Keep Going-----He Will Keep Us Going

My dear wife and I are actually away for the weekend among the Amish, and I am posting this a little early while I have internet connectivity. Tomorrow is an uncertainty (in more ways then one), so I think it best to send this out now.

I deeply love "The Pilgrims Progress", and I think the quote below is my favorite passage (alright, one of my favorites) in the whole book. This classic of John Bunyan's is an extended study in allegory form of the great Biblical doctrine of the preservation and perseverance of the saints---------i.e. all those whom God graciously and sovereignly saves will continue or persevere in faith, holiness and obedience unto Christ's eternal kingdom, because God Himself preserves them to the end (Phil. 1:6).

The gospel of God's saving grace that begins in one sense with our problem, the problem of our radical depravity, is answered by God with four sovereign initiatives: the Father's unconditional election, the Son's substitutionary atonement for the elect, and the Spirit's enliviening work of effective grace in calling the elect to saving faith in the Savior who died for them. And then finally the God who began this work does not leave His people to an uncertain future, but works in us to complete what He started.

In the gospel, Christ who saves us from our sins, is not only our righteousness, but is our sanctifier as well, keeping us in His way. Bunyan put it beautifully this way:

"Then I saw in my dream, that the Interpreter took Christian by the hand, and led him into a place where was a fire burning against a wall, and one standing by it, always casting much water upon it, to quench it; yet did the fire burn higher and hotter.

Then said Christian, What means this?

The Interpreter answered, This fire is the work of grace that is wrought in the heart; he that casts water upon it, to extinguish and put it out, is the devil: but in that thou seest the fire, notwithstanding, burn higher and hotter, thou shalt also see the reason of that. So he had him about to the back side of the wall, where he saw a man with a vessel of oil in his hand, of the which he did also continually cast (but secretly) into the fire.

Then said Christian, What means this?

The Interpreter answered, This is Christ, who continually, with the oil of his grace, maintains the work already begun in the heart; by the means of which, notwithstanding what the devil can do, the souls of his people prove gracious still. 2 Cor. 12:9. And in that thou sawest that the man stood behind the wall to maintain the fire; this is to teach thee, that it is hard for the tempted to see how this work of grace is maintained in the soul."

John Newton knew of this secret work of Christ in the heart as we press on in the battle that is the Christian life, expressing it in this affecting way (at least for me, since he seems to have nailed my experience):

"As to myself, I would tell you how it is with me if I could: at the best, it would be an inconsistent account…I am a sinner, believing in the name of Jesus. I am a silly sheep, but I have a gracious, watchful Shepherd. I am a dull scholar, but I have a Master who can make the dullest learn. He still bears with me, He still employs me, He still enables me, He still owns me. Oh for a coal of heavenly fire to warm my heart, that I might praise him as I ought!"

So, here is our calling, and here is our certian promise---------

".....work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil.2:12-13).

How do these things affect your heart? It would truly be good to hear.