A POLLUTED or MISGUIDED QUERY and
ITS PRECISE ANSWER

Many have pondered this challenge: IF PARDON in Christ is FREE, UNCONDITIONAL and SURE,
ETERNAL with the LIFE that is HIS (Romans 5:1-11, I Thess. 5:9-10, John 10:9,27-28,
I Thess. 5:25, Philippians 1:6, II Timothy 1:8-9), how is purity maintained ?

It is a technical question: it resembles asking whether BHP, having made a contract, can possibly cover
all the contingencies. Since it is a large company, experienced, wide-ranging in interests, massive in
capital and so on, the question would not normally be asked concerning the work of some small company engaging its services by contract.

When GOD is in view, then all the contingencies of loss through war, bad management, corrupt
administration and so on, which can attack any earthly company that does not watch, or is out of stride,
or in the stride of some subversive agent: all of these are irrelevant. God never fails nor could He,
since all time is His invention, man is His creation, history is covered in advance in His divine
foreknowledge by which He is ABLE to predict, since NO contingency is unthought of, NO
formula or formulation of man is unknown, and ALL things have already been predestinated by Him who
works ALL things after the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11, Romans 8:28ff., cf. Zephaniah 3:5).
See further in SMR pp. 99ff., 999.

However, the more likely queasy query, or confused concept of conundrum, coming from squirming or
spiritual squalor, distemper of the spirit or weakness might be this. How CAN GOD  keep ME when
I am a sinner!

Such a question is rather like asking this: How can a composer of such music as the Messiah ever
write anything else anywhere near as good ? IF you are a musician, you might wonder how on earth
such a ludicrous question could even arise. IF HANDEL has, in the colloquial, the goods, the talent, the inspiration, the passion, the understanding, the artistic soul, the desire, the divinely delivered fire, why
should be not ? But someone could pursue the thing: HOW could you be sure that the 'divine fire' so
clear in the Messiah, his great work, could come again ?

Of that of course you could not be sure; but of this: that if the musician is working in the calling of God
(I Cor. 12:6-7)) in his work, as is normal for the Christian in any case, so that the Spirit of God as in
12:5-7, has given to him the gift of His (not his) own choice, then through the supply of this same
Spirit of God, using Handel in the body of Christ, would be expected to give whatever mode and
degree of musical inspiration which would, like light through already existing stained glass windows,
make for the next great work, just as with the case of the one before it. It would not be identical; it
would however be likely to have some of the same kind of quality, being - to change the image - like
another tune played on the same piano.

We would not be astounded to find another such work in his repertoire, though obviously some one
work is likely to be the pinnacle. Nevertheless, all of the works, or their bulk, would be expected as,
if and when he was a Christian (it is not known when he became one), to have a certain felicitous
degree of quality.

What here are the ingredients of expectation ? Firstly, there is the SAME BASE, a man converted to
Christ. Secondly, there is the SAME INSPIRING AGENT, the Lord, working in the gift in the way
deemed apt and appropriate for that composer, called to this work BY that Lord. Thirdly, there is the
word of the Lord, that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (Romans 8:29 - or "irrevocable" NKJ). Fourthly, there is the consecration of heart by which a person makes his life a living sacrifice for
Christ, as part of normal Christian living, so that this being his 'reasonable service', the person may "prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1-2).

Oh, you may say, That is all very well if you take the word of God into account!

However that here is the entire point. We are examining Christianity in ITS OWN TERMS, to see how it covers a certain contingency, foreseen by those who are not Christians, or are not yet well versed in the word of God, and so do not know what its provisions may be in this matter.

If then one can readily see the case in a stable structure of musical expectation - and this is
one of the spiritual functionalities called for - and perceive it where fear and apprehension do not rule the intellect (just as they may do when some good tennis player gets psychological rather than physical
'cramps' and becomes too numbed in heart to contest capably: then let us see it where the stakes are
higher. So we move from the putative model to the practical  case.

Let us then examine the situation under review. The person in view is a Christian (for this is the nature of
our examination at this point, to see aspects in such a case). The stage is salvation just occurred. What
is the ultimate expectation at the spiritual level ?

Very well: we are regarding this person, like the musician, but here at a yet more fundamental level.
What is the combination of considerations, and what is the ground for them; and for any expectation,
what is the basis ?

It is one in which the FOUNDATION is Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11, Isaiah 28:16).

