Faith Without Works is Dead

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I want to break for a day from covering Romans to hopefully encourage you as believers in Christ.  In my own life I have past sins, current struggles, and the knowledge that this life that I live as a Christian will not be easy.  I consider the exhortation given us in Hebrews 12:1-2 – “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”  When I look to Jesus, who endured the cross for a joy that was set before Him, I remember His warning to believers.  John 15:18-20 – “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” 

So it would seem that life as a Christian is hard, at least that was the expectation given to us by Jesus.  This life we live is not a sprint but a marathon requiring endurance.  We have indwelling sin (Rom 7:20) that we battle against; we have a world that hates us if we follow Christ; we have the expectation of persecution; we have disease, suffering, and death as consequences of sin entering the world; and we have spiritual forces of evil against us (Eph 6:12) and an enemy in Satan that seeks to devour us (1 Pet 5:8).  It should not at all be surprising then, that there will be times when you struggle to find or even remember your joy in Christ.  I could go on, but I will stop, lest you become discouraged before you are encouraged!

With the above being a fairly accurate picture of what we should expect as Christians from scripture, how do we remain encouraged?  How do we maintain joy in the Treasure set before us, eternity with Christ?  When I find myself wanting for the joy of my salvation, I remember a very simple command of Jesus.  Matthew 6:33 – “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”  and I ask myself, “How have I been pursuing the kingdom of God and his righteousness”?  More often than not, my lack of joy is due to my failure in one or both parts of Christ’s command in Matthew 6:33.

My question for you today is this:  Is your faith active?  How are you seeking to expand the kingdom of God?  How are you pursuing His righteousness in your life?  Many people think of “faith” as static – a set of facts to believe, and they think of Christianity as a set of personal tasks like going to church, avoiding certain “egregious” sins, and doing a good deed now and then.  What I want you to know and challenge you with, is that if you saved, then you have been saved by God for a purpose.  People who take issue with God’s sovereignty over salvation often ask me (convinced they’ve “caught” me), “well if God is sovereign and He’s going to save whoever He’s going to save, then why should I pray for people’s salvation and evangelize?”  I say, God is sovereign over salvation, Yes and Amen, and as believers we are the means by which God intends to save, your prayers are the means by which God will move dead hearts to life.  You were not saved to sit around in a monastery thankful you have been “saved”, waiting out your days in isolation.  God has plans for you.  Ephesians 2:8-10 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  (bolded by me for emphasis).  Further, we are told in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ,God making his appeal through us.”  (bolded by me for emphasis). 

What I want you to hear is that God has gifted each of you uniquely, that He might reconcile others to Himself through you.  God never gave a command to a subset of Christians to minister and spread the gospel, but to all Christians.  My exhortation is to consider what others say you are good at and what you enjoy doing, and employ those gifts in ministry.  Don’t wait.  Some of you may feel when you serve and minister that you are woefully inadequate… you are, so am I, so are we all, yet God will still use you.  God is not limited by our imperfections, but the unwillingness of our hearts.  The grace of God through Jesus Christ manifested and preached by you, will be healing to yourself and others. For the joy set before you, put your faith in action.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 26 – Abraham Believed God

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So this last week, we wrapped up Romans 3.  For those of you keeping track, we’ve had 25 messages covering those 3 chapters.  So it’s taken us about 2.5 months to get through 3 chapters.  If you’re looking ahead you may notice that Romans is 16 chapters long, do a little math and figure that we’re on pace to wrap up our study of Romans in the beginning of October next year.  Now, if we did take that long, I assure you, it would be time well spent, however, that is not my plan.  I’m going to start speeding things up a bit, with the exception of Romans 5 and Romans 9.  There’s just no way to do those chapters justice without taking some time there.  I want these emails to be encouraging, and not burdensome, so brevity may win out over lengthy exposition in some cases.
That said my encouragement to you, is to dig into Romans yourself during this time if you are able to do so.  If you read 2 chapters of Romans a day on average, you could make it through the entire book in 8 days.  If you committed yourself to that task for a month, you would have almost ready Romans all the way through, 4 times.  If you committed to start today, by the end of the year, you would have read through all of Romans 6 times.  What a treasure that would be to have the gospel saturating your heart in that way.  What a blessing that would be to your own life and others.
With all that said, let’s start into Romans 4.  Here Paul is continuing his argument that we are justified (declared righteous) by God through faith, not works.  He is appealing to the faith of Abraham, as an example to us of how our faith is credited to us as righteousness.
Romans 4:1-8 – “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say?”Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:  “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.  Notice it doesn’t say Abraham believed in God, it says he believed God.  Big difference.  Especially when in James 2:19 we are told – “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”  Faith is not believing in God, faith is believing God.  Meaning, faith is not simply a passive intellectual acknowledgment to God’s existence, what He has done on the cross through Christ, or even right thoughts about the character and nature of God.  Satan has seen God face to face and Satan saw Christ crucified and risen.  Knowledge of God, is not faith.  Our enemy, would love nothing more than for people to coast by in their “faith”, never truly trusting God, never praying for God to give them faith to believe, to die to themselves and follow Him.  Faith is heart consuming, life altering, believing God.  In Genesis 15, Abraham believed God and did exactly what God told Him to do, which was trusting and believing in God.
Many people get mixed up with the book of James, when it is said that we are justified by works.  Some people are even afraid to preach through James because they believe it’s confusing.  Some may even see what James has to say about being justified with works as a contradiction to what Paul is saying here, so let’s go ahead and clear that up right now.  James 2:21-24 – “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.  You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” 

