Okay, so last night I watched The Agony and the Ecstasy starring Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison. It is about Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel under the commission of Pope Julius II. Through out the movie the pope continually asks the famed artist,"When will you make an end of it?" and Michelangelo responds with "When it is finished". So, I am sure many of you might be asking"Robert, when will you make an end of these All of Grace quotes?" Well, I will stop when I am finished. So, I just wanted to share some more quotes with you today:
"We want to be purified as well as pardoned. Justification without sanctification would not be salvation at all. It would call the leper clean, and leave him to die of his disease; it would forgive the rebellion and allow the rebel to remain an enemy to his king. It would remove the consequences but overlook the cause, and this would leave an endless hopeless task before us. It would stop the stream for a time, but leave an open fountain of defilement, which would sooner or later break forth with increased power. Remember that the Lord Jesus came to take away sin in three ways; He came to remove the penalty of sin, power of sin, and, at last the, presence of sin."
My understanding of justification is that when you become a believer, God says that your sins did not happen. He doesn't declare you guilty or not guilty, he says there was no crime. Sanctification is the process in which God makes us more like Him. We die to our old sinful selves, and God remakes us into a new creation.
"Jesus did not die for our righteousness, but He died for our sins. He did not come to save us because we were worth the saving, but because we were utterly worthless, ruined, and undone. He came not to earth out of any reason that was in us, but solely and only out of reasons which He fetched from the depths of His own divine love. In due time He died for those whom He describes, not as godly, but as ungodly"
"You are not asked to trust in a dead Jesus, but in One who. though He died for our sins, has risen again for our justification. You may go to Jesus at once as to a living and present friend. He is not a mere memory, but a continually existent Person who will hear your prayers and answer them. He lives on purpose to carry on the work for which He once laid down His life. He is interceding for sinners at the right hand of the Father, and for this reason He is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him. Come and try this living Savior, if you have never done so before. This living Jesus is also raised to an eminence of glory and power. He does not now sorrow as 'a humble man before his foes', ' nor labor as 'the carpenter's son'; but He is exalted far above principalities and power and every name that is named. The Father has given Him all power in Heaven and in earth, and he exercises this high endowment in carrying out His Work of grace. "
If you think of Jesus is just a teacher who taught good morals, then you have missed the most important thing about him. He is God! He was sent to take upon our sins and be a curse for us, because we can not hope to enter Heaven under our own merits. He is the sacrifice for us. We need to look upon him for sour salvation. Thanks for reading. I hope you have a wonderful Labor Day!
