Video and notes for my message at Central Church of Christ in Stockton, CA for September 26, 2021.

The text was Galatians 2:15-16. We also heard Ephesians 2:8-10 during worship.

Video is below. Sermon notes below that.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Martin Luther and the struggle to believe God’s grace

Martin Luther once said: If God were willing to sell His grace, we would accept it more quickly than when He offers it for nothing.

When God offers us salvation he says: It is by my grace alone, and it is in Christ alone. And it is yours—completely yours—by faith alone. 

You need not work to earn it, and indeed—you cannot work to earn it. 

Christ has done all the work. Jesus paid it all. It is my gift to you.

There’s something deep in our flesh that rebels and recoils and doesn’t want to believe that. We struggle against believing that salvation doesn’t require any effort on our part.

 And that struggle continues even when we’ve been Christians for a long time. There’s that accusing voice within us that says: Surely I must at least cooperate with God’s grace to secure my salvation!

It’s pretty silly, when you think about it. 

Ephesians 2 pictures the whole world as a graveyard full of dead men’s bones. And every tombstone has the same epitaph engraved on it: Dead in their sins and trespasses.

Now, if you’ve ever watched the movie Weekend at Bernie’s, you know that dead people are uncooperative. 

And yet, the Gospel proclaims that we were dead when God saved us. 

And by His grace alone, in Christ alone, for His purposes alone, for His glory alone, God went out into the graveyard and He brought you back to life.

Salvation isn’t a gift like a car, where you still have to tote the insurance and change the oil and rotate the tires to maintain it. 

It’s the gift of resurrection. It’s a resurrection of the spirit in this life, and a resurrection of both our souls and bodies in the life to come. 

I mean—how do you give that a tune up?

You don’t. You just need to be reminded of what an amazing gift you’ve been given.

But sadly—and you’ll find this even with people who’ve been Christians for a long time—there’s this impulse in us to try and work to maintain our own salvation. 

There’s something in us that just won’t accept that Jesus really did pay it all, and that we must find our rest in Him alone, and find in Him our all in all. We sang all that this morning. We often sing a better Gospel than we preach—or live by.

But let me ask you this: What do you think you would offer to God to purchase your salvation that’s of greater value than the blood of His only begotten Son?

Or have you gotten it into your head somehow that the cross of Christ was just a down payment on your salvation—and somehow you have to add in your own contributions to keep it?

Martin Luther knew what he was talking about, from experience. He lived this problem. When he was a young man, Luther was a monk who had entirely devoted his life to serving God.

He used to say: If anyone could have bought their way into heaven, it was me. 

He nearly killed himself trying to earn God’s grace. 

If he felt like he hadn’t prayed enough, been obedient enough, or read his Bible enough, he would go outside on a cold German night, and sleep in the snow until the other monks would drag him back inside before he froze to death.

You’ve probably never done anything that extreme. But I bet you will relate to this, some of you. Looking back on that time in his life, he said: No matter what I did to surrender all, I never found any assurance. My conscience would tell me: “You didn’t do that right. You’re not broken enough over your sin. You forgot to confess that thing.”

In those days, Luther never had any assurance. Only growing doubt, uncertainty, and weakness.

It wasn’t until God opened his eyes to passages like the one we heard today that Martin Luther understood how amazing God’s grace truly is.

Does “too much” grace make us lazy?

Galatians 2:15-16: We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.

Justified is a legal term. It means you’re in a court of law, and the judge declares that you are righteous.

We are declared righteous in the court of God’s judgment because of what Jesus did, and who Jesus is. Not because of anything we have done or will do.

And God’s declaration of righteousness stands firm and unshakable from the moment you first trust in Christ to save you, until the day of judgment. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Rom. 8:21. And Jesus said that whoever believes in Him for salvation already has eternal life and will not be judged, John 5:24.

Ultimately, that means the only sin that will keep you out of heaven is unbelief.

And Martin Luther also say that Christians need to be reminded of this Gospel, this good news, every day; because we forget it every day.

But here’s the pushback you will always get whenever you preach the Gospel this clearly. Paul heard this objection. Martin Luther heard this objection. And if you’re preaching those Gospel right, you’re going to hear it, too.

Whenever you preach that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone; and—in the words of Jonathan Edwards—that the only thing you contribute to your salvation is the sin that made it necessary … any time you proclaim that boldly and plainly, here’s what someone is always going to say:

But wouldn’t that mean that God’s grace just makes you lazy?

