By This We Know

Posted on November 9, 2021 by Pete

I do wonder sometimes if over decades of a “seeker-friendly” approach to the gospel we have put too much stock in the profession of faith rather than in the possession of the evidences of faith. That when we ask for someone’s testimony, because we are so protective of grace being understood as a free gift, we expect only to hear how someone came to believe and expect almost nothing of how they currently behave.

But to talk of obedience isn’t legalism. To expect that those saved by God through the Son would walk according to the commandment of God by the Spirit, doesn’t cheapen grace. According to John, it actually validates grace.

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us. Whoever keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in Him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

(1John 3:18-24 ESV)

We can know that we are of the truth because we love in deed and truth. We can boldly approach God’s throne of grace with our prayers, confident He will hear us, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. We know we’re abiding when we see we’re obeying, for whoever keeps His commandments abides in God. The Spirit will take the reality of our walk and affirm the reality of our faith. It’s by this we know.

To be clear, not saying that obedience saves us. Just saying that if we’re saved we’re gonna wanna walk in His commandments.

To be clear again, not saying that obedience is absent failure — after all, Jesus knows up close and personal the struggle of man in his current form. That though the spirit may be willing the flesh too often is weak (Mt. 26:41). But if we are serious about keeping His commandments we’ll also be serious about keeping short accounts. That when, not if, we stumble, fumble, and fall, we’ll pick ourselves up, make our way to the cross, and confess our sin knowing He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1Jn. 1:9). Repentance is also an integral command to obey in the Christian walk. And it’s by this we know also that we really have been born again.

To believe is to behave. To be saved is to be sanctified. By this we know that we are of the truth. By this we know He abides in us. By this we’ll encourage others to walk as Jesus calls us to walk. By this we’ll exhort, admonish, and even rebuke one another so that we might together be reassured in heart before Him — that we truly are His and that He truly lives in us.

By this we know.

Because of grace. For His glory.

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It Makes All the Difference

Posted on November 8, 2021 by Pete

Continuing to try to track the argument of a man racked with pain — emotional, spiritual, and physical. Job’s getting bolder but, at least for this guy in the chair, not always clearer. Nevertheless, here’s what I’m picking up from what I think Job’s laying down in chapter 14.

Job is operating in an “under the sun” mode. The same mode Solomon was in as he wrote Ecclesiastes. Not “under the sun” as in there’s no God above the sun. But “under the sun” as in this is it folks, your years are but threescore and ten, or if you’re really strong fourscore (Ps. 90:10). So if this is it, why should God care? Or as Job puts it to God, “Since [man’s] days are determined . . . look away from him and leave him alone” (Job 14:5-6).

Leave me alone God. That appears to be Job’s bottom line with his “under the sun” paradigm. As Sovereign You’ve appointed my days and numbered my months, I’m okay with that. And, just as a river eventually “wastes away and dries up”, so too “a man lies down and rises not again” (14:11-12). So, let me take the days You’ve allotted, and I will honor You for those days during those days (Job 1:21), but leave me alone. This suffering makes no sense if all there is life under the sun. In fact, by allowing such things to happen “You destroy the hope of man” (14:19).

A logical argument perhaps. But only if you get one crucial question wrong.

“If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.”

(Job 14:14 ESV)

Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death.

(Job 14:14 NLT)

Resurrection. That would make sense of a life seemingly filled with train-wrecks. If a man dies and lives again, then we have some greater context to put present suffering within. If there is “renewal” to come then there just might be purpose in pain. If something is happening in the really, really hard here and now that prepares us for a much, much better there and then, maybe I can endure it (with some divine assistance).

“If a man dies, shall he live again?”

That’s the question Job’s not answering correctly. That’s the missing piece in Job’s enigmatic puzzle. Resurrection.

Hmm, “coincidence” that this reading is on the same day as my reading in John 11.

Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

(John 11:25-26 ESV)

Do I believe this? If yes, then it changes everything. While it doesn’t answer the why of suffering, it does provide the hope that there will be a what — that present suffering fits into a future context. While it doesn’t ease the pain, it contains it to but a season as we anticipate that day and place when we rise again and God will “wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

“If a man dies, shall he live again?”

Yes! Absolutely! You betcha’! Count on it!

It makes all the difference.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

(Romans 8:18 ESV)

Sustained in our suffering by His abundant grace. Saved through our suffering for His eternal glory.

Amen?

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Abide and Obey

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Pete

Short thought this morning. Something out of 1 John. Not overly complicated but a source of great confidence. A to do which, John says, will have a directly connect “to be.” A purposeful pursuit which will have a practical payout. I think, if I’m picking up what John’s laying down, when we abide we’ll obey.

And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.

(1John 2:28-29 ESV)

Seems there were forces at play trying to destabilize the believers John was writing to (2:26). What a surprise. Not. Plethora are the ways the enemy can deploy to try and get us off our game. To distract us from the prize. To confuse us as to our purpose. To deflect us from the power.

But we have an anointing (2:27). An anointing we’ve received from Jesus. An anointing that abides in us. An anointing that is true and can keep us straight. An anointing from Him through which we can abide in Him.

And if abide in Him, we’ll walk like Him. Not in perfection, but in persistent purpose, palpable power, and perceptible practice.

If He abides in us through the anointing, and we abide in Him through the anointing, then if He is righteous (and He is), then we’ll be marked as those who practice righteousness. We’ll walk as He walked because our walk will be sourced fully in remaining in Him and not in reliance upon our best efforts at remaking ourselves. To tarry with Jesus will result in taking on Jesus. To remain in Him will be to have Him reflected through us. Our abiding will result in our obeying as His indwelling has it’s outworking.

Simple. But not a gimme. Foundational. So worth pursuing.

If trust and obey is the what of following Christ, I’m thinking that abide and obey is the how.

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.

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Speaking for Him Who is Manifold in Understanding

Posted on November 4, 2021 by Pete

They were triple-teaming him. Eliphaz has tried to make sense of Job’s trouble, “As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same” (Job 4:8) — Job, you musta’ done something wrong! After Job defends himself, Eliphaz then tags in Bildad, “How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?” But Job’s having none of it. He doubles down . . . literally — “I am in the right . . I am in the right” (Job 9:15, 20). So his buddies bring in the clean-up hitter, Zophar, “Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be judged right? Should your babble silence men, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?” (Job 11:1-2)

But here’s the thing that’s got me thinking this morning. It’s not like these “friends” are totally off base. In the midst of their “comforting,” they will speak truth concerning God. Seems to me the problem lies in their arrogance in thinking they know exactly how to apply that truth in Job’s case.

Here’s an example of some truth spoken by Zophar:

“But oh, that God would speak and open His lips to you, and that He would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For He is manifold in understanding. . . . Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?”

(Job 11:5-6a, 7 ESV)

God holds the secrets of wisdom. Check! God is manifold in understanding. Check! The deep things of God are beyond finding out. Check! The Almighty is without limits, not gonna fit in a box of our own making. Check! It sure would be helpful if God were to break heaven’s sound barrier, right here and right now, and let you in on what’s happening behind the scenes. True statement.

But here’s where I think Z and friends go off the rails. Given that God isn’t speaking from heaven, they’re going to do His speaking for Him. Even though God’s wisdom is secret, His understanding manifold, and His deep things are without limit, they’re pretty sure they know what’s going down — so they’ll speak for Him.

Rather than knowing what they know about God causing them to be humbled before God, they think they know enough about an incomprehensible God to speak for Him. Job can’t figure it out, what makes them think they can? Pride, perhaps?

Not saying that we can’t speak with authority and conviction about the things of God. But that should be in matters where God has already clearly spoken through His word. In other matters, matters of applying principles, discerning situations, and wondering as to root cause, I’m thinking a measure of humility is appropriate when trying to speak for Him who is manifold in understanding. That in discerning the mind of God, the heart of God — a heart which is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6) — should temper our application of the word of God in matters that clearly have not been spoken to directly by God.

Just thinking that if Zophar & Co. listened to their own correct assessment of who God is they wouldn’t have been so quick to assert that they knew what only God knows. That there’s some care to be taken when speaking for Him who is manifold in understanding.

We’re all gonna draw alongside someone at some point who’s going through something that doesn’t make sense. I wanna be a true friend and real comforter. Seems to me putting on humility and acknowledging mystery might come into play.

Trusting in God’s grace. Wanting only God’s glory.

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Free Utterance

Posted on November 3, 2021 by Pete

Reading in Job 10 this morning and wondering if I didn’t just observe the point where Job, had he thought to look back over his shoulder, would have seen the line he had crossed.

The loss is unfathomable. The physical pain, unimaginable. And the sorrow, it seems, increasingly unbearable. Add to all that the engagement with his so called comforters, and the situation is becoming more and more insufferable. So Job verbally vents his confusion and frustration concerning a situation which would seem inconsistent for a life lived, by God’s own declaration, blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil (Job 1:8, 2:3).

I have heard some say that God is big enough to handle the honest expressions of our souls, and I buy that. But based on the response of God to Job’s venting that I’ll encounter later, I do wonder if, while God will not refuse the honest cries of the heart, He will hold to account those who would think to stand up to him face-to-face and demand an answer from the Almighty. That’s the line I think I’m seeing Job cross.

“I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. . . Why did You bring me out from the womb? . . . Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer . . .

(Job 10:1, 18a, 20 ESV)

I’m wondering if, when Job abandoned restraint, deciding to give free utterance to his complaint and questioning of God, he took a step too far. When, opting to forsake the constraint of the fear of God, and free-wheeling it before the Creator out of the bitterness of his soul, he traded standing on holy ground for stumbling in rocky territory.

Free utterance. Full vent (NASB). Free reign (NIV). Putting it all on the table (MSG). Speaking with abandon. Freely complaining without regard for who he’s complaining too. I believe God can handle transparent prayer, but I don’t think, for our good, He will tolerate reckless disrespect. Why am I thinking that? Because of a connection I made with something I recalled in Romans as I hovered over this passage.

Your hands fashioned and made me, and now You have destroyed me altogether. Remember that You have made me like clay; and will You return me to the dust?

(Job 10:8-9 ESV)

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have You made me like this?”

(Romans 9:20 ESV)

It’s a step gone too far, it seems to me, when free utterance ignores the Creator / creature distinction. Though Job knew God as Maker, Job addresses him increasingly as though that doesn’t matter. His overwhelming despair casts off the fear of God and results in over-the-top rhetoric. Rhetoric for which God will eventually hold him to account.

Not judging Job. Trying to learn from him. Not comparing our season of wearying confusion with Job’s severe suffering. But, in trying to make sense of stuff that doesn’t make sense, I think I’m picking up a caution this morning about free utterance and the need to maintain, as much as lies within us, the fear of God.

Something to chew on.

As we walk in grace for His glory.

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Another Thing I Can Know

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Pete

Yesterday, reading John’s gospel, I was reminded that, while there are many things I don’t know when it comes to the things of God, one thing I do know is that while I was once blind now I see. But reading in John’s first epistle this morning the question posed is, “Yeah, but how do you know you see?”

If blind from birth, then how do you even know what seeing is? You could still be blind yet have someone tell you that everyone walks in darkness, that’s what seeing is. Or, you could hit your head, rattle the optic nerve or the part of the brain that processes the optic nerve, and start perceiving shades of gray, shimmers of light, and movement of shadows. Would that be seeing? A seemingly authoritative voice might try to convince you so. So how do you know you know you once were blind but now you see? Here’s John’s simple litmus test:

And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him, but whoever keeps His word, in Him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.

(1John 2:3-6 ESV)

Not to be overly simplistic, not to deny that figuring out the Christian walk can be messy, not saying that the process of sanctification isn’t nuanced at times, but when it comes to knowing that our spiritual blindness has really given way to true spiritual sight, obedience seems to be a pretty good indicator.

Not talking perfection, John’s dealt with that — “if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (2:1b). But we are talking visible practice. We are talking verifiable persistence. We are talking about evidence of the love of God perfected in those who keep His word.

. . . we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments . . .

Obedience, not that we should boast in our righteousness, but that we would marvel in the outward manifestation of having been clothed in His righteousness (Php. 3:9). Walking as Jesus walked — not to brag how much we are like Jesus, but to be amazed at the tangible reality that we really have been crucified with Christ and that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

Jesus loves me this I know for the bible tells me so. I now love Him this I know for my obedience tells me so.

Again, not talking perfection. More trip ups, slip ups, and mess ups than I care to admit — though, praise God, all of which I can confess and be cleansed of because of the cross (1Jn. 1:8-9). But, if I’m picking up what John’s laying down, a heartfelt desire to follow Jesus and a holy determination to walk like Jesus are pretty good indicators that I am no longer blind but really have seen Jesus.

That’s another thing I can know.

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.

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One Thing I Do Know

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Pete

We’ve been stretching our brains considering the incommunicable attributes of God during our mid-week study. Incommunicable — 14 letters, 6 syllables — and that’s but one of the big words we’ve added to our vocabulary.

Another is God’s incomprehensibility — God is beyond fully understanding. If you think you’ve got your arms wrapped around who God is, then you’ve got the wrong God. If you think He’s just a bigger, better, more super-sized and perfect version of you, then you’re starting at the wrong reference point. In our quest to know God deeper, I’m being reminded, again and again, how much I don’t know.

Maybe that’s why a familiar passage in John’s gospel penetrates deeply this morning. Because it affirms one thing I do know.

John doesn’t reveal his name. He’s identified initially as “a man blind from birth” (9:1), and then is renamed “the man who had formerly been blind” (9:13). How come? Sunday School 101 answer: Jesus! And boy, does he cause a stir among the religious elite of the day.

Another miracle of Jesus that they have to deal with. They first try to deny it. Was he really born blind? Yup. So then they have to discredit it. But these eyes that have never worked started to work on the Sabbath. “Work!” . . . on the Sabbath . . . this man Jesus can’t be of God.

For all their 14 letter, 6 syllable words, the religious brain trust of the Jews refused to believe. And so they call the man who had formerly been blind back to the stand to testify. And testify he does!

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this Man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether He is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

(John 9:24-25 ESV)

The man who had formerly been blind wasn’t all that interested in whether making mud on the Sabbath was a violation of the Sabbath. Didn’t care a lot about whether or not placing mud on the eyes crossed the theological t’s of the Pharisees. When it came to giving glory to God, what He was certain of was this, “Though I was blind, now I see.” Period. Full stop. Drop the mic.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying we shouldn’t be studying theology or the high things of God. I wouldn’t be investing hours (and treading water in an ocean of awe) with such things as aseity, infinity, simplicity, and immutability, if I didn’t think that to know God deeply is to love God deeply. If I wasn’t convinced that the more expanded our belief about God, the greater our desire to walk in obedience with God.

But what I am saying is that of all things I’m realizing I still don’t know, one thing I do know. I too was blind, but not anymore. I was in bondage to sin but now am free. I once lived in fear of death but now to live is Christ and die is gain. I once was an enemy of God, but now I’m a son.

How come? Sunday School 101 answer: Jesus! He touched me and made me whole (thanx again Billy G.).

One thing I do know. I once was blind but now I see. And I walk in the light — though not perfectly, still very much dependently, and in need of cleansing blood constantly.

Incomprehensible.

But oh, so wonderful!

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.

