A Theology of Change

6 · The pastor explains the cultural and religious context of Peter's audience—they were trained in rhetorical gymnastics and blame-shifting, making their acceptance of guilt all the more remarkable

And what I was flabbergasted at and amazed and really praising the Lord for as I saw that last week was these are not people who would readily agree to that kind of an accusation. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone who is really just intent on parsing your words and even using your words against you rather than understand the heart of what you're trying to say? That's a frustrating experience. We've probably all been on the receiving end of those conversations. Honestly, we've probably all been on the giving end of those conversations. Well, this was the national pastime of Judaism at the time, was to flip words, was to do rhetorical gymnastics and make things say certain things. These are people who are literally gnat-strainers, right? They're not going to accept just naturally in and of themselves the idea that they crucified Jesus. They are not blame-takers, they're blame-shifters.

7 · The pastor frames the central question of the sermon: how did blame-shifting, word-parsing people suddenly accept responsibility for crucifying Jesus? This change is what the sermon seeks to explain

How is it that these folks, who actually, by the way, did not physically crucified Jesus, accept responsibility for crucifying Jesus. That's a pretty big change. These are people who have done everything they could to shift blame off of themselves, suddenly in a moment accepting their central role in the crucifixion of Christ. And I'm kind of a change junkie, like I just love watching people change, you know. I just think it's amazing to see God change people It's really the primary perk of what God's called me to do. I just love seeing it. And I want to know as I look at this, well, what happened? How did these gnat-strainers, these word-parsers, suddenly get to a point where it says they were cut to the heart and they just accepted their central role and the crucifixion of Jesus.

8 · The pastor signals a structural shift into a section that will eliminate false explanations for the crowd's transformation before presenting the true explanation

Well, let me say a few things about what didn't happen.

9 · The pastor systematically refutes the idea that change came from discovering inner goodness or moral evolution, establishing instead that the Bible teaches human hearts are spiritually dead and incapable of self-generated spiritual transformation

So today we're going to talk about theology of change. We're going to start thinking about, well, how does change happen? We're going to look at these folks as an example for that. But let me give you some ways that didn't happen. They did not change because they suddenly got in touch with their own inner goodness. They did not change because they evolved. Morally, right? There wasn't some sort of listening to the better angels moment in this situation. The Bible is pretty clear that we're born dead in our sins and trespasses, and that the natural man cannot see or perceive the spiritual things of God, and that the god of this world blinds our eyes to keep us from seeing the glory of Jesus. So these people didn't just suddenly find this inner goodness inside of themselves that allowed them to make the choice to step toward Jesus. What didn't happen today was the kind of classic cartoon thing where there's an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other shoulder, and they've been listening to the devil, and then suddenly they started listening to the angel. The Bible says that's not what the human heart is. The heart has unfortunately got a devil on both shoulders, and they're contradicting each other, by the way. It gets really confusing in there. So what didn't happen was some sort of choice to become reasonable people. They didn't just kind of start listening all of a sudden. These are people who literally were involved in the crucifixion of Jesus. These are people who overlooked the beauty and the goodness of Jesus when he was amongst them. They didn't just suddenly become good.

10 · The pastor refutes the idea that change came from Peter's moral credibility, pointing out that Peter himself had recently betrayed Jesus and therefore lacked moral authority

This also, this change didn't happen because of Peter's moral authority. I think this is an important point to make. Often we think that the reason the world won't believe the message of the gospel is because we're not credible witnesses of the message of the gospel. Perhaps, perhaps there's something to that. I would just like to remind you that Peter does not have any moral authority in this moment. He's calling them to repent as someone who himself had betrayed Jesus. This isn't a man with supreme moral authority. They didn't change because they looked at Peter and said, "Well, I mean, you're pretty devoted, so I guess we should listen to you."

