The Way of Salvation

by

J. C. Ryle
(1816-1900)

Where must a man go for pardon? Where is forgiveness to be found? There is a way both sure and plain, and into that way I desire to guide every inquirers feet.

That way is simply to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. It is to cast your soul with all its sins, unreservedly on Christ - to cease completely from any dependence on your own works or doings, either in whole or in part - and to rest on no other work but Christ's work, no other righteousness but Christ's righteousness, no other merit but Christ's merit as your ground of hope.

Take this course and you are a pardoned soul. "To Christ", says Peter "give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins". (Acts 10:43). "Through this Man," says Paul at Antioch, "is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things." (Acts 13:38). "In Him," writes Paul to the Colossians, "we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:14).

The Lord Jesus Christ, in great love and compassion has made a full and complete satisfaction for sin, by suffering death in our place upon the cross. There He offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, and allowed the wrath of God which we deserved, to fall on His own head.

For our sins, as our Substitute, He gave Himself, suffered, and died - the just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty - that He might deliver us from the curse of a broken law, and provide a complete pardon for all who are willing to receive it . And by so doing, as Isaiah says - He has borne our sins; as John the Baptist says - He has taken away sin: as Paul says - He has purged our sins, and put away sin; and as Daniel says - He has made an end of sin and finished transgression.

And now the Lord Jesus Christ is sealed and appointed by God the Father to be a Prince and a Savior, to give remission of sins to all who will have it. The keys of death and hell are put in His hand. The government of the gate of heaven is laid on His shoulder. He Himself is the door, and by Him all that enter in shall be saved.

Christ, in one word, has purchased a full forgiveness, if we are only willing to receive it. He has done all, paid all, suffered all that was needful to reconcile us to God. He has provided a garment of righteousness to clothe us. He has opened a fountain of living waters to cleanse us.

He has removed every barrier between us and God the Father, taken every obstacle out of the way, and made a road by which the vilest may return. All things are now ready, and the sinner has only to believe and be saved, to eat and be satisfied, to ask and receive, to wash and be clean.

And faith, or simple trust is the only thing required, in order that you and I may be forgiven. That we will come by faith to Jesus as sinners with our sins - trust in Him - and forsaking all other hope, cleave only to Him - that is all and everything that God asks for. Let a man only do this, and he shall be saved. His iniquities shall be found completely pardoned, and his transgressions completely taken away.

Who, among all the readers of this paper, desires to be saved by Christ, and yet is not saved at present? Come, I beseech you: come to Christ without delay. Though you have been a great sinner, COME - Though you have long resisted warnings, counsels, sermons, COME - Though you have sinned against light and knowledge, against a father's advice and a mother's tears, COME - Though you have plunged into every excess of wickedness, and lived without a Sabbath and without prayer, yet COME - The door is not shut, the fountain is not yet closed. Jesus Christ invites you. It is enough that you feel laboring and heavy- laden, and desire to be saved. COME: COME TO CHRIST WITHOUT DELAY!

Come to Him by faith, and pour out your heart before Him in prayer. Tell Him the whole story of your life, and ask Him to receive you. Cry to Him as the penitent thief did, when He saw Him on the cross. Say to Him, "Lord save me also! Lord remember me!" COME: COME TO CHRIST!

Lv.13:13-17

On Sunday, the elder of my church read and explained this at church. I have read Leviticus before... yet when he read it, is was as if I have never read it before... seriously! I do not remember ever reading this.

Any how...  it reads as follows:
"... the priest is to examine him, and if the desease has covered his whole body, he shall pronounce him CLEAN. Since it has all turned  white, he is clean. But whenever raw flesh appears on him, he will be unclean. When the priest sees the raw flesh, he shall pronounce him unclean..."

Well, the sick person, in order to be pronounced clean, the desease had to be ALL OVER THE BODY!, showing no raw skin. He made the similarity to our sin... we have nothing to boast about... we are ALL covered.. no raw skin is exposed!.. if we see anything of "cleanness"in us... we are unclean.. we need to see ourselves covered completely. Sin from head to toe... to be clean completely! We have nothing to cling to and say: but this part was not infected... this part was ok... NO!.

How much I need this, and to be remended that NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in me, was clean.. that in order to be called "clean", I need Jesus and His blood!

Oh, His precious blood!

God, have mercy on me, a sinner!

Blessings... unknown

As days pass, and His grace proves to be sufficient, not because I am better but because He makes His grace to be sufficient in me; He opens my eyes to see His precious providence in a different light. When God says that we should not covet what unbelievers have or covet when it goes well for them yet we, His people, are having trials and difficulties, we still, should not to covet them... and say: why does it goes well for them and not for us!, why would you allow us to suffer? your people that love You and that You love?!.

