The Good News of Justification

Hi everyone - here I am popping in with one of my infrequent blog posts.  This is a quote from Hywel Jones that is too good and too life giving not to share.  To fail to share this would be to deprive all of you of a great statement of the greatness of the gospel.

Only a fraction of the present body of confessing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many have so light an apprehension of God's holiness and of the extent and guilt for their sin that consciously they see little need for justification, although below the surface they are deeply guilt ridden and insecure.

Many others have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day to day existence they rely on their sanctification for justification drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience.

Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand on Luther's platform; you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in the quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude.

Comments

[Rebecca]

I really miss your sermons and uplifting good news when im here at Frostburg.
it always makes my bad days a little better when i remember i already have all i need and i can trust that God knows what he's doing even if i don't.
i miss you papa wayne!
hope youre doing well!
love becca butler

[David Wayne]

Hi Becca - great to hear from you and I'm glad my sermons resonate with you. Will you be home this summer?

[Heather]

That is a good quote.

I'm terrible about trying to measure the process of sanctification in an attempt to find proof of justification.

Don't know why it is so hard to remember that the Lord has made it clear that He alone can BE God and we just need to be thankful that He's generously offered to share His "spare coat" with us beggars.

H

[Richard]

Actually, Pastor Wayne, I think the quote is from Richard Lovelace, "The Dynamics of Spiritual Life." It's a terrific quote, though--I love it!

[uncreative Laura]

Hi Pastor Wayne:
Thanks for this quote. We used to run in the same blog circles (like way back in 2005!) and it seems we have both been growing more towards a confessional Reformed faith---I find it much friendlier territory for actually grasping and living the content of your quote here than the evangelical ground I was treading last we met. I've been praying whenever I think of you and your family since I popped onto your blog a few weeks ago, for the first time in years, and found out about your diagnosis. It has been quite instructive and humbling to read through some of your experiences learning of and dealing with cancer. May God strengthen and increase your faith until faith becomes sight--not so far off for any of us.
Blessings,
Laura

[Dan Phillips]

OK, dude, you're worrying me again.

Post more.

:^(

[David, justopenthebook.com]

Great quote. God has accepted us totally. The leader of our Bible study said it like this - "God has promised us all understanding and spiritual blessings - but how many of us go about our daily life as if this is true?" Faith can accomplish miracles daily.

I've recently been reading George Mueller's autobiography - a great place to start to get you fired up about God's provision.

[Michael Gormley]

b>Is Half of The Story Sufficient For Salvation?

How many sides are there to a story? If you say two, then you are wrong. If you had one side and I had one side that would make two sides. However, there is a third side, the side of truth.

Rule # 1... One half of truth does not a truth make. Neither does one half of a story make the full story. No intelligent person can hear one side of a story and decide which side has the truth.

Both sides have to be heard, then analysed, and then a decision has to be made as to which side (if either) has a valid story, and after that, the right side(s), or truth side, can be determined.

This thinking holds true for discerning what Holy Scripture tells us.

Throughout the Bible there are double standards, yet the fundamentalist thinking shows only one standard, or one side of the story, or only one half of the truth.

Their thinking is in violation of rule # 1. With only one half of truth, you do not have truth. Anything less than the whole truth is error.

In the following examples, side 'A' is the first side, side 'B' is the second, and side 'C' is the right, or truth side.

Example # 1... Sola Scriptura...? Only the Bible. Fundamentalist thinking is that the Bible is sufficient and nothing else is needed for salvation.

First of all, in order to believe in the 'Bible Only' philosophy, you have to show that Scripture says it. Is that not true? The doctrine of 'Sola Scriptura' is not to be found in Scripture.

A. Tradition is condemned in many places in Scripture, such as Job 22:15, Matthew 15:6, Mark 7:3-13, Galatians 1:14, Colossians 2:8, 1Timothy 1:4, Titus 1:14, and 1Peter 1:18. Look at these verses and grasp their meaning.

They all address 'vain' human traditions and are rightly condemned. This is one half of the truth.

B. Tradition is supported in more places in Scripture than it is condemned. Study Isaiah 59:21, Luke 1:2, 2:19,51, Luke 10:16, 2Thessalonians 2:14-15 - "Stand firm and hold the traditions you have learned..", 2Timothy 1:13,2:2, 1Peter 1:25, 1Jn 1:1,2:24, 2Jn 1:12, Revelation 12:17,19:10.

These are different traditions than mentioned in 'A'. These are the Traditions of GOD, or 'Apostolic' Tradition.' Again, this is only half of the truth.

C. The truth is, yes, we do condemn the vain tradition of men, as shown in 'A', and we must keep the Tradition of GOD, as shown in 'B'.

Thus we have half the truth in 'A', and the other half in 'B', and combined we have the full truth.

The false doctrine of Sola Scriptura adds A and B together and puts the total in A, rejecting all of tradition. A+B=C.

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