In the Bible Belt, it’s easy to say you are a Christian. There is relatively no persecution or monetary cost for claiming to be a follower of Jesus. In most places it is even expected by our friends and family that we be a Christian. As humans, we often do outwardly what our family and friends expect of us without changing inwardly, but this is not the type of change the Lord desires.

Israel was the First

Bible Belt Christians are not the first ones to perform religious acts without an inward change. There were many in Israel who did the same. They offered sacrifices to God because it was expected of them, not because they were truly broken and thankful for God’s salvation.

In Psalm 50, the Lord rebukes those who offered sacrifices to Him out of duty rather than thanksgiving. He says in verses 16-21:

¹⁶  But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?
¹⁷  For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.
¹⁸  If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
and you keep company with adulterers.

¹⁹  “You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
²⁰  You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your own mother’s son.
²¹  These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

²²  “Mark this, then, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
²³  The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”

What Does the Lord Desire Then?

Instead of offering sacrifices for sacrifices sake, the Lord desired that they be offered in thanksgiving for their salvation, as well as those offering them be living in a way that honors Him (Ps. 50:23).

For the Lord desires sacrifices from a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

In other words, He does not want the sacrifices of those who are proud, believing they can bring about their own salvation. Rather, He desires sacrifices from those who know they are guilty and need atonement for that guilt. He wants sacrifices from those who realize they are sinners, and as such, cannot, on their own, repair their relationship with God, because they cannot cover their own sins (Ps. 51:17).

We are No Exception

The Lord desires the same from us today. Even though we do not go to a temple to offer sacrifices, the same principle applies. The Lord does not desire those who have no thought of Him to pile into churches each Sunday because their family and friends expect them to be there. Rather, He desires those who know they can’t provide their own salvation to worship Him.

It is not enough to just show up to church. We are not doing God any favors. He does not respect us for attending, if we have not first given our heart to Him, knowing He is the One, who alone provides us with salvation. As He told the Israelites, He does not need their sacrifices to eat, He is the ruler of the universe, every beast of the field is His (Ps. 50:7-11). Likewise, He does not need us in church to make Him feel better about Himself. He does not really need us at all. We are the ones who need Him, and when we realize that, then and only then is He glorified by our worship. 

Last week, David Brooks wrote an opinion piece in the NY Times entitled: The Age of Innocence. He opens his column by saying the following:

“The people who pioneered democracy in Europe and the United States had a low but pretty accurate view of human nature. They knew that if we get the chance, most of us will try to get something for nothing. They knew that people generally prize short-term goodies over long-term prosperity. So, in centuries past, the democratic pioneers built a series of checks to make sure their nations wouldn’t be ruined by their own frailties.”

In America, we decentralized power building checks and balances that served “to frustrate and detain the popular will.” In Europe, they did exactly the opposite. They centralized power, which “was held by small coteries of administrators and statesmen, many of whom had attended the same elite academies where they were supposed to learn the art and responsibilities of stewardship.”

Even though the checks instituted in America and Europe where different, Brooks says, they “were based on a similar carefully balanced view of human nature: People are naturally selfish and need watching.” He then goes on to quote James Madison, who essentially says the reason we are naturally selfish is because we are depraved.

After setting the scene, Brooks then addresses the problem, which is that people no longer believe they are depraved. “They think depravity is nonexistent and they take self-government for granted.” Leaders no longer “believe their job is to restrain popular will.” Rather, they believe they are to “flatter and satisfy it,” which has caused many of today’s voters “to regard their desires as entitlements.”

This has caused massive problems in today’s society. Governments have made promises they cannot afford to keep, as well as it’s people believe they are entitled to benefits for which they are not willing to pay.

The reason this has occurred is because people no longer believe they are depraved. Their worldview has no room in it for human depravity. Causing themselves to believe they are capable of self-policing. But this is simple not true.

We are depraved and we will always be depraved.

In Romans 3:10 Paul says, “None is righteous, no, not one.” Even as Christians, unrighteousness lives in our flesh and wars within us, never leaving us. Speaking of the unrighteousness that lives in his flesh Paul says in Romans 7:21-25:

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

So, yes, as believers in Jesus Christ, we are Overcomers (1 Jn 2:13; 5:4-5), but we still are at war with our flesh, and, at times, will succumb to our flesh, as Paul makes evident in Romans 7.

