Doing Something

Introduction

Well, I’ve been greatly encouraged already, and like I’ve said before, I hope I don’t mess it up. It’s good to see all of you today. The singing’s been incredible and uplifting.

For those of you that are out of state, I’ve got to tell you.

Especially out here in the country of Decker Prairie. So we’re a country church and country folk. And so I’m going to make this real simple this morning. And this title, you ought to be able to get it doing something. That’s the title. Not to be confused with that humorous sermon that I heard years ago, and it’s still out there somewhere, I’m sure, about Paul. Paul did some things. Jesse’s laughing like he’s heard it. And the sermon just keeps going. Paul did some things. You know, it’s real deep stuff. Well, I want to talk to you this morning about doing something and the role that plays in God’s plan of salvation by grace through faith. And I want to take you to this text in Luke chapter 13.

1. Strive to Enter by the Narrow Door

This is an important discussion. It’s an important discussion because Jesus is telling this man what he needs to do to find salvation. It’s important because it explains to us something very important about God’s expectations. And I want you to get this. I want you to know this story. I want you to mark something very carefully in your text. Jesus was proceeding on his way to Jerusalem, and someone, this unnamed someone, asked an awesome question. Lord, are there just a few who are being saved? That’s one of the most important questions that you could ask. And he went to the right source. But I want you to notice Jesus’ answer. Particularly verse 24. Strive. Strive. Strive to enter by the narrow door. Harkens back to the Sermon on the Mount, does it not?

And the narrow gate and the narrow way that leads to life. Strive to enter by the narrow door. For many, I tell you, what tragedy unfolds here. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter. We’re not just talking about those who don’t care for this narrow way at all, but there will be many who will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, there’s a time of opportunity, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, Lord, open up, open up to us. Then he will answer and say to you, I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin to say, Well, we ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.

We know you. And he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you are from. And here’s why. Depart from me, all you evil doers. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This isn’t good. There, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out. And they will come from east and west, Gentiles, east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. I’m so thankful for that. That’s us. And behold, some are last who will be first. And some are first who will be last. The word I want you to focus on. I want you to underline, highlight it, or whatever you do with your text, is the word strife.

Of all the ways Jesus could have answered this question. And if it was his intention to do everything in man’s salvation, apart from any human response or activity, this would have been a good time to tell it. Listen, don’t sweat it. I’m about to take care of everything. In a short time, I’m going to die on the cross, and you won’t have to worry about what you must do to be saved. But that is not how Jesus answered the question.

2. Faith Is Doing Something

Is salvation was not going to involve human activity and some serious effort. Why use the word strive? Ross, I noticed, prayed in this prayer that we’re striving toward heaven, and that’s correct. I got the idea for this sermon from a good friend of mine, Dan Cheney, who posted on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. Dan is the preacher for the Spring Warrior Church in Perry, Florida, held a meeting there a couple of years ago. Good folks there. A lot of Auburn fans, as I recall. Dan wrote this very simple, succinct, but important little post. He says, faith is doing something. He gives the verse for each. Galatians 5 and verse 6. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but faith working through love. That matters. Faith working through love.

Faith is doing something. It’s responding in a certain way. Repentance is doing something based on Acts chapter 2 and verse 38, where the people asked on the day of Pentecost, men and brethren, what shall we do? And again, Peter, like Jesus, perfect opportunity. Well, Jesus done it all. You don’t have to do anything. That’s not what he said. There was something for them to do. That’s how he answered the question. Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive. If you do this, you shall receive the long-promised gift of salvation to everyone who believes. Quoted Joel chapter 2. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Confession is doing something.

Romans 10, 9 and 10. With the heart man believes, with the mouth, he confesses to salvation. Being baptized in water so we can die with Christ, Romans chapter 6 and be washed in his blood, is doing something. Saul of Tarsus was told, arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling upon the name of the Lord. Acts 22 and verse 16. Oh, while it’s doing something then. He concludes. But none of those earns or merits our salvation. Where we somehow place God in our debt, he has to save us because we’ve done the required things. No. We are saved by grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. There’s a big difference between doing something, that meaning it’s necessary, and earning.

That is very well said in a very short space. This may be one of the most misunderstood concepts of the New Testament, of the New Covenant. What Dan is talking about is the only way to reconcile everything that God says about salvation. What God does, what man does, and how those two interplay together.

3. Salvation Is Conditional

But it is the most misunderstood subject in all of Christianity today. So if you get this, you’re way ahead of a lot of folks. So listen. If human activity, and this is the issue, if human activity is in no way necessary in order to be saved, then all men are automatically saved by the death of Jesus on the cross. He is the propitiation for our sins. He satisfied the anger of God, 1 John 2. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. Does that mean that when Jesus died on the cross, the sins of the whole world, forever and for all time, are automatically covered by his death. Everybody’s saved. Is that what that passage is saying?

