This is Galatianism...

"It is said that justification is initially received by faith but is then sustained by human efforts to keep the law. This is Galatianism — it begins in the Spirit and then seeks to be made perfect by the flesh (Gal. 3:1-3). But the apostle Paul declares that the Christian life is maintained by the same grace and in the same way as it was initiated (Col. 2:6). It begins in faith and ends in faith, and all along the way the just live by faith (Rom. 1:17). God would have His people commit their souls to Him as unto a faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19). He is able to keep them from falling (Jude 24). "Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand." Rom. 14:4. The Lord declares, " . . . they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." John 10:28. They "are kept by the power of God through faith" (1 Peter 1:5). "

Present Truth Magazine

Legalism springs from ignorance...

"Legalism has its roots in sinful ignorance — ignorance of the exalted holiness of God's law on the one hand, and ignorance of the defiled and radical corruption of human nature on the other hand. Only the obedience of Him who was filled with all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9) could satisfy the demands of God's holy law. The life of Jesus was the embodiment of divine perfection, infinite purity and inexhaustible love. All this was required, and nothing less than this, to fulfill all righteousness. In the person of His Son, the eternal God endured infinite suffering and humiliation to pay the human debt to divine justice. This was the price paid for our salvation. Nothing satisfies the law but the doing and dying of Christ. In the light of this inestimable price, the best we could ever offer the law would be "rotten stubble and straw" (Luther).

I did not know the stain of sin was so deep Until I saw Him shed His blood.I did not know my pride was so highUntil I saw His infinite humiliation. I had no idea how deep my pit of sinUntil I beheld the length of the chain let down to save me.

God will have all the glory of our salvation or none at all. Partners with God we may be in other areas, but not in this. Human nature would rather work its fingers to the bone than humbly accept the truth that grace means to be accepted in spite of being unacceptable. We have no claim on God's love. We can never put Him in debt to us. "

Present Truth Mag

Meditate on the cross, renew the mind...

"When I come to the cross, I find what could be found nowhere else - righteous judgment against sin, but perfect love to the sinner at the same time. The more we look into it, the more we see the value of the cross, the more precious will Christ be to us"

J N Darby

RENEWAL TIME !!!

Romans 12:2 tells us to renew our minds…why?…..because for so many years we have programmed our brains daily to think wrong thoughts about ourselves, living daily with thoughts of condemnation, eminent judgement by God, guilt and fear…being lied to by the Devil, the world and some WELL MEANING Elders, Deacons and Saints, all of this especially if we have lived listening to a confusing mixed message of law and grace!

The result? We don’t believe we are who God says we are and our lives often reflect it….So God tells us “…do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…”

How do we renew our minds? By seeing ourselves daily as God sees us, not as we see ourselves…by looking at ourselves daily “through” the gospel of God’s grace…by MEDITATING daily on the Fathers love and desire for us…by BELIEVING daily the Father wants to do NOTHING but bless us…by confessing daily we ARE sons (and daughters) under the grace of the Most High God, with awesome futures full of hope and prosperity…by believing daily our sins ARE washed away once and for all, releasing us from Old Covenant sin consciousness to New Covenant Christ consciousness… that we are NOT sinners saved by grace but Saints wallowing in grace…by BELIEVING daily we ARE the righteousness of God in Christ, not because of anything we have or will do but only because of what HE did on the cross…why?


Cause…”God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that IN HIM we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Cor 5:21…


Gee, I feel a renewal coming on already!!! PRAISE GOD

...flow mingled down..

"Therefore these two things (as I do often repeat), to wit the law and the promise, must bediligently distinguished. For in time, in place, and in person, and generally in all other circumstances, they are separate as far asunder as heaven and earth... so that the law may have dominion over the flesh, and the promise may sweetly (and comfortably) reign in the conscience... But now, if thou confound and mingle these two together and place the law in the conscience, and the promise of liberty in the flesh thou makest a confusion... so that thou shalt not know what the law, what the promise, what sin, or what righteousness is."

Martin Luther


The english is old but the revelation FRESH!!

Enjoy your gift!

"Since grace is so important, How does one receive grace? First, grace is "unmerited favor" because it offers salvation that we do not deserve instead of the eternal damnation we do deserve. No one receives grace by their own merit or righteousness. This unmerited aspect of grace means it is a free gift.

The fact that grace is a free gift is emphasized in several New Testament Scriptures:

• We are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24)
• "The free gift . . . the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ" (5:15; cf. 20, 21);
• "the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:4);
• "the grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:14, 15);
• "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:6, 7);
• "by grace are ye saved . . . it is the gift of God" (2:8);
• "Now our Lord Jesus Christ . . . hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting c! onso lation and good hope through grace" (2 Thessalonians 2:16);
• "Who have saved us . . . according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 1:9);
• "[God] giveth more grace . . . giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6).

These Scriptures and others make it clear that grace and redemption are gifts. "

So enjoy the gift brothers and sisters, dont work for it...cause if you work for it, it aint a gift no more, grace stops being grace and you're left with nothing but the law!!

...and neither can it sanctify...

