Did God Write His Law Within Our Hearts ?

Christians, there is an important question we must ask ourselves:

Did God Write His Law Within Our Hearts ? If He did, which Law did He Write ?
There are many today who think and speak smugly as if that they have just discovered a “Grace Revolution”, something long hidden from other believers for the past 2000 years and freshly minted in the 21st century. They decry anything concerning confessing your sins to God and repentance towards God, their stance is that one only has to embrace the “Gospel of Grace”, to be “Christ Conscious” and against any need for a believer’s pursuit of personal holiness and self denial. They teach against any need for searching one’s heart before God, confessing and repenting . People of this Grace Revolution mindset “appear to delight in the imputed obedience of Christ who make little or no concern about personal holiness”. Claiming in error and with arrogance and that any pursuit of holiness and any self denial is deemed to be “legalistic”, “law based”, “old covenant” and “work based” salvation.
Let hear the late Pastor Arthur Pink’s words warning against this “Grace Revolution” error mindset:
“True, there is perfect holiness in Christ for the believer, but there must also be a holy nature received from Him.”
“There are some who appear to delight in the imputed obedience of Christ who make little or no concern about personal holiness. They have much to say about being arrayed in “the garments of salvation and covered with the robe of righteousness” (Isa 61:10 , who give no evidence that they are “clothed with humility….How many there are today who suppose that if they have trusted in Christ, all is sure to be well with them at the last even though they are not personally holy.
Under the pretense of honoring faith, Satan as an angel of light, has deceived and is now deceiving multitudes of souls.When their “faith” is examined and tested, what is it worth? Nothing at all so far as insuring an entrance into heaven is concerned: it is a powerless, lifeless, fruitless thing.”
Arthur Pink did not mince his words, though dead yet he speaks with clarity, pointedly and faithfully from the Word of God against the maladies and errors of our day. In our walk as professing believers and born of His Spirit, UNLESS WE ARE denying self and dying to self, the question needs to be asked “Are we really putting on Christ and following Him?
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jer 31:31-33
Related Posts:
Misunderstanding Grace : Misconstrue Law and Grace as Opposing, Contrary and Irreconcilable Systems
The Perfect Law of God Must Stand Forever
The Law of God Must Be Perpetual: No Abrogation, No Amendment.
The Heart of Every Real Christian is Most Reverent Towards the Law of the Lord
Misunderstanding Grace : “outside the law” is not the same as having no law
Misunderstanding Grace: Easy to miss the path and go far astray from the truth
Misunderstanding Grace – Antinomianism’s primary error is confusing Justification with Sanctification
Misunderstanding on the teaching of Grace

Teach Us to be Satisfied with Your Steadfast Love

Our Heavenly Father, Our  faithful Master,
Each morning, teach us to be satisfied with your steadfast love.
Your sure, reliable and faithful love.
Each day, teach us to walk by faith and not by sight.
Help us pray with thy Spirit ‘s assuring presence.
Each moment, teach us not to trust ourselves.
But wholly lean on thy faithful promises.
Each hour, while reminding us that we are dust.
Help us to remember, you are the eternal God.
Each situation, teach us whatever it may be
You plan and work all things for your purpose and glory
Each passing year, as we will age and our bodies weary with infirmities,
Your blessed assurance teaching us not to be anxious
Help us to cast all our care to You,
The unchangeable, everlasting and faithful God.

Worship is all about God

Worship is all about God: it is God’s people remembering who He is and what He has done.  It is a sovereign God’s goodness which led us to repentance. It is a heart response from a sinner who has experienced His grace and mercy. A hell deserving sinner who has been forgiven by Him. It is a thankful sinner who is now adopted as a child of a Holy God  and has basked His Father’s steadfast love. We can seek Him because He first draw us to Him. We can love Him because He first loved us. 

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones! Psalms 105:1-6

Worship Means the Heart Going Out in Fervent Praise and Adoration To God

‘Praise is really the chief object of all public acts of worship. We all need to examine ourselves at this point. We must remember that the primary purpose of worship is to give praise and thanksgiving to God. Worship should be of the mind and of the heart. It does not merely mean repeating certain phrases mechanically; it means the heart going out in fervent praise to God. We should not come to God’s house simply to seek blessings and to desire various things for ourselves, or even simply to listen to sermons; we should come to worship and adore God. ‘Blessed be the God and Father’ is always to be the starting point, the highest point.’