This is not a contradiction, James is saying the exact same thing as Paul.  The faith Paul is describing is not a passive faith in God, but an active believing God and trusting His Word to us.  This is the same faith described by James.  What can you say then about the intersection of faith and works?  Can the person who is declared righteous through faith in the shed blood of Christ continue in unrighteousness?  NO!  Can’t you see that all unrighteousness is rooted in unbelief of God and His Word?  It is a lack of belief that Christ is a treasure above anything the world might offer, and He has reconciled us to God.  This is why later in Romans 14, Paul says “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”  If you believe God, then your life will follow that belief, and you will walk in obedience to Him, trusting Him.

Lets get a picture going… Let’s say that you have a rough day, and you fall into sin, and let out some of your frustration on a waiter.  I know none of you reading this have ever allowed your frustrations to overflow to an unrelated party… but assuming you did, let’s continue.   Now, you go off to the bathroom to wash up before the food arrives, and come back very thirsty.  Your good friend you’re eating with tells you that while you were in the bathroom, he witnessed your waiter spit into the tasty beverage that’s now in front of you.  You are really thirsty, so what do you do?  If you believe your friend, you will not drink it.  If you do not believe your friend, you will.  Don’t you see how actions manifest your belief?  Either way, your actions are evidencing your belief.  Either drinking or not drinking.  You cannot separate faith and works.  True faith will always result in works that manifest that belief.  God has given us the entire Bible, His Word to us, and we will either believe Him, and follow after Him, or we will not.  Our actions will give witness to whether or not we believe God.  Make no mistake though, Abraham was not credited as righteous because he believed in God, but because he believed God, and his actions followed that belief.  There is a faith that saves and a “faith” that is useless that cannot save.  One results in heart and life change by the Spirit of God, the other in mere head knowledge about God and an unregenerate heart.

We are not saved by our works.  We are not saved by our faith + works.  We are saved because we believe God.  We are saved by faith alone.   Our lawless deeds are forgiven, our sins past, present, and future are covered in Christ’s blood – blessed are we whom the Lord will not count our sin against us.  We believe that God has sent His only Son, Jesus Christ into the world to die for our sin, that He was buried, that He was raised on the 3rd day by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that we who trust in Him have been reconciled to God – declared righteous by our faith.  Now, let our light so shine before the world, that they will see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven.  As we die to ourselves daily to follow after Christ, believing Him, let the world marvel at how great a surpassing treasure we have in Christ, even amidst struggles, loss, and suffering.  Pray earnestly for the faith that saves.  Encourage others daily, to not only believe in God and the gospel, but encourage them to greater faith through God’s promises in His Word to believe God and live out the gospel.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 25 – The Law of Faith

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Romans 3:23-31 – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.  For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.  Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.  Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.”

Many people want to treat faith as empty; something that is mere passive head knowledge.  They say, “I believe that Jesus died for my sins, so I’m saved”.  That is their “faith”.  They hold fast to a confession made long ago, perhaps as a child, and point to the verse in Romans 10:9 for assurance – “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  What did Jesus say in response to such people?  Luke 6:46-49 – “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:  he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.  But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” 

Now in Romans 1-3:20, Paul has painstakenly rebutted every argument that would seek to deny man’s accountability before God as a sinner.  He has well established our just condemnation before a Righteous and Holy God.  Now he is turning to offer hope for those who would believe, by preaching salvation through faith alone in Christ alone.  This was very different from what the Jewish readers of Paul’s day had been taught.  The Jewish holy men, had taught that righteousness came through adherance to the laws of God given through Moses.  In Romans 3:23-31 above, Paul is answering the next question he expects any Jewish reader to ask, “What about all of the laws of God?”  “If we are not saved through upholding them, does this mean we are setting them aside altogether?”  No, he answers, the law points to the righteousness of Christ, and we uphold the law as we follow after Christ.  Further, regarding the law we are told in Galatians 5:14  – “the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”    Hear Christ’s response about the law in Matthew 22:36-40 – “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”  (Note that reference to the Law and the Prophets simply refers to all of the writings of the Old Testament)

