{"id":19100,"date":"2016-03-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-009\/"},"modified":"2016-03-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T06:00:00","slug":"soteriology-009","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-009\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 009"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[88],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19100","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-john","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 009","sermon_date":"20160309","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":3440,"sermon_slides":3441,"sermon_mp3":3424,"sermon_id":"391619933","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":88,"chapter_and_verse":"5:24","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\nSoteriology 09, John 5:24\nMarch 9, 2016\n\nIf we could take our Bibles and open them to John 5:24 and as you\u2019re turning there just a couple of reminders. The first one is next Wednesday we will not be meeting here; if you come in and you see the room empty you might think you\u2019ve missed the rapture. So we\u2019re not meeting, spring break, but the Chafer Seminary Bible Conference, which is open to everyone and it\u2019s free I might add, is going to be taking place at West Houston Bible Church starting Wednesday afternoon and goes all the way through Friday evening. If you\u2019re interested I\u2019m going to be speaking there Wednesday at 3:10 p.m. And I\u2019m just one of many speakers, it looks like they\u2019ve got a great lineup of things going on. So we have a schedule and so forth on the name tag table, you can pick up if you\u2019re interested in that. If you can\u2019t make it in person they do a real good job with live streaming and archiving and all that kind of stuff.\n\nAlso Sunday night at Sugar Land Bible Church, this coming Sunday, the 13th, if you got the e-mail, we\u2019re going to have a special guest; we normally don\u2019t have a Sunday night service but we\u2019re going to create one. Really it\u2019s not going to be a service, it\u2019s going to be a chance for him to come and speak. I just met him at the Steeling the Mind Conference that I just participated in, in Washington State and his name is Curtis Bowers, and he\u2019s in town I discovered, but he had this particular Sunday night free. He is scheduled to speak at Sugar Creek Baptist Church to a group called Salt-Light Ministries Monday, not Sunday but Monday at 6:00 and he\u2019s showing his movie. But when he comes and speaks for us Sunday night, March 13, at 6:00 he\u2019s not going to be showing a movie, he\u2019s going to be doing his presentation live, that I heard him give at the Steeling the Mind Conference.\n\nHas anybody heard of Curtis Bowers? Okay, one, two. Let me just read the little excerpt on him so you know who I\u2019m talking about: Curtis Bowers is a former Idaho legislator who has opened many eyes on the influence of the progressive agenda that it\u2019s had on the United States of America through his award winning and number 1 bestselling video called Agenda: Grinding America Down. Now he\u2019s exposing the same attacks on America through his sequel called Agenda 2: Masters of Deceit. If you want to understand the root of the problems that America is currently facing then this live presentation is a must see.\n\nYou won\u2019t want to miss this tremendous opportunity so Curtis will be available here at the church Sunday evening after his presentation, not only to answer questions but to let you know how you can get his award winning video. The things that he shares is very eye-opening and it\u2019s very well done, and he\u2019s very articulate. And I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve noticed but conservatives just don\u2019t win anything anymore. Have you noticed that? We lose cultural issue after cultural issue. And there\u2019s actually a reason behind it; it\u2019s a longstanding campaign to kind of take over the key institutions of thought in America, to shift the way we think away from our Judeo-Christian limited government point of view into more of a collectivist mindset. So he explains this really well, what\u2019s happening in schools and politics and media and it\u2019s extremely eye-opening and you won\u2019t want to miss this.\n\nHe is a committed Christian; he reminds me a lot of a man named Dr. Fred Schwartz, I don\u2019t know if you ever heard that name. He started a ministry in the 1950\u2019s called A Christian Crusade Against Communism and Dr. Schwartz put aside his medical practice and came to America and would go out into the universities and openly debate Marxist and Communist professors, to sort of expose the agenda that was taking place even in that day. Curtis reminds me of sort of a younger Fred Schwartz, using movies and cinematography to get his point across. He put his whole life savings together to create this movie and it just went global. If you Google Agenda: Curtis Bowers you\u2019ll see it. And he\u2019s literally gone all over the world talking about this. So we\u2019re fortunate to have him come to our church and talk. I just want to make you aware of that.\n\nSpeaking of liberation we\u2019re going to talk here about spiritual liberation, the doctrine of salvation. We\u2019re on that section in the class entitled God\u2019s One Condition of Salvation. What is God\u2019s one condition of salvation? Faith alone in Christ alone. Anybody recall how many times the Bible says that? Close to 200 times.\n\nNow what people do is they ignore the 200 clear verses and they gravitate towards the obscure ones that seem to contradict belief, God\u2019s one condition of salvation. They gravitate towards the word \u201crepent\u201d and so we spent a session explaining what repentance means, and how repentance can be harmonized with faith alone. And then they gravitate towards the passages that call Jesus\u2019 disciples to surrender to Him as lord. And this is a doctrine called Lordship Salvation; Lordship Salvation refers to the belief which says that the sinner who wants to be saved must not only trust Christ as his substitute for sin but must also surrender every area of his life to the complete control of Jesus.