Last time we looked at the nature of faith in the sense that faith is a spiritual act. Faith is the sight of the soul as it looks into the spiritual realm and so man is said to walk by faith when man lives according to the spiritual realm rather than the physical realm. Faith is also the way human beings receive from God spiritual gifts and spiritual strength. This is because faith is the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1) which includes God who is Spirit. So the one with faith lives by convictions obtained from the spiritual realm that come to man from God through Christ by the Holy Spirit. That must focus our minds on what comes next so we can think with great care.When men present the Gospel or talk of God’s actions today, they are primarily focused on God’s workings within this world in physical ways. The Gospel is presented as factual information alone and men are told to simply believe the information. In one sense all of that is true. Men must hear the factual information and all that they must do is simply believe. But as we saw last week, true faith operates in the spiritual realm. True faith cannot be the actions of the natural man and cannot come from the actions of the physical nature of man. True faith must operate within the spiritual realm. Faith is the trust of the soul in the glory of God in Christ and so the opposite of faith in Christ is faith in self or pride. The previous sentence has two things in it that we must deal with in order to understand biblical faith. The first thing is that true faith must see the glory of God in Christ. I hope to deal with that next week. The second is the subject of this week’s newsletter. The fact of the matter is that faith in Christ requires that man have no faith in self or anything that comes from pride. This point, I think, is utterly crucial and is exactly where modern evangelism falls far short.
Let us think through the issue a little more. I discussed this point with “pope” Curtis Knapp from Seneca, Kansas this week. He pointed out that in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican that this point is there. The Pharisee had faith that he was accepted because of his works. The Publican had faith that he was accepted before God on another basis. As we think through this issue, we can use that parable as a guide. Man is born in a state of unbelief toward God and a seemingly unbounded pride toward himself. Man believes in himself, his righteousness, and his works. He is full of faith in himself and it is impossible (without the Holy Spirit) to convince him that his own righteousness is as filthy rags (Isa 64:6). Man will believe that Christ would die for him to make up for what he could not do, though even that is hard to convince man of. Man will believe that he is good enough for Christ to die for. He will believe that he is worthy to be saved by Christ. Man will even believe that God will save him because he (man) has done God a favor by believing in Him. But what will man not believe? That he is a most wretched sinner that is unworthy of saving. He will not believe that even his best religious works are as filthy rags. The question at this point, then, is can man believe in Christ alone without a total disbelief in himself?
Let us look at the basic teachings of justification again. The doctrine of justification by faith without works (faith in Christ alone) can be understood in different ways if we just look at the words alone. However, we want to be very careful at this point. Within the doctrine of justification we have the necessary teaching of propitiation. We can also see how this fits in Scripture from Romans 3:24-26. Propitiation is the teaching of Scripture where the wrath of God is appeased and removed from the sinner. In that Christ is the sacrifice that was offered up to God and by His suffering on the cross He paid the debt for sinners that no sinner could ever pay for him or herself. Now, let us focus again. Did Christ pay for some, all, or perhaps even most of our sins? When the Publican went home justified, was he justified because some of his sins were paid for by Christ or because all of them were paid for by Christ? If not all by Christ, then how did the Publican make restitution for even one sin?
We need to look at the issue of imputation once again. The teaching of imputation (reckoning, credited to account) is that the righteousness of Christ is credited or reckoned to the sinner. So we must ask again whether the righteousness of Christ is credited as all of the sinner’s righteousness or just part? If it is just part of the sinner’s righteousness, then where did the sinner’s righteousness come from? Is it possible for a sinner to even earn merit or righteousness before God? When the Publican went home justified, how much of the righteousness that he had was from himself? If all of it did not come from Christ, where did Publican’s part come from?
