DEATHBED REVELATIONS: Why Your Good Works Are NOT The Answer

I believe Paul, when he says, hey, by the way, when you come to life, God brings you to life and you can see with new eyes and new hearts and new affections, he goes, guess what? Not only did he bring you to life, but he guaranteed you're gonna do some work that matters.

Like your life is not about, well, now you're saved, now move on to the next thing. He's like, no, not only did he save you, he gave you a work that matters, eternally matters. But the thing is, that's the point of it.

It's now that you're good, hey, guess what? God's not gonna partner with you, God's going to live inside you to go do work. And it's a wonderful thing. That's what we're saying, that pietism turns the whole entire light structure off of Jesus and puts it on you.

And you're so blinded by you, you end up hurting people. You judge them, you plow into them, you criticize them. And or, Justin, you're so blinded, you go hide because you're so overwhelmed by how much of a failure you are because the light's on you instead of Jesus.

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, where are we looking? Looking unto me, the author and finisher of my faith.

And maybe Jesus is the author, but I'm the finisher because I've got to do my part. And when Jesus said it is finished, he kind of meant that.

His part was done, now it's your part.

When the writer of the Hebrews says he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, he kind of meant that. And all we're trying to do is come back in here, take the clutter off the thing and say, no, it is Christ always and only.

He is our whole and only righteousness today and tomorrow and forever. And it's always going to be Jesus. And you are not going to look within to find the ground of anything before the Lord. You're going to look without to Christ always.

And so there's an emphasis on his objective work that stands unaffected by how you feel and how you're doing and how well you obey today and how well you'll obey tomorrow and how hard you'll fight sin tomorrow.

You will be righteous in Christ, reconciled to God in him, and you can bank on it. And that is going to change your life over the long haul. And it will be because you have fixed your gaze on the Savior, not because you have been looking at yourself and navel-gazing at other people all the time.

Like, that's just not a way to live.

I always love asking people, how many good works is it going to be enough for you to come to a moment where you feel justified? You can't define that. No, you're putting your faith in your works, believe it or not.

You are.

And none of us on our deathbeds, John, are ever going to be comforted by what we've done. Or by how much sin we've abstained from or how hard we fought against the flesh. It's like, I always could have done more good works.

I could have loved more. I could have sinned less. I could have fought harder against my flesh. The only thing that's going to comfort any of us at the end of it all, and we know this is true, is to look to another who has accomplished our salvation.

Well, and that's where I think you look at all of scripture, even when Paul's dealing with the Corinthians, he ends up pointing out their sin by the use of the law. You already pointed this out, but then he goes to the gospel.

Yeah, and their identity in Christ.

That's right. He always does this. I mean, there are so many passages.

Right.

There's so many passages of scripture where Paul will identify the problem and the sin, and then the solution is always Christ. But then he'll get pointed and say, now, if you think there's any other solution to the Galatians, well, then now I'm going to tell you you're believing in the Holy Heresy.

That's why it's known as the Galatian Heresy. You cannot begin by the Spirit and perfect yourself. I mean, this is the end of Colossians 2.

Right.

Because he says, now listen, and this is pietism, Justin. Pietism is an emphasis on the works of the flesh. Like, what are you doing fleshly? Paul's like, look, it has an appearance of godliness, but it's of no value.

It appears, and pietism appears godly. This is why so many people embrace it.

It sounds good. It's got enough truth in it that it's got some traction. That's how it sells, right? Things that are completely untrue never sell amongst the faithful. Things that are partly true gain traction amongst the faithful.

Think in Colossians even, just really briefly here, the whole language of put off, put on, that you get in a number of Paul's epistles, that is completely, it's a union with Christ identity in Jesus' argument.

He is saying to them, you're not that anymore. You're this now in the Lord Jesus. Yeah, you carry the corpse of the old man around with you, but put that thing off and live like who you are now. That's his argument over and over and over again.

It's not calling their identity into question. It's pointing them to their new identity in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then that being the reason and the fuel in one sense for how they live.