Predestined to be Holy and Blameless
Men loathe God because of His Law and their disobedience. God has the Sovereign’s right to expect compliance from His subjects. They, however, have ruined themselves with sin, which is lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4). One breach of His righteous standard is the collapse of the whole (Gen 3). All people are guilty of the whole Law (Jas 2:10).
Without reconciling grace, a man is helpless to obey and hopeless when the future is surveyed (Eph 2:12). The man who feigns compliance is a Pharisee (Mt 23). The man who fails, flirts with despair. Who then can be blameless, so he might know what it is to be blessed?
For one to walk in the Law of the Lord, he must first be graced by God (Ezek 36:27). Blessed are they who were predestined to be holy and blameless before Him (Eph 1:4–5). God’s purpose for Christ’s incarnation and death was to reconcile God’s chosen ones to God (2 Cor 5:19). This was in order to present His church in all her glory, without spot or wrinkle — beyond reproach before Him (Eph 5:27; Col 1:22).
The redeemed, alone, have this desire for obedience, “Oh, that my ways may be established, to keep Thy statues (Ps 119:5).” The desire is good; but one’s ability remains, forever, aloof (Rom 8:7). The righteous cries, “O wretched man that I am (Rom 7:24)!” To compare the commandments with one’s compliance leaves the saint in humility. The believer no longer hates God, as a hard task master, but he also refuses to pretend conformity (Rom 7).
Christians love the Law of the Lord despite the mutinous lust of their flesh (Ps 119:97). Thus, they put no confidence in the flesh (Phil 3:3). They confess their inability to acquiesce to God’s requirements, but their confidence is in the grace of God (2 Cor 1:12). He performs all our works for us (Is 26:12).
The agent of grace, who causes us to walk in God’s statutes is the Holy Spirit (Ezek 36:27). Unlike Adam, who hid himself from the presence of his Creator and Judge, those under the covering of Christ flee toward the Lord when they sin against Him…by His grace (Acts 5:31; 11:18). It is in their hearts to confess their sins (Jas 5:16; 1 Jn 1:9), so to immediately restore the sweetness of their fellowship with Him.
God causes His holy nation to stand in the righteousness of Christ (1 Pet 2:9), and then He takes it upon Himself to conform them to Christ’s image (Rom 8:29). The Christian is compelled to give thanks when God’s righteous judgments are rendered (Ps 119:7). Justification by His blood means the guilty sinner is declared, “not guilty (Rom 5:9).” Therefore, thanksgiving is in order…without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17–18).
“I will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb 13:5),” is the promise of God to those who have received His Spirit of grace. Jesus Christ is the way (Jn 14:6), and His way, alone, is blameless (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15). Therefore, he who walks in Christ (Col 2:6), walks by the Spirit because he has the Spirit indwelling him (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11; 1 Cor 3:16; Gal 4:6; 2 Tim 1:14; Jas 4:5). The regenerate lives by the Spirit (Gal 5:25), walks by the Spirit (Gal 5:16).
True believers in Jesus are not ashamed of the Gospel of grace because it is good news of how God has made them holy and blameless, legally (justification). It is also good news of how God is making them holy and blameless, practically (sanctification). Much more, it tells of their being holy and blameless, gloriously, forever…just as He ordained in His predestination (Eph 1:4), before the foundation of the world.
God has ordained His precepts and they stand forever. They must not be degraded nor dismissed. We must celebrate the revelation of God’s holiness (Lev 11:44–45; 1 Pet 1:15–16), revealed by His Law (Rom 7:12). We must preach the Law that men may hear of this holiness and be warned of their sinfulness (Rom 3:20). Preachers must dissuade men from any attempt at obedience at all. No works can produce justification (Rom 4:5).
Grace is the only way that a person can come into the presence of His holiness (Jn 6:37, 44, 65). It is only the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God, who can secure one’s righteous legal standing (Rom 10:4). It is only the grace of the Spirit of Christ that can cause the manifestation of a holy walk.
It is crucial to our Christian witness that we declare that whatever is good in us is by the grace of God. We must be quick to denounce any righteousness of our own (1 Cor 1:30). Christians must also decry any notion of progress in sanctification unto holiness, by any good works of our own.
The testimony of your salvation must be God glorifying, which is only valid, as much as it is Christ exalting. Our full reliance is on the Holy Spirit to accomplish all that concerns us (Ps 52:9; 57:2; 138:8). He will do it (Ps 37:5) because He ordained it beforehand (Eph 1:4), according to His purposes carried out in Christ (Eph 3:11). How blessed is the man who knows this way of holiness by God’s grace, alone. He delights in the Law because He delights in the Lord, who has blessed him with obedience, by His bringing him into union with Christ (1 Jn 4:13).
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
May 12, 2022
