Salvation is only gained through believing in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer and acting on that belief. This daily devotional looks at how we belong and are sanctified in His name.
Nuggets
- God gives His grace to those who have accepted salvation through His Son and belong in His name.
- Our praise should be a continual response to our being sanctified in Jesus’ name.
Devotions in the In Jesus’ Name series
We are getting toward the end of looking at Wilkinson’s sermon entitled Doing All in the Name of Christ.
Resource
God will only accept us when we come to Him in Jesus’ name. Salvation is only offered through the shedding of His blood.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Belonging in His Name
“So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son” (Eph. 1: 6 NLT)
God gives His grace to those who have accepted salvation through His Son and belong in His name.
There was one reason God designed the Plan of Salvation, and one reason only. He wanted to bring glory to Himself.
No, that isn’t a prideful, selfish statement on God’s part. It makes sense when we work through it.
Bayne explained that, but I am going to have to give it to you in Elaine-speak.
- The world is filled with works of God. The only thing superior to those works is God Himself.
- God has to work toward an end. If that end has to be better than the works itself, then God Himself is the end.
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That means God deserves our glory. He gains glory when we bring our praise for the grace He bestows to offer the Plan of Salvation and fully cover our sins.
After Adam and Eve committed the original sin, God could have closed the door to us. We cannot approach Him in our sinful state.
When we “… praise God for the glorious grace …” (Eph. 1: 6 NLT), that is an element of salvation. He accepts us when we come to Him with a submitted heart in Jesus’ name.
Glory is our worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving.
Praise is our response to God, but it usually involves music.
Grace is a free and unmerited gift of love from the Heavenly Father, given through His Son, Jesus Christ, that enables salvation and spiritual healing to believers by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
Glossary
Therefore, there had to be some way that the penalty for sin has to be paid. Jesus did that.
With His death, Jesus became the blood sacrifice to satisfy the requirement of atonement. He became the propitiation for us.
- Atonement is about repayment for a wrong by the shedding of Jesus’ blood.
- Propitiation means that a substitute is offered to avoid God’s wrath.
Let’s look at it this way. The Plan of Salvation was all God’s idea, could only be accomplished by God, and is only to God’s glory.
Sacrificing in His Name
“Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name” (Heb. 13: 15 NLT)
Our praise should be a continual response to our being sanctified in Jesus’ name.
What is being discussed here is a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice is the embodiment of becoming sanctified and giving everything to God after being forgiven of our sins.
- Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
Glossary
It is really important that we don’t gloss over the word continual. Our worship of our Lord and Savior should never end.
In fact, this is part of our job description.
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #1
Be a Living Sacrifice (Romans 12: 1-2)
Think of the faith needed to continually be praising God. That leaves little room for doubt.
In fact, as we become sanctified, our praise for our Savior should increase. As we focus on the internal, heart level, we realize even more that we could not save ourselves. We know without a shadow of a doubt that salvation only comes through Jesus.
What the writer of Hebrews is talking about is not some wimpy form of praise. It must be heart-felt adoration.
Spurgeon had a good description of praise. He wrote, “Praise is heart-trust and heart-content with God. Trust is adoration applied to practical purposes. Praise is heart-enjoyment; the indulgence of gratitude and wonder.”
Resource
.This has to be a total praise. It must be by our lips and through our lives. It must have a huge helping of gratitude.
But if it is to be a continual praise, that means we need to start now. We can’t put off praising in Jesus’ name.
Making the Connections
The gift of salvation is free. We do nothing to earn it.
We know, when we accept the gift of salvation, what all it entails. We know about regeneration, sanctification, and perfection. We agree to submit to God’s Will.
We freely submit because we are cognizant of God’s love for us. That is obvious in the Plan of Salvation.
How Do We Apply This?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
- Praise God because of His gift of salvation.
- Live our lives to show that we are living in Jesus’ name.
- Tell others our salvation story.
- Continually praise our Savior.
- Respect God.
- Seek God to know of His attributes.
- Learn of the Son so we can imitate Him.
- Listen to the Holy Spirit.
Resource
To read a devotion in the Finding Our Center series, click on the button below.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Father God. We claim Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer. We admit that we are lost in our sins and can only find forgiveness in You through believing Jesus is the only way. We confess You as Sovereign God. We commit to becoming sanctified by working out our salvation as directed by the Holy Spirit. Amen.
What do you think?
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