The Big If

"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" - Galatians 6:9

Simeon and Anna Praise the Infant Jesus - Arent de Gelder, Public Domain Image

Once saved always saved is a controversial concept among Christians. I believe it is true, but the problem is that we are so passive in our salvation it is easy to deceive ourselves into thinking we are right with God when we are not. The Lord knows who trusts in him and who belongs to him. We have only our own thoughts, words, and deeds to indicate where our heart is at any given moment.

[21] And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled [22] In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister. – Colossians 1

“For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end.” – Hebrews 3:14

“And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.” – 2nd John:6

Run your race with patience and lean not into your own understanding. The Lord is faithful even when we are not.

While He May Be Found

With a “dark winter” approaching for many of us, it is important to seek the Lord while we still can.

“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” — Psalm 36:5-6

"The Flood" — Johann Heinrich Schönfeld, Public Domain Image

Verse 6 echoes back to Noah’s day. When the flood came and the people realized what was happening, the ark had already been sealed shut. Genesis 7:16 reads, “and the LORD shut him in.”

The time to get on the ark is now. Be a shut in, not a shut out.

This seems at odds with a lot of contemporary preaching that promises that God is ready, willing, and in fact obligated to save any and everyone the moment they ask him to. But the Bible is full of warnings not to shun the Lord’s counsel when time's seem to be going well for you. Proverbs, one of the most practical books in the counsel of God begins with the following:

[24] Because I have called, and ye refused;

I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

[25] But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

[26] I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.

[27] When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind;

when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

[28] Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer;

they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

[29] For that they hated knowledge,

And did not choose the fear of the LORD:

[30] They would none of my counsel:

They despised all my reproof.

[31] Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

[32] For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

Be a wise virgin and keep your lamps lit through the dark night. Keep an active prayer life and search the scriptures daily. For it is written:

“But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” Proverbs 1:33

Amen.

Sin Nature

Today, many people are drawn to genetic testing because they feel it puts them in control of their health and allows them to take preventive steps to avoid diseases which they may be prone to.

However, there is one disease that’s hardwired in us all, that requires no genetic testing to identify, and leads us all to a certain death; That is sin. Of course, there are those who don’t acknowledge sin nature or see harm in it, but thankfully we can look to the scriptures to guide us.

From Romans 5:12-14:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Sin and death have infected everyone from the time of Adam and onward, even in the absence of a formal law.

But God by his grace, introduced the Law through Moses, as standard by which to measure ourselves and as a sure sign that we will always come up short.

By nature we are sinful and fallen and so the sin on our souls should be the disease we’re most concerned with.

Romans 5:20-21:

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Law brought awareness to sin, driving mankind to seek righteousness and ultimately a savior in Jesus Christ.

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