J.A. Matteson
Two men listen to the same sermon. The preacher's appeal to repent and believe in Christ is heard by one man who gives mental assent to the message, agreeing with its premise, but he fails to entrust himself to Christ alone to save him, and continues in vain to attempt to merit God's forgiveness through good works. The other man also gives mental assent to the message, but this man also surrenders any hope of eternal salvation to Christ alone, entrusting his fate to Him, "for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified" (Rom. 2:13). And what does the Law demand? Listen to the apostle evangelize his antagonist, "'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' They said, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved....'" (Acts 16:30-31). As Habakkuk observed, "But the righteous will live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4). The writer to the Hebrews noted, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1). What can we say to these things? That the assurance of the hope offered to sinners of eternal life through the vicarious death of Christ is the internal evidence of the grace of God, witnessed externally by the world in a life that daily lives by faith. And this is the gift of God. To the praise of His glory.
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