The weather we’ve been having lately is enough to …. well, cause you to: A) pull your hair out, B) rejoice over or C) pull the covers up over your head and go back to sleep. I, for one, have had enough of moving snow from my sidewalk and driveway. And I, unlike the children on my school bus, am tired of having school called off for snow days. (I like it when school lets out before Memorial Day).
But there are those who enjoy the snow. It is evident from the tracks in some of the fields and meadows that snow mobiles are used around here! Some are enjoying the abundant snow on the slopes of the Crescent ski area. Now, mind you, I actually enjoy the walks my wife and I take in the early morning crisp cold air - but the snow!!!

The reality here is that it is just a matter of perspective. A recently-aired news piece on TV had the reporter interviewing those who enjoy the snow and so encouraged others to get out and go sledding or ice skating, etc. And I see their point. So, what is your perspective? OK, this is not an article concerning the weather or the amount of snowfall! But what is your perspective concerning the world in which we live? In other words, what is your worldview?

Some years ago I encountered this concept of “worldview.” At first I didn’t know what to make of it. “What is your worldview?” “Do you have a secular worldview or a biblical worldview?” I believe the answer to that question tells a lot about how a person sees their relationship with God.

There are a lot of venues in the world today from which to garner information. Online or hard copy, we can read opinions, ideas, or theories about politics, science, history or current events. But in today’s world, how do you know what is true? My comment on this is that if you put forth an expert on a subject, someone else will put forth 3 experts confirming an opposing view.

Generally speaking, before answering anyone who would ask me my opinion on a given subject, I have to formulate my answer through the truth of the Bible. In other words, I have a biblical worldview – for me there can be no other way. You see, those with a secular worldview can make up any answer they might want to because they don’t have the “sure foundation” of the Bible. In this society where truth seems to be very illusive, how do we know what is “truth” and what is not? The only foundation for truth that we have is the word of God, for we read “Thy Word is Truth.” The truth is, apart from that foundation, all human beings are liars; in fact the Bible puts it this way, “Let God be true, though every man a liar.” (Rom. 3:4) Now it is always possible for a person to be in error as to what he says – but deliberately telling an untruth is lying.

How then can a person who says he is a Christian and believes the Bible to be the word of God, make a comment that involves secular reasoning or understanding and which also contradicts the word of God? Allow me to end this session by quoting from the true Lord’s Prayer found in John 17. Jesus was in prayer to the Father and says this, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” And yes we are seekers of truth and good news!

I mentioned in our previous article that, “the grace of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Remember the short definition of grace we used last week? “Grace is getting something that you do not deserve.” Do any of us deserve eternal life? Well, actually – NO, we do not. Does that come as a surprise to you? It should not be surprising if you are familiar with the word of God. Because through the scriptures we are brought into a knowledge of God – who He is and what His will is for us, His children. We come to see just what it is that God requires of us and just what God will do for us.

I have mentioned many times before that God desires a relationship with us, but that there is no way for us to enter into that relationship while we are dead in our sins. Yes, it is axiomatic that we needed a Savior, a Redeemer, someone who would be willing to bear the burden of our sins – and that someone is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. This redemption from God fits within our short definition of mercy, “mercy is not getting what you deserve.”

Our God is a Holy God, this we know. But do we truly realize that our Holy God cannot dwell with that which is unclean (unholy)? We accept the blood of Jesus, we believe He cleanses us from our sin, and we obey His holy and righteous commands so as to begin to form a relationship with Him. And God promises eternal life. If we will accept it, He gives us a “helper” to guide us in this path of righteousness. Why do I say, ‘if we will accept it’? Because many of us do not utilize this gift – this grace – of our Father.

At His last Passover (sometimes called the last supper) Jesus says this, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to abide with you forever – the Holy Spirit of truth” (John 14:15-17). Some translations of the Bible say He will give us a ‘Comforter’ and the Greek word that Jesus uses actually has the meaning of ‘one who come to the aid, comfort or consolation of another.’ God in His goodness and His grace is willing to give to us repentant sinners, a piece of His very self to aid, comfort and console us.

In other words, God is rooting for us all the way. He wants – yea, even desires – that we successfully navigate this world around us, to keep our hearts, our minds and our eyes fixed upon Him.

He has given us His only begotten Son. He has given us His written instructions in the Bible. He has given to us the Counselor; a part of His very being. These are things that a hundred generations before us never were privileged to understand.
Yes, He loves us more that we could ever know. Would you meditate upon these things? Would you get on your knees today and visit with Him? Would you thank Him for His GOOD NEWS?

I know that some of this can be quite deep. But it really only brushes the surface of the depth of the goodness and love that God has for us, His children.

In our last article we talked a little about the Godly concepts of justice and mercy. You see, if God were not a God of justice He could not show forth His mercy. For mercy does not, yea cannot, exist where there is no justice. How can someone show forgiveness if there is nothing to be forgiven of?

There is a third aspect of God’s character that must be introduced at this point: grace! May I give you a succinct definition of these three aspects of God’s character? Justice is getting what you deserve; mercy is not getting what you deserve; and grace is getting something that you do not deserve.

