Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Monday, 30 September 2024 07:27

 

The Guarantee of Our Future Hope
by Sarah Wootten Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

What do Christians hope for in regards to eternity? Eternity will be filled with believers experiencing the indescribable joys of God. We will see our Savior and worship Him with brothers and sisters in Christ from all nations, tribes, and tongues. We will be reunited with our believing family and friends who have died before us. We will know God’s love in ways that are beyond our comprehension. It’s for all of these reasons – and many more – that Paul says believers wait eagerly for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week, we saw how Paul was thankful for the Corinthian believers, despite their sins (1:4-7). In verse 8, we see another shocking truth about the believers in Corinth – that they will be found “guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (1 Corinthians 1:8, ESV). Can you imagine that? Despite all their sins, Paul says that Christians will be found blameless. Christ’s blood paid the price for our sins, so when He comes, we will be considered righteous. What a wonderful hope for eternity! However, can believers be sure that God will keep His promise and do this?

Start by considering verse 7. It says, “so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (ESV). The Lord gave spiritual gifts to the church so that they would not lack any gift as they waited for Christ’s return. Unfortunately, men often manufacture emotions and flashy events, then wrongly call it the Spirit’s work. This is damaging because it muddies the water between what is truly a work of the Spirit and what is simply a disguise for man’s obsession with power. But according to the Bible, the Spirit is given to believers as a down payment (or a guarantee) that we are truly saved by God and will enjoy a future inheritance (see Ephesians 1:13-14 and 2 Corinthians 1:21-22). How likely is it that God would pour out His spiritual gifts on those who don’t have the Spirit? It’s impossible because it’s through the Spirit that believers are given gifts for the building up of the body of Christ (see 1 Corinthians 12:7). The fact that the Corinthians possessed God’s spiritual gifts is evidence that God had forgiven them. But gifts are confusing, men are deceitful, and we will see in future weeks how the believers did not use their gifts faithfully. What other assurances do believers have of God’s salvation?

Moving to verse 8, we read “[God] will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (ESV). Here we find rest because we realize that it’s not by our own efforts that we are kept in God’s salvation. We aren’t saved by good works initially, and we aren’t kept by good works finally. No, it is God who keeps us and confirms us in the faith as long as we are living on this earth. He is the only One who is able to do this. If it was our responsibility to keep salvation for ourselves, we would fail in a day. We are entirely dependent upon God’s grace in absolutely everything regarding salvation, including persevering in our faith.

Lastly, the Corinthian believers can have assurance of the work that God has done in their lives to forgive them because He is faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9). God had sanctified the Corinthians (1:2), called them to be saints (1:2), extended His grace towards them (1:4), confirmed the gospel among them (1:6), and even called them into fellowship with His Beloved Son (1:9). No one who is guilty receives the high privilege of being in union with Christ. But since God called them to that special fellowship with Jesus, then He will be sure that they are found blameless. Therefore, based on God’s unchanging character, the Corinthians could be confident that those who truly trusted in God would be found blameless on the day that Jesus returns. So it really isn’t shocking that Paul can say the believers will be found innocent despite their sins. It’s based on God’s faithfulness, and not our own merit.