\nAnd Lordship salvation people basically say if you haven\u2019t done both of those things then you\u2019re not saved. They would call what you have a false conversion. You are a mere professor but not a possessor.\n\nI gave you the quotes from John MacArthur, his sermons and his books where he teaches this, J. I. Packer, and others but the only thing we\u2019ve gone over the last couple of sessions is sort of explaining why this doctrine of Lordship salvation is a problem\u2014it\u2019s not the right gospel. Seven problems Lordship salvation, six of which we\u2019ve covered. Lordship salvation changes the gospel away from what Jesus has done for me and I am receiving it now as a gift by faith; the spotlight is no longer on what Jesus has done, the spotlight is now on me and what I do. I forsake, I surrender, I submit, and that becomes a doctrine of works.\n\nLordship salvation places an impossible burden on the unsaved; you are asking unsaved people to do something they can\u2019t do. Lordship salvation confuses justification (how we\u2019re saved) with sanctification (how we grow). So we do believe in Lordship and discipleship but we do not put it under the category of justification, which is achieved only as a result of faith but under the category of progressive sanctification. Lordship salvation confuses the result with the requirement of salvation. Lordship salvation, as we talked about, fails to make basic dispensational distinctives, instead choosing to build its presentation of the gospel from passages where the Lord Jesus and John the Baptist was offering Israel the kingdom.\n\nAnd then Lordship salvation ignores the concept of a carnal Christian. We\u2019re not applauding carnal Christianity, we\u2019re simply saying it\u2019s possible. But under lordship theology you shouldn\u2019t have a carnal Christian, you shouldn\u2019t even have a backslidden Christian because the condition for being justified is total surrender to the Lord. So if someone today claims to be a Christian but they\u2019re not totally surrendered to Christ, what we would say is there\u2019s a possibility they may be a carnal Christian. Lordship salvation people would say no, they\u2019re not a Christian at all. Do you see the difference there?\n\nAnd then one little point here that we didn\u2019t touch on yet, this is why I had you turn to John 5:24, Lordship salvation destroys the assurance of salvation. What do we mean by assurance of salvation? Assurance of salvation is the idea that you can know, not 99%, not 99.999%, but 100% that you\u2019re saved. Under the doctrine of Lordship salvation you can never really know if you\u2019re saved because Lordship salvation revolves around this anachronism TULIP. TULIP is sort of the pneumonic device to explain Calvinist teaching; a lot of this comes from very strong Calvinistic teachings and that kind of thing. And the \u201cP\u201d at the end of the pneumonic device stands for the perseverance of the saints. And what they mean by that is if you really are a Christian then you must persevere in works until the very end of your life and if you have not persevered in works until the very end of your life then you were never saved to begin with.\n\nNow what we teach, and I\u2019ll be going through this later on in the course, not tonight but down the road, we teach something called preservation of the saints, where God preserves us based on His promises, and that\u2019s called eternal security. But that\u2019s not what Lordship salvation means by the \u201cP\u201d, when they use the word \u201cP\u201d they mean it\u2019s Perseverance in good works, as evidence of saving faith. And if that\u2019s what you believe you can really never know you\u2019re a Christian. Why is that? Because perseverance in good works is never objectively defined. How many good works do I have to do? How consistent do those good works have to be? How fast do they have to come? How frequent are they? What good works are you talking about?\n\nAnd because those questions are never answered with precision people that believe in the perseverance of the saints idea never really know that they\u2019re saved. And you see, Lordship salvation goes right hand in glove with this because what they\u2019re saying is you\u2019re not a Christian at all unless you\u2019ve totally surrendered your life to Christ. So therefore all Christians must be persevering Christians and if you are not a persevering Christian then there\u2019s always a doubt in your mind, maybe you were never saved to begin with.\n\nSo I\u2019ll just be completely honest with you, in the Christian life I\u2019ve had tremendous ups and I\u2019ve had tremendous downs. I\u2019ve had some successes and some effectiveness; I\u2019ve had some failures. If I lived my life based on looking at myself and my performance, some days I would think I\u2019m saved, some days I would think I\u2019m not saved. And that\u2019s basically what the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does; it gets people\u2019s eyes off of Christ and His promises (and He cannot lie, right?) and it gets it onto ourselves. And whenever your eyes are on yourself sometimes you\u2019ll be happy with yourself, other times you\u2019ll be disappointed. So during those times of disappointment if you believe in perseverance of the saints you\u2019ll think you\u2019re not saved today. Maybe you need to receive Christ again. Maybe you need to believe again. Maybe it didn\u2019t work the first time.\n\nAnd before I was taught correctly I used to think that way but now my whole worldview is different because I no longer spend my life looking at myself, which is a depressing subject anyway. I\u2019m looking at Jesus and what He has done. So I\u2019ve had some up days and down days, good days, bad days but my assurance of salvation doesn\u2019t waver from day to day because I\u2019m looking at Christ and His promises and He can never lie. And it\u2019s a wonderful way to live.