"From Salvation"

"From Salvation"

       

     While we do not work for our salvation, we do work from it.

     "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us...We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:10).

     God provides salvation in the Lord Jesus as a free gift to all who trust in His redeeming work on our behalf.  "By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.  It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).  With our Savior comes the Holy Spirit, who enters our hearts when we believe to establish our innermost spiritual being as "the habitation of God" (Ephesians 2:22).  He changes who and what we most deeply are, and then begins the lifelong process of progressively conforming the entirety of our being to the spiritual and moral image of Christ.

    "If any man be in Christ, He is a new creature.  Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17).

    "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).

    Upon this basis of a gift freely received and maintained by God, we then seek to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18).  We trust His promises, submit ourselves to Him, and rejoice in the blessed grace that we are "His workmanship" rather than our own.  This leads to countless acts of self sacrifice for God and others as the love of Christ in us motivates and enables His quality of life to be revealed through us.  None of us are perfect in response to such working, and we will sometimes require our Lord's forgiveness and cleansing for the restoration of our walk with Him (I John 1:9).  The relationship remains secure, however, as eternally maintained by our great High Priest the Lord Jesus, who "ever liveth to make intercession for us" (Hebrews 7:25).  God's grace enables us to act and react in ways that would not be possible apart from His presence and faithful involvement.  The Apostle Paul serves as a prime example of such a life, and we close with His testimony of the grace that freely justifies us, and then progressively and persistently transforms us into likeness to our Savior.  Yes, we work from His salvation …

"By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."

(I Corinthians 15:10)

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.  For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."

(Romans 8:28-29)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Who can understand his errors?   Cleanse Thou me from secret faults.

(Psalm 19:12)