Is There an Order to Our Salvation?

Can faith come before repentance? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes, and you can talk to Pastor Adriel live in the studio. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. You can watch us right now on YouTube, and you can email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners named Austin. My question is, I know that Jesus' death and resurrection is the payment to grant our salvation. My question is, how is that an equal payment? Because what we deserve is eternity in hell, and if Jesus doesn't spend eternity in hell, how does that pay for us?

Thank you. Well, thank you for that question. Well, it's important to understand that the value of Christ's redeeming work, the atoning death of our Lord Jesus Christ, the reason it's of infinite value is because who is offering this payment for sins? We're not just talking about a mere man, if you will. We're talking about the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, who became flesh, who assumed humanity. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, as John says in John chapter 1, verse 14. And so, because of who it is that is offering this payment for sin, the eternal Son of God in his flesh, it's this infinite payment for sins of infinite value. And that's why it's sufficient to atone for our sins.

That's why we don't have to spend an eternity in hell, as you say. Now, there are several passages of scripture that just highlight this truth, this reality, the value of Christ's blood for us. Think of what Peter said in the book of 1 Peter chapter 1, beginning in verse 17. He wrote, if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. This is the spotless Son of God.

We weren't redeemed with perishable things, Peter says. We were redeemed by the eternal Son of God himself. And Paul actually says something very similar in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 20, as he's addressing the Ephesian elders. He's saying goodbye to them.

He's giving them several warnings. And he gives them this exhortation in Acts chapter 20 verse 28, pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which he purchased or obtained with his own blood. Why is the death of our Lord Jesus Christ sufficient to atone for the sins of the people whom he's redeemed? Well, it's because it's God himself, the blood of God, not perishable things like silver and gold, but the blood of the eternal Son of God. And so that's what gives us confidence that we don't have to face God's judgment.

It's the fact that God has offered up his own Son for us and for our salvation. Thank you for that question, Austin. Such a powerful visual for us there, Adriel. Thanks so much. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and our phone lines are open right now. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, give us a call during the next 20 minutes or so. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to a voicemail from one of our listeners in Texas.

Hi, this is Philip from Houston. I was on the show, and I want to apologize. I didn't thank you for having me on the show.

I didn't tell you what a great job you guys are doing and how I love listening to you guys. I don't know what I was thinking. But while I got you on the line, I do have another question. You guys talked about having second judgments. The first one to get into heaven, the second one, I kind of imagined going to the principal's office and he's going to give you a deluxe version of this is your life. If that's true and we go through that, are there different levels in heaven that we would get rewarded by how we use our gifts, how we help when we knew we should have, how we worked when God suggested it? If that's all true, do you think there are different levels in heaven? I've always said I'd be happy just rolling up on the gutters as long as I'm in.

Anyway, thank you very much. Bye-bye. Hey, Phil. I think I'm with you. Yeah, I'll sleep in the alleys in heaven, that kind of a thing. Well, look, there's one judgment.

That's the first thing I want to say. There's one judgment, and that judgment, which the whole world hasn't experienced at the last day, for believers, we experienced that in Christ by faith. So we can be confident that when we stand before the Lord, we're going to be received into glory because we are in Christ, and our judgment was wrapped up in what happened to him, his death on the cross. Insofar as we're united to Christ, we can have confidence for the day of judgment, and that's what John talks about in 1 John. We can actually have confidence as believers. So there aren't two judgments. Now we're saved by faith, but later on at the final judgment, we're saved by our work, so that kind of a thing.

No. When we're justified now, today, that's the verdict of the final day being declared here and now in Jesus. So there really is a great comfort in that, but you brought up this question of rewards. Are we going to be rewarded by the Lord for how we've lived our lives, and if that's the case, are some people going to have, quote-unquote, bigger mansions in heaven? Some people are going to get the two-bedroom, one-bath.

Other people are going to get the sort of lakeside mansion with all the wonderful, heavenly things associated with that. The language of rewards comes from a couple of places in the New Testament. I think one place that sometimes people will go is the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, where Jesus is basically commending those who were faithful and used the talents that God had given to them in service to the Lord and to his kingdom.

