Jun. 24, 2007 - What I've Been Reading
I read this this morning in The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges:
"To live by the gospel, then, means that we firmly grasp the fact that Christ's life and death are ours by virtue of our union with Him. What He did, we did. This is the only sense in which we can understand Paul's bold statements in Romans 8: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (verse 1); and "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies" (verse 33).
These statements by Paul are objective truths; that is, they are true whether we grasp them or not. So often, however, we find it difficult to believe them. Because of our frequent failures before God, we do feel under condemnation, we do not feel God is for us but rather must surely be against us, we do think He is bringing charges against us. At such times we must preach the gospel to ourselves. We must review what God has declared to be true about our justification in Christ.
Justification is a completed work as far as God is concerned. The penalty has been paid and His justice has been satisfied. But it must be received through faith and must be continually renewed in our souls and applied to our consciences every day through faith. There are two "courts" we must deal with: the court of God in Heaven and the court of conscience in our souls. When we trust Christ for salvation, God's court is forever satisfied. Never again will a charge be brough against us in Heaven. Our consciences, however are continually pronouncing us guilty. That is the function of the conscience. Therefore, we must by faith bring the verdict of conscience into line with the verdict of Heaven. We do this by agreeing with our conscience about our guilt, but then reminding it that our guilt has already been borne by Christ.
This justification is said to be given to us freely by His grace. The word freely signifies without payment of any kind. Justification cannot be purchased by the payment of good works. There is no exchange of value between the sinner and God. It is an absolutely gratuitous act on His part."
I am seeing more and more how much I lack of really grasping this truth. God is so graciously and patiently showing me my need to see this. I so often struggle with feeling condemned and feeling like God is not for me, but against me. I need to remember that I am perfect in His sight through Christ and that He loves me just as I am. I love how he points out that these things are true whether we grasp them or not. So thankful that that is true and I pray God would help me to grasp these truths.
Comments
Aug. 20, 2007 - Great comment!
Posted by Jules
And why is this not on the book blog??? ehhhh??? :-)
this book has been excellent to read. I loved it. I can't wait until we read his newest book - can't remember the title. I'll let you know as soon as it's out. Your blog looks really nice kristy. believe it or not, yours is the first google result when i googled hearthkeeper to find the new board. wow! :-0
Jules
