Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Does your image of God line up with who God really is? Today on Telling the Truth, Stuart Briscoe talks once again about the reality of the gospel message in your life. He'll begin in just a moment.

Your generous support this month is vital as Telling the Truth prepares to close out our financial year and step into a new season of proclaiming God's truth. With partners like you, we can reach even more people with biblical truth in the year ahead. Right now, more people than ever are searching for truth, and through this ministry, God's word is reaching them where they are across digital platforms and around the world.

Thanks to an $82,000 matching grant, your gift today will be doubled, helping extend that reach and keep messages like this one going out to you and to others who need the hope found in Christ. As our thanks for your gift, we'd love to send you Stuart Briscoe's book, A Piece of My Mind, a powerful resource to help you experience God's peace in whatever you're facing. So call today to request your copy: 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648. Or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Here's Stuart now to answer the question, what does saving faith look like?

Stuart Briscoe: The gospel declares that the universal rejection of God as God—and I'm very careful and very precise in saying that—the universal rejection of God as God. Many people would not reject God as a helper when they want him, as a benign influence as they sometimes think of him, as somebody who's a nice old boy who lives up in heaven and hopes we'll get there with him one day.

No, God as God: the supreme being, the one around whom our lives revolve, the one from whom we come, the one through whom we live, the one for whom we exist, the one to whom we are accountable. There is a universal rejection of God in that capacity in the human heart. And we are told from Romans that this universal rejection of God as God warrants his righteous judgment.

It is an affront to his holiness. It is an expression of his love, for the rejection of God leads to all kinds of attitudes and actions that are destructive of that which God loves. And out of his deep love and his holy rejection of the attitude of humanity, he says that people come under his righteous judgment.

What then can human beings do? They cannot earn their forgiveness. They cannot do anything to deserve God turning away his righteous indignation at their rejection. But he does tell us that it is possible for us, who cannot do anything about it ourselves, to be justified—that is, declared by God to be right before him.

We can be justified through God's action, by his goodness, by his grace. And we receive his forgiveness; we receive reconciliation by faith. So, to summarize it all, the essence of what Paul has been teaching us in the first three chapters of Romans is, fundamentally, we are saved by grace through faith, not of works.

Well, that's how quickly I could have gotten through it if I'd been that way inclined, but it took much longer. All right, well, now let's pick it up from there. Paul is now wanting to clinch his argument. He is wanting to try to show people that to get right with God—because we aren't—to get right with God, we need to understand that we do not have the capacity to do it ourselves.

And the expression for that is: it is not by works. What he says is the only way you can get right with God is by recognizing that God in his grace extends to us what we can never earn ourselves. And it is not our activity that warrants our reconciliation to God; it is God's activity in Christ and the offer of reconciliation that we receive by faith.

In order to clinch his argument, Paul here calls on a couple of heavyweights. He calls on Abraham and David as witnesses. That's where we pick it up in chapter 4, verse 1. "What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather discovered in this matter?" In which matter? In the matter of being justified by faith, not being justified by our works.

We know that Abraham was called the friend of God. We know that he was the ultimate good guy as far as the Jewish people were concerned, to whom he is speaking as well as the Gentiles. He, of course, is regarded as their forefather. What does Abraham have to say about that?

If he was justified by his works—and his works were exemplary in the main, although not always perfect—if he was justified by his works, Paul says, then that puts God in his debt. Now, notice that; that's a very important point. If Abraham is justified before God by what he, Abraham, has done, then it's a matter of Abraham being able to say to God, "God, look what I've done. You owe me."

Does that sound right? Is there any way in which an infinitesimal fragment of the created order such as I am—forgive me, such as you are—is it possible that an infinitesimal fragment of the created order can say to the eternal God, "God, you owe me"? There's something fundamentally wrong about that attitude.

But that is precisely how it goes if people think that through their activities they earn the reconciliation to God. They earn through what they have done, and God is obligated to give to them what they themselves have earned. God will never allow himself to be in obligation to a human being.

So that is what Paul is saying here. Now let me read it to you in the scriptures with that explanation. "What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God." So he goes a step further.

Not only would Abraham put God in his debt, make God obligated to him if he earned his salvation, but he would have grounds for boasting. So this is how it works. Here is a man and he's going by the law of God, the Ten Commandments say. And he is looking at his life and he says, "Those Ten Commandments, I have kept them all the time. And that's good enough for God, and therefore, God, you owe me."