11 · The pastor refutes the idea that change came from Peter's rhetorical skill, noting the absence of persuasive argument or explanation in the text

They didn't change because of Peter's power of persuasion. No persuasion is given in this passage. Peter doesn't explain to them what he means. He doesn't try to show them, he doesn't try to persuade them that, "Well, this is what I mean when I say you crucified Jesus." There's none of that. There's no persuasion.

12 · The pastor refutes the idea that miracles produce faith, pointing out that Jesus performed many miracles and was still crucified, and that the Pentecost miracles did not produce the crowd's repentance

And it didn't happen because of any miracle. I think I was always really confused when I was a kid, I was like, "Well, gosh, if God wants people to believe in him, why doesn't he just start like putting limbs on people without limbs and healing people and then suddenly the whole world would believe, right?" No. As we'll see next week, we look at the life of Jesus as it's described in this passage. Jesus came with plenty of miracles and He still wound up on the cross. And all the miracles that had happened associated with Pentecost were not what persuaded these people to suddenly accept their responsibility for the crucifixion of Christ.

13 · The pastor summarizes the refuted explanations and pivots to the positive case—what actually did produce change in the crowd?

So it wasn't their own goodness, it wasn't some sort of some sort of moral evolution. It wasn't Peter's moral authority, it wasn't his power of persuasion, it wasn't a miracle. What happened? What did happen?

14 · The pastor introduces the first of five elements of biblical change—supplication—and shows from Acts 1:14 that the believers were devoted to prayer before Pentecost, establishing that prayer precedes big spiritual events

Well, I'm going to give you 5 elements of the theology of change this morning that are all in this text. This text is a great text to give us, to teach us about change, and I'm just going to give you 5 areas. Probably some of them I'm only going to be able to hit lightly. The first one I will only be able to hit lightly, but the first one is supplication. One of the things that happened to lead to these people changing was what we see in Acts 1:14, that all the people involved in this from Jesus' side were all in one accord devoting themselves to prayer together with the women and Mary and the mother of Jesus and His brothers. They were all praying. So one of the common ingredients to change is prayer. Preached a sermon a few weeks ago, more than that now, in which I said that prayer comes before big things. All throughout the scriptures, we see prayer preceding big things. So one of the basic things about change is that we see consistently when big things change, people usually have been praying.

15 · The pastor announces the second element of change and prepares to examine the content and structure of Peter's hard conversation with the crowd

Number 2, strong words. Strong words. This is the second ingredient common to biblical change.

16 · The pastor reads Peter's direct confrontation with the crowd and their response, setting up the analysis of what makes this a biblically effective hard conversation

Look in your Bibles if you've got your Bibles open to Acts 2:36. This is Peter speaking to the crowd, referenced this conversation. Let's read it specifically. "Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Now, When they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' And Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.'

17 · The pastor identifies Peter's words as strong and difficult, and frames the ability to have hard conversations as essential both for evangelism and mutual encouragement in the church

This is a hard thing to say to someone. These are strong words. You killed Jesus. We've referenced in previous weeks this need to grow in the ability or the willingness to step across the threshold from easy conversation and small talk into hard conversations and difficult things. And that really, that is really kind of holding us back from being able to share the gospel, but also holding us back from being able to encourage one another in the faith. This intentional stepping over the line, over the threshold, maybe out of the front room of politeness and into the kitchen where we get down to business and talk about difficult things.

18 · The pastor identifies the first ingredient of a hard conversation—naming the problem or assigning moral culpability—and notes that Christian culture has trained believers to avoid this necessary element

You know, this passage that I just read, these 3 verses have a nice little recipe for how hard conversations can go. There are 3 ingredients, and I could show you scriptures where these are ordered differently, but there's always these 3 things. You can think of it in a couple different ways. You can think of it as the presentation of the problem or the presentation of guilt. This Jesus whom you crucified. A helpful hard conversation will always involve assigning some level of blame or moral culpability that says, "You're doing it wrong," or, "It looks like you're doing it wrong," or, "This is something that isn't right, this isn't okay." It's the pointing out of the problem. We've been trained not to do this so that we're all spiritual eunuchs. Right? And none of us are fruitful in any way. This is the basic recipe of change: the pointing out of the problem. So you could think of it— I think I put on the slide, I don't know if there's a slide for this or not— but problem/guilt in verse 37.

19 · The pastor identifies the second ingredient of a hard conversation—presenting the plan or gospel, the way to respond to the problem identified

The next would just be the plan. Peter says in verse 37, 'This Jesus whom you've crucified.' In verse 38, he says, here's the plan: Here's what needs to be done. You need to repent and be baptized. So the plan, or the gospel, you could just say, this is Peter's putting forth of the plan, the way to overcome the problem, the way to overcome the guilt.

20 · The pastor identifies the third ingredient of a hard conversation—offering the promise or grace—and emphasizes that hope must be present for a conversation to be truly of God

And then finally, there's the promise, or there's the grace. Verse 39, this promise is for you. This promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off. You see, there's— there's one of the things that we learn in the process of hard conversations is that you have to have hope. If you don't, if you're not offering hope, you're really not— the hard conversation isn't of God, right? There's hope involved. And the hope involved in this case is if you repent You will receive the Holy Spirit. That's a promise that is for you. So the 3 ingredients of a hard conversation: the problem, the plan, and the promise. Or if you like G's better, guilt, gospel, grace. Right?

21 · The pastor establishes that while the order of guilt-gospel-grace may vary, all three elements are always present in biblical hard conversations, and this pattern applies equally to believers and unbelievers

The idea being that all 3 of these— and by the way, I think I could walk through scriptures, we could do this later if you'd like. I can walk through scriptures and show you other conversations in the Bible where maybe the promise comes first. I think of John 4, for instance. If you knew the gift of God that was with you, you would ask for living water, right? The promise came first, but these other things come as well. And so when we think about how to have a hard conversation, whether this is someone who doesn't know Jesus or someone who does, The recipe never changes. The gospel is important for both of us. It's central for both of us, whether we're in Christ or not in Christ. The recipe never really changes. There's always a problem, there's a plan that God has for us to respond to that problem, and there's a promise that if we respond to that problem, God will bless us. Everything else just is ornamentation around this, and sometimes that's good and sometimes it's not.

22 · The pastor applies the three-part structure to the listener's own hard conversations, emphasizing that the same gospel pattern applies whether speaking to believers or unbelievers

And so when we think about how to have a hard conversation, whether this is someone who doesn't know Jesus or someone who does, The recipe never changes. The gospel is important for both of us. It's central for both of us, whether we're in Christ or not in Christ. The recipe never really changes. There's always a problem, there's a plan that God has for us to respond to that problem, and there's a promise that if we respond to that problem, God will bless us. Everything else just is ornamentation around this, and sometimes that's good and sometimes it's not.

23 · The pastor qualifies the first two elements by clarifying that prayer and hard conversations are necessary but insufficient—they do not themselves produce change apart from the Holy Spirit's work

So you've got supplication involved in this recipe of change, and you've also got strong words. Now let me just say this: supplication and strong words don't change people, but you will very rarely ever see change without those two things. You'll very rarely ever see change without prayer and hard conversations. They don't change people, But the Holy Spirit— that's our third point, the Spirit— the Spirit takes those things and brings life to those things in a special way.

24 · The pastor announces the third element of the theology of change and prepares to demonstrate the Holy Spirit's pervasive presence in the Acts 2 narrative

That's the third point. We've got supplication, we've got strong words. The third ingredient, third element of change is the Spirit.

25 · The pastor demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is mentioned throughout Acts 2—at the beginning (v

This whole chapter is really bookended by the work of the Holy Spirit. In chapter 2, verse 4, It says that the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit. As Peter is explaining Joel to the crowd, he says in verse 17, "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh." Verse 18, "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh and they will prophesy." In verse 30, Peter says that David was a prophet, implication being that he was filled with the Spirit when he spoke. And in verses 38-39, Peter, which we just saw, Peter says, "Repent and be baptized, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

26 · The pastor argues that the Holy Spirit saturates the entire Acts 2 narrative from beginning to end, establishing the Spirit as the agent and power of God to produce change

So this change, remember we're asking, how did these people change? We would say that the Spirit is saturated in this moment. The Spirit's everywhere in this moment. The Spirit's at the beginning of this moment, the Spirit's in the middle of this moment, the Spirit's at the end of this moment. And we must just remember that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is the agent of change. Holy Spirit is the power of God to change, right? This is what we see consistently.

27 · The pastor connects the 'cut to the heart' language in Acts 2:37 to the new covenant promise in Deuteronomy 30:6 of circumcised hearts, identifying this as evidence of the Spirit's work to open hard hearts

Verse 36— sorry, 37— it says, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. When they heard this, they were cut to the heart. Now, if you know what's coming forward in Acts. I think we can say that Luke chose those words carefully because in Deuteronomy 30:6 it says the Lord promises that the new covenant will come and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. This cut to the heart seems to be evidence of the Spirit's work to open up that hard, stubborn heart and to allow it to be sensitive to the work of God.

28 · The pastor concludes the section on the Spirit by asserting that while prayer and hard conversations are important, the Spirit's work is absolutely indispensable for change to occur

So we'd say for sure, you know, yeah, prayer is important, and yeah, hard conversations are a necessary part of change, but man, the Spirit's indispensable. Gotta have the Holy Spirit at work, otherwise change just won't occur.

29 · The pastor corrects his numbering and announces the fourth element—God's sovereignty—signaling this will receive extended treatment

Number 3, the sovereignty of God. Sorry, this is— this would be the fourth point, wouldn't it? Number 4, the sovereignty of God. Now this is huge, and I want to take a lot of time to talk about this this morning— how the sovereignty of God plays in the dynamics of change.

30 · The pastor frames Acts as a book that consistently presents both human responsibility and divine sovereignty, and signals he will address the relationship between these two realities

Acts is a pretty hardcore book about two things: human responsibility, and the sovereignty of God. And it shows up everywhere, and I want to walk you through some of that this morning. If someone you know is thinking about Reformed soteriology, if they're thinking about Calvinism, if they're thinking about predestination and those sorts of questions, this may be a good sermon to refer them to because I'll deal with beginning fragments of this issue as they appear in Acts, which is very interesting because this is a story, right?

31 · The pastor cites Acts 13:48 as a classic text showing both human response (rejoicing and glorifying) and divine sovereignty (appointed to eternal life) in salvation

But we see these two things come into play. For instance, kind of a classic proof text for this idea of predestination is Acts 13:48. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Alright, so there's something in that verse for everybody. If you're inclined to emphasize the responsibility of man in salvation, you would see that they began to rejoice and they began to glorify the word of the Lord. But if you want to see the emphasis of God's sovereign work on salvation, you would say, well, yeah, as many as were appointed to eternal life.

32 · The pastor walks through four pairs of verses in Acts 2 showing the juxtaposition of human responsibility and divine sovereignty throughout the chapter

Now let's look through Acts 2 and see a similar juxtaposition contrasting of human responsibility and God's sovereignty. So for instance, verse 21, Peter is quoting from Joel 2, and he says, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. I'll talk about this again next week, this verse. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. This seems to emphasize human responsibility. Verse 39: This promise, this promise is for everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. Well, this seems to emphasize what? God's sovereignty. Right? Are you with me? Verse 41, "So those who received his word." This seems to emphasize human responsibility. You've got to receive his word. And verse 47, "The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Now here you've got something that seems like a reference to the central role of God's sovereignty, right?

33 · The pastor acknowledges that Acts 2 provides textual support for both sides of the sovereignty-responsibility debate, and that our biases will lead us to emphasize whichever texts support our position

So just as we're thinking about this in terms of this is a conversation we're having within the church at large, some people believe in election in one way, some people don't, some people emphasize human responsibility, some people emphasize God's sovereignty. Just as we think about this issue, we can see that there are verses for both, and there are verses which make us think that one is more important or that the other is more important. At the very least, if we have a bias toward one or the other, we're going to find our verse. Even in a single chapter, we're going to find our verse that makes our point.

34 · The pastor begins to resolve the sovereignty-responsibility tension by arguing that calling them 'partners' empties the word 'sovereign' of meaning

What does the Bible actually say? Well, here's what I think it actually says. I think as I've gone through those 4 verses, you would be left to question where human responsibility fits and where God's sovereignty fits. I think just in presenting those verses, you may think, well, do they work in partnership together? Are they partners in the work of saving someone? Well, I think if you say they're partners, then the word sovereign doesn't mean what you think it means, right?

35 · The pastor cites John Newton's definition of sovereignty as unlimited freedom and argues this definition precludes partnership with human agency

John Newton once said, God's sovereignty is but another name for the unlimited exercise of His wisdom and goodness. Now, if what we mean by sovereignty has to be God is completely free, he needs no partners, right? He needs no partners, he has no partners. So that would be difficult to say that God's sovereignty and man's responsibility are partners.

36 · The pastor directs attention to Acts 2:23, which presents both divine sovereignty (definite plan and foreknowledge) and human action (you crucified) in the death of Jesus, and begins to show their relationship is not one of equal partnership

But I think I can show you a verse in the same chapter that makes some of this a little bit more clear. Look at verse 23. "This Jesus, delivered up to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified." So what do we got here? We've got the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, right? We've got the predestination of God, and we've got the work of man. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Are they equal? Are they equal partners in the venture of killing Jesus? No, they are not. No, they are not.

37 · The pastor argues that God's sovereignty is preeminent and foundational while human action is derivative and peripheral—human work is an effect of God's sovereign work, not a partner with it

Jesus' life cannot be taken from Him unless He lays it down. God's foreknowledge, His sovereign work over the sending of Jesus and the sentencing of Jesus to the cross is preeminent over the action of man. If it was not God's sovereign will that Jesus be sent to the cross, then human beings would have had no power to crucify Him. You see how God's sovereignty— in one verse we see God's sovereignty and we see man's responsibility, but they're not partners. One of them comes well before, and one of them is central and the other is peripheral. The work of man in salvation is an effect of God's work in salvation, not a partner.

38 · The pastor holds together both truths—we must call people to repent and hold them responsible for sin, while simultaneously recognizing that at the center of all change is God's sovereign initiating and empowering work

So when we talk about change, we always have to remember we will always call people to change, just as Peter did—repent—and will always say that your sins are your responsibility, because the Bible says very clearly to say otherwise is to disrespect God. Romans 9: Who are you, O man, to talk back to God? But we have to understand that at its centerpiece, change is the work of a sovereign God, and it's always a work of a sovereign God. And that the sovereign God of the universe initiates change and activates the power to change, no matter how it appears to human eyes.

39 · The pastor uses an argument from analogy—if God's sovereignty was necessary to accomplish the death of Jesus, then God's sovereignty is equally necessary to accomplish the salvation of sinners

I think that verse 23 of Acts 2 is really helpful because now we're not asking how does someone get saved, we're asking how did Jesus die? And we're saying God did that. God did that. Humans went along with God's will. Now, if we think that's true about the death of Jesus, then we are, I think, all in agreement that we would apply the same thing to the life of man, to the salvation of man. If it takes God's foreknowledge, predestination, God's sovereign will to send Jesus to the cross, then it takes God's sovereign will to take you out of death. And into life.

40 · The pastor transitions to a new angle on God's sovereignty—examining the biblical imagery of God's overwhelming power displayed in salvation—and introduces the metaphor of ocean swells

So God's sovereignty is on display in this passage, and we see his sovereignty as central to change. But I want to be really clear about something with God's sovereignty. I want you to see in this passage what I'm just calling the swells of sovereign power.