If so, we’ve got the Bible in contradiction with itself. We have John in contradiction with himself in 1 John. We have John in contradiction with Paul, John in contradiction with Jesus in Luke 13. That’s obviously not what that text is saying. This would make such statements as Acts 2 and verse 40 nonsensical. When on the day of Pentecost, when they asked, what shall we do? And Peter answered as we quoted in Acts 2 and verse 38, he then says in verse 40, he admonishes them, save yourselves from this perverse generation. Okay. Now again, if the propitiation for our sins mean God is automatically saved everybody because Jesus died on the cross, why would Peter not change his answer? Why did he say, here’s what you have to do?

Repent and be baptized, and then he admonishes them. Save yourselves. It makes that statement totally nonsensical. It makes Luke 13 nonsensical. So I want to make a couple of points here, and I realize we’re talking about theology here, and that doesn’t seem very practical, but it is, because you’re going to talk to people who have this all wrong. It’s important that you know this. But then we’re going to get to a very practical part, so stay with me. Actually, it’s all practical, but the way we use that term practical, you’re going to think, oh, that’s this has to do with application. Okay, so, but really, you need to know this. Salvation is conditional. God so loved the world. His love is unconditional. He loves every single person.

But that doesn’t mean that every single person is going to be saved. If you read the New Testament, you cannot come to that conclusion. I wish it was so. I don’t like the fact that anybody’s going to be lost. But if you hold fast the word, you will not have believed in vain. Paul told Christians in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 and 2. I mean, so many passages we can look at. Salvation is conditional. But as people talk about salvation and this interplay between God’s grace and man’s faith, God’s work and our activity, some people get hung up on certain statements and phrases of Scripture, and they talk about the finished work of Christ on the cross. Now, there is a very great sense in which some things were completed and finished when Jesus died on the cross.

4. How Do You Believe Passively?

God’s eternal plan of redemption was coming to fruition in Jesus’ death on the cross. But don’t be taken in by that phrase. Because when people talk about the finished work of Christ on the cross, they’re saying God has done everything in salvation, you don’t have to do anything. That’s what they’re saying. That’s where they’re going with that. And there’s some things about the work of Christ that aren’t done, let me remind you. He still comes to the aid of the tempted, Hebrews 2 and verse 18. He ever lives to make intercession for us and to deal with our petitions. Hebrews 4, 14 through 16. And his final return is not yet accomplished. Hebrews 9 and verse 28, when he will return again a second time for salvation.

So everything isn’t finished. There’s one aspect of God’s work that’s finished. But what people mean by that phrase is that Christ did everything to provide salvation, and we can do nothing except embrace what he provided, but only passively. You’ll start hearing this word passive. Only passively, because no doing is involved in our salvation. It can’t be because salvation is by grace. So doing is ruled out, so it has to be some passive acceptance. Find the word passive for me in the New Testament when it talks about salvation. This is a man invention, is all it is. And John 3.16 mentions the condition. Whoever believes in him should not perish. How do you believe passively? That’s my question. Believing is doing something. We already demonstrated that in Galatians 5 and verse 6.

Dan did for us. Faith working to love. How do you believe passively? I like the statement to illustrate this. If you don’t want to answer this with somebody, look at Acts 10 and Cornias. Because when Peter goes to preach the gospel to Corneas, the first Gentile convert, as it will soon unfold, he says, We are all here assembled to hear what you, what God is commanding us in Acts 10. We’re all here assembled. Sounds like they had to do something to get to the place where they could listen to the instruction to which they had to respond in order to be saved, as they were ordered to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ in Acts chapter 10 and verse 48. We are all here assembled before God.

They had to do something. Just to put themselves into the place to be able to hear the message. And Jesus solved all of this in John 6. Remember the people were following Jesus because he fed them and they were filled, and he says, Do you know what he says? Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. Work for the food that endures to eternal life. And this is the work of God. Yes, it’s attributed to God, but it involves human activity. This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent. And so while he admonishes his audience to believe, our act of believing is attributed to the work of God because our activity alone is insufficient.

To say.

Titus chapter 3, 4 and 5. He saved us not on the basis, and this is another misunderstood verse. He saved us not on the basis of the deeds that we have done in righteousness. He’s not saving us on the basis that we’ve done these things. He’s saving us on the basis of his mercy. As we have undergone what? The washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. But listen. We must submit ourselves to baptism to experience that washing where we’ve made alive again. The washing of regeneration. Can we just sit here and say, boy, it’s great. It’s great. The Lord save me.

