Advent 2015 - Day 16

"Christmas is the end of thinking you are better than someone else, because Christmas is telling you that you could never get to heaven on your own. God had to come to you. It is telling you that people who are saved are not those who have arisen through their own ability to be what God wants them to be. Salvation comes to those who are willing to admit how weak they are. In Christmas there is a resource for something most of us don’t even feel the need of." (Tim Keller)

Prior posts:

Day 15 | Day 14
Day 13 | Day 12 | Day 11 | Day 10 | Day 9 | Day 8 | Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

The Gospel In My Basement Stairwell

This morning I found a mouse at the base of our basement stairwell. Fortunately for all (me, Sally and especially the mouse) it was still outside and I was coming down the stairs, not openning the door from the inside. So as I stood for a moment eying up this little creature, I decided in all my humanitarian kindness that I would rescue this poor thing.

Certainly, some kind of rescue was required. This mouse was doomed. He had no means of escape. The stairs are poured concrete and the walls are basement block. There would be no climbing. There would be no jumping. The little animal did not having the ability to save itself. On top of this there was no material for it to build a ramp or ladder or any other means of escape. In fact, even if I had thrown it the raw materials for a ladder, I doubt the mouse had the skills to construct the ladder. And to add to its dilemma, even if I could have explained how a ladder might be built, I am doubful that its paws could even do the work.

It was then that I realized that I would provide the means of its escape. I would simply place a small bucket on its side and let the mouse run (ok walk or wander) into the bucket. Its salvation would be a cooperative effort. I would provide the means and it would provide the will. And yet, it wanted nothing to do with my freely offered rescue. It had been trapped for most of the night; didn't it want to be free? Couldn't the mouse tell that I only wanted what was in its best interest? Wasn't it obvious that its rescue was contingent on it willfullly choosing to get into my freely offered bucket?

Well, the answer to all these questions was No. It didn't just avoid the bucket. It ran to the opposite corner. As much as the mouse probably hated the stairwell and at some level knew it was trapped and doomed, it clearly hated my bucket even more. It had an instinctual fear and "knew" that nothing good could possibly happen by going anywhere near that bucket.

At that point, my experiment with the free-will salvation of this mouse was over. It was time for some irresistable grace. I retreived a broom from the garage and proceed to attempt to "sweep" the mouse into the bucket. It took more than a few swipes and more than a few laps around the strairwell. It also resulted in a battered little mouse as he ran away from my rescue for every second...until it landed in the bucket and realized it was safe.

From there I carried the bucket, with the mouse bruised and tired, but very much intact, to a field near our house. I released the little creature into a new home, a home much more fit for him than the one he had been trapped in. He has been delivered, not by his own works or merit or skills or even desire. Instead, salvation came by grace, from the outside, unexpected, unwanted and yet in the end graciously received and joyfully embraced.

And if I, one who would just a quickly set a trap or leave out poison, would do this for a mouse that has no lasting value, how much more will the perfectly loving, gracious, merciful and compassionate God save and rescue and redeem and deliver us?

To God Alone be the Glory

New Year, New Life

What is it about the replacing of a calendar that has such a profound effect on so many of us? I am certainly not immune to looking back over the events of the past year, both good and bad, and looking forward to what is to come. I have, however, failed in keeping enough resolutions that I think I am forever cured of that particular New Year's tradition.

But what causes us to use these few, precious days to reflect and project? Perhaps its simply something that's been enculturated into us, something that we do because society does it or we've always done it. Perhaps its a result of unwinding after Christmas or an all too brief pause before the storms of the new year. Or, perhaps its something deeper, something more profound.

Perhaps we've been hard wired to know that even the best of the past year pales before what is yet to come. Perhaps we realize that the ache we feel is not so much grief over our past mistakes and failings but regret that we cannot undo what we've done or unsay what we've said. Perhaps its the dawning reality that while our bodies are finite, our souls are not and we may not really be ready for the next stage of our lives.

Thankfully, into all of this, God speaks. To those who will listen, He continually speaks. Since today is the day, listen to His word:

Rev 22:17 - Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

Mat 11:28 - Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

2Co 5:6-7 - So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

So, even though today is just another day, may the Spirit allow today to be the first day of your New Life.

To God Alone be the Glory.

A Better Ref

I'm amazed by all of the commentary surround the NFL referee issue. Not that the comments and concerns are inappropriate nor worth discussing, but that it reveals a deep need in the human heart that the rules, whether in football or life, be followed and administer fairly. The collective "outrage", while maybe a little over the top, springs from and reveals that even the least theological among us still carry the image of God within us.

Wouldn't it be great if there were a better ref? One who never blew a call? One who made sure each player played within the boundaries of the game? Even better, wouldn't it be great if there was a ref who could, by his very presence, make each player want to play within the rules and execute each play to the best of their ability.

Of course life is different than football, and we can do "all the right things" and still face failure, temptation, illness and even death. To face these things, and so many other things, we need more than a ref. We need a friend. We need a father. We need a protector. We need an advocate. We need a deliverer. We need an adviser.

And when we "commit a penalty" and the ref "throws the flag" we need someone to stand in our place. Because, in life, its not just a 10 yard penalty. It will cost us the game. It will cost us the season. It will cost us our lives.

The good news is that the Better Ref has come. Jesus is that ref. He has lived. He has died. He is risen. And He is the ref over the whole world. And while we may not see his calls as being right and good, in reality they are. And He is so much more than just a ref. He offers us new life. He delivers us from both the affects of our penalties, but also from the power that causes us to want to commit them. He can change us from the inside so that we want to and are able to play the game within the rules that have been established from the beginning. And, best of all. He's already won the Super Bowl.

I just want to pray, if you've read this far, that you will allow Jesus to be for you everything He promises to be. He has made this promise, which can be yours if you entrust your life to Him.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. -- Mat 11:28

To God Alone be the Glory

Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!

Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift! - 2 Cor 9:15

A verse like this serves to remind us, especially me, that the mercy and grace that we have received from God in Jesus goes way beyond what we can grasp. Somehow we think we can come into God's presence in a spirit of praise and actually express to Him the depth of what we've been given. But, in the words of Job, these are but the outskirts of His ways (Job 26:14).

May the Holy Spirit revive in us a holy awe at the magnitude of our salvation in Christ. There is the depth of the sin Jesus' paid for. There is the entrenchedness of our selfishness and pride that He is graciously removing. There is the security Jesus has guaranteed to us both by his resurrection but also by the send of the Holy Spirit. There is this new community that Jesus is gathering to himself to the glory of God.

And, as magnificent as these things are, they are only the gifts and blessing we can perceive. How many times has the Holy Spirit redirected our lives to keep us in the love of Christ? How many ways has God answered our prayers and we have not been aware of it. How many holy coincidences has Jesus orchestrated so that we can sit here today a say, I am a follower of Christ?

You see, everything we have, the mundane to the magnificent, is a gracious gift of God. And because of this, the gospel and the cross should drive us to continually proclaim:

Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!

To God Alone be the Glory

Too Small A Thing

It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
   to raise up the tribes of Jacob
      and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
   that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.  -  Isa 49:6

Update 9/24

A few weeks ago I heard a sermon by Kevin DeYoung that caused me to look at Isa 49:6 and thus spur the blog post below. This weekend, DeYoung published an excerpt from that sermon on his blog. By the grace of God, it was the very portion that dealt that referenced Isa 49:6. So, if the implications of the words below or more likely the verse above cause your heart to stir, I would encourage you to reflect on DeYoung's thoughts here.

-------------------------------------------------

Honestly, I had to let the implications of this verse sink into my soul.

I am growing more and more enthralled with the book of Isaiah each time I read a portion of it. So, when I heard a reference to Isa 49:6 in a sermon I listened to this weekend, I had to look it up. But as I prayerfully read it this morning, I was struck some uncomfortable realities.

Reality 1:  God (Father, Son & Spirit) is really beyond me.

This was the point in the sermon I heard as well, but reading Isa 49 just served to solidify that thought in my mind. We probably all give lip service to the verse that says God's ways are not our ways, but that is often the reality. But consider this: our service to our neighbor, our kindness to a waitress or barista, our integrity at work or school, our faithfulness to spouse or girl/boy friend or a thousand other things can be used by God to push His glory to the ends of the earth. Do we really believe that the Word of God never returns void, but always accomplishes what God intends for it?

