“Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.’
“Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’” [1]
Dorothy was a wonderful Christian who had become a close friend to our family. Early in her walk with the Saviour, she had struggled with doubt so severe that she had been hospitalized. She couldn’t understand why God would want to save her; and consequently, she had often questioned whether she could even be saved. She knew she was a sinner, and she knew that she couldn’t be good enough to be accepted by Christ. And yet, she wanted to believe the Saviour when He said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” [MATTHEW 11:28-30].
Telling Lynda and me about how she resolved her doubts, Dorothy asserted, “I just came to the point that I said out loud, ‘God if you won’t have me, then I’m not gonna’ worry any more, ‘cause I just cain’t be saved by myself. If you save me, I’ll serve you.” This was a prayer from her wounded heart, and her life subsequent to this prayer demonstrated that the Lord had heard her cry. From that point, she said she never worried again. The accumulated torments from years of wondering whether she was good enough and questioning why God would want to save her had left her deeply wounded until she simply gave up trying to understand why God accepted her.
Perhaps someone listens who questions why God would ever want anything to do with you. You see yourself as a sinner, as someone who is undesirable, as someone who is repulsive. You struggle to believe what God has said. You need to hear again the clear statement of Scripture, “We walk by faith, not by sight” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:7]. The initiation of our walk with the Saviour is by faith, and throughout the days of our spiritual journey we are walking with the Master by faith. And down to final day when we at last exit this life entering into glory, we will walk by faith. Jesus encouraged His disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” [JOHN 14:1-3].
Perhaps your doubt is severe, or perhaps it is just something that only rises to the level of conscious thought occasionally, but I daresay that doubt has touched every one of us at one time or another. Few Christians can say that they have never experienced doubt concerning the grace of God or concerning His mercy. And yet, despite whatever trials we face, God is faithful and His people persevere, just as He promised.
SEEING IS BELIEVING! OR IS IT? “I’ll believe it when I see it!” is a declaration that expresses a common sentiment.. But is it true? We have five classical senses—touch, smell, taste, vision, and hearing. Assessing what is true, what is memorable, involves all the senses at various times and in various combinations. But the senses can be fooled! We delight in watching an accomplished magician as he or she engages in entertaining us with legerdemain or through astonishing us with what is purported to be psychic abilities. However, though we cannot explain how we were fooled, we know that we have been fooled; and the knowledge that we are deceived coupled with our inability to explain how it happened is what delights us.
Though some deception can be amusing, in other instances deception can be destructive. Obviously, people can be deceived, and the wicked one is a master at deceiving unwary souls. We know that our first mother was deceived, and the consequences for all mankind continues to this day. In his first letter to Timothy, presenting the reason women are not to serve as elders, the Apostle reminds the young pastor, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor” [1 TIMOTHY 2:12-14].
Maintaining the focus of this message, take note that Satan deceived Mother Eve. This is but an iteration of the record of Eve’s response when God confronted her after the fall. The woman deflected God’s charge, saying, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” [GENESIS 3:13b]. Perhaps one could argue that Eve wanted to believe the lie, but it is important to know that the serpent did lie, and the lie appeared plausible. Satan told Mother Eve, “You will not surely die” [GENESIS 3:4b]. He continued by suggesting that God was deliberately withholding power from the man and the woman. Therefore, Eve was convinced that God was not good as she had supposed! Thus, she was deceived!
As the present age progresses, the Apostle warns that demonic deception will increase. You will recall that the Apostle has written in his first missive to Timothy, “The Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth” [1 TIMOTHY 4:1-3].
Not only will deceitful spirits dupe many people as the age progresses toward the end, but Paul gives examples of some of the deceptions demons will perpetuate to seduce the unwary. People will be deceived into thinking that avoiding some designated foods or through eating some particular foods, they will make themselves acceptable to God. There will be movements that delude people into thinking that marital status is required to make them acceptable to God. Some will demand that people not marry; others will demand that they be allowed to dictate who should marry whom. In short, the worship of the Living God will be transformed from Who we meet into what we do.
