Now if you were to ask one of these four elders [of the Northeast church of Christ], “How many reprobates do you have at the NE Albuquerque church?” Well, probably none, that we know of! And yet, we’re thinking that the term “reprobate” spoken about someone is a person who is really mean, wicked, vile, or heartless. But you can be none of those things and still be “reprobate”! The word “reprobate” originally didn’t even refer to a human characteristic. It was used of coins that had lost their value. Now the coin is still of the same metal. The metal didn’t change, but the value changed. The coin is still here, but its value has changed. When the Lord said “being in every good work a reprobate,” He is saying that you can be morally good, you can pay your debts, you can pay your taxes, you can be a good neighbor, and still be reprobate. That means “not productive.” 2 Peter 1, verses 6-8, talks about if you like these things, referring to the Christian graces, add to your faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, love, and then he said “you will neither be barren nor unfruitful.” In Romans 7:4, we are “married” to Christ for the purpose of bringing forth fruit. And, “by their fruits you shall know them,” Matthew 7:20.

Now, all of this goes back to that passage—“by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” And then he said, “we are His workmanship, created”—(not out of good works but)—“unto good works.”

You see, baptism is not an end. It is a means to an end. And the new birth is not a graduation—it’s a commencement. You haven’t ended—you’re just beginning!

In 1 Kings 20, verse 11, “Let not him who puts on his armor boast, as the one who takes it off.” Now that’s pretty good reasoning, isn’t it? If you’re going to boast, don’t boast as you start out. Boast when you get through. It’s the finish that counts!

“He that endures to the end shall be saved,” Matthew 24:13.

Or Luke 9:62, if a man puts his hand to the plow and looks back, he is not “fit for the Kingdom of God.”

Luke 14:30, some “began to build,” but were “not able to finish.”

Or in Philippians 1:6, the Bible says, “He Who has begun a good work in you will complete it.” It’s the completion that really counts!

When Jesus was giving that Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:17 and 18, He said not “one jot or one tittle,”—not the dot of an “i,” not one cross of a “t,” as we would say—would “pass from the law till all” things be accomplished or “fulfilled.”

In John 17:4, when Jesus prayed, He said, “Father, I have glorified You…I have finished the work which You gave Me to do.” The way to glorify God is to just simply do His work! Jesus said that He had “finished the work….”

And then on the cross, one of the last things Jesus said was, “It is finished!” John 19:30. He started out saying nothing would be “past” until all things be “accomplished.” It’s the finish that counts!

What about Paul, in Acts 20:20 to 24, when he was speaking to the elders at Ephesus. He said he wanted to “finish” his course, you see. Then in 2 Timothy 4:7 and 8, he did! It’s the finish that counts! He said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” A winner never quits, and a quitter never wins! Stopping on third base won’t add any more to the score than if you had struck out! And you can’t take third base and keep your foot on second—you’ve got to move along! Many people want to just stop where they are, but it’s the finish that really counts. The Lord wants us to realize that when we are created in Christ Jesus, that’s not the graduation—that’s just the commencement. It’s “unto good works” that’s the finish. So this is the means to that end.

In Romans 6, verses 3 and following, when we are “buried” and “raised” in baptism, that’s not the end. We’re not raised to just “sit.” No! The purpose-clause is used—we are “raised” to what purpose? To “walk in a new life!” That means, with that new birth, that’s not the end—that’s just the beginning! We rise for the purpose of “walking a new life.” Now there can be no “new life” without a “new birth.” And yet that new birth is not the end—it’s just a means to an end. But if it weren’t for that new birth, there would be no walking “in the newness of life.”

So when Paul said “be steadfast, immoveable,” he was indicating that man can be moved away from the purpose of “walking a new life,” even though, “by grace have we been saved through faith, that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” And then later on, two verses later, he emphasizes this by saying, “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”

You see, we’ll never be the body of Christ until we have the mind of Christ. In Philippians 2:5, we ought to have the “mind” in us that was “in Christ.” Well, Christ had the mind of serving the Lord. He came as a servant. He took upon Himself the “form of a servant,” Philippians 2, verses 6 to 8. In Acts 10:38, what about “doing” that which was “good”? Christ was always serving—He was doing what God wanted Him to do! Activity! Now when He was baptized of John in Matthew 3, verses 13 to 17, that wasn’t the end! That was just the beginning! It was the beginning of His ministry.