Extracted from The Everlasting Covenant by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Related Posts:
Realization of the Truth Concerning our Redemption Always Leads to Praise

Realization of the Truth Concerning our Redemption Always Leads to Praise

And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen extraordinary things today. Luke 5:26

‘the realization of the truth concerning our redemption always leads to praise. …..Surely praise and thanksgiving are ever to be the great characteristics of the Christian life. Take, for instance, the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. It has been said of that Book that it is the most lyrical book in the world. In spite of all the persecution which those early Christians had to endure, and all the hardship and difficulties, they were distinguished by a spirit of praise and thanksgiving. They were people who were thrilled with a sense of peace and happiness and joy they had never known before. The same note is found, too, throughout the New Testament epistles — ‘Rejoice in the Lord’, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’. Even in the Book of Revelation which portrays trials and tribulations that are certain to face God’s people, this note of triumph and praise is to be found running through it all. This is the ultimate peculiar characteristic of God’s people, of Christians….If we realize truly what ‘grace’ and ‘peace’ mean we cannot help praising.
All must surely agree that it is impossible to read through the New Testament without seeing that this is to be the supreme thing in the Christian life. It must of necessity be so, because if this gospel is true, that God has sent His own Son into the world to do for us the things we have been considering, then you would expect Christians to be entirely different from unbelievers; you would expect them to live in a relationship to God that would be evident to all, and that should above everything else produce this quality of joy………………….. Hence we find this constant exhortation in the New Testament to praise God and offer up thanksgiving. This is what differentiates us from the world. The world is very miserable and unhappy; it is full of cursing and complaints. But praise, thanksgiving and contentment mark out the Christian and show that he is no longer ‘of the world’.

Extracted from The Everlasting Covenant by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Greatest Event of All Time.

‘The Role of the Resurrection
1. In the gospels
The four gospels are a response of faith to the resurrection. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They weren’t forced to believe; they believed because they were overwhelmed with the evidence, as were all who became a part of the believing community. It is the response of faith that we will see in our study of Matthew 28:1-10.Some people are under the illusion that the Bible is a miscellaneous collection of spiritual truths. But every book in the Bible has a specifically designed beginning and ending. In the case of Matthew’s gospel, the ending the glory of the resurrection–the greatest event of all time.
2. In Acts
The first sermon ever preached by the early church was the resurrection (Acts 2). The reality of the resurrection became the theme of all apostolic preaching. Peter again preached on the resurrection in Acts 4 and 10. Stephen preached the resurrection in chapter 7. Philip preached the resurrection in chapter 8. Paul preached the resurrection many times throughout the rest of the book.
3. In the epistles
The theme of the epistles is the resurrection.
a) Romans 6:4–”Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.”
b) 1 Corinthians 15:4–”He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
c) 2 Corinthians 4:15–”He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also.”
d) Galatians 1:1–”By Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.”
e) Ephesians 1:20–”Which He [God] wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead.”
f) Philippians 3:10–Paul said, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection.”
g) Colossians 2:12–”God … raised him from the dead.”
h) 1 Thessalonians 1:10–”His Son … he [God] raised from the dead.”
i) 1 Peter 1:3–”[God] hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
The book of Revelation affirms that Christ has right to the earth because He was once dead and is now alive forevermore (1:18). The theme of the New Testament is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.Here is the foundation of all our hope: Jesus said, “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). Jesus also said, “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). The resurrection is the core of all we believe.Each of the four gospel writers presented the resurrection in a unique way, picking out certain elements of the event to reinforce certain spiritual truths in the minds of the readers. As we study Matthew’s account of the resurrection, we will draw from Mark, Luke, and John to enrich and fill out the scene so that we may appreciate all its great truth. Mark, Luke, and John take different approaches, yet all four describe the same historical truth. There is no contradiction–all the facts are in perfect harmony. Matthew describes the resurrection from the viewpoint of a group of women and the emotions that their actions revealed. That is a wonderful and refreshing way to view the resurrection.’
‘The Resurrection of Jesus Christ’ by John Macarthur

