How the "Objective Gospel" Becomes the "Subjective Gospel"

From Dial Daily Bread:

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It's the question many ask, and yes, angels too, as do the entire universe: how does the "objective gospel" ("righteousness by faith") get translated into the "subjective gospel" of righteousness in the life?

Until the answer is demonstrated, "the bride, the Lamb's wife" won't "make herself ready," and the great controversy between Christ and Satan won't be finished. The unfallen universe have a right to ask, What will enable people who have a fallen, sinful nature to "overcome even as [Christ] overcame"?

To say that "Jesus did it all so I have nothing to do" is a lie. Jesus did it all, yes, so that you and I can "do it all" in lives of total obedience to all His commandments. There's a war going on and we must jump into the fray with both feet.

That doesn't mean an added program of righteousness by works. It means choosing, putting our will on the side of the Savior--a thousand times a day, and on and on until the Lord comes. No end to the warfare with self. Here it is in easy terms:

"The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men [Greek]. It teaches us to say 'No!' to ungodliness and worldly passions ..." (Titus 2:11, NIV). Don't kid yourself; "ungodliness" and "worldly passions" will tempt you again; the closer you come to Christ and the more you are "converted," the more alluring will all those temptations become. Yes, "all," including sex. But temptation is not sin unless you say "Yes!" to it, and "the grace of God" teaches you HOW TO SAY "NO" to it.

But that's not a cheap Babylonian grace, which frankly can't "teach" us. It's a Day of Atonement understanding of what it cost the Son of God to save us--a New Covenant vision of the cross, and of what He has already done and is doing for us. The world waits to see it.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 31, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

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