Faith: Grafted Into Christ

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: John 15; Lord's Day 7
Psalters: 45, 428, 99, 365
  1. Incorrect answers.
    1. Some want to say all who perished in Adam are saved by Christ (and they are grieved that not all are saved).
    2. Others answer the question according to their desires.
  2. God gives His answer in the Scriptures.
    1. Not all those fallen in Adam are saved in Christ (Matt. 22:14; 7:14; Ps. 5:5; 7:11; 11:5; John 3:18,36).
    2. Positively, Scripture declares a definite and particular atonement.
      1. Jesus died for "His people" (Mt.1:21), for "the sheep" (Jn.10:11 with 26).
      2. God purchased "the Church" with His own blood (Acts 20:28).
    3. Rather than being sad that not all are saved, let us be amazed that any are saved, that any dead are made alive.
    4. There are some texts which seem to teach that all will be saved.
  3. The only determining factor for whether one is saved or not is one’s relationship to Christ, the Mediator (John 15:1-5).
    1. The picture of grafting declares the existence of a living relationship with Christ.
      1. The saved are those who belong to Him, believe in Him, and receive from Him.
      2. Each believer (exercising the faith given to him) is a living member of the new vine of the human race.
      3. Also, the saved are a unity (not unconnected individuals) who together form the vine/body of Christ.
    2. The possibility of salvation is attributed solely to the Grafter, not to the grafted.
      1. We are grafted into Christ and are totally passive in the grafting (faith is the gift of God, Eph. 2:8).
      2. Our union to Christ by faith results in our receiving grace and life continuously from Christ, whereby we appropriate Him unto ourselves so He is experienced as ours.