Christ fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law – perfectly.  Many people want to treat the grace of God as license to live free to sin.  That is a very shallow view of faith, and one that cannot save you.  No, just as the Jews sought righteousness under the law, we are to seek our righteousness under the law of faith.  Saving faith is much more than passive intellectual assent to facts about Jesus – it is a complete union with Christ, both in His death to sin and life to righteousness.  This is the law we are held to, this is the law that Paul describes in Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Further, our unity with Christ by faith is manifested through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Christ Himself, through our faith.  Ephesians 1:13 – “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

My exhortation today, is to ask yourself one question:  What does my heart’s affections and life goals say about my faith and unity with Christ?  The good news of the gospel, that the righteousness required of us, that we all have fallen short of, was fulfilled in Christ and available to us through faith in Him.  Are you subject to the law of faith, or are you satisfied with mere head knowledge about Christ?  We are free, but let us continue to hold fast to our faith.  True faith is living, active, moving forward.  Let us not be numbered as those spoken of in Hebrews 10:26-27 – “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

My encouragement to you today comes immediately after the verse above from Hebrews 10:35-39 –  “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.  For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

I will say it again, you are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.  Keep running the race set before you by God, knowing that there is laid up for you a crown of righteousness in Christ.  Know you’re prayed for.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 24 – Right with God

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Romans 3:23-26 – “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

From the beginning, man has sought to be right with God.  Even atheism, in a sense, is an attempt at this in that how they right themselves with God in that they seek to avoid accountability by denying He exists.  So it is true of every person, whatever their beliefs, that inwardly there is this question that must be answered – “What must I do to be right with God?”

You know, a lot of people speak about various religions in the world, but really there are only two.  You have the religion of man’s achievement or of God’s achievement.  Every other religion, apart from Christianity seeks to be right with God through their own achievement.  The Pharisees, the “Holy” men in Jesus’s day sought to become right with God based on their own achievement and Jesus rebuked them.  In Matthew 5:20 Jesus tells the thousands who had come to hear Him, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   What has man to offer God?  What sacrifice could he give that was not given to Him by God?  Psalm 50:7-10 – “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you.  I am God, your God.  Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.  I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.  For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.  I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.”   If you were to work your whole life for righteousness, what credit would that be to you?  Where does your strength come from?  Whose air do you breathe?  Acts 17:24-25 – “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” 

It has been revealed throughout God’s revelation in His Word that from the beginning salvation was not about man’s achievement but God’s achievement.  It was foreshadowed in the Law and the Prophets, and manifested in Christ.  Hear Jesus’s words in Luke 24:44-47 – “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” 
Look to the Old Testament (Law and the Prophets and Psalms) and see.  God told Abraham to number the stars if he could, and promised that his offspring would be the same.  Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.  Later God called on Abraham to sacrifice His only son, Isaac.  When asked by Isaac where the sacrifice was, Abraham replied “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”  (Gen 22:8)  Later God responds to Abraham’s faith, Gen 22:12-14 – “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.” 
Abraham did not know who the name Jesus, but He believed the promise of God and believed that God would provide the sacrifice.  We too, if we would be right with God, should not look to ourselves, but to Jesus, who was the fulfillment of all of the promises of God, the once and final sacrifice for our sin.  2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Not our righteousness, but the righteousness of God.  Not our achievement, Christ’s achievement.  This is gospel.  In the old testament, no sacrifice atoned for a single sin, but those who gave them believed God’s promise to provide a sacrifice and their sacrifice was one of symbol and thanksgiving of their belief.  Now we all, believing and trusting the promises of God fulfillled in Christ offer up a sacrifice of obedience, not to inherit a righteousness apart from Christ, but from thanksgiving and a symbol that He is in us.
My exhortation today comes as way of reminder – if you would be right with God, make your heart wholly united with Christ and believe on Him.  He is just and the justifier of all who believe Him.
Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 23 – Righteous by Ransom