\n\nBut Lordship salvation people have no such assurance. And when you talk to Lordship salvation people and you actually start getting into their minds, you\u2019ll see that they\u2019re haunted by this issue: maybe I\u2019m not saved. In fact, when I first came to this church there was several Lordship salvation people here, and one of the things I noticed about them, they all kind of hung around in kind of a flock, a group, is they would emote or cry, at the slightest issue they would start shedding tears.\n\nNow I\u2019m not against shedding tears, you know Jesus wept and so forth, but the amount of crying that these people did was abnormal. It was crying beyond what circumstances dictated and at some point I had to ask myself, where\u2019s the joy of the Lord in these people. I mean, is that the Christian life, we\u2019re supposed to go around crying all the time? And finally I discovered the reason they were crying is because they never got this issue settled. They never really came to an iron clad conclusion in their mind regarding the assurance of salvation.\n\nSo Lordship salvation destroys assurance of salvation and it puts someone in a state of bondage. She loves me, she loves me not; he loves me, he loves me not. Today I\u2019m saved, tomorrow I\u2019m not saved, but the next day I am saved, but the day after that I\u2019m not saved. Constant introspection, constant looking at one\u2019s self will destroy, it will annihilate the joy of the Lord in a person\u2019s life and their assurance of salvation.\n\nNotice what John Piper says: \u201cNo Christian can be sure that he is a true believer. \u201cHence, there is an ongoing need to be dedicated to the Lord and to deny ourselves so that we might make it.\u201d Now this is an evangelical that\u2019s talking this way. One of the things that sort of shocking to me is why don\u2019t more people look at that and say that\u2019s not the gospel of grace at all, that\u2019s works is what that is. But that is what this doctrine, the perseverance of the saints in works does to you. It takes away the joy that the Lord would have you to experience because you\u2019re His child.\n\nAnd so a lot of people look at the doctrine of the assurance of salvation sort of like the weather report, you know, there\u2019s a 70% chance of rain today, there\u2019s an 80% chance of sunshine tomorrow or whatever, and we\u2019re always given these percentages of probabilities and a lot of people look at their salvation that way. So you ask them if they\u2019re saved\u2014oh, I\u2019m about 70% sure I\u2019m saved. The week after that they may have had a down week, well, today it\u2019s down to about 60-65% chance that I\u2019m saved.\n\nAnd may I just say to you that is not what God has for you at all. Look at this promise here from John 5:24, Jesus says, \u201cTruly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.\u201d So notice the promise from Christ, who cannot lie, he who believes in \u201cHim who sent Me, has\u201d present tense, that\u2019s in the present tense there, \u201ceternal life.\u201d If you believed in Christ, trusted in His provision, then the promise from Christ to you, not based on you and what you do, based on what He\u2019s promised is that you already possess eternal life.\n\nAnd you listen to a lot of Christians and they say I can\u2019t wait to die and go to heaven so I can have eternal life. Well, that\u2019s not the biblical teaching; the biblical teaching is you have to have eternal life now, it\u2019s a present tense possession. You say well, I don\u2019t feel like I have it. Well, what does feelings have to do with anything? It\u2019s an objective promise from God. And that\u2019s how you live your life as a Christian, you don\u2019t live based on feelings. I have emotions too, sometimes I feel very good, sometimes I feel very bad, but I don\u2019t live my life based on my emotions in any given circumstance. I live based on what Jesus, who cannot lie, has said to me.\n\nIt\u2019s like a pilot, a pilot doesn\u2019t fly a plane based on his or her emotions because a lot of times a pilot will tell you it feels like the plane is upside down as they\u2019re flying, but they do not dare take their eyes of the object and truth of the compass and turn aside towards feelings. If they turn aside towards feelings then their eyes are off of objective truth based on what a compass says, the plane will crash. Well, that\u2019s how it is in our spiritual life; we live based on the objective promises of God, not based on what my emotions say at any given moment.\n\nSo he \u201chas eternal life, he does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death unto life.\u201d \u201chas passed out of\u201d is in the perfect tense in Greek; \u201chas eternal life,\u201d present tense, \u201chas passed out of\u201d perfect tense. The perfect tense means a onetime action in the past, it happened once and it has ongoing results. So the moment you trusted in Christ the promise of God to you is that you have already passed out of death into life at the point of personal faith in Christ. It doesn\u2019t matter how you feel or what you think or what your personal philosophy is; it only matters what God has objectively declared.\n\nNow compare John 5:24, back to this quote by John Piper, \u201cNo Christian can be sure that he\u2019s a true believer, hence there is an ongoing need to be dedicated to the Lord and to deny ourselves so that we might make it.\u201d I mean, do you want to live under that promise, by that particular John, John Piper, or do you want to live under this promise, by John the apostle who wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and recorded Christ\u2019s words.