Do you
feel FREE? (Part 2 of 3 today)
You are free by grace through faith to obey. Like Paul see that you are chief among sinners and want to serve Him, not to get or keep anything (it is all ours at the moment of salvation), but from a loving heart, grateful for your undeserved forgiveness you obey (Jn 14:15). How you feel does not matter as far as what is true. God’s truth is what counts and true saving faith is a persevering faith that is a gift from God. You do nothing to earn it and as a perfect gift of God, it is a persevering faith that can’t be undone by any created thing, including you. Don’t give in to going by feelings; instead put your faith in God’s Word and the feelings will begin to change.
You are free by grace through faith to obey. Like Paul see that you are chief among sinners and want to serve Him, not to get or keep anything (it is all ours at the moment of salvation), but from a loving heart, grateful for your undeserved forgiveness you obey (Jn 14:15). How you feel does not matter as far as what is true. God’s truth is what counts and true saving faith is a persevering faith that is a gift from God. You do nothing to earn it and as a perfect gift of God, it is a persevering faith that can’t be undone by any created thing, including you. Don’t give in to going by feelings; instead put your faith in God’s Word and the feelings will begin to change.
Saving
faith is secure because it is secured by God and not our behavior. A great
example is Job whose story shows how God “proved” to satan that saving faith
would persevere no matter the trial or lack of understanding. Remember Job had
no idea what went on in Heaven until after this was all over and most likely
not until he got to Heaven. (Job 2:4-10)
James and
Paul teach that saving faith perseveres. “For we have become partakers of
Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end;”
Hebrews 3:14. Also, it will produce deeds, “Even so faith, if it has no works,
is dead, being by itself” (James 2:17), but that a Christian can ‘backslide’ or
drift into carnality or fleshly living. “And I, brethren, could not speak unto
you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ” (1
Corinthians 3:1) God also tells us that He
will correct the one He loves. He says,
“For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives”
(Hebrews 12:6). God uses discipline to bring them back to walking with Him. In
some cases, if they don’t respond, all their works will be burned up and they
will still be saved but they will be taken out of the world and enter Heaven
with no rewards. “If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he
himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15)
Your faith to believe is given to you (Eph 2:8) and it is a perfect gift
from God and it took the death of Jesus to purchase that gift and it should not
be treated lightly. In Exodus the blood had to be applied to the door before it
did them any good. Once we believe, exercise the faith, the blood of Jesus is
applied; Jesus sacrificial death in our place is applied to us and we receive
His righteousness.
Other
religions are all performance based, but Christianity is grace based - they say
'do', Jesus said "It is finished" - DONE. When you were still sinners Christ died for you. Jesus said
in Luke 18:19, “there is none good but God”; you are a sinner deserving of
hell, but forgiven by GRACE, through no good of your own. The normal reaction
is gratefulness and faithful obedience, not rebellion. Why? Because you are now
in Christ free to obey.
(Part 3 of
3 tomorrow – walking by Grace or “so walk in Him” Colossians 2:6)
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