Saturday, February 6, 2010

Solus Christus

In recent weeks I find that I have been driven afresh to the gospel, to look outside of myself ---- and instead more intentionally admiring, exploring, expositing, and extolling Jesus Christ and His imputed righteousness, by which alone I am acceptable before the God of blazing holiness. It is necessary for me to preach this gospel to myself afresh every day, because, in the words of my friend John Newton, "I am a great sinner." But, as he is quick to add ------ "Jesus is a great Savior."

So, for me and for you, here is more gospel fuel to reflect on today and this upcoming week. Compared to the lengthy Belgic Confession statement of last weekend I would say it is less gallonage, but speaks with the same high octane value:

"But one day as I was passing into the field, with some dashes on my conscience, fearing that all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, 'Your righteousness is in heaven.' I thought I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand. There was my righteousness. Wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me that I lacked His righteousness, for that was ever before Him. Moreover, I saw that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for My righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, 'the same yesterday, today and forever' (Hebrews 13:8)." -- John Bunyan

O the wonder! O----the wonder!!! If we are those who by His sovereign gratuitous mercy have truly turned from our rebellion against this God of blazing holiness, trusting in Jesus alone for our righteousness --- righteousness which is ours by imputation through our union with Him--- then when this God views our filthy ink black sin through the lense of the perfect righteousness of Christ alone, strangely, as far as our sin and our eternal destiny before God as judge is concerned------- well, our sin appears to Him as white as fresh fallen snow (Is. 1:18).

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11 Comments:

Anonymous EJK said...

Thank you, brother for these words of encouragement. I consider your words a word from the Holy Spirit saying to me "the days are evil make the most of your time. Heed what your brother says:

"So, for me and for you, here is more gospel fuel to reflect on today and this upcoming week."

You have caused me to be reminded of the day of my salvation. At that time I merely knew that I was a sinner and needed a Savior.

But this post is reminding me of Who and what was behind that call. I like John Bunyan's thought, "I thought I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand. There was my righteousness."

Thank you for getting me started with this reflection: "as far as our sin and our eternal destiny before God as judge is concerned------- well our sin appears to Him as white as fresh fallen snow."

God is more than good!

February 6, 2010 at 10:40 AM  
Anonymous EJK said...

And now for something completely different. Something a little personal. Just how old are you?

It was your post that caused me to ask such a personal question.

"...because, in the words of MY FRIEND John Newton..." (emphasis mine).

February 6, 2010 at 10:45 AM  
Blogger Bruce said...

Excellent!

Let me just say that I have many old friends in book form that I visit with on a regular basis, and wonderfully, though dead they still speak. I know that you have made the aquaintance of some of them yourself.

February 6, 2010 at 11:18 AM  
Anonymous EJK said...

You are quite right! And you quoted one of my favorite friends, John Bunyan. I can hardly wait to continue the friendship in person with him as well as others!

February 6, 2010 at 1:08 PM  
Blogger Tim Shorey said...

the gospel, when seen in these stark terms of imputation is simply stunning.

It is a clear, bold, radical new idea: God treats us as righteous even when we are not because Another's rightesousness is counted as ours.

The concept is simple; the implications so radical and profound and so unfathomable that it is hard to compute.

Jesus, thank you.

February 6, 2010 at 3:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

But we must also be concerned with practical, day to day holiness... must we not?

(Philippians 2:12)

February 6, 2010 at 4:25 PM  
Blogger Tim Shorey said...

good thought "anonymous". To be sure we must be concerned with practical holiness (Hebrews 12 says that without it we will not see the Lord). Experience of personal holiness by the regenerating and sanctifying work of the Spirit is the proof of the genuinemess of the faith that leads to the imputed righteousness or holiness of Christ.

We're saved by Christ's works. We're saved to do good works. But if we don't get the first part of that right, we'll be reduced to legalism.

February 6, 2010 at 4:53 PM  
Blogger Bruce said...

A thoughtful question Anonymous. The way I would answer it is yes, absolutely! Obedience to God is not optional, for without holiness no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14b). Justification does not stand alone in the redeemed, but is just one dimension, albeit an essential and foundational one, of the application of God's saving grace. Those whom God justifies He sanctifies (1 Cor. 1:30; 6:9-11).

