The Blessed Assurance Of Salvation Is A Duty

"... Do not be unbelieving, but believing" (cf. John 20:27).
"For the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God" (cf. Rom. 8:16).
"For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (cf. 2 Tim. 1:12).
"... [B]e all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure" (2 Pet. 1:10, ESV).


We don't find out we're saved because we're curious, but because we are commanded to do so in 2 Pet. 1:10, but it's not an automatic fruit of salvation, even if one's faith is alive and growing--for dead faith or faith minus works doesn't save (cf. James 2:20), and we are commanded to examine ourselves as to whether Christ is in us on a regular basis to reassure ourselves. (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5).  It is not the preacher's duty or job description (nor any authority figure's for that matter) to give assurance of salvation--they can only reassure, but one must trust in the Word as a conviction and couple it with the assurance of the Holy Spirit as dual or joint assurance.

We must learn the lesson to take God at His Word, once the initial highs and feelings have left us (when normalcy sets in) and the feelings of our initial response to salvation when God is testing the validity and reality of our faith, which is more precious than gold and silver and must be confirmed by fire.  If we don't have any assurance, we will be paralyzed in our walk and stunted in growth, not able to walk forward with Christ in faith, but treading water and even going backward.  This assurance is meant to enhance our sanctification and to be a boon to our experience in Christ.

R. C. Sproul said that to gain authentic assurance we must "search our own hearts and examine the fruit of our faith."  And also that "the Word of God coupled with the testimony of the Holy Spirit" is God's normative methodology of assurance.  When we are fully assured we will never succumb to doubt, having on our helmet of salvation, because it will be a done deal and we can overcome the Anfectung (Luther's German for attack) of Satan.  Let's be leery of being like those who waver in the faith and are rebuked and chided by Jesus, "Oh you of little faith!"

Note that no one has to have perfect assurance nor perfect faith in this life to get saved, or it wouldn't be called faith but knowledge.  If someone says he has no doubts, he's never been tested in his faith or doesn't know himself well, for faith is not the same as knowledge of which we will inherit in glory.  NB:  you will never have smoking-gun evidence that you can be as assured as certain as you see the sunshine in the sky, for we are commanded to walk by faith and not by sight in 2 Cor. 5:7.  You don't need all the answers to believe or make a decision for Christ!  We believe as God helps our unbelief (cf. Mark 9:24). Doubts are like antibodies in the body, everyone has them, even healthy ones.  But we believe despite them.  Goethe said to tell him their certainties because he had enough doubts of his own!

We are to "taste and see that the LORD is good," so that we can existentially know and experience God in the spiritual world and dimension by faith. One of God's chief complaints and pet peeves is that man doesn't have the "knowledge of God" (cf. Hos. 4:1,6).  Later cf. Hosea 6:3 says to let us know, let us "go on to know the LORD."  We can sincerely pray for God to increase our faith, and God does commend strong faith, but it isn't the amount of faith that saves, but the object (faith doesn't save, Christ does, or it is fideism, faith in faith).   There are degrees of certitude and the faith/doubt continuum varies throughout one's spiritual journey.

Many preachers dichotomize salvation's security from its assurance in the here and now--these must never be divorced for they are two sides of the same coin and one cannot exist logically without the other (if you can lose it, how can you ever have full assurance and know you won't slip into sin?).  We say in theology that we can indeed distinguish these doctrines, but cannot separate them--they are two sides of the same coin (the flip side).

Roman Catholics will tell you that assurance is a pure sin of presumption unless you've had a special revelation or experience with God to assure you, but it's not conjecture nor presumption, it's doable and a duty.  It's true, as some may point out, that some leave the faith, but these were never genuine believers in the first place according to 1 John 2:19.  Orthodox doctrine says that we persevere in the faith as God preserves us, for if it weren't for grace, none of us would survive spiritually.

The biggest problem in the church regarding this issue is not patience with struggling believers who have doubts, but bearing with those who presume and have false assurance, for assurance must be biblical and based on sound doctrine or dogma.   And so people can be ignorant of Scripture or aren't taking God at His Word--or they may simply be going by feelings. We are accountable for the faith bestowed on us to be faithful to it and grow fruit accordingly (cf. Rom. 12:3), and our faith must not be feigned or hypocritical, but sound and sincere--i.e., albeit not perfect (cf. 1 Tim. 1:5).

In sum, the best assurance is to claim the promises of God as one's spiritual birth certificate, like one of mine in John 6:37 that says, "He who comes to Me I will in no way cast out." FIND YOUR OWN SPIRITUAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE OR PASSAGE THAT SPEAKS TO YOUR OWN HEART AND SITUATION.     Soli Deo Gloria!

Refuting The Mumbo-Jumbo Gobbledygook Of Postmodernism

"Christians with faith have nothing to fear from the facts."--Paul Johnson, historian
"... [B]ecause they refused to love the truth and so be saved" (2 Thess. 2:10, ESV).
"... Yea, hath God said, ..?" (Gen. 3:1, KJV).
"What is truth" (cf. Pontius Pilate, John 18:38).
"And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, ... correcting his opponents with gentleness.  God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will" (2 Tim. 2:24-26, ESV).  

Postmodernism is the ultimate skeptical philosophy, saying that reality cannot be known absolutely and adhering to a "hermeneutic of suspicion" on all knowledge, especially any worldview that claims a "God's-eye" view of the world.  To claim you cannot discern, find, or know truth is in itself a truth claim!  Just like the typical prof that introduces his class to the so-called faith that you cannot know anything for certain, and is sure of it, so also every Postmodern precept can be shown to be gobbledygook.  You can't know anything?  How do they know?  Allan Bloom, in his book The Closing of the American Mind, said that when they say all truth is relative, that statement is also relative and therefore the whole presupposition has no truth value and is inherently contradictory.  When they say that there are no absolutes, are they saying that's absolute?  When they say there is no truth, is that true?  Denying that your claim has any power over them, are they claiming their claim should have power over you?  When they say, as their favorite catchphrase says, "That may be true for you, but not for me!" Is that statement true for both of you?

When they say God is dead, how can they know He will not rise again and that there isn't a God who will not die despite their beliefs?  They're admitting God was once alive! One couldn't postulate that without knowing God (no longer necessary to answer our questions or problems), really they're the ones who are dead.  Nietzsche said that "we have killed him," referring to God, but what kind of God gets killed by mortals?  Actually, Christianity is alive more than ever and Nietzsche, the patron saint of Postmodernism, is dead and Christianity's God will not die!   How would they know He's dead?  Can they disprove God's existence or relevance?  Sometimes the avoidance of an issue or its denial only proves its reality.

