Saved By Faith Alone

By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

When we first came to faith in Christ, we trusted that our sins were forgiven.
We believed we were accepted, that we could lay down all guilt and fear and
say, “I am saved by faith alone in what Jesus did for me at the cross.”

Then, as we proceeded in our walk with Jesus, we committed fresh acts of
disobedience. We were crushed by our sins and quickly lost our vision of the
cross. We tried to work out our own righteousness, to win back God’s favor by
trying harder, but life then became a nightmarish merry-go-round of sin and
confession, sin and confession.

We sometimes act as if trying harder on our own can save us. We think if we
could just reform this flesh of ours, God would be pleased. Soon we are
constantly working on our old man, to shape him up for a victorious Christian
walk.

Some Christians may say, “I paid a high price for the victory I’ve
achieved. I went through a lot of pain and suffering. I fasted, prayed, and
successfully put down all my lusts and sinful desires. Is my struggle to obey
worth nothing to God? Does He consider all my righteousness, all my hard work,
as filthy rags?” Yes! It is all the flesh and none of it will stand before
Him. There is only one righteousness and that is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ!

“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God”
(Romans 10:3).

The only way to get into God’s good grace is to admit the truth: “There is
no good thing in my flesh, nothing in my good works to merit my salvation. I
cannot become righteous through anything I do in my own strength. My
righteousness is in Christ alone.” Paul says of the gift of righteousness:
“Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will
reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17).

The Throne of Grace

Hebrews 4:14-16

Almighty God is righteous and just. Romans 3:23 tells us that all people have sinned and are inadequate to be in His presence. As a result of His wrath against sin, we were doomed to eternal separation from Him.

But thankfully, the story doesn’t end there. In His love and mercy, God sent His Son to walk among us. Jesus experienced the hardship and temptation common to all people, yet He never sinned. The Savior chose to die a gruesome death in our place, paying the penalty for our wrongs.

There is no deeper love, Scripture tells us, than a man who gives up his life for a friend (John 15:13). Jesus went even farther—dying for us while we were still His enemies (Rom. 5:10). In fact, He would have sacrificed Himself even if you were the only person ever to exist.

Promising forgiveness and eternal life, Christ asks sinful man to believe and follow Him. When we trust in Jesus, we are adopted as God’s children and receive His indwelling Spirit, who blesses abundantly with joy, peace, and guidance. Always welcome before the Throne of Grace, believers have access to converse with the Father at any time. He promises to hear and respond to our seeking, repentant hearts. And Jesus intercedes for us, praying on our behalf.

We don’t deserve the Lord’s invitation to have an intimate relationship with Him. Yet in His grace, He is loving and compassionate toward us. What a privilege to be able to approach the King’s throne, knowing He listens, understands, and cares. Rest in God’s love, and enjoy sweet fellowship with Him.

Dr. Charles Stanley

Finding His Rest

By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

“You will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is
light” (Matthew 11:29-30).

I know of only one way to enter into this rest that Jesus is talking about. If
understood and appropriated, this truth will usher you into the most glorious
peace possible on this side of heaven and end all feelings of insecurity.

This foundational truth upon which all others are built is the doctrine of
justification by faith. It is the one doctrine you must understand if you hope
to enter into the rest that Jesus offers.

I can only touch on the highlights of the magnificent truth of being justified
by faith. Yet I believe God desires to lead His church further into this divine
truth—to give us a foundational strength that will hold us in the days to
come.

Sadly, when you mention the subject of doctrine, many Christians turn up their
noses. They say, “I don’t want to hear all that deep, heavy stuff. Just
give me Jesus!” Yet what they really mean is, “I don’t want to discipline
myself or spend the time to learn what Jesus did at the cross.”

Too many Christians become emotionally involved with the cross but never really
study it. I have heard many preachers deliver emotional appeals about Jesus and
the cross—about His beatings, the crown of thorns on His head, the spikes
driven into His hands. The preaching of the cross is about much more than that,
however. It is about the victory of the cross and what Jesus did for all of
humankind.

For those who desire to “learn of Him,” who want to understand Jesus’
wonderful work at Calvary, let me try to explain this concept of justification
by faith.

Two things are involved in our justification by the cross of Jesus Christ:

* First, we have pardon for all our sins. When Jesus went to the cross, His
blood pardoned us from all guilt.
* Second, we are accepted by God as righteous in Christ, through faith. This
means God accepts us on the merits of what Jesus did on the cross and not
because of our works or any good deeds.

“Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies”
(Romans 8:33).

Our Great Mission

Matthew 28:18-20

If you’re a believer, you are part of the awesome body of Christ, which is called to bring His light to the world both individually and corporately. Though many see the church as a social organization, that’s not what the Bible says it is. Sometimes we forget that our purpose isn’t simply to have fellowship, sing, preach, and worship. Jesus entrusted us with good news of the true life He offers to everyone. This calling isn’t just for foreign “missionaries”–it’s for every believer. Your mission field includes your family, friends, coworkers, and perhaps even a people group God puts on your heart, often right in your community.

Before returning to heaven, Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission, in which He promised to be with believers to the end of the age. That pledge still stands. He doesn’t send us out to do His work on our own. Vowing never to leave us, He gave the assurance that all tasks He assigns will be achieved through us by His Holy Spirit.

What an honor to be included in the Lord’s redemptive plan for the world! He invites you to have a vital part in His kingdom work of transforming what is broken and giving new life. Everything you do in obedience is an opportunity for His Spirit to work powerfully through you!

He is still speaking His message of assurance to us: You’ll have Me as your companion, your captain, your victory. You’ll have Me as your resource, your energy, your anointing. Everything you need, you’ll find in Me. How does recognizing the greatness of your calling change the way you see your daily life?

Dr. Charles Stanley

Justified Before God

By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

Picture yourself standing before God’s throne with no excuse, no alibi. Satan,
your legal adversary, is reading off the list of charges, with times, places,
every shameful detail. He makes accusations of pride, prayerlessness,
covetousness, unfaithfulness, and your heart smites you because you have to
admit, “Yes, that’s me. I did it all.”

It looks hopeless for you. You know God’s eyes are too holy to look upon sin,
and His justice demands that you pay for your crimes against His holiness. You
are helpless.

But suddenly, here comes your Lawyer, your Advocate. He stretches forth His
nail-scarred hands and you know something is about to happen. He smiles and
whispers, “Don’t be afraid; none of these charges will stand. You’re going to
walk out of this courtroom free and fully pardoned. When I’m finished, your
accuser won’t have one charge left against you!”

Best of all, your Lawyer tells you He has adopted you as His brother. Then He
tells you He is the Son of the Judge so you now belong to the Judge’s family,
as well!

But there is still the matter of justice. What about the charges against you?
You listen in absolute wonder as your Advocate pleads your case:

“Judge, You know that I fulfilled the law, living a sinless life. And then I
took this person’s place, taking on all the punishment for his crimes. Through
these nail-scarred hands and My pierced side, blood came forth to blot out all
of his transgressions. All these charges were put on My back and I paid the
penalty for every one of them.”

Your Advocate then looks at your accuser and says, “Satan, you have no grounds
to accuse My child. Each of his sins was placed on Me and I have fully pardoned
them all. He is not guilty because his faith in the victory of My sacrifice
gives him full pardon. You have no case!”

As the devil slinks out of God’s court, you can hear the Lord cry out: “Who
shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans
8:33).

Hope for The Brusied

Sometimes in life, something so drastic happens, you wonder if there’s any way to put back the pieces.  According to Luke 4:18, Jesus came to “set at liberty them that are bruised.”  In other words, He came to set you free from the life-shattering experiences that hold you back.  Those bruises aren’t surface wounds, their deep.  So deep that, even when they seem to be healing, any little thing brings them right back up into view again.  Those bruises are caused by our sins and the sins of others, they are loss and loneliness, they are hurts, habits, and hang-ups that wound us for life… or so we think.

Healing

The secret to healing is in forgiveness.  Forgiveness for you.  Forgiveness through you.  The way that Christ wants to set you free is through forgiveness.  He wants you to know that you are forgiven and that, in Him, you can forgive anyone for anything.  Psalm 142 captures David’s prayer in the most hopeless of circumstances.  By no fault of his own, His life is being shattered by King Saul (the man he is supposed to replace).  There is no possible way that all the pieces can be put back together… it seemed hopeless.

Without God, most everything is hopeless.

