25-1130sc - Detailed Summary

Steve begins the class with a heartfelt prayer expressing gratitude for God’s Word and the privilege of knowing how to please, worship, and be reconciled to God despite human sin. He thanks God for making reconciliation and salvation possible through His love and provisions. Steve specifically gives thanks for Ed Wharton, the author of the book they are studying, asking that the Holy Spirit grant both Wharton and the students deep understanding of salvation so they may rest assured in their reconciled relationship with God. The prayer closes in Jesus' name.

Steve shares how profoundly the book impacted him when he first read it, stating he knew immediately he had to teach and preach it. While visiting his daughter in Houston, he heard a sermon mentioning the "Scheme of Redemption," which reminded him of his preaching school days. After initially struggling to find the right material due to a misspelled name, he discovered Ed Wharton’s Sunset School of Preaching notes, ordered them, and found his eyes "really opened." He expresses strong hope that this material presents the true gospel God wants people to know with assurance. Steve believes that faithfully teaching the authentic scheme of redemption will cause God to bring seeking people to their congregation, ensuring growth and survival. Drawing from 84 years of life and decades of preaching experience, including stories from missionaries, he is fully convinced the church will not close its doors but will thrive because truth-seekers will be divinely directed to them.

Steve introduces Lesson 7, titled "The Law and Gospel," which contrasts two systems of righteousness: legal righteousness (the Law of Moses) and righteousness by faith (the Gospel of Christ). He notes that the first six chapters established man’s inability to achieve righteousness through any legal system, emphasizing that Christianity contains no legal system at all. Righteousness comes solely through faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who provides reconciliation, forgiveness, and the required righteousness to stand before God. He reads Romans 1:16-17, highlighting Paul’s declaration that he is not ashamed of the gospel because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, revealing a righteousness from faith to faith.

Steve explains that "gospel" means "good news" or "glad tidings," derived from the old English "Godspeed." He illustrates with the historical image of a town crier ringing a bell to gather the people (the "called out" or church) to hear a royal proclamation. If the news was beneficial, people would wish the messenger "Godspeed" as he left, hence the term gospel. The good news has two parts: first, the bad news that all men under law are condemned and powerless to justify themselves through human effort (referencing the universal condemnation of chapter 5); second, the good news that God, out of love and grace, graciously provided salvation through Christ before creation, knowing mankind would sin. Steve stresses that grace means God initiated salvation entirely—He reached out to us because He desires reconciliation. He ties this to John 3:16 and Ephesians, emphasizing that our entire existence revolves around God’s loving initiative.

The gospel offers permanent salvation to the uttermost (Hebrews 7), not a temporary or uncertain one where a person is only forgiven of past sins and left unsure about present or future standing. Steve recounts his earlier evangelistic efforts in Fort Wayne using the question: "If you died today, do you know for certain you would go to heaven?" Most people, including many church members in the 1950s–60s, answered they could not know for sure because salvation was still perceived as dependent on continually living a perfect Christian life after baptism. He describes the prevailing uncertainty: people hoped to "die with a prayer on their lips" or, in extreme Catholic practice, delayed baptism until the deathbed to avoid post-baptism sin. This led to constant prayers for forgiveness of sins, even though people lacked assurance. Steve contrasts this with the gospel’s message that righteousness is attained by faith in Christ, not by meritorious works under the Law of Moses, and believers can have full confidence in their salvation.

Steve stresses the vital importance of understanding the word "merit." Under the Mosaic law, salvation had to be earned by perfectly obeying every command; one had to merit righteousness through flawless human effort. Faith was still required, but it was faith that perfect obedience would save. In reality, no one could live perfectly, so merit always failed. The class rereads the key statement: salvation comes by faith in Christ, not by works of merit that the law demanded but no one could achieve. God’s righteousness is given on the basis of faith alone, while legal righteousness required unattainable human perfection. To grasp how sinful man can be saved only by the gospel, two things must be learned: the exact requirements of law versus grace, and the power source man must rely on under each system.

The Mosaic system required absolute, sinless perfection for a lifetime. Steve quotes Leviticus 18:5 and Romans 10:5 — “the man that doeth… shall live thereby” — showing that “do and live” was the equation. Psalm 119:172 declares all God’s commandments are righteousness, so every single command had to be kept perfectly every day of one’s life. Even one violation made a person guilty of all and brought the curse (Deuteronomy 27; Galatians 3:10; James 2:10). Steve notes that people under the law knew the standard but constantly failed; they could not control their reactions in every situation as the law demanded. They repeatedly needed animal sacrifices because human flesh lacked the power to obey perfectly. In contrast, Christians today are not under law but under grace; when we stumble, Jesus understands, forgives, and helps us do better.