We witnessed a monstrous perversion when religious individuals commandeered airplanes and turned them into missiles to kill thousands. These men drank themselves into oblivion in the days preceding their evil mission. They hired whores for sensual pleasures they had denied themselves for years. Then, the night before hijacking the planes, these animals carefully bathed before shaving off all hair from their bodies, paying particular attention to their armpits and pubic regions. They were careful to put on cologne so they would be ritually prepared to enter into paradise. They passed their hands over the various parts of their bodies as they blessed themselves. [2]
Then, having done all that was required by their religion to be ritually pure, they seized control of airplanes and consigned thousands to a fiery death as they flew these planes into buildings teeming with men, women, and children engaged in the routine of daily life. These vile creatures imagined that their acts would earn the commendation of the desert demon they worshipped and garner the praise of multiplied co-religionists throughout the world. Here is the thing that we must not ignore. Their supposed effort was akin to the effort of individuals who claim to be Christians though they are attempting to impose manmade rules on others in order to attain God’s praise..
Whenever you hear a supposed preacher saying that your relationship to God is dependent upon what you eat, dependent upon how you dress, dependent upon who you are married to, or dependent upon any other external facet, know that they are spouting the teachings of deceitful spirits. Christians and any who would hear the message of life revealed in the Good News of Christ must know that salvation is all of grace; to claim otherwise is to parrot the teaching of demons. Let me emphasize that truth by stating that any message proclaiming that salvation is by faith and anything else is presenting the teaching of demons.
Teaching that salvation is dependent upon faith and baptism is demonic. Teaching that salvation is dependent upon faith and participation at the Lord’s Table is demonic. Teaching that salvation is dependent upon adherence to any creed is demonic. Baptism is important, but the importance of baptism is the testimony it presents concerning the faith one expresses concerning the Risen Saviour. The Communion Meal is important, but the importance of the Lord’s Supper is as an act of worship of the Saviour who has rescued us from condemnation. Our creeds are important, but the importance of our creeds is as a concise summation of what is accepted as truth.
Salvation is all of faith, just as Scripture teaches. “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” [EPHESIANS 2:8-9].
Week-by-week you hear me point to the words Paul wrote to guide any who are seeking to be saved. It is good to recall what is written in the Word. The Apostle wrote, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [ROMANS 10:9-10]. Then, emphasizing what has just been said, Paul cites the words of the Prophet Joel, who wrote, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [ROMANS 10:13]. There is no effort required of those who would be saved. The lost person need but look to Christ as Master over life. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” [ACTS 16:31].
Seeing is not necessarily believing, but believing is seeing, if by seeing you mean seeing with the eyes of faith. As Paul writes the Ephesian Encyclical, he pens a prayer that he offered on behalf of those who believe. In light of our having obtained an inheritance in Christ, and since we have been predestined according to His purpose, the Apostle wrote, “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” [EPHESIANS 1:15-23]. Paul prayed that “the eyes of [the] hearts” of anyone reading what he wrote would be enlightened. He wanted Christians to see with clarity the grace and glory of the Lord who redeems the child of God.
What an example of faith is witnessed when a desperate father encountered Jesus immediately after the Master had come down from being transfigured before His disciples. You will recall that Jesus had been on a mountain with Peter, James and John. There, these disciples had witnessed the Master as He was revealed in His glory. Perhaps the disciples were still dismayed and dazzled, but not so much as to be incapable of witnessing what was about to take place. As they came down the mountainside, they witnessed a commotion. Let’s allow Mark, Peter’s amanuensis, to tell us what happened.
We read, “When [Jesus and His three chosen disciples] came to the [other] disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ And someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.’ And he answered them, ‘O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.’ And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘“If you can!” All things are possible for one who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’ And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose” [MARK 9:14-27].
Desperation drives people to extreme measures. I recall a woman who lived in the little town where I grew to manhood. This woman was horribly crippled after contracting polio. Polio was a killer in those days, and people lived in terror of the disease. This woman was confined to a wheelchair and utterly incapable of walking. A prominent faith healer broadcast his healing services from Tulsa, Oklahoma at that time, and this woman faithfully watched him. Many times she had cried out in her loneliness, “If I could only go to one of his meetings and get in the healing line, I would be able to walk again.” And her hope grew that one day she would be permitted to attend one of his services and she would be healed.