As you see in the latter statement of the Lord, in Isaiah, he who believes in Him shall not
"make haste" (in the older translation of the AV, or "act hastily" in the NKJV, or again, "disturbed"
in the NASV). Scarcely would that be so, for these are they who come with "everlasting joy upon their
heads" (Isaiah 51:11), who, though "smoking flax" will not be quenched (Isaiah 42:3).

Speaking to His
people, those who are His (not the formalist who is merely a painted face - Matthew 23), He declares:
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned." We are dealing with those who, as we saw in the preceding chapter, know that "when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your likeness" (Psalm 17:15).

The same is expressed with finality in Romans 8:31-38 , where it is seen that neither juridical
challenge (Romans 8:31-33), nor indeed any scope for it, nor physical and mental stress, yes neither
things past nor things future, in present dynamic or in plenipotentiary array are ABLE to separate
from the love of Christ, for the Christian. Disregarding the arrant, arrogant aspirations of created natures,
God simply indicates that once a person is saved from sin when an enemy of God, how much MORE
will he/she be kept from His wrath, now that reconciliation is already in place! (Romans 5:1-11).

There is, then, the foundation, the function, the feature of the word of God, the irrevocable reality
of the purchase being of something that then becomes the property of God, inviolable, desired,
delighted in, responsibly sustained. Some seem to become confused as if the case were that of

	those who play the fool with redemption, so that it never actually happens,
	those who are seemingly redeemed, but only in an impure mockery of the reality,
	those in whose lives the 'seed' of the word of God has come and germinated (THEY did not germinate, in this parable of Christ, for it is the seed which is the word of God which does so!), only to find itself scorched to death in their hearts, because the soil is shallow, the rock is below, amd no repentance has ever occurred (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23): in short,
	those whose lives are lies, who function is formality, whose heart is hard, whose spirits are neither humble nor contrite, and whose aspirations have never left the moorings of earth,

	whose rockets strain merely at their attachments,
	whose wills wallow in weakness,
	whose words take precedence over those of the Lord, self-willed, self-fulfilling, vacillatory or vanquished by sin, seeking to make use of God as man makes use of a machine, a donkey or a theory for his profit;

	whose ways are art forms of artifice, spectres of hubris or agencies of artificiality,
	whose groundless 'faith' is fiction, whose subjectivity is not founded on the objective rock,
	whose piety is pious merely, who have neither seen nor submitted to the Lord (John 6:40, Hebrews 11:1-4, Luke 6:46, Matthew 7:21, 10:29, Jude, II Peter 2).

Baseless, they are in confusion; in plague proportions, these are the spectres for the last days,
in profusion (II Timothy 3:1-5, II Peter 2:1ff.).
 

There are plenty of those, and Judas Iscariot, so long with Christ,
yet not irrevocably, sincerely, certainly, assuredly placed on Him as foundation,
but rather merely near Him as co-worker, making use of Him financially,
as others may seek to do merely psychologically (cf. Herod, Luke 23:6-8),
or for formal interest (cf. Agrippa, Acts 26:12ff.), is an exemplar for this breed, in this, that faith did
not work, but his hands did (John 12:6).

Indeed, when the test of purpose came, Jesus became for this same Judas the One to be betrayed
when the occasion came. As to this man, then, of non-faith, of the pathology of psychological, emotional,
moral (or immoral) substitution of other things for lord, instead of the Lord, while yet for a time being near
to Him: he is an example of it.

You see more of this unillustrious sight, typified in Jude! as in II Peter 2, with emphasis on its pathological
and indeed plague proliferation in the "last days" of which we are the spectators, (Answers to Questions
Ch. 5). Whether the phenomenon of non-faith, that likes nearness to Christ, be bred from bravado,
scheming subversive aspiration for control of people's lives, tired timidity, ambiguous double-mindedness
or heartless attraction to system without salvation, or any other substitution of terms, it has one result.
WITHOUT FAITH YOU CANNOT PLEASE GOD (Hebrews 11:6), and BY FAITH you are justified, and
so have peace with God. Without it, the spurious substitute is as welcome as plastic for ice, since
they both at times, in certain lights, could have a species of specious similarity. When the teeth bite,
however, there is a difference so great, that the squalor of the confusion is apparent!

In summary: it is necessary to take the word of God as it comes, not to confound categories, like cat
and dog, pepper and salt, because they can come close together!