What is so cool about this, at least for me, is that it means God is constrained by me and my conceptions of Him. He really is at work 24x7 and not just in America. Not just in middle class white people. Not just in people how had a reasonably "good" upbringing. Any of these categories is too small for God.

Reality #2:  My prayers are not too much for God.

I'm not saying stop praying for a Honda and start praying for a BMW. I'm saying why just pray for the salvation of one neighbor? Why not the neighborhood? Seriously! Why are my prayers so timid and iffy? Isn't this the God who delights to bless His children? Isn't this the Christ who said you will receive everything you ask in my name? What else could be more in the name of Christ than the salvation of lost souls? Remember Lk 19 or Mt 9? This Jesus wept and had compassion on the lost. All of the lost.

Maybe we should try pushing the boundaries of prayer. Not for more stuff to waste on ourselves (see Jm 4). Instead asking God to demonstrate in our day the reality of Isa 49:6. I, for one, am willing (the flesh may be weak) to give it a try.

Reality #3: Our God is glorious, really glorious.

Read through the remainder of Isa 49. It is like wave after wave of God declaring His expansive saving plan. I may not know how to craft my next sermon or blog post, but God knows how He is going to engrave his people on the palms of His hand and how He will put us on like an ornament. I may be worried about speaking to a friend about the gospel while God knows how He will cause the heavens to sing and the mountains exult. Some, actually most, of this causes me to simply want to stand back and say wow!

I will wrap it up here but I think there is more. The allusions to Jesus in Isa 49 are the biggest. God's non-dependence on us is another. Maybe I'll touch on those another day. For now let's just rejoice that verses like Isa 49:6 have been given to us to set our hearts on fire and call us out of our own spiritual lethargy and into glorious service of the One whose salvation will reach the ends of the earth.

To God Alone be the Glory

Basking in the "Godness" of our Salvation

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Tit 3:4-7)

In preparing for an upcoming message on the power of the Holy Spirit in our salvation, I was drawn to Titus 3:5. However in quickly scanning the surrounding verses I was struck once again by the otherness of our salvation. Or maybe its better to say the "Godness" of our salvation.

I could break down each verse and highlight things like the goodness and kindness mercy of God, the richness of the grace of Jesus, cleansing and renewing (dare I say resurrecting) power of the Holy Spirit. I could highlight that our salvation really occurs in spite of ourselves, like little children who are rescued from dangerous, even life threatening peril without even realizing we were in danger. I could draw out the cooperative effort of the Trinity in saving us or the fact that our salvation doesn't just get us in, but places us in the exalted position of heir, one of God's beloved children.

I could do all of the above in this post, but my heart has a different bent right now. I simply want us to bask in the enormity of what God, in all of his trinitarian fullness, has orchestrated and accomplished for us. In reality Titus 3:4-7 is like a picture of the Grand Canyon. It is awesome to behold and is compelling to consider. But it pales to actually being there. No picture, no movie can replace actually standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon and just soaking in its enormity. No description, no topographical map can communicate the depth and scale of being in the inner canyon and actually feeling as small as we really are.

And what is true of one small part of God's incredible creation is true of the apex of His work in the lives of his people. Today, can we take 5 minutes and simply (or profoundly) step into God's salvation? For 5 minutes can we take our eyes off ourselves and put our eyes on the Father of mercy, the Son of grace and the Spirit of power? For 5 minutes can we get lost in the enormity of God and His amazing, incredible, boundless love?

May this be the beginning of a journey that will take us to the very heart of God.

To God Alone be the Glory

Ambassadors for Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

The following is the conclusion of a sermon preached today. Read the whole thing here

In the end my friends, we are ambassadors because of 3 things.

• We are ambassadors because Jesus has claimed us as His own.
• We are ambassadors because God has given us the ministry and message of reconciliation, the unbridgeable gap between God and man has been bridged in Christ.
• We are ambassadors because Christ’s love compels us to plead with our friends and neighbors and all who the Spirit brings into our lives: Be reconciled to God.

I think it is fitting to close with the words from Isaiah. Despite the cultural decay and spiritual apathy around him, he continued to plead for reconciliation on God’s behalf:

Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
  Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
  let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

To God Alone be the Glory

That you might grow up into Salvation

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Pt 2:2-3)

Each time I read 1 Peter 2, I need to re-read verse 2. I need to take that extra moment to ask what is Peter (and God) really saying? Its as if the authors (both human and divine) have used a linguistic trick to catch our attention in order to make a very important point.

You see, this verse is not saying we need to grow up in order to receive salvation. While that fits many of the world's religions, it is contrary to the gospel, to grace and to the words of Jesus himself.  Additionally, this verse is not saying receive salvation so that you may grow up. While this thought may be prevalent in some of our churches, such a mindset was exactly what Paul battled in Galatia and we see in full flower with the Pharisees.

So what does this verse say? Three quick things: Salvation is dependent on an intimate connection with Christ. God's Word is essential to spiritual life and growth. And, salvation is not just an event. It is also something we enter into.

Much could be said about each of these points, but I want to focus just a couple of thoughts on our growing into the salvation that Christ himself provides. What would change in my Bible reading, praying, meditating and just plain living if I viewed my salvation, not as a static, past-tense event nor as a status that has been set nor as simply my name being recorded somewhere for God to check off on the day of my death? What would change if I began to see my salvation as something living and growing? What would change if I began to realize there is more to salvation than simple creedal affirmations and rote obedience? What if this relationship thing with Christ became real? What if this love affair really reached all the way into my heart?

Let me wrap this up by saying I am continually haunted by a question Jesus asked Nicodemus in John 3. Jesus asked "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (Jn 3:12) That question haunts me because it shows there is much more to salvation than what we know and see and perceive. And yet we don't even fully grasp the first lesson.

So today, let us taste and see that the Lord is good. Let us consume the pure spiritual milk of God's Word. And let us begin growing up into our salvation.

To God Alone be the Glory

Too much to say...about Jesus

(Note: This is from one morning of reading)

"Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” (Zec 3:3-4)

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (Jn 6:63)

"Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (Rev 7:10)

"They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev 7:14)

Where does one start with a buffet like this? Perhaps the sequence laid out here is as good as any other ordering.

In Zechariah, as the people are returning from their exile in Babylon, God is giving them assurance that He is still in the midst of all that is happening. Yet in chapter 3, and throughout the book, Zechariah's prophecies transcend the current context and point to something yet to come. So here is God's promise to us made well before Christ died, made well before Jesus was even born (or conceived) that He would take away our iniquity. The thing that would keep Joshua the high priest from entering God's presence is the same thing that would keep us from ever entering God's presence. That is our sin, our iniquity, our broken, rebellious, idolatrous heart. And God doesn't limit himself to sin removal. He also clothes us in the righteousness of Christ. So, the promise stands "I have taken away your iniquity and I will clothe you with pure vestments"

What can I say about John 6 that hasn't already been said by better men than me?  I really have two different tracks, one of which I may pick up tomorrow. Today, however, I simply want to bask in the God-centeredness and Christ-centeredness of the gospel. Of course, to be the true gospel, it has to be God-centered and Christ-centered, but it so easily slides into something less. Just read from verse 25 to verse 45 and observe the references to Christ's activity or God's activity. On my quick count there are 24 references in those 21 verses to either Christ's activity or God's activity (plus one reference to the Spirit). Even the dreaded vs 37 is both God-centered and Christ-centered, with God giving and Jesus not casting out. The point? Worship, of course. And a call to simple, yet profound faith. And confidence that the Father and the Son and the Spirit are in control of this thing called salvation and we are graciously swept up in it, nourished by it, restored through it and preserved because of it.

I have come to love the book of Revelation as a poetic, picturesque way of painting the truths of the other 65 books of the Bible. That doesn't make it less true, just like Psalms is not less true than Romans. One just needs to read them differently. The image in the second half the Rev 7 is always encouraging. There will be a multitude in heaven that no one can count. God's saving work is ultimately successful. Even in our driest fruit bearing seasons, we can look here and say the gospel still saves, Christ still saves, God still saves. And this salvation always leads back to worship of the One who sits on the throne and of the Lamb. Interestingly, the image in chapter 7 ends by stating that those of us who are in the great multitude will receive pure white robes (i.e. vestments) that have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Now there is a Bible connection worthy of an Amen!

