Beza Briefing: Good Works Continued

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Good works. Good for whom? Good decided by whom?

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the
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Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.
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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her
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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Michael Lee Abendroth here.
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Show 3530, something like that. Pretty close. I guess if you count reruns and sermons, maybe it's not that much.
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But I don't know, 14 years of radio is probably a long time. It started off as radio, then we moved to podcast.
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I think maybe four or five years, we were on WVNE, 760 AM. I think we are still on Bryan Station in Wyoming and the station in Alaska.
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I forgot. I have the names here somewhere. I told myself I was going to keep those names here for special reference.
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So there's the Message Bible. There's the New England Primer. There's the
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Book of Common Prayer. Of course, I have my Bible handy. Let's see.
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There's a piece of paper with nothing on it. And there's my Celsius right here, drinking the
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Celsius. I wish somebody like that would sponsor the show. You know, John Harris, he's got people sponsoring his show now.
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I think even Geico sponsors John Harris' show. So maybe we'll get to that level someday, but I doubt it.
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Today on No Compromise Radio, we are going to talk a little bit about Theodore Beza, the
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Christian faith by Teddy B. Theodore Beza. As you know, once in a while, we just go through this little, oh, it's kind of a little systematic theology about the
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Triune God. It starts off first section about the Trinity, then God the Father, then
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Jesus Christ the Son, then the Holy Spirit. And there's all kinds of sub -questions in each of those sections.
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And the final two sections are the Church, number five, and number six, the Last Judgment.
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Easy to read. I think it's hard to get these days. I have the one, I think it got shipped from England.
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It just says on the front, the Christian faith by Theodore Beza, translated by James Clark, and a bunch of letters after his name.
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And this was published in, not my copy, but originally it was published in 1558.
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And Beza just wants to concisely proclaim, this is what
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Christianity is. When I was a younger Christian, I had J .I.
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Packer's book, Concise Theology. You could get another book that's similar to that,
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R .C. Sproul, I can't remember the name. Now I'm glad you asked that question, but Everyone's a
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Theologian, I think it's called. Two excellent books. My son -in -law and I went through that book together.
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All kinds of good data. And this is kind of the same thing. You've got Beza, who took over for Calvin, who died in 1564.
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And one year later, he puts the Greek New Testament out with notes, and then this is published, what's the timeline?
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Before he got to Geneva. 1558 published, to Geneva 1559,
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Calvin dies 1564, and Beza then publishes the Greek New Testament with notes in 1565.
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And so there's a French one, there's a Latin one, I started Latin, as we say in New England, on my
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Duolingo app, and then I ran out of hearts, didn't want to pay. I haven't been keeping it up, haven't been doing it lately.
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If you've not been listening to the show, the way we do the Beza briefing is
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I read a section from Beza and then kind of talk about it. And so this is not an audiobook, this is me trying to teach you over the years.
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Some of you have listened to every show, thank you for that. And I'm just trying to make sure we think clearly.
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And biblically, if I were you, I'd get a copy of The Christian Faith by Beza, and or just regularly read
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Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, Canons of Dort, Westminster Confession, 1689,
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Savoy Confession, regularly read the creeds and confessions, regularly read a systematic theology, right?
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I recommend Burkoff, there's the new volume of Burkoff with, I think, an introduction with the
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Manual of Christian Faith, I think, in front of that. Just regularly think through. So when you hear something about eternal functional subordination, you go, oh, that's not true.
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When you hear someone denying simplicity, you think, nope, nope, that's not true, because this is just in your mind.
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So I'm on page 26, and this is the section of the Holy Spirit, and it's under the numeral, the number 416, 4 .16,
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the quality of prayer according to the Word of God. And so he talks about prayer, and then he talks about the works of charity toward our neighbor.
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Now that's where I am right now. Mike Ebendroth, Teddy B. Beza, briefing, following the commandment of the second table, we set in the second rank the works of charity toward our neighbor, provided that this forms part of a true love to God who is reconciled to us in Jesus Christ, and for of whom we love our brothers, even if they hate us.
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For if this foundation is lacking, we do but commit sin, no matter how beautiful our works appear.
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Thus does Jesus Christ demonstrate this by the example of the Pharisees, Matthew 6,
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Matthew 15, Romans 14, in different works. Other works are in themselves neither good nor bad.
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It is necessary only to have regard to the end for which one does them.
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See where he's going with that? They're kind of neutral works, but it's the motive behind it.
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Why do you do what you do? That's what he's getting at. And of course, that's always good for all of us to think through, why do
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I do radio? Why do I serve one another? Why do I read the Bible? Why do I pray? If they incline us to do better those which are good, or help us to persevere in the fulfilling of our duty, such are fasting, temperance, and other mortifications of the flesh.
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One can add to them the care in maintaining oneself unmarried for those who have received the gift of continence, 1
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Corinthians 7. That is why we say in general that such practices are worthy of praise, provided that, and this is the important point and must always go in advance, they proceed from a heart not puffed up with ambition or infected with superstitions, but fearing
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God and loving one's neighbor. It is also necessary that the doing of them renders us more prompt and fit to serve
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God and our neighbor according to our state and calling, 1 Corinthians 7. We have no doubt that each
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Christian is obliged to flee all which would hinder us in fulfilling the duties of the
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Christian life. But it would not please God if we were to approve the common error of those who rely upon these external things, as if the substance of piety and sanctity consisted in such works.
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We prefer to follow St. Paul, who says explicitly that the kingdom of God does not consist in eating or drinking,
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Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8, and that this is of no great profit respecting the value of godliness toward our
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God and charity toward our neighbor, 1 Timothy 4.
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And as I read this, I think to myself, we want to make sure we obey
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God out of gratitude and make sure we're doing it for the right reasons.
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417, the second difference in the subject of good works consists in knowing where they come from.
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And I could probably just stop and ask you the question, from whence come good works? The new book that I put out,
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Gospel Assurance, a 31 -day guide to assurance, it's all old stuff, right?
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Public domain, anything that's 90 years old or older I could use. So not all
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Puritans, and of course Puritan, not all English reformers, but a lot of them, and they were all writing the
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King James, translating, quoting that, so I just used that as well. And some people have already said, why the
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King James? It's a fine translation, trusteth me. Thy trusteth me, oft not.
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The second difference in the subject of good works concerns the true source from which they come, for we do not simply deny that faith and good works proceed from our intelligence and our will, for the grace of God coming to meet them, change them, aid them, and accompany them.
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But before all this, it is a question of knowing from which source first flows this little good which is alleged to be in us.
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We say that, far from having in us any natural disposition which, at the beginning, would receive a first grace and would be aided by a second grace, there is, on the contrary, in our natural being nothing but darkness,
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Isaiah 9, Luke 1, Acts 26, 2 Corinthians 4, and enmity against God, Romans 5, for we are now all born corrupt.
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That is why it is necessary, in the first place and before all things, not at all that God comes to help our feeble and frail free will, as the
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Romanists say, who are semi -Pelagians, i .e., say that man can contribute to his own salvation.
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But it is necessary that he first draws us to himself, despite our resisting him with all our strength,
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John 6. That is to say that he makes us totally new creatures,
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John 3. He must enlighten us with the light of his Spirit, for we are only blind men, we are darkness itself in that which concerns our salvation.
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He must give us a new heart to understand, change our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, and create in us a pure heart.
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That is to say that from having a wicked will he must completely remake in us a good one.
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In summary, he, God, must create in us the being willing and the doing,
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Philippians 2, so that what the apostle says is quite true. By ourselves we cannot even think of that which is good.
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And the children of God have nothing which they have not received, 2 Corinthians 3 and then 1
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Corinthians 4. Received, I say, not when born, but when reborn, not by any grace of nature, but by the grace of regeneration, which works freely and perpetually in them.
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And what Beza is trying to do is, if you follow this back far enough, you're going to be very, very thankful for any little work you do, because it's going to be the work of God in you to enable you and empower you and sustain you to do any other work.
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So when we talk about good works, let's talk about the good work of God in you so that you're able to, because left to ourselves, there's no way we can do anything.
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God has to give us a new heart and hearts of flesh, and he must enlighten us, and we must have the darkness taken away, and he must make in us a good will, et cetera.