\n\nAnd a lot of times people think that when you start talking about the assurance of salvation you\u2019re conjuring up some odd doctrine that no one has ever believed before, but I just want to point out that this is the normal doctrinal approach; what I\u2019m teaching now at one time used to be the majority opinion. And you see it in how Dallas Theological Seminary was started in the 1920\u2019s. \u201cWe believe it is the privilege not only of some but of all by the Spirit through faith who are born again in Christ as revealed in the Scriptures to be assured of their salvation\u201d when? \u201cfrom the very day they take Him to be their Savior and that this assurance is not founded upon some fancy discovery of their own worthiness or fitness but wholly upon the testimony of God in His written Word.\u201d\n\nSo the Word of God teaches people, not some but everybody, that the moment they take Christ as their Savior by faith alone is the moment they can be assured of their salvation. Why? Because their assurance doesn\u2019t come from their own worthiness or fitness; it comes from the object of the written Word of God, passages like John 5:24, from God who cannot lie. [John 5:24 \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.\u201d]\n\nAnd I can\u2019t tell you what a big issue this is when you get into the minds of people through counselling. Christians everywhere who are under a very strong dose of Lordship salvation, whether it be from Calvinism which teaches you must persevere to prove you\u2019re saved, or Arminianism which teaches you must persevere or you\u2019ll lose your salvation. You see a heavy dose of Calvinism or Arminianism will lead you to a loss of assurance of salvation. Arminius says you lost it; Calvin and his followers will say you never had it. So either way, if I backslide and so into sin, if I\u2019m under Calvinism I\u2019ll think well, I need to get saved again because I never had it in the first place, not again but I need to get saved the first time. Arminius will say you lost it and you need to get it again, you need to get saved again.\n\nSee, I\u2019ve been in churches where people get saved every single week, the same people. I\u2019ve been in churches where people give altar calls and I\u2019ve watched the people that go forward in these altar calls and a lot of times it\u2019s the exact same people. And I say well wait a minute, Sister So and So, or Brother So and So got saved last week, why are they \u201cgetting saved\u201d again? Well, the reason is they don\u2019t have any real teaching on the assurance of salvation. So what happened is they had a down time during the week, and they don\u2019t understand the doctrine of the assurance of salvation so they think to themselves well, I guess I lost my salvation if they\u2019re under Arminianism, or I guess I never had salvation to begin with if I\u2019m under Calvinism so I\u2019ll go forward again. When in reality what\u2019s happened to them is they\u2019re saved is they are God\u2019s child, they\u2019re saved, they fell into sin, their saved condition is not in jeopardy but they\u2019ve fallen out of fellowship with God. See that? Their position is the same, it\u2019s unalterable but the moment by moment fellowship has been broken.\n\nIt\u2019s like my wife and myself, we\u2019re married. I can go home tonight though and treat her poorly and yell at her and scream at her, the next day we\u2019re still married, right? Hopefully. [Laughter] But what has broken is not our position as husband and wife; what has broken is our moment by moment fellowship and enjoyment of each other. See that?\n\nSo that fellowship will not be restored until I apologize for my actions. When I apologize for my actions it doesn\u2019t make me more married; I\u2019m just as married then as I was before the problem started. The fellowship, though, has been broken and an apology or humility or a contrite spirit, what that does is it restores broken fellowship.\n\nSo that\u2019s what happens to people, they get saved and they go and they sin and they feel so bad about themselves they think they never had salvation to begin with, or they lost it when in reality they fell out of fellowship with God. And what they need to do is exercise 1 John1:9, agree with God about their sin, 1 John 1:9, and as that is exercised fellowship between God and His child is restored but the position of God and child is unalterable. [1 John 1:9, \u201cIf we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d]\n\nAnd that\u2019s what David was experiencing all those years when he committed adultery and murder and all of that, and he was hiding and running and hiding his sin. He didn\u2019t stop being a child of God; what was broken was the fellowship that he had with God and that\u2019s what he\u2019s talking about in the Psalms when he says the heavens became like brass, and how blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven, whose transgression is covered. It\u2019s not talking about David getting saved again, it\u2019s talking about the fellowship being restored.\n\nAnd so we teach assurance of salvation at this church and a lot of places will not teach the assurance of salvation and the reason they won\u2019t teach the assurance of salvation is because it\u2019s a great way to control people. I could say oh, Sister So and So, Brother So and So, you didn\u2019t show up to Wednesday night Bible study, I guess you\u2019re not a true Christian. Or I could drop the hint, maybe you\u2019re not really saved because you\u2019d be showing up more regularly if you really were saved. Oh, the offering has gone down this month, well you all better start giving money into the offering because you need to prove that you\u2019re Christians, right?\n\nSo you lose a way to control people once you start teaching on the assurance of salvation. And a lot of spiritual leaders aren\u2019t willing to relinquish that control because dangling hell over everybody\u2019s lap week after week, sermon after sermon is a tremendous motivational tool. And a lot of spiritual leaders think well, if I teach the assurance of salvation then I\u2019m going to lose control over these people when in reality there isn\u2019t a greater more motivating force in a person\u2019s life, in terms of service, once they discover the doctrine of assurance of salvation. Do you know why? Because now they are showing up to Wednesday night Bible study and giving in the offering, not out of fear but out of gratitude and worship for what God has done.