Especially His: May 2021

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Justified by Faith Alone in Christ Alone

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Ligonier Ministries

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to everlasting life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14

"Therefore, since we have been justified, that is acquitted of sin, declared blameless before God by faith, let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God and the joy of reconciliation with Him through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed.

"Through Him we also have access by faith into this remarkable state of grace in which we firmly and safely and securely stand.

"Let us rejoice in our hope and the confident assurance of experiencing and enjoying the glory of our great God, the manifestation of His excellence and power.

"And not only this, but with joy let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship, distress, pressure and trouble produces patient endurance; and endurance, proven character, spiritual maturity; and proven character, hope and confident assurance of eternal salvation.

"Such hope in God's promises never disappoints us, because God's love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

"While we were still helpless, powerless to provide for our salvation, at the right time Christ died as a substitute for the ungodly.

"Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to willingly give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a good man, one who is noble and selfless and worthy someone might even dare to die.

"But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

"Therefore, since we have now been justified and declared free of the guilt of sin by His blood, how much more certain is it that we will be saved from the wrath of God through Him." Romans 5:1-9

"For it is by grace, God's remarkable compassion and favour drawing you to Christ that you have been saved, actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life through faith.

"And this salvation is not of yourselves, not through your own effort, but it is the undeserved, gracious gift of God; not as a result of your works, nor your attempts to keep the Law, so that no one will be able to boast or take credit in any way for his salvation.

"For we are His workmanship, His own masterwork, a work of art, created in Christ Jesus, reborn from above -- spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used for good works, which God prepared for us beforehand taking paths which He set so that we would walk in them living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us." Ephesians 2:9-10

(Bible Quotes from The Ampliflied Bible(TM), the Lockman Foundation

Intro Statement of Faith

Why "Especially His"? It comes from a closing statement in the WeakDay Devotions that I have been writing nearly every morning since 1999. Each day I close with this:

"Take care with love, especially His"

Although it is shared with many others around the world now, it seems each day's entry is written specifically for me and for what I am experiencing because I am, as the closing says, "especially His".

Over my lifetime I have been writing and teaching Bible-based studies and wanted a way for these teachings to reach a wider audience -- and hopefully be my legacy to a future generation. We all benefit from fellowship and good teaching and motivation that comes through prayer and reading our Bibles!

On this site you will find a variety of Bible-based and Christ-focused materials. My prayer is that they will help you grow and help you as you help others grow.

Modern-day Evangelism

Something amazing I learned as a young follower of Jesus Christ was that most of the efforts of modern day evangelism have little lasting effect, other than exposing an increasing number of people to God's Word. And as it says in Isaiah 55:11:

"So Shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

Yet, many are not ready, have hard hearts, are surrounded by influencing family or peers and they slink away into the warmth and darkness of unexpected despair.

We Need Ways

I do not minimise the value of canned methods or fancy printed tracts or little gimmicks like colourful beads strung on a leather bracelet or origami-folded coloured cards. We all need to have a way to share our faith in a way we are comfortable using.

I myself, was brought to the Cross through a tract called "Peace With God" published by the Billy Grahame Evangelistic Organisation, and I have trained in most of the methodologies for sharing my faith with another. I even wrote one that focuses on how Jesus evangelised and is based on the four Gospels.

But while being discipled under a wonderful Navigator couple (Don and Elaine Lanier) I also learned a statistic that makes so much sense. It goes like this:

"If each one of us, won one person per year to Christ, and we spent that one year discipling them in the basics, every person in the world would hear the Gospel message of Salvation in just thirty-three years."

Earmarked from the Beginning

Our lives are drawn to deciding to or not to follow Jesus from the moment we are conceived. This journey is as unique as our DNA (yes I do know about identical twins).

The journey after we come to understand the grace of the Father is furthermore unique until we die and begin eternity with our heavenly Father.

Statement of Faith

There is more to come, but want you to know just the core basics of my beliefs.

1. I believe God made man in His image and loves him and desires fellowship with him (Genesis 1:26-27, I John 4:10, John 3:16).

2. I believe there is no other way to Eternal Salvation than through knowing I am helpless against my sin nature and choice of sin. (Romans 5:6-8; 6:23).

3. There is nothing I can do to be acceptable in Heaven (Romans 3:20).

4. The only possibility is to accept the freely-offered gift of Jesus Christ paying the price for my sins by His death and resurrection. (I Corinthians 15:3-6; John 14:6).

5. I believe that the gift of Salvation is just that a gift and it is a gift by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) and because this is a gift of grace, there is nothing I can do to make God love me more than He does once I accepted His salvation and there is nothing I can do to make God love me less.

6. That my salvation is not transitory according to my behaviour and that He holds me firmly in the palm of His hand (John 10:29).

7. That from the moment of Salvation, my life is a personal journey of growth that He has designed just for me (Psalm 139).

8. That the Bible is His Word to help me grow daily. II Timothy 3:16. (The translation I use for all quotes, unless otherwise specified, is The New American Standard Bible, ©The Lockman Foundation.)