REAL CIRCUMCISION Devotion 13 of 39 When it comes to the appropriation of righteousness, the cause is not, nor can it ever be, human achievement. Strict adherence to the Law, for example, will NEVER result in justification. "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20). The "deeds" demanded by the Law had to be perfect, with not the slightest deviation from the Divine requirement. Of course, the Law was never intended to be a procedure for the appropriation of righteousness. Men thought that was the case. However, God's purpose for giving the law was to produce "the knowledge of sin." Fundamentally, therefore, the Law did not define righteousness, but sin. Sin is the common factor among all men, and alienates them from God. However, before a remedy for sin could be introduced, an awareness of the nature, power, and guilt of sin had to be produced. That was the ministry of the Law. – Tomorrow:
"For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. (Rom 2:25-29, NKJV)
In view of this, it should be apparent that the appropriation of grace is absolutely essential. Further, works cannot take hold of grace. Only faith can seize the grace of God. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: NOT of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph 2:8-9). If God receives our works as a basis for giving us righteousness, there is no need for grace, for grace assumes the unacceptability of our works. Just as faith and works cannot mix at the foundational level, neither can works and grace.
The salvation and calling of God were not induced by our works, but by His own determined objective. They were driven by His grace, not our accomplishments. "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Tim 1:9). Salvation is not a Divine response but a heavenly initiative. Blessed is the person who sees this.
Our experience of the kindness and tender love of God was not His response to our own works. Salvation came through MERCY, not recognition of our attainments. "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit"NKJV (Tit 3:4-5). In fact, to save us, God had to get rid of our works – our "dead works."
Men will remonstrate at this declaration, saying we are not saved by faith alone, but by works (James 2:24). But James is not speaking of obtaining justification, or righteousness, but of confirming its presence. Faith works, and consistently so, but is never itself the result of work. When we become "partakers of the Divine nature" (2 Pet 1:4), that nature works within us "both to will and to do" (Phil 2:13). But it is not conferred upon us because of our works. Men are not righteous because they live for God, but live for God because they are righteous. That is the point James is making. He is not saying that works must accompany our faith. Rather, he is saying where works do not exist, faith is also absent – or "dead." Those who do not work do not believe. It makes no difference what they profess.
Allow me to be even more simplistic. Men are not born again because they are good, but are good because they are born again and only good men can do good works. To put it in the words of our blessed Lord, "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit" (Matt 12:33).
The reason for this arrangement should be obvious. A religion that places confidence in human achievement or even benefits conferred by God Himself, has no need for Christ. In such a case, there is really no need for an Intercessor in heaven, or a powerful Holy Spirit within. The point in all such religion is what men can and ought to do, NOT what the Lord has done or is doing.
The Old Covenant was precisely that kind of covenant. It relied upon the people, promising life to those who DID what the Law demanded. Consequently, such a covenant was "weak through the flesh" (Rom 8:3), not bringing righteousness to men. The New Covenant is certainly not another covenant of the same order. It is a different kind of covenant, with a superior foundation and better promises.
PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You through Jesus Christ for showing me the poverty of my own works, and the glory of the works of Jesus. I also praise Your name that when I receive Your righteousness I can do the works that please You.