So What are We to Do?

I think David Brooks’ column has a lot of insight for us here, not on a political level, but on an individual level. In his piece, he tells us that we as a nation have forgotten our depravity. I think we as a church from time to time forget that as well. While we live on this earth, we still dwell within a sinful tent; our flesh is still warring with our spirit. As a result, we too need a system of checks and balances.

This system has to exist outside of ourselves, for we cannot police ourselves anymore than our governments can police themselves. So what I want to challenge you to do is to find another person, preferably of the same sex, and someone other than your spouse, and form an accountability relationship.

Who to Look For?

When looking for someone to form this relationship with, you should pick a person who you can trust and who will hold you accountable. Someone to whom you can confess your sins and pray with about those sins. Someone who will check up on you throughout the week, as you do the same with them.

What to Do?

Once you find someone, start meeting with them once a week, or once every two weeks, whatever your schedule allows. These meetings do not have to be elaborate, they can be simple. To give you an idea of what a meeting would look like, you could read a passage of Scripture together, discuss it, talk about any sins that may be present in your life that the biblical writer brings out, and pray with one another. It is that simple! And a simple act like that can, and will, reap huge dividends in your spiritual growth.

My Challenge

So, I challenge you to begin praying this week for God to provide you with an accountability partner. If you already have someone in mind, I challenge you to get started.

Will you celebrate on Judgment day? This is the question I asked my congregation in my last sermon, and the question I want you to think about as well.

Exposition

This last week I preached over 1 John 4:13-21. In that section, John provides his readers with confidence for the Day of Judgment by giving two tests.

These two tests ask the questions:

(1) Do you have the Holy Spirit residing in you?

The way in which you know you have the Holy Spirit residing in you, is by confessing that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 4:15). The reason our profession provides us with assurance that we are children of God is because without the Holy Spirit, we would not make that confession (1 John 4:2-3).

(2) Do you love your brother?

The reason loving our brother provides us with assurance that we are the children of God is because without God first working His love in us, we would not love others (1 John 4:16-17). God has to first break our hard hearts with the gospel, changing our will and affections, before we will love our brothers in the way that God loves us – self-sacrificially (1 John 4:19). When we love others in the same way that God loves us, then God’s love is said to be perfected with us (1 John 4:17). Perfect love casts out fear for the Day of Judgment (1 Jn 4:18).

So then, if we can answer yes to these two tests, then we can be assured that we will celebrate on the Day of Judgment.

Application

Even though, we who are assured of their salvation will celebrate on Judgment Day, it is clear from the book of Revelation that a Day of Judgment is coming. God will judge the nations and those who are not His children will be destroyed and thrown into the lake of fire. Those who are His children will live for all of eternity with Him in the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 20:11-21:5). Knowing that this judgment is coming, we should seek to evangelize our neighbors, friends, and families.

In addition, knowing that we are going to celebrate on Judgment Day should cause us to look forward to that day because we know at that time we will live for all of eternity with our heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, who is our Savior, for all of eternity in a new heavens and a new earth free from the bondage of sin, death, persecution, illness, and heartache.

In my last post in this series, I wrote about the Monergistic Work of the Holy Spirit in the process of Sanctification. In this post, I will talk about how we work alongside the Holy Spirit to bring about change in our lives, which occurs through the Synergistic Work of the Holy Spirit.

The Synergistic Work of the Holy Spirit

When I speak of the Synergistic Work of the Holy Spirit, I have in mind how we and the Holy Spirit work together to bring about change in our lives. In order to understand how we work alongside the Holy Spirit, we need to look at the concept of Dependent Responsibility.

Dependent Responsibility

We cannot change on our own apart from the Holy Spirit. Meaning that change only occurs in us because the Holy Spirit lives in us and gives us the power to change (Ezekiel 36:27; 1 Cor. 6:19; John 15:4-5). The Holy Spirit living in us and empowering us to change does not mean that we do not work. Rather, it means that we depend on the Holy Spirit to enable us to do God’s will. We do not let go and let God. We still have work to do, but the work we do is not done in our own power, it is done in the power of the Holy Spirit, who resides in us as we abide in Christ.

