Audio of the sermon is here:
Tag Archives: justification
The Whole Cake
[There is no video of the service for 6/11; the text of the sermon follows.]
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Have you ever wondered about that saying, “You can’t have your cake and eat it too?” Obviously, in one sense, you have to have the cake in order to eat it. But the saying reminds us that once we’ve eaten it, we no longer have it. We cannot both keep it in front of us and eat it. It is one or the other: you can eat it, but then it’s gone. Or you can leave it sitting on the table in front of you, but then you don’t get to eat it.
Paul is telling us that we cannot have our salvation cake and eat it too. We cannot earn our salvation and have it given to us. It is one or the other: either we can and must observe the law perfectly in order to receive what God promises us, in order to inherit eternal life; or it is a free gift promised by God, which we receive purely by faith.
Continue readingEvery Mouth Stopped
Where You Look
To Be Justified
Bible Study Summary, 9/6/15
[We are using Pr. Matt Richard‘s helpful study, “How Do We View Christianity?” which sums up two ways of looking at the various aspects of human beings, sin, free will, salvation, and more.]
Our discussion on Sunday revolved around where Justification (being right with God) is located (p. 7 in the study guide): is it something that happens individually, within each person? Is the primary meaning of justification my internal transformation: that justification is something that happens within my heart? Or is it something that happens outside me, in Christ, because of His death and resurrection? We might be tempted to go with the first option, since that seems to make it more personal. But our discussion of the location of our assurance of salvation made it clear that if justification happens inside us, then we are going to look for the assurance of our justification also within ourselves. But to look within for assurance is always uncertain and changing, since our emotions, circumstances, and experiences are always changing. In the midst of a changing world and changing circumstances, we needs a certain word and an unchanging promise–which can only be found outside us in Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. “On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.”
Bishop and Christian 