GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 8

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.

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DOES GOD HELP THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES?

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Romans 4:5

D.L. MOODY

I freely admit salvation is worth working for. It is worth a man’s going round the world on his hands and knees, climbing its mountains, crossing its valleys, swimming its rivers, going through all manner of hardship in order to attain it. But we do not get it in that way. It is to him that believes.

ERWIN LUTZER

Trying to make ourselves worthy of grace and earn salvation is the default position of the human heart. Somewhere I read that eighty percent of Americans believe the statement “God helps those who help themselves” is in the Bible! Well, it’s not in the Bible and with good reason: God helps those who realize they cannot help themselves. The good news of the gospel is not based on our abilities or our motivation to do better.

I helped disciple a man who grew up in a home with the formalities of Christianity and a mother who kept telling him, “God helps those who help themselves.” But that didn’t help him get out of a life of drugs and immorality. Finally, at the end of himself, crying out in desperation to God, he found a path out of a wasted life. To the glory of God, he is in the ministry today.

While we work at our vocations, our relationships, and the ordinary events of life, as far as our eternal salvation is concerned, it cannot be bought, earned, or supported by religious rituals.

Let me quote Paul again, “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due [In other words, you earn it.]. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:4–5).

    PRAYER

    Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Your cross I cling; Naked, come to You for dress; Helpless, look to You for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die.

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John 3:1-3

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

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John 3:7

Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

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1 Peter 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

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1 Peter 1:23

since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

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James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

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James 3:17

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

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Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

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John 14:6: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'”

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Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

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2 Cor. 5:17

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

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