So when I talk about Dependent Responsibility, I mean that we depend on the Holy Spirit to empower us, but we are still responsible to work as well. Hence the term Dependent Responsibility [1].

Scriptural Support for the Idea of Dependent Responsibility

In Philippians 2:12-13 we read,

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

And in Philippians 4:13 we read,

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

In the first of the two references, we see that we are responsible to work out own salvation. In the second reference, we see that we can do all things. Even though we are responsible to work out our own salvation and we can do all things, if you notice, in each verse the reason we can work out our own salvation and the reason we can do all things is because God works in us, as well as He strengthens us. So, while it is our responsibility to work, we are also to depend on God to work in us and empower us to do the work. We are responsible, yet dependent at the same time.

How Does This Work Out Practically?

One way in which this works out in our daily lives is through our reading of God’s Word. Romans 12:2 says,

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

In this verse, Paul gives us a command. The command is for us to “be transformed by the renewal of [our] mind.” If you notice the command is not in the present tense, it is a passive imperative, meaning we are commanded to be transformed, but we must rely on someone else to do the transforming. The someone else we rely on is the Holy Spirit. The way He transforms us is through the Word of God. As we read and study God’s Word, He convicts us of our sin and renews our mind, causing us to think differently, as well as He changes our will so that it becomes God’s will.

Why does the Holy Spirit use Scripture to transform us?

The reason the Holy Spirit works through our reading of Scripture is because He is the author of Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16; 1 Pet. 1:21). As the one who gave us Scripture, He is the one who enables us to understand and apply Scripture to our lives. Thus, renewing our minds in the process.

What is the connection with Dependent Responsibility?

As you can see, we are responsible to be transformed, but the way we are transformed is by depending on someone else to do the transforming. In this case, it is the Holy Spirit who transforms us by renewing our mind. In addition, if the Holy Spirit transforms us by renewing our mind through our reading of God’s Word, it is our responsibility to read His Word, and as we read, we are to depend on Him to work in us to transform us.

Conclusion

So we see that one way in which Sanctification occurs in our lives is through a Synergistic working relationship with the Holy Spirit. In that, we are responsible to work to bring about change in our lives, but we cannot bring about that change on our own. We are to depend on the Holy Spirit to transform us and empower us to change. As He works in us, we are also working by depending on Him, as well as we are working by doing things that will allow Him to work, such as reading and studying Scripture.

Resources

[1] Dependent Responsibility is a term coined by Jerry Bridges in The Transforming Power of the Gospel, kindle location 196 (ch 1) and 1530 (ch 8).

Jerry Bridges, The Transforming Power of the Gospel, Ch. 8-11.

This week we continue our X-Ray Questions series, as we look at the question: Whose opinion of you counts? You can read the other posts in this series by clicking here.

X-Ray Question:

(13) Whose opinion of you counts?

From whom do you desire approval and fear rejection? Whose value system do you measure yourself against? In whose eyes are you living? Whose love and approval do you need?

Understand

When you lose God, you enter a jungle of distortion. You tend to live before your own eyes or before the eyes of others – or both. When you lose or take God out of the equation, what is left is to seek the approval of man, which will ultimately leave you wanting.

Even for us who have not removed God completely from the picture, the approval of man has a strong pull on our lives, often causing us to seek it, rather than God’s approval. Since man’s approval has such a strong pull on our lives, we must fight the desire within to seek man’s approval, finding our approval in the Lord alone.

If we do not fight, we will compromise our convictions, not speaking up when we know Scripture speaks against a certain issue. When we remain silent on issues because we fear we will lose the respect of men, we are like the authorities who did not stand up to the Pharisees. John says,

Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. (John 12:42-43 ESV)

May we make it a point to seek the glory that comes from God more than the glory that comes from man.

Social Idols

The “social idols” which encompass approval and fear can take numerous forms:

• Acceptance or Rejection
• Being Included or Excluded
• Praise or Criticism
• Affection or Hostility
• Adoration or Belittlement
• Intimacy or Alienation
• Being Understood or Caricatured

Awareness of these “social idols” is the first step, but we must also ask God to reveal to us where we may be seeking to please others rather than Him. In other words, we must plead with God in our prayers to reveal to us if the opinion of man is an idol that is present in our lives.

