Many people ask questions about assurance of salvation: “How do I know if I am saved?”
Some would answer, “The Bible says, ‘Once saved, always saved.’ So if you truly believed in Jesus in the past, you have a ticket straight to heaven; you need never question your salvation.”
So is the statement “Once saved, always saved” biblical? The answer is, “Yes, but not in the way many people understand it.” Let me explain. (more…)
Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life. (Proverbs 16:31)
With both of my parents in their nineties and my father hospitalized for the last month, I have been drawn to Scriptures that speak particularly to those who are aged. Here is a selection to help those of us who have gray hairs today or who eventually will have them.
Examples of the elderly in Scripture:
Many of God’s servants are faithful to the end of their lives – and for some, their key role in biblical history takes place after they are advanced in years. These are great examples for us. Consider the lives of Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Samuel, Barzillai (2 Samuel 19), Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon, and Anna.
Others start well but are unfaithful in old age, serving as negative examples: consider especially Solomon (1 Kings 11) and Asa (2 Chronicles 16).
How can we be like the positive examples and unlike the negative? First, we must remember God’s promises. Here are six that are especially important to hold on to as we age:
First promise: “I will always carry you!”
Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. (Isaiah 46:3-4)
Second promise: “I will always lead you and guide you!”
And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. (Isaiah 42:16)
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24-25)
Third promise: “My goodness and love will pursue you always!”
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23:6)
But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children (Psalm 103:17)
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
Fourth promise: “In Me, you will always bear fruit!”
The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Psalm 92:12-15)
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:3)
He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17:8)
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
Fifth promise: “By My power, you can resist temptations – including those that are particular to old age”
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Sixth promise: “In eternity, you will have pleasures forevermore at My right hand”
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Corinthians 5:1)
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:10-11)
After remembering God’s promises, cry out to Him in dependence every day:
First: Cry out to see Him:
One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)
[We must] run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1b-2a NET)
Second: Pray: “Teach us to number our days and to be satisfied with your love”
The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. (Psalm 90:10-14)
O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! (Psalm 39:4)
Third: Cry out asking Him to fulfill His promise to keep you and to use you to the end:
In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame! …Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent…. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are he who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you…. O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. (Psalm 71:1, 5-6, 9, 17-18)
Fourth: “Sustain me as you sustained the Apostle Paul to the end”
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:6-8)
May we all fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith, to God’s glory through the strength He supplies by His Spirit because of Jesus.
(Scriptures are ESV except where noted)
Josh Harris announced recently that he is no longer a Christian, and he and his wife are divorcing.
The fall of prominent pastors should not surprise us; there have been many such falls over the last few decades. But unlike many of the others, Josh Harris was not a health, wealth, and prosperity preacher. He had not raised suspicions by amassing a personal fortune. He gave every appearance of teaching God’s Word faithfully.
How should we react?
In addition, let us remember two biblical truths, and then ask a question:
First biblical truth: We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the “spiritual forces of evil” (Ephesians 6:12). And the chief of these spiritual forces “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
Second biblical truth: We do not have the power in ourselves to fight this lion. If we gallantly go out to take him on in single combat, we will be overcome and devoured. Instead, the Apostle exhorts us, “Resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:9, emphasis added). As the Lord God says, “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all” (Isaiah 7:9).
This leads to the question, however: Faith in what?
We all know the right answer: Faith in God. Faith in Jesus.
Many will go deeper in their answer: Faith in the penalty paid by Jesus’ death on the cross. Faith that God is for His people, for their joy. Faith that He is working all things together for His glory and the good of those people.
Yes, in the American evangelical church we know the right answer. But I fear that we quite often grasp for something else to hold on to. Something else to believe in. Something else to trust.
What is this “something else”? Gimmicks. Tools. Techniques. Ways of doing church. Methods of presenting the Gospel.
And most of all: Heroes. Idols. Prominent people we admire.
The early prominence of Josh Harris after writing a book in which he gave advice which he had not yet lived out is symptomatic of this problem. Rather than rightly seeing that book as having value to the extent that it pointed us to scriptural truth, many latched on to I Kissed Dating Goodbye as the answer, as the solution to a sex-crazed, hookup youth culture.
