Perfect Sinners

1. Our status before God is unchanging, but our walk with Him fluctuates

Our status is deliberately in capitals because, in a healthy Christian, it's our status before God that gives us confidence that God loves us.

Two aspects of Christian life. Our relationship with God has two dimensions:

1. Our status before God:

   • Unchanging
   • Unconditional
   • Based on Christ's work, not our performance
   • Includes justification, adoption, and forgiveness

2. Our daily walk with God:

   • Fluctuating
   • Conditional on our obedience
   • Affects God's pleasure or displeasure with us
   • Involves progressive sanctification

Understanding this distinction helps Christians maintain confidence in God's love while striving for obedience. It prevents both complacency and despair, allowing believers to enjoy security in Christ while pursuing holiness.

2. Faith in Jesus, not the quality of our faith, justifies us

It is not the strength of your faith that brings you righteousness. It is the strength of your Saviour.

Faith as a conduit, not a contribution. Saving faith has three components:

1. Knowledge of the gospel
2. Belief in its truth
3. Trust in Christ personally

Faith doesn't contribute to our righteousness; it merely connects us to Jesus. Like a ring clasping a jewel, faith holds onto Christ, who is our righteousness. This understanding:

• Removes pressure to have "strong enough" faith
• Keeps our focus on Christ, not ourselves
• Assures us that even weak faith in a strong Savior saves

Christians should look to Jesus, not their own faith, for assurance and confidence.

3. God's love for us is eternal and unconditional

His love for me is eternal. It existed before the creation of the world. His love for me is without end and without beginning. It cannot grow or decline.

God's love precedes and sustains us. The Father's love for believers:

• Is the source of our salvation
• Existed before creation
• Cannot increase or decrease
• Is not dependent on our performance

This eternal love led the Father to send the Son and the Spirit. Understanding this:

• Provides security in our relationship with God
• Motivates grateful obedience
• Helps us grasp the depth of God's grace

Believers can rest in the knowledge that God's love for them is constant, even when they fail or struggle.

4. We can please or displease God, but His love remains constant

God isn't merely a satisfied judge, content with our status—he is also intimately involved in our lives and cares about our daily walk.

Relationship, not just status. While our justification is complete, our sanctification is ongoing:

• God's love for us doesn't change
• But our actions can please or grieve Him
• He delights in our obedience and growth

This understanding:

• Motivates us to pursue holiness
• Keeps us from taking God's grace for granted
• Helps us see God as a loving Father, not just a judge

Christians should strive to please God out of love, not fear of rejection. Our status is secure, but our daily choices matter to our Father.

5. True faith transforms and perseveres

The New Testament doesn't conceive of salvation without a transformed life. It has no category for the genuine believer who does not grow in holiness.

Faith that saves changes. Genuine saving faith:

• Produces good works
• Leads to progressive sanctification
• Perseveres to the end

This doesn't mean perfection, but it does mean:

• A pattern of growth over time
• Repentance when we fall
• A desire to obey God

Understanding this helps us:

• Examine our own faith
• Avoid false assurance
• Encourage others in their walk with God

True believers will struggle with sin, but they won't be content to remain in it. Their lives will show evidence of God's transforming work.

6. Guilt is appropriate when we sin, but confession brings relief

Confession is the vomit of the soul.

Healthy guilt leads to restoration. When believers sin:

1. They should feel guilty - it's a sign of spiritual health
2. This guilt should lead to confession
3. Confession brings relief and renewed joy

Benefits of regular confession:

• Keeps our hearts tender toward God
• Reminds us of our need for Christ
• Deepens our appreciation of grace

Confession doesn't re-secure our forgiveness; it allows us to enjoy the forgiveness we already have in Christ. It restores our sense of fellowship with God and fellow believers.

7. God rewards believers differently, but all rewards are gifts of grace

Even though eternal life is a gift of grace won by Jesus, he promises us heavenly rewards if we give our lives to serving him.

Motivation for faithful service. Biblical teaching on rewards:

• All believers inherit eternal life by grace
• But there are varying rewards in heaven
• These rewards motivate faithful service now

Examples of rewardable actions:

• Enduring persecution for Christ
• Generosity with resources
• Faithfulness in ministry

Key principles:

• Rewards are God's grace upon grace
• They don't create jealousy in heaven
• They encourage diligence in serving Christ

Understanding heavenly rewards should inspire us to live wholeheartedly for Christ, knowing our labor is not in vain.

8. Change is slow because sin is still attractive, but we must actively fight it

Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.

The battle for holiness. Christians must actively pursue sanctification:

1. Set your mind on Christ above
2. Put sin to death

Why change is slow:

• We're still easily deceived by sin
• Our old nature remains attractive
• Satan uses accusation, temptation, and distraction

How to fight:

• Regularly remind yourself of your identity in Christ
• Take practical steps to avoid temptation
• Rely on the Holy Spirit's power

Change comes through both passive trust in Christ's work and active obedience to His commands. We must keep looking to Jesus while also taking practical steps to grow in holiness.

9. Warnings in Scripture don't negate God's promises but help fulfill them

God's warnings do not weaken his promises to never let us go and to always love us.

Warnings as means of preservation. Biblical warnings:

• Don't contradict promises of security
• Are one way God keeps His promises
• Motivate believers to persevere

Purpose of warnings:

• Wake up false professors
• Stir up genuine believers
• Keep us dependent on Christ

How to respond to warnings:

• Take them seriously
• Examine your life
• Cling to God's promises

Warnings and promises work together to keep believers on the path to eternal life. They're not contradictory but complementary aspects of God's care for His people.

10. Assurance of salvation comes from trusting Christ, not our performance

When I die, I'm going to be with Jesus in paradise. I'm 100% certain of that fact.

Confidence in Christ alone. Assurance of salvation:

• Is possible and desirable for believers
• Comes primarily from trusting Christ's work
• Is strengthened by evidence of the Spirit's work in our lives

Sources of assurance:

1. The promises of God in Scripture
2. The witness of the Holy Spirit
3. The fruit of obedience in our lives

Challenges to assurance:

• Indwelling sin
• Spiritual warfare
• Misunderstanding of Scripture

Christians can have confident assurance of salvation without arrogance because their hope is in Christ's perfect work, not their imperfect performance. This assurance brings joy, peace, and motivation for holy living.

Last updated: October 2, 2024