The finished work of Christ

[bloodygrace]

Jesus mentions the gospel going to all the world in the last days and many are familiar with the message of ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved’ but few are familiar with the gospel message of ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ because you have already been saved’. This is not a play on words and I am not advocating for a universal gospel but our understanding of this is crucial to our spiritual well-being. The gospel is in fact the finished and complete work of Christ on our behalf. The reason this is so important is because when we realize that the work of Salvation is already finished I can bring nothing to the table. I am completely dependent on the life, death and resurrection of Christ on my behalf. My faith is simply an acknowledgement that I am a sinner and incapable of saving myself so of course I need a savior. Many Christians see 'getting saved' as the point in their life when they accept or believe in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit and this is absolutely true. But the truth of the matter is that we were actually saved 2000 years ago by Jesus Christ on the cross and the point in my life where I hear this good news and believe the good news is simply an awareness of this historical fact. We were all saved before we were born or believed or repented or did anything good or bad.

The belief that Jesus is the savior of the world or the 2nd Adam is rejected by many Christians today. Many have accepted evolutionary ideas and rejected creation so the belief that one man named Adam fathered the whole world is even harder to accept. But it is just this idea that Paul used when he said for as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive 1Cor. 15:22. Christ as the 2nd Adam has accomplished something for all of humanity including every single person who has ever lived. He did this independently of us and the good news of the gospel is that this free gift has been given to humanity like an inheritance. Now even though the gift has been given to all that does not mean that all will experience Salvation. The gift of Salvation like any gift can be accepted or refused. We accept the gift by faith and reject it by unbelief. The true reason why people will be lost is not because they were bad or did bad things because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God but because they despise the gift and throw it away like Esau who was despised by God. Esau was born with the birthright or inheritance so there was no reason why it shouldn’t be his. The bible records that Esau came from the field and was faint and Jacob offered to give him food in exchange for his birthright. Esau could have easily gotten food elsewhere but he despised his birthright and sold it for a bowl of soup. Esau represents the lost who have been given the gift of Salvation purchased by the shed blood of Christ but they barter it away for the pleasures of the world. The greatest agony of hell will be the realization that Salvation was in fact given to the lost but they esteemed it of so little value that it was thrown away for a life of sin and death.

 

[belovedgeliebt]

I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Soyeong]

Jesus mentions the gospel going to all the world in the last days and many are familiar with the message of ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved’ but few are familiar with the gospel message of ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ because you have already been saved’. This is not a play on words and I am not advocating for a universal gospel but our understanding of this is crucial to our spiritual well-being. The gospel is in fact the finished and complete work of Christ on our behalf. The reason this is so important is because when we realize that the work of Salvation is already finished I can bring nothing to the table. I am completely dependent on the life, death and resurrection of Christ on my behalf. My faith is simply an acknowledgement that I am a sinner and incapable of saving myself so of course I need a savior. Many Christians see 'getting saved' as the point in their life when they accept or believe in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit and this is absolutely true. But the truth of the matter is that we were actually saved 2000 years ago by Jesus Christ on the cross and the point in my life where I hear this good news and believe the good news is simply an awareness of this historical fact. We were all saved before we were born or believed or repented or did anything good or bad.

The belief that Jesus is the savior of the world or the 2nd Adam is rejected by many Christians today. Many have accepted evolutionary ideas and rejected creation so the belief that one man named Adam fathered the whole world is even harder to accept. But it is just this idea that Paul used when he said for as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive 1Cor. 15:22. Christ as the 2nd Adam has accomplished something for all of humanity including every single person who has ever lived. He did this independently of us and the good news of the gospel is that this free gift has been given to humanity like an inheritance. Now even though the gift has been given to all that does not mean that all will experience Salvation. The gift of Salvation like any gift can be accepted or refused. We accept the gift by faith and reject it by unbelief. The true reason why people will be lost is not because they were bad or did bad things because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God but because they despise the gift and throw it away like Esau who was despised by God. Esau was born with the birthright or inheritance so there was no reason why it shouldn’t be his. The bible records that Esau came from the field and was faint and Jacob offered to give him food in exchange for his birthright. Esau could have easily gotten food elsewhere but he despised his birthright and sold it for a bowl of soup. Esau represents the lost who have been given the gift of Salvation purchased by the shed blood of Christ but they barter it away for the pleasures of the world. The greatest agony of hell will be the realization that Salvation was in fact given to the lost but they esteemed it of so little value that it was thrown away for a life of sin and death.

The Bible speaks about our salvation in the past, present, and future tense (Ephesians 2:5, Philippians 2:12, Romans 5:9-10), so we have been saved from the penalty of our sin, we are being saved from continuing to sin, and we will be saved from God's wrath on the day of the Lord. According to Titus 2:11-14, our salvation involves us having been saved from the penalty of our sins/lawlessness by Messiah giving himself to redeem us from all lawlessness, but our salvation also includes being saved from continuing to sin by God's grace training us to do what He has revealed to be godly, righteous, and good, and training us to renounce doing what He has revealed to be ungodly, sinful, and lawless. While Messiah's payment for the penalty of our sins is complete, our sanctification of being made to be like Messiah in only doing what God has revealed to be holy, righteous, and good will not be completed until He who began a good work in us is faithful to complete it on the day of the Lord (Philippians 1:6). Our salvation is from sin, so it can not accurately be said that we are fully saved from sin as long as we still continue to do what God has revealed to be sin.

 

[bloodygrace]

I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you. bump for SDA who are trying to finish the already finished work of Christ. Praise Jesus!!!

 

[bloodygrace]

The Bible speaks about our salvation in the past, present, and future tense (Ephesians 2:5, Philippians 2:12, Romans 5:9-10), so we have been saved from the penalty of our sin, we are being saved from continuing to sin, and we will be saved from God's wrath on the day of the Lord. According to Titus 2:11-14, our salvation involves us having been saved from the penalty of our sins/lawlessness by Messiah giving himself to redeem us from all lawlessness, but our salvation also includes being saved from continuing to sin by God's grace training us to do what He has revealed to be godly, righteous, and good, and training us to renounce doing what He has revealed to be ungodly, sinful, and lawless. While Messiah's payment for the penalty of our sins is complete, our sanctification of being made to be like Messiah in only doing what God has revealed to be holy, righteous, and good will not be completed until He who began a good work in us is faithful to complete it on the day of the Lord (Philippians 1:6). Our salvation is from sin, so it can not accurately be said that we are fully saved from sin as long as we still continue to do what God has revealed to be sin.

Our relationship with Christ our redeemer begins by faith, grows by faith and will someday be sealed by faith. At no point along the way do our personal works of righteousness come into the equation. Christians will produce 'good works' in the life but this is always the fruit of the gospel. The gospel is the life, death and resurrection of Christ on behalf of mankind and this was finished 2000 years ago.

 

[Soyeong]

Our relationship with Christ our redeemer begins by faith, grows by faith and will someday be sealed by faith. At no point along the way do our personal works of righteousness come into the equation. Christians will produce 'good works' in the life but this is always the fruit of the gospel. The gospel is the life, death and resurrection of Christ on behalf of mankind and this was finished 2000 years ago.

All of God's commands are meant to be obeyed as a demonstration of faith in God about how we should live and a demonstration of our love for God, thereby building a relationship with Him. In Titus 2:11-14, the salvation that God's grace brings involves training us to do good works. When Jesus was telling people to repent from their sins for the Kingdom of God was at hand, he was telling them to repent from their disobedience to the Mosaic law and to turn back to obedience, so this is a central part of the gospel message. Messiah is the goal of the law for righteousness for all who believe, so at no point has God given any commands that were not meant to build a relationship with Him through demonstrating our faith in Him for how we should live and through demonstrating our love for Him.

 

[bloodygrace]

All of God's commands are meant to be obeyed as a demonstration of faith in God about how we should live and a demonstration of our love for God, thereby building a relationship with Him. In Titus 2:11-14, the salvation that God's grace brings involves training us to do good works. When Jesus was telling people to repent from their sins for the Kingdom of God was at hand, he was telling them to repent from their disobedience to the Mosaic law and to turn back to obedience, so this is a central part of the gospel message. Messiah is the goal of the law for righteousness for all who believe, so at no point has God given any commands that were not meant to build a relationship with Him through demonstrating our faith in Him for how we should live and through demonstrating our love for Him.

The new commandments are to believe in Jesus and love your neighbor as yourself. These are spiritual commandments and can't be physically kept. Under the new covenant God writes his law of love in our heart. We don't do anything except be grateful that we haven't been ensnared by legalism like so many others.

 

[Soyeong]

The new commandments are to believe in Jesus and love your neighbor as yourself. These are spiritual commandments and can't be physically kept. Under the new covenant God writes his law of love in our heart. We don't do anything except be grateful that we haven't been ensnared by legalism like so many others.

Jesus summarized the Mosaic law as being about how to love God and how to love your neighbor and then said that all of the other laws hang on the greatest two commandments, or in other words, the other commands are examples or the explanation of how to correctly obey the greatest two commandments (Matthew 22:36-40). According to Galatians 5:14, loving your neighbor fulfills the entire law, so the Mosaic law is the law of love. If you say all you need to do is follow the summarized command to love so you don't have to obey all of the other commands for how God wants us love, then you are missing the point. According to Deuteronomy 4:2, it is a sin to add to or subtract from God's law, so if Jesus had done so, then he would have sinned, but he never gave any brand new commands.

Jesus kept the Mosaic law perfectly, so we he being legalistic? Why is someone legalistics if they think the 613 commands in the OT should be obeyed, but not legalistic if they think the 1,050 commands of the NT should be obeyed? Even if you think only the four laws in Acts 15:29 should be obeyed, then why isn't that legalism? The issue is that legalism is not in regard to whether you think one of many laws should be obeyed, but rather it is in regard to the manner in which someone obeys them. Does someone obey God's laws as a demonstration of their faith and love or because they think that they will be legally owed their right standing with God in return for their obedience? Does someone obey the law exactly how it is written without regard to intent or do they seek to following the law according to principles behind it? Legalism is a perversion of the intent behind God's law. God's law is intended to be a law of liberty (Psalms 119:45, James 1:25), but legalism is just as muchbondage as the sin in disobedience to the law.

 

[bloodygrace]

Jesus summarized the Mosaic law as being about how to love God and how to love your neighbor and then said that all of the other laws hang on the greatest two commandments, or in other words, the other commands are examples or the explanation of how to correctly obey the greatest two commandments (Matthew 22:36-40). According to Galatians 5:14, loving your neighbor fulfills the entire law, so the Mosaic law is the law of love. If you say all you need to do is follow the summarized command to love so you don't have to obey all of the other commands for how God wants us love, then you are missing the point. According to Deuteronomy 4:2, it is a sin to add to or subtract from God's law, so if Jesus had done so, then he would have sinned, but he never gave any brand new commands.

Jesus kept the Mosaic law perfectly, so we he being legalistic? Why is someone legalistics if they think the 613 commands in the OT should be obeyed, but not legalistic if they think the 1,050 commands of the NT should be obeyed? Even if you think only the four laws in Acts 15:29 should be obeyed, then why isn't that legalism? The issue is that legalism is not in regard to whether you think one of many laws should be obeyed, but rather it is in regard to the manner in which someone obeys them. Does someone obey God's laws as a demonstration of their faith and love or because they think that they will be legally owed their right standing with God in return for their obedience? Does someone obey the law exactly how it is written without regard to intent or do they seek to following the law according to principles behind it? Legalism is a perversion of the intent behind God's law. God's law is intended to be a law of liberty (Psalms 119:45, James 1:25), but legalism is just as muchbondage as the sin in disobedience to the law.

God commanded the Jews to keep the law of Moses so they would stumble and fall and realize the impossibility of sinners keeping the holy law of God. You, sir have not learned the lesson that all the holy men and prophets of the bible learned with the sweat of tears and the blood of unrequited pain! You can't keep the law no matter how hard you try! The best you can do is give up and beg for mercy.

 

[Soyeong]

God commanded the Jews to keep the law of Moses so they would stumble and fall and realize the impossibility of sinners keeping the holy law of God. You, sir have not learned the lesson that all the holy men and prophets of the bible learned with the sweat of tears and the blood of unrequited pain! You can't keep the law no matter how hard you try! The best you can do is give up and beg for mercy.

There is not a single prophet who came with the message that we should give up trying to obey God and instead beg for mercy, whereas every single prophet, including Jesus, came with the message that we should repent from our sins in disobedience to the Mosaic law and turn back to practicing obedience to God. Nowhere does the Bible say that if you can't live in perfect obedience to God's holy, righteous, and good standard that you should just give up and not bother trying to obey God's instructions. Also, nowhere in the Bible does it say that it is impossible to practice obedience to God's law or that God got angry with someone who practiced obedience to His law, but didn't keep it perfectly, but rather His anger was directed at those who didn't practice repentance when they sinned and lived in disobedience to His law.

