For those who have tasted of the Lord and know that he is good....for those who have seen the Lord in the land of the living...for we who are called and regenerated, adopted children of the Most High God...a day apart from our Master is the most terrifying thought.
We need and rely upon the Lord for everything. Whenever we sense a removal of his presence from our life we fall to our knees crying, " Oh God what sin have I committed that you have removed your Holy Spirit from me?". This was often the plea of David as he wrote in the Psalms time and time again for the Lord to never depart from him. "Take not your Holy Spirit from me!" is the impassioned plea heard in Psalm 51.
Yet every time we sin it is the same as saying," Depart from me Lord, in this I do not have need of you!" And so the Lord departs, unable to have any place in partnership with our sin. For the true Christian this departure of the Spirit of God is felt and is agonizing. We are led to repent and to seek God all the more, if not immediately then eventually.
So what of the unbeliever, those without the Spirit of God dwelling inside them? To them, as we once were, God is near but not indwelling. He may come upon them at times but cannot make a home within them as without faith it is impossible to please God. They are without the righteousness given to believers by the shed blood of the Lamb. They know not of the sweetness of the holiness of God and what they do know of it causes them to hate God all the more. The sin nature rises up with claws and gnashing teeth at the presence of righteousness crying," Depart from me and leave me to my darkness!" Apart from being born again man hates God. For God is good and we are evil. Evil can have no place with good. We were not somewhat good and somewhat evil, for this is impossible with God. But how can this be? Am I not still a sinner now? Yes. But you, if you are in Christ, are covered by the blood of the Lamb. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Being covered you are righteous in the eyes of our Lord. So when you sin you may feel his presence depart for a time, but it will never fully leave you. In fact what you feel is his loving discipline. At times when we sin he shows us even greater love and mercy so as to discipline us with a kiss. But more often we will feel him depart as we sin and this leads us to repent.
There is no greater example of this than the raising of our own children, When my little boy does what he is not to do he may be placed in time out. I love him no less in that moment, but I remove my presence from him. In this he is reminded that he desires the goodness of my love and that he has turned away from it. So he repents...at least for a little while. Our Lord is no different except that he perfectly demonstrates this loving discipline every single time.
Now for the unbeliever this discipline is different but also much the same. The Lord desires all to be saved and so he turns them over to their unrighteousness and sin nature. This reveals the Lord as holy and displays his justice. Yet the man who is a slave to sin is not totally apart from God's grace and kindness even in his rebellion. God's mercy is still on his life or he would be dead and suffering from the moment of his first sin. No, as long as he lives the Lord shows his kindness in the hope that he will repent but also turns him over to his sin nature, while not completely, enough to lead him to see his fallen state. Make no mistake about it, fallen man knows he is guilty. But this does not cause him to change apart from the Spirit of God overcoming his rebellion.
For man it is impossible to come to God. Man is a slave to sin, god-hating, insolent, evil. A bad tree simply cannot produce good fruit. But our Lord Jesus Christ took on that sin at Calvary and died upon a tree in the place of man. He went to the pit of hell in our place but there he defeated hell and rose again to sit at the right hand of the Father. Therefore anyone who believes in their heart that Jesus is their Lord and Savior and accepts his atonement given on the cross is saved. We are then buried and raised along with Christ, our punishment of God's wrath poured out now satisfied. How do you know this has occurred in your life? You are a new creature and the things said earlier in this blog will apply to you. You will desire God where you once hated him. You will never want him to leave you and will feel his discipline when you sin. You will repent of your sins and continue in repentance, ever seeking to cast off the sinful nature of your flesh to be clothed in righteousness.
And on that glorious day of our Lord Jesus Christ's return you will be caught up with him in the clouds singing Holy Holy Holy and no longer suffer any of his absence due to your sin! You will be completely free to love him and know him and be with him for all of eternity. There will never be a moment without the Lord! What else could you do but praise him for all eternity?
We need and rely upon the Lord for everything. Whenever we sense a removal of his presence from our life we fall to our knees crying, " Oh God what sin have I committed that you have removed your Holy Spirit from me?". This was often the plea of David as he wrote in the Psalms time and time again for the Lord to never depart from him. "Take not your Holy Spirit from me!" is the impassioned plea heard in Psalm 51.
Yet every time we sin it is the same as saying," Depart from me Lord, in this I do not have need of you!" And so the Lord departs, unable to have any place in partnership with our sin. For the true Christian this departure of the Spirit of God is felt and is agonizing. We are led to repent and to seek God all the more, if not immediately then eventually.
So what of the unbeliever, those without the Spirit of God dwelling inside them? To them, as we once were, God is near but not indwelling. He may come upon them at times but cannot make a home within them as without faith it is impossible to please God. They are without the righteousness given to believers by the shed blood of the Lamb. They know not of the sweetness of the holiness of God and what they do know of it causes them to hate God all the more. The sin nature rises up with claws and gnashing teeth at the presence of righteousness crying," Depart from me and leave me to my darkness!" Apart from being born again man hates God. For God is good and we are evil. Evil can have no place with good. We were not somewhat good and somewhat evil, for this is impossible with God. But how can this be? Am I not still a sinner now? Yes. But you, if you are in Christ, are covered by the blood of the Lamb. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Being covered you are righteous in the eyes of our Lord. So when you sin you may feel his presence depart for a time, but it will never fully leave you. In fact what you feel is his loving discipline. At times when we sin he shows us even greater love and mercy so as to discipline us with a kiss. But more often we will feel him depart as we sin and this leads us to repent.
There is no greater example of this than the raising of our own children, When my little boy does what he is not to do he may be placed in time out. I love him no less in that moment, but I remove my presence from him. In this he is reminded that he desires the goodness of my love and that he has turned away from it. So he repents...at least for a little while. Our Lord is no different except that he perfectly demonstrates this loving discipline every single time.
Now for the unbeliever this discipline is different but also much the same. The Lord desires all to be saved and so he turns them over to their unrighteousness and sin nature. This reveals the Lord as holy and displays his justice. Yet the man who is a slave to sin is not totally apart from God's grace and kindness even in his rebellion. God's mercy is still on his life or he would be dead and suffering from the moment of his first sin. No, as long as he lives the Lord shows his kindness in the hope that he will repent but also turns him over to his sin nature, while not completely, enough to lead him to see his fallen state. Make no mistake about it, fallen man knows he is guilty. But this does not cause him to change apart from the Spirit of God overcoming his rebellion.
For man it is impossible to come to God. Man is a slave to sin, god-hating, insolent, evil. A bad tree simply cannot produce good fruit. But our Lord Jesus Christ took on that sin at Calvary and died upon a tree in the place of man. He went to the pit of hell in our place but there he defeated hell and rose again to sit at the right hand of the Father. Therefore anyone who believes in their heart that Jesus is their Lord and Savior and accepts his atonement given on the cross is saved. We are then buried and raised along with Christ, our punishment of God's wrath poured out now satisfied. How do you know this has occurred in your life? You are a new creature and the things said earlier in this blog will apply to you. You will desire God where you once hated him. You will never want him to leave you and will feel his discipline when you sin. You will repent of your sins and continue in repentance, ever seeking to cast off the sinful nature of your flesh to be clothed in righteousness.
And on that glorious day of our Lord Jesus Christ's return you will be caught up with him in the clouds singing Holy Holy Holy and no longer suffer any of his absence due to your sin! You will be completely free to love him and know him and be with him for all of eternity. There will never be a moment without the Lord! What else could you do but praise him for all eternity?
RSS Feed