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Romans 3:21-25 – “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
The fight for faith is a daily one.  It begins anew each morning and continues through to when you go to sleep each night.  We are given tools, “means of grace”, such as prayer, God’s Word, Christian Community, Communion, Baptism, Fasting, Evangelism, and Works of Service to help us in our fight.  The foundation of all of those means of grace is the gospel, namely what we believe about ourselves and Christ.  The question I want to answer today is what does it mean to have your “identity in Christ”.
From above we see that the righteousness of God is given to us by faith in Christ.  We also see that our being declared (justified) as righteous is by grace (a free gift).  Finally we are told that the free gift of being declared righteous in Christ came at a cost, Christ’s blood.  The English word for redemption was taken from the Greek word “apolutrosis”.  What the Greek word apolutrosis literally means is a “releasing or liberation effected by the payment of a ransom”.  This is identity altering gospel.
You are not your own, you were bought for a price – Christ’s blood.  1 Peter 1:18-19 – “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” You are righteous through no work of your own, but because God declared you as righteous through Christ.  What about our daily struggles against sin?  I do not mean to make light of that or suggest that we do not have a battle to fight, but we fight that battle with Christ through faith.  Our final victory over sin does not come through our efforts, but the final victory was accomplished through Christ’s blood.  We do not labor against sin on our own behalf, but for Him who ransomed us; in love we strive for personal holiness that the glory of God in Jesus Christ would be manifested, shown as a light to a sinful world.  We proclaim with Paul – “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Likewise, we view ourselves and others in a like manner, rejoicing as believers in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 – “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.  From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he isa new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  
Though we were purchased by Christ’s blood we are much more than slaves, we are the adopted sons and daughters of God, co-heirs with Christ.  Galatians 4:4-7 – “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” 

I say these things, not that we would think higher of ourselves, but that we would rejoice at how great a salvation we have in Jesus Christ.  We have an enemy who would love nothing more than for us to forget these gospel truths, but the promises of God will never fail.  I encourage you to largely ignore everything I have said, save God’s Word alone, and be encouraged by Isaiah 40:8 – “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 22 – All Have Fallen Short

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Last time we looked at doctrine of total depravity, that there is nothing good in man.  This offends the pride of natural man, and this is the “offense” of the cross that keeps many from simply coming to Christ to ask for mercy.
Here is a parable told by Jesus to the disciples in Luke 18:10-14 – “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Why do I love the doctrine of total depravity?  Because it teaches me that there is absolutely nothing in me worthy of salvation, and forces me to trust completely in the mercy of Christ.  When I am weak, I see more of the strength of Christ.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10  “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  If that is true, how glorious is the doctrine of total depravity!  There was NOTHING of worth in me for Christ to save, but it pleased Him to demonstrate His mercy through me.
Where then is boasting?  If you see any good in me, that is to the glory of Christ alone!  I will not boast in any “decision”, I will not boast in any “work”, I will not boast in any “belief”, but that it should be rightly attributed to the shed blood of Christ, His grace to me, and His Spirit within me.
How do I take comfort after reading Romans 3:9-20?  The rest of Romans.
Romans 3:21-23 – “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
The only people in Heaven are righteous people.  None is righteous, save Jesus Christ alone.  His righteousness is ours through faith and even that faith to believe was a gift purchased through His blood on the cross.  That means, yesterday, today, and tomorrow when God sees you, He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ.  Words cannot describe how great a love God has for Christ, and when He sees you, He sees Him.  Now if there is nothing in your power that brings you to Christ, save Christ alone, what is there that can take you away from Him?  NOTHING.  This is why we can have peace in the assurance of our salvation through Christ alone.  This is why we can press the promises of Romans 8:33-39 deep into our hearts when struggles/suffering comes our way.
Romans 8:33-39 – “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Everyone falls short… daily.  If you are waiting to clean your life up to “get right with God”, you will never get there.  The good news is that God sent His Son, Christ, that we who believe would be given His righteousness.  Today is the day of salvation.  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law of works, by becoming a curse for us on a tree, that we might be reconciled to God through His righteousness.  Nothing can be added to His work and nothing can be taken away.  My encouragement is to remind yourself and your fellow brothers and sisters of this Truth daily.
Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 21 – Total Depravity and Salvation to the Uttermost

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Well, it’s been a while since the last WFTD.  A few things have contributed to that, but honestly, the biggest hurdle for me has been to attempt do justice to the gravity of this text.  While I hold to the belief that all of the Word of God needs to be wielded in order to know Him rightly, know ourselves rightly, and understand His will for us – so much of my understanding of God was challenged, transformed, and now built upon this passage in Romans 3, especially Romans 3:10-11.  I am prayerful that God would grant eyes to see all that He has for us in this text.  Much like other parts of God’s Word to us in Romans, the most difficult part is not in the exposition of the text, but in accepting that God means EXACTLY what He says.  My task then, is not to be clever or make light of hard doctrinal truths, but to fulfill the calling laid out for a teacher from Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4:11-14 says this – “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” 

Some of you reading this are not where I would like you to be on the issues I’m going to raise today.  I want you to know, that is ok.  I still hold a great affection and love for you as my brother and sister in Christ.  My request is that you prayerfully consider the Word today, not so much my words, but the Word spoken by God to us.  If I press on your beliefs some, know that my goal is your joy in deeper fellowship with Christ.