There is a real "Death of God" movement going on:  the suppression and repression of sound Bible doctrine, seeing orthodox teachings as unattainable and even inherently unknowable.  In the latter days, many will depart from the faith or bail out theologically and give heed to seducing spirits according to 1 Timothy 4:1.  This attack from within is far more lethal than from the secular world without.

When they challenge us:  "Where's this God of yours?"  Counter:  "Where isn't He?"  When they insist that all spiritual talk of God is meaningless, how meaningful is that?  Of course, they deny the existence of the spiritual.  Ask them:  is any spiritual talk meaningful? Is there a spiritual?   And in what way is or isn't God-talk meaningful?  When they complain that it's just your interpretation, ask them if they like it when they're misunderstood, if only your view matters? When they say the Bible is nonsense, ask them what it's the main message is.  When they say you can't find out spiritual truth, ask them how they found that out!   When they insist we cannot know God, ask them how they know that!   When they say that truth can only be known by experience, what experience led them to conclude that?  Can they prove it?  When they say we shouldn't take the preacher's advice on Bible matters, whose advice should we take?  Should we take their advice?

My premise is that every "hermeneutic of suspicion" (i.e., "you can know nothing for certain") is inherently unintelligible and a contradiction in terms.  To posit all truth as relative, one must stipulate: relative to what?  Indeed, "All truth is God's truth" and "meets at the top," according to Augustine and Aquinas respectfully!  We must start with God to know and explain anything (Prov. 1:7, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge..."), and therefore God cannot be dead or irrelevant.  Knowledge begins somewhere!  Everyone starts with some presupposition they cannot prove, and Christians assume God, just like secularists assume God isn't.  The simple fact is that they won't let a "Divine Foot in the door" and rule God out of the equation from the get-go and any evidence for God discredits their whole worldview, which is an anti-worldview because they say one cannot have a "God's-eye" view or knowledge of anything in the real world--reality is indiscernible and even an illusion.

There is a place for healthy skepticism, but to assume you can know nothing is counterproductive to learning.  To learn about God, you must assume God is and there is something to learn!  Can you use Postmodern techniques to validate Postmodernism?  It seems the only truths they are adamantly against are Christian ones and have declared war on God, not that they just don't believe in Him.  If there is no God, why be afraid of Him or His influence?  Postmodernism goes back to at least the cynicism of Pontius Pilate asking Jesus, "What is truth?" (Cf. John 18:38).  Jesus came to bear witness of the truth and any one of the truth hears His voice.  Jesus also personified truth and claimed:  "I am the truth" [incarnate or its avatar]."

When we undermine the very foundation of truth, we destroy the basis of all knowledge and learning.  The Bible claims to be our Answer book and to give us all relevant knowledge for an abundant life as a believer in Christ.  Not acknowledging the truth leads to despair and cynicism and to the abandonment of all meaningful research and educational endeavors.  Unbelievers, according to Rom. 2:8, are those who "reject the truth."  They refuse to love the truth and so be saved (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10).

The self-evident refutation of Postmodernism is to take them up on their play on words, by asking intriguing questions that challenge their soundness: is that your opinion?  How do you know that's true?  What if you are wrong?  Where do you get your information?  How did you reach that conclusion?  If that's a judgment, or is that your judgment?  Is it always true that there's no truth?  These so-called comebacks are answers to self-refuting claims, which are false by definition if the question's premise is true.

Postmodernism denies any absolute, universal truth, or at least knowable such truth, and is the basis for modern Sophism or nonsense in a philosophical sense.  They believe in one absolute: there are no absolutes!  How do they know there are not two absolutes, and how do they posit this one absolute as the only valid one?   When they say you cannot communicate truth, ask them how they communicated that.  When they assert that your truth has no power over them, how can they know that for sure and is that true for you? Is their truth supposed to have power over you?  If Postmodernism were true, how could we know it using their techniques?  And we would never know it--this is the epitome of nonsensical hermeneutics and the honest pursuance of knowledge.  Postmodernists are atheists by consequence of there being no worldview possible, not by conviction as Secular Humanists are, and when they say there's no God, tell them that their unbelief has no power or influence of reality or over you. When they insist you can know nothing for certain, counter how they know that.  Belief has no relativity to truth!

DON'T RULE GOD OUT FROM THE GET-GO; HE'S MAKING A COMEBACK INTO RELEVANCY AND THE EQUATION OF LIFE!  Current academia is more interested in what facts work for them or what truths they are willing to accept that the objective, universal, absolute truths that are valid whether accepted and believed or not.   Caveat:  Postmodernists deny facts as real, objective, absolute, or relevant, and when you admit you have them or want the facts, they just say you're trying to exert power over them--what are they doing?   Notice that you can reverse the tone and spirit of the question, neutralizing it's relevance, with an appropriate follow-up question!   The problem with believers is that they are giving up on their worldview--it hasn't failed--they are just conceding by default, having not been prepared to fight in the devil's battlefield and turf and thus not inoculated against his strategies.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Sacrificial Love Displayed At Calvary Extraordinaire

It is said that the biological father makes a so-called contribution to the pregnancy--his seed--but the mother makes the sacrifice!  Her whole life is changed--sometimes ruined--while to him it's just a minor inconvenience or interruption!  She can't really get out of it, but often the man escapes and divorces or abandons the woman, even with the kids.  Most men see their sole role as being the basic breadwinner, provider, or the one charged to bring home the bacon, while the wife is to raise the kids and do all the legwork as it were.  This is because love is oft spelled T-I-M-E!  As they say: a woman's work is never done.  Parents have a lot invested in their children and the more investment, the deeper love; you can give without love, but you cannot love without giving. 

True sacrifice is when you suffer or give up something, not when you do something you would've done despite the benefits.  The ultimate sacrifice is really only done in the line of duty when a soldier gets killed in action, for example.  This compares to Christ making the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf at the cross because He didn't have to die at all if He hadn't chosen to save us by His substitutionary death.  The sacrificial type of living is when we live for others and not ourselves, and think of others first and what we can do for them, not what they can do for us.

Christ's atonement on the cross has been rightly termed the "mother of all sacrifices," in that it costs the most and also accomplished the most as a result--it was the infinite worth of the death of the Lamb of God and it accomplished our priceless, eternal redemption, propitiation, reconciliation, justification, and complete salvation.  To elaborate on the multifaceted atonement:  we were redeemed from the slave market of sin--the penalty was paid; we were justified in the court of God's law--becoming righteous; we were reconciled back into God's family with the relationship restored, and we have been propitiated in God's temple in that God paid the price to set us free and avert us from His wrath.

We behold, therefore, God's love manifested and in full display at the cross, whereby He gave all of Himself till it literally hurt and He actually did bleed on our behalf--we must likewise give of ourselves--noting God wants us, not our achievements, and not just what God gives us to be stewards of, as we go about "contributing to the needs of the saints."  Christ gave it all for us, and our crosses pale in comparison to His, as He doesn't ask us to give of anything He didn't accomplish Himself in exempting Himself of no pain nor suffering, we could possibly imagine. 

In sum, true love is always sacrificial, some people have never made any sacrifice for anything, especially the offering of our blood, sweat, and tears and we ought to challenge ourselves with the question of whether our love is inherently sacrificial--having something to lose--or is it just contributory, but going above and beyond the call of duty:  this means we ought to give till it hurts, not just what we can afford, for it to be sacrificial, and that necessities not giving God our leftovers of time, resources, energy, opportunities, money, interests, passions, abilities, experiences, talents, gifts, relationships, and what not, but putting Him in first place amongst our priorities--rearranging everything to His agenda!   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Trust And Obey!

The hymn goes to "trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." Too many believers have not learned this simple lesson and are often stubborn and recalcitrant or even rebellious against authority reminding one of the slogans to question authority. I've even heard that you should question authority, but never mother! Obeying authority was never meant to be blind and without cognizance of what we are doing, for we are responsible to be moral and legal. But we should heed authority when it is legitimate. Many youths today could never make it in the service because they insist on knowing the why behind every order and can't just follow orders. 

They wouldn't be in the service hadn't they declared allegiance to the US Consitution and to those in the chain command to obey unless it's an illegal order. I wonder if you recall poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem The Charge of the Light Brigade? It says, "Ours is not to wonder why ours is but to do and die!" If soldiers always demanded reasons for orders and explanations or more justification, they would never get anything done and you couldn't have a military. Those who are not ready to follow orders do not belong in the military, not even as officers.

However, a Christian can choose not to go into the military, but he still doesn't escape the issues of obedience in his life to follow Jesus. The idea of discipleship is to learn to be a follower and basically to simply trust and obey. Some believers actually go to jail before learning the lesson and must get rehabilitated in a correctional facility. By the way, do you remember the unjust judge that was tormented by the elderly lady and finally gave in to her request? We can be the same way and our questions may be answered, but we've only proved that we are not humble and meek, which are sure signs of the devoted, committed follower or disciple of Jesus. 

Even children trust their parents completely at first, then their faith wanes, then they start asking why, and finally, they rebel or go their own way. Part of submitting to one another and loving one another as Christ loved us is to live an obedient life. We should never lose track of our Exemplar who became "obedient unto death." We should all strive to become obedient Christians and not spiritual Lone Rangers doing only what's right in our own eyes as Israel did write in Judges 17:6; 21:25.

The old slogan "Just Do it!" is relevant in following Christ, for unbelievers are characterized as the "sons of disobedience" in Ephesians 2:2. Caveat from A. W. Tozer: "Jesus will not save those whom he cannot command." A disobedient follower is a contradiction in terms. Children have the opportunity to become our role models: they wonder, trust, forgive, obey, and ask questions with a teachable spirit. Final advice: be like Peter, not understanding the order, and while fishing without any luck, trusted Jesus and said, "Nevertheless, at thy Word, Lord, I will cast down my net." Soli Deo Gloria!

If War Is Hell!, What's Hell?

"Wicked men will hereafter earnestly wish to be turned to nothing and forever cease to be that they may escape the wrath of God' (Rev. 6:15-16, NKJV).
"When all is done, the hell of hells, the torment of torments, is the everlasting absence of God, and the everlasting impossibility of returning to his presence... To fall out of the hands of the living God, is a horror beyond our expression, beyond our imagination."--John Donne
"I believe in God and if I woke up in hell I would still believe in him."--Robert Louis Stevenson
"When you take away the doctrine of hell, society loses an important anchor."--Paul Johnson

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman is famous for these words ("war is hell") during the Civil War and his name is synonymous with them.  People often say they went through hell on earth or similar metaphoric language to be hyperbolic.  We should never trivialize hell and think it's nothing but a jolly boys' club or where bad people can get together and have a good time.  Hell is a solitary venture for the most part because part of the punishment is facing up to who a person is without God and fellowship--learning to admit one's own evil nature.  We don't hear of hell, fire, and brimstone preachers anymore like Jonathan Edwards, who facilitated the Great Awakening in the 1740s.  Actually, Christ mentioned hell twice as much as He did heaven, so it must be real--its duration is for as long as heaven (everlasting).

People do suffer in hell but not unduly--there are degrees according to one's sins and responsibility or opportunities.  God metes out justice with nothing more nor less--punishment is not beyond that which strict justice requires.  God cannot be cruel nor unjust and He doesn't torture souls, but in their own misery, they might wish they would be annihilated rather than stay in hell.  The symbols of fire and sulfur are to highlight the misery factor.  God is everywhere by nature, even in hell, but He's not there except in His wrath and justice, not His love and mercy.  All vestiges of love and mercy are erased and the time has slipped by for them with no more chance for salvation--the worst torture that will cause gnashing of teeth and weeping will be one's own regrets and self-inflicted misery of a conscience accusing them.  No one suffers unjustly and people will know God as a consuming fire, not as their Father.  It is evidently a place of torment, but mostly psychological and not what one would make out to be a torture chamber of cruelty.

God is certainly there, but in judgment.--but God isn't cruel!  There is no praise of God and no place for repentance, for these come by the grace of God, not man's effort.  Yet, what is sad, is this is what the impenitent want--to be separated from God's love and to be by themselves.  God is the source of all goodness and love, and imagine a place without any of that!   Hell is just that--separation from God's goodness, just as Jesus cried out on the cross, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"  We can be assured though that the Judge of all the earth will do right (cf. Gen. 18:25).  Jesus did say that there are degrees of punishment, for Sodom and Gomorrah will suffer less than Capernaum!  Jesus said that some sins will warrant only a few stripes!

When we picture hell as outer darkness, we must realize that God is light and in Him is no darkness!  These people have rejected God and don't want anything to do with His light!  Part of the misery of hell will be that its purpose is punitive, not correctional or for sanctification and there can be no escape--there's no hope of reform and what's worse they will be haunted by the reason they are there and will realize it's all their fault, not being able to blame anyone!  No one repents or gives God praise in hell!  But the people there are those that wanted justice, not mercy and they're getting it!  If there were no hell, there would be no justice!

