Devotionals, January Second Week

January 8th, 2021

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:17

After our “New Journey Begins” themed devotional for the first week of the New Year, I feel impressed to start a new theme for the second week. We are going to call this “The Grace of Jesus Christ.”

As exciting as the thrill from slavery in Egypt to entering the promised land in Canaan is, it cannot compare to what Jesus Christ has come to give us in the New Testament. Even more so, when considering that the foundations of the entire Old Testament is based on the law of Moses, while the foundation of the New Testament is based on the grace and Good News of Jesus Christ. In this new theme, we will try to explore this grace of Jesus Christ and how we can receive it and walk into it this year, as we seek to co-labor with God in all things we do. We can never overemphasize how much grace we need in order to inherit the promises of God for us this year.

In the verse preceding the one we have in our title today, John writes “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”—John 1:16. Grace is a cornerstone doctrine of the New Testament and yet is as often misunderstood as all other doctrines. After all, if grace was appropriately understood, we would already be in a great awakening. The first great awakening of the 1740s with George Whitefield and John Wesley was the time the reformation caught fire and became a revival—going from theologians, commentators, and puritan scholars to the masses as they understood and received the grace of God. It is the doctrine that fired up early churches in the 1st century. I don’t think that if we are to see a similar blessing in our generation it will happen any other way—it will be because of the grace of Jesus Christ.

The grace of Jesus Christ takes a sinner from “the miry clay”—Psalms 40:2, soiled, dirty, and ugly, like Mr Christian in the book Pilgrims Progress after he fell in the “Slough of Despond,” when he is still a sinner (Romans 5:8), and brings him into rejoicing “ in hope of the glory of God.”—Romans 5:2. It always starts that way:                               

Just as I am without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me, And that thou biddest me come to thee,  O Lamb of God I come, I come                                                                                                                                                      

Then, it transforms sinners with grace upon grace and takes them “from glory to glory.”—2 Corinthians 3:18 as it energizes them “from strength to strength.”—Psalms 84:7, working “from faith to faith”—Romans 1:17, until it brings them to perfect holiness, “Without which none shall see the Lord.”—Hebrews 12:14. So grace is not a stagnant thing. People do not start as sinners and continue to be sinners. Christ does not come to indwell sinners and make them continue to be the way He found them.

The righteousness of God we receive in Christ is not just an extrinsic imputation—outside of our own works and performance—it also initiates an intrinsic transformation through the presence of the Holy Spirit inside of us. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Virtually all Christians underestimate the realities, righteousness, and power of this new creation. Even the most faith-filled Christian doesn’t go far enough in understanding and living out new creation righteousness given to us in the last Adam (Mark 9:23; Ephesians 4:24; Romans 5:17). In the first Adam, we are born sinners; in the last Adam, we are created anew righteous. This understanding of the twin of imputation and new creation is foundational to the sanctification that follows after that. If you have been imputed an extrinsic righteousness but do not possess an intrinsic righteousness from the new creation—or you do possess that intrinsic righteousness but you are not aware of it and you do not believe in the power of the new creation—your reality becomes one of cycles of sinning and forgiveness, being justified and yet living as an unjust sinful person—finding every excuse why you can’t live holy. The moment you realize your new nature was created righteous (Ephesians 4:24), things begin to change. A Christian could exclaim—can really understanding of new creation realities change a person’s life ? Isn’t just “being saved” enough ? Well, Jesus warned the disciples that they were at risk of being like the Pharisees because of lack of understanding (Mark 8:15, 21). Understanding is also what separates those whom Satan steals the message they hear and those who produce fruit (Matthew 13:19). That tells me the role understanding plays in transformation. Yes, understanding is the difference between light and darkness, salvation and damnation, impotence and might, maturity and immaturity (Luke 10:22; Ephesians 1:18; John 12:40). If you have been re-created righteous, why would you sin ? (1 John 3:9; 1 John 5:18). Sin is inconsistent with your new righteous nature. 

This grace of Jesus Christ is handed to us—because salvation is “not of ourselves”—Ephesians 2:8, it comes as a gift of God. What is a gift? The Greek word used in Ephesians 2:8 is “doron,” and based on other uses in the New Testament, it can mean “a present, an offering, sacrifice, devotion. ” So salvation is a present that God gives to us. It is not earned. It is not worked for.

Paul labors to teach us what grace is by giving an analogy of employment. In Romans 4:4 we read “Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.” The picture of wages vs a gift is beautiful because it clearly shows us that salvation is not something that God owes us—paid to us at the end of hard labor at work—He has no such obligation. “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”—Isaiah 64:6. It is not just that the good works of sinners are imperfect, their motivations, their intentions, their goals, and everything else about them is corrupt. “Their whole head is sick.”—Isaiah 1:5, they are totally depraved (Romans 5:6), and nothing good dwells in them (Romans 7:18). How can sinners in a such desperate state, who cannot even pray in an acceptable way ever be saved? (Isaiah 58:3). Only by the grace of Jesus Christ.

Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:15, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.” Despite man’s bottomless pit, Christ came to save sinners, and even the worst of them can receive God’s unmerited gift and be transformed from being children of wrath into children of God (Ephesians 2:3). Until then, the wrath of God abides on the lost, no matter how much the world and false preachers may convince them otherwise (John 3:36; Romans 1:18). We can’t preach repentance as an irresistible commandment until we grasp this (Acts 17:30). Christ died to save sinners and as His ambassadors we implore them to be reconciled (2 Corinthians 5:20), but repentance remains a message of conviction and warning because of impending disaster (2 Corinthians 5:11). 

The law came with Moses and Jesus Christ said that He had not come to abolish that law (Matthew 5:17). Grace is not about lowering the standards of divine requirements to bring them down within man’s reach, it is about lifting up  the soul of man in order to attain divine standards without his own labor. Jesus said that on judgment day, our greatness will be measured by obeying the sermon on the mount—a much higher standard than the law of Moses—and teaching others to do the same (Matthew 5:19).I don’t know about you, but I want to be eternally great, not temporarily successful and forever ignominious. According to Jesus, murder was forbidden in the law of Moses, but now His gospel of grace and the “law of Christ”— Galatians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 9:21; Romans 8:2—says that angrily calling a brother rubbish carries the same sentence of eternal punishment in hell’s torments (Matthew 5:22).

I have heard people who interpret Matthew 5:17 to say that Christ came to fulfill the law by obeying on our behalf so this means that imputed righteousness is enough for our salvation and we are not to worry about obedience. But Galatians 6:2 literally teaches the opposite. It says through obedience we fulfill the law of Christ. So, now we understand that the truth that Jesus Christ has come to clarify—that the heart is the source of all the wicked things that the law of Moses forbade (Matthew 15:11-20)—and God is as wrathful against rebellious thoughts of men entertained in their minds and words—even if not carried out in action— as He is against sinful acts of men committed physically (Matthew 5:17-48; Romans 8:6-7). That makes even our need of Jesus Christ all the greater—because if Israel could not survive in the wilderness when travelling with Moses—how can we ever match up with a such higher standard ? To be all God calls us to be, we absolutely need the grace of Jesus Christ. If we live to please God, not for the eyes of men, then we must receive all that the grace of Jesus can do in transforming our lives for His glory. The born again believer’s goal is not just staying out of jail because of crimes committed physically. The saint aims higher, to please God in all things, and attain perfection in Christ. We must pursue holiness at all cost. We will see how this is accomplished in this devotional later on (Romans 8:4). This is the greatest happiness a human being can ever achieve on earth. 

Though grace is so foundational to Christianity, throughout the church age there have been difficulty to convey this message accurately. During the holiness movement that came out of the Methodist revival in the 1750s-1850s, the emphasis on holiness could have left the impression man could be saved by the blood, and then, work his way into being holy. Christ indwelling believers to work that transformation was not necessarily a clearly taught path to attain holiness. While there seems to have been an emphasis of justification by faith from the 1950s up to now, the collapse of society and decadent morality we see today would have been unheard of at the end of the 19th century, which is a testament to how grace understood simply as Christ’s obedience for us to give us imputed righteousness,  without actually transforming us to be conformed to His image in our walk is a horrible modern tragedy. Many preachers simply have too much blood on their hand (Acts 20:26).Telling people they are justified without empowering them to pursue holiness is strangling them alive. 

Today’s message of grace is this: Jesus came and obeyed and died for you, you have God’s grace and don’t need to worry about obedience anymore. The New Testament message of grace is: Jesus came and obeyed and died for you, you have God’s grace to save you without your own works and empower you to obey, walking in the light as Jesus is in the light. Those two are not the same message. We need the grace of Jesus Christ in its fullness. We need grace upon grace. The grace that justifies us by faith without works and the grace that restores us into the image of God to perfect holiness in us.

Prayer: Father God, I thank you that your grace comes to find us just the way we are—in our confusion, our sins, our ignorance, our selfishness, our pride, our total depravity, and credits to us your own righteousness as a gift we have not earned—but of which we become perpetual debtors. Let your goodness, like a fetter, continue to bind our hearts to yours, so that we can soar with you into this heavenly calling you have called us, and attain the holiness you have prepared for us. In the merciful name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!

January 9th, 2021

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” Acts 11: 18

 Considering the immense subject of “The Grace of Jesus Christ” that we have started in the second week of January devotional, we will try to do our meditations by starting from the very beginning so that we can finish the week with a much better understanding of what this grace is about, how it works, what it achieves, and why it should be shared with everyone under heaven.