\n\nAnd if Satan can get you distracted in anything he wants you to be worried about whether you\u2019re saved because if your mental energies are focused on whether you\u2019re saved or whether you\u2019re not saved your mind is divided and your mind is not being channeled into the productivity that God has for it because the Bible, as you know, speaks against a divided mind.\n\nI like to use this example of the bridge. I\u2019ve used this before, you\u2019ve heard this before, forgive me, but when they were building the Golden Gate Bridge in northern California, in San Francisco, anybody travelled across the Golden Gate Bridge? I mean, it\u2019s a very long drop to the water and if you fall of the bridge, and this is why a lot of people jump off that particular bridge to commit suicide, once your body hits the water it\u2019s like hitting concrete, you die immediately.\n\nSo they were building this bridge and workers every once in a while would fall to their deaths, and so the workers were divided, should I concentrate on building this bridge or worry about my own survival and security. So their minds were divided and the building of the bridge was very slow. Well someone had a bright idea, here\u2019s what we ought to do, let\u2019s just put a big net underneath the builders and this way they won\u2019t have to worry about their security any longer because they know that even if they fall they won\u2019t perish, they\u2019ll hit and be braced by the net instead of hitting the water. Now once that security was established through that net what happened, do you think, to the productivity of the builders of the bridge? Did it increase or decrease? It increased dramatically.\n\nAnd you see, this is what the doctrine of the assurance of salvation does for you. You are no longer worried, am I a Christian, am I not a Christian, am I serving God out of fear, am I serving God for the right motives, am I persevering enough? But that whole issue has been settled in your mind and now you\u2019re serving God based on thankfulness to Him, gratitude towards Him; you can\u2019t believe what He\u2019s done for you. So how could you not lay your life at His feet and do what He\u2019s called you to do. It\u2019s a totally different motivation for service, it\u2019s no longer fear but it\u2019s out of worship and gratitude. And this is why the doctrine of the assurance of salvation is such a big deal, I believe, to the life of a growing Christian. But Lordship salvation, probably my biggest problem on the list of seven things that we\u2019ve covered with Lordship salvation is that it denies the assurance of salvation.\n\nSo problems with Lordship salvation: it changes the gospel, it places an impossible burden upon the unsaved, it confuses justification with sanctification, it confuses the result of salvation with the requirements for salvation, it fails to make dispensational distinctives, it ignores the reality, the unfortunate reality of the carnal Christian, and it destroys the assurance of salvation. So we\u2019ve gone over two major areas that seem to contradict faith alone: repentance and Lordship. And those are two big, BIG areas, that\u2019s why I slowed down.\n\nBut let\u2019s move on to our third area that seems to contradict belief, God\u2019s one condition of salvation. And that\u2019s in John 1:12, take a look at that for a minute if you could. And that\u2019s this verse here that says we need to receive Christ. A lot of people talk, they say you need to \u201creceive Christ.\u201d They don\u2019t say you need to believe in Christ, which the Bible says 200 times, they say you need to receive Christ. And they get this from John 1:12, which says, \u201cBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who\u201d what? \u201cbelieve in His name.\u201d So using the word \u201creceive in the Bible is fine as long as people understand based on the same verse that \u201creceive\u201d is sometimes used as a synonym for what? Belief.\n\nSee, the operative word all the way through the Bible is \u201cbelieve.\u201d And sometimes it\u2019ll use a synonym, like \u201creceive.\u201d So I think it\u2019s okay to ask people to receive Christ as long as you explain to them what receiving Christ is. Receiving Christ is a synonym, different word, same meaning for believe; and believe as we have talked about in this course means to trust.\n\nWhat about these passages that say \u201cbelieve\u201d and \u201cwork.\u201d Take a look at Ephesians 2:10 for a second, here\u2019s another passage that seems to contradict faith alone, a passage like this that says believe and work. Ephesians 2:8, 9, and 10, and watch the order very carefully here. \u201cFor by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; [9] not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.\u201d Now most people cut the verse off right there, but verse 10 comes right after it, \u201cFor we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.\u201d\n\nWhen do the good works come? Before salvation or after? Clearly they come after. Ephesians 2:8-9 very clearly says we are saved by faith alone, not by works. But then the wonderful thing about God is once the child of God is saved He wants to start using that child of God to advance his purposes on the earth. He wants to, it\u2019s His plan to do good works through you. The good works did not get you saved to begin with; the good works come, when they come as maturity comes, after one is saved.\n\nAnd that\u2019s how to handle these passages related to good works. You don\u2019t put good works on the front end; good works typically will follow on the back end. Take a look at James 2 for a minute; you all know these verses. These verses have struck more fear into the hearts of more Christians, probably than any other verses I know of.