Salvation and Works

The on-going challenge in Christendom is over the place of works in salvation and after salvation.  Following is a simple take on this important issue that I pray will help some find peace in their battle with the topic.

First, the only work that works is the work of Jesus which was fully and finally settled at Calvary when He declared, “It is finished!”  Jesus had taken the wrath of God for the sins of men and paid the necessary payment that then allowed God to forgive selfish enemies and adopt repentant people of faith.

Second, because man is dead in his trespasses and sins, he has no desire to come to Jesus, let alone submit to Jesus.  Man sees himself as better than others and believes that his works will merit an eternity of bliss.  But, man’s works are laced with selfishness and arrogance (“I’m better”) and thus they are worthless.

Third, men seek to make themselves fit for God by doing the works that God wants His children to do AFTER salvation.  That is, they are active in church, take communion, give monies and time, are baptized, and even go on “missions trips.”  The trouble is that works by a non-Christian are acts of rebellion (my way) and pride.  Those works are also of no value.

There is no work by man before salvation that makes man attractive to God.  All man’s works are filthy – all are fit for the burn pile.  No work of man works for salvation, save the work of Jesus.

Then there is the work of God the Spirit who executes salvation.  It is Spirit who gives the dead man faith and it is the Spirit who convicts the man of his sin and opens the man’s eyes to the work of Jesus on the cross on his behalf.  It is only then that man cries out in repentance and acceptance and is born again.  So salvation is fully the work of Jesus, the Spirit, and God the Father.  Man is the recipient of “amazing grace that saved a wretch”.  All glory and praise goes to God – period!!!

So, the works of men are non-consequential as to eternal destiny for it is only the work of Jesus that determines eternity.  But do the works of a true Christian matter?  Yes!  Consider:

1. God is pleased by His children doing good things.
2. God blesses those who lovingly serve Him.
3. God uses the works of His people to bring people to salvation.
4. God uses the works of His people to grow and serve other Christians.
5. God gives the Christian fulfillment and joy in serving Him.

So why would a true Christian not just eat, drink, and be merry?  Why would a Christian not shack up or abandon church or not give money or time?  Why?  LOVE!  Seriously, if a person is truly saved, they have been exposed to their wretchedness and the horrible price paid by a sinless Man that they might be saved.  A person saved is overwhelmed with the mercy and grace extended to him and is not of a mindset to offend a God who did so much to rescue him from an eternal wrath.  A person saved does good works because he loves God.  He wants his Father to be proud of him.  He doesn’t want to mar the family name.  A Christian is marked by works because he is captured by love – by God!

So, embrace the work of Jesus and work passionately to serve God and Christ for you do not want to disappoint your new Father.  He is amazing and wonderful and worthy of a ton of good works!  So it is the work of Jesus that saves and those saved are given to doing works pleasing to their Savior.

The following is a devotional that came just today and reinforces what I wrote above.

God Opens the Heart 
by John Piper, Feb. 24, 2020

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. Acts 16:14

Everywhere Paul preached some believed and some did not.  How are we to understand why some of those who are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1, 5) believed and some did not?

The answer why some did not believe is that they “thrust it aside” (Acts 13:46) because the message of the gospel was “folly to [them], and [they were] not able to understand” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The mind of the flesh “is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot” (Romans 8:7).

Everyone who hears and rejects the gospel “hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed” (John 3:20). They remain “darkened in their understanding . . . because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:18). It is a guilty ignorance. The truth is available.  But “by their unrighteousness [they] suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18).

But why then do some believe, since all are in this condition of rebellious hardness of heart, dead in their trespasses? The book of Acts gives the answer in at least three different ways.

One is that they are appointed to believe. When Paul preached in Antioch of Pisidia, the Gentiles rejoiced and “as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).

Another way of answering why some believe is that God granted repentance. When the saints in Jerusalem heard that Gentiles, and not just Jews, were responding to the gospel, they said, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18).

But the clearest answer in Acts to the question why a person believes the gospel is that God opens the heart. Lydia is the best example. Why did she believe? Acts 16:14 says, “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”

If you are a believer in Jesus, all of these happened to you: You were appointed to believe; you were granted to repent; and the Lord opened your heart. The rest of your life you should be overflowing with amazed thankfulness at the miracle that you are a believer.