Isaiah 26:16-21
O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.
As a woman with child about to give birth writhes and cries out in pain, so were we in Your presence, O LORD.
We were with child; we writhed in pain; but we gave birth to wind. We have given no salvation to the earth, nor brought any life into the world.
Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.
Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourselves a little while until the wrath has passed.
For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.
This often runs parallel with various forms of legalism and religious expectations that have nothing to do with the Gospel or Christ's work in our lives.
How many times does it take to get it through the mind and into the heart that Salvation is a gift, and is only of Grace and Mercy? How many times does it take to make someone understand that another's salvation is not their business, but their own personal relationship with Christ... IS!
Often they run to (Matthew 7:15-20) about judging the fruit of others, disregarding the direct context of recognizing false prophets, and it not being about another's salvation. That is solely a matter between them and Christ, just as you and I have a private relationship with Christ. The test is about character and not salvation, that is solely the choice of our Lord and Savior.
They betray their own character as false with these very acts.
R.C. Sproul said it quite elegantly and simply, that salvation is permanent once attained.
Salvation: If you have it, you can never lose it,
and if you seemingly lose it, then you never really had it.
This should be reminded of everyone every time one doubts, it should be the first tenet repeated in any discussion in faith.
It has been said another way...
If you could lose salvation, you would.
Let us remind ourselves RIGHT HERE, and RIGHT NOW about Salvation.
You can't earn it, you can't work to maintain it, because it was never about you... It's always been about Him, His final sacrifice, His victory, and our Faith in Him.
No matter how new you are to the faith, how wretched you have been, how many times you still fail after He has come into your life, you cannot lose the gift He has freely given you by Grace and Mercy.
It is a marriage covenant, and more than this, it is a covenant based solely on His fulfilling the requirements.
All of the rest of our lives are lived under a permanent Justification that He established regardless of the opinion or metric of men.
Christ works in our lives from our salvation to Death and Resurrection or Rapture, on our Sanctification, until our final and full redemption.
His works. Not our works. This is why works do not bring faith, Faith brings works, His works.
In the end, there will people you did not expect to see in Glory, and many more who you did expect to see that are absent.
Understand this, and know this:
Your opinions about another's salvation have no bearing on the reality of His Judgments or His Grace.
And I will be the first to tell you that I don't care about what you think of me, I only care about what He thinks about me.
The trials, the adversary, the constant battle to keep the flesh crucified with Christ. This is not an appeal for sympathy, but a recognition that I am in it, it is real, and I must put on Christ every day to overcome it through faith.
I desire encouragement, I desire edification, and in turn I desire to give them to others also.
The winds are changing, stay humble, stay armored, remain peaceful and trusting, stop chasing the world, get your feet out of it, and get your eyes on the Word.
He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Rejoice at all times. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
... and having done all to stand, Stand Firm Then. (Ephesians 6:13d-14a)
If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31b)
Grace and peace to you in our Lord Jesus Christ, God in the Flesh!
Don't be a grape. 🚫 🍇
🦊 Jack [ The Foxman on the Wall ]
