God Communicates

When we moved into this new home, one large piece of furniture would not fit. Where we put it was functional but awkward. I began praying for a solution. Then, last week while visiting our son, he was excited about a small addition to his new home. It didn’t register then, but a day or so later, I woke up praying again about my dilemma and the Lord put two and two together. I was awake and saying “Yes, that’s it!” This woke my hubby and we spent yesterday moving furniture. The dramatic change was celebrated with apple pie and ice cream.

We knew this idea was an answer to prayer. Our son’s actions were part of it, but he had no idea that he was so helpful. What happened is another example of the power of God to communicate answers to prayer in surprising ways.

This is a small example. A bigger one is how He is working in parts of the world where Christianity is a crime and becoming one leads to severe persecution, even death. Those who are free to do so are praying for salvation for those people groups. But how can they be saved if they cannot hear the gospel? Some verses seem to say this is not possible. . . .  

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; (1 Peter 1:22–23)
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

Skeptics often ask the same question; what about those who never hear or who cannot read a Bible? God blessed me and my hubby with a clue. We talked with a woman who came from one of those ‘closed’ countries. She told about her family being in the living area of their home one morning. Her father was upstairs. She said when he came down, they knew something had happened. He was glowing, his face shining in great peace. He had experienced an encounter with Jesus Christ, prior unknown to him, and he was transformed. Now a Christian, he took his family out of their home. They fled to a safer country, all becoming believers in Jesus — without a Bible or a sermon.

Since then, we have heard many stories like that. It gives no excuse not to preach or share the gospel, but it does assure us that God is able to reach anyone with truth about Jesus and redemption, with or without us. Some might argue that this cannot be a ‘real salvation’ yet changed lives and a deep love for Jesus say otherwise.

Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit saying, “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” (John 16:8) In my first encounter with Jesus, I did not physically see Him, yet I knew He was with me. Others testify to seeing Him, even being hugged by Him. Dare we limit God to what He can do to reach sinners?

Not only that, the NT church did not have the NT! They eventually had Paul’s letters, but none of them were written declaring the gospel until later.

Faith came by hearing — and anyone who knows Christ knows that the Holy Spirit is capable of speaking to the human heart. He convicts of sin, speaks of righteousness, and warns us when we forget or err in what we do. God even speaks of sending His Word to do His will:

So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)

Again, this is not license to sit back silent and merely pray for the lost, but it is assurance that no one who is chosen by Jesus will be lost. Another truth is also illustrated: when the Spirit speaks to me, I must listen. I have the Word to make sure what I am hearing is written by God also, yet Isaiah tells me that obedience is part of His success in His will being accomplished by those who hear Him.

PRAY: Jesus, Your great power to make Yourself heard makes my ability to listen and obey a partnership with what You are doing. I’m deeply humbled yet must never be speechless. You are the Savior and this is what You want me to say, loudly and joyfully, and deeply in awe. Yet I know that You have the power to speak in other ways besides using my mouth.

 

And when He comes . . .

Everyone knows what it feels like to be caught with your hand in the cookie jar, to do a forbidden thing (by whatever rules are imposed) and get caught in it. We feel guilty and maybe ashamed that someone else noticed we were breaking the rules. But that is not conviction of sin.

And when he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment... (John 16:8)

Oswald Chambers says that very few know anything about conviction of sin. We know what it feels like to be disturbed about doing wrong and about getting caught, but conviction of sin goes far deeper. It is not about our human relationships, about mother catching the cookie thief, or falling short of the boss’s rules, or failure to meet the expectations of others. In my experience, conviction of sin is so powerful that it blots out every relationship on earth as Chambers says, leaving one relationship only, the one I have with God.

King David sinned by taking another man’s wife and arranging that man’s death. When his sin was exposed, he didn’t deny it or make excuses for it. instead, he spoke to God about it and said,

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. (Psalm 51:3–4)

David knew what he had done affected the lives of another man and a woman, even his own family and the nation, but it was a sin against God. David wanted the forbidden, and instead of confessing his lustful desires to God, he took matters into his own hands and went after what he wanted. Only afterward, did he seek forgiveness.

To understand how God could forgive him, I need to know that God is holy and righteous. He cannot overlook sin or excuse it. He can never say, “It really isn’t so bad” or “Everyone does it” or “Don’t worry about it.” God is just and righteous. He “will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:7), yet as that same passage says, He is a God “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin . . . .” (Exodus 34:6–7). How can this be?

In the Old Covenant, God instructed the people of Israel that when they sinned, a blood sacrifice must be made to atone for their sin. This sacrificial system was in place as a promise of an eternal sacrifice to come. That is, they must trust God, looking ahead to His promise and demonstrating their faith by keeping His commands as they offered lambs without blemish on His altar. This was the only way they could satisfy the hatred of God against sin.

Then Christ came. By grace, God forgives sin because of the death of His Lamb, Jesus Christ. It is by that great sacrifice that God is able to forgive and remain true to Himself while doing so.

Some say God forgives us because He loves us. While He does love us, this is not the basis for His forgiveness. The only basis is that Jesus died, nothing less. God’s love sent Jesus to die, but His actual death enabled forgiveness. Love alone is not the foundation for it. Only at the Cross of Calvary is the conscience of God satisfied.

Those who are convicted of sin know that. We know that God sent His Son to die and our sins are truly against God, even the reason Jesus was crucified. Those who are convicted in this way are ready to hear the good news that Jesus died for sin, was buried, and rose again the third day. By His death, the penalty for sin is satisfied.

Forgiveness also means more than being saved from sin’s punishment, now and in hell. It is more than being cleaned up to be ready for heaven. Rather, it means that I am forgiven into a relationship with God, into identification with Christ, into a new birth. Forgiveness isn’t merely wiping the slate, but giving the life of Christ to sinners. God, in the miracle of redemption, turns unholy sinners into new creatures by putting into us a new life, the life of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

His salvation and His forgiveness go much farther that the offering of bulls and lambs, for in Him, we are set on a new path to eventually become transformed into the image of His Son. It happens as He convicts us of sin and as . . . we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). For this good news, He is teaching me that when the Spirit comes to convict, I need to pay attention.