The Blessed Completeness of Divine Forgiveness Covers All Sins – Past, Present and Future

‘It only remains for us to add a word on the blessed completeness of divine forgiveness. Many of God’s people are unsettled and troubled upon this point. They understand how that all the sins they had committed before they received Christ as their Saviour have been forgiven, but oftentimes they are not clear concerning the sins which they commit after they have been born again. Many suppose it is possible for them to sin away the pardon which God had bestowed upon them. They suppose that the blood of Christ dealt with their past only, and that so far as the present and the future are concerned, they have to take care of that themselves. But of what value would be a pardon which might be taken away from me at any time? Surely there can be no settled peace when my acceptance with God and my going to heaven is made to depend upon my holding on to Christ, or my obedience and faithfulness.
Blessed be God, the forgiveness which he bestows covers all sins – past, present and future. Fellow-believer, did not Christ bear your “sins” in his own body on the tree? And were not all your sins future sins when he died? Surely, for at that time you had not been born, and so had not committed a single sin. Very well then: Christ bore your “future” sins as truly as your past ones. What the word of God teaches is that the unbelieving soul is brought out of the place of unforgiveness into the place to which forgiveness attaches. Christians are a forgiven people. Says the Holy Spirit: “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Romans 4:8). The believer is in Christ, and there sin will never again be imputed to us. This is our place or position before God. In Christ is where he beholds us. And because I am in Christ I am completely and eternally forgiven, so much so that never again will sin be laid to my charge as touching my salvation, even though I were to remain on earth a hundred years. I am out of that place for evermore. Listen to the testimony of scripture: “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he (God) quickened together with him (Christ), having forgiven you all trespasses” (Col. 2:13). Mark the two things which are here united (and what God hath joined together let no man put asunder) – my union with a risen Christ is connected with my forgiveness! If then my life is “hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), then I am forever out of the place where imputation of sin applies. Hence it is written, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) – how could there be if “all trespasses” have been forgiven? None can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect (Romans 8:33). Christian reader, join the writer in praising God because we are eternally forgiven everything.*

*It should be added by way of explanation, that it is the judicial aspect we have dealt with. Restorative forgiveness – which is the bringing back again into communion of a sinning believer -dealt with in 1 John 1:9 – is another matter altogether.***
The Word of Forgiveness , The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross by Arthur W Pink

***Restorative Forgiveness Posts:
Lord’s Prayer: Confession should be a daily activity for the Christian – by R. C. Sproul
If we confess our sins

Sin is Always Sin in the Sight of God

‘Sin is always sin in the sight of God whether we are conscious of it or not. Sins of ignorance need atonement just as truly as do conscious sins. God is Holy, and He will not lower His standard of righteousness to the level of our ignorance. Ignorance is not innocence. As a matter of fact ignorance is more culpable now than it was in the days of Moses. We have no excuse for our ignorance. God has clearly and fully revealed His will. The Bible is in our hands, and we cannot plead ignorance of its contents except to condemn our laziness. God has spoken, and by His Word we shall be judged.

And yet the fact remains that we are ignorant of many things, and the fault and blame are ours. And this does not minimize the enormity of our guilt. Sins of ignorance need the Divine forgiveness as our Lord’s prayer here plainly shows. Learn then how high is God’s standard, how great is our need, and praise Him for an Atonement of infinite sufficiency, which cleanseth from all sin.’

The Word of Forgiveness , The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross by Arthur W Pink

Jesus Christ On The Cross: Demonstration of God’s Inflexible Justice, Ineffable Holiness and Infinite Hatred of Sin