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Last Words among Last Words

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Pete

Wrapped up about 20 days in 1 and 2 Peter. Peter’s last letters to those taking it in the teeth for Jesus. Peter’s final exhortations for those in the pressure cooker of oppression, dispersion, and some confusion about the end times. Though they are stressed and tempted to waver, Peter wants to stir them up and encourage them to keep walking in the Way (2Peter 1:12-13, 3:1-2).

And as I conclude Peter’s second letter, seems to me that Peter’s last words among his last words, for those feeling like they’re in the end times of the end times, are worth chewing on.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

(2Peter 3:17-18 ESV)

If there’s anything God’s people should be focused on in seasons that feel like the end times of the end times, it’s this:

  • They should double down on what they know to be true in the Scriptures
  • They need to battle against forces that would carry them away with error
  • They must take care not to lose their footing on Christ which they have in Christ, and thus become destabilized.
  • They should increase both their grace intake, relying on Jesus as they never have before, as well as their grace output, letting Jesus live through them as He never has before.
  • They are to view the season of stress and suffering as a means to go deeper and deeper in their experiential knowledge of Jesus.

Said differently, we can know that we’re responding to the end times in a spiritually healthy way if: we’ve never been more into our Bibles; never been more aware of the world’s deception; never been more confident in the finished work of Christ; never been more aware of His imminent return; never appropriated more His grace; never wanted more to be conduits of His grace; and, if we are continually thanking God for the tough times because our walk with Jesus is as real, renewing, and reviving as it’s ever been.

Not that there’s not a bunch of other things that exiles in dispersion need to be aware of, obedient to, and engaged in. But I think Peter’s closing lines are a pretty good bottom line.

When we sense things are about to be “dissolved”, it should compel us to be the sort of people we ought to be “in lives of holiness and godliness” as we wait for and hasten the “the coming day” (3:11-12). Holding fast to what we know. Standing fast on Who we know. Growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. And while that may not do much to turn around the mess we’re in, it’s exactly what God will use to carry on the mission we’re in — that of making Him known to a world that is “stored up for fire” (3:7).

Only by His grace alone. Always for His glory alone.

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The Gift of Repentance

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Pete

Would I be off-base in thinking that, in general, repentance isn’t something that most of us — believer or not — view too favorably? While some may see no reason for it at all, is it a stretch that even for those who know repentance needs to be a thing, it’s more likely grudgingly viewed as something I have to do rather than gratefully viewed as something I get to do? That too often it’s more like being forced to bow the knee rather than the freedom to run to the cross? I’m thinkin’ . . .

Two words in my 2 Peter reading this morning have me thinking about repentance. A unique translation to the ESV, not found in the other versions. But a translation that has me in awe and adoration for the gift of repentance.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

(2Peter 3:9 ESV)

Reach repentance. That’s what I’m chewing on this morning. The other translations render it “come to repentance.” Same idea, but isn’t there a nuance presented by the ESV? I think “come to” as in “come to my senses.” Truth in that. After all that’s the wording used for the prodigal son (Lk. 15:17). But reaching repentance sounds a little less like me finally being broken and dealing with the undeniable reality of my sin, and little more like actualizing the gift provided of being able to align my mind with God’s and appropriate the remedy for my rebellion. Does that make sense?

I think repentance can be so hard because pride continues to so prevail. If nothing else, when the Spirit does daily battle with the flesh (Gal. 5:17) the way of the kingdom is at war with the way of the ego. The Seal of God in our lives, guaranteeing what is to come (Eph. 1:13b-14), is guarding the throne of our lives, to be occupied by Jesus only, against the pull of our lives to exalt self and re-take the throne. It’s our pride which justifies our temptations. It’s our pride which compares ourselves to others around us who are “less holy” so that we can view ourselves more highly than we ought. It’s our pride that so often needs to be battled, turned back, and forced to its knees before we’ll concede we need to repent. Thank God, for the battle.

