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The Solae

New Series Alert | #TheSolae

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blows away dust that settled on blog for the past year

Good evening everyone! Wow, it has been ages since I last did something here! I guess I should stop this habit of doing a consistent run, then dropping off and returning after a long hiatus.

Here on Eddie Awesome, I share, among many other things, the basics of what I hold to be true in my walk and growth as a (not-so-perfect) Christian, in the hopes that it too will guide you, as led by the Holy Spirit, to seek them out in Scripture and strengthen your faith in God. My prayer, as I go through the process of research, editing and publishing every article, is for each of my readers, and myself, to constantly see the beauty and majesty of God as He has shown Himself in His Word, and grow to love Him all the more in the daily pursuit of righteousness.

Know More was the first full-length series I, and a few collaborators (it was that intense) did around this time last year, in the hopes of demystifying what Christianity is through its core doctrines such as regeneration, justification, the Trinity, and a whole lot more. It was an amazing venture; personally, getting to grow in faith, and seeing readers gain a greater appreciation for the truth. In all, God was glorified.

We will keep on in the journey of knowing more, that is true, but now, let’s take a more interesting and scenic route along that road, one that I, being the young Christian I was at the time, found to be jaw-droppingly brilliant it would be difficult to not share if given the opportunity.

To give a teaser, the solae (singular sola, from latin meaning ‘alone’) are the principles surrounding the doctrine of salvation held by Reformed and Lutheran Protestants. In this series, we will look at the principles from the perspective of learners, with the goal of adjusting our view on salvation to its original Designer. As simple as that, hoping I haven’t ruined your anticipation.

Posts will be up every Friday starting 1st November. Mark your calendars. Like I said in the first series, this will be a journey one would not easily forget. It is my prayer, as always, that we all benefit from this walk.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Proverbs 9:10, English Standard Version
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Now These Three Remain (#KnowMore Part 10)

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Welcome to the final post of this series! We have had the privilege of looking through Scripture to see what God has declared to be true about Himself, our own wrongdoings that have caused a separation from Him, and what He did through the Person of His Son, Jesus, to reconcile us back to Himself. We glimpsed at the effects of salvation, that is, regeneration, sanctification and justification, and the work of the Holy Spirit as our counsellor and comforter in our new life.

Previously, we saw how God is one, but exists as three distinct, co-equal Persons. Today, we look at three gifts of the Holy Spirit which ‘remain’. This will hopefully be the wrapping on the entire series, as it presents what our future expectations are, while giving reflection to all that we have seen earlier.

When we looked at the role of the Holy Spirit, I might have missed mentioning an important work He does in us. He grants to each believer a gift that enables each of us to be an ambassador to the world, glorifying His name and showing His grace. 1st Corinthians 12 outlines these gifts; prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership, mercy, word of wisdom, faith, healing, working of miracles, distinguishing of spirits, speaking in tongues, interpretation of these tongues, and helps. Some of these gifts were temporary signs to aid in the apostles’ ministry and are no longer dispensed today; many others are still present with us that aid in promoting the teaching and interpretation of the truth.

The Corinthians to whom the letter was addressed were having problems with these gifts they were granted; they categorised some gifts as ‘better’ than others, therefore the church was in great disarray, with speakers of various languages (tongues), prophecy and other attention-getting gifts given the highest esteem and others with seemingly ‘lesser’ gifts like mercy were disregarded. Paul wrote to remind them (and us) that we are all one in Christ, and each one has been granted a different gift that helps build us all up in the preaching of the Gospel. As the eye needs the ear, so does one with the gift of giving need a person with the gift of teaching to build each other up.

Paul then concludes the chapter with these words;

To the Corinthians, this might have seemed like a revelation to some gift greater than those which were seen as great. Higher gifts than prophecy, miracle working and healing? What could they be? What follows in chapter 13 is one of the most beautiful discourses in the Bible, one that leads us back to what we would call foundational. Let’s look at the first, which is

Love

Paul begins the 13th chapter by showing how all the esteemed gifts, if applied without love, become meaningless. He then goes on to say what love is; patient, kind, never arrogant nor rude nor boastful. He then states that love is eternal; all the others such as prophecy, knowledge and tongues will cease and pass away, but love at the end will remain.

Love will last forever, indeed, as it is a part of God’s nature (1 John 4:16). We saw how the Trinity exists in a community of love, making us see even more clearly this God who is love in full. But what exactly is love? Is it just the feeling of a knotted stomach when you see your crush? Or is it the rush of blood to your cheeks when you see an irresistibly cute kitten or puppy?

The word used to speak about love in this passage is the Greek word agape. It is a word that describes an action, not a feeling; going out of one’s way to seek the wellbeing of another without expecting anything in return. The best evidence of this agape love is shown in Romans 5;

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:7-8 ESV

While we were rebellious to God’s plan for us, and defining good and evil for ourselves and causing a great mess of things, God demonstrated His love for us by giving of Himself to die in our place, face the wrath reserved for us and be the ultimate atoning sacrifice. For a good person, one would dare to die, but for the ultimately good, sinless Person to die in the place of the wicked shows just how great this love God has for us is. Therefore, what is our part?

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:11 ESV

If God could show so much care for our own salvation by sending His Son, what more could be expected of us rather than to show the same kind of love to those around us? That is what Paul was encouraging the church at Corinth to do; instead of seeking for a gift that glorifies them, desire to love as God did so that the preaching of the Gospel would be evident.

Thus, love remains, because it is who God is, and because it is through self-sacrificial, others-focused love is God’s nature shown, enabling the Gospel to be greatly effective.

Ok, now two more remain, so let’s first take a look at

Faith

This is a belief in, trust in and devotion to God. Faith is belief in the one true God of the Bible without actually seeing Him. It is important because without faith, we have no place with Him and makes it impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). Faith is a gift from God, meaning we can do nothing on our part to earn it or deserve it (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is this faith granted to us that causes our sinful hearts to realize that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, made flesh and dwelt among us in order to die and take our sins upon Himself. It is this faith that, to say the least, saves us. That is why it is so much a precious gift to every believer everywhere.

Faith remains. How so? When we are finally resurrected and given new bodies that are uncorrupted, and finally see Jesus, does our faith in Him then stop? Not at all; in fact, it will be greater than it was while we were on earth. Seeing that all we had fully believed to be true revealed clearly before us will strengthen our trust in Him.

Our trust in Him will remain, even when the other gifts of splendour will be in distant memory. The apostle Peter beautifully says;

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:8-9 ESV

Hope

Hope can be defined as the assurance that something good that will happen, as well as the state of anticipation in the outcome of this assurance. Biblical hope isn’t shaky, like I hope so, but rather has a sure foundation. Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, meaning that both are closely knit together. Before we look at the tie between them, let’s look closely at what hope is.

When we say have hope, it means there is something we confidently expect and wait for, even though we cannot yet see it. Just like faith, hope is a great gift that is essential to our walk as Christians. We have our hope placed in God’s promises and Jesus’ words. We place our trust in Jesus’ promise of return (John 14:3), and we then hope to be reunited with Him (John 14:19); this is therefore our ‘blessed hope’ (Titus 2:13).

Hope is built upon faith. We trust in Jesus’ promises (faith) and are confident that they will come to pass, even though we can’t see them just yet (hope). To illustrate this further, I can give an example. Growing up, our parents would often promise to take us out for lunch the following day, or to a place where we could have the time of our lives. We then naturally trusted their words and believed that we would be taken out (faith) while at the same time filled with expectation of the promise being delivered (hope).

Hope is then a wonderful gift, but how does it remain? When our blessed hope, Jesus, appears, does it mean that our expectations, now come into fruition, will no longer exist? In the eternal state, our expectation of even greater things will continue. We will be drawn into the glories of God deeper and further, and as He is infinite, there is so much more to expect from Him that our hope cannot die. Hope remains grounded in the eternity of God, and the greater adventure that awaits us when we finally meet Him.

Faith, hope and love remain, both here on earth and when we are reunited with Christ. But, Paul says, the greatest of these is love. And rightly so.

Faith is wonderful, but how can we place our trust and belief in God if we do not love Him? Hope is glorious, but how can we expect His future return if we have not placed it in our trust in Him? Love is what crowns our hope and faith in God.

