Sanctification and Kindness

First John 1:5-10: "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is no in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

What do you walk in? What do you count on as regards being cleansed from sin, or do you claim to have no sin?

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Confession is the beginning, but not the end, of our salvation; for the confession of sin and cleansing need to be part of the sanctification process. And there is so much to learn.

Last week I posted the first five verses of Psalm 32; here are the rest of the psalm's verses:

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near to you.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart" (Psalm 32:6-11).

In this psalm, then, God promises to instruct us and teach us in the way we ought to go, and He will. But that's not all.

We need, also, the certainty promised in 1 John 5:13: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life."

We recognize, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

We receive comfort. Jeremiah wrote, "The LORD appeared to him from far away, 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you'" (Jeremiah 31:3).

We receive more comfort. John wrote, "In  the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:1, 14).

We grow. Paul wrote, "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving" (Colossians 2:6-7).

We grow. Peter wrote, "So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up into salvation--if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good" (1 Peter 2:1-3). A hunger and thirst for righteousness should drive us all to on-going intake of the Word.

We do good works, not to become saved, but in response to the saving work of Christ.

Paul wrote about this in several of his letters.

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed" (2 Corinthians 9:8).

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).

"Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:13-14).

"This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds" (Titus 3:8).

"Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful" (Titus 3:14).

How do we display fruitfulness?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).

What do Christians have to look forward to?

"You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11).

"Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever" (Psalm 23:6).

Justice and Kindness

Micah 6 has a startling passage: "With what shall I come to the LORD and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sins of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the  LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:6-8; italics added).

We think perhaps to buy off God with offerings contemporaneous to these days. We may not bring burnt offerings, animals, oil, children, but what do we offer for our rebellious acts and for the sins of our souls?

When we are told what we are to do is justice, what we are to love is kindness, and what we are to do is walk humbly with out God, we are asked to do what is not in our nature to do.

We want justice leveled on our enemies, not kindness. And walking humbly? Please. This is not in our human DNA.

Sin being in our spiritual DNA means we have to have a changed nature, not merely a changed external wardrobe; a new heart, not merely a new behavior. And we can change neither because we are spiritually dead; read Ephesians 2.

Those who chafe at God's decision that salvation should be gained through only one way ought to remember also that He is not obligated to save anyone. It is only because He chooses to save any that salvation is even available.

For  those who chafe at the idea that we are not free choosers, remember that unless His grace frees us in that one way He has made, we will spend both this life and the life to come enslaved to Satan, under whose bonds we were born. He is the present prince of the power of the air, who often presents himself as an angel of light when he is no such thing, and he can do only what God permits and approves (see Job chapters 1 and 2).

Oh that you who chafe at the way of salvation would see the cost of it borne by the Holy Lord of all that it might be accomplished according to the Father's good pleasure. Chafe not but plead to know such grace, such saving grace, such costly grace.

To do justice as God defines it, to love kindness, to walk humbly with our God requires a totally new nature. And this God gives us, along with a new heart, when we are redeemed.

Acts 4:12--"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Romans 10:13--"For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

2 Corinthians 5:17--"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

2 Corinthians 6:1-2--"Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, 'In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

Psalm 32:1-5--"How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit! When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD'; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah."

After that initial forgiveness, comes sanctification, the subject of next week's post.