Christ is Our Hope

So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence. Heb 6:18 NLT

Everything God has promised is the truth and we can thus have hope in those things he states will come to us. Unlike people we know, God is not going to change his mind or forget what he promised. Many times it is a matter of when, not if. We need to have faith in those promises and use that hope of what is to come to keep us going.

Many people say they can’t have faith in what God has said, but they believe the weather report, newspapers, and even trust people they don’t know, like the pilot of the last plane you flew in or that taxi driver who got you across town. Things made by even the best engineers can break and cause havoc. Every one of us has broken a promise, lied to get out of something, or simply not showed up on time if at all for something. That is because we can lie, but by nature God cannot. Lying is repulsive to God. So where is your hope?

Mine is in God. I’ve seen many things in this life that definitely made me think hope was lost, let alone a logical reason to be here. We don’t even learn science correctly in school because the idea of naturalism is shoveled in like law rather than the philosophy it really is. What hope is there for us if we are no better than animals, evolved from apes, and we can make up our own moral standards? It frustrated me to the point I had had enough. The cool thing is God is always there and he knows sometimes it takes us finding the end of ourselves before we will take his already offered hand.

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Rom 5:5 NKJV) I know God is with me and for me. He has blessed me in so many ways in the past 14 years of following him. It always makes me wonder why it took me so long to turn to him in the first place. I am pretty stubborn, so it really isn’t a surprise either. After trying so many other philosophies and religions before him, I definitely knew he was the answer when I bothered to look. Everything he told me so far has come true and life has a reason beyond it that I can hope confidently in.

Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently. (Rom 8:24-25 NLT)

Again, I ask, “Where is your hope?” I put mine in Christ and everything I’ve hoped for has come true. I know the rest of the promises will come true at the right time. I know I have many battles to fight in this life on earth, but they will be far easier knowing God promised us eternity and rest with him.

Joyful Conquerors in Chrisrt

Rom 8:35-39 NKJV

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:  "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter."  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I started off with this verse because we should know there is nothing we can think of that will separate us from God’s love. Even when we decide not to accept his love, it does not stop it from existing.  It does stop it from helping us. We only acquire what we are willing to receive. Once you accept Christ you have God’s full love and access to everything else as an adopted child of God.  Jesus conquered death and took the keys of hell. With him nothing can defeat us. 

Wait! What about all the bad stuff? Sure bad things are going to happen.  We live in a fallen world due to the original sin of pride. However, you can either stick with Christ to overcome them or chose to give up on him due to a setback. In the end, eternity is where our eyes should be and the joy of our salvation to have access to that should help us through the ups and downs of life.

I’ve dealt with divorce, layoffs, financial ruin, and a chronic disease since I accepted Christ. Some of these things happened due to not living life correctly as God intended. I didn’t know better. But after accepting him, this joy is my strength to face anything and keep on marching. Sure my multiple sclerosis slows me down, but I still go to church, volunteer to do things, and it definitely doesn’t stop me from writing and talking about God.  I know healing is mine and I’ve even seen improvement in my MRIs. It is not IF he will heal me, it is WHEN. I take joy in knowing God’s promises are true.

Isa 12:2-3 NKJV

Behold, God is my salvation,

I will trust and not be afraid;

'For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song;

He also has become my salvation.'"  

Therefore with joy you will draw water

From the wells of salvation.

Notice how the two verses are linked.  Faith always produces joy. Trust in God produces courage.  If we know that God has granted us forgiveness of sins and the gift of his everlasting life, we will rejoice, and the joy of the Lord will be our strength.  If God is for us, nothing can be against us.  (Note on Isaiah 12:2-3 by Ray Comfort in the Evidence Bible). I like how Ray summed this up.  This is how I feel even when my body hurts the worse and I actually do have to cancel going places. If I can’t go do one thing, I can definitely find others to do for Christ.

Whatever you are facing, know that God loves you. Our joy in knowing we are saved through Christ is part of our conquering strength. We have nothing to fear, not even death. Keep clinging to God even if you think you have nothing left to lose and nowhere to go. He will show you what to do and be your strength.  

Love

Our culture acts like love has more to do with sex and romantic relationships than caring about anyone.  In part I think English doesn’t help.  We have one word we use to translate three different Greek words.  We seem to forget the true strength of love.  Real love should blow our minds because it will make someone do something for others for completely selfless reasons.  God gave us one of the greatest examples of this.  He took responsibility for resolving the issue of sin for us, when it was human pride that caused it in the first place.

