Confidence Only in Christ - 260106

Hello, I'm Christopher Peterson, welcome to Let God Speak. The most unbelievable part of the Bible is its central theme.

That God saves guilty sinners without their contributing anything.

Or as great scholars and theologians have described it, salvation is by grace alone.

But why is this beautiful message of salvation so difficult to comprehend?

Why do people continually fall into the trap of relying on themselves for salvation?

How can we avoid this temptation and be found in Jesus?

Stay with us as we uncover answers to all these questions and more.

Join me on the panel today, Rosanna Loretta and Alan Fisher. Let's just begin with prayer before we start.

Dear Heavenly Father, it's always a privilege to come and read from your Word.

We pray the Holy Spirit give us wisdom, understanding, insight and clarity as we read it together.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

So today we're exploring the theme of salvation and how it's through faith and by grace that God provides.

And that we can't contribute our own works or anything towards that end.

But it seems to be something that people struggle with so much.

Even throughout history people have wrestled with this concept.

So Alan, I'd like to begin by asking you why do we struggle to understand this concept so much?

Well, it's not that the Bible isn't clear about it.

I read here from Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace you have been saved through faith.

And that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, less than anyone should boast.

So that's quite clear, but that it's God's grace, which means an undeserved gift.

But we always seem to want to do something ourselves.

It's a feeling that we have to earn our way, pay our own way.

I guess it could come down to pride.

But yeah, there's an example in the Bible isn't there of Cain and Abel.

Remember Abel was willing to give the Lamb sacrifice.

It was a symbol of Christ's sacrifice.

But Abel wanted to do his own thing. He brought his own fruit and vegetables that he'd grown.

And yeah, it's an example of what we're talking about, isn't it?

Sure, yes. Cain puts all this trust in what he can bring. Abel brings that Lamb offering.

And of the two, it's only Abel's sacrifice that is accepted because of its symbolic value of representing Jesus.

Really, it's pointing forward to what Jesus did.

So to me, that story just shows how pride is such a dangerous trap.

When we're not humble enough to recognize our need of a Savior.

When we're so proud, we actually miss out on the gift of salvation.

So Rosanna, I'm thinking surely, if this is a part of the human condition, if it's rooted in our pride,

there must be examples throughout history where people have made this mistake,

putting their trust in themselves instead of in Jesus.

What are some examples of that?

Yes, sadly, there are many examples.

Perhaps one of the most prominent might be that of the Roman Catholic Church's teachings on salvation.

By saying that humanity can be infused with goodness and righteousness through the sacraments,

they set the expectation that people can earn their way to heaven by doing enough good works.

That's why the Catholic Church also teaches the doctrine of purgatory,

that being a place where people might go who haven't been condemned to hell,

but haven't done enough good to get to heaven.

And so that leads then to the selling of indulgences,

which is something they did to say that they would say,

which supposedly transferred the good works of the dead saints to those in purgatory,

and then they could go to heaven.

And actually, that's what inspired Martin Luther's rereading of the Bible and rediscovery

that salvation is not actually coming from our good works,

but rather us trusting in Jesus and his perfect works and what he's done to give us salvation.

Yes, and we're very privileged to, I suppose, continue on that reformation that Luther began

with that re-emphasis on, it's not priests and cardinals that hold salvation in the palm of their hand,

it's Christ alone who holds that, and you can go straight to Him to get it.

You don't need to go anywhere else.

So it is. It's just very sad that for centuries,

the church that claimed to represent Christ misunderstood the central theme of the Bible so much,

they misunderstood and mistought salvation in the doctrine of the gospel.

It makes me wonder, Alan, are there any examples, even earlier in history,

in biblical times, where people struggled with this concept?

Can we read an example of this in Scripture?

Yeah, well, it was a problem in the early Christian church.

If we look in Acts 15 and verse 1, it says,

certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren that unless you are circumcised

according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.

Like the church started off with Jews, but as Gentiles started to be converted,

some of the Jews said, well, they've got to be circumcised according to the law of Moses,

and it became such a big issue that they had to call a special council that we read about here in Acts 15

to try and settle the issue.

And they just said that the Gentiles didn't have to be circumcised to be saved,

but the problem didn't go away.

The problem lingered and much of what Paul wrote in his letters is answering this problem.

So, we're going to dive into those letters.

Of course, we're exploring the book of Philippians together.

So, let's read a bit about that in Philippians chapter 3,

and I'm going to read through the first three verses in this chapter where, again,

Paul is having to address this issue of, people keep saying, you have to do this,

do that to be saved, you have to be circumcised, and Paul really wants to hammer home,

not only the decision affirmed at that council in Acts 15,

but what he believes is truth directly from God.

So, let's read this together, Philippians chapter 3.

The Apostle Paul writes, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.

For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.

Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation.

For we are of the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit,

rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

Rosanna, as I'm reading through these verses, I'm wondering what is Paul's impression

of those who are saying you have to be circumcised to be saved.

Well, he's giving a very urgent warning, isn't he?

He says, beware three times. I mean, there's nowhere else in the Bible

where beware is written three times in a row like this.

He must be feeling pretty serious about this sentiment.

He emphasises that this teaching only comes from evil workers, from false teachers.

And one other thing that catches my eyes, not only the urgency of warning of the false teachers,

but it sounds like he's referring to circumcision as mutilation.

Now, this is really strange because in the whole Old Testament,

circumcision was the sign between God and his covenant people.

So, Alan, how do we reconcile how valuable circumcision was in the Old Testament?

And here, Paul saying, we're not part of that group who say you have to mutilate yourself through circumcision.

What are we to make of that, Alan?

Well, that's the very point, isn't it?

Circumcision was a special thing for the nation of Israel.

But now I'm Christ had established a new covenant that extended to everybody,

not just to a single nation.

And so, circumcision wasn't significant anymore.

It passed away when the Jews stopped being the chosen people.

At slight in the Old Testament, they used to sacrifice lambs,

but they pointed forward to the sacrifice of Christ.

And now that that's come, well, there's no point in killing lambs anymore.

It'll only be meaningless bloodshed.

And something that's always that to me is,

if you were a Jew after the crucifixion of Christ and you brought a lamb to the temple,

in a way that would actually be an expression of disbelief in what Jesus had done.

Because you're saying, well, I believe Jesus is my sacrifice,

but I'm going to keep bringing the lambs.

And you'd want to grab someone that's doing that and say, you don't need to do that.

If you truly believe what Jesus has done, he is that ultimate sacrifice.

So I wonder now, what does Paul mean when he refers to we are those of the circumcision of spirit?

He can't be referring to a physical act, so what does he have in mind?

Yeah, that's right, because he's not referring to a physical act so much as a spiritual attitude.

He explains a little bit more of this in Romans chapter 2, verses 28 and 29.

He says, for he is not a Jew who is one outwardly,

nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh,

but he is a Jew who is one inwardly.

And circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter,

whose praise is not from men, but from God.

So to be a true Jew or truly be in God's covenant,

it doesn't require a physical change so much as a spiritual one.

It requires accepting Jesus as Savior in your heart and worshipping Him in spirit.

And that means you're having faith in God's grace.

Yes.

Now this isn't the first time in the Bible that we encounter this idea of God is working in the heart of people.

That what really matters to God is inside us.

Are there any references before the time of Paul to God saying he's going to work on the human heart?

Yes, one of my favorite verses is in Ezekiel, chapter 36 and verse 26.

And it says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.

I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

And then again in Jeremiah, Jeremiah 31, verse 33.

And God is saying this to his people, but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.

After those days says the Lord, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

And I will be their God and they shall be my people.

So obviously God is so much more concerned with our heart, the state of our heart, than our physical being.

Yes.

And to me it's fascinating that even in both of those examples in Ezekiel, and Jeremiah,

it's God that's doing that work.

God says, I will give you a new heart or I will put my law into your heart.

And so even in these promises, it's simply a matter of the individual trusting that God will do that work.

They are putting faith that God will change and transform the heart.

So coming back to Philippians, this really is a fascinating text where Paul is being very emphatic.

That physical circumcision is not necessary for salvation.

But what else does he have to share?

We've read a little bit of that introduction.

Alan, what more does Paul have to share with us in this chapter?

