June 6, 2001
Religious Credits That Don't Impress God
By John MacArthur, Jr.
Part 7 of 9
Philippians 3:4-8
You know what God said? I'm not impressed. I'm not impressed. No manner of loyalty to your traditional religion can save you. No amount of loyalty to your ancestral worship can save you. This is worthless. This is rubbish, manure, garbage, get rid of it. There's no treasure there. There's no pearl there. Just because you're loyal to your parents Catholicism or your parents Judaism or your traditional Protestant background, you're a Lutheran because your parents are Lutheran, or you're a Presbyterian because your family has always been that way, or you're Baptist because everybody's been Baptists, that kind of loyalty to a tradition is worthless as far as a means of salvation. It's worthless. Salvation doesn't come in those terms.
Number five, salvation is not by religion. Not only not by tradition but by religion, but on a religious level Paul had really achieved, look at verse 5, "As to the law, a Pharisee." I just read out of 26:5 of Acts where he said he lived his life according to the Pharisaic law and here he says the same thing. He says, "When it comes to the law, I was a Pharisee." In other words, when it comes to my view of God's Word, I took the Pharisaic perspective. What does that mean? That is the highest level of religious achievement in Judaism. You can't get any higher than being a Pharisee. The Pharisee was the religious radical fundamentalist, that was the Pharisee, the narrow-minded legalistic literalist fundamentalist who interpreted the Word of God specifically, directly to life. You know where they came from? They came out of the intertestamental period between the end of the Old and the beginning of the New, there was 400 years in there when there was no writing going on. And during that time the Jews began to drift into liberalism, they began to question the authority of Scripture, they began to compromise and at that time came this group called Pharisees which comes to mean separatists. And they were affirming that there must be an adherence to Scripture, that there must be an adherence to the Word of God, that there could be no deviation so they felt they had to guard the Scripture, they had to study the Scripture, they had to interpret the Scripture, they had to proclaim the Scripture, they had to apply the Scripture, they had to castigate people who didn't apply it, that was the Pharisees. They started out with a noble cause, they started out as noble men. Obviously over a period of time they degenerated and the point of their degeneration was when they came to believe that their strict adherence to the law was what saved them. That was the fatal flaw.
They were a very elite group. During the time of Christ the best estimate is that there were no more than 6,000 of them, that's all. No more than 6,000. Because it was such a strict demanding circumscribed legalistic life style that very few people desired to live according to that standard. Paul says, "My view of the law, a Pharisee, that means I know the law, I can interpret the law, I have guarded the law, and I have lived by its strictest interpretation.
Not all of the Pharisees were snakes and vipers and fools and hypocrites and blind leaders and robbers and envious, jealous, proud fakers. Some of them were serious minded. They were trying their best to achieve status with God through religion. So this little small group of elite people included in their number Paul. And not only Paul, but apparently he says not only was I a Pharisee but I come from a line of Pharisees. We don't know whether he's talking about other Pharisees in the line of Pharisees or the fact that his father may have been a Pharisee as well. But you read it in Acts 22:3, Acts 23:6, Acts 26:5, Galatians 1:14, he often refers to his Pharisaic background. So he said I took religion to the highest level, very religious.
Do you ever look around the world and see people like this? Very religious...up to their ears in religion, you see them all over the world. I've seen them all over the world, wearing robes and doing all of their religious activities, many of them functioning as priests, sacrificing, taking on themselves unbearable burdens, living in poverty and loneliness. Many of them in pain and deprivation, functioning to fulfill a religious pattern that they believe will please God. The bottom line, He's not impressed. He's not impressed with any of it...whether it's Judaistic religion, whether it's Buddhistic religion, whether it's Islam, whether it's Roman Catholicism, whether it's Protestantism, the religious form does not impress God. And religious devotion can't save you. Paul says I considered my Pharisaic devotion to the law of God as rubbish...rubbish.
By John MacArthur, Jr.
Grace To You
www.gty.org
� 2000 Grace to You
June 13, 2001
Religious Credits That Don't Impress God
By John MacArthur, Jr.
