Eternally Blessed, and Firmly Secure

We have real and eternal security in Christ. (Image courtesy of SXC.hu.)

Eternal security is such a foundational part of the Gospel message. Although the evangelical saying of “once saved, always saved” is perhaps simplistic and certainly not a phrase that is in the Bible, the message behind it is very true.

In Romans 8:28-30 Paul writes:

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  For whom He foreknew,  He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,  that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Note how in this passage Paul shows that from God’s foreknowing us and predestining us comes the time when He calls us. When He called us He had already decided in His Sovereign will that He would save us. And especially note the last stage: “these He also glorified.” (v.30). In God’s sight we have already been glorified. There is no shadow or feathering here – the glorification we shall experience as God’s children is a certainty, so much of a certainty that God speaks of it in the past tense.

Peter also speaks of the great security we have in Christ. In 1 Peter 1:3-5 he writes:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

(Emphasis mine.)

Our inheritance isn’t one which moths and worms can eat away or one which a robber can come and steal away. Our inheritance is sure – it is certain, and if any would doubt and think that the inheritance is there but whether we are given it or not depends on our performance note what I have emphasised in verse 5: we “are kept by the power of God.” Is God’s power limited in any way that we could choose or otherwise cause this word to be of none effect? Of course not! God’s power is infinite and Almighty, and it is that power which keeps us.

Some may say, “what if we sin”? Sin is exceedingly wicked and profoundly displeasing to God. Jesus says on more than one occasion to those He has forgiven: “go and sin no more”. Sin is repugnant to God. The Apostle John writes about sin in 1 John chapters 1 and 2, and he writes this book so that we might not sin. Yet he is also aware that we do all fall short from time to time, and even says to those who think themselves to be sinlessly perfect that they are deceiving themselves.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9

“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” – 1 John 2:1-2

We can indeed to be assured of salvation if we truly belong to Christ, and we shall never be left to fall away. Yet we must, indeed, be sure that we belong to Christ in order to have this assurance, and if we doubt that we truly belong to Him we must seek after Him even more so that we may be sure, for if we are deceived that we are saved when we are not, then we are in great danger.

But for those who are earnestly seeking after God, note what God says to the saints (not the whole world, but those who are seeking God’s Kingdom and Righteousness):

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” – 2 Peter 3:9

God will keep us, lead us, guide us. We can fully place our trust in Him and in the redeeming work of the Blood of Christ. We need not fear the future, neither fear the past, but we can trust in the present, trust for the future, and have that which is in the past forgiven. It is an amazing grace!

Prayer of Praise

Dear Father, You who made the heavens and the earth, You who made all things, praise unto You, O Great and Sovereign Lord, for You have loved us and You have sent Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ, to be born as a humble babe and to be slain as the Passover Lamb – it is through Him that we have been purchased for Your Glory and Your purpose.

Dear Lord, Jesus Christ, Promised Messiah. It is by Your obedience to the Father, Your sacrifice upon the Cross, that we have been made righteous in God’s sight. And You, O Jesus, did not remain in the grave, but as Your word said beforehand You took Your Life up again, and so in Your Resurrection we have Life and fellowship with the Lord God Almighty.

Dear Holy Ghost, You have been sent to us by the Father at the asking of the Son, and You now dwell in our hearts and make us alive to God. You are our Counsellor, You comfort us as we need, and You convict the world of sin. It is You, O Spirit of God, that leads us and guides us, in order that we may take no praise for ourselves but that all Glory is due to God.

Dear Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we praise You. Jesus, You are the Lamb that was slain and, lo! You now liveth for evermore. You reign with the Father in the Unity of the Holy Spirit – One God, now and forever.

Amen.

(This prayer was originally posted as part of the “Weekly Worship” on the G+ Reformed Fellowship Church, a Google Plus community.)

Our Duty and Our Joy

Duty. Oftentimes in this era in which we live the concept of duty is decried. I know that I have had a poor understanding of duty, and in this present culture the concept is often linked to reluctance: something we are forced to do yet not really want to do.

