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Providence and the Blood-Bought Zeal for Good Works · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. Think about a rescue at sea for
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a second. Imagine you are drowning in the
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middle of a freezing ocean. Oh, that is a terrifying
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situation for anyone to be in. It really is.
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Your lungs are burning, the salt water is choking you, and the
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sheer weight of the waves is pulling you under the surface.
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You have absolutely nothing left in the tank.
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You are completely helpless at that point, just waiting for the
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end. Yes, completely helpless.
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But suddenly a rescuer hauls you up onto the steel deck back of a
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ship. You are violently shivering,
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coughing up seawater, absolutely freezing to the bone and unable
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to stand. Wow, so you are safe but you are
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still in terrible shape. Right.
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And then the rescuer looks down at you, smiles and says,
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congratulations, you are pardoned from drowning.
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And then he just turns around and walks away.
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He just leaves you there. That is awful.
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He leaves you on the cold steel deck with no dry clothes, no
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medical attention, no food, and no heat.
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Now, avoiding the bottom of the ocean is fantastic, but leaving
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a person sick, freezing and helpless on the deck is a
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massively incomplete picture of salvation, isn't it?
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It really is. It is 1/2 rescue.
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Today we are taking a deep dive into the sources, specifically
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looking at 2 incredibly rigorous theological essays, Providence
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and the blood bought, Zeal for good works, and the Efficacious
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purchase. Those are some heavy titles, but
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the content inside them is incredible.
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They really are. Our mission for this session is
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to unpack a massive theological claim.
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These sources argue that the cross of Jesus Christ did not
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just buy forgiveness for sins, but it purchased the actual
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lived out obedience of the believer.
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Which is a huge distinction to make.
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We are going to look closely at how divine Providence uses grace
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to train the Christian to possess a burning zeal for good
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works. That image of the half rescue
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gets right to the core of the issue we are investigating
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today. Modern Christianity frequently
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splits the ticket. What do you mean by splitting
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the ticket? Well, what I mean by that is you
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often hear a presentation of a gospel that offers a Savior who
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freely pardons your guilt, but then it leaves you completely on
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your own to figure out your obedience, your habits, and your
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daily holiness. So you get the pardon, but no
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help with the actual living part.
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Precisely, it is presented as a transaction where the debt is
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cancelled but the rebel is left comfortably wallowing in his
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rebellion. The sources we are looking at
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today make a staggering claim about that.
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And what is that claim? They argue that this split
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ticket is a false gospel. It is utterly foreign to the
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Apostolic witness. The cross was never designed to
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be a simple amnesty program. Right.
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It was designed to be the forge of our sanctification.
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Yes, the thesis before us is that Christ purchased more than
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an escape from hell. He purchased the very obedience
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he demands from his people. Before we start opening up
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specific Bible passages, we need to define our major terms
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according to the sources. We want to make sure you, the
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listener, understand the scale of this discussion.
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Setting the definitions early on is always a good idea.
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We have to start with the concept of Providence.
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According to the Westminster Confession, Providence is God
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upholding, directing, disposing and governing all creatures,
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actions and things from the greatest even to the least.
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That is a very comprehensive list.
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It is, and our sources point out that this is not some cold
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mechanical force running the universe in the background.
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It's not like a clock maker who winds up the clock and goes on
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vacation. Right, and it is not passive
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foresight either. God does not just look down the
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corridor of time, watch what humans decide to do, and then
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react to it. No.
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Providence is the wholly wise and loving government of a
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Father. When we applied this
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specifically to salvation, it means God decrees the end goal,
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which is your glorification. But he also ordains the precise
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means to get you there. Yes, those means include His
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commands, His warnings, His discipline, His comforts, and
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the local church. God does not bring His elect
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from conversion to glory by leaving them spiritually idle on
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a cold steel deck. That definition changes
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everything about how you view your daily life.
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If Providence is the holy government of the Father
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applying the benefits of the Cross to you, then your
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sanctification is not an independent project.
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You were definitely not doing it alone.
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The sources quote Charles Hadden Spurgeon here.
