No, there is none righteous
Not one who understands
There is none who seek God
No not one, no not one
I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own
'Cause we're all stillborn and dead in our transgressions
We're shackled up to the sin we hold so dear
So what part can I play in the work of redemption
I can't refuse, I cannot add a thing
'Cause I am just like Lazarus and I can hear your voice
I stand and rub my eyes and walk to You
Because I have no choice
I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own
I'm so thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own
It's by grace I have been saved
Trhough faith that's not my own
It is the gift of God and not by works
Lest anyone should boast

caedman's call - "thankful"

The Church

"Scripture calls us to things that are utterly conterintuitive, utterly countercultural, and demanding the extreme, but Scripture shows us the Savior and his bride. This glorious sight motivates us to live under God's authority and to serve Him through the local church, for His glory and our good. Falling in love with Christ means falling in love with his church.

"If we're not captivated by the beauty and significance of the church, we will lack the motive-force to serve her because when we begin to serve God's people we quickly discover that they hurt and dissapoint us. A biblical ecclesiology reminds us that we have the priviledge of following in our Savior's footsteps and loving those who are not in and of themselves lovely. Scripture reminds us that it is God's design to make them altogether lovely, and He invites us to serve Him by contributing to the preparation of His bride to meet Him and the marriage supper of the Lamb. There she will be perfect, without spot and blameless, with great beauty and glory.

Covenantal community and compassion cannot exist in a vacuum of autonomy. It is within the authroity structure ordained by God that we can experience the blessed oneness that our Savior prayed for us. "

-J. Ligon Duncan & Susan Hunt, Women's Ministry in the Local Church

If we love Christ, we must also love his church as He does. We must follow in His footsteps of laying down our lives for her. If we are committed to Christ, then we will be committed to His church. She is "his body, "the fullness of Him who fills all in all."

-ephesians 1:23

How does Christ view His church?

"You are altogether beautiful, my darling, And there is no blemish in you. "
"You have made my heart beat faster,my sister, my bride; You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes, With a single strand of your necklace.
- SOS 4:7,9

Sin: A footstool to Grace
Understanding grace requires understanding of sin.

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." -Luke 7:47

thoughts from Calvin:

"But we ought chiefly to observe...that they who are utterly careless and almost stupid must be deeply wounded by a conviction of sin; for such persons will regard the doctrine of Christ as a fable, until, being summoned to the judgment-seat of God, they are compelled to dread as a Judge him whom they formerly despised. All who do not scruple to rise against the doctrine of Christ with their scoffing jests must be treated in this manner, that they may be made to feel that they will not pass unpunished.

" Nay more, this is necessary for all of us; for we are not seriously affected by Christ speaking, unless we have been aroused by repentance. So then, in order that any one may profit in the school of Christ, his hardness must be subdued by the demonstration of his misery, as the earth, in order that it may become fruitful, is prepared and softened by the ploughshare, for this knowledge alone shakes off all our flatteries, so that we no longer dare to mock God. Whenever, therefore, a neglect of the word of God steals upon us, no remedy will be more appropriate than that each of us should arouse himself to the consideration of his sins, that he may be ashamed of himself, and, trembling before the judgment-seat of God, may be humbled to obey Him whom he had wantonly despised."

only when we see the corruptedness of our heart do we understand that we are in need of a Savior who gave all and did all that is required of us for us. until we are burdened by our sin, Christ is a "fable" a good story that we know that has yet to affect us deeply. only in the revelation of our boundless sin can we truly rejoice in grace and be counted righteous in believing.

Grant me never to lose sight of the exceeding sinfulness of sin,

the exceeding righteousness of salvation,

the exceeding glory of Christ,

the exceeding beauty of holiness,

the exceeding wonder of grace.

(- Valley of Vision)

Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
Salvation is of the LORD.
--Jonah 2:8,9

God doesn't view me based on

my actions

my ministry

my knowledge

my goodness

my righteousness

my sin

my flesh

my trying

but

His promise

Christ's life

Christ's death

Christ's righteousness

Christ's obedience

for His glory

because He is faithful to His name.

Overcome anything in the confidence of you union with Him, so that contemplating trial, enduring persecution or loneliness, you may know the blessedness of the 'joy set before' for 'We are the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.' And what are sheep doing going into the gate? What is their purpose inside those courts? To bleat melodies and enjoy the company of the flock? No. Those sheep were headed for the altar. Ther pasture feeding had been for one purpose: to test them and fatten them for bloody sacrifice. Gove Him thanks, then, that you have been counted worthy of His altars. Enter into the work with praise.