Repent

If after we pray, God reveals to us that approval is an idol in our lives, we must repent and turn from that idol. We do so by realizing true approval comes from God alone. The approval man gives us is temporary and situational. We may have man’s approval one day, but the next day they may reject us because we have not lived up to their expectations.

In contrast to the world, those who have repented of their sins and professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will never be rejected by God. As a result, they should never fear the loss of God’s approval.

Why want believers be rejected by God?

Because God accepts us based on Christ’s cross work, not our own work. When we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, His righteousness is imputed to us, so that we too become righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). As those who are righteous, we are just as Jesus is even now in the world (1 John 4:17), meaning we are sons of God, just as Jesus is the Son of God. Those who are God’s children have nothing to fear. Instead they are to be confident on the Day of Judgment, knowing that God abides in them and they in God (1 John 4:15-18).

Scripture

Here are a few passages from God’s word to meditate on this week, as you consider the question: Whose opinion of you counts?: Prov. 1:7; 9:10; 29:25; John 12:43; 1 Cor. 4:3-5; 2 Cor. 10:18.

Resource

All X-Ray questions taken from David Powlison’s book Seeing with New Eyes.

In my last post in this series, I wrote about the progressive nature of Sanctification. In this post, I will talk about how the Holy Spirit Himself works in us to bring about change, which occurs through the Monergistic Work of the Holy Spirit.

The Monergistic Work of the Holy Spirit

When I refer to the Monergistic Work of the Holy Spirit in the process of Sanctification, I mean that there is a work the Holy Spirit does by Himself upon our hearts that brings about change in our lives. The work He does is apart from the work we do. This does not mean we do not work. I will talk about our work in the process of Sanctification in the next post in this series, but right now I want to give us an idea of what the Holy Spirit does in us to bring about change.

Grounding it in Scripture

Before we move to the specific work He does, let me ground this concept in Scripture. In Psalm 119:36-37 we read,

Incline my heart to your testimonies,
       and not to selfish gain!
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
       and give me life in your ways.

Here we see the Psalmist is asking God to do something he cannot do, which is to change His heart. Only the Holy Spirit can change our heart.

Also, in Hebrews 13:20-21 we read,

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

There are a number of things packed into this benediction, but for our purposes in this post, one thing I want you to see is that the Lord is the one who equips us to do His will. If the Lord did not work in our lives to equip us, then we would not do His will.

From these two references, we can begin to see that there are things in the Sanctification process that we do not do. Which means it is necessary for God to be at work in us. The way the Lord is at work in us, is through the Holy Spirit whom He has given to us (John 7:39; 14:26; Acts 1:8; 2:4; Rom. 5:5; 8:9; 8:11; 8:14; 15:13; 15:16; 1 Cor. 2:12; 3:16; 12:13; 2 Cor. 1:22; Gal. 3:3; Eph. 1:13; 1 Thess. 4:8; 2 Tim. 1:14; 1 John 3:24; 4:13).

What is the Work the Holy Spirit Does in Us?

(1) He Makes us Aware of Our Sin & Brings Conviction

He makes us aware of and convicts us of specific sins in our lives, so that we can deal with those sins, sins we may not even have known existed before the Holy Spirit brought them to our attention. The ways in which He convicts us of specific sins and brings them to our attention are numerous.

• He may connect a specific Scripture to a specific sin in our lives as we read God’s Word.
• He may awaken and make our conscience sensitive to a particular sin.
• He may cause us to see patterns of sins in our lives that we previously thought were insignificant.
• He may use adversity to cause us to see our sin problem.
• He may even send a friend, relative, or spouse to point out sin in our lives.

As you can see there are a number of ways the Holy Spirit reveals and convicts us of sin, but the important point to notice is that He is the One who reveals these sins and brings about the conviction, and He does this Monergistically (by Himself).

(2) He Creates Desire in us to Change

Not only does the Holy Spirit reveal our sin and convict us of it, but He also creates a desire in us to change.

How does He create desire in us to change? 

He does so by causing us to remember the forgiveness of our sins, the gift of Christ’s righteousness credited to us, the bondage we were released from, our reconciliation to God, and the eternal life we were given when we repented and exercised faith in Christ. In other words, He reminds us of the results of the gospel. As we remember what Christ has done for us in the gospel, our love for Him should increase and we should desire to be more like Jesus, causing us to want to rid sin from our lives for His glory as a sense of gratitude wells up inside of us.

