Justification and Sanctification

Posted on by
6

We can make a distinction between the body and the head of a man and he suffers no loss, but if there is a separation, the man will be dead. The head and the body must stay together for life to continue. Similarly, though we can make a distinction between justification and sanctification, we must never separate the two.

JUSTIFICATION
Justification is a legal court room term defined as the act of God when He declares a person just or righteous in His sight. This takes place the moment a sinner places their trust in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. For the sinner who has faith in Jesus, God pronounces the sentence “I find you not guilty! I reckon (I count, I declare) you righteous in My sight, and you and I are forever at peace with each other. All of your sins were transferred to your sin bearing Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, who took the full brunt of My holy wrath for you, and what has been transferred to your account is the righteousness of My Son, who lived not only a sinless life, but a life fully pleasing to Me. This very real righteousness is yours now and forever.” Continue reading →

Miscommunication

Posted on by
3

A very elegant and fashionable lady wanted to go to attend a conference at a camp site in England. She wanted to enquire about camp ground facilities, and being quite proper, she wanted to ask about toilet facilities but she didn’t feel she could write the word “toilet” in her e-mail. It was beneath her. It was far too vulgar for her.

So she thought, “I’ll use an old fashioned term, bathroom commode.” So in her e-mail she asked, “does the camp ground have a bathroom commode?”

Then after writing that she thought, “I can’t write that. That is still too vulgar,” so she said, “I’ll just use the initials B.C.” (for bathroom commode)… so she wrote, “does the camp ground have a B.C.?”

Now, the camp ground owner in England received the e-mail, and sadly, he has not got a clue what she’s talking about. So he calls his staff in and asks if any of them know what she is referring to, and none of them has a clue what B.C. means either.

Well, after much discussion, they finally agree that B.C. refers to the local Baptist Church. So here comes the reply: Continue reading →

Isn’t Divine Predestination and Election just Fatalism?

Posted on by
15

Question: I’m really wrestling with this whole idea of predestination and election. Isn’t the idea of election just another word for fatalism?

Thank you for your question. Let me say first of all that you are not in any way the first person to wrestle with the weighty issues of Sovereign election over against free will. Many have walked this road before you. In fact, I too have not always believed what I now believe. You can be sure that much mental and emotional wrestling took place as I was in the process of learning what I believe to be the Biblical doctrine in this area. We all have traditions, and as a friend of mine, Dr. James White says so well, “the people most enslaved by their traditions are those who don’t believe they have any.” If you’ll allow me, I’d like to share something of my story in this regard. Continue reading →