Friday, 19 June 2009

• Currently The Great Exchange: My Sin for His Righteousness By Jerry Bridges, Bob Bevington see related

  An answer

  Ashley asked a great question: "If all we're talking about is the fact that Christ died for the sins we commit every day, what do you see as the motivation for a Christian to attempt to live a sinless life?"

  First, let's look at the purpose of Christ's blood.  Hebrews 9 speaks of the types and shadows of the old sacrificial system...the works that the Israelites did in order to make peace with God, which never actually atoned for anything, but simply pointed to Christ (see Heb. 9:1-10, and elsewhere, if that statement doesn't seem to summarize things properly at first glance).  These washings were, according to Hebrews, "imposed until the time of reformation" (vs. 10).  The phrase "time of reformation" is defined in the very next verse: 

  But when Christ apperared as High Priest of the good things that have come [that is to say, the ceremonial works of the law which pointed to Himself], then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

  So the purpose of Christ's blood was to do what nothing else can do: position us rightly before God, not only justifying us in spite of our sin, but clothing us with the very righteousness of God.  But what is a good work?  A dead work, as we see in the Hebrews passage already quoted, is not dependant upon sincerity of heart.  It is, instead, dependant upon the cleansing of our consciences by the blood of Christ (that is, the Gospel).  Ephesians deals with this somewhat in depth, so we read there, beginning in 2:1:

  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedienc--among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

  The order of events here is important.  First, we are dead in trespasses and sins.  Not sick, not "feeling better."  Dead.  As such, we were under the wrath of God as sons of disobedience, living out what the flesh desired...just as the rest of mankind does, those who do not have faith, a biblical faith, which is in Christ.  But God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive together in Christ and has saved us by grace through faith.  This salvation is not from our own works, which removes any boasting from our lips; instead it is His free gift to us.  And having been saved, we are free do do good works which God has prepared for us to do beforehand, instead of the dead works we used to do before He made us alive in Christ.

  Faith [in Christ] alone saves, but saving faith is never alone.  Where are we supposed to determine if we've been saved?  The litmus test Scripture gives to us is not, did we pray sincerely to accept Jesus into our hearts?  The terminology isn't even biblical, and sincerity, though desirable, isn't the litmus test.  No, we have the fruit of the Spirit and good works to look at, for ourselves, to test to see whether we are in the faith.  So what is a good work?  For a believer, the biblical law tells us what a good work is.  So, honoring our fathers and mothers...that's a good work for believers.  Loving one another as Christ loved the Church...that's a good work for believers.  They are not things that improve our standing with God...instead, they are things that indicate to whom we belong.

  If the objection at this point is that such ideas make for licentious behavior amongst believers, I refer them to Romans 6-8.  All of it, but specifically Romans 6. 

  The motivation toward good works is that I am now a slave to Christ instead of to sin (Romans 6:20-23) and that I am called, by the Gospel, to honor God with my body on the grounds that I was purchased by Christ's blood (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

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