God is Holy and God is Jealous. Because God is holy, sinful men repulse God, but because of His love He is drawn to us.
Justification by Faith December 17, 2007
To justify means to declare one righteous, or count them as righteous. When God justifies someone, they are considered, declared righteous by Hm having their sins removed from their account. They become justified from the guilt of sin, and thus re freed from the penalty of sin which is death. (Romans 6:23) Righteousness is a standing that God imputes. We cannot be any more righteous than we were when God initially justified us based on our faith. Holiness is something we grow in (2 Corinthians 7:1). It is the means by which we become more and more like Christ. Sanctification is the process by which we become what we are. We begin to live experintially the way that God has already declared us to be positionally. We begin to live in a manner that God has already declared us to be. To believe in Jesus means that we completely rely on Him for our salvation. To be justified by faith means that God considers an individual to be righteous when they place their complete trust in Jesus’ work on Calvary, renouncing any ability of their own to save themselves. Grace is not a license to sin, but the power to live above sin. Justification is not the totality of our salvation experience, regeneration occurs through the new birth (titus 3:5). Regeneration is the transformation of believers wherein God infuses spiritual life into our spirits. (Thoughts taken from Jason Dulle and Daniel Segraves)
Holiness and Grace December 17, 2007
Holiness and Grace are perfect compliments, Holiness must be anchored in the Grace of God
Counterfeits December 17, 2007
For everything that God has the devil will come up with a counterfeit: a cheap imitation of the beauty and glory of God… up to a certain point then no more.
What is Holiness measured by? December 16, 2007
Holiness isn’t measured by how much sin I don’t have; but holiness is measured by how often we allow his presence to change us. Without the presence of God there can be no true holiness. Holiness cannot be defined by our standard of living or thinking. Holiness cannot be define as separate from the world, modest dress, or godly living. It doesn’t matter what extremes or lengths we go to, we cannot make ourselves holy. Because only God is holy and holiness only comes from God. Holiness can only be defined by the presence of God. Separation, godly living, are only results of being in the presence of a holy God. The only way that we can be holy is if God imputes his holiness unto us. Holiness isn’t the absence of sin, but rather the presence of God. We don’t need to worry about our new converts becoming holy, we just need to create an atmosphere where the presence of Gd can make them holy. The focus shouldn’t be on God making our converts holy as much as the focus should be them whole. Wholeness precedes holiness.
