November 28, 2005

Two Doers by Clay Curtis

John 3:20-21 “For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”

Every person within the world fits into one of these two categories. There is no in between, no middle ground, either a person does that which God views as evil or a person does that which God views as truth. When Isaac’s wife Rebekah conceived, the twins within her struggled against one another and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. These two diametrically opposite individuals can not be in agreement with one another. In fact he that does evil hates he that does truth. The only difference in the two is the grace of God.

At the core of the unbeliever’s refusal to come to the light is his unbelief in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Belief in Christ means bowing before God and declaring all my deeds unrighteous while at the same time declaring Christ, who finished THE WORK, as the only way by which I can have a right standing before God. The condemned not only does not come to the light but he hates the light. He is in darkness and he loves darkness therefore he will not have fellowship with light. The condemned would sooner deny Christ than have his own deeds discovered as evil.

The believer would rather deny himself and magnify Christ, for Christ’s deeds have been made the believer’s deeds by imputation. In Christ the believer sins not. In Christ the believer fulfills the law. By Christ’s finished work death has no claim on the believer for according to God’s grace he has never sinned. In Christ the believer is seated at the right hand of the Father. The believer’s testimony is that all his righteousness is Christ alone. What deeds did I, myself, do? I was conceived in sin, I came forth from my mother’s womb speaking lies, my heart is only evil continually and desperately wicked; that is the sum total of my deeds. The banner of the believer is: it is not I that doeth truth, but Christ alone for He is truth, it is not I that cometh to the light but Christ who is the Light draws me to Himself, it is God who keeps me. My deeds are nothing; His deeds are everything. By Clay Curtis