“And when they saw him, they worshiped him: but some doubted” (Matt 28:17).
We doubt, even though we believe God. Yet, DOUBT doesn’t make us unbelieving. Our imperfections and FAILURES don’t mean that we don’t love and worship God. they only show how much glory He gets and how good He is, to deal with us in love.
We are SINNERS, and we will not change that in this life. The flesh lusts against the Spirit, so that you cannot do what you would. We CAN’T serve perfectly, and we have no where to stand, except God’s grace in Christ.
Thus, let your failures cause you to believe… to REJECT yourself and RELY upon Him. Don’t let your failures cause despair, slavish unbelief, or lead you away from the Son. We have refuge.
1. Man can’t help you before God (Matt 28:14). He can make you “feel” good down here, “Saying, Say you, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you”. He can puff up your pride and join you in rebellion. But, man can’t persuade GOD for you, and it is TRAGIC that men choose man’s face over God’s favor, choosing the esteem of men over the reward that comes from God. God EXALTS the abased and dwells with the believer. We can’t be higher than the elevation He gives, which is by SERVICE. We serve the Lord FOR the reward.
2. We meet with God in grace in the place ordained by Him, Jesus Christ, in the forgiveness of sins, the MERCY seat, “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them” (Matt 28:16).
It is HARD to take His mercy, but we have no other hope. Receive the FULLNESS of Christ or SUFFER by unbelief. We can only serve God as we receive the atonement made for us. He works by faith.
We think, “I will serve BETTER, if I have some slavish fear and doubt”, but it is NOT true. We serve only as we’re free, and the FREER the better. Trust the GOSPEL to produce in us what God demands by the Spirit; don’t TRUST the flesh.
3. He has power to save the sinner, power to make us obey, and power over everything, so we have hope, “And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go you therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:18-19). He hasn’t sent us into hostile territory without grace sufficient.
We have GRACE for all sins, even though they repeat themselves in us. The BELIEVER is not BOUND by sin. God’s Spirit conquers the flesh, even as God’s BLOOD conquered the sins that we’ve committed. Having FORGIVEN us by right, He also has power to heal our walk, and He does so by both our misery and medicine being revealed. He causes us to BELIEVE in Him, so He can work, and we overcome sin.
4. Grace and peace is for every saint, “to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor 1:2-3). A saint BELIEVES God, being SANCTIFIED by the Spirit and given holiness of nature. We are TWO natures, good and evil, and the evil or existence of one doesn’t deny the other. We are COMPLETELY holy and COMPLETELY evil, both. But, the evil isn’t more real than the holiness. In fact, by RIGHT, our standing before God and DESIGNATION of ourselves is SAINT, most often in scripture.
We don’t DENY sin when we call ourselves “saint”; we confess where holiness comes from, by faith. If we have Christ, then the inheritance is FULLY ours, not dependent upon any other thing, not the law and not even the level of our obedience to Christ.
We don’t have LESS or more because we do more; all was earned and given to us by God through His Son’s death; His OBEDIENCE is ETERNALLY enough for God to give us heaven and EVERY blessing down here. Thus, walk with God possessing Christ and the inheritance, and you will have peace and grace in your experience.