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He said that the blood of Christ was shed not only to save us
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from the punishment of sin, but to save us from the dominion of
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sin. That is a fantastic quote.
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It really hits the mark. God requires obedience from His
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people, and by the blood of the eternal covenant He makes that
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obedience certain. I think Saint Augustine
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articulated this beautifully when he prayed.
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Command what you will and grant what you command.
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Yes, the massive error of modern evangelicalism is
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compartmentalizing justification and sanctification.
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We tend to view justification being declared righteous in the
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courtroom of God as God's work alone.
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But then we view sanctification growing in daily holiness as our
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independent effort, aided loosely by the Spirit.
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The sources violently reject this separation.
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They assert that practical holiness, the good fruit that
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validates the nature of the tree, is a purchased reality.
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It was obtained for God's elect people by the blood of His only
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begotten Son. I want to introduce another
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analogy to make this idea of a purchased reality concrete
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because it is so easy to miss. I love a good analogy.
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Let's hear it. Imagine a great king deciding to
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pardon a treasonous rebel. The king issues a royal decree
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of pardon but leaves the rebels sitting in the mud of his dark
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prison cell. Wearing filthy rags, no doubt.
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Wearing filthy rags and still holding on to his inward hatred
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for the crown, that is half a rescue.
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He is legally pardoned, sure, but he is still a rebel in his
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heart. According to these essays, the
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cross does much more than that legal transaction.
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The cross is the king, pardoning the rebel, bringing him up from
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the dungeon, washing him, and outfitting him with shining
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armor. He brings him into the Royal
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Guard. Too right, And he gives him a
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burning, unquenchable desire to fight for the crown.
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It is a complete change of nature.
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That makes the concept so much clearer for the listener.
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Now theology happens in real life, not in a vacuum.
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I want to transition to the historical settings the apostles
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were actually writing to. That is crucial.
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Context is everything. How did this radical idea of
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purchased holiness land in the ancient world?
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Let's look at the setting of the Book of Titus.
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Paul is writing to a young pastor stationed on the island
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of Crete. Crete was, by all historical
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accounts, a moral cesspool. The text quotes the Cretan poet
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Epimenides, who declared Cretans are always liars, evil beasts,
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lazy gluttons. You have to laugh thinking about
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putting that on the island's welcome brochure.
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You certainly would not get much tourism with a slogan like that.
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Definitely not, but the Greco Roman backdrop to these letters
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is staggering when you comprehend what the early church
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was actually up against. The Roman Empire was
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characterized by rampant idolatry, unspeakable
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debauchery, infanticide, and sophisticated philosophies.
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Those philosophies elevated the sensual appetites of the flesh
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to the status of a divine right. The Pagan gods did not demand
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inward holiness at all. Their deities were as corrupt,
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greedy, and capricious as the men who invented them.
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So when the gospel arrived in a place like create, a simple
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behavior modification program would completely fail against
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that kind of deep cultural rot. You cannot just tell an evil
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beast to start acting nicely and expected to work.
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The apostles were not offering a new philosophy of respectability
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or A10 ten step program to a better life.
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They were offering a sovereign force of redemption that
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fundamentally altered human nature.
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We see a similar intense environment in the setting of
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First Peter. Peter writes to elect exiles who
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are facing the rising tide of Neuronian persecution.
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They were dealing with the threat of violent death, social
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ostracization and total economic ruin.
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In that context, a cheap, superficial faith would
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instantly collapse under the Roman sword.
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Kidder had to call to mind that they were ransom from the feudal
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ways inherited from their forefathers.
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He was driving a stay through the heart of the empty, dead end
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idolatrous traditions of their Pagan ancestors.
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Honestly, reading this part of the sources, I felt a little
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defensive for these early Christians.
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How so? Well, if grace covers all their
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sins, and these people lived in such intense, hostile
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environments where they could literally be tortured or killed
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for their faith, why did Paul and Peter push so hard on their
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daily behavior? That is a very fair question to
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ask. Why not just let them be
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forgiven? Cretans surviving under the
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radar give them a break. Why demand such visible, costly
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holiness from people who are already under so much cultural
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pressure? That is a completely natural
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reaction. It feels like the apostles are
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piling massive expectations on to people who are already
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getting crushed. Right.
