Yesterday during our staff devotion at the Meadow office we spent some time reflecting upon our standing before God. The handful of us who were gathered around the conference table were encouraged to read from 1st Timothy 2 the words from God which reminded us of the completed work of Jesus Christ. The eternal, infinite, unfathomable Creator has set His full attention on lost mankind with the gracious intent to save us from ourselves. He has provided all that is needed for us to be restored to God and we have no reason to live out a single moment of dread concerning any future judgment. The penalty for my sin was death…and Someone has paid that penalty in full so I have been liberated in pardoning grace. Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ I have been placed before the Father in perfect, unalterable standing. In short, I am as acceptable to God Almighty as is His only begotten Son because of what Jesus accomplished. Those who have the Son have eternal life. By God’s immeasurable grace I have been qualified. This is the greatest possible news.
“None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he shall surely live.” – Ezekiel 33:16 {ESV}
For those of you who have bowed your hearts to Jesus I wish to remind you that there is no further hazard concerning your ultimate destiny. We sometimes forget that all people are either standing in a present state of full acceptance before God or comprehensive rejection by Him. There is no middle-ground where we kind of float in and out with no moorings. There does not exist some hard-to-define area where we could either be in or out of God’s saving love. One’s standing with God is not a murky issue. This most essential aspect of the human existence is revealed in Scripture to be an all-or-nothing matter and to be free and forgiven is available for anyone who will take God at His infallible word. Right this very moment, you are either God’s redeemed child or you are outside of His family and therefore…utterly on your own. Most of you who read this blog have recognized at some point along the way that you are an imperfect creature and have fallen short of God’s standard. Of course we call this falling short sin. When we were graced to see ourselves as sinners we also had to acknowledge the price for our sin was extreme: total rejection by God. Yet the good news of the Gospel is that there is a mediator between us and the God against whom we have rebelled. Jesus Christ, the God-man, is able to restore us to our Creator. Because sin demands death as a penalty there was need for someone to die in our place; Jesus Christ, having no sin of His own to pay for, surrendered Himself and took the judgment upon Himself as our sacrificial substitute. There on the cross He died our death, paid our fine, and absorbed the wrath we had earned through our sin. Arising from the dead, Christ demonstrated that His death was fully accepted by the Father and the payment was complete. Christians, note this: your sin has been exhaustively paid for by the sacrifice of Christ and there is absolutely nothing more left to be paid. Because of this we are assured of our secured standing with God. It was only and always sin that separated us from God and Christ has removed that barrier by paying its penalty in full. Our position has been transferred from former outsiders to present sons and daughters of God. He desires for you to believe this and to walk in the security and peace that results from having confidence in what He has accomplished. To do so is not arrogance or presumption, it is honorable faith. You, my friend, if you are in Christ, are fully and forever saved and nothing can undo this.
You are saved by grace through faith in Christ. You are a new creation. You have been brought from spiritual death to eternal life. You are not holding it all together, you are being held together. Jesus didn’t get it started and then turn it over to you. He commenced your salvation, continues your salvation and will consummate your salvation as you enter final glory. The devil cannot undo it. Your ongoing imperfections will not undermined it. Your fears cannot forfeit it. If you will allow yourself to fully succumb to the depths of grace you will able to envision what God currently sees: you standing with all of the redeemed of the ages in the eternal realm of paradise, declaring in praise, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain – who was and is and has come again. He has done it and we have seen His glory by His grace!”
These thoughts bring great relief and unspeakable joy to my soul. May they do the same to your own today if you have bowed before this merciful King.