Equipping Eve: Reformation Reversal (Part 2)

Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus? Well, it's true there's no shortage of candy-coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women, No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies-only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

My name is Mike Abendroth, and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Erin Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio, and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.

The Sure Foundation of God's Word

Well, hello, ladies, and welcome to Equipping Eve, the show that seeks to equip you with fruits of truth from God's Word, and as we say, we need to know this so we can stand strong and firm on that word.

There is nothing more sure in this life and in this world than the Word of God. If you want to depend on something, you cannot depend on man. You can't depend on yourself, you can't trust in your own heart because it is deceitful and desperately wicked, Jeremiah 17 9, who can understand it?

You can, however, depend on the Word of God because it is God's Word, and that means that you can depend on God Himself and Jesus Christ, our Savior, and the Holy Spirit, who, if you have been saved, indwells you as a believer and child of God.

Those are all really good things, aren't they? It's okay that I can't depend on man, even other Christians, I mean, let's face it, we're still all sinners, aren't we? I am, true confession. I'm still a sinner.

You can't always depend on me, especially if you email me. I'm terrible at responding to emails in a timely fashion. I am working to change that, so I'm sorry if you've emailed me and I have not responded.

Email me again if you're still listening, and I'll get right on that. Life has been busy, but that's not a good excuse. We can't depend on man. We can't depend on each other the way that we can depend on God.

We can't trust anything in this world except the Word of God, the black and white objective Word of God, 66 books of the Bible, which I say for a reason, there are only 66. You may have a Catholic Bible with a few more books, but guess what?

Those are not inspired of God. You're reading man's Word, and that is one of the reasons why there is so much error in the Catholic Church. But the sad thing is, as we talked about last time, we are seeing evangelicals and Protestants, and I'm going to use those words interchangeably here today, because if you're Protestant, you should then not believe the things of the Catholic Church.

So I'm just going to use that in the spirit of the Reformation. But we are seeing that Christians, evangelicals, Protestants are believing falsely, are believing false teachings that were originally propagated by the Catholic Church.

And so there is this reversion, that's the word I'm looking for, reversion, reversal of the Reformation. And there's been a push in recent years among professing Christians to unite with Catholics and to say that the Reformation should never have happened, and we need to not have this split, there should not be this divide.

We are all God's children, we all believe in Jesus, and so we need to have unity. Yes, there should be unity among true believers, because we are united in the person of Christ. We cannot, however, have unity with people such as Catholics, Roman Catholics, who do not believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in the Bible.

They may say that they believe that faith gets you to heaven, they believe in Jesus Christ, well, that might be true, but they also believe that your works get you to heaven. You need to work your way.

They also believe in the infallibility of the traditions of the Catholic Church and of people like the Pope. They pray to idols such as Mary. They may say that they don't, but they do. How do I know this?

That there is some sort of Marian worship going on? Because there are Mary statues everywhere! Everybody puts those stupid Mary statues in their yard. What is that about? I think it's creepy, quite honestly.

I actually have a neighbor around the corner from me who has a huge Mary statue, and she is now aglow. They have put a spotlight on her that, this is the best part, actually changes colors. So sometimes you walk by and Mary is purple, and sometimes you walk by and she is orange and sometimes she is blue or green.

And I'm sorry, you cannot sit there and tell me that you don't worship Mary when you have a massive Mary statue on your front porch that people have to like go up to your door sideways because the statue is so huge.

And now you have it lit up with a spotlight. I'm sorry, that's idol worship. Call it whatever you want, deny it all you want, but that's what it is. You are giving homage to a mere person who was not infallible, who was not divine.

Jesus Christ was, is the Son of God, the living Son of God, fully man, fully God. Jesus Christ alone deserves our worship, right? Not Mary, not Saint whoever, the, you know, patron saint of selling houses.

What is that? Is that this Joseph statue that people bury in their yard? They're trying to sell their house. It's just, it's just weird, you know, and everybody, all these Catholic nuns and whatnot, they become a saint and Mother Teresa, she's a saint.

