Dead Works!

(Hebrews 6:1) “Repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.”

With a little bit of effort, one step at a stretch and simply one day at a time is what is required. Where it could become confusing, is the “little bit of effort”? As Christians we are very clearly taught from scripture that salvation is a gift of God and that it can never be earned. For if it could be earned or worked for then the individual would have something to say about his achievement, he would be entitled to boast and yet boasting has been excluded; “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.” (Romans 3:27)

Although we are conscious about the law, the old set of rules that governed us, by constant failure in achieving its requirement, prior to receiving Christ’s Spirit, before we began our spiritual journey as true believers and not nominal Christians, when we were born again, and where life began in the Spirit. We still think on the law as good, for it is a representative of who God is. But we now no longer look to it to find justification, our validation is now complete in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. He has completed the objective, God is satisfied and that happened once, never to be repeated as Christ defeated sin and all the evil that goes with it. Sin has been irradiated when it comes to the justification of the believer. This also includes our daily living as believers. It is a gift from God!

Angels never received grace as their portion and when Lucifer, the devil who was perfect in beauty and full of wisdom, a creature that God had created became conceited and wanted to become like God, he was cast from heaven and took one third of the angels in heaven with him. Why? He was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty and those fallen angels chose the creature over the creator. They were cast into eternal damnation never to be afforded the opportunity to find forgiveness. They are not covered by the grace of God! God has reserved a place of torment for them; “Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41)

It is faith we must now apply to the equation and not works. But we sin every day is my thought? If I was an angel I would already be condemned to the lake of fire but while I have breath I have hope so do we all. Nevertheless if we were yet sinner God would have nothing to do with us, as He is holy. And yet when we ask He gives and when we seek we find and when we knock the door is opened. Why? Because we are covered by the blood of the Lamb, He sees his own Son’s sacrifice and not the individual’s sin. God has so reckoned it! Let God be true and every man a liar is what comes to mind. Did He not say? “As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;” (Romans 3:10): - Obviously that was prior to Christ’s perfect work on Calvary! But now that God the Father has placed His own seal of approval on His Son’s walk here on earth by raising Him from the dead, we are now justified by faith and not works.

This point is a basic fundamental, but I see so many moving from it, looking to justify themselves, in fact I do it all the time. We need to be reminded of this truth constantly!

With that said how do I then put in a little effort? I apply faith to the equation and I believe God and it will be accounted for righteousness sake. I no longer look for justification or condemnation when I achieve or fail (sin). Every time I move into that domain I look to nullify the perfect work of my great Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, not that I ever could as God has approved His work once and for all.

I see a pattern amongst believers, it may be an undertone and not that obvious, yet we must be on guard against our own hearts. The Apostle Paul deals with the potential of those who now enter into sin as if it didn’t matter. I battled as a young believer to come to terms with this on-going conflict in my life. We have been sanctified by the Lord Jesus; we cannot find favour in our own merits of failures. This is true! He teachers us very clearly, that we must not continue in sin that grace may abound. That does not mean that when we sin we are no longer covered by grace, in fact it proves the opposite and if we do sin we are still covered by the grace of God. Why? Salvation is a gift and it cannot be earned! Let’s stick to the facts. But I see another error creeping in, those who look for justification in what they do, too qualify them as believers.

This is the principle we must all embrace with effort, for when we do, then the determination we walk in is a humbleness and it will in its season bring forth its fruit; Our constant application on a daily basis to “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” (Hebrews 6:1)

This will always remind us that it is all about Christ’s achievements and we will then believe Him and rely on His ability to get us home. When we are mindful of these things boasting will have no part to play regardless of whether we are in the valley or on the mountain top. We will remember that we have been sanctified by the Lord Jesus and that we have been justified by faith and not the works of the law. We will give our blessed Redeemer preeminence in all we do and that will then please our heavenly Father. If we fall along the way we have a high priest who is touched with our weakness and will be quick to forgive us, so long as we seek out His forgiveness through repentance.

God no longer views us as sinners; we are now saints and all because of Jesus Christ our Lord’s obedience.

But beware if you chose to ignore the grace of God as a light thing, we must remember that our God is also a consuming fire. All who play with fire will eventually be burnt.

What a perfect plan, how great our God is; bless His holy name now and forever more, Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone