Chapter 8 - REPENTANCE FROM DEAD WORKS
In the remarkably difficult passage warning
against apostasy, in the sixth chapter of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, there is an expression
that may well claim our serious attention. In
setting forth the "word of the beginning of
Christ" (note the marginal reading), which we
are exhorted to leave in order to press on to
the full revelation of the Gospel, which is
denominated "perfection," in contrast to the
Law, which made nothing perfect, we find the
couplet, "of repentance from dead works, and of
faith toward God" (v. 1). Because we are
exhorted not to lay again this foundation, we
are not to suppose that we are called upon to
ignore the earlier principles in order to
enhance the importance of the new. God's truth
has been imparted to man gradually, but no later
truth demands the spurning of that which has
gone before.
By the term "the word of the beginning of
Christ" I understand the testimony of the Law
and the Prophets right on through the ministry
of the last of them all, John the Baptist, and
the added instruction of our Lord Himself in the
days of His flesh. All this constitutes the
foundation upon which the later revelation
rests. It is noticeable that this foundation is
given in three couplets. In addition to the one
already mentioned, and which I propose to deal
with at some length, we have "a doctrine of
baptisms, and of laying on of hands," and in the
third place, "of resurrection of the dead, and
of eternal judgment." All of these six
principles were dealt with in, and formed part
of, the earlier messages of God to His people
Israel and to the world at large.
There is no doctrine of baptisms, or
washings, in the Christian system. The reference
is to Jewish ceremonial washings which
sanctified to the purifying of the flesh. The
laying on of hands refers not to ministerial
ordination, as some have imagined, but to the
laying on of hands upon the sacrificial victims,
which identified the offerer with his offering,
thus typifying the believer laying hold in faith
upon the finished work of our blessed Lord Jesus
Christ. This has been beautifully expressed by
Isaac Watts when he wrote:
"My faith would lay her hand
On that blest head of Thine,
While like a penitent I stand
And there confess my sin."
The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead
and of eternal judgment runs all through
Scripture. Paul refers to it as part of the hope
of Israel, for believing which he stood
condemned (Acts 24:15). It is almost needless to
remind my reader, if instructed in Christian
truth, that we have an interesting advance upon
this, however, both in the four Gospels and in
Paul's Epistles; for there we learn of
resurrection from the dead, the first
resurrection unto life, as distinguished from a
second resurrection unto judgment.
But now we turn to consider the first pair of
doctrines in this double trilogy referred to.
Here we note the order as elsewhere in
Scripture, repentance first, then faith. We have
already seen that Paul preached "repentance
toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ." This is the full-orbed Christian
message. In Hebrews it is repentance from, not
toward, something. From what? From that in which
every legalist puts all his confidence — dead
works.
In Scripture we have three kinds of works:
good works, evil works, and dead works. Good
works are the fruit of the new life, and in our
dispensation of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Of
all who are unsaved we read, "There is none that
doeth good, no, not one." Disciples of Christ,
on the other hand, are exhorted so to walk and
speak that men may see their good works and
glorify their Father which is in heaven. We are
"created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in
them." Well has the hymn writer declared:
"I would not work my soul to save,
That work my Lord has done;
But I would work like any slave
For love of God's dear Son."
Good works are life works — inwrought by the
Lord Himself, who works in us — both the willing
and the doing of His good pleasure. Evil works
are the wicked ways of the unregenerate man.
They are but the manifestation in outward
behavior of the evil nature that is estranged
from God and can only bring forth bad fruit. The
world hated Jesus because He testified of it
that its works were evil. He showed the source
of all this to be the heart, out of which sin
proceeds as foul water from a polluted fountain.
Good resolutions, attempted reformation, pious
intentions, are alike powerless to change this.
The prophet asks: "Can the Ethiopian change his
skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also
do good, that are accustomed to do evil"
(Jeremiah 13:23). The trouble is too deep seated
for human effort to change it. "The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately [or,
incurably] wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah
17:9). Until the sinner receives a new heart his
works can only be evil continually.
But in our text we read of "dead works." What
is meant by this expression, so strange to our
ordinary way of thinking and speaking? Dead
works are law works. They are the vain efforts
of the natural man to win God's salvation by
obedience to law, whether human or divine. But
because the man himself is viewed by God as dead
in trespasses and in sins, his attempts to
produce a righteousness suitable to merit
eternal life and salvation are likewise looked
upon as dead works. When God gave the Law He
proclaimed, "The man which doeth those things
shall live by them." But no man was ever found
who could keep this holy Law, and the penalty
for violation of its precepts was death. "The
soul that sinneth, it shall die." This sentence
was passed upon all men. "Now we know that what
things soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law: that every mouth may be
stopped, and all the world may become guilty
before God. 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.
3:19-20).
This is what God Himself has declared, but
few there are who accept it as true. "They being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of
God" (Rom. 10:3). This was true of Israel after
the flesh. It is just as true of millions of
Gentiles, who, ignoring the solemn testimony of
God's Word regarding man's utterly lost
condition, still persist in trying to work out a
righteousness of their own, deceived by the
Adversary into believing that they can in some
way placate an offended God and put Him in their
debt so that they can earn His salvation. Isaiah
tells us that "we are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away"
(Isa. 64:6). It is just this attempt to work out
a human, legal righteousness that God's Word
dominates "dead works."
What then is meant by "repentance from dead
works"? It is a complete change of mind, whereby
the convicted sinner gives up all thought of
being able to propitiate God by effort of his
own and acknowledges that he is as bad as the
Word has declared him to be. He turns right
about face. Instead of relying on his own
fancied merits he turns to the Lord for
deliverance and seeks for mercy through the
Saviour God has provided.
In Old Testament times the legal code with
its attendant forms and ceremonies was given,
not as a means of justifying righteousness, but
as a test of obedience. It was as true then as
now that the righteous requirement of the Law
was only fulfilled (and that of course but in
measure) in those who were already regenerated.
God has never had two ways of saving people, but
different stewardships, or dispensations, have
been committed to His people as standards of
living, in the various ages. No one was ever
saved by law-keeping or by sacrificial
observances. To trust in these things would
never avail. Not sacrifices, nor offerings, but
a broken and a contrite heart, was acceptable to
God. All outward forms or legal efforts, apart
from faith, were but dead works, from which the
prophets were constantly calling upon men to
repent.
A personal experience may make this clear and
help to impress it upon the reader's mind. On
one occasion, upon being asked to preach in a
country church, I dropped into a Bible class
conducted by a kindly, earnest man, whose
knowledge of Scripture, however, was
distressingly limited. In the course of the
discussion he put the question, "How were people
saved before Jesus came into the world to die
for our sins and to redeem us to God?" Timidly,
a lady replied, "By keeping the law of Moses."
"Exactly," said the teacher. "If they kept the
commandments they received eternal life."
No one demurring, I felt impelled to ask,
"What, then, do you make of Galatians 3:11, 'But
that no man is justified by the law in the sight
of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live
by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The
man that doeth them shall live in them'? And
again in verse 21 of the same chapter we are
told, 'If there had been a law given which could
have given life verily righteousness should have
been by the law.' Do not these passages, to
which many more might be added, show clearly
that one must have divine life before he can do
what the Law commands, and that no one was ever
justified by keeping it?"
For a moment the leader seemed confused, then
he responded graciously, "I think our visitor is
right. We had overlooked these passages. Who
else can suggest a way whereby people could be
saved before Christ came?" Another ventured to
inquire, "Would it not be by animal sacrifices?
If they broke the Law, did they not make an
atonement for their offense by bringing a
sin-offering?" This quite satisfied the teacher.
"I think that makes it perfectly plain, does it
not?" he declared.
But the visitor had to object again, "What do
you understand by the solemn words of Hebrews
10:4, 'For it is not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins'?"
Candidly he confessed, "That is a difficulty.
What, then, would you say, sir?"