This brings up an important point:

A desire to change based on the gospel is different from a desire to change because we feel guilty or defeated by our sin.

Guilt

Guilt often causes people to want to rid sin from their lives. When we feel guilty, we want to defeat that sin that is causing the guilt in us, so that we can feel better, not so that we will be more like Christ. It is subtle, but the reason we want to change is for our own well-being, and not for the glory of God.

Defeated

Likewise, if being defeated by a certain sin is the reason we want to rid sin from our lives, we may be doing so in order to stroke our own ego. To be able to say to our friends or fellow church members that we do not have any specific sin we are dealing with can be a way for some to feed the idol of pride in their lives. It is a subtle difference, but again the reason we want to defeat the sin in our lives is not so we can be more like Christ and glorify Him, but it is so we can glorify ourselves.

(3) He Creates Change

After making us aware of our need and creating a desire to change, the Holy Spirit works on our hearts to bring about change. The way this occurs is mysterious. In an effort to explain, let me use two illustration.

Unlovable to Lovable

We all have those people in our lives who are unlovable. No matter what you do, how much you prepare yourselves, and how well you try to interact with them, they always do something or act in some way that causes them to be hard to love. As Christians, we know we should love, even loving those who are at times unlovable, so we pray that God would change our hearts. At some point God answers our prayer, changing our hearts, and causing us to love the person who was once unlovable to us. Now that person did not change, they still act in the same way, but we have changed because the Holy Spirit has worked on our hearts.

Anxious to Calm

There are those of us who are anxious when it comes to flying. As Christians though, we know it is a sin to be anxious because it shows we are not trusting in the Lord. Our awareness of this sin in our lives causes us to pray to God to change our hearts, so that we are no longer anxious when we board a plane. Amazingly, the next time we get on a flight we are not anxious. We find ourselves calm, and even enjoying our time in the air. Now, air travel did not suddenly get safer. What changed was our heart, and that change was brought about by the Holy Spirit working in us.

Conclusion

So we see that one way in which Sanctification occurs in our lives is through the Monergistic Work of the Holy Spirit. He works by Himself to make us aware of and to convict us of specific sins. He also produces a desire in us to change and rid specific sins from our lives by causing us to reflect on the gospel message. Furthermore, He produces change in our hearts that we could not bring about by ourselves.

Now this does not mean that we are not to work. Indeed we are to work in the Sanctification process, but what it does mean is that without the Monergistic work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we would not be aware, nor convicted of sins in our lives. We would not desire to change, nor would we change. The Monergistic Work of the Holy Spirit is then necessary for our growth in Christ. It is a change we cannot bring about own our own apart from the Spirit dwelling in us.

Looking Forward

In my next post in this series, I will discuss the Synergistic Work of the Holy Spirit. In other words, we will discuss how we work alongside the Holy Spirit to bring about change in our lives.

Resource

Jerry Bridges, The Transforming Power of the Gospel, Ch. 8

I was sent the following quote as an encouragement this week. It is by John Broadus, who was the President of Southern Seminary from 1889 to 1895. Read what he has to say regarding our faithfulness in preaching the text:

It is so easy and pleasant for men of fertile fancy to break away from laborious study of phraseology and connection, to cease plodding along the rough and homely paths of earth, and sport, free and rejoicing, in the open heaven; the people are so charmed by ingenious novelties, so carried away with imaginative flights, so delighted to find everywhere types of Christ and likenesses to the spiritual life; it is so common to think that whatever kindles the imagination and touches the heart must be good preaching, and so easy to insist that the doctrines of the sermon are in themselves true and Scriptural, though they be not actually taught in the text, – that preachers often lose sight of their fundamental and inexcusable error, of saying that a passage of God’s Word means what it does not mean. So independent too one may feel; so original he may think himself. Commentaries, he can sneer at them all; other preachers, he has little need of comparing views with them. No need of anything but the resources of his own imagination, for such preaching is too often only building castles in the air.

