Future Grace Seminar/Session 2: Foundational Passions, Part 2

From Gospel Translations

Passion #3: A Passion for Practical Holiness

Why Do We Have a Passion for Holiness?

It is the only pathway to eternal pleasure in God. No holiness,no heaven.

What do I Mean by Practical Holiness?

• Obedience to God's Word in the everyday life.
• The fruit of the Holy Spirit.
• Genuine love for other people.

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13

May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; 13 so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

Key Texts to Show that Practical Holiness is Necessary for Final Salvation

Hebrews 12:14

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification (holiness) without which no one will see the Lord.

John 5:28-29

Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, 29 and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

Galatians 6:8-9

For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.

James 2:17

Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

1 John 2:4

The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

2 Thessalonians 2:13

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

Matthew 6:15

But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

Romans 8:13

If you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

1 John 3:14

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.

1 John 1:7

If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

The Problem Raised by the Necessity of Holiness

If we are justified once for all by grace through faith apart from works at the point of true conversion, then how can our final salvation be conditional upon a transformed life of holiness?

Romans 3:28

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Romans 5:1

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 2:16

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

The Solution Given by the Westminster Confession, Chapter XI

(1) Those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifieth; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous: not for anything wrought in them, or done by them,but for Christ's sake alone . . . (2) Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is not dead faith, but worketh by love.

In other words, we are justified by faith alone, but that faith never remains alone. Therefore, justifying faith is always and inevitably accompanied by good works.

So the crucial question now is: Why does practical holiness (i.e. love) inevitably accompany justifying faith?

Preliminary answer: faith itself is the agent of the works. They do not merely accompany faith. They come through or by faith. Faith is the agent that produces the works. And it does so necessarily.Thus the works are evidence of true faith, and are not the means of our salvation the way faith is. They are the evidence that faith is real and thus are necessary for final salvation, though not the ground of it, as the death and righteousness of Christ are, or the means of it, as faith is.

Thomas Watson's way of putting it: using the word "repentance"for the practical change in life that has to happen for forgiveness of sin to be given, Watson says, "Not that repentance merits the forgiveness of sin. By repentance we please God, but we do not satisfy him. Repentance is a condition, not a cause. God will not pardon for repentance, nor yet without it" (Body of Divinity, p. 557).

Analogy of How God Will Assess Works at the Judgment (1 Kings 3:16-27)

Recall the story of how two harlots brought a baby to king Solomon, each claiming that the baby was hers. They asked king Solomon to act as judge between them. In his extraordinary wisdom,he said that a sword should be brought, and that the baby should be divided, with half given to the one woman and half to the other.The true mother cried out, "O, my lord, give her the child, and by no means kill it" (v. 26). Solomon said, "Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother" (v.26).

What was Solomon looking for? He was not looking for a deed that would earn the child, or would create a relationship that did not already exist. He was looking for a deed that would demonstrate what was already true, namely, that the child was truly this woman's child by birth. That is the way God looks at our deeds on the judgment day. He is not looking for deeds that purchase our pardon in his judgment hall. He is looking for deeds that prove we are already enjoying the fruits of our pardon. He is looking for the practical evidences of our living by faith in future grace. The purchase of our salvation was the blood of Jesus, sufficient once for all to cover all our sins. We do not add to the worth of his atoning death or of his righteousness imputed to us by God (which we call justification). But the means by which we receive this gift is faith (= being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus). That kind of faith frees us from lifelong slavery to the fear of death and works through love.

Therefore, faith is not only the means of justification, it is also the agent of sanctification.

How, Then, Does Faith Do This Great Work of Sanctification?

Preliminary Answer: faith severs the root of sin. Sin has power by promising a better tomorrow (or at least a better this evening) and by promising superior satisfactions. But true faith is of such a nature that it severs the root of sin by embracing a better future and providing a deeper satisfaction. The future grace of God is the deeper satisfaction and the better future. When you live by faith in future grace, the power of sin is broken by the power of a superior satisfaction and a better future.

Our Three Passions Raise Three Questions

1. What kind of life will magnify the supremacy of God most?

2. What kind of life will forever satisfy the deep longings of our soul?

3. What kind of life will produce a practical holiness that is necessary for final salvation, but do it in such a way that our justification is still by grace alone, through faith alone, based on Christ's death and imputed righteousness alone?

Our answer to all three questions is: living by faith in future grace.