\n\nVerse 14, \u201cWhat use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? [15] If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, [16] and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? [17] Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. [18] But someone may well say, \u2018You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.\u2019 [19] You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. [20] But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? [21] Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? [22] You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; [23] and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, \u2018AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUS-NESS,\u2019 and he was called the friend of God.\u2019 [24] You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. [25] You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. [26] In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? [27] For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.\u201d\n\nNow what have we been saying over and over again? We\u2019re justified before God by faith and not by what? Works! You say well wait a minute, pastor, James 2:24 says the exact opposite. It says, \u201cYou see that a man is justified by\u201d what? \u201cworks and not by faith alone.\u201d Now the book of James was very troubling to a Protestant Reformer named Martin Luther. Luther\u2019s whole crusade is \u201cthe just shall live by faith,\u201d that was his key doctrine. We are saved totally on the basis of faith alone in Christ alone, and then Luther, he built his case on the book of Galatians which quotes an Old Testament prophet, which says, \u201cthe just shall live by faith. [Galatians 3:11, \u201cBut that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.\u201d]\n\nAnd Luther actually called the book of Galatians his wife, which I think is German, if Hans were in here he could correct me on this, see if I\u2019m right, mein frau, my wife, that\u2019s how Luther referred to the book of Galatians. And when he fought the Roman Catholic hierarchy in debating they would always quote the various Popes and Monks and Priests and Luther would say I have a Pope that\u2019s higher than all of them and that\u2019s Paul in the book of Galatians. That\u2019s what he stood on and gave us, this great doctrine, we\u2019re justified by faith alone.\n\nWell, then Luther looked at the book of James which says, \u201cYou see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.\u201d [James 2:24] And Luther started to attack the book of James. In fact, in The Luther Bible he put James in the very back, like in the Index section, and he would say things about the book of James, that it is an epistle of straw, he would do these ad hominin attacks against the book of James because at first glance, when you read it, it seems to contradict justification by faith alone.\n\nBut may I just say to you that Luther, at least in his interaction with the book of James, had it wrong because James and Paul are friends, they are not enemies if you understand that James and Paul are answering different questions. If you think James and Paul in Galatians are dealing with the same question then it looks like they contradict each other and that was Luther\u2019s mistake. James and Paul are not asking and answering the same question; James and Paul are asking and answering different questions. And when you understand the different questions these two biblical writers are dealing with then James and Paul become very good friends and not enemies at all.\n\nWhat is Paul dealing with in the book of Galatians? He is dealing with self-righteous Judaism. He\u2019s dealing with people that think they can earn justification or favor from God through good works. And Paul is attacking that, attacking that, attacking that. What is James dealing with? The same question? Not at all. James is dealing with what we would call dead orthodoxy. James is not even getting into the issue as to whether his audience is saved; the saved status of the audience is presumed all the way through the book of James. That\u2019s why he calls them \u201cmy brethren\u201d all the way through the book. That\u2019s why he says in James 1:2-4 your faith is being tested. [James 1:2-4, \u201cConsider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, [3] knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. [4] And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.\u201d]\n\nYou can\u2019t have your faith tested unless you have it to test. See? That\u2019s why he calls them, James 1:18, \u201cborn from above.\u201d Over in James 4:5 he tells them that they have the Holy Spirit inside of them. James 4:5 says, \u201cOr do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: \u2018He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us\u2019?\u201d Notice the word \u201cus,\u201d James says I\u2019m saved, by using the word \u201cus\u201d he\u2019s saying you\u2019re saved, the Holy Spirit is in you.\n\nSo James is not dealing with people that are trying to get saved through good works. James is dealing with people that are saved, they\u2019re going to heaven but God is not using them the way He wants to. And that\u2019s what we call dead orthodoxy, people that have their fire insurance paid up, they\u2019re going to heaven but the Lord wants to do so much more through their lives to reach others, and the Lord, for whatever reason can\u2019t use a person because they haven\u2019t grown.\n\nSo Paul is dealing with self-righteousness Judaism, doing good works to get saved; James is not dealing with that question at all. He\u2019s dealing with what we would call dead orthodoxy. Both men, Paul and James, use the word justification but they mean different things through the use of that same word. When Paul uses the word justification he\u2019s talking about the declaration of innocence before God, like a jury verdict, that a person receives the moment they trust in Christ.