Lesson for February 9, 2022
The Doctrine of Soteriology
Lesson 6
What Christ Accomplished on the Cross
Efficacious Grace
Grace is often defined as God’s unmerited favor or undeserved mercy. These are correct but simplified definitions. God’s grace is much, much more than simply unmerited favor or undeserved mercy. Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind on the basis of Jesus Christ’s saving work on the Cross. The grace of God is the expression of His character, His integrity, His love, His longsuffering, His justice, His righteousness, and His perfection. The maximum expression of His grace is the Cross.
The word efficacious is defined as “having the power to produce the intended effect,” or simply stated, effective. Therefore, efficacious grace is effective grace – grace that has the power to produce the intended effect. When applied to salvation, efficacious grace is all that God does for people, when they place their faith in Christ, that produces the intended result of deliverance (salvation). This is called saving grace because it saves the unbeliever from the condemnation of spiritual death (separation from God) and places that person, who is now a believer, in a permanent relationship with God. This permanent relationship sets up great potential for blessing from God, all of which is based upon His grace. (John 3:18; Romans 8:1)
Efficacious grace is dependent on the perfect character of God. It is God’s desire to be gracious to every human being. This grace begins at birth when God breathes the breath of life into each human being. His grace continues, as Jesus said in John 16:7-11 regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit, “But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment: regarding sin, because they do not believe in Me; and regarding righteous, because I am going to the Father and you no longer are going to see Me; and regarding judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.”
The Holy Spirit’s conviction is regarding the sin of unbelief, a person’s lack of the righteousness necessary to go to Heaven, and a coming judgment originally prepared for Satan and the fallen angels. Jesus referred to going to the Cross and then returning to Heaven as the complete satisfaction for sin which provides the necessary righteousness to go to Heaven when He said, “I am going to the Father, and you no longer are going to see Me.” As long as a person is breathing, God’s grace is at work and there continues to be hope for that person’s salvation. In every dispensation, God’s grace has been operational and will continue to be operational throughout all eternity. If a person desires to have a relationship with God, it must be based on His grace and not our human merit. (Isaiah 30:18-19; John 16:7-11)
Being oriented to God’s grace means a believer is familiar with what God’s Word teaches about it, understands it and knows how it applies to one’s life. Failure on the part of a believer to orient to God’s grace results in loss of blessings in time, a miserable life, and a loss of rewards in eternity (shame at the Judgment Seat of Christ). (John 3:36; Titus 2:11-14)
Eternal Security
The doctrine of eternal security is the scriptural teaching that once a person becomes a believer in Christ, that person is secure in Christ, forever. (I John 5:13) There is sound doctrinal reasoning for knowing that a believer is secure forever. The most important fact to note is that eternal security depends upon God’s faithfulness, not man’s faithfulness. It is the life of God (eternal life) that He imputes (credits) to every believer at the moment of salvation that assures us of an eternal relationship with Him. The Bible says that believers are guarded in the “hand of God.”
We are also given a guarantee in the Person of the Holy Spirit Who indwells every believer. The Holy Spirit is “the seal” that secures forever our eternal life. Since salvation is a grace function and has nothing whatsoever to do with human effort or human merit, losing your salvation through sin would negate God’s grace – a blasphemous thought. (John 10:28-29, 14:16-17) If believers could lose their salvation through sin, who is to be the judge of which particular sin cancels their salvation? If you merely have eternal life until you sin again, then you do not have eternal life. A lack of understanding or believing in the eternal security of the believer results in lack of confidence in God and His Word. Assurance of salvation should be dealt with in spiritual childhood and cease to be an issue once a believer has begun to learn and apply Bible doctrine. Confidence in God is obtained by the consistent study and application of God’s Word. The more doctrine we learn and apply, the more we know about God and the more confident we become in His plan and purpose for us. (Romans 8:38-39; I John 3:21-22)
Once we have gained confidence in our salvation, we can relax, knowing that regardless of anything we do, people do, or circumstances do to us that we are eternally secure in Christ. This divine viewpoint mental attitude has the result of confidence towards God and courage towards man. Since we are not trusting any member of the human race, including ourselves, to secure our salvation, we can have complete confidence in the “powerful hand of God” to keep us secure forever. (Isaiah 41:10: John 10:28-29)
The power of God is unequalled by anything that man can invent or manufacture. The Greek word for power is “dunamis” and means power, potential or ability. It is this power that is securing forever our salvation. God’s power is His ability to keep us safe for all eternity. Since we have obtained an eternal relationship with omnipotent (all-powerful) God, nothing can separate us from this relationship. As a member of God’s family, it is irrational thinking to believe that we can remove ourselves from His family by some failure on our part. (Romans 4:21; 8:14-17, 31-39; Galatians 4:4-7; II Timothy 1:12; Hebrew 7:25)
Eternal Inheritance
Inheritance implies a family relationship and eternal is a permanent, everlasting relationship. This is certainly the case for every Christian. At salvation, every believer becomes a child of God. One of the amazing things is that as children of God, we also become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. This means that we share in Christ’s inheritance. The Bible declares that “it has not even entered into the mind of man what God has prepared for him.” So, the questions are, “What is this inheritance and how do we get it?” (Galatians 3:26; 4:26; Romans 8:17)
In eternity past, when God was designing a plan for your life, He included as part of His plan an inheritance. God was thinking of each one of us, personally, in eternity past and predesigned a magnificent plan for our lives on earth. He also designed a plan for each of us for the eternal state, which we cannot work for, earn, or deserve. God’s plan is always a matter of His grace. (Ephesians 1:11)
For believers in Christ, God has become their Father, not merely their Creator. This family relationship is entered into by faith in Christ at salvation. Therefore, it is not something for which we have worked, nor is it something that we deserved. In other words, this family relationship is based on the grace of God. Therefore, our inheritance is also based on God’s grace. As our Father, God desires only the best for His children. It is a divine decree from our Heavenly Father that we have an inheritance, and His decrees must be carried out. (Galatians 4:4-7)
Inheritance implies a family relationship even in the case of Jesus Christ. As the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus is the Son of God. It is this family relationship that Jesus has with God the Father that guarantees that He will have an inheritance. As a matter of fact, Christ is the inheritor of all things, according to Hebrews 1:2. It is this inheritance that we, as children of God, share with Christ.
Eternal inheritance means exactly that – it lasts for all eternity. Our inheritance begins at salvation but will not be fully realized until we enter the eternal state. After we are evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ, great rewards will be given to believers who have fulfilled God’s plan to enjoy for all eternity. It is the realization of these rewards in eternity that should be a motivating factor in our lives. This knowledge becomes part of our personal sense of destiny, a future filled with only peace and happiness.
In God’s grace, He has provided for every believer in the eternal state. For those believers who live the Christian Way of Life, the rewards will be greater. Nevertheless, all believers will be blessed in eternity and all believers will enjoy happiness forever. Personal sins are not going to be an issue when you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ to be evaluated, because your sins were dealt with on the Cross. However, our spiritual lives will be evaluated, and on that basis, Christ will give us great rewards to enjoy for all eternity.