41 · The pastor uses the image of ocean swells as an analogy for moments in Scripture when God's always-present power becomes especially visible

I love the ocean. I am fascinated by the ocean. I can sit and look at the ocean for hours and feel entirely satisfied. There are very few things I can do for hours that I like, that I feel satisfied in. I could sit and look at the ocean forever. A swell is this sort of extra power that shows up on an ocean wave from time to time. It's not that the ocean ever lacked power. It's not that the ocean suddenly has extra power, but a swell is just a very visible display of the power of the ocean.

42 · The pastor prepares to read passages where God's power is displayed in cosmic, overwhelming imagery, inviting the congregation into an immersive listening experience

And when you read Scripture, you see these moments when God really shows His sovereign power. It's not that He didn't have it before, but there are just these moments where the wave just really comes crashing in. I want to read some of those swells to you, and I just want you to listen, if you would. It's just deep imagery, poetic language. If you want to, you can close your eyes. I just want you to listen to some of these swells of sovereign power. One of them is quoted in Acts 2. The other one is referenced, not directly quoted. But one of them comes from Joel.

43 · The pastor reads Joel 2's cosmic imagery of God's power—wonders in heaven, signs on earth, sun to darkness, moon to blood

Wonders in heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and the vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. That's from chapter 2 of Joel.

44 · The pastor reads Joel 3:16 and pauses to express awe at the image of God roaring, creating space for the congregation to feel the weight of God's power

Chapter 3 was one of those moments when I was reading it, chapter 3, verse 16 of Joel, where I set my Bible down and I had goosebumps because it says The Lord roars from Zion. What does it sound like for the God of the universe to roar? He created the world with a word. I don't think there was any roaring involved. What does that even mean for the Lord to roar?

45 · The pastor identifies Acts 2:24 as alluding to Psalm 18 and prepares to read extended passages from that psalm displaying God's power

In verse 24, it's referencing Jesus, and it says God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. That seems to be an allusion to Psalm 18.

46 · The pastor reads the extended cosmic imagery from Psalm 18—earth reeling, mountains trembling, smoke from God's nostrils, God riding on a cherub, darkness as his covering, hailstones and lightning, the channels of the sea exposed

Victor quoted from Psalm 18 earlier today, but I want to read you some of Psalm 18 for a minute. Just listen. It's not on the screen. I want you to just listen. Then the earth reeled and rocked. The foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked. Because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth. Glowing coals flamed forth from him. He bowed the heavens and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew. He came swiftly on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering His canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water. Out of the brightness before him, hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice. Hailstones and coals of fire, and he sent out his arrows and scattered them. He flashed forth lightnings and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

47 · The pastor uses a brief personal anecdote with his wife as a hinge to pivot from the frightening imagery of God's power to the surprising purpose of that power

I was telling Angela this week, you know, I'm reading these passages where God just seems to be flexing, and she's like, yeah, it's never good for people when God flexes. And I said, you know, that's what I thought.

48 · The pastor makes the critical turn—all the frightening displays of God's cosmic power in these passages are not for destruction but for salvation

But you know what? You know what God does at the end of all of these kinds of passages? He saves. All that sovereign power isn't on display to condemn and destroy. All that sovereign power is on display to save.

49 · The pastor completes the reading of Psalm 18 to show that all the cosmic power displayed is for the purpose of rescue and salvation—drawing the psalmist out of deep waters and rescuing him from enemies too strong for him

Psalm 18 is a psalm of salvation. That ends, the channels of the sea were seen, at the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord. God's exposing the very fiber of the world because he sent from on high and he took me, he drew me out of many waters, he rescued me from my strong enemy. For they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out onto a broad place. He rescued me because he delighted in me.