-Jim Elliot, 1949

In Christ Alone

God reminded me this morning that it is in Christ alone that my hope is found. He does not want my filthy rags of self-attained righteousness by the law, for they are worthless, bringing me only under the curse of the law. The promise is given to Abram and in Genesis 15 and the covenant is made to seal the deal. The promise was made in Genesis 12 & 13, a promise of a lineage, land, and much blessing on his family that will bless the whole earth.

Abram is told to get a heifer, a goat, a ram, and some birds and cut them in half and line the halves in a row across from their counterparts. In a normal covenant between 2 people this would be done and they would walk through the rows of animals as a symbol that if either party broke their side of the covenant, what was done to the animals should be done unto them.

And so we have Abram with this bloody mess of animals awaiting a walk-through. He waits all day chasing off the vultures from the corpses of the animals and at sunset the LORD himself shows up in holy terror. He puts Abe to sleep and tells him to "know for certain" that his offspring will be sojourners in a land not their own and be afflicted for years and then the LORD would come out with great possession and attain a promised land.We know in the literal text of scripture that God is referring to the slavery of Israel to Egypt. On a symbolic level He is referring to the captivity of sin, their redemption from it and the struggle against thoughts of wanting to go back to it through their long walk in the desert that would bring them to the promised land. In Hebrews 11 we are told that ultimately Abraham was looking forward to a city and a land promised but that it was not an earthly one but a heavenly one. So in a sense Egypt is our captivity to sin, the wandering in the desert our time on earth, and finally the promised land our heavenly Jerusalem, Mount Zion. All this of course made possible by God's redemption, the point of the promise.Christ himself, on the cross, the propitiation of our sins, and by this promise we are carried on to completion to perfection (eph 1:6).

So the LORD shows up on the seen as a smoking fire pot, a flaming torch and passed between the two rows of dissected animals. He walks the covenant isle alone, with Abram watching. The LORD swears by himself. Abram has no part in it. The LORD alone takes full responsibility for all, a unilateral covenant. A covenant of grace. All the stipulation is on God himself. Compare this now to the Mosiac covenant. It was a bilateral covenant. Both parties were obligated. The Law was given and the God promised blessing but the people promised to obey. They were not able to obey, so therefore the wrath of God was due to them. And what does Moses do when the wrath of the LORD is burning against Israel because they made a golden calf? He claims the promise given to Abraham, the promise of grace. He does not claim the law. The law could not save because the people could not obey.

And so it is with me. All my striving for self-attained holiness is cursed. I am only blessed on the basis of the promise. The promise of unmerited favor and grace. His works alone, none of mine. Just as Abe stood on the sidelines, so must I humble myself, laying down my filthy rags of my own righteousness and claim his.

Pride is a killer of the promise. When we try to earn merit by the law we are ignoring the promise and setting ourself up for the curse of the law. I must remember that all the good I do in the body is Christ's; it is not from my own self. It belongs to me only because it was given to me, not that I have attained it of myself. The LORD has been calling me to lay down my life, to follow him, take up his cross. I'm realizing that the burden that makes me heavy laden is my striving to conquer sin on my own because I think that it will please God when I attain self-perfection. God is pleased only by himself and his own works. His love is a gift in spite of my sin. He gives freely his righteous to me if i would only lay down my own means of attaining it because I never will unless its on the basis of his promise. And what is this promise, this ultimate reward?

Genesis 15:1 “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
It is the LORD, himself. He give himself to us exceedingly, freely. He is the gospel. Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness. He believed God, set his hope that God would fulfill all in a Savior, and longed for the holy land promised to him that was not of this world, namely the heavenly Jerusalem in which God dwells with his church and creation in their completion of holiness in the gift of Christ and riddance of the struggle of sin in his presence. Let us humble ourselves and long for HIS righteousness and perfection that is ours through grace.

This basically sermon notes for Mark Gibson's Sunday sermon. Listen here:
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonsspeaker&sermonID=11206204244

Not only is our sin ugly in his sight, so is our own "goodness."

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song.
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love! What depths of peace!
When fears are stilled and striving ceased.
My comforter, my all in all
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save

Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground his body laid
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave he rose again

And as he stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am his, and he is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from his hand
Till he returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand