From time to time, I will hear from people that I can be harsh with my application of God’s Word.  Usually the complaint centers around my exhorting people to make their calling and election (salvation) sure.  Implied of course is that there may be some among the body of professing believers that are in fact self-deceived and not saved.  This idea will rattle many who hear it (as it should us all), and can be a source of discouragement.  I would agree, that sometimes the tone of what I write can be harsh.  Everything I write or say, is stained to some degree by my own sin. I own that, and is just another reminder at how much we are all in need of constant prayer.  What I want to challenge us all with, however, is that I believe the Bible is no less harsh.  Specifically, I believe Jesus challenged people’s salvation no less than I do, and He is the measuring stick for the overall message I try to deliver.  Ultimately, no matter how it looks outwardly, it is not loving to allow someone to continue to profess Christ as their savior, to walk in that assurance, when there is no fruit in their life.  That being said, Jesus was also very gentle with those who followed Him, always correcting, but with a meekness that cradled the spirits of those struggling sinners, the disciples, and others.  My Word for the day today is meant to encourage you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, who are struggling in sin.  My affection for you, and hope for you in Christ is great, and so I want to take today as a time of reminder, to reinforce the doctrinal truth that we are justified (declared righteous) by God separate from our being sanctified (being made holy as God is holy).  I want you to know that at every moment of every day, each believer is struggling with sin, that our assurance of salvation isn’t measured by whether or not we have “conquered” certain sins, but by the inclination of our heart, the evidence of God’s transforming work in us fueled by our faith in Him.   

This is so important for each of us to see and rest in, because there are always going to be times when Christians fall.  For those of you who know me well personally, you know I have experienced both the sweetness of joy in my relationship with God, and periods of sin and struggle, where my joy in God was strained at best.  There may be seasons where for whatever reason, be it sin, or otherwise, that all Christians struggle to find joy in God, when they really want to.  If Christians do not know that their position before God, in every moment of every day (yes even when they sin) is based not on their performance, but on the righteousness of Christ, there will be little joy in their walk with God.  In every season of struggle for me, my rising above that season began and was sustained with my justification by faith alone before God.  When satan tempts the heart of EVERY believer to despair in their sin, to believe that they are not good enough for God, where else will they turn?  How will they fight back against that challenge, because Satan is exactly right – we are not good enough for God.  But as Satan often does, he only tells part of the story – he won’t remind you that, while you were far from God, He brought you near by the blood of Christ, that Christ is all sufficient, that every ounce of every sin you have committed and will ever commit was paid for by Christ on the cross, and His perfect righteousness is yours in God’s eyes, in every moment, of every day. 
 
For you who love God and want to draw closer to Him, but struggle along the way, be comforted by the words of Christ; you did not choose God, you were chosen, apart from your works, to be reconciled to God.  Nothing can separate you from His love – He is enough, His blood was enough, His resurrection is your eternal hope, and what God has done, and declared, no one can change.  He is sovereign over everything, and will surely do exactly as He has promised.  His love is everlasting, a steadfast love that is unlike any we can know as fallen creatures.  It is in His steadfast love, despite our failings, that we can find peace, where we can renew our hope daily.  My prayer is this – that many among you will learn to delight in God every day, but even more, that when you struggle, even your struggles will offer opportunities for God to be glorified.  My hope is that you would not rest in despair, but that your struggles would remind you that you cannot accomplish what God already has done, and that truth, the Truth on the cross, would well up in you a faith that burns without end – God is mighty to save.  I’ll leave you with God’s Word, and trust that it will accomplish, what I cannot – for your peace and joy.

Psalm 59:10 – “My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.”

2 Corinthians 2:14 – “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”

James 2:12-13 – “So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

Ephesians 2:1-9 – “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Romans 8:1 – “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:38-39 – “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Grace and Peace,
Adam