"Legalism is an attitude which equates righteousness with external compliance with a code of conduct. This code may be correct or incorrect. Our conduct may or may not measure up to the standard. The reasons why it is so devastating are:

• it ignores or underestimates the role of inner attitude and motivation;
• it focuses upon self-effort rather than on divine enablement;
• t encourages pride rather than humble dependence upon God;
• it tends to ‘use’ the Scriptures to reinforce our own preconceived ideas and preferences;
• it tends to conceive of our acceptance with God as performance oriented;
• it arouses the flesh and incites us to sin, rather than the avoidance of sin;
• it tends to impose one’s personal convictions on others, and to condemn them if they fail to live up to our rules.

Legalism cannot save you my friend, and neither can it sanctify. Praise God! "

by Bob Deffinbaugh

Struggling to obtain holiness?

"Believers today are not under law, either as a means of justification or as a rule of life, but are justified by grace and are called upon to walk in grace... Primarily here [Rom. 7:14-25] we have a believing Jew struggling to obtain holiness by using the law as a rule of life and resolutely attempting to compel his old nature to be subject to it. In Christendom now the average (Gentile) believer goes through the same experience; for legality is commonly taught almost everywhere.

Therefore, when one is converted it is but natural to reason that now one has been born of God it is only a matter of determination and persistent endeavor to subject oneself to the law, and one will achieve a life of holiness. And God Himself permits the test to be made in order that His people may learn experimentally that the flesh in a believer is no better than the flesh in an unbeliever. When he ceases from self-effort he finds deliverance through the Spirit by occupation with the risen Christ."

H.A. Ironside

be aware (mindfull)...of HIM

“The level of your conscious awareness of the presence of God will affect the level of your confidence to do things you thought you could not do”

Rob Rufus

when our minds gets renewed (throught the Gospel) our levels of awareness of His presence IS greatly increased...renewed to believing we CAN do what He says we can and we ARE who He says we are...Praise God

2009

"In 2009 I believe the church is going to be brought into a greater understanding of what it means to LIVE from its position and identity in Christ. I believe this will happen as the grace truths of position and identity unfold and are built into our hearts by the Spirit of God. They include:

1. Who we are in Christ; a new creation birthed into a new order of existence, sealed by the Holy Spirit, perfect in God’s sight (Hebrews 10:14), righteous because God has placed us in Christ, not because of anything we do.

2.Where we are in Christ; by grace we are in Another, the risen and ascended Lord, hidden in God’s unconditional love and acceptance, seated with Him (resting from our works) in heavenly places. Our part is not production, but reception of our life in Christ.

3. What we are in Christ, “no more a servant but a son and if a son, than an heir of God through Christ”, walking in the assurance of uninterrupted favor."

by Jim Hoag

ooh baby...

"The gospel (good news) is a result of God's grace (Gal. 1: 6-9). Grace is presented as sufficient and Christians are called by grace (2 Cor. 12: 7-10, Gal. 1: 15). Man is saved by grace, the heart is established by grace, and we are justified by grace (Eph. 2: 5, 8, Heb. 13: 9, Tit. 3: 7). Moreover, we render acceptable service by grace and grace imparts everlasting consolation (Heb. 12: 28, 29, 2 Thes. 2: 16). God's grace also makes us better people and helps us in time of need (I Cor. 15: 9, 10, Heb. 4: 16)."

want more evidence that we should be teaching grace?

A divine influence upon my heart!!

"Grace is at the center of the redemptive process, and its "divine influence upon the heart" is extremely important in understanding redemption. In the New Testament this aspect is strongly emphasized. In the Book of Acts we see that Stephen's martyrdom resulted in a scattering of the disciples out of Jerusalem. Some went to Antioch and preached to the Greeks, and "a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord" (Acts 11:21).

When the church at Jerusalem heard this, they had Barnabas investigate the matter since this was an early outreach to the Gentiles. There he saw "the grace of God" (v. 23); the grace of God produced a visible change in these Gentiles. Later Paul taught the Ephesian elders about "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (20:21). His goal was to "finish [his] course" and fulfill "the ministry, which [he had] received of the ! Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God" in Jerusalem (v. 24).

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE....AND REMEMBER CHRISTMAS WITHOUT GRACE IS XMAS!!

The gospel of grace is an "already finished" message.

"The gospel of grace is an “already FINISHED” message. II Cor.5:17 says,”Therefore if any person is in Christ he IS a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [the previous) HAS passed away. Behold, the fresh and new HAS come!” Lot’s of past tenses there!

As a result we have a RIGHTEOUSNESS that can never be contaminated.
We have an ACCEPTANCE that can never be questioned.
We have a a STANDING that can never be invalidated. (Nothing and no one can ever prevent us our right to rest in His presence).
We have a JUSTIFICATION that can never be reversed.
We have a SEAL that can never be violated. (Our Father has positioned us in His Son and put upon us the seal of the Holy Spirit!).
We have an INHERITANCE that can never be denied.
We have a SALVATION that can never be annulled.
We have a FORGIVENESS that is total and can never be rescinded.
We have BLESSING that can never be interrupted.

As a result, we have a MESSAGE that can never be repressed.

by Jim Hoag