My
brother Thor, I think you left out a very important part of Paul's
admonition to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling. . . . "
It goes on to say "for it is God which works in you "both" to will and
to do of His good pleasure. " Jesus said apart from me you can do
nothing! My admonition here to you is think not that any obedience you
posses is of yourself. It is He who gives you the will and the power to
accomplish anything in His name. You have stated on several occasions
that the Lord will say to many who "think" they belong to Him. . .
"depart from me you who work iniquity, for I never knew you. " Tell me
Thor, how do you know you are not one of those who will receive that
fearful declaration from the Lord? Is it because of your standing in Him
due to your obedience, or your works? If yes, that reply sounds
altogether too familiar to the one given by those who will receive His
rebuke. Are you really content with your obedience? I don't think you
are saying you have arrived but I wonder what you use as your standard?
If Jesus said, and He did, "If you love me keep my commandments, I guess
He meant keep them! Do you? All of them? Always? Jesus is the only one I
know who could make the statement, "I do always those things that
please the Father. " Perhaps you think within yourself, I am not perfect
but I "try" to keep them. Well, I was not aware that God graded on a
curve! If He demands obedience for salvation to be completed in you; you
my brother had better tighten up the reigns. If you chose to carry the
weight of your salvation on the shoulders of your good works, have at
it! And when you are tired, worn out and can go no farther, look up into
His most gracious and loving eyes and say Lord, I give up! This load is
too much for me to carry, and He will tell you, I know, that is why I
already carried it for you! I love you brother but its seems to me you
are carrying a weight no child of His was intended to carry. His peace
be upon you and to all who cry out for His amazing grace. Merks
I
agree Merks we can do nothing to save ourselves. We must depend
entirely upon our Lord. But at the same time the gospel is the medicine.
Presenting the gospel will fulfill all the needs especially the problem
with doubt. This is why the message of the gospel is not primarily a
presentation but it proves its success in the life giving determination
to produce new life. We call this salvation a hope unto a new hope. The
success of the gospel in not in our own repentance but its a dependence
based upon our inability to obtain through any human means. Although its
demands are that we repent its not turning from our sin but its turning
to Christ from our sin. So its always turning from our sins through the
gospel. The cause of our repentance is the grace that we stand in. As i
write this i am writing the application of the gospel.
A lot of
people do not like to think they are completely unable to please God in
themselves. They would rather think its God and them. Like the apostle
says.. work out your own salvation. But if we just focus on the one side
of this equation and ignore that its God who works in us to will and to
do then we will look at the first side as our facing the demands in
ourselves. But actually this is the same argument as the ot refuge
paradigm. We do not receive salvation that we are representative of. But
we receive the salvation that is in the Name of the Lord. This is an
interesting way of thinking which is not necessarily natural for us
because we do not think correctly and that is where most of our doubts
creep in. But we never talk about salvation as our being confident in
our doing our part. I do not see this any where in scripture.
This
is why its so easy for us to stray because our salvation is caused by
our trusting in the faithfulness and ability of another. When we
struggle with doubt we tend to react instead of trust because we are in a
sorrowful condition. We want to be told how to end the doubt. What we
should do to stop doubting. But this is impossible for us because the
gospel itself tells us that we can do nothing to please Him. lol
What
can we do? Well Jesus says this is the work that you believe in the One
who sent Me. Jesus is not trying to teach us to add something to our
faith to do but Hes trying to say that if we believe and focus on the
gospel then the by product of that is an addition to our faith.
Let
me talk to those who are doubting. First if there is a cause to doubt
then there is a desire to depend upon God but our lack of faith
overcomes our confidence. So our tendency is to start believing that we
must apply the gospel to fight against our doubts. But the gospel is not
just a defense but its a medicine for the whole man. When we approach
God we must not waver from knowing our lack of ability and His promise
to uphold His name on our behalf. The Psalmist tells God ..." I will
never be shaken"!! What is the motive for the Psalmist to declare this?
Because the Psalmist knows that if he wavers on Gods covenant promises
then no matter how he feels it will take away all of his hope and desire
to apply the gospel. When i come on here and I defend grace its a kind
of balm to my own soul.
The reason the Psalmist says that he will
never be shaken is because over his life he began to follow the
Shepherd not just through the Shepherds promises. But the Psalmist had
applied these promises to himself to the point where the Psalmist
developed this close relationship to Christ not as a God of salvation
but in a personal sense. Its just like our earthly relationships. We
value these relations through our experiencing love and connection. We
can actually separate God from our horizontal relationships as if God
was the only person we loved beyond what love is. The Psalmist was so
good at applying the gospel that He addressed God in the most personal
terms as if God was His closest friend.
Now then when we learn
to speak to God in the most personal terms then when we find ourselves
in a life threatening situation these personal words that God teaches us
through how other saints have addressed Him will over ride our doubts
as we look death in the face. If we only know God as the one who is
making us moral then it will be difficult to face death because we will
be used to looking at ourselves and then to God. But if through Gods
faithfulness we experience this love that cannot separate us from Him
then we will be loved as the cause of our addressing Him as our most
cherished relationship. Then there is nothing that can separate us from
having this deep fellowship in times of trouble. Come away to Him and
let Him love you. Take His word and let His promises soak over your
pain. Let Him apply the balm to your soul through speaking to you
through His word. He promises to be faithful.
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