It Is Finished!

I heard a pastor on the radio this morning say “if you don’t feel remorse the instant you commit a sin, then I have to wonder if you are truly a child of God.” This is false teaching.

It is an obvious and irrefutable fact that everyone is different in some, perhaps many, respects. Not everyone will feel remorse for sin immediately. Sometimes, remorse comes later. It may come in an hour or a few hours. It may come the next day. It is patently false to assert that every believer will feel remorse for sin immediately. There is no Biblical basis for such an assertion. It is false teaching.

When a pastor says “if you don’t do X, then you are not truly saved”, his listeners may naturally begin to think “since I want to be truly saved, then I must do X”. Now the pastor has added something to the gospel. X might actually be a good thing to do, but doing it does not contribute to the completion of our salvation and doing it does not cleanse us of the sin we just committed. There is nothing we can do that has any ability to cleanse us of our sins. What can wash away my sin? NOTHING!

…but the blood of Jesus.

Doing X cannot undo or cleanse us of our most recent sin. It cannot make us right in God’s eyes again. There is no such thing as being made right in God’s eyes again. The one and only thing that ever made us right in God’s eyes in the first place has made us right in God’s eyes forever. Our salvation can never be lost. Therefore, it can never be restored.

We are finished being saved. There is nothing else we must do to be saved. We already have victory in Jesus. We can do ourselves a tremendous disservice if we neglect to further explore, comprehend, and embrace the extent and magnitude of the victory that Jesus has won for us. But, it is already complete. Not only is there nothing that we can do, but also there is nothing left to do. Our salvation is complete. We are finished being saved.

Evangelical Legalism

Reclaiming the Doctrine of Justification

Here's what ails us...

This, however, did not bring him assurance, but only doubts. For his assurance depended, not so much on God's promise to the ungodly as ungodly (Rom.4:5), but on his ability to see growth and improvement in his Christian walk."
[...]
A few years ago Will Herberg and other commentators noted that a predominant aspect of North American religion was that we have faith in faith. One American evangelist, in fact, wrote a booklet, "How To Have Faith In Your Faith."
[...]
Some of the preaching in evangelicalism--certainly some of the Sunday school material, some of the primary addresses by retreat speakers and Christian leaders--all taken together as the basic spiritual diet, tend to reinforce that old intuition that good people are the ones who are saved and that those who are not so good are the ones who are lost.

Here's the cure...

The motif in the New Testament, and in the Reformation is that Christ's death was outside of me and for me. It is not primarily something that changes us. After one has been declared righteous by grace through faith, this grace will begin to change us (sanctification); nevertheless its changing us is certainly not what justifies us. In Roman Catholicism, and in John Wesley's work, what makes us acceptable to God is his internal work of renovation within our hearts and lives.
[...]
[T]he Reformation tradition acknowledges that there are biblical texts that speak of sanctification as complete already. This is not a perfection which is empirical or observable, but a definitive declaration that because we are "in Christ," we are set apart and holy by his sacrifice (1 Cor.1:30; Heb.10, etc.). Anybody who is in Christ is sanctified because his holiness is imputed to the Christian believer, just as Jesus says in John chapter seventeen, "For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified." God sees the believer as holy. That means that Wesley should not have terrified Christian brethren with texts such as, "Without holiness, no one will see the Lord." The Christian is holy--it's all imputed. And then there are texts that say, "Be holy as I am holy." What would the reformers do with that? They would say we are called to be holy. But why should we be holy if we are already perfect in Christ? Because we are saved unto good works, not unto licentiousness, according to Romans chapter six; the question has been asked before.
[...]
In other words, even a Christian can be saved.

Like a Little Child

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." ~Mark 10:13-15

What does it mean for anyone to "receive the kingdom of God like a little child"? I've been taught and have believed that it meant accepting God the way a little child blindly trusts and accepts his parents (or even others). I still do, but could there be more? Is there more of the character of a little child that we must embrace in order to receive the kingdom of God? Or can our likeness to a little child be refined in order that we may more fully receive the kingdom of God? I was reminded by the passage below that I, as a child, was ever hopeful and ever curious. I was always eager to explore, learn, and experience more.

Now, as an adult, of course, I am so burdened with the mundane life. I just want to get through the boring routine of the day. The fewer new experiences the better! Too often, I look back to the "good old days" and long for the freedom from anxiety and responsibility. Truly, I also miss the blissful ignorance. Is this not a result of weak faith?

