“You were
"justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus" Romans 3:24.
Another form of
spiritual pride that shows you are depending on the worth of your own grace is self-applauding
pride. This is when the heart is secretly lifted up and says of itself,
"I may not be perfect, but I am certainly better than most Christians I
know." Every such glance of the soul's eye is adulterous-- in fact,
idolatrous. Any time you give your own righteousness the inward worship of your
confidence and truth, this is great iniquity indeed. You come to open heaven's
gate with the old key, when God has put on a new lock.
If you are truly a
Christian, you must acknowledge that your first entrance into your justified
state was by pure mercy. You were "justified freely by his grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" Romans 3:24.. Having been
reconciled, to whom are you now indebted-- to your own goodness, to your
obedience, to yourself-- or to Christ? If Christ does not lead in all you do,
you are sure to find the door of grace shut to you. "The righteousness of
God [is] revealed from faith to faith... [for] the just shall live by
faith" Romans 1:17. We are not only made alive by Christ, but we live by
Christ. Heaven's way is paved with grace and mercy from beginning to end.
Why is God so
insistent that we use His grace instead of our own? Because He knows our grace
is inadequate for the task. The truth is this: Trusting in our own grace only
brings trouble and heartache; trusting in God's grace brings lasting peace and
joy.
In the first
place, trusting in your own goodness will eventually destroy it. Inherent grace
is weak. Force it to endure the yolk of the law, and sooner or later it will
faint by the wayside, unequal to the task of pulling the heavy load of your old
nature. What you need is Christ's yolk, but you cannot take it until you shed
the one that harnesses you to works.”
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