At last, the day came when the healer was holding a tent meeting in Joplin, Missouri, and this woman made the trip to that city. Though the distance to Joplin would not be considered great today, the trip was arduous for people in that day. Nevertheless, that woman’s husband determined that he would take her. Upon arriving she sought to get in the healing line, but was told that she couldn’t join the line. Her case was too hard!
I knew that woman and I heard the bitterness in the voice of her son as he related that his mother had hoped even for a word of encouragement. To my knowledge, the cost to that family was greater than most people can imagine because they ceased attending church services and appeared bitter toward the Faith of Christ the Lord. We do well to learn the wisdom of the Word, which teaches us,
“It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.”
[PSALM 118:8]
Again, the Word of God cautions those who will heed what is written,
“Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.”
[PSALM 146:3]
Indeed, the LORD warns through His servant Jeremiah,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.”
[JEREMIAH 17:5]
The grieving father we met in the account recorded in Mark’s Gospel cried out in his desperation, “If you can do anything!” That father was desperate, and he was prepared to accept even a statement from Jesus if that statement would give him hope. Anything was better than the torment he had experienced to this point. His child was tormented, and the demonic power that plagued the lad sought to destroy him. Any parent witnessing the torment of their child would be driven to desperate measures. Jesus’ response gives us hope in our own moment of desperation. The Saviour said, “All things are possible for one who believes.” And the response of that father must be the response of each of us. He cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
“Help me to see, Lord, having the eyes of my heart enlightened. Enable me to see life in such a way that I may know the hope to which Christ has called me, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe [see EPHESIANS 1:18-19]. Let my eyes look beyond this brief moment called today to see how Christ is working out His great plan. Permit me to see Your great hand at work, changing lives and making bad people good. Let me witness your mercy and grace lifting the fallen and giving strength to the weak.”
SO, WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR YOU TO BELIEVE? I know that I am speaking to some who have struggled to believe that God has accepted them. I know that some to whom I now speak struggle even to this day. I suspect that the primary impediment to full belief is that training you have received that has emphasised depending upon your feelings rather than accepting the evidence presented in the Word of God. Like those who imagine that our life is somewhat like a movie, we want to trust our feelings, we want to trust our best thoughts rather than trusting the unseen God. The problem with this approach to confidence in Christ is that our thoughts will betray us. We are warned,
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?”
[JEREMIAH 17:9]
What would be required for you to remove all doubt concerning the promises of God? What would be required for you to take the Lord at His Word, accepting as true and accurate what He has promised? John, the Apostle of Love, wrote a letter to strengthen the belief of those who follow the Risen Saviour. As he drew that brief missive to a conclusion, John testified, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life” [1 JOHN 5:13].
I don’t deny the witness of the Spirit Who lives within the life of each believer. However, the Spirit inevitably points us to what is written that we might believe. Drawing the Gospel that bears His name to a close, the Apostle of Love wrote these words. “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” [JOHN 20:30-31]. What has been written was given so that we might believe, and that believing we might have life in Jesus’ Name. That is what the Spirit of God is doing!
When Jesus was preparing His disciples for His death, He promised them that the Father would send the Holy Spirit. The Master spoke of the Spirit, teaching those who would follow Him, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him… These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” [JOHN 14:18-21, 25-26].
Again, you will remember that Jesus taught His followers, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” [JOHN 16:12-14].
The Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit from the Father, is given to reveal the mind of God; and that revelation is provided through the written Word of God. You no doubt recall an occasion when Jesus challenged the religious scholars because they denied what was written in the Word. Jesus confronted them by pointing to the written Word of God. “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words” [JOHN 5:45-47]? If you won’t believe what is written, you are denying God Himself. Multitudes who are religious are lost because they deny the Word of God.
The written Word is a perfect revelation of the mind of God. We do not worship the Bible, but we rejoice in the knowledge that we know the will of the Living God because He chose to reveal His will through giving us this written Word. Because God has spoken through this Word, we are confronted by this challenge: If we refuse to believe the Word of God, are we not exalting ourselves above God? Would we actually imagine that our own fallen suppositions are superior to God’s revelation? Would we actually think that we can know the way we should go rather than following the Lord? Many people reinterpret the Word of God to permit them to do what they want rather than doing what is right and good. Such people are treating the revelation of the mind of God as though it was optional. They appear to believe that their best thoughts are greater than the revelation we have received from the Lord God Himself.
