The Unchanging Truth

Guest (Male): Welcome to the unchanging truth, the verse by verse Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Jared Gilcher, lead pastor of Christ Community Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. Through the living and active word of God, the unchanging truth exists to encourage your soul, transform your life, and help you trust and treasure Christ as redeemer, savior, and king. Now, opening the scriptures and proclaiming the truth that never changes, here is Dr. Jared Gilcher.

Dr. Jerod Gilcher: The law for the Jews, faith for Gentiles. And that doesn't work. It doesn't work because the nature of sin and the nature of grace demands that justification has to be by faith, and the works of the law are never going to cut it. Which is why Paul says in verse 30, since indeed the God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that faith is one. There it is, one God overall, one way of salvation for all, namely sola fide faith alone. So so you see it, right? Faith alone isn't just God's preference.

It's rooted in his very nature as God. That's why we utterly reject Catholicism. Not because we have an axe to grind with Catholics, but because the official teaching of the Catholic Church opposes this very passage and countless others. For instance, this is from the Council of Trent. Official Catholic Church teaching, it says this. Very interesting. If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, if anyone says that, meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, let him be condemned. Do you hear what they said? If you believe justification by faith and not a single work of merit added to the pile, you are in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church condemned.

Which is exactly what verse 28 says. We're not better than Catholics, but we must pray for them because they do not know the freedom and glory of justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. But let's say, let's say you're a Jew, and you're you're hearing Paul preach on this about the law and grace and faith. Honestly, I think that if we were Jews hearing Paul preach, I think we would feel kind of defensive about this. Right? Because because after all, the law like Paul speaks about the law as if it's a bad thing, as if it's wrong, as if it's meaningless, as if it's worthless.

And the problem with that is, well, the law has has it is God's word, and it has been the center of our lives for a thousand years, two thousand years. And and Paul seems to think that it's a bad thing, which is why Paul says this in question six, verse 31, what he says. He says, are we therefore abolishing the law through faith or with faith? On the contrary, we are establishing the law. Do you kind of see what he's after there? He he's he's posing the question, does does does faith make the law meaningless?

Now that there is a a a savior to believe in, does believing in him make the law meaningless, worthless, wrong, bad? I mean, and well, let's just be honest. I mean, faith and the law are incompatible in a sense. I mean, the law does not merit your salvation, but that doesn't mean faith makes the law meaningless. Rather, faith isn't contrary to the law, it is complementary to the law. In other words, put it like this. When we exercise faith in Christ, get this, we fulfill what the law was intended to do. Namely, push us to the brink of despair so that we see we have no choice left but to trust in grace alone.

Do you see? That's his point. And the same is with us today. The same is with us today as believers on this side of the cross. You see, if you're in Christ this morning, if you're a Christian, you should obey. You ought to be holy. You should fight sin. You should strive for a life of unimpeachable, blameless conformity to the word of God and all that God commands. And don't let anyone tell you that obedience is optional. And don't let anyone tell you that obedience is legalism. It's not. All that God commands in his word is not contrary to grace and faith.

It drives us to grace and faith. Do you hear the difference? In other words, all that God commands in his word pushes us to trust the grace to do what God commands. That's the issue. Put it like this. The same empty hands of faith that got us salvation are the same empty hands of faith that lead to our sanctification. That's the issue. Which brings us into part two. Part two. The illustration of justification. The illustration of justification, which is the faith of Abraham. The faith of Abraham because Paul really needs to know that we get this.

Because you understand, there is no margin for error on this. We got to be convinced. We got to get justification by faith alone. And so Paul, being the master teacher that he is, provides an illustration. In the illustration is Abraham. Get this. All of chapter four is all about Abraham. The question is why? Why him and not somebody else? I mean, what what does what does Abraham have to do with justification by faith? Only this. Get this. That the very first mention in the Bible of justification, which we assume is only a New Testament doctrine, is found in the very first book of the Bible in the life of Abraham.

Which means Abraham is our sola fide exemplar, our example of faith alone. Look at verses one through three of chapter four. What therefore shall we say Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not with God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. That is incredible. And you see the logic of the text, right? What therefore shall we say? Verse one. Do you see that? Which means what he says here in chapter four proves what he just said in chapter three, and what he just said in chapter three is that faith destroys boasting, right?

That the empty hands of faith obliterate boasting and pride and glory in the self. Oh yeah, Paul, prove it. Prove to me that faith alone obliterates boasting gladly. Abraham, our father according to the flesh. That's the proof. That's the proof. He had nothing to boast about. He was counted as righteous by God. And yet therein lies another problem. Is that the Jews in Paul's day really believed that Abraham was saved by his works. That's what they believed. And in fact, multiple ancient Jewish sources, I I looked them all up. Looked up every intertestamental texts between the Old Testament and the New Testament, about seven or eight places in rabbinical writings that talk about that that Abraham was saved by his works.

In fact, one source even said this. Abraham was perfect in all of his deeds and well pleasing in righteousness all of his life. Well, now we've got a problem. The Jews say one thing, Paul says another. Who's right? How do we decide who's right? Was Abraham justified by his works or was he justified by his faith? And at the end of the day, what solves every debate? The scriptures. The scriptures do. And so Paul replies in verse two, for if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not with God. Did you kind of see what he's after here?

He's saying, okay, sure, sure. In some theoretical universe, I'll play your little game here. If Abraham was justified by his works, then of course of course he would have something to boast about, but not with God. Do you know what he means by that? He's saying that's not ever how it's worked with God. That's never how it's worked. How do we know? Prove it. Paul, prove prove that Abraham was not just justified by his works gladly. Verse three. For what does the scripture say? Abraham was Abraham believed God, trusted God, had faith in God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

And there is the proof. And notice what Paul did. He answered with scripture. I think Abraham was justified by his works. Oh yeah? I don't care what you think. What do the scriptures say? And what do they say? Abraham believed. He he had faith in God, and it was and he was justified. Do you know what that is? That is the doctrine of justification two thousand years before Paul ever even lived. He didn't make it up. It's in the text. Genesis 15:6, which is what Paul just quoted. And and here's here's the thing about Genesis chapter 15, just for context here.

Paul's expected to go to know the context of Genesis 15. Here it is. God literally promised Abraham the world. He did. He promised him a son of whom would become a great nation, out of whom would arrive the Messiah, who would bring salvation to the ends of the earth. He literally promised the Jews a kingdom. The problem with that is that at the time, do you know how old Abraham was in Genesis chapter 15? 85 years old, past the age of having children. Well, you know, maybe maybe his wife could have children. No, no. She was barren, humanly incurable fertility issues.

Let's add to the list that what was Abraham doing back in Genesis chapter 12 when God originally called him? What was he doing? Not following God. He was a pagan worshiping idols. Did you see the point? Every single aspect of Abraham's life rules out the possibility of justification by his works. It had to be by faith. It had to be by grace, and it was by grace, was by faith because again, look at verse three. He believed God, and he was justified. He believed. Trusted. Nothing to boast in. Nothing to brag about. Nothing to glory in.

Nothing about himself to hope in. Just the promise of a sovereign God who has always existed and caused the universe to exist out of nothing. And so you see Paul's point, right? You see his point of application. Go and do likewise. Believe like Abraham. Trust like Abraham. Trust the word and the promise and the grace of God just like Abraham. Know that you have nothing to boast in, exactly like Abraham. And and I will say this. Um here's the thing about faith and trusting in God. Here's some application. Is that what we have to understand about faith is that faith isn't just a one-time act.

No, faith, you understand, sets the trajectory for the rest of the Christian life. Faith is what the Christian life is. What I mean is if the Christian life is anything at all, it is the virtue of desperation. Right? Moment by moment, trust in the grace and promises of God. And maybe I speak for myself here. But I know I know that for me, when anxiety and fear and stress and anger and impatience is present in my life, it is precisely because I am trusting in my own perceived sufficiency. Do you see? I have not yet mastered the virtue of desperation.

I look to the self. I trust in the self. All because, if I'm being really honest, I want to boast in the self. And yet looking to self and boasting in self is the opposite of faith. And that is why our lives are so oftentimes filled with fear and anger and despair. And let me give you an illustration of that from from my life. During a particularly grueling couple of months this last year, things were so challenging, so overwhelming that one week in particular, I felt like that every day my thoughts bounced around like a pinball between anger and fear and self-pity.

Anger, fear, self-pity all day long. Anger, fear, self-pity. And so I knew I knew that that to keep myself from despair and from the slew of despond, I needed something big. I needed something that could shoulder the load. I needed a word from God that could reinforce my feeble, fragile faith with bulletproof, indestructible steel. And again and again, I kept going back to Romans chapter eight, and in particular verse 18. You don't have to turn there, but here's what it says. I consider that the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us.

And I had no choice but to read and to hold fast and to read it again and again in real time. And after a while, very slowly the the clouds began to part, and the light of hope began to break in. And my point is on this side of conversion that is faith. We must recall the promises of God. We must recite the promises of God. And moment by moment, we must rely on the promises of God. We're almost done. Very close. Watch what Paul does in verses four and five. He moves to application. He moves to application because if Paul is right, then the Jews are wrong.

