December 7, 2008

• Second Sunday of Advent: FAQ about Santa Claus and the Gospel of Christ

  Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the law and grace. We've been studying through the book of Exodus in BSF and I just finished reading R.T. Kendall's book "Grace," which is a great book interpreting the ten commandments in light of the Gospel: how we should look at the law and live out the law now that we are under grace. I've also come across some blogs written by Christians about our tendency toward a legalism that binds us up rather than enjoying the freedom we have been given through Christ. (For example, see here.) I often find myself tempted to place myself under the bondage of the law rather than remaining in the easy yoke of Christ.

  So, what do we do? Should we simply ignore the law? No, certainly not. We must read and teach the law. We can't ignore it. We can't neglect it. But we must use the law in the way God has intended. The law shows us our sinfulness. The law shows us it is impossible for us to be righteous apart from Christ. The law shows us our need for Christ. The law shows us that the life God has intended for us to live is available to us only through Jesus Christ. As believers, the law is still our guide but the law no longer condemns us. Anytime we teach the law, or anytime we read the law, we simply must remember that the law is there to point us to Christ. We never stop at the law. As we teach the law or read the law, we must point to the grace that is available in Jesus Christ. Otherwise we make void the Gospel. There's no good news in the law alone.

  We can look at the law and fall into despair and hopelessness since we can't keep it. As believers, we can forget the power God has given us through His Holy Spirit to walk in the spirit of the law and not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

  We can make the law central to our teaching and minimize grace. We fall into a trap of legalism. We make Christianity a list of dos and don'ts, not a relationship with the living God. As a result we can begin to work busily and madly to try to keep the law in our own strength (which is something we can never do and something God never intended for us to do). We put ourselves back under the law even though in Christ we are no longer under law but are now under grace. We begin to believe we have to earn our standing before God even though Christ has already died to make us sons and daughters of God. We often use the law to establish our own righteousness as we engage in doing lots of good works. We forget that the only way we can be righteous is by receiving Christ's righteousness by faith.

  So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. 33 They answered him, We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, You will become free? 34 Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:31-36.
  
  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9.
  
  Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:13-14.
  
  ...if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. Romans 11:6.

  So this gives you a little of the background about where I'm coming from as I write this post.

  Yesterday many people around the world celebrated St. Nicholas' Day. There was a real St. Nicholas, but through the years our conception about St. Nicholas has changed and evolved. He's turned into Santa and very often the ideas we have about Santa can adversely affect and undermine our understanding of Christianity and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

  

  Oh, you better watch out,
  You better not cry,
  You better not pout,
  I'm telling you why:
  Santa Claus is coming to town.
  
  He's making a list,
  He's checking it twice,
  He's gonna find out
  Who's naughty or nice.
  Santa Claus is coming to town.
   
  He sees you when you're sleeping,
  He knows when you're awake.
  He knows when you've been bad or good,
  So be good for goodness sake.

  I'm going to address in more depth some ways "Santa theology" may be creeping into our understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

  Q: It seems that some boys and girls can get pretty upset about Santa coming. They are trying hard to be good out of fear that Santa might not stop at their houses and bring them a lot of good gifts. They're afraid they'll only find lumps of coal in their stockings Christmas morning. Should Christians be fearful about God's coming back to earth and the final judgment?

  A: No, so long as they've trusted in Christ's saving work on their behalf. If you're truly a Christian, your life is hidden with Christ in God, and you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has taken the punishment you deserved so there is no condemnation for you.

  However, if you are only trusting in your own works to save you, you should be afraid. If you think you've been good enough for God to let you into heaven, think again–for your own works cannot save you. Salvation only comes through believing on Jesus Christ. Your works cannot cleanse away your sin, which is what Christ's blood does.