Do you remember what happened on October 2, 2006?  A man carrying a 9mm, a 12-gauge shotgun, and a 30-.06 entered the West Nickel Mines School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and shot 10 Amish girls.  He killed five, wounded five, then killed himself.  Yet the thing that consumed the media in weeks following was not the evil of this man, but the forgiveness of the families.  How could a parent forgive a person for taking the life of their beautiful girl?  Only God gives that kind of healing.  Only God can put back the pieces of a shattered life.  The rest of the story: a few years ago, the old schoolhouse was bulldozed and another one-room schoolhouse erected in its place. The New Hope School stands as a reminder of the hope that forgiveness brings.

Too often, we hear that we are forgiven, yet we still try to life indebted and attempting to pay what we owe.  That’s why (I believe) the account manager went out and demanded the $5,000 from an employee after being forgiven of the $15 million by His boss (Matt. 18:21-35).  Until forgiveness really sinks in, we will still live under guilt and try to make others feel the same way!

Are You Thirsty?

In John 4, a woman with a shattered life was confronted by the Living Water.  She was thirsty, He was the Drink.  I love what Jesus said in verses 10 & 14 (my paraphrase): If you only knew Who I am and What I will do to you, you would ask me right now for a drink.  And this drink will completely satisfy you and those who you share it with!

You are invited to drink a healing drink of water that will turn into an unending supply of healing water for others (John 7:38).  Come and drink.  Drink and be satisfied. Drink and be healed.  Drink and share with the bruised so they may be healed too.

Written By:Pastor Nix

Bible Verse of The Day

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

2 Corinthians 5:17

New creations…  that is what we become when we accept Christ as our Savior, but what is meant by that and to what extent are we new?

After all I still have the same body, same number of fingers, toes, same height, etc..

I still struggle in my mind with many of the things I struggled with before I accepted my Lord.  And unfortunately I still sin in some of the same ways.  The truth is I still have the same body and my mind has not been “rebooted” and wiped clean, so what is new and what has changed that makes us the new creation Paul writes about?

Our heart has changed…

At our salvation God removes our old wicked heart (heart of stone) and replaces it with a good heart (heart of flesh) in which the Holy Spirit now dwells. So if we have new hearts that are good then why do we still make some of the same mistakes…?

When we are “born again” we are spiritual infants that begin a process of walking with Jesus and being guided by the Holy Spirit. Just as it takes time to learn and grow when we were literally babies, it takes time to learn and grow spiritually.  It is a refining process of renewing our minds and becoming more and more of the man or woman God designed us to be (leaving behind the crucified old self and old ways), this process is called sanctification.

Even after our salvation God allows us to have free choice of what we do, how we think, etc… for He is a God of loving relationship not of forced control.

We also need to remember we still have any enemy that hates us and wants to destroy us and by becoming followers of Christ he kicks his game into overdrive for his risk just became greater (that you will bring others to God and live in your reflection of God’s glory). He will continue to lie to us, to try to get us to believe that we can not trust the heart of God and that we are still the old people we used to be.

There is an age old argument amongst Christians over and apparent conflict in scripture that is the heart of man wicked or is it good?  There are many passage to support both of those views and they are indeed both true.

The heart of man is wicked before we accept Christ

1.      ⁵ The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  Genesis 6:5

2.      ⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9

The heart of man is good after receiving Christ as Savior

 

1.      ¹⁹ I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 11:19

2.      ”But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart,who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” Luke 8:15

3.      ”Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” 2 Timothy 2:22

I know this maybe be new to you and if you are struggling with the thought of this new heart then ask yourself this question, if the heart remains wicked after our salvation then do many of the passages of the bible makes any sense?  For example Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.   Which do you Think the Psalmist is writing about is he saying:

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your wicked heart?

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your good heart?

We do have new hearts and we are learning to walk in this new creation, but we are still flawed, broken people that Jesus continues to pursue to heal and restore. Just as we learn when we are young we will make mistakes and potentially fall back into old ways. If we continue to pursue this relationship with Christ those things will slowly fall away and in the meantime that is where God’s grace abounds.

