The Grace of Salvation

Greetings All,

     Though I've been sending these "thoughts" out for years I realized today that I've never sent one out from Max Lucado (yes, a one-sentence quote once, but no extended thought).  So, I thought I would remedy that!  Max is a best-selling Christian author. Most of you will recognize his name. It's hard to say how many books he's written or sold -- in the millions for sure (at least on the books sold side)!  His skill?  Making hard to understand truth understandable to most anyone.  He has an uncanny way of simplifying the complex and putting the cookies on the lower shelf. This particular thought has to do with The Grace of Salvation (or how one is saved), and comes from his book, "A Gentle Thunder."  Enjoy.

     "What is it, then, that God wants us to do?  What is the work he seeks? Just believe.  Believe the One he sent.  'The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent" (John 6:29 NCV). Someone is reading this and shaking his or her head and asking: 'Are you saying it is possible to go to heaven with no good works?  The answer is no. Good works are a requirement. Someone else is reading and asking, 'Are you saying it is possible to go to heaven without good character?'  My answer again is no. Good character is also required.  In order to enter heaven one must have good works and good character.

     But, alas, there is a problem. You have neither. Oh, you've done some nice things in your life. But you do not have enough good works to go to heaven regardless of your sacrifice. No matter how noble your gifts, they are not enough to get you into heaven.  Nor do you have enough character to go to heaven. 

     Please don't be offended (Then, again, be offended if necessary.) You're probably a very decent person. But decency is not enough. Those who see God are not the decent, they are the holy. 'Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the Lord' (Hebrews 12:14 NCV).  You may be decent. You may pay taxes and kiss your kids and sleep with a clear conscience. But apart from Christ you aren't holy. So how can you go to heaven?

     Only believe.
     Accept the work already done, the work of Jesus on the cross.
     Only believe.
     Accept the goodness of Jesus Christ.
     Abandon your own works and accept his.
     Abandon your own decency and accept his.
     Stand before God in his name, not yours.

     "Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved, but anyone who does not believe will be punished" (Mark 16:16 NCV).   It's that simple? Yes, it's that simple. It's that easy? There was nothing easy at all about it. The cross was heavy, the blood was real, and the price was extravagant. It would have bankrupted you or me, so Jesus paid it for us. Call it simple. Call it a gift. But don't call it easy.  Call it what it is.  Call it grace." 

     It's an affirmation of the Gospel truth that salvation is by grace alone, though faith alone, in Christ alone.  The Heidelberg Catechism (written in 1563) put it this way.

Question & Answer #60:

Question:  How are you righteous before God?

Answer: "Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.

Even though my conscience accuses me 

of having grievously sinned 

against all God’s commandments;

of never having kept any of them,

and of still being inclined toward all evil,

nevertheless,

without any merit of my own, 

and out of sheer grace,

God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, 

righteousness, and holiness of Christ,

as if I had never sinned 

nor ever been a sinner, 

and as if I had been as perfectly obedient 

as Christ was obedient, for me.

All I need to do is accept this gift with a believing heart."

     The Law of God in the Old Testament demands two things of us: Perfect and flawless obedience, as well as punishment for all disobedience.  And the grace proclaimed in the Gospel is this: what God demanded of us, Christ supplied for us, in both his life of perfect obedience and his death for sin.  And these two together (and only these two together) become the righteousness that God credits to the believing sinner that they might be saved.  "Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die, I stake my whole eternity" (Horatius Bonar).

     What could bring more comfort, peace, assurance, joy and gratitude to any believer's heart than to know that Christ is our perfection, and Christ is our pardon, and therefore our eternal acceptance with God rests upon Him and not us (I Corinthians 1:30-31).  This is grace in its most extravagant form. And in understanding it, how could our hearts not overflow with joy, be filled with gratitude, or burn with a desire to live for such a kind and merciful God?

In The Bonds of Christian Affection, Pastor Jeff

Quotes that give Food for Your Soul

Greetings All!

     This week's "thoughts" come from various authors.  They are timeless truths having to do with salvation or growth in godliness. They are self-explanatory and obviously written from a grounding in Scriptural truth mixed with the "yes" of personal experience. Take a moment to meditate on each one and you will surely find food for your soul as well as guidance for walking with Christ.  Enjoy.

     "Always respond to every impulse to pray. The impulse to pray may come when you are reading or when you are struggling to understand a text. I would make an absolute law of this -- always obey such an impulse.  Where does it come from?  It is the work of the Holy Spirit (Phil. 2:12-13). This often leads to some of the most remarkable experiences in the life of the minister. So never resist. Never postpone it. Never push it aside because you are busy. Give yourself to it; yield to it... Such a call to prayer must never be regarded as a distraction. Always respond to it immediately and thank God if it happens to you frequently."

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981)  "Preaching and Preachers."

     "Tell the young, tell the poor, tell the aged, tell the ignorant, tell the sick, tell the dying -- tell them about Christ. Tell them of His love; tell them of His doings; tell them what He has done for the chief of sinners; tell them what He is willing to do until the last day of time; tell it to them over and over again.  Never be tired of speaking of Christ. Say to them broadly and fully, freely and unconditionally, unreservedly and undoubtingly -- 'Come unto Christ, as the penitent thief did; come unto Christ and you shall be saved."

J. C,. Ryle (1816-1900) Sermon - "Christ's Greatest Trophy."

     "Grace stands in direct opposition to any supposed worthiness on our part. To say it another way: Grace and works are mutually exclusive. As Paul said in Romans 11:6, "And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; for if it were, then grace would no longer be grace."  Our relationship with God is based on either works or grace. There is never a works-plus-grace relationship with Him."

Jerry Bridges (1929-2016) "Transforming Grace."

     "Loving a holy God is beyond our moral power. The only kind of God we can love by our sinful nature is an unholy god, an idol made by our own hands. Unless we are born of the Spirit of God, unless God sheds His holy love in our hearts, unless He stoops in His grace to change our hearts, we will not love Him... To love a holy God requires grace, grace strong enough to pierce hardened hearts and awaken moribund souls." 

R. C. Sproul  (1939- ____)     "The Holiness of God."

     "Grace does away with the distance between the sinner and God, which sin had created. Grace meets the sinner on the spot where he stands; grace approaches him just as he is. Grace does not wait till there is something to attract it, nor until good reason is found in the sinner for its flowing to him...  It was free, sovereign grace when it thought of the sinner; it was free grace when it found him and laid hold of him, and it is free grace when it hands him up into glory." 

Horatius Bonar  (1808-1889)  Sermon -  "God's Purpose in Grace."

     "I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term, than to gain a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction in God."

John Piper  (1946- _____)    "Desiring God."

     "If heaven were by merit, it would never be heaven to me, for if I were in it I should say, "I am sure I am here by mistake... I have no claim to it."  But if it be by grace and not by works, then we may walk into heaven with boldness."

Charles H. Spurgeon   (1834-1892)

"When I stand before the throne, 

  Dressed in beauty not my own, 

  When I see Thee as Thou art,

  Love Thee with unsinning heart,

  Then Lord shall I fully know -- not till then, 

  How much I owe." 

Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843)

That about sums it up for today!  

Blessings on your tomorrow, Pastor Jeff

God's Way of Holiness

Greetings All,

     This week's "thought" comes from one of my favorite 19th century pastors -- Horatius Bonar -- a Scottish minister, author, and hymn writer. One of his more famous sayings is taped to my computer screen for constant reference: "Upon a life I did not live; Upon a death I did not die; Another's life, Another's death, I stake my whole eternity."
     His book "God's Way of Holiness" -- from which today's thought comes -- is, in my humble estimation, the best book ever written on the subject.  It's 128 pages drip with Gospel truth at every turn. It is extremely well-written (and illustrated and defended!), shows an immense knowledge of the inner workings of the human soul -- from its captivity to sin, to it's liberation and transformation through regeneration and the grace of the Gospel -- and is, unlike many books on the topic today, based in a biblical anthropology and not secular psychology.
     For those truly seeking to be holy (in the Scriptural sense), it is a refreshing goldmine of help!  He writes in a way that is understandable to those young in the faith, though deep enough to challenge the mature believer by its profound insights.  And I must add that the view of holiness he presents is entirely opposite that of the more "legalistic" brands we often tend to think of.  In fact, it was written in 1864 to counter such errant views.  And if you could not tell by now, yes, I do HIGHLY recommend picking up a copy and reading it!  Enjoy.

Strength Against Sin

"By rules of no gentle kind, by terror, by pain, by visions of death and the grave, by pictures of a fiercely flaming hell, by the denial of all certainty in pardon, people have sought to terrify or force themselves (and others) into goodness.  By long prayers, by bitter practices of self-denial, by slow chants at midnight or early morn in dim cathedrals, by frequent sacraments, by deep study of old (church) fathers, by the cold of wintry solitude's, by multiplied deeds of merit and will-worship, they have thought to expel the demon and eradicate the ineradicable taint of sin.

     But success has not come in this way. The enterprise was a high but fearful one... but they had quite underrated the might of the enemy, while over-estimating their own... They knew not what the power of the human will is for evil; what is man's hostility to God; what is the vitality of sin; what is the exasperating tendency of naked law, and the elasticity of man's resistance to goodness and the law of goodness; what all these together must be when fostered from beneath, and backed by the resources of hell.

     In all this there is not one thought of grace or divine free love.  No recognition of forgiveness as the root of holiness.  (Man) is slow to learn that all legal deterrents are in their very nature irritants, with no power to produce or enforce anything but constrained externalism.  The interposition of forgiving love, in absolute completeness and freeness, is resisted as an encouragement to evil-doing.  And, at the most, only a very conditional and restricted form of grace is allowed to come into play...  That God should act in any other character than as the rewarder of the deserving and the punisher of the undeserving; that He should go down to the depths of a human heart, and there touch the springs which were reckoned inaccessible or perilous to deal with; that His gospel should throw itself upon something nobler than man's fear of wrath, and begin by proclaiming pardon as the first step to holiness -- this is so incredible to man, that, even with the Bible and the cross before his eyes, he turns away from it as foolishness. (He can't believe that the gospel alone can transform someone). Nevertheless, this is "the more excellent way."  No, the true and only way of getting rid of sin.

     Forgiveness of sins, in believing God's testimony to the finished propitiation (the wrath-appeasing death of Jesus on the cross), is not simply indispensable to a holy life, in the way of removing terror and liberating the soul from the pressure of guilt, but of imparting an impulse, and a motive, and a power which nothing else could do. Forgiveness at the end, or in the middle (a forgiveness one must earn), or a grudging forgiveness, would be of no avail. It would only tantalize and mock. But a complete forgiveness, presented in such a way as to carry its own certainty along with it to everyone who will take it at the hands of God -- this is a power in the earth, a power against self, a power against sin, a power over the flesh, a power for holiness -- such as no amount of suspense or terror could create...

     It is forgiveness that sets a man working for God. He does not work in order to be forgiven, but because he has been forgiven, and the consciousness of his sin being pardoned makes him long more for its entire removal than ever he did before. An unforgiven man cannot work. He has not the will, nor the power, nor the liberty. He is in chains. Israel in Egypt could not serve Jehovah. "Let my people go, that they might serve Me," was God's message to Pharaoh (Exodus 8:1). First liberty (through forgiveness of the binding chains of guilt), then service.

     A forgiven man is the true worker and true Law-keeper.  He can, he will, he must work for God.  He has come into contact with that part of God's character which warms his cold heart. Forgiving love constrains him. He cannot but work for Him who has removed his sins from him as far as the east is from the west. Forgiveness has made him a free man, and given him a new and most loving Master.  Forgiveness, received freely from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, acts as a spring, an impulse, a stimulus of divine potency.  It is more irresistible than law, or terror, or threat.  A half forgiveness, an uncertain justification, a changeable peace, may lead to careless living and more careless working, may slacken the energy and freeze up the springs of action (for it shuts out that aspect of God's character which gladdens and quickens the heart); but a complete and assured pardon can have no such effect.  It is assurance of forgiveness that carries with it tendencies toward holiness and consistency of life which are marvelous in their power and certainty...

     (Though some would say) men could be made unholy by knowing certainly with what a holy love they have been freely loved, or made holy by being kept in suspense as to their own personal reconciliation with God, a pardon doled out in crumbs or drops (or so cautiously held out, or held back, that a man can hardly ever be sure of having them) cannot make a man more fruitful in good works than a pardon given at once, and given in such a way as to assure even to the chief of sinners that it is great and free and a gift of the boundless generosity of God!"

