Tag: Assurance

Cultivating a Life of Faith:  A Man of Promise – Genesis 21.1-21 (Pt 11)

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We must read Abraham’s story with our own in mind.  What have we learned from his journey?  Those cultivating a life of faith must…

  1. …be set apart from the world, to God, and for His glory (Genesis 12.1-4).
  2. …begin with a proper perspective of God and upon godliness (Genesis 12.5-20).
  3. …deny self and choose the path of separation (Genesis 13.1-18).
  4. …be courageous enough to see beyond today and serve the King of Peace (Genesis 14.1-24).
  5. …persevere and imitate those who have already received the promises (Genesis 15.1-21).
  6. …refuse to compromise and live lives of conviction (Genesis 16.1-16).
  7. …be properly motivated for a daily commitment to God (Genesis 17.1-27).
  8. …develop intimacy with integrity in order to effectively intercede on the behalf of others (Genesis 18.1-33).
  9. …be intolerant of sin (Genesis 19.1-38).
  10. …acknowledge and confess carnality before our Heavenly Father (Genesis 20.1-18).

Genesis 21 brings us to the realization of a promise God had made to Abraham through the provision of a son, namely Isaac.  Yet Sarah’s solution through her handmaid Hagar and the subsequent birth of Ishmael continues to create problems.  Hagar and Ishmael are both driven away from the homestead and into the wilderness where God continues to provide for both.

Isaac:  The Promised Son (21.1-7)

God promised an heir all along.  He had asked, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son” (Genesis 18.14).  Now in clear, unmistakable terms God keeps His promise “as He had said”, “as He had spoken”, and at the set time “of which He had spoken.”

The Lord visited Sarah.  This marks a momentous event.  God will visit the children of Israel and look upon their affliction when they are in bondage in Egypt.  Luke 1.68 tells us that the Lord God of Israel “visited and redeemed His people.”  Later, after Jesus raises the widow’s son, great fear comes upon all, they glorify God and say, “…God has visited His people” (Luke 7.16).  The birth of Isaac points to an even greater birth:  “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given…” (Isaiah 9.6a).

This passage reveals that Sarah laughs a second time.  The first time she laughed, it was a nervous laughter years ago when God had revealed what He would do.  She laughs now out of sheer joy, and we laugh with her some four thousand years later.  When she asks the question, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children?”  She acknowledges that only God could be at work in her life.  And, indeed, only God could be at work in delivering the promised son.

Sarah desired to see God work in her life, but she hardly believed it possible.  Sometimes it is easy for us to ignore the fact that God is at work in and through us.  Other times, we take credit for what He has done and strut in arrogant opposition to Him.  Be careful with this.  As James Dixon wrote, “We seldom consider that a request to see God work in our lives may be a request for testing and trial.”  This is exactly what happened to Sarah, and God made her laugh!

Ishmael:  The Parting Son (21.8-21)

Ishmael scoffed.  You won’t settle what is meant by this by merely studying the lexical meaning of the word.  Was Ishmael cruel toward Isaac?  Was he arrogantly asserting his own position as the oldest son and, therefore, the rightful heir?  Was he simply being immature, showing a lack of respect?  Whatever the answer, Ishmael simply did not understand his place in the house of Abraham.  It was also some form of persecution because Galatians 4.29 makes that clear.  Isaac was the heir and Ishmael was not.  So Sarah has Abraham send Ishmael and his mother away into the wilderness.  But God meets them both in their distress.  He will not only care for Hagar and her son; he will make good on His promise to make a great nation from Ishmael.

Sarah sinned when she gave Hagar to Abraham back in Genesis 16.  Abraham sinned by not leading Sarah and fostering security in the promises of God.  Ishmael sinned in scoffing at the plan of God.  Sin brings judgment.  When Hagar realized she carried Ishmael, she despised Sarah.  Things were never the same.  Abraham gave Sarah the power and discretion to handle the situation with Hagar.  So in a spirit of vindictiveness and retaliation, Sarah treated her without mercy for her insolence.

Sarah sought for a solution to a problem.  But because she acted independently of God, an avalanche of consequences came crushing down on Abraham’s family.  Sarah sought for blessing and happiness but found only struggle and misery.  Hagar had to return to Sarah, which must have really been a humbling experience.  She must submit again to Sarah, but she must have struggled to maintain a good relationship with her.  Now in Genesis 21 Sarah casts out Hagar and Ishmael for good.

