“He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” – Titus 3:5-6
Excellent explanation by Dr. Steve Lawson on the doctrines of grace…
Merciful Lord,
Pardon all my sins of this day, week, year, all the sins of my life, sins of early, middle, and advanced years, of omission and commission, of morose, peevish and angry tempers, of lip, life and walk, of hard-heartness, unbelief, presumption, pride, of unfaithfulness to the souls of men, of want of bold decision in the cause of Christ, of deficiency in outspoken zeal for His glory, of bringing dishonor upon Thy great name, of deception, injustice, untruthfulness, in my dealings with others, of impurity in thought, word and deed, of covetousness, which is idolatry, of substance unduly hoarded, improvidently squandered, not consecrated to the glory of Thee, the Great Giver; sins in private and in the family, in study and recreation, in the busy haunts of men, in the study of Thy Word and in the neglect of it, in prayer irreverently offered and coldly withheld, in time misspent, in yielding to Satan’s wiles in opening my heart to his temptations, in being unwatchful when I know him nigh, in quenching the Holy Spirit; sins against light and knowledge, against conscience and restraints of Thy Spirit, against the law of eternal love.
Pardon all my sins, known and unknown, felt and unfelt, confessed and not confessed, remembered or forgotten. Good Lord, hear; and hearing, forgive.
From Valley of Vision -a Collection of Puritan Prayers
By Dr. Kim Riddlebarger
When we use the term “grace alone,” what we mean is that our salvation from the wrath of God – our deliverance from hell – is because of something good in God, and not because of anything good in us. The Biblical conception of human nature after Adam and Eve’s fall into sin is not a pretty picture, and Amerians, who seem to have an unlimited confidence in human nature and human goodness, have a very difficult time accepting what the bible says about the human condition. In a democratic culture such as ours, we believe that our vote counts, and that by exercising our right to choose, we can actually and significantly change the world around us. We are all taught from our youth that we have it within ourselves to accomplish anything, if we simply put our minds to it and give it our best efforts. And when we become Christians we carry that optimism over into our theology. If God tells us to do something, it must be because we have the ability to do what he commands! Choice becomes everything. And thus we fall headlong into one of the greatest heresies in church history, the heresy of Pelagianism, a theme to which we will return at the end of this lecture. It is really quite simple; grace alone doesn’t make much sense to an American who doesn’t think that much is wrong with the human condition in the first place. For if people are basically good, why then, do we need grace in order to be saved.
But to those who understand what the bible teaches about the effects of sin, grace alone is our only hope of heaven. And thus when we speak of grace alone (sola gratia), we are speaking of the fact that God saves us, because of his mercy and graciousness toward us, and not because of something – indeed anything – in us that makes us desirable to God. We really cannot understand grace alone unless we understand what it is, exactly, that sin has wrought upon us.
“Do not flatter yourselves of being good enough, because you are morally so; because you go to church, say a prayer, or take sacraments, therefore you think no more is required. Alas, you are deceiving your own souls; and if God, in His free grace and mercy, does not show you your error, it will only be leading you a softer way to your eternal ruin. But God forbid that any of you, to whom I am now speaking, should imagine this; no, you must be abased, and God must be exalted, or you will never begin at the right end. You will never see Jesus with comfort or satisfaction, unless you go to Him only on the account of what He has done and suffered.”
- George Whitfield (1714-1769) from “The Folly and Danger of Parting With Christ”
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
Titus 2:11-14
Understanding “Once Saved Always Saved”
This term has been misused by folks in thinking that once you pray a prayer or walk an isle you are “in the club” and you quite simply cannot lose your salvation. The key to understanding this statement is to understand where the term came from. The early reformers had a series of statements about the doctrines of grace and one of those statements was called “perseverance of the saints”. This statement affirmed the Biblical truths that someone who is truly saved cannot lose their salvation. The reason? The reformers rightly understood that before we are saved we are dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1) and a dead person can no more respond to the gospel than a corpse can talk. It takes a supernatural work of God to cause a sinner to be born again, or “born from above” in order for that dead person to be able to respond to the gospel call. The Westminster Confession of Faith rightly states, “They, whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.” Jesus clearly taught that one must be born again before they can enter the kingdom of heaven. God causes spiritual rebirth as a gracious, sovereign choice. So the reformers understanding was very Biblical in that they taught that a true believer is kept by God and that believer will persevere because the Holy Spirit will cause that person to continue in the faith even amongst the strongest persecution and temptation.
“Thursday in Minneapolis it was so gorgeous walking home I thought: I should write a post on how astonishing it is that no earthquake swallowed up this city today.
Instead God sent warmth and crystal skies and cool breezes and golden leaves and hanging sea gulls over Elliot Park.
Amazing. Absolutely amazing!
We deserved the 52-story IDS tower to fall, and bridges to collapse, and poisonous gas to kill thousands. But instead God gave us over-the-top foretastes of heaven.
This is why everyone is crying out, Where was God on Thursday! Where were you God! How could you do this? Why did you let this happen?
Everybody is saying that, aren’t they?”
- John Piper
Copyright 2008 John Piper. Used by permission.
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