If you are not guided by the handbook which presents the principles for the case which we are here
specifically examining, but prefer instead to make philosophies founded on this or that phrase,
without regard to the whole; and for that matter, to exceed what is written, carried away in some
strange emotion, as if the certainties of these things depended on the mood of the moment,
rather than on the text that is written, or a stamping ground for argumentation with your own thrills
and frills of psychological pre-occupation: then this is of psychological interest only. It does not concern
the logic of the Lord, the coverage of His word, the scope of His promises, whose word
in the field of KEEPING, we are considering.

Thus, just as Handel was apparently called to be a Christian musician at a certain time, so a person is
called to become a Christian PERSON at a certain time, if so be this is the way of things with him at all.
Then there is a new NATURE (I John 3:9), so that the "practice" of sin is no longer normal, necessary
or the irresistible, or the ruling force. There is (I John 3:1ff.) an awareness of being a child of God so that
this quality, this territory, this zest, this aim, this "mark" is natural. In what sense is it natural ? In this,
that it is according to the new NATURE GIVEN (II Cor. 5:17ff.). It is also supernaturally involved.

In what way is this so ? In this, that the power of God is now present, prescribed, indited, indicated,
operative, overshadowing, inclining events (Ephesians 1:11, I Corinthians 10:13), protecting,
impelling.

Impelling ? Yes, it is rather like those waves seen in the picture presented at the outset in this Chapter.
They roll on, they surge, there are squalls, there are currents, but they do not stop: they continue
to the shore. This is the nature of the case. Now there could be an earthquake, and that might stop
this ready progress; but that is merely a natural phenomenon in the universe which God made.
 

It is not even relevant to the promise of God to the Christian, "Whoever eats My flesh and
drinks My blood has eternal life, and Is  shall raise him up on the last Day" - John 6:54.

Does this mean that a mere sacrifice has the strength to keep a person forever ?

Not at all: did it SAY so ? One must repeatedly attest that this is not a philosophy class, where the
student may insert any contrary model, premiss or concern at will, and make some sort of spurious
synthesis with the word of God! We are examining the PROVISIONS of the WORD OF GOD in the Bible,
as a model case, to find HOW it is that God can KEEP what is committed to Him by faith, FOR EVER,
without minimisation, severance or failure. Let us then return to our field with clarity.

No, what Christ SAID was this: that the person who (as Passover lambs, which He explicitly replaced
- John 1:29) takes HIM as sacrifice, personally, intimately as with food, actually as with food,
with appetite and not with vomiting, as when one eats, will live forever. The tense is aorist:
the sense is ONCE TAKES. It is not the 'present continuous': it is indeed not the present at all! THIS DONE, THAT FOLLOWS, is the meaning. IF you do this, then HE will do that. THIS is the promise.

Taking Him as sacrifice is not at all the same as making the act of the sacrifice the only way
in which God acts! Certainly, it is a NECESSARY act for eternal life, and a central one;
but what of this, that indubitably the One sacrificed was sacrificed in order to rise (Matthew 17:22-23),
and it was ONLY in that latter fact that His authenticity was exhibited to the last degree
(Romans 1:4), in terms of God's own provision of warranty.

It is the case that Paul even asserts of Christ that "He was raised for our justification" - Romans 4:25.
Thus the coherence of life being offered to cover sin's guilt, pure life from deity in the format of flesh,
with this life breaking death, yes even death as a divinely and justly prescribed penalty,
and showing it by doing it (Luke 24, John 20, Romans 10:9): this is irrevocable, indited, indisputable
in Christian Biblical Doctrine. (CBD - not the central business district of New York or London, but of God!)
 

Thus the ONE, Jesus Christ, who is so taken AS a sacrifice, is indivisible
with the One who broke the death to which the sacrifice led. He is ONE; His action is one of CYCLE,
in which intentional vulnerable (becoming a man) is continued into actual molestation, death, and
this is consummated in the simple obliteration of its power, by throwing it as a rider throws a beast.

In other words: if you take Him as sacrifice, then it is as a seamless robe: you take HIM, thus,
but in taking Him in phase one, you take Him no less in phase two, which is the integral consequence:
and that ?

It is that He is risen, alive, dynamic, Master of mortality, ruler of man. If you are in concord and
accord with Him THROUGH receiving Him in this way by faith (as in Romans 10:9, where faith in Him
as bodily resurrected is crucial -  I Cor. 15 with Luke 24, John 20 once again), then there are
certain results of that substantial fact.