The Westminster Confession helpfully, I think, sums up the Biblical teaching at this point when it says, "Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love" (Rom. 3:28; James 2:17, 26; Gal. 5:6).

Professor Murray addressed this very pointedly, and I believe Biblically this way: "It is an old and time-worn objection that this doctrine ministers to license and looseness. Only those who know not the power of the gospel will plead such misconception. Justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. Justification is not all that is embraced in the gospel of redeeming grace. Christ is a complete Savior and it is not justification alone that the believing sinner possesses in him. And faith is not the only response in the heart of him who has entrusted himself to Christ for salvation. Faith alone justifies but a justified person with faith alone would be a monstrosity which never exists in the kingdom of grace. Faith works itself out through love (c.f. Gal. 5:6). And faith without works is dead (c.f. James 2:17-20). It is living faith that justifies and living faith unites to Christ both in the virtue of his death and in the power of his resurrection. No one has entrusted himself to Christ for deliverance from the guilt of sin who has not also entrusted himself to him for deliverance from the power of sin. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Redemption Accomplished and Applied).

February 6, 2010 at 5:35 PM  
Blogger Bruce said...

Not to be too long winded here Anonymous (although I evidently am since Blogger would not allow me to fit this response in one comment segment!), but there is one other observation that I would like to make, and that is how your question (probably unintended) helps point out how we can recognize faithful preaching of the Biblical gospel by its initially eliciting the very kind of question or response you expressed.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones made this significant observation: ". . . If it is true that where sin abounded grace has much more abounded, well then, ‘shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound yet further?’

First of all, let me make a comment, to me a very important and vital comment. The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it. There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel. Let me show you what I mean.

If a man preaches justification by works, no one would ever raise this question. If a man’s preaching is, ‘If you want to be Christians, and if you want to go to heaven, you must stop committing sins, you must take up good works, and if you do so regularly and constantly, and do not fail to keep on at it, you will make yourselves Christians, you will reconcile yourselves to God and you will go to heaven’. Obviously a man who preaches in that strain would never be liable to this misunderstanding. Nobody would say to such a man, ‘Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?’, because the man’s whole emphasis is just this, that if you go on sinning you are certain to be damned, and only if you stop sinning can you save yourselves. So that misunderstanding could never arise . . . . . .

Nobody has ever brought this charge against the Church of Rome, but it was brought frequently against Martin Luther; indeed that was precisely what the Church of Rome said about the preaching of Martin Luther. They said, ‘This man who was a priest has changed the doctrine in order to justify his own marriage and his own lust’, and so on. ‘This man’, they said, ‘is an antinomian; and that is heresy.’ That is the very charge they brought against him. It was also brought George Whitfield two hundred years ago. It is the charge that formal dead Christianity – if there is such a thing – has always brought against this startling, staggering message, that God ‘justifies the ungodly’ . . .

That is my comment and it is a very important comment for preachers. I would say to all preachers: If your preaching of salvation has not been misunderstood in that way, then you had better examine your sermons again, and you had better make sure that you are really preaching the salvation that is offered in the New Testament to the ungodly, the sinner, to those who are dead in trespasses and sins, to those who are enemies of God. There is this kind of dangerous element about the true presentation of the doctrine of salvation."

I hope my interaction with your thoughtful comment was helpful and clarifying-----give it some reflection and let me know what you think.

February 6, 2010 at 5:41 PM  
Blogger Bruce said...

Tim, thank you for the short-winded version!

February 6, 2010 at 5:48 PM  
Anonymous EJK said...

Thank you everyone for all the exhilarating commentaries. God is blessing me as I contemplate on his righteousness that has amazingly been imputed to me.

I am overwhelmed with such a thought. What Love! I think you will understand when I say, I understand it, but I don't understand it.

All the commentaries posted have reminded of this passage of Scripture.

Philippians 2
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

I am working out my salvation but I spend most of my time, even while working, thanking God who is at work in me both to will/desire and to work/give me the grace to work for His good pleasure.

Thus the focus becomes not on me who is working but on the One who was at work first, and still continues that work for His good pleasure.

February 6, 2010 at 7:02 PM  

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