The Desperate Need

[Frank]

When it comes to eternal life,
only those who have been saved
know what they are talking about.
The others may quote Scripture,
quote commentaries, quote "experts",
give the original derivation of words,
but they never understand,
because they have not been.
It makes no difference whether
head of denomination, head of church,
head of seminary, theologian,
famous ministry, famous celebrity,
unless they have been saved,
it is those who cannot see
telling those who cannot see
how to see.
And this is how you can tell:
They may use the phrases,
even gospel of grace,
even faith alone in Christ alone,
even justified by faith,
even imputed righteousness,
and for paragraph after paragraph
it may seem like it is all right on,
but then they show what they really
are trusting in by bringing in
their own supposed "righteousness"
as needed for salvation.
For them,
the imputed righteousness of Christ
is not sufficient,
and they want to bring in for salvation
their own "righteousness":
their predestined self, their regenerated self,
their surrendered self, their baptized self,
their holy self, their works of self,
their obedient self, their enduring self.
But anyone who stands for salvation
in much or the very least
in their own "righteousness"
now or after or in eternity,
is not standing on the imputed righteousness
of Christ but rather standing on sand.
People desperately need to understand the gospel:
The moment Christ gives us faith to stop trusting our
own "righteousness" and start trusting him to regard
his perfect righteousness as ours, we have eternal life.

--
http://roines.home.mindspring.com