Resource

Quote originally published at For Christ and Culture

In 1 John 3:21-22, John tells us that those who are confident before God have their prayers answered. Confidence comes to those who have examined themselves with the test of love John provides in 1 Jn 3:16-19. After examining themselves they have found that they are able to persuade their hearts that they are God’s children because they see evidences of biblical love present in their lives. As a result, they can and should go boldly before God in prayer, knowing they will receive what they ask of God because they keep His commandments and do what is pleasing before Him. John writes,

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
(1 John 3:21-22 ESV)

God is Not Our Cosmic Genie in the Sky

With these verses, John is not turning God into a Cosmic Genie and supporting a Health Wealth Gospel, which is evident because after telling us God answers our prayers, he provides the reason our prayers are answered at the end of verse 22.

What is the Basis for Answered Prayer?

The basis for answered prayer is two-fold and requires we:

(1) Keep God’s commandments

(2) Do what is pleasing to Him

When a person keeps God’s commandments and does what is pleasing to Him, they show they are a true believer. True believers will pray according to God’s will because His will has become their will.

In addition to seeking God’s will, when John tells us that answered prayer comes to those who do things that are pleasing to God, it includes things we ask for in our prayers. This means believers would not ask God to make them into a millionaire, give them a new car because it makes them look cool, or ask God to cause a jury to acquit them, when they are guilty of their crime. These things are not done in obedience to God’s commandments, nor are they done to please God; rather, they are done to please oneself.

So, those who desire to obey God’s commandments and do those things which please Him, will have their prayers answered because their prayers will be inline with God’s commandments and with what pleases Him.

When God Does Not Answer Prayer

In talking about answered prayer, the question usually arises: What about those times when we are confident before God, coming boldly to the throne room of prayer, obeying His commandments and seeking to do those things that please Him, as well as we are praying according to God’s will, but our prayer is seemingly not answered right away, why does this occur?

In other words, what are we to think when God does not seemingly answer our prayers?

Charles Spurgeon, one of the greatest preachers of all time, when faced with this question gives this counsel:

If you have been knocking at the gate of mercy and have received no answer, shall I tell you why the mighty Maker has not opened the door and let you in? Our Father has reasons peculiar to himself for keeping us waiting. Sometimes it is to show His power and His sovereignty, that men may know that Jehovah has a right to give or to withhold. More frequently the delay is for our profit.

You are perhaps kept waiting in order that your desires may be more fervent. God knows that delay will quicken and increase desire, and that if He keeps you waiting, you will see your necessity more clearly, and will seek more earnestly; and that you will prize the mercy all the more for its long tarrying. There may also be something wrong in you that has need to be removed, before the joy of the Lord is given. Perhaps your views of the gospel plan are confused, or you may be placing some little reliance on yourself, instead of trusting simply and entirely in the Lord Jesus. Or, God makes you tarry awhile that He may the more fully display the riches of His grace to you at last.

Your prayers are all filed in Heaven, and if not immediately answered; they are certainly not forgotten, but in a little while shall be fulfilled to your delight and satisfaction. Let not despair make you silent, but continue instant in earnest supplication [1].

In another place He also says,

Still remember that prayer is always to be offered in submission to God’s will; that when we say that God hears prayer, we do not intend that He always gives us literally what we ask for. We do mean, however, that He gives us what is best for us. If He does not give us the mercy we ask for in silver, He bestows it upon us in gold. If he does not take away the thorn in the flesh, He says, “My grace is sufficient for thee, and that comes to the same in the end [2].

So, if it seems that God does not answer our prayer, there are a number of reasons for that, but we always are to pray that God’s will be done and rest in that.

Conclusion

In these verses, John seeks to assure believers who are confident before God, obey His commandments, and do what is pleasing to Him, that God will answer their prayers, even if it does not seem like He does. As a result, we are to come boldly before God in prayer, lifting our requests up to Him. After which, we are to remain confident He has heard us, and we are to know that He will answer in due time and in the way He sees fit, if He has not answered already.

So then, may we all examine ourselves to see if we are true believers. If we are true believers, may we all go boldly to God this week in our time of prayer, knowing the Lord hears us and will answer us in due time.

Resources

[1] Spurgeon on Prayer: How to converse with God, compiled and edited by Harold J. Chadwick, 59-60.

[2] Spurgeon on Prayer: How to converse with God, compiled and edited by Harold J. Chadwick, 304.

