Stop Working For Your Salvation - Dale Partridge
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Summary
In this episode of Real Christianity, we tackle an important question: How did God save people in the Old Testament? If the cross had not yet come, how was a person made right with God? This is a vital answer for New Testament Christians to have.
Transcript
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In this episode of Real Christianity, we tackle an important question.
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If the cross had not yet come, how was a person made right with God?
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This is a vital answer for New Testament Christians to have.
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So get ready, all that and more coming up right now.
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this show is an audio and video ministry of relearn.org,
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where our mission is to bring the church back to the Bible.
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So on that note, let's go ahead and get started. Dive into this episode, continuing our conversation and teaching through the book of Romans.
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This great book of Romans is broken into several sections as we're getting through them here.
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Now, the first major section ran from chapter one,
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verses 20, and presents really the fallen state of mankind
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and the way of justification through faith in Christ.
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The next section runs from the end of chapter three
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And that's really a defense of justification by faith
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through historical examples in the Old Testament.
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we saw Paul anticipate an argument from the Jews
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that the doctrine of justification from faith alone is wrong.
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And he expected the Jews would really counter his claims,
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arguing that Abraham is certainly justified by his works,
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and he had some sort of contribution to his salvation, right?
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This is what the Jews would be asking Paul
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that we're gonna be reading here in chapter four.
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Now, Paul refutes that idea by citing Genesis 15, six
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and it was counted to him as righteousness, end quote.
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In other words, the Jews were struggling to distinguish the physical covenantal administrations from the spiritual covenantal administrations.
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You know, they needed to help seeing that circumcision, that the possession of the law, that the physical descendants of Abraham were the physical signs and symbols that helped give God's people reminders of the spiritual promises.
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But at the end of the day, they in of themselves do not save.
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Those weren't the things, your circumcision, your possession of the law that you were related to Abraham physically or by blood was not actually the thing that saved you.
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And that's something that the Jews were struggling with.
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No, the only things that could save are spiritual circumcision, the law written on the heart, the spiritual descendants of faith.
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Those are the things that would actually bring about salvation in a person's heart.
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In today's passage, Paul continues to defend against the idea that Abraham was justified by works
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by leveraging the testimony of Israel's other great figure, King David.
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And what he's doing here is that Paul isn't holding back any punches.
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He's taking the two twin towers of Israel's history,
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and he's proving that both of them held to the doctrine of justification by faith alone.
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And the point he's trying to get across is that if these two great men of Israel
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were not saved by works, but were saved by faith or justified by faith alone in Christ alone,
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then you too must be saved or justified by faith alone in Christ alone.
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So let's read chapter four, verses one through eight.
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We're going to just familiarize ourselves with the context of the passage.
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So verse one, what then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh?
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For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
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Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
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his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due.
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Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven
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All right, so that was chapter four, verses one through eight.
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And then we're gonna just break it down verse by verse.
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his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due.
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then you can't consider his wages a gift, but what is due.
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Robert Haldane wrote a commentary on Romans in the 1800s.
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He says, quote, no reward can be said to be of grace
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that is given for work of any description, end quote.
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by its very nature, it cannot be earned by work.
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On the flip side, if salvation is earned by works,
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by our obedience, if it's earned by these things,
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then God would owe us salvation to some degree.
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In other words, any view that believes that works earn
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But Paul has made that abundantly clear in chapter three
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and that all of us are in need to be found righteous.
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We're just people that are gross, deserving of hell,
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We speak all these lies and we're constantly sinning.
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We don't fulfill even the greatest and first commandment
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Even saints are constantly in a place of struggling with sin.
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And when you realize, oh Lord, I can't believe in the fact,
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in light of the gospel that I continue to sin this way.
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And this is Paul, he talks about this in Romans.
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I can't believe I do the things that I don't wanna do.
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And why can't I do the things that I do wanna do?
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of sanctification of the Lord that's constantly working
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We are resting on the perfect work of Jesus Christ,
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this is what makes the gospel of grace so amazing i mean it really does the fact that when you can
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have a biblical anthropology of a biblical anthropological view of who we are understanding
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the doctrine of total depravity understanding how wicked and sinful we really are and then you
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lay that doctrine next to the doctrine of the gospel and it's just an amazing sign of grace
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that a lot of people miss when they read this text.
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The first phrase is a statement of observation,
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And I'm going to explain that here in a second.
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but believe, their faith is counted as righteousness.
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And what I mean there is that Paul is not saying
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in this passage, stop working and start believing.
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something that you need to do to save yourself.
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And this is important because you need to understand
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your very, the possibility that you even believe is a gift.
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Because without the spirit of God changing your heart,
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The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God,
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For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God,
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Now, let me give you another example in John 3.16.
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that whoever believes in him should not perish,
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Well, in the Greek, it'll say something along these lines.
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And I'll do a transliteration from English to Greek.
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God so loves the world that he gave his only begotten son
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that the ones believing or that the believing ones
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And that's what it'll show you in the Greek interlinear.
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We just don't have the right words to translate it that way.