One of these, a result of His POWER conjoined with His satisfied JUSTICE and His REDEMPTION
(Romans 3:23ff., 5:1-11, 8), is this, as He declares, that you HAVE eternal life, and this is to be
expressible in concrete form, in this, that He will raise you up, just as He was raised up. This final
resultant also has this condition and quality already conferred: eternal life. Thus Christ does not state of the
one who so comes in faith to Him, that he/she WILL LIVE FOR EVER.

It is, upon this action of so
receiving Him, unconditional, imperturbable, undisruptible, certain, an eventuation more sure than that
of the rising of the sun, when it sets; for as to that, He declares, "heaven and earth will pass away";
but as to the one who receives Him as He says, by faith, this one WILL LIVE FOR EVER.

Thus in John 10:27-28, Christ as Shepherd GIVES (it is not future, but present) ETERNAL LIFE
to His sheep, who WILL CERTAINLY NOT PERISH. in John 6:40, seeing Him as the Son (Luke 1:35,
John 6), means that the person concerned WILL BE RAISED UP AT THE LAST DAY, in the configuration
apt for the eternal life so designate.

Therefore, just as eternal life is at once given, so that the reception of Christ in this way MEANS
that the one doing it HAS this life (I John 5:11ff.), so as its formatted expression in garb suitable
for eternity, this comes in the day of His enterprise, the resurrection at His coming to judgment leading
to the consummation of all things.

Thus if 2+2=4, and you leave out one of the twos, the thing is an anomaly, and people might indeed
question it. If however you keep to the terms of the equation, as given, you will not find it fail you.
Thus SINCE God has indicated THAT He will keep the one pardoned, and in addition shows much of
HOW and WHY, there is no question of offended reason involved, but rather this, satiated reason,
set to admire with delight
the wonder of His logic, as the power of His love, with the keenness of His mercy and the perfection
of His plan.

Let us then examine with no small relish, some of the reasons, which work  in addition to the plain
statement of His keeping the one committed to Him, as Paul so clearly knew (II Timothy 1:12
FOLLOWS and RESTS on II Timothy 1:8-11, stretching right back to link predestination with faith,
and faith with its fruit into eternity). Let us see them in their sequence and series.
 

"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, | but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles."

"For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day."

One of the chief of these reasons, principles which is addition to the simple, precise pronouncement
of eternal life for these who so come to Him, is this.  God having made friends, will not allow enmity again;
indeed, God having brought irreconcilable persons, intent on collision, back to peace, will not suffer loss
any more. Yet far more than even this is the point. IF, says Paul in Romans 5, you were reconciled when
enemies, MUCH MORE you will be kept from wrath through Him. It is here, a double action.
 

Firstly, it is the CASE that if you have been reconciled through the blood of Christ
(symbol of His sacrificial death, though the shedding of it was no mere symbol!),
then YOU WILL BE KEPT FROM WRATH. That is the fact.

Secondly, there is the indication of something of the ground.

If God did that, if that impossible seeming event has transpired, MUCH MORE will the next occur.
Thus, it is both declaration and presentation. It is also multiplied in diverse aspects and images
in Romans 5, so that the ACTUAL, that LOGICAL and the REPETITIVE are all present.

Indeed, Paul indicates yet more. There is a total inability in us,  seen in this, that when we were yet
sinners, as Paul declares, Christ died for us. There is an exquisite disproportion. Unlovely, undesirable,
inept, corrupted from the very image of God, guilty before Him, having deserts in death,
as they are, these sinners
(and except for Christ, there is no man who has not sinned - Romans 3:23),
yet Christ, instead of merely being agent of mortal judgment,  laid down His life for them.

There is in that, an express contradiction, which led to Him having to endure the contradiction of sinners;
there is also divine initiative, love, action, practicality, sufficiency in it,
in the very midst of human ineptitude, error and defilement.

That contradiction is however so far from being a logical one, that it involved the payment which suffered
it to happen: namely the gap, the covering of the gulf between being acceptable and an exhibit of
the death penalty! The condition contradicted the original image of God in man, so that this death was
warranted; but God contradicted the impartation of the penalty, not of course in derogation of
His own justice, but in application of His own mercy. Yet how could the one be done without the other ?
It was simply profound and profoundly simple. God would become man and as man, for man, as many
as received Him, accepting this action, on His own part, He would void the ground by accepting
in Himself the penalty, and so make mercy abound.
 

Than this there is further implication.

Thus of course any one for whom this One died is not merely a case of commercial purchase.
It is a life purchase, for He gave His own: and as such,  it has a life resultant.

