We’ve been looking at doubts that cause us to become uncertain about our salvation. This devotional reading begins to look at habits we can build to sure up our salvation.
Nuggets
- God gives us the means we need to seek Christ — we just have to do them.
- We have to hear God’s Word to provide a solid foundation for our lives.
- We have to read God’s Word on our own so that it will guide us in making decisions for our lives.
- We have to study God’s Word and dig deeper in order to understand what we initially do not.
This study has been the Surety of Our Salvation study. We just finished with the Christ’s Care Over His People Reaches the Day of Their Resurrection series.
The last part of Beveridge’s sermon was entitled Uses. He didn’t have a lot of verses associated with it, but he had some great points that will not only complete the study but will also complete our Habitual Holiness for Heart and Life theme.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the Habitual Holiness of Heart and Life theme, click the button below.
Here is a running list of nuggets for the theme.
Devotions in the The Surity of Our Salvation study
Here is a running list of nuggets for the study.
The foundation of this study is Beveridge’s sermon The Believer’s Safety
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The headings are Beveridge’s words.
Carefully Attend Those Means which God Gives to Bring Your Souls to Christ
God gives us the means we need to seek Christ — we just have to do them.
One thing God does not do is force Himself on us. He calls us to salvation, but it is our choice to accept His gift.
When we do, God doesn’t just download all we need to know into our consciousness. We have to grow by seeking Him.
We’ve looked at all the elements before, but it has been a while. Let’s look at them again.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17)
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3)
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16)
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11)
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2)
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11)
Hearing
“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock” (Mt. 7: 24-25 ESV)
We have to hear God’s Word to provide a solid foundation for our lives.
It was imperative in Jesus’ and prior that God’s people hear His Word spoken in the synagogue. Books hadn’t been invented yet, and scrolls were not plentiful so that every house could have one.
They needed to go to synagogue to hear God’s Word spoken to them.
We have to hear the gospel preached. Unless someone tells us, we may never have the seeds planted that grows our faith.
More than that, we have to hear what God is telling his servant to tell us. His messages will help us to grow what we know and fix things we have misinterpreted.
Look at the Great Commission. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28: 19-20 ESV).
The teaching goes on after we are made disciples. In fact, the teaching goes on for the rest of our lives.
Nisbet showed us what we are supposed to do with what we hear. He wrote, “The gospel will not enrich us unless we receive it with faith.”
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Faith allows us to accept the doctrines that are being presented to us.
We just can’t stop at the hearing. Judas heard Jesus’ words and betrayed Him anyway. “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (Jas. 1: 22 ESV).
One thing we can’t overlook is that the people were probably really hearing the law for the first time. The language with which the Old Testament books were written was no longer the everyday language.
Griffis explained that “The old Hebrew language in which the law was written had become, when the exile was over, the tongue of the learned. It was unknown to the common people, as that of Spencer and Chaucer is unknown to us. Interpreters were necessary.”
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Especially when we are milk babies, we need someone who is a steak adult to interpret things for us. Hearing a Pastor Steve-type preach is an excellent way to do that.
Reading
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119: 105 ESV)
We have to read God’s Word on our own so that it will guide us in making decisions for our lives.
Each of us have a path we walk. We have to choose which one we are going to walk. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt. 7: 13-14 ESV).
God’s Word is to be an integral part of our walk with God on that path. It is to be our guide.
Poulter’s description is spot on. He wrote, “It shows the [traveler] how he may safely ADVANCE ALONG HIS JOURNEY STEP BY STEP.”
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It can’t be a step-by-step guide if we aren’t in God’s Word daily. It can’t keep us on our path if we don’t access the Light.
We do that by being living sacrifices. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12: 1 ESV).
That isn’t going to happen if we aren’t buried in God’s Word.
What should we be reading? It should be all of God’s Word, not just the New Testament.
New Testament writers often quote passages from the Old Testament. There are some themes that flow through all 66 books.
It shows we are all God’s people. Now as then, we need regeneration and reconciliation to attain eternal life.
- “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer. 31: 33 ESV).
- “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deut. 30: 6 ESV).
- “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isa. 1: 18 ESV).
- “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31: 34 ESV).
- As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Ps. 17: 15 ESV).
- “You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory” (Ps. 73: 24 ESV).
God will shower His mercy and grace upon us.
- “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions” (Ps. 51: 1 ESV).
- “my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy” (Dan. 9: 18-19 ESV).
- “The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you” (Num. 6: 25 ESV).
- “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Ps. 103: 8 ESV).
So many of the Hall of Famers came from the Old Testament. God’s Plan of Salvation has to have been available to them or Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and all the rest would spent eternity in Hell.
True, much of the Old Testament focuses on the law. The law was fulfilled by Jesus.
But that doesn’t eliminate it. Jesus said so Himself.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Mt. 5: 17-18 ESV).
More importantly, the law shows us God’s character. “Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true” (Ps. 119: 142 ESV).
We’ve got to read all God’s Word to be introduced to all of Him.
Studying
“They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read” (Neh. 8: 8 ESV)
We have to study God’s Word and dig deeper in order to understand what we initially do not.
Reading God’s word and listening to it is great. If we don’t understand a word, we wasted our time.
Griffis told us exactly why we should study God’s Word. He wrote, “The soul was nurtured by Bible study.”
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If we do not understand what we read, our worship is not elevated. Then, we have gained nothing.
We may have the best of intentions to dig into something the Pastor-Steve types say that we don’t understand. But by the time we get home and get lunch, we’ve forgotten all about it.
We can’t use that excuse in our daily devotions. But have we allowed enough time to do deep dives? Have we picked devotional that challenge us?
Our willingness to take our time and study God’s Word shows the genuineness of our salvation. It shows our earnestness.
It is important that we study God’s Word. He is revealing His mind to us within the Scriptures.
Making the Connections
How can we ensure our salvation any other way than of learning about God? We take what is written in God’s Word and apply it to our lives — exactly as it is written in Scriptures.
How Do We Apply This?
- Listen to God’s minister tells us what God wants us to hear.
- Receive God’s Word through faith, putting it into practice by getting it to the heart level.
- Bury ourselves in His Word so that we can use it to guide us in our decision making.
- Seek to gain understanding in what we don’t know and be introduced to new revelations.
Father God. We seek Your face. We seek to know You better. We seek Your Will for our lives. We seek You. Amen.
What do you think?
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