So far we have seen God the Father and God the Son’s work in the Order of Salvation. I want to go over the Order of Salvation with you again, and this time we are going to be looking at what the Holy Spirit contributes to each part. So let’s get started.

Election

The first part of the Order of Salvation is Election, and I want to share a definition explaining how Christians in the past had for this. Wayne Grudem wrote that “We may define election as follows: Election is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure.”

The main idea here is that God chooses people to solve problems. When a person in the Old Testament era was chosen to be saved, the Holy Spirit would come to help that person complete the task they were given by God. When that task was finished, the Holy Spirit would depart from them.

In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit came to the Church after the Resurrection and stayed with the Church permanently. His permanent presence or absence among Christians in Name Only was based on Election.

God the Holy Spirit is present in the lives of people who God the Father planned to rescue after the moment they were “elected” to be rescued. There are also people who are not “elected” for salvation because the certain circumstances that God the Father chose as the right time and the right place to rescue them were not met during that person’s lifetime. We will look at how this works when we begin to study the Church in the next unit.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Do you think there are people that God wanted to rescue and chose not to because the conditions God the Father set before He created the universe were not met?

Effective Calling

Now we can talk about Effective Calling, and I want to include a definition explaining how Christians in the past thought about this. In one of his theology books Wayne Grudem says “We may define effective calling as follows: Effective calling is an act of God the Father, speaking through the human proclamation of the Gospel, in which he summons people to himself in such a way that they respond in saving faith.”

Effective Calling is an act of God the Father, speaking through the human proclamation of the Gospel, but it is the Work of the Holy Spirit to help the man or woman proclaiming the Gospel to recognize what God the Father is doing.

When God the Father is ready to call someone new into the faith, the Holy Spirit helps the Christian who will deliver the message recognize what is happening so they can participate in the work of the ministry.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Have you ever thought that the Holy Spirit is working to get us in the right place at the right time to share the Gospel with people the God the Father is ready to “call?”

Regeneration

Now we can talk about Regeneration.

In one of his theology books, Wayne Grudem says “We may define regeneration as follows: Regeneration is a secret act of God in which he imparts new spiritual life to us.” This is sometimes called “being born again” (using language from John 3:3-8).

In Genesis 2:7 (ESV) we are told that “the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” In the Old Testament, this was the point at which mankind began to live.

After God’s original design was corrupted, The New Testament shows that another “breath of life” was needed to help us escape the corruption that exists in human nature. In one of Jesus Christ’s appearances after the Resurrection we read this in John 20:22 (ESV):

“And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Discussion Questions:

#1. Did you “receive the Holy Spirit” before you requested church membership?

#2. Do you think people can join our Churches as members without “receiving the Holy Spirit?”

Being Born Again

In the past, “When a person has been born again, Christians in the past would speak of their “conversion.” Regarding conversion, Wayne Grudem says “We may define conversion as follows: Conversion is our willing response to the Gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place out trust in Christ for salvation.”

It is God the Father who chooses a moment in time to save someone, and when that moment comes the Holy Spirit begins working in that person’s life, according to these two Bible verses from the New Testament:

“And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”           (John 16:8 ESV)

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13 ESV)

So the Holy Spirit is working to guide the Church on knowing the truth and convicting the unbelieving world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment that can bring someone to be born again.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Can you see yourself learning to preach the Gospel only when the Holy Spirit has been following the God the Father’s schedule?

#2. Do you think we can preach the Gospel without the Holy Spirit’s guidance regarding God the Father’s sense of timing? (Why or why not?)

Justification

Now let’s look at the work of the Holy Spirit in Justification.

In one of his theology books, Wayne Grudem says: “Just what is justification? We may define it as follows: Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in his sight.”

When justification occurs in the life of a person, there is a very specific action taken by the Holy Spirit in the life of that person. This name given to this specific action in the Bible is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ spoke about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to the first generation of the Church in the New Testament. In Acts 1:4-5 (ESV) we read this:

“And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So the very first generation of the Church was not baptized in the Holy Spirit when they received justification, but every generation of the Church born again after them has received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit at the moment they were given Justification.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Have you ever been told that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Justification occur in a person’s life at the same time? (Why or why not?)

