The NXR Podcast - DAILY TRUTH - Grace Is A Gift, But So Is Faith

00:00:00.000 In less than a year, our podcast has gone from an average of 10,000 downloads a month

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00:00:16.360 and gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us press forward the crown rights of King Jesus by leaving us a

00:00:23.480 five-star review on your favorite podcast platform thanks if the grace of god is like a baseball then

00:00:30.460 faith is like the glove but god gives both he throws the perfect pitch and he gives you the

00:00:37.480 glove god does it all we are expected to put our trust in god and not to hedge our bets but to put

00:00:48.400 our trust in God alone but it is in the final analysis it is God himself who grants us faith

00:00:58.480 that faith is not merely something that can be conjured up manufactured by the will and sheer

00:01:05.840 grit of man but faith is something that God provides I believe help my unbelief God gives

00:01:15.380 faith. God grows faith, but he does so through sanctification progressively as a process in his

00:01:25.880 providence, in his presence. He does all of this. It's all his work. It's all his doing, which is

00:01:32.340 why he gets all the glory. God doesn't share glory with man because not because God is petty

00:01:39.860 or arrogant god doesn't share glory with man because he's just because he's fair

00:01:48.300 and it would be unjust and unfair to accredit man with anything because he hasn't done

00:01:57.620 anything god gets all the glory because god does all the work

00:02:03.360 including not just grace but providing the faith to receive that grace and yet even though god

00:02:13.620 provides that trust he's the one who gives it but he is still within his rights and holy and just

00:02:22.800 to command it god commands several things throughout scripture that he ultimately provides

00:02:29.780 God commands our obedience but if any man is faithful to obey God's commandments

00:02:35.200 then what will we say on that final day when we stand before him and he says well done good and

00:02:41.500 faithful servant pro tip I would respond by saying well done good and faithful leader if I followed

00:02:50.660 you well at all it's only because you led me well it's not because I hung on to Jesus it's because

00:02:58.480 Jesus hung on to me. It's not because I'm a good follower. It's because you're a faithful leader.

00:03:05.340 In fact, quite the opposite. There were several times that I, like the one sheep that was led

00:03:11.900 astray, I wandered off the beaten path. And it was not that I, because of my own wisdom, because of

00:03:18.920 my own righteousness, found my way back to the fold. But instead, the shepherd left the 99.

00:03:24.940 He went and found me and brought me back.

00:03:29.780 He will hold me fast.

00:03:32.880 Yes, we are commanded to cling to Christ,

00:03:36.440 to trust in Christ, to follow Christ,

00:03:40.600 to listen to Christ, to obey the commandments of Christ.

00:03:44.480 And if we do, it's because of Christ.

00:03:49.980 Both his grace and his gift of providing

00:03:53.720 the faith necessary to receive that grace.

00:04:00.340 So these two things, my point is,

00:04:03.060 in theological terms, they are not mutually exclusive.

00:04:06.220 They are not a contradiction of terms.

00:04:08.760 They are not opposed to one another,

00:04:11.680 God's command and God's gift.

00:04:15.600 God can command trust and obedience from his people

00:04:19.880 and in the very same instance be the source of faith and trust and the one who girds up our

00:04:27.200 obedience. It is him who wills and works in and through you in order to do that which is good

00:04:36.640 and pleasing in his sight. That's Philippians. It says, work out your salvation with fear and

00:04:45.500 trembling. That's your responsibility. That is God's just, righteous commandment to you. Do it.

00:04:52.440 You work out your faith with fear and trembling. And if we finish the verse,

00:05:00.160 it goes on to say, it is he who wills and works in and through. Both are true.

00:05:08.800 simultaneously true one does not contradict the other there are a few things in scripture that

00:05:18.600 to us may be an apparent paradox but in reality in God's reality and in the mind of God and that

00:05:28.220 which actually is there is no contradiction at all God commands man has human agency and

00:05:35.760 responsibility. And yet God is still meticulously sovereign over all things, including our response

00:05:43.060 to him, our obedience, our faith, our trust in such a way that every good and perfect gift comes

00:05:50.420 from him. And so he merits all the glory. So what we find in the first six verses of our text

00:06:00.620 is that God is gracious in the midst of trial

00:06:03.600 both by providence, increasing difficulty

00:06:06.060 along with our sanctification,

00:06:07.640 and in his presence, fresh mercy, fresh grace,

00:06:11.780 a fresh encouragement,

00:06:13.700 even when we've already received the command

00:06:16.080 and the encouragement dozens of times before.

00:06:19.920 God yet once more provides his grace.

00:06:23.720 Grace in the midst of trials,

00:06:25.960 both by providence and presence,

00:06:28.100 but also our obligation, although this too is his grace, our obligation to trust God.

00:06:36.720 And here's the ticket to trust God alone.

00:06:58.100 We'll be right back.

The NXR Podcast - September 15, 2023

DAILY TRUTH - Grace Is A Gift, But So Is Faith

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