Questions for the Believer
For the past two weeks or so, we have been working to answer questions that you from the Fellowship at Grace have sent in. There are still more to come. On this Lord’s Day morning, separated again from assembling together, it’s my turn to ask.
In the early days of the church, God used Paul and Barnabas to travel extensively across Asia Minor and into Macedonia and Greece. They shared the good news of Jesus Christ, leading many to faith, and establishing churches throughout the areas. In Acts 15 we read this:
Acts 15:36
36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”
This is my ‘return to the brethren’ approach … I’m going to inquire how you are, challenging you to examine yourself, your faith, and your commitment to the Lord. J.C. Ryle writes: “Let us lay it to heart, and apply it to ourselves … let us search our ways, and find out how matters stand between ourselves and God. Let us ‘see how we do’.”
Have you received the forgiveness of sins?
Perhaps that strikes you as odd – that a pastor would ask those in his own fellowship such a question: have your sins been forgiven? The forgiveness of our sins has been bought for us by the sacrifice of Christ. By living, dying, and rising from the dead, Jesus has accomplished all that is required for a sinner to receive mercy for their sins. But this mercy, so often sung about, taught, and recited, does not come to every man or woman in fellowship with a Christian church by virtue of their appearance with other believers. It is not, nor has it ever been, a privilege that every member of a church possesses. It must be laid hold of personally and intentionally by faith.
John 3:36
36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Let me point you … I am sure that perhaps all reading this can say, “There is no other Savior than Christ. There is no other Redeemer. There is no other hope for sinners.” But, let this settle on your heart, that is different than saying: “Christ is my Savior. Jesus is my Redeemer. He has forgiven my sins – He is my blessed hope.”
Martin Luther once said, “Many are lost because they can’t use possessive pronouns.”
Have you received the forgiveness of sins?
Are you benefiting from the ordinary means of grace?
The forgiveness of our sins is a work of grace; all of grace. We receive it by faith, and that is, itself, a gift.
Ephesians 2:8–9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
To have been saved by grace is every believer’s boast. But we must never forget, those saved by grace are also kept by grace; afforded throughout the believer’s life by the means appointed by God. We call them ‘ordinary means of grace’, not to restrict God from using extraordinary means as He sees fit … but to respect what God has established as the practical, common means through which His grace flows into the life of the believer. Are you benefiting from these?
- Reading the Bible
- Personal prayer
- Public worship
- Regular participation in the ordinances of the confessing church
I believe this separation brought on by the pandemic should be felt at a profound level; painfully. The Christian who is missing two of the ordinary means of grace (public worship and the ordinances) must, after so many weeks, be longing for their return. Even as we are confident that God is in control, that this separation serves His divine intention, and that He is able to keep those who are His own to the uttermost: we hunger for the ordinary.
Let me point you … if other aspects of your life (work, home, school, recreation) depend on ordinary elements for their success and you are missing some of those elements for a season; would you not focus on the remaining elements for the level of success still attainable? The answer is surely yes. We would all focus on what remains to make up, where possible, for what is lacking.
Is that where you find yourself now, regarding your constant need for grace? Are you focusing on those elements that remain, reading the Bible and personal prayer, as a means of making up for what is lacking? Be very careful here – – our enemy is a master deceiver, and he will be working in these days to convince you that the lack of these ordinary means simply means you didn’t really need them at all. He will work hard to establish an independence that is dangerous to your soul.
Your guard against his wiles? Commit to those ordinary means available. Make sure you are carving out increased time in Bible reading. Make certain, for the good of your soul, that you are spending more time in personal prayer. God will be pleased to broaden the capacity of these means and ensure the grace you need for each day is plentiful. He will, at the same time, create an even greater longing for those ordinary means that are, for a season, missing.
Are you benefiting from the ordinary means of grace?
Are you thankful for your freedom?
Perhaps it is not necessary for me, speaking to Americans, to elevate the value of freedom. Surely all men know the value of freedom, and if so, none more than Americans living in the ‘land of the free’. Yet, it is possible that many of us think nothing of this. We have always had it – we have grown up free. None of us have suffered under the crushing tyranny of a military sovereign or the equally debilitating tyranny of an unreasoning mob bent on their own devices. It is quite possible that the American today knows less about freedom, having never been without it for a moment.
This freedom we enjoy is one of the greatest temporal and undeserved blessings that any man or woman can have. J. C. Ryle writes of Englishmen:
“We live in a land where our bodies are free. We live in a land where our actions are free. We live in a land where our consciences are free. We live in a land where no foreigner rules over us. In short, we have every kind of freedom to an extent which no other nation on earth can equal. We have personal freedom, civil freedom, religious freedom, and national freedom. We have free speech, free thought, free action, free Bibles, a free press, and free homes. How vast is this list of privileges! How endless the comforts which it contains! The full value of them can never perhaps be known.”
We might only challenge … the Englishman’s freedom must admit the American’s greater freedom!
Winning freedom, throughout mankind’s history, has come at great cost. How many have laid down their lives for the cause? It has seemed that no cost could possibly be too high. The champions of freedom are our heroes. The enemies of freedom are our adversaries.
Let me point you … there are two cautions that must be applied by the believer, the American, regarding freedom.
- Beware of undervaluing the liberty we enjoy.
- There is perhaps no country on earth, and no other time in our own country, where there is so much grumbling. Fault finding is a national pastime which Christians have imagined is theirs to enjoy. May it not be so! The constant grumbling, like our forefathers, Israel, is always a sign of undervaluing what we enjoy. It comes from a heart that refuses to look at the countless blessings that surround us. There is always plenty of fault to be found, in any time and any place. But the Christian is guided by the Spirit in a different direction, with a different perspective: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
Those who undervalue the liberty we enjoy forget that no laws or government established by man will ever be absent a measured quantity of abuse and corruption. Such is the fate of fallen man. This motivates the Christian to long for the kingdom to come – to pray with zeal, “Thy kingdom come…” It is not a Christian virtue to naively imagine change would be an improvement. Surely, we might have better laws, better policy makers, better government: but we might just as surely have worse. The Christian accepts the freedoms they enjoy as an undeserved gift of God and does not grumble against impingements or inadequacies.
Are you undervaluing your freedom?
- There is perhaps no country on earth, and no other time in our own country, where there is so much grumbling. Fault finding is a national pastime which Christians have imagined is theirs to enjoy. May it not be so! The constant grumbling, like our forefathers, Israel, is always a sign of undervaluing what we enjoy. It comes from a heart that refuses to look at the countless blessings that surround us. There is always plenty of fault to be found, in any time and any place. But the Christian is guided by the Spirit in a different direction, with a different perspective: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
- Beware of overvaluing the liberty we enjoy.
- We must never forget that temporal slavery, a life absent freedom, is not the only or the worse sort of slavery. Likewise, we must never forget that temporal freedom is not the only or best sort of freedom. How much greater the burden of temporal slavery when endured by a man or woman whose soul is not free? How much less the freedom enjoyed by a man or woman who soul remains enslaved? What good is there in living in a free land, with freedoms immeasurable, while your soul remains bound to sin and condemnation?
There are tyrants that no eyes can see – as real and as cruel as Pharaoh, Nero, or Hitler. Ryle writes: “There are chains which no hands can touch, as true and heavy and soul withering as ever crushed the limbs of an African!”
Christian, value highly the freedom you enjoy, but do not overvalue it. Look beyond, look higher, look further than any temporal freedom – look to the freedom that Christ brings: eternal, blessed beyond measure.
Are you overvaluing your freedom?
- We must never forget that temporal slavery, a life absent freedom, is not the only or the worse sort of slavery. Likewise, we must never forget that temporal freedom is not the only or best sort of freedom. How much greater the burden of temporal slavery when endured by a man or woman whose soul is not free? How much less the freedom enjoyed by a man or woman who soul remains enslaved? What good is there in living in a free land, with freedoms immeasurable, while your soul remains bound to sin and condemnation?
Important questions – thanks for letting me ask. Take time to answer.
Today is the Lord’s Day … I miss my normal routine. I miss the nerves that descend as the time approaches for me to present the truth of God’s Word to those who assemble, and I miss the excitement of the same. I miss the singing. I miss looking across the congregation at familiar faces; marking them as cherished in my heart. I miss looking across the congregation and noting those who are missing; no less cherished. I miss the corporate prayers. I miss the meeting, the greeting, the giving, the serving, the catching up. I miss the smiles. I miss the tears. I miss the fidgeting child, the sleeping senior, the disinterested and the interested listener. I miss each of these – and all of these.
But mostly, I miss you.
Grace upon grace,
Steve Wilson