If there was a crescendo to Paul’s first three chapters of Romans where he is outlining how everyone is accountable to God, everyone has fallen short, and no one is righteous on their own, it would certainly be this passage in Romans 3. Romans 3:9-20 – “What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:  “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”  “The venom of asps is under their lips.”  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”  “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”  Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.  For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”  (bolded for emphasis from me)

Let me restate simply what God says above, and I challenge you to think on the implications.

  • No one is righteous
  • No one understands
  • No one seeks for God
  • No one does good

What is being described above is the “total depravity” of man.  Total depravity, used primarily as a theological term means that man’s condition from birth is completely sinful, incapable of doing any good and unwilling to do any good. What I’m about to say, I say looking back on years spent in the Word and years pursuing joy in fellowship with God; if you rightly understand your own depravity as complete and full, eventually every other piece of your theology (your understanding of God / redemption / salvation) will correctly fall into place.

Acts 17:26-27 – “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us”

That seems like a contradiction, right?  In Acts we are told that God desires for us to seek after him and in Romans we are told that no one does.  No one.

There are two ways to approach these two texts together

1)      You take a man-centered view, whereby you say God makes men savable, but requires something apart from Himself to actually save; namely the belief/faith of man.

2)      You take a God-centered view, whereby you stand in awe that God actually saves sinners, and grace covers all sin, first and foremost your unbelief, whereby even the faith to believe/seek after God is a gift purchased by the blood of Christ.

Now if you’re in the first camp, I don’t want to beat you up, but I do want you to consider, whether or not what you believe makes sense in light of Romans 3.  Instead of discussing how prideful it is to believe that man enters into salvation apart from God, I want to help you bridge the gap between the offense of total depravity to joy in knowing Jesus Christ as completely your Savior.

Total Depravity offends the pride of man.  It was well understood that this would be offensive to a natural man, and was written of throughout the Bible.

Galatians 5:11 – “But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed

Isaiah 8:13-14 – “But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.  And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” 

You cannot work your way to God.  There is nothing in you righteous that would please God.  If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, even your unbelief was a sin that was covered through the blood of Christ, just as any other.  In fact, it is written that unbelief is the root of all sin.

Romans 14:23 – “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

Right now hopefully you’re seeing the depth of our sin problem. We have no hope in ourselves.  This is why in Ephesians 2 we are told that we are dead in our sins and trespasses.  Jesus gave a picture of this death, and our hope of salvation in Him, in Lazarus.  John 11:41-44 – “Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”  When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”  The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”  Jesus goes to Lazarus, Lazarus doesn’t come to Him.  Jesus gives life to Lazarus without Lazarus asking as a gift.  Jesus gives a command for Lazarus to be unbound, Lazarus doesn’t unbind himself.

When God says that He forgives sin, he doesn’t mean it like you or I.  Nahum 1:3 – “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”  God is infinitely holy and just.  His justice demands punishment against all sin.  Every breath of your life has been sinful and infinitely offensive to our Holy God.  You were incapable of ANY good.  You would NEVER seek after God.  You were not righteous.  But the righteousness of Christ is greater than ALL your sin.  God did not forgive your sin; your sin was placed on Christ.  The infinite wrath of God was poured out on Him who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.  It pleased God, Christian, for His eternal purpose for His glory, to demonstrate His love and mercy to you.  It was not deserved.  It was not owed.  It was a gift.  He is the giver of salvation – all glory belongs to Christ.

It is because Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end of salvation, that we can rest in full assurance of our faith.  Philippians 1:6 – “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”  It is because Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end of salvation, that I can look upon past sin and current struggles and proclaim “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Our sin was greater than we could ever imagine, but so is our salvation in Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:16-18 – “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation”  

My prayer and hope is that God would continually illuminate our sin in the light of His glory.  My prayer is not that we would make light of our sin or rest any hope of salvation in ourselves, but that we would turn to the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2) and find peace, rest, freedom, and joy in Him.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 20 – Grace Led Salvation in Christ Alone

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Romans 3:1-8 – “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?  Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.  What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?  By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)  By no means! For then how could God judge the world?  But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.”