Allow me to present what appears to me as some glaring examples that illustrate what I mean. In this day, children begin living together as though they were married. They may not be willing to commit to one another, but they want the benefits of the marriage bed without any open commitment to build one another in love. No commitment to make a home is required for them to begin living together; all that is required is a desire to get the pleasure they want without commitment or propriety.
We have trained a generation to sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the temporary. Our desires are more persuasive for us than is the Word of God. Because we have built our lives on a myth, we seem always to be chasing a phantasm that somehow is always just out of reach, it somehow never delivers the satisfaction we seek. Repeatedly I’ve heard the excuses of young men and young women who seek to justify their rebellion against God, though I’ve never heard a rational explanation for their rebellion.
Though the mind of God is revealed in this written Word, we still attempt to twist what is written in order to fit our thoughts rather than bringing ourselves into conformity with the Word. Rather than being the church, we choose to go to church. I mean that we see our attendance at the House of God as a ritual we must perform on some regular basis. Participation in the life of the Bride of Christ is made optional rather than necessary. We are taught to take what we want without any necessity of investing ourselves in the life of the Body. Building one another, comforting one another, and consoling one another are not our highest priorities because we have made ourselves the centre of our universe, failing to see our place in the community of faith.
These are just examples of the casual manner with which we come to the Word of God. The problem is not simply that these acts of open rebellion occur, the great problem is that we don’t recognize what is happening for the rebellion it is. Some years past a group sang during the services on a Sunday morning. That particular morning I had delivered a message in the course of which I spoke out against same-sex marriage. I emphasized that God calls those who will be married to fulfil the biblical ideal, which is one man and one woman living in commitment to one another for life.
Following the service, one of the women who was a member of the group that provided guest music for the service approached me. Her purpose was to shame me for not advocating that homosexuality was an acceptable behaviour. In the course of our conversation, this woman—a nice woman who professed the Name of Christ—said, “You wouldn’t say what you said if you knew my son. My son is a nice boy. He is gay; and he is the nicest boy.”
I responded that her son was no doubt a “nice boy,” and that he perhaps exhibited many other positive qualities. However, his niceness could never excuse rebellion against the Word of God. Dear people, we recognize that the man who commits only one murder a year is still a murderer. It does not matter that he is devoted to his mother, he is still a murderer. We understand that the man who only robs a bank once every five years is still a thief and a robber. It is of no consequence that he likes puppies, he is still a thief and a robber. How is it, then, that we are prepared to excuse some sins because society has decided they are no longer problematic, that they are now acceptable? At issue whenever we speak of sin is not the good we imagine that we do, but the evil that we tolerate. Though this dear lady professed Christ as Lord of life, she did not believe His Word. What would it take for you to believe?
We want to craft a god in our image, a kindly disposed god who will not ever say “No!” We want a god who smiles benignly when we deliberately sin, overlooking our deviancy, a god who is nice enough to affirm us though we disobey His express wishes. However, we want the god we craft to be ready to intervene to deliver us when we are confronted with the consequences of our disobedience. We want a god who does not interfere with us as we do our own thing, but a god who will always bless us by fulfilling our desires so that we always have a surfeit of things and a plethora of the delicacies that make this life pleasant. However, the Living God is God! He is not a plaything to be taken out of a box when we are in trouble so that we can be delivered from our own foolish actions.
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT — Paul reminded each one who endeavours to follow the Master, “We walk by faith, not by sight” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:7]. It isn’t always satisfying to the flesh to be compelled to walk by faith. To entrust our path to guidance from an unseen God demands faith, and not merely faith that God exists! We must believe that the Lord actually watches over us, that He actually is with us, that He is aware of the path we take.
The Psalmist testified,
“You trace my journeying and my resting-places,
and are familiar with all the paths I take.”
[PSALM 139:3 REB]
Imagine that! God knows where I am going. He evens knows when I rest and where I rest. There is no path that I can take that He doesn’t know. He knows both where I think I’m going, and He knows where I am actually heading. He guides me, as I permit Him to rule over my steps and cease my puerile attempts to take control of my own life.
Remember the encouragement as we are taught in the Second Corinthian Letter, “We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” [2 CORINTHIANS 4:16-18].
