Obtaining the Outcome of Your Faith

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:6-9 ESV).

These words are written to the elect of God, his chosen ones, his saints in Christ Jesus, the born again of God by faith in Jesus Christ for obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ and to sanctification by his Spirit. We are his holy people who are living separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being conformed by God to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ, as we submit to God’s will and to his purpose for our lives, and as we cooperate with his work of grace in our lives by doing what he says we are to do.

We who are called of God to his service, and who are walking in obedience to his commands, in practice, and who are sharing the gospel of our salvation with the people of the world, are also those who are being hated, rejected, falsely accused, cast aside, unwanted, discarded, and opposed. For it is not popular these days to stand on biblical truth and righteousness and holiness, even within the gatherings of much of what is called “church.” For so many have gone the way of the world to attract the world, and thus oppose God.

And they oppose God and his Word in the name of religion, and in the name of religious practice, and in the name of God/Christ. And many are calling themselves Christians, but the Christian life and practice are not what they do, in practice. So many of them are giving lip service only to the Lord while they continue on in their deliberate and habitual sins. And many who profess to be the shepherds (pastors) of God’s sheep are truly wolves in sheep’s clothing disguising themselves as servants of righteousness.

And so we live in an age of deception where so many are deceiving and being deceived, and where lies and liars abound, and where so many people are embracing the lies of Satan and are rejecting the truth of Jesus Christ and his gospel message. And so if you are someone who is following the Lord in obedience, and if you are sharing the gospel message that Jesus and Paul and the other apostles taught, you are going to have even pastors and elders and other church people turn against you and shun you.

But Jesus warned us that to follow him with our lives means that we are going to be treated like he was. He told us that we would be hated and rejected even by those professing to believe in and to follow the same God as we do – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit). And he warned us that even some of our family members will turn against us and oppose us because we speak the truth of God’s word and not the lies which have gained so much popularity.

But we are also taught in the Scriptures that trials will come upon us to test the genuineness of our faith. And if we find that our faith is not standing the test, because it is weak faith, or because it is not genuine faith, then those tests give us the opportunity to have our faith strengthened in the Lord or to make certain that our faith is genuine biblical faith and not a cheapened version of it that is so popular in the Christian culture of America today. So these trials are for our good to grow us to maturity in Christ our Lord.

And why is this important? Because our faith is not a once in a lifetime profession of faith in Jesus Christ that guarantees us heaven when we die regardless of how we live. Those who are teaching that are teaching lies. All throughout the New Testament we are taught that we must walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands in holy living, and that by the Spirit we are to be continually in the process of putting sin to death and growing to maturity in Christ, becoming like Jesus in his death.

For if we don’t, and if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in holy living, and not in walks of obedience to our Lord, then we do not know God, we are not born of God, we are of the devil, we are not in fellowship with Jesus Christ, we are not saved from our sins, and we will not inherit eternal life with God. So we need trials and tribulations which test our faith to keep us faithful to the Lord, and to keep us depending on the Lord and walking in obedience to his commands, because we are human.

And then if we pass the test, and our faith is found to be genuine, not perfect, but being perfected of God, and growing, and maturing, and moving in a forward and not backward direction, then our faith will be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ when he returns for his faithful bride. For it is then and then only that our salvation will be complete, and only if we remain faithful to our Lord in walks of obedience and holiness, and if we remain faithful to the very end.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

When I Go Home

By G. M. Eldridge

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes…” Revelation 21:4

In the moment He appears

And the light from heaven shines,

I’ll forget ev’ry fear,

Ev’ry pain I’ll leave behind.

Then I’ll see Him as He is

And I’ll know Him as I’m known.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

Ever present is the tho’t 

That a moment waits for me

When unworthy as I am,

His glory I will see.

I will empty all my praise

Before my Father’s throne.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

If the trial I endure,

And your presence I can’t find,

Be near me, Lord, I pray,

Bring back unto my mind

That your promises are firm

And I’m never on my own.

Ev’ry tear wiped away when I go home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z98Zvr1CyXg 

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