     In the well-known hymn, "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing." Charles Wesley captured this very thought when he wrote: "He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free."    Or if I can paraphrase it, "God breaks the power sin has over us by forgiving it, and pardoning the sinner, which sets him free..."  That is, sets him free from the enslaving shackles of sin so that he may now pursue true holiness and not be forever stuck in "a constrained external-ism."    Tim Keller picked up on this same principle and calls it the difference between "a legally restrained heart and a grace changed heart."  Enforced religious laws do constrain outward behaviors, but they leave the heart chained to the sin, which due to our fallen nature, enslaves it.

     Bonar is right. Only free and complete forgiveness, given as a gift and not earned or conditioned on performance, liberates the soul and transforms the life.

Living by the Grace of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

God's Way of Holiness

Greetings All,

This week's 'thought' comes to you from one of my favorite authors -- Horatius Bonar (1808-1889).  Few people I've ever read have had such an insightful grasp of the Gospel and its power to transform the human soul. This book is religious and theological psychology at its best -- explaining how Gospel grace, freely offered and received, is God's intended means for changing the hearts of even the worst of sinners. This particular quote comes from his book, "God's Way of Holiness." 

It is taken from chapter three, which speaks of the root and soil from which true holiness, and not just outward moral compliance, grows. To follow it you need to know that he is chastising those Christians who feel that its morally dangerous to offer the Gospel of God's free love and free forgiveness to sinners without adding numerous guards, conditions and stipulations -- so many conditions, in fact, that by the time they are done, the Gospel has ceased to be free, and thus ceased to be the Gospel.  For a Gospel whose benefits are conditioned on our first changing, or promising to change, and then waiting to see if we really do, is not the biblical Gospel.  After all, how could we possibly say we are preaching the same Gospel as Paul if we are never (like Paul) accused (even though unfairly) of preaching that we should, "sin all the more that grace may abound" (Rom. 6:1).  Enjoy.

The Free Love and Forgiveness of God

"The divine order, then, is first pardon, then holiness [not the withholding of the assurance of pardon until there are signs of holiness]. It is first peace with God, and then conformity to the image of that God with whom we have been brought to be at peace. For as likeness to God is produced by beholding His glory (II Cor. 3:18), and as we cannot look upon Him until we know that He has ceased to condemn us; and as we cannot trust Him until we know that He is gracious; so we cannot be transformed into His image until we have received pardon at His hands.  Reconciliation is indispensable to resemblance. Personal friendship must begin a holy life...

The apostles evidently had great confidence in the Gospel. They spoke it out in all its absolute freeness, as men who could trust it for its moral influence, as well as for its saving power, and who felt that the more speedily and certainly its good news were realized by the sinner, the more that moral influence would come into play. They did not hide it, nor trammel it, nor fence it round with conditions, as if doubtful of the policy of preaching it freely... They had no misgivings as to its bearings on morality, nor were they afraid of people believing too soon, or getting too immediate a relief from it. The idea does not seem to have entered their minds that men could betake themselves of Christ too soon, or too confidently, or without sufficient preparation...

Though some would say it is very dangerous for a sinner to be persuaded too soon that he is loved and forgiven, I confess I do not see how my being thoroughly persuaded that a holy God loves me with a holy love, and has forgiven me all my sins, has a tendency to evil.  It seems, of all truths, one of the likeliest to make me holy, to kindle love, to stimulate me to good works, and to abase all pride; whereas uncertainty in this matter enfeebles me, darkens me, bewilders me, incapacitates me for service, or, at the best, sets me striving to work my way into the favor of God under the influence of a subordinate and mercenary class of motives which can do nothing but keep me dreading and doubting all the days of my life, and leave me, perhaps at the close, in hopeless darkness... "However, to him who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is counted for righteousness'  (Rom. 4:5), is a bold statement. It's the statement of one who had great confidence in the gospel which he preached, and had no misgivings that it would lead to unholy tendencies...

The gospel is the proclamation of free love; the revelation of the boundless charity of God. Nothing less than this will suit our world. Nothing else is so likely to touch the heart, or to go down to the lowest depths of depraved humanity, as the assurance that the sinner has been loved -- loved by God, loved with a righteous love, loved with a free love that makes no bargain as to merit, or fitness, or goodness. 'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us!'  As the lord of the vineyard, after sending servant upon servant (prophet upon prophet) to the laborers in vain, sent at last his 'one and only well-beloved son' (Mark 12:6), so, law having failed, God has dispatched to us the message of His love as that which is by far likeliest to secure His ends.