50 · The pastor returns to Joel 2 and completes the passage to show that the cosmic signs lead to the promise of salvation for all who call on the Lord

The purpose of this swell of sovereign power is to save. Joel 2: Wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

51 · The pastor interprets the cosmic imagery—God is using His universe-shaking power to rescue sinners from enemies too strong for them, because salvation requires exactly that level of power

What is God doing What this incredible earth-shaking, sea-draining power— he's drawing you up from the deep waters. He's setting you on the firm ground. He's stepping in front of that enemy that is too strong for you. God is swelling up to save. This beautiful, frightening, smoke out of the nostrils, gravitational bending, whole universe shaking thing is what God does to save sinners who have no other hope but that level of power come to their aid. And redeem them from their sins.

52 · The pastor steps into a direct pastoral word about the implications of God's self-revelation—that God chose to reveal Himself primarily as Savior, and our pain often comes from refusing to accept that revelation

You know, there's so much frustration that comes into your life because you just won't see that God got to write this whole script the way He wanted. We're all living it, but He wrote it, and He could have made Himself out to be anything to us primarily. He could have been some kind of volcano God to us where We must always be concerned about His immediate wrath, but God wrote this story and He put us in it, and He made it all to where He would appear primarily as the God who saves. And so much pain in life comes because you and I just won't take that and let it be.

53 · The pastor introduces an extended illustration from his counseling experience about how people progress through stages in dealing with persistent sin, and how each stage ultimately comes down to accepting God as Savior

You know, from time to time I walk with someone who's struggled with a life-enduring sin, and this can be something that is a choice, a very clear choice, like a sexual sin that just keeps coming and coming and coming, or it could be something else. It could be a lot of things. But in every stage of their growth, there's always stages of growth, every stage of their growth always winds up coming down to accepting the salvation of God.

54 · The pastor describes the first stage of dealing with persistent sin—secrecy—and identifies the root as unwillingness to be seen as needing salvation

So usually the first stage is this period of secretness. You know, I'm not gonna talk about this, I'm not gonna tell anyone. And the root of that stage where you're hiding is that you don't wanna be thought of as a sinner in need of salvation. You don't want to be seen as a sinner in need of salvation.

55 · The pastor describes a second stage—self-imposed distance from God after sin—and identifies the root as unwillingness to relate to God as Savior by asking for forgiveness

There's also a stage where after this sin, you self-inflict a long break in between you and God. You know, where you fall again and there's this week-long period or whatever where you dare not talk to God. And that's just almost a universal stage as people deal with this sin. And you know what you're doing in that moment? You don't want to ask him for forgiveness and relate to him as your Savior.

56 · The pastor describes the progression of growth—the gap between sin and seeking God shrinks until it feels repulsively short, and eventually the person begins seeking God before the sin rather than after

One of the most immediate signs I can see when someone begins to change is how quickly, how much the gap is shortened between their sin and their seeking God. You know, they'll usually come in and there's this big gap. There's the sin, there's a week-long kind of beating up of self, of stubbornness, of whatever, and then eventually if you twist their arm long enough, they'll come to God and ask for help. But as God works, the gap gets shorter and shorter, repulsively short. See, this is the thing: repulsively short, so that you've just sinned and you go to God immediately and you feel like the biggest hypocrite in the world. You know what you feel like? You feel like the biggest sinner in the world. Who needs a big Savior, who needs radical, unreasonable grace, who needs grace that is far bigger than anyone could ever imagine. That's what you feel like. And as you see that gap shrink, guess what eventually happens? Just as an aside, what eventually happens as you help someone shrink this gap is that they start seeking God before the sin, and the gap gets wide on the other side.

57 · The pastor describes another stage—recognizing that the sin itself is a false salvation, an idol offering what only God can provide

But everybody goes through that stage. There's the stage where, usually after that one I just mentioned, where they begin to realize that that sin itself is a false salvation that they've been pursuing all along instead of seeking the true salvation in God. So there's that stage, which is also a salvation-related stage.