Adoption

Let’s look at how Christians in the past understood the meaning of adoption. In one of this theology books explaining what Christians in the past had understood, Wayne Grudem says “We may define adoption as follows: Adoption is an act of God whereby he makes us members of his family.”

What exactly does the work of the Holy Spirit look like in the area of Adoption?

Well, when Jesus Christ was here, he spoke to the Jewish leaders who were rejecting him and said “You are of your father the devil, and your will is do to your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44 ESV)

Adoption is God’s solution to being “of your father the devil” – the Holy Spirit changes this aspect of our lives into something new that the Apostle Paul mentioned in his letter to the Church in Ephesus.

In Ephesians 2:6 (ESV) we are told that God “raised us up with him and seated him in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus.” What this means is that every moment someone has used their free will to trust the Message of Christianity, they become “seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus” while they are still alive on the earth.

To state it simply, a Christian who God has led through the Order of Salvation is living in Heaven and on Earth at the same time with help from the Holy Spirit of God.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Have you ever thought of yourself as living in Heaven and on Earth at the same time before? (Why or why not?)

Sanctification

Now we can talk about the Holy Spirit’s work concerning Sanctification. Christians who lived in the past believed that “Sanctification is a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives,” a definition take from Wayne Grudem’s theology books.

The work that the Holy Spirit does in the life of a Christian in the area of sanctification is described as the Filling of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The goal of being filled with the Holy Spirit is to provide us with the resources we need to replace the Works of Flesh with the Fruit of the Spirit that were described in Galatians 5:19-23.

This kind of transformation can help us be available to do the work of the ministry in the Lord’s Service and when we fail to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance and choose not to pursue sanctification we quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

When we quench the Holy Spirit, it results in us failing to cooperate with God the Father’s plan to rescue as many people as possible before they die in our lifetimes.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Did you realize your obedience allows God to bring salvation to more people in this world?

#2. Do you realize your lack of obedience can quench the Holy Spirit and prevent God from bringing salvation to more people living in this world before they die?

The Perseverance of the Saints

Now we can look at what Christians who lived in the past called the Perseverance of the Saints.

In his theology books explaining basic Christian beliefs, Wayne Grudem says “The Perseverance of the Saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God’s power and will persevere until the end have been truly born again.”

The work that the Holy Spirit does to put us in the right place at the right time that God the Father has chosen to attempt a rescue mission will put us in potentially dangerous situations that will test our loyalty and commitment.

Jesus warned us about this in Matthew 10:16 (ESV) when he said that “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.” The Holy Spirit also sends us out in the same way, knowing that our cooperation will determine how many people can be “saved.”

God the Father has a plan to rescue everyone alive in the world, but that plan only works when we cooperate. Every time we choose not to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance into potentially dangerous places and do our part the total number of people who will be condemned by God increases because we failed to be in the right place at the right time to rescue them.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Following the Holy Spirit’s guidance can put your life in difficult and dangerous situations, are you still willing to go? (Why or why not?)

Death

Now we can look at the Work of the Holy Spirit in Death.

In Hebrews 9:27 (ESV) the Bible says “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment.” When our appointed time to die comes, God the Son sends the angels who were assigned to be our ministering spirits to escort us to Heaven.

These angels who are sent do not have to make the journey alone. In Ephesians 6:12 (ESV) the Bible says that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

When we die, we have to travel through enemy territory inhabited by “spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places” in order to arrive in Heaven, and while I cannot think of passage that says this, I am sure the Holy Spirit will somehow be present with us to keep the enemy away so we can make that final journey without being harassed by the enemy along the way.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Did you know the Holy Spirit will escort us safely through enemy territory to Heaven when we die?

Glorification

Finally, we have reached Glorification.

“We may therefore define glorification as follows: Glorification is the final step in the application of redemption. It will happen when Christ returns and raises from the dead the bodies of all believers for all time who had died, and reunites them with their souls, and changes the bodies of all believers who remain alive, thereby giving all believers at the same time perfect resurrection bodies like his own.” (Wayne Grudem)

The Work of the Holy Spirit will continue even after we die and are Resurrected to make sure we never “sin and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV) again.