I recall a conversation with my dad on one occasion. My dad was a man of faith; he walked with the Master throughout the days of his life. However, he believed that a child of God could lose his faith and as a result be forever lost. My dad believed that a child of God could lose salvation. Thus, in his understanding, salvation was always probationary. I had come to the belief that my salvation was secure in Christ as Lord.
On one occasion my dad had travelled to Texas to spend some time in our home. I was thrilled that he’d come for a visit because it was such a rare thing that my dad would ever leave that little corner of Kansas where he lived and where I had grown to manhood. Nevertheless, Dad had taken passage on a Greyhound bus travelling from Kansas to Texas on this particular occasion. At that time my dad had spent the better part of a week as Lynda and I hosted him in our home. It was a rare and memorable time.
At the time of his visit, I was in the midst of doctoral studies and I was reasonably new to the Faith of Christ the Lord. Nevertheless, his presence allowed us opportunity to spend each evening just enjoying being together. His presence ensured that we would spend those precious hours together talking about all the things that had been neglected in the years since I had left home, and we would be able to simply enjoy being together.
We were seated at our kitchen table enjoying a cuppa’ joe and some father/son conversation one particular evening. Dad wanted to know if I was one of those weird Baptist who believed “once saved, always saved.” I corrected his choice of words, noting that I preferred to say I held to the concept of “once saved, always safe.”
From his reaction, it was obvious that my dad was not impressed with my confession of God’s saving mercies and His power to keep. Dad responded with a snort, “Why, if I believed that I’d go out and take my fill of sin!”
“Well, Dad,” I replied, “that is the difference in our understanding. I’ve had my fill of sin. I don’t want to dishonour the Lord. I don’t want any more sin.”
“Son,” he said as he stared at me with a serious mien, “you just have to hang on to the end, or you’ll be lost. You have to keep on believing, or you can be lost.”
“Dad,” I replied, “Christ will keep me safe. He has promised to keep me in His love. He has promised, ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age’ [MATTHEW 28:20b]. The Saviour also promised, ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one’ [JOHN 10:27-30]. So, if I’m held in the hand of God, who can take me out of His hand?”
My beloved daddy replied, “Well, I could take myself out of His hand; I could quit believing.”
“Then, you are stronger than God. Is that what you are saying?”
“No.”
“Dad,” I spoke gently, “have you ever quit believing? Have you ever wanted to quit believing?”
“No,” he replied, “but if I wanted to quit believing, I could.” Dad was unwilling to surrender what he thought was an unassailable position. My dad had no response to logic or to the unequivocal promise of God. Therefore, he was compelled to fall back on prejudice, on supposition founded on a guess. In this, he was not unlike many who struggle to believe that God will accept them. If one is arguing that God will accept them as they are and leave them in that condition, they have no reason to believe. However, God is pledged on His sacred honour to receive the sinner, transforming that person who was once at enmity with the Living God into the image of His dear Son.
Isn’t that what we read in Paul’s Letter to Roman Christians when he writes, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” [ROMANS 8:28-30].
The God Who gave His Son because of my sinful, broken condition, the God Who entrusted His Spirit to live in me, the God Who loves me, has pledged on His sacred Word that He will bring to completion what He began in me. And that is true for each one who is called by His Name. That is the promise given when the Apostle Paul writes, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” [PHILIPPIANS 1:6].
Dear people, for those who hear me at this time, especially for those who struggle with doubts, let me ask with a heart of compassion, “How did you get saved?” You see, the manner in which you were saved means that whatever you did, you’d better keep on doing if you want to be safe. If you did something to make God accept you, then you’d better keep doing that thing or you may not be kept in His grace. If, however, you came to Him in faith, resting in His grace extended because you looked to Him in faith, then He is responsible to keep you safe.
The Psalmist spoke for each child of God when he testified concerning God, “Your right hand upholds me” [PSALM 63:8b]. My plea is voiced by David when He pleads,
“Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
Hold me up, that I may be safe
and have regard for your statutes continually!”
[PSALM 119:116-117]
What are you depending on? God’s grace? Or your own efforts? My plea to each follower of the Christ is to rest in Him, to know His love. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] “Last words of a terrorist,” The Guardian, 30 Sep 2001, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/30/terrorism.september113, accessed 20 October 2020