  If you are truly saved, God has not given you a spirit of bondage to fear but a Spirit of adoption. Your Judge is now your Savior. God is now your Father. Because you have been covered by the blood of Jesus, you have been accepted in the Beloved for Jesus' sake. We have received adoption as sons and daughters, so we can cry out "Abba, Father!" to our God in heaven. Jesus Himself is not ashamed to call us brethren. We need not fear His return and in fact, we can look forward to seeing our God face to face either at His return or when we die, whichever comes first.

  Those who are truly born again will continue to abide in Christ, so they can be bold and confident in the day of judgment. We need not fear death or fear His coming because perfect love casts out fear. We know we are safely covered by His blood and nothing will ever separate us from the love of God for us which is in Christ Jesus. You don't have to be afraid if you've done enough works or done the right works.

  Q: We know that Santa makes a list. I've heard God is making a list. What kind of list is God making?
  
  

  A: That's the Lamb's Book of Life. And it contains not only a list of what we've done but a list of who inherits eternal life.

  Q: Ok. So tell me more about the Lamb's Book of Life. How is it different from Santa's list?

  A: In the Lamb's Book of Life is the list of all the people who will are given eternal life. Apart from Christ we are all condemned to hell, eternally separated from God.

  There's also a list of all the works we've done, but what's on that list cannot earn salvation; nor can your works save you from hell. So God doesn't operate like Santa in that regard.

  Here's how most of us think of Santa. Santa looks at if we've been naughty or nice and if we've been pretty good, we figure Santa will leave some some nice gifts for us rather than coal. After all, it's Santa, right? And our motivation for being good is to get good gifts. As Christmas approaches, children who believe in Santa try their hardest to be on their best behavior, to be nice and not naughty, because they want to find good gifts waiting for them Christmas morning.

  A lot of people think that our salvation is dependent on the works we do, they think if they're good enough, they can earn salvation just like a child who thinks if she's good enough, she can earn some good Christmas gifts, but that's not true.

  If we allow Santa theology to inform our view of God and God's plan of salvation, we think that if we've done enough good stuff, or more good stuff than bad, or if we've never done anything really too naughty, we should get to go to heaven. After all, we think God is a loving God, right?

  Well, it's true God is loving, but God is also absolutely holy as well, and therefore God cannot abide sin in His presence. God is light and in Him there is no darkness; therefore He finds any and all sin an abomination.

  Here is our problem. We've all sinned. The Bible tells us none of us is good or does good. We've all sinned and that if we commit one sin, we are guilty of all the law and are condemned to eternity in hell. So our sin separates us from God. No matter how much good we do, we can never make up for the bad.

  Think of it this way. Let's say you're making a batch of Christmas cookies. You gather together all the ingredients: the flour, butter, sugar, nuts, eggs, spices, salt, baking soda and so on. (Are you getting hungry yet?) Then you begin mixing it all together. It's looking good. The oven is heating and you're waiting to taste a home-baked cookie in just a matter of minutes. Then you need to add one last egg, but as soon as you crack it, your nose tells you something: that was a rotten egg! But it's too late, the egg's already gone into the mixing bowl. Would you want to eat a cookie made from that dough? Certainly not! The whole batch of dough is now ruined and must be discarded.

  That's the way it is with our good works and sin. No matter how many good works we do, one sin ruins it all. Think again of the cookie dough: even if all those ingredients were good and wholesome and fresh and tasty, but adding that one rotten egg tainted the whole batch of dough. In spite of all the good works we do, because we sin, we can never dwell with God. Remember: A holy God cannot abide sin, even just one sin, in His presence. God is light and in Him there is no darkness.

  The Bible tells us all the good stuff we do, even when we've been very vigilant to be nice rather than naughty, all that does not get our names written into the Lamb's Book of Life. Our good works do not save us. That doesn't make sense to us. We've been so geared to work for things and to earn things.

  "If I work hard enough, I can get a promotion in my job. Or, even if I've been born into a poor family, I can rise up and be all I can be. Nothing can stop me. So long as I work hard enough."