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Here we see the absolute holiness and in flexible justice of God.
The tragedy of Calvary must be viewed from at least four different viewpoints. At the cross man did a work: he displayed his depravity by taking the Perfect One and with “wicked hands” nailing him to the tree. At the cross Satan did a work: he manifested his insatiable enmity against the woman’s seed by bruising his heel. At the cross the Lord Jesus did a work: he died the Just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. At the cross God did a work: he exhibited his holiness and satisfied his justice by pouring out his wrath on the one who was made sin for us.
What human pen is able or fit to write about the unsullied holiness of God! So holy is God that mortal man cannot look upon him in his essential being, and live. So holy is God that the very heavens are not clean in his sight. So holy is God that even the seraphim veil their faces before him. So holy is God that when Abraham stood before him, he cried, “I am but dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27). So holy is God that when Job came into his presence he said, “Wherefore I abhor myself” (Job 42:6). So holy is God that when Isaiah had a vision of his glory he exclaimed, “Woe is me! for I am undone . . . for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:5). So holy is God that when Daniel beheld him in theophanic manifestation he declared, “there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption” (Dan. 10:8). So holy is God that we are told, he is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity” (Hab. 1:13). And it was because the Saviour was bearing our sins that the thrice holy God would not look on him, turned his face from him, forsook him. The Lord made to meet on Christ the iniquities of us all: and our sins being on him as our substitute, the divine wrath against our offences must be spent upon our sin-offering.
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” That was a question which none of those around the cross could have answered; it was a question which, at the time, none of the apostles could have answered; yea, it was a question which had puzzled the angels in heaven to make reply to. But the Lord Jesus had answered his own question, and his answer is found in Psalm 22. This psalm furnished a most wonderful prophetic foreview of his sufferings. The psalm opens with the very words of our Saviour’s fourth cross-utterance, and it is followed by further agonizing sobs in the same strain till, at verse 3, we find him saying – “But thou art holy” . He complains not of injustice, instead he acknowledges God’s righteousness – thou art holy and just in exacting all the debt at my hand which I am surety for; I have all the sins of all my people to answer for, and therefore I justify thee, O God, in giving me this stroke from thine awakened sword. Thou art holy: thou art clear when thou judgest.
At the cross, then, as nowhere else, we see the infinite malignity of sin and the justice of God in the punishment thereof. Was the old world over-flown with water? Were Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed by a storm of fire and brimstone? Were the plagues sent upon Egypt and were Pharaoh and his hosts drowned in the Red Sea? In these may the demerit of sin and God’s hatred thereof be seen; but much more so here is Christ forsaken of God. Go to Golgotha and see the Man that is Jehovah’s Fellow drinking up the cup of his Father’s indignation, smitten by the sword of divine justice, bruised by the Lord himself, suffering unto death, for God “spared not his own Son” when he hung in the sinner’s place.
Behold how nature herself had anticipated the dreadful tragedy – the very contour of the ground is like unto a skull. Behold the earth trembling beneath the mighty load of outpoured wrath. Behold the heavens as the sun turns away from such a scene, and the land is covered with darkness. Here may we see the dreadful anger of a sin-avenging God. Not all the thunderbolts of divine judgment which were let loose in Old Testament times, not all the vials of wrath which shall yet be poured forth on an apostate Christendom during the unparalleled horrors of the Great Tribulation, not all the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth of the damned in the Lake of Fire ever gave, or ever will give such a demonstration of God’s inflexible justice and ineffable holiness, of his infinite hatred of sin, as did the wrath of God which flamed against his own Son on the cross. Because he was enduring sin’s terrific judgment he was forsaken of God. He who was the Holy One, whose own abhorrence of sin was infinite, who was purity incarnate (1 John 3:3) was “made sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:2 1); therefore did he bow before the storm of wrath, in which was displayed the divine displeasure against the countless sins of a great multitude whom no man can number. This, then, is the true explanation of Calvary. God’s holy character could do no less than judge sin even though it be found on Christ himself. At the cross then God’s justice was satisfied and his holiness vindicated.
THE WORD OF ANGUISH, The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross by Arthur W Pink
Related Posts:
The Crucifixion of Christ: Greatest Act of Divine Justice
The Truth of the Cross: Jesus Christ taking God’s curse and wrath in the place of sinners
The Essence of Gospel Evangelism Is To Proclaim the True Doctrine of the Cross by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The Crucifixion of Christ: Greatest Act of Divine Justice

'The crucifixion of Christ ...was done in full accord with "the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God"Act 2:23