Joy. In this culture in which we live the idea of joy is one in which we let our selfish passions run wild, ignoring the needs and wants of others and seeking our own happiness through whatever means we so choose.

So how can we perform our duty and our joy?

If we allow ourselves to be defined by the culture in which we live this is impossible. The concepts of duty and joy are mutually exclusive: either we are dutifully miserable or we are recklessly joyful. Yet in God’s order of things we can discover that we can find our greatest joy by performing our highest duty.

If we are a believer in the Crucified and Risen Christ and seek to live according to His Spirit we can come to the realisation that there is a great truth: real joy is found through being obedient to His commandments. God purchased us through the blood of Christ. Whereas we were totally dead in sins, unable and unwilling to ever submit to a God even if we acknowledged He existed – unless we had first manipulated our understanding of the nature of God so that he became a “god in our own image” – Jesus, even whilst we were dead in trespasses and sins, died for us and thus we were redeemed, made new, and brought into a relationship with the living God, and this by the payment of the full price: the pouring out of the blood of Christ.

Because this is true – that if we are a Christian believer we have been purchased with the greatest payment ever known – then the situation is such that it is our duty to live in accordance with the word and Spirit of God. We would never have chosen to be in a position where we must submit totally to the will of the true God, yet because He loved us He chose us and bought us, so that we belong to God and should, therefore, as our first duty, submit and surrender to Him in every aspect of our lives – even, if necessary, to the lengths of persecution and death – and so we must die to ourselves and live to God.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

- 1 Cor 6:19-20

 

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

- Matthew 16:24-25

Yet we also know something that is extra to this duty. This duty, if fulfilled – even if falteringly and imperfectly fulfilled – brings with it an immense and everlasting joy. Our highest duty becomes our greatest joy. Joy is the second fruit of the Spirit, and if we walk in our duty towards God, walking according to the Spirit of Life, then we find that eternal joy which only comes from Jesus, welling up in our hearts and becoming like a fountain of life within us.

“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” - John 7:38

Whilst the world may not understand the marriage of duty and joy, we as Christians have that great gift of being able to perform our duty to God and as a result being filled with joy. We must walk in the Spirit, allowing the Spirit of Christ to indwell and motivate us, allowing His leading in every area of our lives. As we abide in Christ and allow His Spirit to work in us, we will find that the more we live out our duty the more we will experience the joy of Jesus.

Christ our Life

This devotional was originally posted as part of the “Weekly Worship” which takes place at the G+ Reformed Fellowship Church, an online “church” on Google Plus.

It is often said that “Christ gives us life”. To a degree that is true, yet it is not the full truth. The fact is that Christ isn’t just a giver of Life, but He is that Life. Jesus said: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” - John 11:25. When He gives us life it is because He gives us Himself. It is His Spirit within us that is the very reason we are alive.

“Whoever has the Son has Life, whoever has not the Son has not Life.” - 1 John 5:12. It is only by having Jesus that we can enjoy life – real, true Life – at all. If we do not have the Life of Jesus dwelling within us, then we remain dead in trespasses and sins and cannot enjoy that abundant life which Jesus has promised to His people.

We must also be constantly in Christ. It is an amazing privilege and joy to have that most intimate relationship possible: to be in Christ and have Him in us. We are at one and the same time in Him and He in us. Jesus says that this is the only way we can bear any good fruit – by abiding in Him and He in us.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” - John 15:4

It is by abiding in Christ, having that most intimate of relationships, that we bear fruit, because it is only by abiding in Him that we have His Life. The fruit we then bear is the fruit of the Spirit, for the Spirit is Life and the fruit is the fruit that comes from Life and brings Life to the full.

The word abide literally means “to have one’s abode; to dwell; to reside.” It is to make our home in, to have as our permanent residence. Our home is not this world – no, our home is in Christ. He is our place and our portion.

If we neglect our relationship with Christ and neglect to draw sustenance from Him we will start to wither. If we abide in Him we will flourish and bear much fruit. We cannot have Life and we cannot bear fruit unless we are in a deep fellowship and intimacy with Christ.

Abounding Grace

I make no secret of the fact that I have some serious troubles with sin. I’m sure, if we are honest, that we all can see so many ways in which we “fall short of the glory of God”. We live in a fallen world, and we ourselves have the nature of fallen man within us (the flesh, or sinful nature), and of course the devil is keen to tempt and accuse us when he can.

Yet if we are believers in the crucified and risen Christ then we have access to the Father through the Spirit, we have forgiveness of sin, we have a new nature, one “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:13). We are born again, and are by nature creatures of mercy, not wrath.

I need to make an important point before I continue with the main thrust of this post: we should never take God’s grace as a light matter, or as an excuse to indulge in sin. Paul says:

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” - Romans 6:1-4

We should certainly not take the sacrifice of Christ as a license to sin. Many have spoken of what is known as “cheap grace” – the concept of forgiveness without a repentant heart. That is not the Way. The Way of Jesus is to “Repent! For the kingdom of God is near!”

Yet we all do fall into sinful behaviour. Some of these are one-offs and we can return to Christ and the Father and confess and repent of our sins, and know we have learnt our lesson. Some sins, however, are habitual, and we find ourselves falling in that one area or those few areas again and again. Sometimes these habitual sins can really get us down.

I want to encourage you! However hard you fall, however many times you fall, God is faithful. If you are His then “no-one is able to snatch [you] out of [the] Father’s hands.” - John 10:29.

God’s grace is quite astounding. It truly is an amazing grace. His grace abounds towards us, and abounds toward us more and more. Yes, even if we are trapped in a habitual sin God’s grace is sufficient, and He will grant victory at some point and we must co-operate with that deliverance. We must have a repentant attitude: we must be constantly turning away from the sinful inclinations and turn to God and draw on His strength. His grace abounds, He does forgive, and He will grant us His deliverance as we, seemingly again and again, have to turn to Him for restoration after a fall.

Do not lose heart! Remember: God’s grace is abounding toward you!

“For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.” - Proverbs 24:16

God Loves Mercy – Thoughts on Hurricane Sandy

Many bloggers and many prominent Christians have spoken on the question of whether natural disasters are the result of God’s judgement against nations and against people. I have felt prompted today to write my own prayerful thoughts following the terrible events from Hurricane Sandy in the US.

Firstly I am praying that I may be sensitive to the fact that some have lost their lives, both in the US and previously in Haiti and other Caribbean islands. Many more have lost possessions, homes and livelihoods. My heart goes out to those affected and my prayers have been and will continue to be with you.

We should be very careful when writing on such a subject that we present God and His nature truthfully. I would be lying if I denied that God is a God that loves justice. I would also be lying if I said that God is never moved to wrath. Yet we should be clear that the primary and all-consuming nature of God is Love. God the Father sent Jesus to save His people from their sins, and if you have, or would, receive Jesus and make Him your Lord and Saviour then you can be assured of mercy.

The Psalmist once spends every other line of a Psalm declaring “His mercy endures forever”.

So does God send natural disasters as a punishment for wickedness? In some instances I believe He does, but I shall qualify that by saying that God takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner and that God does not will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

God, if and when He is moved to wrath, is not like a mortal man who is in a rage and conceives murder in his heart, but rather makes His power known in order that, perhaps, the people may be brought to turn from wickedness and embrace the fullness of joy that is freely available in Jesus. God does not send trials and disasters as mere punishment, but uses them as a means to bring many to a close relationship with Himself.

A passage which I am not the first to point to tells when Jesus was confronted by some Jews who were advocating that very attitude too many preachers seem to take: that disasters happen because of the victims’ sins.

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?
3 “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
4 “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Sī-lōam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?
5 “I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

- Luke 13:1-5

Here it is clear – those affected by disasters of whatever sort are no more deserving of that fate than us all. We cannot point the finger and say “Your sins are to blame.” If we even approach this attitude it must be such that “Our sins are to blame.” We have inherited the curse of sin through Adam, and this has been passed on to every person, you and I included, and part of that curse is the curse upon the earth – hence natural disasters.

It is only through Jesus that we may be saved from that sin and eternal wrath, and the disasters that strike us are not formed in the mind of God to punish us, but are allowed by God and used by God to bring us into closer union with Him and may accomplish the real desire of God which is eternal, intimate relationship with you and I.

And note how God loves to show mercy in the verses following Luke 13:5:

He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.
7 “Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’
8 “But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.
9 ‘And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”

- Luke 13:6-9

I believe that this passage shows how merciful God is, as the planter is representative of God and the servant representative of God the Son, Jesus, Who pleads with God to spare the fig-tree, representing us, until He has nourished it and built it up. It is here we see that though God is just and must punish sin yet God the Son pleads on our behalf and God the Father shows mercy and puts off the just punishment in order that we may be nourished and fed.

In summary, God is sometimes moved to wrath, yet it is always His first desire to show mercy, and even wrath is used to this end. Natural disasters are the result of a world under sin and the wrath of the devil, but even through these God works things together for good. Our proper response to such disasters is not to point out other people’s sins, but to look at our own sin and repent of it and to show mercy to those who are afflicted.

The Practice of the Presence of God

God’s Presence is with us Always – Image courtesy of SXU/fotoviva

I am currently reading through The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence and it is a profoundly inspirational book.

Although not compiled by Brother Lawrence itself it provides a great insight into his practice of seeking constant communion with God. It details his methods and practices and gives a good inspiration to fulfil the words of the Apostle Paul when he states that we are “to pray without ceasing”. Brother Lawrence seems to have mastered this during his religious life.

A word of warning, though – it appears that Brother Lawrence was devoutly attached to the Romanist Church and the monastic life, and there are aspects of both that make me, as an evangelical Christian, somewhat uneasy.

Yet the descriptions in this book, through a series of conversations and a series of letters, give a good impetus to me to seek to be in greater and closer communion with my God and remain in fellowship with Him.

Brother Lawrence’s view is quite profoundly stated in the opening section of this book:

[He] related that we should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s Presence by continually conversing with Him. It was a shameful thing to quit His conversation to think of trifles and fooleries. We should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of God which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him

It is too often in the Christian life that our minds wander from a sense of God – yet Brother Lawrence, after many years of struggle with sin and condemnation, seems to have found that by constant prayer he was able to enjoy a peace and joy that is truly the mark of the Holy Spirit working in us.

Brother Lawrence did have times when this conversation slipped, and also had times when upon a reflection after tasks had been done had found himself to have fallen short. In such instances he advises: “Without being discouraged on account of our sins, we should pray for His grace with a perfect confidence, as relying upon the infinite merits of our Lord.”

Brother Lawrence would confess his sins and shortcomings and then think upon them no more as he returned to his conversation with God.

So much can be learned from this book and from Brother Lawrence’s experience and practice and I would thoroughly recommend it to your reading.

Putting the Poor in Their Rightful Place

A short while ago I wrote a blog post saying that we should not place the poor as equal to the Lord – we should not base our doctrine on our relationship with the poor but rather on our relationship with Christ.

We must love the poor and provide for them

Yet it is also important to say what the proper regard of the poor should be. In Matthew 25 Jesus Himself identifies Himself with the poor:

“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ – Matthew 25:37-40

Jesus makes clear that if we love Him we will love the poor – if we truly love Him we will consider the poor and give to them, because it is primarily with the poor which Jesus identifies Himself. He is the outcast, the rejected, the oppressed. He is the Man of Sorrows.

We should regard others before ourselves and be interested in the welfare of others before our own welfare – now that is a continuing challenge to me and I am sure to many – for it is through loving our brother whom we can see that we demonstrate that we are capable of loving Jesus whom we do not see. If we neglect the poor we are, effectively, neglecting Jesus. Whilst our doctrine must be based on our relationship with Jesus, the application of that doctrine should effect in us a compassion towards the poor.

Psalm 112 speaks of the nature of the righteous:

Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness;
He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
A good man deals graciously and lends;
He will guide his affairs with discretion.
Surely he will never be shaken;
The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.
He will not be afraid of evil tidings;
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
His heart is established;
He will not be afraid,
Until he sees his desire upon his enemies.

