Tag Archives: Works

Saved To Good Works

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FromGloryToGlory3

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

“And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matthew 19:17

Only God can do good works. God has called us to this.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:10

For this reason, God does His Works through us by grace through faith.

Faith comes by hearing. He speaks. We acknowledge Him. He directs our paths. Faith comes and gives access to His grace. Grace does His Works. If we get involved, other than our responsibility to yield our members to His free gift of Righteousness, we would just frustrate the grace of God. God doesn’t need our intervention. He needs our submission, since He won’t force Himself on anyone.

Secularists are people who can’t deal with the reality of the righteousness of God. Because they love darkness rather than light, they reject God and His Righteousness. They then end up rejecting all Divine revelation. Without Divine revelation, pretending is the only other option for interpretation of Scripture, Creation, or experience. That may be a shock, especially to Secularists. It won’t be that much of a shock to any Christ-follower who has tried to reason with a Secularist.

Sound reason requires a true premise and a conclusion that follows from the premise. For a conclusion to follow from a premise, nothing can be added to or diminished from the premise on the way to the conclusion. The Secularist runs into a problem in trying to prove a premise true. Denying Divine revelation, the Secularist doesn’t have that option. The Secularist can simply declare the premise true based on his own or another human authority. This is the axiomatic thinking fallacy. That’s a fancy word for pretending and thinking that make-believe is real. The Secularist can use circular reasoning, infinite regression, personal attacks, or hundreds of other methods to make make-believe seem real.

However, the Secularist isn’t having an intellectual problem other than trying to establish human intellect as a god of some sort. The Secularist is having a righteousness problem. Salvation is to God’s Righteousness and from human sin. Secularists love darkness rather than light. Because all Righteousness must come from God, the Secularist’s human-righteousness is evil and filthy rags. Only repentance and turning to Christ can save them from their insanity.

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Righteousness to Holiness

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RighteousnessToHoliness

“Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.” Romans 6:19b This is how it works. “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” Romans 14:23b “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous” 1 John 3:7a “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them–yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” 1 Corinthians 15;10 “gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” (Romans 5:2 in part) “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word (literally, utterance) of God.” Romans 10:17 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

GodSpeaks-Faith-Righteousness-Holiness

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Moralism

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Rules

During the 1800s, a group of Christians set out to teach morals without Christ, which makes no sense for several reasons. For one thing, it’s the logical fallacy of moralism. Without the Divine Law-Giver, all morals would be a matter of opinion. There would be no absolutes. More importantly, people without Christ need Christ. They don’t need a false sense of righteousness by obeying some rules, however well they might be able to obey them. They would not obey the Law perfectly, which is what would be required. Besides, they would be disobeying God by rejecting Christ. The Law won’t help them at all, except to demonstrate to them that they have fallen short and need Christ. Righteousness is a free gift, part of the salvation that comes from Christ. We are saved from sin to righteousness. That’s what salvation is. What people in sin need is Christ. Christ will then become their righteousness, holiness, and redemption. (Romans 1:30)

Righteousness is a free gift, part of the salvation that comes from Christ. Grace is the power of God to do His righteousness through us. Grace can only be accessed through faith. Faith only comes through the rhema of God when we acknowledge Him. We are saved from sin to righteousness by grace, which is through faith. That’s what salvation is. What people in sin need is Christ. One person, who was actively involved in this particular sin, said that she was a Christian. She needs to follow Christ. If she follows Christ, she’ll walk right out of this sin. That’s what every Christian needs to do if they want to leave their various sins behind themselves.

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Theological Constraints

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God Is Here to Teach

I used to think that God gave us the Bible and sort of an intermittent leading of the Holy Spirit, mostly leading us to try to figure out the Scripture with our human minds. I thought that God was leading me in a greater understanding of His word and leading me to apply this understanding in my life. At that time, I defined “understanding” as a construct of theology. The problem was that it was me applying a theological construct in my life rather than me submitting to the Holy Spirit as He led and taught me moment by moment, bringing Scripture to mind as it applied or reaching me through my conscience and giving me the faith of God which gives me access to God’s grace, then submitting the members of my body to His Anointing so that He does His works through me. Instead, I was trying to think His thoughts, say His words, and do His works by human effort rather than the moving of the Holy Spirit. This resulted in me trying to figure out the Scripture with my fallen human mind and to apply it to my life on a moment-by-moment basis using my fallen human mind. That didn’t work. It frustrated the grace of God.
 
One thing that God has shown me very clearly is that the human mind can’t be trusted. It’s deceitful and desperately wicked. While Christians are supposed to moving from glory to glory, we have not yet arrived at the full completion. I know that every denomination claims to have arrived. One says that they “teach the Word of God in its truth and purity.” Another says that it is the “full gospel.” Yet, God has much more for us all. He says, “Call unto me and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”
 
Every human mind is in the condition of being deceitful and desperately wicked. Mine is no better than yours. Groups of people of like minds bind together, but that doesn’t make their group-think any better than anyone else’s group-think. If we make a single assumption while interpreting Scripture, we have added to God’s Words. Rather, the Holy Spirit speaks to us through Scripture and through every means of speaking to us that He mentions in Scripture. He will correct us. Yet, we can resist His correction and yet remain Christians. Not only can we, but we do.
 