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It feels heavy. But Paul constructs his argument
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in Titus chapter 2 to answer that precise concern.
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He shows that behaviors are demanded because grace has
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appeared, not in spite of. It OK, let's look at the
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literary flow of Titus chapter 2 then.
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It moves directly from the indicative to the imperative.
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First, Paul gives household instructions to various groups.
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He addresses older men, younger women and slaves.
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He tells them to live with absolute reverence and
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self-control. But he does not leave those
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commands. Hanging in the air is an
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impossible burden. He grounds them in verse 11 with
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the word for. So he gives the reason.
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Yes, for the grace of God has appeared.
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Grace is presented here as a divine tutor.
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The text describes grace training us.
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So it is actively teaching them. It teaches a negative lesson
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which is renouncing ungodliness and worldly passions and it
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teaches a positive lesson which is living self controlled,
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upright and godly lives. Then we get to the Greek
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exegesis of verse 14, which is crucial.
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Paul says Christ gave himself to redeem us.
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The Greek word is Lytro. That was a socially charged word
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in the ancient world. Right.
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It referred to the payment of a ransom to free a slave or a
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prisoner of war. Christ pays the ransom to
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liberate us from all lawlessness.
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He buys us off the auction block of sin.
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And then he acts to purify us using the Greek word catharisi.
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The intended result of this redemption and purification is
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to create a people zealous for good works.
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Wait, that word? Zealous there.
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Isn't that related to the political zealots of the 1st
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century? The guys with the daggers.
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Yes, that is spot on. Well, let me phrase that better.
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Yes, it is precisely the same route.
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That is wild to think about. The text unpacks the Greek word
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zosius. It shares a root with the
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political zealots of the 1st century.
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Those were the revolutionaries who fought Roman rule with
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fierce, violent devotion. And God takes that burning,
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unyielding passion and redirects it toward righteous works.
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This is completely contrary to reluctant minimal compliance.
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We are not talking about a Christian asking how close can I
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get to the line of sin without crossing it.
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We are talking about eager affection.
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The grace of God creates a people who are aggressively
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pursuing good works. That is fascinating.
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So it is not a reluctant trudge toward morality.
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It is a burning desire for it. Yes, it is a total change of
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heart. I also want to point out the
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phrase in the present age from Titus two, we are not allowed to
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postpone our obedience until we reach heaven.
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God knows the precise cultural pressure of the present age you
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are living in. And His grace is fully
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sufficient to train you right in the middle of it.
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You do not get a pass because the culture around you is
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wicked. So true.
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So Paul is dealing with a specific crisis in Crete.
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But did he he invent this idea of a heart change?
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Or is he just pulling from an older playbook?
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Because this sounds a lot like what the Old Testament prophets
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were begging for. You are right on the money.
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Moving into the next major section of our sources, the
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authors show how this concept is the massive fulfillment of Old
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Testament promises. Which proves A unified biblical
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narrative. Paul's not inventing anything
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new. He's announcing the arrival of
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what was promised. We have to look at the new
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Covenant promise in Jeremiah chapter 31.
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Verses 31 through 34. This is the famous passage where
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God promises to write the law on the heart.
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The text highlights the Hebrew conjunction key in verse 34,
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which translates to, for or because.
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The clause reads for. I will forgive their iniquity.
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That conjunction demonstrates that forgiveness is the
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structural base. It is the absolute prerequisite
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for the internal writing of the law.
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Until the guilt of sin is definitively dealt with, there
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can be no internal renovation of the heart.
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Forgiveness paves the way for holiness.
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We see this identical logic in Romans chapter 8, verses 3 and
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4. Paul writes that God condemns
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sin in the flesh. Our sources focus on the Greek
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hyena clause there, which means in order that God condemned sin
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in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law
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might be fulfilled in us. The penal substitution on the
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cross had a targeted aim. Christ became the lightning rod
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for divine justice, suffering the condemnation our lawless
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deeds demanded. He did this so that practical
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obedience, which is love, would become a reality in our lives.
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Then in Hebrews Chapter 9 we see the contrast between the blood
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of bulls and goats, which only cleanse the flesh externally,
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and the unblemished blood of Christ.
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Christ's blood reaches down and cleanses the conscience from
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dead works so the believer can actively worship the living God.
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I have another way to think about this transition from the
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Old Covenant to the New Covenant to make it practical.
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Go for it. Analogies really help ground
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this stuff. The Old Covenant sacrifices were
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like taking a painkiller for a massive brain tumor.
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That sounds like a temporary fix.
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Right. The blood of bulls and goats
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masked the issue temporarily, and it provided a temporary
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reprieve, but it did not cure the disease.
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The patient was still fundamentally sick, still dying
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from the inside out. But the new covenant is
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different. The New Covenant blood of Christ
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is the successful surgical operation.
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It completely removes the tumor and it totally rehabilitates the
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patient's mind. The disease of lawlessness is
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cut out and a new heart of flesh is put in.
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That is a very vivid way to understand it.
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Now, if the grammar and the history of the Bible make this
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so explicitly clear, how does the modern church get this so
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wrong? The sources identify 2 massive
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ditches that people constantly fall into when trying to make
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sense of grace and works. What is the first ditch?
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The first ditch is legalism. This is the belief that your
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works by your redemption. The texts completely refute this
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by stating that works are the fruit, not the price of
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salvation. In the 1st century, the Jewish
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Judaizers tried to chain believers to external
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ceremonies. They argued that sanctification
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came through rigorous keeping of Mosaic ordinances.
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They wanted to add human effort to the finished work of Christ.
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But the cross destroys that. You cannot buy what has already
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been purchased. OK, so that is the first ditch.
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What is the 2nd? The second ditch on the opposite
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side of the road is antinomianism.
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This is the belief that free pardon makes obedience optional.
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It is the idea that because grace covers my sin, I can live
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however I want. The Apostolic texts furiously
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reject this concept of cheap grace.
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They state unequivocally that the cross liberates us from
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lawlessness, not to lawlessness. The sources call out several
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modern trends that fall into these ditches.
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They critique seeker sensitive pragmatism, which desires church
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growth without requiring any real holiness.
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They also call that mysticism, which seeks emotional
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impressions over the solid rock of Scripture.
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They blast the prosperity gospel, which ignores the cross
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entirely in favor of earthly comfort and wealth.
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And they challenge the Armenian view, which reduces the cross to
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a hypothetical option. That view makes salvation
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dependent on fallen human will rather than an efficacious
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purchase made by the Son of God. I want to ask you, the listener,
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to do a self audit right now. Based on what we are discussing,
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how can you tell which ditch you are leaning toward?
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That is a great exercise for everyone.
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Are you anxious all the time trying to buy God's favor by
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checking boxes, reading your Bible out of guilt, and
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performing religious duties to keep God happy with you?
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If so, you are leaning toward legalism.
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You do not believe the purchase was sufficient.
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Or are you apathetic, using grace as a cover for laziness
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and cherish sins, thinking God does not care how you live as
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long as you pray to prayer once? If so, you are leaning heavily
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into antinomianism. You want the pardon, but you do
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not want the purity. So how do we stay out of those
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ditches? The texts point to a specific
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mechanism God uses to sustain our zeal, and that mechanism is
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hope. We're living between two
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appearings. Grace has appeared in the First
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Coming of Christ and glory will appear at the Second Coming.
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Titus 2 verse 13 says we are waiting for our blessed hope,
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the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus
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Christ. We need to break down how this
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eschatological hope works practically in your daily life,
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because it is not just a theological concept, right?
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It is a highly functional mechanism.
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How does thinking about the return of Christ actually stop
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someone from snapping at their spouse or cheating on their
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taxes? Here's how it works.
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Hope guards against despair when holiness feels impossible, and
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it guards against worldliness when compromise feels easy.
