Ravi Zacharias:
Christian: You have died, you have been raised with Christ, your life is hidden with Christ in God, and your citizenship is in heaven. What can man do to you? (Col. 3:3; Col. 3:1; Phil. 3:20; Heb. 13:6)
Justin Taylor, PhD
Justin Taylor is executive vice president of book publishing and book publisher for Crossway and blogs at Between Two Worlds. You can follow him on Twitter.
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If “my life is hidden with Christ”, then why do so many preachers constantly harp on me to look like this or that?
They should only be harping on you to look like Christ. This is what you were predestined for; to be justified and sanctified.
Anyone know where you can buy a hi-res copy of this?
But St. Paul says “our lives are hidden with Christ”.
And “we walk by faith and not by sight”.
I think they ought harp on the fact that Christ loves me and died for me, even though I don’t very often look like Christ. That’s the gospel.
Thanks.
All that is true. However, you seem to be neglecting St. Paul when he writes Romans 8:28-30. Or St. James when he says he’ll show his faith by his works.
You are correct you are saved by Christ and Christ alone, but that doesn’t mean you can keep on sinning. Doesn’t the Word say, Be holy because I [God] am holy?
Simply strive to be like Christ not so He will love you, but because He does love you.
Some powerful words! It should be noted however, that he is quoting Malcolm Muggeridge for a large portion of this.
The law says ‘do’ (be like Christ, do good works, etc.)
It is an imperative.
The gospel says ‘done’. (I love you, you are forgiven, etc.)
You are declared righteous.
The law always accuses. The gospel always liberates.
So we do some theology, and rightly distinguish law from gospel, otherwise we end up Christian schizophrenics. The gospel says I am alright with God, but the preacher is now telling me I need to do and be such and such.
Again, all that is true, but that only covers justification. You are still neglecting santification. You still haven’t dealt with Romans 8.
St. Paul said, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion…”
Us Lutheran types believe that the Lord is the One who works sanctification in us. Sometimes we cooperate…often we don’t. Yet He still makes it happen.
Thanks!
Do you believe that grace gives you a license to sin?
Of course not.
Why?
Do you?
No, I don’t. The reason I asked was because you seemed totally against striving to be like Christ.
I am against striving to be God like.
We are not God like, but His creatures. He made us to be just that.
Christ is in us. We can’t get any closer to God than that.
We don’t need to. When God looks at us, He sees Christ.
Should we do the best we can? Of course! And sometimes we do…often we do not. But through it all, we walk in faith, not by sight, and we know that we are His, forgiven and justified.
Thanks, Steve
Well friend I guess I’ll just leave you with this final verse, James 1:22-25.
God bless you.
And Steve, I could leave you with St. paul who says that “we are saved by grace through faithm NOT of works lest anyone should boast.”
or…
“Now to one who works his wages are not reckoned as a gift, but his due.
And to one who does not work but trust in him who justifies the ungodly. his faith is reckoned as righteousness.”
The Roman Catholics are big fans of James, and drag him out whenever they wish to rain on the parade of the gospel. :D
I figure you are much better than that, my friend.
Wow, Every time I hear Ravi he cuts straight to the crux of the matter. What a brilliant intellect and one of the best orators of our time. Thank you Ravi for serving Him so faithfully and thank you for posting this!
Richard
Steve,
If we can’t preach “Jesus did it all, on the cross” and “Husbands, you’d better be loving your wife”, we’ve got a problem.
I could be reading you wrong, but you seem to be expressing a wish that preachers would say the first but not the second.
I’ve heard it said, “The gospel is better than being better.” But I’ve heard it elsewhere, “Jesus loves us too much to leave us in the condition we were in previously.”
This track came from http://www.sermonjams.com
Of course Jesus changes us.
But we stil remain sinners.
We preach the law to convict of sin, and then we preach the forgiveness of sins. This is what changes hearts and changes people, the gospel…not the law.
The images in that still shot are amazing in their selections!
DC Washington from IBC?
Yep
Who is the guy Caligula was going to kill?