As we conclude this series, seeing as how much God loved us, and has thus granted us these gifts to show His goodness and grace, my prayer for all you who have followed till the end is this;

That’s it! The core of Christianity, by the help of the Holy Spirit, laid out in ten parts. This far we have come, much further still we have to go. If by any means this series has impacted you, big or small, we thank God for giving you the insight needed.

I’ll make a postscript in my next post, mainly because I’ve run out of white page. So, until then, may God keep you and sustain you. Peace.

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Three in One (#KnowMore Part 9)

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The penultimate post! I never thought this day would come, but now it has. And what a journey it’s been, getting to look at what Christianity at its core is; God redeeming man back to Himself. We don’t see this in other belief systems, which set up a means for man to restore His broken relationship with God through works and ‘good’ deeds. Yet this is where their fatal flaw is; whatever we offer as ‘good’ is stained with our wrong and sin, and God can’t accept that. Only when we approach Him clothed in the rightness of Christ are we pronounced right in His eyes, and He then causes us to produce the same good works, but out of a heart of obedience. That’s the message of the Bible in a nutshell.

I bet as we were going through the series, one thing must have been really been your mind is, Hold
up, are you talking about three gods, like God (the OG, the Supreme Creator), Jesus and the Holy
Spirit? And how is Jesus God? How is the Spirit God? How are they all God?

Not to worry, you are actually grappling a question that has baffled people for centuries, one that every person everywhere has in one way or another asked themselves. I claim no special knowledge to this, except for what God has revealed through Scripture, so let’s look at the Christian doctrine of God’s triune (fancy word for three-in-one) nature.

First, we have to face the fact that it is impossible to perfectly and concisely explain what the triune nature of God is. This is because God is infinitely greater than we are or ever hope to be, and our limited thoughts cannot contain that which is infinite. However, God in His goodness has made it possible for us to understand some facts of the relationship of each of the three Persons in His nature. Simply put, God exists as three Persons who are co-existent and co-eternal, and the term used to attempt at describing this is called the Trinity, and is not found in Scripture, but the concept behind it is.

Let’s start from the ground up, known to unknown. We know that God is one, as seen in Deuteronomy 6:4

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

So, we’d naturally assume that the God at creation is one Person. But Genesis 1:26 says something peculiar;

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

If God is one, then why is He referring to Himself as ‘us’? This gives us a glimpse into Him being God, but existing in distinct Persons He has revealed through Scripture. The ‘us’ here uses the Hebrew word Elohim, which is a plural pronoun and definitely allows for the argument of the Trinity. The term Person means “centre of self-consciousness”, meaning that each of these Persons has a mind, a will, emotions and the ability to communicate and perform an action.

Who are the members, then of this Trinity? According to Scripture, there are three; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. At Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3, we see the Holy Spirit descending on God the Son while the Father proclaims His pleasure in the Son. Each of them is distinct from one another.

Jesus said He’d speak to the Father about sending the
Holy Spirit as a helper, meaning He did not consider Himself to be God the Father or the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). Also consider the times when Jesus spoke to the Father; He was speaking to another Person of the Trinity.

Before we drift to thinking that they are separate from each other, let’s remember that each of these maintains the essence of God; they are each equally God. The Father is God (Romans 1:7), the Son is God (Colossians 2:9), and the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). Again, these are not three different Gods. Yes, they are distinct, but they share the same essence that is God; eternal, all- knowing, all-powerful, infinite.

Throughout this series, we have seen the different ways in which these Persons work to bring about the salvation of man from death and the destructive effects of sin. The Father is the ultimate source of the universe, salvation and divine revelation. Jesus, who is the Son in sinless human form, is the agent through whom the Father accomplishes these things as evidenced in these words;

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:16-17 ESV

The Holy Spirit is the Person through whom the Father dispenses divine revelation (John 16:12-15) and salvation (John 3:6) to the human race as we saw in the previous post.

Naturally, some analogies have come up with ways of attempting to explain the Trinity. One is using water, which exists as ice, liquid and vapour, but still is water at its essence. However, the problem with this arises in that these states are forms of water; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not forms of God, they are each God.

