The Diligent Christian

Introduction

Grace, more than any other single word, defines of the sum-total of all that is Christianity: its beginning; its message and mission; and its consummation. All that God has done through the work of Christ on the cross and through His eternal divine purposes and decrees for this current age has been lovingly designed so that hell-deserving sinners are saved, preserved and ultimately presented like Christ in the Father’s House.

Grace is a superhuman rule of life that grows out of one’s acceptance of God’s will—a will, which He first impressed in the heart of the sinner and then enables compliance by the power of the Spirit—so that conformity to the will of God is a voluntary act of free choice. Only such action is acceptable to God since it alone harmonizes with the new relationship He seeks with mankind—a relationship that is in no way forced, but based on faith in Christ—whereby the unbeliever is instantly accepted by Him and made complete in Him possessing every spiritual blessing.

The people who are now saved by grace are of a new order of beings: They are a new creation; they are renewed by the Spirit; they are perfectly saved; they are eternally safe in Christ; and they live lives that are pleasing to God. In contrast: the people of the old creation (the creation that was spoiled by Adam’s rebellion) are ruined by both the sin nature and personal sins; the people of the old creation are wholly lost; the people of the old creation are doomed forever; the people of the old creation in and of their own selves will always fail to realize the holy will of God.

Of First Consideration

Clearly (if you have read your Bible), dealing with the destiny of human beings is racked with grave responsibilities that are as limitless as eternity. For those willing to explain the truth of God to others, there must first be the understanding of the measureless responsibility that accompanies the presentation of the Gospel. As taught in Scripture, before attempting to preach the Good News, painstaking Bible study, prayer and godly living must be the norm for both the novice and seasoned Gospel messenger. In the light of eternal issues—such as salvation versus damnation—it would be better that the messenger die rather than to misrepresent God’s message of grace, fail to prepare the “ground” though prayer or to live a worldly lifestyle that compromises his/her testimony.

Therefore, heed the warnings set forth in Scripture:

God, “gave us the ministry of reconciliation;” know your Bible so that you are always, “accurately handling the word of truth;” and if anyone, “or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed; finally, “in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds” (2 Corinthians 5:18; 2 Timothy 2:15; Galatians 1:8, 9, Titus 2:7).

It is unacceptable that many Christians, by and large, are not stirred up to their sole responsibility of rightly preaching the Gospel to the lost. Substituting good intentions or zeal for the Gospel, but failing to disseminate the accurate facts, which enter into the divine way of salvation by grace alone, has been demonstrated to be “accursed” by God. Make no mistake; the Great Commission is given to every Christian and with it goes the demand for painstaking study and the warning against misstating God’s message of grace through faith in the saving death and resurrection of Christ!

Hopefully, you have given (or you will give) ample consideration to what is written here and as a sane person you will not treat these facts lightly. Again, Bible study, prayer and a daily life that is pleasing to God by the one who is made alive unto service to God is essential, as nothing short of this glorifies God. And nothing short of this will be fruit-bearing or bring to the believer eternal rewards. In the present, which is during our brief sojourn in the world, the result of obedience to the Great Commission is full of personal experiences of overflowing love, joy and peace: this amounts to a daily life lived in the full measure of divine blessing provided under grace, which is beyond human estimation.

Conclusion

“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance;” so get with the program and do your part! Why? Because “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” Are you willing to take responsibility for the eternal damnation of a loved one (or for anyone) who you “could of-should of-would of” preached the Good News to, but didn’t?

“Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”

“But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”

“Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:9-18).

The "Meaning" of Christian

Introduction

As the prophet Jonah says, “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). And this is also true of all the Bible writers, who unanimously concur that every aspect of this great work is left entirely to God. The message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ as Savior discloses the full measure of God’s love (1 John 4:10). Salvation is God’s loving work on behalf of fallen humanity and it is, therefore, never the work of men on behalf of God.

Salvation, as revealed in God’s Word of truth—the Bible—represents nothing less than the complete mighty working of God, by which He rescues mankind from the eternal doom of sin and bestows upon mankind the full richness of His grace; and for those who believe, eternal life now and eternal glory in heaven. This work that He has so graciously undertaken saves us from the penalty of sin, which is death in all of its terrible aspects: physical death, spiritual death and the dreaded second death.

Sin is Sin

With this stated, any believer—in obedience to Christ’s command—who would take up the cause of proclaiming God’s love must ever be mindful of the fact that sin is always equally sinful, no matter how trivial the offense may seem to some. Every sin is blatantly sinful because all sin outrages the holy righteousness of our just Creator. And because He is just, mere leniency in the remitting of the penalty of sin is not an option.

God does not deal with sin through mercy or leniency. The sinner is never forgiven because God is big-hearted enough to remit the penalty or to waive the righteous judgment. Any presentation of divine forgiveness which represents God as directly exercising clemency toward a sinner is a fatal detraction from the meaning of the Cross of Christ and is a disastrous misrepresentation of the truth contained in the Gospel of His saving grace.

Indeed, a price must be paid (Hebrews 9:1-14; cf. Leviticus 17:11): a price that we thankfully need not pay; in fact we can never pay it. If the penalty is to be paid, God must pay the price. He accomplishes this judiciously by penalizing a Substitute in our place—Christ the Savior. In God’s holy reckoning His righteous Savior, Jesus Christ, has died and He has suffered the penalty of death so that “we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14, cf. Ephesians 1:7). This work of substitution on the cross by Christ is infinity perfect, whereby the sinner who trust in this sacrifice is cleansed of all sin and justified by God for all eternity (Romans 3:24).

