Salvation by Work -- Whose Work?

Salvation By Work --- Whose Work? 1. The salvation of a sinner unto eternal life and righteousness is not conditioned upon the sinner's works. ROM 3:20; 4:6; 9:11; EPH 2:8-9; 2TI 1:9; TIT 3:5. A. Work: “Something that is or was done; what a person does or did.” B. Work is anything that man does, good or evil. ROM 9:11. i. Preaching is a work. EPH 4:12. ii. Baptism is a work. ACT 2:38 c/w ACT 26:20. iii. Repentance is a work. JON 3:10 c/w MAT 12:41. iv. Faith is a work. ACT 16:30-31; HEB 4:11. C. Evil works condemn fallen man; good works cannot redeem him and are, in fact, beyond him. ROM 8:7-8; EPH 2:1. D. No law could produce life and righteousness in fallen man. GAL 3:21. 2. Eternal life and righteousness are by virtue of God's grace. ROM 3:24. A. Grace: “Favour, favourable or benignant regard or its manifestation (now only on the part of a superior); favour or goodwill, in contradistinction to right or obligation, as the ground of a concession.” i. Any scheme which relies upon the sinner's performance for eternal salvation opposes grace. ROM 4:4; GAL 2:21; 5:4. ii. Grace and the sinner's performance are polarized concepts. ROM 11:6. B. God sent His only begotten Son to fulfil His law for sinners who could not do so themselves. ROM 8:3. C. Jesus Christ bore sinners' guilt in His body to the cross, suffering what they deserved and redeeming them by His blood. ROM 5:6-10; GAL 3:13; 1PE 2:24; EPH 1:7. D. Christ's righteousness is applied FREELY to sinners to make them acceptable to God. 2CO 5:21; ROM 4:6-8; 5:19. E. Christ ALONE purged sinners of their sins. HEB 1:3. F. Christ's faithfulness entirely suffices for those whom He came to save. None shall be lost. JOH 6:37-40; 10:27-29. G. Grace = God's Riches At Christ's Expense. 3. Men are elected by God to this saving work of Christ. 1PE 1:1-2. A. God showed discriminating favor towards SOME men by predestinating them in Christ from the foundation of the world. EPH 1:4-5. B. No unrighteousness can be charged against Him for this sovereign act of His will. ROM 9:11-16. C. The elect only are saved BY and IN Christ, their representative. They are seen as being in Christ in: i. His obedience. 1PE 1:2. ii. His death. GAL 2:20; 2CO 5:14. iii. His resurrection. ROM 4:25; 1PE 1:3; 3:21; COL 3:1. iv. His ascension to, and position in heaven. EPH 2:6; HEB 9:24. AA. NOTE: Christ appears in heaven as our Advocate (1JO 2:1), having cast down from there our accuser. REV 12:9-10. BB. Where there is no accuser, there is no condemnation! JOH 8:10-11 c/w ROM 8:1, 33-34. D. The elect are given, not offered eternal life. JOH 17:2; 10:27-28; ROM 5:17-18. i. Gift: “Something, the possession of which is transferred to another without the expectation or receipt of an equivalent; a donation, present.” ii. Offer: “An act of offering; a holding forth or presenting for acceptance; an expression of intention or willingness to give or do something conditionally on the assent of the person addressed; a proposal.” iii. Christ did not offer Himself to sinners for their choice. He offered Himself to God FOR sinners of God's choice! EPH 5:2; HEB 9:14; 10:8-10. E. The eternal redemption of the elect was planned by Christ, committed to Christ, and completed by Christ. It is an accomplished fact! HEB 1:3; 9:12; 2CO 5:18-19. i. No amount of work on man's part can add to this. ii. No lack of work on man's part can diminish this. F. If Christ did not eternally save everyone whom the Father gave Him to save, then He did not the will of the Father and should not be believed. JOH 4:34; 6:38-39; 10:37. i. There are “lords many” (1CO 8:5); “another Jesus” (2CO 11:4) and “false Christs” (MAT 24:24). ii. The true Lord Jesus Christ can only be the One Who did the will of the Father by eternally saving all that the Father sent Him to save. JOH 17:4; 19:30. iii. The true Christ will never lament over lost souls whose sins He came to bear. ISA 53:11. iv. This Christ only is certainly worthy of the elect's attention, faith, gratitude, devotion, submission, love, elation, exultation, worship and praise. Magnify Him!