Unlimited: How to Have the Verdict of the Last Judgment Today
Aug 17, 2020 1663
By grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV).
Sin is like a burden on us, like a law over us, and a disease within us. Sin is our creditor, our tyrant, and our traitor. The guilt of sin, the power of sin, the presence of sin can only be dealt with by Jesus Christ and his Gospel.
God removes the guilt of sin the moment we believe. The power of sin is simultaneously crushed in principle as we behold God’s great love for the sinner. Sin’s presence no longer reigns in us, though our sinful nature remains. (Therefore, we dare not depend upon our sanctification for acceptance with God.)
We are “accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6, KJV),”complete in him” (Colossians 2:10, KJV), without “condemnation” (Romans 8:1), and made to “sit with him [Christ] in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 2:6, RSV).
The only true religion asserts with Scripture that we are saved through faith, the gift of God, and not by any good that we do ourselves. If, however, we forget this religion of the Bible, and trust anything in ourselves for acceptance and for peace, we are inviting turmoil and stress.
The believer looks for comfort only to Christ’s gift of righteousness. When the believer accepts what Christ did for him on the Cross, he has the verdict of the last judgment already, and for as long as he believes.
– Des Ford (adapted)
Eli’s Reflection: Let the thought sink in that you already have the favourable judgment of the last judgment and that you have been saved (not that you might be saved). How does that make you feel about your life? What can you do now that was more difficult to do before?
JASON ANDREW TOPPIN
Aug 17, 2020
JESUS SAVES
Moses
Aug 18, 2020
So liberating.one only wishes that all should come to the faith.