2004-10-22
Good Morning Cherished Ones,
You may wonder why “A New Perspective” segment of the True Faith series is as long as it is. There is a reason for this tied into your greeting this morning. We are God’s cherished ones. When He changed our perspective from the fleshly one we inherited genetically to the His perspective given to us at the time we came to faith by the Holy Spirit, He changed it profoundly. That not only means in depth here, but also in quantity. Today, He is prompting me to write about the mechanism by which He has “transformed us inwardly by the renewal of our mind” [RO 12:2].
2 TIM 1: 11-14 begins to give us some insight. “God has appointed me [Paul] as an apostle and teacher to proclaim the Good News, and it is for this reason that I suffer these things [2 COR 11: 23-33]. But I am still full of confidence, because I know Whom I have trusted, and I am sure that He is able to keep safe until that Day what He has entrusted to me. Hold firmly to the true words that I taught you, as the example for you to follow, and remain in the faith and love that are ours in union with Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Who lives in us, keep the treasure that has been entrusted to you.” Anyone who opens his heart as he reads the Good News knows that it’s the “treasure entrusted” to him, and that God will surely keep His promises to those who believe. That’s because the Holy Spirit has gradually wedded with his human spirit to take leadership of this believer [RO 8: 16-17]. The believer becomes God’s child, who will, if he is willing to hold firm to the truth of the Gospel and live according to God’s teaching, will be raised to everlasting life with the Father on that last Day just as Christ stated in JN 6: 39-40. We must remember another truth: God would have never asked us to hold firm in our belief and practice if He hadn’t first created with the ability to do so. I find that enormously comforting and hope you do too.
We will find that those who are enemies of Christ will leave the fellowship of believers and never really belonged to them in the first place. 1 JN 2: 9, 11 “Whoever says that he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is in the darkness to this very hour...But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness; he walks in it and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has made him blind.” When Christ in MT 25: 32 says there will be a “separation between the sheep and goats,” He is telling the truth. How and when this happens to an evil person, one who has made sin a lifestyle, is an individual matter. John reports to us in REV 21: 27, “But nothing that is impure will enter the city, nor anyone who does shameful things or tells lies. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of the living will enter the city [the new Jerusalem].” We can have courage before God by having a clear conscience. Our conscience will signal us when there is sin, giving us the opportunity to expunge it. When our conscience is clear, we will receive from God whatever we request of Him. That means we obey His commands and please God; the promise of JN 15: 7 is kept [1 JN 2: 19-22]. What does God command? 1JN 2: 23-24, “What He commands is that we believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as Christ commanded us. Whoever obeys God’s commands lives in union with God and God lives in union with him. And because of the Spirit that God has given us we know that God lives in union with us.” This is how God writes His laws on the hearts of believers. This is how believers know what God’s will is, “what is good and is pleasing to Him and is perfect” [RO 12: 2].
As I complete writing for now about the blessings of the new covenant, I would be remiss if nothing was said about the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. He is our Counselor discussed in JN 14: 15-17. [Christ speaking], “If you love Me, you will obey My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, Who will stay with you forever. He is the Spirit, Who reveals the truth about God. The world cannot receive Him, because it cannot see Him or know Him. But you know Him, because He remains with you and is in you.” All of this makes the explanation given in 1 COR 2: 14 of why “people without the Spirit can’t receive the gifts of the Spirit and they are as foolishness to him” easy to understand. Think about the link between God and the believers (us). Christ spoke of His link with the Father in JN 14: 11, “Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, just as Christ is the second person of it. So, the Spirit is indeed “of the Father.” Now, think about the fact that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in the believer. Therein is the link between us and the God in Whom we believe. No such link exists for those who reject Jesus Christ and/or the Father. That is why Christ can say in JN 14: 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.” Dear Ones, that’s powerful! It’s comforting, and it means that keeping our end of the Covenant of Grace is crucial to our very lives. The kind of love that God has for each believer can’t be measured; it’s so profound and eternal. We are truly a blessed people!
PRAYER: O Lord, we are mere humans, so very imperfect and so very much in need of You. Your patience is sorely tried often by our sinfulness, and yet You choose to call us to faith and to love us beyond measure. We are undeserving of Your grace and confess our individual sins to You today and often. In response, You have given us our faith in the Son, Your word, Your Spirit to dwell within us, prayer as a means to have two-way communication with You, and extraordinary opportunities for spiritual maturation in the process of sanctification [Your method of perfecting us in preparation to go home to You for eternity]. When You speak to us, we know we should listen and obey Your commands. You understand that this isn’t easy for us, so You give us opportunities to learn how to obey immediately and accurately through the circumstances of our lives. Your constant love, patience, and presence in our lives is essential to us in gaining eternal bliss with You. The alternative to that is wholly unacceptable. PS 57:2, “I will cry to the God of heaven Who does such wonders for me.” PS 16: 2, “ I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord. Every good thing I have comes from You.’” For all of this goodness and so much more, You, our awesome God, deserve our eternal praise and thanks. We owe our lives to You and are Your creation. PS 100: 3, “Know that the Lord is God. It is He that made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.” PS 79: 13, “So we Thy people and the sheep of Thy pasture will give thanks to Thee forever; to all generations we will tell of Thy praise.” Before Your mighty throne, we ask that You will continue to teach us, heal us, help us, reveal Yourself to us, correct us, and have patience for us. We dedicate ourselves to cooperating with You in Your efforts to mature our transformed hearts and to prepare us for a life of joyful eternal fellowship with You. We are eager to spend all our days worshipping You in the many ways You have given us to do that. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, I am led to write about changes God is making in sinful hearts. Each time we return to a particular subject, the verses that the Spirit leads me to write about can be seen in a newer and deeper perspective. The Bible is the only book I’ve ever studied where we can return to a verse or passage time and time again, always learning something new that God has for us. If we are willing to take this lesson, believe in it with our hearts, and turn it into apostolic action, we can live lives of piety that please and glorify God. We can prevent ourselves from wasting one drop of the blood Christ shed for us on the cross. Let me share a personal experience of one way God has blessed me. For years, I asked God to show me how to know if a person in my life is a real friend. This may seem elementary to some, but I’ve made some very poor choices of friends in the past. The very subject discussed in this message today is the key to finding a real friend. Sadly, it took me years to learn this. A real friend is a person who is led by the Holy Spirit in his/her life. This can be seen in thought, words, and actions. When my husband, Peter, told me, “You can tell a lot about a person from the friends in his life,” that really started me thinking. I now know the Lord was prompting Peter to say this to me. It has made a big difference in my life, because I’m now surrounded by people who are teaching me to be a better, more faithful person. God does things like this for each of us, and I hope you will think about how He is doing this in your life. We should not be shy about sharing the Gospel message with others, and we should do this with sensitivity as to where that person is culturally and in his spiritual life. That’s why Christ left us with the Great Commission of MT 28: 19-20. Once again, I must say, “We are truly a blessed people!”
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn