01 WHY DOES IT MATTER?
1
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
The Passions Behind Faith in Future Grace
Passion #1: A Passion for the Supremacy of God
Bethlehem's Mission Statement
We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.
Why? God's Zeal for the Supremacy of God
God is infinitely committed to preserving and displaying his glory in all that he does from creation to redemption. And in this commitment we see his zeal and love and satisfaction in his glory. The person that opened my eyes to this Biblical truth was Jonathan Edwards in his amazing book, Dissertation Concerning the End for which God Created the World. There he piles text on text – hundreds of them – to show that God exults in the display of his glory in all that he does from beginning to end.
Jonathan Edwards' Conclusion
For it appears, that all that is ever spoken of in the Scripture as an ultimate end of God's works, is included in that one phrase, the glory of God; which is the name by which the ultimate end of God's works is most commonly called in Scripture; and seems most aptly to signify the thing (Paragraph 264 in The End for Which God Created the World).
Three Key Biblical Texts to Show God's Passion for His Glory
Isa_48:9-22 For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
Rom_1:18-23
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Rom_11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became his counselor? 35 Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen
Preliminary Texts to Show that Living By Faith in Future Grace Highlights and Magnifies the Glorious All-Sufficiency of God and so Expresses Our Passion for the Supremacy of God in All Things (By Faith in His Grace, We Get the Help, He Gets the Glory).
Act_17:25
God served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things.
Mar_10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
1Pe_4:11
Whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Rom_4:20
With respect to the promise of God, [Abraham] did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.
Psa_50:15
Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will glorify Me.
Passion # 2 : A Passion for Joy
Is this a Biblical Passion?
Psa_100:1-2
Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing.
Psa_32:11
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.
Mat_5:12
Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Rom_12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
Php_3:1; Php_4:4
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!
1Th_5:16
Rejoice always.
1Pe_4:13
But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.
Is Passion #1 at Odds with Passion #2?
Jonathan Edwards' answer:
God in seeking his glory seeks the good of his creatures, because the emanation of his glory implies the happiness of his creatures. And in communicating his fullness for them, he does it for himself, because their good, which he seeks, is so much in union and communion with himself. God is their good. Their excellency and happiness is nothing but the emanation and expression of God's glory. God, in seeking their glory and happiness, seeks himself, and in seeking himself, i.e. himself diffused . . . he seeks their glory and happiness (The End for Which God Created the World, paragraph 114)
Thus it is easy to conceive how God should seek the good of the creature even his happiness, from a supreme regard to himself; as his happiness arises from the creature's exercising a supreme regard to God in beholding God's glory, in esteeming and loving it, and rejoicing in it (The End for Which God Created the World, paragraph 277).
God's respect to the creature's good, and his respect to himself, is not a divided respect; but both are united in one, as the happiness of the creature aimed at is happiness in union with himself (The End for Which God Created the World, paragraph 278).
My answer:
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever.
One aim of this course is to show that living by faith in future grace is the way of life that unites passions #1 and #2.
Passion #3: A Passion for Practical Holiness
Why We Have a Passion for Holiness?
It is the only pathway to eternal pleasure in God. No holiness, no heaven.
What do I Mean by Practical Holiness?
Obedience to God's Word in the everyday life.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Genuine love for other people.
1Th_3:12-13
May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; 13 so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.
Key Texts to Show that Practical Holiness is Necessary for Final Salvation
Heb_12:14
Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification (holiness) without which no one will see the Lord.
Joh_5:28-29
Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, 29 and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
Gal_6:8-9
For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.
Jam_2:17
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
1Jn_2:4
The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
2Th_2:13
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
Mat_6:15
But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
Rom_8:13
If you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
1Jn_3:14
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.
1Jn_1:7
If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
The Problem Raised by the Necessity of Holiness
If we are justified once for all by grace through faith apart from works at the point of true conversion, then how can our final salvation be conditional upon a transformed life of holiness?
Rom_3:28
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
Rom_5:1
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Gal_2:16
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
The Solution Given by the Westminster Confession, Chapter XI
(1) Those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifieth; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous: not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone . . . (2) Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is not dead faith, but worketh by love.
In other words, we are justified by faith alone, but that faith never remains alone. Therefore, justifying faith is always and inevitably accompanied by good works.
So the crucial question now is: Why does practical holiness (i.e. love) inevitably accompany justifying faith?
Preliminary answer: faith itself is the agent of the works. They do not merely accompany faith. They come through or by faith. Faith is the agent that produces the works. And it does so necessarily. Thus the works are evidence of true faith, and are not the means of our salvation the way faith is. They are the evidence that faith is real and thus are necessary for final salvation, though not the ground of it, as the death and righteousness of Christ are, or the means of it, as faith is.
Thomas Watson's way of putting it: using the word "repentance" for the practical change in life that has to happen for forgiveness of sin to be given, Watson says, "Not that repentance merits the forgiveness of sin. By repentance we please God, but we do not satisfy him. Repentance is a condition, not a cause. God will not pardon for repentance, nor yet without it" (Body of Divinity, p. 557).
Analogy of How God will Assess Works at the Judgment (1Ki_3:16-27)
Recall the story of how two harlots brought a baby to king Solomon, each claiming that the baby was hers. They asked king Solomon to act as judge between them. In his extraordinary wisdom, he said that a sword should be brought, and that the baby should be divided, with half given to the one woman and half to the other. The true mother cried out, "O, my lord, give her the child, and by no means kill it" (v. 26). Solomon said, "Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother" (v. 26).
What was Solomon looking for? He was not looking for a deed that would earn the child, or would create a relationship that did not already exist. He was looking for a deed that would demonstrate what was already true, namely, that the child was truly this woman's child by birth. That is the way God looks at our deeds on the judgment day. He is not looking for deeds that purchase our pardon in his judgment hall. He is looking for deeds that prove we are already enjoying the fruits of our pardon. He is looking for the practical evidences of our living by faith in future grace. The purchase of our salvation was the blood of Jesus, sufficient once for all to cover all our sins. We do not add to the worth of his atoning death or of his righteousness imputed to us by God (which we call justification). But the means by which we receive this gift is faith (= being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus). That kind of faith frees us from lifelong slavery to the fear of death and works through love.
Therefore, faith is not only the means of justification, it is also the agent of sanctification.
How, Then, does Faith Do this Great Work of Sanctification?
Preliminary Answer: faith severs the root of sin. Sin has power by promising a better tomorrow (or at least a better this evening) and by promising superior satisfactions. But true faith is of such a nature that it severs the root of sin by embracing a better future and providing a deeper satisfaction. The future grace of God is the deeper satisfaction and the better future. When you live by faith in future grace, the power of sin is broken by the power of a superior satisfaction and a better future.
Our Three Passions Raise Three Questions:
1. What kind of life will magnify the supremacy of God most?
2. What kind of life will forever satisfy the deep longings of our soul?
3. What kind of life will produce a practical holiness that is necessary for final salvation, but do it in such a way that our justification is still by grace alone, through faith alone, based on Christ's death and imputed righteousness alone?
Our answer to all three questions is: living by faith in future grace.
Autor: John Piper