\n\nWhen James uses the word justification, remember the verse, James 2:24, \u201cYou see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.\u201d James isn\u2019t talking about a declaration of innocence before God, he\u2019s talking about the evidence of the usefulness of somebody\u2019s faith, not before God but before man. So he\u2019s not questioning whether these people have faith, what he\u2019s questioning is before man, not before God, before man is their faith useful, is God using them to reach others.\n\nBoth Paul and James love the book of Genesis. When Paul quotes the book of Genesis he typically counts, in Genesis 15:6, \u201cAbraham believed God and it was credited to him unto righteousness.\u201d James quotes that verse 2 but that\u2019s not his primary text. When James quotes the book of Genesis he quotes Genesis 22; remember what happened in Genesis 22? Abraham was willing to what? Sacrifice Isaac. So Genesis 15:6 is when Abraham got saved, or justified before God. Genesis 22 is when Abraham\u2019s faith became what? Useful and it was justified before man, because he did something tangible, he was willing (at God\u2019s command) to sacrifice Isaac. And there are seven chapters, are there not according to my old math, between Genesis 15 and Genesis 22.\n\nAnd beyond that, who knows how many years elapsed in between those two chapters. How many years elapsed between Abraham\u2019s initial salvation, Genesis 15:6 and then Genesis 22 when Abraham was willing to offer Isaac? Twenty years. What is that teaching? It\u2019s teaching it took about two decades, or twenty years, for Abraham\u2019s faith to no longer be just dead orthodoxy but actually productive. Was Abraham saved and going to heaven between Genesis 15 and Genesis 22? Absolutely! But he did not become justified before man in terms of useful faith, productive faith, a faith that\u2019s not just existent but a faith that works, that God can use until Genesis 22.\n\nAnd see, I think we have an unrealistic expectation we place on the new believer. We say you\u2019re saved, man, you\u2019d better start producing fruit pronto. And if they don\u2019t start producing fruit pronto, by the way, we never define to them what the fruit is they\u2019re supposed to produce, they\u2019re supposed to figure that out on their own, but if they don\u2019t start measuring up to some standard then we all sit around and say well, I don\u2019t think so and so is a believer. I don\u2019t think so and so is saved. When in reality it took Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, seven chapters or twenty years for his faith to become productive.\n\nSo, you know, I\u2019m just kind of the view that we ought to cut people a little bit of slack here and quit putting, unloading dump trucks of unrealistic expectations on people. I mean, let\u2019s get back to the Word of God and start looking at these things biblically. When Paul uses the word \u201cfaith\u201d he\u2019s talking about justification but guess what? The faith by which you were justified before God, you\u2019ve got to trust Him for next month\u2019s mortgage payment too, don\u2019t you? Or you get laid off from your job, the same faith that saved you, you\u2019re now going to have to keep trusting the Lord to get you through the next emergency, and the next emergency, so now your faith that saves is now being stretched and it\u2019s now contributing, not to your justification, which is a done deal, but to your what? Progressive sanctification.\n\nPeter was saved, wasn\u2019t he? And then Jesus says okay, I\u2019m going to walk out here on the water, the Sea of Galilee, and I want you to walk out with me, or come out to me. Actually Peter asked the Lord to come out, if I remember the story right. So Peter is walking out on the water to the Lord and as long as his eyes are on the Lord everything is fine. But then he looks at the wind and the waves so his eyes are off the Lord, and he starts to what? Sink! Now at the point of sinking are we going to say Peter is not a believer? Of course not, of course he\u2019s a believer. His faith failed, though, not in his justification, which was a done deal, but in his what? Sanctification! So James is talking about faith in the sanctification sense; Paul is talking about faith in the justification sense.\n\nBoth men, Paul and James, like to use the word \u201cworks\u201d but they mean two totally different things by it. When Paul uses the word \u201cworks\u201d he\u2019s talking about people that think they can curry God\u2019s favor by good works, and Paul condemns it. When James uses the word \u201cworks\u201d he\u2019s talking about the believer\u2019s moral deeds and he\u2019s trying to encourage that in people to get them away from simply dead orthodoxy. So if you understand that James and Paul are addressing different issues then the so-called contradiction that Luther believed existed between Paul and James quickly disappears.\n\nSee, here\u2019s what the whole thing looks like. And this is what the story of Abraham really is designed to tells us. A person hears the gospel and they get saved, they are justified before God at that point; it\u2019s a done deal, their position is eternally settled. But then God begins to grow them up, He starts to bring them to maturity, usually through trials and things like that. He gets them in an environment where they can be taught correctly. He gets them into the spiritual disciplines, like praying and reading the Bible, worship, those kind of things. And what happens is a person starts to grow and they start to develop, and then they reach a point where God actually starts using them to bless other people.\n\nSo Paul is dealing with the front end of the equation, James is dealing with the back end of the equation. And if you understand that they\u2019re asking and answering two different questions then the contradiction between James and Paul disappears. I mean, the doctrine of salvation is a glorious thing, it\u2019s not just hearing the gospel and trusting in Christ so I won\u2019t have to go to hell; it\u2019s growing to the point of usefulness. James is dealing with the usefulness side of the equation, Paul is dealing primarily, not exclusively, but primarily with the front end of the equation, how do you get your foot in the door to begin with. There\u2019s no contradiction between James and Paul at all.