God Will Win

HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE

What impression should we give to souls as we proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to them, whether in a preaching service or a one on one evangelistic opportunity? Should we lead them to believe that God wants to save everyone? Should we lead them to believe that God is trying His best to get sinners to believe the gospel message?

How we speak to sinners gives them impressions about the God on whose behalf we are speaking. Should we preach (or speak) to souls as if their salvation depended upon us? Is it proper that we give the impression that God is dependent upon us in some way for the salvation of sinners?

While the answers to these questions may be difficult to give in a short article like this, I know for sure that God does not want Himself misrepresented to the world of mankind that He created. We who know Him because we have been given eternal life have the responsibility of representing Him and the truth about Him. We must be careful not to allow our representation of God to be controlled by the person or persons to whom we are seeking to reach. We must be truthful regardless of the result. We must proclaim the gospel in truth so that it is first a sweet savour of Christ unto God, whether the hearers are saved or perish (2 Corinthians 2:15).

Should we preach the gospel with soul urgency? Should we preach the gospel as ambassadors for Christ pleading with sinners to be reconciled to God? Should we plead as though God was pleading through us? Yes! This is clearly the message of 2 Corinthians 5:20.

We must tell sinners that God wants them to repent and believe. This is God’s command to all men everywhere (Acts 17:30). They must know that not repenting and believing is sinful rebellion against God. We must stand on behalf of God, on the authority of God, with confidence in God as we labor to proclaim the message of God (1 Cor. 3:9) that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not  perish, but have everlasting life. We must declare in Christ’s stead, that He came into the world to save sinners. God obviously wants to save sinners!

But in the final analysis, we must not present God as One who is trying to do something that He can’t do without the sinner’s help. We must so speak to sinners that they are left with a sense of utter helplessness in themselves and be moved to call upon the Lord for mercy. They must not be left to think that if they continue in their rebellion against God, that God has failed. He will save all whom He intends to save.                   

Eternal Life Now

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

In John 17:2, Jesus speaks to His Father about His responsibility toward those the Father gave to Him. The Father gave all power to His Son so that His Son might give eternal life to all that the Father gave to Him. The gift of the Father through the Son is eternal life. The Father glorified the Son by the resurrection and exaltation of His Son to the glory He had with Him before the world was. The Son glorifies the Father by giving eternal life to those the Father gave to Him.

Jesus adds in His prayer an explanatory note about eternal life that is very significant. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. It is possible to understand Jesus’ words as an explanation as to what eternal life is. While eternal life has other dimensions and implications, it is essentially the life of God. When a sinner is given eternal life, he is given the life of God. This is Christ in  you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). This eternal life is in Jesus Christ, and is ours when we have the Son (1 John  5:11,12).

When Jesus says, that they might know, He is saying that eternal life is more than simply a stagnant blessing reserved for a future age. He is emphasizing the very purpose for eternal life. In other words, eternal life is the gift that enables us to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ… To know Him is both the essence and the goal of eternal life.

When Jesus gives eternal life we receive the capacity to know in a way and to a degree that we never knew before. The darkness of our minds because of sin that kept us far from the only true God, and Jesus Christ is removed by eternal life. We are no longer without God in the world. The gospel is no longer hidden. We are no longer going about to establish our own righteousness. We are submitted to the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Eternal life is at work in us enabling us to increase in life-impacting knowledge of God.

If we have eternal life, given by and in Jesus Christ, we can pray with the Apostle Paul for increase of knowledge (Eph. 1:16-19; 3:16-19). We understand his passion when he wrote, that I may know Him. We are continually growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is eternal life and this is the goal of eternal life.

Do you have the gift that keeps on giving? You need to be dependent upon Jesus Christ for this gift. He alone has the power to give it. When He gives eternal life you will continually be changed into His image as your life is shaped by knowing Him.

(For exposition of John 171-5: cbcweb.net/weekly-pulpit-2016/)