I mean, if God’s grace is covering all your sins—past, present, and future; and if you don’t have to do anything to maintain your salvation; if you don’t need to work hard in this life to become holy and prepare yourself to be fit for heaven—then why do anything at all?

Why not just relax and enjoy yourself and keep on living exactly how you used to?

This sounds like a really weighty objection, doesn’t it? But actually, all it proves is that whoever asks you that question hasn’t really understood the Gospel.

You see, the human dilemma that the Gospel answers is not that we were weak or lazy. God’s grace isn’t your morning Starbucks that finally opens your sleepy eyes. It’s not a spiritual Red Bull that gives you wings, so you can do more good stuff.

It’s not ignorance or laziness that God has saved us from. The Gospel is that you were dead, I was dead, and God brought us back to life!

Grace doesn’t make us lazy–it makes us alive!

So no: The grace of God—salvation by grace alone—does not make us lazy. It makes us alive!

When I tell you to rest in Christ, that doesn’t mean be lazy. 

What I’m telling you is that if you’re looking at your own good works, it’s never going to be enough. So rest in Christ’s finished work.

You’re going to have sins that you will struggle with and never overcome in this life. That doesn’t mean stop trying. But it does mean that when you fail—and you will—remember that Jesus already atoned for all your sins.

You’re going to go through periods of doubt and darkness and discouragement, where your faith is very weak. When that happens, don’t say: I wonder if I’m really even a Christian? Remember that when you are weak, Christ is strong. And even when your faith is too weak to hold on to Him, He is gripping firmly to you.

God made us alive, by grace alone, to do good works

God’s grace doesn’t make us lazy. But let me set up a question that is a fair question, and the Bible gives us some pretty straightforward answers to this question.

Okay, so I’m saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and I can’t add anything to what God has done. So now what?

Now that’s a very good question, and I’m glad you asked it. 

Ephesians 2:10 tells us that the reason God has saved us by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone … The reason He called you out of death, back to life, and has made you new in Christ is to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We are not saved by good works; but we are saved for good works.

And look at this: God saved you so that you could do good works that He prepared, from eternity, specifically, personally, for you.

That’s what the phrase God prepared them in advance means. 

It doesn’t just mean God is ready if you are willing. It doesn’t mean God has a plan for you, but if you step out of line, you’re going to miss what he has for you. It means God has already set everything in place and in motion so that you will be able to do them, and you will do them.

You literally can’t mess this up, no matter how shaky and spotty your performance is! 

That’s why it’s Good News, not just okay news.

So here’s the Now what? of our question. I’ve been saved by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone. What for? Well, to do good works. 

If we are saved by grace through faith alone, why must we do good works? [1]

And here are three reasons God has prepared good works just for you, from eternity.

  • Your good works express your love and your gratitude to God for saving you.

In Luke’s Gospel, a woman who had lived a very sinful life came and crashed a fancy dinner party where Jesus was eating. She brought this jar of perfume that cost a fortune. And she washed His feet with her tears, and dried His feet with her hair, and anointed His feet with that perfume.

Do you know what Jesus said about this woman, and what she did? Luke 7:47. Jesus said: her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much.

Was what she did weird and awkward? Yes! Did she care? No! She was dead in her sin, but Christ’s love made her alive again. Resurrected people aren’t easily embarrassed.

She wasn’t making a fuss over Jesus to make Him love her and forgive her. She did it because He already did love her, and He showed her He loved her by forgiving her.

The more we understand the length and breadth and depth of God’s grace; and the enormous cost of what Christ has done for us—the more love and gratitude we will have for Christ.

When you have actually felt the burden of your guilt and your shame and your misery across your shoulders; 

and you’ve fallen under it, and its crushed you; 

and then you feel the relief of Christ picking you up,

and He took all those heavy burdens off of you, and he put it on Him,

and He said: These belong to Me now;

and you see that they were all nailed to the cross with Him—

they were buried with Him,

and when He rose on the third day, they stayed buried—

see, that’s the Gospel.

And the freedom you find in grace and forgiveness—your love and gratitude are just going to start gushing out of you.

Just like the tears flowed freely out of that forgiven woman’s eyes, just like the perfume when she broke the jar.

