The Difference Is Grace

Thursday morning I got to the coffee shop early. I spoke to the barista about his upcoming international trip and how I handled my vaccinations before my first trip abroad. Like the fellow at the Chinese restaurant here in town, the barista doesn’t even ask my order any more...I guess I'm predictable (caffe americano and a muffin or scone). I like to eat before the rest of the guys arrive. Talking through Berkhof’s a bit easier when I’m not eating. I opened my Bible. The previous evening we’d finished the Revelation in Bible study. While eating, I turned to Revelation and then Isaiah.

“And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

“Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1).

(We’d been in Isaiah 54:5-13 the week before while studying Revelation 21:1-22:5.)

I kept reading through Isaiah 55 and came to a passage I’ve quoted countless times over the years:

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.

‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts’” (55:8,9).

Reading it Thursday morning, though, I realized that this passage teaches God’s absolute difference from us as it relates to the Gospel’s free gift.

“‘Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.

Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

Incline your ear, and come to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live...’

...seek the Lord while He may be found,
Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.

‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.

‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:1-3,6-9).

The Gospel is not natural to our fallen race. Every religion other than that of the Bible is works-based. Even the religion of naturalistic evolution is works-based (the strong survive). We believe we must work to save ourselves or to keep ourselves alive in this world. In this belief-system shared by everyone from the Muslim to the atheistic biologist to the Mormon to the Buddhist, human beings stand in solidarity. And God is utterly different. Salvation with human beings is impossible; only God can save (Matthew 19:26//Mark 10:27//Luke 18:27). This is the context of Isaiah 55. The Gospel, or Good News, is that God does the impossible by freely giving a gracious salvation to those who hear His command to repent: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord” (compare with Matthew 3:2,8; 4:17; Mark 1:15; 6:12; Luke 3:8; 5:32; 13:3,5; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30; 26:20). He freely gives grace: “...He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon...”

God is different because of grace. We think we must earn our salvation, yet we cannot. We fight His offer of the gift, trying to make Him like us in a million different ways. But it’s a gift. A gift we cannot earn. Ever. This is the absolute difference between God and man, and it is a difference we must accept if we are to be saved.

It is Gospel, or Good News:

• “...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith” (Romans 3:22-25).
• “...the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s [Adam] offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned [Adam]. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s [Adam] offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)” (Romans 5:15-17).
• “...the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
• “...by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8).

Assurance in Christ and the Works of the Law

Got back to one of the books in my large “half-read” pile this week: Mark Jones’ Antinomianism.

Dr. Jones, in describing the role of obedience in our assurance, offers this syllogism:

“Major Premise: Those who keep God’s commandments love Christ.

Minor Premise: By the grace of God, I keep God’s commandments.

Conclusion: I love Christ” (pg. 103).

(For the scriptural support for the major premise, see Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10; 7:9; 11:1; 30:16; Joshua 22:5; Nehemiah 1:5; Daniel 9:4; John 14:15,21-24; 15:10-14; 1 John 2:3-5; 5:2,3.)

Jones then points to Westminster Confession of Faith 16.1,2 as the reflective of this syllogism: “Good works are only such as God hath commanded in His holy Word, and not such as, without the warrant whereof, are devised by men out of blind zeal, or upon any pretense of good intention. These good works, done in obedience to God’s commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith: and by them believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God, Whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto, that, having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end, eternal life” (emphasis mine).

One assurance that we are saved in Christ is our desire to do what the Bible commands for our lives. How do we know that Christ is our Lord unto salvation, and that our confession is true (Romans 10:9)? We honor Him as Lord by obeying His commands and embrace His commission to teach other disciples to do the same (Matthew 28:18-20).

There is a dangerous side to this, of course, that deserves mention. What about those who are vainly pursuing a non-Christian salvation? It is only biblical Christianity that seeks salvation solely through faith in the accomplished work of salvation, apart from obedience to the moral Law. All world religions and non-biblical “christian-esque” religions seek salvation through works. This is the “impossible” human salvation spoken of by Jesus (Matthew 19:25,26//Mark 10:26,27//Luke 18:26,27). No one is justified by the works of the Law (Romans 3:20,28; Galatians 2:16; 3:11; 5:4).

Some others may seek salvation through impressive spiritual deeds that are not commanded by the Law. Remember the confession that true good works are those “commanded in His holy Word...done in obedience to God’s commandments.” Consider the words of the Lord concerning “false prophets” (Matthew 7:15) with impressive spiritual resumes: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; [as it says in Psalm 6:8,] depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Neither Law-keeping nor good spiritual deeds will achieve salvation. Only by faith in Christ’s all-sufficiency will God “reckon...righteousness” to us (Genesis 15:6; cf. Romans 4:3,9,22; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23). The Law’s role is to lead us to Christ. It does this by showing us our sinfulness and the only atonement for that sin – Jesus Christ’s self-sacrifice (Romans 3:19,20; 7:7-12; Galatians 3:19-25; 1 Timothy 1:8-11).

