{"id":12859,"date":"2016-08-17T01:38:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-day-of-salvation-2\/"},"modified":"2016-08-17T01:38:40","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:38:40","slug":"the-day-of-salvation-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-day-of-salvation-2\/","title":{"rendered":"THE DAY OF SALVATION"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>2 CORINTHIANS 6:1\u20132<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>(2 Cor. 6:2)<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>Paul opens this sixth chapter with a perplexing exhortation: \u201cWe then, as workers with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.\u201d What does he mean by \u201cnot to receive the grace of God in vain\u201d? First, he is <i>not<\/i> implying that some people can accept the atonement of Christ, which is described in the preceding chapter, and yet continue to live in sin. To receive the grace of God in vain does not mean a person may be justified while remaining unsanctified. Scripture never separates these two aspects of redemption. Those who are reconciled to God through Christ will certainly be sanctified. The pardoned believer cannot continue to live in sin as he or she did prior to the Holy Spirit\u2019s regenerating work.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>Second, Paul does not mean by this statement that Christians can lose their salvation. The \u201cgrace of God\u201d that Paul is speaking about in this passage is not forgiveness of sins, nor is it the renewing, sanctifying influence of the Spirit. Some interpreters will try to use this passage to prove that Christians can lose their salvation, but this is not true to the teaching of Scripture. This statement by Paul is similar to that found in Gal. 2:21, \u201cI do not frustrate the grace of God.\u201d Each of these verses are not talking specifically about forgiveness of sin, but the favor of God in having made His Son sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>\u201cThe Lord Jesus Christ having died for our sins and procured eternal redemption for us, the apostle was most earnest in exhorting men not to allow this great favor, as regards them, to be in vain,\u201d Charles Hodge wrote. Christ\u2019s death was sufficient to save all who had heard the proclamation of the Gospel. The Corinthians had heard Paul\u2019s teaching, and he urged them to grasp the \u201cday of salvation.\u201d He didn\u2019t want the work of Christ to come to nothing in their case. Instead, he wanted the grace of God to be manifested in their lives; and with this goal in mind, he exhorted them fervently to be reconciled to God before it was too late.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>This exhortation applies to all who hear the Gospel. Let us not put off what we can do today. Accept the grace of God, the offer of reconciliation in His Son, before the offer is revoked and the work of Christ is proved to be fruitless in its application to you.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Isaiah 22\u201324<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Ephesians 3<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:   18.0pt;line-height:normal'>There is urgency in Paul\u2019s exhortation, just as   there is in the verses below and those Scriptures that stress the importance   of coming to Christ as a young person. Why is important to have this urgency   when you share the Gospel? Today, pray specifically for someone you know to   accept God\u2019s offer in Christ before it is too late.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:   normal'><i>For   further study: Isa. 49:8\u201313 \u2022 Gal. 2:11\u201321; 5:1\u20136 \u2022 Heb. 2:1\u20134<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>wednesday<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>october<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2 CORINTHIANS 6:1\u20132 Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). Paul opens this sixth chapter with a perplexing exhortation: \u201cWe then, as workers with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.\u201d What does he mean by \u201cnot to receive &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-day-of-salvation-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;THE DAY OF SALVATION&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12859\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}