As you can see, God never treated sin lightly. However, His forgiveness imposes not one iota of a burden on the sinner, rather, the sinner is forgiven and justified only because the undiminished penalty for sin has been borne by Christ (1 Peter 2:24, 3:18).

Those who dare to preach the Gospel should give to the Cross its true place of vital importance as given to it in the Word of God. How can God utter a more alarming warning on this point than is disclosed in the revelation of the unrevoked anathema upon all who would pervert the Gospel of Grace: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8).

The Believer’s Part in Salvation

I spoke briefly in my previous post concerning grace, but there are much more doctrinal truths you need to learn (Romans 11:30-36). Search out these truths in the Bible (Psalms 119:105). Be attentive to the teachings of the pastor your local fellowship (Ephesians 4:1-16). Hear or read what other godly teachers publish (1 Corinthians 16:10-18). With so great a salvation imparted to those who believe it is imperative that you, the believer, do your part—get prepared to be an evangelist—which is to “be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5).

But be careful! There is so much junk out there that you must pray constantly and check everything against what Scripture teaches: pray constantly for illumination (John 16:13) and pray for truth (John 8:31, 32). Above all else keep the Pastors or the other Elders of your fellowship in the loop of all you are learning and teaching, because they—more than any other persons of God—have been put into your lives to raise you up, to oversee your good works (Acts 20:28) and to protect you from false teachers (2 Peter 2:1) and false teaching (2Peter 2:3). God forbid that through pride and misdirection you should yourself become a false teacher (Revelation 22:18, 19)!

Never cease to be in prayer for the unsaved (Colossians 4:3); for yourselves (Philippians 4:6); and for other godly workers (1 Thessalonians 5:25), who have taken up the Gospel proclamation as command of us by our Lord.

Finally, take to heart Paul’s prayer:

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:16-21).

In other words, continuously being filled with the Spirit is key to effective evangelism, because an unbroken reliance upon the Spirit to do what He has come to do and what He alone can do insures that all of the above will fall into place. (Being filled with the Spirit will be the focus of upcoming post).

Get In The Game

I coached high school football for many years in Hawaii; right up to the moment I left Hawaii with my family for Las Vegas. I was what you would consider a strict coach—who placed a heavy emphasis on fundamentals—therefore, I treated everyone of the kids I coached as though they were my own. So much so that on game day I only played the kids who I knew where physically and mentally fit to meet every challenge of competition. No kid who did not meet my expectations ever got in one play on game day, even if we were beating the opponent 50-0. I was, however, neither mean-spirited nor was I punishing them. I was just protecting them from injury and from injuring some other player, because I know from experience that a kid who is ill prepared to play football faces grave danger and is a danger to others.

After each game it was my custom to either congratulate or encourage each and every team member. And I never failed to notice that those who played—those who were dirty, sweaty, bruised and in many instances bloody—were always satisfied, no matter if we won or lost the game. On the other hand, those who never got in the game always seemed discouraged and ashamed and many said to me, they felt as though they were not really a part of the team. I always told these kids, “When you are ready, I will get you in the game.” Not one kid that I coach ever failed to become “ready” because I got them ready to play. And by the end of every season they knew they were a part of a team and not one of them was left who was ashamed or unsatisfied!

God wants to get you in the game! Why? Faith without works is lame, it’s boring, it’s tedious: it is dead (James 2:17)! I cannot count on all of my fingers and toes the people I’ve met who though knowing Christ is their Savior, have given up on ever serving Him. Granted, for a while they busied themselves “going to church” and doing what they felt necessary (Luke 10:40, 41) but they never took the time to “be the Church,” that is, they never realize that they have a specific charge to complete Christ’s unfinished business in the world. And so they lost themselves in various “ministries” for a time until they were burnt out.

But God wants us to be involve in the true ministry—the Gospel ministry—because we are more than mere team members, we are His children: children by adoption and he wants us to be full participants of the family He has brought us into. We are: “A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

As Christians we belonging to His family: Though we are neither a natural child—Christ is the only begotten—nor are we a tolerated but unloved stepchild; we are included in the family as a loved and cherished adopted child (1 John 3:1) with full legal rights to the inheritance of the Father (Colossians 3:23, 24). He wants us to willing take part in the family and to fully understand the work of the family (John 3:16), so that we can fully feel and know that we are in fact part of the family in the knowledge that we as His children have done our Father’s will.

Conclusion

The Apostles teach us that God, through His Word by means of the Holy Spirit, imparts to the sinner the transforming knowledge that Christ Jesus is the Savior. We then come to the understanding that Christ is our Divine lover who died for our sins and rose again to “disarmed the rulers and authorities” that held us in bondage to death. We gain insight into and benefit from the fact that He sits even now at the right-hand of the Father securing our inheritance and mediating for the believer the gift of righteousness, which is our pardon from guilt and acceptance as God’s children. Through this knowledge and benefits of Christ flows the entirety of the Christian life: repentance, communion with God and good works—all this without the impossible task of trying to please God to earn His favor through our own self-effort. This truly is GOODNEWS!