“‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ He said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son.’
”Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.’”
- Genesis 22:12-14
As Tedashii says in his song "Hollywood", did you not find it beautiful to "look behind the bush to see the Ram"? This refers to a picture in the book of Genesis of salvation - the most important thing in the Christian life! As believers, it is important to keep in mind what we were saved from and whose sake we were saved for.
We do not need a Savior because having one will make all of life’s problems magically disappear. (If anything, Christianity can introduce whole new sets of problems to one’s life.) We need Christ because of how utterly depraved and lost we are without Him. Someone had to die in my place. Only Christ could.
Without His saving grace, I would be a God-hating, greedy, covetous, lustful, idolatrous wretch, sentenced to the worst torment in hell. And without His common grace, I might have become the wickedest man alive. I had “stumbled in one point of the Law”, and actually in many; so I was “guilty of all” (James 2:10). But God, being infinitely rich in mercy, determined in eternity past that He would declare me “not guilty”, looking on His Son Jesus and pardoning me. I cannot say that He, sentimentally, “saw anything good in me that made Him love me”. There was nothing good whatsoever. Christ would have thrown out my nicest deed ever as filthy in His sight. I had to turn from sin and self and throw myself upon Him to be saved.
-----
"We should aim to speak as in the sight of God. We are to ask ourselves not, 'what did the people think of me?', but, 'what was I in the sight of God?'"
- J. C. Ryle (note: in his sermon, his original context was preaching; however, this is still good advice for any of us as believers.)
-----
“My dear friend, everybody wants to go to heaven. They just don’t want God to be there when they get there. The question is not do you want to go to heaven. The question is this. Do you want God? Have you stopped being a hater of God? Has Christ become precious to you? Do you desire Him?”
- Paul Washer, “Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church in America”
This leads me to another question: How can I even consider someone else to be a believer if they have an apathetic, “Yeah, I did that”, view of their “salvation”? If someone sees nothing beautiful, nothing mind-blowing about the High King of Heaven – the universe’s ultimate Authority, who has no flaws at all and cannot accept sin in His Kingdom – sending His only Son to die in their place, so that He could declare them not guilty – has the Holy Spirit even done a work in them?
This goes back to a point Shai Linne made about the definite nature of Christ’s atonement; he said he believes in that because it ensures that not one drop of Christ’s blood was shed in vain. I would like to connect this to the work of the Holy Spirit. Suppose Christ comes in to one person’s life and the Spirit changed everything in their life. They stop getting drunk, get much better at loving other Christians, have a voracious appetite for Scripture, and want to grow spiritually as much as they can. Then suppose that Christ allegedly “came in” to somebody else’s life and the Spirit changed nothing at all. In fact, the second person only comes to church on Christmas and Easter to make an appearance; the rest of the year, they put work and hobbies above anything related to Christ. They never read the Word or seek any kind of fellowship with other Christians. And they’re still in love with all of the sins that they loved committing prior to “praying their prayer”.
Is the second person saved? The book of 1 John says plainly that they probably never were. And most people in America that claim the name of Christ, including most people that fill the pews, serve, and even preach in American churches, fall into that category.
So, then, going back to godly fellowship: it can’t be with just anybody. If you are a true believer in Christ – which means that 1 John describes you as a “child of light” – then you cannot have true “godly fellowship” with a non-believer or with someone who says they are saved but displays no interest in the things of God. This is why I find it so easy to have good godly fellowship with some people in my churches, but trying to have it with others is like running the Iditarod with a team of dead sled dogs. Although I am not the ultimate Judge of who is going to be saved, and some people who appear godly are “inwardly ravenous wolves”, the Word of God says that believers are known by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-16).
Realizing this has an impact on who I consider to be my close friends. To a believer, spiritual things are of the highest importance. So a close friendship with a non-believer could involve evangelism, but not kinship. But a close friendship with a believer would be between siblings in Christ.
-----
“ 3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.”
- Titus 3:3-8
-----
"Daily discipleship is not a new revolution each morning or an agent of global transformation each evening; it's a long obedience in the same direction."
- Kevin DeYoung, Why We Love the Church
We must always live with that in view, and we must interact with each other with that in view – as we seek to progress from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity. Do not be content to remain a baby. To remain a baby for twenty years in a human body would be a medical absurdity. With that in mind, babies do not learn to walk or run without help. Their parents, or others that can demonstrate what they need to learn, teach them. In the same way, we still need to be taught in matters of the faith. And hence, God has given us brothers and sisters in Him – to instruct us in the theory and the practice of showing off the glory of Christ in every area of life.
-----
“In every part with praise,
That my whole being may proclaim
Thy being and Thy ways.
Not for the lip of praise alone,
Nor even the praising heart
I ask, but for a life made up
Of praise in every part!
“Praise in the common words I speak,
Life’s common looks and tones,
In fellowship in hearth and board
With my beloved ones;
Not in the temple crowd alone
Where holy voices chime,
But in the silent paths of earth,
The quiet rooms of time.
“Fill every part of me with praise;
Let all my being speak
Of Thee and of Thy love, O Lord,
Poor though I be, and weak.
So shalt Thou, Lord, from me, even me,
Receive the glory due;
And so shall I begin on earth
The song forever new.
“So shall each fear, each fret, each care
Be turned into a song,
And every winding of the way
The echo shall prolong;
So shall no part of day or night
From sacredness be free;
But all my life, in every step
Be fellowship with Thee.”
- Horatius Bonar, “Fill Thou My Life”