Thus in Romans 5:19, we find that just as one man sinned and so brought sin onto the entire human race, constituting them sinners, so ONE MAN in obedience did what it took, and in His obedience in the plan of divine salvation, CONSTITUTED many righteous. This is a dynamic, a vital and a crucial change, not only of status, but state. That 'many' is defined in John 1 as this: "as many as received Him."

That is precisely what Paul is saying in II Cor. 5:17ff., and John in I John 3:1-9.
 

The changed position in that one is pardoned, is inseparable from a changed condition,
in that "all things have become new" and there has been a "regeneration" of the very nature of the man, 
of the person involved (Titus 3:5-7), one which has as its natural consequence, and due place, eternal life.

This is the very stuff of adoption, just as adoption is the very substance of applied love, based on payment, covered in redemption,
warranted in word, agreeable in texture, apt in performance (Ephesians 1:1-11).

At one and the same time, in the same sweep of action, motivation and consummation, there is

	the cover for the focus of mercy,
	the change for the requirement of holiness,
	the payment for the satisfaction of justice,
	the implementation with the sympathy of heart,
	and the testimony of the cordiality of the change
	in the incarnation, resurrection and transformation provided.

The provision of eternal life is thus of God, by His word, by His work, by His motivation, by His application,
by His transformation and by His consummation.

 

SUMS and SUMMARY

Let summarise a little, and summarily extend. Thus, there is with the PARDON, the PERSON
WHO PARDONS, who first of all, brings peace between the person and God Himself. The power
of this Person not merely extends over death, but is such that death was His own prescription, which by power again, and love, and apt action, He has proscribed for believers.

Secondly, this person is ALIVE, and DEITY Himself, who took human form.

This He did 

in the expedition of grace,

in the divine circuit which coming from eternity, where Christ was with His Father (there is only one God in the Bible - Ephesians 4:4, Philippians 2, John 8:58),

by coming to earth, where Christ was with man,
and by coming to death, where the separation endemic to sin occurred for the vicarious victim,
Jesus the Christ (Isaiah 59:1-2, Matthew 27:46), and

by coming to resurrected life where the power of God was physically demonstrated
(after all, HE made the physical world).

Then proceeded further. He preached to the spirits in prison (I Peter 3:19 cf. The Kingdom of Heaven
Ch. 4 at that topic). This grand tour of duty thus composed,   HE then sent His Spirit
(John 16:9ff., 14:16ff.).

Indeed, His declaration was this, if He did not GO, then the Spirit could not COME, in this way.

By that Spirit (II Cor. 3:17, Ephesians 3:16), the circuit continued in this, that now Christ LIVED
IN the Christian (Colossians 1:27).

What follows ? There then is the divine dynamic in residence, and since the Christian not only
has confessed Him as Lord (which in any case He is, for lack of faith does not change
His status or His power, only the result for the human concerned!). Moreover, this residence is IN what
is an explicitly changed nature, fitting for Christ to be in residence; and this receives Him as He is,
and therefore as the Resident President of his/her life. Thus, there is a whole combination of
preliminaries from predestination on (Romans 8:29ff., Ephesians 1:4), leading to consequences objectively
in Christ's circuit of redemption and conduct of deliverance, and subjectively, in His individual tending
from WITHIN of the newly acquired possession, whom He has redeemed.

	Firstly, then, the power is present intimately,
	secondly, without diminution,
	thirdly, it is there to protect His purchase,
	fourthly, to keep what He has loved and brought, and even bought,
	fifthly, to conserve in faithful loyalty what is committed to Him.

From predestination's determination, to ransom's price, to spiritual dynamic,
with spiritual fidelity and rationality, filled with mercy, prodigious love and ardent desire,
the process proceeds. The case is complete in pardon, it is replete in power, it is
suitable in regeneration, it is intensive in preparation, it is extensive in consummation.

Thus what people often forget when considering these things is that while 2+2=4 is indeed the case,
it is vain to talk of a mathematics where they equal 3.11 or some arbitrary arithmetical concoction.
If the equation is the point at issue, then
it must be FOLLOWED,
not forgotten as words disturb the peaceable air, with nonsense.

If CHRIST PLUS THE BELIEVER is what has the resultant of eternal life, in that He,
being omnipotent and omniscient,  has given HIMSELF for the believer, then let us not imagine
that it is in some sense the believer alone,
or sometimes the believer with some uncertain meed of help from Christ.

It is the one plus the other, who said, I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU (Hebrews 13:5).

