I thank and praise God for these times, though sometimes I am troubled by the process to get to the publishing of it. After all, these are as much for me as they are for anyone else out there that reads them.
I have my spiritual battles like anyone else. The enemy is always there ready to jump at an opportunity, whether it be physical or mental assaults of discomfort and doubt, I have to sling the chain of the word around him and take it all captive to the word. It's so important to not react, and to just turn to Christ in everything.
There is of course the rapid changes all around us in the USA and in the world, politically, financially, and even yes in the religious front. For all the change, there are a few things that don't seem to change, and never seems to end either, and I really should not be surprised about it.
The assault on the Biblical and factual permanent eternal salvation (often labeled OSAS) and the constant attempts to declare it a lie from hell, because they can't accept the simplicity of it, or the finality of it, and that they have NO part in the Justification process that God has established through, and ONLY through, His Son.
The enemy fights so hard here, and this is why you know the promise is real, because he fights so hard here.
And what consumes a person into pursuing the diminishment of God's great gift of eternal Salvation by His grace, and polluting it with fear, and error, and misrepresenting Christ in such a horrible way?
Simply, they do not really know Him, they have no real hope, they are pursuing a lie, a lie they want you to conform to. Obviously, we are to be conformed to Christ, not to other men, not other ideals, not other personal glories and titles or positions.
Perhaps (Matthew 7:15-23) defines it best. Here, judging fruit is about discernment and avoiding false prophets, not about judging someone else's salvation which is not our business. That is Christ's business, His work in their lives.
These false prophets and teachers and preachers are the ones who followed their will, their lusts, their pride, as if to say, "my word and my command, and look, even Jesus agrees with me." Such arrogance and self-centeredness. No heart relationship with Christ Jesus, just name dropping for effect to control and manipulate. Indeed, He never knew them, and they wanted no part of the personal experience. They were after their own glory.
The word is clear, God only is judge, and who are you to judge your brother, specifically in the matter of salvation (Rom 14:4 / Matthew 7:1-6). Who are you to speak for God in the matter of another person's relationship with Christ and what's in their heart? Paul tells us explicitly that he will stand [before Christ], because He [Christ] is able to make him stand. It is Christ work that justifies all who are His, not our works.
You see everyone from the outside, just as they see you as well. Christ will not be asking you about their sins and their works when you stand in front of Him. He'll be looking directly at and through you, and they won't be squirming in their skin when YOUR failures are examined, YOU will.
If you don't like this, then let me pour you a tall glass of "Get over it", and here's a straw to "Suck it up", because God has already decreed what He will do and has done, without any counsel from you or I.
Too many people attach their opinion and presumption to the real, raw word of God, and cause others to stumble by it.
And it is a fair warning to such: Do not call what He has made clean, unclean.
We have been made clean in His sacrifice. Who is anyone to say that His work was not enough?
The word is also clear, that the will of the Father, and the work of the Son [and therefore us] is to do the will of the Father. That will is explicit and is simple. "to believe in the Son" the result of which is eternal life which is His gift, His promise, His covenant, and His charge.
John 6:29
Jesus replied, “The work of God is this:
to believe in the One He has sent.”
John 6:39-40
“And this is the will of Him who sent Me,
that I shall lose none of those He has given Me,
but raise them up at the last day.
For it is My Father’s will that everyone
who looks to the Son and believes in Him
shall have eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 10:27-30
“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.
No one can snatch them out of My hand.
My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all.
No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
This is the importance of keeping His word [written and from the Holy Spirit within us] and prayer and worshiping in spirit and truth, because He is the Living word. He is our shield, and His word is our weapon against the enemy.
John 4:23-24
“But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers
will worship the Father in spirit and in truth,
for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.
God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
He [Jesus] is and MUST BE our focus, not things, not events, not other people, not pursuing outrage over earthly things, not threats, not worry, and certainly not ourselves.
It's important in these times to not get wrapped up in world events and images. What you see and hear must be taken in context. Things need to be considered in context of words and subject before and after, or you get misinformed. This goes for everything.
A single picture, or clip of a video, or quote for example subtracts all that was around it and is deceptive in that vein. A half-truth is still a lie.
We should all know by now that NOTHING in Media, Social Media, Gossip Train word of mouth, yada yada yada, can be trusted. Nothing but the Word.
Instead of worry and fear, you should be calm and trusting of God...
Be Still [at peace], and know He is God. He will be exalted among the nations.
He is still on the throne, and we are His own by His hand, that's all that matters. It's that simple.
All things go as He has foreseen and by His plan, and we should rejoice in this, since it means our soon departure.
1 John 5:1-5
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God,
and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.
By this we know that we love the children of God:
when we love God and keep His commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.
And His commandments are not burdensome,
because everyone born of God overcomes the world.
And this is the victory that has overcome the world:
our FAITH.
Who then overcomes the world?
Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
Here John exquisitely equates "overcoming the world" [something we could not do on our own] with Faith [believing that Jesus is the Son], and with the divine Love of Christ [something we could not express without His Spirit within us] which is encompassed in the commandments to love God and love your neighbor as yourself and to love others as Christ has loved us.
This is why they are not burdensome, because they are kept by the work of Jesus's Holy Spirit within us. These are not the Torah [10] commandments as a list of do's and don'ts, but are the very nature of God's law expressed through His divine love.
None of this is possible without Christ's Holy Spirit within us. We [now] love, because He first loved us.