Well, she also believed that Hindus and Buddhists and anybody could go to heaven. She's no saint. She propagated a false gospel. I don't care how many poor people she fed or helped or whatever. It doesn't matter because her works are as filthy rags before the Lord.

Just like yours would be, just like mine would be, just like yours and mine are. That's why we must be clothed with the righteousness of Christ when we stand before the Lord. So if we're clothed in our own righteousness, guess what?

We'll be naked because we have no righteousness of our own. None. Not one iota. And so when I see things like this Pew research survey that we talked about last time, that talk about how over half of Protestants and evangelicals, I think they kind of split the two terms up, believe that to get to heaven, you must have faith plus works.

I am so grieved. But, you know, it doesn't stop at the fact that professing evangelicals or Protestants believe this. We must still be grieved that the Catholics believe this. This is our mission field, ladies.

Catholics are tough cookies to crack. You don't tough, you don't crack cookies do you? But that analogy did not work, but you know what I mean? It's hard. It's hard because they believe that, you know, they were born into this belief system.

And so then that means that they're going to heaven. They were baptized. So they're good to go. It's hard. And there's only one thing that would be able to soften that hard heart. And that is the word of God and the truth that is contained in there about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so, you know, we are faithful to proclaim that gospel, whether it's to our Catholic friends or our professing Christian friends who really are just believing a gospel of faith plus works. We still must be faithful to proclaim the true gospel to them just because they profess Christ.

If we know that they're believing wrongly, we should call them to repent of that belief and show them the gospel. In love, show them Jesus Christ. There's another interesting stat from the survey. It says most U .S. Christians, 60%, do not accept the idea that the Bible can be the sole source of religious guidance for Christians, saying instead that in addition to scripture, Christians also need religious guidance from church teachings and traditions.

I mean, it's just, what is happening? You know, and I know I sound like I'm surprised. I'm actually not. I think what surprises me actually is that I didn't hear anything about this survey until I heard John MacArthur mention it in a recent sermon.

I think what surprises me is that what I'm seeing anyway in the social media world and the blog world and everything lately has been all up in arms with all the latest controversy and, you know, discernment.

Oh, this guy is teaching about glory dust. Well, you know what? I don't really care about the guy who's teaching about the glory dust. What I care about is the false gospel he's proclaiming, which is probably some sort of version of faith plus works.

And so then I don't care necessarily about that specific person. I care about proclaiming the truth of the true gospel of Jesus Christ so that those who are believing in faith plus works will be brought to a knowledge of the truth.

You know, what surprises me is what is on our radar as Christians, and I think it's wrong. Yeah, you know, I think it's okay to have an opinion because I certainly have a lot of opinions about a lot of things, about different controversies that are going on.

And I think that people should be called to repentance for some of those things and told to stop it. They won't stop it though. And so then we let it go, let it go. Focus on what matters. Let's turn our focus to Christ and be faithful to proclaim him and his truth and his saving gospel of grace, right?

I'm sorry, I'm babbling. So we talked about, we started talking about this Reformation reversal last time, and I wanted to just look at scripture a little bit more. You know, why do we have this misunderstanding of faith plus works?

Why Faith Plus Works Keeps Reappearing

Well, I think there's two ends of the spectrum here. This is my opinion. This is not thus saith the Lord. This is not thus saith John MacArthur or any trusted teacher. This is my observation. So full disclosure here that I see two ends of the spectrum, and I'm sure there are many deviations in between, but you know, why do we have this prevalence of a faith plus works mindset in the Christian church among evangelicals or Protestants, whatever you want to call it?

Well, I think number one, because we have so many seeker mindset people, you know, the seeker driven church, and all we hear is God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. And so there's this lighthearted focus on all the good and, you know, God loves you and that's the gospels.

God loves you. Well, but that doesn't mean anything because if you just tell me, well, Jesus came and died for your sins, but you've never really explained to me why I need that. That doesn't mean anything, right?