John 3:16-17 NKJV - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Rom 5:8 NKJV - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Love is selfless, patient and kind.  True love will last forever.  There is one way to know what love really is:  through Christ.  God did not have to send Jesus down here to give us a view of who God is.  He did not have to die to reconcile our sins, which was man’s fault to begin with.  However, God is all about relationship and relationships of any kind take love.

As Christians we should be walking around like we have God’s love in us.  When we accept Christ, we then acquire the Holy Spirit, which is God living in us.  Many of us unfortunately tarnish this by letting our own feelings, hurts and doubts get in the way.  What we are proving when we don’t act with love is that we don’t know God.  The following verses sum up how God is love and loved us, so we should return the love to him and love others like he does.

1 John 4:7-19 NKJV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  We love Him because He first loved us.

Are we grumbling about how people treat us?  Are you gossiping about others just because they don’t fit in?  Are you even a slight bit angry with someone?  None of these show love, but only our selfishness.  Think about what God really did for us and the examples he gave of how to relate to each other with love.  Start working on learning to walk in love today and never stop.

Repent and Be Saved

This message was repeated several times in order to make sure mankind learned that repentance was required for salvation.  If we do not confess our sins and truly want to stop repeating them, this salvation is not going to come our way.  No, you will not know everything that God sees as a sin on the day you accept Christ.  You will know you were not living correctly and want to become the new creation he promises we can be.  Confess what you know and accept him.  The rest will come as you grow in him knowing he already saved you.

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!  (Matt 3:1-2 NKJV)  John the Baptist came as the one paving the way for Jesus, the Son of God, who could cleanse us and make us right with God.  Notice his first word is ‘repent’.  His words were to get people thinking about how they were really living and if it was according to God’s way.  His message was to the Jews because they were the ones that had the message of God and were his chosen people.  God works with building blocks as we shall see.

When Jesus came, many tested him and asked him a great deal of questions.  Here is his reply about who may or may not be the greater sinner.  Just like today people tend to claim bad things happen to people because they must have been a bad person, a sinner.  There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.  Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."  (Luke 13:1-5 NKJV)  In conclusion, everyone is a sinner and none are worse off than others.  Everyone has to repent!  This may have been directed at the Jews, but Jesus was definitely implying it applied to everyone that wanted to believe in him.

The disciples were waiting for the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus had promised them before he returned to heaven and on the day of Pentecost it happened.  Everyone was thinking they were drunk as they went out into the streets speaking in tongues so that many there would hear the message in their own language.  God was trying to get everyone’s attention there and three thousand did accept Christ that day. 

Peter, as I mentioned in my post “What is Faith” on 1/11/16, shows the boldness of his faith as he becomes the spokesmen for his fellow believers.  Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."  (Acts 2:38-39 NKJV)  Notice how he tells them to repent and then be baptized.  He also claims this is for all that God will call.  God is calling all of us who will listen to come hear his message of love and forgiveness by what Christ did on the cross for us.

Repentance must come before the salvation.  So God has planted a seed of faith in us for us to be able to believe in him if we so choose.  Once we decide to believe and accept Christ for what he did for us on the cross, we know we have lived improperly as sinners against God.  So here is where our hearts break.  We confess that we are sinners and ask for the forgiveness God gives so willingly. We are saved and have been adopted into his family.

Once you have repented and know you are saved, don’t keep rehashing the sins you know God has forgiven.  It is time to start learning about him and adjusting your life accordingly, one step at a time.

You are a New Creation

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

When we accept Christ, he cleanses us so we can be a new person.  He forgives all our sins.  However, it may seem like nothing has changed.  We still have the same life here on earth.  Worse, you start realizing what you need to change to align with Jesus and know you missed the target entirely a lot.  We need to let the Holy Spirit help us with the renewing of our minds.  This part is a process and is not instantaneous.  I like equating this to an onion.  We have this shiny, new creation inside, but we have to throw off all the layers of beliefs the world built up on us.  With study of the Word and paying attention to God’s leading through the Spirit, we figure out how to dig through the layers, peeling them off one by one.  This is the growing process that our faith should help lead us through.

Titus 3:4-6 NKJV – But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

We are now children of God and heirs to all that he has, brothers and sisters in Christ.  Just like all children, we need to be trained to be a proper member of the family.  We will crawl before we walk, and walk before we run full tilt for God.  Don’t be afraid of this process.  Just like a child learning to crawl and then walk, each finds their own way there with the help of their family.  None of us are the same and our paths through growing with Christ will all be different.  This is how our testimonies are made to share with the world about how God helped us become what we are today.