Part 8 of 9
Philippians 3:4-8
Number six, salvation is not by sincerity...salvation is not by sincerity. In verse 6 he says, "As to zeal, boy, if anybody should have confidence I should, because as to zeal, I was a persecutor of the church." I was a persecutor of the church. How zealous were you, Paul? So zealous I killed Christians. That's pretty zealous. That's pretty zealous. By the way, to the Jew zeal, � �zelos� �, zeal was the single highest virtue of religion. Did you get that? What is zeal? It's two sides of a coin, okay? Zeal is the coin. One side is love, the other side is hate. What do I mean? Zeal says I love God so much I hate whatever offends Him...that's zeal. I love God so much I hate whatever offends Him. Paul loved God, he loved the law of God, he loved the community of God, that's the Jewish people, he loved all that God had revealed to such a degree that he hated anything he thought offended God and he thought Christians offended God. Why did he kill Christians? Because of zeal. He loved Judaism so much that he hated anything that threatened it and Christianity threatened it. So he persecuted Christians. To what degree? Read the book of Acts. He breathed out threatening and slaughter on them. He created havoc in the church. He killed Christians. He pursued them. He chased them. He wanted to take their life. Hey, he's one up on the Judaizers. All the Judaizers did was proselyte. He persecuted. You think you've got zeal? I've got more. I went after them to kill them.
In fact, he says, "I am the least of the Apostles," 1 Corinthians 15:9, "I am the least of all Apostles." Why? "Because I persecuted the church, I'm not even worthy to be named as an Apostle. I persecuted the church." Why did you do it, Paul? "Zeal for God, I loved Judaism so much I hated Christianity because it threatened it. That's zeal." You know what? He was sincere, wasn't he? I hear people say, "Well, it doesn't really matter what religion you are, as long as you're sincere." It's like saying it doesn't matter what poison you drink as long as you're sincere, you'll be all right. Mental attitude has nothing to do with it, it's a matter of truth. Paul was sincere, he was zealous for God. He was so zealous for Judaism that there was nothing he wouldn't do and relentlessly unsparingly untiringly and mercilessly he tried to stamp out Christianity because of his zeal for God...very sincere.
The world is filled with the religiously sincere, people very sincere in their religion, make great effort, personal sacrifice, high cost, pay the price...wanting to please God. Very sincere. Go to church, some people, every day...every day, many Catholics go every day. People in religions pray certain prayers every day. Protestants go to church on the Lord's day...fulfilling a function. Very sincere in their heart, wanting to do what is right. God is not impressed. God is not impressed. Salvation is not by ritual. Salvation is not by race. Salvation is not by rank. Salvation is not by maintaining tradition. Salvation does not come through religion and salvation does not come by sincerity. You can have a lot of zeal and be absolutely wrong, and Paul says, "I thought it was right, I considered it garbage when I met Christ."
Lastly, salvation is not by law-righteousness...salvation is not by law-righteousness. Or you could say righteous works. Verse 6, "As to the righteousness which is in the law...what was my approach?...I was found blameless." What does that mean? Found has the idea of those who watched his life couldn't find anything to hold against him as a transgression. Outwardly the man lived according to the law.
Now he's not saying I was sinless. He's not advocating sinless perfection. He's not saying, "Before I was saved I was sinlessly perfect," otherwise he wouldn't have needed to be saved. And by the way, read Romans 7:5 to 11, when he's giving his pre-conversion definition of himself, he says, "I was fighting sin on the inside and when I came across the law of God, sin was in me revived and I died, boy, I was in a battle with sin." He's never denying sin in him. That would be denial of Jewish theology, that would be a denial of his personal testimony in Romans 7:5 though 11 where he says as an unbeliever he was battling sin that was in him. But what he is saying is this, that in general with regard to the righteousness which is advocated by God's law or the standard of righteous living advocated by the law of God, no one could find me blameable. I lived a blameless life. By human judgment I was a model Jew and lived by God's law.
By John MacArthur, Jr.
Grace To You
www.gty.org
� 2000 Grace to You
June 20, 2001
Religious Credits That Don't Impress God
By John MacArthur, Jr.
