All my life I have tried to please God by working for Him in one way or another. That is why I started this blog, that is why I have held all kinds of offices in the church because I believed that I was earning my salvation by the things I was doing 'for Him'. I have learned in just the last month or so that I cannot earn anything with God. All the time I didn't know that I was misrepresenting the truth as it is in Jesus. I am 86 years old now and if any of you are younger than that please listen up, older folks too. It's never too late to learn. The older you get the harder it is to comprehend these great truths, it takes much longer. It is utterly useless to try and earn eternal life. I have been in a fog of bewilderment and didn't know it.
"We need the divine love of God which is represented by gold tried in the fire; we need the white raiment of Christ's pure character; we need the heavenly eye salve that we might discern with astonishment the utter worthlessness of creature merit to earn the wages of eternal life." F&W
Listen to this explanation: "The Lord Jesus imparts all the powers, all the grace, all the penitence, all the inclination, all the pardon of sins, in presenting His righteousness for us to grasp by living faith--which is also the gift of God. .....Standing in the presence of their Creator and looking upon the unsurpassed glory which enshrouds His person, we are looking upon the Lamb of God given from the foundation of the world to a life of humiliation, to be rejected of sinful men, to be despised, to be crucified. Who can measure the infinity of the sacrifice!" F&W
Not me, I cannot even begin to imagine what Christ went through for me. Lord, in my hand no price I bring, simply to Your cross, I cling.
"When we learn that we cannot earn righteousness by our own merit of works, and we look with firm and entire reliance upon Jesus Christ as our only hope, there will not be so much of self and so little of Jesus....We need to see by faith the righteousness of Christ as our only hope for time and for eternity." F&W
"The soul temple is to be sacred, holy, pure, and undefiled. There must be a copartnership in which all the power is of God and all the glory belongs to God. The responsibility rests with us. We must receive in thoughts and in feelings, to give in expression. The law of the human and the divine action makes the receiver a laborer together with God. It brings man where he can, united with divinity, work the works of God. Humanity touches humanity. Divine power and the human agency combined will be a complete success, for Christ's righteousness accomplishes everything." F&W
Did you get that? If we accept Christ's righteousness as our righteousness, we can work the works of God. But the responsibility lies with us to surrender to Christ and accept His righteousness as our righteousness 'for it is God who is working in you to will and to do of His good pleasure' Philippians 2:13.
"The reason so many fail to be successful laborers is that they act as though God depended on them, and they are to suggest to God what He chooses to do with them, in the place of their depending on God. They lay aside supernatural power and fail to do the supernatural work." F&W
Ephesians 2:8 "By grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God"
"Here is truth that will unfold the subject to your mind if you do not close it to the rays of light. Eternal life is an infinite gift. This places it outside the possibility of you earning it because it is infinite. It must necessarily be a gift. As a gift, it must be received by faith, and gratitude and praise be offered to God. Solid faith will not lead anyone away into fanaticism or into acting the slothful servant. It is the bewitching power of Satan that leads men to look to themselves in the place of looking to Jesus." F&W
What I have learned from this lesson is that I can do nothing to earn my salvation. I must trust in the merits of Christ's sacrifice for me for my salvation. This is a tough lesson to comprehend, but please read it over and over if you have to. It is all scriptural as you will see as the lessons go on. It is not made up. I am still learning because I want to make sure I have it down pat for my own salvation as well as yours. You will have to use your reasoning powers and don't let your doubts creep in. Please study these lessons and get them down in your heart and mind. It will make you free in Christ and you will happy and joyful that you came across them. Love to share with you and hope you are being blessed. Grandma Joan
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