To God Alone be the Glory

The Desolate Agony of the Cross

“My God , my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mt 27:34, Ps 22:1

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. Isa 53:10, 11

Last week I posted a quote by John Stott (read it here).  I used this same quote this weekend to close out a sermon. But as I read it out loud, one phrase stuck hard in my mind: the desolate agony of the cross. What hit me is that in one simple phrase Stott captured the real scandal, the real tragedy and the real beauty of the cross.

Think about it. Sure Christ had to go through intense physical suffering. It was part of bearing our griefs and our sorrows. And yes He had to endure humiliation and rejection, since those are exactly the crimes we are most guilty of before God's holy throne. But neither the physical torture nor the psychological abuse solved our ultimate dilemma. We are a sinful, rebellious people. We are broken to the very core of who we are. We are the servant who owes his master over 5,000 lifetime salaries.(Mt 18:23-27)

Think about the garden of Gethsemane. What could possibly cause the Son of God, the one who could raise the dead, heal the sick and feed the multitudes to sweat drops of blood? What was it about the upcoming 24 hours that caused the eternal second person of the Trinity, the one who created and sustains all things, the one who was infinitely loved by the Father to say "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death"? (Mk 14:34)

The simple yet astounding reality is this. As Jesus bore our sins, God, who dwells in unapproachable light, could no longer look upon Him. The desolate agony of the cross is that in the majesty and mystery of the Trinity, the Father and the Son were ripped apart. Christ needed to endure the effects of hell, the despair, the total isolation, the unquenchable anguish and the absolute separation from God. Trust me when I say as alone as any of us may feel, we have never been as alone as Jesus was on the cross.

So today, can we bow (or kneel, or lay prostrate) before the savior who humbled himself to endure the desolate agony of the cross for us? Remember, Jesus did not do this for the fun of it or because he had to. He willingly and purposefully endured all of God's just wrath to rescue and redeem save you and me specifically. We have been on His mind and in his heart a long, long time.

To God Alone be the Glory

Three Lessons from the Cross

From the pen of John Stott:

“There are three lessons which I have learned from the cross.

1) I learned that my sin is foul beyond words. If there were no way for our sins to be cleansed and forgiven but that the Son of God should die for them, then our sins must be sinful indeed.

2) I learned that God’s love is great beyond all understanding. He could have abandoned us to perish in our sins. But He didn’t. He loved us and He pursued us even to the desolate agony of the cross.

3) I learned that salvation is a free gift. I do not deserve it. I cannot earn it. I do not need to attempt to procure it by my own merit or effort. Jesus on the cross had done everything that was necessary for us to be forgiven. He has borne our sin and curse.

What, then, must we do? Nothing! Nothing but fall on our knees in penitence and faith, and stretch out an open, empty hand to receive salvation as a gift that is entirely free”

To God Alone be the Glory

God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

I couldn't state this any better so I won't try. You can read the whole blog at Desiring God.

2. God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

This truth comes from the same phrase in verse 9: "Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." We are not by nature smarter or wiser or more courageous than those who remain in darkness. The difference is that God exerted toward us an absolutely undeserved and compelling kindness: he called us. Paul put it like this in1 Corinthians 1:23-24, "We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." It was the omnipotent call of God that wakened us from the spiritual sleep of death and opened our eyes to the power and wisdom of God in Christ. Let us never forget: Free and powerful grace alone is the decisive reason that we are able to see the darkness of our culture and be free in some measure from it.

To God Alone be the Glory

Christ will do everything or nothing.

This week I began reading Christianity and Liberalism by J Gresham Machen. It is a book and an author I've often seen quoted, but have never read. I'm only part way into it but two things have already struck me about this book. First for an author and a topic that is 90 years removed from our current circumstances, it is amazingly up to date. The following quote is from the introduction. Read it without regard to the 1921 copyright date and see if it doesn't ring true for us in 2011.

When one considers what the public schools of America already are--their materialism, their discouragement of any sustained intellectual effort, their encouragement of the dangerous pseudo-scientific fads of experimental psychology--one can only be appalled by the thought of a commonwealth in which their is no escape from such a soul-killing system.

 The second thing I've noticed about this book may prove even more soul-nurturing to me than finding a kindred spirit from 90 years ago. It is the fact that Machen reads scripture very precisely and sees that the arguments the authors made were real arguments made to convince real people of a real live-giving truth. This second quote is taken from a section focusing on Paul's strong dispute with the Galatians.

