Essentials

Thought I would summarize what I got from the first 10 essentials videos Duncan put together:

1. The Purpose Of Life. The purpose of life is to glorify God.

2. What's man's problem? Man's big problem is he always breaks God's moral law and falls short of God's glory. We're all in the same category, lawbreakers, sinners.

3. The Substitute. God does have to punish lawbreakers; He does not have to forgive anyone; however, He loves us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice [propitiation] for our sins. Propitiation = a sacrifice that turns away God's anger, and makes him favourable to us.

4. Redemption. Jesus bought slaves [us] on the cross, for we were slaves to sin, the result of which is death. This is an inescapable prison for us. The ransom price is too high for us, but not for Jesus. He gave his life as a ransom for many so that our sins may be forgiven. Our response should be to accept what He did, put our trust in Him, and glorify God!

5. Justification. Justification is a legal delcaration of "not guilty". The opposite is condemnation. If you trust Jesus to save you, then you are justified before the Father. The two parts to justification are 1) the forgiveness of sins (taking away the -s) and 2) imputation of Christ's righteousness (adding on +s). Justification is entirely by grace (unmerited favour -- given something you don't deserve), not by works -- so no one can boast.

6. Adopted. Contrary to myth, we're not all God's children Biblically. We get the right to become children of God when we have faith in Jesus. I.e. faith is the means by which we are adopted. God relates to us as a father by loving us, showing compassion to us, knowing our needs, giving gifts to us, giving us an inheritance, disciplining us, leading us by His spirit, and making us aware of our adoption. We relate to God as His children by praying to Him, asking for forgiveness, imitating our Father, and suffering for God. Remember also that other believers are family.

7. Conversion. Someone becomes a Christian by 1) trusting in Jesus for forgiveness of sins and eternal life and 2) repenting (turn from sin) and turning to God, performing deeds in keeping with his/her repentance. The point isn't to clean things up and then turn to Jesus -- turn to him and ask Him to help you!

8. Unable to come. Man is unable to come to God on his own. Man is spiritually dead, does wrong from birth, has evil thoughts, has a heard heart, is under the power of the devil, suppresses the truth, does not understand God, and does not seek God. Without God's work in a person's life, they will never come to Jesus (you can't manipulate people into being Christians -- God does that, not men -- nor can you boast that you turned to Christ).

9. Drawn by the Father. Man is unable to come (to believe). The Father can draw people to Jesus. Salvation is a work of God. God opens hearts, gives repentance, and gives faith. Its all God. No one can boast about turning to Christ; therefore, no Christian should ever look down on a non-Christian. Also, since its all God, this means everyone should be given the gospel, not just people that WE think might accept it.

10. Chosen by Grace. You did not choose God, He chose you. It was not based on anything good you would do. It was based on grace and mercy. God is free to distribute mercy as He wants. If He did not choose anyone, then no-one would ever turn to Christ. This doctrine should lead to praise.

Note that 9 and 10 deal with the doctrine of election. This is a tough one to get my head around. The following articles helped me understand it better:

http://www.albatrus.org/english/theology/soteriology/salvation_doctrine.htm

http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=1551