Today's Word Radio

Guest (Male): Salvation is through grace, through faith. Obedience after you are saved, well that's when God says, hey, you're my children now, I want you to obey my word. You're not obeying God so that you can be saved, you're obeying God because you're saved.

Pastor Brett Meador reminds us that abstaining from sin is always important, but never enough, for you are saved because Jesus died on the cross for your sins. The ones that you have committed, the ones you are committing, and the ones you have yet to commit. Jesus died once for all of those. That's how we are saved.

Is there one deed more important than the other that gets you into heaven? Pastor Brett Meador has the answer by turning to the Book of Habakkuk, pointing us to the truth that salvation is found not in our works, but in trusting the work of the Lord. A reminder from today's Word, calling us to rest our salvation fully in Him, not on any religious practice or human effort.

Brett Meador: Why do you not grab your Bible, turn to Habakkuk, and we are going to take a look at this little verse. It's chapter two, verse four. It says, behold, his soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him. But, the just shall live by his faith.

Romans chapter one, verses fifteen and seventeen, you can write this down. Paul the Apostle said, so as much as is in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. To the Jew first, also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith.

There it is, Paul is quoting from Habakkuk, the just shall live by faith. And Paul made this argument over and over and over again in his epistles. But I love that he said for the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God. It's not your giving money or your attending a church or, you know, giving to poor people, that's not how you are saved.

People still get this confused that being obedient to God's word is how you are saved. That's not really it. It's actually faith and faith alone that saves you. The just shall live by faith. Notice the phrase before that, it says here, from faith to faith. What's that all about? That's what the King James says there, but if you look at the New International Version of verse seventeen there, it says, for in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed. A righteousness that is and here it is, by faith from first to last.

The King James says from faith to faith. And I've he says by faith from first to last. What's that saying? It's saying, it's the beginning and the ending and everything in between. In other words, it's not that you start with faith and end with works. The whole thing is faith from beginning and from faith to faith, from the first to the last, the just shall live or the righteous shall live by faith. Quoting from Habakkuk.

You see, this is important, you guys. Nothing you can do to add to the salvation God offers to you. You are saved by God's grace through faith, not of your works. The Bible says that read Ephesians two eight. It's very, very clear. The just shall live by faith. The Galatian church by the way, the Galatians, they were making a big mistake. They were starting to allow these people to come in and cause problems with this notion of are you saved by faith or are you saved by works?

They were called Judaizers. Now, I've studied these Judaizers for a long time and I used to think they were Jews trying to make the new Christian church in in Galatia sort of more like Jews. That's what I used to think. But the more I've looked into it, I am realizing it maybe was some Jews, but it was actually mostly Gentiles who had in the early church thought, well, we have got to become believers so we need to be like Jews.

Yeah, Jesus died on the cross for my sins, but we also need to be circumcised. We have got to celebrate the festivals and the feasts and the new moons and the Sabbaths. We have got to start keeping the laws of the Jews. And they they were really into this. And they started to be a problem. They went around saying, hey, are you circumcised? Could you imagine that in the church today if people are walking around? Are you circumcised? That's what was going on. These weirdos were running around, are you circumcised? Because you better be. That's largely what the book of Galatians is about.

The Judaizers that were putting this burden and causing a problem saying, yes, it's nice that you love Jesus and all and have faith, but that's not enough. There's more. Here's what you need to do to really be saved. And one of the things that was circumcision. Would you flip over to Galatians with me? Turn to Galatians chapter one. Let's do a little galloping through Galatians real quick.

Because this book really nails it down this topic that Martin Luther was trying to deal with, whether it's circumcision of the early church or, you know, climbing up stairs or whipping your back or doing stuff where you are somehow getting in favor with God, total waste of time. And Martin Luther realized that when he started reading stuff like Galatians chapter one, look at verses six through nine.

He says this, he says, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ into another gospel, which is not another. But there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Remember, we are talking about the Judaizers. We are saying, you have got to be circumcised. That's not a gospel. Is it good news to say, yeah, I want to be saved and you have got to be circumcised?

So he is saying, it's not a gospel. Verse seven says, it's not another, but there are some that want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But verse eight, though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed.

Paul is doing damage control here. The early church, they realized, wow, you are saved by Jesus and the work of the cross, and when you accept Christ, you are saved by faith, believing. And by the way, there was nothing new there. Even Abraham of the Old Testament. How was he saved? Anybody remember? By faith. Remember it says, Abraham believed God, so it counted unto him for righteousness. And guess what? Even after he believed God, he sinned a whole bunch.

