Divinely-Imparted Faith in Divinely-Declared Faithfulness

Naturally, the salvation engineered by our Lord affords us no small degree of comfort, as He is the only One who could have accomplished such a thing, as well as the One in whom the greatest degree of fury was (justly) provoked by our sin.  We rejoice, then, to examine our salvation and to marvel at the exact blend of qualities that the Lord brought to bear in the unique purchase of that salvation.

There was grace, of course, as well as rock-solid holiness.  There was love, there was power, and there was justice.  We celebrate each of these, of course, but there is yet one more quality which was just as urgently vital, but perhaps not considered so often as it should be. 

It is a trustworthy statement:

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
If we endure, we will also reign with Him;
If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

- 2 Tim. 2:11-13

In this brief passage, Paul makes four very stark conditional statements that lead back to the nature of salvation.  Indeed, some believe that these lines may have been lifted from an early Christian hymn, but whatever the case, these lines are charmingly direct and truthful.  To partake of Christ's death on the cross, à la Romans 6, is to partake of His resurrection life as well.  To persevere in one's faith until the end is to move to eternal glory at Christ's side, rather like Revelation 2:10.  To deny Christ is to be denied by Christ before the Father (Matt. 10:33).  And to respond in faithlessness to Christ (that is, to pridefully spurn repentance) will by no means induce Christ to respond faithlessly in kind (in other words, He will always be true to His gospel - in just condemnation).

It is this last truth that is so interesting in our present discussion.  The Lord cannot help but demonstrate infallible integrity to who He is; He never does anything unbecoming toward His holy and perfect name.  Paul's words therefore warn that Jesus will always be faithful to confer upon the unbelieving the just doom of hell.  To do anything else would be to violate His own principles and plans. 

In a like manner, this complete integrity by the Divine assures our enduring salvation.  It is the glue, do you see, that holds together all the rest of God's wonderful attributes in salvation.  All the grace in the world avails us little if the Bestower of such blessing becomes indifferent in its dispensation. Divine power is precious only so long as it accomplishes God's established purposes - if it does not, we lose the Romans 8:28 promise that all things happen for our good as believers (and thus naught can arise to rob us of salvation). 

We need constancy of gracious attention in the maintenance of our salvation.  Consider a moment how it would be if your Savior could, at any moment, choose to revoke His mercy, to repeal His pardon, to remove His sealing Spirit.  What terrors would visit you at every turn, what demons would constantly pluck at your sleeve, if this were a real concern!  His omnipotence would yield but small satisfaction, and His grace would offer only transient comforts, were He plagued with bouts of faithlessness to Himself.  What torment would wrack our tired hearts:  Do I stand in His good graces?  Have I somehow compromised myself?  Do His fancies run contrary to my wellbeing?

We could never know where we stood with a fickle God, but we would never be surprised to find that we had fallen from His grace.  Praise be to God, though, that this is wholly, utterly not the case.  "I, the Lord, do not change." (Mal. 3:6b, emphasis added) He stands so entirely apart from moral corruption, indecision, or second guessing that these lines of thought are bafflingly foolish.  He operates with an omniscient integrity and a sovereign wisdom - He can be assailed by no surprises, for His plan encompasses all things.

Rather, our Lord Christ says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand." (John 10:27:29) This, brothers and sisters, lies at the very center of our faith!  Our faith would be but a hollow sham, scarcely lip service, but for the fact of God's faithfulness!  His Spirit residing in us builds our faith by helping us to understand the truths of God, so in a very real manner, His divinely-declared faithfulness feeds our divinely-imparted faith.

This is the stuff of daily praise, my friends. 

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
- Lamentations 3:22-23

Grace in the Midst of Abandonment

(continued from The Grim Specter of Abandonment)

Taken as a whole, Paul's words in 2 Timothy 4 (which we examined in the last posting) suggest four attitudes which are right and becoming to a believer involved in the Lord's ministry (as all believers, by the way, should be).

1. Companions may come and go. An earlier statement by Paul had promised Timothy that persecution was a certainty for believers in the pursuit of godliness (1 Tim. 3:12). The most grievous barbs, however, often do not come at the hands of unbelievers, but of those within our very ranks. A foot soldier that rushes to meet the enemy is not surprised by a score of arrows thumping into his shield; it is the one that falls upon his back that perplexes and grieves him the most.

Paul's courageous scruples commended him to his God, but not always to his fellows. His boldness exposed sin, condemned false belief, and challenged true belief to greater faithfulness and godly pursuits. His gospel was keen and his standard was godly, as ours must be. If we are encouraging our fellow believers to pursue Christ with divinely-gifted strength, however lovingly, we are almost certain to lose a friend or two at some point (or at many points). Charisma and compassion cannot always salve the sting of conviction, even if that conviction was never intended, and though we may passionately communicate our best intentions, sometimes simply the exemplary (though imperfect) quality of our Christian lives will eventually compel certain others to distance themselves.