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Why? Cling to a private lust or seek
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the fleeting applause of the earth when the Holy One is
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returning in blazing glory. The Christian ethic is future
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facing. We do not obey because the
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present age rewards us. Often it does the exact
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opposite. We obey because Christ is
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coming, His glory will be revealed, and His appearing will
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vindicate every labor of faith. This hope purifies because it
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reorders human desire around the certainty of Christ's triumph.
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If Christ is coming, sin is not worth keeping.
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If Christ is coming, suffering is not the final word.
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It fundamentally shifts your risk reward calculus.
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The text mentions something incredibly beautiful here.
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Hidden obedience is never wasted.
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That is a massive comfort. The present age mocks Holy and
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rewards compromise. You might be making quiet,
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difficult choices in your home or your workplace to honor God
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and nobody sees it. Or worse, you get passed over
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for a promotion because of your integrity.
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Well, the guy who lies and cuts corners gets the corner office.
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But the glorious return of Christ will vindicate every
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single quiet, difficult choice made in faith.
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Let's bring this lofty theology down to your daily reality right
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now. The texts present 4 areas of
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action. We have doctrinal, pastoral,
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repentant, and corporate action. Let's start with the doctrinal
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believers must reshape their thinking to see holiness not as
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an optional accessory for serious Christians, but as the
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guaranteed blood bought reality of salvation.
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Pastorally, there's massive encouragement for the struggling
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believer. If you mourn your sin, look back
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to the cross. Your security is not based on
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your own willpower, but on the finished work of Christ.
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Then there is repentant action, which is a call to actively
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renounced cherished sins, private lust, bitterness,
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prayerlessness, or entertainment that feeds corruption.
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And finally, corporate action. Churches must cultivate zeal as
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a Mart of health. Confessional orthodoxy should
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produce burning devotion, not frozen academic hearts.
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Good works adorn the gospel doctrine in front of watching
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neighbors. That is a brilliant summary of
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the application points, but I know what some listeners might
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be thinking when they hear this heavy push for a zeal for good
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works. Right, because sometimes that
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push leads people straight into massive exhaustion.
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It definitely can. How do we differentiate between
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burning out on your own strength versus operating in this blood
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bought zeal? If I am supposed to be zealous
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but I am just tired, what is going wrong?
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That is the crucial question. The sources answer this by
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focusing heavily on our union with Christ and relying on the
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spirits application of grace. This cuts the nerve of human
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boasting entirely. If you are burning out, you're
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likely trying to manufacture holiness from your fallen
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nature. You're operating on what
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theologians call Adamic willpower, the natural fleshly
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strength you inherited from Adam.
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You are trying to generate zeal through natural temperament or
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sheer willpower, just gritting your teeth and trying to be a
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better person. Blood bought zeal relies on the
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reality that the same Lord who commands the zeal has purchased
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the zeal. It is the flame kindled by a
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crucified and risen Christ. We rest in his finished work,
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and then we labor as one whose labor is not in vain.
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We work hard, yes, but we work with the energy that he mightily
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provides. That makes total sense.
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It is the difference between trying to push a car up a hill
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by yourself versus turning the key and letting the engine do
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the work. To summarize our core thesis
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today, the God who decrees your salvation also orchestrates the
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means to make you holy. The blood of Christ is the most
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active purifying agent in the universe.
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It does not just cancel your debt, it purchases your new
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heart and your eager obedience. I want to leave you with the
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final provocative challenge to ponder.
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The sources say God's Providence places you in your exact home,
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your exact church, your specific work, and your unique trials as
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the training ground for your grace.
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What if the most frustrating part of your current season,
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that difficult Co worker, the hidden health struggle, the
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massive financial stress is not a distraction from your
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spiritual life? What if that frustration is the
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precise classroom God is using right now to forge your blood
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bought zeal? Think back to the freezing man
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pulled onto the deck of the ship.
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Christ does not leave you shivering in your lawlessness.
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He outfits you for the battle and gives you the fire to fight
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it. Thank you for joining us for
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this deep dive into the sources.