“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
We don’t hear many messages exhorting us as Christians to be holy in this day; and I admit that I question my own suitedness for preaching on this neglected subject. This deficit is to our detriment as followers of the Christ since we are urged to be a holy people. When we do hear messages encouraging us to live holy lives, the presentation often appears to leave enough wiggle room to allow that we can always appeal to an unwritten exception clause so we don’t become overly fanatical about being holy. I’ll explore this business again in an upcoming message, but it is essential that we understand that we who follow Christ are now holy in the eyes of God.
And the holiness we enjoy is not something that awaits some far distant event. That this is the case becomes evident as we read the opening words of Paul’s encyclical to Ephesian Christians. The Apostle writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” [EPHESIANS 1:3-14].
Give particular attention to the statement that has been recorded in the fourth verse where the Apostle says that because we are blessed in Christ we are at this time “holy and blameless” before God. That is our present condition! When we pray to the Father, coming before Him on the merits of His Son, we should be acutely aware that we are soiled and sinful. And yet we understand that the Father receives us as those who are cleansed from all sin. It is not some weird tautology to say that we are now pure and holy before the Father, and yet we struggle to be pure and holy in the world. In the flesh, we are anything but holy. For this reason, we are responsible to work at perfecting our lives, purifying ourselves from all evil that clings to us so tightly.
We Christians have this one great advantage working for us—our Saviour prayed for us, and He continually stands before the Father pleading for us. Jesus prayed that we who follow Him would be holy, and He now pleads for us who have been purchased by His blood. It is appropriate that we Christians understand that our Lord is now praying for us to be holy, to live lives separated to Him. Do you not remember the words which the Apostle of Love has written? “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” [1 JOHN 2:1-2].
And we are assured that whatever the Son of God asks, the Father gives Him. As evidence of this, remember that when Lazarus died, Martha met Jesus as He came to Bethany. As she met Him, a pitiful lament gushed forth from Martha’s lips: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you” [JOHN 11:21-22]. Though spoken with great sorrow, her words are an incredibly strong testimony of her faith in Jesus; in particular she was revealing her confidence in the power of Jesus’ requests when they are presented to the Father. Martha was confident that whatever Jesus asked, the Father would give Him. Likewise, we who are saved have this same confidence in the Son of God.
And here is the powerful truth that resides in each individual who knows the Saviour—because He receives whatever He asks, and because He is our Advocate before the throne of the Father [see 1 JOHN 2:1], therefore, we are confident that whatever we ask of Him He will give us. Listen to the Word of God and encourage your heart, child of God! “By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” [1 JOHN 3:19-23].
This promise is made more certain when God speaks through His Word, saying “This is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” [1 JOHN 5:14-15]. Wow! This is real encouragement for the one who follows the Risen Saviour!
This is nothing less than an iteration of Jesus’ promise delivered on multiple occasions, such as when He promised, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” [JOHN 14:13]. Again, to emphasise this truth, recall that Jesus promised, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” [JOHN 15:7].
Only a short while later, standing before the tomb where the body of Lazarus lay, with Martha’s words yet ringing in His ears and in the ears of all who heard her plaintive cry, Jesus lifted His eyes toward Heaven and prayed, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me” [JOHN 11:41-42].
As I deliver the message this day, I am praying that God will be glorified as He speaks to each heart, drawing each follower of Christ to long for a holy life. I pray that we will each be stirred deeply to determine before the Father to be a holy people.
THE COST OF HOLINESS — “I have given [My disciples] your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” [JOHN 17:14]. All that is necessary for you to be accepted by the world is to ensure that you don’t say anything positive about Christ, don’t do anything that would reflect honour to Christ, don’t be anything approaching godliness. No one will bother you if you aren’t living a holy life. However, if you even have the desire to do what is holy and right, expect opposition. Remember how the Apostle has taught, “All who want to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” [2 TIMOTHY 3:12 NET BIBLE]. You need not live a godly life in order to experience opposition, you only need to desire to live a godly life.
What an invitation: Come, be holy, and experience persecution together with us! Such an invitation is sure to draw outsiders to want to come join us in worship of the True and Living God! An invitation such as that is sure to make casual Christians want to take a stand for righteousness. One must wonder whether the Apostles gave much thought to what they were writing. Surely they didn’t expect anyone would respond to a message that promised suffering! Surely they didn’t think that people would willingly accept a call to be persecuted! Surely the Apostles understood that people wanted to hear that Christ would resolve every conflict and that He would guarantee a pleasant life for anyone who would believe! Fortunately, the Apostles were committed to speaking the truth in love, and we are not forced to try to adapt what they wrote to meet our expectations for a comfortable life. Nevertheless, it remains true that the life of the one who follows the Master is never guaranteed to be free of trials and hardships.
