My Agenda

Or is it my calling in life? Let us not judge to harshly for only God knows the intent of the heart.

Psalms 44:20-21

If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;

Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

Psalms 139:23-24

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

So what is it that presses so deeply on my heart, that nearly all my communications is flavored by this burning within me?

Relationship with the Father

Being a father, having had a great father, I have somewhat of an understanding that is based in the flesh but amplified by the Spirit. My life examples take on a deeper meaning as the Spirit confirms in me how those examples are just a pale shadow of the great love the Father has for His children.

My father was 26 years old when he was drafted into World War II. During the last year of the war many of the restrictions that keep him out of the war were lifted. He had three children, the youngest not yet one year old. When he came back from the war he looked at his children and realized what he had missed while he was gone. My brother Raymond's first steps, hunting and fishing trips with John, Doris first years in school and all the growth that each of them went through while he was gone. His desire was to have one more child. One child which he could say proudly that he had not missed one day, one event, one hurt, one joy, one surprise, which was missing in his relationships with all his other children.

This is the heart of Father God, to never be separated from His children again, to be there for every little pain and pleasure, to love and be loved intimately and deeply.

Romans 8: 38-39

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 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When I was a baby, I was totally helpless. I nursed by my mother and I got fat off mother's milk. What did I know of love? I knew that all my needs were met and I was content. Fat, dumb and happy is an age-old expression that amply describes ones early years both as a baby and baby Christian. Did I know how to return love? Did I judge myself by my abilities to express love? Did I receive any condemnation from my father? Obviously the answer for a newborn baby is a resounding no.

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

What really amazes me about Christians is how soon they grow up and loose sight of the extended meaning of Matthew 19:14. We apply it to our early years. We see ourselves as growing up and no longer a baby and take the passage Corinthians 13:11 "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." as justification for putting away the milk and with it the total dependency upon God. If Matthew 19:14 is true of the kingdom of heaven then it is true throughout all of our walk with the Lord. What was true for the baby is also true for the fully mature and each stage of growth. We should never come to a point in our walk where we do not feel totally dependent and perfectly loved. Neither should we judge ourselves by our inability to fully express perfected love nor feel the Father condemns us.

When I was growing up my father showed his love for me by doing things with me. I would see him working on the car and hand him wrenches while he explain what he was doing, so I would understand and could someday do it myself. He taught me how to fish and hunt. He instructed me, in every way, all the things that brought him great joy in life. He did not teach me evil things.

John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

Jesus said I do nothing of myself, He was always about doing the Father's business, but even more important, they did it together, a co-operative effort, the Father taking the initiative, the Son joining Him. So often as we grow and assume authority, we seek to do, failing to wait on the Father's call or to place us in that moment where He has placed that good work before us.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We don't often think about this because of the liberty we enjoy. He does not condemn us for the choices we make in doing a good thing. You might ask why should He, we are doing a good thing and we have not sinned. I say, do you know why Paul said to the Romans in 14:22 "Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth."? It is because of what Paul said in the very next verse; "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."

Acts of faith are predicated on John 8:28 and Ephesians 2:10 where God calls you to do that thing which He has set before you. To initiate your own actions, without first hearing from God, is sin. People don't like to hear that. They want to declare themselves righteous. It is God who has declared us righteous and not we ourselves. We are rotten. Some know that and condemn themselves. God doesn't want that either. What He does want is for us to draw closer to Him. Does your sin repulse you? It should. It should repulse you right into the arms of the Father. That is what repentance is, turning from sin and running into the arms of God.

Both of my parents are with the Lord now. At my mother's funeral, dad's older sister Eula said to me, "You know Larry, you look just like your father." There is no greater complement in all creation than to be told you look like your father.

John 14

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

One thing I have come to understand about being conformed into the image of the Father. Your ability to believe the Father is in you and you in the Father and that He is reflected in everything you say and do is predicated on your blessed assurance, your confidence of an unfailing God to love and never deny you no matter how rotten you are.

My father only raised his hand against me once in my life. The reason was because of the anger and violence had showed my older brother.

John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

1 John 4

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

I want every believing Christian to come to a point in their relationship with God that fear is cast out. When I see Christian pointing at one another and warning them that they are in jeopardy of losing their salvation, I know that love is not perfected in them. They haven't come to a point in their relationship with God that they are secure in His love. How they reflect that insecurity is not the love of God, it is not God.

The following quote by Arthur W. Pink is perhaps the best statement I have ever read about the security of the believer. I pray the Lord, that when you read these words, you will come to understand how great a love the Father really has for His children. I pray you become secure in His love.

ITS IMPORTANCE

The theme of this present series of articles is far more than a theological dogma or sectarian tenet: it is an essential portion of that Faith once for all delivered to the saints, concerning which we are exhorted to "contend earnestly". In it is displayed, respectively, the honor and glory of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and therefore they who repudiate this truth cast a most horrible aspersion upon the character of the triune Jehovah. The final perseverance of the saints is one of the grand and distinctive blessings proclaimed by the Gospel, being an integral part of salvation itself, and therefore any outcry against this doctrine is an attack upon the very foundations of the believer's comfort and assurance. How can I go on my way rejoicing if there be doubts in my mind whether God will continue to deal graciously with me and complete that work which He has begun in my soul? How can I sincerely thank God for having delivered me from the wrath to come if it is quite possible I may yet be cast into Hell?