Well if we go down here to verse four, or really in verse three, he says,

how we rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.

Then he says, though I also might have confidence in the flesh.

If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so.

Circumcised on the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,

the Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning Zealp,

persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law of blameless.

But what things were going to me?

These I have counted lusts for Christ.

So yeah, Paul saying if anyone could boast in his works, it would be me.

But he's done all the things he's been circumcised.

And he was born a Hebrew and saved fourth.

And he was very zealous about it all.

But he said now he counts all that for lust.

And so he's emphasising that even he who of all people could have relied on his works

doesn't do so because he knows it won't save him.

Instead he's given that all up so he can have Christ.

Is the only one who truly can save.

That's a very humbling passage that he shared, isn't it?

Because he recognises if it were a matter of spiritual pedigree, he'd be the top.

He'd be the guy.

And he says, none of that counts for anything.

I'll give up all of that to have Christ's righteousness.

Let's continue reading through this passage.

And maybe Rosetta, do you want to keep reading on for us what more Paul has to share?

Yes, sure.

Yes, so from verse 8 he says,

yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord,

for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ

and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law,

but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith,

that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,

being conformed to His death.

If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

So Paul is reiterating that he counts all things loss, everything, to know Christ and be found in Him.

And the reason he so intensely rejects his own good works is because he knows

that he has no righteousness from his own keeping of the law.

He has not perfectly kept God's law and so the law only reveals his own sin and condemns Him.

He has no hope for salvation found in the law.

Instead he places his trust in the righteousness of Christ through faith because Jesus did perfectly keep the law.

And I guess are there any scriptures that maybe we could go to that talk about this idea of

there's nothing wrong or there's no error, no sin in Jesus that he truly was perfect.

Yes, well David, David himself writes Psalm 51.

And in there he acknowledges his need for God and his presence.

In verse 11 of Psalm 51 he says,

Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous spirit.

So he realizes that he needs Jesus.

He can't do it any other way.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, not something he's earned on his own.

And then in verse 1 and 2 he says,

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness,

according to the multitude of your tender mercies,

brought out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my equity and cleanse me from my sin.

You really recognize that he cannot keep the law perfectly only Jesus can do that.

Yes, that's really the great story of Scripture, isn't it?

You meet character after character and even good men like David fail and fail and fail

and Christ is the only one that perfectly keeps the law of God.

Now I want to come to this idea of,

Are we willing to put away our confidence in ourselves?

You know, we Paul here in Philippians these told us he counts everything lost,

he's putting it all away.

But even as Christians sometimes we can subtly fall into that trap of thinking.

Can't we? That I can do it, I can get there by myself.

So Alan, in reality, how does God see our good works?

Is it possible at all that if we do enough good things,

we might be able to make God happy and He'll give us a pass?

Well, we read over here in Isaiah 64, 6.

But we are all like an unclean thing.

And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.

So that's the way God sees our righteousness.

Everything we do is stay in by sin because we have sinful hearts.

And even when we do good often it's for the wrong motive or for a selfish reason.

And so here as we said, all our righteousness is affected by sin

sufficient to save us at all.

So we have to rely on Christ and His righteousness.

And that reminds me of that story where Jesus is in the temple

and He sees the widow give her one mind and then the priests come in with their huge bags

of offerings to the temple.

That was a good work, right?

That was a good thing that they had done and yet their heart was insincere.

They were doing it for the wrong reasons.

And I think Isaiah, under inspiration, really hit the nail in the head.

Even the good things that we do are often tainted by our own sinful thoughts and nature.

So Rosanna, how is it possible then that we can avoid this trap of trusting in ourselves

and instead look to Jesus? How can we do that?

Well, as we discussed at the beginning, we do struggle to do this because of pride.

So we need to humble ourselves by reading passages like this.

We need to understand that our good works are just filthy rags, unfortunately.

And we can't be saved by works of the law.

And then we recognize our need for salvation and that what's already been done

for the works that have been done needed for salvation, Jesus has already done.

Yeah, Alan, any other thoughts on how we can avoid this trap, this temptation of trusting in ourselves?

Well, Paul gives us another instruction here in Philippians.