So that's that end of the spectrum. And John MacArthur in a sermon from 2005, actually, kind of started out talking about the love of God. And obviously, I mean, that's why he sent his son for God to love the world that he sent his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

And MacArthur says, quote, this certainly is an important doctrine from a biblical standpoint and ought to be at the forefront of all our discussions of the gospel. And yet today, the pop gospel gives little consideration to this immensely central truth of soteriology.

As long as preachers leave out the issue of sin, the issue of guilt, the issue of eternal damnation, as long as they leave out those matters of debt incurred to God in violation of his law, which puts us under just retribution, as long as that is left out, the doctrine of redemption is lost.

And to lose an understanding of redemption then is in some ways to blaspheme God by stealing the glory that belonged to him as our redeemer. That's true, isn't it? That's true. So we've got that end of the spectrum.

We have the seeker-driven church. Jesus loves you. You're fine. You just need to believe in Jesus. You don't have to do anything else. You're fine. Just keep doing what you're doing. Now, it's true. You don't have to do anything to get saved.

You don't have to change your life first and then believe in Jesus and get saved. That's true. Whoever believes in him shall not perish, but shall have eternal life. But repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin.

And when God grants a person faith, he also grants them repentance of their sin, renews their heart, regenerates them, gives them a new mind, heart, will, desires that conform to the mind, heart, will, and desires of the Lord.

Right? Right. Okay. So the other end of the spectrum that I see as to why we have this prevalent idea of Faith Plus Works is that because of the seeker-driven mindset, we have the conservative set that has gone so far the other direction that all they preach is holiness.

And you need to be holy as God is holy. Amen. That's what the Bible says. You need to do this so you can be blessed by God. You need to do that or else you're probably not a Christian. You need to do, do, do, do, do.

And they may even say that you don't do those things to get saved. You do those as a Christian. But the implication of their preaching, because there is no grace in their preaching, is that you need to be doing or you're not saved.

And so people who have never heard or very rarely hear any teaching on grace or the love of God, therefore then wrongly assume that salvation is by faith plus their works. Yeah, I'm saved by faith, but I also need to be doing all of this stuff because that's all I ever hear from the pulpit is that if I'm not doing this, I'm not good enough and I'm probably not saved.

And so we have two spectrums. We have the seeker-driven church and we have the response to the seeker-driven church that has swung the pendulum the other direction so far that now we have legalism that may be cloaked in non-legalism, but it's producing an effect of legalism.

And now you have confused Christians or professing Christians who basically believe the same thing that the Catholic Church teaches. It's a problem. There's a balance. There's a balance between the law and grace.

And so we have all these people who think that you need to do good works as part of getting saved. So turn with me, ladies, to Galatians 3. Let's start there because the bottom line is we are all under the law, right?

We are all under the law and that's part of the problem, isn't it? Because if we're under the law, we have to do the deeds of the law. And how's that going for you? How is that working for you, doing the deeds of the law?

In James, I know I just told you to turn to Galatians, but in James chapter 2, verse 10, James writes,. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. So that doesn't bode well for us, does it?

It doesn't bode well for us. So go back to Galatians 3, or hopefully you're just still there. So we're all under the law. We're born under the law. What does that mean for us? Galatians 3, verse 10 says,.

For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them. Uh-oh. And James says, If you fail on just one point, you become guilty of all.

Well, what do we do? I mean, that becomes a problem, doesn't it? So how can my works contribute at all to my salvation? Romans 4, 15 says,. The law brings about wrath, but you have to keep reading. For the law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.

Verse 16,. For this reason, it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

In hope against hope, he believed so that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken. So shall your descendants be. Without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead, since he was about 100 years old in the deadness of Sarah's womb.

Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, he was also able to perform. Verse 22, Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness.

Now, not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, he who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

The law brings about wrath, but it is about faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, that those who believe in him who raised Jesus from the dead, would be credited with Christ's righteousness.

Go back to Galatians 3 verse 11, says no one is justified by the law before God, that is evident, for the righteous man shall live by faith. That's what we just saw in Romans 4, isn't it? The law renders judgment.