Where’s the washing of regeneration? Sounded like to me, I’m going to have to find some water and be baptized. That’s going to involve me doing something. Not a lot. Not what we should have to do. But we’re going to do something. And we’re going to be renewed by the Holy Spirit. Well, how does that happen? Does God just automatically renew everybody by the Holy Spirit? Or do we have to be of a willing spirit to listen to the Holy Spirit and invite his instruction and implement it in our lives? Listen. The major problem with this view that people have is that it’s just dead wrong. That’s the major problem with it. And it’s, I’m not opposed to it because it doesn’t fit my theological tradition. That’s not why I’m opposed to it.

In fact, if it were true, I’d love to embrace it because you know what that would mean? There’s not any way that I could botch this up. I can’t watch it up. It’s all right. God’s done everything. I can’t mess it up. I’m sort of concerned about that, about my ability to botch things up.

It is dead wrong because Peter plainly answered a question about what must be done. And so did Jesus. Jesus spoke of what a person must do in order to be saved. I don’t need any more proof than that. Something must distinguish the saved from the unsaved. 2 Timothy 2 19. The Lord knows those that are his. And let everyone who names the name of Christ abstain from wickedness.

5. What Does Not of Works Mean?

You know, if you’re going to take this, man doesn’t have to do anything. Salvation is not conditional approach. There’s going to be certain passages of scripture you’re just going to have to ignore, about half of the New Testament. You’re going to have to ignore. So what is he saying in Ephesians 2? That seems to be the sticking point, that verse. For by grace have you been saved through faith, not of yourselves, not of works. Lest any man should boast. What does that phrase not of works mean? Does that mean no human activity? That’s the way people want to define it. And so they get hung up on this phrase. But that’s not what the phrase means. Somebody says, if we have to do something to be saved, then we have a right to boast.

No. Jesus denies that when he says, When you’ve done all that you’ve been commanded to do, you’re still an unprofitable servant. Luke 17 and verse 10. You see, they stop reading in verse 9. When he says in verse 10, when he talks about this salvation by grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast, then he says, For we are his workmanship. It talks about work in the very next verse. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. And it also ignores the entire context of Ephesians. And we studied Ephesians recently. This all goes back to chapter 1 and 2. Oh, the way that God has acted as he’s lavishly offered redemption to us, but then in verse 13 of chapter 1, it says, In Him you also listening, he says, To the truth, believed.

He’s already explained that the not of works doesn’t mean you don’t have to do anything. It’s just that God’s part was the greater part and was indispensable, and we could not be saved without what God has done. It expresses our complete dependency. Here’s the point. Not of works means left to ourselves.

We could not save ourselves. Left to ourselves, we could offer no solution to our sin problem. God had to rectify what we could not, and we are completely dependent upon him, not just the sacrifice of Christ, but the work of the Holy Spirit. How would we know what the sacrifice of Christ even meant unless the Holy Spirit explained it to us and tells us what we need to do? We’re born of the Spirit, the incorruptible seed, which is the living and abiding word of God. It is by the Spirit that we’re baptized into one body. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 13. We’ll be studying that Wednesday night in auditorium, Lord willing. We are completely dependent upon the sacrifice of Christ, the love of God, the mercy of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, and so at the end of the day, we don’t get to say, Well, I’ve done these things, so I’ve merited my salvation.

And I say sometimes we get a little carried away with ourselves in the things that we’ve done, and we break our arms, pat ourselves on the back because we’ve done so much for the Lord. You know, we can get really in tune with how good we’ve become. How important we are to the cause. You know, I’m really enthralled with myself. No boasting. We only are what we are because of him. As Paul would say, I am a debtor. We are debtors always. Don’t get too big for your britches. Again, keep it simple here in Texas. Don’t get too big for your britches in regard to your word for the Lord. Servants. Always servants. Just servants. And that’s what I love so much about the introduction of the epistles of James and Jude.

Probably both were physical brothers of the Lord. They were the younger brothers in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth, but yet they didn’t play that card when they wrote their epistles. Both of them used the same term bond servants. They realized who their older brother really was. He was their Savior and the Savior of the world. How awesome it must have been to have the perfect older brother. Okay. Now that’s the theological side of this. You should be able with that information to answer people that you’ve talked to that want to say, well, we only have to embrace things passively, whatever that means. And you don’t have to do something in order to be saved. The scriptures talk about the things we have to do. That question was asked three times.

6. How Could You Ever Be Sure of Your Salvation?

What shall I do? And every time it was given an answer. But here’s the rubber. Yeah, but if that’s the case, then how could you ever be sure of your salvation? You’re saying God’s done the greater part and we’re completely dependent upon him. So, how does this play out in terms of me securing my eternal salvation? And there are passages that talk about the things we need to be about, so that the eternal entrance into the kingdom of our Lord shall be supplied to us, 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 11. But listen, there’s no circumventing around passages like Hebrews 10 39.

We’re the Hebrew writer almost said Paul, but that’ll have been a mistake. The Hebrew writer said to believers.

