Fly!

I probably don’t have to tell you how important it is that we are able to distinguish the law from the gospel. Salvation comes to us by faith alone in Christ alone, and so it’s crucial that we never confuse our justification by faith with any form of earning God’s favor by self-improvement … or by our own righteous or religious works … or based upon our own intrinsic merit. It sounds simple enough, I suppose, but I never cease to be amazed at how much confusion surrounds what is perhaps the central tenet of evangelical doctrine.

Our works contribute in no way to our justification, which rests perfectly and solely on the righteousness and merits of Christ. There on Calvary’s cross, “It is finished” became the most hopeful judicial declaration ever uttered. And the penitent thief on the cross next to Jesus, through no good work of his own, received the same free gift of grace which you and I have received so completely and gloriously in Christ.

The law is good, but we are not (Romans 7:7-12). We need the law, but we are powerless to obey it. The law uniquely and wonderfully reveals to us the holiness of God, while it reveals to us our personal depravity and sin. So we need it to drive us to the end of ourselves. We need it to show us a true and objective measure of morality. We need it, most of all, to drive us to Christ.

But the law, without the gospel, is powerless to save. And when we confuse the law and the gospel, we end up burdening people with a phony sense of self-righteousness, while at the same time leaving them plagued by a gnawing sense of guilt and shame, because they know (on some level) that they’re failing to meet God’s perfect standard.

You and I, and everyone else, need an alien righteousness, a goodness that doesn’t depend on us … so we need the good news of a perfect Savior and an empty tomb! Then, and only then, can we be set free: free from sin, free from the wrath we rightfully deserve, and free (truly) to live righteously for an audience of One.

But we must never confuse our righteous living, what the Bible calls our sanctification, with our justification. And our failure to keep that distinction clear in our minds and hearts leaves us confused and angry when the unbelievers around us behave like, well, unbelievers.

We don’t preach self-help. We don’t preach moralism. We don’t preach religious therapy. We preach Christ!

As well we should. He is our only hope. And He is the only hope of this fallen world. In a day of widespread turning away from the simple hope of the gospel, I’m asking you to recommit with me to making the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ front-and-center in all that we do. We are gospel people. We are free!

John Bunyan (1628-1688) expressed it like this …

“‘Run, John, run,’ the law commands,
But gives me neither feet nor hands.
Far better news the gospel brings;
It bids me fly, and gives me wings.”

I absolutely love that incredible and hopeful and liberating truth.

Fly!

Pastor Charles