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 Psalm 40:9-10 (ESV)

I have told the glad news of deliverance
       in the great congregation;
behold, I have not restrained my lips,
       as you know, O LORD.
I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;
       I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
       from the great congregation.

Reflection

This week, I read Psalm 40 as I was following my Bible reading plan (Let me stop here to encourage you, if you are not already doing so, to read through the Bible. Here is a link to several plans that will help facilitate that discipline). As I read and meditated on this psalm, these two verses stuck out to me. Here David writes that he has spread the news of God’s deliverance, faithfulness, and steadfast love to the great congregation. He has not hidden it in his heart, keeping what the Lord has done for him to himself. Rather, he has spread that message for all who are in the great congregation to hear.

Application

We too, need to spread the message of God’s deliverance, faithfulness, and steadfast love, as we see it evidenced in our lives to our church family. Telling others how God is working in our lives serves to motivate and encourage fellow congregates to continue to fight the good fight. Not only does it encourage others, but our speaking of God’s work in our life brings glory to God.

Challenge

So, may we seek to tell others in our church how God is working in our lives. Not keeping it a secret, but using it as an opportunity to encourage and motivate our fellow church members, as well as a way to glorify our Father in heaven.

In my last post in this series, I defined sanctification and talked about the objective moment when we are set apart as God’s children. In this post, I want to introduce the concept of Progressive Sanctification.

Progressive Sanctification: A Definition

Progressive Sanctification is defined as the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives to reveal our sin, in order to remove it, so that we continue to become more and more free from sin and like Christ in our daily lives. It differs from Definitive Sanctification in that it is a continual process, whereas Definitive Sanctification is an objective point in time-space history where we are set apart as Children of God.

A Process that is Never Complete

The process of Progressive Sanctification continues until our death at which time we receive our glorified bodies and finally become like Christ (1 John 3:2). Since Progressive Sanctification is never complete, we will never be without sin before Christ’s return because we live in a sinful body, and our flesh continually wars against our spirit (1 Kings 8:46; Prov. 20:9; Eccl. 7:20; Matt 6:11-12; Rom. 6:12-14; 7:13-25; James 3:2; 1 Jn 1:8).

Instead of reaching a state of perfection, we will continue to grow in Christ’s likeness as the Holy Spirit works in our lives. This does not mean we are to give up, throw our hands up in the air and say, “What is the point of all this then, if we will never be perfectly like Jesus this side of the grave.” Our lack of perfection does not mean we should despair or continue in sin.

We Should Not Despair

In Romans 8:15-16 Paul says,

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

We should not despair if we do not attain to perfection in this life. The Holy Spirit bears witness to our salvation and adoption as sons. We are not to be racked with guilt over our sin, nor are we to listen to the accusations of Satan that a child of God need be perfect. When we see change occurring in our lives, we can be sure the Holy Spirit is the one working to bring about that change, which proves we are God’s children.

We Should Not Continue To Sin

In Romans 6:1-7 Paul says,

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.

God in His grace saves us from eternal damnation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are united with Him in His death and resurrection, so that His death and His resurrection become our death and our resurrection.

When we are united with Jesus, we are released from the bondage of sin and are free to worship and glorify God in our bodies. We no longer have to follow our former master Satan. The enslavement we once knew has been broken, and we are not to continue as we lived formerly when we were in bondage to Satan and his rule. In other words, we are not to continue to sin because we have been set free from a life of sin through our relationship with Jesus Christ, as well as we are not to presume upon the grace of God.

Conclusion

So we see the the process of Sanctification is also Progressive, in that it continues throughout our entire lives. As the Holy Spirit works in our life to convict us of sin, we grow more and more like Jesus in our daily lives.

We also saw Progressive Sanctification is a process that is never complete. We will never be perfect in this life because of our sinful bodies. Even so, we are not to despair because the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives testifies to our salvation and adoption as sons of God. In addition, we are not to continue to sin presuming upon God’s grace, nor are we to continue to sin because we have been freed from the bondage of sin to a life that is able to live as our Savior Jesus Christ.

Looking Forward

In my next post in this series, I will talk about how the Holy Spirit works in our lives to bring about change Monergistically (by Himself).

Resources

Jerry Bridges, The Transforming Power of the Gospel, Ch. 8

Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, Ch. 38.