With nothing less than this free love will He trust our fallen race.  He will not trust them with the Law, or judgment, or terror (though these are well in their place), but He will trust them with His love! Not with a stinted or conditional love, with half pardons or an uncertain salvation, or a tardy peace, or a doubtful invitation, or an all but impractical amnesty.  Not with these does He cheat the heavy laden or mock the weary sons of men. He wants them to be holy, as well as safe, and He knows that there is nothing in heaven or earth so likely to produce holiness, under the teaching of the Spirit of holiness, as the knowledge of His own free love.

It is not law, but 'the love of Christ' that constrains us. The strength of sin is the law (I Cor. 15:56), so the strength of holiness is deliverance from the law (Rom. 7:6)... While the preaching of a guarded gospel may lead to no backslidings, it will accomplish no awakenings... The whole Galatian church had lapsed into error and sin. How does the apostle cure the evil? By fencing or paring down the gospel and making it less free? NO! But by reiterating its freeness and stating it more freely than ever!" 

To the end that you might be changed through seeing how truly free the Gospel is, and all its promised benefits of pardon, forgiveness, adoption, divine acceptance and irrevocable love.  That you may believe, and by believing, discover yourself to have been miraculously and mysteriously changed, Pastor Jeff

Hope

Greetings All,

This week's thought comes a bit late. And yes, I know that a "thought" to ponder on a Friday evening may get overlooked! But this one is worth pondering when you do have more time, so don't simply send it off into cyber-space.

It is time-proven wisdom that may seem odd to us at first -- even wrong. But read on till the end, for in the end I believe you will see he is right. It comes to you from Horatius Bonar, in a message entitled "What Is My Hope?" (written in the 1880's) I have taken the liberty to change some of the language or phrases for easier reading and understanding.

Enjoy.

"One August evening, just before sunset, I saw a rainbow suddenly appear. It seemed to rise out of the dark clouds that hung in the sky and drew my eyes by its completeness; for nothing seemed lacking either in regard to its color, position or perfection. But if it was one of the brightest and most beautiful rainbows I'd ever seen, it was also one of the briefest. It had scarcely taken its place on the cloud when it disappeared.

That fair rainbow was like man's (earthly) hopes -- as brief as they are bright, and as disappointing as they are promising. It disappeared from the sky though no hand had touched it, and no storm had shaken it, leaving nothing behind but the cloud it had brightened for a few moments. It was like man's hopes and joys and plans. They rise and fall; they come and go; they shine and then return to darkness. 'The things that are seen are temporal.' (II Cor. 4:18) When will we be wise and fix our eye only upon that which endures forever; on that which will fill the heart and make the soul glad to all eternity?

It is written, 'You destroy the hope of man." (Job 14:19) It's true. Our earthly hopes don't just fall to pieces by themselves, the Lord often destroys them before their time. Why? Because they become idols and must be broken, for 'the idols He will utterly abolish." Our cherished hopes of a bright future here -- of a long life, of health, of comfort, of riches, of prosperity -- must be choked, lest we make earth our home and heaven and forget the glory to be revealed and the pleasures that are at God's right hand forever.

Yet God quenches no hope without presenting a brighter one --- one that will last for ever. He does not mock the creature He has made. He does not wither up His fairest flowers without a reason -- and that reason is full of wisdom and love.

He cares for us. He yearns over us. He desires that we be happy. He loves us too much to cheat us with dreams. MAN'S hope must be destroyed that GOD'S hope may be built upon its ruins. Human hopes are swept away only that the divine hope may come and take its place. The temporal is taken from our grasp in mercy, that the eternal may be our portion and our inheritance forever. That is the better hope. That is the hope full of life and immortality.

A hope which God Himself gives, and which no circumstance or person can ever take from us.

It is a divine and everlasting hope. It brings with it the peace that passes understanding and contains that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory. It is sure and glorious, like Him from whom it comes. It is connected with a crown, with an inheritance, with a kingdom, with a glory which will never fade, with an eternity of joy so rich that eye has not seen, nor ear heard what awaits those who hold tightly to it.

It is the gospel hope, for nothing but a believed gospel can bring such hope and be attended by such peace."

In the Bonds of Christian Affection, Pastor Jeff

Dr. Jeffrey F. Evans

Christ Community Bible Church