I’ve been going back and forth on this message for a week.  I have so much to share here, so much joy-bringing Truth that I want all to see.  It feels as though words are not sufficient, but my prayer is that God would use His Word to magnify his name and encourage and edify each of you.  Last time, we saw that the giving of the law to Israel was meant to point them to two things 1) their inability to uphold the righteousness the law required and 2) the righteousness of God.  Now a humble man would see their sinfulness exposed in the law, and fall down pleading the mercy of God.  A self-righteous man would work with all his might to become as outwardly righteous as possible, while inwardly remaining unchanged from the heart.  How dreadful news it must have been for those self-righteous people in Jesus’ time to hear the words – Matthew 5:20-22, 27-28 – “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

If the most outwardly righteous persons among them did not have the righteousness required of God, what hope was there for everyone else?  These people were brought up believing that they should strive to follow the law as much as possible, and where they fell short they should sacrifice animals to God in line with the law.  What was missing was true brokenness over their sin; that they had sinned against God whom they love.  That heart was far from the Pharisees and self-righteous.  Those who held up God’s Word should have looked closer at their King David’s response to God after His sin in Psalm 51:16-17 – “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Each day I pray about how God would have me wield His Word for edification and encouragement.  What timely message would He have me deliver, to lift up Christ, as glorious and mighty to save?  What all-satisfying picture of His majesty can I give to push back the darkness, to thwart the schemes of the enemy that seeks to devour every one of us?  I believe that is possible to do from every text of the Bible, and that is my goal.  With that in mind, this text above from Romans is continuing to build Paul’s case that no one is righteous, only Christ is righteous.  Moreover, we are being shown that even our unrighteousness serves to magnify the righteousness of God, when he condemns us for it.  Can you accept that?  Can you take it in that God has a purpose even in unrighteousness in that is serves to display His own righteousness, and that He is good for it?  Most people never move beyond their self-centered view of God.  Let me ask a question, and ask that you answer honestly.  Do you still believe God owes you something?  What if despite your pleas, God condemned you?  Would that not be the most just thing for Him to do?  How can you make accusations against the justice and character of God when you deny him in 1,000 ways every day through sinful thoughts and actions?

How often you have neglected time with God for other trivial things like going out with friends, TV, or Facebook.  You take a moment to tell the world your plans on Facebook, but you haven’t prayed to see what God’s plans for you are.  You harbor anger in your heart against others; you speak unkind words, gossiping about others’ business and life affairs.  You neglect the orphan who will cry themselves to sleep tonight, hungry and alone.  You neglect the widow who has no one to care for her.  You sleep in comfort while the world crumbles around you, and you want to make judgments on God?

Jesus tells a parable in Luke 18 of a Pharisee (righteous man) and a Tax Collector (sinful traitor):  Luke 18:9-14 – “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:  “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Those of you who rest in some past “decision” for Christ, and you have “moved on” from feeling the weight of the glory of God over your sin daily – YOU ARE THE PHARISEE.  I’ve said it before, but let me say it again; there is only hope for the hopeless.  If you are struggling with sin, if you hate it, if you long for peace with God, Jesus Christ is very good news for you.  Run to Him; His blood has covered your sin; continue to fight the fight of faith knowing that in Christ the victory has already been accomplished.  If you make the assumption that you are right with God because of some decision you made at a point in time in the past, but have no struggle with sin, rather you are comfortable with it… you’re still way better than most people, after all you you go to church, you belong to a small group Bible study, you pray, you tithe, you do all the things a “good Christian” is supposed to do, but there is no fear of God in you, you should be very afraid.

This is not meant to be fear mongering.  This is God’s Truth.  Unfortunately, the world is full of false teachers and bad theology, and many people who believe that they are saved, are not, and will hear terrifying words of judgment from God when they die (Matt 7:20-22).  My goal is twofold – for the self-righteous person whose hope is in a past decision, I want to press on them, and impose a healthy fear of the righteousness and impartiality of God; for the struggling sinner who is broken in their sin and does not know where to turn, I want to deal with you very gently and lift up Christ, our great Redeemer, who has made an end to all sin for those who hope in Him.

If perhaps I fall harder on those in the first camp, it’s because I was that person; and I am prone to slip back into that mindset if I am not vigilant to kill every ounce of pride and self-righteousness in me.  It is so easy for me to fall back into that same sense of confidence in works.  It is very easy to lose sight of the majesty of the righteousness of Christ and the grace by which I know life daily.  That is why the first three chapters of Romans are so helpful – we see that there is nothing in us worthy of salvation.  Further, the hardest person to convince they are in need of Jesus are those who already believe they have him.  Know that I love both these people; the sinner who knows he/she is a sinner, and the self-righteous person who does not.  My goal isn’t that all of you would run around scared that you’re not saved all the time, rather my goal is for you to see how great a salvation we have in Jesus Christ, and to truly know, taste, feel, and delight in his grace and mercy DAILY.  You cannot live life as a Christian apart from understanding that you rest in the grace of God, daily, not because of a past decision, but because you are God’s – He holds you secure, and is working out your salvation every day.  (Phil 2:12-13)  That can only truly happen, however, when we rightly understand who God is and we are apart from Him.  So that’s what I’m working towards, in the same way Paul was.  That is why the first three chapters of Romans are so helpful – we see that there is nothing in us worthy of salvation.  Before we can delight in the grace and salvation described in Romans 4-8, we must first see how great our own depravity and need is.

Let’s press on that some here and begin with a simple statement that most secular humanists will cringe at.  God is ultimate, and you are not.  He is our Creator and as such is infinitely more valuable than we are.  His glory is infinitely more valuable than whatever circumstance or struggles we find ourselves in to accomplish this end.  God does not need man to be complete and God does not owe man anything.  Acts 17:25 – “He is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”   Again He says in Psalm 50:12 – “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”  Further, he says in Isaiah 45:7 – “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.”  It is tempting for a self-centered person who does not know God here to want to judge God, and say “If that’s who God is, then I’m not going to worship Him!”  You might also say, if God causes cancer, I’m not going to worship Him!  Ok, that’s your choice, but know that you’ve made an idol out of health, over the glory of God.  But for me, my life was purchased by the blood of Christ.  If it is His will for His glory to be magnified through my weakness in cancer, praise God, give me cancer.  It is not for me to understand how everything works, including evil, sickness, calamity, etc. for the glory of God, and in truth I do not care.  Romans 8:18 – “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  If my treasure for eternity is the glory of God, I want to make much of His glory, whatever the cost; it is infinitely more valuable than physical comfort or anything else.  My hope is that same heart would be in each of you.

We hold this treasure in jars of clay, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  My goal isn’t to convince you today that even your faith to believe is a gift of God (it is, ref Eph 2:8-9), but to change what the terms “salvation” and “living under grace” mean to you.  The fight of faith isn’t to work your way to God in obedience, it is to be overwhelmed by the unmerited favor of God shown to you through Jesus Christ; to believe that Christ’s blood has made payment for your sin; that His perfect righteousness is yours, and all of this is a gift.  You follow after Jesus because you love Him and you want more of Him in your life.  If you’re heart’s not there, if you want to believe that you’ve got Jesus because of something you’ve done; look back to the gospel and pray for God to incline your heart to Him.  You are not righteous, you never were, and you won’t be tomorrow.  No matter how hard you try, we all fall short… daily.  The point of all of the laws of God was to point you to Him.  Rest in Him.  Find your Peace in His finished work.  Delight yourself in Him, and all that He is for you – Savior, Lord, Healer, Treasure, Friend, Loving Father, and ever Faithful.  In love, manifest and share Him with those God has placed around you.  Christ is all, in Him we find all that we need.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 19 – A Salvation Greater than Escape from Hell

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Romans 3:1-5 – “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?  Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.  What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?  By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

Paul, describes his ability to have pursued righteousness under the law as greater than that of any other – Phil 3:4-6 – “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more:  circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.  from the tribe of Benjamin, and was blameless under the law.  He was a Pharisee among Pharisee.”

Paul also was brought to see that whatever righteousness he thought he had was worthless, compared to the righteousness of Christ.  Phil 3:7 – “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith”

So if we look back in Romans just a few verses, we see that Paul came to understand that a true Jew, the true nation of “Israel” was a matter of the heart, not of physical birth or a physical nation.  Romans 2:28-29 – “For no one is a Jewwho is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”

So now, as a physical and spiritual Jew, Paul is answering the question for other physical Jews – has God forgotten them?  What benefit was God’s leading them out of Egypt? What benefit was covenanting with Abraham, Moses, and David?  Paul tells us that God’s revelation to Israel was of great value in every respect.  Yes, it’s true that God has revealed himself generally to all men; enough that all men know about Him and are accountable for their turning away from God in their sin, but God has given special revelation of Himself to Israel.  Here the sinfulness of the physical nation of Israel was exposed.  These people did not have any true affection for God, they only were concerned with obtaining salvation and with what God could give them.  Does that sound familiar to what we see in many churches today?  If God’s love extends such that we have the opportunity to know more about Him through special revelation, be it from the law of Moses, or any other scripture, and our response is anything less than delight, what does that tell us?  In Israel’s case, it simply went to show how despite the outward pretenses, the physical nation of Israel didn’t love God anymore than the person in the jungle who didn’t have the law of Moses or any other special revelation of God.

