Hymns for service “Unsearchable Riches” – p. 495 / “Take My Life and Let It Be” – p. 393
"IN HIM"
Two small words – "in Him," two small words which in and of themselves are insignificant, one is a common proposition and the other is a personal pronoun. Yet these two words are full of grace and truth. In these two words are found the very essence of the Gospel. Why? Because the person the pronoun refers to is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God Man, the Savior of sinners. And the simple preposition describes the glorious position and relationship of every believer as being in Christ. God "chose us in Him" (Eph. 1:4); we are "justified" in Him (1 Cor. 6:11); we are "the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). In Him is "forgiveness of sins"(Eph. 1:7); in Him we are sanctified and redeemed (1Cor. 1:30); in Him is "peace with God" (Rom. 5:10). In Him we have "died to sin" (Rom. 6:2); in Him we are "alive to God" (Rom. 6:11). In Him we have assurance of faith (1 John 2:5); in Him "the love of God is perfected" in all those who believe (1 John2:5), and in Him we have "obtained an inheritance" of eternal riches. Truly the Lord Christ is everything, and all those who are in Him by faith are those who receive and inherit all the great and precious promises given in Christ Jesus. -Copied
All believers trust for righteousness in Christ alone. We are accepted in the Beloved. If you have any hope which disturbs, diminishes, or destroys the glory of His grace and righteousness, the sooner you get rid of it the better. We must not detract in any degree from the complete glory of Christ in the redemption of His people. In salvation, as in all things, Christ is all! -- Copied
Man’s entire apostasy and death in sin, so that he cannot save himself, and God’s entire supremacy, so that He saves whom He will, are doctrines exceedingly distasteful to human pride. But they are Scriptural. Why was one thief saved and the other lost? “Even so Father for so it seemed good in Thy sight” (Matt. 11:25-27). God was not bound to save the one, and He had power enough to have saved the other, and neither could save himself. What made the difference? The Sovereign Grace of God! -- Horatius Bonar
A famous preacher once said, "One act of obedience is better than a hundred sermons." This is the kind of reasoning that gave rise to such statements as, “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one." Although it is true that we as Christians ought to strive to be obedient to Christ and to live consistently with what we believe. We who believe the Gospel ought to be moral, responsible, honest, kind, compassionate, and generous people. But we need to realize that no sinner will ever be saved by looking at our acts of obedience. Character and conduct are essential in our lives as believers. They evidence of the power of God’s grace in our lives and the genuineness of our faith. But character and conduct can never take the place of preaching the Gospel. The Gospel is "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16), because the righteousness of God (which is the whole merit of Christ's work of redemption and the ground of salvation) is revealed in the Gospel (Rom. 1:17), not in our acts of obedience. The Bible says, "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" (1 Cor. 1:21), and we are begotten again “with the word of truth” (James 1:18). When men challenge God’s Word with their clever sayings that appeal to the flesh, we must reject their words and submit to God’s Word. It is true that Christ commands us to let our “light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16). But the “light” here is not our acts of obedience. It is the light of Christ Himself and the Gospel that shines on our obedience to reveal that it is “wrought in [by] God” (John 3:21). That same “light” exposes the attempts at obedience by unbelievers to be “evil deeds” (John 3:19-20). So as sinners saved by the grace of God, and as true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us strive to be obedient children. Let us war against the flesh and endeavor to thrive in all the fruit of the Spirit. Let us seek to grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ our Lord and Savior. But let us also be adamant to preach and witness the Gospel truth that we have no righteousness in and of ourselves. Our righteousness does not consist in our acts of obedience, but in Christ and His righteousness imputed to us. The power of our salvation is not in our works and/or perseverance, but in God’s power and preservation. – Pastor Bill Parker
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