50. If You Think You Can Keep God's Law, You've Watered It Down

There are many people who say that as believers in Christ we are to keep God's law, including the Ten Commandments and many other Old Testament laws and commandments. In this podcast, I make a bold statement: God's law is not doable, and anybody who thinks they can actually keep God's law has watered it down to a point that may seem doable to them.  They have effectively changed God's law, making it into something that is not!

You see, the standard of God's law is not just that you "do your best" or "try hard" to keep it or parts of it, but rather than you keep it perfectly - and not just some laws, but all of it, in its entirety. You must keep it perfectly. So if you think you can actually keep the law, or even "do your best" to keep it, you've watered it down into something that it's not.

I encourage you to accept God's free gift of righteousness, that comes by grace, through faith, apart from His law, and give yourself over to His life in you, rather than making it about your own efforts.


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49. Faith in Christ Means You Have Rested from Your Works

There's nothing you can do to get yourself right with God or keep yourself right with God. There is no work that you can do to earn or maintain righteousness. The only way to be righteous is to receive the free gift of God's righteousness, by grace, through faith. Faith in Christ means you have rested from your works.


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44. Saved by Grace Through Faith Apart from Works

We are saved by grace, through faith, apart from works.  If our works have anything to do with it, then it's no longer grace.  When we were saved, we were saved despite having had bad works.  Now, we still have bad works sometimes, but those bad works don't "unsave" us.  Otherwise, it would no longer be grace by which we're saved.  We're saved either by grace or works, but it can't be both.


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40. Our Promises Are No Guarantee, But God's Promise Is!

Salvation is not based upon our works, abilities or promises to God. What we have in Christ is a surety and a hope and a steadfastness that is not based upon ourselves, but rather is based upon God’s promises and His works. If our salvation has anything to do with our works or promises, then it cannot be of grace and it cannot be of God’s promise. God, who cannot lie, made an oath to Himself, and this oath is our guarantee. Our promises to God are no guarantee! God’s oath, however, is where our hope lies. This is a hope we can cling to with certainty. "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast."


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39. We're Righteous Through Christ's Performance, Not Ours

On a recent Growing in Grace podcast (#603) we talked about how believers are identified as righteous apart from their behavior. Faith-based righteousness isn't a matter of pursuing righteousness through what we do, but simply through believing what Christ has done.  Here I share a snippet from that podcast in which I talk about this.  We've been justified, cleansed, made righteous and made holy (sanctified) through the blood of Jesus, not through our own performance.  Do yourself a favor, and spare yourself the anxiety, depression and fear that can result from thinking that it's up to you to gain or maintain a certain level of righteousness.  Believe instead in the finished work of Christ.


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36. You Are the Part of God's Body That He Wants You to Be

God has placed you in the body of Christ exactly where He wants you to be. There are some members of the body of Christ whose work is highly visible and recognized by others. There are some members whose work is barely, if at all, seen by others. Ultimately, our applause comes from God, not from man, so I hope to encourage you to keep on being who you are in Christ, whether you are highly visible or barely seen.


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27. Rock Steady Salvation

Many believers walk on unsteady ground, constantly (or at least occasionally) worrying about if their salvation is truly secure. Often, the reason for this is that people are basing the security of their salvation on their own performance or commitment to God. But our commitment or performance wavers and is unsteady, so God based the security of our salvation on something far greater: His own promise! God doesn't lie and He doesn't break His oaths, and what makes this salvation doubly secure is that God's oath was made to Himself!


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