  But all our righteousness, all our own good deeds, good works, whatever you want to call them, are like filthy rags to God, and all that good stuff we do is not sufficient to make us righteous and does nothing to persuade Him to write our names in the Lamb's Book of Life. We can never earn our way to heaven by our good deeds.

  We are all spiritually bankrupt when it comes to the Kingdom of God. That's why Jesus said the poor in spirit are blessed for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. He wasn't talking about physical poverty but about spiritual poverty. We are sinful, born into sin and full of sin. We have no goodness in ourselves. The poor in spirit are those who see that there is absolutely nothing in them to commend themselves to a holy God.

  In Romans 4, Paul reminds us that our working to earn a place in heaven, our working so God might accept us, it does us absolutely no good. Only by faith in Jesus are we considered righteous in God's eyes.

  Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.
  

  Q: If you don't get your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life by works, how do you get your name written there? How can I be saved?

  A: First off, remember eternal life is the free gift of God. It can't be earned through your good works but is bestowed on us by God's mercy and grace shown to us through Jesus Christ. No one gets her name written into the Lamb's Book of Life based on her own good works.

  The only way you can have your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life is to stop trusting in your own good works to save yourself. You must wholly believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to save. God has told us there is no salvation apart from believing on the name of His Son Jesus.

  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 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. 26 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. 27 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. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Romans 3:21-28.

  The Bible tells us that redemption and forgiveness of sins comes only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He alone provided the perfect sacrifice for our sin by dying on the cross in our place. This is God's prescribed way of salvation. Jesus told us that no one comes to the Father but by Him. We can't come to God by our works.

  The Lamb's Book of Life only includes the names of those people who have ceased from trying to make themselves righteous by their own good works (which God actually calls dead works), only those who have stopped from trying to justify themselves in the eyes of God. Only those who have come to believe that God justifies them freely by faith in His Son Jesus Christ will be saved.

  When you believe on Jesus, your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You can't earn a spot in that book by good works, and you certainly don't deserve a spot there (none of us do), but by grace through faith. All who receive Christ and believe on His Name, God gives the power to become children of God. It is all of God, all of grace, all to His glory! The wages of our sin is death but praise be to God the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the Gospel of grace. It's good news. We don't deserve salvation and we can't earn it, but God offers it to us as a gift to us through His Son Jesus Christ.

  Q: Can you explain more about how our names be written in the Lamb's Book of Life? I don't understand. Do you mean my being good, my not being naughty but nice does not earn me a place in the Lamb's Book of Life? You mentioned something about a sacrifice for sin...

  A: Yes, I know we still think we can earn our way into the Lamb's Book of Life. Our fallen human nature wants to work to earn salvation.

  The Bible tells us that without the shedding of flood there is no forgiveness of sin. In other words, because you have sinned (and remember all people have sinned), God requires an offering of blood, or a sacrifice in your place. The Lord Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sin so God doesn't have to punish us. When we believe Jesus died in our place, then God can clear our name, declare us not guilty and give us eternal life. We are no longer under condemnation because when we believe on Christ, God considers us holy. At that time He credits, or imputes, Christ's perfect righteousness to us. We were sinners through and through but then God because of Christ's sacrifice for us, God now sees us as having Christ's perfect righteousness. That's the only way we can come into the presence of God and have eternal life with God because our sin has been taken away by Christ's blood.

  I know that's a little strange and difficult to understand. But think of it this way: It's like you were on death row and someone said to you, "I will take her punishment," and the authorities agreed that someone else could take the punishment for you so you might go free and never be punished again for the crime you committed. That's what God did by sending Jesus to die for sinful men. We had no way to free ourselves from death row; we were eternally condemned and separated from God by our sin, but then God sent His Son, who never committed any sin, He who had no record, He committed no crime, to take your punishment for you, so your record of guilt could be expunged. Because of that, God now views you as if you've never committed the crime that landed you on death row.

  Q: But I was always taught to be a good girl growing up. I was taught that I had to believe in Jesus but I also had to do a whole list of other things to be saved. Do you mean to say that all my trying to be nice and good doesn't matter? Are you saying my not drinking or not smoking doesn't earn me a spot in heaven? I went to a church that said that if you did this whole list of things, if you followed all the rules just like they said, God would save you. Isn't that true?

  A: You mentioned your upbringing and your church's emphasis on works. Remember that the Bible tells us that our good works do not justify us, they do not save us. Being good for goodness sake may get you presents from Santa, but it avails nothing for your salvation. The law condemns us as guilty and there is no way we can make yourself righteous, to clear your own name in the eyes of God, no matter how much good we might do. Remember, so long as you're trusting in your own good works, you're declared guilty and stuck on death row with no power or ability to get off to get off, no matter how you try, no matter how many good works you do.

  by works of the law no one will be justified Galatians 2:16.

  We are so tempted to think that we can earn salvation by what we do. We think that if we do enough good works, we will be saved and earn a place in heaven. But God tells us something different about His way of salvation;

  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9.
  

  
  Conforming to a list of outward rules will not save you, though many people teach that's the way we are saved. That's called legalism. Many of us find legalism appealing because then we feel we have some sense of control. We like to have rules. We like to have rules because they make use feel secure and we like to be able to boast and say how well we're keeping them. We also like rules because then we can point out how others are not keeping them. And we like to compare ourselves favorably to others, we like to point out the speck in the other person's eye (and often disregard the plank in our own eye).

  The danger here is that some people think that keeping the rules saves them. They have a false sense of assurance of salvation. But remember, only the blood of Jesus Christ saves you. Only the blood of Christ cleanses us from sin. Our good works do nothing to get rid of our sin.

  Even after people are saved, after they've become Christians, they are in danger of regressing to a works righteousness or works salvation (meaning we try to make ourselves righteous by our own works rather than trusting that God has credited Christ's righteousness to us and Christ comes to dwell in us to produce a righteous life). There's a lot written in the New Testament to believers about this, and there's a reason for that. It is definitely a real danger and a real temptation to the believer. We are tempted to revert to a yoke of legalism, which is only bondage. We discard the easy yoke of Christ and its freedom and put ourselves under the law. We begin to make Christianity all about conforming to a list of dos and don'ts.

  We forget that Christianity is about Christ come to dwell or tabernacle in the human heart to produce in us a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.

  "Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today."

  Christ comes to dwell in us by faith so we might through Him in order to fulfill the spirit of the law. Christianity is Christ in us. God with us. Immanuel in our very souls, the life of God in the soul of man, as Henry Scougal put it. It's God taking men who were dead and bringing them to life again by putting His Spirit in them. I really love Acts 5:19. The angel of the Lord says to the apostles, "Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life." Christianity is life. Christ is our life. Christianity is not a mere philosophical system or religion.

  Paul talks about being crucified with Christ so that he no longer lived, but Christ lived in him. I admit this is a mystery, and difficult to understand but what a glorious thing: the life of God come to dwell in the soul of man. Christ Jesus makes it possible! The Bible tells us that all believers have been united with Christ in His death as well as His resurrection so we might consider ourselves dead to sin but alive to righteousness, so that Christ in us, the very living Christ in us, produces fruits of holiness and righteousness through us. Those are fruits we can't produce in our own strength for it comes from the supernatural life of God within us.

  So when we talk about eternal life, yes, we do mean life forever with God in heaven, but we also mean life beginning here and now. Before we were believers, we really had no life, we were spiritually dead, though alive in the flesh. But now all who believe in Christ have Christ's life dwelling in them. Only those who have the life of Christ in them will be written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

  Q: But this wasn't taught in my church. This was not the gospel I heard. We had a lot of that Santa theology, the idea that good works saved us. And this whole thing about Christ in us, being born again? I never really heard that. What's with that? The thing is I know they were preaching and teaching from the Bible and were quite sincere. Shouldn't we be trusting our ministers, after all they are in authority over us?

  A: It grieves me to tell you this, but there are many churches teaching false gospels and it's nothing new. And remember: people can be sincere, but they can be sincerely wrong.

  If you look at the New Testament teachings you'll see this was happening quite early on in the life of the church. The gospel of works, the gospel of legalism, the Santa gospel is a false gospel. And false gospels were infiltrating the early church. Paul talks about men coming in to spy out the liberty believers had in Christ. There are warnings in the Bible to watch out for false teachers who espouse other gospels and attempt to lead us astray.

  If you examine the New Testament epistles, you'll see that one of the main reasons for those letters being written was to remind the churches then (and today) to guard and keep the doctrine pure: that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone, not by works.

  And I do know the phrase "born again" has a lot of negative connotations, but it's right in the Bible. You may have heard that all who are in Christ are new creations. It's the exactly the same thing. Jesus tells us we can't even see the Kingdom of God unless we're born again. (I'm going to address this later on as well.)

  God talks about putting within us a new heart and a new spirit. It's just what Jeremiah and Ezekiel prophesied about (Jer. 31, Ezek.37) and what the author to the Hebrews calls the New Covenant. It's nothing new. Charles Wesley wrote about being born again, the second birth, almost 200 years ago in his well known Christmas carol, ""Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." Listen to the words he uses:

  Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
  Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
  Light and life to all He brings,
  Ris’n with healing in His wings.
  Mild He lays His glory by,
  Born that man no more may die.
  Born to raise the sons of earth,
  Born to give them second birth..

  You may ask why false teaching occurs in the church since God's in control and is sovereign King of the universe. Well, even though Christ has gained victory, the devil still has power, but only as much as God allows. All things have not yet been put under the feet of Jesus but we know that one day they will. Isaiah tells us that Christ's government will increase and of His Kingdom there will be no end. In the end Satan will be defeated once and for all, but for now, our evil foe still seeks to do us woe and so often he does his most insidious work within churches.

  Since Satan is God's enemy and an enemy of the Kingdom of God, one of his greatest tactics is for people to not hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed clearly so they might be saved and enter into the Kingdom of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Wherever and whenever the Gospel is preached, people have opportunity to be set free from the kingdom of darkness. For each soul that is saved, the devil loses one of his dupes, his kingdom is weakened and the Kingdom of God is strengthened. So the devil does all he can to corrupt, to taint, to weaken the Gospel any which way he can.

  So here's the thing: when false gospels are taught, many believe they are saved but they are not really trusting in Christ's work to save, they're trusting in their own works. So they have a false sense of assurance which is a very dangerous thing. And Satan has no problem with that whatsoever for those people are still in his kingdom though they are deceived into thinking they are saved.

  And Satan also delights to get us who are already saved to revert to a false gospel of legalism (salvation by works), so we put on a yoke of bondage to the law, rather than living in the freedom of the Gospel of Christ, which imparts to us the life of Christ and gives us the desire and the power to fulfill the spirit of the law.

  Satan is all out to steal, kill and destroy the life and freedom we have in Christ. When we come under a yoke of legalism that's exactly what happens. We usually begin to lose the joy of our salvation. We do things not because we want to but because we have to. We serve out of fear rather than love. Serving Christ is no longer a delight but a burden. We get all caught up in our working for God rather than letting Him dwell in us and be our strength and sufficiency. We begin to walk in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. We may be doing a lot of good works but they're done in our own power so God does not get the glory. And this can even include people who are in the ministry, people who have studied these things and have been born again. It's a very great temptation. And as soon as we make our lives all about our works rather than Christ's work, then it becomes all about us and not about Christ, so Christ and His work is not given the preeminence. Next thing we know we begin to boast in what we've done. But the truth is salvation is all of grace, it is all of Christ, so that no one can boast, so God alone gets the praise, honor and glory. (I can't say that enough!) But Satan loves to distract us from the glory of God in Jesus Christ and he accomplishes that when we are lifted up rather than Christ and Him crucified being lifted up. Satan does not want Jesus to get the glory due His Name.

