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.

Gospel vs. Moralism in Preaching

Preaching Morality vs Preaching Grace – Bryan Chapell

“Be” messages full only of moral instruction imply that we are able to change our fallen condition in our own strength. Such sermons communicate (although usually unintentionally) that we clear the path to grace and that our works earn and/or secure our acceptance with God. However well intended, these sermons present a faith indistinguishable from that of morally conscientious Unitarians, Buddhists, or Hindus. . . .

The fundamental biblical truth that differentiates the gospel from a morality lesson is the assertion that our works always remain tainted by our humanity. Of themselves our actions can never earn God’s blessing or secure his favor (Isa. 64:6; Luke 17:10). Although there are blessed consequences to heeding divine commands designed for our good, mere conformity to biblical commands offers no heavenly merit. If we had to earn grace prior to, or after, our salvation it would not be grace that we gained.

There are many “be” messages in Scripture, but they always reside in a redemptive context. Since we cannot be anything that God would approve apart from his sanctifying power, the source of that grace must permeate any exhortation for biblical behavior. “Be” messages are not wrong in themselves; they are wrong messages by themselves. People cannot do or be what God requires without the work of Christ in, for, and through them. Simply railing at error and hammering at piety may convince others of their inadequacy or callous them into self-sufficiency, but these messages also keep true godliness remote. Thus, instruction in biblical behavior barren of redemptive truth only wounds, and though it is offered as an antidote to sin such preaching either promotes pharisaism or prompts despair. Christ-centered preachers accept neither alternative. . . . The holy standards that pierce the heart whenever people recognize the depth of their divine obligations become salve to their souls when we preach their fulfillment in Christ and their enablement by His Spirit. . . .

When we exhort congregations to stand for God against the assaults of Satan we must never forget the balance of the Pauline imperative: “Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might” (Eph 6:10, KJV). Amidst his most strident “be” message, the apostle remained Christ-focused. Today’s preacher has no lesser task.

Faithful expository preaching unfolds every text in the context of its redemptive import. The success of this endeavor can be assessed by a bottom-line question every preacher should ask at the end of each sermon: When my listeners walk out the doors of this sanctuary to perform God’s will, with whom do they walk? If they march to battle the world, the flesh, and the devil with only me, myself, and I, then each parades to despair. However, if the sermon has led all persons within sight of the Savior and they now walk into their world with his aid firmly in their grasp, then hope and victory brighten the horizon. Whether people depart alone or in the Savior’s hand will mark the difference between futility and faith, legalism and true obedience, do-goodism and real godliness.

Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, Baker, 1994, p. 284-286.

I AM the Law!

In Mark Dever's The Gospel & Personal Evangelism, he quotes James 2:10:

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

He adds, "The law of God is the expression of God's own character".

I extrapolate:
The Law of Moses is not a book of laws. It is not a group of individual laws. The Ten Commandments is not ten commandments. The law is one. As God is one, the law is one. To keep the law is to conform to the likeness or identity of God.

To fail at any point of the law is to break the entire one law. To violate any part of the one law is to diverge from the character of God.

If I am slightly idolatrous, I may as well have murdered because I have broken the same law that a murderer breaks and have as severely distorted the image of God in me as a murderer has done so in himself.

It's not difficult to see why this idea produces in me a deep desire for righteousness. Though it seems—it feels—most natural, I am a little surprised that it also produces in me greater love, a softer heart, and a grateful joy toward our Heavenly Father.

Jesus explains it.

Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."

Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."

"Tell me, teacher," he said.

"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"

Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."

"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." ~Luke 7:36-50

Our perception of forgiveness is greater if we have been forgiven of what we perceive as greater sin. One implication is that we do not love if we perceive that we have nothing for which to be forgiven. Also, the more forgiven we feel, the more we love. Therefore, I love more because I see now that I have broken the whole law AND have been forgiven for having broken all of it.

You see, I have done it all! I have committed all the sins, all the crimes, offended God in every possible way. With even one sin, the entire law is violated. No part of the law remains intact! The law is one, and I have broken it.

God gave his only son into MY law-breaking hands, so that I would murder him and shed his blood. And, so that Jesus' blood—the very blood that I, myself shed—would cleanse me so that I would be as righteous as if I had never sinned, even in the slightest. By Jesus' blood, the law has been restored!

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ~Matthew 5:17

HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!

THANK YOU, JESUS!

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