I accept as true that God has created man in His own image for a relationship with Himself. Even while knowing that man would rebel against His rightful authority God gave us the choice to obey and find life in Him or to disobey and be separated from God and as a result fall into bondage to sin and death. I have inherited a nature prone to sin and rebellion; I am responsible for what I have received and what I do with what I have inherited. I believe that this sin nature extended to all aspects of my being and as an extensive property (not intensive) constituted total depravity.
I believe that God transcends anything imaginable in the universe He created and that God is wholly self-aware and aware of His right to exaltation. God being perfectly whole in every aspect of His being both loved us and established that His own glory would be served by providing the means of redemption and justification. Therefore, Jesus, being the first born and exact representation of God and His Glory in time and space; the Word, authority, and righteous standard in the cosmos alone could fulfill the requirement of holiness on our behalf. Our efforts and choices are not able to achieve the righteousness of God; so God in His providence established a people, Israel, to be custodians of His Word, law and the promise of His coming. Time and time again we prove that regardless of prosperity, culture, organization, education … that failure is inevitable. Then in the fullness of time the first born of creation emptied Himself into the body of man and choosing the foolish, weak, the outcast to show us that it is His glory, not ours. Rejecting the King of Glory I desired His death and yet it was the will of God the Father to crush Him (Isa 53:5,10) , but He became the sacrifice for my sins and overcame death so that I might have life and enter into a new promise.
I believe that we are deficient to understand or seek God of our own accord. We may seek the benefits that can only be found in God but are at the same time trying to avoid God having in our depravity become enemies of God. (Romans 3:9-12, Romans 5:10) I believe that only through the power of the Holy Spirit mediated in and through the Word of God and the testimony of faith (Luke 12:12, John 14:26, Romans 10:17) that the eyes of our heart are then opened to understand the significance of the truth of God’s Glory, our lostness and His promise and provision to which we have a choice to respond (John 6:44, Acts 16:14). Our response is one of submission through repentance and faith. Repentance is the revision of my judgment and a change in my plan of action. (Luke 24:45-47, 2 Co 7:10, 2 Pe 3:9) Repentance, though necessary, is not meritorious but a condition for receiving the gracious gift of pardon which God gives of His goodness. It is a choice I have made not to clean up my act, but a change of mind about my principles, perspectives and practices and a purpose for change. In faith I am convinced that Jesus is the son of the living God who took on human flesh, was tempted in every way that I am and yet without sin was crucified and died for my sins. I trust that through his death I am redeemed and that through His resurrection I receive His justification for the purpose of an eternal inheritance; eternal life. I am under the conviction that eternal life means that my greatest most expectant hope is that God will be more then I can ever imagine and to glorify Him and enjoy an ever advancing relationship with Him starting now and into eternity is the greatest aspiration in all creation (John 3:17, Romans 8:18-19) . I believe that through repentance and faith, trusting in the cross, banking on His sufficiency, I am forgiven and through profession of Jesus Christ as my Lord I am saved (Romans 10:9-10). Profession is recognition and the intentionality of commitment which entails the accomplishment of commitment (James 2:18) but does not require it and is therefore not meritorious for the power to achieve it not my own but from the Holy Spirit (Philippians 2:12-13). This commitment is ultimately to be a child of God under the Lordship of Christ.
I consider neither suffering nor success worth comparing to the glory which is to be revealed (Philippians 3:8, Romans 8:18). I count all loss for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I do not desire at any time to so much as breath apart from Christ. For He is my hope, my portion, my never failing riches; all that binds me to eternity, all that binds me inexorably to the Father!
R. C Sproul, “Contending for the Truth – Questions and Answers” , Disc 5 of 5, Ligonier Ministries 2007 National Conference.
“Packer, J. I. Knowing God. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1973. 80-80. Print.
Tozer, A. W. Knowledge of the holy the attributes of God : their meaning in the Christian life. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992. 129. Print.
“The Westminster Shorter Catechism”, Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, 2004, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/anonymous/westminster1.html
Schaff, Philip (1819-1893), “The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians”, The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, reprint 2001, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.ii.html
Glory to be Revealed 