The grace of Jesus Christ starts with repentance of sins. When John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, started preaching, he said: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”—Matthew 3:1-2. He was Elijah come-back (Matthew 17:10-13). Now, the teachers of the law knew Elijah was supposed to come back as it was already prophesied in Malachi, but they did not actually recognize him when he showed up. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets, even though all his ministry is documented in the New Testament  (Matthew 11:11). After he baptized Jesus, the ministry of the Messiah began. How did Jesus begin His ministry? “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”—Matthew 4:17. So, we do not see Jesus discarding the message of repentance preached by John the Baptist as “so-old-testament,” we see Him doubling down on that message. But why would Jesus start with this message when He was bringing grace ? Wasn’t He coming to abolish the requirements to obey the law and give us salvation through His blood on the cross ?

Jesus started by preaching repentance because it is a pre-requisite for forgiveness of sins. For sins to be forgiven by God—there are 2 requirements.

First, sin has to be confessed and repented. This means the sinner has to acknowledge that he / she is wrong and God is right. Then, the sinner must commit to forsake those sins. The sinner cannot have a plan B to return to those sins because that is not what repentance—turning 180 degrees means. Repentance is taking the opposite direction that the sinner had initially. Not 30 degrees turn, not 90 degrees turn, not 120 degrees turn, but a 180 degrees turnaround. Before repentance, the sinner is headed to damnation and destruction. After repentance, a U-turn takes place, and the sinner is headed to forgiveness and salvation. There has to be a clear difference between the life before repentance and the life after repentance. This has to be obvious to the sinner, those close to that person, and society at large. Christ demands total allegiance (Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23; Mark 8:34-38; James 4:8; Job 17:9; Psalms 119:113; Isaiah 1:16-18; Isaiah 58:2-4; Hosea 10:2; 1 Kings 18:21; 1 Corinthians 16:22). A profession of repentance of sins and faith in Christ is questionable until it is demonstrably unquestionable. 

Repentance is twofold. It addresses the sins of omission and the sins of commission. The sins of commission are acts people commit that transgress the holiness of God. They are evil things that men should not be doing. Murder, for example, is a sin of commission. The sins of omission are the things that men avoid doing when it is their duty to do so. For example, Jesus taught that people couldn’t refuse to help their aging parents by giving offerings to God—claiming that what they owed their parents was “Corban” (Mark 7:11-13). That was a sin of omission. People must support their parents and give their tithes and offerings to the Lord. The same would be true about falling short in the love of neighbor as we see Jesus teaching in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Loving your own parents or your own family is not evidence of repentance, even the ungodly do that. Thus, repentance that avoids negative things while not doing positive things is insufficient. Repentance that does good works but continues in the corruption of immoral things is also insufficient. God is not interested in sacrifices. Repentance must address both the sins of commission and the sins of omission. 

Jesus taught that forgiveness of sins would only be granted after repentance (Luke 24:47). So, after Pentecost, when Peter preached, he told people to repent in order to receive forgiveness and be baptized (Acts 2:38). After the healing of the paralytic, a little while after Pentecost, Peter preached again telling people to repent so that they can receive forgiveness and days of refreshing from the Lord would come (Acts 3:19). Revival only comes after repentance. Do you want to see days of refreshing that turn things around in all states of USA and around the world ? Well, then look at Acts 2:38 and Acts 3:19 and start practicing them. You do not get a great awakening because you think it is a great idea. You get it by living and preaching “as a dying man to dying men” (borrowed from Richard Baxter). That’s how it has always worked. Was repentance preached as an urgent message by Peter alone ? Not at all. Even Paul, the apostle of grace, taught that God commands all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). Before the guilty can be declared just—or justified—that guilty one must be forgiven first. That’s a legal sequence.

Justification without forgiveness first is an undeliverable good promised to sinners with false hopes today. The slate has to be cleaned first through forgiveness before the guilty can be declared to never have done anything wrong through justification. It’s like the way it is done in the American criminal law, when people have a criminal record, they need to get their crimes pardoned and then get their records expunged so that even a background check doesn’t show that they have ever committed a crime. Pardon of a crime and expunging the criminal record are not the same. A person could be pardoned, and the record could still show that they have a criminal past. So, repentance and forgiveness must happen before imputed righteousness. Justification brings us into a place where we are like we have never ever committed any evil or omitted anything good. After justification, we become “perfect in Christ,” with Jehovah’s own righteousness being our own—Hebrews 10:14; Colossians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Jeremiah 23:6.

Second, forgiveness of sins requires the shedding of blood. “Without the shedding of blood there’s no forgiveness.”—Hebrews 9:22. But where does the blood shed come from? In the Old Testament law of Moses, as part of teaching the Israelites what atonement for the forgiveness of sins meant, God instituted sacrifices through the blood of goats and lambs. This was to help them understand that sin results in death—and an animal had to be killed in place of the sinner—for the sinner to be forgiven. God had declared: “The soul that sins shall die.”—Ezekiel 18:20. Since all humanity is guilty, then all of us have to die for us to atone for our own sins (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). In God’s mercy, that was a price too high for humanity to pay. He decided to send His Son, Jesus, to die in our place. Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, through the shedding of His own blood on the cross (John 1:29; Matthew 26:28; 1 John 2:2; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Romans 3:25; 1 John 1:9). The price was still too high but now the whole world could be saved through the death of one man—Jesus Christ. Since God has abolished the sacrifice of animals for atonement of sins, everyone must believe in Jesus Christ as their atonement for sins in order to have their sins forgiven by God. Only the blood of Jesus Christ is sufficient to cleanse the guilt of sinners (Acts 4:12; Galatians 2:21; John 14:6; 1 Corinthians 1:21; John 12:31; John 3:18). Only Jesus Christ is the perfect Obedient Son of God. Only the blood of the innocent can cover payment of the price for the sin of the guilty.

A problem arises once we understand this. Repentance precedes forgiveness but repentance is not easy to do. There are people who have tried once, twice, a hundred times, but they have not been able to repent. Jesus did in fact say that many people will be in this category, try and try, and not make it (Luke 13:24; Matthew 7: 22-23). Paul wrote that it was possible to confess knowing God while failing to repent (Titus 1:16). So, to be free of sins of commission and zealously avoid sins of omission is an impossible task from a human point of view. This is why repentance itself is a gift from God. Repentance itself happens by grace. It has to be. Repentance is both a command and a gift. 

In the Scripture that opens our reading today, we see that in Acts 11:18 the church leaders in Jerusalem who were concerned about Peter going to the house of Cornelius to preach to the Romans—the gentiles—were able to conclude that God had granted repentance to the gentiles. The Greek word used for “granted” in Acts 11:18 is “edoken.” Its root is also used in Matthew 10:1 where we read that Jesus gave the disciples authority to heal diseases and Matthew 14:19 where Jesus gave the disciples loaves of bread. So, it is a gift. Before the time of the gentiles to be brought into the kingdom of God came, the Gospel had been preached to the Jews in Jerusalem first.  Peter had proclaimed that Jesus grants repentance to Israel (Acts 5:31). The Greek word used in Acts 5:31 for granting is “dounai.” It shares the same root as Acts 11:18 “grant” and they are both G1325 “didomi” in the Strong’s concordance. It’s an offer, it is a gift. Christ has been exalted and grants repentance both to the gentiles and the Jews in Israel. 

It’s not just Peter and the church in Jerusalem that thought repentance was a gift of God, Paul also taught this very thing as we read in Titus 2:11-12. “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” Since as we saw yesterday that the principle of sin dwells in the heart of the sinner, then the grace of Jesus Christ must touch the source. This doesn’t simply change outward behavior, it changes the innermost thoughts as well. This grace of God that gives us this repentance as Paul declares, turns us away from the sins of commission and infuses into us the zeal for avoiding sins of omission—leaving a wicked lifestyle behind and embracing a godly lifestyle going forward. In repentance, we say “No” to evil and say “Yes” to glory. It starts in the mind and then proceeds to action. We abandon sin and walk in holiness. We forsake the pleasures of the world and joyfully seize Christ’s character. In several other Scriptures, repentance is taught as a gift that God grants to sinners (2 Timothy 2:25; Acts 8:22; Lamentation 5:21; Isaiah 55:7; Psalms 80:3,7,19; Psalms 85:4; Luke 1:17; 1 John 4:19). So, sinners can start the journey of the kingdom with the confidence that the repentance that God commands them, He will abundantly supply and cause them to repent through His grace—when they call upon Him asking for this.

Acts 5:31, Acts 11:18, and Titus 2:11-12 differ from Romans 2:4, another verse used to teach that repentance is the grace of God given to us. What is the difference ? The 3 Scriptures mentioned above suggest repentance as a “good” delivered to us by the grace of God. Romans 2:4 simply asks a question: Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? This is about God’s intention for the sinner in his patience to delay judgment. Romans 2:4 doesn’t actually support the teaching that repentance is a gift, only that God is kind to wait for the sinner to change and turn to Him. Because it is asked as a question “do you show contempt ?” —It suggests that the gift can be refused by the sinner and the patience of God is not indefinite.

Contempt for a gift is usually shown for 2 reasons.

First, it can be shown because the gift is not valued. Suppose someone gives $5 to a billionaire. Do you think he would be impressed by the amount ? People who reject salvation usually cannot tell its value (Malachi 1:13). They consider their present pleasures in the flesh and enjoyment of the world as better than eternity in a world they cannot see yet or even divine blessings in this life now. The problem with sharing the Gospel by telling sinners that God will bless them financially, for example, is that there are plenty of rich people who achieved it without God’s help. People don’t need God to make them rich because they can do it on their own. They just have to work hard for that. On the other hand, there are plenty of people God has given natural comfort or blessings of a good education to make them rich and yet they willingly sacrifice that to follow Christ. Saint Francis of Assisi is an example (2 Samuel 24:24; Philippians 3:7-10). This is also what Scriptures teach about the faith of Moses (Hebrews 11:24-28).

The second reason a person could despise a gift could be because of the giver. If the intended recipient has been offended by the giver in one way or another, the recipient could spit upon the gift, even if it was large enough to be valuable. People value their dignity more so than money. There are people who would be willing to suffer lack rather than receive gifts from those they despise. Wrong images of God can do that to sinners. There was, in fact, a supposedly gifted steward that Christ judges at His return because that steward thought the Lord was a hard master and buried his talent rather than traded it (Matthew 25:24-28). His view of God as a hard master led to inactivity. He did not trade the gifts and talents God gave him for God’s glory and profit. Those were sins of omission (Isaiah 43:22; Micah 6:3). So, the image of God people have in their minds could lead them to not accept His gift or even use the gift as intended once received. There are people who react to the prosperity Gospel by starting to preach things that are weird and unbiblical. They suffer judgment by preaching a Gospel of their own making just like the one they are reacting against (Proverbs 10:22). Our view of God and His Scriptures has to be thoroughly objective, not clouded by the hurts, disappointments, tragedies, or deceptions we have witnessed. Yes, God wants to bless people. But this works through His wisdom, not through the world’s wisdom ( Colossians 2:3; 1 Corinthians 1:27; 1 Kings 4:30-31; Luke 11:31; Luke 12:27; Ezekiel 28:3-7). That error is usually corrected by preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. When Jesus preached repentance, that’s what He was preparing sinners for. While the manifestations of all heaven’s glory and riches will not be fully tasted until Christ’s return, redemption has provided quite plenty for signs and wonders to reveal those to us in this age as Jesus and the apostles demonstrated throughout their lives. Divine wisdom to solve problems that benefit nations like Solomon and Joseph had in their generations is not restricted to the Old Testament. It is revealed in a greater and more glorious way in Christ now. 

How do we avoid showing contempt for God’s rich offer of repentance ? By receiving it joyfully, immediately. Everywhere in Scripture, the salvation and favor of God are declared as available for us to “today.” (2 Corinthians 6:2; Hebrews 3:15; Hebrews 4:7). This means you can receive the gift of repentance if you ask it of God, today. But no one would be able to guarantee how long that offer stands. It could vanish by tomorrow (Proverbs 6:15; Psalms 32:6;  Luke 21:36; 1 Thessalonians 5:3; Proverbs 24:22; Romans 10:21; 2 Chronicles 36:16; Isaiah 30:13-14; Proverbs 29:1; Luke 7:30; Psalms 73:18-20; Deuteronomy 28:63). Note how many times Scriptures say judgment or destruction can come suddenly. Eternity— the time beyond a quadrillion years is too big a thing to be gambled with like that. Today is the day of God’s favor and repentance should always be seized for that moment when God offers it. 

Prayer: Father God, all of us have sinned and fallen short of your glory and need to repent of our sins and turn to you. We confess that we have transgressed your law and we are not looking to malign its just demands but rather to repent fully and truthfully to walk as you ask us to. We pray Lord, that through the grace of Jesus Christ, you grant us repentance and help us to make the needed change. Forgive us our sins and bring us into the fullness of your salvation. In the gracious name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!

January 11th, 2021

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 4:25- Romans 5:1

 We will continue “The Grace of Jesus Christ” themed devotional for the second week of January by looking at the last verse of Romans 4 and the first verse of Romans 5—where justification by faith is taught.

In the last devotional we had seen that repentance precedes forgiveness and that the repentance that God commands us can be granted to us to lead us to eternal life. Repentance is both a commandment of God and a gift of God. This is the Good News of the grace of Jesus Christ. Repentance is our starting point, but it has to be followed by faith in Christ’s redemptive work.

When Paul summarizes his ministry in Acts 20:21, he said: “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” It is not one or the other. It is both. We had already mentioned that God had granted repentance to Israel first (Acts 5:31) and then later granted repentance to the Gentiles (Acts 11:18). Paul preached that repentance to both the Jews and the Gentiles. What we call salvation—as far as man’s response to the Gospel is concerned—has 3 conditions that have to be met for someone to be considered converted to Christ without any doubts. First, repentance of sins to turn to God and receiving forgiveness. Second, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for justification or imputed righteousness. Third, the miracle of regeneration that occurs supernaturally when the Holy Spirit brings the new birth in the spirit of the new convert. A sinner is not saved until he/she is repentant, forgiven, justified, and born again. All these 3 happen by the grace of Jesus Christ. These three go in that order but they do not have to take weeks, months, or years to take place. They can all occur the same day, they can all occur the same hour, they can all occur in the same instant. However, considering the nature of repentance and the new birth—it may take time to notice “the fruit meet with repentance.”—Matthew 3:7-8 and “the fruit of the Spirit,” who has brought that new birth (Galatians 5:22-23). It may take several months for people to see evidence of change that happens after this salvation and recognize that they are in a state of grace. Even so, traditionally, the fruit of repentance has often been noticed in  short order—not in months or years—but usually in hours or days as people swiftly changed their course and took immediate action. (Acts 19:18-19; Luke 19:8; Acts 2:37; Acts 16:30).

The book of Samuel gives us one of the most illustrious discovery of how God gives repentance as we see how the heart responds when confronted by the Word of God about disobedience or rebellion—the penitent trembles and is contrite while the impenitent is like “whatever!”—we see this in king Saul and king David’s responses when they were confronted by prophet Samuel and Nathan, respectively. (1 Samuel 13: 10-15; 1 Samuel 15:19-26; 1 Chronicles 10:13; 2 Samuel 12:1-13; Psalms 51). We see it in our generation—that many people, even those who consider themselves “Christians”—do not take sin seriously and some of them are even proud of being sinful (Philippians 3:18-19).

After repentance, we must turn in faith and believe in Christ’s redemptive work. Paul writes that Christ was delivered for our sins. The blood of Jesus was shed for the cleansing of our sins (Matthew 26:28) and He rose from the dead for our justification. If Christ had died and not risen from the dead—He might not have been who He claimed to be. He could have been a great prophet or an impostor—but He wouldn’t have been a Savior. Prophets and impostors die alike. Christ, the “Lord of glory, ” was crucified, died,  and rose from the dead—Acts 2:36; 1 Corinthians 2:8. He had laid down His life willingly and nobody took it from Him as a weak human being, unable to protect Himself (John 10:18). He had the power to deliver Himself from danger but chose to die for our sins (Matthew 26:53;  John 18:11).  On the third day, He rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). His resurrection gives hope for our own resurrection—but it also has many other doctrinal ramifications—one of those is that He rose for our justification. The blood He shed washes our sins in forgiveness, but we need much more than pardon to be able to stand before God and be accepted—we need to be just—righteous—blameless—faultless—sinless—perfect—which we will never be able to be on our own, through our own endeavor, by our own works—whether in time now or in future eternity—it is utterly impossible. Only Christ is perfect and His perfect obedience is credited to us. 

Repentance and forgiveness of the sins of our disobedience are made possible by the cross. The cross deals with our past. Imputed righteousness, that is, credited obedience given to us, regeneration, and sanctification are empowered by the resurrection life of Jesus Christ ( Romans 3:25; Romans 6:4-14; Acts 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21;  Colossians 3:1-2; Romans 8:11-14; Hebrews 10:26-29; Hebrews 6:4-6; 2 Peter 1:9; 1 John 2:9).  The resurrection is the power source of our new life. The cross makes possible cleansing after salvation too, but this progressive cleansing presupposes that we are walking in the light already (1 John 1:7-9). “If we walk in the light…” is a conditional statement. After regeneration, our life is kept clean by walking in the Spirit—the light of His revealed will—quick, short accounts confessions of mistakes, errors, and sins of ignorance for cleansing—and continuing in the newness of life energized by His resurrection power.

The sins of ignorance are different from deliberate sins. One may be done with a clear and yet weak conscience, while the other reveals bad faith ( 1 Corinthians 8:9-11; 1 Timothy 1:18-19). A person who is deceived could be led into sin, for example, and that could count as a sin of ignorance. The person who does the deceiving is intentionally causing offense and is acting in bad faith (Hebrews 3:13; Luke 17:1-2). It is also called “wickedness.”  Interestingly, in Genesis 20, we see Abraham committing a deliberate sin of deception by calling Sarah his sister in order to save his own skin in a foreign land. The fear he could have been killed does not make the deliberate nature of it less significant. The fear of death is never an excuse for deliberate sin (Matthew 26:34; Luke 22:60-62; Matthew 10:26-28; Mark 8:34-38; Hebrews 12:4). Therefore, this same thinking would apply to Christian witness that involves deception, including false gospels, false lifestyle, or a denial of the knowledge of the Gospel altogether, for any reason, including threat of death. I know we may hate to think of the idea, but it is true. Could this mean that the threat of losing one’s life under persecution is not an excuse to deny Christ and one who is guilty of it would go to hell ? Absolutely ! People who deny Christ because they fear for their life were never saved. Thankfully, God intervened in Abraham’s case and He has intervened to shut the mouths of lions that were threatening His people several times. Both in the Old Testament and New Testament, these two types of sins, sins of ignorance and deliberate sins, were viewed differently (Romans 6:2; Leviticus 4:2,22,27; Leviticus 5:17; Numbers 15:24, 29, 30, Deuteronomy 17:2; Job 38:15; Psalms 19:13; Psalms 139:23-24; Psalms 119:104;  Luke 12:47-48; Jonah 4:11; James 4:17; Romans 14:23;  1 Timothy 1:13; Luke 23:34; Romans 2:12, 15; Galatian 6:12; Galatians 2:14; Proverbs 29:25; John 12:42-43; Luke 10:12-13; Acts 17:30;  Hebrews 10:26; 1 John 5:16-17; 2 Peter 2:20-22; Galatians 1:8-9; 2 Corinthians 11:3-4; 14-15; 2 Corinthians 4:2; James 3:1; Matthew 7:21-23; 2 Timothy 4:10; Jude 1:4). Deliberate sins are synonymous with being a reprobate. Grace is sweeter the moment we understand how easy it is to fall. We also realize the praises the saints owe God who keeps them from falling and richly gives them grace to repent when they do. The above Scriptures can help people who want to test themselves, whether they are in the genuine faith ( 2 Corinthians 13:5). Traditionally, no one who practices an ongoing, deliberate, and deadly sin was ever considered to be in a state of grace. 

The doctrine of justification was recovered by Protestant reformers in the 16th century—at the time, indulgences for the remission of sins were for sale. Since the masses had no access to Scriptures, they could be easily deceived as they did not understand that justification makes them righteous once and for all, “perfect in Christ,” the very moment they receive it (Hebrews 10:14; Colossians 1:22; Colossians 2:10; Hebrews 7:9). As dangerous as it may sound to some, “once and for all” or “perfect forever” means just that—the past, present, and future sins are all covered in justification. Rather than teach this truth otherwise, we should make sure that where people have confused this as a license to sin, there is an actual understanding of the 2 other doctrines crucial to salvation, namely, repentance and regeneration.

Justification differs from forgiveness in that forgiveness wipes away our negative while justification bestows upon us a positive. To be able to stand before God—we can’t just say we have been forgiven our wrong—which would be what a pardon achieves— we must be able to say, we have done everything right— but this is not true either in our past history or by projection of what we could achieve in the future—we must call things which be not as though they were—we need God’s righteousness as our own(Isaiah 33:14; Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:23;  2 Corinthians 5:21;Colossians 1:22; Jeremiah 23:6; Romans 4:17-25). Since this righteousness is not our own, Christ graciously imputes it upon us when we believe in Him—which is why we call it the grace of Jesus Christ. Justification by faith happens instantly and we can absolutely have 100% certainty—assurance of salvation that we are perfect before God and blameless in His eyes and we will be resurrected on the last day and shall see Him face to face (Romans 10:9; John 5:24). But what if it fails? That’s not the language of faith. It will never fail. 

In Romans 4:16-22, Paul gives the example of Abraham, how he attained righteousness even before the law of Moses was written down. The righteousness of Christ that is available to Christians follows the same pattern. Abraham, whom we have found to be a deceiver, believed God to give him Isaac, the child of promise. He was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when Isaac was born. Menopause is generally at age 50-53, so Sarah’s womb was infertile, from a natural point of view. Not only that, the risks of having children with Down syndrome are much higher in women who are older than 35-40 years old. But Abraham believed God and not only was Isaac born, but he was also totally healthy. He believed in the God “who calls things which be not as though they were.”- Romans 4:17. While this verse or statement may be used as a definition of what faith is in general—the substance of things hoped for, a title-deed or demonstration of things not seen—it is written in the context of explaining justification by faith. Since the righteousness that Christ gives to us is not our own—we claim it or appropriate it by faith: Christ pleased the Father completely. He is totally righteous and obeyed perfectly. Therefore, in Christ, I am righteous and perfect forever. Notice that God changed Abraham’s name from Abram—exalted father—to Abraham—father of many nations—before this promise was fulfilled and he carried this name calling himself something that he was not, something that had not taken place but he was believing God for. This is why I wouldn’t be against a believer being saved and justified instantly while waiting to see ” the fruit meet with repentance.” Because Abraham’s promise took long to manifest—he had to be persistent and “did not stagger in unbelief, being fully persuaded that He who had promised was able also to perform”—Romans 4: 20-21. It is because of that we are absolutely convinced that justified Christians are “God’s own righteousness.”—2 Corinthians 5:21. This is not a statement of arrogance; this is a statement of faith as handed to us by apostles.

Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God. We no longer fear of being condemned on judgment day and thrown in hell fire for eternity.  “Who is he that condemns? It is God who justifies.”—Romans 8:34. We have peace with the Judge of all the earth. We can have confidence that when we stand before Him on judgment day—He will only see Christ’s unblemished righteousness—The Son in whom He is well pleased. No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.

Prayer: Father God, I thank you that I am the very righteousness of Christ and have become so because of your rich mercies and grace. I thank you for giving us this indescribable gift that ends all our striving for acceptance in your presence. I thank you for this reconciliation that has brought peace between us and gives us unfettered access before your throne, where we can come with boldness to ask whatever we desire in the name of Jesus. To you be the glory forever, in Jesus’ name, Amen !

 

January 12th, 2021

So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’—John 3:7

 We will continue “The Grace of Jesus Christ” themed devotional for the second week of January by discussing the doctrine of regeneration.

In the last devotional, we had mentioned that there are 3 conditions that have to be met for someone to be considered to have salvation in Christ: repentance for forgiveness of sins, justification by faith, and the new birth or regeneration or being born again. We saw that repentance precedes forgiveness and that this should be followed with faith. Paul tells us about Abraham in Romans 4:9-22 to try to help us understand how justification by faith works. Christ’s perfect obedience is imputed upon us—credited to us—and we stand before God perfect with Christ’s own righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are blameless in God’s eyes because of that faith.

When James approaches this topic of justification in James 2:14-26, he shares a few insightful things and adds his own interpretation of the faith of Abraham different from what we read in Romans 4:9-22. There are Christians who see a tension between James 2:14-26 and Romans 4:9-22 or simply the entire chapters of Romans 4 and James 2, but when you study the entirety of Scripture, there’s no such tension. It’s very likely that the way we feel about modern Christianity and how the preaching of the Gospel is done was also felt in the early church and Romans 4 vs James 2 debate gives us a glimpse of that tension.

The fact is that when we discuss about “works” today we may miss context in certain situations. For example, when Paul introduces his teaching on the faith of Abraham in Romans 4, he talks about circumcision as one of the works of the law that Jews wanted to keep—alongside their new Christian faith. Paul said it was pointless since in the New Testament true circumcision is of the heart—a covenant between man and God that is centered on inward change more so than an outward sign (Philippians 3:3; Romans 2:29; Galatians 6:13). Paul also mentioned other things in the law of Moses that Jews had been holding onto that were irrelevant for Christians— such as believing that certain foods could make believers unclean, the keeping of the Sabbath rest on Saturday—the seventh day—and several other Jewish traditions. When Paul talks about “works” he is talking about these things. He wrote “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain”—Galatians 2:21. Because if he were to preach Faith + Works, it would be frustrating the grace of God. If he were to preach that Christ saves sinners by grace and yet also encourage circumcision, it would be counterproductive. If anyone could be saved by religious activities, festivals, ceremonies, traditions, sacrifices, and other similar works, then salvation could be attained by works, and Christ would have been crucified for nothing.

When Paul talks about “works” he is usually not talking about “the undefiled religion that is pure in God’s eyes”—James 1:27, that consists of helping the orphans and widows in their distress while also staying pure from worldly immorality. How do we know this? Because whenever we read Paul’s instructions for practical living in Ephesians 4-6; 1 Timothy 5-6; Acts 20; 2 Corinthians 8-9—we see that Paul was eager to do good works as evidence of true faith and encouraged others to do the same. Paul had a conference with the apostles in Jerusalem to discuss these matters and they settled on that agreement (Galatians 2:10). So, Paul had been misunderstood in the early church and he is misunderstood today. It’s understandable that there are always people who try to twist a preacher’s words for malevolent, macabre, and profitable ends (2 Peter 3:15-17).  The works that Paul wanted to get away from were mostly ceremonial in nature while the works that James is talking about are the things you could put in the category of doing justice towards the poor and vulnerable. The kind of things to do if you don’t want to end up with the sins of omission like we had discussed earlier on repentance, giving 2 examples of the Corban and Good Samaritan (Mark 7:11-13; Luke 10:25-37). Since Paul preached repentance as much as he preached justification by faith (Acts 20:21; Acts 26:20), he did address good works in such preaching. In Acts 26:20 we read: ” but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”  Moreover, Paul sees true faith as bound to result in good works—and basically tries to show that good works flow from that faith and not the other way around (Ephesians 2:10; Galatians 6:10).

Yesterday, we saw how glorious the doctrine of justification is, the peace it brings to us, and how final it is in settling the issues of eternal security. However, I am afraid that the entirety of the New Testament record bears witness against the modern emphasis of this doctrine at the expense of repentance and regeneration. The consequences we see today would be expected. What happens if you give assurance of salvation to sinners without demanding change of heart and life as the Gospel commands ? Disaster, rather than revival, follows that preaching.

Faith without good works is dead. There’s no such a thing as faith that is not accompanied by good works. So, good works will be there when people repent their sins of omission and start to do good works (Acts 10:1-5), but those good works cannot complete a person before God for righteousness, just as they never saved Cornelius, even though God had taken notice of them—ultimately, Cornelius needed justification by faith alone—which is why he had to send for his men to go bring apostle Peter and he heard the Gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ. If giving alms to the poor had been enough for  Cornelius, he wouldn’t have needed to hear the message of faith preached by Peter. Once justification by faith comes, the good works done after repenting the sins of omission do not stop—instead, those works get a new fuel—they flow from faith itself, generated by gratitude in the generous redemptive work of Christ. Good works for repentance are done because of the fear of God and what He has commanded; good works that flow from faith, on the other hand, are done because what God has done is too much not to want to share it with the less fortunate, less knowledgeable, less blessed, less educated, and less privileged. When people who claim to be justified by faith are found to be cruel, stingy, jealous, immoral, selfish, greedy, lustful, and unkind—it is proof that they are not justified—they are deceived. They have no gratitude for the cross of Jesus. Faith in the blood of Jesus inevitably produces generosity, godliness, and good works (Hebrews 6:9). If we are overwhelmed by the love of Jesus, how can we not do something good for our fellow men (1 John 4:19-20; 1 John 3:17) ?

The culmination of these doctrines of salvation is the doctrine of regeneration. Jesus told Nicodemus, the Pharisee who had come to see him in secret, at night,  “you must be born again.”—John 3:7. This was a man who knew the law, probably did good works, and feared God—because, after all, his conscience had stricken him enough to come to Jesus to acknowledge that he was a teacher from God. While such an acknowledgement was encouraging, Jesus did not think that recognizing Him as a teacher from God or prophet was itself salvific. Even giving Him the title of “Lord” without due obedience does not impress Him (Luke 6:46; James 2:19; Matthew 8:29). Jesus declared “you must be born again.” What does that mean?  Nicodemus enquired about that too. It certainly does not mean going back to into the mother’s womb. First, Jesus wondered how Nicodemus can be an influential teacher in Israel without grasping such a truth. Sometimes Jesus attacked theological knowledge that wasn’t mixed with obedience (John 5:39-40; Matthew 23:23), but here we see that He doesn’t hold theological ignorance in high esteem either . Nicodemus was supposed to know these things (Hosea 4:6). The ministries of Jesus as a teacher, prophet, and healer should never be imbalanced in the church. It is true that some churches will exalt one above the other, but that splits up Christ and what He has come to do in the church and the world. Rather than bask in the glory of the compliment for his miracles, Jesus puts on a teacher’s hat and starts to expound on the doctrine of regeneration. The miracles had led Nicodemus to be inquisitive, but teaching was important to help him learn “how the kingdom works.”

As the conversation with Nicodemus goes on, we see Jesus clarifying that this new birth he was talking about was given by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit comes to indwell the person who believes in Jesus. “Flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit gives birth to spirit.”—John 3:6. What people need is a brand new life. The flesh—the old man—the weaknesses that sinners have had all along cannot give them that. Unfortunately, in terms of spiritual power, the only thing we can inherit from our parents is the sinful nature. Job once said “naked I came from mother’s womb” (Job 1:21), meaning that he had brought nothing into the world (1 Timothy 6:7). On that we may add that the sinful nature was attached to his soul the very moment he started to breathe as a baby (Romans 5:12; Romans 7:21; Psalms 51:5). This tragedy of sinful flesh we all share at birth. People can “reinvent themselves” or try to “renovate” or “improve” in their own flesh—in their own human strength—and yet they will continue to be flesh. It will not bring them close to God. It will not transform their lives for holiness. It will not give them salvation (Romans 7:23). Flesh gives birth to flesh. The doctrine of repentance teaches us that we have responsibility for our own thoughts, words, and actions. We cannot say that because we were born trapped in iniquity, we must continue that way. God calls us to turn to Him and gives us the grace we need to change. The doctrine of original sin teaches us that reform will not be enough. The old life cannot be reformed. The whole thing must be torn up, crucified with Christ, and a new self must arise from the dead. No one can attain the holiness Christ preached in the Sermon on the Mount while still in the flesh. Nobody would be able to go through the process of sanctification in the flesh. It requires the work of the Spirit of God.

Let’s go back to the analogy of the American criminal law we had mentioned when discussing the difference between pardon and justification. Suppose someone had heroin trafficking history and was arrested by police, taken to court, and charged with illegal drug trade activity—convicted and then sentenced for 10 years in prison. In the 5th year of imprisonment, that person is blessed to have a pardon from authorities and is released from prison. Once out of prison, he tries to apply for jobs and finds a job at a pharmacy he is interested in. He would be handling narcotics at the pharmacy. The pharmacy does a criminal background check before giving him the job and finds that this person has been in prison for trafficking heroin. The criminal record is still showing his past when a background check is done. The pharmacy is aware that this is a high risk hire because he could steal narcotics from the pharmacy or abuse drugs after being hired. Unless this person’s criminal record is expunged, the criminal past will follow him in such situations. But what if the record is expunged and he gets hired at such a pharmacy—because they were not aware of his past? If his life has not changed, he might be tempted to get some Oxycodone for himself—and then more—and then even get some for his friends—illegally. He could end up in jail again. It is called recidivism. So, pardon was good, expunging the criminal record was helpful, but the person ended up in prison again because of recidivism. His old life had not changed. This is how salvation works too. Forgiveness of past sins is good, justification by faith credits to us righteousness—giving us a new perfect record of righteous obedience we did not have—and yet we still need a new life to be able to maintain our freedom. We must be born again. That child of God, the new spirit-man, is “created in righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24).

After the new birth, we are free. We are no longer under the same bondage of natural birth in the flesh. Now, we can soar as high in the spiritual life as the greatest prophets and apostles, because we carry zoe, the eternal life of Christ Jesus Himself, inside of us. From this Zoe, this abundant life, flows everything good we never had in our flesh before being born again: sanctification, spiritual blessing, love, faithfulness, joy, a sound mind, physical health, righteousness, freedom, fruitfulness, victorious living—in short, the very life of God Himself (Philemon 1:6; 1 John 5:11; Ephesians 1:3; 1 Corinthians 2:9-11; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 10:10; 1 John 3:8-9; 1 John 5:18; 3 John 2; 2 Timothy 1:6-7; Romans 5:17; John 8:36; Galatians 5:1; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Romans 8: 1-14;  Romans 14:17; Isaiah 32:15; Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Peter 1:3-11). This truth is so powerful and glorious that once you get hold of it, you can literally sell all your possessions, give them to the poor, and follow Jesus, preaching this regeneration till death. 

Why should Nicodemus have been intuitively knowledgeable about regeneration when Christ made mention of it ? The mystery and miracle of the new birth had been prophesied in the Old Testament.  “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”—Ezekiel 36:26-27. It is a mystery because as  Jesus said “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.”—John 3:8. Parents cannot give you this new birth. Preachers cannot make you born again. You cannot give yourself regeneration. It happens by the power of the Spirit of God (John 1:12-13).  While there’s nothing we can do to be born again—to receive this Spirit of God to come indwell us and it is 100% supernatural—God still commands us to do our part and He gives us the grace to receive what He has already revealed—repentance for forgiveness of sins and faith for justification. Once we do those 2 things, we receive eternal life because God wants us to be born again much more so than we desire it ourselves. When we receive His grace to do our part in believing Him, He will be faithful to do the supernatural part of regeneration (John 3:15-16). The Holy Spirit comes to indwell an already clean vessel. From that moment on, we become a temple of the living God, and continue to live accordingly (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:13-20). When we have been washed by the blood and perfected in the righteousness of Christ by faith, the Holy Spirit is pleased to regenerate us—and He raises the fallen spirit-man from the dead—making us new creatures in Christ. As the wind blows over our new life, we are astonished by the changes the Holy Spirit brings to us. That transformation by the Spirit of God testifies that we have indeed become children of God Most High because we couldn’t have possibly made it happen (Romans 8:16). With joy, praises erupt from our born again spirits as we join Charles Wesley in singing: “Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee”

Prayer: Father God, I thank you that I am a new creation by the grace of Jesus Christ and have this new life, eternal life, flowing inside of me. Father, I thank you that I am forgiven, justified, and regenerated—that I will spend eternity in your presence. I pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit will have a free hand in my life—so that my new heart that you have given me after removing the old heart of flesh—will commune with you and receive nourishment from you—and will be moved to follow your holy will and obey your decrees. Help us to put on the new spirit-man, Christ’s own nature, so that we can soar with you to become all that this power flowing from our new life has come to bestow upon us and accomplish inside of us. In the gracious name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!

January 13th, 2021

 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Galatians 2:20

We will continue “The Grace of Jesus Christ” themed devotional for the second week of January by starting to look into sanctification.

Since “without holiness none shall see the Lord”—Hebrews 12:14, and considering that the entire religious endeavor is about going to heaven, not about living comfortably on earth as the primary goal, then holiness is the ultimate destination for the Christian faith on earth.