And so we in the evangelical church lunge from fad to fad: “Here’s the answer!” “There’s the answer!” The latest movement, the latest evangelistic technique, the latest denominational program; the latest book, the latest music, the next great film, the next great preacher, the methods of the latest megachurch: This will be the key! This will open people’s hearts! This will lead to thousands coming to faith!
Get this: No pastor, no evangelist, no tract, no movie, no gospel presentation, no great argument, no new way of “doing church”, no outreach method, has ever brought anyone to Christ. For, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (1 Corinthians 5:17). No person can do that. Only God creates. “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). Only God can perform such a transplant. You and I cannot.
Now, God may well use a pastor, an evangelist, a tract, a movie, or a particular Gospel presentation as the occasion for performing that miracle.
But the power is not in the method. The power is in the Spirit working through His Word.
Remember, as John the Baptist said to those impressed by their ancestry, “God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:9). He doesn’t need our techniques. He doesn’t need our gimmicks. He certainly doesn’t need our celebrities.
The point is not to throw out all the books and films, the tracts and techniques; neither is the point to ignore prominent Christian teachers. On the margin some of these are useful tools. Check them out biblically; search the Scriptures to see if they accurately communicate truth. They may help in some circumstances.
But the power is in the Word. The power is in the Spirit. The power is in God. He will complete His plan. He will fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the sea.
So rather than jumping from fad to fad, from technique to technique, from the newest greatest book to the next newest greatest book, look to that Word! Obey its commands; cultivate its mindset.
And then, friends, the Christian life is not faddish, and really is not complicated: Believe in God. Believe also in Jesus (John 14:1). Delight in Him. Depend on Him. Love Him. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ deeply from the heart. Love your neighbor. Love and be faithful to your spouse. Raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Do not neglect meeting together. Sit under the faithful preaching of the Word. Let the Word dwell in you richly. Pray without ceasing. Speak the Gospel. Make disciples of all nations. Spur one another on to love and good works. Give cheerfully. Put on the full armor of God.
Yes, we have no strength in ourselves to resist Satan, our enemy. But by God’s grace we can be firm in the faith, not seeking something to hold on to other than Him, but holding firmly to Him and His Word.
Our Lord promises, “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). And we can endure, for He also says, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
So take this occasion of the fall of a prominent man to commit yourself to enduring in faith to the end. And so endure, according to His Word, by God’s grace, as given through His people.
The Apostle Paul tells Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). An important aspect of this fight is our struggle to believe God – to believe in His character, to believe His promises, to believe that He is in control, to believe that He will bring about the final culmination of all things.
Hebrews 11 gives us a litany of many characters from the Old Testament who did exactly that – who fought the fight to believe and succeeded in that fight. The author cites several we expect: Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses. But consider Hebrews 11:29:
By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
When reading the account of the Israelites by the Red Sea, I don’t come away thinking, “Wow! What great faith they had!”
Consider their reaction when they see Pharaoh’s army pursuing them:
“Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (Exodus 14:11-12)
Now, after God brings them through the sea on dry land yet drowns the pursuing army, they believe:
Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses. (Exodus 14:31)
But only a few days later they grumble against Moses (and, implicitly, against God) when there is no water (Exodus 15:23-24); shortly thereafter they complain more, this time about the lack of food, once again wishing they were back in Egypt:
“Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Exodus 16:3)
The author of Hebrews assures us: They have faith. Exodus, on the other hand, shows us that their faith is fickle and small; perhaps it is only the size of a mustard seed. But the object of their faith is great; indeed, He is almighty. He protects them from the army. He divides the sea. He brings them through on dry land, with the water piled up on each side. Their small and fickle faith in Him is sufficient for them to walk between those mounds of water.
What about you? Does your faith, like theirs, seem fickle and small? Do you trust God one day and then act as if He has no regard for you the next? Are you frightened when you contemplate the dangers and uncertainties ahead?
Take heart from Hebrews 11:29. God’s fulfillment of His promises depends on Him, not on you. Remind yourself of Who He is, of what He has done, of what He has promised. Listen to your brothers and sisters who are there to stand alongside you in this fight of faith. Reflect on His Word day and night.
In this way, fight the good fight of faith, the fight to believe – but don’t focus on your faith. Focus on the God who is the object of your faith. And thus endure to the end – by His power – and be saved – by His mercy.
Coty Pinckney