Grace or Works

Text:  Titus 2:11-14.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Introduction

Do you believe God can save people based only on their belief in Jesus Christ?  I hope you don’t think it necessary to earn God’s grace in order to obtain forgiveness?

Salvation is not dependent on an ability to pay for it in any fashion, either before or after it is received. Salvation is dependent on who Jesus is and what He did for us at the cross. Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:32). He saves all who accept His offer on His terms. Remember, He “died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6), and salvation does not transform their base natures.

All are Sinners

Men (and women) are sinful creatures at best. All of us are; most of us know it without need for reminder. No matter how hard we try, or how much good we may accomplish, we never live up to our expectations of what a Christian should be. So it isn’t unusual to doubt ones experience on occasion, wondering whether we can trust the Bible’s assertion that salvation is obtained and retained by belief in Christ.

If you have been wondering about it you can quit doing so. There is no need to question the accuracy of the Bible. There are no contradictions in the original text. When you don’t understand what you read there, search the Scriptures until you do.

Active Belief

Look at Romans, Chapter Ten, in the Amplified Bible - to discover the nature of a belief in Christ that brings salvation. It is active, rather than passive, and it lasts. Consider Verse Eleven: “No man who believes in Him – who adheres to, relies on and trusts in Him – will [ever] be put to shame or be disappointed.” (Amplified Bible). The Greek word used there was “Pisteuo,” (Strong’s 4100). Belief with confession is enough to bring us salvation - provided it produces action, causing us to adhere to Christ.

 Isaiah 28:16 uses the Hebrew word “Aman” for “believe” (Strong’s 539), in a passage that calls for commitment to Christ by those who believe in Him. “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a Stone, a tested Stone, a precious Cornerstone of sure foundation; he who believes – trusts in, relies on and adheres to that Stone – will not be ashamed or give way or make haste [in sudden panic]” (Amplified Bible). Our Lord Jesus Christ is the “precious Cornerstone.” He is also the “Rock of our Salvation.” (Psalm 95:1). Although we cannot trust ourselves, and we shouldn’t even try, we can rely on Him.

God’s Salvation

Did you know you could find specific references to Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, ones that actually call Him by name? Although there are several I’ll mention only one. Look at Isaiah 56:1:  “Thus says the LORD: ‘Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed. The Hebrew word interpreted to “salvation” in that passage is “yshuwah” (Strongs 3444). Isaiah foretold the coming of Israel’s Messiah, the One who would become their salvation.  

When God’s Angel encouraged Joseph to marry his pregnant fiancé, Joseph was told to name Mary’s unborn son Jesus (Greek “Iesous;” Hebrew “yshuwah.”). (Matt.1: 21). Jesus was, and is, “Yshuwah, God’s salvation.” He came to save people from their sins (not only native Israelites but all others who believe on Him too).  Like Paul, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”  (Romans 1:16).

Yeshua

Jesus of Nazareth, God’s only begotten Son, claimed to be the Messiah (John 8), and His Hebrew name is “Yeshua Ha Mashiyach,” or “Jesus the Messiah.” As God’s sinless Son, He alone is able to forgive sins and grant eternal life. In Matthew 8:24 He said men who did not believe Him would die in their sins.

Salvation comes through a faith in Jesus that inspires submission to Him as Lord. Eternal life is obtained by believing Jesus is willing and able to provide it. When we have believed on Him properly, based on the word of faith referred to in Romans 10:8-13, God’s Spirit will lead us to do whatever else He requires of us (including repenting for and forsaking our sin and confessing Him as our Lord).

It’s all Grace

Thank God for His grace. I’m grateful that my penalty has been paid. My sins, which were as scarlet, have become as white as snow. (Isaiah 1:18).  If Jesus Christ is your Lord you can be grateful for the same fact; your sin debt was voided too. The blood of Jesus covers our transgressions.

Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He does not change and His purpose concerning our redemption has not changed either. He died in our place before you and I made our first misstep. As He died, He said, “It is finished.” Three days later God raised Him from the grave.