\n\nBut if you don\u2019t understand that they are touching different sides of the doctrine they look like they contradict each other. It\u2019s like taking three people and you blindfold them and you have them touch an elephant. Think of three blindfolded men touching different parts of an elephant. And one guy has a blindfold on and he\u2019s got the elephant\u2019s trunk and he\u2019s trying to explain what he\u2019s touching, he says it feels like a giant tube. And then another guy is touching the elephant\u2019s foot, and he\u2019s touching the elephant\u2019s toes and he says I feel five lumps here. And then another guy has got his hand on the elephant\u2019s side, he\u2019s blindfolded, and he says it feels like a giant wall.\n\nSo you\u2019ve got a tube, five lumps and a giant wall. Now at first glance you would think man, those guys are all contradicting each other, until everybody\u2019s blindfold is taken off and you realize they\u2019re not contradicting each other at all because all they are doing is touching different sides of the same animal. See? No contradiction whatsoever. That\u2019s how to understand Paul and James; it\u2019s not to pit them against each other, it\u2019s to understand that they are asking and answering two totally different questions.\n\nSo works do not come at the front end of the equation to curry favor before God; they come with spiritual growth and maturity and usefulness. And so when we run into these passages dealing with works we have to put works in their proper place. And always try to harmonize the more obscure passages with the clear ones. For example, notice Galatians 3:11, to me this is a very clear passage. \u201cNow that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident;\u201d let me read that again, \u201cNow that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident\u201d for it is written, here\u2019s the Luther verse, \u201cTHE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.\u2019\u201d So it\u2019s very clear here that we are not justified before God through good works.\n\nTake a look at Romans 3:20 for a second, \u201cbecause by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.\u201d So it\u2019s very clear here we\u2019re not justified before God by good works.\n\nTake a look at Romans 3:28, \u201cFor we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from\u201d what? \u201cworks of the Law.\u201d And when he keeps saying \u201cworks of the Law\u201d he\u2019s dealing with religious folks, in this case religious Jews. Paul knew all about these kinds of people being a recovering Pharisee himself. Right? He spent his whole life thinking that I\u2019ve got to do X, Y and Z to get God\u2019s favor; that\u2019s what these Pharisees were teaching. Paul was saying you can\u2019t get God\u2019s favor that way, you only enter into the favor of God through faith alone.\n\nSo Ephesians 2:10, James 2:14-26 need to be understood in light of these very clear passages. However, we do not throw out Ephesians 2:10 or James 2:14-26, we simply put them in their right orbit, on the back end of the equation dealing with somebody who\u2019s been saved for a long time and is now arriving at a place of maturity where they\u2019re no longer just in dead orthodoxy but they\u2019ve grown to the point where God is actually using them to expand His purposes upon the earth.\n\nSo repent does not contradict God\u2019s one condition of salvation as we\u2019ve explained it. Lordship does not contradict God\u2019s one condition of salvation as we\u2019ve explained it. Receive or accept Christ does not contradict God\u2019s one condition of salvation as we have explained it. And works do not contradict God\u2019s one condition of salvation as we explained it, when we put works in their proper place in the doctrine of salvation, not on the front end but on the back end.\n\nAnd I was going to get into this tonight but I\u2019m out of time so we will save it, not for next week because we won\u2019t be here, but the following week, the whole controversy about baptism, because there are some passages at first glance that look like if you\u2019re not baptized (I\u2019m talking about water baptism now) you\u2019re not a Christian. And I\u2019ll show you how to navigate through those. As a matter of fact, in the state of Washington, at this last conference I was at, I got cornered by a guy who started to what I call asking statements, what he was asking me questions but he really wanted to weave in his little angle on things you know. And what he was really getting at is you have to be baptized, water baptized, to get to heaven. And he took me to 1 Peter 3:21 and some of the others. [1 Peter 3:31, \u201cCorresponding to that, baptism now saves you\u2014not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience\u2014through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.\u201d]\n\nAnd if you don\u2019t work your way through these passages you\u2019ll be kind of unsettled by them because at first glance they look like you\u2019ve got to be baptized to get to heaven but I\u2019ll show you that those passages are not teaching that. We\u2019re not marginalizing baptism at all, we think it\u2019s a sign of obedience to be water baptized. It just is not what we would call salvific.\n\nYou know, if a person receives Christ and then drive home in their car from the camp meeting where they received Christ, and they never get baptized, we don\u2019t teach that such a person will go to hell. We\u2019ll talk about that next time. Anyway, I\u2019m done talking, you guys need to go get your kids, you can do that, it\u2019s 8:00 sharp, and if anybody has any questions we can try to answer those.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t