Tag Archives: Grace

THE ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

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THE ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, GREENDALE, INDIANA Jack Cottrell – August 11, 2019         Isaiah 61:10 – “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” INTRODUCTION.  Are you ready for the Judgment Day?         A.    “Being ready” often means, “Are you appropriately dressed?”         B.    Being ready for the Judgment Day requires us to be wearing … Continue reading →

PREACHING ON BAPTISM: AN EXAMPLE

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PREACHING ON BAPTISM: AN EXAMPLE Jack Cottrell – June 2016 Brother Bob Hentrich, minister of the Chillicothe (IL) Christian Church, wrote me this not long ago: “Dr. Cottrell, I plan to preach on Romans 6 next Sunday, and I want to display this quote of yours on the screen: ‘Both faith and baptism are conditions for salvation, but faith is the means and baptism is the time. Please take care: do not equate condition with means, and do not confuse means and time.’ I think it would be helpful to then use an illustration to help make clear the condition/means … Continue reading →

HAVE WE LEARNED TO THINK IN GRACE?

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HAVE WE LEARNED TO THINK IN GRACE? AN AID FOR SELF-EXAMINATION Jack Cottrell – June 2016 In Romans 6:14-15, Paul says we Christians are “not under law, but under grace.” I.e., we are not under the law system as a way of salvation; we are under the grace system. We know that we are still obligated to obey God’s law commands, but we realize that we are not saved by achieving a certain level of obedience to those commands. Rather, we are saved by the grace of God, through our sincere trust in the redemptive works of Christ. As believers … Continue reading →

THE MESSAGE OF ROMANS 1-8

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THE MESSAGE OF ROMANS 1-8 A DEVOTIONAL GIVEN BY JACK COTTRELL AT THE MAY 2016 MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE CHRISTIAN RESTORATION ASSOCIATION I. INTRODUCTION. How can we discern what Paul is teaching in Romans 1-8, or what any other Biblical text means, for that matter? The issue is not just hermeneutics. Rather, to a great extent it depends on how we answer this question: who is the primary AUTHOR of the Bible? This is a watershed issue—in Christendom, in Evangelicalism, in the Restoration Movement, and in many colleges and seminaries. Christian orthodoxy usually agrees that Scripture … Continue reading →

Saved by Grace #1 — GRACE ISN’T FAIR, BUT THAT’S GOOD!

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Almost everyone develops a “fairness mentality” to some degree. We are conditioned from childhood to respect and seek fairness, otherwise known as justice. We know what it means to deserve (or not deserve) something. Very early in life, kids learn to say, “That’s not fair!” Most of the world, including many groups and individuals within Christendom, try to apply the fairness mentality to salvation itself. The assumption is that only those who are “good enough” go to heaven. Long ago I saw the results of some random answers to the question, “What are your chances of going to heaven?” One … Continue reading →

Saved by Grace #2 — SAVED BY GRACE, NOT BY LAW

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Think of heaven (just for the purpose of this illustration) as a gigantic city enclosed by an impenetrable and unscalable wall. You can see this city from afar, and you desperately want to enter into it. Your life is a journey toward it. As you begin to get closer to this heavenly city, you can see that there are two gates that allow entry through the wall. Soon you can see that each gate has a large sign above it. Over one gate the sign says “LAW,” and over the other the sign says “GRACE.” And then you understand. Theoretically … Continue reading →

Saved by Grace #3 — DOUBLE CURSE, DOUBLE CURE

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The English word “grace” can be used in three ways. First, it can refer to the cause of salvation: it represents the aspect of God’s nature that causes him to love sinners and seek their salvation even though they do not deserve it. Second, “grace” can refer to the way of salvation: we are saved by the grace system (via the grace gate), as contrasted with the impotent law system (via the law gate). The third way we use the word “grace” is this: it refers to the content of salvation, which we receive as a gift in the moment … Continue reading →

Saved by Grace #4 — SAVED BY GRACE, THROUGH JESUS CHRIST

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Romans 3:24-25 says, “We are all justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation—a sacrifice of atonement—through faith in his blood” (composite translation). The only way to be saved from sin is by grace, and the only source of grace is what Jesus has done for us on the cross. Here we are seeking to understand exactly what Jesus was doing on the cross to make salvation by grace possible. I. GRACE COMES BY JESUS CHRIST. The general or generic meaning of the Greek word for grace … Continue reading →

Saved by Grace #5 — JUSTIFIED BY FAITH: THE KEY TO ASSURANCE

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The immediate practical benefit of understanding that we are saved by grace is that we have assurance of salvation. Assurance is not the same as “once saved, always saved.” It is a confidence in our present security in Jesus Christ. Ask yourself the question, “If I were to die right now, or Jesus were to return right now, would I be saved?” Assurance is being able to say “YES!” to this question, and every Christian should be able to do this, because of grace. The problem is that many Christians do not have this assurance, because they do not understand … Continue reading →

Saved by Grace #6 — GRACE VS. GALATIANISM

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In lesson five I said that many Christians lack assurance of salvation because they do not understand how “justification by faith” relates to STAYING saved, once one has become a Christian. It is important to distinguish between these two questions: (1) How does a sinner BECOME saved? and (2) How does a Christian STAY saved? Many Christians, especially in the Restoration Movement, know how to answer the first question; but many are seriously confused about the second one. A common but faulty approach to this issue is often called Galatianism. It is called this because it is the false view … Continue reading →