Building on the Atonement

October 9th, 2015 by JDVaughn Leave a reply »

…present…your members as instruments of righteousness to God. —Romans 6:13

 
I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things, but to believe things. The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it. If I construct my faith on my own experience, I produce the most unscriptural kind of life— an isolated life, with my eyes focused solely on my own holiness.
Beware of that human holiness that is not based on the atonement of the Lord. It has no value for anything except a life of isolation— it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every kind of experience you have by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the foundation of the atonement by the Cross of Christ.The atonement of Jesus must be exhibited in practical, unassuming ways in my life.
Every time I obey, the absolute deity of God is on my side, so that the grace of God and my natural obedience are in perfect agreement. Obedience means that I have completely placed my trust in the atonement, and my obedience is immediately met by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.Beware of the human holiness that denies the reality of the natural life— it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the trial or test of the atonement and ask, “Where is the discernment of the atonement in this, and in that?”
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October 9 2015

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I think I understand Chambers point today; namely that I cannot make myself holy, nor can I do holy things or do anything to truly make myself a better person. This seems absolutely true when compared to the standard Jesus set in His sermon on the mount. His standards and my personal experience have shown me that I simply am not able to live out the life He described and you require. Over time, Your teaching, and my trials and circumstances have shown me that I am simply not capable. Is this the lesson? That I am not really capable of anything to help my own casue other than surrender?

And God says…”Yes, that is it exactly…Your portion is to give up, to simply surrender to Me. From your surrender the Holy Spirit can work in your life. You must give up your right to yourself and your own ideas about your salvation, sanctification and transformation. Church attendance is good, prayer is good, Bible study is good, living a moral life is good, helping the needy is good and honoring your mother and father are all very good things. You know that keeping the Ten Commandments is good; however, not one of these “good things” will transform you into the likeness of Jesus if you are not first surrendered. The very best you can do will not meet My requirements. Surrender first, and daily then let the good things like church attendance, Bible study, tithing, service and support of the poor flow out of your surrender, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will naturally just do them out of love. They will simply unfold from your living.”

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