Sunday, June 30, 2024
“God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9 KJV).
In this roller coaster called “life,” who is truly “faithful?”
A bygone preacher once observed: “the flesh wants to do something, be something, live something.” This claim can be easily proven by visiting a denominational church—or anywhere else the Message of God’s Grace is absent. In fact, the works of the flesh can be (and have been) frequently passed off as (supposedly) “the works of the Spirit of God.” Only a mature, discerning spiritual eye can differentiate them.
Man has to come to a very uncomfortable, unflattering conclusion: his works, no matter their quantity, are not perfect righteousness or sinlessness. In no way can he save (deliver) or reform (change) himself. Those who cannot (or will not) admit that then intensely refute the idea of “once saved, always saved.” To them, you can and should trust Christ as your personal Saviour, but then, say they, you must continue in holy living to maintain that salvation or you will lose it. This is extremely convoluted, for it assumes our works play some role in perpetuating a relationship with God that we could never (and will never) obtain by our works anyway!
The Corinthians actually started off right: “And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized” (Acts 18:8). In that brief moment of clarity, they recognized their Greek philosophy was void of any eternal value. It could not give them a right standing before the one true God any more than the Law of Moses could justify Israel! There was no doubt whatsoever they became members of the Church the Body of Christ right here, believing in their heart how Christ died for their sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Alas, Satan’s evil world system (false teachers) later drew them away from that simple truth, which generated the innumerable problems/sins in the Corinthian assembly Paul is now addressing in 1 Corinthians.
In today’s Scripture, he thus did not emphasize their faithfulness (for, they were unfaithful!) but rather God’s faithfulness….
333 Words of Grace 