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So Beza says, let the Pelagians come no more to pollute this point of doctrine by their empty discussions about grace.
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In ourselves we are but dead and rotten stumps. It requires grace to make us living and good trees before we can yield good fruit.
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It follows that there is no cooperation at all between grace and free will when the
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Spirit of God, by his pure grace, frees us from sin, John 8, and by faith unites us to Christ Jesus, from whom we receive a new life in order to live to God, Romans 7.
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How could there be in this case any cooperation with our freedom of will, which does not at all exist before being set free from the slavery of sin?
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Moreover, another point must be added. When our will, thus freed, begins to will what is good and perseveres in this tract, this is another grace of God.
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It must be entirely attributed to him. That's so wonderful, because Beza is forcing the issue, forcing us to say, grace, grace, grace.
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From start to finish, it's the work of grace. And when you think of your life and anything good that you did, and I'm putting myself in the same category, we need to, quote
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Beza, say it's entirely attributed to him, entirely.
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And of course, this makes me think about 1 Corinthians 1, let him who boasts, what, boast in the
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Lord. When we realize what we were and what it's going to take to get any good to come out of us, the fruit of the
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Spirit is love, joy, and peace. Not our doing, that's his fruit. At last, when being delivered from the bondage of sin, we begin to do good.
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We say that there is no question here of imagining any merit. It is a matter only of a reward freely given without being owed, 1
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Corinthians 4. On the contrary, the best of our works merit nothing other than eternal punishment if there are no grace of God.
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For the best of men, if God wished to proceed against them with the rigor of law, would be found to have stained in a thousand ways the gifts which
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God placed in them, even when they were striving to do good, Romans chapter 4. Aren't you happy, dear
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Christian? I'm happy that God accepts our works, even though tainted by sin, because he accepts us.
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And we have to realize, no matter what we do that's good. If I'm given the gift of teaching, and I'm able to preach, and it's a calling, what did
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I contribute? How could I say, look at me and take pride in that and boast in that?
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Oh, I'm a great preacher. I'm this. I'm that. I mean, of course, that's what the flesh does.
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And you think, oh, wait a second, don't we have to realize how dead we were, how rotten we were?
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I mean, Beza calling us rotten stumps. I've been called a lot of things in life,
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Hitler, Stalin, Unabomber. I've never been called a rotten stump.
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So, some of my critics, I don't really have that many critics anymore, I'm too nice.
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If you're a critic out there, feel free. I once was a rotten stump, and there's a rotten stump that still has its kind of fingers in my heart still.
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418, the third difference in the subject of good works consists in knowing what they are good for.
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Okay. Don't you love this with Beza? Bezer? Okay, good works, and you think of the reformed confessions, justification, sanctification of good works.
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And I like it that they're differentiated because sanctification is the work of God. God does all the sanctifying, and we respond with faith and holy living and godliness and striving and sweating and toiling and obeying.
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Did I mention obeying? But that's a good question.
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And what about good works? Well, who are they good for? And what do you mean by good works? The third difference in the subject of good works is even greater.
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It has to do with the value of good works. As for ourselves, when it is a question of knowing by what right we are assured of eternal life, to say it in a word,
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Jesus Christ alone satisfies us, Romans 3, He is given and applied to us by means of faith alone.
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By the grace and mercy of God alone, as we have said more fully above. That is why we are horrified at the words deserving and merits.
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I'm going to repeat that. That is why we are horrified at these words deserving and merits.
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In the face of the best works we can do, we confess with heart and mouth that we are unprofitable servants,
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Luke 17, and that eternal life is entirely a pure free gift of God, Romans 6.
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I shall bring here no other arguments than that which has been said above at the 10th article.
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I haven't done a show like this for a long time, so that was last year. The good works come from Jesus Christ who dwells in us.
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By His affectious power, which He freely to us gives, we begin to will what is good and to do it.
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Previously, the natural corruption of the old Adam, which was rooted in us, produced in us as many wicked desires as possible.
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And from these came forth all the bad works. For before we come to produce a single good fruit, we must of necessity have
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Jesus Christ who makes us good trees, Romans 6 and 7, seeing that the cause must go before the effects and that St.
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Paul declares that all which is done without faith is sin, Romans 14.