He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever;
His horn will be exalted with honor.
The wicked will see it and be grieved;
He will gnash his teeth and melt away;
The desire of the wicked shall perish.

- Psalm 112: 4-10

Do not neglect the needy. And do not neglect the Lord.

Sin and Repentance

If we fall into sin, our response must be to come to God and confess

I have had reason today to spend time in prayer confessing and repenting from certain sins.

There is a danger when we sin of reacting in two ways: either we can treat it as a light thing, something that doesn’t really matter, or we can be so consumed by our wrongdoing that we feel condemned and unable to approach God. Both responses are in grave error.

Firstly, we must remember that Jesus died for our sins. It wasn’t a “cheap” or unimportant death – He did not die a painless and sorrowless death – He suffered enormously. Our sin is a great and heavy burden – it should never be regarded as something that “does not matter because Jesus dealt with it”. Yet in that death Jesus did pay the full price for our sin and our sins. We have a God that does not condemn but rather loves to show mercy.

We should never feel that our sins are too great to prevent us from approaching the throne of grace. Remember that one of the greatest tools of the enemy the devil is to make us ineffective as Christians through making us feel condemned and unable to approach God. Jesus is our Advocate. In the ongoing courtroom of justice, the devil is the accuser, yet Jesus pleads His Blood and by such we are forgiven and assured of salvation if we have trusted in Him.

So how do we experience in the here and now that very precious gift of forgiveness? We must come before God, confess our sins and turn from them and to Him (repentance). It doesn’t matter how many times we need to do this. My own battles with sins have lasted many years and I do fall into the trap sometimes of thinking that all hope of deliverance from those sins is gone. Yet even if a particular stronghold has gone on for many years we can place our hope and trust in our Redeemer, and indeed we must.

Putting the Poor First?

A fellow Christian blogger, Miguel Labrador, has been writing a series of blog posts on poverty, and yesterday I read the third of these posts which was on the topic “Which comes first, their need or our creed?”

As I prayed on this post I was struck by the verses in the Gospel according to Mark where the story is related of the woman who poured very costly oil on the head of Jesus. Some of those around Jesus, chief amongst them Judas Iscariot, objected vehemently, saying that the oil should have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor.

Here are the verses:

And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.  But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted?  For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.

But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.  She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.  Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.” – Mark 14:3-9

From this we can see that the desire to put the poor first is, in fact, a matter of the flesh. To attempt to place the poor first and then base our interpretation of Scripture and our application of it on the poor is to “put the tail before the donkey”. It produces a distorted view of Jesus in which we place the poor of equal value to our Lord.

Instead we need to be placing Jesus as supreme – for He is the worthy Lamb of God, not us – and that applies equally whether we are rich or poor.

If we place the poor as the defining aspect of our belief then we will not see the true Jesus, but rather a distorted view. Of course, we are to do good to the poor. Yet we must let our love for the poor be born out of our love for Jesus and we must see the poor in the Light of Jesus. It should never be the other way around.

The danger of an inverted view may well be seen in the Occupy Faith movement (Occupy Faith is a loose grouping of people of faith – not just Christians – who seek to be part of the Occupy protest movement). Economic justice is a good and wholesome aim. Yet, as Christians in Occupy Faith seek to fight for economic justice, Jesus has been sidelined. That  is gravely wrong. Jesus must be the Centre. To do good separate from Jesus is not possible – we must abide in Him in order to bear good fruit, for He is the True Vine.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. – John 15:1-8

Unless we seek “First the Kingdom of God” then we will not do good. If we seek to do good, but abide not in Christ, our works are fruitless in any real and eternal sense.

Indeed, the subject of justice for the poor can become an idolatrous situation that is simply an inverted prosperity “gospel”. The prosperity movement with its insistence that God wants us to be rich is an abominable doctrine, yet if we believe that God wants us to care for the poor over and above our regard for Him then we are equally so following a falsity.