On Faith and Works Again

Larry Kirkpatrick, Price Seventh-day Adventist church, 16 June 2001.

Introduction

You've heard numerous messages through me lately on Real Grace. Doubtless you've noted that those messages have been almost entirely dealing with Scripture and scarcely mention of the very rich and inspired writings of Mrs. Ellen G. White. There's been a reason for that. I wanted to show you this understanding of the gospel plainly from the Scriptures. It is charged that you can only arrive at such an understanding of the gospel by using the writings of Ellen White, but we showed that that is a misconception. But I won't leave you today at my last sermon here without addressing one last time these issues and sharing from you some of the richness of the Spirit of Prophecy writings on this point. In these last days, God has sent us a warning through His messenger. Hear it:

Let no man present the idea that man has little or nothing to do in the great work of overcoming; for God does nothing for man without His cooperation. . . . Never leave the impression on the mind that there is little or nothing to do on the part of man; but rather, teach man to cooperate with God, that He may be successful in overcoming. Let no one say that your works have nothing to do with your rank and position before God. Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 381.

Most interesting lines. Most interesting when related to some items published in our current publications. Consider this from the current issue of Signs Magazine:

What is the basis of His [God's] judgment? . . . Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion about this question. We hear that we are saved by grace and that there's nothing we can do to earn our salvation. Of course . . . Paul is the champion of this message of grace. In Romans 3:28 he wrote, "We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." Yet this same Paul . . . seems to confuse the issue. Look at what he says in Romans 2:6ff: "God 'will give to each person according to what he has done . . .' These verses make it seem as though the basis for God's judgment is our works. . . . As you might expect, there are two different views on this. All agree that grace plays an important role in salvation, but not all agree on its all-sufficiency. There are some who believe that while we obtain God's favor by faith through God's grace, we stay in God's favor through works. They believe grace gives us forgiveness for the past, but after we're forgiven, then our works are the basis for God's judgment. . . salvation by grace through faith gets us in; works keep us in. . . . So who's right? John Brunt, "Does God Grade by Works," Signs, July, 2001, 19-20.

I am glad that today I can address this. Really, whether we have recognized it or not, we are in the midst of a war in Adventism; a war that shakes us down through to our foundations. It is a baseline conflict over what the gospel of Adventism is and is going to be. Will we understand the gospel from a viewpoint new to us and I propose new to God; or shall we understand it as we were meant to understand it? Has our Father brought this movement into existence then set us here to work and give a retread gospel to the world, or His gospel?

Notice again these lines from the Signs article: "We are saved by grace and . . . there's nothing we can do to earn our salvation . . . Paul is the champion of this view." Again, from the same article: "None of us has works capable of earning our salvation." Again, at the close of the article, "We no longer work to earn a passing grade at the judgment in order to get into heaven [after a transition to a more mature Christianity]. Rather, we serve God with all of our hearts because we are so grateful that He has saved us by His grace." Now pay close attention. Several issues are in play here. Namely,

1. Where did the knee-jerk, Pavlovian reaction come from that magically translates the word "works" into "earning salvation"?
2. How is it that the more mature Christian works having been saved while the less mature Christian works in order to be saved?
3. Can the supposedly done-deal (past-tense) "saved by grace and there's nothing we can do to earn our salvation" plan be reconciled with the many inspired statements from Ellen White that say man must cooperate with God?

Apart from certain context, it may seem that the "saved by grace and there's nothing we can do to earn our salvation" statement cannot be faulted.

Here is a good rule of thumb: pay close attention not only to what the writer/speaker is arguing for, but also what he is arguing against. Sometimes they are not the same. Nor does that necessarily mean that the writer is insincere or intends mischief. He may be quite unaware that he is steering funny.

Here are some important questions in light of our opening Ellen White quotation. In the Signs article,

1. Is cooperation spoken of?
2. Are conditions spoken of?
3. Is obedience external and posterior to (following after) salvation, or internal to and anterior (coming before) to salvation?
4. Does the gospel include justification only or justification and sanctification?

In our case here, the writer appears to be arguing in favor of the right thing. But a closer look at what he is arguing against shows us more clearly what he is arguing for.

A Closer Look

Remember, he says that there are those who believe that "grace gives us forgiveness for the past, but after we're forgiven, then our works are the basis of God's judgment." Is he attacking the idea that "There are conditions to our receiving justification and sanctification" (Selected Message, bk. 1, p. 377). And that "While God can be just, and yet justify the sinner through the merits of Christ, no man can cover his soul with the garments of Christ's righteousness while practicing known sins, or neglecting known duties. God requires the entire surrender of the heart, before justification can take place; and in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience, through active, living faith that works by love and purifies the soul" (Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 366)?

Ellen White says, "Let none say that there are no conditions to salvation. There are decided conditions, and everyone is put to the strenuous task of diligently inquiring and searching for the truth from God's word. At the peril of our souls we must know the prescribed conditions given by Him who has given His own life to save us from ruin" (Manuscript Releases, vol. 13, p. 22).

