KenH
Well-Known Member
If the Son Sets You Free
Do you "feel saved"?
Most days I don't even feel like a "Christian".
Why? Because I'm looking inward, judging by my feelings, my lack of understanding, my failings, my ineptitude, inabilities and my sins.
God's children, saved by His grace in Christ still wrestle with sin, doubts, fears and troubles.
I feel it daily.
The good I would do, that I don't. The evil I shouldn't, that I do.
If we're honest this is every believers struggle.
It's the flesh Vs the Spirit
We are immensely changeable, emotionally driven and fickle justified sinners, still living whilst dying in this body of flesh, and these matters are not going away until this body ceases to live.
Feelings and emotions are part of who we are.
But feelings aren't fact.
God's word is Truth.
Christ said He is The Way, The Life and The Truth
This fact means every other way is a lie and death.
When it comes to salvation we rest in God's Truth because only His Truth as it is in His Gospel sets sinners free, His Gospel which is a declaration of salvation in, by and through Christ for all The Father gave Him.
The Truth sets sinners free, not a lie, not feelings, not men, not emotions but God's Truth in His Son, declared in His word revealed to blind, dead elect sinners by The Holy Spirit.
God Who cannot lie.
God Who never changes.
God Who is eternal.
God Who is ever and always faithful.
That's why despite my many many sinful failings, I ultimately rest in Christ as all God's children do.
Because salvation is not about me.
And it's not about you.
It's not my doing because there's NOTHING a sinner can do for salvation, period, it's God's grace alone in Christ alone.
It's not my obedience, however you apply that word to mere sinful man, but Christ's perfect obedience to The Father that satisfied God's righteous wrath (Propitiation) on behalf of God's children.
It's not my unfaithfulness but Christ's great faithfulness.
It's not my works but the great work of Christ that actually saved His people.
He was my Substitute, Surety, Representative and Saviour on the cross.
And He has always been the Head and Husband of His church. One Head, one body.
Christ is God's elect, His Beloved Son, and all God's children were chosen in Him and loved in Him- the love of God is in Christ Jesus.
This is why Jacob was loved yet Esau was hated.
It's not my love to God I'm resting in, because if salvation is based on love or anything else in me, I'm undone.
But praise God His word declares that this is not the case!
it's His eternal and unchanging love for His people in Christ and all He accomplished for me that I rest in.
My feelings and actions (or lack of) can't wash away my sins and free me from guilt and condemnation for transgressions, only the blood of Christ DID.
It's not my doings that merited Righteousness, it WAS Christ and His finished work.
That's why ultimately, whatever convicts me is of self or satan, because I KNOW Christ really truly set me free from condemnation and wrath because He really did finish the work The Father gave Him for all His sheep on the cross.
He paid my debt in full.
John 8:32
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
You must be blind to be given sight.
You must be dead to be given life.
You must be lost to be found.
You must be ungodly to be saved.
You must be a sinner to need the righteousness of Another.
And this is not of yourself but all of God's grace, mercy and love.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
This is God's free and sovereign grace in Christ for His sheep - we stand as justified saints in God's sight because of what The Lord Jesus did for us.
Herein is LOVE.
It is well with my soul because I rest in The Beloved Lord Jesus and give thanks and praise to God for such an unspeakable GIFT.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I Peter 1:3-5
[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
[4] to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
[5] who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
A. Elliott
- written by Angela Elliott on her Facebook page.
Do you "feel saved"?
Most days I don't even feel like a "Christian".
Why? Because I'm looking inward, judging by my feelings, my lack of understanding, my failings, my ineptitude, inabilities and my sins.
God's children, saved by His grace in Christ still wrestle with sin, doubts, fears and troubles.
I feel it daily.
The good I would do, that I don't. The evil I shouldn't, that I do.
If we're honest this is every believers struggle.
It's the flesh Vs the Spirit
We are immensely changeable, emotionally driven and fickle justified sinners, still living whilst dying in this body of flesh, and these matters are not going away until this body ceases to live.
Feelings and emotions are part of who we are.
But feelings aren't fact.
God's word is Truth.
Christ said He is The Way, The Life and The Truth
This fact means every other way is a lie and death.
When it comes to salvation we rest in God's Truth because only His Truth as it is in His Gospel sets sinners free, His Gospel which is a declaration of salvation in, by and through Christ for all The Father gave Him.
The Truth sets sinners free, not a lie, not feelings, not men, not emotions but God's Truth in His Son, declared in His word revealed to blind, dead elect sinners by The Holy Spirit.
God Who cannot lie.
God Who never changes.
God Who is eternal.
God Who is ever and always faithful.
That's why despite my many many sinful failings, I ultimately rest in Christ as all God's children do.
Because salvation is not about me.
And it's not about you.
It's not my doing because there's NOTHING a sinner can do for salvation, period, it's God's grace alone in Christ alone.
It's not my obedience, however you apply that word to mere sinful man, but Christ's perfect obedience to The Father that satisfied God's righteous wrath (Propitiation) on behalf of God's children.
It's not my unfaithfulness but Christ's great faithfulness.
It's not my works but the great work of Christ that actually saved His people.
He was my Substitute, Surety, Representative and Saviour on the cross.
And He has always been the Head and Husband of His church. One Head, one body.
Christ is God's elect, His Beloved Son, and all God's children were chosen in Him and loved in Him- the love of God is in Christ Jesus.
This is why Jacob was loved yet Esau was hated.
It's not my love to God I'm resting in, because if salvation is based on love or anything else in me, I'm undone.
But praise God His word declares that this is not the case!
it's His eternal and unchanging love for His people in Christ and all He accomplished for me that I rest in.
My feelings and actions (or lack of) can't wash away my sins and free me from guilt and condemnation for transgressions, only the blood of Christ DID.
It's not my doings that merited Righteousness, it WAS Christ and His finished work.
That's why ultimately, whatever convicts me is of self or satan, because I KNOW Christ really truly set me free from condemnation and wrath because He really did finish the work The Father gave Him for all His sheep on the cross.
He paid my debt in full.
John 8:32
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
You must be blind to be given sight.
You must be dead to be given life.
You must be lost to be found.
You must be ungodly to be saved.
You must be a sinner to need the righteousness of Another.
And this is not of yourself but all of God's grace, mercy and love.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
This is God's free and sovereign grace in Christ for His sheep - we stand as justified saints in God's sight because of what The Lord Jesus did for us.
Herein is LOVE.
It is well with my soul because I rest in The Beloved Lord Jesus and give thanks and praise to God for such an unspeakable GIFT.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I Peter 1:3-5
[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
[4] to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
[5] who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
A. Elliott
- written by Angela Elliott on her Facebook page.