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And I think it's actually an unfortunate translation that we even do have,
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especially that most of us remember the translation from the KJV
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And so God loves the world that he gave his only begotten son,
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that the ones that are believing, the ones that have been gifted faith,
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they will not perish, but have everlasting life.
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is not possible with first God changing their heart.
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to exercise their carnal ability to trust Christ.
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That means that salvation is about persuading people
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and repentance is even granted as a gift of God.
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And that those things need to happen by God's grace
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This is really the heart of the gospel of grace.
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his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due.
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And the ones who does not work, but believes in him
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his faith is countered to him as righteousness. I want to continue to riff on this for a second.
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Paul is making a contrast from his first point, which is if someone does work, then you can't
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consider his wages a gift, but what is due. Here he says the opposite. He gives you kind of an
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alternative view. If someone does not work, then you can't consider his wages what is due,
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but as a gift. That's essentially what he's teaching here. Now, this does not mean that
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we as Christians don't work. We do work, but we aren't working for our justification. We're working
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from our justification. It means that our works have no ability to make ourselves righteous or to
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change our standing before God. Our sinfulness has so far tarnished our mortal state. It's not
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our moral state, that no amount of works can restore us to perfection. And this is why he
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says, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly. That's our description. If you want a
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biography or give an autobiography of yourself, just put that word there, ungodly. That's who we
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are outside of Christ. So our sin is strong enough to make a person ungodly for eternity.
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in order to be in the presence of a perfect and holy God.
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You can't have sin in the presence of a holy God.
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is if we have the holiness and perfect righteousness
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for whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point
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And so our only hope again is to be made perfect
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But again, this does not mean that we do not work.
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and a gospel of grace. And so Paul goes on to anchor these truths to the testimony of David.
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And I want to talk about that here. He says, just as, this is verse six, just as David also speaks
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of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works. Okay. So he says
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the words just as, that's a contrast clause. Sorry. No, it's not a contrast clause. It's a
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comparison clause. I'm mixing my hermeneutics up here. Paul is saying a person is justified by
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faith, just as David says in his writings. That's basically what's being said here.
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Paul notes again, that justification is a blessing. Pay attention to that word blessing.
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A blessing by definition is unmerited favor from God. And this is another way to differentiate
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a justification from works or by compensation, right? If it's by compensation for our works,
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then you can't have it as a blessing. Salvation cannot be a blessing if it's earned, essentially.
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You don't say that my employer blessed me with my paycheck this week. No, you could say my employer
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paid me this week. He gave me what was due. You can say that your employer blessed you with
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dodger tickets because that would be a blessing. And it would also be something that
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you didn't deserve. It would be extra. It's of grace. So there's a little bit of logic that's
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going on here with Paul. And additionally, I want you to take note of Paul's use of interpreting
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scripture with scripture here. So Paul is talking about Genesis 15, 6 with defending
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justification by faith with Abraham. He's using Psalm 32 here, referencing David's talk and
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discussion about justification. And so he's interpreting scripture with scripture. And this
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is just an important ethic for you to pay attention to. It's a principle that's taught by Christ as
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well. It's the practice of looking to the scriptures to confirm what is being said to validate the
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gospel or to validate the truths of the gospel. We see this Acts 17, 11. It says, quote, now these
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Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness,
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examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so, end quote. These are the Bereans,
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right, that are looking at the scriptures, they're listening to Paul, and they're looking at the
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scriptures in the Old Testament and trying to determine if what Paul is saying is right and
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lines up. And they obviously come and say, yes, they do see that what Paul is saying is true in
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the Old Testament. And so we must always measure the preaching of men against the principles of
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scripture. That's just something that you should remember there. Too many people in the church
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have their theology formed by what's been preached to them and not by what they've read.
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And so they, at some point you need to not just let somebody else read you the Bible,
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Talking to the two men on the road to Emmaus and Luke 24, 25 through 27, he says,
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And Jesus said to them, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
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Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?
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And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures,
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Again, even Jesus is using the Old Testament to justify and to validate and to verify who he is
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And so we always want to demonstrate the validity of the New Testament
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We always want to demonstrate the validity of the New Testament
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That's a very important principle as you are studying scripture.
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Now, furthermore, Paul's reference to David's doctrine
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is added evidence that justification has always been apart from works.
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were saved the exact same way as the New Testament saints,
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as you and I. And this is important because I opened up this episode asking that question,
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how are Old Testament saints saved? And we're going to see that they're saved the exact same
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way that we're saved. And while we look back to the cross and the promises that were fulfilled
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on that cross, they looked forward to the cross and the promises promised about the cross.
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And so while circumcision and the Passover were physical signs and seals that pointed to and prepared people for the coming of Christ, baptism and the Lord's Supper are physical signs and seals pointing us to the finished work of Christ, the fulfillment of those promises and the promise of Christ's return to come.
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And so Paul, again, talks about this 32nd Psalm that is by David.
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Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
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Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.
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we see this two-part structure of the atonement and imputation of righteousness.
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The atonement for sin and the imputation of righteousness.
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He's leveraging the testimony of the old Testament
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to validate his gospel here in the new Testament.
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or the covering of sin is what the word atonement means.
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including the day of atonement and Leviticus 17.
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But more succinctly, this can be seen in Isaiah 43, 25.
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for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
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I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud
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Micah 7, 19, he will again have compassion on us.
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You will cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea, end quote.
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Jeremiah 31, 34, for I will forgive their iniquity
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Obviously, that's a promise of coming to the new covenant.
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Now, allow me just to digress just for a second here.
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As I've taught in previous sermons, God cannot simply overlook sin.
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It's gotta either be laid on the shoulders of the savior
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that's a core question. And that's the basis of Romans 3, 21 through 26, which really talks about
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the idea that the righteousness of God has been manifested. Christ has come. You can see him now.
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And all that sin of the Old Testament that you might have thought was overlooked is now being
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paid for on that cross. God was essentially not slow, but came at the perfect time so that he
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could be, as Romans 3 says, the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
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And so all that sin of the Old Testament saints was essentially paid for on that cross. And all
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the sin of the New Testament saints was paid for on that cross. And so God sent Jesus again at the
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appropriate time to demonstrate that he's not unjust and he did not overlook those sins of the
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Old Testament saints and that essentially all sin will be paid for again by the sinner or by the
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savior. And so to answer the question, how did God justify the Old Testament saints? We have to see
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that while the cross had not occurred in physical time
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to all who believed before and after the cross.
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Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures
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and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins
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let's just briefly talk about the imputation of righteousness in the Old Testament. Isaiah 53, 11,
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talking about the Messiah. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his
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knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear
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their iniquities. Zechariah 3, 4. And the angel said to those who were standing before him,
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remove the filthy garments from him. That's the atonement, taking the sin away. And to him,
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he said, quote, behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you and I will clothe you with pure
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vestments. That's imputation. Isaiah 61.10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall
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exult in my God for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the
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robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress
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and as a bride adorns herself with jewels, end quote.
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Augustus Toddplay, or not Toddplay, Augustus Toplady.
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He wrote some great Psalms or in hymns with Charles Wesley.
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And they have a famous song that you probably have sung
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let the water and the blood from thy wounded side,
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which flowed. Be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Okay, the double cure
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here means this two-part structure. The imputation or the atonement of sin and the imputation of
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righteousness. We must be saved from wrath, which again is that atonement, the blotting out of our
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sins, and we must be made pure, which is the imputation of righteousness through faith. And so
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as Paul demonstrates here in Romans by the evidence of the Old Testament, this is how God
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has always saved his people by the atonement of sin through the Messiah that was coming
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at the appropriate time and through the imputation of righteousness that was coming at the appropriate
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time that we get to receive through faith. And so we have far more clarity on the side of the cross
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than they did, but God's way of salvation has always been through faith. And so the central
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focus is Paul trying to remove any grip that men might have upon their works, bringing about
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justification before God. And to the Jews, they held on again to that circumcision. They held
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onto the law. They held onto their descendancy by blood. And a lot of people today, the religious
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person might hold onto their baptism. They might hold onto their confirmation in the Catholic
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church. They might hold onto their membership or some sort of moralism. And Paul does not
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negate the value of these things. He still is obviously pro the Lord's Supper and pro
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baptism. He simply wants to reorient the minds of anyone who sees these signs and seals as some
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way to make a person justified before God. That's not what they do. Only faith can do that. And so
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to the Jews, physical circumcision must become spiritual circumcision. And to the New Testament
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Christians, physical baptism, if you're a Presbyterian, needs to turn into spiritual
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baptism. And even for the Baptists, there's lots of people that are Baptists that are physically
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baptized, but aren't actually spiritually baptized by the Holy Spirit, meaning that they are born
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again and regenerate. So ultimately, salvation comes not from what we do, but looking at those
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sacramental truths, the Lord's table of reconciliation, baptism, the cleansing of
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sins, you know, those things that for the Old Testament saints, the promise that was
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made from circumcision, that something was to come for the need of man through the sexual
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reproductive organ. There's going to be, you know, this depravity that comes from man and
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there's blood that's going to come as a result. And, you know, the Passover and remembering these
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things, all these things, again, had a purpose. They did not save anybody, but they did have a
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purpose. And the Lord uses these things, but it's really our faith in Christ alone that will
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secure our justification. So on that note, hopefully that was helpful for you guys and
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edifying. This is my first episode back after having COVID on our second go. And so I can't
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believe I made it through without coughing and hacking on the microphone for you guys. So thank
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you for hanging with me here. This episode was, I think, very formative even for me when I was
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doing my study on that. And I hope it was continuing to reform your biblical view of the
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gospel and help you understand the mechanics of the gospel so that you can become gospel fluent,
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so that you can communicate the gospel to others.
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and it helps more people find out what we're doing here.
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We're gonna continue to pop out great content for you guys
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on that episode, or on that note, I should say.
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My name is Dale Partridge, and this is Real Christianity,