From a 2005 sermon by the inimitable John Piper:

“In all of its negative effects this is where the law was leading — to Christ. The law was not leading from self-dependent law-keeping to God-dependendent law-keeping as the way to life. No, no. The problem is far greater than that. We don’t just need a new motive. We need a Savior. The law was leading from all law-keeping (self-dependent or God-dependent) to Christ as the way of life.”

And again:

“Do you say, ‘Now I am forgiven by faith alone, and now I have the imputed righteousness of Christ by faith alone, and now I have the Holy Spirit within me by faith alone, so now I will go back ot the law – the ten commandments, and whatever other commandments there are (Romans 13:9) — and I will focus my new God-given ability on these commandments and fulfill them’?

No, I don’t think that is the way Paul guides us. I think he wants to speak rather like this: ‘Now I am forgiven by faith alone, and now I have the imputed righteousness of Christ by faith alone, and  now I have the Holy Spirit within my by faith alone, so now I will continue to make my focus Jesus Christ every day, and I will look to him for everything my soul craves. And from my union with Christ, nurtured hour by hour by focusing on Christ as my great Savior and mighty Lord and infinite Treasure, I will love people. Christ will be my focus, love will be my fruit.'”

Read it all here.

From the Heidelberg Catechism, a protestant confession written in the 1500’s…

Question 60. How are thou righteous before God?

Answer: Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that, though my conscience accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil; notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ; even so, as if I never had had, nor committed any sin: yea, as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has accomplished for me; inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a believing heart.

Question 61. Why sayest thou, that thou art righteous by faith only?

Answer: Not that I am acceptable to God, on account of the worthiness of my faith; but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, is my righteousness before God; (a) and that I cannot receive and apply the same to myself any other way than by faith only.

I love how 500 years ago it was just as important as it is now to affirm that God grants and credits to the Christian the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ as if we had never sinned or been a sinner, as if we had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for us. O that we would accept this gift of God with a believing heart.

Nothing is beyond You
You stand beyond the reach
Of our vain imaginations
Our misguided piety
The heavens stretch to hold You
And deep cries out to deep
Singing that nothing is beyond You
Nothing is beyond You

Time cannot contain You
You fill eternity
Sin can never stain You
Death has lost its sting

And I cannot explain the way You came to love me
Except to say that nothing is beyond You
Nothing is beyond You…

(Rich Mullins, “Nothing is Beyond You”)

Recently started running (hmm… slowly jogging) again… and was worshipping our Savior over his wondrous love toward us. Too high, wide, deep to be understood… Him being perfect, and me being the blind one, the weak one, the withered and sinner.

Rich Mullins died before these songs were published. But they make me think of the amazing grace of the only Savior this world has ever known.

Think of him having compassion on the crowd who had nothing to eat (Matthew 15:32); healing the withered hand (Matthew 12:10); opening the eyes of the blind, even the blind from birth (John 9:1). And how he takes our hearts of stone and gives us hearts that live.

I’m the blind, the withered, the hungry… and Jesus Christ has taken my heart of stone and given a heart that is alive.

Marvelous.

It was said this man was of no reputation
Yet He could stop the rising storm
With a gesture of His hand
But He chose to use His hands to heal
Hearts of darkness hearts of stone
Just like mine would be revealed

But this man of no reputation
Loved the weak with relentless affection
And He loved all those poor in spirit just as they were
He was a man of no reputation

(Rich Mullins, “Man of No Reputation”)

As a church body we’ve been running (well, at least jogging) through Romans… and I can’t but stop and take a breath in wonder at the incredible love of God revealed in Christ Jesus and set upon those who trust in Him for righteousness and life.

As we finish chapter 8, I’m in wonder at the assurance that comes in the understanding of Christ’s incredible love for us. Nothing can keep us from it or from Him.

There is a spreading goodness in the wondrous work of our Savior in which His grace showers over us who believe. The application of that grace in salvation is not primarily one of responsibility – as if keeping the law that we have died to has been placed again upon us – but of response, the response of the heart to the illumination of God’s love by the Spirit.

O that we might live our lives in gratitude and humility, bearing fruit as the response of a love richly and deeply experienced by us.

The knowledge and experience of a God who came to earth for us… could this perhaps be more fortuitous to us than (just a thought, not sure) if we had never sinned?

Richard Sibbes, a Puritan divine, certainly thought so. In his The Privileges of the Faithful:

“Christ Jesus, who, notwithstanding he was God, took upon him the nature of man, and hath made us by his coming far more happy than if we had never fallen.”

That is because of what we can testify to, what we experience, what we know:

“He doth not only overcome evil for us, but also overcometh evil in us, and gives us his Spirit, which unites us to himself; whereby we have ground to expect good out of every ill, as knowing that whatsoever Christ wrought for the good of mankind, he did it for us in particular.”

