Word of Encouragement (11/10/2020)

Here are some more practical helps on pursuing holiness:

“10.  Remember that each duty that God requires of you has been converted into a promise. Consider: faith is a duty (1 John 3:23) and a promise (Zech. 13:9); mortification is a duty (Col. 3:5) and a promise (Mic. 7:19); fear is a duty (Eccl. 12:13) and a promise (Jer. 32:40). Be assured that, by the grace of God, you are enabled to perform your duties unto God. When you are unable to do so, plead with Him to accomplish His promise in you to be faithful to His promise and exalt Himself by His omnipotence in causing you to obey Him in all things (Ezek. 36:27).

“11.  As God has promised to help you in your duties, you must not look so much to the commandments that obligate you as to the promises that sustain you in your duties.

“12.  Never forget this powerful truth: ‘God’s promises are the foundation of all our performances; for we by working do not cause him to fulfill his promises, but he by promising doth enable us to perform our works. [There is a world of difference between the two, isn’t there? The first (causing God to fulfill His promises by our works) is the principle of works-righteousness, or the principle of the law. The second (God enabling us to perform our works by His promises, or God fulfilling His promises by enabling us to obey) is the principle of grace. Pascal succinctly summarized the difference between the two in this way: ‘The law demands what it cannot give. Grace gives what it commands.’ The previous application (#11) shows us how we live by the principle of grace.]

“13. As you pursue holiness, return again and again to these promises: ‘And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that called you, who also will do it’ (1 Thess. 5:23-24) and ‘Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen’ (Jude 24-25). If the Lord is sanctifying you, He will surely complete His work” (pp. 160-161). What does it mean to “return again and again to these promises”? It is to embrace these promises to be true rather than the history of our failures, how we might happen to feel at the moment, or the unbelief that these promises “don’t really work.” To do that may seem like what an actor does: no matter how he may feel (which changes all the time, anyway) at the moment, he takes on a character when the camera starts rolling. Putting off our old self and putting on our new self in Jesus Christ may be similar. If we are no longer orphans because God has made us His adopted children, co-heirs with Christ, then we have to “act the part” until it becomes our second nature.

Have a blessed day as you embrace God’s promises for our sanctification and walk accordingly!