Ephesians 4:22-24 NKJV - …put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

This last verse sums things up.  We have had all these worldly thoughts and training that put us on a trajectory away from God.  God will not expect you to figure it all out as soon as you accept Christ.  That would blow your mind.  For me, it was good enough when he proved he had a power that blew away any other power I had felt before.  There is plenty of spiritual power out there and I had definitely messed with the wrong side.  That realization ignited my faith further and over the past nearly fourteen years, I have been peeling my onion layers off as I grow up as a child of God.  There will be a lot of tears, a lot of hard work, a lot of not wanting to let go of things contrary to him, but in the end it will be worth it.

Let God lead you on the right path for growing up as his child.  You have been cleansed by accepting Christ, so all your sins have been forgiven.  Don’t give up and someday you will realize you are running as a child of God and have gone beyond those struggles to crawl and walk.

Faith Versus Works

We cannot earn our way to heaven or God’s blessings.  It is by our faith, as explained in last week’s post, that we connect with God to gain salvation and blessings.

Galatians 2:16 NKJV – knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Charles Spurgeon – “Neither the Jewish Law of the ten commands nor its law of ceremonies was ever intended to save anybody.  By a set of pictures it set forth the way of salvation, but it was not itself the way.  It was a map, not a country; a model of the road, not the road itself.”

Galations 3:11 – But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”

God gave the Law so that people could truly know what was good and what was evil.  “The law is like a mirror.  All it can do is reflect what we are in truth – unclean and desperately in need of cleansing.”  (Ray Comfort, note on Gal 3:11 in The Evidence Bible.)  The law only shows us what needs to be fixed in order to be right with God.  Doing good things without faith in God will not bring us to salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9 – For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Our works should come from our faith instead.  They should be what we want to do because of our connection with God.  They are not done to acquire anything from God or from people.  Do good things because they help someone else regardless of any benefit you might get.  The only thing you should even think of is the benefits the other person will get from what you do for them.  The works we do through faith in God should inspire others to at least think about God.  It is seed planting in God’s kingdom.

God gave us the Holy Spirit upon accepting Christ, so that we have a helper and counselor in all that we do.  He will guide us in the right direction with what we should be doing for Him.  This will lead to us doing proper works that bless many.

Never stop doing good things, but make sure you realize why you are doing them.  If you are primarily doing them to gain something for yourself in return, you have missed the mark.  Let’s make sure our good works are simply to help others and inspire them to know Christ.  Let your faith in Him shine through those works with God’s love.

What is Faith?

Faith is our trustful response to God’s self-revelation via his words and his actions.  God initiates this relationship with us and lets us make the choice to accept it.  He provides evidence of his trustworthiness by speaking and acting into the world.  This trust in God is both objective and subjective.  God is objectively outside human beings and showing us the truth of His nature, which we can trust in.  We subjectively chose to believe or not.

It is by faith that we understand God.  If we don’t have the faith to start believing in him, we surely won’t get to know him either.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV).  We cannot see him or how he created the world.  By faith we understand that worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible (Hebrews 11:3).  If we read Genesis 1, it states that God ‘said’ and then it happened.  His very words created the world out of nothing.

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.  For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Romans 10:9-13.

Belief is the verb form of faith in our English translations.  We are to act on the testimony the world gives us through what we see and hear.  The resurrection of Jesus after he was crucified was proven by eye witnesses who saw him after.  God relied upon people to believe it was Jesus resurrected and in turn for them to tell the whole world of how God worked salvation for us through Jesus.  He made sure there was proof for people’s faith to act upon.

Once we accept Christ and become a Christian, God will see how the trials of life build or deplete our faith.  We are expected to have a relationship with him where he reveals himself more and more.  In doing so our faith is to grow.  Faith was one of the things Jesus admonished the most.  He kept asking why they had so little faith.  He did this with Peter when he started sinking into the water after a few steps.  He told them all they had little faith when they woke him from a sound sleep due to a storm they feared.

But faith is also a gift.  For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith, (Romans 12:3).  God gives each of us a measure of faith to work with and build upon as we live life according to his plan.

God wants us to have faith in him and accept him fully in body, mind and soul.  Either you chose to believe with all you are or you don’t.

Have you stepped out to accept Christ as your savior yet?  If not, the bible says we have no excuse not to know him and trust him.  If you are a Christian, don’t give up on Him even when your faith feels as small as a mustard seed.  Look what his disciples were capable of doing even when Jesus kept admonishing them about little faith.  They accepted and grew into men who changed the world for Christ.