‘The crucifixion of Christ was also the greatest act of divine justice ever carried out. It was done in full accord with “the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23)—and for the highest of purposes: the death of Christ secured the salvation of untold numbers and opened the way for God to forgive sin without compromising His own perfectly holy standard.
Christ was no mere victim of unjust men when He hung on the cross. Though murdered unjustly by men whose intentions were only evil, Christ died willingly, becoming an atonement for the sins of the unjust, just like the murderers who killed Him. It was the greatest sacrifice ever made; the purest act of love ever carried out; and ultimately an infinitely higher act of divine justice than all the human injustice it represented.
Every true Christian knows that Christ died for our sins. That truth is so rich that only eternity will reveal its full profundity. But in the mundane existence of our daily lives, we are too inclined to take the cross of Christ for granted. We mistakenly think of it as one of the elementary facts of our faith. We therefore neglect to meditate on this truth of all truths, and we miss the real richness of it. If we think of it at all, we tend to dabble too much in the shallow end of the pool, when we ought to be immersing ourselves in its depths daily.
Many wrongly think of Christ as merely a victim of human injustice, a martyr who suffered tragically and unnecessarily. But the truth is that His death was God’s plan. In fact, it was the key to God’s eternal plan of redemption. Far from being an unnecessary tragedy, the death of Christ was a glorious victory—the most gracious and wonderful act divine benevolence ever rendered on behalf of sinners. It is the consummate expression of God’s love for us.
Yet here also we see the wrath of God against sin. What is too often missed in all our songs and sermons about the cross is that it was the outpouring of divine judgment against the person of Christ—not because He deserved that judgment, but because He willingly took it upon Himself on behalf of those He would redeem. In the words of Isaac Watts, “Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?”
Christ’s death is by far the most important event in human history. It is the focal point of the Christian faith. It will be our one refuge in the final judgment. It ought to be the main sanctuary for every believer’s private meditation. All our most precious hopes stem from the cross of Christ, and our highest thoughts should be rooted there. It is a subject we can ill afford to neglect or treat lightly. It is the shame of the modern church that our focus is so often fixed elsewhere.
May we never take the cross of Christ for granted or miss its depth. It was there that mercy and truth met together; righteousness and peace kissed each other (Psalm 85:10).”

(Excerpted from The Murder of Jesus by John MacArthur.)
Related Posts:
The Truth of the Cross: Jesus Christ taking God’s curse and wrath in the place of sinners
The Essence of Gospel Evangelism Is To Proclaim the True Doctrine of the Cross by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Justification by Faith Alone – The Very Essence Of Christianity

“The Very Essence Of Christianity – Historic evangelicalism has therefore always treated justification by faith as a central biblical distinctive—if not the single most important doctrine to get right. This is the doctrine that makes authentic Christianity distinct from every other religion. Christianity is the religion of divine accomplishment—with the emphasis always on Christ’s finished work. All others are religions of human achievement. They become preoccupied, inevitably, with the sinner’s own efforts to be holy. Abandon the doctrine of justification by faith and you cannot honestly claim to be evangelical.
Scripture itself makes sola fide the only alternative to a damning system of works-righteousness: “Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness” (Rom. 4:4-5, emphasis added).
In other words, those who trust Jesus Christ for justification by faith alone receive a perfect righteousness that is reckoned to them. Those who attempt to establish their own righteousness or mix faith with works only receive the terrible wage that is due all who fall short of perfection. So the individual as well as the church stands or falls with the principle of sola fide. Israel’s apostasy was rooted in their abandonment of justification by faith alone: “For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3).
Biblical justification must be earnestly defended on two fronts. No-lordship theology (the error we dealt with in the November/December issue of Pulpit) twists the doctrine of justification by faith to support the view that obedience to God’s moral law is optional. This teaching attempts to reduce the whole of God’s saving work to the declarative act of justification. It downplays the spiritual rebirth of regeneration (2 Cor. 5:17); it discounts the moral effects of the believer’s new heart (Ezek. 36:26-27); and it makes sanctification hinge on the believer’s own efforts. It tends to treat the forensic element of justification—God’s act of declaring the believing sinner righteous—as if this were the only essential aspect of salvation. The inevitable effect of this approach is to turn the grace of God into licentiousness (Jude 4). Such a view is called antinomianism.
On the other hand, there are many who make justification dependent on a mixture of faith and works. Whereas antinomianism radically isolates justification from sanctification, this error blends the two aspects of God’s saving work. The effect is to make justification a process grounded in the believer’s own flawed righteousness—rather than a declarative act of God grounded in Christ’s perfect righteousness.
As soon as justification is fused with sanctification, works of righteousness become an essential part of the process. Faith is thus diluted with works. Sola fide is abandoned. This was the error of the Galatian legalists (cf. Gal. 2:16; 5:4). Paul called it “a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6, 9). The same error is found in virtually every false cult. It’s the main error of Roman Catholicism. I’m concerned that it may also be the direction many who are enthralled with “the New Perspective on Paul” are travelling.