If we look down on verse 13 and 14 of chapter 3, he says,

I do not count myself to have apprehended.

And another version says, I haven't laid hold of it, I haven't got hold of it yet.

He says, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ has also laid hold of me.

And brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended.

But one thing I do for getting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

I press toward the gold for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

So once Paul had confessed his sins and knew that he was forgiven,

he didn't let his regrets for his past life hold him back.

He put all that behind him and he's pressing on toward the mark.

Often we get discouraged and sin and think that we've, you know, we're too bad to be saved

we get stuck where we are.

But that's once again, that's looking at ourselves and trusting in ourselves.

Paul's telling us here to press on toward the mark.

Over in Hebrews, we read, don't read this similar thing.

He says to looking unto Jesus, run with patience the race that's set before us.

So yeah, so we don't look at ourselves but look at Jesus and press on to him.

Yes, I find when we're looking at Jesus, we're not looking at ourselves.

And when we're not looking at ourselves, we're less likely to fall into despair.

One of my favorite books is that Christian allegory, The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan.

And the main character named Christian, very difficult to interpret.

What character does this represent?

But Christian, he leaves the city of destruction.

And the first obstacle that he faces is the slough of despondence or despair.

And Bunyan was very clever in making this the first obstacle in his allegory of the Christian journey.

And he recognized that so many people, they know that they're a sinner.

They confess and repent like we discussed in Psalm 51.

But they don't truly believe that God's forgiven them.

And so they look back at their previous sins and mistakes.

They drown in despair and their pilgrimage towards heaven finishes almost before it begins.

And it's only because another character sent by God comes and rescues Christian

that he's able to get past that obstacle.

So as I read Hebrews and Philippians together, these passages,

that's the kind of images that come in my head.

We're being told, don't keep looking back.

Look forward to the future.

Look to Christ and put away the sins of the past.

Put them all in the rearview mirror, so to speak.

So as we're beginning to wrap up, I'd like to ask,

if we're not saved by our works that we do for God,

what role do our good works have in the Christian life?

They have to have some role, so what does that look like?

Well, the first verse we read today was Ephesians 2 verse 8 and 9,

describing the fact that we are saved through faith and by grace.

And so God desires us to understand that first.

But then in verse 10, if we read on, it says,

for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,

which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

So God desires us to do those good works.

And when God made Adam and Eve, he made them perfect

and perfectly able to do good.

And humanity was designed to do good.

And then sin broke us, so now we don't function properly all the time.

Sometimes, but no, definitely not all the time.

And when we are saved, God desires us to walk in those good works

that he always intended for us.

And that word workmanship is a beautiful word.

I mean, it carries the concept that God is always working on us

and molding us to become more like him.

We are his masterpieces, another version of that verse, his masterpiece.

Alan, any other thoughts on what role do good works play in the Christian life?

Well, even the good works that we do,

it's really God is the active one doing it.

Like Philippians going back to chapter 1, verse 6,

he says, being confident of this very thing

that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it

until the day of Jesus Christ.

So it's God's work showing through, not us.

I wanted an amazing promise that God will complete the work in you.

There's one final text I'd like to share as well in 1st John, chapter 2, and verse 3,

that says, now by this we know that we know him, that's God,

if we keep his commandments.

And so I love here that the keeping of God's commandments

isn't what saves an individual, but it's evidence that they have been saved.

And I think that's really a gift or a blessing that God has given to us

that we don't have to stress or be anxious about, am I saved?

Am I a true convert?

God gives us the good works in our life that the Holy Spirit is producing for us to look at.

So we can look and say, yes, I am a true follower of Jesus.

So another way we could say it, good works are the root, but not the fruit of our salvation.

Well, the words of Paul written in the 1st century are still as relevant for us today.

There will always be the temptation to succumb to pride and believe that our own works can save us.

But the letter to the Philippians reveals that error of that thinking

and points us to a better way, to forsake everything, to gain Christ and His righteousness,

and allow Him to produce good works in us.

The question is, are you willing to humble yourself and recognize your need for a Savior?

Will you give up everything to know Jesus and have eternal life and forgiveness?

I hope this study of God's Word has inspired you to make those decisions today.

Thank you for joining us today on Let God Speak.

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