HOWSON Family Members

Joseph Howson (Chart #2)  All Saints Record
-born Yorkshire County, England 1812
-died Windsor, Ontario, Canada
-buried on March 1, 1862 in St John's Cemetery

It's Friday.... but Sunday's Coming!

   We have just scratched the surface in our mini-study the past few weeks of what God has done at Calvary in providing for us "Our Great Salvation."    There are so many aspects of Salvation we could continue to study, like Forgiveness, Reconciliation, Regeneration, Redemption, Substitution, Adoption and Judgement to name a few more.  However, it is in the application of what we learn that really is the heart of the matter!
   Tony Campolo is gifted with the ability of communicating perspective to the body of Christ.  He may inspire you to find an application of how you can continue to live out your "Great Salvation".
  Here is his classic sermon ....

>>>It's Friday....but Sunday's Coming! -Tony Campolo (Click to Play)


>>>It's Friday ...but Sunday's Coming! -(Long Version) - Tony Campolo (Click to Play)

"...Believe with your head, but let your heart break with the things that break the heart of Christ."  - Tony Campolo

OUR GREAT SALVATION: Sanctification

Focus:      In the Fall, human nature became depraved – passions became unruly, thinking distorted, and spiritual life died.  But in Jesus Christ, we are sanctified; we are changed into His holiness.  We are separated from sin unto God for holy service.

1 Corinthians 6:11  ...But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

  In this study we have another aspect of salvation being pictured.  Sanctification is a temple scene where men are set apart, dedicated and consecrated for service and ministry in the presence of a holy God. 

   Immediately when a person asks Jesus to be his Savior and Lord, and repents of his sins, he is set aside as a special vessel to accomplish God’s will.  When a man is born again, he is a new creation in Christ Jesus!  This is regeneration, but it is also sanctification.

   Sanctification contains these two ingredients:  service and holiness.  These may also be called dedication and separation.  The meaning of sanctification expresses a separation from wrong and evil and dedication to God and His service.  The Scriptures make clear that sanctification has to do with the turning away from all that is sinful and defiling to both soul and body.  However, it means not only a separation from, but also a separation unto.  In order to be sanctified, a person must be not only separated from sin, but also separated unto holiness.  Whatever is set apart from a profane to a sacred use, whatever is devoted exclusively to the service of God, is sanctified.

   The child of God is not only responsible for coming out and being separate.  He is also responsible for maintaining that separation.  When he is filled with the Holy Ghost, he becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit, holy and sanctified.

Keeping a list of Do’s & Don’ts  does not make you holy.

   Men and women become holy because God makes them holy and sanctifies them by His own presence. Apart from the presence of God, there is no way a person may become holy.  Keeping a list of Do’s & Don’ts does not make you holy.  It is through the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life that you are sanctified.  There is no sin beyond the power of Jesus to erase.  The blood of Jesus Christ, shed on Calvary, cleanses from ALL sin!

   One of the most powerful agents the Lord uses in sanctifying His people is His Word.  The Word has the ability to reveal a man’s true condition to himself, bring him under conviction, and finally to his knees in prayer and true repentance.  The source of faith is in the hearing of God’s Word (Romans 10:17).  God’s Word cleanses, purifies, and sanctifies! (John 15:3, John 17:17, Ephesians 5:26)

   A man who has been sanctified must continue to live according to God’s Word.  If sin is committed, it disturbs the relationship with a holy God and breaks the fellowship.  Sin must be forgiven through confession and repentance.  To be saved, a man must be sanctified; without holiness all men are lost.

Adapted from Word Aflame

OUR GREAT SALVATION – JUSTIFICATION: An Act of God!

FOCUS: Justification is a state of acceptance with God.  When God justifies a man, He takes him from condemnation and brings him into God’s favour! Romans5:1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, wea have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

   There is only one plan of salvation from sin.  However, there are various aspects of salvation, and justification is one of those aspects.  Justification pictures a courtroom scene where a condemned man stands guilty.  When the judge declares him innocent and acquitted, he stands justified.

   Justification is entirely an act of God, by faith and faith alone.  When man rebelled by disobeying, sin broke the fellowship between God and His creature.  Nothing man can do can restore that fellowship.  The reconciliation and restoration must be of God and God alone.  For this reason it must be by faith and faith alone.