Notice we are told quite plainly that there are decided conditions to our salvation; that "before justification can take place" God requires an entire surrender of the heart, and that "in order for man to retain justification, there must be continual obedience." I don't know how that sounds to you, but to me it sounds kind of like the idea that the Signs author was attacking, in his words, "grace gives us forgiveness for the past, but after we're forgiven, then our works are the basis of God's judgment."

Indeed, we are told,

We must all be rich in good works in this life if we would secure the future, immortal life. When the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened, every man will be rewarded according to his works. The Faith I Live By, p. 162.

Whatever we may make to be the full meaning here, on this we will surely agree: in the above passage, the securing of the future, immortal life is determined by our works.

Faith and Obedience

But turn again to Romans 3:28. Let's make sure we are harmonizing with that, that we are not laboriously torturing or twisting this verse. Here again is what it says: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law," or as the translation given in the article, "We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law."

It is a clear thing that we are justified by faith and not by that which we do in the power of the Spirit of God that meets the requirement of His law. It is just as clear that a faith that works produces obedience. Such obedience is more than the fruit of faith merely following faith. It is rather that which occurs in the same moment as faith.

This is not difficult to understand. When I obey by faith, which came first, the obeying or the faith? I cannot obey without faith in Christ, and I cannot experience a living faith in Christ if I do not obey. Faith and obedience come in the same moment, in the same wave, in the same experience. To try to put one before the other is to introduce considerable confusion into the question. One can no more obey before faith than he can have faith without obeying.

If this is true, then it is impossible to separate obedience from faith, for they are inseparable. If they are inseparable, then I cannot have faith without obeying, without the expression of good works.

Even so, it is clear that neither any good works entering the world through me nor the faith through which those good works are brought into existence have any merit in themselves. Hear these pointed lines to us through Ms. White:

The merit of the righteousness of Christ is the only ground upon which the sinner may hope for a title to eternal life; for Christ hath given Himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God, as a sweet-smelling savor. An infinite price was paid for man's redemption, not that he might be saved in his sins, not to make void the law of God. Paul says: "Do we then make void the law of God through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." For though "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight," yet the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, is witnessed by the law and the prophets. (Signs of the Times, June 18, 1894).

Our only ground (you did hear the word "only," right?) for expecting that we shall have eternal life is "the merit of the righteousness of Christ."

A Tighter look at Romans Three

Let's get something clear here on this faith and works issue. Look with me now at several verses here in Romans.

First, Romans 3:20: "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight."

Second, Romans 3:21: "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets."

Third, Romans 3:24: "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Fourth, Romans 3:28: "A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."

What do you hear there in common in all those verses? How about this:

Number one, no fallen human being or beings is made right with Him because of any supposedly good deeds flowing out from their life. We are fallen beings and apart from God we cannot produce even one untainted good thing that will impress Him. When, through His strength imparted to us we obey, it is only possible because He made it possible. Therefore we have nothing of which we can boast or lay claim to as a righteousness of our own that is independent of God.

Number two, The law and the prophets testify of Jesus, the living embodiment of God's righteousness, apart from the law. Remember John 1:45?: "Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write!" Jesus came to live the law. His life, testified to in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27) the things concerning Himself. Romans 8:3 of our Lord Jesus says, "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." Because Jesus did always those things that pleased His Father, He was the living law, the living, walking, breathing embodiment of the law. It was not the law written on cold tables of stone, but the law-harmonized life He lived that testified of God's righteousness.

Number three, Our redemption is in Christ Jesus, and justification occurs only "freely by His grace." His buying-back of us is only made possible by the perfect life of Jesus being accounted to us. His merits and His alone effect our salvation, our changed situation, our change in rank and position before God. Because faith works through love, their presence or absence says that your connection to God is real or that it is false. Ellen White says,

Let no one say that your works have nothing to do with your rank and position before God. In the judgment the sentence pronounced is according to what has been done or to what has been left undone (Matt. 25:34-40). (Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 381).

Don't you know that whether you have or have not the Holy Spirit is a salvation issue?

How rich the precious little book Steps to Christ is. Here's another way of putting this: "We have nothing in ourselves of which to boast. We have no ground for self-exaltation. Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us" (Steps to Christ, p. 63). Our ONLY ground of hope is a twofold whole: Christ's righteousness imputed to us, counted to us, i.e. His merits alone applied to us, AND in what His Holy Spirit works in us and through us.

Christ's merits applied mean both of these--both of these constitute our only hope. Our only hope is NOT Christ's righteousness merely counted to us and it stops there. Christ is our Melchizedek high Priest in heaven. Hebrews 7:25 says plainly that Jesus "is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." He said if He went that He would send another Comforter, the Holy Spirit. In the same breath he said that "All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine and shalt shew it unto you" (John 16:7, 15). This is so thrilling. Now turn to 1 Corinthians 2:9-10: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit."