Those counted as great in the sight of God were not living for the accolades of this dying world; the biblical assessment speaks of deprivation and hardship. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” [HEBREWS 11:8-16].
To those younger Christians who are still in school, ask yourself whether it will make a difference if you are one of the lit kids today. Twenty years from now I can assure you that you won’t even think about whether your fellow students spoke well of you or whether they thought you were some kind of freak. Whether you live in a mansion or whether you live in a modest house on the wrong side of town will make no difference to your relationship to the Lord Christ. Here is the thing to keep in mind—keep your focus on what lies ahead and not on the opinions held by those of this world.
For the one who dares to follow the Lord the cost of holiness can be great. This is especially true if we evaluate the cost by thinking in terms of acceptance by the world. The Apostle of Love cautions those who will dare attempt to follow the Master, writing, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you” [1 JOHN 3:13]. The world hates the Christian! Those identified with this dying world cannot love the one who follows the Son of God because they are set against any thought of God’s reign over their lives. Because of their virulent hostility toward the Lord those of this world want to hurt God; however, they are powerless to injure God. Since those who are part of this fallen world cannot hurt God, they will strike out blindly at those who belong to God. Since you who are twice born call on Him as Father, you are hated because of your association with God Who is holy. And your efforts to be righteous are an affront to the lost.
There you have it! Those who identify with the Son of God will not be readily accepted by the world. In reality, the very fact that you even want to follow the Son of God will expose you to virulent hatred by the world. Even the love of family can be pushed aside when one is in the throes of such hatred of God. And the more strongly a person is identified as belonging to the world, the greater will be their hatred of Christ and of His followers. Do you not remember the words that Jesus spoke in this context?
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause’” [JOHN 15:18-25].
It is a tragedy that we who proclaim the message of life as ministers of the Gospel are not more forthright in warning people of the cost of following Christ. And our failure to urge people to live holy, upright lives leaves us open to divine censure. We are provided with a model of how we should be teaching in the message that was delivered by the first missionaries as they fulfilled the ministry Christ had given. In the Acts, we read of the concluding actions of those who were engaged in the first missionary journey. “When [the missionaries] had preached the gospel to [Derbe] and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” [ACTS 14:21-22].
The warning delivered by these missionaries was but an iteration of the cautionary statements given by the Master Himself. Before He offered the prayer from which we derive our text this day, Jesus had taught the disciples, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” [JOHN 16:33]. There is a cost associated with following Jesus! How much greater, then, is the cost when we make the effort to live a life that is holy and righteous so that His Spirit is revealed to be at work in us!
What the Master taught during His days in the flesh is echoed through the teaching of His servants who were guided by His Spirit. As an example, consider the message Paul delivered in what was perhaps his earliest missive to have been included in the pages of the New Covenant. Paul was writing the saints in Salonica at a time when they were experiencing persecution and extreme pressure. Surely, the Apostle would tell them something comforting, something to soothe their distress!
Listen to what the Apostle says in order to hear the heartbeat of one who is guided by the Spirit of Christ. “When we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know” [1 THESSALONIANS 3:1-4].
Those of this present age need to consider the teaching of Jesus as He neared the cross. In a matter of hours, He would enter Jerusalem. Opportunities to instruct His disciples will shortly cease and they will be dependent upon His Spirit to bring to mind what is essential, just as you and I are dependent upon His Spirit to provide us with sound instruction. We read, “Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.’ Peter began to say to him, ‘See, we have left everything and followed you’” [MARK 10:23-28].
Take your pencil and mark in your Bible Jesus’ response to what Mark wrote. “Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first’” [MARK 10:29-31].
Did you get what Jesus said? You give up nothing in terms of family when you commit yourself to following the Master! The Family of God, into which you are born from above, is far larger than your earthly family. And we preachers have done a decent job of encouraging people with this information. And we have done a respectable job of telling those who would follow Jesus that He will restore the places for us to live, the lands we imagine we are surrendering. What we haven’t done so well is cautioning that together with His gifting us in these areas, He cautions that we will also receive persecutions! This is the personal cost of seeking to live a holy and righteous life!
I have gathered but a few of the statements concerning the cost of you living a holy life—and you and I will be required to live a holy and righteous life if we will honour the Saviour! I do wish to include one other passage in emphasis of the cost of holiness if you are a follower of the Risen Saviour. John, the Revelator, as he opens the Revelation, identifies himself thusly, “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” [REVELATION 1:9].
John, as was true for all the Apostles, was not immune to the cost that was extracted in order to live a holy, righteous life. He was a partner with those who were even then experiencing tribulation. But if there is an ongoing cost of living a holy life, what was the initial cost of securing the opportunity to live a holy and righteous life?
The price Jesus paid in order to declare us holy was His life. The Son of God was required to taste death for every person who would ever occupy space on this rock we call earth. He would take upon Himself all the brokenness that condemns each human to death. The sinless Son of God would know separation from the Father as He would receive in Himself the punishment we deserved as result of our broken, sinful lives. Therefore, we read, “For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:21].
Elsewhere in Scripture we see this stunning testimony, “We see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” [HEBREWS 2:9]. Indeed, the Son of God has taken the punishment of death so that you and I need not know what it is to be separated from God. We need not know what it is to die. Oh, I don’t mean that we will continue on forever and ever in these broken bodies that are subject to all the frailties of this fallen life. In Christ, however, we are delivered from separation from the Lord God Who gives us life. In Christ, our soul is saved, we are given a new spirit, and we receive the promise of a new body.
The time devoted to speaking of the price Jesus paid to secure holiness for us is insufficient, but it does not mean that His sacrifice was insignificant. Our Lord paid an unimaginable price to secure our salvation, and to make us holy and righteous before the Father. Whatever we may pay in terms of rejection by those of this life, or whatever cost may be demanded of us when we are attacked in this life, is of no eternal consequence. Undoubtedly, the Apostle to the Gentiles is correct when he has calculated the cost and weighed what we may pay now against the value of what we are promised, and he gives us the divine valuation, writing, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” [ROMANS 8:18]. Dear people, fix your eyes on eternity! Don’t allow yourself to be distracted by the baubles offered by this dying world! Know that God has something far greater in store for us who are born from above, for us who are known to Him, to us who await the return of our Saviour.
THE LORD JESUS’ RESPONSE TO THE WORLD’S HATRED TOWARD HIS FOLLOWERS — “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, [Father], but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” [JOHN 17:15-16]. Despite the imaginative postulations of some individuals holding forth from the pulpits of the churches of the land and the wistful longing of some among the faithful, God has not pledged to shield us from the trials perpetuated in this dying world. We are neither shielded from opposition, nor hidden from the brutal assaults of those who hate the Lord.
You may recall that when He was preparing to call Lazarus to come out of the grave, Jesus prayed, saying, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me” [JOHN 11:41b-42]. Our Lord was confident that the Father always heard Him, and He could be equally certain that the Father would give Him whatever He should ask [cf. JOHN 11:22].
Jesus could have asked the Father to immediately remove from the world those who believe in Him, but He did not do that. Rather than doing that, He asked that those who follow Him would be kept from the evil one. Christ wants His people to be shielded from becoming one with the world system. And we can be confident that the Father has granted what the Son has asked. This point needs to be explored at some length.
The Master would not have asked the Father to keep us from the evil one, and we would not have been taught to pray for deliverance from evil if there was no danger of succumbing to the temptation to do what is evil. Let’s admit that we are susceptible to giving in to temptation. And temptation is a constant threat to a holy life.
Think of the advertising that assails our minds constantly. The dress and conduct of those identified with the world is intended to allure the unwary, drawing them to approve of all that is done. Tight clothing that exaggerates the human form is not meant for modesty. Advertising for alcoholic beverages is not meant to show us the final destination of those poor souls that cannot drink a little and quit. We are shown nubile young women in revealing clothing, always laughing and always vigorous. We see virile young men with toned bodies and thick hair who are seen engaged in exciting activities and admired by the young women who watch them admiringly. We don’t see the women sprawled out on the street befouling themselves after a night of heavy drinking. We don’t see the men stumbling into fisticuffs and talking smack after drinking to excess.
The entertainment we bring into our homes via television and the Internet constantly teaches us that loose morals is the norm and that if we really want to be acceptable we must avoid being prudes. Language must be coarse and crude to be effective, if the example that fills our monitors is to be accepted as the standard. Being sharp in business requires that we be able to manipulate the system to our advantage regardless of who may be hurt by our actions.
You may recall a parable that Jesus told about a sower who broadcast the grain. The parable Jesus told is familiar to us. He said, “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” [MATTHEW 13:3-8].
The disciples couldn’t understand what He was saying, much as we are often puzzled at what He said. In this case, Jesus told His disciples, and thus He tells us, what the parable was teaching. And when He explains it, we immediately understand. This is what Jesus said. “Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” [MATTHEW 13:18-23].
Focus on what happens to seed scattered along the path: “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.” This is the reason we need protection against the evil one—he is a master at snatching away what is sown in the heart. And we are susceptible to having the good word snatched away by the evil one. Therefore, we need God’s protection, and this is what Jesus requested for us.
What a contrast between the one who is pleasing to the Lord, walking in holiness, and the one living for this world. David speaks of the godly person when he writes,
“O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
“He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.”
[PSALM 15:1-5]
How different such a one is when compared with those of this dying world! We must be discerning in the midst of a world that is hostile to holiness if we will be pleasing to God. And this is what the Master asked of the Father. Because of His request, we will be guarded against totally succumbing to the lure of the evil one.
THE SAVIOUR’S PLEA FOR HIS OWN — “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” [JOHN 17:17]. Not only is the Christian set apart for God’s own purpose, but the redeemed child of God, himself or herself declared holy in Christ, is set apart in God’s own truth!
Because the Spirit of Christ lives in the Christian, the Christian is saturated in God’s Word, and thus is saturated in the truth. This is by the request of Christ Jesus Himself.
I don’t want any follower of the Risen Saviour to imagine that I am saying that because you believe the message of Christ that you are magically elevated to the status of a Bible scholar. Don’t imagine that just because you are born from above you are able to instantly understand complex Bible passages. If you are saved, you do have the Spirit of Christ living in you, and because He lives in you, you do have some definite advantages. Among the advantages is one great advantage Jesus mentioned as He prepared His disciples for His exodus. Jesus testified to His own, “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. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” [JOHN 16:13-15].
The Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Christ that dwells in each follower of Christ, guides the one in whom He dwells so that the redeemed one is directed to actively seek truth and to recognise truth. The Spirit takes that which is given by the Father, declaring what the Father gives to the one in whom He dwells. While it is certainly possible that the follower of Christ can sin, the saved person will no longer find sin satisfying as she or he did when they were part of this world. The point is, though the one who is twice born may stumble and fall, that saved one will never be content with lying down in the muck and the mud because the Spirit Whom God has given will never permit God’s child to be content with the filth into which they fall. The child of God will always detest the filth in which she finds herself because she has been cleansed of sin and she knows she will receive a clean white garment at the return or the Master! God will never give clean garments to filthy people, and we who are saved are promised clean, white garments.
The Master’s request of the Father is that all who follow Him will be sanctified in the truth, that all will have a love for the Word which is truth. Did Jesus mean for this to be fulfilled in the presence of the Living God? Or did He mean that this should be fulfilled now in this present life? I suspect it is both. In the Ephesian Encyclical, we know that Paul gave instructions for wives and husbands. Wives are to respect their husbands and husbands are to love their wives. Most of us men will say that loving our wives is easy, but the love the Apostle insists we must have is far more than merely physical or a sense of contentment at the marital state.
The Apostle has written, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” [EPHESIANS 5:25-27].
The love Christ has for His Bride is sacrificial. He loves as He does because He wants His Bride to be sanctified. In His sacrifice, the Master ensured that she would be made holy—she would be equipped to stand before the Father in perfect righteousness. Then, He would give Her the Holy Spirit and the Word so that she would be cleansed by the constant washing that comes through application of the Word. Thus, she is being cleansed continually as she receives the Word and as the Spirit applied that Word to Her life. The ultimate goal is that She will be presented to Him in splendour. Then, at the ultimate presentation of His Bride, She will be holy and without blemish. Even now, our God is working to ensure that the Bride of Christ is moving steadily toward Her ultimate beauty.
We catch a brief glimpse of this glorious consummation, the ultimate fulfilment of Christ’s prayer when we read, “I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying,
‘Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty reigns!
Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him the glory,
Because the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has prepared herself;
She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure.’
For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints” [REVELATION 19:6-8 CSB].
Dear people, we know how matters end, for our God has told us. What we don’t always realise is that our labours in the Name of the Master are the means by which we shall be eternally dressed in splendour and beauty. The labours we exert today are being spun into the glorious cloth with which our God shall clothe us for all eternity. This is why we encourage one another to do what is right and proper. This is why we urge one another to walk in holiness. This is why we refuse to concede the field to wickedness.
I know that the world will continue spinning toward the judgement of wickedness. I understand that evil will grow more persistent as time passes. And I also understand that we who are followers of the Risen Saviour are receiving opportunity to shine brightly in the midst of this darkened world, just as God has said through His servant Daniel. “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” [DANIEL 12:2-3].
Dear people, this is what I long for you. As the Apostle has stated of a congregation he loved, “I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ” [2 CORINTHIANS 11:2]. I grieve with deep sorrow over each one that strays from the path, and I pray with genuine passion for all who continue toward the goal of the high calling in Christ that each one will fulfil the glorious and eternal purpose for which he or she was saved. 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.
