"Crestinismul nu este nici legalism, nici libertinaj. Un copil al lui Dumnezeu este liber de Lege, dar, din dragoste de fiu, se reaseaza in ordinea cosmica divina, ascultand de Legea lui Christos."

Adaug la aceste cugetari si cateva din culegerea mea personala:

Nu uita ca unul dintre sinonimele "libertatii" este si "fara-de-legea"! Nu fii nihilist, ci crestin!

Cand libertatea distruge ordinea, dorinta dupa ordine va pune capat libertatii.

Prea multi oameni tanjesc dupa libertate doar pentru a-si permite sa faca "lucruri neingaduite".

Q: What is sanctification?

A: Sanctification is in three different parts. There is what is known as positional sanctification.
When you and I trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Lord
Jesus has been “made unto us…righteousness” (1 Corinthians 1:30). So
you and I have a standing before God that’s perfect, because we are in
Christ – that’s our position. In this matter of positional
sanctification, when the Lord Jesus Christ took away my sin, paid the
penalty for my sins, He not only subtracted sin but He gave an addition
of righteousness. Then there is practical righteousness. That’s when we “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). And then there is ultimate righteousness,
“it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he
shall appear, we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2). He is righteous, and
that is the ultimate goal for us. But none of us in this life can
attain that. But there is a practical righteousness that you and I can
grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. And actually we ought to be
a better Christian today than we were yesterday. In other words, there
should be spiritual growth in the lives of all of us, and that growth
is the thing we’re concerned with today. That is, to live a life that
is worthy of God, and we cannot do that in our own strength. The thing
that we need today is not the gifts of the Spirit; what we really need
is the fruit of the Spirit. And “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance” (Galatians 5:22, 23). How do you attain that? We’re told to
walk in the Spirit, and that’s a learning process. That’s the reason
that He keeps us down here, that we might grow. The business of the
church is to produce spiritual fruit and not religious nuts! That is
the righteousness that you and I need today. That’s sanctification –
that you and I grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you
get right down to the nuts and the bolts, our business as Christians is
to do what Jesus wants us to do. And when you and I are doing that,
then we are being sanctified.

When the first delegation of Jews returned to the [Promised Land],
they met discouragement. It is at times like this that you let down. It
has happened to many Christians. Someone has said that discouragement
is the devil’s greatest weapons. The Jews let down their guard and
intermarried with the surrounding heathen and enemies of God and
Israel. That in turn led to a practice of the abomination of the
heathen. The lack of separation plunged them into immorality and
idolatry. The returned remnant is in a sad, sordid, and squalid
condition.

Now there are several things Ezra could have done in this situation.
He could have broadcast a program on patriotism, run up the Israeli
flag, displayed the Star of David, and held great rallies on
patriotism. But he did not do that. He might have delivered a withering
blow against the intermarriage and immorality and idolatry by making
speeches, but Ezra did not do that either. Or he could have followed
another procedure: he could have formed an organization and become
involved in trying to recover these couples who had gone into this
immorality. That, my friend, is how we do it today. But I want you to
notice what he did. It is something that we don’t see much of in our
day.

And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my
mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat
down astonied. (Ezra 9:3)

When all of this was brought to Ezra’s attention, and he found that it
was accurate, he was absolutely overwhelmed and chagrined that God’s
people would drop to such a low level.

Today we talk about the apostasy of the church – at least I do. But
I wonder if we are as exercised about it as we should be. Friends, it
is so easy for you and me to point an accusing finger at that which is
wrong, but notice what Ezra did. He was so overwhelmed by the sin of
his people that he tore his clothes and tore out his hair. Instead of
beginning a tirade against them (which would have been characteristic
of many people today), notice the next step Ezra took.

Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the
words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that
had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. (Ezra 9:4)

There are many who profess to have a love for the Word of God, and they
have notebooks and marked-up Bibles to prove it. The interesting thing
is that their own lives are marked up and fouled up, and they are doing
nothing about it. They say that they believe the Word of God, but it
has no effect upon their lives whatsoever. They do not tremble at the
Bible. Like the man of the world, they say, “God is love.” And He is –
it is wonderful to know that God is love. But He is more than that. Our
God is a holy God. He will punish sin, and that is the thing that is
troubling Ezra.

Ezra sat astonished “until the evening sacrifice” because of the
transgression of those who had been carried away. Ezra was shocked by
this. Does this concern us? Really, today, how much are we involved?
How much do we believe the Word of God? My Christian friend, it would
pay you and me to go to a solitary place and ask ourselves these
questions: “Do I really believe God’s Word? Do I really obey it?”

And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness;
and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and
spread out my hands unto the Lord my God. (Ezra 9:5)

What does it mean to spread out your hands to God? It means that you
are not concealing anything. It means when you go to God in prayer,
friend, that your mind and soul stand absolutely naked before Him. Ezra
went to God with his hands outspread. He was holding nothing at all
back from God. The apostle Paul put it this way, “I will therefore that
men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and
doubting” (1 Timothy 2:8). We need to remember that in our prayer lives.

--From Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s Edited Messages on Ezra

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Men down through the ages have had their viewpoints, and they always pass away. But this viewpoint is the one that shall abide. God says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” He says to you and me as individuals today we have come short of His glory and we’re sinners. He hasn’t any back door. He hasn’t any side entrance. God has only one way by which He’s being approached, and that’s a mercy seat that He established by the death of His Son upon the cross. That makes it
possible for lost sinners to find mercy with God.