Remember the words from Dante Alighieri's Inferno (Part 1 of Divine Comedy):  "Those who enter here, abandon all hope!"  Never equate hell with cruelty (God has no mean-spirited bone in His body), but a place of perfect justice, being unjust to no one!    Soli Deo Gloria!

Before Honor Comes Humililty

"Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:4, ESV).
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:8, ESV).
"For by the grace given me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned" (Romans 12:3, ESV).
"Thus says the LORD:  'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.  For in these things I delight, declares the LORD" (Jer. 9:23-24, ESV).   
"[A]nd submit to each other out of respect for Christ" (Eph. 5:21, CEB).

It is a cliche that when you think you're humble, then you're not!  This is the will-o'-the-wisp of virtues that we strive for but can never attain consciously.  Moses was considered the humblest man on earth in Numbers 12:3 (or should I say "meek?"), and I don't think he knew this or mentioned it. Jesus was confronted by two ambitious disciples who wanted to be Number One or Numero Uno in the kingdom and told them that He who is greatest must become humble like a child.   Diotrephes loved to be the leader (cf. 3 John 9) and was ruining his church.  Even Jesus came not to be served, but to serve (cf. Mark 10:45).  When He did the servile act of foot-washing it showed us that nothing should be beneath us!

The fact is that the way up is down in God's economy the way up is down and we must echo John the Baptist's sentiment:  "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30, ESV).  Jesus also proclaimed that many who are first shall be last (cf. Mark 9:35)!  The idea is not to promote yourself, as Proverbs says, but to let others praise you. and not your own mouth!  James 4:6, ESV, says, "But he gives more grace.  Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." The primary prerequisite to humility, then, is to confess one's pride and go from there!

Humility is an elusive goal but this doesn't eliminate our need to pursue it.  True humility is not having low self-esteem or thinking less of yourself and not thinking it's all about you; however, it's not thinking of yourself at all (knowing it's not all about you), but being teachable--putting others first!  The problem with man is his ego, this brings the opportunity to promote it and elevate it to the place God should hold in our lives.  

We are hard-wired to worship God, but if we don't we will worship someone else, most likely ourselves with an inflated ego to become egotistical.  We abhor someone fixated on himself.  No one likes someone who is arrogant or conceited and humility keeps our ego in check and prevents us from getting a big head--in Paul's case he had a thorn in the flesh to do the job.

There is no place in God's plan for selfish ambition, but we are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.  Jeremiah 45:5, ESV, says:  "And do you seek great things for yourself?  Seek them not..." (i.e., for our personal gratification or lust).  The issue arises:  "How does one win the humility contest then?"  Jesus said that we must become as humble as a child (being teachable), so I would suggest getting to know children and learn from them (cf. Matt. 19:14, "Suffer the little children to come unto me")--they're evidently humble.  Children are not perfect, or blank slates and without sin, but we can learn from them.  

We must never be self-serving or self-centered!  We should stop tooting our own horns and be promoting of best interests ourselves; if God is blessing you and giving you fruit, it doesn't matter who criticizes you, and if there's no fruit or blessing, it doesn't matter who praises you.  We are all guilty of advertising ourselves or putting our best foot forward and not letting anyone see our so-called dark side that no one sees but God and us.

Being transparent and real and not phony and putting up a facade of being ideal is the goal, for all have fallen short of God's glory!  We cannot confess our sins too much to God, (however, don't keep dredging up old sins that are forgotten by God!).  God deletes our sins from His memory bank, but we need to keep short accounts and confess all known sins as soon as we're convicted to stay in touch and fellowship with Him.  He's all ears, but when we have persistent issues, we should confide in a trusted Christian friend (cf. James 5:16).

Satan's temptation to Eve was to "be as gods."   We can learn a lot of pride by looking at Satan:  Pride or focusing on self rather than Jesus was the first sin (cf. Ezek. 28:17; Isa. 14:14) and what God found in Satan, when "his heart was lifted up,"  and is one of the abominations in God's eyes recorded in Prov. 6:17, and so we must give God the glory and credit for our labors and not think we are anything more than unworthy servants doing God's bidding. 

We should always give praise where praise is due, and credit to whom it's due, not seeking our own well-being, but that of others and looking out for their best interest, not thinking of ourselves any more highly than we ought--but a sober and justified assessment and appraisal of our talents and gifts, valued according to the faith granted us (cf. Rom. 12:3 above).

NB:  It hurts to be humbled, and so it's always better to humble yourself than be demoted!  Instead of thinking such a high estimate of ourselves, we ought to think more highly of others and see the good in them, while we see faults in us overlooking their faults.  (One giveaway sign for lack of humility is to revolve the world around you and to use the pronoun "I" a lot like Job did in his defense in Job 29, or Paul in Romans 7).  God's looking for real men and women, not ideal ones!

In sum, we are indeed fruit inspectors, but of our fruit!    Soli Deo Gloria!

The Utter Damnability Of Sin

"You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong..." (Hab. 1:13, ESV).
"... Everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6, ESV).
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way..." (Isa. 53:6, ESV).
"[T]he only part of Christian theology that can really be proved [is original sin]."--G. K. Chesterton, Christian apologist
"What's wrong with the world?" "I am. Yours truly, G. K. Chesterton."  
"We have done those things we ought not to have done and we have left undone those things we ought to have done."--The Book of Common Prayer (Anglican). 

God doesn't just frown upon sin or disapprove of it, He cannot stand the sight of it and it has no place in His presence (much like matter versus antimatter)--He cannot even countenance evil per Hab. 1:13.  Sin isn't a bad enough word to describe our virus of rebellion; it's the ultimate killjoy word that many preachers refuse to mention even in passing since it has offensive power, even to the elect.  It's the job description of the Holy Spirit alone to convict of sin (cf. John 16:13), but we must resort to the power of the Word of God to do the work.  We only need to be exposed to the light to see our darkness:  "the law is given to convince us that we fail to keep it," according to D. James Kennedy.

Sin has been characterized many ways to bring the point home that it's our legacy and birthright that we cannot escape--in fact, we are not sinners because we sin, but we sin by virtue of already being in sin!  Yes, we go astray and lie even from the womb according to Psalm 58:3.  To illustrate the essence of sin, one should see it as man's ultimate Declaration of Independence from the authority and government or sovereignty of God over one's life--to be the "captain of your soul and master of your fate" like in the humanist poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley.  It could be called an act of autonomy or self-rule over God-rule.   In this sense, sin is rebellion and being volitionally defiant.  We all miss achieving the perfect standard or "missing the mark" (hamartia in Greek) which was set by Jesus' perfect sin-free life of righteous obedience to the Mosaic law.