If Christ only provides part of our salvation, leaving us to provide the rest, then we are still hopeless under the load of sin. For no matter how small the gap which must be bridged before salvation can be attained, the awakened conscience sees clearly that our wretched attempt at goodness is insufficient even to bridge that gap. The guilty soul enters again into the hopeless reckoning with God, to determine whether we have really done our part. And thus we groan again under the bondage of the old law. Such an attempt to piece out the work of Christ by our own merit, Paul saw clearly, is the very essence of unbelief; Christ will do everything or nothing, and the only hope is to throw ourselves unreservedly on His mercy and trust Him for all.

 To God Alone be the Glory

Salvation is from the Lord

(I've quoted in its entirety Spurgeon's morning devotion for Feb 26. I continually thank God for men like this)

Salvation is the work of God. It is he alone who quickens the soul "dead in trespasses and sins," and it is he also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both "Alpha and Omega." "Salvation is of the Lord." If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God's gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because he upholds me with his hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord's strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: God's Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I weaned from the world? I am weaned by God's chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. "He only is my rock and my salvation." Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it. Do I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh increase of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from heaven's hills: without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in him. What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: "Salvation is of the Lord."

Save by Faith or by Christ?

From My Utmost for His Highest - Oct 28 (This was and is a landmark devotional in my life. SDG)

I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished.
The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

What's the Problem?

The following is an excerpt from the book What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert:

The Bible tells us that it is not just Adam and Eve who are guilty of sin. We all are. Paul says in Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory God." And just a few paragraphs earlier he says, "None is righteous, no, not one" (3:10).

The gospel of Jesus Christ is full of stumbling stones, and this is one of the largest. To human hearts the stubbornly think of themselves as basically good and self-sufficient, this idea that human beings are fundamentally sinful and rebellious is not merely scandalous. It is revolting.

That's why it is so absolutely crucial that we understand both the nature and the depth of our sin. If we approach the gospel thinking that sin is something else or something less than what it really is, we will badly misunderstand the good news of Jesus Christ.

The Bible teaches that humanity's fundamental problem--the thing from which we need to be saved--is not meaninglessness or disintegration in our lives, or even a debilitating sense of guilt. Those are merely symptoms of a deeper and much more profound problem: our sin. What we must understand is that the predicament we're in is a predicament of our own making. We have disobeyed God's word. We have ignored his commands. We have sinned against him.

The Bible also teaches that sin is a breaking of our relationship with God, but that broken relationship consists in rejection of his kingly majesty. It's not just adultery (though it is that); it is rebellion. Not just betrayal, but also treason. If we reduce sin to a mere breaking of relationship, rather than understanding it as the traitorous rebellion of a beloved subject against his good and righteous King, we will never understand why the death of God's Son was required to address it.

Another misunderstanding about sin is Jesus died to save us from negative thoughts about ourselves. This is reprehensibly unbiblical. In fact, the Bible teaches that a big part of our problem is that we think too highly of ourselves, not too lowly. Stop and think about it for a minute. How did the Serpent tempt Adam and Eve? He told them they were thinking too negatively about themselves. He told them to they needed to think more positively, to extend their grasp, to reach toward their full potential, to be like God! In a word, he told them to think bigger. Now how'd that work out for them?

Individual sins don't shock us much. We know they are there, we see them in ourselves and others every day, and we've gotten pretty used to them. What is shocking to us is when God shows us that sin runs to the very depths of our hearts, the deep-running deposits of filth and corruption that we never knew existed in us and that we ourselves could never expunge. That's how the Bible talks about sin--it is in us and of us, not just on us.

Every part of our human existence is corrupted by sin and is under its power. Our understanding, our personality, our feelings, our emotions, and even our will are all enslaved to sin. So Paul says in Romans 8:7, "The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed it cannot." What a shocking and frightening statement! So thorough is sin's rule over us--our minds, understanding and will--that we God's glory and goodness, and we inevitably turn away from it in disgust.

This is the Bible's sobering verdict on us. There is not one of us who is righteous, not one. And because of that, one day every mouth will be silenced every wagging tongue stopped, and the whole earth will be held accountable to God.

But, there is hope...