Wow. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matthew 27:50-53)

Arguably, the single most important event in the history of humankind is right here. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffering and dying for sin he did not commit.

Interesting how Matthew links it intimately and immediately to the tearing of the veil in the temple.

The temple is where God dwelt among his people. And the veil kept the impurity, the unholiness, out. Once a year the high priest, after cleansing himself and making a special offering for himself, would go behind that veil and interact with God. The area behind the veil was the Holy of Holies.

And so what striking truth Matthew presents. At the death of Jesus Christ, the Holy of Holies was opened up. What was outside no longer defiled its holy chambers.

Lest you miss that he’s making a statement about holiness, Matthew anachronistically brings forward that at Jesus’ resurrection, the bodies of the dead came out and walked around in the holy city. Dead people walking! They would need cleansing, purification. They would defile Jerusalem and its inhabitants!

No. Matthew is careful to continue to call Jerusalem ‘the holy city.’ Something has happened.

The veil has been torn.
The raised dead do not defile.
This is an entire reversal of what was.

Before, the holy must be kept from what defiles, lest the holy be defiled.
Before, the unclean must be banished, because touching the unclean makes unclean.

Now – the holy makes holy. The clean reaches out to the unclean. Love has come, and makes holy what was not holy. The temple now touches and makes holy what was defiled.

This is what the work of Jesus Christ on the cross did, says Matthew.

It carries great implication for how we see ourselves.
Jesus Christ has come, and he has made us holy. We who were outcast and defiled, unholy and unclean.

We still sin… we live in Romans 7.

But it is not a New Testament concept that we make ourselves holy. That with a little bit (or even a lot) of God’s help, we make ourselves presentable. This belittles Jesus Christ’s work and raises our own; this brings back the flesh which has already been crucified in Christ. Our true good works and fruit come out of holiness which is given through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The holiness that produces fruit cannot be earned with sweat or zeal.

Our sanctification is no less a work of Jesus Christ than our justification.

We are “holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1) because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished, and because of no other thing. Paul there is not writing of our efforts (i.e. ‘make yourself a holy sacrifice’) but of what is true of every believer (‘you are a holy and acceptable sacrifice’). What a miraculous wonder! We worship by a renewed mind, we desire to bear fruit, but we are holy by Jesus Christ alone.

We must not redefine holiness to mean our imperfect effort. By its very meaning, holy is entirely set apart, not partially separate.

The only way the veil was torn – torn forever – is through the incredible, overwhelming sacrifice of our redeeming Savior. All our hope, all our trust, all our faith, is in him. The outcast brought in. The defiled made clean. What wonders our God has done!

Happy Thanksgiving! It seems somewhat of a cliché, but we have so much to be thankful for. Safe travels. Hot food. A day of rest and family. My mind goes right away to my wife and two wonderful children… but even as I do that, I realize these are blessings… and really, my greatest thanks is for the One who has blessed me with more than I can imagine.

One example, this day: how I am thankful that I please God. Amazing. Here’s a fine quote by Martin Luther on this (from Bondage of the Will):

“Furthermore, I have the comfortable certainty that I please God, not by reason of the merit of my works, but by reason of His merciful favour promised to me; so that, if I work too little, or badly, He does not impute it to me, but with fatherly compassion pardons me and makes me better. This is the glorying of all the saints in their God.”

How grateful I am that I am spared from self-righteousness and given the righteousness of a perfect, all-sufficient Savior! Luther again:

“Whatever work [toward salvation] I had done, there would still be a nagging doubt as to whether it pleased God, or whether he required something more. The experience of all who seek righteousness by works proves that; and I learned it well enough myself over a period of many years, to my own great hurt” 

This thankfulness extends to a depth of gratitude that our God sets us apart, that he grows in us (from the grounds of his work, not ours) a desire for following in his ways and bearing fruit. For a convicting post on this, see Kevin DeYoung’s article. He notes:

I believe God would have us be much more careful with our eyes, our ears, and our mouth. It’s not pietism, legalism, or fundamentalism to take holiness seriously. It’s the way of all those who have been called to a holy calling by a holy God.

How thankful I am for a holy calling! And in the depth of that… that our Savior, Jesus Christ, has done it. And so I have God-given (thank you!) grounds for pursuing an ever-deepening knowledge of our Lord and his ways. This thought is summed up by an unknown commenter:

We must not put our trust in trying to be Holy. We cannot separate the justification of God from the sanctification of God. He came to seek and to save the lost. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is faithful to complete the work HE started in us!

Thank you, Lord! I am so grateful for your love, your mercy, your sacrifice, your peace, your kindness, your holiness that is the grounds and motivation for mine.

And I have to confess… these two little kids you’ve given care of to my wife and I… we’re really thankful for them too.