Holiness, Godliness, Usefulness
01/11/2015, by John Kincaid
Lesson 478: No One Can Boast, Pt.2
Even our best works are worthless until God sanctifies them by His blood.
Isa.64:6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
Only God makes our works acceptable. He prepared the works for us to do.
Eph.2:10 we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
He enables us to resist and overcome temptation by His love and providence.
He explains in His Word how to serve Him; it doesn’t depend on our creativity.
He gives us His power, and gives us faith/trust in His ability to defeat sin.
He protects us from the dangers of sin by His loving boundaries: His wise discipline.
He motivates us to honor and serve Him, not by force, but by His mercy.
Only God gives our works eternal significance, based on His character not ours.
About This Series
The goal of this series is to become more useful in serving the Lord Jesus Christ, as an instrument in the Redeemer's hand. The theme verses for the series are Ephesians 4:22-24, Philemon 11, 2 Timothy 2:21
- to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,
- and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
- Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.
- Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.