourage you to read it. This whole section is dedicated to the principle of sanctification. Colossians chapter 3 verses 5 through 14. Let me briefly summarize. The main point of this passage is we're called to participate in our own sanctification. The Lord wants us to participate in our own growth in grace. And we do so in this passage by learning to put off all of our old ways and to replace our old ways by putting on the new ways that God directs us to in what he has revealed in his word. So old ways replaced by new ways. This is also emphasized in Philippians chapter two, verses 12 and 13. In this passage, we learn that God works in us by his power, by the influences of his Holy Spirit who dwells within us. God works in us so that we can work out our own salvation. Now, be clear about what Paul is saying here. He doesn't say we work for our own salvation, but we do work out our salvation. So salvation is a miracle that God accomplishes within us. But we're called to participate once we actually are saved by working out our salvation into every area of our life. And then finally, in this section on sanctification, consider 1 Thessalonians 5.23. In this passage, we learn about God's own commitment to our sanctification. He's committed to sanctifying us completely. And that complete sanctification includes the sanctification of our spirit, the sanctification of our soul, and the sanctification of our body. So the Lord is committed to the complete sanctification of us and that is being worked into us and worked by the power of His Spirit upon us each day of our lives from the day of our new birth again until the day we either die or the Lord returns in His second coming. All right, that leaves us just enough time for our fourth and final essential principle of the doctrine of salvation, the plan of salvation, and that is the final phase or the final stage or the final experience of our salvation, which is what the Bible describes as glorification. Glorification refers to the final completion of the work of salvation, which will only occur for all of us, whether we are alive at the moment that this happens or with the Lord after our death in this world. The final completion of our salvation will occur at the second coming of Christ. when all true believers are fully and finally conformed to the likeness of Christ. Some basic principles of glorification. This describes the idea of glorification, that there is a final endpoint of all of our growth and grace into the likeness of Christ. Meaning we will not continue to grow for all of eternity. There is an end point to our growth, a completion, a finalization of what the Lord intended when he saved us. And that will be experienced at the second coming. So at the second coming, all true believers will be fully glorified and fully bear the likeness of Christ. That final change will occur in a moment of time. And at that moment, we will receive a glorified physical body that's identical to the glorified body of Christ that he lives in now and has been alive in since his resurrection. And in those glorified bodies, we will live forever with the Lord. Those bodies are described for us in Scripture as immortal, meaning they are not subject to weakness, they're not subject to sickness, they're not subject to decay, and they're not subject to death. Let me give you four passages of Scripture to connect to this concept of glorification. Colossians chapter 3 verse 4. We're told in this passage by the Apostle Paul that when Christ appears, and here he's referring to the second coming appearance of Christ, when Christ appears, we also will appear with him in glory. Meaning whether we are we have died and we've gone to heaven to be with the Lord in heaven waiting for the second coming, or whether we're alive in this world, in that moment we will be changed and transformed and just like he appears in glory with a glorious body, we will appear in glory with him with the same kind of glorious body that he lives in and enjoys today. Philippians chapter 3 verses 20 and 21 also teaches the same principle. The Lord on that day, the day of the second coming, will transform our present weak physical bodies to be like his glorious immortal body is now. Romans chapter 8 verse 23. Paul teaches that right now, in our present experience, we are all waiting eagerly for the redemption of our bodies. The completion of our salvation is to receive the transformed, glorified, physical body that the Lord lives in now. And we all, having these present weak natural bodies are eagerly waiting for that day when we will receive those glorified bodies. And then finally, our last passage, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 50 through 54. We have just enough time for me to read this passage. and to make a couple of comments on it. So turn with me if you would, if you want to follow with me. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. The entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 is very important because it's by far the longest and most detailed chapter describing for us the nature of what we call the resurrection bodies that we will receive on that day. But at the end of the chapter here, starting in verse 50, Paul describes what will happen on the day of the second coming of Christ. Paul says in verse 50, I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Now, when he refers to flesh and blood, he doesn't mean physical bodies cannot inherit the kingdom of God, because the glorified bodies that we will receive are flesh and blood. But they're not the same kind of body that our present body is. They are a glorified physical body not a natural physical body. So flesh and blood just refers to the natural physical bodies that we currently live in. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." Meaning these present bodies are perishable. They're subject to death, to decay, to weakness, to sickness. But the bodies we will receive are imperishable. They are not subject to any of those weaknesses. Verse 51, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. Here, sleep refers to death in this natural world. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Meaning, there are some who will be alive when the Lord returns. They will not die. They will be transformed. Others who have died in the Lord, who are with the Lord in heaven, will also be transformed in that same moment of the second coming. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," meaning in less than a second's time, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet, this is a heavenly trumpet, an angelic trumpet. For the trumpet will sound. This is a trumpet signaling the return of the Lord in the second coming. and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up. in victory. So the completion of the plan of salvation is a final change, a change in the transformation of our bodies so that we will enjoy eternal life with an eternal and immortal and glorious physical body with the Lord forever. All right, that brings us to the end of our study for today.