Another is the egg; it has a shell, a yolk and a white, all which form the egg. But each of these are parts of the egg; apart from each other, they are not the egg in themselves. The Trinity’s members are not parts of each other; they are, again, each God. Mind-bending, I know. Thankfully, The Bible Project (again!) has done an amazing video that attempts at explaining this concept that you can watch here.

Of what importance, then does this have for us as Christians? Does understanding the Trinity have any impact in our walk of salvation? It helps us understand that there is unity in diversity. Each of the members of this tri-unity are diverse in their works of carrying out our salvation, yet their individual works are carried out in complete unity. As Christians, it is a clarion call to us to put aside our differences and work together for the furtherance of this good news.

It is also important in that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always been in an eternal relationship of love. Therefore, love has been from the beginning. God didn’t have to create it as an expression of Himself, because it is as much a part of His nature as holiness, justice and mercy. God is love, and in Him being three Persons, we have this God who is love fully.

Ultimately, the fact that knowing God is the most important thing in the whole world makes the Trinity matter. If we have been called by this God who exists as three Persons, and baptized and commissioned in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then we ought not be ignorant of these realities.

We can try to fit all this in the box of our understanding, but God is, as we saw, infinitely above our ways and thoughts. All it takes is to believe that God is truth, and what He says is truth. If His word is what He says, then indeed He exists as the Trinity whose relationship we know about in part, but will know in greater fulness when He returns. For now, we can reflect on His greatness like Paul;

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?”

Romans 11:33-34 ESV

This has been one of the most researched posts I’ve done for this series, and it was truly worth the effort if it has helped you, in a small way, get a deeper understanding and awe of the majesty and glory of God. May God grant you the faith to trust in His word and in His plans for each of us.

See you on Thursday as we wrap all this up. Grace.

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I Will Send You A Helper (#KnowMore Part 8)

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Hey, great to have you back! I hope your week has so far been full of wonder and goodness. As we edge closer toward the end of this series, I look back and I’m thankful to God for His grace to carry me through all this. It has been my prayer that each and every person who reads through this series, or even a single post within it, will be led to seek Jesus and get to know of His amazing work and His desire for us to know Him as He does.

Earlier this week, my friend Jay shared on sanctification; how we are to consistently put the works of our former dead, sinful self away from us and progressively become like the author of our faith, Jesus Himself. Somewhat, it may have seemed like a hugely impossible task; we are still clothed in our bodies which are drawn to do those things we ought not to, and do not want to, yet still are expected to walk in the light (1 John 1) and forsake these very deeds of darkness.

No doubt about it, it’s impossible. There’s no way in our own effort can we come to grown into the likeness of Jesus. We can try, yes, but in one way or another, we’ll fail. The greatness of such a task can cause one to lose hope, and even think of the walk as salvation as futile.

Thankfully, God, who is the initiator of salvation, has already set up ways, in this case, a Person of His being, to guide us in the walk. Amazing, isn’t it? The same God who creates us, then offers up Himself as the pardon for our own failure, and gives of Himself to guide us in the walk is indeed a reflection of the great love with which He loves us.

The one who is to guide us in this is the Holy Spirit, the third Person in the Godhead (we shall look at this in the next post; stay tuned!). Before we look at what exactly He does, let’s see who He is. The ‘Holy Spirit’ is what is used to refer to God’s personal presence, the Hebrew word being ruach (literally, wind, breath).

First and foremost, the Holy Spirit is God, meaning He shares the same attributes with the God we looked at earlier in the series; He is all-powerful, holy, eternal, unchangeable. In Psalm 139:7-8, the Psalmist refers to the Spirit as ever-present, a definitive attribute of God;

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

Psalms 139:7-8 ESV

Judging by the use of the pronoun ‘He’, the Holy Spirit is a Person, just as we saw God is. Even though the word ruach gives a sense that He is simply a force, He isn’t. As a Person, it means He has a mind which can think and know (1 Corinthians 2:10), emotions as evidenced by the term ‘grieving the Spirit’ (Ephesians 4:30), and a will through which He makes decisions (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). The fact that He was present at creation (Genesis 1:2) goes further to strengthen this fact; a person must be present for a work to be done.