One place that people frequently point to is 1 Corinthians 3, which I've just opened up to. Listen to what the apostle Paul said there, beginning in verse 10. He said, According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building on it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

He builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw. Each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it. There Paul is talking about the day of judgment, because it will be revealed by fire.

The fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Now the context there is Paul is talking about his apostolic ministry, his ministry as a minister of the gospel, going and proclaiming Jesus.

He says, look, there's no other foundation that can be laid. It's the preaching of Jesus. Others come and continue to preach the word, and God, by the grace of his spirit, is building up the church through the ministry of that word, and there are going to be people who are commended for their faithful service to the Lord. They're going to receive a reward.

Now, what exactly that is, you know, there's a little bit of ambiguity. There are places in the New Testament where it talks about this sort of crown that we're going to receive, a victor's crown. It's referred to as an imperishable crown, actually a little bit later in 1 Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 25. We're serving the Lord.

We're going to receive an imperishable crown. Elsewhere, Paul refers to it as the crown of righteousness, 2 Timothy 4, verse 8. James, in James chapter 1, he referred to the crown of life that we're going to receive.

So there, I think it's primarily referring to salvation and just receiving that. So what it looks like, you know, in terms of being commended by the Lord, we're speculating. We know that, you know, eye has not seen nor ear heard the wonder of what God has prepared for those who love him, and so we look forward to that. We look forward to hearing the words of our Lord Jesus, well done, good and faithful servant. And we commit our ways to him, and what that looks like on the final day, you know, I think we're all going to be blown away. And it's going to be awesome. It's going to be wonderful.

And so that's how we, I think, need to approach this issue, rather than saying the rewards are going to look just like this. You know, it's going to be the heavenly mansion versus the two-bedroom, one-bath, that kind of a thing. I just don't want to speculate too much, so thank you. I think I'm going to be in a pup tent under a railroad bridge. Yeah, I think so too, Bill. I think that's where you'll end up in the New Jerusalem.

Honestly, it's going to be awesome because we're going to all be around the throne of God, worshipping him, and what a wonderful thing that will be. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Give us a call right now. The phone line is open for the next 15 minutes or so. 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Doug in St. Louis, Missouri. Hi, Doug. What's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, I'd like to ask you, I'm getting ready to set up a biblical counseling ministry in the church that I'm in.

I'd like to ask the pastor, what are the parameters that he uses for biblical counseling, or does he even counsel at all? Thank you. Bye. Hey, Doug.

Looks like we lost Doug. First, let me just say, biblical counseling, what are the parameters? Myself, as a minister of the gospel, as a pastor, I do provide biblical counseling, we might say. When somebody's going through something in the church and they're looking for guidance, they're looking for wisdom, according to God's word, that's where we go. We apply the truth of scripture and plead with God for wisdom in particular situations because it's not always black and white, but we go to the word and we apply the word of God to particular situations and help people apply the word of God to themselves.

What that looks like, I think, there are some resources out there. I know that there was the Institute of Biblical Counseling that had a lot of free resources actually on their website and helpful stuff and worksheets that people can use. I've recommended some of those in the past before, and even used some of those in the life of our church. I do think it is important for us as pastors, as part of, I think, shepherding the people in your church to be able to apply the word of God to specific situations that are going on in individuals' lives and to help them apply the word of God to themselves. I think what's necessary for that is you just have to be saturated in the scriptures. Studying the word of God, knowing the word of God, and then, as I said, asking God for wisdom as you think about these particular situations in the life of your church to be able to apply God's word faithfully. This should be something that's done alongside of the leadership of the church, in particular the elders.

I read a little bit ago from Acts chapter 20 where Paul is writing, speaking to the Ephesian elders, and he's saying, Look, shepherd the flock of God, shepherd the flock of God which he's purchased with his own blood. It's the job of the elders of the church to be engaged in the lives of the individuals, the body that God has brought together and entrusted to their care. A part of that is applying scripture to the needs of the body. Now, there are situations that come up in the life of a church or in the life of the church where sometimes they say, Hey, it might be good for you to see a trained counselor or a therapist in this particular situation.