And now I can go around and I can walk through life and I can say, "God owes me, because this is what I did. I did this and I did that and I did the other." Well, there's no question about it that Abraham and people like Abraham would be perfectly free to go around bragging before men. But Paul says, "Just not before God."

You don't do that because there is no way that a human being can put God in their debt. Law leads to works, leads to boasting. But grace that offers you what you don't deserve, that is received by faith, leads to humble gratitude. See the difference? Law, which leads to works, leads to boasting. But grace that generates faith leads to humble gratitude.

So Paul says the simple fact of the matter is this: there was no way that Abraham our forefather was justified by his works, because that would have put God in his debt. Now then, what does he say? Verse 3, "What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Guest (Male): Stuart Briscoe answering the question, "What does saving faith look like?" on today's Telling the Truth. He'll be right back with more. First, though, we wanted to share this note sent in by Orlan in Portland who writes, "The messages from your ministry are always enlightening with enriching sound doctrine. I always take some deeper understanding from each message. Thank you so much."

Thank you as well, Orlan. That's the kind of impact your gift can have right now, helping more people encounter God's truth at the very moment they need it most. As Telling the Truth approaches the end of the financial year, finishing strong is critical so that many more people can be reached in the coming year.

Through expanded digital outreach, biblical teaching is reaching people across the world who are searching for peace, direction, and hope. And when you give this month, your gift will be doubled thanks to an $82,000 matching grant to help extend that reach even further and keep broadcasts like this one going strong all year.

We'll say thanks for your generous support with Stuart Briscoe's book, A Piece of My Mind. Stuart wrote this resource to help you experience the peace of God in the midst of whatever you may be facing. It's our thanks for your financial year-end gift, worth twice as much when paired with the match, to help more people experience life through the teaching resources of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart to continue his focus on saving faith.

Stuart Briscoe: That is the pivotal quotation for Paul in the letter to the Romans. He is calling in the heavyweights. He is calling in the man known as the friend of God. He is calling in the man who is right with God, the forefather of the Jewish people. And he's saying don't think for one moment that Abraham was justified by his works; that would have put God in his debt.

No, what does scripture say? It says that Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness, which is another way of saying precisely what Paul is teaching in the letter to the Romans. Now, you may not be familiar with that particular quotation, so let me show you where it is. You need to turn back in your Bible to Genesis chapter 15. That's right, way, way, way back in the Old Testament.

And let me read to you a little section of this particular story. "After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, and your very great reward. But Abram said, O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"

And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir." Then the word of the Lord came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look at the heavens and count the stars, if indeed you can count them." Then he said, "So shall your offspring be." And Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him for righteousness.

How does Abraham come into a right relationship with God? Through his works? No, Paul says. Through believing in faith what God was promising, appropriating it to himself, and God credited to him righteousness. So, there's the beginning of Paul's argument here.

So, all those who are justified by faith know that God is acting out of grace in giving us what we don't deserve; he is not acting out of obligation. If God only justified people as a matter of obligation in response to people living good lives—well, however you define a good life, that leaves a whole lot of people out of it. They're sunk right from the very beginning.

If, on the other hand, justification is not a matter of obligation because people have earned it, but it is a matter of grace for people who haven't earned it, think about it. It means that salvation is available to all. Whosoever will may come. Not just an elite who managed to make it and were good enough.

God says that isn't the way it works. And we know why, don't we? Because "good enough" by God's standard is to keep the whole law all the time, and the word for that is perfection. If God is requiring perfection, then the human race is damned. But God is not requiring perfection because he knows he won't get it.

What God is saying is: it isn't through your efforts to achieve perfection that I am obligated to give you reconciliation and salvation. Out of grace, I will give you what you don't deserve, and receive it by faith. And Abraham is a classic example. Way, way, way back, Abraham believed God by faith, and God credited it to him for righteousness.

And this opens the door for salvation to all who have come short of God's standard, which is all of us. That is his argument so far. Now he says, speaking of crediting righteousness to somebody, let me bring on another heavyweight. So now he brings on the great King David. And this is what he says in verse 6, "David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works."

Quote, "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him." The word "never count against him" in the Greek translation of the Old Testament is the same word as crediting righteousness.

