God's way of salvation is through the UNIFIED righteousness of Christ alone. That is, it is His life and death that form the BASIS for how we are RIGHT with God. It is truly by the work of Another that we are saved. We are saved by grace alone through faith only in Christ alone! That is, it is surely and certainly by His Almighty grace that we STAND before Him with white robes. God's way of salvation is belief in the deity of Christ and the personhood and deity of the Holy Spirit. There is NO room for boasting because it is from God alone! All glory to His name!
J.C. Philpot said on justification in his study of Ephesians:
"Accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:6
We are ever looking for something in SELF to make
ourselves acceptable to God. We are often sadly cast
down and discouraged when we cannot find in ourselves . . .
that holiness,
that obedience,
that calm submission to the will of God,
that serenity of soul,
that spirituality,
that heavenly-mindedness,
which we believe to be acceptable in His sight!
Our crooked tempers,
our fretful, peevish minds,
our rebellious thoughts,
our coldness and barrenness,
our alienation from good,
our headlong proneness to evil,
with the daily feeling that we get no better,
but rather worse--make us think that God
views us just as we view ourselves!
And this brings on great darkness of mind and bondage
of spirit, until we seem to lose sight of our acceptance
in Christ, and get into the miserable dregs of self--almost
ready to quarrel with God because we are so vile, and only
get worse as we get older!
Now the more we get into these dregs of self, and the more
we keep looking at the dreadful scenes of wreck and ruin
which our heart presents to daily view--the farther do we
get from the grace of the gospel--and the more do we lose
sight of the only ground of our acceptance with God. It is
"in the Beloved" that we are accepted--and not for any . . .
good words,
good works,
good thoughts,
good hearts, or
good intentions of our own!
If our acceptance with God depended on anything
in ourselves, we would have to believe we might
be children of God today and children of the devil
tomorrow!
What, then, is to keep us from sinking altogether
into despair, without hope or help? Why, a knowledge
of our acceptance "in the Beloved," independent of
everything in us--good or bad!
"And you are complete in Him!" Colossians 2:10
We are ever looking for something in SELF to make
ourselves acceptable to God. We are often sadly cast
down and discouraged when we cannot find in ourselves . . .
that holiness,
that obedience,
that calm submission to the will of God,
that serenity of soul,
that spirituality,
that heavenly-mindedness,
which we believe to be acceptable in His sight!
Our crooked tempers,
our fretful, peevish minds,
our rebellious thoughts,
our coldness and barrenness,
our alienation from good,
our headlong proneness to evil,
with the daily feeling that we get no better,
but rather worse--make us think that God
views us just as we view ourselves!
And this brings on great darkness of mind and bondage
of spirit, until we seem to lose sight of our acceptance
in Christ, and get into the miserable dregs of self--almost
ready to quarrel with God because we are so vile, and only
get worse as we get older!
Now the more we get into these dregs of self, and the more
we keep looking at the dreadful scenes of wreck and ruin
which our heart presents to daily view--the farther do we
get from the grace of the gospel--and the more do we lose
sight of the only ground of our acceptance with God. It is
"in the Beloved" that we are accepted--and not for any . . .
good words,
good works,
good thoughts,
good hearts, or
good intentions of our own!
If our acceptance with God depended on anything
in ourselves, we would have to believe we might
be children of God today and children of the devil
tomorrow!
What, then, is to keep us from sinking altogether
into despair, without hope or help? Why, a knowledge
of our acceptance "in the Beloved," independent of
everything in us--good or bad!
"And you are complete in Him!" Colossians 2:10