What is holiness? It can be defined in many ways—but I think a good way to get a complete picture of it is to read the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7. That is Christ’s own definition of holiness. At the end of Chapter 5, He says:  “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”—Matthew 5:48. That’s the holiness we will need to be able to see the Lord.

Someone could say—wait a minute—I thought that justification by faith makes us perfect in Christ—credited with God’s own righteousness—do we really need to be holy anymore? Notice what Christ said “as your heavenly father is perfect.” It’s like we read in the law of Moses “Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.”  (Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 20:7-8 ). Peter repeats this same command in 1 Peter 1:15-16.

When we are born again, we become children of God by regeneration and our new nature is righteous; since God reproduces after His own kind, holiness should be a byproduct of the new birth. Wherever that’s missing, someone could rightfully worry whether regeneration did, in fact, take place. Now, it may take a while for the new believer to begin to show the “fruit of the Spirit”—Galatians 5:22-23 that should accompany regeneration, as the Holy Spirit begins the work of sanctification, but there should be an immediate strong desire, an earnest pursuit, and passionate race towards holiness. There should be increasing sorrow for sin, hatred of all things that are ungodly, and deeper appreciation for the cross of Jesus, His blood, and His church. There should be a greater longing for God’s presence, going to heaven, and being perfect like those who are in heaven are perfect (Hebrews 12:18-29). So, rather than look at the words “be holy because I, the Lord your God, I am holy” —as a burdensome command or an unattainable standard—we should look at it as a decree that empowers our sonship identity. What God commands, He enables. Since we are His children, we bear His likeness, His image, without striving. The best expression that can help us understand this effortless transformation is the proverb ” like Father, like son ”  (Romans 8:28-30; John 5:17-20; James 1:23-25; Hebrews 12:10; 1 John 3:1-3; Romans 9:23; 1 Corinthians 2:7; John 17:22-24; 2 Corinthians 3: 17- 18; 1 Corinthians 15:49; Ephesians 4:24). Regeneration makes sanctification possible. 

Repentance of sins turns away the wrath of God. In repentance we flee from the wrath to come. Justification makes us accepted in the beloved. We are blameless and righteous in God’s eyes. Regeneration raises the fallen spirit-man from the dead—we are born again with God’s own nature—have the life of God inside of us, the “zoe” which is eternal.  It is that life of God that begins to bring in the fruit of the Spirit—the attributes of God—His holiness in our lives.

God has designed both the cleansing of sins by the blood and the sanctification process by the Spirit to have  crisis-entry points and progressive-growth phases. Our initial cleansing after we are saved gets us started but it is not the end. We need to be cleansed every day. This is why John writes: “ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”—1 John 1:8-9. John is writing for those “who walk in the light as He is in the light.”—1 John 1:7. So, this is a progressive cleansing that takes place daily in those who are already born again. Those who are not saved are not considered to be walking in the light—they are in outer darkness. Sanctification also has an entry point and a progressive phase—this means sanctification has a positional state and experience state. Everything is perfect the day we are born again—from a positional point of view. “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”—Ephesians 2:6—This is the positional state of every born again Christian, but it is not the experience of every single believer. Paul did go to heaven while he was still alive—2 Corinthians 12:2-4—but he did not stay there and sit in heaven. He returned to the earth—continued ministry and died like every other Christian. So, our seat in heaven is positional. There’s also a positional state of sanctification that gets us started in the process—being crucified with Christ.

Paul says “I have been crucified with Christ.”—Galatians 2:20. This is not a statement of super-spirituality. It is not something that an apostle alone can claim. It is the very definition of how sanctification starts. In Romans 6, the chapter that follows Paul’s writings on justification by faith, Paul talks about this positional state of our sanctification—and how understanding it affects the way we live out the experience of a holy life. “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”—Romans 6:6. Clearly, this is not a grace available just for Paul, it is for all of us. It is one of the mysteries of the new birth. The new birth gives us a new life, but since we do not want the old life following us into the future—that old man has to die. By God’s grace—He included that in our salvation plan—when He included all the members of the church—all the saints—into the cross of Jesus. So Jesus died for us and Jesus died as us. “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.”—2 Corinthians 5:14. A person who likes to swear or is addicted to listening to impure songs or watching unholy things or using cocaine or any other physical enslavement in the body could say—I really do not feel like my old man died— But would that change what the Scriptures say ? All died ! Paul said that people who are controlled by their flesh couldn’t really consider themselves saved. “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.”—Philippians 3:18. A person simply cannot be a Christian and be unsanctified at the same time. The body does not rule the saints anymore. This should make us appreciate even more God’s salvation plan. If the old man had not been crucified with Christ—how many more Christians could be under the dominion of sin, having difficulty with the sanctification process ? Our crucifixion with Christ is the basis of the consecration of our bodies to God (Romans 6:13-14). 

Christ cannot be our Lord if our stomach or our body is still our god. So the old man had to be crucified in order that the body of sin might be done away with. Once that’s settled—once we receive that by faith—then we begin to live for God. We begin the process of surrender. Sadly, since many Christians have been deceived that justification by faith is the only thing they will ever need— they never get to this stage of Christianity. They are stuck in a positional perfection and do not want to know about the walk of holiness in their new life.

“I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live, I live by faith in the Son of God…” in that, Paul is acknowledging that when his old man died, a new man was raised to life. The born again life is powered by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We may love the stories of the resurrection of Jesus with the angel rolling away the stone, an earthquake, the soldiers who were guarding the tomb to prevent Christ’s body from being stolen by the disciples falling down as half-dead, and all other events surrounding the resurrection (Matthew 28:2-4)—because this is the hope of the Christian faith—as it assures us of the resurrection of our own bodies—but the resurrection also has many more implications for the life of the Christian believer—just like the cross does have many more implications. One of the implications of the resurrection is that it is its power that flows into the new man to be able to walk in Zoe—the life of God. That’s what Paul encourages us to do when he says “that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”—Ephesians 4:24. The old man was crucified and done away with—but the new man has to be put on, as God begins to write His laws on our hearts and move us to obey His decrees by the Spirit.

We are new creatures in Christ Jesus and our new nature reproduces God’s holiness in us.  All the symbols of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus—not just as acts of our salvation 2000 years ago —but also as pre-enactment/basis of our sanctification process (Romans 6:4)—make any thought of looking back—or “going back to Egypt”—a pretty scary thought as Christ can only die once (Hebrews 6: 4-6; Hebrews 10:26-27; Hebrews 10:38). Do people get baptized twice ? No, they cannot. There’s only “one baptism“— Ephesians 4:5. Since baptism means being buried with Christ, then the life of the Christian believer after that should be one of not looking back; believers should be zealously walking in the newness of life. Christ is not going back to the tomb, believers are not going to be buried again, they should be looking upward and heavenward only. So, sanctification and holiness are not even an option for the born again saint—they are imperative.

Knowing what we have been called to be is one thing—the big question is—how do we do that ? The new life we have in Christ—this zoe—that produces holiness, can only be lived by faith (Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38; Habakkuk 2:4; Ezekiel 18:9; Matthew 16:8). Many Christians fail to realize that the flesh of the old life is not just the body, but also the fallen soul, that was ” corrupted by sinful desires“— Ephesians 4:22. Even though the old life was crucified with Christ and buried during our baptism, the new birth remains a spiritual experience, not a physical transplant of a new brain. Therefore, the general experience of born again Christians is that there will often be ideas that come from the new spirit-man and there will be ideas that come from the old self. We cannot trust that or rely on carnal reasoning or a fleshly mind after the new birth and be able to experience the light, peace, joy, strength, power, holiness, and fruitfulness of our Zoe at the same time (Romans 8:6-8; Galatians 6:14; Philippians 3:20; 1 Corinthians 2:9-11).

Suppose a rich person approaches someone and hands that person $1 million and if one thinks that’s small, let’s make it $5 million. What do you think would be the reaction ? Knowing how American culture reasons, and I would bet the whole world in general, the reaction would be to jump and celebrate. Often, circumstances like these happen, so it is not something we can consider to be improbable. But what if such a gift came from a deadly source ? Alas ! Experience tells us that majority of Christians would be in that category of naïve exuberance. Haven’t we heard of stories of supposedly Christian politicians who were corrupted by donations from unscrupulous people and in turn betrayed the promises they campaigned on ? How many Christians do you know stand firm in Hollywood ? (Mark 8:36-37; 1 Corinthians 3:1; 1 Corinthians 14:20; 1 Corinthians 13:11; Hebrews 5:14 ; Matthew 4:8-10; 1 John 2:15-17; Mark 4:19;  1 John 5:19; 1 Timothy 6:9-10). Some could call this pragmatism, but just like money itself, pragmatism is a neutral thing that could change in shape, depending on situations. The more convenient and extravagant those circumstances present themselves, the more discernment and caution are required. Christians should be aware that temptations do not disappear after the new birth. Becoming a son or daughter of God does not make Satan and his schemes go away. 