And so, we are sinners – what is the result of sin? “For the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23) You and I as unrepentant sinners will find, in the justice system of God, the verdict of “death”. We cannot complain for God has spelled it out for us. But God has provided a way out and lets us know that He has sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice to take away our sin. 1 John 4:10, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” WOW – now that is mercy, tremendous mercy. But wait! God does not stop there. He goes on to express unto us the third element of who He is – grace!

What is this grace that God showers upon His children? What is this gift of God that goes beyond what we deserve? Let’s go back to finish the scripture quote in Rom. 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the grace of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So does this ‘three part trail’ go from: 1) we are sinners worthy of death to; 2) we accept the mercy God has provided through the blood of His Son to; 3) eternal life in our Savior? If that were so, then once we repented and received baptism we would be whisked away into the kingdom of God to be with Him forever – no more
sorrow, no more crying, no more pain, just joy and bliss with God.

Guess what, that did not happen. Not even with the Apostles!

In March of 1979 after I came up out of the waters of baptism, the same people were in the room, the same snowstorm was happening outside. That was almost 40 years ago and this physical life is still all I see around me.

God is good! Remember, Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone.” And so God in His goodness provides for the repentant sinner in many ways. Acts 2:36-39, “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

The gift of the Holy Spirit! To have a piece of God in-dwell the new child of God is an amazing concept – so let’s take a look at that next time, God willing.

In our previous article we considered the statement ‘God is good’. And I asked the question as to whether you might know someone who believes that the God of the Old Testament is mean, angry and harsh. How would you answer them?

I might start off by quoting the verse from James 1:17 (the verse I ended with last week) “(God) does not change like shifting shadows”; or perhaps the verse in Malachi 3:6, ‘I the LORD do not change’; or maybe Hebrews 13:8, ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever’. These three scriptures are quite persuasive in letting us know that God did not change His ways from the front of our Bibles to the back of them!

It was Jesus Himself who told us that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." And in the letter of 1 John 4:8 & 16 we find out that "God is love!" Peter chimes in with his second letter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you; He is not willing that anyone should perish, but that everyone should come to repentance."

Wow!! This God we are called to serve really does love His creation – He loves us and desires that we abide with Him and His Son for all eternity.

One thing we must know about God; He is a God of justice. He told our first parents, Adam and Eve, what not to do. They paid no attention and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then they denied culpability for the sin, “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Gen. 3:11-21) This was the world’s first example of passing the buck.

Again, God is a God of justice and so punishment needed to be meted out. God went back up this ladder of blame and cursed the serpent first, then punished the woman and finally pronounced punishment upon the man. Then God, in His mercy and love for His children, provided garments of protection and modesty.

Do you remember how God worded His one and only commandment to Adam? “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

In a manner of speaking, they did die that day. The special fellowship they had enjoyed with God in the garden ended and any promise of eternal life for them ended that day. But on the other hand, the God of mercy and grace, bestowed upon them His forgiveness.

“As Jesus was walking along the way, a man ran up to Him and fell on his knees before Him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Why do you call me good,’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good except God alone.’” (Mark 10:17-18)

We may get into this “eternal life” question at some time, but I would like to ponder Jesus statement that “No one is good except God alone”. Have you ever run into someone who said, “The God of the Old Testament was mean, angry and harsh”? Perhaps you have said it yourself! Or maybe you know someone who thinks that God cannot be good because there is so much suffering in the world.

Since the beginning of time, from when Adam and Eve were created, has there been anyone who has known God the Father better than the Son of God, Jesus Christ? In the book of Matthew 11:27 Jesus makes this statement, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” If ever there was a tight relationship it would have to be between God, the Creator of all things, and His Son, the Savior of all mankind.

A question for you: has the Son of God chosen to reveal to you the Heavenly Father? This is a very personal question. Many people go around talking about Jesus and how He has done many things in their lives; they preface their prayers with “Dear Lord” and so address our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But in Matthew 6:9, Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father …” And I very seldom hear people talk about what the Father has done for them in their lives.

And so it is good to understand your relationship with Jesus. It is also good to develop a closeness to the Father of all mankind. Jesus tells us He is good. Let’s let the scriptures tell us how good He really is.

Shall we take a look at a couple of verses from the book of Isaiah and consider his thoughts about our God and Father? “So, do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand…. For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you.” (Is. 41:10&13) This One who desires to take hold of our right hand is God. Some may incorrectly state that the God of the Old Testament is harsh – but the God I serve wants, yes desires, my love and attention. He wants to strengthen and help me. Jeremiah tells it this way, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentation 3:21-26)

“He does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17) Oh, there is so much more - God is good, all the time!!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of (faithful) witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

How strong was the faith of Jesus Christ? To be slightly glib, I would say that on a scale of 1 to 10, He was at a 12!! He came down from heaven (from the heavenly throne room of the Father) and became flesh.

Paul, in his letter to the Philippians 2:5-8, says this, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Our Savior went to the cross for us. As He hung there, losing every drop of blood unto death, He had to have profound faith that He would be brought up unto resurrection from the grave by the mighty hand of the Father. And then we read in the book of Hebrews, quoted above, that He is “the founder and perfecter of our faith.”

