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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Pursuit of Life, #11
Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; And anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37,38—NIV)
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. (Ephesians 4:1—NIV)
All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. (II Thessalonians 1:5—NIV)
We must be found worthy of eternal life, worthy of the Kingdom of God.
Salvation Will Come in the Future
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11—NIV)
One of the current imbalances in our teaching today is that of not perceiving salvation as a program. The Bible teaches clearly that there is an initial point of receiving Christ, then there is an outworking of the program of salvation. But the fullness of salvation will come in the future. The fullness of salvation is the redemption of our body, the raising of it from the dead and the filling of it with eternal life.
So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:28—NIV)
What we have now is a deposit on eternal life. We have been sealed by the Lord until the day of redemption arrives. The day of redemption is the time when our body is adopted by the Lord. Our body presently is dead because of sin. In the day of redemption it will be made alive by the power of Christ.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30—NIV)
The particular error of today's teaching is that all we have to do to prepare for the day of redemption, for receiving the fullness of life in our resurrected body, is to make an initial profession of faith in Christ. This is not at all true. In order to receive the bodily redemption we must press toward this goal every day of our discipleship. Even the aged Paul said he had not attained but was pressing toward the mark.
In order to prepare for the full resurrection of the body we must first attain the inward resurrection. The inward resurrection is attained as we turn away from the world, presenting our body a living sacrifice.
The inward resurrection is attained as we confess our sins and through the Spirit of God put them to death.
The inward resurrection is attained as we wait patiently in the imprisoning circumstances in which we are placed, permitting the Lord to deny us—sometimes for many years—the most intense desires we have.
Until we have been resurrected inwardly, living in the Spirit of resurrection, we have no hope of an outward resurrection. God will never place a body like that of the Lord Jesus on a sinful, disobedient inward nature—not by grace, mercy, or any other means.
To be continued.