Now that it’s settled that He is a Person, we can now place Him in the line of all that we have been seeing from the beginning of this series; God reconciling man back to Himself. We saw God as the initiator of salvation, and Jesus, His Son, as the one who carries out this plan of salvation. The Holy Spirit then carries out the sustenance of salvation. When we looked at sanctification, we saw that through the help of the Holy Spirit are we able to progressively grow into the likeness of Jesus.

This is why Jesus promised His disciples that He would ask God His Father to send them a helper (John 14:6) who would perform the functions He Himself would do if He was with them personally, because along the way, we will definitely need help and comfort, encouragement and exhortation.

The Holy Spirit aids us in attaining the holiness (set apart-ness) God intended for us through many ways, but we shall look at four of these.

Conviction of people in regard to righteousness

The Holy Spirit is what helps men everywhere come to the realisation of their sinfulness, that is, their failure to attain God’s requirement of being holy as He is (John 16:7-11) by applying the truths of God to their minds. Even though we are so far fallen and wretched, there’s still the conscience within us that make us know that we are flawed and wrong. When we hear the truths of God’s word spoke to us, or when we read them ourselves, we then are presented with the reality of our wrongs and He causes us to turn to God for forgiveness.

Reveal the truth, most importantly of who Jesus is

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would ‘guide us into all truth’ (John 16:13). Essentially, He will guide us in knowing what is right and what’s wrong, what the entire counsel of God is, and making all things that God intends to be plain and clear. He convinces us of Jesus as the Son of God, His life, death and suffering, as well as His exaltation as the judge of all men (John 15:26, 1 Corinthians 12:3). Without Him to guide us in truth, we would be prone to error and accepting comforting lies.

Fruit producer

Galatians 5:22-23 give some of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, attributes that form in us as He lives in us and shows us the model image of Jesus; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Seal of the eternal pledge as God’s children.

Once saved, the Holy Spirit dwells within us, as evidenced in Romans 8:9;

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Romans 8:9 ESV

The Holy Spirit is God’s own personal presence, which is always by our side to not only guide us in truth, but to also assure us of our eternal state as God’s children.

Nothing is more comforting than the knowledge of this; that we have done nothing to accord God’s grace towards us, and even though we deserve to be punished and justly rewarded for wronging Him, He still calls us His own. How amazing is that?

These are not the only roles He plays in our lives, but I felt that those were worth sharing in this little white page I have. It’s such a great thing to know that the God who has set up the path of salvation for us has also given His very own personal presence to guide us, comfort us and assure us of the truths in Scripture. A helper indeed.

The whole Bible is full of explanation of who the Holy Spirit is and what He does, and there are tons of resources available to answer your questions. Two I’ve found of great value are Got Questions and The Bible Project; find out more by clicking the links.

Next week, we shall look at the last two posts in this series; one on the triune nature of God (big word there) and another on three of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are said to ‘remain’. Fingers crossed!

Have a great week(end) ahead.

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Made Clean: Sanctification (#KnowMore Part 7)

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Welcome back, dear reader. It’s been close to a week since I last shared a post here, and now that all my business is done, I can place my focus on finishing this series and starting a new one.

Today I put up the last guest post in this series, written by my friend Jay Ngome. Yes, that’s a real name 😂. The end of October marks three years of our friendship, and it’s been great being encouraged by him in my walk in times of despair. He’s a bass player, and a good one at that. Who knows, maybe you’ll hear him somewhere… We’ll see.

Without much ado, here’s the guest post on sanctification.

We looked at regeneration in the a previous post and in a nutshell:- Regeneration is rebirth; sanctification is growth.

In regeneration, God implants desires that were not there before: desire for God, for holiness, and for glorifying God’s name in the world, desire to pray and worship; desire to love and bring benefit to others.

In sanctification, the Holy Spirit “works in you, both to will and to work” according to God’s purpose, enabling His people to fulfill their new, godly desires (Phil. 2:12, 13). Christians become increasingly Christlike, as the moral profile of Jesus (the “fruit of the Spirit”) is progressively formed in them (2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:19; 5:22–25).

Regeneration is Rebirth; Sanctification is Growth.

Lazarus -Alive Man in death Clothes.