Part 9 of 9
Philippians 3:4-8
Boy, this is some testimony. Listen, if you could be saved by works, he would have been saved, right? What a list. This guy's got the profit column filled. And he says..."Look, I was fine, I had filled up my profit column with all the things that earned my salvation until I met Christ and I found out that the righteousness of my own wasn't adequate but there was a righteousness in Christ by grace given to me by faith received and that was the pearl of great price and that was the true treasure and so I counted all this other stuff as manure and I came to Christ." Verse 7, "Whatever things were gain to me, all the stuff of verses 5 and 6, those things I have counted as loss, they aren't a plus, they aren't a positive, they are a negative." Why? They damn you. They send you to hell under deception, under an illusion. And so I saw them for what they were, they were detractors, they were loss not gain for the sake of Christ. "And I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish in order that I might gain Christ." That's it.
Could I give you a final contrast? Two men, two men came to the same crossroads. Paul was one, the other that I would like you to think about is a rich young ruler in Matthew 19. Jesus came to a rich young ruler and He said to him, "You must obey the law." He said, "Which part of the law?" Jesus gave him some commandments, he said, "All those things have I kept." In other words, I've been blameless, as to the righteousness which is in the law, I've been found blameless. Here was a man who had his profit column all filled up. He too was likely a Jew. He too perhaps faithful to the tradition. Certainly he was a young ruler which means he was probably a ruler in the synagogue which mean that he was a very honored, ranking, traditional, faithful Jew or he wouldn't have ascended to that level. He was extremely religious and he was very sincere or he never would have come to Jesus and asked how to get eternal life. So you had a sincere, religious, traditional, loyal Jew called the rich young ruler in Matthew 19. And he comes to Jesus and Jesus asks him about his life and he says I've always kept the law, just like Paul. And then Jesus shows him a better way. He says, "Give up everything you have and follow Me." And the young man said no, walked away.
Paul said just the opposite. Paul said I've got all these credentials, man, I've got race, rank, ritual, I've got tradition, religion, sincerity, works-righteousness, I've got my profit column filled up. Jesus said, "Drop it all and follow Me." Paul said yes. And he counted it all but loss to gain Christ. The rich young ruler counted it all gain and forsook Christ. Every person in the world is in one of those two categories. When you meet Christ you either drop all the stuff that you've been counting on for your salvation and take Christ alone, or you hold to all the stuff you've been holding on to for your salvation and turn your back on Christ. Those two categories, you're in one of them, everyone is. That's it.
Whose child are you? The child of Paul? Or the child of the rich young ruler? What are you counting on, who are you counting on for your salvation? You're either trusting yourself and your achievements, or Christ. And when you come to trust Christ, all the achievements become rubbish. That's the exchange.
Father, we thank You, this morning, for Your Word. Such a clear cut text, such a great testimony from this marvelous man as You moved in his life. Father, thank You that You have given us the same opportunity, You have shown us again this morning the rubbish that most people count valuable and they are accumulating manure, waste that will buy them nothing when they could drop it all and turn to Christ and receive everything. Father, I pray for the salvation of many who will sell all they have to buy the pearl, the treasure, salvation in Christ by grace through faith in His perfect work on the cross. Thank You for the gift of salvation which we can receive as You offer it to us, to that end we pray that many may receive it this day that it might be to Your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.
By John MacArthur, Jr.
Grace To You
www.gty.org
� 2000 Grace to You
June 27, 2001
What Is Forgiveness?
Part 1 - What Is Forgiveness All About?
By Woodrow Kroll
Forgiving has nothing to do with forgetting. Once you've forgiven, it's a good idea to forget. They aren't the same thing.
Forgiveness--it's a big concept and one we don't always understand very well. You're told to forgive and forget, to just let it go, or someone quotes the verse that says, "'Vengeance is Mine'...says the Lord" (Romans 12:19). When you've been hurt by the words or actions of another, or if you're the one who's inflicted the pain, what's forgiveness all about?
We get a lot of people who call and write us about this subject. Either they need to be forgiven or they simply need to forgive someone else. And I don't know any subject around which there seems to be more confusion than what the Bible teaches about forgiveness.