Both Peter and Paul destroy human pride by showing no one could keep the law perfectly. The parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18) crushes the attitude “I’m better than others because I keep the law.” The entire nation of Israel, despite zealous effort, failed to attain the righteousness their own law required (Romans 9). They ignorantly tried to establish their own righteousness while the law already condemned them. In Acts 15 Peter called the law an unbearable yoke that neither they nor their fathers could bear. Even Paul, before conversion, trusted his blameless law-keeping (as a Christ-rejecting Jew), yet later realized his own righteousness “which is of the law” fell far short. Romans 7 describes how the very commandment meant for life brought death because sin used it to defeat him. Conclusion: human power is no match for sin; not one Jew in the entire nation achieved the required sinless perfection.

If man is to be saved, God Himself must save him; without divine help man is utterly helpless and hopeless. The gospel becomes glorious good news only when a person finally sees the futility of self-righteousness and recognizes his need for a power greater than his own. Romans 1 reveals God’s saving power reaching down to impotent man. The cross was God’s mighty exertion to accomplish what man could never do for himself. Therefore Paul triumphantly declares there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). While the law condemned sinners in the flesh, Christ condemned sin in the flesh and now continually maintains a righteous standing for His faithful followers. Even though we continue to sin, as long as we walk in the light His blood keeps on cleansing us (1 John 1), and when we confess, He faithfully forgives. Jesus’ sacrifice is ongoing, providing constant cleansing and assurance.

Steve vividly illustrates how God sees believers: when Satan accuses, pointing out the sins of Steve, Joe, Michael, or Ruth, God looks down and declares He sees nothing but the blood of Christ covering them. As long as they are walking in the light, striving to follow Him, Christ’s blood keeps on cleansing. True saving faith is far more than mere intellectual belief; it embraces three elements: intellectual assent, trust, and obedience. James declares that belief without obedience is dead and useless. The object of faith is Christ Himself, best expressed as trust. Believers trust Jesus to save them at the moment of obedient baptism, and they continue trusting Him to keep them saved as they serve Him faithfully. Crucially, faithful service is not the same as perfect service; Christians are not under a legal system but under grace. Though walking in the light, believers must never practice sin but must struggle against it, trusting Christ’s blood to cleanse them while they live imperfect lives.

In conclusion, mankind’s total inability to save itself through law is conclusively proven, driving every person to obey the gospel of justification by faith in Christ. The cross is God’s merciful answer, and the glad tidings should convince all of their need for this new redemptive system. Between heaven and hell stands every soul needing to respond to this good news. Steve emphasizes that this message of full assurance is what sets their teaching apart from denominational legalism; almost every other group still tries to become righteous by keeping a law, whereas salvation rests entirely on Jesus. A class member shares a story of a preacher criticized for presenting Christ’s death as weakness, but Steve counters with John 10:17-18: Jesus laid down His life voluntarily, declaring, “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Far from weakness, the cross and resurrection display supreme divine power—without Christ’s willing death and victorious resurrection there would be no good news at all.

Steve recalls Paul confronting Peter in Galatians for hypocrisy: when certain Jews arrived, Peter withdrew from Gentile believers, acting as if the Mosaic law still applied. Paul reminded him that even the Jewish Christians had abandoned law-keeping for righteousness and were now being saved the same way as the Gentiles—by the gospel of faith in Jesus alone. This shows how deeply ingrained prejudices can be, even in apostles; Peter himself slipped back into legal thinking despite having defended Gentile salvation in Acts 15. It powerfully demonstrates that none of us is perfect and everyone must rely completely on God’s grace. The class turns to 1 John 5:13, where John writes so that believers “may know that you have eternal life.” Biblical “know” means certain, personal knowledge, not wishful thinking. Biblical “hope” is not “I hope so” but confident expectation because all trust is placed in Jesus. Believers do not merely squeak into heaven; scripture promises entrance “abundantly” or “richly.”

Reflecting on teachings he received growing up, Steve remembers the common misconception (even from his Baptist-turned-Christian father) that Christ’s blood and grace only make up the difference between a person’s own righteousness and God’s perfect standard. Many pictured their own righteousness reaching a certain height, with grace coming down just far enough to bridge the gap. Steve emphatically rejects this, declaring that Christ’s blood does not merely supplement human righteousness—it completely covers and cleanses the believer. Grace does not meet us halfway; it takes us all the way in. With that final clarification, Steve concludes the morning’s lesson on Chapter 7 of The Scheme of Redemption.