He slept with Hagar and gave birth to Ishmael, and did all kinds of. Called Sarah his sister when it was really his wife. Like lied through his teeth. He sinned even after he was declared righteous by God. But he didn't lose his salvation, did he? Even though he was a sinner and messed up all through his life, he messed up all kinds of times. The reason Abraham was declared righteous is because he believed God. He was justified by faith.

Well, so too, Paul says, man, you Galatians, he says, I marvel that you are so soon removed from the gospel of grace and to another gospel, which is not not even really a gospel, it's like fake gospel. And then he makes it clear, he says, listen, if we come and give you another gospel, or if an angel from heaven comes and gives you another gospel, let that person, let that angel be accursed, he says.

Then fast forward, go to chapter two, verse sixteen of Galatians, where it says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. And not by the works of the law, for by works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Justification is what you and I need. We are all sinners, we all fall short. We need to be declared righteous. And there's only one way for that to happen, by faith, through Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins. The just shall live by faith. Paul is making this point and hammering it home. Go to chapter three. Galatians chapter three, verse one. He says, he is getting a little more, you know, pointed. He says, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth?

Before whose eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth crucified among you. This only would I learn of you. He says, I have got like one question I want to ask you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Remember what Paul said? He said, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That's what he's referring to here. So he's saying, did you get saved and filled with the spirit by keeping good laws or by the hearing of faith? The answer is rhetorical, yes, of course, by the hearing of faith.

But he says verse three, are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? In other words, he's saying, man, you you were saved by God's grace through faith, can you improve upon that by circumcising yourself? Of course not, he's saying. Like Paul is having to make this really heavy argument, and he even says, you guys are so foolish. And it is foolish to try to add to what Jesus did on the cross. And that's why a number one sign of a cult is for them to say, yeah, great for you, you believe in Jesus and by faith, yeah, yeah, yeah, but wait, there's more.

You need to believe in Jesus and as soon as they put the and on there, you are off course. Even good stuff like this, for example. If you want to be saved by God's grace, you have got to be saved, you have got to believe, but you also need to be baptized. Now don't get me wrong. We are constantly baptized because that's something you do, listen, to be obedient to God's word.

But are you saved? Is that what makes you go to heaven? Because, well, I have got dunked in the river and so I was baptized. So that's why I am going to heaven. No. When you get baptized in the river, you are acknowledging what God has done miraculously, saving you by his grace through faith. It's an outward sign of what God has already done inwardly in your life. Crucified with Christ, buried old man left in the river, new creation as you come out. Jesus died for your sins on the cross. Baptism is essential if you are obedient to God. You need to be baptized.

But it's not what saves. We are saved by grace through faith. Do you see the difference? People get really confused about being obedient versus being saved. Those are two separate issues. He saves us by his grace through faith. So, Galatians three is like, oh foolish Galatians. He's like, you guys have totally got off course by adding to what saves. Fast forward to chapter three, verse ten. In Galatians three ten, he says, for as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse.

For it is written, cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall live by faith. You see that? Galatians three eleven, again, Paul quotes Habakkuk two four. Habakkuk quoted three times in the New Testament. This is one of them. Galatians three eleven.

And so the point is again, he's saying the just shall live by faith. He says, man, you know, those of you that are into the works of the law, you are cursed. Why would anybody be cursed if they said, I'll keep the law of the Old Testament? Why are you cursed? Anybody? You can't keep them. Do I need to show you again my list of six hundred thirteen laws given to us by Moses in the Old Testament? Guess what? There has been a lot of people through the ages who have tried to keep those six hundred thirteen laws, and no one was successful, not even one, except for Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I didn't come to do away with the law. I came to perfectly fulfill the law.

So Paul is saying, no one was ever saved by keeping this. No one was. He says, the law just dooms us. But in verse eleven, he says, but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by faith. Now fast forward to Galatians three, verse twenty one. It says, is the law against the promise of God? In other words, does that mean that the law that we just showed you is against God? No, he says, God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness would have been given by the law.

But the Scripture had concluded all under sin. We have all sinned. That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law. Shut up unto the faith, which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster. Remember I talked about Mr. Alexander, my teacher, the schoolmaster, how he drove us to do the right thing? Well, that's what the law does. It drives us to God's good grace.

