Christ Alone

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width=210 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="3ce22c00dvldtc.gif"> <div> <B>"Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days."  Proverbs 19:20</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>To get back where you came from- </B></div> <div> <A HREF="articles.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Offensive Articles"><U><B>Offensive Articles</B></U></A><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Papyrus" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="151" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Offensive Words.com"><U><B>Offensive Words</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="13"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="13" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 30 WIDTH="119"><div> <A HREF="id144.htm" 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Government"><U><B>Government</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="13"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="13" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 WIDTH="119"><div> <A HREF="environment.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Offensive Words about the Environment"><U><B>Environment</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="13"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="13" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id94.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Offensive Statement of Faith"><U><B>Statement of Faith</B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="13"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="16" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="13" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 28 WIDTH="119"><div> <A HREF="id174.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Offensive Preaching"><U><B>Offensive Preaching</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="13"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" 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                                           </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"What Christ Did for you and me was done for us freely.  It cost God's Son everything, but it costs us nothing.  We need this frequent  reminder both because we still are sinners and because we really don't believe as we should."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"What is the alternative to the cross of Jesus Christ? The only alternative is to fall back once again upon my own resources. Of course it is foolish to take my eyes off the cross of Christ. What resouces do I have? What strength do I have? What merit do I have? What do I have to offer a holy and just God?  It is a foolish thing indeed."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Those are words of freedom! Paul is saying to us: Justification is not by the good works you do which are filled with flaws and errors. It is not by your merit. It is not by your attempt that you can come in the presence of a holy God and be accepted. We know that a man is not justified by his attempt to obey the law; rather, a man is just in the sight of God by the work of another: Jesus Christ. That is why the apostle is absolutely dumb-founded that these apostolic churches are deserting the gospel that he had just proclaimed to them."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"It is foolish to exchange the free grace of God for the bondage of your own works. The law did not come to reform you and to make you good; the law came to crush all of your self hopes and to drive you out of yourself to Christ."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you recieve the spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with  the spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing-if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?"</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Look at all the wonderful things Christ has done for you in your Christian life. Did those things come to you because of your efforts? Do those things come to you because of your merit? Did those things come to you because you have obeyed the law perfectly? So the apostle Paul says don't you see how foolish this thinking is? You must begin your Christian life, continue your Christian life, and end it when you go to heaven, trusting in the cross of Christ and looking to him alone."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Some of you have been there; some of you probably live there.That is how you see Christ, that is how you see God. You see him as </B><I><B>against</B></I><B> you rather than </B><I><B>for yo</B></I><B>u. But the whole message of the reformation, the whole message of  Galations is that Christ is </B><I><B>pro me! </B></I><B>He is for me, He is not against me! God recieves me through my Reconciler,my Redeemer, my Saviour, my Master, my Lord."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Salvation by works? Even a Christian can slide back into this  dark way of thinking. That kind of theology is a theology of doubt, a theology of despair, a theology of hopelessness and a theology  that breeds fear in the soul. So, let me ask: Have you forgotten the good news of the Gospel?  Have you become, in some measure, bewitched by some gospel of works which is no gospel at all? Have you forgotten Christ crucified? How do you see God? Do you see Him as for you? Despite your sin and your failure this week, he is for you. But do you see Him as against you?"</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>" How foolish then to walk in this labyrinth of works, of self rightousness, of my own merit, when it is Christ who bore my sin and took my curse for me. The Gospel is not insight for living; the Gospel is not tips for living. The Gospel will have effects on how we rear our children and how we live our marriages, but that is not the Gospel. The Gospel is Christ crucified for sinners. That is what the Gospel is. Placarding before your eyes an ugly portrait of a crucified Jew with blood, dirt, filth, pain, gore and flies. The Son of God bearing your sin no matter what the sin has been."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"This is the reality of the cross. Now hear this, and if you do not remember anything else(though I hope you will), remember this:  The Gospel is outside of you! The importance of that is that so many of us get wrapped up in thinking that the Gospel depends on how I feel on any given day. So the Gospel is for me anytime that I feel that it is, and when the gospel doesn't seem to be for me then God is against me. The Gospel is not based upon your feelings! The Gospel is not based upon your changing moods. The Gospel is outside of you."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Faith has no virtue of its own whatsoever. That is why Calvin can say that even the weakest faith is justified by its object. We are saved on account of Christ </B><I><B>through</B></I><B> faith, not making faith into some kind of merit or work." </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"The Gospel is not based upon your moral condition; it is based on His moral condition. "I failed this week" Didn't Christ die for our failures? That is what Paul is proclaiming. So, I am not saved because of the quality of my contrition. It is not my worth but the worth of Christ that saves."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"People of God, continue to see Christ as placarded before your eyes as crucified. Continue to live by grace. You are not only saved by grace initially, you continue to  live by grace."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Go live your life; don't be timid. Live it for Christ, knowing that you are going to fail but knowing that there is always the cross of Christ to which you return."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Or are you living on the basis of the freedom of the Gospel? "Yes, I sin, yes, I fail, and, yes, I hate it-but I thank God for the cross." For there is freedom in the cross of Christ."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"The good news of the Gospel declares you must get rid of the idea that you can do anything to be accepted by God! It is one hundred percent Christ; it is zero of what you do. It is all grace from first to last."</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0d44d0c0.gif" border=0 width="589" height="12" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0099FF" FACE="Papyrus" ><B>Back to Article Home Page- </B></FONT><A HREF="articles.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Offensive Articles"><U><B>Offensive Articles</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0099FF" FACE="Papyrus" ><B>To comment, click on-  </B></FONT><A HREF="id98.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="OffensiveBuletin Board"><U><B>OffensiveBuletin Board</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>      </B><A HREF="comments.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B>Contact Us</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0d44d0c0.gif" border=0 width="589" height="12" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>