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It follows, therefore, that faith precedes good works, seeing that by faith alone we embrace
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Jesus Christ. Now he who has this faith is at the same time justified, unless someone dares to say that he who has
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Jesus Christ is not justified, nor at peace in his conscience, Romans 5 .1.
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You can hear him talk about sanctification without using the word sanctification, and these good works come from Jesus.
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I call that monergistic sanctification. Father, sanctify them in truth.
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And of course, we respond with faith and works. How, then, shall good works be able to justify us and consequently save us, seeing that it is first necessary to be justified and consequently to be justly saved before we're able to do a single work?
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When we are justified, we have the right to be saved, as has been said above. Not because of us, but because of Jesus Christ to whom we are joined by faith alone, because of all his benefits, his righteousness, his sanctification, and his redemption, which are imputed to us.
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Thus, to summarize all, we acknowledge that eternal life is promised only to those who show themselves devoted to works of righteousness.
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That is to say, to good works, that no others are acknowledged as righteous before God except those who have come to true repentance and amendment of their life,
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Matthew 25. But we say that these are two very different questions in discussion, which persons are justified, and by what righteousness they are justified.
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We say that the righteousness which the Spirit of God works through us is, not the cause, but the testimony of the righteousness in which we alone can appear before God.
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We maintain that eternal life belongs to us of right as being co -heirs of Christ, but nevertheless freely,
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Romans 8. Okay, so see what he's doing here? Just think, dear listener, root and fruit.
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Think ground of salvation has to be perfection, that's Jesus' life, and our imperfections slash sin are paid for by Jesus' death, confirmed by the resurrection, and then fruit and evidence,
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Beza. Now if we inquire in whom, properly speaking, this righteousness resides, we will only find it in the person of Christ alone.
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But in the measure in which He was given to us, whoever takes hold of Him by faith possesses
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Him eternally, as by God the Father, He was made for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 1
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Corinthians 1. Thus His righteousness is also made ours. It is imputed to us, to this alone we hold, on this alone we totally rely, for it alone is perfect.
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Let me repeat that. To this alone we hold, Christ's righteousness imputed to us.
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On this alone we totally rely, Christ's righteousness imputed to us.
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For it alone is perfect, Christ's righteousness imputed to us.
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Very, very important these days. And I think what you have to do, especially with people who are trying to bring in final justification stuff,
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I think you're going to have to say, hmm, what's the whole context? Luke and I were laughing the other day, people quote certain things, they quote
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John Owen about, you know, instead of consequent works, you know, these kind of necessary works for final justification, and just then read the context.
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Somebody sends you a quote, why don't you find the context of that quote? Because here, when you reread this, and you go through what
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Beza is trying to say, Beza is saying, if you want to stand before God, it must be you, by faith alone, relying on and resting in Christ's righteousness alone.
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We have no merit, we have no righteousness without Him. He, Jesus, merits for us righteousness.
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He, Jesus, obeys the law, and we receive all
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His benefits. You have to be very careful when it comes to this language. And you know, in the old days,
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I didn't like it when people would talk about, well, you know, there's a bunch of fruit inspectors. We're not called to be fruit inspectors.
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That'd probably be a good show. Are we called to be fruit inspectors? And sometimes, as S.
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Lewis Johnson would say, the fruit that we inspect, we can't inspect it in other people, and it's hard even in our own minds as well, in our own lives.
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But if you look at somebody's life, and you say, oh, they're living with their girlfriend for 15 years, and they're a drug addict and all that, okay, that's one thing.
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But if it's a Christian, they call themselves a Christian, and they seem to be struggling, or they seem to be, maybe they don't really have a ministry, and maybe they don't get involved in this, that, and the other.
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But there's also an attitude fruit, is there not? There's also fruit about how they think, and there's fruit about what they do in their minds as they worship
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God. And therefore, just this external, I have a ministry, I do this, and I read my
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Bible, and I have a one another gift, which, reading your Bible, and you do have a gift if you're a Christian. But there's something to be said for, okay, we better not dive into areas we ought not to.
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The point here today on No Compromise Radio, good works. God had to do it all, and then we walk in them.
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Isn't that Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10? No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.
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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.
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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.