Many people feel that they don't commit many sins, but they don't realize that what we fail to accomplish or do in the Lord's name as we ought are sins of omission. "I coulda, woulda, shoulda!"  The Westminster Catechism (ca. 1646) defines sin as "any want of conformity unto or transgression of, the Law of God."  It has also been precisely defined as "any thought, word, action, omission, or desire contrary to the law of God" by Charlie Riggs of the BGEA. Clearly, all wrongdoing is sin!  What is ironic is that the closer our walk with Christ, the more clearly we sense our sin and get convicted--Samuel Rutherford said to"pray for a lively sense of sin, the greater the sense, the less sin."

Jesus revolutionized the concept of sin, since the Pharisees had merely externalized it and portrayed it only as certain behavior that can be seen, but Jesus read their hearts and said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and evil proceeds in Mark 7. Proverbs 23:7 reiterates:  "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."  Dr. Karl Menninger, MD, said that sin is the "refusal of the love of others" [namely, God's]" in his landmark book Whatever Became of Sin?  Even psychiatrists are putting it back into the equation as persons being responsible for their own choices and beginning to use the term again according to Billy Graham.  Sin is self-defeating and destructive as God warned Cain in Gen. 4:7 (NKJV):  "...And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.   And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it" ["sin wants to destroy you, but don't let it"].

There is no way to defeat sin apart from God's grace, we are slaves to it before salvation!  The paradox is that God really wants what's best for us, and even the rules concerning sexual immorality are only for our good and to watch over our soul and it's purity and health.  Sin is just not God's plan for man, but something He permits or allows, and will ultimately judge and do away with by sending it all to hell.  The point is that if we couldn't sin we would be robots and couldn't obey God of our own free will or choice.  We either choose for or against God with our behavior and thought life.  After salvation, we don't have the right to live in sin, but have the power to defeat it, the power to live in the Spirit.

We cannot blame anyone else for our personal sins, and we certainly cannot judge Adam and Eve for the Fall and believe we would've done anything different--we all repeat their sin.  Their sin was the prototype of all sin and if we analyze it we can see as they:  spurned His grace; contradicted His truth; rejected His authority; disputed His wisdom; repudiated His justice; even resisted His grace (unknown source)!   In short, they didn't take God's Word at face value or take Him at His Word, but were, in effect, unbelievers--Eve first doubted God's Word, then questioned it, she believed Satan's rationalization, then disbelieved God's Word, then finally disobeyed it outright of her own volition in rebellion--and Adam didn't intervene or help her, but was cowardly and irresponsible--both sins.

We all have eaten of the Proverbial Apple and have duplicated Adam's sin, and become defiled by a sin nature and stand in solidarity with Adam before our salvation! Note that the first couple didn't choose evil, they chose self over God--they didn't know what evil was yet.  (Idolatry is always putting self or something in God's place or where it belongs in God's plan or order.)  Adam and Eve thought God was holding out on them, with the help of the serpent's guile and deception.  Note that many scientists blame man's problems on the environment and society, especially psychologists, but the first sin was completed in perfect surroundings--the garden of Eden. We are just like our first parents seeking our own good, delight, and wisdom--the essence of sin is selfishness.  We must look inward and blame ourselves for our shortcomings and failures, not play the blame game and point fingers--we must assume responsibility for our own sins--"the soul that sinneth shall die" (cf. Ezek. 18:4).

You could say that we are great sinners and totally depraved--not utterly depraved, since God restrains evil--though we are not as bad as we possibly could be, we are as bad off as possible.  Every element of our nature falls short and is tainted with sin, just like being a little pregnant, we cannot be a little sinful or depraved.  If sin were yellow, we'd be all yellow!  Our wills, hearts, bodies, and even intellect are stained by sin and only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us and make us clean enough to enter God's presence. It has been said by William Jay of Bath:  "I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior." This is very humbling but also encouraging--no one is too far gone or too bad to be saved, but bad off enough to need salvation!

The catch-22 is, therefore, that we must see how bad we are to be good or repent, but we don't know how bad we are till we've tried to be good.  The terrible double whammy of sin is that it not only estranges and alienates us from God and others, but it enslaves and traps us and has power over us and the only freedom is to be set by Christ (cf. John 8:36).  Salvation is not only forgiveness of our sin but the power to overcome it and eventually deliverance from its presence.   We are not basically or inherently good, period, nor are we ever good enough to be saved; we are bad enough to need salvation!

There's just no escaping our birthright which is really a virus or disease that devours us and destroys us in the end apart from grace.  Sin becomes neutralized in effect for us when we make up pretty names for it and refuse to call a spade a spade--this is the mere escaping reality and not owning up to our sin as God sees it.   It is by grace that we get convicted of our sin, as Paul called himself the "chief of sinners" (cf. 1 Tim. 1:15) and John Bunyan wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. This should be encouraging because this means there's hope for everyone and no one is beyond the reach of God's grace!

The real, cold reality of sin is that we don't break God's laws, they break us, but we break God's heart in our sinning.  Just like you cannot get away with violating the laws of nature without consequence, it's likewise with God's divine laws of morality defining sin.   We can praise God that Jesus is the Answer to the sin problem:  as our Prophet, He frees us of our ignorance of it; as our Priest, He is the offering and releases us from the guilt of it; and as our King, He frees us from the power of it.

In closing, let me mention that Christians are still sinners in that they sin (cf. Gal. 2:17), but we are called "saints" because in God's eyes Christians are justified, as God is both just and the justifier of the unjust by virtue of His grace and mercy.  In His mercy we don't get what we deserve; in His grace, we get what we don't deserve!  It is a sad commentary on mankind that he grows callous to his sins and has the tendency to justify them whatever way possible to silence the conscience.  Caveat:  we must refrain from making up our own rules or standards of right and wrong as if we judge God; He judges us and is the sole moral center of the universe!    Soli Deo Gloria!

Living The Good Life--Life To The Full!

"Who knows but that you have come to a royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14, NIV).
"And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:11-12, ESV). 
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4, ESV).
"Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee."--Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (Confessions)
NB:  Aristotle, the philosopher, in his book Nicomachean Ethics, laid down the precepts of living the "good life" by the pursuance of virtuous living, describing a life of flourishing and happiness.  