For more on this topic you can listen to the podcast of our radio show from this past Saturday at this link The Good Heart

Walk today in the truth that your heart is good

Have a blessed day,

Goodheart Ministries

Why We Fall

Judges 14, 16:15 

If you don’t deal with your weaknesses, they will destroy you. Vulnerabilities can drive you closer to God or blind you to His love. Joseph and Samson faced similar temptations, but they responded very differently. Day after day, Potiphar’s wife tried to entice Joseph, yet he rejected her advances (Gen 39:7-9). Samson, on the other hand, willingly gave in to Delilah (Judg. 16:15-16).

Samson was consecrated to God, and the Holy Spirit was moving in his life (13:25). Nevertheless, he chose the path of self-indulgence. Too proud to admit weakness, he lived in denial, which led to a lack of discipline and left the door open for Satan. Because Samson rationalized his weakness, it grew and soon began to dominate his life. Listening to the lies of the Devil and wicked people, he exchanged God’s blessing and supernatural strength for irresponsible sexual pleasure. In the end, what did he have? Absolutely nothing.

Given the slightest chance, sin will infiltrate your life and affect every aspect, including faith, job, and relationships with family and friends. Nothing is off limits. Perhaps you’re thinking, I don’t have any weaknesses with the potential to destroy my life—then Satan has already blinded you to a spiritual reality in your midst.

You have the choice to face temptation as Joseph did—or as Samson did. In times of weakness, do you depend on God, obey Him, and seek strength to overcome? Or do you make excuses and turn from His leading? How different Samson’s life would have been if he’d chosen a different response.

Dr. Charles Stanley

Those Matters Beyond Human Understanding

A determination to know what cannot be known always works harm to the Christian heart. Ignorance in matters on our human level is never to be excused if there has been opportunity to correct it. But there are matters which are obviously “too high for us.” These we should meet in trusting faith and say as Jesus said, “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.” There are things that we can never understand until we have the benefit of advanced experience and the addition of a light beyond anything we possess at present. Under those circumstances it is not good to attempt to understand. Confessed ignorance becomes us better. Human curiosity and pride often combine to drive us to try to understand acts of God which are plainly outside the field of human understanding. We dislike to admit that we do not know what is going on, so we torture our minds trying to fathom the mysterious ways of the Omniscient One. It’s hard to conceive of a more fruitless task. For instance, a child which had been long desired and prayed for is suddenly taken away. The parents are prostrated with grief, and to add to their suffering comes the torturing thought that they should know why it all happened, but do not. Then begins the long, painful attempt to learn the secret of life and death. Why did this happen? What does God have in mind? These poor friends bruise their minds cruelly trying to fathom the unfathomable. We may as well learn (and the earlier the better) that God has no private secretaries who are on the inside of the secrets of eternity. All God wanted to say, He has said in the Scriptures. Beyond that we show the greatest wisdom simply to remain still before Him and whisper, “Even so, Father.” To the adoring heart, the best and most satisfying explanation for anything always will be, “It seemed good in thy sight.”

Tozer Devotional

The Divine Visitor

Here’s Today’s Devotional From The Vine…

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and worked redemption for his people; - Luke 1:68

What a beautiful thought it is that God pays visits to His people in this world! We remember a number of visits He made in the olden times, to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to Jacob, to Moses, to Joshua, and to others.

But the most wonderful visit He ever made was when Christ came and stayed so long, and did so much to bless the world. After a while He went away; yet we must not think that He went away to stay, and that He never pays visits to this world any more. Every time any of His children are in trouble He comes to help them. They do not always know it; for He comes unseen, and often so softly and silently that people do not know they have such a glorious visitor within their doors.

He visits those who are not saved, to try to persuade them to accept salvation. When we are in great danger, He visits us to deliver us. When we are sick or suffering, He visits us to give us grace to bear our suffering. Then ofttimes He will come and “stand at our door and knock,” and want to visit with us and give us some rich blessing, and we will not open the door.

There was an old Scotch woman who could not pay her rent, and the landlord said he would seize her goods. A good friend heard of it, and went to her house to give her money to save her property. He knocked, but could not get in. Next day he met her and told her of his visit. “Was that you?” she said with amazement; “I thought it was the officer coming to take my goods, and I had all the doors and windows barred, and would not let him in.”

So Christ comes and knocks. He knows of our need, and wants to bless or help us; and we bar our doors and keep Him out, not knowing who He is nor why He comes. We must remember that when Christ comes it is always to do us good, and that we shall rob ourselves if we ever keep Him out or refuse His visit.