A New Beginning!
What
happens if we accept God’s call to repentance and accept Jesus Christ? The
Bible says that basically two things happen: “justification” and “regeneration.”
In other words, from the moment we accept Jesus as our personal Savior and
Master by faith, our sins are forgiven, and we obtain a new, righteous status, from children of wrath (Eph 2:3) to
children of God (John 1:12). It’s called “justification.” And simultaneously, we
receive a new heart, new spirit, new
nature, as God promised (Ezk 36:26). We are born again, born from above,
born of the Spirit (John 3:3, 8). It’s called “regeneration” or “conversion.”
It may be sudden and dramatic, or gradual and cumulative. But in any case, it’s
a new beginning. From this moment we start our new pilgrim journey to
progressive holiness. We start our salvation journey toward “Christian
perfection.”
Last Sunday I shared the story of Stanley
Jones, who was a missionary to India. Recently, I was very inspired by his conversion
story. When he was 17 years old, he attended evangelistic meetings held at his
church. The speaker was a converted alcoholic, on fire with God’s love. Stanley
said to himself, “I want what he has.” For three days he did eagerly seek God’s
face. On the third night, before going to the meeting he prayed the sincerest
prayer he had prayed in his life: “O Jesus, save me tonight!” A ray of light
pierced his darkness. Hope sprang up in his heart. He ran the mile to the
church and took the front seat, a thing he had never done before. After the
evangelist stopped speaking, he ran to the altar. He had scarcely bent his
knees when Heaven broke into his spirit. And he grabbed the man next to him by
the shoulder and said, “I have it” In fact, it was not a “it”; it was a “him.”
Stanley had “Jesus,” and Jesus had him. As he reflected on his conversion,
Stanley said that seven things had really happened that night:[1]
- A sense of forgiveness and reconciliation with God, with life, with his brothers, with himself.
- A sense of being at home in the homeland.
- A sense of purpose, direction, and goal.
- A sense of not being alone.
- A sense of being a person.
- A sense of wholeness.
- A sense of grace.
Peace with God
Three things. First, we have peace with God (v.1). “Peace with God” means that,
until salvation, there is a war going on between God and us. In the heart of
the natural man two kingdoms constantly fight against each other. We claim
kingship over ourselves and our lives. But God claims kingship over the same
things. But when we receive Jesus as our King and enthrone him, the state of
hostilities between God and us is over. And we finally have peace with God. We
are set free from guilt and shame. We experience forgiveness and reconciliation
with God, with others and with ourselves. The world looks different, and the
universe seems to open its arms and take us in.
Access to God
Second, we have obtained access to grace in which we stand (v.2a). Grace is
normally God’s free and unmerited favor. But here Paul speaks of grace as “the
sphere of God’s grace” (NEB). Before, we were standing outside the sphere of
God’s blessing, as children of wrath. But when we are made right with God
through Jesus, we have a new status. We become children of God. As his
children, we have direct access to him 24/7. We can easily relate this to the
relationship with our children or grandchildren. Nowadays I share my room with
Abe. He is my roommate. As a roommate, he has full access to my room 24/7. No
matter what I do, he boldly enters the room anytime. In the same way, now we
can go to God and his throne room anytime with our requests and problems. And
he hears us and relates to us. What a wonderful privilege we have! In this
verse Paul uses the perfect tense: we have
obtained access… In other words, our relationship with God is not sporadic and
precarious any more, but it is continuous and secure. So wherever we go in the
world, we are always in God’s throne room. Praise God! That’s why Paul says we “stand”
in it, we “remain” in the sphere of God’s grace always. So we feel secure. We feel
at home. We have a feeling of coming home always.
Hope of the glory of God
Third, when we are made right with
God, we rejoice in the hope of the glory
of God (v.2b). The life without God is hopeless, restless. St. Augustine
put it in prayer: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is
restless until it rests in you.” We are tossed by storms and waves of
meaningless emotions. But when we become children of God, we have a clear sense
of purpose, direction, and goal. We also have a sense of wholeness.
Fragmentation is over. Life is pulled into central meanings and purposes around
a single Center. And we rejoice! Joy is the major marker of the justified
Christian. Happiness depends on our circumstances or our performance. But joy
is not the same as happiness, because it comes from our relationship with God.
So we can be unhappy about many things, but we can still rejoice. So we rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings! By
itself, “heaven” or “God” can be an abstract idea. But the more we experience our
peace with God, the more we taste “access” with God, and the more we realize
how good, how awesome our God is. And no matter what comes next we trust God
more and more. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow! It’s called the “hope of
glory.” So we see everything, even our suffering, with the lens of the hope of
God’s glory. And we rejoice in it.
Blessed Assurance
Now it’s time to examine and ask ourselves:
“Am I really born again? Am I truly made right with God?” I am not asking you
about what exact time and date you were converted. You may or may not have that
particular moment. But the more important questions are:
Today do I have peace with God?
Today do I enjoy fellowship with God?
Today do I rejoice in the hope of the glory of God?
If your answer is “yes,” you are a
born-again Christian. Salvation is a journey, not an event. It is a process. It
is a personal relationship with Jesus. It is a daily walk with Jesus. The experience of God’s love has two
components: knowledge in the head and affection in the heart. In verse 8
Paul says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.” The death of Christ is a historical fact and truth. Through
this historical fact God’s love is proven to our head. But there is more! In
verse 5 Paul says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy
Spirit who has been given to us.” The outpouring of God’s love into our hearts!
This is a Spirit-given heart-experience of God’s love. It is something poured
out. It is something we can feel in our hearts. I want you to know this
sweetness. I want you to enjoy this gift!
In verse 5b there is a difference
in tense between “has been poured into” and “has been given to us.” The second
one means the Spirit is given to us once for all, but the first one means it
can keep on happening. In other words, we receive the Spirit at our conversion
once for all, but the outpourings of God’s love can come again and again [3] just
like the waves of the mighty ocean. Let us not just believe God’s love as
historical facts in our head, but also let us eagerly pursue the fresh outpouring
of his love in our hearts in fuller measures day by day. I shared that Stanley
Jones was converted at 17. At that time he had his best friend, whose name was
Ras. When they were invited to come to the altar that night, Stanley said, “Ras,
I’m going to give myself to Jesus Christ. Will you?” And Ras replied, “No, I’m
going to see life first.” Then they parted. After 30 years they met again. Ras
fell into a life of gambling. Both of them went to the same church, same
evangelical meetings. Ras believed God’s love, the death of Christ, as
historical facts in his head, but he didn’t pursue the outpouring of God’s love
into his heart. He didn’t want to deny himself and follow Jesus daily. And it
makes all the difference.
In his spiritual journal, A Song of Ascents, Stanley says, “You
can only sing when you have something to sing about. But my “something” is a
Someone. My theme song is Jesus Christ.”[2] One of
my favorite hymn writers is Fanny Crosby. Although she became blind at the age
of 6 weeks, God had the eyes of her soul open wide. She wrote more than 8,000
hymns. One day Miss Crosby visited her friend Mrs Joseph Knapp, who played a
melody to her and asked, “What does the melody say to you?” Since Crosby had
always her song to sing, her story to tell in her heart, she answered without
hesitation:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long!
Praising my Savior all the day long!
We sing because we can’t help it. Do you have a song to
sing? What is your theme song?
No comments:
Post a Comment