God’s requirements for the atonement were satisfied. Jesus  “redeem(ed) us from every lawless deed and purify(ed) for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:14).  However,  as Christians we are not free to do our own thing. We have responsibilities to fulfill. Our Lord expects us to cooperate as He works out His will in our lives. Though we serve Him to the best of our abilities, our works contribute nothing to our redemption. He who saved us by His grace keeps us saved as we trust in and rely on Him as Lord.

Sinless?

A man I know insists Christians can live above sin. He attempts to prove his notion by asking questions. First he asks,  "Can you be sinless for one minute?"  If you agree he will say, "if you can be sinless for one minute you can do so for longer periods (an hour, a day, a week, etc.)." Is he correct? 

No, he isn’t. Although it’s true that anyone who could be sinless for a full minute might be able to remain so for longer periods, his premise is flawed. 1 John 1:8 speaks to born-again Christians, saying, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So it’s a sin to say we are sinless, even for a moment.

Human beings lost their potential for sinless living with Adam. It isn’t possible for any of us to be sinless for any period of time. If it were, our Lord would not have needed to die for us. But Jesus died for a world of lost and hopeless sinners. (John 3:16). And our fleshly bodies are unredeemable; each of them will be destroyed eventually.

Perfection In Christ

People who insist they can live without sin, for any length of time, don’t understand either the depth of their depravity or the way in which God justifies repentant sinners. “There is none who does good, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:12). “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23).  And “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23).

God demands perfection. (Matt. 5:48). Jesus said no one who is less righteous than the scribes and Pharisees could enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:20). God did not demand a self-generated righteousness that can save no one. “All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”  (Isaiah 64:6). We must depend on the righteousness of Christ to obtain and to keep our redemption.

Jesus, Our Only Hope

Consider Isaiah 56:1 again: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed.” Remember, Jesus Christ is “God’s salvation.” God’s demands for righteousness were satisfied in Him. When you trusted Him as your Savior, His righteousness became yours.

2 Corinthians 5:21 explains it: “For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus).” When Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled (Matt. 5:6), He spoke of Himself. We can be filled with true righteousness only as He indwells us.

The Greek word for righteousness, in Matt. 5:6, is “dikaioo.” It refers to guilty men being considered innocent because they received Christ’s righteousness. (2 Cor. 5:21).  God considers us justified, as if we had never sinned, only when we are “found in Him, not having righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” (Phil. 3:9)

Good Works

Of course we must deny “ungodliness and worldly lusts.” We must “live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present world” (Titus 2:12). And we should become more and more  “zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:14). Our Lord works in us for those purposes and we should become concerned about our relationship with Him whenever we fail to cooperate in the process.

However, good works contribute nothing to salvation and cannot alter sin natures. We are stuck with them, and will be, until we leave our mortal bodies. In case you didn’t know, you are not a sinner because you sin; you sin because you are a sinner. That’s what sinners do.

Sin is sin

How much sin must a person commit before he becomes a sinner?  The answer is None!  We don't need to do anything to become what we are already. Our failures have little to do with which part, or how much of the law is broken.  As James 2:10 says when we offend  “in one point” of the Law we are  “guilty of all." At the same time, no lawbreaker can glory in his successes. Even if he should manage to keep 99% of the rules he would still be considered guilty of breaking all of them.

Short

Where Romans 3:23 says all of us have “come short” of God's glory it calls our shortcoming “sin.”  What is the glory of which we fall short? It is God's glory, which Moses once asked to see. On that occasion God referred to His “glory” as His “goodness.” (Exodus 33:19-22)

Moses was a better man that most of his contemporaries but he could not be considered good by God’s standard. (Psalms 14:3). Because Moses was a sinner he could not even look at God’s glory (or goodness) and survive. So God covered him with his hand, to protect him as the glory passed by.

Since you and I fall short of God’s glory too, we are at least as sinful as Moses was. But, thank God, our sinfulness doesn’t catch Him off guard. “He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103:14). And He is merciful to Christians who confess and forsake their sins.  (1 John 1:9). We are not free to ignore God’s wishes. Our sins are terribly expensive – to Him and to us. They destroy our peace of mind and they interfere with our ability to fellowship with God.  

Spirit and Flesh

Anyone who reads the Bible should notice statements concerning the depraved condition of sinful flesh and our need to strive for sinless perfection. Those statements seem to contradict each other, and we cannot resolve the conflict until we know the difference between “spirit" and “flesh."