There was once a front-page article in Time magazine all about Sen. Wendell Anderson, former governor, and now appointing himself the senator from Minnesota, demonstrating on the cover with a picture of the so-called "good life in Minnesota" (with him fishing on one of its lakes in a boat!).  People often confuse the so-called good life with someplace to inherit or migrate to and not as a frame of mind or mindset.  

People try to find the good life, life to the max as if it's geographical. People over-spiritualize Scripture and claim we should conquer our personal promised land and take what's ours by virtue of being saved and righteous.  Prosperity theology is fallacious and leads many astray who focus on this life and store up treasures in the here and now, which they tend to keep their eyes on, instead of looking to Jesus (cf. Heb. 12:2).

God does indeed promise to prosper us, but not always in a financial sense, it is erroneous to translate spirituality into riches or to think that godliness is a means of financial gain or advantage.  We will indeed prosper, but according to God's plan and will and whatever we do in His name to His glory (all our godly endeavors).  Jesus promised a more abundant or fulfilling and meaningful life in Christ and this is the eternal life that begins in quality upon salvation.  None can claim that serving God is futile and God doesn't reward us and make it worth our time to invest in spiritual matters.

Part of living a fulfilling and rewarding life is having an impact and making a difference--we do this by finding out our talents and spiritual gifting and being faithful--God is more interested in this than in success, which is up to Him, not us. This can make us feel good about ourselves and we become contagious believers.  One of the greatest achievements and most rewarding applause we can get is that we have had an influence on someone for the better according to God's will and glory. 

Be sure that you seek the approbation of God, not man, though!  We are indeed the hands, feet, heart, and voice of God to a spiritually depraved and deprived world.  We must realize our potential to be actualized or commissioned, and that means knowing like Esther that we were "born for such a time as this" (cf. Es. 4:14).

Opportunity is always knocking and we only need to heed the call.  We become more human by realizing our potential, and everyone has unrealized potential as well as realized potential.  Most of us are not what we have the capability and capacity of becoming in Christ.  Remember, we are here for a reason, to glorify God (cf. Is. 43:7).  Yes, we have the destiny to fulfill and God has a plan already for us to realize if we cooperate, we don't want to settle for second best or have regrets for what could've been and mourn over lost opportunities.  When we have the right mindset and worldview we see meaning and learn to see a purpose in life, which is more than the mere setting of goals, for purposes sound a note that reverberates into eternity and will even outlast our vocation or hobbies.

Part of being content in life is knowing our value to others or that we are important and fulfill a need that others can't do--that we have a unique purpose and calling from God.  We also long to have an impact and know we are accomplishing something and our labor is not in vain in the Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 15:58), but God is not unjust so as not to reward it and bless our efforts done in His name.  Part of our fulfillment also comes in knowing who we are in the Lord--are we just everyone's servant or did God grant us some domain to serve Him in and be responsible for?

We must be willing to be a servant, and in God's economy, the way up is down!  But God gives us prerogatives, rights, and duties to fulfill also and we must seize the day and redeem the time for the Lord and make the most of every opportunity He grants.  We all have talents, skills, energy, relationships, gifts, resources, opportunities, assets, dignity, authority, and general makeup and attributes to use for God's glory and we must do it faithfully in His name, i.e., according to His will, not our personal agenda.

The fulfilled believer knows his orthopraxy or ethics and knows how to be a good Samaritan and good neighbor to those in need in his orbit or circle of friends.  This is where Micah 6:8, ESV, comes into play:  "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"  We must not only know the Word and the Author but learn to apply it and be doers of the Word, translating creeds into deeds!  Christianity isn't just pie in the sky!  Nor is it just walking around on Cloud Nine, nor is it a secluded or monastic-styled virtue, separated from the real world--for we are to be in it, but just not of it, being the salt and light.

The good life consists of having the peace of knowing we are secure in our destiny and salvation in Christ and no one can take this away--not even ourselves! Don't divorce salvation from security in it!  Our walk with the Lord is not just a list of dos and don'ts, nor a catalog of rules, collection of spiritual platitudes, nor a manual of mystical ideas, nor does God exist to grant us religious experiences or highs, au contraire, we are to be real, not necessarily will we be ideal though!

The peace Jesus gives as His legacy cannot be forfeited, and it can only be known because of the finished work of Christ on the cross!  "And the peace of God, that surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6, ESV).  With this peace, we can be content in every circumstance, and even give thanks and rejoice always in the Lord!   

In sum, we can only get the most out of life with Christ in it--things go better with the Lord in the equation!  SHALOM!    Soli Deo Gloria! 

God's Not Dead...

NOTEWORTHY BIBLE VERSES AND QUOTABLE QUOTES:


"The fool says in his heart, "There is no God...." (Psa. 14:1; 53:1, ESV).
"Truly, you are God who hides yourself..." (Isa. 45:15, ESV).
"Oh, that I knew where I might find him..." (Job 23:3, ESV).
"Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless."--Bertrand Russell
"Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it rest in Thee."-- Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Confessions
"There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which only God can fill through His Son, Jesus Christ."--Blaise Pascal, scientist
"He is there, and He is not silent."--Francis Schaeffer, philosophical apologist
"The Christian belief system, which the Christian knows to be grounded in divine revelation, is relevant to all of life."--Carl F.H. Henry
 "There are not two realities, but only one reality, and that is the reality of God, which has become manifest in Christ in the reality of the world."--Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep."--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow"
[If we are considered without reference to God we become a] "useless passion."--Jean-Paul Sartre


Darwin, in his book Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life, tried to explain the origin of species by means of evolution, but he never got around to explaining the great Achilles' heel of his theory, the origin of species per se and life itself. Note that evolution was first a working hypothesis, then championed as an authentic, scientific theory, and finally touted as unquestioned, scientific fact.  Origin of life experiments have always turned up frustrated and futile and have failed to come off as planned, and must be rigged to even create amino acids, the building blocks of life--cheating here indicates that there is some intelligence or design behind life and we call this God.

The use of the evidence of purpose and design to prove God's existence is known as an argument from design or teleological proof (from the Designer-God).  Friedrich Nietzsche declared that "God is dead" (metaphorically speaking) and he meant not that we had killed Him, but that He was no longer necessary and relevant to explain everything, especially life.  Believe me, the premature reports of God's demise have been greatly exaggerated--He's very much alive in His people. We believe in God who just won't die!  Science has not undermined the Bible, contrary to popular opinion. 

Spontaneous generation has been disproved by Francesco Redi and Louis Pasteur ca. 1860, and science has a principle called biogenesis, meaning that life only arises from life, not inert matter.  Heed the words of American Humanist historian and philosopher Will Durant, who says, "The greatest question of our time is not communism versus individualism, not Europe versus America, not even the East versus the West--it is whether man can live without God."   A word to the wise:  "... Abhor what is evil; hold fast what is good" (Rom. 12:9, ESV).

Saying there is no God is a hypothesis, not based on all the facts; there is evidence of His existence as well as to the contrary.  Evidence is not always conclusive, convincing, nor compelling, and one must be willing to go in the direction of the preponderance of the evidence.  Evidence is merely one argument pro or con, and one must be willing to go where it eventually leads if one is to arrive at the truth.  There is no smoking-gun evidence either way; both positions require faith, and it is just a matter of what one wishes to place his faith in--science or God. 

There is enough light for the willing to see, but enough darkness to keep the so-called unwilling from seeing.  No one will ever know all the answers or have a monopoly on wisdom, but you don't need all the answers to believe and God can do a miracle to increase our faith as the Lord did to the father seeking a miracle:  "... I believe, help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24, ESV).  The old saying goes:  A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."

They say that God is self-evident or the necessary Being, everything that exists is dependent upon something else--going back to the beginning, one finds the first noncontingent or necessary Being, God.  There cannot be an infinite number of causes in a causal chain of events.  But according to sound philosophy, something has to be necessary or nothing would exist at all--let's call that Being God.  You can no more disprove God than prove Him without a shadow of a doubt. There is a continuum of doubt and certainty--no absolutes! One must accept and live with it.

But you can experience Him for yourself if you take a leap of faith.  The reason is that every student of logic should know that you can never prove a universal negative (e.g., to say there are no little green men you would have to know everything--be everywhere and know all!).  Saying there is no God is like saying there are no little green men, but they go one step further and are against little green men, hate them, and the people that believe in them!  Believing there's no God doesn't change the facts--He's there and alive regardless!  Why would you be against them or hate those that don't exist?  

We must weigh the evidence.  There is never enough to convince the skeptic against his will, and one can never say there's not enough evidence if you look for it. They say that if you convince a skeptic against his will, he will not change his mind.  It takes a leap of faith both ways, as Norman Geisler, professor of systematic theology at Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist.  

The biggest argument against God is preying on the emotions and questioning the existence of evil if God is so good.  The reason it exists is that man is free, delayed justice is not justice denied, and if God did stamp out evil right now, we wouldn't be here either!  We can thank God for His patience!  The issue of evil is that if there is no God, there is no evil differentiated either, as Fyodor Dostoevsky said, "If God does not exist, all things are permissible."  But man does know good and evil and will be judged for his sins (cf. Rom. 2:15).  Evil partially exists to bring glory to God, for He makes the wrath of man to praise Him (cf. Psalm 76:10).  For the one who sees no God:  if there is no God, why is there so much good? No, if there is a God, why is there so much evil?  God made everything, even the possibility of evil, for His purposes, even the wicked for the day of destruction (cf. Prov. 16:4).  Skeptics ought to cease bemoaning the existence of evil, for they are evil, and realize the scriptural warning:  "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil..." (Isa. 5:20, ESV).

One must be careful not to invoke scientists to make religious or philosophical statements because science merely deals in the VERIFIABLE AND TESTABLE:  experimental, controllable, variable, measurable, observable, and repeatable.  The so-called experts contradict each other; they don't always speak for their academic discipline, which changes its opinions and so-called facts with time.  When a scientist says God is not necessary because nature could've created itself, he doesn't realize that self-creation is a self-contradiction.  It would have to exist before itself and exist and not exist at the same time!  To believe the universe created you, then who created the universe?  They like to ask who created God, but this only shows both sides deal with faith.  God by definition is uncaused and uncreated, He is the Creator, not a creature.  Both science and theology deal in the problem of origins and this must be settled by faith in either science or God as being the final arbiter of truth.

The Bible is self-attesting, appealing to no higher authority because then it wouldn't be the final delimiter of truth.  It is an appeal to circular reasoning to say that the universe always existed because it exists!  The fact is that everything in time and space had a beginning and everything that begins to exist has a cause--the Big Bang, now touted as scientific fact, had a beginning, and therefore there had to be a Beginner or a cause to that event.  God is the "uncaused cause" or "unmoved mover" (known as cosmological proof) since He doesn't exist in time, neither limited, nor defined by it, but is eternal, He needs no cause or beginning.

Philosophers have known for centuries that nothing can create or cause itself, an uncreated, eternal universe is impossible--the theory of its eternity is untenable--but God is not self-created, but self-existent ( known as aseity)--which violates no laws of science, logic, nor philosophy.  Nothing can happen just by itself!  But God is the so-called "First Cause" as it is written in Heb. 3:4, ESV: "(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God)."  He needs no cause but is uncaused because He's eternal and even created time. According to the law of the impossibility of crossing infinity, if everything had a cause, nothing could exist!

You cannot prove or demonstrate God to the person unwilling, but you can experience Him by faith (Psa. 34:8; cf. 1 Pet. 2:2, says, "Taste and see that the LORD is good").  GOD INVITES YOU TO  FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF!  Just like you cannot prove there are no little green men, but if you saw one you would know for yourself, but you couldn't prove it unless they believe your experience.  We know God by faith and there is just enough darkness for the skeptic not to see, and enough light for the sincere seeker to see.

The ultimate proof that God is alive is that Jesus is resurrected from the dead and lives in our hearts--this is a properly basic belief of personal experience, but there are many "infallible proofs" of His resurrection according to Acts 1:3.  The fact that He rose from the dead is the ultimate proof of His deity and that He is alive, namely that Jesus is God in the flesh (Rom. 1:4; Acts 17:31).  Yes, there is much compelling, cumulative, and circumstantial evidence that proves the resurrection and this fact would be confirmed by any honest, impartial jury in a court of law that examines the biblical record given by the evangelists.  Remember, juries often render verdicts without all the evidence.

It is futile to resort to claiming or appealing to authorities as to the experts; e.g., Stephen Hawking, now deceased, noteworthy, and distinguished mathematician, theoretical physicist, and cosmologist of Cambridge University, may be an atheist, but Albert Einstein was a believer in God who saw Him as a Great Mathematician, as it were.  Stephen Hawking was an avowed atheist, but he also said that "philosophy [was] dead."  Scientists have no right to make historical claims, that were one-time, such as the creation and say that God wasn't involved--they weren't there!  

These events are outside the domain or realm of scientific speculation.  Science deals with observable, controllable, measurable, and repeatable.  You cannot put God in a test tube or under laboratory conditions and measure Him no more than you can see five pounds of love or two feet of justice. Similarly, we don't measure love with a Geiger counter or radioactivity with the telephone!  In the end, you must go with the flow and direction of the preponderance of the evidence as well as experience: evidence is objective and experience is subjective--both come into play.

Realize that basic principle that all knowledge is contingent and starts in faith with some presupposition you cannot prove. If all knowledge is contingent, you could know nothing if the chain of uncertainty never ended, and so you must appeal to the beginning of the line or God Himself as the source of all true knowledge as Prov. 1:7 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of all knowledge...."  This is known as the impossibility of crossing infinity (infinite regression is inherently illogical and impossible)--you must begin somewhere!  We must start with God and explain the universe, not with man and explain (away) God.

God isn't audible, visible, nor tangible but can still be known by faith-- every time we appeal to a standard of right and wrong or moral principle we are assuming there's a God!  The Christian God is a personal God that knows us and that we can personally know and have a relationship with.  Every time we make moral decisions or try to prove someone wrong we are appealing to God and are making an argument in His favor. There must be a moral Lawgiver and Legislator or arguments about justice, fair play, equity, and human rights would make no sense!   All in all, the evidence for God outweighs the evidence against God, and the premise that He exists fits the known facts and evidence better than the premise that there is no God.

The skeptic wonders where God is; however, the real issue is where isn't God?  Christians see evidence of God everywhere at every level of creation, and cannot deny it.  They are not just seeking a Father image to solve personal problems, but find Him relevant to all of life.  The point is that you cannot argue someone into the kingdom, people must be willing to believe.  Atheism is a bankrupt, irrational philosophy, and one chooses to deny God in his heart first before the intellect, as one becomes embittered and hardened against God and loves his sin.  Faith is a choice, as one chooses to believe with his will.  There's enough evidence if you are willing, but never enough for the unwilling, hardened, stubborn heart!

The good news is that God can make a believer out of anyone!  He does it by grace and does all the work of electing, choosing, calling, drawing, wooing, and regenerating us unto an unmerited faith as the work of God, by our voluntary act of obedience (cf. John 6:29; Rom. 1:5; 4:3; Heb. 3:18-19).  It's a miracle of grace in the heart that you don't need all the answers to believe in God, but can be made willing to take the leap of faith into the light.

Finally, we can know He lives, not only because of the credible testimony of others in their personal experiences, and our hearts bearing subjective witness of the presence of the Holy Spirit of Christ in our lives (i.e., He lives in us), but most importantly, verified by the objective, historical fact of the resurrection of Christ, without which we would have no experience in Christ to base our experience as alive in our hearts.  Our lives don't take a step into the dark, but a leap into the light!   The point that cannot be denied is that changed lives are a miracle and Christ changed the course of history by changing lives: "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you..." (Ezek. 36:26, ESV).

In conclusion, God is there to be found if we search--He finds us, we don't find Him!  
"I would not have searched for Him, had He not first found me." -- Blaise Pascal

NB:  "Christianity is about the God who is there."--Francis Schaeffer      

Soli Deo Gloria!   

Contemplating Our Unworthiness

"So a man should examine himself..." (cf. 1 Cor. 11:28).


The key to grace is the right mindset toward God--true humility!  "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (cf. James 4:6).  We are never worthy of God's grace (or it wouldn't be grace, but justice!), but the one qualification for it is to reckon ourselves as unworthy and unfit--just like our salvation.   Grace always goes to the lowest bidders, as it were.

The Lord's Supper is a reminder of our fellowship and longstanding salvation, whereby we renew our commitment and dedication by remembering what it's all about and the price Christ paid on our behalf.  We must see ourselves as great sinners in need of a Great Savior.  We are exhorted by Paul to examine ourselves at communion to take personal inventory of our spiritual life and give ourselves a spiritual checkup to validate our faith and salvation by seeing Christ at work in our lives and person (Christ lives in us by an exchanged, surrendered, relinquished, substituted, inhabited, and obedient life in Christ by virtue of His power--Gal. 2:20). In 2 Cor. 13:5 it says to examine ourselves frequently to see if Christ does indwell us--i.e., whether we are in the faith.  We are to be fruit inspectors of our own fruits and must test ourselves periodically--not others!

The Eucharist (Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper) is to be given to those walking obediently with the Lord in fellowship and not have any known sin to their account, which would render them carnal.  Basically, if we are enjoying a fellowship with God through Christ and discern the body, as Christ admonished, we are ready for communion. If we have repented we are clean, but we may still need a confession to update our walk with Christ.  But this privilege doesn't mean we are qualified to partake of this grace or ordinance laid down by Christ at Maundy Thursday, or at the Last Supper in the Upper Room celebrating the Passover.  The point to ponder is that we are never worthy, but we can prepare our hearts to receive the grace of God by confession (keeping short accounts and admitting sin as soon as we are convicted, which is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit).

In partaking of the communion emblems, we are to "discern the body" and blood of Christ, reckoning that He laid down His life for us and His blood sealed a New Covenant or Testament, making the Old Covenant or Testament obsolete.  Our humility ought to be such that the more unworthy we feel we are, the more we resonate with God's grace and are in a position to receive the ordinance, just like John Bunyan wrote in his testimony Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and Paul saw himself as the "chief of sinners" likewise (cf. 1 Tim. 1:15).  It is a fact that the closer our walk with Christ, the more aware we are of shortcomings and failures.  Getting close to God makes us all the more aware of our sins, not our success and holiness.  Samuel Rutherford said to "pray for a lively sense of sin, because, the more the sense, the less sin."

We are admonished by Paul to partake of the elements in a worthy manner (that doesn't mean we are worthy per se), but by discerning the body and being in fellowship with no unconfessed, known sin, we are ready for grace.  The Lord's Supper is more than a memorial we do to proclaim the Lord's coming, but also a spiritual exercise and checkup and discipline to make us experience group fellowship and accountability--church isn't just a private affair but we are members one of another.

In the final analysis, it's comforting to know that Christ knew what we were made of before He saved us and loves us despite ourselves, and His acceptance doesn't depend upon our behavior or performance, but totally on His grace. "Salvation is of the LORD" (cf. Jonah 2:9), not from us. There's no place for merit in our salvation, but we are saved, are being saved, and will be saved all by grace alone (sola gratia in Latin), Christ alone is the worthy one and therefore is worshiped or assigned worthiness.     Soli Deo Gloria!