And so if you're trying to keep the law as part of your attainment of salvation, you can't, you can't do it. How can you do it? How can you possibly do it? Romans 2 verse 12 says,. All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

The law condemns. And so your works, they can't get you to heaven. They just can't. We cannot keep the law. And this is why we need Christ. Galatians 2 verse 16,. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus.

Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ. And not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified. That verse right there completely undoes the teachings of the Catholic Church, and should completely undo any professing Protestant, Evangelical, whatever you want to call them, who says that you have to have faith and good deeds to get to heaven.

Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ. And not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified.

Verse 19,. For through the law, I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me in the life, which I now live in the flesh.

I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness, listen to this ladies, verse 21, Galatians 2 21, I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly.

And might I add, may it never be. Christ did not die needlessly. No one is justified by the law. And the law is not the same as faith. Galatians 3 verse 12,. However, the law is not of faith. On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. The curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, in order that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Go back to verse seven. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith, who are the sons of Abraham. Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. It is about faith. It always has been about faith.

Back in the Old Testament, it was about faith. That's what we see with the example of Abraham. And in the days of the New Testament, after Christ, after the cross, it is still about faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

And I know maybe I'm preaching to the choir, but this is so important, ladies, because it's easy to say that, yes, that's what we believe, but we need to understand, we need to realize that is not necessarily what so many professing Christians believe.

I don't know who they interview for these surveys, but these numbers are startling. So your Catholic neighbor is your mission field, but potentially your professing Christian neighbor is also your mission field.

Talk to them. Understand. Do they actually believe that their faith plus works is getting them to heaven? Or do they understand that it is only the work of Christ and faith in him that will get them there?

One gospel saves, the other gospel damns. If you add anything to the work of Christ, you are anathema. Galatians 4, verse 4, when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who are under the law as we might receive the adoption as sons.

Christ died so that men could be saved, would be saved. John MacArthur says, what's the problem? The problem is we're cursed. What's the provision? Christ. What's the purpose? It's in Galatians 3, verse 14.

He says, in order that in Christ Jesus, two things become ours. The blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. And he describes, what is this blessing? Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned him as righteousness.

Genesis 15. What is the great gift that God gave Abraham? Righteousness. He removed the curse, not through Abraham's works, but through Abraham's faith. Same blessing of righteousness by faith comes to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.

So that is the first purpose, says John MacArthur. Justification by faith. We are made righteous, moving the curse that we are under by being under the law. And the second purpose is, we receive the promise of the spirit through faith.

And again, he's in Galatians 3, verse 14. In order that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the spirit through faith. We didn't earn that either, says MacArthur.

The first thing we get is justification. The second thing we get is sanctification. The first is salvation by faith. The second is the coming of the Holy Spirit, who becomes the means of our sanctification.

And what is the work of the spirit? To produce in us a new heart, a new spirit, and a new love for the law of God, and a new desire to keep that law. So we do have good works, but they are as a fruit of our salvation, not as an effort to gain our salvation.

MacArthur goes on, he says, we are free from the penalty of the law. We're not free from the obligation to obey God. Christ became a curse for us to buy us back from sin and damnation, to set us before him as righteous and holy in position, and then to place his spirit in us to progressively make us righteous and holy in practice.

This is the gospel. This is the glory of redemption. And we rejoice in worshiping our God, the Holy One of Israel, our strength and our Redeemer. That is the gospel. And it is clear from these numbers, however legitimate they may be, from the Pew Research Center, that a majority of those who claim to be Christians don't actually know the gospel, which means they aren't actually Christians, which means they aren't going to heaven.

They are on the way to hell. Now, why they are believing the false gospel, I don't know. I don't know if they're sitting in seeker-driven churches. I don't know if they're sitting in legalistic churches.

I don't know if they're sitting in no churches. And they just figure, well, if you're a good person, that probably helps. And you also believe in Jesus because I've always heard about Jesus. So I'll believe in him.

I'll also be a really good girl. And then everything will be fine. It's a sad, sad thing. And weren't we all there at some point? Realistically, regardless of whatever you were caught up in before God saved you, there was some works, religion mindset.

Because as I said, that is every other religious system outside of Christianity is that we work our way to heaven or the next life or whatever your eschatology is in that religion. It's all about works.

And yet the Bible is so clear that it's not about our works. It's about Christ. And his work. And that's it. That's it. It's so simple. But it goes so contrary to our fallen nature that we complicate it.

Because our fallen nature wants to say, no, we can do it. I can do it. But you can't. It must be Christ. Christ alone. And that is what is so offensive. Well, there is certainly a lot more we could say because there has been a reversal of the Reformation, but there should not be the Reformation.

The efforts of the Reformation are not over, ladies. Because the gospel is always under attack. It always has been from day one. And that's what the Reformation was about. The Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church was attacking the gospel by its distortion of it.

And so the reformers spoke out. The gospel is still under attack. And so we still stand strong and firm on the word of God, which tells us that by grace we have been saved through faith. Not of ourselves, but it is the gift of God.

Not as a result of works so that no man may boast. It is the gift of God. Faith is a gift of God. We are saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ. And then that's the good news too. You don't have to muster up that faith because you can't.

It is a gift of God. And on the flip side of that, repentance of your sin is a gift of God. And you're brought to repentance of your sin. You're brought to faith in Jesus Christ. And then you are granted the Holy Spirit.

This is all happening all in one glorious moment of salvation. You're given new heart, new desires, a new desire to serve Him and live according to His will. That's the most amazing thing. You don't have to do anything.

It's a gift of God. It is solely and purely a gift of God. Well, ladies, as I said, there is much more that we could say on that topic. And maybe we will. And hopefully that wasn't too disjointed of a conversation.

A Recommended Book on Sanctification

But I'd like to close. You know, a lot of times we open up some bad books around here. And we did that last time. But I'd like to close with a recommendation for a good book. There's a novel thought, right?

I'm constantly telling you about bad books, which seems silly. So here's a good book you can read. It's called Devoted to God, Blueprints for Sanctification by Sinclair Ferguson. And oh, I know the title.

You're thinking, okay, so wait a minute. She was just saying that all this like straight holiness preaching without grace that can lead to legalism. It's true. But Sinclair Ferguson, if you're familiar with his teaching at all, he is so focused on the person of Christ and will not let you take your eyes off of Christ, even in a discussion of sanctification.

And here's just a little blurb. He says, Jesus is the object of the faith of the saints of the Old Testament. They look to his coming, but he is also the one who perfectly exercised and exemplified persevering faith.

He is both pioneer and perfecter. He encourages us, but he also sustains us. He persevered to the end. He is well able to help us to persevere to the end. But we must keep our eyes fixed on him. Otherwise, we will grow weary and lose heart.

Our endurance depends on his endurance. For he endured all that we have to endure and more. He despised the shame of the cross in the light of his future glory. He experienced implacable opposition from sinful men.

He stayed the course longer, faced more difficult conditions, and tasted more ferocious opposition than we ever do. Yes, Jesus is the savior. But he is also the forerunner, the pioneer of faith, the reconnaissance officer who has gone through all the struggles and overcome all the obstacles that faith can ever meet.

Never lose sight of him. He is well able to keep you going. I think we're just going to end on an amen. Ending a little bit early, but I can't add to that. Never lose sight of him. He is well able to keep you going.

I almost want to take that and adopt that as the new ending of Equipping Eve. Maybe I will. You'll have to tune in again and see if that's what I decide to do. But for today, ladies, get in your Bibles, get on your knees, and get equipped.

Thanks for listening.

You've been listening to Equipping Eve, a No Compromise radio production. If you'd like to get a hold of Erin, you can reach her at equippingeve at gmail .com. Or you can check out one of our two websites, do notbesurprised .com or equippingeve .org.

Thanks for listening.