To live by grace is to live solely by the merit of Jesus Christ. To live by grace is to base my entire relationship with God, including my acceptance and standing with Him, on my union with Christ.
Thankfulness to God is a recognition that God in His goodness and faithfulness has provided for us and cared for us, both physically and spiritually. It is a recognition that we are totally dependent upon Him; that all that we are and have comes from God.
Preach the gospel to yourself every day.
We obey God’s Law, not to be loved but because we are loved in Christ.
God’s sovereignty does not negate our responsibility to pray, but rather makes it possible for us to pray with confidence.
This is the essence of God’s sovereignty; His absolute independence to do as He pleases and His absolute control over the actions of all His creatures. No creature, person, or empire can either thwart His will or act outside the bounds of His will.
God will never allow any action against you that is not in accord with His will for you. And His will is always directed to our good.
To be justified means more than to be declared “not guilty.” It actually means to be declared righteous before God. It means God has imputed or charged the guilt of our sin to His Son, Jesus Christ, and has imputed or credited Christ’s righteousness to us.
We must not allow our emotions to hold sway over our minds. Rather, we must seek to let the truth of God rule our minds. Our emotions must become subservient to the truth.
Because God is sovereign, He is able to answer. Because He is faithful to His promises, He will answer.
Faith enables us to obey when obedience is costly or seems unreasonable to the natural mind.
God’s plan and His ways of working out His plan are frequently beyond our ability to fathom and understand. We must learn to trust when we don’t understand.
We’re more concerned about our own “victory” over sin than we are about the fact that our sins grieve God’s heart.
We don’t have to start all over again and try to keep the slate clean. There is no more slate.
Our sins are forgiven and we are accepted as righteous by God because of both the sinless life and sin-bearing death of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no greater motivation for dealing with sin in our lives than the realization of these two glorious truths of the gospel.
Every day of our Christian experience should be a day of relating to God on the basis of His grace alone. We are not only saved by grace, but we also live by grace every day.
Jesus did not die just to give us peace and a purpose in life; he died to save us from the wrath of God.
Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in us whereby our inner being is progressively changed, freeing us more and more from sinful traits and developing within us over time the virtues of Christlike character.
When God saves us through Christ, He not only saves us from the penalty of sin, but also from its dominion.
God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about.