If doctrine as a whole has been ignored in our day, the doctrine of justification has suffered a particular neglect.

"Jesus’ Perspective on Sola Fide by John MacArthur, Copyright 2004
Related Posts:
Justification by Faith Alone in Christ Jesus – The centre of Christianity
The Importance of Justification (by Faith Alone, by Grace Alone, in Christ Alone)

Justification by Faith Alone in Christ Jesus – The centre of Christianity

Pastor John Piper : “This is the centre of Christianity……a Son of God ……..Justification by Faith Alone in Christ Jesus………. put Romans 5:1 beside Rom 8:1 together…..”
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Roman 8:1
‘the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.‘  Rom 3:22-26
What do you believe about justification by faith alone?
January 23, 2006 by John Piper
John Piper holds to the historic, Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone, which can be summarized in the following four points:
1) The sole ground of our justification is the righteousness of God, expressed in the alien, imputed, active obedience of Christ, climaxing in his sin-bearing, substitutionary death.
2) Faith alone is the sole means of justification. In other words, it is faith only, and not our deeds in any way (whether the external manifestation or the internal God-glorifying motive behind them), that connect us savingly to Jesus Christ.
3) Faith is distinct from its fruit, the obedience of faith, yet faith is of such a nature that it must and will produce love for people and a life of genuine, though imperfect, holiness in this world. Therefore, as the Westminster Confession of Faith (11.2) says, the faith that alone justifies (as the instrument which unites us to Christ, not as the ground or content of our justifying righteousness) is never alone;
4) Therefore, this reality of forensic righteousness, which is imputed to us on the first act of saving faith (as the seed of subsequent persevering faith), is different from transformative sanctification, which is imparted by the work of the Holy Spirit through faith in future grace.

Related Posts:
The Importance of Justification (by Faith Alone, by Grace Alone, in Christ Alone)

The Importance of Justification (by Faith Alone, by Grace Alone, in Christ Alone)

