Motivations for Obedience (a comparison - under law and under grace)

Under the Law:
(obedience in response to a warning or command) - THEN

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matt 6:14-15).

"See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God..." (Deut 11:26-28a; cf. 1 Pet 3:8-11)

You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always (Deut 11:1; cf. Matt 22:36-40).

"We have to obey...or else..."


Under Grace:

(obedience in response to all He's done for us) - NOW (Gal 5:18)

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Col 3:12-17).

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.  In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Eph 1:3-14).

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace...Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:1-3; 17-32)

"We are so grateful for all He's done for us that we want to (or should want to!) walk worthy of Him."

Sanctification

How believers would be thrilled if they but understood the Bible doctrine of sanctification!

Sanctification isn't a negative matter: "Don’t do this" and "Don’t do that." Rather, it's the positive truth that God wants us for Himself as a cherished possession, much like a bridegroom considers his bride his very own in a special and cherished way.

Bible sanctification is a twofold truth, affecting both our standing before God and our practical Christian walk while on this earth. 

In one sense every true believer in Christ has already been sanctified, or set aside to God, by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

…God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth… (2 Thes 2: 13).

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit… (1 Pet 1:2).

This has nothing to do with our conduct. God did it. Sanctification begins with Him. This is why Paul could write to even the sinful Corinthian believers and say: 

But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:11; cf. Acts 20:32; 26:18).  

In other words, God has set us apart for Himself.  This phase of sanctification — our standing before God — is based on the redemptive work of Christ in our behalf.

...we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb 10:10).

But now, in response to all He's done for us, God wants us to show our appreciation by conducting ourselves accordingly, setting ourselves apart ever more completely to Him. This is practical, progressive sanctification.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God (1 Thes 4:3-5). 

This is the reason for Paul's benediction... 

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thes 5:23), 

...and why he said to Timothy:

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house,ready for every good work (2 Tim 2:21).

How can believers be more wholly set apart to God in their practical walk? By studying His Word!

Our Lord prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth" (Jn 17:17), 

and Paul declares that, "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word" (Eph 5:25-26).

Galatians 3:1-9

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

 

 

"Justification is the act of God removing from the sinner his guilt and the penalty incurred by that guilt, and bestowing a positive righteousness, Christ Jesus Himself in whom the believer stands, not only innocent and uncondemned, but actually righteous in point of law for time and for eternity. This is what God did for Abraham when he believed Him.  This is what the Judaizers were attempting to merit for themselves by their own good works."

 

"This is a definite statement of the proposition which Paul wishes to prove.  The emphasis is upon the fact that the believing ones are blessed with salvation, rather than those who depend upon good works as the Judaizers did.  The word faithful is added as a descriptive word in order to impress upon the reader that the important thing about Abraham was the fact that he chose the faith way of salvation rather than depend upon personal merit and good works.  The word here does not speak of faithfulness of life in the sense of fidelity, but of the fact that Abraham believed God.  And well might Abraham have depended upon good works, from a purely human standpoint.  Excavations in the city of Ur where Abraham lived, reveal the fact that Abraham was not a wild desert sheik, but an educated, wealthy, sophisticated citizen of the world, a man living in and ostensibly partaking of a state of culture and opulence little dreamed of by the person who is unfamiliar with the ancient civilizations of the past.  Abraham was no ignoramus with a gullible faith.  With all his cultural back ground, and in spite of it, he saw that much of that with which we have to do, is taken upon faith, including the way of salvation.  Those who exercise a like faith to Abraham, share with him in the same salvation which he received from God."

Philippines 3:12-16 - Pressing toward the goal

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.


Scroll down to Brother Paul Stewart - Sunday School - July 14, 2013 here:

http://faithbiblechurch.weebly.com/audio-messages.html

Excellent on how to live "by that same standard to which we have attained."


 

Redeemed

Recently I heard this phrase used:  "We are all in the process of being redeemed."  Can this be true?  Are believers really being bought on the installment plan?

Our English word "redeem" is actually a translation of three Greek words:

Agarazo: to buy at the market.

Ex-agarazo: to buy out of the market.