We are not of those who shrink back, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Now that we gotta be teaching that. We need to have faith. We need to continue in faith to the preserving of the soul, realizing our dependency all the way along on the Lord for our eternal salvation. Here’s how it works. And this is important. Eternal salvation, like our initial salvation, is wholly dependent upon God and his mercy. So I find assurance of my salvation eternally, the same way I have assurance when I’m first baptized into Christ. Let me tell you how that works. You stay in the Word, you trust Him, and you tenaciously, doggedly, I like that word, doggedly pursue, and you’ll like, you’ll know why I chose that.

I doggedly, tenaciously pursue what He tells me to pursue. I just stay after that. And then I trust Him. I don’t lay awake at night in bed thinking, well, I hope He saves me in the end. It’s almost the impossible dream. I don’t think I’m going to be good enough. Well, no, you won’t be. You haven’t been. But the Lord expects us to have confidence. Well, but I don’t want to have a false confidence, and yes, that’s a problem too. So you just keep trusting. You stay in the word. You keep worshiping, you keep working, you keep fighting temptation, you keep praying, you keep trusting. And Paul says, He who began a good work in you will complete it. At the day of the Lord Jesus, Philippians 1 and verse 6.

And there’s no Brother Big Shaw. We humble ourselves under the mighty men of God, especially young men are admonished. Cloth yourselves in humility, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you at the proper time. I am humbled by knowledge of my failings, my ineptitude at times, and my absolute dependence. So I serve him in whatever way I can, and I keep on doing that. I keep building myself up in the most holy faith and keep myself in the love of God, Jude 20 and 21. I persevere through pain, trials, and even stumbling. And I keep setting my affections heavenward. I keep looking for ways to serve. And act consistently or in accord with my holy calling. Listen. I didn’t understand this when I first started preaching, but I get it now.

Sometimes I get very tired. And when you’re in your 20s and strong and full of life, busy making your way in the world. You don’t have a sense of that like you do when you get a little bit older. When you start saying it every birthday, I’m still 29 when you’re really not. Jill.

You get tired. And I’ll tell you what you do. You just keep plugging away. You keep trusting in God. You know, we sang a couple of songs Wednesday night, we sang one of them again this morning. Ross led us in number 102, dear Lord, hear our prayer. Dear Lord, when my short life is over, oh, take me home forevermore to dwell with thee in heaven above and share in thy praise and endless love. That expresses that.

Pray this prayer. When it’s over, take me home. Or as we sang this morning and Wednesday night, till Jesus comes, I’ll sing his praise. Till Jesus comes, I’ll sing his praise, and then to glory go. And live with him through endless days because he loves me so. Y’all hear the story this week about Ma Kettle.

I’m seeing a lot of blank looks on your faces, so let me inform you about Ma Kettle.

Ma Kettle is an older labradory retriever. Her caretaker died. She was taken to a shelter. She was finally placed in a home where she got tangled up crossways with the other dog at the residence. Things were not going well in her new home. So you know what Ma did? She walked home. Thirty miles. She gets home. There’s no one there to take care of her. So she ends up back at the shelter after walking 30 miles to get home. But this story, because it went viral, has a happy ending. Meet Helen Rossberg, heir to the Wrigley Gum fortune, who lives on a 11,000 square foot home on 100 acres near Tampa. Tom, y’all go visit her. Brett, Kayla, you down there. Go visit Ma Kettle and Helen.

Her name is now Lady. So here she went through all of this effort to get to this home where her owner no longer lived, and there was no one to take care of her, but look how things end now.

For all of our effort that we expend for whatever, to whatever extent we sacrifice for the Lord’s cause, for however far we have to walk in our service to him, we have an inheritance awaiting us that is indescribable. That is beyond description. But you know, let me tell you what the problem is. Sometimes in our journey, we look like Ma Kettle. AKA Lady. That’s what she looked like after her 30-mile journey. And so we get a little down in the mouth and we get tired.

Conclusion

But our reward is going to be so much more than that 11,000 square foot home on a hundred acres in Tampa, Florida. I want to give you three passages quickly in conclusion. At the end of the promises regarding the resurrection of Christ and our own resurrection, his conclusion, Paul was to the Corinthians, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Stay busy doing something. Striving together for the gospel of Christ. Paul says in Philippians chapter 1, standing firm.

That sounds like we’re doing something, doesn’t it? Standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. In the previous part of that verse, he says, only conduct yourself, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. And then there’s the example of Onociparus who had refreshed Paul in his chains. A great act of service. And Paul says, May the Lord grant him and his house to find mercy on that day.

Let us pray for each other that we might find mercy on that day. And so what about in the meantime? Have we found ourselves like Maw Kettle?

We’ve gotten a little weary. Perhaps you’ve lost focus and conviction, and you’ve become beleaguered in your service. Won’t you fix that? Do what the Lord bids you do. And if we can help you do that this morning, come now as we stand and sing.