Oh, my brothers and sisters, be repelled by any hideous assertion that your salvation stops short at the mere declaration of righteousness and that you are left in the mire deep mire of all the same sin your were imprisoned by before! Knowing Jesus changes our lives. We can testify to it because, while never could quite conceive beforehand the beauty of what He had in store for us, He has sent His Spirit to work in and through us and that which never entered into our hearts has been revealed to us now by His Spirit. He has shown this life to us--this life in Jesus!

And number four, "A man is justified by faith without [or apart from] the deeds of the law." We are made right by means of our faith in Christ. Even our faith brings no merit to us. Neither do our faith OR our works make our merits acceptable to God. Again, the pen of inspiration:

Grace is unmerited favor, and the believer is justified without any merit of his own, without any claim to offer to God. He is justified through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, who stands in the courts of heaven as the sinner's substitute and surety. But while he is justified because of the merit of Christ, he is not free to work unrighteousness. Faith works by love and purifies the soul. Faith buds and blossoms and bears a harvest of precious fruit. Where faith is, good works appear. (Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 398).

See, "Where faith is, good works appear." It is inevitable. It is concurrent. It is built-in. Neither our faith nor the works associated with our faith have saving merit, count towards our salvation. They go together. They are built into the salvation plan. They are conditions but that is all.

Important Definitions

Let's be careful with our definitions. By condition I mean that which has no virtue or worthiness, no reward even, but instead brings the opening of possibilities. By merit I mean an act or action that has in itself virtue, goodness, or worthiness that can be rewarded. Consider Romans 4:4: "Too him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." If you are trying to be saved by your own goodness--even your own goodness blended in with God's goodness, you are working for your salvation, what you do you really intend to have merit before God, and you are operating on the "earn it yourself" salvation scheme.

But such is not the gospel.

Our salvation is a free gift. But again comes the danger-warning from inspiration, "Let no man present the idea that man has little or nothing to do in the great work of overcoming." Indeed, her pen even wrote, "Faith without works is dead, being alone. Faith will never save you unless it is justified by works" (Testimonies, vol. 2, p. 158). Faith will never save you unless it--faith--is justified by works. Now you wonder what this means. But the meaning is plain. Mrs. White is quoting from James 2:17, 20, right? The same passage shows us what she meant. James 2:18 says "Show me thy faith without thy works [that is, try to make good your claim with nothing but words unbacked by action], and I will shew thee my faith by my works [the behavior flowing out of my Christian experience will demonstrate the reality of my faith].

Speaking of Abraham in James 2:22, he goes on to say "faith wrought with his [Abraham's] works, and by works was faith made perfect." I think that's just what Mrs. White said when she wrote "Faith will never save you unless it is justified by works."

Consider also these weighty inspired remarks:

Ministers sometimes tell the people that they have nothing to do but believe; that Jesus has done it all, and their own works are nothing. But the Word of God plainly states that in the Judgment the scales will be balanced accurately, and the decisions will be based on the evidence adduced. (Selected Messages, bk. 3, p. 147).

We must all be rich in good works in this life, if we would secure the future, immortal life. When the judgment shall sit, and the books shall be opened, every man will be rewarded according to his works. (RY 108).

Those who are connected with the service of God must be purified from every thread of selfishness. All is to be done in accordance with the injunction, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all" (Col. 3:17) "to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). God's laws of justice and equity must be strictly obeyed in the transactions between neighbor and neighbor, brother and brother. We are to seek for perfect order and perfect righteousness, after God's own similitude. On these grounds alone will our works bear the test of the judgment. . . . (Selected Messages, bk. 1, p. 114).

In the day of judgment many will be found wanting because they have been tested and proved of God and found unworthy of eternal life. God could not trust them in heaven. The decision will be made for eternity; he that is not faithful in that which is least cannot be entrusted with greater responsibilities. They will be judged by their works which have determined their character. (Publishing Ministry, p. 299).

I think someone has been tinkering with this understanding of the judgment. Thus the burden of my speaking today.

Conclusion

How then shall we conclude our thinking together today? Let us answer the questions before asked. Is cooperation spoken of? Yes. Are conditions spoken of? Yes. Does obedience come before salvation, after it, or at the same time? Even says the gospel, in the same moment. And both, justification and sanctification are included in the gospel (although we haven't here gone deeply into that point).

As we finish today I plead with you to turn your eyes to Jesus. He is our salvation. No clever or just misguided theory equating cooperation with God with working for our salvation can be accepted today--no matter where it is published. Take your Bible, take your Spirit of Prophecy books, study-out for yourself these matters. Rest your salvation on no one else's words or explanations. Know what you believe because you've made it yours by testing by the Scriptures what is presented to you as being from heaven. Even all that you are hearing from me today, be ready to weigh the Scriptures and quotations I've shared with you. Add a double dose of caution when you come to my words. Do that when you come to the words of any preacher and any writer. Know by personal experience in whom you've believed.