But as the mind of Christ grows in us, shouldn’t our awareness of the ever-present assault by the flesh also increase? As we abide in His presence more and more, our imperfections are exposed more and more. As we abide in God’s living word, the sword which pierces and divides soul and spirit discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12), it reveals the lingering sin which continues to rear its ugly head in our lives. But we know how to deal with the sin. We get to repent. The Spirit of Christ imparting the mind of Christ compelling us to run to the cross of Christ confessing our transgression before Christ and desire to turn again and embrace the way of Christ for the glory of Christ. That’s reaching repentance. Or, as Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) puts it, passing on to reformation.

Repentance is a gift. The gift that leads, again and again and as often as necessary, to the finished work of Christ. The gift that unlocks the door of forgiveness and restoration when we’re once more tripped up by transgression. The key that unlocks the fountain of the blood of Christ, sufficient to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Repentance is a gift, because God’s word says it’s a gift.

We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man — you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself — that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

(Romans 2:2-4 ESV)

In my flesh, I have to repent. In the Spirit, praise God, I get to repent.

For my good. By His grace. All to God’s glory.

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Ain’t Necessarily a Duck

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Pete

It has got to be one of the scariest verses in all of Scripture. Thus, one that is worth wrestling with and one that needs to be cataloged within the filter of holy discernment. Because, according to the Spirit, despite the fact that it might look like a duck, swim like a duck, and quack like a duck, it ain’t necessarily a duck.

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

(2Peter 2:20-22 ESV)

Saved or not saved? That is the question.

Too much context within Scripture for me not to hook my anchor on the solid rock that once a person is redeemed and regenerated they are forever a child of God and secure in their salvation. I believe that those God begins a good work in, He will complete that work in (Php. 1:6). I believe that those the Father gives to the Son the Son will never cast out, nor should the Son lose anything of all that has been given Him. I believe that the will of the Father is that whoever believes in the Son will have eternal life, and the Son will raise each one up on the last day (Jn. 6:37-40).

So, if that’s the truth to which my anchor’s fixed, how do I make sense of those who have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and yet are again entangled in them and overcome?

We know that there are many religions which produce “good people.” Many tenets, beliefs, and isms that provoke outward reform and moral behavior. To think that someone could know about Jesus, could be enticed by Jesus, and even try and live like Jesus without actually believing in Jesus as the Son of God, the Savior of all creation, perhaps isn’t that big a stretch. That they could be drawn to Sermon on the Mount types of teaching without confessing and repenting of their sinful hearts before the Servant on the cross is a possibility. And so, in that sense, men and women could in fact be outwardly righteous before others, could have a form of godliness, yet be destitute of the grace of God in their lives. They may have heard enough to escape, but not be prepared to believe enough to be rescued.

So when they are again entangled in the defilements of the world it’s not that they have been un-saved or dis-regenerated, but it’s an indication that they had never been born again. They had never stopped being a dog so it’s natural they’d return to their own vomit. Were never converted from being a sow and so, after washing themselves, returned eventually to what they do naturally, wallow in the mire.

How could they have heard enough to change their lives but not to redeem their souls? Through the false teachers among them (2Pet. 2:1). Enough gospel to clean up, but not enough to fess up. Enough gospel to tithe to the preacher, not enough gospel to die to the Savior. “Waterless springs” appealing to parched souls, “enticing by sensual passions of the flesh,” resulting in moral people never converted by God’s power (2Pet. 2:17-19).

Thus, a scary verse not because my salvation could be short-lived, but because another’s might be superficial. And while I’m not responsible, nor able to determine whether someone is really saved, in caring for others who call themselves a brother or sister, I can be discerning. At least aware that one who seems again entangled in the defilements of the world may not need a call to stop backsliding but might actually need an introduction to the One in whom they need to start believing. That they might benefit more from hearing again the gospel than from being given a pass because “none of us are perfect.”

Hmm. Something to chew on.

By His grace. For His glory.

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