You see, any good work we do for Christ is really just like that sinful woman washing His feet. That’s who we are, okay? She is us. And yes, our good works are often going to be awkward, just like hers was.

But you know what? God is still going to delight in them. They’re going to be a sweet aroma to Him. 

  • Your good works help strengthen your assurance before God.

We need to be very careful here. Because nothing you do should ever be the basis of your assurance before God. 

No—we can boldly approach the throne of grace only because of what Christ has done. 

Your assurance of salvation is always based on Christ, and His work.

Your good works don’t give you assurance. But they can strengthen your assurance. Here’s how.

Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 

The Holy Spirit plows the fields of our sinful hearts, uproots the thorns and the thistles and the weeds, and plants them, and nurtures them, and waters them, and grows them.

As you abide in Christ—you will see this fruit start to break open in little buds, and begin to blossom. And you’ll notice that these good fruits are growing in you, almost in spite of yourself.

You’re going to find moments when you didn’t lose your temper. When you didn’t run your mouth. When you find exquisite joy in something you wouldn’t have even noticed before. When you sacrificed, where before you would have been selfish.

You’re going to have those moments, and you’re going to say: Wow, who put that there? I never knew I had that in me. Well, you didn’t. The Holy Spirit put it there.

And the Holy Spirit only dwells in saved people. So whenever you see the Holy Spirit bearing even the tiniest bit of good fruit in your life, it strengthens your assurance that that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).

  • God will use the good you do to win others to Christ.

This is Matt. 5:16: let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

It doesn’t say that God will see your good works and say: Oh wow! They really do believe in me! So I’ll let them into heaven.

It also doesn’t say that they will see your good works and glorify you. That’s a trap we often fall into—and not even because we have supersized egos.

We need to be oh so careful that we don’t end up drawing others to us. As a minister, I have to be careful about that—and you need to be careful not to put that expectation on me, or on yourself.

We have to be very careful that we don’t think that we’ll have greater impact because of our winsome personalities, or if we go to the church with the relatable preacher who tells good jokes.

If we’re winning others to us, and not to Christ—that’s a big problem, because we can’t save anyone. If we win others to us, they’re liable to ditch you or me when we’re not fun anymore, or something cooler comes along.

But if we draw them to Christ, Christ says that no one and nothing will ever snatch them from His hand, John 10:28.

So let’s all lighten up on ourselves. Nobody’s salvation rests or falls on us. Jesus says: All those the Father gives me will come to me (John 6:37).

God saved you and me to do good works that he has prepared from eternity, specifically for us. Those are the very same good works that will shine brightly before others, and help lead them to Christ.

God gets all the glory. 

We simply live with humble, astonished gratitude for His amazing grace—that He would even choose our imperfect, awkward good works, that He gave us to do, equipped us to do, and put us in the right place at the right time to do … that He would place our good deeds on the breadcrumb trails that He has made to lead others home to Him.

That’s it. But it’s important. And it’s amazing.

So, if you’ve been asking: I’ve been saved by grace, through faith: Now what?—today, I hope I’ve answered your question.

God saved you to do good works that He already prepared for you. 

These good works are not your salvation. They’re not the root of your salvation; they’re the fruit of your salvation. 

They are gifts God has given you, so you can express your love and gratitude to Him; so your assurance and hope can be made stronger; and so—through the good things He has given you to do, others may also be saved.

God created you, and God redeemed you from sin, called you out of death and into life, so that you would glorify Him, and enjoy Him forever.

The good work you do for the Lord glorifies God, and you even grow to enjoy it. 

But your salvation—what God has done in Christ—glorifies God; and brings you eternal joy.

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[1] This portion of the sermon is based on Q&A 86 from the Heidelberg Catechism.

Q. Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace through Christ without any merit of our own, why then should we do good works?
A. Because Christ, having redeemed us by his blood, is also restoring us by his Spirit into his image, so that with our whole lives we may show that we are thankful to God for his benefits,1 so that he may be praised through us,2 so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits,3 and so that by our godly living our neighbors may be won over to Christ.4

1 Rom. 6:13; 12:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:5-10
2 Matt. 5:16; 1 Cor. 6:19-20
3 Matt. 7:17-18; Gal. 5:22-24; 2 Pet. 1:10-11
4 Matt. 5:14-16; Rom. 14:17-19; 1 Pet. 2:12; 3:1-2