Passage of the Day: Romans 5: 1 – 5 … 1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
My Journal for Today: Now that I’ve been looking at the first few verses of Romans 5 in the past few days of devotionals, one can’t help but note how deep with meaning, power, and truth is there for the believer to KNOW that salvation is available for all who believe and receive Christ’s hope of glory. And Romans 8: 29 – 30 [see below] also tells us that this hope WAS seared into eternity by God in His redemptive plan before time, as we know it, began. And that plan is that all who believe in Christ WILL BE glorified eternally just as Christ is NOW, even as He intercedes for believers in Heaven with the Father. Hence, our hope of glory is PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE.
SCRIPTURE: Romans 8: 29 – 30 … 29 For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.
Do you see it! God’s redemptive plan for believers is eternal (and that’s you and me if we’re born again!); and having been secured by the peace Christ made with His Father on the cross, anyone who has faith in that finished work can have the hope of glory NOW, … a hope that can never be taken away. … Stay with me here! There is nothing more important in the consciousness of the believer. You have just read the lynchpin of our salvation; and once it is driven into eternity by our faith in Christ, God’s promise assures it will be there forever. If that is not the case, then the term (below), “ETERNAL,” in probably the most quoted verse in the New Testament [John 3: 16], is meaningless.
SCRIPTURE: John 3: 16 … For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have ETERNAL life.
If we can lose our salvation after receiving it, then that salvation is not ETERNAL, is it? It would be TEMPORAL; and John 3: 16 becomes a lie; and no one could ever have the hope of salvation at any point in time because of the reality of Rom. 3: 23 … that we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. It also makes Jesus a liar from the cross when He declared “It is finished!” Because if any believer could lose his salvation at any point after gaining it, Christ’s work on the cross was not finished and therefore His death and resurrection were trivial and incomplete.
Dear one … Jesus’ work on the cross sealed my salvation (and yours, if Jesus is your Lord and Savior) for ETERNITY!. It’s a done deal. I have been saved yesterday … I am saved today … and I am saved for eternity to come.
And all I can say to that is … HALLELUJAH!!!
Beloved, can you see it? Because if you do, you are going to KNOW that you know that you know that you are saved! And I pray that all who are reading this, as the one who is writing it, … that we all have secured that hope of glory which Christ has for all who have believed and received Him.
And I pray that we all walk confidently in that hope and assurance. Stayed tuned, fellow Christian, there’s more to come!
My Prayer Today: You are my hope of glory, Lord! Amen
Showing posts with label election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label election. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Saturday, January 08, 2011
January 8, 2011 … Divinely Chosen and Called
Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 1 [NIV] – As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Ephesians 4: 1 [NASB] - Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, …
My Journal for Today: One final day in Eph. 4: 1 with Dr. MacArthur, and he has highlighted the phrase “the calling” that the Apostle Paul uses to indicate the direction we have received as Christians. This begs the natural question, “What is this ‘CALLING’ all about?”
Well, the Greek terms for “calling” [klesis] or “called” [kletos], are used in several places in New Testament Scripture. Paul also said (2nd Tim. 1: 9) that our calling is to holiness; and he also (in 1Cor. 1: 2) said that believers are called out into sainthood [i.e., again called to holiness]. Peter wrote (in 2nd Peter 1: 10) that our walk (i.e., our life) exhibits our being chosen or called by God. The author of Hebrews wrote that we have a high and heavenly calling as Christians (see Heb. 3: 1). And you may remember that Paul also referred to Christians as “the called” according to God’s purpose (in Rom. 8: 28 in NKJV).
And so, this business of walking as a “Christian” is a big deal! It’s a “calling” … by, from, and for God. It is no less than the life God has chosen or called for me [see John 15: 16]. He has called me to fulfill HIS purpose; and He has changed my character name from “sinner” to “Saint” for this calling. Therefore, it is incumbent on me to live in such a way that would honor my God and His calling.
Perhaps you remember being “called out” to be on a team, as a young person, … maybe for a basketball team at school. ... I do. … I can remember running home in the 6th grade, excitedly reporting to my mom and dad, “I’m on the team!” And then I can remember wanting to do my very best to show the coach, who had “called me out,” that his selection was not a mistake? I really wanted to live up to whatever it took to show the coach that I could do what was expected of a team member.
MacArthur, in Strength for Today, puts it this way in posing such a challenge, “Such a high calling [from God] demands an equally high response of commitment, doesn’t it?!” And then we have Paul’s challenge in Eph. 4: 1, into which we’ve been studying for the last few days.
Personally, I think that the only rational response for any Christian to his calling for God’s team is a resounding “THANK YOU, LORD!”… And then I feel that the recognition of our calling must be followed by a deep self inventory [see 2nd Cor. 13: 5] and a commitment to follow Christ as never before [as in Prov. 3: 5-6], which is certainly appropriate as we move into this New Year.
My Prayer Today: Lord, You chose me before time. I have received Your calling in my time; and I am blessed by Your gift of grace to live for You. Amen
Ephesians 4: 1 [NASB] - Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, …
My Journal for Today: One final day in Eph. 4: 1 with Dr. MacArthur, and he has highlighted the phrase “the calling” that the Apostle Paul uses to indicate the direction we have received as Christians. This begs the natural question, “What is this ‘CALLING’ all about?”
Well, the Greek terms for “calling” [klesis] or “called” [kletos], are used in several places in New Testament Scripture. Paul also said (2nd Tim. 1: 9) that our calling is to holiness; and he also (in 1Cor. 1: 2) said that believers are called out into sainthood [i.e., again called to holiness]. Peter wrote (in 2nd Peter 1: 10) that our walk (i.e., our life) exhibits our being chosen or called by God. The author of Hebrews wrote that we have a high and heavenly calling as Christians (see Heb. 3: 1). And you may remember that Paul also referred to Christians as “the called” according to God’s purpose (in Rom. 8: 28 in NKJV).
And so, this business of walking as a “Christian” is a big deal! It’s a “calling” … by, from, and for God. It is no less than the life God has chosen or called for me [see John 15: 16]. He has called me to fulfill HIS purpose; and He has changed my character name from “sinner” to “Saint” for this calling. Therefore, it is incumbent on me to live in such a way that would honor my God and His calling.
Perhaps you remember being “called out” to be on a team, as a young person, … maybe for a basketball team at school. ... I do. … I can remember running home in the 6th grade, excitedly reporting to my mom and dad, “I’m on the team!” And then I can remember wanting to do my very best to show the coach, who had “called me out,” that his selection was not a mistake? I really wanted to live up to whatever it took to show the coach that I could do what was expected of a team member.
MacArthur, in Strength for Today, puts it this way in posing such a challenge, “Such a high calling [from God] demands an equally high response of commitment, doesn’t it?!” And then we have Paul’s challenge in Eph. 4: 1, into which we’ve been studying for the last few days.
Personally, I think that the only rational response for any Christian to his calling for God’s team is a resounding “THANK YOU, LORD!”… And then I feel that the recognition of our calling must be followed by a deep self inventory [see 2nd Cor. 13: 5] and a commitment to follow Christ as never before [as in Prov. 3: 5-6], which is certainly appropriate as we move into this New Year.
My Prayer Today: Lord, You chose me before time. I have received Your calling in my time; and I am blessed by Your gift of grace to live for You. Amen
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