Lutro: to set free (upon receipt or payment of the ransom price)

The Easton Bible Dictionary explains redemption more fully:

[It is] the purchase back of something that had been lost, by the payment of a ransom. The Greek word so rendered is apolutrosis, a word occurring nine times in Scripture, and always with the idea of a ransom or price paid, i.e., redemption by a lutron (see Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45). There are instances in the LXX. Version of the Old Testament of the use of lutron in man's relation to man (Lev. 19:20; 25:51; Ex. 21:30; Num. 35:31, 32; Isa. 45:13; Prov. 6:35), and in the same sense of man's relation to God (Num. 3:49; 18:15). There are many passages in the New Testament which represent Christ's sufferings under the idea of a ransom or price, and the result thereby secured is a purchase or redemption (comp. Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20; Gal. 3:13; 4:4, 5; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Titus 2:14; Heb. 9:12; 1 Pet. 1:18, 19; Rev. 5:9). The idea running through all these texts, however various their reference, is that of payment made for our redemption. The debt against us is not viewed as simply cancelled, but is fully paid. Christ's blood or life, which he surrendered for them, is the "ransom" by which the deliverance of his people from the servitude of sin and from its penal consequences is secured. It is the plain doctrine of Scripture that "Christ saves us neither by the mere exercise of power, nor by his doctrine, nor by his example, nor by the moral influence which he exerted, nor by any subjective influence on his people, whether natural or mystical, but as a satisfaction to divine justice, as an expiation for sin, and as a ransom from the curse and authority of the law, thus reconciling us to God by making it consistent with his perfection to exercise mercy toward sinners" (Hodge's Systematic Theology).

Hodge couldn't be more emphatic — our debt has been fully paid.  It is not being paid little by little, bit by bit.  Christ died to pay the penalty against us once for all.

Hebrews 9:11-15 speaks of this — "he entered once for all into the holy places ... thus securing an eternal redemption."  If believers are all in the process of being redeemed, as being claimed, wouldn't Christ have to be dying again and again (Heb 9:6-10)?  (See also Once for all.)

Hebrews 9:11-15 — But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, 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. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Titus 2:14 tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, "that He might redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." Our Lord died to redeem us from all iniquity, and He redeemed us unto Himself to be his people. He desires that we should be zealous of good works, but as believers we belong to Him now — bought outright, paid in full.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).

No, we aren't being bought on the installment plan.  We are fully redeemed now. We were "bought with a price" and "redeemed to God” (1 Cor 6:20; Titus 2:14). We were "redeemed from the curse of the law" (Gal 3:13). And some day our mortal bodies will be made incorruptible and perfect (Rom 8:22-24). What a glorious day that will be!

May I suggest that instead of saying, "We are all in the process of being redeemed," a more appropriate statement might be, "We are all in the process of being sanctified"?  But even then we must be careful, for the Bible speaks of sanctification as being both already completed (positional) and in the process of being completed (practical).  We should be clear about which one we are speaking.  (See also Who we are - part 3.)

Redeemed—how I love to proclaim it!

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;

Redeemed through His infinite mercy,

His child, and forever, I am.

Redeemed, redeemed,

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;

Redeemed, redeemed,

His child, and forever, I am.

Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,

No language my rapture can tell;

I know that the light of His presence

With me doth continually dwell.

I think of my blessed Redeemer,

I think of Him all the day long;

I sing, for I cannot be silent;

His love is the theme of my song.

 

by Fanny J. Crosby

Who we are - part 3

Another way to view this battle going on within us is to look at what Scripture calls "sanctification." Sanctification has to do with being set apart from the world unto God's service.

Sometimes sanctification is confusing because passages in the Bible which talk of it seem to contradict one another, with some speaking of sanctification as being already accomplished, and others saying it is still in process of being completed.

For example Heb. 10:10 says, “we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” This is finished work. This is but one example; others are 1 Cor 1:30, 2 Thes 2:13, and Heb 10:14.  But then in 1 Thes 5:23 Paul writes, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.” Here sanctification is still uncompleted.  Other verses that speak of it in this way are Rom 6:19, 2 Cor 13:11 and 1 Thes 4:3-7.

These seeming contradictions disappear when we see that the first verses refer to our position before God. We are positionally sanctified — set apart for God’s eternal purpose and perfect in God’s sight — because we are in Christ.  It is a finished work.  And the second verses refer to our life here on earth, called our practical walk. We should be wholly set apart for God’s use and live perfectly before Him; however, because our sin natures are still within us, this will never fully happen while we're on this earth.

Nevertheless, Scripture stresses the pursuit of practical sanctification. Interestingly, it first points to all the things that God has done for us and who we are now through the death and resurrection of His Son.  It is only after this that Scripture pleads for a life lived in harmony with this exalted position (Rom 12:1; 2 Cor 5:17; Eph 4:1; Col 2:6). This should be an example to all preachers.  Those who teach that we should be living a certain way without first stressing who we are in Christ, are merely preaching works (Gal 1:6; 2:15-21; 3:1-3; 5:1).

It is to be concluded, then, that positional sanctification is not a second work of grace to be pursued after salvation.  Rather, it takes place at the moment of salvation. If we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we have been set apart once for all — we are God’s sanctified ones (1 Cor 1:30).

Practical sanctification, however, is an ongoing process which involves a human response. It is the will of God that we pursue it. Will we choose to do so?