The Mosaic law came with instructions on what to do when we sin in disobedience to it, so there was no expectation that God's people would keep it perfectly. In fact, God predicted just the opposite (Deuteronomy 31:15-18). According to Deuteronomy 6:24 and Deuteronomy 10:13, God's commands were given for our own good, and according to Deuteronomy 5:29, we should obey God's instructions so that it will go well with us, so the people who believed what God said and demonstrated their faith that it was true by living in obedience to His commands were living by faith, for the righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4).

In Deuteronomy 30:11-14, God said that what He commanded was not too difficult, and in 1 John 5:3, it confirms that the commands of God are not burdensome, so the issue is not that practicing obedience to God's instructions is hard, but that our hearts were hard. According to Hebrews 8:7-12, the fault that God found with the Mosaic Covenant was not with His holy, righteous, and good standard or with His laws that instruct us how to live according to that standard, but rather His problem was with the hardness of His people's hearts who did not remain faithful to the covenant. God's plan was not to lower His righteous standard so that anyone could meet it just be agreeing to a few statements, but rather His plan was to take away our hearts of stone, give us hearts of flesh, send His Spirit to lead us in obedience to His law (Ezekiel 36:26-27), put his law in our minds and write it on our hearts so that we will obey it (Jeremiah 31:34), and send His Son to give himself to redeem us from lawlessness so that we might be free to obey the law and meet its righteous requirement (Romans 8:2-4). Saying that you just need beleive in Jesus is meaningless without correctly understanding what it is that you should be believing about him, which leads us right back to obedience.

 

[Dave-W]

God commanded the Jews to keep the law of Moses so they would stumble and fall and realize the impossibility of sinners keeping the holy law of God.

That is patently unbiblical. A protestant myth.

 

[bloodygrace]

There is not a single prophet who came with the message that we should give up trying to obey God and instead beg for mercy,

Paul came along with that message and he got stoned for saying it.

 

[bloodygrace]

That is patently unbiblical. A protestant myth.

The purpose of the law is to reveal sin Rom. 3:20. The way the law reveals sin is by us trying to keep it and failing over and over again. If you were honest you could admit that your best attempt at keeping the law is an abject failure. Are you honest?

 

[Dave-W]

The purpose of the law is to reveal sin Rom. 3:20.

One purpose; and a minor one at that. It is never mentioned in any OT scripture at all.

The way the law reveals sin is by us trying to keep it and failing over and over again.

And now we get to the extra-biblical myth part. Can you give me chapter and verse on this point?

If you were honest you could admit that your best attempt at keeping the law is an abject failure. Are you honest?

I am honest and in my own strength - no I cannot keep that up for long. But because of the sacrifice of our Lord and Him sending the Holy Spirit, I do not have to rely on my "best attempt." I can do all things (including obey the Law) thru Christ who strengthens me.

 

[Soyeong]

Paul came along with that message and he got stoned for saying it.

Nowhere did Paul give that message.

The purpose of the law is to reveal sin Rom. 3:20. The way the law reveals sin is by us trying to keep it and failing over and over again. If you were honest you could admit that your best attempt at keeping the law is an abject failure. Are you honest?

If you grant that one of the purposes of the law was to reveal sin, and you agree that you should not do the things that God has revealed to be sin, then why do you speak against practicing obedience to His law? Obedience to the law is only a failure if anything less than perfection is failure, but that has never been the case. Rather, the abject failure is only when we fail to repent after we fail to keep the law perfectly. The Bible does not place any sort of emphasis on the need to keep the law perfectly in order to earn something, but rather that is precisely the misunderstanding of the law that the Bible speaks against on numerous occasions. Paul spent a lot of time hammering home the point that obedience to the law is not about becoming justified and that we are justified apart from the law, yet today many people still are making the error of thinking that obeying the law is about trying to become justified, only they have compounded their error by concluding that therefore they don't need to obey it.

 

[bloodygrace]

Nowhere did Paul give that message.



