Are We Both Saved?

 

If We are Both Saved, Why the difference?

Romans 8:15-17 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (v.16)  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (v.17) And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 

Some discussions have a way of being repeated ad infinitum through the years. Topics which seems to have no real resolution. Each person in a given discussion is some how able to support his view as well as we support our view which appears to be diametrically opposed to the other. Salvation is very much like that.

Myriad times, over the decades of my life as a Christian, I have engaged fellow believers in discussions about salvation. That is very common. And I am sure most of us have done the same. The road becomes a bit rocky though when we attempt to define ‘Christian’ in any concrete manner. Do Christians lie? Do Christians steal? Are Christians ever hateful? Parameters. We all want to set parameters. Because parameters help us to make concrete statements and definitions. We can define a Christian if we can decide on each of the defining parameters that make up the perfect Christian. Sadly, there is no such thing.

In many of the discussions I have been engaged in I have found it necessary to destroy parameters. The Law was a mega parameter. It was never intended to be one but religious society grabbed onto it almost as soon as it came down from the mountain with Moses. We want concrete barriers, laws, dictates that work like street signs for us, a list of all the daily mandates so that we can know, at the close of our day, we measured up.

Read the passage above again.  We have not received that old spirit which bound us by laws. When we got saved, when we realized our need of salvation and our utter incapability of acquiring salvation without Christ, he saved us by grace. He did not hand us a new law, no list of requirements to meet before salvation could be earned. Instead (v.15) we were given the Holy Spirit which placed us in the family of God by adoption. Did you ever see a baby earn adoption? Have you ever known a baby (properly adopted) who was given a list of things he must do in order to earn a true place in the family?

Our adoption goes one step further. Our Heavenly Father, by His Holy Spirit actually indwells us, He lives in us. We are His immediately and eternally. The Holy Spirit is our very proof of salvation (v.16) if we ever do doubt. This is what defines the Christian in that “concrete manner” we so often need. When doubt arises, we do not count our ‘good deeds’ and hope they are enough. We have the Holy Spirit of God within us reminding us that we are God’s family.

I believe this is what Paul had in mind when he said in 2Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” Examine yourselves to see if “Christ is in you.” In our passage above (v.16) the Spirit of God reassures the believer he is God’s child. God did not leave it up to a list of our good deeds. He placed His Spirit within us to give us daily assurance in a fallen world.

But look how far that assurance goes. Not only does He remind us of our status as children of God, but (v.17) we are assured that we are joint heirs with Christ as well. When Christ is glorified, we will be glorified with him. This is what stops us from sinning. This is our parameter. This is our concrete barrier against sin. When a true child of God sins (and we all do) we are brought back by the Holy Spirit’s reminder of whose we are. He reminds us who our father is. He makes real to us the offence our sin is to our Holy Father, the shame it brings to Him and the violence it does to our witness in this fallen world. We do not keep a new law of do’s and don’ts. We live in a new relationship with God where our behavior affects our relationship with God. We are His children (Hebrew 12:5-12). When children sin they still belong to their parents, but the relationship is strained and often the parent must punish the child. But they always remain family.

This is what I believe to be the difference discussed in our opening paragraphs; those times when I have engaged fellow believers in discussions about salvation and how one person could sin so much easier than another. And how we just could not agree on why so many professing believers could seem to live in sin and others, though they did sin, abhorred it and repented more quickly. I think the difference was this. In a false profession the Holy Spirit of God never indwells the unrepented heart. That individual is left to follow the law and live in bondage (v.15) and fear and never truly become a child of God. They are religious but lost.

God truly wants to bring us into His family, to make us His children and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And when we truly do become His children His Holy Spirit is an ever-present reality in our daily lives. It is no longer a matter of keeping stringent rules and laws. We are brought into a loving family. It is our daily existence. It is our new life. Why do I serve God? Because serving God is the natural course of my new life.

Does your life belong to God?

We have this inheritance

 

We have this inheritance

     Just thinking ahead to that day when we will realize the substance of the promises we have held for so long.

     I Peter 1:4-5 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

     Not only are we given a living hope of an eternal existence, but we also as joint heirs with Christ receive an inheritance unlike any other. Peter uses alliteration in the Greek which we lose in the English to make his point; aphthartos (incorruptible) amiantos (undefiled) amarantos (never fadeth away). Each of the three epithets he uses here begin with the Greek ‘a’ possibly as a means of helping the reader to remember each; though we cannot be sure of that now. Notice also that each is written in the negative. It has been said that in describing things of eternal beauty we often look at the world around us and say what will not be found there in an effort to help others grasp its splendor. Sin has so corrupted the world we live in that to describe heaven we must include the absence of those things affected by sin or those things which are the direct result of sin here. As testimony to that concept read how John uses negatives to describe the new heaven and earth and the heavenly city in his vision: Rev. 21:1, Rev. 21:4, Rev. 21:22 (and I saw no temple therein...), Rev. 21:23, Rev. 21:27; Rev. 22:3, Rev. 22:5.

      “Incorruptible” describes that which is imperishable. The promise of wealth in this world will perish. It might be ours for a short time but it cannot last. The inheritance we have in Christ cannot perish. What a grand contrast, we surrender what cannot last for that which cannot perish.

       “Undefiled” expresses that which is without defect or flaw and cannot be stained or corrupted. The inheritance we have cannot ever be lessened in its quality in any way.

      “That fadeth not away” carries the idea of withering like a flower, no blight or drought can affect it. The beauty of heaven today is the same as it ever was or ever will be. We will stand amazed on our millionth year the same as we did on our first day in heaven.

      To this beauty and inheritance we have a reservation. It is not what we wish might be ours someday. Rather, it is what we presently possess that gives us hope to endure in this sin filled world. Unlike earthly reservations heavenly reservations can never be lost or canceled. And to ensure our confidence Peter reminds us that these reservations have been made for those who are “kept by the power of God.” Could there be any promise more secure? In the prayer Jesus offered in John 17 he mentions that we are kept by God and by Jesus himself, John 17:11-12 “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

      “Through faith” indicates the cause or agency of that reservation i.e., which are kept as a result of having faith or expressing faith. Our inheritance was obtained by faith and is seen as already accomplished; the end result of which we are about to realize. Peter viewed heaven as just a breath away, an event that was just through the next door. By faith we received salvation and now God preserves us as we wait with reservation in hand for the materialization of that promise. Compare this to Romans 8:30 "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."

      The work of God in salvation was His work not ours and it is a finished work. We who receive Christ as savior are kept by the power of God already justified, glorified, and in possession of reservations which will never fade away, become defiled or corrupted in any way. God deserves all of our praise each and every day.

It is with absolute certainty that we have this inheritance.