The man who had died came out,his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them,’Unbind him,and let him go.’ (John 11:44). Lazarus was brought back and made alive (given new life) but was still wrapped in death clothes, a representation of Born again people who were dead in trespasses and were made alive but are still wrapped in flesh(death clothes).

This flesh that gives fruit of sin as the apostle John points out in no uncertain terms. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8.)

We have a corrupted mind that has been defiled by the things of the world, a heart that is deceitful above all else. Against such are we asked to wage war and strive to be holy as He who called us is Holy. We thus have to be delivered from this pollution of sin and transformed into the image of Christ. When he comes back we be fully transformed to be like him and be removed from the presence of sin(glorification).

Justification – delivered from the Penalty of sin
Sanctification -delivered from the pollution of sin
Glorification – delivered from the presence of sin.

Sanctification is the process by which you are transformed to have divine nature by the act of consistently putting sin to death by resisting temptation. This is what it means to cleanse the inside of the cup. (Matthew 23:26). This is an ongoing process, dependent on God’s continuing action in the believer, and consisting of the believer’s continuous struggle against sin and As Paul says in Romans 6, it’s a function of your new nature in Christ.

Dependent on God’s continuing action in the believer

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

In 1 Thessalonians Paul prayed that the Lord would complete His sanctifying work in their lives. Just as with salvation, sanctification is not accomplished by our will or actions—it’s the work of the Lord in the lives of His people.

After being born(Regenerated) we are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth.(Ephesians 1:13-14). He “works in us, both to will and to work” according to God’s purpose, enabling His people to fulfill their new, godly desires (Phil. 2:12, 13). He also gives us assurance that God will surely complete this process of sanctification “He who started a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

Consisting of the believer’s continuous struggle against sin

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

1 John 1:7.

John would then call us to walk in the light. Walking in the light is the state of being obedient to do all that God reveals to you through the Holy Spirit. For example, when He shows you that you need to overcome greed,deceitfulness,or any other lust. This means both that you put to death through the help of the Holy Spirit all of the sin you are shown.

Paul would also tell us;

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:9-10.

Conclusion
Our human nature is heavily consisted of wretched tendencies But the hope of the gospel is clear:

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2 Peter 1:3-8

We are promised that we can be partakers of the divine nature by fleeing the corruption in the world that comes through our lusts. As we gradually overcome our sinful human nature it is replaced by divine nature.

Let us stay in obedience to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit.

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Considered Righteous: Justification (#KnowMore Part 6)

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Hey hey! Welcome back to the next part of our series #KnowMore. Part 6! Wow, I am glad we have made it this far, and it is my hope that we all are growing in the knowledge of these truths.

The beauty of the Gospel is that it is simple enough for a child to understand, yet has some aspects of it that defy our own logical ways of thinking and predetermined paths of reason. All it takes is faith in God to impart the wisdom to understand and accept the truths as they are. It is difficult trying to fit the round truths and teachings of God into our square shaped ideals and thought patterns; what can be done is to allow God Himself to shape our minds and hearts to then allow these truths to fit into our daily lives.

We looked at regeneration last week, the first of three guest posts in this series. We saw how God takes our hearts that are dead to sin and makes them alive through His Son, Jesus Christ. In no way are we able to quicken ourselves to acceptance; rather, we are given new life to be able to believe in Him and walk in His ways.

Today is the second post, done by a very good friend of mine. He has expressed the need to remain anonymous, and as a gesture of my respect for him, I will keep his identity unknown. It is his desire that God be glorified in his post, and not him as the writer, which is something I really commend him for.

He has been instrumental in my walk with Christ, and has helped me return to God’s word regarding my own sinful state and my continual need for Jesus’s strength. I pray this post on justification will be of great help to you.

Blessed Are Those Whose Lawless Deeds Are Forgiven, And Whose Sins Are Covered; Blessed Is The Man Against Whom The Lord Will Not Count His Sin.

The doctrine of justification has caused tremendous controversy in the history of Christianity. It provoked the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, where the reformers stood for the Biblical truth that justification is by faith alone.