If you grant that one of the purposes of the law was to reveal sin, and you agree that you should not do the things that God has revealed to be sin, then why do you speak against practicing obedience to His law? Obedience to the law is only a failure if anything less than perfection is failure, but that has never been the case. Rather, the abject failure is only when we fail to repent after we fail to keep the law perfectly. The Bible does not place any sort of emphasis on the need to keep the law perfectly in order to earn something, but rather that is precisely the misunderstanding of the law that the Bible speaks against on numerous occasions. Paul spent a lot of time hammering home the point that obedience to the law is not about becoming justified and that we are justified apart from the law, yet today many people still are making the error of thinking that obeying the law is about trying to become justified, only they have compounded their error by concluding that therefore they don't need to obey it.

We keep the law by grace alone thru faith alone in Christ alone. The law is spiritual so you have to be spiritual to keep it. The law of Moses is not spiritual but a law of sin and death.

 

[bloodygrace]

One purpose; and a minor one at that. It is never mentioned in any OT scripture at all.

And now we get to the extra-biblical myth part. Can you give me chapter and verse on this point?

I am honest and in my own strength - no I cannot keep that up for long. But because of the sacrifice of our Lord and Him sending the Holy Spirit, I do not have to rely on my "best attempt." I can do all things (including obey the Law) thru Christ who strengthens me.

The Holy Spirit is given so you can live by God's love. If you leave God's love to keep the law you receive the rebuke of Jesus.

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; Rev. 2:4,5

 

[Soyeong]

We keep the law by grace alone thru faith alone in Christ alone. The law is spiritual so you have to be spiritual to keep it. The law of Moses is not spiritual but a law of sin and death.

You didn't answer my question: If you grant that one of the purposes of the Mosaic law was to reveal sin, and you agree that you should not do the things that God has revealed to be sin, then why do you speak against practicing obedience to His law?

In Romans 7, Paul said that the Mosaic law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), that it is spiritual (Romans 7:14), that it is the good he sought to do (Romans 7:13-19), and that delighted in doing (Romans 7:22), but contrasted that would a law of sin that stirred up sin and worked within him to cause him not to do the good that he wanted to do (Romans 7:22-25), so the law of sin and death is opposed to the Mosaic law. In Galatians 5:16-23, everything listed as works of the flesh that are against the Spirit are also against the Mosaic law, while everything listed as fruits of the Spirit are in accordance with Mosaic law, which should come as no surprise because the Mosaic law was given by God and the Spirit is God. Furthermore, the Spirit has the role of leading us in obedience to the Mosaic law (Ezekiel 36:26-27). In Titus 2:11-14, our salvation involves being trained by grace to do what God has revealed to be godly, righteous, and good and to renounce doing what God has revealed to be ungodly, sinful, and lawless, which is essentially what the Mosaic law instructs us how to do. We are to keep the Mosaic law by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

 

[Kenny'sID]

You didn't answer my question:

Good luck, I must have repeated that comment a half dozen times or more today to the OP.

Worse case of skipping pertinent questions I've seen to date, and by far.

 

[bloodygrace]

You didn't answer my question: If you grant that one of the purposes of the Mosaic law was to reveal sin, and you agree that you should not do the things that God has revealed to be sin, then why do you speak against practicing obedience to His law?

In Romans 7, Paul said that the Mosaic law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), that it is spiritual (Romans 7:14), that it is the good he sought to do (Romans 7:13-19), and that delighted in doing (Romans 7:22), but contrasted that would a law of sin that stirred up sin and worked within him to cause him not to do the good that he wanted to do (Romans 7:22-25), so the law of sin and death is opposed to the Mosaic law. In Galatians 5:16-23, everything listed as works of the flesh that are against the Spirit are also against the Mosaic law, while everything listed as fruits of the Spirit are in accordance with Mosaic law, which should come as no surprise because the Mosaic law was given by God and the Spirit is God. Furthermore, the Spirit has the role of leading us in obedience to the Mosaic law (Ezekiel 36:26-27). In Titus 2:11-14, our salvation involves being trained by grace to do what God has revealed to be godly, righteous, and good and to renounce doing what God has revealed to be ungodly, sinful, and lawless, which is essentially what the Mosaic law instructs us how to do. We are to keep the Mosaic law by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

The Mosaic law is not spiritual. Paul call the Mosaic law the law of sin and death. The spiritual law is written in the heart not tables of stone.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Rom. 8:2