And according to verse three, Paul is right. Works play zero role in getting right with God. And I don't want you to think about your lives for for a second here. You your life before and after you became a Christian. Maybe maybe you did quit drinking or drugs. Maybe you quit sleeping around or watching porn. Maybe you quit cussing or gambling or lying or whatever. Maybe you really tried to be a good person. You really tried to do good things. You tried to serve others and sacrifice for others, which a person totally should do. It's just that before God as a means to earn or merit your salvation, that meant nothing.

Not one thing you or I did before the miracle of regeneration in any way nudged God to grant us salvation or count us as righteous, right? Which is where Paul goes in verses four and five. Notice. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted according to grace, but according to what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. And there you see it, two kinds of people in the world, those who work and those who don't. Person number one, verse four, the person who works, this doesn't he doesn't mean a job here.

He means those who use works to barter for their soul. Do you see that? And and and and what does he say is the result? He says their wages are not counted according to grace, but according to what is due. Do do you see what he's saying? He's saying if you try to earn your righteous standing by your works, you lock yourself into a merit-based system in which you get what you deserve. The problem is you don't want what you deserve. Because the wages of sin is death. The soul who sins will die. A scraping together a few good works, cobbling together some good deeds does not have the power to redeem your soul or appease the wrath of God.

But person number two, verse five. This is the person who doesn't work. Meaning they come to God with the empty hands of faith. They trust in the one who justifies the ungodly. And notice the result, their faith is counted as righteousness. That doesn't mean doesn't that doesn't mean their faith is righteous. It's that faith is the means by which they receive the righteousness by which they are justified. And so it's clear, isn't it? It's really clear. You are either someone trusting in your works at some level to save you, or you despair in your works and lean upon the grace and the promise of God.

Which one are you? Which one are you? This means everything. Faith alone means everything, and I've got five reasons why it does. And then we're done. Number one. Faith alone matters because it fixes our eyes on Christ instead of upon ourselves. Do you see? I'm convinced that so much sadness and fear and distress and despair and anger and misery in our lives is precisely because we focus and fixate on the self. I mean, no wonder we are discouraged. We are not the fountain of life. But faith focuses on the one who is the fountain of life, who lived the life we could not live, who died the death we could not die, who conquered the grave we could not conquer, and who gave us the very righteous standing by that we could never obtain on our own.

Number two. Number two, faith alone is the neon lights reminder that we never could and we were never going to save ourselves. Right? I mean, what is faith? If faith is anything at all, it is but a confession that the only thing we had to offer for the saving of our souls was the guilt that needed to be removed. Number three. Faith alone matters, beloved, because it preserves the heart and purity of the gospel. You understand, getting right with God, being acquitted in his court, being forgiven of our sins, declared righteous, and having Christ's very righteousness credited to our account, all of this is by faith.

And that is the heart of the gospel message. All of it is from sovereign God, and none of it is from sinful man. Number four. Faith alone matters because it keeps the soul from crushing despair. It keeps the soul from crushing despair. John Flavel, the Puritan, said this. It's in your notes because I want you to have this quote. He says, happy would they be if puzzled and perplexed Christians would turn their eyes from the defects that are in their obedience to the fullness and completeness of Christ's obedience and see themselves complete in him when most lame and defective in themselves.

He's right. And number five. Faith alone matters because the empty, desperate hands of faith preserve and protect the grace and glory of God. Right? It protects the grace and the glory of God. Faith puts God in his rightful place as the all-sufficient giver of grace. It puts us in our rightful place as the all-sufficient as the needy beneficiaries of that grace. And in the end, if salvation is not by faith and faith alone, God ceases to be glorious, and he ceases to be God. Sola fide faith alone.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for the unchanging truth, the verse by verse Bible teaching ministry of Dr. Jared Gilcher and Christ Community Bible Church in Arlington, Texas. At Christ Community Bible Church, we exist to prize, portray, and proclaim the supremacy of Christ as we trust in his word and wait for his return. We hope today's teaching has encouraged your soul and helped you trust and treasure Christ as your redeemer, savior, and king. If you're in the DFW area and looking for a church home, join us for worship Sunday mornings at 10:30. To learn more about the mission of the church, meet the pastoral staff or plan a visit, go to ccbiblechurch.com.

You'll find ministry services and additional teachings there as well. Just click on the resources tab to get started at ccbiblechurch.com. Join us again next time as we open the scriptures together and proclaim the truth that never changes. This has been the unchanging truth.