our state: ‘Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.’ The conclusion is in escapable, then, that because of a be liever’s standing, the purification of his state or of his behavior will fol low. If he does not have a standing with God in Christ, then of course no such change in his life and con duct will be in evidence.” We can see this very clearly in the case of Abraham in the Old Testa ment. God made a covenant with him which is recorded in Genesis 12 and 15, to mention only a few of the pas sages, but it was a one-sided cove nant based on God’s keeping it and Abraham’s receiving it. That is just like our salvation, for it is provided by God and He is responsible to keep it. Our responsibility is to receive it by faith. The promise to Abraham was a seven-fold promise and related in some of its aspects to the land of Palestine. Even though later on Abraham left Palestine and went down into Egypt, God did not go back on His promise to him. Even though years later, Israel was scat tered among the nations because of misconduct and unbelief, God never rescinded His promise concerning the land or the people. The nations have never been able to assimilate or destroy Israel, and today we see the beginning of their return to the land promised to Abraham. God changes not, and His gifts and call ing are without change of mind (Rom. 11:29). So it is with us in the matter of salvation. The promise concerning our salvation, which we received by faith, was not revoked because we fell into sin at any time. To main tain our union with the Father we have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous (I John 2:1). The works that we do, the kind of life we live, and our behavior upon the earth after we are saved will demonstrate the fact that we are
words: “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil” (I John 4:10). Verse 1 of this section brings be fore us the subject of the believer’s standing. Here is what we read: “Be hold, what manner of love the Fa ther hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.” Our standing is brought out in the ex pression “called the sons [or other children] of God.” Our standing with God means our relationship to Him, not our fellow ship. Our standing is our position in Heaven before God in Christ, where as our state is our behavior or con duct here on the earth. Ost writes: “The standing of a child in a family is the fact that the child belongs to the family. Its state relates to its conduct whether good or bad. The behavior of the child brings honor to the name of the family or dishonor. But whether it contributes honor or not, it still is a child in the family.” Some may object and say, “but the children can be disinherited.” This is true, but disinheritance does not change the standing of that child in the family, only its fellowship, its rewards, and its inheritance., The fact that it was born into that fam ily is something that cannot be changed. Now let us understand this in the spiritual realm. Through Christ we were reconciled to God and were given a standing in righteousness before Him. We became His chil dren through faith in Christ, and this through a spiritual birth (John 3 : 3 - 6 ) . Asher states: “The next verse tells us that since we are the chil dren of God we shall one day be made like the Saviour. This is called our ‘hope’ (v. 3), and we are in formed that in the light of this hope we are going to do something with 32
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker