Devotional: A Know-So Salvation
April 20, 2006
“I have written to you who believe in . . . the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.†— I John 5:13
Many Christians lack the joy and victory in their salvation because they will not take God at His word. Instead of seeking Him in Holy Scripture that is illuminated by the empowering Holy Ghost that we all they receive at confirmation, many refuse to accept what is clearly written, but rely, instead, on either overly-intellectual rationalizations or personal feelings and emotions. Either course places our own souls directly in the pathway of hearing our God speak from the pages of the Word.
Bible teacher H. A. Ironside related a personal experience that helps us understand the importance of believing the Word of God. After he had read some passages about trusting Christ to a woman he was advising, she said, “Well, I am trying to believe.”
“Trying to believe whom?” asked Ironside. “It is God who has spoken in His Word. Are you saying you’re trying to believe Him?” Immediately she saw the light and exclaimed, “Oh, I didn’t realize what I was saying. Yes, I do believe what God has declared.” At last her heart found rest.
If we have placed our trust in the Lord Jesus, we should not worry about salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ won that on Resurrection Day. Instead, to build our faith, we should ask God the Holy Ghost to open the Scriptures to our life-changing understanding. Through Him, then we can believe what the Bible says, and claim our new lives given us through faith in Our Lord. John 1:12 promises, ” But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name.” Take God at His word. Then you too will have a know-so salvation and see your life changed by the Blood, Word and Spirit.
He is risen!
By Grace,
Chip+
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Choose to Know Him
April 1, 2006
“I know whom I have believed. II Timothy 1:12
When the great Princeton scholar James Alexander lay on his deathbed, his wife incorrectly quoted 2 Timothy 1:12, “I know in whom I have believed.” Gently, he corrected her for adding the word “in.â€Â Even then, he wanted to make it clear that, in addition to possessing an accurate understanding of the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, he knew Him in a deeply personal way. He saw his impending death as the door through which he would be ushered immediately into the presence of the One he had come to love and know so well.
I’ve talked and prayed with a number of people on death’s door, and have witnessed emotions ranging from terror to anticipation. Even among Christians, I’ve seen some die more triumphantly than others. Believers who show the most confidence at death are those with a deeply personal relationship with our Lord Jesus. Like St. Paul, they can honestly say, “I know whom I have believed.” That calls a question for us all to answer, because, as St. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:11-13 if we internalize the eternal Truth that Jesus is Lord, we are then compelled to work our own salvation out before God, with fear and trembling. The remaining issue, then, is if He is Lord, and we have worked out our own salvation, then we have done so by coming to know Him personally. And, my beloved in Christ, I would submit for our Lenten meditations this thought: that the reverse is also true. If we do not know Him personally, He is not Lord to us and we do not know whom we have believed. If, however, in the quiet of examen in our hearts, we cannot emphatically say we know our Lord personally, we can trump that uncertainty easily by our own action and choice, thanks be to God.
To develop intimacy with the Savior, we simply choose to spend time with Him…in our Bibles, expressing our love to Him in prayer, and being doers of His Word, as empowered by God the Holy Ghost. As we hollow out the spaces in our lives for the Lord to work and dwell, we can learn to follow the Spirit’s prompting and instruction, renewing our minds, so we too will be able to say, “I know whom I have believed.”
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