But we go further still in chapter five, verse one. Flip the page to Galatians five one. He exhorts them, the church Galatians, saying this, stand fast therefore in the liberty, wherewith Christ has made us free. And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. That was the problem with the Galatian church. They were getting entangled back with the laws, circumcision, and the keeping of feasts and festivals and and all the sacrificial system. They were trying to bring those back into the church.

He says, but stand fast in the liberty. Verse two, behold, I Paul say to you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. In other words, one of the blessings of Christ is you don't need to be circumcised. Verse three, for I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Remember what James said? He's echoing Paul here. When James said, if you are going to keep one point of the law, you have to what? Keep all points of the law.

So he says, man, you can be circumcised, but good luck. You have to do all the other six hundred, you know, twelve laws that you have yet to do. He says, man, verse four, Christ has become no effect to you. Whosoever of you are justified by the law, you are fallen from grace. For we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which works by love. The love of God says, if you believe by faith, you will be saved by grace.

Don't complicate it, he says. Don't go back to the laws and the rules and all those regulations. Now fast forward Galatians five, verse ten. He starts getting fiery here. Now, you are going to miss it in the King Jimmy here, but I will tell you what we are missing. In Galatians five ten, he says, I have confidence in you, Galatian church, through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded. But he that troubles you, who was the person troubling? The Judaizers are saying, you have got to keep the festivals and you better be circumcised. He says, but he that troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he be.

Verse eleven, and I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer for persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. Verse twelve, I would that they were even cut off which trouble you. Now that's the King James, cleaning everything up, making it all, oh yeah, the cut off from the church, right? Or cut off from socialization or cut off from being friendly. Nope. The Greek word there is the word castration.

Do you hear what Paul just said? Like this is in the Bible. You are like, is this? Yeah, you didn't color this in Sunday school, okay? Paul said, I would that you. See, remember, they are saying, you need to be circumcised, that cutting away of the foreskin of the flesh that was Abrahamic, that was Jewish thing of the Old Testament. He says, yeah, you guys are pushing that. I would that you be and he takes it a whole other step. I would that you Judaizers be castrated.

Paul didn't blow any punches by the way, in his words. When he got fired up, man, you better watch out. Paul is saying these guys are troubling the church. And who were they? They were the ones adding to God's grace through faith, being saved by grace through faith. Paul had strong, strong words to say about these people. Now, this raises some interesting questions. Are you a legalist going around saying, if you really want to be saved, you have got to do A, B, C, or D? Don't do that.

The question is, are you do you want to be saved? You have to say, do you accept by faith salvation from God? It's that simple. Yeah, but Brett, you are preaching a cheap grace. You are just saying that a person can go and sin as much as they want and still be saved. Well, the truth is, I am going to admit that. Yes. Are you kidding, Brett? We can go sin as much as we want? Um, yeah, you can also pour acid in your eyeballs, if you want to.

You are like, here's the thing. Salvation is through grace, through faith. Obedience after you are saved, well, that's when God says, hey, you are my children now. I want you to obey my word. You are not obeying God so that you can be saved, you are obeying God because you are saved. So when James says, faith without works is dead, he's saying that, man, a true child of God is going to want to obey God. But are we going to get it a hundred percent? Are we going to be perfect from that day forward? Of course not. No one has ever saved and then been perfect from that day forward.

God sent his son, dying on the cross for the sins of the world. And he died once for all sin, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews. So we are saved by God's grace through faith. Obedience is the result of a person who is saved, not an indication of whether they are saved or not. We have to be careful on that one. What saves you, that's God's grace through faith. But then once you are saved, obedience is what we are supposed to do. Why? Because sin messes you up.

You could go after church and go get drunk, even though the Bible calls drunkenness a sin. And so why shouldn't you do that? Because you will lose your salvation? Nope, you will go get drunk and you will still probably be saved, and it's all good to go. Well then I am going to go get drunk. Well, that's not very smart, because the Bible says it's sin. And because the Bible says it's sin, that means it's bad for you. And God knows what's best. And drunkenness is not going to be something that's helpful to you. It's going to hurt you. That's what Paul was saying, wasn't it? When he said, all things are lawful for me, but not everything's profitable.