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ~Matthew 6:31-32

I came across the following in a book with multiple authors called Sex and the Supremacy of Christ. Chapter 4 is by David Powlison. While making the point that "repentance is a lifestyle", he quotes Martin Luther and writes:

The trumpet call, Thesis Number One of Luther's Ninety-five Theses, was this: "When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said 'Repent,' He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." That first of Luther's theses dismantled all the machinery of religiosity and called us back to human reality. Luther glimpsed and aimed to recover the essential inner dynamic of the Christian life. It is an ongoing change process. It involves a continual turning motion, turning toward God, and turning away from the riot of other voices, other desires, other loves. We tend to use the word repentance in its more narrow sense, for decisive moments of realization, conviction, confession, turning. But Luther uses the word in its wider, more inclusive sense. If we are living in Christ, we are living from-to.
...
Luther went on to describe the transformation that occurs as we live from-to:


This life, therefore,
is not righteousness but growth in righteousness,
not health but healing,
not being but becoming,
not rest but exercise.
We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it.
The process is not yet finished, but it is going on.
This is not the end but it is the road.
All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified.

Lifelong progressive sanctification was the trumpet call back to biblical faith. It was a call back to this life ... in which the living God is on the scene throughout your life.

Since God is with us and we trust him, we can move forward in life with eyes wide open not only unafraid of what we will see, but also eagerly expecting to rejoice in the glory of God as he has determined it will be revealed in his plan for us. And why not? God's abilities are so much greater than ours. His knowledge is better, his wisdom is better, his power is better, his love is better, his promise is better.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

The Beauty of the Bride

Some say the Church must appeal to the lost and make itself more attractive to 'the world' in order to draw people to attend worship services. They reason that the mission of the Church is evangelism, and the success of the Church must be measured by the rate of its growth, therefore all activities must be oriented toward growth; growth is defined by numbers, therefore the Church must direct all its efforts, including worship, toward attracting lost souls to the Church. Therefore, worship service must be made appealing to 'the world' with irreverent music and visual aids, coarse language, a loose grip on scripture and the mandates of God, flashing lights, or any number of other lures.

Those who reason this way are mistaken. To them, God says:

"Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." ~2Corinthians 2:2-7

As the whore scorns the virgin, so 'the world' scorns the Church of God. Shall the virgin paint her face and expose her flesh for the sake of fellowship with the whore? Shall she debase herself, discarding her virtue as if it were refuse, for the sake of fellowship with the whore? What quality of fellowship will the virgin then have to offer to the whore? In order to 'save' the whore, shall the virgin become a whore?

No. Indeed not. Not all the lost will be saved. It is not for the Church to decide. Indeed the Body of Christ saves no one. Only Jesus saves. The virgin shall "Let light shine out of darkness" as a beacon of hope and a reflection of the glory of God. So also shall the Bride of Christ.

The Power of Jesus

Can you save your own life? Is there any potential circumstance in this world from which your abilities are insufficient for protecting yourself? Of course, there are. You and I are imperfect and less than expert at so many skills that might be relevant in a given situation wherein our lives might be in danger.

But, can you imagine a hypothetical individual who is supremely adept physically, athletically, intellectually, emotionally, and academically? What if there were someone who had all the knowledge and all the skills and all the physical abilities that are possible for any human being to have? Would he always be able to save his own life? Well.. the answer has to be "no". But, here's why. While such a person might successfully face every challenge the world can throw at him, there is still Jesus. Such an individual might land safely from a leap from an airplane without a parachute. He might be able to instantly calculate the speed and trajectory of a bullet and apply his strength and dexterity with perfect precision in order to avoid being touched by said bullet. He may "McGuyver" his way out of any number of technically challenging situations. Such a person would be capable of avoiding every danger there is in this world.

But such a person would still be a human being. That is, he would remain less than God. Not only so, but all of his skills, abilities, and mental faculties were given and are maintained by Jesus. It is only by the will of Jesus that such a person (as well as you and I) continues to exist. Jesus holds together this person's body parts, the cells, the molecules, the atoms, even the subatomic particles. Such a powerful and capable person would cease to exist at the merest thought of Jesus. At the slightest whim of Jesus, such a person would never have existed. There would be no written record or memory of him because there would be nothing to record or remember. All the history of his own life and the lives and events he impacted would be changed, not because of his departure, but because he never arrived! That is the truly awesome power of Jesus.

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ~Matthew 28:18

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. ~Colossians 1:10-12