Latest / Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris / 05 01 2024 Christ Alone-Grace Alone

Transcript

05 01 2024 Christ Alone-Grace Alone · Your Daily Portion with L. David Harris

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  Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
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  food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
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  some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
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  keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
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  all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
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  to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host,
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  author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, Good morning, Good
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  morning. It is Wednesday, May one, twenty twenty four. Hello,
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  my name is Elle David Harris. I am your host, and this is
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  your Daily Portion where we give you God's word every single day, and today
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  is no exception. We are continuing in our lesson study series, the Great
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  Controversy. Our caption for today is christ Alone, Grace Alone, christ Alone,
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  Grace Alone. We'll get into that in just a moment, but first
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  I'd like to say welcome to everyone joining us, especially those joining for the
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  very first time. I'm asking you to please go over to your Daily Portion
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  dot com. Please join our online community. Pick up the Your Daily Portion
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  book at your Daily Portion dot Com. This is a way that we continue
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  to build faith and fellowship. Welcome. Let me just say welcome one more
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  time, and thank you for everybody who continues to support this ministry with your
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  sharing of this link or whatever it is, how you actually reach out to
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  people, letting them know that we are here. Let's go ahead and pray
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  and then we will get underwig Father in Heaven. Thank you for giving us
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  this new morning, for the opportunity that you have entrusted to us to open
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  your word again, and not just open it, but live by the truths
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  that are found in your word. Please fill us with your Holy Spirit in
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  Jesus name, I pray, Amen and Amen again, Christ alone, Grace
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  alone. Now we have used the terminology reformation reformation multiple times in the last
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  about week and a half. This is obviously I should say, this is
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  I should not say obviously because some may not be familiar. But we're talking
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  about the Protestant Reformation that was over five hundred years ago, Martin Luther being
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  one of the Reformers, and how the people of God decided that they would
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  not allow any community, they would not allow the predominant culture of the church
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  that they were attached to to determine how they would live if it did not
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  align with the scriptures, if it did not align with the scriptures. And
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  one of the things that they struggled over was whether Jesus Christ was enough.
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  Huh, whether Jesus Christ was enough? Like? Is he the only mediator
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  between God and humanity? Is he the one who gives salvation? Or is
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  it that somehow the Church is doling out salvation somehow? And then by grace
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  alone means that there is power. There is power that comes from God that
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  says, even though you're not worthy, even though you are deserving of death,
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  I AM going to give you the strength to overcome your sins and then
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  make you holy, not because of something that you can do, not of
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  works, but based on God's power in our lives. Right. So,
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  without going too far into that, I would like to read from the Lesson
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  study and then go into the Bible. The lesson writer said Martin Luther,
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  and the Protestant Reformers discovered Christ and Christ alone as their source of salvation.
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  It was then that Luther began to preach the mesas of Christ's saving grace.
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  Crowds flocked to hear his heart felt, life changing messages. Let me pause
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  right here, No pilgrimages, right, nobody beating themselves or flagellating. Look
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  up that, look that up. There is nothing that we can do to
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  save ourselves. We cooperate with God, we yield our will to God,
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  but there's no action in terms of our own works that somehow gives us merit.
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  Where God now owes us salvation? Okay, and let me continue,
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  Let me continue. The people were shackled by the traditions of the medieval Church
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  and kept in bondage with centuries old rituals that provided no spiritual life. Let
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  that settle in. And so this is what Martin Luther taught. And let's
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  go into the scriptures first and see if we have time for another quote now
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  the Bible in the Book of the Ephesians, chapter two, verses eight through
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  ten. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
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  yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone
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  should boast. You. See, when I go to work, if I
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  have a job, if I go to work and then I complete my tasks
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  according to my contract or whatever's in the employee handbook, then according to the
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  prescription there then I am to get paid. So that means that my employer
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  owes me whatever the agreed upon amount is, because I have done my work.
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  Well, this is not how salvation works. You see, humans are
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  broken, we're sinful, we have need of salvation, and so even when
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  we do good things, we fall woefully short. And so what does God
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  do? He gives us the gift of salvation, the power to do God's
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  will. And then he says, I am going to require this at your
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  hand. I'm going to write my lungs in your heart and on your mind,
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  so that now when I come to you and I say, this is
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  the requirement, this is how you should live. Now I can come to
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  you God speaking and expect that you will do it. Why because I've already
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  empowered you. I've already given you the faith that is necessary. I've given
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  you the ability to do my will. And now it is reasonable, more
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  than reasonable for me to expect that you are doing what I have called you
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  to do. Verse ten. For we are His creative work, having been
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  created in Christ Jesus for good works. See, God created us to live
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  godly. He created us to do good works right that God prepared beforehand.
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  So we can do them. This is the blessing. God does the work
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  first and then we cooperate. Man say that again, God does the work
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  first and then we cooperate. But what does that look like. Well,
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  there is a requirement that we should love God like if you love me,
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  keep my commandments. Right. Well, let's start with the love part.
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  The reason we can love is because of God, it says. The Bible
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  says that we love him be cause He first loved us. Our ability to
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  love God is caused by God. He puts love in us through Christ,
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  so we can love him. And then he said, keep my commandments.
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  You know that's required, right, That's not something we can just gloss over.
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  And if we want to, we do it. If we don't,
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  then it doesn't matter. Wait a minute, no, we do. We
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  do keep his commandments right if we love him. But here is the promise.
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  If God's love is resident in our lives, then he promised that he
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  will do in us the will and to do of his good pleasure. So
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  how does that look with the commandments? The Bible says in Romans chapter eight,
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  in the way that the law was weak in the flesh, then he
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  by sending Christ in this flesh, he fulfilled the requirements of the law in
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  us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
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  So Jesus's success in keeping all of the ten Commandments law is how he
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  is able to embed in our hearts spiritually the ability to also keep his law.
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  So he gives us the ability to keep his law by faith. Oh,
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  faith is required? Okay, well how do we get faith? God
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  is the author. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, so
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  love we can love him because he first loved us faith. He is the
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  author and finisher of our faith right good works. Then he was successful in
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  the flesh, so that we can do his law. You see. And
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  I could go on and on through the list of things that are required by
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  God that he first gives us. So it is by grace that we are
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  saved through faith. One more passes before we go Romans chapter six and verse
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  twenty three. For the wages of sin or the payoff of sin is death,
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  but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. Can you
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  imagine when those individuals were hearing for the first time that there was nothing they
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  could do, nothing they could do, but everything that God did so that
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  we could be saved. It's power of God unto salvation. To everyone who
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  believes, including you, have a wonderful day peace. Thanks for joining us
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  listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by
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  every word that comes from the mouth of God. This has been your daily
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  portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,