In reply I endeavored to show that in all
ages men were saved when they turned to God as
repentant sinners and believed His testimony. Of
this Abraham is the outstanding example. He
believed in the Lord and He counted it unto him
for righteousness. And David shows that
forgiveness was granted and sin covered when one
owned his guilt before God and trusted His
grace, as set forth in Psalm 32. They were saved
as truly as we are by the atoning work of Christ
Jesus, only they looked forward to the cross
while we look backward to it. Romans 3:24-26
makes this very plain: "Being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of
sins that are past, through the forbearance of
God; to declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness: that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
I pointed out, what every careful student of
Scripture knows, that the expression used in
verse 25, "sins that are past," refers not to
our past sins prior to our conversion, but to
sins committed by believers in past ages, before
Christ died to put them away. The clause might
be rendered 'to declare his righteousness in the
pretermission of sins.' Then in the next verse
comes the present application of the work of the
cross, "To declare, I say, at this time
his righteousness," in justifying ungodly
sinners through faith in Jesus.
It was most interesting to see how eagerly
that little company drank in the truth and with
what joy they seemed to apprehend it.
Dead works, then, are works of the flesh, but
works performed with intent to earn God's
salvation. Of old it might be the effort to keep
implicitly the Ten Commandments and to fulfill
all the requirements of the ceremonial law. But
if the man himself had no life, his works were
all dead and could not be accepted of God. In
fact, he needed to repent from such dead works,
to recognize the folly of trying to win
salvation by deeds of the Law. From all such
dead works he needed cleansing, as truly as from
his manifold iniquities. And all this has been
provided in the cross. In Hebrews 9:13 we read:
"For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the
ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean,
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh [Note
this, for it was as far as the Law could go. It
gave outward cleansing not inward]: how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to
God, purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God?"
This is the Gospel revealed to Saul of Tarsus
and which changed him into Paul the Apostle. His
"dead works" are enumerated in Philippians
3:4-6: "Though I might also have confidence in
the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he
hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I
more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew
of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church;
touching the righteousness which is in the law,
blameless." But from these he repented when he
turned from self to Christ, and, casting away
all confidence in legal righteousness, he could
exclaim: "But what things were gain to me, those
I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and
be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith."
When Moody and Sankey were having their
stirring evangelistic campaigns in England Mr.
Sankey used the hymn a great deal which is an
answer to the question "What must I do to be
saved?"
"Nothing either great or small,
Nothing, sinner, no;
Jesus died and did it all
Long, long ago.
"When He from His lofty throne,
Stooped to do and die,
Everything was fully done,
Harken to His cry—
"It is finished!' yes, indeed,
Finished every jot,
Sinner, this is all you need,
Tell me, is it not?
"Till to Jesus' work you cling
By a simple faith,
Doing is a deadly thing,
Doing ends in death.
"Cast your deadly doing down,
Down at Jesus' feet.
Stand in Him, in Him alone,
Gloriously complete."
James Anthony Froude, the noted essayist,
declared this hymn to be "absolutely immoral."
To him it left no place for ethical behavior in
the plan of salvation. But he was wrong. It is
when men repent from dead works and put their
faith in God, resting in the redemptive work of
His blessed Son, that they really begin to live
unto Him and to manifest in their ways the good
works which are the natural result of the
impartation of a new nature received when they
are born from above and so made members of that
new creation of which the Risen Christ is the
Head.
"'What must I do?' has oft been asked
Eternal life to gain;
Man anxious seems for any task
If this he may obtain.
"But all the doing has been done,
As God has clearly shown,
When by the offering of His Son,
His purpose He made known.
"He laid on Him the sinner's guilt
When came the appointed day.
And by that blood on Calvary spilt
Takes all our guilt away."
Happy is the man who sees the end of all
flesh in the cross of Christ, and, giving up all
pretension to human merit, turns from dead works
of every kind and description and rests solely
upon the finished work of Jesus. "'It is
finished'," repeated a dying saint, and then
added, "Upon that I hang my eternity."
Repentance from dead works," then, implies
the giving up of all confidence in the flesh,
the recognition that I am not able to do one
thing to retrieve my fallen estate. As a dead
sinner I cannot do one thing to merit the divine
favor. My prayers, my tears, my charity, my
religiousness, all count for nothing, so far as
earning salvation is concerned. I am lost and
need a Saviour. I am sick and need a Physician.
I am bankrupt and need a Kinsman-Redeemer. I am
dead and need Him who is the Resurrection and
the Life. All I need I find in Christ, for whom
I count all else but dross.
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