Now, let me take you right to the Word. Matthew, chapter 6, do you remember the Lord's Prayer? Well, of course you do. It goes something like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever" (Matthew 6:11-13).
Now that's the Lord's Prayer, but the very next verse goes on and says, "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (vs. 14-15).
Now what I think that tells us, folks, is forgiveness is SO important that Jesus went into teaching us the model prayer--what we call the Lord's Prayer--and right out of it on the subject of forgiveness.
So let's start with the definition, what is forgiveness? Well, forgiveness is not what most people think it is; forgiveness, friends, is NOT asking God to forgive someone who has hurt you. That's not forgiveness. And while it's certainly commendable that you want God to forgive someone who has hurt you, that isn't forgiveness. Asking God to forgive them is not the same as YOU forgiving them. So forgiveness is not asking God to forgive someone.
Secondly, forgiveness is not an emotional response to being hurt. How easy it is for a nice person like you to say, "I forgive you." Jesus, on the cross, said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do," Luke 23:34. That's not an emotional response. That's not a response to the physical torture, the spiritual torture, the mental anguish. That was a statement of will. So forgiveness is NOT an emotional response to being hurt.
Forgiveness also is not simply shrugging off an offense. It's not just letting it slide; it's not remaining neutral when someone has wronged you. You may choose not to recognize that someone has done some wrong to you, but don't say that you've forgiven that person--you really haven't. Forgiveness is far more than doing nothing.
And forgiveness is not forgetting. How often you've heard, "To forgive is to forget." You know, "Forgive and forget." "If you didn't forget, you didn't really forgive." I know, you've said it and so have I. You know what? None of those statements is true. It is humanly impossible to blot out unwanted memories at will. Only God can truly say, "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more," Jeremiah 31:34.
See, forgetting has nothing to do with forgiving. Once you have been forgiven, it's a good idea to forget, but they aren't the same. Time does not heal all wounds, friends. That's not in the Bible. You can't just forget about what happened and hope that the episode will never return. But once you do forgive, you will, on occasion, think about what happened to you. Now that doesn't mean you haven't been sincere. That doesn't mean that you haven't forgiven. It means that the mind God gave you is still functioning.
So we're thinking about the things that forgiveness is not. Forgiveness is not forgetting. It's not just shrugging off an offense. And number five, forgiveness is not rationalizing why the person offended you. It's not trying to figure out why someone acted the way they did and come to some conclusion that you excuse their actions because of what you assume was their motive. Now why they did what they did is irrelevant to you. And it's also irrelevant to your forgiveness. Rationalizing a reason isn't forgiveness.
Okay, so if those are the things forgiveness is NOT, what then IS forgiveness? Well, ordinarily when I want to know what a word means I go to my trusty Webster's Dictionary and this is what Webster has to say. He says, "To forgive is to give up all claim to punish or exact penalty for an offense, to cancel a debt."
You know, actually, I kind of like that--I think that's a very biblical definition of what forgiveness is. It's to give up all claim to punish or exact penalty for an offense. Someone does something to you, when you give up the claim to punish them because of what they've done to you that is forgiveness. Canceling their debt, that is forgiveness. Listen to the words of Jesus. Matthew, chapter 18, at verse 23, Jesus said:
"Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.'
"Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But the servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me. I will pay you all.' And he would not, but went and threw him into prison until he should pay his debt.
"So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses."
Hey, that's a hard story, isn't it? But it comes from the lips of Jesus. You see, forgiveness is a choice. The master chose to forgive the servant, but the servant did not choose to forgive the other servant. Forgiveness is a choice; it's a decisive act of your will. It's a choice to cancel a debt from someone who still owes you that debt. It's like taking an accounts receivable book and throwing it into the ocean--you cancel all the obligations on it. It's like making a list of all that people owe you, you go down over that list, you cross out each offense, you cancel it, you forgive it. That's forgiveness, friends. That's what forgiveness means. It is the conscious choice that you make to cancel the debts that others owe to you.