It addresses the most serious plight of fallen human beings-their exposure to the justice of a holy God. The truth of the matter is that God is just, and we are not. David, in Psalms 130:3, prays, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquity, O Lord, who could stand?”

In fact, none could stand. “None is righteous, no not one…no one seeks after God…no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12, ESV). Most of us would think that when we work hard enough to be good people, then we could survive when we appear at the judgement seat of the righteous God. That we could earn our merit before God is a great myth, and the truth is that we are debtors who cannot pay our debts.

The implication is that only another could pay the debt for us. Only God could pay the debt in our stead. Having paid the debt, He would be just, in justifying us. But what really is justification?

We consider this in parts: the nature of justification, the basis of justification, the means of justification and the result of justification.

The nature of justification is that it is an instantaneous legal act, and not an actual impartation or infusion of righteousness. God declares sinners as just before His sight, while yet, they continue to sin. It describes what God declares about the sinner, and not what He does to change the believer (but indeed, He does something to change them). Romans 8:33-34 contrasts “bringing a charge/condemning” with the justifying work of God. Just as bringing a charge is a declaration of judgement according to some standard, so is justification.

Is then God unjust when he declares sinful men righteous in His sight? Certainly not! Paul explains in Romans 3 that He upholds His justice when He declares sinful men righteous.What, then, is the basis of God declaring sinners as just? The answer is that sinful men are “justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:24-25 ESV).

This is to say that the righteousness of any man is not from himself. Rather, it is an imputed righteousness from Christ. Moreover, it is to say that Christ took upon Himself the sins of the elect. For the sake of the elect, God “made Him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV).

In upholding His justice, God punished for all the sins of the elect, and Christ bore this punishment on Himself, being the propitiation-appeasement of God’s righteous wrath due to sin.

The implication of the basis of justification is that Christ’s work on the cross must be applied, for any man to be justified. By what means are the works of Christ be imputed to anyone? Scripture consistently shows that the works of Christ are received by faith. “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28 ESV). Paul says, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of our own that comes from anything we do, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:8-9 ESV).

Faith looks outward, to receive the free gifts from heaven, pure and undeserved as they are. “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.”-truly, the wages of all works is death because they are sinful-“And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:4-5 ESV).

The result of justification will be that the believer will bear fruit. They will seek to obey the master who has bought them at a price, because they love Him. John rightly says that “we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3 ESV). A believer will not continue to make a practice of sinning, because the God who justifies them also tunes their hearts to love what He loves, and to hate what He hates. It is not to claim that they will be without sin, but that they will continue to grow in sanctification.

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Made Anew: Regeneration (#KnowMore Part 5)

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Hey there people! Glad you’re back for more knowledge from the Word. Congrats for making it to half of this series! I hope you have been growing more as you learn about what God’s plan for us is; to reconcile each and every one of us back to Himself for His glory.

Last week, we saw how Jesus Himself is God in flesh, died on the cross as an atonement for our sin, and therefore being the just God He is, His wrath is appeased against sin and mercy is effected towards us who do not even deserve it.

You might be wondering, what next? If I have come to the realisation of my sinfulness, and have fully trusted in Jesus as the one who paid it all for me with His sacrifice, there has to be a continuation in this story, which will ultimately work for God’s glory and my good as well as of those around me.

The three guest posts in this series seek to answer the question, What changes happen in my life after I have believed in Jesus through faith?

Today’s post was written by my friend Frederick. His way of life; semper reformanda. Always being reformed and made more into the image of Christ by the Word. His mission; to help people see the beauty of God’s Word, and how it is indeed profitable in equipping us for every good work. Did I mention he’s a multi-instrumentalist? You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram , and probably buy him some coffee.

At this point, I (gracefully) bow out, and introduce our speaker for the day.

∴∴∴∴∴∴∴∴

A certain man had a very old car lying in his backyard (okay, Kenya hakuna nyumba nyingi ziko na backyard…). Hopeful of using the car again, he approached a mechanic and asked him to make the car move again. The mechanic assessed the car – it was in a very bad condition; no engine (perhaps stolen by some gang in the hood), no seats, no transmission system. The mechanic asked the man if he could go with it to his station to see whether he could restore it to a better state, at least. After about two weeks, the mechanic returned the car to the man, driving it into his compound – proper paintjob, beautiful wheels, na kahewa. The man was startled – he never would have thought that the mechanic could have taken such a short time, and as well restore it to that standard; the car was now fit to be used on any type of road.

