Short Quotes on True Religion and Love

"a lively sense of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus will enable those who have it to walk in His fear and seek the welfare of others." (Gospel Standard 1948, p.81) James Abbot

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What is all religion without the Holy Spirit! An empty show and a weariness to the flesh." William Huntington

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You need the promises, so take them.  Overcome by the promises of God - “I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth” (Is 43:6).

 

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“Who then can pride himself over against someone else and claim to be better than he?  Especially in view of the fact that he is always capable of doing exactly the same as the other does and, indeed, that he does secretly in his heart before God what the other does openly before men.  And so we must never despise anyone who sins but must generously bear with him as a companion in a common misery.  We must help one another just as two people caught in the same swamp assist each other.  Thus we must ‘bear one another’s burdens and fulfill the law of Christ’ (Galatians 6:2).  But if we despise the other, we shall both perish in the same swamp.”

Wilhelm Pauck, translator, Luther: Lectures on Romans (Philadelphia, 1961), page 115.

“Heave Offering Unto the Lord” (Numb 15:18-19)

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When you come into the land where I bring you, then it shall be, that, when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer up a heave offering unto the Lord” (vs18-19), an offering thrown into the air to thank God.

We shall thank and bless God for the salvation that He gives, knowing that it is all of grace, by God, and through the Lord and the Spirit; it is NOT of us at all.

We DO eat the fruit of victory, but we GLORIFY God.  The heave offering is telling God, “I see what YOU have done for me”, and that is how we walk HUMBLY with God.  Micah 6:8 says, “He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God”. We are not to be proud of our grace or big-shots in our eyes, but we walk humbly, knowing all we have is of God, and we’re only able to be holy through Him.  Then, we walk uprightly, when we are low and thankful; we are both HAPPY and obedient, for if I know God graced me, then I also know what He graced me to do, which is to serve (Phil 2:22; Gal 5:13; James 3:13). 

Forgiveness PRODUCES these things of gratitude, but they are commanded, so that we can check ourselves at the door, so to speak, to make sure that we have God’s gospel in the spirit, rather than the flesh; it must produce humility, and if it does, then God empowered us to do good, and what we’ve received is no illusion. Those who “have grace” but don’t have thankfulness and humility do not have grace like they think; grace produces THANKFULNESS and humility in all that have it; examine yourself thereby.

“Sweetsmelling Fragrance” (Eph 5:1-2)

 “Be you therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling smell.” (vs1-2)

Believe that you are PLEASING to God in Christ BEFORE you and I try to live pleasing in good works. The gospel is FULL, even unto the works of faith by the Spirit, but to WORK without faith, to make myself pleasing by how I live and how long in between falls, is the WRONG way -  “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal 3:13-14). I must BELIEVE that Christ EARNED the full salvation, even the works of faith by the Spirit, or I can never do good works, says God. I must believe in God as PROMISING good to me, and then God will work the good, as promised. Sins have been removed and help has been earned: “no condemnation” is the key to sin no more (John 8:11).