“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Verses like this one are a big part of why protestants tend to be so radically committed to salvation by faith alone. Look at what Paul is saying here closely because this is really important. If we could somehow get ourselves into a right relationship with God by means other than the grace of God as mediated through the death and resurrection of Jesus, then His death was without purpose. It was entirely pointless. Read the rest…
In part two of our teaching series, A Word on Reality, we talked about how we can know with assurance that we are close to God by looking at 1 John 2:1-17. What is the evidence of a life spent in Christ? Read on for the answer.
Whose Word Is Final?
Close your eyes for me for just a minute. I’m going to say some words and I want you to internally react to them. Whatever your reaction is, I want you to just dwell on it for a moment and then we’ll talk about it in a bit. Heaven. Grace. Love. The world. Sin. Submission. Obedience. Okay, open your eyes. Now, by a show of hands, how many of you reacted positively to all of those words? Anyone react negatively to all of them? How many were split between some of the words? How many of you reacted positively to the first couple of words and more negatively to the ones after that? Okay, how about this one: how many of your reactions went from most positive to most negative in the order of the words as I spoke them? That last word, obedience, leaves a sour taste in the mouths of a lot of people today. I think part of the reason for this is that we have been fed since birth a worldview by our culture that believes the highest good is achieved when we are singularly in control of our lives. Now, while there are a few people in the world who have personalities that are very comfortable in a setting where we simply do as we are told, I suspect they are more the exception than the rule. Read the rest…
For the last few days I have been reading in Romans 9-11. This morning I finished up the section. Toward the end of chapter 11, Paul, who has spent nearly all of the previous couple of chapters talking about the Jewish people, shifts gears and focuses on his largely Gentile audience. In vv. 17-24 he says this: Read the rest…
“But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis on works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” (ESV)
Our insistence on salvation by grace alone must be absolute. If we allow even a smidgen of works in the door the whole thing comes undone. Grace flies out the window and doesn’t return until we drive out works completely. When it comes to salvation, grace and works are mutually exclusive. You can have one or the other, but not both. Period. Read the rest…
The Nexus 