From the analogy above, we see that the mechanic was able to “bring” the car “back to life”, or in other words, “make it anew”. This is what regeneration looks like; God’s regenerative work is even much greater as compared to this analogy.

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Let us go to the Scriptures to find the truths concerning what regeneration is, how it occurs and to whom it is granted to.

Man is dead (dead man walking, literally…)

From first principles, man is born spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1; Titus 3:3), and his actions and thoughts are naturally inclined towards sin. This is as a result of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ate the fruit they were instructed not to eat (Gen. 3; Rom. 5:12). Sin then corrupted the very being of man, so that the heart of man has since become desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). Apostle Paul even continues to mention that the mind set on the flesh cannot submit to God’s law (Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 2:14). Because of this, God’s wrath is upon all sin (and the sinner, too) (Ps. 7:11; Rom. 1:18).

Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3)

Nicodemus was a Pharisee. Pharisees were strict followers of the Law, and most did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Nicodemus, however, believed that Christ was a teacher from God (v. 2) because of the signs He did (John 2:23). In this narrative, Jesus talks about being ‘born again’ – regeneration. He begins by saying that unless one is born again (other translations say ‘born from above’), he cannot see the kingdom of God (v. 3). This is a response to Nicodemus’ statement in the previous verse. The idea of a new birth was out of the ordinary to Nicodemus, having thought of it in a physical sense (v. 4). But Jesus moves on to clarify what it means to be born again – it is to be ‘born of water and the Spirit’ (v. 5). Being born of water signifies cleansing, and being born of the Spirit implies newness that leads to obedience (cf. Ezek. 36:25-27).

Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2)

After the Holy Spirit had descended on some and they spoke in other tongues, people were amazed that they could each hear in his own native language (v. 8), but others said that they were drunk (v. 13). Apostle Peter proceeds to speak, saying that they were not drunk, but rather that the Scriptures were fulfilled (or came to pass) as the prophets had foretold. Peter delivers a sermon about Jesus – His death, resurrection and promise of the Holy Spirit which was manifested in that sign (v. 33, 37). This made the people (those who were listening to the sermon) respond – they were cut to the heart (v. 37). The phrase ‘cut to the heart’ implies that they got deeply convicted (of their sin), and led them to ask the question, “…what shall we do?”

Indeed, the Spirit is the one who brings about the new birth by convicting (John 16:8-9) the sinner of their sin (state of rebellion against God); and the only thing man does (in response) is to repent and be baptized (v. 38), having been changed by God.

Recipients of this New Birth

Regeneration is for whoever believes; “The wind blows where it wishes…” (John 3:8; cf. John 3:16). Whereas this is true, the new birth is for those whom God foreknew – those whose names were written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain (Rom. 8:29; Rev. 13:8) – His chosen people. The elect (the chosen ones) are the recipients of the new birth – they are from (and will come from) every tongue on earth according to God’s sovereign choice (Rom. 9-11). Nobody knows those whom God has chosen for Himself – and therefore, ours is to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth (Matt. 28:18-20), and God will change the hearts of those whom He chose (Eph. 1:3-6, 11-12).

At the point of regeneration, a Christian is given the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14) to help him/her to follow Christ in obedience (Col. 3:5-17). God has also provided to us a community of other believers to aid us walk in obedience to Him – the church, whose head is Christ (Col. 1:18; Heb. 3:12-14, 10:19-25).

Conclusion

No one is righteous, and no one seeks for God (Eph. 3:9-12). Only God can draw one to Christ (John 6:44). But whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom. 10:12-13) after hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:14-17). O sinner, your sin calls on God to pour His holy wrath on you; only Christ can take away your sin by faith in him. He is the perfect, sinless Lamb of God who died in place of mere mortals to bear the wrath of God on their behalf, only if they believe (1 John 2:2). Believe in Him, and He will make you a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17). O Christian, shall we take the Gospel to the unreached? Shall we respond to God’s great love upon us and care to share the good news to the poor?

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

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