Above we have said that the honor and glory of Jehovah is bound up in the final perseverance of the saints: let us now proceed to amplify that assertion. God the Father predestinated His people "to be conformed to the image of His Son" (Rom. 8:29), which conformity is not fully wrought in any of them in this life, but awaits the day of Christ's appearing (1 John 3:2). Now is the Father's eternal purpose placed in jeopardy by the human will? is its fulfillment contingent upon human conduct? or, having ordained the end will He not also make infallibly effectual all means to that end? That predestination is founded upon His love: "I have loved thee (says the Father to each of His elect) with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jer. 31:3). Nor is there any variation in His love, for God is not fickle like us: "I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed" (Mal. 3:6). Were it possible for one of God's elect to totally apostatize and finally perish it would mean the Father had purposed something which He failed to effect and that His love was thwarted.

Consider God the Son in His mediatorial character. The elect were committed unto Him as a trust by the Father: said He Thine they were and Thou gayest them Me" (John 17:6). In the covenant of redemption Christ offered to act as their Surety and to serve as their Shepherd. This involved the most stupendous task which the history of the universe records: the Son's becoming incarnate, magnifying the Divine Law by rendering to it perfect obedience, pouring out His soul unto death as a sacrifice to Divine justice, overcoming death and the grave, and ultimately presenting 'faultless" before God (Jude 24) the whole of His redeemed. As the good Shepherd He died for His sheep, and as the great Shepherd it is His office to preserve them from this present evil world. If He failed in this task, if any of His sheep were lost, where would be His faithfulness to His engagement? where would be the efficacy of His atonement? how could He triumphantly exclaim at the end "Behold land the children which God hath given Me" (Heb. 2:13)?

The person of the Holy Spirit is equally concerned in this vital matter. It is not sufficiently realized by the saints that they are as definitely indebted to the third Person of the Godhead as truly as they are to the first and second Persons. The Father ordained their salvation, the Son in His mediatorial character purchased it, and the Spirit "applies" and effectuates it. It is the blessed Spirit's work to make good the Father's purpose and the Son's atonement: "He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). Said Christ to His disciples "I will not leave you orphans (though I leave this world): I will come to you" (John 14:18). That promise given on the eve of His death was made good in the gift of the Spirit "But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, the same shall teach you all things" (John 14:26). Christ's redeemed were thus entrusted to the love and care of the Spirit, and should any of them be lost where would be the Spirit's sufficiency? where His power? where His faithfulness?

This, then, is no trivial doctrine we are now concerned with, for the most momentous considerations are inseparably connected with it. We are satisfied it is because of their failure to realize this that so many professing Christians perceive not the seriousness of their assenting to the opposing dogma of the total apostasy of saints. If they understood more clearly what was involved in affirming that some who were truly born again fell from grace, continued in a course of sin, died impenitent and were eternally lost, they would be slower to set their seal unto that which carried such horrible implications. Nor may we regard it as a matter of indifference where such grave consequences are concerned. For any of the elect to perish would necessarily entail a defeated Father, who was balked of the realization of His purpose: a disappointed Son, who would never see the full travail of His soul and be satisfied; and a disgraced Spirit, who had failed to preserve those entrusted to His care. From such awful errors may we be delivered.

The importance of this truth further appears from the prominent place which is accorded it in the Holy Scriptures. Whether we turn to the O. T. or the New it makes no difference; whether we consult the Psalms or the Prophets, the Gospels or the Epistles, we find it occupies a conspicuous position. If we cited every reference we should have to transcribe literally hundreds of verses. Instead, we will quote only a few of the lesser known ones. Here is one from the Pentateuch:

"He loved the people, all His saints are in Thy hand" (Deut. 33:3). One from the Historical books: "He will keep the feet of His saints" (1 Sam. 2:8). One from Job: "When he hath tried me I shall come forth as gold" (23:10). One from the Psalms: "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me" (138:8). One from the Proverbs: "The root of the righteous shall not be moved" (12:3 contrast Matt. 13:2 1). One from the Prophets: "I will put My fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from Me" (Jer. 32:40). These are fair samples of the Divine promises throughout the O. T.

Observe the place given to this truth in the teaching of Christ. "Upon this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). "False Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if possible, even the elect" (Mark 14:22)-it is not possible for Satan to fatally deceive any of the elect. "Whosoever cometh to Me and heareth My sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: he is like a man which built a house and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the storm beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock" (Luke 6:47-48). "This is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing" (John 6:39). The writings of the apostles are full of it. "For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Rom. 5:10). "Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him" (James 2:5). "Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (1 Pet. 1:5). "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for ~f they had been of us, they would have continued with us" (1 John 2:19). "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling" (Jude 24).

The tremendous importance of this doctrine is further evidenced by the fact that it involves the very integrity of the Scriptures. There is no mistaking their teaching on this subject: the passages quoted above make it unmistakably plain that every section of them affirms the security of the saints. He then who declares the saints are insecure so long as they remain in this evil world, who insists that they may be eternally lost, yea that some of them-like king Saul and Judas-have perished, repudiates the reliability of Holy Writ and signifies that the Divine promises are worthless. 0 my reader, weigh this well: the very veracity of the Lord God is concerned therein. He has promised to keep the feet of His saints, to deliver them from evil, to preserve them unto His heavenly kingdom, and "God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? (Num. 23:19).

Arthur W. Pink - Eternal Security

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