Abraham was very displeased.  This was his son that had been cast out.  God had told Abraham in Genesis 17.20:  “I have blessed [Ishmael], and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly.  He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.”  And God would do exactly what He had promised.  Only Abraham could not be a part of Ishmael’s life.  Ishmael would have to be entirely entrusted to God.  God will use this event in Galatians 4 as a portrait for the salvation He now offers:

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband.” Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free (Galatians 4.21-31).

We are children of the freewoman.  Christians are similar to Isaac in that we experience supernatural birth.  We are a part of the fulfillment of God’s promise to mankind.  Unto us a Son is given!  We should not live as those enslaved.  As Ishmael persecuted Isaac, those according to the flesh persecute those according to the Spirit.  Those according to the flesh are true legalists.  They believe that what they do merits favor with God and will gain them an inheritance.  We should cast out the legalist from our assembly even as Abraham cast out Ishmael.  The legalist will not share in the inheritance with the legitimate sons and daughters of God.  Those who believe they can won’t!  But is it possible for a genuine Christian to revert to legalism?  Yes!  And when he or she does, they ought to be confronted.  They ought to repent and trust fully in Christ for sanctification as they did for justification.  We are children of faith not children of the flesh.

 1. Those born according to the flesh will persecute those born according to the Spirit.

We could not apply this text in Genesis 21 in this specific way if Paul did not do so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 4.  Genesis 21 is instructive in showing us the heart of man.  Those born according to the flesh will persecute those born according to the Spirit.  It will always be this way.  As a matter of fact, a Christian walking in the flesh (condition) even though he is in the Spirit (position) will often persecute his own brother or sister in Christ.

Anyone born according to the flesh or walking in the flesh just cannot endure the fact that anyone could walk according to the Spirit and be blessed and favored by God.  Jesus says in John 15.19:  “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”  That we call ourselves saints or elect ones in Christ is enough to provoke the hatred of the world.  Ishmael mocked Isaac.  Israel mocked the Christ.  Those in the flesh mock the true sons and daughters of God.  “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (1 Timothy 3.12).

 2. Those born according to the Spirit are true children of the promise.

We are justified by faith; therefore, we are no longer bound under the tutor (Galatians 3.24-25).  We are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  If we are Christ’s, then we are truly heirs of the promise (Galatians 3.29).  As children of the promise, we must escape the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1.4).  We must cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7.1).  As Christians we are empowered by the Holy Spirit of God to demonstrate the righteousness of the Son of God for the glory of God.  Anything short of this goal is not normal Christianity.  We must truly be Spirit-fed and Spirit-led Christians.  True Christians evidence the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  If they don’t, they will have no personal assurance that they are children.  We won’t be assured of that fact either.  There are always weeds among the stalks of wheat.

 3. Those who are sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father shall share together in the inheritance as saints of light.

Paul wrote:

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light (Colossians 1.9-12).

Only the saints in the light are partakers of the Father’s inheritance.  He will cast out all others.  There is neither Jew nor Greek in God’s economy of grace.  All are one in Christ.  Anyone who refuses Christ will not participate in the inheritance which awaits us in Heaven above.  Those who stand on the promises will alone find a solid foundation for their hope, namely the confident expectation that Jesus is coming to take believers to be with Him forever!  What great assurance!  We will not be disinherited.  We cannot be.  We have so much in Christ!  There is so much yet in store for us.  It is simply unreasonable for us not to live for Him.

Parents must endeavor to keep their families together for the glory of God.

Every family is dysfunctional.  Dad acts like an imperial dictator.  Mom wallows in self-pity.  The children are lazy and rebellious.  Family members take one another for granted.  Children scoff and mock when it comes to their siblings.  Not much has changed in 4,000 years.  Our joy can turn to sorrow in a hurry.

As parents, we must endeavor to keep our families together in spite of all of this.  We must avoid rashness and unreasonable demands.  We must respond with the same compassion and mercy that governs our Heavenly Father when we sin against Him.  If we must correct our children, let us temper that correction with genuine prayer.  Let us not be extreme in our response.  We can be excessively permissive and excessively autocratic.  Both are hurtful.  Ask yourself, “What does the Scripture teach?”  Pray for discernment.

The most severe correction should be reserved for scoffing at the will of God in family life.  Meet children head-on when they don’t pay attention to and make fun of your Bible time together.  If they don’t take seriously the things of God, we cannot let it pass.  If they must pluck out an eye or cut off an arm to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, so be it.  What we must be careful of is to make sure we don’t correct our children for our pleasure and convenience.  We cannot discipline our children in anger for this very reason.  It is not for our profit, but for His (and theirs)!

All of us who are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father are secure.

Jesus said of His true disciples, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10.28-29).

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8.35-39).

It’s not the privileges in store.  It’s not the possessions we hold.  It’s the promises we have.  Rely on the promises of God.  Read the Bible not just for a list of duties before God and man; read it to receive the promises of your Heavenly Father.  Let this sink in as you read it:  The Son of God loved you and gave Himself for you (Galatians 2.20).

“Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…” (Ephesians 2.19).

Paul J. Tillich

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Paul J. Tillich, who until his death in the mid-1960s was one of America’s best-known theologians.  He established his career in his native Germany before coming to the US during the rise of Hitler and later becoming an American citizen.  He was a constant student of the Scripture; his students claimed that he could quote the entire Greek NT from memory.  On his deathbed he asked his wife to read to him again from his beloved Greek New Testament.  Yet Tillich was a regular user of pornography and repeatedly was unfaithful to his wife.  Furthermore, “The System,” as he called his theological beliefs, rejected the importance of the literal truth of Scripture or even the literal existence of Jesus Christ.  He played a major role in applying existentialist philosophy to Scripture and in so doing helped place a wedge between an entire generation of theological students and the God they studied.

The Holy Spirit brings about salvation in our hearts.  No amount of study will enable a man to know God apart from the Holy Spirit.

From my study in the BJU British Literature Curriculum

Rest Assured! God is Light!

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“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

Light represents the power and presence of God in creation.  God said, “Let there be light!”  There was light, God saw it, and proclaimed it good (see Genesis 1-2).  Light also communicates the idea of delight and endearment.  The husband loving says to his wife, “You are the light of my life!”

All living organisms depend upon light for life.  Our perception of color and context exists because of light.  Light is the epitome of discovery and development.  Intellectually, light represents knowledge, truth, and revelation.  It connotes wisdom and comprehension:  “The lightbulb finally went on!”  We speak of the light at the end of the tunnel as a euphemism for hope and help.

While all these things are true, John emphasizes something altogether different in this verse. John writes, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”  That is, God is morally pure and holy; He is Light.  He is right, good, and truthful.  There are three claims made in the context of 1 John 1 which are important and focus our understanding of light to mean God’s moral purity.

  1. If we say that we have fellowship with God, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth (1.6).
  2. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1.8).
  3. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and His word is not in us (1.10).

Some may say a fourth claim exists in v. 9:  If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  But this claim is a claim to a promise not a claim to self-delusion.  It is the remedy not the problem.

Notice John uses the pronoun we throughout the passage.  It is possible for the Apostle John, the other apostles, and all first century Christians to make the claims above.  John is capable of wrong thinking as well as right thinking.  He is able to make self-delusive claims as well as claim the promise of cleansing.  All Christians are potentially able to do the same.

I believe this verse is John’s declaration concerning the moral character of God.  If we are to rightly relate with God, we must know that He is light.  There is absolutely no darkness in Him.  But we cannot make such a claim about ourselves.  There is darkness in all of us.  So we certainly have a common problem.

This is the Message

John saw with his eyes and handled with his hands the Word of Life (1.1-4).  He testified and declared to the church that eternal life was with the Father and manifested to him and the other apostles.  In turn he declares to the Asia Minor churches (perhaps beginning at Ephesus) and broadens the sphere of fellowship.

What is the message that Jesus revealed to John?  It is that which he heard from Jesus and declares to us.  This is foundational apostolic doctrine from Jesus Himself.  John and the other apostles are our link to Jesus and the truth He left for us.

When John writes, “We have heard from Jesus and declare to you” (v. 5), he use a perfect tense verb.  He is showing us that what was heard was heard at a point in time in the past while he was with Jesus, but it is not heard in the same way today.  But the truth once presented still stands to this day.  As a matter of fact, this good news is declared to you this day as you read!

God is Light

God is light in the sense that He is absolutely pure and holy.  There is absolutely no hint of darkness in God.  He is absolutely pure.  John writes later…

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2–3:3)

When John speaks of walking in the light or walking in darkness, he means that we either walk in purity or walk in immorality.  This is why John communicates the need for believers to confess and seek cleansing at the hands of a faithful, just, and righteous God.  As believers, walking in darkness does not negate spiritual life, but God’s moral nature is not being expressed through our lives when we walk in that darkness.

1 John 1.5 is about purity and sin.  God is light; therefore, we must be characterized by light.  That means we should be sincere, truthful, righteous, and loving.  We fail to reflect the glory of God’s light when we express ourselves with deception, rebellion, and hatred of one another.  It is imperative that we understand the potential for this hatred in each of us.

Do you understand that our lack of holiness makes it impossible for us to grasp the moral purity of God?  This drives us to Christ seeking mercy.  We are dependent upon God to make us pure enough to relate to Him and He with us.

We pray many things, but God hears nothing when we regard iniquity in our hearts.  God demands holiness from each of us because He is holy.

God Sees Me 

“And there is no creature hidden from [God’s] sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)  God knows me and by Him my actions are weighed and found wanting (1 Samuel 2.3).  He sees the adulterer covertly managing his life to hide sin from his spouse and children.  God sees the thief rifling through his father’s wallet left on the dresser.  God is aware of the cheat who charges people for services not rendered.  But more than that, God sees the heart.  “Hell and Destruction are before the Lord; so how much more the hearts of the sons of men.” (Proverbs 15:11)

The Scriptures point out that God hates all workers of iniquity (Psalm 5.5).  He is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness” (Habakkuk 1.13a).  God abhors the darkness.  There is absolutely no darkness in Him.  We must walk in the light as He is in the light.  That light comes through truth and manifests itself in our hearts purifying us.

Fellowship and Acceptance

God provides fellowship and acceptance as we conform to His holiness.  Many look at the glory and pursuit of holiness as something to be avoided …something that removes joy from life.  Yet holiness is the gateway to fellowship with our Maker.  Our dependence, diligence, and obedience please God because we are in Christ and behaving like Christ.  God makes Himself known to us in a way that He does not make Himself known to the world.  His love is shed abroad in our hearts.  We are privileged to call God our Dearest Father.

Holiness also provides acceptance before God.  We are no longer like the unsaved sinner.  Our sins are gone!  The blood of Christ continuously cleanses us from all sin (1.7).  His blood cleanses us 24-7 so that we may serve God acceptably.  That blood is able to keep you from falling away from God.  It will present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24).  When we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship and acceptance.

Faith and Works

Some strive for holiness through their works and disregard the finished work of Jesus Christ.  Others believe that faith will save them but then that faith never produces holiness.  Both of these are deceptive tools of the devil.  We cannot be holy unless we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that God has raised Jesus from the dead.  But faith without the work of holiness is dead.  The devils believe and shriek back in unholy fear at the name of Christ.  Faith will always produce holiness in the believer.  Holiness is evidence that our faith is genuine. Thereby, we walk in the light as He is in the light.

Duty and Delight

We carry out our duties as believers not with drudgery but delight.  We shouldn’t expect the world to think that the pursuit of the glory and holiness of God would bring delight.  They find delight in the darkness of sin.  Delight in life is found for us in our fellowship with God.  And yet fellowship cannot be without conformity to His holiness.  That’s why delight does not rest in a full bank account or a clean bill of health for us.  We delight even in the face of death.  We do so knowing that our pursuit of holiness will finally be perfected when we draw celestial air into our glorified lungs!

God has qualified us as believers to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light (Colossians 1.12).  We long for the glory of our inheritance in Heaven, but that’s not true for unbelievers.  Unregenerate people would not be happy in Heaven.  They love the darkness and there is only light in Heaven.  They hate God and God’s people; we love God and God’s people.  They would clamor to tear God away from His glorious throne if at all possible.  But we stand amazed in worship before that throne and will forever.

Unbelievers don’t want God to exist and feel great relief when they mistakenly prove to themselves that He doesn’t.  But we revel in the God who is.  This is the message!  There is no other.

“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”           (1 Peter 2:9–10)

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8)

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13:11–14)

The Cycle of Assurance

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The Cycle of Assurance

“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (1 John 5:11)

Chart Credit: Case, David A. and David W. Holdren. 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude: A Commentary for Bible Students. Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2006.