58 · The pastor describes the final stage—seeing in retrospect that all the alternative paths before the sin were not just missed opportunities for self-discipline but offers of salvation from God

And then eventually people become sensitized to all the ways that God was trying to save them before the sin. Or all the salvations that God was offering before the sin. You see, they're able to go back relatively quickly and say, yeah, there were like 10 things I could have done except this sin, and I didn't. I wasn't self-disciplined enough to get there. But at some point, as they learn to relate to God as their Savior more than anything else, they begin to realize that those 10 things weren't 10 opportunities for self-discipline. Those were 10 offers of salvation from a saving God.

59 · The pastor synthesizes the illustration into a theological claim—that the root of change is loving salvation and accepting the need to relate to God as Savior every day, and that most Christians wrongly believe maturity means outgrowing this need

The root to change really lies in loving salvation, because that's who God is. He is a sovereign, saving God. And the root to change lies in not despising the need to be saved every day, not despising primarily relating to God as Savior. You know, this is the honest truth. Most of us at some point in our Christian life begin to honestly believe that Christian maturity means outgrowing our need for a Savior. But that's what God is. When He wields this marvelous power, that's what He's doing. He's saving.

60 · The pastor announces the fifth and final element of the theology of change—the Son—and signals this will receive fuller treatment in the following week's sermon

Let me give you the last ingredient. And that is, and we'll talk way more about this next week, don't think I'm selling Jesus short, last ingredient, the Son, the Son of God.

61 · The pastor cites John Newton to establish that while the Christian life is Christ—a truth that reassures and simplifies—we perpetually fumble this principle and face Christ-clouding distractions

Last week we said that there's plenty to distract us from a pure and sincere devotion to Jesus, even devotion itself. I was reading John Newton this week and came across this quote, "The Christian life is Christ." This is a truth which deeply reassures our souls, focuses our hearts, and simplifies our spiritual lives. But it is a principle that we perpetually fumble. The veil removed from our eyes in conversion gives way to clouds over our eyes in trials and sleepiness in our steps with the spiritual disciplines. The greatest challenges we face are Christ-clouding distractions.

62 · The pastor testifies from pastoral experience that all lasting change ultimately comes down to face-to-face encounter with Jesus—not principles, not techniques, but Jesus Himself

As I've walked with people through change, and as I'm trying to walk through my own changes with other people, I'll tell you that it really always winds up being— every moment of life change comes down to a conversation face-to-face with Jesus. It always comes down to Jesus. It always comes down to a new encounter with Jesus, a new commitment to Jesus, a return to Jesus. Everything about change comes down to Jesus.

63 · The pastor prays for those struggling with their own sin and those walking with unchanging people, asking God to help the congregation see Him primarily as Savior and to reorient hearts away from seeing maturity as outgrowing the need for salvation

Let me pray. Father God, some are here this morning and they have things they desperately would love to see change in their lives, change in their own hearts. And others, Lord, are walking right now with someone who seems almost impervious to change. They've been given every good reason to change. They've been given every incentive and every fear, Lord, and yet they don't change. Lord, would you reassure our hearts this morning that you are the sovereign God who saves, that you swell up in power You, you display your mighty, mighty sovereign power to save us. God, would every person that leaves this place today be happy to name you as Savior, to think of you as Savior, to relate to you primarily as their Savior from this day forward. God, reorient our hearts so we no longer see Christian maturity as outgrowing a need for a Savior. Help us, Lord, to see you chose how you would show yourself to us, and through your gospel, you show yourself as Savior, the God who saves. And this promise is for those who are far off. Lord, we're all far off. None of us deserve to know you. All of us, Lord, will take advantage of your grace. God, I think of all the ways I have resisted needing your salvation. I have resisted leaning on your salvation. I've resisted seeing your salvation as the centerpiece of my life. I think of all the ways I have stubbornly pushed away your saving hand, and I think, you know, Lord, you really are gracious. If there's one way I deserve total thumping from you, it's that I resist your saving hand, and you are gracious even in that. God, may we see your grace more clearly at work in our change and in the change of others. In your name we pray, amen.

64 · The pastor begins to introduce a closing scripture reference but the transcript ends mid-sentence

Jesus says in Luke 22, for I tell you, I