Truly "Christ Alone" ?

Let's say you are a friend and you come running to inform me that you are in love. Nearly breaking into song, you extol the virtues of love. "Love," you muse, "is a many-splendored thing." For twenty minutes, you rhapsodize about the magnificence of love while making only passing references to your girlfriend. Would it not be at least a possibility to surmise from this that you are more enchanted with falling in love than with the girl?

This can easily become the case in our relationship with the Lord. it becomes subjective: Obsession with the act of faith replaces the centrality of the object of faith, Jesus Christ...

(M. Horton)

Justification is...?

The Protestant Reformers countered Rome's view of justification with Scripture because they saw Rome's view as very unBiblical. It can be argued that defining justification was one of the greatest points of the Reformation. Yet, hardly any evangelical Christians today have either heard of, know of, or can rightly explain the doctrine of justification, even though it is a key doctrine in the New Testament (especially the entire book of Romans). I pray that this will help us all understand what justification is and what it is not.

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Justification is not God making you righteous.
Justification is not a source of grace to help you do good Christian deeds.
Justification is not being transformed into something righteous.
Justification is not making yourself righteous to God.
Justification is not the imparting of grace.

Justification is the instantaneous, one-time act of God declaring the sinner righteous.
Justification is grace imputed to the sinner.
Justification is how we are simul iustus et peccator (simultaneously justified and sinful).
Justification is what Christ earned on our behalf because we could not.
Justification is by the alien righteousness of Christ, not a native righteousness of man.
Justification is by faith alone by grace alone in Christ alone.

"God's part, 'our part'"

"If I know not the distinction between our working and the power of God, I know not God Himself. Hence, I cannot worship Him, praise Him, or serve Him; for I shall never know how much I ought to ascribe unto myself and unto God... No, the mercy of God alone does all things, and our own will does nothing; it is not active, but rather acted upon. And so it must be; otherwise, the whole is not ascribed unto God."

(Martin Luther)

I ought to be grateful...

I ought to be grateful for the grace that has been bestowed upon me. For once I was an object, a vessel of wrath - one upon which the holy anger of God burned fiercely, waiting to strike me down in my unrepentant state. But the blood of Christ, the perfect Passover Lamb, has covered me, has shielded me, and the anger of God has passed by me and has let me live, free from the bondage of sin. O glorious day, the Son upon that cross He hung, and no one could recognize Him! How smitten, how tattered, how scourged was He, the Man, my God, to save a wretch like me? How can I not be grateful for His wondrous deed? He has earned me life before the eyes of God, and I must turn to Him, I must! I must! There is an irresistible desire to continually be at His feet, humble as a servant, to do all righteousness that pleases Him. Oh, the gratitude comes from the grace. Oh, how I wish I could understand it all!

Alas, Fallen Asleep - a poem

Alas, Fallen Asleep - Me

Awake, my soul, arise and see!
The gloomy clouds of the day past
Have been pierced by an everlasting brilliance,
Hearken, my ears, listen and hear!
The trumpet of angels resound like thunder,
The wedding bells ring a magnificent tone.
Reach out, my soul, touch and believe!
The Christ is risen, feel Him there!
The senses can feel Him all around,
His glory exists in all things forever,
Yet still my eyes, my hands, my ears -
All my senses are still ever so hardened.
Lord, break the spell of disillusion,
Break the heart of solid stone,
Let me repent and believe in Thee,
Not for me but for Thy glory alone.

Shining in the Dark

Young men - believe it or not, but one day, you will have to buy a wedding ring for your beloved, and that jeweler, that crafty man, will put that tiny speck of a diamond (which you could barely afford, of course) upon a dark, black velvet, so that it will shine and radiate and will look magnificent because it is set in the darkness surrounding it.

The same goes with the grace of God, because it will shine ever more brightly, it will magnify in its illumination when it stands in the pitch-black backdrop of the darkness of our depravity.

O, What Wondrous Love is This?

[Dr. Horton explains the doctrine of election and how it reveals the beautifully unmerited and endless depths of God's love and mercy. The first section explains the difference between the compassion of God towards all his creation and the salvific, particular, specific, and intimate love of God towards his elect. Then, the last section explains why this is important and applicable to evangelism and how we share the Gospel to nonbelievers. A good quick read for those who are curious about the amazing grace of God.]

...I have found no evidence in Scripture to support the conclusion that God loves every person in the same way. It is often said, "God loves the sinner, but hates his sin." Actually, however, the psalmist says of God, "you hate all who do wrong" (Psalm 5:5). It took the reconciliation of Christ's death to turn away God's hatred.

If I asked you, "Do you love everybody in the world?" You would probably say yes. But I can make a reasonable guess that if you were to describe for me your love for your spouse or closest relative, the meaning of that word love would deepen. If you love people you don't even know as much as you love your spouse, I can foresee some problems for your marriage. Only the elect were known and loved by God before creation (Romans 8:29). God "sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45), but "bring[s] about justice for His elect" (Luke 18:7). As Creator, God cares for the temporal lives of his creatures, but as Husband, Jesus Christ favors only his bride with sacrificial, eternal love (Ephesians 5:25). A father might care about all the children of the world, but that care does not even compare with his concern and love for his own children. So too, Christ died for "the scattered children of God" (John 11:52).

But doesn't this limit God's love? On the contrary! This view intensifies God's love, by announcing it as a discriminate, special, saving love that truly reaches its target. That sure beats the indiscriminate, general benevolence we seem to be hearing much about today...

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...What the fallen, alienated sinner needs to hear is not "God loves everybody, so if you're a 'body' then God loves you." No, the sinner needs more than that. He or she needs that intense love from all eternity that would mark him or her out. The sinner needs a passionate love, a committed love, a compelling love, which only comes in a discriminate, particular, selective relationship. Unconditional love is not based on the creature but the Creator.


(Putting Amazing Back into Grace)