Theological term
Golden Chain of Salvation
2 sermons · All terms
2LCF Chapter 12 - Of Adoption
Adoption is a gracious act of God whereby those whom He has justified are brought from the household of Adam — where they were sons of disobedience and children of wrath — into the household of God, with all the rights and privileges of divine sonship. This study of 1689 LBCF Chapter 12 traces five dimensions of the doctrine: the recipients of adoption (all the justified), the author of adoption (God alone, not human will), the pre-temporal provenance (the immutable decree of election flowing from divine love), the objective historical ground (the redemptive work of Christ), and the temporal application (the effectual work of the Spirit). The hearer is called to take great comfort in the benefits the confession enumerates — access to the throne of grace, the Spirit of adoption crying Abba Father, divine pity, protection, provision, and chastening — and to live as imitators of God, conducting themselves as members of His household.
Five Observations on Christ's Doctrine of Salvation (Part 2)
John 6:35–51 presents a chain of divine activity in which the Father gives, the Son receives, and none are lost — a chain that rests entirely on sovereign, unconquerable grace. This second installment in a series on Christ's doctrine of salvation expounds two final observations: the unconquerable power of regenerating grace (irresistible grace), illustrated by Ezekiel's valley of dry bones and the raising of Lazarus, and the infallibility of the divine embrace paired with the indefectibility of those embraced (the preservation and perseverance of the saints). The sermon closes with a call to ground assurance not in self-examination or experiential motions but in the decree of election, the merits of Christ, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit, and with a direct gospel plea to any who do not yet know Christ.