Again, I want to take this opportunity to show, that it doesn’t matter whether or not someone is indocrinated with scripture, has the gospel preached to them daily, or even sees Jesus Christ Himself with their physical eyes, as many in the nation of Israel had… unless God unveils their eyes, they will never turn to Him.  God is the alpha and the omega of salvation.  I realize that we all have an experience daily of “choosing” God – that is a good thing, but God has given us special revelation in His word to see that really, we are hopeless unless God first shows mercy on us to unveil our eyes.  Put another way, even the faith to believe God doesn’t come from within us – it is a gift of God through grace.  (Eph 2:8-9)  For those who are truly “saved”, that salvation is more than salvation from judgment for sin, but it is a salvation of the heart, whereby one’s heart was previously inclined towards sin, and now has been given new affections for God that are growing as they see more and more of Him.  This is why the law of Moses should have been a great delight to the Jews, it gave a picture of Jesus Christ.
Here is my question for us all as Christians – is your primary goal of your own salvation escape from hell or is it to know the risen Lord Jesus Christ in intimate fellowship?  Every one of has enough sin in us that if we’re honest with ourselves simply wants to be free from judgment without really delighting in the character of God and pursuing Him in our own lives.  That is what we need to flee from.  We need to plead for a right understanding of salvation, that God would extend grace to us through His revelation in His Word and give us new great affections for Him.  My prayer daily is that God would continually reveal Himself to me in His Word and incline my heart to Him.  If your goal every day is to pursue joy in knowing Jesus Christ as Lord, you’ll find most of your questions about how to live as a Christian work themselves out naturally.  We live in a time of literally unlimited resources to know Jesus Christ through our churches, books, and online resources.  We have money and time to invest for the Kingdom of God – to pursue treasure that will not fade – to be fishers of men – to overcome bondage to the world and delight ourselves in God.  Don’t be content to assume salvation from judgment (your may assume too much), but earnestly seek to make your heart happy in God each hour of every day.  God Himself is a fountain of joy that is without equal and without end.
Psalm 16:5-11 – “The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.  The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.  I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.  I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.  For you will not abandon my soul toSheol, or let your holy one see corruption.  You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” 
Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 18 – A Renewal of Inward Righteousness

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Romans 2:25-29 – “For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.  So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?  Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.  For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.  But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”

Those who where children of the physical nation of Israel assumed that they were God’s people by birth.  Accordingly, on the eight day after their birth, they were to be circumcised.  This was their sign  that they were the covenant people of God, the people whom God loved.  Isn’t it interesting all the different answers that you would receive if you asked a group of professing Christians what makes a Christian?  “My parents were Christians, so I am”  “I go to church”  “I tithe”  “Because Jesus Died for Me”  “I believe in God”  “I read my Bible and Pray”.

When the Pharisees came out to be baptized by John the Baptist, they too thought that this was a sign that needed to be performed by them to be righteous, and John said to them in Luke 3:7-9 – “He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Paul in Romans 1 and 2 has exposed that these people who were hoping that God would accept them for their outward righteous, had each fallen short, moreover, they were not even close.  The problem is that they were comparing themselves to those around them, and they were able to uphold the law better than most, but the law was not simply “better than most” it was pointing to the perfect righteousness of God.  These people should rather have compared themselves to God, and in His light, the depth of their sin and depravity might have caused them to beg the mercy of God – that was the purpose of the law.  Further, the Romans 2 is going further to show t that while through effort one might be “outwardly” righteous, God delights in the righteousness that is inwardly, that of the heart.  This of course creates a problem, even for those like the Pharisees who claim to be outwardly righteous, because no one is righteous inwardly.  This is what Christ was exposing in Matthew 5:21-22 – “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.“   What a gift we have through the blood of Christ!   Not only was the price paid for our sins, but through faith we have been given the Spirit of God to renew the inner man, and to conform us into the righteousness of Christ.  For those of us who know this hope in Christ, let our faith be genuine, renew the inner man in the washing of the Word of Christ – meditate on the Word; and press on that faith and renewal would have its full effect in overflowing in the proclamation of the gospel with love and good works tos others.
James 2:18-23 – “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!  Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?  Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.”
How would you answer the question, “what makes you a Christian”?  Are you the type of person who claims Christ as savior, but are not repentant from your sin?  Does your love for God through faith overflow into your life’s actions?  Certainly we all fall short, but when we do, let’s not decide to shorten the goal; rather let us run the race that has been set before us in love with the grace of God pushing us forward.  There is no salvation through works, but saving faith will always be accompanied by works.
My prayer to our Lord for myself and all of us who are in this race together comes from Psalm 90:14-17 – “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.  Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.  Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” 
Titus 3:3-8 – “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.  But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Grace and Peace,
Adam