SAFE IN GOD’S HAND

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:28-30

         There is one way and one way alone by which man may enter heaven.  It is through the saving blood of Jesus Christ.  Many religions say that all roads lead to the top of the same mountain, but this is false as borne out by John 14:6 which clearly states Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Those who believe otherwise have been deceived.  Simply being good is unacceptable because what is good enough?  Who would determine that?  No, it’s nothing that we have done or will do that gains us entrance into God’s heaven.  It’s believing in the Lord by faith. It’s placing our entire trust in Him and relying on Him to cleanse us of our every sin.  It’s walking with Him throughout the remainder of our life.  It’s allowing His Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out.  That is the test of a true believer, to submit themselves wholly to God and no longer live for himself or herself.

            Once safely in the hand of the Father, no one can snatch us away.  To snatch is to steal or grasp quickly, unexpectedly.  Once God’s possession, there is no fear of being taken from Him.  We can walk away if we so choose, but no one can remove us from His care. 

            Jesus makes a revealing statement that He and the Father are one.  We serve a Triune God, three in one, otherwise known as the Trinity.  All three possess the fullness of the divine nature.  God’s supreme and superior power guarantees our safety.  If we truly have dedicated our entire life to the Lord then we are safe within the palm of His mighty hand, never to be taken away.  Our relationship with Him is secure.  Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!

Reference used:  The Reformation Study Bible.

Dictionary used:  American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language.

THE VENOM IS REMOVED

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  1 Corinthians 15:55-57

         Perhaps you have seen the bumper sticker that reads simply KNOW CHRIST – KNOW PEACE … NO CHRIST – NO PEACE.  There are far too many people who fear death.  On that subject they have no peace.  Perhaps it is fear of the unknown, of what to expect when they pass from this earth.  Perhaps it is because they have just enough understanding of scripture to know that bad things await those who have not made peace with God prior to the last day.  Forgiveness, peace, fulfillment and hope for tomorrow lie in knowing Christ.  Not a peripheral or a one sided relationship, but rather a close, personal one. It comes from submitting your will to the will of God.  Once you surrender to the Lord your wants and desires, you begin to hunger for more of Him.  You are cheating yourself if you fight that hunger.  Get to know God for who He truly is, what He has done and what He promises to do for any ardent believer.  Just believing is not enough.  Submersion is necessary.  You must submerge to emerge into a new life in Christ.

         Why is knowing Christ important?  When Christ rose from the dead by the will of God, He took the venom out of the sting of death.  Once the sting is removed there is no longer anything to fear.  Without Christ’s death there is no redemption for man.  He is irreversibly stuck in his own sin and must pay the penalty on his own.  That is something to fear.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  We can have victory over sin and death by accepting Christ’s death as payment for all our misdeeds and living in the freedom He provides.  We avoid the second death by receiving all the benefits of the second birth.  We are free of our sin, not to sin again but to live according to the prescribed plan God has for us.  He knows what is best for us all and will reveal His plan for our life if we ask Him to. 

         To live for Christ is to live a life of victory.  Take your focus off your problems and place them squarely on Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!

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NOTE:  The Apostle Paul paraphrases verses from Isaiah and Hosea in the Old Testament to cement his argument about the finality of death’s destruction at Christ’s resurrection.

Isaiah 25:8 (NIV)

“… he will swallow up death forever.  The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.  The Lord has spoken.”

Hosea 13:14 (NIV)

“I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.  Where, O death, are your plagues?  Where, O grave, is your destruction?”

ALL THINGS MUST BECOME NEW

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  Romans 10:12-13

         Paul is quoting the minor prophet Joel when he says that all who call on the name of God will be saved.  Does that mean what so many people seem to think it means, that anyone who utters the name of the Lord will go to heaven?  Not at all.  Too many people think that as long as they believe in the existence of God they are bound for heaven.  They are wrong. 

         First of all, this verse is referring to the Jews and the Gentiles.  The Jews were God’s chosen people, but they rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah therefore God allowed the Gentiles to become grafted into His family.  A gentile is any non-Jew. 

         Secondly, a person must not perform surgery on scripture, pulling out of context that which suits them.  Scripture should be taken in context and in its entirety.  If you don’t understand something, ask the Lord to reveal its meaning. 

         There are far too many verses in scripture that address the whole issue of leaving your old life behind and embarking on a new life to honestly belief that simply speaking the name of the Lord garners for you entrance into God’s heaven.  A changed life is expected. Those who think they can live as they choose are technically correct due to the free will God has allowed us, but adherence to God’s precepts is necessary for a person to truly win entrance into heaven.  Sin cannot abide with the Lord.  If that were true why on earth would Christ have had to die a horrific death on a cross, shamed and separated from His Father?  It would not be so that man could continue on with a clean slate only to sin again.  Change must take place.  If it never does, it is fair to say the individual has not had a born-again experience.

          Scripture speaks of being born twice and only dying once.  What are we dying to?  Our old life; “Behold all things become new” (2 Corinthians 5:13).  Do not fool yourself into thinking you can merely utter the name of Christ and be safe from the wrath of God.  Embrace the new life God has awaiting you by faith and trust God to guide you the rest of the way to your eternal home.  Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!

THE CROSS OF CHRIST

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18

         The cross is the iconic symbol of the Christian church.  Its message is one of dying and rising up to new life.  It is universally recognized as such and either loved or despised because of it’s meaning.  Some believers apparently don’t want to be associated with it due to its’ focus on death.  A church not far from me uses such reasoning saying they want to focus on life and not death; therefore no crosses adorn their facility.  You cannot escape the cross, even if you don’t want to display it.  It’s where Christ put into motion God’s plan for man’s salvation.   Without the death of Christ on a cross there is no forgiveness because there was no sacrifice made to cleanse sin. 

         The cross is important because it is emblematic of the shame and ridicule Christ went through to save us.  He became a curse in the eyes of His own Father for our sake, for scripture declares “cursed by any man who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).  He was separated from God for a brief time to accentuate the price paid for all of man’s sins. 

         The cross is foolishness to the unbeliever because they are not willing to face the fact that they must die to truly live. That death is a dying to self.  It is relinquishing our own way of living in favor of God’s way.  It is admitting that God is real and there is an afterlife.  It is facing our own inadequacies and realizing that we cannot reach heaven on our own.  Those who glibly say they would rather go to hell and party with their friends are pitifully ignorant of what would await them should they remain in their sin. People can blow off the cross as nothing more than a crutch for the weak minded, but they will all find out one day that that cross is the link needed to bridge the gap sin created between God and man.

          If the cross is a crutch, then I will lean very heavily on it for I know I cannot make it on my own.  How about you?  What does the cross mean to you?  Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!

REFOCUS

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  Romans 12:2

            This world has nothing to offer those who have been transformed by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.  It offers nothing more than one passing fad after another, yet many times we fail to see that.  I believe it’s a matter of where our focus lies.  Have we allowed our minds to be fully transformed by God’s Holy Spirit?  If not, how will we ever know that God’s good, pleasing and perfect will is for our lives?

            The Holy Spirit, who is now within the new believer, sparks a transformation that takes place in them.  He never just makes alterations, for God forces His will on no one.  He guides and directs, convicts and restores.  Our salvation is a constant work in progress that we must work at it diligently and deliberately.  It is the act of our will submitting to the will of God. 

            Once the redemptive process has renewed our mind things begin to look differently to us.  We start to realize that many of the things that surround us are nothing more than distractions designed to steal our time and attention away from God.  We must fight the natural urge to conform to the pattern of this world.  We are no longer of this world.  Our citizenship is now marked for heaven.  Focus on the One who redeemed your soul and not the world that seeks to rob it from you.  We allow ourselves to become far too cavalier regarding the seriousness of daily walk with God.  We become ineffective as a witness for Him due to our lack of resolve.  Take your eyes off false promises that lie about you and refocus on the God’s plan for you.  Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing!

Reference used: The Reformation Study Bible

WEAR CHRIST

“The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.  … clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh¹.”  Romans 13:11, 14

         Too many believers have become weary of doing good (Galatians 6:9), however, this is no time to slumber.  It is the time to put on Christ as if he were a piece of clothing.  We are to live in Christ consistently, each day.  There is no time to slack off or become lackadaisical or disinterested.  We must keep in the forefront of our minds all that Christ has done for us.  What a travesty it would have been if the Lord had lost interest in His mission half way through it.  We have a mission as modern day Christians.  That is to be Christ to a lost and dying world.  We must show them the love and mercy of God in a tangible way, so they can see it.  Words can fall on deaf ears, but actions are harder to ignore.

         This is not the time to seek gratification of the flesh. This world has nothing of any eternal value to offer you.  Only temporal satisfaction that eventually goes wanting.  God offers lasting fulfillment that brings with it peace, contentment and hope.  Man stumbles through life seeking yet never finding, for they know not what they seek.  They can’t put their finger on it until they meet up with Jesus.  The Lord reveals to them their greatest need and provides the solution to their greatest problem.  In spite of that, man still wanders through the wilderness of his life, wasting precious time doing what seems right to him.  The devil will keep a person stumbling around chasing shiny baubles and worthless trinkets their whole life unless and until they open their eyes to the truth.

         You may not realize it, but the last days are not something that has just come upon us.  In reality, the first disciples/apostles believed the last days were upon them once Christ ascended into heaven.  With that being the case man has lived in the last days since the time of Christ.  We will never know when He will return for His church.  Only the Father knows (Matthew 24:36).  We must be in a constant state of readiness as if He were returning for us today.  Remain steadfast and alert.  Live for Christ and shine God’s light wherever you go.  Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing! 

¹ In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.  [Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®]

Reference used:  The Reformation Study Bible.