The phrase that we are using, justification by faith without works (faith alone), usually focuses on faith in Christ. That is because it is usually termed “justification by faith alone.” But what the word “alone” really means in that phrase is justification by faith without works. In our modern day, we have forgotten what those crucial little words (without works) really mean. We should also ask four other questions at this point. If a person if truly justified by faith alone (without works), then what does it mean to trust in Christ apart from works? Does that just mean that one trusts in Christ apart from his own works in the future? What does it really mean to trust in Christ alone and apart from all works at all? If we don’t believe that Christ suffered for all our sins and gives us all our righteousness, do we trust in Him alone?
Let us think of the Publican again. When the Publican was too ashamed to look to heaven and asked for mercy, what works of his own was he trusting in? The Pharisee was not saying that he trusted in his works, he was thanking God for making him moral. Could it be, then, that when a person comes to God in faith alone, then that person must not come to God trusting in anything that he has ever done, will ever do, or even trust in his own faith? In other words, for a person to truly trust in Christ alone is for that person to turn from all trust in himself and his own works. We must be very clear on this. For a person to trust in Christ and Christ alone it is a necessity that the person cannot trust in himself or anything he has done to contribute to his justification. That is the picture that the Publican gives us. That is also what it means to trust in Christ alone. The works that I am not to trust in include my former works, even my former religious works or works of righteousness, and my future works as well. I am to trust in Christ, His life, His cross, and His resurrection alone without any works of mine in the slightest.
We can look at this in kind of a reverse way in Romans 1:18-32. In that passage we see that the descent of man into sin is a continual rejection of God for the ways, wisdom, and works of self. Man suppresses the truth of God in unrighteousness (1:18). In other words, man chooses what makes him happy and chooses his ways over God’s. Man refuses to honor God as God and give him thanks (v. 21). This is the picture of man seeking his own honor and not bowing to God as provider of all things. From experience we know how hard it is for man to give up any hope in his own righteousness. We know that is because the essence of the fall of man into sin. Man has fallen into independence, pride, self-love, and self-centeredness in wanting to be like God. As Romans 3:11 & 18 puts it, man does not seek God and does not fear God. What we see is that man rejects God and trusts in himself.
Repentance is a turning from unbelief toward God and believing in God. However, we must think through that statement as well. What does it mean to believe in God? What is the state of unbelief? A state of unbelief in God is really a state of belief and faith in self. A state of belief and faith in God is a state of unbelief and trust in self. We can conclude, then, that a true repentance and faith in Christ is a turning from pride and trust in self and its righteousness to one of a resting in Christ alone for salvation. The problem, however, is what that means in practice and life. To see what I think of as my righteousness as less than righteousness is a hard step. Not only do I have no righteousness, but those acts of righteousness are as menstrual cloths (filthy rags). Remember that in the Old Testament to come into contact with blood like this meant that a person was unclean and could not be among the people or its worship for several days. It required a cleansing as well.
For a person to trust in Christ and Christ alone without works will actually require the person to look upon his best works as something that God hates in and of themselves. It requires the person to mourn over his acts of righteousness as well as his more obvious acts of sin. To come to Christ with nothing in my hands requires there to be no acts of righteousness in my hands either. In other words, humans who are born in pride (all of them) must be humbled from that pride in order for them to see their complete poverty of spirit and so their 100% need of Christ. As Jesus taught, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). The word “theirs” in the text means that the kingdom of heaven is limited to the poor in spirit. The word “poor” in that text refers to those who are totally impoverished and have no way of gaining anything either. Only those who are totally impoverished of their own righteousness truly have the kingdom of grace reigning in their hearts.
An intellectual apprehension and assent to the doctrine of justification by faith alone will not do. It absolutely requires that people be emptied of their pride and self-trust in order to trust in Christ alone. It requires that people be emptied of any self-righteousness in order to trust in the righteousness of Christ alone. If we take the doctrine of justification by faith without works seriously as the Publican did with a strong view of the depravity of man, we will see that man must be emptied of self and pride in order to trust in Christ alone. If man is not emptied of those, he will still be trusting in himself to some degree. He can’t trust in self at all to trust in Christ with all (alone). God justifies people by grace and with no cause in man but caused by Himself alone. Grace alone means grace alone.
God Loves... Himself 
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