For Salvation, Rely Completely On Christ

by Kevin Burton

    My good intentions, my (not frequent enough) good works will never, never save me. My place in Heaven is all about Jesus.

   One hundred percent.

   A recent message from Alistair Begg, the Speaker on the Truth For Life ministry, reinforced this point and it sent my mind back to a Christian song that always made me cringe.

   The song was performed by Russ Taff as a solo artist. His best work was done with the Imperials before he went solo. The song is “Rock Solid” and I never liked it.

    I’ll tell you why after we hear from Begg.

   His text today is Psalm 138:8, which in the New King James reads: “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the works of Your hands.”

   “It is clear that the confidence that the psalmist expresses is a divine confidence,” Begg writes. “He did not say, ‘I have enough grace to perfect that which concerns me—my faith is so steady that it will not falter—my love is so warm that it will never grow cold—my resolution is so firm that nothing can move it.’”

   “No, his dependence was on the Lord alone. If we display a confidence that is not grounded on the Rock of ages, our confidence is worse than a dream; it will fall upon us and cover us with its ruins, to our sorrow and confusion.”

   Look, I’ve had my good days, my well done good and faithful servant days (Matt. 25:21) and you have too fellow Christian.

   But we both know there have been other times when I let myself and my Savior down.

   Look into your own life and soul, to the places your family, friends and co-workers can’t see. Now imagine drawing your last earthly breath, with Heaven depending 95 percent on faith in Jesus and just that little bit on yourself.

   No thanks.

   Listen, if I could contribute to my own salvation, even a little bit, why did Christ have to die?

   “The psalmist was wise,” Begg writes, “he rested on nothing less than the Lord’s work. It is the Lord who has begun the good work within us; it is He who has carried it on; and if He does not finish it, it never will be completed.”

   “If there is one stitch in the celestial garment of our righteousness that we must insert ourselves, then we are lost. But this is our confidence—what the Lord begins, He completes,” Begg writes.

   “He has done it all, must do it all, and will do it all.  Our confidence must not be in what we have done, nor in what we have resolved to do, but entirely in what the Lord will do.”

   Now circle back to “Rock Solid.”  In the first verse Taff sings,:

This is it
I have made my mind up
No more ‘both ways’
I have been dancing on the border
Wasting my days
Why was I flirting with a time bomb
I know what’s right
Starting now
No more compromising
I’m changing my life.

   I can’t speak against repentance after a falling away of course. But doesn’t that sound like a little too much “me”?

   And consider the bridge:

This is my life
It’s all up to me now
I choose to believe
I’m choosing to believe

   That sounds a little too much like Peter, saying “Even if they all fall away, yet I will not!” (Mark 14:29 NASB).

   We know how that worked out. Peter learned a lesson, let’s not miss it. We will perish if we rely on our own strength or determination.

   “If by ourselves we navigate the frailest vessels of our lives over so rough a sea, we might give up the voyage in despair,” Begg writes. “But thanks be to God, He will complete that which concerns us and bring us to the desired haven.”

   “We can never be too confident when we confide in Him alone, and never too eager to have such a trust.”