Nothing to Fear: Walking as Christians
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah
This is Heart of the Matter –
And I’m your host, Shawn McCraney
Let’s keep learning together about walking as Christians in the age of fulfillment.
Show 30A
NOTHING TO FEAR
July 7th 2020
I have been talking a lot about what it means to be a Son and Daughter of God – about growing from glory to glory and what hangs in the balance. I stand by it all as biblical and true. But when studying about such things it’s really important to remind ourselves that as believers we have nothing to fret over, nothing to fear, and do not have to be concerned about our fleshly failures. There is a reason for this that can easily be forgotten or misunderstood and I want to illustrate that reason for you on the board tonight.
Value and Maturation in Christian Faith
We tend to think of our Christian lives (and the type of Christians we are) as a culmination of our total Christian walk. I think we think of this this way because of how our world works – when we start a job we are considered a rookie or greenhorn and when we retire from that same job we see ourselves as seasoned, wise and perhaps better than when we were hired. In some respects this certainly applies to our maturation in the Christian faith, but not in our value or stance before God. We are of no more value, we are no more saved, we are no more “important to God” when we are brand new believers that have received Christ or when we are battle-scarred mature believers of forty, fifty or sixty years. We are all the same in His eye for He is not ever a respecter of ANY persons. The reality of this ought to make our Christian walk a lot different than the way we see ourselves as professionals in this world. And I think we sometimes forget this.
Regeneration and the Absence of Fear
Let me turn to the board to help illustrate this as a means to also explain why we as believers, whether babes or mature Sons and Daughters, have nothing to fear. Let's talk about two type of people in this world.
TYPE A TYPE B
Unregenerate Regenerate
Human Being Human Being
This is us – now and forevermore. Immediately justified, sanctified, saved to the Kingdom of God. New Creations from day one. In this condition there is NO FEAR as we are His, redeemed, recipients of His shed blood and therefore the Holy Spirit. Our bodies will fail us just as they will sin and get in the way of this life and identity. But this is what we KNOW will carry on beyond the grave.
Forgiven. But this former man is dead. The deeds of the flesh, dead. Sin of the flesh forgiven once and for all. In the regenerated Christian, this fleshly body serves to thwart our spiritual growth. But the works and deeds of it will pass away at death. This is not us. This is not our identity. We belong to another kingdom. We are new creations in Christ and look to and live by our new creation which is spiritual, not our old flesh which is dead.
Biblical Illustrations of Our Identity
Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Isa 11:1; 52:14; Mr 9:12 Full Compare GBN ACC Annotated FBN Halls JFB JWN Poole PLWL TSK Scott Edit MyNotes
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. {we hid…: or, he hid as it were his face from us: Heb. as an hiding of faces from him, or, from us} Ps 22:6; Isa 49:7; Joh 1:10-11; Heb 4:15 Full Compare GBN ACC Annotated BFB FBN JFB JWN Poole
The Suffering and Sacrifice
4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Mt 8:17; Heb 9:28; 1Pe 2:24
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. {wounded: or, tormented} {stripes: Heb. bruise} Ro 4:25; 1Co 5:13; 1Pe 2:24; 3:18
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. {laid…: Heb. made the iniquity of us all to meet on him} Ps 119:176; 1Pe 2:25
The Silent Suffering
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. Mt 26:63; 27:12,14; Mr 14:61; 15:5; Ac 8:32; 1Pe 2:23
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. {from prison…: or, away by distress and judgment: but, etc} {was he…: Heb. was the stroke upon him} Da 9:26
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. {death: Heb. deaths} Mt 27:57-58,60; 1Pe 2:22; 1Jo 3:5
10 ¶ Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. {thou…: or, his soul shall make an offering} Ro 6:9; 2Co 5:21; Eph 1:5,9; 2Th 1:11; 1Pe 2:24
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Isa 42:1; 49:3; 53:4-5; Joh 17:3; Ro 5:15-19; 2Pe 1:3; 1Jo 2:1
The Reward and Redemption
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
- Forgiven. But we note that this person has not received the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them into the ways of Christ. So, while their sins have been paid for by Christ Jesus, and God has reconciled them to himself, they have not been adopted as His child nor do they have the capacity to embrace or grow in spiritual things. All they have is their lives of flesh now and all that this entails. When this body goes to the grave, their souls will exit this world without any spiritual empowerments that last beyond the grave. They will have had life, they will have been blessed in that life, and lived it according to their own souls and they will receive a heavenly resurrected body commensurate with how they chose to live their mortal lives.
So, while we have been focused on “what hangs in the balance,” understand that all regenerated souls will receive a resurrected body that is able to live in the presence of our God.
And he would grant you this glorious body on the day you believed and he will grant you a glorious body if you live to be 100 and mature in all the graces.
So, there is no fear of not making it into the Kingdom of God as you walk on as a Christian because you made it the day you received him.
Growing from Glory to Glory
Brothers and sisters – you are as much saved today as you were the day you received Him (and His life and death) by faith. Not one bit more, not one bit less.
So why all this talk about growing from glory to glory?
Scripture plainly suggests that the more a regenerated believer relinquishes themselves over to the ways of Christ, and dies to the flesh, allowing Him to reign over their mortal existence, the greater the glory, not the greater the punishment, but the greater the reward each individual will receive (which I believe we will receive via the type of resurrection God will bestow on each of us).
Rewards for Believers
So allowing God to work in and through us does not “save us more,” nor does it help us escape punishment – punishment and sin have been paid. Nor will allowing God to reign in us from glory to glory make Him love us more.
But there are rewards hanging in the balance for those believers who allow God to help us overcome our flesh while we abide in it. Simple as that.
Difference Between Believers and Non-believers
This is the difference between non-believers and believers, and between believers who live by their flesh and believers who allow God to reign over them glory to glory. But to all who are His, from the day they believed, there is never anything to fear.
(Beat)
Write your comments below and we will talk about them tomorrow night, HERE on Heart of the Matter.