Supposing I offend you in something I say here in the broadcast. Maybe it's something I taught from God's Word that you didn't agree with theologically. Maybe it's the way I said it. Maybe it's my accent, something different from yours. Ah, I tell you, there's just no limit to the ways I could offend people. Well, whatever it is, you have been offended. You put me in prison, your own private debtor's prison. You may even write to me and tell me how foolish I was, how much I offended you. And I may write and ask you for your forgiveness. But unless YOU can release ME from that debt, you can't forgive me. Forgiveness is releasing someone from a debt. And as long as we cannot forgive one another, we cannot FREE one another.
Now tomorrow on this broadcast, we're going to talk about the role of repentance in forgiving a debt. But remember that YOU can choose to forgive a debt at any time. You don't need to wait for an apology. In fact, you may never get an apology. So don't be held hostage to another person's inability to apologize to you. Forgiveness is YOUR choice.
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, do you remember what He said? Among those words that came from the lips of our Savior were these, "Father, forgive them." Now did Jesus say, "Father, forgive them," because the crowd suddenly got down on their knees and apologized for crucifying Him? Not on your life, He was simply forgiving them. He was voluntarily releasing them from a debt. That, my friends, is forgiveness. That's what it's all about.
Now, I've defined forgiveness--the voluntary releasing of a debt from another person. Let's think a minute about why forgiveness is so important for you and me. I think forgiveness is important because God views our relationships with each other as vital. You know the way we treat one another is like a rain gauge--it shows us our relationship with the Father. Listen to this, Matthew 25, verse 40, "inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me."
You see, to be forgiving folks, to be at odds with a fellow believer or anyone else, that brings twofold consequences. Number one, we're at odds with our brother or our neighbor or whomever. And number two, we are therefore at odds with Jesus--"inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me." So our relationship with God is at stake here and our ability to forgive one another.
Secondly, forgiveness is important because God wants us to be in a right relationship with Him. And to be in a right relationship with God we have to be in a right relationship with our brothers and our sisters. "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar," Jesus said, "and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." That's Matthew, chapter 5, verses 23 and 24.
You know the point of that passage? The point is we cannot be right before God until we are right before our fellow man. Reconciliation means to be at peace with someone and a broken relationship can so contaminate us that we can't possibly be at peace with God. Our relationship with others jeopardizes being at peace with God. To stabilize our relationship with God then, we have to first stabilize our relationship with the one who has offended us. 1 John, chapter 4, verse 20, "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?"
Now you see why forgiveness is so important. It's important because our relationship with others helps to determine our relationship with God. That's why we're taking a whole week this week to talk about forgiveness. Forgiveness is important because God views our relationships with others as vital, and it's important because He wants our relationship to be right with Him and it can't be until it's right with others.
But you know, forgiveness is also important because God wants our service to Him to be acceptable, to be rewardable. And if we have not forgiven someone we cannot serve God acceptably.
Remember the priests in the Old Testament? The high priest could not bring the sacrifice to the altar if he had touched a dead carcass. Not because he was no longer the high priest, but because he had become ceremonially unclean. Oh, he could have gone through the motions, but God would not accept the sacrifice. You know, my friend, I think the same thing is true for us today. Any who serve the Lord God today, but harbor an unforgiving spirit toward a brother, they serve but they can't be rewarded. We can only be fit for service if we have first reconciled ourselves to one another.
Well, the Bible has a lot to say about why forgiveness is important to us. Forgiveness is a tricky thing. We always want to receive it but we never want to give it, do we? But if Jesus can forgive me and my sin there isn't anything you can do to me that I can't forgive you for. I mean, after all, my sin before God was so much greater than anything, any sin that can come against me and my responsibility is to forgive.
It's not just an emotion. It's not just a rationalization. It's not just forgetting. I'm responsible to cancel a debt, to release one who has sinned against me from the penalty of that sin. Vengeance, retaliation, an unforgiving spirit, ah folks, all these are to be forgiven by the one who has forgiven us.
So what do you say? Isn't it time we all became a little more forgiving than we are today? Isn't there someone whose debt YOU should cancel today? Whether they come to you or not, isn't it time you freed them from that debt? See, forgiveness is a decisive act of the WILL, your will. When the crowd was at its worst, crying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him," Jesus was at His best, praying, "Father, forgive them." Let's be at our best, too.
By Woodrow Kroll
www.backtothebible.org
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