2. Compassion must continue toward our wayward brothers and sisters. Paul's considered response to the desertion perpetrated upon him by the Roman saints was to pray for their forgiveness from the Lord (v. 16).  We may conclude, then, that this act by the Christians in that city was indeed sinful and not merely poor or imperfect judgment, as only sin would call for forgiveness. Paul, however, was not entrenched in thoughts of revenge or personal undeservedness, but sought for the growth and benefit of those who had slighted him with their distance and quiet.

It is devilishly easy to be personally affected by the sins of others, especially when that sin crowds upon us, but frankly, any personal offense which we could muster is far outweighed by the affront to God which sin, by definition, constitutes. When we are humbly serving our great Lord, divine humility quiets our clamoring and injured pride, and when we feel the sting of sin against us, the need for comeuppance is far eclipsed by the urge to see this person right with the Master to whom we are enslaved. The slave does not trouble with any meager personal affronts when his or her loving Master has been offended.

3. One is enough if God is at work. Napoleon and Alexander could not conquer the smallest village without their armies, but such is not the case with almighty God. If God found Himself quite abandoned by the whole of mankind (which has never and will never happen), could He not breathe a word of authority such that the very rocks would proclaim His glory? Would the loftiest of peaks hesitate to move aside at the mere sound of His voice? Are the seas not sundered, and the flowing rivers not confounded, by His sovereign decree? He declares in His majesty, "Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine." (Job 41:11)

Paul's words are clear and decisive: "nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things." (Acts 17:25) Picture, if you will, this omnipotent, sovereign, self-existent God, at work through His people. Does He require a great host? Can human strength augment His might? No! He dispatches one prophet, solitary and unwilling, to a great pagan city called Ninevah, and an incomprehensible multitude is saved. If we find ourselves isolated in our kingdom work, we long for the blessing of fellowship, but we revel in the glorious blessing of God's continued faithfulness and assured purpose as we work!

4. The Lord's faithfulness is undiminished by the unfaithfulness of others. In this 2 Timothy 4 passage, Paul affirms God's faithfulness both in the short term (verse 17 - God stood with him, strengthening him for the complete delivery of the gospel to his opposers and keeping him from death) and in the long term (verse 18 - the Lord would continue to preserve Paul's soul unto a blessed and rich eternity, even against the evil designs of those around him, no doubt, in both the natural and the supernatural realm).

How pleasing it is to consider that when Christ said, "lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20b), He attached no provisos. He did not pronounce, "I am with you, as long as you keep your companions and make it worth My while," but simply, "I am with you always." This is a momentous statement, pregnant with divine omniscience and immutability. Though a thousand dear companions turn aside and make scorn, envy, or apathy their camp, yet we will not despair, so long as sin has not adorned our hearts, and so long as our God carefully accompanies us, even as He has promised! His plans are as healthy and as certain as they were before the worlds existed.


There is a certain glory when God's people come together and harmoniously minister for His name.  We see God, the great Designer, the great Orchestrator, the great Leader, at work within His workers, and it charms our hearts as believers to behold this blessing.  There is a different glory, however, when God's people must soldier on alone, or as a band that is smaller than it once was.  Here the sufficiency, faithfulness, and compassion of the Sovereign come to the forefront, and though our hearts are freighted with fresh sadness, we nevertheless appreciate our God all the more in spite of, and even because of, the heaviness in our own hearts, and we continue on in the glad certainty of His continued graces. 

The Grim Specter of Abandonment

Demas, Phygelus, Hermogenes, John Mark, the Corinthian church, the believers in the Asian province, the church in Rome, and even Barnabas - all of these at one point or another, for one reason or another, deserted the apostle Paul.  Some would return later, sparking immense joy, while the fate of others is lost to antiquity.  What would happen later was, in a way, immaterial - they abandoned Paul in the midst of a kingdom campaign, creating immediate and saddening reverberations throughout his ministry.  The workers dwindled, but the work was always there; the road always stretching longer before his eyes. 

Paul, in the dimmest twilight of his life, delivered these devastating words to Timothy:  "At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them." (2 Tim. 4:16) Paul stood trial in Rome before the highest levels of government, and he was obliged to do so entirely alone.  None of the countless converts who had been introduced to Christ by his bold proclamation, none of the brothers and sisters who had labored alongside him, none of the believers in all that city stood at his side.  Many of his dearest brothers and sisters were scattered across hundreds of miles and countless settlements, but Paul's words suggest that there were saints near at hand who pointedly chose to dissociate from the weary and manacled apostle.

The apostle follows this heartbreaking statement with something rather surprising, though.  "But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth.  The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (2 Tim. 4:17-18)

Lord, grant it us to respond in this manner!  A tenacious hold on the truth, as well as a desire to minister for the Lord in some capacity, will almost certainly see us lose a friend or two along the way, sadly.  Truth divides, as it must, and sometimes the effect of earnest faithfulness in one believer is the exposure of subtle unfaithfulness in another.  The convicted believer (or an offended unbeliver, for that matter) may well recoil, and what then is our recourse?  We check our own lives and hearts for sin, of course, and for issues of Christian liberty - anything that might have offended our brother or sister.  If any fault is uncovered, we deal with it strongly and humbly.  If, however, we are in the right, what can we do?  Our hands are clean, but our hearts are baffled.

(To be continued in Grace in the Midst of Abandonment)