Every one of us has a worldview, a paradigm. That paradigm is a fake reality. It seems just like real reality. In fact, it seems more real, to us, than real reality. By it, we filter real reality, accepting some things that God is showing us and rejecting others. Worldviews, are conceptual. They are not reality. Part of your worldview and part of my worldview is our concept of Scripture. Related to that is a part of our worldviews that consist of our theologies. Theologies are always conceptual. They are not reality. They seem real, though. Often, theologies seem as if they were Scripture itself. They are not. They are conceptual frameworks that filter what the Holy Spirit can tell us through Scripture. When a brother or sister in Christ says something by the Holy Spirit that conflicts with our inner worldviews, it often seems to us as if they are saying something that conflicts with Scripture. We might even accuse them of saying things that conflict with Scripture when the Holy Ghost has merely challenged our worldviews. This is our plight. Yet, there is hope. Only the Holy Spirit can set us free from our theological frameworks where they conflict with real reality–however, our fallen natures resist Him. This is very similar to what happens to Scientists when they are looking at the Creation. They fill in the blanks from their worldviews. Their assumptions actually come out of their worldviews. However, they add to what God is saying through Creation just as assumptions from theological worldviews can add to what God is saying through Scripture. Peer reviews don’t work for scientists who limit their peers to those who agree with their own scientific theories. In the same way, peer reviews don’t work for Christians who limit their peers to those who agree with their own theological constructs. I have found that the Holy Spirit instructs me that I must hold my own theology loosely enough that the Holy Spirit is able to correct me and teach me. As Jesus said, “You can’t put new wine in old wineskins.”

 

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Following Christ

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There’s a basic difference between the person who’s following Christ and the person who isn’t following Christ. Both of them still sin. Both of them still have a sinful nature. The person who isn’t following Christ loves the sin, and takes the side of sin and oppose God. As a result, this person dreads God. The person who is following Christ takes God’s side against those sins.

We Christians sometimes get all mixed up on works. Some try to do works to please God–to earn salvation. Others try to do works to pay God back for the fact that God has forgiven them, yet, God says that those works are filthy rags–not much of a gift. Still others don’t think that works are important, since whatever sin they are doing is going to be forgiven anyway. Sometimes, they say that they have the righteousness of Christ imparted to them in a way that doesn’t show in their actions. God says, ”

“The difference between an unconverted man and a converted man is not that one sins and the other does not; but that the one takes part with his cherished sins against a dreaded God, and the other takes part with a reconciled God against his hated sins.” William Arnot

There’s a basic difference between the person who is following Christ and the person who isn’t following Christ. Both of them still sin. Both of them still have a sinful nature. The person who isn’t following Christ loves the sin, and takes the side of sin and oppose God. As a result, this person dreads God. The person who is following Christ takes God’s side against those sins.

We Christians sometimes get all mixed up on works. Some try to do works to please God. Others try to do works to pay God back for the fact that God has forgiven them. Still others don’t think that works are important, since whatever sin they are doing is going to be forgiven anyway. None of these is right.

Works must proceed from God. He must be the One Who initiates them. He must be the One Who does them. That is what happens by grace through faith. God tells us, through Scripture, that it is His grace that does the works. God tells us, through Scripture, that faith gives us access into this grace. God tells us, through Scripture, that faith comes by hearing God’s rhema. Rhema is a Greek word that means utterance. It’s the utterance of God. While Scripture is the utterance of God, Scripture also mentions several ways that God speaks to us. We call this being led by the Spirit. When we obey Christ, we are keeping pace with the Spirit. However, the only way that we can obey is to first acknowledge Christ and then yield to the Spirit of Christ so that God can do His works through us. We Christians do this all the time without really thinking much about what has happened. We pray about something. Suddenly, we know what we’re supposed to do. When we turn to do it, the doors open for us and we find a sense of having done the will of God. Yet, pride doesn’t flood in. We feel humbled and we feel as if we have yielded to the Spirit of God that that God deserves all the glory.” (1 John 3:7) Yet, Paul said that he didn’t frustrate the grace of God. What did Paul mean?

Works must proceed from God. He must be the One Who initiates them. He must be the One Who does them. That is what happens by grace through faith. God tells us, through Scripture, that it is His grace that does the works. God tells us, through Scripture, that faith gives us access into this grace. God tells us, through Scripture, that faith comes by hearing God’s rhema. Rhema is a Greek word that means utterance. It’s the utterance of God. While Scripture is the utterance of God, Scripture also mentions several ways that God speaks to us. We call this being led by the Spirit. When we obey Christ, we are keeping pace with the Spirit. However, the only way that we can obey is to first acknowledge Christ and then yield to the Spirit of Christ so that God can do His works through us. We Christians do this all the time without really thinking much about what has happened. We pray about something. Suddenly, we know what we’re supposed to do. When we turn to do it, the doors open for us and we find a sense of having done the will of God. Yet, pride doesn’t flood in. We feel humbled and we feel as if we have yielded to the Spirit of God that that God deserves all the glory.

We are saved from sin. We are saved to good works. Good works come from our good God. We are His yielded vessels through whom He can move and work. If we resist Him, He will forgive, but we must not resist Him. There are consequences. When God leads and then does His works through us, this is righteousness. It’s not our own righteousness. It’s the imparted righteousness of Christ. Righteousness leads to holiness. Holiness is a condition of being like Christ. It’s a condition of having Christ formed in you and in me. We are encouraged to build Christ up. As we build Christ up, we die to the old Adam, the fleshly person. The flesh has less influence. The Holy Spirit has more influence. Some of the old sins that so easily tempted us begin to drop away. However, the opposite is also true. If we willingly sin, we become more enslaved by sin. We are set free from the Holy Spirit. What good does that do us? Satan promises satisfaction, but he never delivers. “I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness.” Psalm 17:15

 

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Works by Grace through Faith

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Only by grace can we do any works that aren’t filthy rags. In fact, grace does the works of God. We access grace by faith or through faith. Faith is a gift of God. We can’t work it up from ourselves. It comes when we hear the rhema of God. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1-2 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema) of God.” Romans 10:17 “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:10 “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on (literally into) him whom he hath sent.” John 6:28-29

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