Should Be Saved

The English language can be a tricky beast.  While language allows us to express our thoughts, feelings and reasoning, it is possible to write or say words that are misunderstood, read into and misinterpreted by others.  This is one reason why it is important to have conversations face to face, where potential confusion or misspoken words can be explained more clearly.  Fellowship with other believers is critical for mutual encouragement, edification and sharpening in the church.

Recently I had a conversation when I said something that resulted in a visible reaction:  "Some people should not be saved."  Perhaps your eyebrows also shot up reading this.  Seeing the startled look provided an opportunity to explain what I meant by such a statement.  God has plainly told us in the Bible that we have all gone out of the way, have become unprofitable sinners, and cannot do good.  The reality is, in light of God's holiness and righteousness, no one should be saved.  I was including myself among those who should not be saved because of sin, who cannot save themselves by any attempts to do good.

Christians know we should not be saved, yet we can know we have been soundly saved by grace through faith in Jesus.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast."  Having received salvation through the Gospel, we Christians believe all people should be saved because they can be saved.  Of course this does not mean all will be saved, for some are unwilling to come to Jesus and receive the free gift of salvation.  Jesus revealed Himself to be the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one can come unto the Father but by Him (John 14:6).

I love that Jesus has provided salvation for all people, and He has urged whosoever will to come to Him, find pardon of sin and rest for their souls forever.  Concerning Jesus Paul wrote in Romans 10:11-13, "For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. ¹³ For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."  Based on our sinful conduct we should not be saved, but we should be saved because of the love demonstrated to all people by God through the Gospel.  Wondering if we should be saved is a matter easily shot down by the Law of Moses, but God has brought grace and mercy into the equation by giving His only begotten Son to provide atonement so we can.  The question is, are we willing?

Drink Clear Waters

With Jesus Christ as our Good Shepherd, we will always be looked after continuously with love and care.  Unlike a hireling who would flee at the hint of danger or who avoided the hard, dirty work of providing for the needs of a flock,  Jesus laid down His life for all who would become the sheep of His pasture by faith in Him.  God had strong criticisms for pastors or shepherds of his flock in Israel who sought personal profit rather than the good of God's people entrusted to them--strong words Christians ought to lay to heart today.

In Ezekiel 34, God chastised priests and rulers in Israel who were feeding off the flock rather than feeding the flock.  Those who were meant to serve God's people felt entitled to be served by others and failed to do all the things good shepherds do for sheep.  Shepherding does not mean leaders ought to be controlling, intrusive or demanding of others, for we ought to follow the example of Jesus who loves, gives, serves, forgives and helps others without taking thought for His own life.  Rather than seeking those who were lost, strengthening the diseased, tending the sick or binding the broken, the shepherds in Israel ruled with force and cruelty (Eze. 34:4).  Their heavy-handed treatment caused God's people to scatter, and the LORD would hold His shepherds to account.

Seeing the priests and leaders in Israel were not fulfilling their calling before Him, God promised to step in and do all that had been neglected.  This ought to be a great encouragement to God's people who have experienced hurts and cruelty from people especially in churches.  God would seek out and deliver His people from everywhere they had been scattered and return them to Himself.  He asked a searching question to those in the flock that is appropriate and relevant for all God's people in the church to consider today in Ezekiel 34:18-19:  "Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture--and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹ And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet."  Again, in context this rebuke concerns the whole flock of God--not just the shepherds or leaders.

While the word of God preached from the pulpit is important and powerful, this passage shows us all the people in God's congregation have the capacity to trample and "muddy the waters" so to speak.  God used an analogy of sheep that eagerly tromped into the water and polluted it by stirring up mud, sediment and refuse with filthy hooves.  When other sheep followed them to quench their thirst, they were left with muddy, impure water because of sheep that preceded them.  How can Christians muddy the waters?  By stirring up doubts or contradictions, confusion and bias, by putting yourself and your opinions before others.  People can be contentious for all to agree with them over secondary issues or regarding personal convictions, and they foster divisions rather than edifying one another in love because they do not focus on what God has clearly said.  God forbid pastors or Sunday School teachers would muddy the waters with their own agenda and cause people to depart church spiritually hungry and thirsty because we neglected to provide the pure water of the word.  Ezekiel 34 teaches us those who hear also have a responsibility before God not to pollute the clear waters by their meddlesome agitations, to ensure others have access to the pure, life-giving spring that comes from Jesus Christ.

Those who have been subjected to muddy waters can look to the LORD with joyful expectancy.  In contrast to those who foul clear water with their feet, see what God has promised to do in Ezekiel 34:23-26:  "I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them--My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. ²⁵ "I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing."  God has fulfilled His promise through Jesus Christ who is the Good Shepherd and has established the new covenant in His own blood.  No longer do we need to fear beasts or demons in the darkness, for Jesus will protect us wherever we are.  By faith in Him we are safe, secure and all our needs abundantly provided for.  We are not subject to drinking the muddy waters because God has showed His grace upon us and made us a fountain of the Living Water of the Holy Spirit who indwells us.  How awesome and wonderful is our Good Shepherd Jesus who loves, protects and provides for our needs always!

Power of the Holy Spirit

 I was blessed to read a sermon by C.H. Spurgeon which exhorted believers to rely upon the Holy Spirit to do the impossible, to perfectly accomplish what we could never do by our own efforts.  May you be encouraged in knowing God and experiencing the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus.  Here is an excerpt in the conclusion of the sermon preached long ago but remains as relevant as ever:

"The power of the Holy Spirit is your bulwark, and all his omnipotence defends you.  Can your enemies overcome omnipotence? then they can conquer you.  Can they wrestle with Deity, and hurl him to the ground? then they might conquer you.  For the power of the Spirit is our power; the power of the Spirit is our might.

Once again, Christians, if this is the power of the Spirit, why should you doubt anything?  There is your son.  There is that wife of yours, for whom you have supplicated so frequently; do not doubt the Spirit's power.  "Though he tarry, wait for him."  There is thy husband, O holy woman! and thou hast wrestled for his soul.  And though he is ever so hardened and desperate a wretch, and treats thee ill, there is power in the Spirit.  And, O ye who have come from barren churches, with scarcely a leaf upon the tree, do not doubt the power of the Spirit to raise you up.  For it shall be a "pasture for flocks, a den of wild asses," open but deserted, until the Spirit is poured out from on high.  And then the parched ground shall be made a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; and in the habitations of dragons, where each lay shall be grass with reeds and rushes.  And, O ye members of Park Street! ye who remember what your God has done for you especially, never distrust the power of the Spirit.  Ye have seen the wilderness blossom like Carmel, ye have seen the desert blossom like the rose, trust him for the future.  Then go out and labour with this conviction, that the power of the Holy Ghost is able to do anything.  Go to your Sunday School; go to your tract distribution; go to your missionary enterprise; go your preaching in your rooms, with the conviction that the power of the Spirit is our great help.

And now, lastly, to you sinners.  What is there to be said to you about this power of the Spirit?  Why, to me, there is some hope for some of you.  I cannot save you; I cannot get at you.  I make you cry sometimes--you wipe your eyes, and it is all over.  But I know my Master can.  That is my consolation.  Chief of sinners, there is hope for thee!  This power can save you as well as anybody else.  It is able to break your heart, though it is an iron one; to make your eyes run with tears, though they have been like rocks before.  His power is able this morning, if he will, to change your heart, to turn the current of all your ideas; to make you at once a child of God, to justify you in Christ.  There is power enough in the Holy Spirit.  ye are not straightened in him, but in your own bowels.  He is able to bring sinners to Jesus; he is able to make you willing in the day of his power.  Are you willing this morning? has he gone so far as to make you desire his name; to make you wish for Jesus?  Then, O sinner! whilst he draws you, say, "Draw me, I am wretched without thee."  Follow him, follow him; and, while he leads, tread you in his footsteps, and rejoice that he has begun a good work in you, for there is an evidence that he will continue it even unto the end.  And, O desponding one! put thy trust in the power of the Spirit.  Rest on the blood of Jesus, and thy soul is safe, not only now, but throughout eternity.  God bless you, my hearers.  Amen." (Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. Spurgeon’s Sermons: V. 1-2. Baker Books, 2004. pages 131-133)

From Wretched to Glorious

"If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now--if I have found favor in Your sight--and do not let me see my wretchedness!"

Numbers 11:15

Based on the words of Moses, his wretchedness was a truly awful thing.  He begged for God to kill him rather than to be confronted with his own inadequacies, failures, folly--not to mention his own unbelief.  It does not appear Moses was at all inclined toward self-harm or truly desired death, but he was totally disgusted by his own wickedness and depravity.  This is why many respect Moses, for by faith in God he was a righteous man, a friend of God, meek and humble.  Statements like this make him relatable to those who also realise the ugliness of their own wretchedness, our eyes having been opened by God to see the sobering truth about our own sin.

Today as I drove on my way to do errands suddenly a series of bad experiences from my past flooded through my mind one after another.  One was a cringeworthy thing I said; another exposed sinful motives of my heart.  As I shook my head in disgust with myself, I was reminded of this statement from Moses.  I did not ask for the LORD to kill me here and now, but the displeasure of confronting my own wretchedness was acutely felt.  Moses desired to have favour in the sight of God, and it is truly God's grace that He opens our eyes to see our sinfulness, need for pardon and transformation.  As much as I would love to never remember those terrible experiences with my wretchedness on display, I can see value in God using them to remind me how unlike Him I am in my flesh.

Eliphaz spoke truly in Job 5:17-18, "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. ¹⁸ For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole."  God forbid His people should be smoke in His nostrils, arrogant hypocrites who are "holier than thou" and see no need for repentance from sin in them.  When self-righteousness creeps into our hearts it makes us very sensitive to the flaws of others and simultaneously blinds us to our own wretchedness.  It does us no good to boast in our sins or to wallow in past failures when we are called to repent and do what is good.  We can look back with longing over regrettable sins of the past we cannot change, or we can turn our eyes to Jesus who is glorious for healing and wholeness.

When God reminds us of our wretched natural state, we are given the choice to dwell on our faults or to to humble ourselves in repentance and look to God who is holy, righteous and a saviour for all who cry out to Him.  I love how Jesus makes all things new, and as Christians we no longer yoked to the past as what defines us.  Our new identity is found in Jesus Christ, and our future is bright and glorious even if our past (which includes what happened earlier today!) is sordid and repulsive.  God saw our wretchedness and sent His only begotten Son Jesus so we sinners could be redeemed and forgiven.  In light of such love, let us fix our eyes and desires upon our glorious Saviour with joyful admiration.