I think that that's also okay. You have to know, I think, your limitations. Sometimes there are issues, mental illness issues that you need to be aware of. I think that's a part of it, too, is realizing what your parameters are, what God has called you to do, and what you're able to do as a church leader or as a pastor in particular.

Then where it might also be wise to bring others into the discussion, people who are trained in mental health and have studied and worked in that field for a long time who can also provide some common grace, wisdom, and help. This question requires a lot of wisdom, a lot of prayer, but I want to encourage you. I think it's a wonderful thing to be able to take the Word of God, know the Word of God, and apply it to the particular needs in the life of the church and individuals' lives. Do that alongside of the elders of the church, the leadership of the church, and may the Lord bless you as you do. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. Today we want to offer you a book that is truly a Christian classic. It was written by a pastor and theologian who was actually a hero of World War II and was martyred for the stand that he took against Hitler, and that is Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Yeah, I'm glad you said that, Bill. Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, Life Together, is probably my favorite book on Christian community, and it's a really short read. It's not too long.

But it packs a powerful punch. It's one of those books that just emphasizes what it means for us to live together in community as Christians, to be committed to one another, not just with the facade of everybody's fine, the sort of happy Christian fellowship, but knowing each other. He talks about this towards the end of the book. Knowing each other even as sinners who can be honest about our weaknesses, about our struggles, about our failures, and grow together in the grace of Christ. So if you're thinking about and want to learn more about Christian community, what it means to be a part of a church, get a hold of this resource, Life Together. We'd love to send you that for a donation of any amount. You can go to corechristianity.com forward slash offers, or you can give us a call for that offer or any one of our offers at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 833-THE-CORE. Well, let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners named Ashley. I was talking with some family members over the weekend and an interesting question came up that I thought you might be able to help me answer. Before someone can have faith in Jesus, do they first need to acknowledge that they're a sinner and have broken God's laws in various ways, or can they just hear about Jesus and have faith in him and then figure out the part where they're sinners later?

Ashley, thank you for that question. A really important one is, as we think about salvation, what's taking place when an individual comes to know the Lord, when they first experience the grace of God, and what's required? Do I have to leave behind all my sins? Can I just believe in Jesus and then slowly I'm sort of, you know, he's chipping away at the sin in my life? And oftentimes, you know, we're talking about the work of the Holy Spirit.

There's some mystery here. I've talked to people who say, oh, I just know the day where I believed in Jesus, where I was saved, quote unquote, and other people who say, you know, it seemed like God was working in my life throughout a long period of time. I don't know when it was exactly that truly I was united to Jesus by faith, but I could see God's hand at work. And one passage of scripture that I think about, just in terms of, you know, how we sort of understand this, is Peter preaching in Acts chapter 11 and describing the experience of a number of Gentiles who heard his preaching, who heard him proclaiming the word of God. He says in Acts chapter 11, verse 16, as he's reporting back to the other disciples about the fact that the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit, he says, I remembered the word that the Lord spoke, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way? When they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God, saying, then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life. And here the focus in the entire context is, as the word of God is being preached, the Spirit of God was working in the hearts of these individuals, enlightening their minds, renewing their wills, drawing them to Jesus so that they have a sense of their sin, of their guilt before the Lord, and they lay hold of Jesus by faith. And you have kind of all of these things sort of together, right? The work of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the word and repentance unto life, believing is sort of interesting.

You have all these things kind of parallel. If the question is, do I have to get rid of all the sin in my life before I can be saved and come to Jesus? Well, the answer is no, because none of us have done that.

No one does that. And even as believers who have been walking with Jesus for our entire lives, you know, we don't do that perfectly. But as the word of God is being preached, the Spirit works in individuals, renewing their minds, their wills, their hearts, giving a sense of conviction of sin. They may not even understand the entire doctrine of sin and what sin is, but the Spirit is working.

And so I think we have to have room for the fact that a person might have a very rudimentary understanding of what sin is, of what salvation is, but they have Jesus preached and they know, I need him. I need him. I long for him.