What is he saying here? Well, he's saying that the blessing that God imparts to people comes how? It comes to those who are guilty of transgressions that have been forgiven. It comes to those who have committed sins that are covered. It comes to the one whose sin the Lord will never reckon to his account.

Now, notice, all the emphasis is on the Lord. It is the Lord who forgives. It is the Lord who covers. It is the Lord who does not count his sins against him. It's very interesting also to notice—you can't tell this from the English—that he uses three entirely different words here.

"Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven." The word "transgression" means an insisting on doing what we are forbidden to do. Sometimes it is translated to "trespass". It's going where you're not allowed to go. It is insisting on doing what God said, "Don't do it." Transgression.

Now then, if we are saying, "I'm going to be justified by my works," the simple fact of the matter is this: what I have done includes many transgressions. I have done many things I was told not to do. What am I going to do with them? What do I do about that?

The only thing I can hope for is not what I can do about it, is that God will cover them, that God will literally forgive them. That is literally "send them away". "Your sins and iniquities," he said, "I will remember no more. I will not reckon them to your account." That's not my works; that's his grace.

Guest (Male): We're in a pivotal moment for Telling the Truth. As the financial year comes to a close, your support now can help us reach even more people with God's word in the year ahead. More people than ever are searching for real peace, and through this ministry, biblical truth is reaching them in those moments across digital platforms and around the world.

Thankfully, a group of generous friends has offered an $82,000 matching grant, doubling your gift this month to help extend that outreach even further. Your generous gift today, worth double when matched, will help more people experience life through the teaching resources of Telling the Truth.

As thanks for your gift, we'll send you Stuart Briscoe's book, A Piece of My Mind. Stuart wrote this resource to help you experience the peace of God in the midst of whatever you may be facing. It's our thanks for your financial year-end gift. So request your copy when you call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now let's ask Stuart a few questions about his message today.

Guest (Female): Stuart, if a person can't earn God's forgiveness, if they can't do enough good stuff, so to speak, what can they do?

Stuart Briscoe: This whole issue of God's forgiveness is something that we need to be very, very clear about. If we feel that our relationship with God is not right and we want it to be rectified, then it's quite natural for a human being to say, "Well, what do I have to do?"

And some people would arrive at what they think is the logical conclusion, and they would say, "Well, if I could add up all the bad things I've done and now concentrate on doing good things, then if I can finish up with more good things than bad things, God is obligated to forgive me at that point." Well, that is not how God operates.

God, by his very nature, is full of compassion. He is merciful. He will not lightly forgive the sinner; he will bring judgment to bear. But in his compassion and his love and his concern, he says, "Look, I have given Jesus to die for you so that the judgment of your sins is passed, and I am free to forgive you if you will admit that you need my forgiveness, if you will admit you need my compassion and my mercy and you cannot do it on your own, then open your heart and receive what I will give you, not on the basis of what you've done, but simply on the basis of who I am."

Guest (Female): Stuart, why is it so important that God doesn't save us because of our works?

Stuart Briscoe: Well, one of the very obvious reasons that God doesn't save us because of our works or because we have earned our salvation is suggested to us in the famous passage in Ephesians chapter 2 where it says, "By grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast."

If we were saved by our works, if we were saved by our activities, if we were saved on the basis of our own merit, just imagine what heaven would be like. It would be intolerable. People would be standing around comparing how they got there on the basis of what they had done.

There'd be more bragging than you could handle; there'd be more boasting than you could imagine. Heaven would be hell. And so that's one very simple reason why we are not saved by our works. But of course, the main reason that we're not saved by our works is that we could never merit our salvation. It is only the work of Christ that makes salvation available to us. And so we recognize this and we thank God for what God has done in Christ.

Guest (Male): We hope today's message encouraged you. And before we go, here's something important to remember: there's still time to make a meaningful impact before the end of this financial year and help reach many more people with the truth of God in the year ahead.

Right now your gift will be doubled through an $82,000 matching grant, helping extend biblical teaching to people searching for peace, hope, and direction. As thanks for your gift, we'll send you Stuart Briscoe's book, A Piece of My Mind, a resource designed to help you experience God's steady peace in whatever you're facing.

So call now to give, knowing your gift will be doubled, and remember to request your resource with our thanks when you do: 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thanks for joining us today. Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of Stuart's message, "What Does a Saving Faith Look Like?" and discover what true saving faith depends upon. Experience life next time on Telling the Truth.