Virtual Devotions

 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” – Hebrews 11:1

Dear Friends,

My discussion on “losing your salvation” continued last week as I listed the ingredients for a stronger faith given to us by Peter.  I intended to begin today with the first ingredient, goodness.  But I decided to first make sure we all understand the meaning of faith.  What is faith?  The writer of Hebrews tells us simply that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Let’s start with the first part, being sure of what we hope for.  To answer this we have to ask, “What is it that we hope for?”  Certainly, we hope for a lot of things, but the salvation hope is to be with Christ for eternity.  This is known as glorification, the final stage of the salvation process.  So faith is being sure of and looking ahead to being glorified with Christ.

The second aspect of faith is being certain of what we do not see.  To best clarify this, I will turn to Paul and his letter to the Romans.  Paul told them that if they confessed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and they believed in their hearts God raised Him from the dead, they would be saved.  Confessing Jesus as Lord is related to the first aspect of faith,  being sure of our eternal life with Him.  After all, if Jesus is not Lord, we won’t be spending eternity with Him.

But believing that God raised Jesus from the dead is something that we, and the Romans, may have difficulty with.   Seeing is believing, as they say, and no one alive today has seen the risen Christ.  Yet we must believe it is true.  Remember, faith is also being certain of what we have not seen. If the is no resurrection, there is no glorification.  And as Paul put it to the Corinthians, if there is no resurrection, “we are to be pitied more than all men.”  So the second half of our faith is believing in the resurrection.

This is Christian faith, being sure of and looking forward to our eternal salvation in Christ and being certain of the resurrection of the body, first of Christ, then of ourselves.  If you are not sure of these things, you may from time to time doubt your own salvation and the power of God to do what He has promised.  Your faith needs to be strengthened.  Next week I’ll start strengthening your faith with goodness.

For more on faith, I encourage you to read Hebrews 11.

In Christ,

David 

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.” 2 Peter 1:5-7

Dear Friends,

Last week, in my continuing series on making your salvation sure, I told you about the order of salvation, the step-by-step process of being saved.  Of course, salvation is a divine mystery and I must be careful to note that our efforts to understand the will of God must be approached with reverence due to our own ignorance. In this, as in all things divine, the revealed will of God, the Holy Bible, must be our guide.

When someone is concerned if they are saved or not, it is often because they do not see the fruit of their salvation.  Maybe they struggle with sin, maybe they are ineffective and unproductive in their Christian walk or maybe they simply have forgotten that they are saved.  Why does this happen?  I would suggest that they are not working to grow in holiness.

The beginning of your salvation is dependent upon God.  He calls you and makes you into a new creation.  It is only after you have been regenerated that you can turn in repentance and faith.  As the process continues, you take on more responsibility.  Peter tells us what we need to do to grow in our sanctification.  We need to build up our faith.

How do we build up our faith?  We do it by adding goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.   We should add to these things in increasing measure meaning that we never stop adding these ingredients to our faith.

Next week I will continue by looking at these ingredients more closely.

In Christ,

David

“And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” – Romans 8:30

Dear Friends,

Last week, I began this series on making your salvation sure.  Many people are concerned that they aren’t saved or may lose their salvation.  I am here to tell you that if you have been elected and called by God, you are and will be saved.

When God calls you, He gives you a new mind and a new heart.  You are regenerated.  With this regenerated mind, you can turn to away from sin in repentance and toward God in faith.  This is known as conversion and it occurs at the hearing of the Gospel.  With your conversion, you are then justified before God.  That is, you are declared righteous, blameless, and not guilty before God because Jesus Christ has taken the punishment you deserve.  Now that you are perfect in your position before God, you are suitable for adoption, and God adopts you into His family.  You are now a child of God.  All of this may happen seemingly instantaneously.  The entire process is a mystery, but this order of salvation is man’s best effort to understand it.

Now that you are a child of God, you will continue the process through sanctification, a growing in holiness, and perseverance, by staying true to God through trials and tribulations, until the day when Christ returns again and you are glorified.  Sanctification and perseverance are the hallmarks of the true believer and this will be the subject of our discussion next week.

In Christ,

David