Inside Out Living

“’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” – Amazing Grace by John Newton

In Jesus’ description of the time of tribulation, He mentions that there will be attempts “to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones” (Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22). This statement by Jesus gets me thinking about the role that God’s grace plays in bringing about our salvation. As the words to Amazing Grace declare, “grace will lead me home.” How true.

God’s grace is efficacious in our lives, meaning that it will produce its desired effect in our lives once it has been given by God himself. Simply put, when someone is saved by God’s grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), that grace will absolutely guarantee their salvation. “And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those He has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day” (John 6:39).

May you stand confident in God’s grace, knowing that it will indeed lead you home.

Jesus never hid the truth of His purpose here on earth. Time and time again He predicted His death to His disciples, and yet they continually struggled to understand. In comparing His death to a kernel of wheat (John 12:24), Jesus makes it clear that His death will bring about new life for many. This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “For God made Christ who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was able to serve as the perfect sacrifice making full atonement once and for all for the sins of mankind (Hebrews 10:12).

This sacrifice is what allows God the Father to extend saving grace to all who come to Him in faith for the forgiveness of their sins. As John said in 1 John 2:2, “He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins, but the sins of all the world.”

It is an irony that should cause us all to be humbled, that the horrific death that Jesus endured on the cross was the very event that allows for the beauty of saving grace in our lives.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” – John 14:6

In today’s reading, Isaiah warns God’s people about relying on outside help for their salvation. Israel as a small nation was weak at this point in history because of civil war and rebelliousness toward God. It was tempting to rely on Egypt’s help in battling the Assyrians instead of relying solely on the Lord.

These international relationships and the need for Israel as a nation to rely on the Lord (Isa. 31:1) is representative of our need to rely on the Lord for our own salvation.

Our salvation is based in the Lord and our standing as righteous before Him is because of the work of Christ and His imputed righteousness in our life. However, many times we attempt to attain righteousness through our own efforts. Any time we add lists of dos and don’ts to our relationship with God, it makes our faith about earning righteousness.

May you begin to see your salvation as complete in the work of Christ, and that you cannot do more than He has already done.

There is something about refusing to show fear that is a rite of passage for boys as they seek to become men. I remember wanting to have a persona of having no fear in high school so badly that I wore shirts that even said “No Fear” on them.

Isaiah was told in chapter 8:11-14 that he was to only fear the LORD Almighty. This message holds true for us today as well. If we fear God we don’t need to fear anything else, including death, for Jesus has conquered death.

I often hear Christians speak of what they fear might happen. They tell me of how they fear our country is falling apart; or they fear that the church is selling out; or they fear that their rights are being eroded. Instead of constantly fearing these things, why don’t we try to trust God and His word?

God’s word tells us that in our faith we have victory through Jesus (1 Cor. 15:57; 1 John 5:4). Jesus, the eternal Word, declared that, “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (Matt. 16:18). In addition, Revelation 20:11-15 tells us that God will ultimately triumph and remove sin and death. Fear God and nothing else!

“The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself, and he must never send his people to Egypt to buy horses there, for the Lord has told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’ The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will lead him away from the Lord. And he must not accumulate vast amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself.” – Deuteronomy 17:14-17

Solomon, Solomon, Solomon. In spite of all the good that Solomon did, he neglected to follow the Lord’s instructions for a king. So instead of leaving a legacy of obedience to the Lord, he left a legacy of following his own path and fulfilling his own desires. It is a legacy that will result in disaster for his son, Rehoboam.

What kind of legacy are you leaving for those who follow after you? Is it one of obedience or one of defiance? Think about it –you just can’t leave a legacy of loving God without obeying His commandments for, “loving God means keeping His commandments” (1 John 5:3).

“If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong” (1 John 1:9).

King David sinned. It wasn’t just a simple sin, but a messy one of lust, sexual immorality, deception and murder. It was the kind of thing that anyone would look at and agree was wrong. How is it that a man who did all of this can still be referred to as a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22) in the New Testament?

Confession.

David was not perfect and neither was Saul. However, the way that each responded to being confronted for their sins was markedly different. Saul was defensive and blaming others, but David responded with a soft heart and quickly confessed.

Practicing regular confession is a key element to a healthy relationship with Christ. How do you respond to the realization that you have erred in some way? Remember David’s words in Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.”

The report from the spies truly tested if Israel trusted God for their protection. Already struggling with the level of sacrifice expected of them, they decided the prospect of engaging the inhabitants of the Promised Land wasn’t worth it. The people ignored the fact that the Lord was with them (Num. 14:9).

You might find it easy to criticize their lack of faith as I often have. The harsh reality is that we do the very same thing sometimes. We size up a situation and decide the cost is too great and, instead of trusting in the Lord’s protection and provision, we make a fear-based decision and miss out on God’s blessings.
Why are we prone to fear? The Apostle John tells us that perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18). As broken yet redeemed people our love for God is being perfected. As this process continues fear is diminished and love will increase. As God’s faithful love continues to work in our lives, our love for Him grows, and our willingness to sacrifice and follow Him grows as well.

In the instructions that the Lord gave to Israel through Moses, purity was greatly stressed. There were a number of reasons for this, and the one given in this passage is because the Lord dwelled in their camp.

Praise God that we live under a covenant of grace and not one of law as the Israelites did. And yet, even though we are called to grace, we cannot ignore the need for purity. God demanded purity because he dwelled among Israel. God now, through His Spirit, dwells in the life of every believer and in the community of believers as a collective whole. His expectation is still purity in the lives of believers and in the community of believers. As a new creation, we are made pure by the blood of Christ, and we maintain purity by confessing our sins (1 John 1:9). Unfortunately, some within the community of faith stop practicing personal confession and knowingly and willing engage in sin, thus defiling the church. As with Israel, the church must take action to remove those who defile the community (1 Cor. 5:5). However we must not forget that once purity is restored, through forgiveness and grace, fellowship is also to be restored.