GOD’S WORD FOR  MARCH 20

We are reading from a daily devotional  called “Running To Win” written by Erwin Lutzer  and the late, great D.L. Moody.   Erwin Lutzer is a light in our day as D.L. Moody was in his.  Besides his many ministries, and many books, Pastor Lutzer was Senior Pastor at Moody Church in Chicago for 36 years and now serves as Pastor Emeritus there.  He is  Chancelor and a former professor at Moody Bible Institute, where he taught Theology and Ministry, and now has numerous radio teachings.

THE INFINITE LADDER

Luke 13:24

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

D.L. MOODY

Who are we to strive with?  Not with the gatekeeper.  The gatekeeper stands with the gate wide open, and he says, “Come in, come in!”  All the striving is with the flesh’;  it is with this old carnal nature of ours.

ERWIN LUTZER

Some think to themselves that the way to heaven is  a tall ladder and God gives us grace to climb it rung by rung, and when God sees how sincere we are, He comes and His grace picks us up and take us all the way to the top.  This kind of thinking is sometimes summarized as “God helps those who help themselves.”

This actually is the broad way that leads to destruction that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:13 & 14.  —“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.   Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

This view of “God helps those who help themselves”  overestimates the goodness of man and it underestimates the glory, holiness, and perfection of God.  It assumes that somehow we can cooperate with God in the process of salvation.  Trying to climb that ladder only means that it is done with MY power and MY  energy – energy that has been, and is being given to me by God, but my energy nonetheless.

But salvation is not a cooperative process.  The Bible and Jesus Himself make that abundantly clear.  God has to come down, scoop us up and carry us all the way to the top.  This is done for all who repent and believe in the free gift of eternal life, described clearly in the Bible.

PRAYER

 Father, please let me not trust in my own power but instead find my hope in Christ alone.

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    1 Peter 1:8-9

    For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

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     2 Timothy 1:9

    Truly my soul silently waits for God;

    From Him comes my salvation.

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    Psalm 62:1

    And it shall come to pass

    That whoever calls on the name of the Lord

    Shall be saved.

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    Titus 2:11-12

    For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

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    Ephesians 2:8-9

    For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

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    Romans 1:16

    For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

** **

1 John 1:9

    “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

** **

Acts 3:19

    Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

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