The Faith for Good and Bad Works

Imagine your best good work for God and your most heinous act. What do the two have in common? Sin. Both are tainted with it, the latter with it more apparent and yet the former undeniably has it crouching underneath, most likely veiled in self-righteous pride.

What is the solution to this dilemma? Faith.

What is the Covenant of Redemption?

"Whereupon there was a special covenant, or mutual agreement made between God and Christ, as is expressed (Isa. 53:10), that if Christ would make himself a sacrifice for sin, then he should 'see his seed, he should prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper by him.' So in Psalm 89:19, the mercies of this covenant between God and Christ, under the type of God's covenant with David, are set forth: 'Thou spakest in a vision to thy holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon One that is mighty': or, as the Chaldee expounds it, 'One mighty in the law.' As if God had said concerning his elect, I know that these will break, and never be able to satisfy me; but thou art a mighty and substantial person, able to pay me, therefore I will look for my debt of thee. As Pareus well observes, God did, as it were, say to Christ, what they owe me I require all at thy hands. Then said Christ, 'Lo, I come to do thy will! in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God! yea, thy law is in my heart' (Ps. 40:7—8). Thus Christ assented, and from everlasting struck hands with God, to put upon him man's person, and to take upon him his name, and to enter in his stead in obeying his Father, and to do all for man that he should require, and to yield in man's flesh the price of the satisfaction of the just judgment of God, and, in the same flesh, to suffer the punishment that man had deserved; and this he undertook under the penalty that lay upon man to have undergone. And thus was justice satisfied, and mercy by the Lord Jesus Christ; and so God took Christ's single bond; whence Christ is not only called the 'surety of the covenant for us' (Heb. 7:22), but the covenant itself (Isa. 49:8). And God laid all upon him, that he might be sure of satisfaction; protesting that he would not deal with us, nor so much as expect any payment from us; such was his grace." (Edward Fisher, The Marrow of Modern Divinity (Scotland, UK: Christian Focus, 2009), 64—65.)

Simul Justus Et Peccator

"We are not either carnal Christians or spiritual Christians; rather, all Christians are simultaneously sinful and spiritual—not because of their 'surrender,' but because of Christ's. We are all in the same category, simply at different points along the way.

The message of the Reformation has been salve in the wounds of many, including this writer. I am not a Christian with great faith or with praiseworthy character, but a Christian who is confident that I share with every regenerate Christian 'every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ' (Eph. 1:3). I am simultaneously sinful and justified, as I am simultaneously at peace with God because of Christ's imputed righteousness, but at war with myself because of Christ's imparted righteousness. I am not a 'successful runner,' but I am 'looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of [my] faith' (Heb. 12:2). I trust and obey Christ (however feebly), and I know that I will continue trusting and obeying until the day I die—not because I have appropriated Christ, but because he has appropriated me."

— Dr. Michael S. Horton, Christ the Lord (The Reformation and Lordship Salvation), 33.

Election and Looking to Christ

A story told by Dr. Michael Horton in one of the sessions of his "God and Suffering" lectures really made an impression on me. He tells of the time when he and his mother were discussing—or, probably more aptly, debating—theological issues, as they were wont to do, when his father, perhaps having had the day's quota of "Calvinism", blurted out the very common question of, "How do I then know if I am elect?"

Dr. Horton made the point that inward-curving reflection is never the way to make this determination. The key has always been: LOOK TO CHRIST. If you are constantly looking to Christ, then it must mean that the Spirit of Christ is moving in you to engage in such a looking; and it is so that only the elect are led by the Spirit to look to Christ—therefore it is not in an assessment of one's moral fortitude that the assurance of election is to be had, for if one is brutally honest (Law-honest!), it would always be the case that one would find the filthiest of sinners within, but it is in the appropriation of Christ's double-benefit (justification and sanctification) in the daily act of faith.

Look to Christ for "...the righteous shall live by faith" (Hab. 2:4)!

J. Gresham Machen's Hope in Death and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness

The following were J. Gresham Machen's last words: "I'm so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it."

These words reflect the existential import of the profound truth that Christ's life of sinlessness and perfect obedience to the Father earned for His elect the privilege of the imputation unto them of the merits thereof, thereby gaining their acceptance before the Father who demands no other than perfect obedience to His law as the ground for this acceptance.

It would not be unreasonable to assert that any claim of "perfectionism" in the present Christian life is a blasphemous affront to this truth.

"Why did Machen find so much satisfaction in clinging to this promise on his deathbed?

First, it is quite easy for us to believe that God is lenient. We conceive of him as Santa Claus: 'He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.' But who would think of jolly 'ol St. Nick punishing people for their sins? And yet, that is what the Bible insists God will do at the end of history. The same Jesus who emptied himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross, will return to judge the living and the dead. It will be a trial of strict justice and nothing short of perfect righteousness will be required of each of us. Either it will be our own, or borrowed from the host, but God will not be lenient on that dreadful day.

Second, it is quite easy for us to believe that God's grace makes up for what we lack. We even hear justification defined as 'just-as-if-I'd-never-sinned.' But surely this would not be sufficient for our salvation. God not only requires an absence of sin, but a positive possession of the righteousness his nature requires of us. 'It is finished,' our suffering Savior cried out, not only concerning this final trial, but as the capstone to the whole life that he so willingly lived to God for us. While his passive obedience on the cross canceled our sins, it is his active obedience throughout his life that provides the ground upon which God can declare us righteous. This perfect obedience does not merely make up what we lack, but satisfies God's just wrath against even the imperfection of our best works as believers. The Father 'so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,' so it is not as if the Father is a harsh, demanding taskmaster who must be persuaded by the Son to have mercy. Rather, it is the Father himself who sends the Son to save the world by his voluntary obedience in life and death.

