A Hope Worth Guarding

KEY VERSE: “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen” —Jude 24,25

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Jude 1-4, 17-25

WE ARE being prepared to be presented before the greatest of all kings, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who rules with unfathomable glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Only those who are faultless can stand before his righteous presence. How unthinkable for wretched men such as we, possessing this body of death!

But let us not stagger at our weakness, but have faith in the great ability of the only wise God, our savior, who has given to us “exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.”—I Pet. 1:4

The promises of God are very potent factors in the Christian life, so powerful that in our text the apostle indicated that by our yielding to their blessed implications we are made ready for exaltation to the divine nature. In Hebrews 4:1, the Apostle Paul urges us to be on the alert lest we “come short” of any of the promises which the Lord has made on our behalf. Practically all of God’s promises have conditions attached to them, and failure to comply with these conditions is what the apostle describes as coming short. It is our faithful compliance with the conditions attached to the promises which qualifies us to be partakers of the divine nature and to have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

God’s promises are of value to us only in proportion to our faithfulness in obeying his precepts. God is pleased when his people actually believe what he has promised. Of Abraham we read that he “staggered not at the promises of God.” Instead he was “strong in faith.” Being persuaded that God was able to perform that which he had promised, Abraham’s faith was “imputed to him for righteousness.”—Rom. 4:20-22

We too are justified by our faith in the promises of God, particularly those promises which give assurance that the blood of Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness. “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:1) But this must be a living, working faith, a faith that staggers not at the promises of God, but impels us to take a course in life consistent with our professions of faith.

Many and varied are the promises which assure us of our acceptance with God, through Christ, and an abiding faith in these promises is essential if we are to be made partakers of the divine nature. We know that by nature we are sinners, children of wrath even as others. Every day we are in close contact with our imperfections; and besides, those around us know about them and do not hesitate to keep us reminded of them. Our great adversary, the devil, also knows our weaknesses and uses them to discourage us, hoping we will give up running for the prize of the high calling. But if our confidence in the promises remains firm, we will not fear, for our God has said, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”—Isa. 54:17

“Their righteousness is of me”—what a blessed assurance! If we can grasp the full meaning of this promise, we will realize that despite our imperfections we stand justified before God, that there is no condemnation from him. True, a proper recognition of this fact should keep us humble, ever remembering that our own righteousness is as filthy rags, and that the pure, white robe of righteousness which God sees as we stand before him is not our own, but Christ’s, the robe of his righteousness. This is confirmed by Paul in his letter to Titus, where he writes: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of the regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit; which he hath shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”—Titus 3:5,6

What a blessed lot is ours! Truly the Lord has given us “good doctrine” (Prov. 4:2), so let us yield ourselves to its transforming influence and thus be made ready for that abundant entrance into the kingdom, where we shall be like him, and see him as he is.—I John 3:2

| Home Page | Table of Contents |