“Spirit,” for the Christian, represents a new, sinless nature, one that is activated when his dead spirit is re-born. His spirit died, or became inactive, because of Adam’s sin. Ours were born dead. Our spirits are “born-again" when God revives them with His own Eternal Spirit, making them eternally alive.

“Flesh,” for the Christian, represents his old adamic nature, which ruled him exclusively before he was saved and never quits trying to rule him as long as he lives. Contrary to some notions, the  "flesh" does not die when a person is born-again spiritually. And it keeps right on trying to assert itself as long as he lives.

Human beings are not delivered from the presence of sin either. They will have to contend with it as long as they live in this sinful world. The flesh retains its need for indulgences, and temptations never cease. But, although we fail some tests our failures do not signal the end of our salvation. 

Free?

When a lost sinner is redeemed his dead spiritual nature is freed from sin and made alive in God. But his fleshly nature is not redeemable and it will be destroyed eventually. Consider Romans 7:22-23, 25b, where the Apostle Paul spoke of sin in his own body (his flesh).  Paul said,  “I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” “So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”

Although he told other Christians to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4), Paul said he was   “carnal, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14). He knew "that in him” - (or in his flesh)  “nothing good dwells"  (Rom. 7:18). He was a new spiritual creature in Christ but he could not live without sinning.  He did things he knew were wrong even though his spiritual nature abhorred evil.

Sins of the flesh

Paul blamed his problem on “sin that dwells in me.” (Rom. 7:17), which meant his sinful nature was alive, and well, and at work in him continually. He was like us, having faith for salvation but still only a sinner saved by grace. He was redeemed from sin’s penalty and his motives were right.  (1 Cor. 2:2). But he was not yet delivered from his “body of death.” Remember, it was Paul’s “flesh” that was subject to sin and under sin’s condemnation. His  “spirit” was free from sin and he believed God would complete what He had begun in him. (2 Tim. 1:12).  

No condemnation

Paul said,  “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Rom. 5:1-2).  Because he trusted God he could say, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Rom. 8:1-2).

Trust only in Jesus

Let me repeat myself: The  “flesh” is doomed to destruction.  (1 Cor. 15:50-58). But while it lives we are faced with two natures, both of which want to control our lives. The new nature serves God in love. The old nature serves self selfishly. Because they are always in conflict we will never reach perfection in this life - and every failure to do so is sin (Greek "hamartano" from I John 2:1).  Thank God for His mercy, for His love, and for His grace. Jesus is available to help those who try to do His will. (Heb 4:16). 

Don’t “frustrate” the Grace of God, which supersedes the law. (Gal. 2:21, KJV).  “Reckon” yourself “dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:11). In other words, don’t be concerned with rules and regulations as such.  Submit to Jesus, being obedient to His leading, allowing Him to express His will through you. Paul learned to submit. He said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20).

Be Holy

Salvation is a gift from God.  We can neither add to it nor subtract from it. We do need to work at overcoming sin in our lives and 1 Peter 1:13-15 tells us how: “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”

Avoid sinfulness. Flee from temptation. Work at denying self in favor of pleasing your Lord. Invite Him to direct your thoughts and your activities. As Rom. 12:1-2 says, “present your body, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Although you will never actually attain perfection in this life (3:7-14), you might feel better about it because of having tried. Begin by reading your Bible regularly. You need to know what it says so God can use it to transform and renew your mind. And remember, God’s standard is perfection. We must resist our fallen natures consistently. And anyone who fails to do so has reason to wonder about his relationship with God. But, if he is actually born-again, he need only to repent for his failures, make a new commitment to his Lord and begin to honor it.

Duty

Remember why you are still here on earth, rather than in paradise with God. You are His servant, called to do His will - which includes bringing lost sinners to Christ. But you can’t do that well if you behave as they do. 

So give God your life. Cooperate as He “conforms” you to “the image of His Son.” (Rom. 8:29).  And thank God He isn't finished with you yet. He wasn't finished with sinful Israel when He told them:  “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11). 

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David E Beneze, 22 June 2001, 1006 Fairview Ave., Canon City, CO 81212-2873. Latest update 02/03/2007.