Faith alone saves
July 26, 2024
I would say this is a tremendous passage of Scripture, and by the way, it's very practical, is it not? It fits right down where we live today. You see, ceremonies and rituals cannot change the evil heart of man. Only the Word of God can change a human heart. And when the heart is changed, it's going to be revealed in the man's life. In other words, Paul is saying here the same thing James said—and Paul and James were never in disagreement—faith without works, it’s dead. Saving faith, it produces something. And faith, as Calvin said, “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone.”
Featured Offer
Galatians Bible Companion
Get ready to fight the good fight against legalism in Galatians. When this letter was written, it defended the gospel of Christ from people who wanted to reduce it to rules. Not surprising, Galatians has provided the backbone for several great spiritual revivals around the world. Freedom, we learn, is a serious fight. Allow grace to revolutionize your own life through these seven lessons from Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
Archives
God cannot lie. Paul, you remember in the epistle to the Romans, made that abundantly clear. And I think sometimes we believers almost make God out a liar by the lives we live. We say we believe something, and we really don't believe that. And we act as if we don't believe it. Even God cannot do certain things. Here's one of them. God cannot lie. Why can't He lie? God must be true to Himself. He's holy, He is righteous, and that's His nature. And there are certain things He can't do because of His nature. It's not because of the fact that it would be an impossibility. But God is true to His nature, and His nature is that He's righteous and He's just.
July 25, 2024
The people on the island of Crete, they were abusing the grace of God. They said, “Since we’re saved by grace, we are free to live in sin if we want to.” Paul has a great deal to say about that. He says that grace saves us and he's going to say that it lays down certain disciplines for our lives. You cannot use the doctrine of the grace of God to excuse sin. If you think that you can be saved by grace and live in sin, then you are not saved—period. Because if you've been saved by the grace of God, it leads to a godly life.
July 24, 2024
My friend, God loves you. God will save you if you'll come to Him by faith and trust Christ, but God also judges and He's a holy God. And He makes no apology for it. And He's righteous. And we can say with Paul, “Is there unrighteousness with God? No, there’s none, God forbid.” God's right in everything He does, and if He judges, that's right. If you don't think so, has it ever occurred to you, you may be wrong? And it would be a quite a thing if this generation today was wrong and God was right. I'll let you in on a secret that they don't know, and we'll just keep this secret to ourselves. And it's this: God is right and this generation is wrong. God will judge sin.
July 23, 2024
The greatest sin of Christians today is their ignorance of the Word of God. Now God gave this to be a warning not only to those people, but all Scripture is for us, and it has a message for us today. My friend, when the judgment of God begins, it's going to be too late then to make your decision. Today if you'll hear His voice, "Now is the time … now is the day of salvation." You talk about the "Now Generation." The Now Generation are those that have accepted God's salvation and have not postponed it.
July 22, 2024
We've asked the question time and again, do you love the person of Christ? Maybe I ought to go back of that. Do you love the Word of God? You would never love Him unless you love the Word of God. And my feeling today, it's not really the attitude toward the book, when you get it down to the final analysis. One seminary professor said to me some time ago, he says, "What theory of inspiration do you hold?" Well, I said to him, “The theory I hold is no theory at all. I love the book.” You have to love the Word of God before it will ever become meaningful to you. Then the Word of God reveals a person, and then you fall in love with Him.
July 19, 2024
I believe that when God calls you to do a job, He'll give you the power to do that job. In fact, I think God's work can only be done with the power of God. If you recognize you can't do it, that's the best position you can come to. Moses, you remember, finally came to the position after forty years in the wilderness, he couldn't deliver the people. Now God says, “I can do it through you,” and God called him to do it, and he was able to do it. And I think that today it’s so practical that it works in the ministry, it works in the pew, it works in the mission field today. Therefore, the important thing is to make sure that we're called of God to do the thing.
July 18, 2024
This is what God would say to you and to me right now. He says, “Preach the Word.” And the word “preach the Word” means to herald it, to give it out, to proclaim the Word of God. This is very important. It's sort of a rallying cry. It is sort of like a motto. It's like that which people respond to. This is a rallying cry to you today, friends, and to me. Herald the Word, give out the Word of God. And the expression I have adopted and many of you are giving it back to me is, “Let's get out the Word.” And that's exactly what Paul is saying here: “Preach the Word.”
July 17, 2024
How do you know it's the Word of God? Because you can prove it's true. How do you prove it's true? He says here that the Word of God is profitable, and here's what it will do. I have right here on my desk, right now, about five hundred letters. I know what it'll do, and I have those around me today and they are willing to testify. I believe that the Word of God is as much a fact and you can prove it as much as you can prove any problem of geometry or any scientific fact today. This is what the Word of God will do. I tell you, this book gets right down where the rubber meets the road. It walks in shoe leather today, and that's the proof of it. And that's the thing that makes me know it's the Word of God.
July 16, 2024
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it’s profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, (‘thoroughly’ is the word) thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Will you look at that for just a moment here, because this is important for us to understand. It is good for doctrine, that is, for teaching. The Bible is to be taught, and it's good for reproof. That's conviction. And if the Spirit of God is working, it'll bring conviction to our hearts. That's the way you can test whether the Word of God is moving in your life. Now it's for correction, that is, setting things right in your life—the Word of God is to discipline us.
July 15, 2024
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” And that word “inspiration” means “God-breathed.” These men, actually, they were not pens that the Lord picked up and wrote with them. But the marvel of it is that He used these men's personality, expressed things in their thought patterns, and yet He got through exactly what He wanted to say. And God has given us His Word and He hasn't any more to say to us. If God opened heaven and spoke out of heaven today, He wouldn't add anything to what He's already said, friend. He has said it, and He hasn't any more to say to us.
July 12, 2024
See More Episodes
Listen to Thru the Bible - Minute with McGee on
Amazon Echo
Learn How
Learn How
Featured Offer
Galatians Bible Companion
Get ready to fight the good fight against legalism in Galatians. When this letter was written, it defended the gospel of Christ from people who wanted to reduce it to rules. Not surprising, Galatians has provided the backbone for several great spiritual revivals around the world. Freedom, we learn, is a serious fight. Allow grace to revolutionize your own life through these seven lessons from Dr. J. Vernon McGee.