south west end of Lake Louise by Florian Fuchs
Good morning, beloved,
We are in the week of Thanksgiving. How did we get here? As I roam around Facebook, watch the news, read the news, I realize that the greatest thing I have to be thankful for this year and all the years in the past and the years to come is salvation.
When Satan comes prowling, I believe the lies I am most willing to accept are lies about my salvation. Stay with me here. 😉 We know we have been saved by Jesus’ blood. Yet when we are in the midst of life, our problem is two-fold.
1. We gloss over the sin. Try to forget the sin. Hope God forgot too and shove it under the carpet. Somehow, we have convinced ourselves that certain sins are not really sin. We lie to ourselves, to others and we call it white lies. We judge so often we forget that is what God calls it. How we look at people, judge their character, discern things that we have no business meddling in. We want revenge, think it is just to think this way. In essence, we ask God to move out of His spot in our lives and take over. Do we consciously do this? no.
2. We forgot the power of salvation and all that it includes. I’m going to include a chart from Precepts Ministries International that has been rocking my world. I’m thinking of tattooing it on my arm.
The Three Tenses of Salvation
(@ 2003 Precept Ministries International)
| Tense | Free From Sin’s | When | Doctrine of | |
| Past | I have been saved | Penalty-by His death
Romans 3: 21-24Dominion-by my death Romans 6:3-7 |
When I receive Christ | Justification |
| Present | I am being saved | Power-by indwelling Holy Spirit
Romans 8:2-14 |
As I walk in the Spirit | Sanctification |
| Future | I shall be saved | Presence-by redemption of my body
Romans 8;22-25 |
When I get a new body | Glorification |
What God begins, God finishes Romans 8:29-30
There is so much GIFT in this table. I love it! I’ve been staring at it for two days now, reveling. Let’s take it apart. 🙂
| Tense | Free From Sin’s | When | Doctrine of | |
| Past | I have been saved | Penalty-by His death
Romans 3: 21-24 Dominion-by my death Romans 6:3-7 |
When I receive Christ | Justification |
In the past, you and I were saved from the penalty of sin by one death. One life.
Romans 3:
21 But now the righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law, although actually it is attested by the Law and the Prophets,
22 Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah). [And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction,
23 Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives.
24 [All] are justified andmade upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,
God’s righteousness was your gift the moment you said. I believe. I trust. I am going to confidently rely on Him. We all fall short.
YET, here’s the beauty we are all made upright. We all are in right standing with God. Not because of anything we did but by His unmerited favor and mercy..thru redemption ( a releasing effected by payment of ransom. ) Jesus payed our ransom. We are redeemed!
| Tense | Free From Sin’s | When | Doctrine of | |
| Present | I am being saved | Power-by indwelling Holy Spirit Romans 8:2-14 | As I walk in the Spirit | Sanctification |
Now, today, right now, breathing, we are being saved. Constantly, without fail, because of the gift of the Holy Spirit. His indwelling Spirit in our lives, as we walk in the Spirit, we are being saved.
Romans 8:
2 For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.
3 For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [[a]the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [[b]subdued, overcame, [c]deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],
4 So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].
5 For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and[d]pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and [e]seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.
6 Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that [f]comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].
7 [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.
8 So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.
9 But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].
10 But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].
11 And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.
12 So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.
13 For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Receive that truth, friends. Thank You, Lord for this beautiful gift of the Spirit!
| Tense | Free From Sin’s | When | Doctrine of | |
| Future | I shall be saved | Presence-by redemption of my body Romans 8;22-25 | When I get a new body | Glorification |
What hope we have, no matter what our present circumstances, we also can look forward to the day when…
Romans 8:
22 We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now.
23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God’s sons).
24 For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees?
25 But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.
Paul knew, this wasn’t the end of the story. Suffering, hard times, persecution..this wasn’t the end. No matter how bleak your circumstances appear, this is not the end of the story. We place our hope, our faith in what is to come.
Heaven.
Romans 8:
28 We are assured and know that [[j]God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.
29 For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was [k]aware and[l]loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.
30 And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].
31 What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?]
Let your faith arise. Let your hope swell. Lift up your hands and praise God, for He is faithful God. Always.
Pray on. Pray on.
Related articles
- Justified by Faith (loopyloo305.com)
- Romans 8…The Life-Giving Spirit! (simplyjuliana.com)
- Jesus for us (Salvation); Jesus in us (Sanctification) (thepauls.wordpress.com)
- The Grammar of the Cross (theodorezachariadesblog.wordpress.com)
- False Ideas About Salvation (revivalandreformation.wordpress.com)
- Thanksgiving Printables (thecreativestack.wordpress.com)
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