Why? Because we need to realize that our sufferings bring perseverance and holiness, so that we may be perfect one day, fit for heaven and to understand that the blessings God gives to the ungodly brings them condemnation... just imagine! The ungodly, receive freely from God, mercies, and children, and health, and wealth... and yet, will face Him and give account. Imagine the day they will face God and hear: I gave you blessings, I provided for you, and still you hated Me!

 But us, His people, will know, that it is He who gives and He who takes away.. that it is because of Him that we have all things, and that even in distress, we know Him! We know salvation from our sins. We will stand before Him covered with the blood of Christ. Justified by faith alone that once was given to us.  Washed from all our iniquities, and be called His loved ones. And hear the words: My good and faithful servant, come into your rest!

Why do we covet them? why do we covet their blessings that will act as judgement one day? why do we not pity them and cry to God for their salvation even harder? it should hurt us instead of bring envy or self pity. It should make us cry on our knees pleading to God for their eyes to be opened. We should fear for them the judgement day.

Oh! that we may truly understand God's providence and thank Him for His good and His hard gifts to us... because one day, we are promised rest from all these! It would be better for them to receive nothing from the Lord than to have an abundant life here on earth and have their heaven now... it would be better to have suffering today and rest tomorrow; sorrows today and everlasting joy tomorrow; being close to the cross in the necessity than far from the cross living merry all day.

Sisters, may we treasure the cross, may we set your eyes on Christ. Be close to His feet, kissing His wounds and hoping not in vane but with assurance of that day that will come.. when our eyes will be open completely, and we will see!

Let us dwell in His Word, let us dwell in the knowledge and understanding, that the Lord bless us according to His good purpose. And He will finish  the work He started. We are undone. We need Him. We need His precious providence and learn to hurt for the lost.

Affliction

Affliction, we all know, is a word that many experience at different times in their lives, and  at different degrees. Pain that for every circumstance and for every person feels very different. But one thing is sure, God loves His people so much, that He let us be hit by affliction in this world that we may hate it. To remind us that as shiny and pretty this place may seem, it is broken. There is nothing to cling to that will last, nothing so precious and perfect as Him. And in this, we may be sanctified. Affliction brings humility... it leaves nothing to boast about, but in Jesus Christ, specially when when people see the strength that is clearly not yours, but His. When you so desperately need Christ to be enough. When there is no hope but in the hope that He gives you every morning. When you see His mercies every morning and His faithfulness at nights, it humbles you again in gratitude.

When you feel like you hate the pain the affliction has caused you, it serves as a reminder of sin, and what sin causes, the pain, the tears, the hurt, death, the consequences, the broken dreams, ... and with this, helps you hate it, helps you want to get rid of it all... get rid of those precious sins that we treasure, those that we cling so dearly...... they are not lovable, they are just poison in pretty bottles!

Oh! that with time I don't forget this lessons! , that I may not forget and start clinging to sin again!, that my heart will truly hate sin for good and love what is holy more! It is so easy to forget, so easy to get busy with the vanities of this world and forget not so much the "how" affliction was brought to you, but the lessons and the humbleness, and the tenderness to hear and beg every day for God's mercies, depending on Him... for your next breath, for your next hour, for the next day, for the next week, for the rest of your days! I have now a scar on my belly, that serves as a reminder of the pain that we went through, BUT also, serves as a reminder of how God was so merciful to us, his providence, His love, His comfort, His patience, His teachings, the perseverance that He is giving us though this... As the Israelites used markers as reminders of the work of God for the purpose that they may not forget and they could tell their children and their children's children of the work of their God, so is this scar in me; so I can tell the generations after me, that the Lord is good!, that He is faithful and tell them about Him with confidence, because I know Him.

Time is one of God's mercies to help heal, but also, if we do not heed to His teachings and are like a quick fire that burns big but extinguishes quickly... our suffering may be in vane. But I pray, that this fire will last. I pray that no distractions will come in the way or that when they come, God will tenderly remind me of how He was sufficient for me in the time of trouble, that He will remind me of his love, His faithfulness, His teachings and that He will bring me to this place of need often, that I may not grow cold in my love for Him.

With the death of someone so dear and close to you, it is a blessing every year, every month, every time that the day of the death comes, to come to the Lord and ask to be reminded again about the reason we should die to ourselves and have more of Him and less of us. Oh what a providence of God that is! A painful providence! A providence of love!

Oh!, the wait of the day, when the exchange of tears for joy and fear for peace will happen! Oh! what a hope! what a blessing to put our eyes on that day, on Him who will make that precious exchange. 

My Faith

Oh! how hard I find it to write this post...

I am afraid to write what I feel, and afraid not to write what I feel.

