|
 |
(Romans 1:16, I am not ashamed of the gospel it is
the power of salvation). Salvation: Used 5
times in Romans (the verb form occurs 8 times), this
key word basically means “deliverance” or “rescue.”
The power of the gospel delivers people from
lostness (Matt. 18:11), from the wrath of God (Rom.
5:9), from willful spiritual ignorance (Hos. 4:6; 2
Thess. 1:8), from evil self-indulgence (Luke 14:26),
and from the darkness of false religion (Col. 1:13;
1 Pet. 2:9). It rescues them from the ultimate
penalty of their sin, i.e., eternal separation from
God and eternal punishment. Believes: To
trust, rely on, or have faith in. When used of
salvation, this word usually occurs in the present
tense (“is believing”) which stresses that faith is
not simply a one-time event, but an ongoing
condition. True saving faith is supernatural, a
gracious gift of God that He produces in the heart
and is the only means by which a person can
appropriate true righteousness Saving faith consists
of 3 elements: 1) mental: the mind understands the
gospel and the truth about Christ. 2) emotional: one
embraces the truthfulness of those facts with sorrow
over sin and joy over God’s mercy and grace and 3)
volitional: the sinner submits his will to Christ
and trusts in Him alone as the only hope of
salvation. Genuine faith will always produce
authentic obedience. (John 8:31; 14:23, 24)
Above taken from the works of John McCarthur |
|
Steve
had a 5th grade reading level when he
graduated from high school. When he began reading
the Bible, Susan and their kids did the reading.
Steve claimed the verse James 1:5 “If any of you
lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all
liberally and without reproach, and it will be given
to him.” This is part of Steve’s daily prayer. In
1992 The church Steve was attending called him into
the ministry. Steve was ordained through Hi-Way
Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church. Steve
holds cowboy church every time he has a clinic for
training mules and does most of this preaching from
the saddle on a mule.
|
