Assurance of His Promises

When Christ takes possession of our spirit, He gives us His rest for our soul – our mind, will and emotions. His righteousness, peace and joy give us a new life, which replaces our life of worry and deprivation (Romans 14:17). He provides all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). We live in ceaseless wonder at the sacrifice He made for us, and the heavenly home, which He provides for us, as we abide in Him forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

We no longer seek to sanctify our self by crucifying our flesh or by our works for God (Galatians 3:1-3), but we accept the work of Christ on the cross for us, which gives us eternal salvation simply by our relationship with Him (John 17:3). By faith, we accept His sacrifice on our behalf (Hebrews 7:22), and we submit to His Spirit as He crucifies the deeds of our flesh (Romans 15:16).

The nation of Israel is a perfect example of God’s people who try in the power of their flesh to live for God (Hebrews 8:7-9). They occasionally made great strides, but they constantly failed to keep the law. We have no more success than they did in obeying God’s Word on our own. We fail just as miserably.

As we rely on our triune God, He sanctifies us through our union with Christ (1 Corinthians 1:2,30), the washing of the water of His Word (Ephesians 5:26) and our obedience to His Word (Hebrews 12:14; 2 Timothy 2:21-22). We are the sons of God (1 John 3:2), members of Christ’s Body (Romans 12:5), and filled with the fruit of His Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). We do not work for God, but Christ lives and works in and through us (Colossians 1:27; Ephesians 2:10).

Our justification, sanctification and glorification are not obtained through our human effort, but by the work of our triune God within us (Titus 3:5). Our Father God provides our sanctification (Hebrews 8:10-12; Philippians 2:12-13), Jesus is the instrument of our sanctification (Ephesians 5:26), and the Spirit does the work of sanctification within us (2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

 

Prayer:
Father God, Your Word is truth and You sanctify us by it (John 17:17). We are heirs of Your promise (Ephesians 3:6). We find our rest in Your everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27). Thank You for giving us Jesus as both the fulfillment and the guarantee of Your covenant with us. You cause us to walk in Your ways and to keep your statutes (Ezekiel 36:7), and You give us Your assurance by Your promises (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Thought for the Day:

The more we abide in Christ, we deeper we realize the security and blessings of our position and promise in Him.

 

Meeting at the Cross

Read: John 3:16-18

“All creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” - Romans 8:19

Jesus Christ left His divine habitat in heaven and shed every vestige of privilege in order to live as one of us for thirty-three years. Then, in the prime of His life, He willingly gave Himself as a ransom for the penalty of our sins. He loved us while we were still lost in our sins. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus faced the terrifying dread of what He would suffer on Calvary’s cross (Matthew 26:42-44). He spared Himself no pain, however, to guarantee that we receive the best not only in life, but also in eternity.

In today’s society there are still people who volunteer to sacrifice their life as terrorist, fighting for their greater cause. They willingly blow themselves up in order to kill as many people as they can. Their cause is misguided and their intentions are evil. It is the character of sin to destroy and wound. They do not have a heavenly home awaiting their arrival. Such tragedies cause many to reel from the grief of these assaults. However, God collects the tears of everyone who is devastated by these acts of injustice in His bottle and He records these travesties in His journal (Psalm 56:8).
 

Jesus, the Man of beauty, infinite goodness and boundless love made a way for everyone willing to open their heart to Him. If we choose to turn our back on temporal distractions, He will draw us closer to Himself on a daily basis. He asks us to meet Him at the cross and to lay our life down in service for Him (Matthew 16:24). Jesus showed relentless compassion and sacrificial love when He considered us over His own need. His final burden was His separation from His union with our Father, something that had never been broken prior to the cross (Matthew 27:46; Psalm 22:1).

People blame God for the suffering in the world; however, He actually gave His life to end suffering for all time. Mankind suffers from our own selfishness, greed, corruption and hypocrisy; yet we blame the one Being who loves us more than life itself for all of the suffering in the world. No one is more deserving of gratitude and love, and no one receives more misguided animosity, bitterness and denunciation than He does.

We, who are reproachable and defiled in every way and undeserving of forgiveness, judge God as lacking because He does not live up to our standards of what is right, fair and good. Yet, God in His infinite patience waits for our response of genuine love for Him. He requires nothing of us against our will, but He asks us to submit our will to His for our ultimate good. He took the sin of the world on Himself in order to heal mankind of our physical and spiritual wounds (John 1:29).
 

Jesus did this so that we can renounce the subtleties of sin in our life, and instead, seek a union with our triune God. Once we give our life to Him, we feel the pain of what hurts Him, we see the injustice that blames Him and we defend the Christian brother and sister who live in His honor. Jesus alone is worthy of all of adoration and praise; yet, He receives the most ridicule and misunderstanding.
 

Jesus forfeited His power and authority in heaven to take on the form of a man, and He tolerated the abuse of the crucifixion to save us all from the penalty of our sins (Hebrews 2:14; Matthew 4:4). Without Him our life is full of pain, disappointment and tragedy. He alone makes our life on this earth abundant and full of mercy and truth (John 16:33). God desires to use us to help Him to alter the destiny of our friends, relatives, associates and neighbors from everlasting destruction to eternal bliss by sharing with them what God does for us on a daily basis (2 Timothy 4:2).
 

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You accepted our degradation in our place. You gave us Your spotless perfection in exchange and prevented the need for us to suffer for our willful disobedience to our Holy God. We confess our sins and ask You to be our Savior. We look forward to walking with You every day of the rest of our life and to joining You in the new heaven and the new earth for all eternity (Romans 8:20-22.)

Thought for the Day:

Everything Christ did in His life and death, He did for you and for me.