Bible League: Living His Word For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.In Ephesians 2:1-3 the Apostle Paul describes humanity's sorry spiritual state outside of Christ. He says that we were dead in our transgressions and sins, we used to follow the ways of the world and Satan, "the ruler of the kingdom of the air," and we used to gratify "the cravings of our flesh." Given this sorry state, he says that "we were by nature deserving of wrath." Happily, however, things changed for some of us. Some of us have accepted the gospel concerning Jesus Christ and have been saved. Some of us have been rescued from humanity's wretched state. Why? What happened? What happened was that God did something. God did something about our sorry spiritual state. Instead of leaving us to the wrath we deserved, He saved us. Why? It was because He loved us: "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions" (Ephesians 2:4-5). When the gospel of Jesus Christ was presented to us God gave us the favor and grace necessary to believe by faith that the gospel is true. We were made alive with Christ by grace through faith. It was, therefore, not from us. It was from God. Although it is certainly true that we are the ones that actually have the faith, although it is certainly true that God credits our faith to us as righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:22), it was God's grace and favor in the first place that enabled us to have the faith necessary for salvation. It is true that in order to be saved we must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31), but God's grace enables us to believe in Him. Our faith is not, then, the product of our own effort and work. It is the product of God's grace. We can't boast about our faith as though we achieved it on our own. As Paul says elsewhere, "Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded" (Romans 3:27). On the day that is coming we won't stand before God boasting about ourselves, but crying out "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb" (Revelation 7:10). Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingEzekiel 47, 48 Ezekiel 47 -- Holy Water from the Temple; Boundaries Set NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Ezekiel 48 -- Division of the Land: Priests, Prince, Tribes, Gates NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 1 John 1 1 John 1 -- The Word of Life; God Is Light NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God.Insight How can you draw near to God? The Bible makes it clear that your own body is God's temple. Your spirit needs and wants closeness to God. You want to know the living God personally, not as an idea or concept, not as a distant monarch. You can draw near to God through prayer, worship, and Bible meditation. You need not live like a monk, but you probably need more prayer in your life. The habit of worship has become a convenience to be wedged between sports, and other recreations. Challenge Instead, make worship your top priority. Bible meditation may include verse memory, songs, and quiet personal reading. The Bible is the Word of God for you. Use it every day and you will draw nearer to God. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Songs 4:7 Thou art all fair, my love.The Lord's admiration of his Church is very wonderful, and his description of her beauty is very glowing. She is not merely fair, but "all fair." He views her in himself, washed in his sin-atoning blood and clothed in his meritorious righteousness, and he considers her to be full of comeliness and beauty. No wonder that such is the case, since it is but his own perfect excellency that he admires; for the holiness, glory, and perfection of his Church are his own glorious garments on the back of his own well-beloved spouse. She is not simply pure, or well-proportioned; she is positively lovely and fair! She has actual merit! Her deformities of sin are removed; but more, she has through her Lord obtained a meritorious righteousness by which an actual beauty is conferred upon her. Believers have a positive righteousness given to them when they become "accepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:6). Nor is the Church barely lovely, she is superlatively so. Her Lord styles her "Thou fairest among women." She has a real worth and excellence which cannot be rivalled by all the nobility and royalty of the world. If Jesus could exchange his elect bride for all the queens and empresses of earth, or even for the angels in heaven, he would not, for he puts her first and foremost--"fairest among women." Like the moon she far outshines the stars. Nor is this an opinion which he is ashamed of, for he invites all men to hear it. He sets a "behold" before it, a special note of exclamation, inviting and arresting attention. "Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair" (Song of Sol. 4:1). His opinion he publishes abroad even now, and one day from the throne of his glory he will avow the truth of it before the assembled universe. "Come, ye blessed of my Father" (Matt. 25:34), will be his solemn affirmation of the loveliness of his elect. Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.Acts 10:38 "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Colossians 1:19 For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, John 1:16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 1 John 2:27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Romans 8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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