That's what the Bible teaches about sin. So yeah, sin, we should run from it. We should abstain from sinful behaviors. But that's not what saves you. You are saved because Jesus died on the cross for your sins. The ones that you have committed, the ones you are committing, and the ones you have yet to commit. Jesus died once for all of those. That's how we are saved. That's what happened with Martin Luther. That's why the Reformation was such a big deal.

And in some ways, I almost wonder if we need another reformation today in the church of Jesus Christ to be reminded of what's important. I am so thankful. You know, one of the great things about the Bible is expositional constancy. What's that? It's just that the whole Bible teaches this. And it's funny how we miss it. That's why Paul's like, are you so foolish? Are you kidding me?

Like, for example, Lot. Remember Lot? You know, think about the things Lot did. You know, he chose to live in the wicked city of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis thirteen. He offered his two virgin daughters to an angry mob of homosexuals, Genesis nineteen, five through eight. Later, his daughters get him drunk in a cave and have sexual incestuous relationships with their father and gave birth to two baby boys. You didn't color that one in Sunday school either.

And those two baby boys, Ammon and Moab, became two of the worst enemies of Israel in Israel's history. The Ammonites and the Moabites came from Lot's incestuous relationship with his own daughters. So when I read the story of the Old Testament of Lot, what a loser. Well, Brett, he he did leave Sodom. No, he didn't. He didn't leave. The angel said, leave, and he didn't. And it says, while Lot lingered, the angel picked him up and put him outside of the city. That's when he said, now run for your life. And so they all ran. He said, don't look back. And remember Lot's wife looked back, salt shaker situation there, and and um Lot's running and that's when the whole cave incident happened. Horrible, horrible dude Lot was.

You say, well, Brett, that's encouraging. Why do you like that story so much? I like that story because of what second Peter. Peter the Apostle says this. He delivered just Lot. The word just there is the just shall live by faith. Justification or righteous, as another way you can say it. He delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous man, what's he called? A righteous man, dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul. Three times in this section of Scripture, Lot is called righteous. Just, righteous, and righteous. That's amazing, because I don't see one shred of righteousness in him.

Why does the Bible call Lot in the New Testament? Why does Peter call Lot justified or righteous? Because the just shall live by faith. Lot didn't do one good thing in his life. But the Lord says, he believed, so he was counted as righteous. That's why it's called the gospel. It's good news that we are saved by grace through faith. And it's not of our works. Be careful on this one. I think Saint Augustine perhaps summed it up really brilliantly if you ask me. He said this, love God and do whatever you please. For the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the one who is beloved.

You see, that's what a Christian really is. A person who is saved by God's grace, who says, I don't want to go down and get drunk and sleep around and and do sinful stuff and do things that are contrary to God, because look at the love that God gave me and he saved me by his grace through faith. And man, we can rejoice that we have heaven to look forward to. Not because of our good works, but because he did the work of the cross. And that's the good news. That's why Paul says, oh, don't be removed from the true gospel to another gospel, which is not a gospel at all.

As soon as a group, ministry, pastor, church says, yeah, you believe in Jesus and, as soon as the and is there, you have got to cut it off and say, nope, that's not what constitutes salvation. How are you saved? By faith. How do you stay saved? By faith. The end. That's the important truth. May the Lord give us ears to hear what the Spirit would remind the church today.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador clarifying an important simple truth in today's Word, found in the book of the Prophet Habakkuk, and echoed through the New Testament writings of the Apostle Paul, the just shall live by faith. Pastor Brett will conclude our time together in prayer in just a moment. But first, today's Word is the radio ministry of Athe Creek Church in the Portland, Oregon area, where Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor.

We invite you to find out more about Pastor Brett and Athe Creek Church by going to todayswordradio.com. If you missed any portion of this study, you will find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. Our vision on today's Word is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus through careful study of the Bible. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com.

I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athe Creek campus in West Linn, Oregon, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville. For more information, just go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link locations. Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link locations. Well, with a brief prayer to close our time together, here again is Pastor Brett Meador.

Brett Meador: So, Lord, I pray that as these your people go from this place, that you would fill them with joy, knowing we are saved by grace through faith. Lord, that's a huge thing that we so much take for granted. May be something that we rejoice in today. Bless each person, Lord, may we be salt and light in this dark world this week, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador closing our time today, here on today's Word. Well, that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett Meador will show us through the book of Habakkuk how God deals with the unrighteous, saves the just, and works all things together, even in troubling times. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athe Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.