Ephesians 1:11 ( NKJV ) 11In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Titus 3:5 ( NKJV ) 5not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
I can remember a time before I came to know the Lord when I was told that my salvation did not depend on my goodness or good works but on Christ. I just found that incomprehensible. Once I came to know Christ I thought I understood the Biblical principle that I was saved by the Grace of God because of the work of Christ on the cross. My understanding was that I added no work or effort to my salvation. While that is true, what I didn’t really get, was that the phrase “not of works” (Ephesians 2:8, Titus 3:5; Romans 9:11), meant that God chose and that He did this before the foundation of the world and that His choosing was not dependent upon any good works I may or may not do in the future.
Ephesians 1:3-4 ( NKJV ) 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.
The emphasis of Ephesians 1:11 is that salvation it is not by the will or effort of man but solely by the will of God and therefore for His purposes only (vs.5)! The Christian has an inheritance in Christ based on the will and purposes of God alone (vv.5, 11).
Continue reading ‘I Am Secure Because Of The Sovereign Purposes Of God’
se it does not pretend to create salvation, nor to help in it, but it is content humbly to receive it. Faith is the tongue that begs pardon, the hand which receives it, and the eye which sees it; but it is not the price which buys it. Faith never makes herself her own plea, she rests all her argument upon the blood of Christ. She becomes a good servant to bring the riches of the Lord Jesus to the soul, because she acknowledges whence she drew them, and owns that grace alone entrusted her with them.”
a pardoned person and accepted with God while you still sin in this way?’ If I listen to this I drop into despondency , and if I continued in that state I should fall into despair, and should commit sin more frequently than before; but God’s grace comes in and says to my soul, ‘Thou hast sinned; but did not Christ come and save sinners? Thou art not saved because thou art righteous; for Christ died for the ungodly.’ And my faith says, ‘Though I have sinned, I have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and I am a child of God still.” And what then? Why the tears begin to flow and I say, ‘How could I ever sin against my God who has been so god to me? Now I will overcome that sin,” and I will get strong to fight with sin through the conviction that I am God’s child.”
Not long ago I was out on visitation to visit a family who had recently visited the church. But before I went out I used “Google Earth” to locate the address and print out a map. I even went so far as to zoom in on the earth map to get an idea of what their house looked like. I was confident I knew where to go and had the right address. That night it was raining and seemed especially dark. But I was sure that between my research, printed directions, and GPS navigation I would find the right address. I was really proud of myself for thinking ahead as I headed out that evening. I just knew I would find the address and arrive on time for my visit with the new family. All was going well until I came within striking distance of success. As I was approaching their house, in the rain, I miss read a street sign and turned down the wrong street. Even my GPS could not help at this point because I was so close. But the house at the address I pulled up to didn’t look anything like the picture I had seen on “Google Earth.” I was now a bit confused but proceeded to get out of my car and walk up the drive way for the visit. Part way up my doubts grew stronger so I turned around and walked back down the driveway and up to the street corner to double check the street address. I was on the wrong street! The street I needed was a couple hundred feet away.
“It is as much a crime to disturb the peace when truth prevails as it is to keep the peace when truth is violated. There is therefore a time in which peace is justified and another time when it is not justifiable. For it is written that there is a time for peace and a time for war and it is the law of truth that distinguishes the two. But at no time is there a time for truth and a time for error, for it is written that God’s truth shall abide forever. That is why Christ has said that He has come to bring peace and at the same time that He has come to bring the sword. But He does not say that He has come to bring both the truth and falsehood.”
For me, there is no more glorious a thought than to know that I rest in the saving hands of God (
man does not live differently from what he did before, both at home and abroad, his repentance needs to be repented of, and his conversion is a fiction. Not only action and language, but spirit and temper must be changed. … Abiding under the power of any known sin is a mark of our being the servants of sin, for ‘his servants yea are to whom ye obey.’ Idle are the boasts of a man who harbors within himself the love of any transgression. He may feel what he likes, and believe what he likes, he is still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity while a single sin rules his heart and life. True regeneration implants a hatred of all evil; and where one sin is delighted in, the evidence is fatal to a sound hope. …
“Though the Lord, by electing his people, adopted them as his sons, we, however, see that they do not come into possession of this great good until they are called; but when called, the enjoyment of their election is in some measure communicated to them. For which reason the Spirit which they receive is termed by Paul both the “Spirit of adoption,” and the “seal” and “earnest” of the future inheritance; because by his testimony he confirms and seals the certainty of future adoption on their hearts.” ~ John Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion” 3.24.1, A New Translation, by Henry Beveridge, Esq Volume First Edinburgh: Printed for The Calvin Translation Society M.DCCC.XLV)
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