The Importance of Justification
Dr R.C. Sproul

The Importance of Justification Sola fide (by faith alone) is important not merely because the church stands or falls on it. It is important because on it we stand or fall. The place where and the time when we will either stand or fall is at the judgment seat of God.
The doctrine of justification has to do with our status before the just judgment of God. That every person will ultimately be called into account before God is central to the teaching of Jesus. He warns that the secret things of our lives will be made manifest before the Father and that every idle word we have spoken will be brought into judgment. The whole world -- every man, woman, and child -- will come before the final divine tribunal. We will all come to that place, at that time, as either unjustified or justified sinners. Paul at Mars Hill warned: "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men every where to repent, `because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.'" (Acts 17:30-31 NKJV)
This judgment will be a righteous judgment by a righteous God. Those who will be judged are unrighteous people. The universality of sin is clearly affirmed by Paul:
"For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all (italics mine) under sin. As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one...." Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:9-10, 19-20 NKJV)
Herein is our dilemma. There will be a judgment. It will be a righteous judgment. As fallen, we are not righteous.
The ominous warning of the apostle is that "no flesh will be justified in His sight." Fortunately this is not the whole sentence. It is not an absolute denial of justification. If there will be no justification in his sight, then all disputes about the way of justification would be vain disputes, much ado about nothing. If there is no justification, then there is no gospel -- no good news, only bad news.
But this is not the entire statement. Paul does not say there will be no justification. What he does say is that no flesh will be justified in God's sight by the deeds of the law.
Paul does not exclude justification altogether. He does exclude it by virtue of our doing deeds of the law. Justification on the ground of our works is eliminated as an option. Christians were once debtors who could not pay their debts to God. The law of God requires perfection. It is a requirement sinners do not and cannot meet. Because of the universal reality of sin, Paul comes to his "therefore." Our sin leads to the necessary inference contained in the conclusion that by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in God's sight.
The verdict of the law on sinners was known in the Old Testament. Psalm 130 asks a question that is clearly rhetorical: "If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" (130:3 NKJV)
The answer to the psalmist's question is abundantly clear Who could stand? No one. Certainly not I. Certainly not you. If we are judged by the law in terms of our own righteousness, we will not stand; we are certainly fallen. If Luther rested on his own
righteousness before the diet of heaven, he would have to declare: "Here I fall! I can do no other, God help me."
Not only would Luther fall. The whole church -- nay, the whole world -- would fall.
Paul does not leave us falling without hope before the righteous law of God. He continues his teaching of the doctrine of justification with a single word that screams relief to guilty sinners: "But..." There is, to our everlasting benefit, a "however" to his declaration. This little however introduces a high and mighty exception to the dreadful conclusion that by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in God's sight. Though justification is categorically denied by one means, it is now categorically affirmed by another means. That no flesh will be justified is not the final word. There is another word, which is the gospel itself:
"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:21-26 NKJV)
Here Paul declares a way of justification different from justification by deeds of the law. It is not a novelty, proclaimed for the first time in the New Testament. This way of justification is witnessed to by the Prophets and by the law itself. It is justification
through faith in Jesus Christ. This justification is not given to everyone. It is provided to all and on all, who believe. It is based on the righteousness of God that is provided to and on the believer. It is given both freely and graciously by God through the redeeming work of Christ. This manner of justification demonstrates God himself to be both just and the justifier.
Again,the dilemma faced by the sinner summoned to the judgment seat of God is this: The sinner must appear before a divine Judge who is perfectly just. Yet the sinner is unjust. How can he possibly be unjust and justified? The answer to this question touches the eye of the Reformation tornado. For God to justify the impious (iustificatio impii) and himself remain just in the process, the sinner must somehow become actually just by a righteousness supplied him by another.
 

(Dr R.C. Sproul is  founder and chairman of the board at Ligonier Ministries.)
Related Posts:
Justification by Faith Alone in Christ Jesus – The centre of Christianity

Presenting the Gospel: What Are The Non-Negotiables For The Gospel?

In this short clip from The Gospel Coalition, J. Ligon Duncan spoke out on what must constitute the message within any Gospel presentation. Essentially,  What is the Gospel ?



‘Sola Gratia: The Erosion Of The Gospel
Unwarranted confidence in human ability is a product of fallen human nature. This false confidence now fills the evangelical world; from the self-esteem gospel, to the health and wealth gospel, from those who have transformed the gospel into a product to be sold and sinners into consumers who want to buy, to others who treat Christian faith as being true simply because it works. This silences the doctrine of justification regardless of the official commitments of our churches.
God’s grace in Christ is not merely necessary but is the sole efficient cause of salvation. We confess that human beings are born spiritually dead and are incapable even of cooperating with regenerating grace.

Thesis Three: Sola Gratia
We reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God’s wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life.
We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our unregenerated human nature.’
THE CAMBRIDGE DECLARATION of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, April 20, 1996

Jesus said, “Come Follow Me. It Will Cost You Everything, Count the Cost.”

 

 During RESOLVED 07, Pastor Steve Lawson of Christ Fellowship Baptist Church spoke from Luke 14:25-33 dealing with topic: “The Cost of Discipleship (It Will Cost You Everything). 

“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”Luke 14:25-33


In the Book of Haggai, the LORD of hosts spoke out through the Prophet Haggai  against His people, who has lost their first love, to “consider your ways”. For the start of a new year 2010, this is a good reminder from Pastor Steve Lawson  for all professed believers of Jesus Christ to carefully examine ourselves and consider Jesus Christ, Who is the greatest treasure and the inheritance of all true disciples who are washed in His blood.