There are so many emotions rushing through me, that I find it very hard to put it into words... No one really understands what I feel, what I am going through and the excruciating pain I constantly have. People say it will not go away, but you will learn to live with it... It hurts so much, I cannot even imagine it possible to live with it.

I miss my daughter. Yes, she is with the Lord, but my limited brain cannot see that far very often... I want her now, kiss her little cheeks and dress her in tiny dresses... I wanted to hold her hand, give her baths, comfort her when crying, hear her laughs, see my sons live the dreams they had with her (they were going to be such great big brothers!!)... to see my husband so tender with his little girl...  and now... I have no baby to nurse, no diapers to change, no tears to comfort but the ones of my boys that miss her so much and my tears that seem to have no end.. and an empty crib.

I had so many dreams and things I wanted to do with her. I have been dreaming about our life together since the moment I knew it was a girl. My dear Erica Faith... How much I miss you!!! I hardly knew you and yet I cannot live my life without you! Turning to God sometimes makes me miss you more, and not turning to Him, it is an impossible thing, because I need Him to get me though it every day!

All the dreams I had with Faith, were things like: cooking together, playing "mom" with her and her dolls, seeing her in those cute dresses that her closet is filled with, cuddling with her, eventually, do charity work with her, learning to be a mom of a daughter and seeing my boys playing and holding their little sister, as well as my dear husband being a dad of a girl... I saw how sweet he was going to be! And something I need  to remind myself of, is that all those things, were just for us.... but now, I still can do things with her!... every time I come to the Lord and worship Him with prayer, we are worshiping our Lord together. She is there with the Lord alive and well, happy all day in His presence worshiping all day, with no tears of sadness, no cramps, not ever hungry, she never had to deal with our shortcomings, our sin, her sin, her heart, her temptations... and yet, we can worship together until the Lord will have the sweet re-union with my sweet little Faith.

I will learn to live with this, I will miss her every day... I will think of her every day of my life... since it was marked for ever as: before and after Faith came to our lives. But it will be marked I pray, as the day my heart and the heart of my children was changed to love God the more.

If the Lord in His perfect wisdom wanted me to be the instrument to bring her to Him, then may the Name of the Lord be praised. What a comfort it is, to know that this pain I feel today, and every tear I have shed for her, will be traded for joy on that day when the Lord brings me to Him. And longer than my sorrows will be, the joy will last for ever. I prayed for a baby, and He gave us one!, One daughter for eternity.

As I read not long ago, sorrow should not surprise us when he shows up.. we should be expecting it, and be ready when it comes. Being able to say: "I have been waiting for you, and I have prepared my self for the day when you show up". Sorrows will be part of this life, now I know... but as it may seem that sorrow has won a battle, I see this as a victory!.. because he lost against my Lord, my daugther is saved by grace alone and the more the trouble comes, the more God's grace, mercy and glory is manifested. His fame only grows bigger and His work in us perfectioned.

May the Name of the Lord be praised, and lets run the race with perseverance and wait patiently until that day, when our bodies will be resurrected and we'll meet with the Lord and with those that have gone ahead of us ... you'll meet my sweet girl Faith and ... we'll sin no more!

I love you Faith!

His sovereignty

                                  

The doctrine of the Sovereignty of God is probably the doctrine that has impacted me the most. I learned it as an adult and it transformed my way of seeing life, Christ, His work, my life, my trials, every area of my life was dramatically changed by this doctrine. And with it many other doctrines became so precious to me.


There are many great books that explain this doctrine with such clarity and grace, that I feel very humbled to write about this, but in my attempt to write about it, I’ll try to explain just the areas where God has dealt and is dealing with me at the moment.

Understanding that God is sovereign, is a beautiful thing when all your life you thought you had some control over your decisions, future, salvation,... but resting in this doctrine, brings rest and learn to trust in God completely. Knowing His character and believing that His will is perfect and does not need me to decide but strips me naked of all pride and the feeling of “I know better”. I loved that “power” of having some say in my future and decide myself what was “best” for me in my own eyes. How little I thought of God and how high i thought of myself!

This old doctrine (new to me) came like a rock on my head. Hit me hard and it took me 2 years of tears and study of this doctrine and to learn to trust in the Lord and that He is good. Even though I thought He was good, I wanted to have my input in all things. Trusting my will better than my Lord’s. But trusting in Him alone and resting in Him, was very hard. He showed me my condition before Him. My view of Him changed from just a friend, to someone indescribable beautiful, bigger and more magnificent than I ever thought of Him, and yet at the same time, closer to me than ever, because I understood how this Incredible omnipotent (in all the extent of the word) came down from heaven for a sinner like me, and extended mercy with such tenderness ... and still is patient with me, every day.

What a rest to know now, that He is in control, over every aspect of my life! That my life is in His hands and I need to worry about nothing. That if He wills something it will happen. That no one can resist His precious will. And me, a woman who can’t decide between 2 flavours of ice-cream, thought that I was capable of deciding on my salvation. When I change styles and tastes way too often, when my sins are not conquered and even though I want to do right, I sin. This woman thought to have a better plan than her Creator. But now, God has opened my eyes that I might see... I see His desires are better than mine. That He makes no mistakes and that I can trust Him. I am still learning to trust Him, I have a long ways to go, but I have hope in His work in me. I have hope that He will finish the work and He will not get tired or give up.

My trials and temptations are seen different now. I sin against my Holy God and yet He is merciful to me. And with every trial and temptation, He teaches me more to be like Christ granting me repentance and pain in my heart when I offend Him. Problems, are not just trials, are blessings that this Sovereign Lord, has set before me to mould me and transform my character; to prepare me for Heaven so that I might enjoy Him and find it ALL in Him alone.

Raising my kids, the relationship with my husband, everything has a different perspective! The Lord all mighty is in control. He does not just know what is going to happen, but has spoken what is to pass to do His will. My husband is a gift from God, given to me as he is and me to him as I am to be changed to be like Christ, so complaining had to stop, because I understood by His grace, that I was complaining against God. And instead, my love for him increased because I saw him, not as a rock on my way, but as a beautiful gift from God. He has stripped me of things that I cling on to, for the purpose of His glory. That I may die to myself and that He may increase in me. Some of those things He purged me of, I cherished more than my Lord without knowing it. But He did. And been a jealous God, He was not going to be shared with my vanities. So He purged me and purges me often, of all the things I love, so I love Him alone.

I am 7 months pregnant now with a daughter after two godly boys (10 and 12 years old) and having her now in my womb has been a gracious gift from god to us. We, who had “control” over my womb, were stripped from it too. It was an act of trust in God to trust in Him in this. It was such a hard battle for many reasons. It had so many inconveniences and a terrifying fear that God would not save her. But even in that, the Lord has taught us in a loving manner, that HE IS GOOD! That I need to trust in Him even in this, that His will is perfect. And now, every time she moves inside of me, my eyes tear up with the joy of having a little daughter inside me, raising a young woman for Him, raising her to be a godly lady in an ungodly world. Knowing His Sovereignty, helps me rest assured that He is in control over her. And my only job is to obey, as a faithful servant obeys her master.

Oh, how precious doctrine. How precious and hard to receive by many. How difficult to die to self and see God as a Creator and owner of my soul. But once the Lord opens the eyes and all of a sudden you can see, it shames you to see how much pride there is in you. Maybe that is why is so hard to receive it. I have so much to learn and to die; to grow and understand; to trust and obey. But by His grace, I know, that He will guide my steps.

We ARE slaves.

Thank God for my husband. He is quiet and not very expressive, but when he has something to say, it shows me how wise he is.

Yesterday, I was having a "complaining time" about things that were all vane. And then, he started reminding me of all the ways the Lord has blessed us. He mentioned thing by thing. He mentioned things that are very important and even trivial things.. and yet, God has been very faithful. I had to stop talking and listened. My eyes were teary and my shame exposed. I had been complaining, and yet my husband's eyes are fixed on the Lord and what He wants for us.

He explained to me, something that kept me thinking, something that I took to my bed and this morning, the first thought that came to my mind was: God, help me!

I want to share it, because it helped me and maybe it will help you... what he explained, was that at one point, when translating the Bible, the words used for slave, was changed to servant? So when we hear that we are servants of the Lord, really means slaves.

Back then, the word slaves had a clear meaning, everyone knew what the privileges and rights of a slave were... None!, The slave, had no will of his own, just obey his master. So if the master moved houses, the slave followed. If the master wanted him to do something he would do it, no complaining or no decision to be made.  The same way, God is with us. We are not just His servants, we are His slaves! It is a harder word to swallow, but that is God`s Holy Word.

We are His slaves. We do our Master`s will. We have no rights of our own but the ones He gives us. We obey, and He commands. Whatever He decides, happens, without our council or our permission. If He gives us, is grace, if He takes away, it is also His will. If He moves our home town, we follow; if He decides we stay. He decides.

What a change of view that is!. Complaining should be out of our lives... Who are we to complain against our Master? Who are we to say: I don`t like this or that! Why are you doing this? Is He not the owner of our lives? Does He not have the right to do whatever He wants with what is His? (Rom.9)

We are the blessed ones by having Him as our master! That should be enough!. He owns us! He bought us! He loves us! We could be servants of Satan.. How many are there that without knowing, have a master that wants to destroy them and drag them into hell with him!. But us? God bought us!  What else do I want or need?

Oh blessed Jesus! How much I love being your slave! Do with me as You please.