Paul continually links our Justification and the Law of Love throughout his writings:
Galatians 2:16
...a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus,
that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law,
because by works of the law NO ONE will be justified.
Galatians 5:14
The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree:
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Against such things there is no law.
Romans 13:8-10
Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love.
For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
The commandments “Do not commit adultery,”
“Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,”
and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree:
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love does no wrong to its neighbor.
Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.
And as Paul reflects in the famous chapter on divine love:
1 Corinthians 13:2
If I have the gift of prophecy and
can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains,
but have not love, I am nothing.
Faith is described as the "Certainty of what has been promised us" both in eternal salvation, His return for us, and of peace and freedom from sin forever.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for
and the certainty of what we do not see.
Faith comes in all different sizes and grows over time with experience and confirmation. It reinforces itself by lessons learned. Obviously, we all start somewhere, and a seed makes the greatest representation of the experience.
Matthew 17:20
“Because you have so little faith,” He answered.
“For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Now, Faith will shrink if you are not focused on the right thing. It's why Peter quickly started sinking, and He correctly got his focus back on Jesus with a 3-word prayer "Lord, save me!".
This is why I often remark about why so many focus on the negatives, and the do's and don'ts, and even the past sins. Stop wallowing in your past failures. Learn from them sure, but why constantly focus on the past sins when God has already forgiven you and tossed them as far as the East is from the West, never to be seen or known of again. Why do we keep dredging them up and reliving them?
And again, Faith in Christ Jesus as the Son is all that matters at the moment, however large or small it is.
It can be the desperate last breath of faith, the desperate whimper of faith of the depressed, the stoic all-in stubbornness faith under pressure and trial, any genuine Faith that is "faith in Him" is already 100% belief. You either believe or you don't, and any failures on our part have nothing to do with it.
In (2 Timothy 2) [Grace and Perseverance] we find a truth at the end of (verse 13) not often relayed to the saved by most preachers and teachers who are more interested in controlling and scaring everybody. Fear is not from God. This truth is the cornerstone of eternal salvation once and for all, because it relies on Christ, not on us.
2 Timothy 2:11-13
This is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with Him,
we will also live with Him;
if we endure,
we will also reign with Him;
if we deny Him,
He will also deny us;
if we are faithless,
He remains faithful,
for He cannot deny Himself.
We have four parts here. It is important to note here that these are conditions of the heart relationship with Christ.
1.) Paul starts off with the Saved, and why they are saved. To genuinely accept Christ is to die to self. It is a moment that is instant and forever, regardless of our doubts, our struggles, and our failures that may follow. We have accepted His covenant, and we cannot leave it once genuinely taken. It's binding. Christ meets all the terms necessary for its validity. We do nothing to gain it, or to maintain it. We have died to self, and are now totally dependent on Him. Christ owns us and is responsible for our sanctification until resurrection and rapture. We receive the Holy Spirit as a promissory and a comfort, and as a seal. No one breaks His seal, not even ourselves. This is key to #4 down below.
2.) Paul differentiates Salvation from Sanctification and Reward, that if we endure patiently (Perseverance) we will be rewarded and lifted up and will reign with Him in the Millennium. This does not mean we lose salvation if we do not endure.
3.) Paul differentiates Non-believers from Saved here. This is an unbeliever, one who has outright denied Christ up front and has chosen their own will over His will. They have until their death to change this choice.
4.) Paul expresses the faltering of a believer (their faith or lack of it at a later point). This is NOT an unbeliever here. He upholds the gift once given, because He cannot deny Himself. His Holy Spirit is in us as a believer. He will deliver on His promise, because He must. It has nothing to do with the failure of the person. It's a covenant that He maintains, and not us, once the gift is given. He doesn't take gifts back.
Proverbs 24:16a
For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still stands back up.
If you doubt this, then then remember Paul in (1 Corinthians 5:5) when he says "Hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord."
This is the quintessential verse that describes our current condition in the Age of Grace, and why God's gift of Salvation is such an abundance of Grace. We are newborn spirits [His Spirit within us], in old flesh bodies that are awaiting the final redemption of Glorification.
Now... After Resurrection and Rapture, and into the Tribulation, the stakes are much higher for the person. Grace is gone, and now endurance is expected. True faith goes to the death in not denying Him as Lord and the Son. This is the lesson of the 10 Virgins [Bridesmaids], as the Oil is Faith, not the Holy Spirit as is often taught falsely. And much extra Faith will be needed to endure to whatever end.
Again, a shining example of why the Gift is one of abundant Grace, because all of us in this Age of Grace just couldn't make it all the way to our ends, without that grace.
Once you are His, nothing and no one [including ourselves] can take us away from Him. It's a permanent thing. Your progress, or lack, in your sanctification has no bearing or relevance on His gift of Grace and Mercy.
No matter how far you drift away, no matter how deep you fall, His arm is long enough, His grace sufficient for us, that He is right there next to you, just a step away with open arms and a welcoming hand.
No one else's opinion or bias matters, for He only is judge, and He only knows and searches the heart of men.
Jesus is the start and the finish of our salvation, final, and once and for all time.
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm then... (Ephesians 6:13-14a)
For, you will stand, because He is able to make you stand. (Romans 14:4)
Come soon Lord Jesus!
Very well thought out and useful for all stages of faith. As our senses could be constantly overwhelmed by all of what is happening in our lives, as you so well expressed, we have One who is able and trustworthy - Jesus our Christ. ✝️💗
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