  Speaking about preachers and teachers: whenever you're hearing any teaching (no matter who it is-including me), you need to be checking it against the Scripture. Remember Satan knows the Bible better than any of us, so he is ready to use it and twist it for his evil purposes, and will use people unawares. The devil very often uses the Word of God to tempt us: Consider the temptation of Eve in the garden and Jesus' temptation in the wilderness.

  Q: So back to good works. You mean all the good stuff I did and try to do, my trying to live a good life (you know I never killed anyone or committed adultery), all the volunteer work, all the religious observances, my church attendance, all the stars and rewards I accumulated for S.S. attendance, all those verses I learned, my participating in church ordinances, helping at the Thanksgiving dinner every year, none of that makes a difference? Those things don't get my name written in the Lamb's Book of Life?

  A: No. All those good works do nothing to get your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Only if you've trusted in Christ's work to save will your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

  All those works you've mentioned make no difference in terms of your salvation. I'm not saying good works are not important and we certainly should be engaging in good works (more later on that), but your own good works do not get your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. They never earn you a place in heaven. Remember God's way of salvation is not by works but by faith. Salvation is the gift of God. If it were by works, then God alone would not get the glory, honor and praise, you would have reason to boast in yourself and in your works, rather than only being able to boast in Christ alone.

  Ask yourself:

  Do your good works do anything to cleanse you from sin?

  Remember your sin separates you from God. Only the righteous, only those without sin can stand in God's presence. They alone will have their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. The Bible tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin and that only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from sin and make us righteous.

  Remember the story of Isaac and Ishmael? In Galatians, Paul tells us these two represent two covenants: the covenant of works and the covenant of faith. Paul tells us that Christians are not children of the bondwoman Hagar but of the free (Sarah), we are children of faith, children of the promise. Paul warns us to cast off the bondwoman and her child (Hagar and Ishmael). In other words, what he's saying is we need to cast off the idea that we can save ourselves by our works. Ishmael was the child of works; Isaac was the child of promise, or faith. Paul warns us not to become entangled in a yoke of bondage, of legalism, not to put ourselves under the covenant of works because in Christ we are under the covenant of grace. And you know Paul knew all about legalism: he talked about being the Pharisee of Pharisees and so forth. But when Paul met Christ on the Damascus Road, he came to count all his good works as dung. He saw that all his works of righteousness, all his attempts to keep the law, his family pedigree, his position as a Pharisee, all his intellectual prowess, his accomplishments, absolutely none of that could not save him––only Christ's righteousness received by faith saved him.

  But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 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 9 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...Philippians 3:7-9.

  "The righteousness from God that depends on faith." There it is! That is why Paul is so big about preaching Christ and Him crucified and why Paul constantly warns us to beware the siren song of false gospels.

  The only way your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life is by faith in Jesus Christ.

  Again, about good works: God does desire that His children walk in good works and if you are a Christian, He will help you to do them. But again don't forget all those good works you've talked about cannot earn you salvation. They do not cause your name to be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Those good works will be a result of your salvation.

  (And by the way, you mentioned not murdering or not committing adultery: just wondering if you've read the Beatitudes lately?)

  Q: But, wait a minute, salvation seems too simple. We believe and God gives us eternal life. Only believe?

  A: Well, let me clarify here that true belief will manifest a genuinely repentant heart.