Finally, it is good to know--especially when facing the next world--that for every time we have failed to conform to God's will in thought, word, and deed, by actively sinning or failing to conform to his revealed will, his Son has fulfilled the obedience that we owe. By never once giving in to the lust, pride, sloth, greed, selfishness, and malice that are so often allowed space in our overcrowded hearts, Jesus Christ becomes our Savior not only in his atoning death but throughout his life. In this way, every day of his life was as necessary for our salvation as that dark afternoon on Golgotha. He was the only 'fully surrendered, victorious, sold-out,' Christian who ever lived! Our surrender is halfhearted and partial; our victories seem always to be sullied by pride. Even if we could live the 'higher life,' could God not smell our smugness? Wouldn't our best works be sabotaged by our own depravity? These good works would be corrupt enough to condemn us on the last day, so what we require is the obedience of someone else to stand in for us. It is not only Christ's atoning death, but his saving life during the thirty-three years of his conformity to the Father's will that shelters us from God's just sentence. 'This is why,' wrote Charles Hodge, 'the believer, when arrayed in this righteousness, need fear neither death nor hell. This is the reason why Paul challenges the universe to lay anything to the charge of God's elect.'

May we proclaim this hope while we have breath, and then may it find its way to the center of our vision when God calls us home. For it is the only reason we will hear those welcome words, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant.'" (Dr. Michael S. Horton, A Dying Man's Consolation (The Active Passive Obedience of Christ), Modern Reformation, March/April 1996.)

Covenant Theology and Prayer

All true prayer is predicated upon the unilateral and gracious purposes of God in establishing a covenant with man. Indeed, before time, the Triune God covenanted with Himself in the Covenant of Redemption, whereby it was determined that God the Son would descend (and condescend) upon the earth, to live, die, and rise again, to redeem a people for Himself, to the glory of the God the Father.

In the creation of man, God covenanted with him in the Covenant of Creation (Works), whereby God promised eternal life in His presence provided that perfect obedience was rendered. The Fall of Man is man's defaulting on this covenant, thereby ushering in death and alienation from God, with the whole of the created order subjected to the same curse. This Covenant of Works was republished in the Sinaitic Covenant, taking on a theocratic, geopolitical significance for the nation of Israel, promising prosperity in the land on the condition of obedience to the covenantal stipulations. Of course, after the Fall, failure was inevitable and the Exile was the aftermath.

This Old Testament covenantal economy consisted of types, shadows, and prefigures of the True Israelite, the Second Adam, God the Son, Jesus Christ, who was to come and fulfill all the requirements of the Covenant of Works, thereby bringing to the fore the Covenant of Grace. In this new economy, all the elect would be deemed as righteous in the sight of God—i.e., having perfectly fulfilled all the stipulations of the Covenant of Works—by virtue of the imputation of Christ's merits procured in the aforementioned obedience.

As you pray, therefore, remember all these things, taking to heart the truth that God is a covenant-making God, and that in Christ, united to Him in faith, we have all the promises and blessings of the covenant at our disposal, to the praise and glory of His wonderful Name.

"It perhaps needs to be said that knowledge of the God of the covenant can be quite minimal for some Christians. The covenant implications of the basics of the gospel may be little understood by a new convert, but it must never be said that such a newcomer has no true knowledge of God. To grasp the basic truth, 'Jesus died for my sins and I trust him for salvation,' is to grasp, without realizing it, the central truth of the covenant. The death and resurrection of Jesus fulfil the covenant promises and, thus, reveal the God of the covenant. But to remain at such a basic level without a growth in understanding, to deny oneself the richness of the revelation of the covenant in the Old Testament as well as in the New, is to stunt our knowledge of God and to deny ourselves the spiritual health of wisdom and assurance. Such a state of affairs will inevitably stifle prayer, leaving it undernourished and vulnerable. Above all, in this part of the Old Testament under consideration, we see the way prayer is a response to the covenant commitment of a gracious God. Even in the face of human failure, he is faithful and shows mercy to those who seek him and call upon his name."

- Graeme Goldsworthy, Prayer and the Knowledge of God, ch. 7, pp. 125—126.

Morning Surrenders

Every morning I am brought face to face with my weaknesses. God was pleased to grant me a new day of life and, as I try to focus my soul on Him, I see the stark incongruity between Him, in His sheer beauty, and me, in my utter imperfection. I am brought to despair. I am sick of the failures that arise from the corruption that still festers within me. I want to be free of this ugliness.

In brokenness, I fall prostrate before God. I realize that Christ's life, His perfect righteous life, with its merits imputed upon me, is the ground for my being able to approach the God who cannot tolerate the ugliness of sin in His presence. In Christ, I can "...come boldly unto the throne of grace, that (I) may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb 4:16) Hope is rekindled as I ponder on the grace and favor that God has promised to bestow upon those in whom He sees Christ formed and being formed. And all this in spite of my present disfigurement, for no one can earn by performance the grace and favor of God. I have the holiness of Christ imputed upon me in one sense and the holiness of His character being formed in me by the Holy Spirit in another. And it is for more of this latter holiness that I surrender everything every morning, hoping on His word that "for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Ro 8:29)

I worship God for the hope of being as Christ, fully, one day.