Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
When we first started this series I stated that the believer’s relationship and walk with God is directly linked to the doctrine of imputations. An imputation is defined from the biblical perspective as a role of the justice of God in crediting or attributing something to someone whether by way of blessing or cursing. God can anonymously use you to be a blessing to others as a part of these imputations. When I say anonymously being used by God, this means you will go about living your daily life as a faithful positive spiritually adjusted believer. God will use you for his glory without you knowing it. God is the only one who counts when it comes to keeping a record of your Christian service for him because he is the only one who really knows your true motivations.
God imputes his personal blessings to the believer who is adjusted to the justice of God by way of I Jn.1:9 as you stay in fellowship with God through confession of your known sins. All of the personal blessings imputed by the righteousness of God, which are screened through the justice of God to the believer, are attached to the righteousness of God which resides, by divine decree, in every born again believer, II Cor.5:17. We simply reflect his glory, and that is all we are here to do. No one, no matter how hard they try, and they do; no one can circumvent the justice of God by approaching God through his attribute of love. No amount of tear jerking, talent, emotion, or activity can go around the justice of God to receive his righteous blessings.
As we continue today I will remind us that the goodness of God surrounds us. And for the believer who has taken the high road to spiritual maturity it looks pretty good from their vantage point. They can see the mire and ruin from which Bible doctrine has rescued them, Ps.40:1-2 “I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”
Not only is this believer set on the right course in the word of God, but they are encouraged in the faithfulness of God. Ps.40:3 “And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”
Many things can discourage the believer in Christ, but this is only to be expected; after all, we are strangers and sojourners in a foreign land. Our homeland and our citizenship as well as our eternal hope are in heaven. As long as we follow our guidance from God’s eternal word, which is our emancipation proclamation, we will be just fine.
The detailed out distracted believer instead follows the temporal cosmic system of Satan and man’s solutions to happiness and success, and it pays a heavy toll on their hearts.
The believer who takes the high ground through learning Bible doctrine and reaching the vantage point of spiritual maturity has the only realistic perception of life and the world around him.
Their perception that God is ever present and guiding in their life is evident. They are happy and content. They are focused on pleasing the Lord. Their testimony is genuine and stable. Their associates, family and friends see a spiritual leader with whom they can trust.
They live above the petty frustrations and disappointments that plague society, and frankly the majority of Christians. When the economy fails their happiness and security is not shaken or removed.
When the politicians and law makers and judicial system fail positive believers are not shaken for they believe the Lord’s promise; that he will never leave them nor forsake them and that is all the security any believer needs.
Are we not like the little dog on the commercial? He buries his bone in the back yard then goes inside the house and looks out the window at the little pile of dirt covering the bone. He begins to worry about the security the bone provides for him so he goes out and digs up the bone and takes it to a bank and deposits it in a lock box. Now everything will be fine. My little bone is safe now. Then that night he begins to toss and turn as he frets over the safety of that bone. What if a thief breaks in and steals it? What if the bank is taken over by the government and the government steals the bone. What if the bank catches on fire and the bone is consumed by the fire?
So the next day he goes to the bank and withdraws the bone; he takes it home and once again buries it in the back yard. He feels safe for now, but sooner or later it’s going to worry him again. Aren’t we a lot like that little dog? We worry about acquiring something and when we get it we worry over what is going to happen to it. We are a lot more like that dog than we want to think. We should do what that little dog should have done. We should let our Master take care of tomorrow’s security. This church as well as this pastor needs to take a lesson from this illustration. The Lord calls us to obedience and concentration on learning Bible doctrine. He will take care of the logistics where we come up short. We are few in number and few in resources at times so we must be frugal where it is wise, and we must be prudent as to where we use our resources. God knows our needs. He knows when we are hungry and need food. He knows when we are cold and need heat. He knows the local church needs a pastor-teacher to feed and lead the sheep. He knows what messages the pastor needs to instruct and correct and encourage the flock of God. He knows all of these things and much more.
We are the pivot; the nucleus, or as the Bible calls us, the remnant according to grace. The remnant is small indeed compared to the size of the cosmic tornado that surrounds it. Positive perception oriented believers abide faithfully in the plan of God even while in the eye of the tornado, or in our case as it has been this year; the ice and the snow. The positive believer lives in the security of an encapsulated spiritual environment.
Our test as individuals as well as our test as a local church is to stay fixed on the anchor of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do this by sticking with our edification in Bible doctrine. We may not agree on everything and that’s okay, but we do all agree that nothing comes ahead of the inculcation and inhale of Bible doctrine. Like the spokes in a wagon wheel each doctrinal teaching points to the center hub, which for the church is its head, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Elijah told the widow woman at Zarephath in I Kings 17:13-16 that the barrel of meal shall not be used up, neither shall the sappahath, the shallow cup of oil. It would be all they needed until the drought was over. She was told that if she took care of the needs of the communicator of God’s word, that God would take care of her.
Folks, we are currently suffering from a spiritual drought in America. We are in the midst of many cosmic tornadoes. Many believers are getting caught up in the uprooting work of Satan’s fury. Many believers have shallow roots. The time for the Lord’s return or his judgment on this nation must be getting nearer.
Only the saints who are rooted and firmly grounded in the word of God are trusting in the daily provisions of God’s word and providence.
If we are going to have a testimony for the Lord in these last of last days of the Church age we cannot afford to spin off and get caught up in the apostate tornado that has distracted so many.
God has designed the perfect system to preserve us and this nation. So I remind you that your positive volition to Bible doctrine is critically important. Stay in the eye of the storm. Have a spiritual impact on others and see the working of God. The tornado will eventually pass by one way or the other; either the tide of distracted believers will turn back and be positive to the word, or the Lord will come for us in the rapture.
If the rapture does not take place soon and the tide of apostasy does grow worse and this nation falls then we will have persecution as we have never seen in America. Are you ready for it?
Remember Prov.3:5-6.