  Mere intellectual belief or assent or profession does not save. Remember that Jesus said many would call Him, "Lord, Lord," but He would tell them to depart from Him because He never knew them. Being able to recite a catechism backwards and forwards does not save you. James tells us that even the demons believe, but they certainly are not saved. You can know all the right theology but head knowledge alone does not save. Paul talks about believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths. The spiritual rebirth is a work that can only be wrought by the Spirit of God in the human heart. That's what it means to be born again. God brings us to faith. We don't merely one day decide that Christianity is a good thing. As Lloyd-Jones said, you don't take up Christianity, Christianity takes you up; we don't take up Christianity like we take up a new hobby. Faith in Christ is a supernatural work of the Spirit of God. That's what Jesus was talking about with Nicodemus. He told us we must be born again, born of the Spirit.

  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13.

  Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. John 3:3-8.

  About repentance. To come to Christ, we must repent. Jesus preached a gospel of repentance and remission of sin. Without genuine repentance we cannot come to faith in Christ. It is God's kindness which leads us to repentance; God is the one who sent Jesus to give us repentance and remission of sin.

  I'd like to say something here about repentance. Many people see repentance as meaning repentance from bad things but we also need to repent of good works. And that's hard for many people like you who have been raised in the church all their lives. They've become confused and think God saves them because of their good works, like Santa brings us good gifts because we've been good. But remember, we need to confess to God that no good works, nothing we have done, can save us. That's how we come to believe on Christ. We have to put aside all we've trusted in to make ourselves righteous and that includes our own good works. To be saved we must trust in Christ and rest on His work alone to save us. We must stop trusting in our own perceived goodness or our good works to save us.

  It's often very difficult for those who live a good life, so to speak, those who are more nice than naughty, to see their need for Christ. Think of the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Sometimes it's easier for a vile sinner to see his need for a Savior and appeal to God for mercy at the cross of Christ. Many people who live good lives are blinded to their sinfulness; they think they're good enough to get into heaven. They don't see their sinfulness and their need for a Savior. That was part of the problem with the religious leaders of Jesus' day. They thought their goodness and righteousness was good enough, but it wasn't. They were trusting in themselves, in their own good works to save them.

  You even find a call going out to the early church to repent of the trusting in good works to save. Very soon after Christ walked the earth false teachings crept into the church. Teachings telling that said people had to do such an such to be saved, such as circumcision, the keeping of certain feast days or not eating certain foods and so forth. They were setting up lists of dos and don'ts much like you talked about. Even then many had already forgotten that the foundation of our faith is repentance from dead works and faith toward God.

  Q. Please tell me more about good works. I can see we aren't saved by our good works, but aren't we supposed to be good and holy like Jesus? Aren't Christians supposed to be living a good life? Aren't we supposed to be a holy priesthood, blameless and harmless, shining as lights in the world? How does that fit with salvation by grace alone? Isn't God writing down all we do? Won't we be judged for our works and rewarded for them?

  A: God is keeping a record of all we've done, but again keep in mind that those things we've done do not save us, they do not make us righteous, they do not take away our sin.

  It's definitely true and right that believers should be living good and holy lives, that's part of the glory of the Christ's bride, the Church, that's part of why He saved us. He wants His Church to be a testimony and praise to Him, by the way we live.

  But living a good and righteous life is the fruit of the incorruptible seed of Christ which has been planted in us. Do not ever put the cart before the horse, so to speak. As the Spirit births us into God's Kingdom, the Spirit will work in us to produce good works that are pleasing to God. Salvation leads to good works, but good works do cause us to be saved. Good works are a result of saving faith; they are evidence of the new life of Christ in the believer.

  That's what Jesus was addressing in Matthew 25. The lives of those who are born again will exhibit good works. We'll be ready for His return with our lamps and oil. We will use our talents. We will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned and so forth.

  James reminds us that faith without works is dead. Real faith will produce fruits of holiness and righteousness such as those we see in Matthew 25. But those fruits, those good works do not earn us salvation. Please be careful not to reverse the order. Martin Luther got into a tizzy about the book of James, but the book of James is not contradictory to the Gospel of salvation through faith whatsoever. The genuine believer will more and more start to look like Jesus because the life of Jesus has been imparted to us by faith. Christ Himself dwells in us, so the true believer will have an increasing desire to put off sin and begin to live a holy life by the power of Christ in him. If the professor of Christ is not producing good works, not growing in holiness and righteousness, in a hatred of sin and a love of the things of God, then we definitely should question the validity of his profession of faith. Good works are a defining mark of those whose names have been already been written in the Lamb's Book of Life. But those good works don't get our names written there in the first place.

  As you said, we will all be judged according to our works, so we certainly cannot be lax. Jesus will return one day and we must be ready for His return for we do not know when He is coming. We need to take care how we are working today for at our works will be judged, but we will only receive a reward for those works which withstand the fire.

  But keep in mind that salvation does not rest on our works but on Christ's work. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. We also have to remember that as we work our works should not be done out of our own might or power, cleverness or wisdom, but by His Spirit so He alone gets the glory. (I don't have time to go into this here but I've written on in depth here.)

  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10.

  For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14.

  What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life...13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. Romans 6:1-4, 13.

  But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 5:16.
  

  Q: Wait, but what about the law? What was that all about? Now that we're under grace, can't we just discard that? Doesn't God's grace give people an excuse to live however they want? Didn't Jesus say something about coming to fulfill the law?

  The law no longer condemns us because we are no longer under law but grace. God sent the law to be our schoolmaster, or tutor, to point us to Christ, to show us we could not keep the law in our own power. To point us to our need of a Savior from our sin and sinful nature. The law shows us the exceeding sinfulness of our sin. The law in itself no power to take away sin. The law has no power to help us obey God. The law has no power to change the human heart. The law shows us how we should be living; it serves as a benchmark or plumbline against which we should be checking ourselves.

  If you look back in the Old Testament to the time before the law was given, see what you find there: Abraham was counted righteous by faith. From the very beginning God's plan was salvation through faith, but one reason He gave the law was to show us that however hard we tried, we could never be righteous by our works, so we could see that the only way God counts us as righteous is by faith, not by our works. And He shows us that we cannot begin to keep the law apart from having a whole new nature, we can only do so through the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us.

  So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. Galatians 3:24-25.

  As the Spirit dwells in us, we will increasingly desire to uphold the spirit of law and God will empower us to do so. People who say it doesn't matter how they live because they are now under grace are professing a false and very dangerous gospel. Christ came to redeem a people to Himself who will be holy and blameless. For those who have indwelling God's Spirit, our righteousness will exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees because our righteousness is not an external righteousness but is a righteousness coming from the very life of Christ in us. The Spirit in us helps us to keep the spirit of the law such as Jesus described in the beatitudes. Christ's righteousness is counted to us by faith so God passes over our sin. But Christ's nature is also placed into us, so we have been made new creations. His law is written on our hearts and in our minds, so we might become more and more like Christ and live out the spirit of the law through His Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

  No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. I John 3:9.

  Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. Romans 3:31.

  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4.

  

  
  

  
  

  And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:16-17.

  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father! 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Galatians 4:4-7.
  
  For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1.

  
  
  

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  Though I've not directly quoted from these pastors/teachers/authors and books in this post, they have definitely helped to refine my understanding of salvation by grace as opposed to works, so I need to attribute them here:

  • R.T. Kendall,"Grace"
  • D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount," "Life in Christ: Studies in I John" and his books on Romans (I've not read them all yet)
  • John Stott's "The Message of Galatians"
  • Dallas Willard's"The Divine Conspiracy"

  
  You may also be interested in reading:

  • Dealing with sin & guilt: Are you wearing the Garment only God can provide?
  • First Week of Advent: The Most Scandalous Bailout Ever

  Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by J. Fred Coots & Haven Gillespie. Lyrics are subject to US Copyright Laws and are the property of their respective authors, artists and labels. Commercial use prohibited.

  • 11:44 PM
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