I realize I need him. And they lay hold of him by faith. Now, they may not understand, you know, all of the details related, but God is still working even there. And sanctification looks like more and more God enlightening their minds, renewing them day by day by the grace of Christ. There's nothing that we can do to prepare ourselves to be saved. It's not like you do some works and then God does some works and then you're saved.

No, it's all a work of God's Holy Spirit. And so that's how I would answer that question. I appreciate the question. It's wonderful to see how the Lord works in each of our lives, drawing us to himself.

So thank you. You know, Idriel, there are some in the church that say accepting Jesus as Savior isn't enough unless you've accepted him as your Lord. How does that play in and how would you respond to that? Yeah, well, you know, we either accept Jesus or we don't. You know, we don't accept half of Jesus.

But my concern sometimes when people use this language is they're trying to emphasize, look, you have to do a number of things and then God will accept you. And we come to the Lord broken, weighed down by our sins, and we lay hold of the free grace of Jesus Christ. And when we do, we're forgiven. We're justified in that moment, not because we've perfectly repented.

None of us do, but because we've come to him. And so that's the reality. That's what we see throughout the Gospels. That's what we see in the New Testament as well. You know, these people who are saved, who are born again, they've believed in Jesus Christ, but they still fight with sin. I mean, Luther, he said at the same time, we're just and sinful.

And that's what he was getting at. It's not that we just live in sin and don't want anything to do with God. It's that no, we're justified by the grace of God, by faith alone in Jesus Christ. And yet we realize that we still have sin.

We still struggle with it. And so there's this great tension in the Christian life. We're called day by day to repent, to take up our cross and to follow him. But it's not that repentance that saves us or justifies us. It's Jesus by faith.

Amen. By the way, we have a great core question on this topic if you'd like to dig in a little bit deeper. It's called What's the Difference Between Justification and Sanctification? And if you go to our website, corechristianity.com forward slash questions, just look for that one.

The Difference Between Justification and Sanctification. Let's go to Alan in Springdale, Arkansas. Alan, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? I have a question about Acts 2 38, where it says that you must repent and be baptized to receive remission of your sins.

I have a hard time with that. I can't decide whether that's a water baptism or is that the baptism of the Holy Spirit? And is it necessary for baptism to happen for you to have salvation?

Yeah, excellent question. Here in particular, I believe that Peter is referring to water baptism. I mean, on the day of Pentecost, after he preaches the gospel, we're told in verse 41, so those who received his word were baptized. There it's referring to water baptism. And there were added that day about 3,000 souls.

There's this great revival that comes through preaching the gospel there. And the question is, you seem to have here a real close tie to the forgiveness of sins. So repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And so some people say, well, does that mean that when you're baptized, that's the moment where your sins are forgiven? And unless you've been baptized and that can't be the case, your sins aren't forgiven.

Well, this has been debated throughout the history of the church. My sense is that baptism is this sign and seal of what God does for us in his son Jesus, of our union with Christ in his death and resurrection. There is such a close tie between the sign of baptism and the reality that points to that Peter can speak in this way, that he can tie the two of them together. Now, does that mean that every single person who is baptized is undoubtedly regenerated, saved, that their sins are forgiven?

No, I don't think so, because I think that that's something that comes through faith. And the spirit uses faith with the means that God gives these ordinances, baptism, the Lord's Supper, the preaching of the word, to make them effective or effectual, we might say. And so, yeah, I mean, we're called to be baptized. And baptism is a sign of the gospel, it's a sign of what God has done. But apart from faith, apart from faith, we can't be saved even if we've received the sign. And so it's the spirit of God who is working through these means to accomplish the reality that they point to, the forgiveness of sins.

And so that's why we don't want to minimize these things, we can't. These are given to us by the Lord himself. They're tokens, if you will, of the gospel, of his goodwill for us to his people, that as surely as we experience these realities externally, by faith, we have what they point to. That's why some people have talked about the importance of remembering your baptism. When you were baptized, it was a great picture of your union with Jesus and his death and resurrection. It's for you, receive it, believe it, embrace it, and live accordingly. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.