But what role does the Law play after our salvation? This is not an easy issue, and has been one of much controversy throughout Church history. I don’t pretend to be the one to solve it to everyone’s satisfaction, but Dr. Jones’ (and the W.C.F.’s) connection between Christian Law-keeping and assurance was worth highlighting.

This Christian obedience, while a reason for assurance, is not to be a cause for our boast or self-confidence (sadly, many confuse spiritual self-confidence with assurance). We are sealed in the new covenant by the blood of Jesus (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25) – the precious reminder of our observance of the Lord’s Supper. We don’t hold ourselves there by our good works. We are held there by the sacrifice of Christ. One of the promises of the new covenant is God’s work in putting His Law on our hearts and a desire/ability to obey:

• “Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). Apart from the work of God Himself on the human heart, we could not obey the “greatest commandment” (Deuteronomy 6:5; cf. Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:33; Luke 10:27).
• “‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’” (Jeremiah 31:31-34; cf. Hebrews 8:8-12; 10:16,17). We lay claim to this promise when we observe the Lord’s Supper, since (as we’ve already seen above), with the cup we pronounce our sealing in this “new covenant” by the blood of Jesus.
• “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me” (Jeremiah 32:38-40). There is a connection between the fear of the LORD and obedience to the Law (Deuteronomy 17:19; 28:58; 31:12).
• “And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19,20).
• “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

All of these passages teach a God-created obedience from the heart in His true people. In this way, obedience to God’s moral Law is a source of assurance, since it is the work of God Himself.

While the passages above were from the Old Testament, Christian obedience as a gracious work of God is a common New Testament theme, as well. I love these verses and quote them often. We need this constant reminder to daily kill the Pharisee in us all (that part of ourselves tempted to take pride in the good works, Luke 18:11,12):

• “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God” (John 3:21).
• “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as 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 so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
• “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12,13).
• “Now the God of peace, Who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20,21).

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine...because in Him this Law-breaker loves His Law and desires to obey Him as my Lord by the power of His Spirit, to the glory of His Father.

Trust and Obey Has Always Been the Way

“...the law is not of faith...” (Galatians 3:12). The Law of Moses, the Law of the old covenant, is usually placed in stark contradiction with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the new covenant. The old covenant is described as a works-based covenant, which means that it is obedience alone that is the burden on the covenant people. It certainly seems that this description is accurate.

“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live...” (Deuteronomy 4:1; cf. Romans 10:5). But was the primary command of the Law of the old covenant truly obedience? For several reasons, I’d like to suggest that this is far too simplistic of a proposition.

First, “the just shall live by faith” is not first found in the New Testament, but the Old Testament – Habakkuk 2:4.

Second, the caricature of an idea that the Law was sheer obedience alone overlooks the fact that in the Law God commanded love from the heart (Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 30:6).

Third, when God condemned the people under the Mosaic covenant, it was because of their failure to believe, or have faith, that they were condemned:

• “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will this people despise Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?’” (Numbers 14:11).
• “The LORD your God Who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place. Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God, Who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go” (Deuteronomy 1:30-32).
• “And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and did not believe Him or obey His voice’” (Deuteronomy 9:23).
• “Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, ‘Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by My servants the prophets.’ But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God” (2 Kings 17:13,14).
• “He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God...they did not believe in God and did not trust His saving power...in spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe...their heart was not steadfast toward Him; they were not faithful to His covenant” (Psalm 78:5-8,22,32,37).
• “...they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in His promise” (Psalm 106:24).
• “For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:16-19).
• “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, Who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5).

Perhaps we should be careful about how we understand Paul’s statement in Galatians 3:12. The Law, after all, is “holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good,” and even “spiritual” (Romans 7:12,14). For this and the reasons above, it would seem wise to consider a carefully nuanced approach to the differences between the old and new covenants. Both require faith. And even the new covenant has strong obedience commands (Matthew 28:20; John 14:15; 15:10; 1 John 2:3; 3:22; 5:3; Revelation 12:17; 14:12). There’s even an interesting echo of Deuteronomy 4:1 in Paul’s language: “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).

Of course there are differences between the covenants, differences that should not be minimized. But let’s not treat the covenants as if they were night-and-day cartoons, in yin and yang opposition.

God has always required His covenant people to be humbly faithful to Him from the heart, and has always required that faith to bear the fruit of obedience.

Trust and obey.

Help Us See Grace

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing [παιδεύουσα] us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:11-14).

Holy Spirit, use Your Word to shape our understanding of grace, that it may not be a tool to quiet our consciences as we live like the world, but that grace would be seen as a disciplining, correcting, loving work of God to make us long for Him and to live to be instruments for His work in the world.