What Is God's Mercy?

"So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy" (Romans 9:16). God shows mercy, not earned by our efforts, because "it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs." Our will power and efforts can never save us. God's mercy in Christ for our salvation.

God's mercy is in Christ crucified for our sins. That is to say, the sacrificial death of Christ satisfies the demands of God's holiness and wrath against our sin. God's just wrath is satisfied for sinners who trust in Christ alone for mercy and justification. "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world" (1 John 2:2).

God's mercy takes away our sins through the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7). Mercy transforms our lives. God's mercy changes our hearts to change your lives. Only God can change our hearts. The word heart is a symbol for our inward nature. That's the mind, will, and emotions.

God's mercy transforms and renews our minds (Romans 12:1-2). Such a change enables us to repent. The word "repent" comes from two Greek words. Meta means change. Nous means mind. God's mercy leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4).

Why Are All Not Saved?

"For this is good and acceptable to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:3-4). God desires all to be saved from death, judgment, and everlasting punishment. God sent His Son into the world to make the one and only sacrifice which is sufficient to save all (John 12:32; 1 John 2:2). Then, why are all not saved?

Not all will come to "the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). Jesus said, "I am the truth" (John 14:6). The Spirit of truth uses the word of truth to bring us to the one who is the truth (John 16:13; 17:17). God will not save anyone who rejects the truth. Those who reject the truth, believe the lie. They perish, "because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved" (2 Thessalonians 2:10).

Not all will trust in Christ. None who sincerely trust in Christ will be turned away (John 6:37). No one who believes in Him will be disappointed (Romans 10:11). God's call to salvation is for all nations, Jew and Gentile (Romans 1:16; Acts 1:8). The gospel of Christ is freely offered to all.

Not all will repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31; 17:30). This speaks of our responsibility. Those who refuse to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are responsible for their own just condemnation (Luke 13:3, 5). All who repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ will be saved (John 3:36; Acts 2:37-39).

Is Jesus Your Lord?

"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). Is Jesus your Lord? If so, you believe that Jesus is risen indeed. Therefore, you confess Jesus is Lord.

Jesus risen from the dead is the singular most important doctrine in the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15:17). The salvation of every believer rests upon the resurrection of Christ. It's the miracle you must believe to be saved. Confessing Jesus as Lord is the earliest confession of the Christian faith. It focuses upon the resurrection of Jesus as our confession of faith.

If you are willing to confess Jesus is Lord, then the Holy Spirit convinced you (John 16:7-11). The Holy Spirit illumines your mind and brings you to repentance, a change of mind, concerning the resurrection of Christ. Then and only then, you will truly confess that Jesus is Lord, because you know the truth personally. "No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Believing the gospel and confessing from your heart that Jesus is Lord means you are saved. The word saved means to be delivered from the condemnation and judgment of your sins. Also, it means to be delivered from the wages of sin which is death (Romans 6:23). To be saved is to receive eternal life through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. If Jesus is your Lord, you are saved.

How Is Christ in You?

The Christian life is Christ in you (Colossians 1:27). The Spirit of Christ, also known as the Holy Spirit, indwells every believer (Romans 8:9). Upon believing the gospel of Christ, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, "having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13). The Holy Spirit is in you with the abiding gifts of faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

The Spirit of Christ is in you with the gift of faith. It is the faith of Jesus Christ. "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). The Holy Spirit abides in every Christian with the gift of faith. It is faith from Christ and faith in Christ. Faith is trust, confidence, and reliance upon Christ.

The Spirit of Christ is in you with the gift of hope. It is your hope in Christ. The Holy Spirit brings hope in Christ. It is the hope of glory, which means the hope of the believer's glorification. Everything you are, or hope to be, is in Christ. We are "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).

The Spirit of Christ is in you with the gift of love. It is the Father's love for us in Christ and our love for Christ. Love is a gift of the Holy Spirit and the greatest evidence of Christ in you. Without the love of Christ, there is no real and true Christian life. Christ in you is the love of the Holy Spirit in your heart (Romans 5:5).

Will God Teach You?

Charles H. Spurgeon wrote, "No man can know Jesus Christ unless he is taught by God. Tell me not of systems of divinity, of schemes of theology, of infallible commentators, of the most learned people, or of the most arrogant doctors, but tell me of the great Teacher who will instruct the sons of God and make us wise to understand all things. The Holy Spirit is the Teacher." 

Jesus promised that God's Spirit would guide his disciples into all truth (John 8:31-32; 16:13). While the Spirit of God gives pastors and other teachers the ability to minister the word of truth, yet he alone is the great Teacher. He is the one who inspired the Holy Scripture. Believers are taught by God's Spirit to understand the Bible.

God's Spirit teaches all who are born again. He teaches you about the only one who can take away our sins, Jesus the crucified one. He teaches you to confess Jesus is Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3). The Holy Spirit teaches you about the one who saves you, Jesus in the power of his resurrection (Romans. 10:9). His teaching always glorifies Jesus, the Son of God, according to the Scripture (John 16:14).

The Holy Spirit teaches you more and more about Jesus. Make this your prayer: "Spirit of God my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me." Every believer in Christ should be taught by God, through Holy Scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16).

Did God Foreknow Us?

"God is not limited by time. With him there is no present, past and future, but one eternal now. He knows all things from the beginning" (J. Clyde Turner, These Things We Believe). 

God knows all that is past, present, and future. What God knows now about the future is revealed in Bible prophecy. Our knowledge is limited. The foreknowledge of God is unlimited.

God foreknows all things simultaneously. Our knowledge is limited by time and space. God is omniscient knowing the end from the beginning (Acts 15:18). We know in part and only in part. God foreknows all things now.

God foreknows the names and exact number of all who shall be saved. They are now justified and glorified in Christ as far as the knowledge of God. The apostle Paul wrote of God's foreknowledge in terms of prolepsis, knowing the future now as already accomplished (Romans 8:29-30). Yet, God's command is for all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30; 2 Peter 3:9).

God foreknows all who shall be in Christ. That includes all who will repent and believe the gospel (Acts 2:38; 13:48; Ephesians 1:4, 13). God turns none away who will repent and believe on our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:30-31). Yet, God foreknows now all who shall be saved in Christ (1 Peter 1:2). 

How Do Christians Die?

Wayne Grudem explained, "When Christians die, their souls go immediately into God's presence. Although their bodies remain in the ground, their souls go into the presence of their Creator. This is why Paul writes of being away from the body through death (2 Corinthians 5:8) and departing in death to be with Christ (Philippians 1:23)."

Dr. Grudem presented the New Testament teaching about the death of Christians. This exposes such errors as purgatory and soul sleep. Nowhere does the New Testament teach that Christians go to a place called purgatory, but as Grudem said, "their souls go into the presence of their Creator." Also, Christians are not unconscious as in soul sleep.

Grudem clearly stated the New Testament teaching about a Christian's death. It is "being away from the body in death." That is "departing in death to be with Christ." Death is separation of body and soul. Christians may understand what they face at death, with the expectation of being with Christ.

When a Christian faces death, the testimony of the apostle Paul should bring comfort and hope. He wrote, "We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). In another letter, he wrote, "My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better" (Philippians 1:23). That's what happens when Christians die.