Who Are Righteous?

Believers are righteous through faith in Christ (Romans 3:21-22). Believers are justified and accounted righteous before God. It is never self-righteousness, but the righteousness of God in Christ. Righteousness is God's gift to believers in Christ.

Believers are righteous in Christ alone. The apostle Paul speaks of the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers in 2 Corinthians 5:21. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Martin Luther called it the great exchange. Christ takes away your sins and gives you His righteousness.

Believers are righteous by faith alone in Christ. The Christian life can never be based upon your self-righteousness, which is as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6). You give up all hope in self-righteousness and become righteous before God in Christ alone. Only faith in our Lord Jesus Christ can impute perfect righteousness to you before God. Simply stated, you are accounted righteous by faith in Christ.

Believers are righteous by God's grace alone in Christ. Your sins were imputed or accounted to Christ at the cross. His righteousness is imputed or accounted to you by grace alone through faith alone. There is only one way you can receive the righteousness of God. That's by grace alone through faith in Christ.

What Is Reprobation?

C. H. Spurgeon wrote, "Election does not involve reprobation. There may be some who hold unconditional reprobation. I stand not here as their defender, let them defend themselves as best they can. ... If he be lost, damnation is all of man; but, if he be saved, still salvation is all of God."

Reprobation is a personal choice described in Romans 1:28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting. Reprobation is not God's choice. Those who are reprobates have made their own choice. 

God gives people over to their own choice who reject the love and grace in Christ. Therefore, God gives the reprobate over to his own depravity. God is passive in reprobation, allowing those who are lost to go on in their sin and unbelief. The lost are responsible for their own condemnation.

Election is God's choice; reprobation is the choice of those who are lost. God chose to save people in Christ before the world began (Ephesians 1:4-6). Those who are lost make an obstinate choice to reject God and His Son Jesus Christ. As Spurgeon stated, "If he be lost, damnation is all of man."

Christ at Whose Door?

Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20). 

While some Bible teachers say the words of our Lord in Revelation 3:20 were only to the church as a whole and not to individuals, Charles Spurgeon had another opinion. He was quite convinced that it was a personal invitation to anyone. That's Christ at the door.

Spurgeon pleaded, "Dear reader, hearken to His invitation, and let His good words sink into your soul. As you do so, your life will begin anew and you will be on your way to Heaven." 

Spurgeon exhorted his readers with Revelation 3:20, writing, "Therefore, I urge you not to refuse the Lord Jesus who is knocking at the door of your heart. Remember that He knocks with a hand that was nailed to the cross for you. Your good is His object, so incline your ear to Him and let Him come in."

This personal invitation is issued to you by the Lord Jesus Christ and to anyone who will hear His voice. The Lord's voice comes to us through these very words of the Bible. His promise is sure to you and all who open the door. Jesus Christ says, "I will come in to him." 

Do You Fear God?

Godly fear is the highest reverence for God. To the contrary, tormenting fear is not from God. It is never good, and always evil. It doesn't come from God (2 Timothy 1:7). Yet, godly fear motivates us through faith in God. "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark" (Hebrews 11:7).

"And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good, but I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will not depart from Me" (Jeremiah 32:40).

Those who fear God are saved according to the everlasting covenant of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jeremiah prophesied the everlasting covenant. It is confirmation to us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 13:20-21). It means God is working in us what pleases Him. He puts His fear in our hearts.

Those who fear God have evidence of their salvation in Christ. Fearing God is designed for our good and gives us assurance that we will not depart from Him. Godly fear is evidence that God is at work in us. God says, "I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will not depart from Me" (Jeremiah 32:40).

Do you fear God? Those who don't fear God are lost without a saving relationship with God. "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Romans 3:18). However, those who fear God should thank Him for putting it in their hearts.

What Is Providence?

Life is not ruled by random chance. Providence is at work in all things, because providence is the work of God. "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever" (Romans 11:36). Providence includes all things, bringing all glory to God.

The providence of God works daily in your life. Providence works in your life according to a divine plan. Providence sees what is ahead and prepares the way. Providence works in the least details of your life, as well as the greatest things. Providence works in all things.

Providence proves that chance and luck are myths. Providence works according to God's eternal purpose, "the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will" (Ephesians 1:11). That's providence, not chance.

Providence brings purpose in your life (Romans 8:28). Providence is always working for good in the lives of all who love God. When providence encounters evil, it works to bring good out of it (Genesis 50:20). 

Providence took certain circumstances in your life to bring you to faith in Jesus Christ. Providence is for you in Christ. Providence opens doors of opportunity for you to do God's will. Providence works for you when you understand, and when you don't.

Are Your Sins Gone?

Charles Spurgeon preached, "Now, he who believes in Jesus, who puts his hands upon the head of Jesus of Nazareth, the Scapegoat of His people, has lost his sins. His faith is sure evidence that his iniquities were of old laid upon the head of the great Substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ was punished in our place."

The scapegoat in the Old Testament symbolically took away the sins of the nation of Israel (Leviticus 16). The High Priest laid his hands upon the scapegoat. That symbolized the transfer of the peoples sins to another. Then, the scapegoat was led into the wilderness, symbolizing sins taken away. That Old Testament figure points to our Lord Jesus Christ. As a believer in Christ, your sins are gone. 

The scapegoat in the Old Testament foreshadowed Jesus taking our sins away. The Lord Jesus Christ was punished in our place as sinners at the cross. That's the Gospel of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). He who was sinless, was punished for our sins. Through faith in Christ, your sins are gone.

Spurgeon taught the truth of the Gospel, when he declared faith is the evidence. By grace through faith in Christ, your sins are gone. The Bible teaches, "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). God's Son has taken all our sins away. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is evidence that your sins are gone.

How Is Christ Rejected?

Unbelief is a sin which rejects God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Unbelief cannot receive God's blessings in Christ. Unbelief spurns the goodness of God. Unbelief is the choice of a heart that is hard against the goodness of God. It never considers that it could be wrong, even eternally wrong. Unbelief defiantly says, no, to all that God graciously offers in Christ. Unbelief is a sin that rejects the love, goodness, and grace of Christ. Unbelief sees the promises of Christ as foolishness.

Unbelief rejects the blessings of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "You believe in God, believe also in Me" (John 14:1). All the blessings of God come to us in Christ. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). Believing is receiving Christ.

The Holy Spirit comes to expose the sin of unbelief. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit convicts of unbelief, "of sin, because they believe not in Me" (John 16:9). Don't let unbelief rob you of God's blessings in Christ. The sin of unbelief rejects Christ.

Faith is an abiding gift of the Holy Spirit; unbelief rejects the gift of God in Christ. Faith is testifying that Christ is trustworthy; unbelief will not trust in Christ. Faith is walking the light of Christ; unbelief stands in darkness without Christ. Faith in Christ is from a heart transformed by the grace of God; unbelief is from a hardened heart rejecting Christ.