Grace Produces Holiness
Lewis Drummond was my evangelism professor at Beeson Divinity School. I remember his notable spunk. His enthusiasm for the gospel deterred any temptation to sleep in class among the countless seminary students he taught. He coined many phrases in his lectures, but there is one I remember more than any other. With gusto, he would say, “We save them by grace, and then put them back under the law!” He was referring to the tendency among some preachers to emphasize holiness in their sermons without reference to the grace that is responsible for producing holiness. His point was obvious. This is no different than the Old Covenant.
I remember the title of a sermon I preached years ago was “Grace Produces Holiness.” Have you ever thought about that concept, the fact that grace produces holiness in our lives? Wesley taught about this extensively. He recognized how Scripture teaches that grace is responsible for our sanctification. When a believer grasps the fact that they have been set free from the shame and condemnation associated with past sins, that they are accepted by Christ as they are, completely forgiven, they also recognize they are free to allow the Spirit to work in their lives, the “Holy” Spirit. Their awareness of ongoing grace leads them to consider themselves “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). Holiness and good works are the result, holiness and good works that come from within, from Christ who lives within us.
Jesus had many clashes with the religious leaders of his day. In one of his most poignant, he accused the Pharisees of cleaning “the outside of the cup and dish” while the inside remained filled with “greed and wickedness” (Luke 11:39). His point was obvious. Theirs was a religion of externals rather than the heart. They had no relationship with God, a relationship that would change the heart. Such is why the Old Covenant does not work. It’s about what we can do for God rather than what God has done for us through Christ. Religion is spelled d-o, as it is based on outward works. Relationship with Christ is spelled d-o-n-e, as it produces the inner change that truly affects outward behavior.
The author of Hebrews articulates the difference between the Old Covenant and the New, as he quotes the prophet, Jeremiah. “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts,” he says, an indication that transformation will take place on the inside first, something that only Christ can do (Heb. 8:10). “They will all know me,” he continues, “from the least of them to the greatest,” another reminder of the relationship with Christ we are privileged to possess (Heb. 8:11). And here is the clincher, “for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more,” a clear reference to grace that undergirds us as believers (Heb. 8:12). Even if we stumble, which is daily, grace is there. Mistakes no longer count against us. We are free to allow Christ to produce right living in us. Such is why Paul writes as follows: “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).
There is a clear order when it comes to holiness. Relationship first. Recognition of grace first. Without it, we hopelessly try to earn our right standing with God. We revert to the terms of the Old Covenant. We serve God in fear, rather than in confidence. We attempt to achieve for God rather than allowing Christ to live in us and through us. We forget how loved by him we really are. So, let us not, as Dr. Drummond warns, be saved by grace but then operate under the terms of the law. Instead, may we celebrate with John Newton “that grace has brought {us} safe thus far, and grace will lead {us} home.”