If you have faith in what the Heavenly Father has done; if you have faith in what your Savior, Jesus Christ, has done; and if you have faith in the understanding that you are walking in the path of righteousness with your Father and His Son, then you can rejoice that your faith has been founded in Jesus Christ and will be perfected in Him. In his letter to the Galatians (2:20) Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Wow!! This is heavy stuff!! But whoever said the Bible was light? These words of Paul are not things to be read over and forgotten – they are the truth of God and they are facts.

The good news here is that our Heavenly Father and His Son love us so much that “We have been given everything we need for life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3) Paul says as much in his letter to the Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”
But you must take the next step. You must ponder, you must meditate upon whether you have received this calling (yes this calling, right here in the words of this article) and that you have prepared the soil of your heart so as to receive the seeds of the Gospel and to become one of the chosen ones of God. In Acts 2:38, Peter told us what to do, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Do you have the faith to take this step? “And with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers.”

Some might feel that the activity of having faith is as easy as falling off a log (I’ve never actually done that! – fallen off a log, that is!). We have been considering faith – the faith that Abraham had – and that it involves much more than just some mental exercise. It truly involves some kind of activity, just as Abraham’s faith did!

Ultimately, what are we looking for? As I see it, God has given us life so that we might begin a journey toward Him! A good word to use here would be “relationship.” God wants to have a relationship with His creation, yes, with His children. Isn’t that what we are looking for?

But one thing the scriptures teach us is that our God is Holy and we are not; and that presents a problem, because that which is unholy cannot draw near to that which is holy. This we know, for the scriptures also teach us that we need to be redeemed from our unholiness, our sinful nature. God, in His wisdom and understanding, has, from the foundation of the world, considered and provided for our needs in this case. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) “Whoever believes in Him” … Did you catch that? Faith or belief is involved here!

OK, so back to my question, ultimately, what are we looking for? In a word, we are looking for righteousness! It is righteousness that will bring us into a relationship with our Heavenly Father and because we have no righteousness of our own, we must be redeemed by Jesus Christ and so accept His righteousness through the blood of His sacrifice. Do you believe that Jesus’ blood imputes righteousness to you so that you might fellowship with the Father?

We have come a long way in just a short space; allow me to insert here a quote from my daughter, Cynthia Saladin, “If God is your God and you want fellowship with Him, the law is part and parcel of your relationship with Him. It defines what is acceptable conduct in His presence. The law is a reflection of the character of God.” I know I am prejudice toward my daughter but that statement says a mouthful!! Remember what James said, “Faith without works is dead.” A short perusal of the faith chapter in the book of Hebrews should give us understanding here, “By faith, Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did, and thereby was commended as a righteous man … By faith, Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family … By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went even though he did not know where he was going …by faith, Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, … because they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” (Hebrews 11:4-23) We could go on but I believe we see that each of these (and more) were commended for their faith by doing something.

Oh yes, faith is a huge subject – there is still more to come!!

“You have faith that there is one God. Good! But even the demons believe that and shudder.” (James 2:19) This is quite an interesting verse. And one that should make us stop and think about our belief system. There are many people in our society that say they believe in God, and they will even say that they believe in the God of the Bible. But this same Bible tells us that this kind of belief is no better than the belief of Satan and his minions.

In our previous article I mentioned that Jesus says in John 8:39, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works Abraham did.” Are you a child of Abraham? In Romans 4:11 we read, “So then, he (Abraham) is the father of all who believe …”; and again in Galatians 3:29 “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” Well, only you can answer the question as to whether you are Abraham’s offspring or not, and only you can answer the question as to if you are doing the works that Abraham did.

Friends and brethren, this is an important discussion. We have been considering the scripture in Rev. 17:4 concerning the “called, the chosen and the faithful.” Each one of these concepts builds upon the next – for how can you be a chosen one of God if you have never been called and to whom are you to be faithful if God has not chosen you? Can you begin to grasp the depth of all this? Those who are “called, chosen and faithful” are those who will accompany our Savior in the last days as Satan is being defeated and Christ is beginning the process of setting up the Kingdom of God on this earth!!!

Let’s consider the word “faithful”. First, let’s notice it does not say “faithsome.”

OK, my computer is telling me that I just made that word up; but you get the point, our faith must be full and not just partial.

Remember the incident in Mark 9:14-28, where a certain man asked Jesus to cast a demon out of his son? The man’s words were, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Jesus’ response was, “If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes. And immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help my unbelief!’” Jesus cast the demon out of the child but the father’s reply is one that we all share: “I believe; help my unbelief!” Our God is loving and kind and merciful and full of grace toward His children, He does help our unbelief, but we must do as the father did and ask. This subject of faith is not an easy one. The word itself is tied in with the concept of obedience. In the book of Hebrews we see that when the Israelites sinned in the wilderness and refused to enter the promised land, they were punished for their unbelief: “And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:18-19)

Oh yes – there is still more to come. We are just coming to the part where the rubber meets the road!!