The devil is still at large in this world—condemned, yes, but still deceiving those who obey him as well as Christians who are immature (Ephesians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 11:3-4;14-15; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 Kings 13:11-26; Genesis 3:4; 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 John 4:1; 1 Corinthians 12:10; John 16:11; Colossians 2:15; John 12:31; 2 Corinthians 2:11; Revelation 12:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:11). Satan is filled with fury against the saints but it is not uncommon that he presents himself in a pleasant, yet deceptive way—as an angel of light. Since the born again saint is no longer in darkness, the most challenging tests are not between outright wrong and obviously right, but between hazy or grey areas. A curse could look like a blessing while a blessing may look like a curse (1 Samuel 16:7; Genesis 13:10-13; John 7:24; 2 Corinthians 5: 7,16; 1 Kings 3:7,9,28; Colossians 2:3; Ecclesiastes 7:19; Proverbs 23:5; Jeremiah 15:19; Proverbs 31:10; Psalms 62:10) . If our long term vision, current attention, and daily satisfaction are not firmly rooted in “the things above”—Colossians 3:1-3—where our new life is hidden—then we can easily become Satan’s prey (Hebrews 8:1; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 12:2; Psalms 110:1; Hebrews 10:13; Romans 14:23; Matthew 24:35; 2 Corinthians 4:18; James 1:24; Romans 6:11; Colossians 2:12; Lamentation 1:9; Philippians 3:14; Revelation 1:5-6; 1 Peter 2:9; Romans 5:17; Luke 10:19; 1 John 4:4;  Proverbs 3:15; Job 28:18; Proverbs 8:10-11; Psalms 63:3; Philippians 1:21; Psalms 73:25-26; Romans 8:18; Song of Solomon 3:4; Matthew 6:13; Luke 22:40; John 17:15; 2 Thessalonians 3:3).

Our minds have to become captive to the revealed will of God entirely (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). To help us get started, we can begin by meditating on those verses of “things above” paragraph, to fix your eyes on Jesus, and get hold of our identity and destiny in the kingdom. Christ is our mighty deliverer now and the greatest treasure not just in eternity but also in our present life on earth.  Where doubts come in circumstances we face and choices we should make, we should fast and pray for clarity so that nothing will move us from this Rock ( Isaiah 54:10; Psalms 62:6; Hebrews 8:11; 1 John 2:27; Jeremiah 31:34; Psalms 89:34; Jude 1:21; Romans 8:14; Psalms 32:8; Isaiah 45:19; Joshua 9:4; John 16:13; Proverbs 20:18; 1 Chronicles 10:4; Isaiah 11:2-3; 2 Chronicles 22:4; Proverbs 24:6; Isaiah 9:6; Jeremiah 33:3; 2 Kings 5:26; Proverbs 11:4;  Matthew 17:20-21). This is the faith of our fathers that has stood the test of time. Think of the heroes of faith we read in Hebrews 11, the desert fathers, the puritans, and other saints of the church age that we love, they all won victory by fixing their eyes on the Lord.  Christ promised that no one can snatch from His hand those He has redeemed; however, we must make sure we stay vigilant to live by faith. In that way, we will be able to fully possess all the Lord’s promises of this new life (John 10:28; 2 Peter 1:3-4; Acts 26:18; 1 Corinthians 1:30; John 1:5; John 15:3;John 17:17; Ephesians 6:10-18).

Prayer: Father God, I thank you for your grace in including us in Christ when He was crucified so that we would die to sin and including us in His resurrection so that we would be raised with His own life—and now have your very life flowing in us and propelling us to holiness and glory. We pray that we will have our eyes opened to understand all the mysteries of the cross and resurrection, so that we will not be living below the standards of all the possibilities that the resurrection of Christ can afford us now. We pray that the eyes of our hearts will be enlightened, so that we can have understanding and discernment in the new life you gave to us. We ask that our spiritual senses will be sharpened to be able to interpret things that happen in our personal lives, our environment, and the world with the mind of Christ. In the glorious name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. 

January 14th, 2021

 For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure-Philippians 2:13.

 We will finish “The Grace of Jesus Christ” themed devotional for the second week of January by trying to complete our meditations on how sanctification by grace works.

As Paul shows us in Romans 6, the sanctification process starts with the consecration of the whole body to God so that everything we do is done for His glory. The born-again believer does not have to cut off the hands and throw them away, fearing that those hands can take him/her to hell (Matthew 5:30). That’s the advice that Jesus gave for those who found their bodies of death enslaving them in sin and wickedness. It was for sinners who had not found the law of the Spirit that frees them from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2-4). Once you have freedom in Christ, that’s not for you. After all, Jesus taught that it was better to lose hands than to have the whole body thrown in hell fire. Jesus was not trying to scare anyone with that advice. He spoke as someone who knew the glories of heaven and the torments of hell. Since the Christian believer has been crucified with Christ and knows this for a fact (Romans 6:11), and has surrendered his whole body to the Lord’s service (Romans 6:13-14), knowing that he/she no longer has claim on himself/herself but belongs to God completely, the next stage of sanctification becomes that of the soul—the mind, the emotions, and the will. The believer must learn to walk in the Spirit. It is the law of the Spirit and zoe life in Christ Jesus that sets us free from the law of sin and death. Passengers in an airplane cruising at maximum altitude don’t go screaming, fearing that the law of gravity will pull them and crash the airplane. They trust that the laws of aerodynamic will work to free the airplane from gravity and keep them in the air until it is time to land safely. .

When Adam sinned against God and fell from glory, what God had warned him about happened—he died. “But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”—Genesis 2:17. This is a quote from the NIV, but in the ESV and KJV the translation of “when” is “for in the day that,” the death took place immediately—the same day. As soon as they ate of that tree, they discovered they were naked and had already lost God’s glory. But in Genesis 5:5 we read that Adam lived 930 years before he died. So, what death took place in Genesis 3 after eating of the tree? It was a spiritual death that occurred the same day. Disobedience brought immediate death. The death of the physical body did not take place until hundreds of years later on (Romans 5:12).

Regeneration that takes place at our new birth raises this fallen spirit-man from the dead (Ephesians 2:1, 6). The resurrected spirit is eternal as is the soul—this is why we have eternal life flowing from the “Zoe”—the life of God we receive when we are born again—and yet our bodies still die at 60 years- 70 years-80 years- 90 years. For some Christians, unfortunately and regrettably, even earlier than that. It shouldn’t be the case, but it is reality. These are the effects of sin in the world because of the Adamic race in general and because of the peculiarities of the lives of people associated with their choices. If people cannot control their diet and get diabetes, they will die young because of their choices. This is the nature of the “bios” life after the fall. Even though bodies still die after we are born again, Christ has promised to resurrect all who believe in Him (John 11:25; 1 Corinthians 15:47-54). In the meantime, sanctification must address all the issues of our fallen nature—body, soul, and spirit.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, Paul writes: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”  We have our regenerated divine Zoe life in our spirits, we have the bios life we were born with in our bodies, and we have the decision-making psuche life in our souls. We must be sanctified through and through. If we give attention to the bios life while ignoring the zoe life, our limit is the 50-90 years here on earth, fearfully waiting to stand before God to give an account (Romans 8:13; 1 Timothy 5:6; Hebrews 9:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10). If we refuse the way of the cross and self-denial, and try to save the psuche life by conforming to the world, pursuing worldly safety and riches, we will lose our psuche life (Matthew 16:25; Luke 9:24; Mark 8:36-37). The Zoe life we received in our spirits at our new birth should be so abundant that it will flow and exude through the soul and the body (John 10:10).It must conform us to the image of Jesus Christ—spirit, soul, and body

Do you remember the story of germs dying whenever they were placed upon the palm of John.G.Lake where he had gone to be a missionary in South Africa ? That phenomenon, as he himself describes it, can only be explained by the presence of the Holy Spirit that was on the palm of his hand. Deadly bacteria and viruses are inconsistent with Zoe life we receive after the new birth. Sanctification is not just meant for the soul or just for the body or just for the spirit, it is meant for the whole person, spirit, soul, and body. God’s presence and His own life must penetrate and fill every fibre of our being, every cell in our body, every recess of our minds. The day a Christian is born again, that Zoe life may only be mighty in the spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 3:16; Ephesians 4:24; Romans 7:22; Colossians 1:11;27). The soul could still be thinking carnal things (Philippians 3:18-20; Romans 8:6-8). The body could be still craving to feed on death (Romans 8:13; Romans 6:23; Colossians 3:5-6; Ephesians 5:18) . As the spirit-man is edified, built up, saturated, and the saint starts to pursue Christ daily in meditations, prayers, and fellowship, things begin to change from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). The saints do not remain what they were before salvation. The fruit of the Spirit will be seen as the work of the Holy Spirit to bring transformation begins. 

The entire purpose of sanctification is to “ be conformed to the image of His Son“—Romans 8:29 in order to “make election sure”—2 Peter 1:10. God called us to sonship, He also called us to holiness (Hebrews 12: 6,10,14; 2 Peter 1:3-4; John 1:12-13; 1 Peter 1:15-16). You can’t make election sure by avoiding the hard truths and confessing yourself saved simply because of justification by faith. Are you holy, right now ? It’s like that old hymn by Elisha Hoffman that asks: Are you walking daily by the Savior’s side? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” Imputed righteousness is given to you without you doing anything at all, but sanctification requires your cooperation—though this is still a work of grace as we see in our opening Scripture of Philippians 2:13. God draws us with the cords of His love to sanctify us and we gladly submit to His leadership and joyfully follow Him in that process (Jeremiah 31:3,33-34; Hosea 11:4; 1 John 2:27; Revelation 14:4; Psalms 119:32; Hebrews 12:1; John 15:3; John 17:17)

The sanctification of the soul or psuche begins with the renewing of the mind. 

We must start to think the way God thinks. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will”—Romans 12:2. We see 3 things in that verse. The first thing we see is that we can no longer conform to the pattern of this world if we want to be sanctified in our minds.  The Greek word used is “syschematizesthe”—from its root we get schema in English. Making a copy of something, being fashioned alike. Who informs your mind and helps you make decisions? Is it God or the world? Unsaved family members, worldly and carnal friends, Impure songs, ungodly movies and TV shows, newspapers with false narratives, magazines with unbiblical promotions, TV commentators with a well-argued and yet demonic agenda—worldly influence on the minds of many Christians is real. Jesus did not want us to be taken out of the world (John 17:15)—because if sanctification meant being without these things completely—He would take us home immediately after being saved. He wants us to be protected from the impurities of the world. We must be set apart. We can still read newspapers—but not take it as the Word of God—rather critique the narrative using Scripture. Everything we are exposed to, whether written material or video content, must be judged by the Word of God.

The Word of God is the best tool we have for the renewing of our minds so that we do not get choked by the world without even realizing we are being fed lies, deception, and destruction. When we are born again—no matter the age of the new birth—15 years old, 20 years old, 30 years old, 50 years old—we are considered babies in the Spiritual realm. Scriptures say “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.”—1 Peter 2:2.  We need the Word of God for our nourishment to be able to grow in the Spiritual life after we are born again.

Let’s imagine an analogy of someone who has worked in the news industry and is born again at age 50. He goes to a Bible study of 20 people and one of the church pastors is in the study. The Bible study is about affirming Biblical truth regardless of the consequences. The man who is experienced in the news industry says that is not practical because he could end up losing his job. Sometimes the whole truth and nothing but the truth is not popular. He has an argument with the pastor. He is offended. What is going on here? Is he being driven by experience in the world or by the revelation of the Word of God? This may be just an analogy but the reality of it plays out daily all around us.

Besides Scriptures, I have found that old hymns and new contemporary worship music are effective tools for the renewing of the mind. If I wake up singing Don Moen’s song “What a mighty God we serve” or Fanny Crosby’s hymn “He hideth my soul ” or “Let the peace of God” of Hillsong or Terry MacAlmon’s “Holy are you Lord,” I find that those tunes may follow me all morning. Over the years, I learned to sing more than 5,000 songs. The truth sets us free from the world, the flesh, and Satan (John 8:32-36)—it’s neither healthy nor wise to have just enough of God’s truth to check off our to-do-lists, we must be saturated with the Word of God (Colossians 3:16). I find it less likely to think about any earthly thing and more likely to think of heavenly things just by singing one song in the morning and letting its melody follow me throughout the day. Of course, on week-ends when I have more time for worship, I could go 8 hours singing worship songs and soaking up God’s presence. Paul says, rather than be drunk on alcohol, we should be drunk in the Spirit—be carried with heavenly worship in the Spirit—“speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord”—Ephesians 5:19. This can help the emotions as well as the mind. Sadness can be sinful sometimes, which is why we are commanded “rejoice in the Lord always.”—Philippians 4:4. Circumstances are irrelevant. This is a divine command. Godly songs can ease the battle to stay positive and joyful.

The endgame of renewing of the mind is to be able to test and approve God’s perfect will. There’s a difference between God’s perfect will and God’s permissive will (1 Corinthians 6:12; 1 Corinthians 10:23). For example, Jesus had a debate with the Pharisees in which they talked about divorce. The heart of the matter was that the law of Moses had allowed divorce for some reasons that were not God’s original intent of marriage—rather to accommodate the hardness of people’s hearts (Matthew 19:3-12). Jesus then clarifies the narrow way and few situations that could make divorce acceptable. Paul further clarifies these teachings in the famous 1 Corinthians 7 chapter, giving us insights into how certain difficult circumstances could be handled using the Word of God. This is not the only practical subject where people could be confronted with choosing God’s perfect will and God’s permissive will. There are many such situations and every choice of the permissive will results in untold eternal costs in terms of what a Christian would have received in heaven’s rewards—as we will have to account of everything we have done in the body at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). We must make sure we win those battles in the mind and the decisions made by our will, long before there are physical manifestations of evil. Thankfully, Christ’s grace for sanctification also covers our will. So, we can be confident that we are going to make some awesome and godly choices, even in the midst of overwhelming challenges. The will of God can also be subdivided into the sovereign decretive will, prescriptive will, and dispositional will— but discussing this in detail may require a full week of devotional dedicated to that theme alone.

Does this mean we become infallible through sanctification ? Christ commanded us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48), but infallibility is not taught in Scripture as something we will attain (1 John 1:7-9). Even the Catholic church that believes in papal infallibility can be found to have many false doctrines that contradict God’s Word, including but not limited to the doctrine of purgatory. Scriptures tell us only about heaven and hell and no other place in-between in the after-life. As you stand today, you are going to either heaven or hell.  The reason we cannot attain infallibility is two-fold. First, we will continue to commit sins of ignorance simply because “we know in part.”— 1 Corinthians 13:9. Second, we get out-of-step with the Spirit from time to time (Galatians 5:16). We are not talking about bondage here because that’s inconsistent with the new birth. We are talking about unintentional lapses. Those who are in bondage have no regeneration testimony. Pursuing the perfection and holiness commanded in Matthew 5:48 and Hebrews 12:14 means that we shun deliberate sins by obeying what we already know—the 10 commandments, the sermon on the mount, and the whole counsel of God of Scriptures (Exodus 20; Matthew 5-7; Acts 20:27). Even this is not easy because, as we are aware, there are denominations that may consider something good while other churches think it is bad. For example, whether God intends prosperity for the saints in this world, and how that is achieved like sowing seeds financially to give money to ministries,  that is a doctrine disputed among Christians. It is clear that since both camps cannot be right, some will be found sinful on judgment day—despite having had the whole counsel of God to search God’s will on that topic. Maturity consists of mastering the whole counsel of God, shrinking the gap between what is revealed to us now and what we shall know in glory, so that we can obey God fully. Maturity bring us to perfection and perfection brings us closer to infallibility (Philippians 3: 12-14; 2 Peter 1:8-11; James 1:4; 1 Timothy 4:6; 1 John 4:16-18; Ephesians 4:13; 1 John 3:1-3).

We must acknowledge that all this transformation is the work of divine grace. “It is God who works in you both to will and to do according to His purpose.” Notice that this is according to what Scriptures deem worth working towards. I like to interpret everything regarding the purposes of God in this world through the lens of the great commission. Evangelism and discipleship are God’s grand purpose for every Christian believer (Mark 16:15-20; Matthew 28:18-20). Through discipleship in the body of Christ, we “grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” — 2 Peter 3:18. Fellowship with the saints in the church is crucial for our discipleship and sanctification. We will also find that our faith will be established like a fortress when we even go beyond Sunday worship and have mid-weekly Bible studies, devotionals, accountability partners, spiritual mentors, prayer partners, and are constantly challenged by other believers to follow after Christ (Hebrews 10:25; Matthew 18:18-20; Matthew 16:19; Acts 2:42; Hebrews 3:13; Proverbs 13:20; James 5:16; 1 Corinthians 5:4). Evangelism is how we share with others the joy we have received in Christ. Evangelism is the lifestyle of every true disciple of Christ. Now, the saints do not look to be affirmed by the world in these disciplines. The world may even suggest that those things are wrong but God commands us to do those things. We cannot look to the world or unsanctified/carnal Christians to determine if our choices are in the direction of willing and doing God’s will. If they do not speak according to this vision, there’s no light in them (Isaiah 8:20). If God’s kingdom is going to come and His will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are going to partner or co-labor with Him. We won’t be able to do so by accepting instructions from those who have already rejected the wisdom of Scriptures. We can only achieve that by allowing the Holy Spirit to inspire us, teach us, guide us, and fire us up to do what the Lord has revealed to us to be His perfect will for our lives. Christ said that He is the vine and we are the branches. We can only bear much fruit by remaining plugged on the vine (John 15:4-7). It will not be possible by doing our own things in the flesh, accepting unspiritual, soulish, and worldly solutions. If we agree that it is His resurrection life that powers the New Man— then this is what we should solely depend upon in order to will and to do according to His good purposes. Life for us now flows from His throne. We reject all other thoughts and ideas and gladly embrace the mind of Christ revealed in Scripture (Ephesians 4:21). There are times I have forgotten to charge my cell phone at night and drove away in the morning leaving the charger behind, only to have the phone battery die on me by 11 am. Such is the fate of the Christian life that is unplugged from the vine, that has been separated from the sanctifying words of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. 

This complete salvation plan from grace to grace, from repentance to justification to regeneration to sanctification—that changes us from glory to glory—makes anyone who goes to hell to be without excuse. If God does it all—why would anyone not take the offer ? 

Prayer: Father God, I thank you for giving us your Holy Word to help us renew our minds and not be taken by this world’s dead philosophies. We thank you for tens of thousands of hymns, praise, and worship songs that we have to help us make melody to your precious name and keep us planted on Christ, the Solid Rock. We pray, Lord, that you quicken your Word in our hearts by the Spirit, so that we will hear your voice in the decisions we have to make. We want to know your perfect will—and take the correct steps to do what you have planned for our lives in your perfect will. In the All-Satisfying name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!