   It is important that we understand the doctrine of justification.  The main reason for the Reformation was the revelation understood by Martin Luther concerning justification by faith.  If we do not have a clear understanding of this doctrine, we may have many problems concerning our understanding of salvation.  All the truths concerning salvation are built upon this foundation of justification by faith alone.

   Justification is a change in a man’s relation or standing with God.  It has to do with the relations that have been disturbed by sin, and these are personal.  It means “to declare or cause to appear innocent or righteous.”   It is a question of relationship and means that a person is placed in right relation with God.  Justification is the judicial act of God whereby those who put faith in Christ are declared righteous and free from guilt and punishment.  Justification is more than mere acquittal.  It deals with the entire sin question.  It deals with the past as well as the present.  The sins of the past are covered and are as if they had never happened.

Justification is 

“Just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned.”  

It imputes the righteousness of Christ to the sinner!!!   This act of changing a guilty sinner condemned to death to a pardoned, righteous child of God is possibly the greatest miracle of all time.

   Jesus Christ took our long list of committed sins and wrote “PAID IN FULL” right across the page. 

 Romans 8:1 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..."

    Just as Jesus died for our sins, the justified man must be dead to his sins.  The sin question is settled forever.  It is a tragic thing for a Christian to disobey and again go back to a life of sin.  When this happens he is no longer justified but again under guilt and condemnation.

   This need never happen, for Jesus provided the means not only to take care of the guilt of past sins, but also to give victory over the bondage of present sinful desires.  There is salvation and victory in Jesus and through Him alone.

Adapted from Word Aflame

NEXT: OUR GREAT SALVATION - SANCTIFICATION

ANVIL is...Accountability-Networking-Victory-Integrity-Leadership

OUR GREAT SALVATION - Jesus Our PROPITIATION!

FOCUS: The justice of God demands that every sin receive it's punishment of death.  Jesus Christ satisfied God's righteousness and secured for us a pardon for our sins. Romans 3:25  (Jesus) ...whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins...

As we approach the Easter season, how thrilling to look again at the power and “Wonder of the Cross”, and remember what exactly was accomplished on my behalf when “The Lamb” satisfied sin’s demands, defeated death and rose victorious. Hallelujah what a Savior!

   I find the word "propitiation" such a rare and interesting word.  

Propitiation is the sacrifice or the covering that becomes the basis upon which God satisfies Himself concerning man's sin. Jesus was our Propitiation!  

God pardons sinful man through the propitiatory death of Jesus Christ.  The background for a study of propitiation is found in the Book of Leviticus.  Here, the underlying principle and purpose of blood sacrifice as an atonement and propitiation for sin is fully explained.

   Israel came out of Egypt corrupted by idol worship.  The people were unfamiliar with the God that delivered them.  God desired to make them a peculiar treasure, and revealed to Israel the basis upon which they could commune with and please Him. 

   The only way to approach a holy God is by means of a redemptive sacrifice.  This sacrifice must be satisfactory to God as a covering for sin.  In Old Testament times, only a lamb without a blemish was satisfactory to be used as a sacrifice.  This Old Testament law was a pattern (a foreshadowing) of things to come!  The only hope of our reconciliation with God is through a propitious sacrifice that brings man back to God through forgiveness and remission of sin.  God decided to offer His son Jesus as a one-time sin covering to those who believed on him.  Jesus was the only one without the blemish of sin, and thus is referred to “the spotless Lamb”.

   In the old covenant, the high priest carried the blood of the sacrificial lamb inside the Temple and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant –then the work of atonement was completed.  Jesus was not only the spotless sacrifice for sin; He also was His own High Priest to complete the work of the blood of atonement for sin.  Jesus Christ, our High Priest, arose the third day from the grave and ascended on high into the heavens. As our High Priest, He took His own life blood, as a ransom for many, into the prescence of God.

Hebrews 9:24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence

   The divine plan of redemption began in Genesis and culminated in the sacrificial death of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Jesus is my sin covering or “propitiation” for my sin.  
When God looks at me, he only sees the blood of Jesus Christ covering me!!!  

When I trusted Christ through Faith and repented, he forgave me, and my sin is covered under his blood.  I am so thankful for that!

   Only what happened at Calvary can cancel the debt of your sin – Jesus Christ paid the account in full!

NEXT: OUR GREAT SALVATION - JUSTIFICATION

Adapted from Word Aflame