We who are Christians thus are His

by predestination

(if you ever reach the 'justified' part
of the circuit of Romans 8:28ff.,

then by its very statement you must be IN it, and so be of it,
and find the rest of the inseparable sequence),

	by justification, by conjugation of His composure as above noted, by the power of God (kept by the power of God, which ought to be sufficient, as one old lady once memorably declared! - I Peter 1:5),
	by the word of God which of itself is abundantly sufficient.

Ignoring the power and the word of God, therefore, as well as the reasoning of reality,
people may wander in doctrine. But what is the use of that ? If you do not adhere to the word of God,
of what faith are you, and what is your business in trying to reformulate the faith
on the basis of some other God, some other word, some other salvation, some other Gospel,
some other life and some other end! (II Corinthians 11 as Paul declares it so vividly!).

The case in fact is, however, as it is written and as it is presented to reason, in revelation
and in concatenation, by the Lord. That is the biblical faith, biblical way, biblical result, the situation
in the word of God.

In some ways, it reminds one of the work of the Nero burning apparatus on one's computer.
Its purpose here is quickly and carefully to transcribe onto disk what one has written (in one of its
functions) so that this can be kept in a back-up copy, useful if the main disk should fail! In so acting,
it tells one that perhaps 20 or 30 times a buffer has been in action, preventing failure in the back-up
process itself.

The program then asks if one would prefer not to be told of how many times the buffer process has
acted to prevent 'trouble'. For my part, I do not tell it to cease telling me. It is enjoyable to find it
hurrying and scurrying about with such programmatic, pseudo-ardour, with such good results! So God does
act as the buffer, even for the worst of us, when we act as duffers, providing the thing needed, to
conserve the continuity of the life in view, without failure.

 

But how does all this concern victory ? and what of the fact that we are persons, who may need ...
discipline ?

 

FURTHER, DISCIPLINE AND CHASTENING
ARE NOT NEGATIVE ONLY
BUT PURE AND POSITIVE

First, it is clear that what happens  in the midst of contest and surging circumstances, with the outcome
which nevertheless secures its desired result, IS VICTORY. Is that not what victory is ?

Does it not by the very nature of the concept, imply a fight ? a contest ? How otherwise would success be able to receive such a name as this: VICTORY.

It is however not a shoo-in. It is not conferred as a certificate or degree as to some corrupt student in
some corrupt family whose cheating is known, but whose career the university does not dare to impeded
by failing him (some such case has been heard of!). It is not a formality. Being crucified is not a formality
Galatians 2:20). Functionality is not formality, and the conferment of salvation in terms of the
living Saviour by His Spirit, changing, cleansing, firing, inspiring the heart is as real as a
heart transplantation, and far more enduring:

for that physical heart will die, but not this life.

It is by its nature eternal, and it is made equivalent with "certainly not die" (John 11:26). It is interesting that, that what Christ declared was not "never die" but "in no way die".

That is the same as in John 6, seen above.

Thus the victory consists in the achievement of the result BY CHRIST in the first place, in redemption-resurrection. It is the procurement by the application of this credit, this quality, this result to the believer (Titus 3:3-5, John 3, II Corinthians 5:17ff., I Peter 1). This too is success under fire, since the devil seeks to take captive whom he will, but cannot since he does not have the strength of his creator (from whom he fell - Revelation 12, Ezekiel 29), God!

It further consists in the eternal PRESENCE of Christ, at first in the heart of the believer by His Spirit, making an inseparable connection (Romans 8), and His eternal POWER in that presence, and His eternal COMMITMENT (John 10:27-28), which overcomes and overturns every contingency, whether death, or perishing, or snatching.

Snatching ? a child can seek to snatch away himself, but since this would involve perishing, this too is obviously excluded by Christ's words here; nor do SPIRITUAL children, endued with a QUALITY of child to parent, relative to God, which is now endemic, so act (I John 3:9). Even if they could, they are prevented, as in any tantrum, by the restraint of the spiritual parent (John 10:29), as by the
changed nature within.

Victory for the Christian is therefore by the power of the PASSION of Christ on the Cross, in the
Resurrection, in the Indwelling by His Spirit, in the APPLICATION of His attainment in the atonement
and in His Personal Presence in the Indwelling.

But there is more. It is also by DISCIPLINE and CHASTENING. God is alive; Christ is alive.
As well expect a teacher to be stripped naked in class by intimidatory students, as a Christian to be
allowed to proceed without correction. Illegitimate children, as Hebrews 12 tells us, these might avoid
the discipline, and even try to do so (as also of course, fail to avoid the result of being illegitimate SPIRITUALLY, and so suitable, for the wastes of hell, which then becomes the site of the pertinaciously
and not pathetically lost).

However, actual children have the Father. They are disciplined accordingly as the case requires.

This is a living testimonial. Only once does this author remember a strong discipline from his mother,
and he treasures her the more for it, to this day, admires it, delights in it. It was just, fitting, loving, and
useful. When the splendour of God Himself, indeed, is in the discipline, then the productivity is
phenomenal. Consider King David, whose actions are notorious: ONCE ONLY in his life. David was guilty
of other sins, but the quality and calibre of his life was phenomenal, so close was he to the Lord, and so wisely did he in practice, trust Him in all things (II Samuel 12).

The poignancy of II Samuel 12:8 appears most colourfully: if David had been singularly blessed of the
Lord, before he sinned, yet the LORD was prepared to give him MUCH MORE: yet he did sin. Hence chastening or child-training occurred. Blessings of various sorts were forfeited; but not life.

David suffered in many domestic ways after that, in the matter of his own sons and daughter,
in his favourite Absolam, in traumas aplenty, so that the lordliness which for one fearful moment invaded
his soul, should not again manage to exist.

Nor, to any appearance, did it ever again grasp him. It is necessary to have faith in God to RECEIVE
such discipline. At times, one may find the discipline tenderly gracious, but at other times (perhaps
relatively rarely), it may actually seem severe. On reflection, however, one can begin to see that
QUALITY IS CRUCIAL in the Christian. A tendency of this or that kind may need VIGOROUS evacuation!
... like a melanoma! It is better so.

It is not just 'discipline' in the equivalent of the cane. It can be in word, in atmosphere, in emotion
relationship, in circumstances. It can be as it can be with a fellow human being, where the very tone of
the voice can register a disappointment which is more severe in impact than any slap could ever be! It is INTER-PERSONAL, and the other person in this instance, is GOD HIMSELF! What mercy, to bother,
what kindness to be concerned, what compassion to continue to block out the divinely blessed image,
as a sculptor, taking tremendous pains, puts the chisel into the rock to make the thing desired!

It is therefore chastening: child training which adds its blessed appearance to the conduct of holiness.
Nor is it an educational morass, of some deterministic variety, as if some measure of pain were to be conjoined to some measure of pleasure, to make some equation of pedantic irrelevance. It is
inter-personal; and persons are not puppets. One learns, one finds, one loves, one is loved, one loves
the aim, one loves the objective, one loves the sculptor, one loves life. The ready heart is the readier
learner! 

So when ALL the equation is in view, does the result so naturally, so necessarily and so nicely follow. Eternal life is not a mere name; not a mere transaction; not a mere donation even: though it is
all of these things. It is an inter-personal conferment, chaste, chosen, moulded, with a matrix irrepressible
in beauty, with the divine dynamic surrounding it, the divine patience ennobling it, the dynamic gentleness
informing it, the divine discipline acting where correction calls (cf. Psalm 18:35).

Let us in this aspect of discipline and chastening, consider some of II Timothy once more, and see its applicability not only to persons, but to churches.

 

AS SEEN IN TIMOTHY

The Flight, The Correction, the Corruption and the Conviction

 

II Timothy 2:22-4:5

 

1.    The FLIGHT -  II Timothy 2:22-26

 

FLEE youthful lusts! says Paul. As we will see, this is specific advice to Timothy,  and that to all others will follow! This is the ‘young blood’ syndrome:

 It is MY desire, MY will, MY energy, and I will be MYSELF, in liquor, in sexual promiscuity, in choosing whatever I will in any way I want. As far as necessary, I will heed commonsense, but after that, the world is before me, and the life is mine!

This is the chorus to each verse of its song! Self-gratification, self-fulfilment and self-will are its code
words. Paul’s advice: THIS is the disease for the young especially, so FLEE, RUN  FAST from it,
do not delay or dally! Here is the verbal preliminary to discipline, which nevertheless is not less than
discipline, that of the mind, that to the spirit, like preventative medicine.

Instead, the advice to Timothy here is this:

RUN AFTER faith, love, peace, righteousness, avoid the flippant, the foolish, the insincere, and using humility and gentleness, seek to win over those who oppose, if by any means God may give to them repentant hearts.

I had some eye drops, recently, and they did not work. The specialist gave me something FAR stronger.
It worked to a marvel. We do not use jack-hammers where a small tap will do, he indicated!

A jack-hammer was needed, so he used it. After all, those taken captive at the devil’s will (3:26) may well not come quietly.

Thus, just as discipline is needed in a confrontational sense, if a gracious one, at times to the disorderly, it is needed no less for the mind of the pastor, to be willing to act in a timely and possibly unpopular fashion.
False churches have habitually for almost a century now, become so ludicrously lose in this field, that
whole denominations have been corrupted, or even lost, through a failure to act as directed. After all,
when the case becomes epidemic in error, as in Jeremiah 5, all is lost already, and the facade of the
church is a pure formality, void of function:

	"An astonishing and horrible thing
	Has been committed in the land.
	The prophets prophesy falsely
	And the priests bear rule by their own power,
	And My people love to have it so,
	But what will you do in the end!" (5:30-31).

  

2.    The CORRUPTION  -  II Timothy 3:1-13, 4:3-4

Here is that long tangling list of moral and spiritual disaster, first in II Tim 3:1-5, with its extension into
6-9: then with the contrast of Paul’s own suffering, integrity and the persecution he suffered, as must all
who will to live in godly style, we find the second prediction in 3:13. This is telling us that evil men will
become worse and worse. THIS is where history is to go; and it is now doing it as if it were a charmed
snake.

 

In fact, in II Timothy 4:3-4, we find a third exposure, where sound teaching becomes unwanted.
NO! they say, I will not listen to you; their ears itch for something else, and  at times almost ANYTHING 
else, for they will NOT ENDURE the truth. Fables, like organic evolution, world government
in man’s own name, communism where men grab history and try to make it appear history did it
on its own, anything that would exclude God: these  mount on wings of steel, with guns bared.

IF you do not now know God, this may even seem verbal pyrotechnics to you; but if you do, it is a
photograph of what is now present.

 It will not last forever, for it COULD not, again, like a melanoma: for it is too corrupt.  Like a
long over-ripe pear, it is too odious and odorous to do so! This you see in Matthew 24, with which
the wise should make themselves wholly familiar. THIS is OUR epidemic on this earth at this time!

 What must then be done in such a situation ?

 

3.    The CORRECTION II Timothy 3:14-17, 4:1-2, 5, cf. Titus 3:9-10

Before correction can proceed, one must be correct and if necessary, corrected oneself!

Paul reminds Timothy of his background in Christ, as in the scriptures which show the way to be saved,
truth, wisdom and teaching for the heart and mind directly from God: with this, you can grow into a
way of life rich in good works, well equipped.

 Paul issues a CHARGE to Timothy, before Christ who will judge the living and the dead. Here is the discipline, the chastening, the instruction of wisdom, given in timely fashion, to enable readier passage through the shoals that at times loom so close to the shores.

PREACH the word: the scripture is to be provided in clarity and comprehensively in its message – and
it is always in season, unlike strawberries. It is always Spring for the preacher. CONVINCE, REBUKE, EXHORT, proclaims the apostle. Indeed as you see in Titus 3:10, those who like wolves in sheep’s clothing seek to turn people from the truth, deceitful and devious, these cannot stay in the church: who would have a wolf with the children! There are moral wolves and teaching ones! It does not take 20 years to give an admonition to such, one, two... How have the churches, in so many cases, strayed, and how it was so forecast (II Thessalonians 2).

By attacking the Bible (in word or simple failure to obey) many churches fulfil the prescribed prediction concerning them; so that if this, in THIS time (Answers to Questions Ch. 5) had NOT occurred, the Bible would NOT have been right. As always, however, what it predicts singly, so comes; and what compositely, in a pattern, so comes. Science comes and goes, ebbs and flows, has its strange obsessions (really those of SOME in the field only), and its better realisations from time to time; but the word of God is never variable, never wrong. It simply says and does: both one.

Timothy, for his part, must give full proof of his ministry, alert, enduring, evangelical. That is how a pastor must be, and how a church must be served. It is NEVER a free-for-all combination of ‘opinions’,  but a sharing IN the word OF the word of God, whose salvation and service to whom is the issue.

  

4.    The CONVICTION II Timothy 4:2B

CONVINCE! says Paul.

In John 16:5-15, Christ speaks of the Holy Spirit, who was to – and did – come to energise, activate, actualise and indeed bring to repentance those who would comprise the Church. HE CONVICTS of sin, just as a policeman convicts of a road offence; but also of righteousness, instructing in the truth, in Christ who has gone for the time to the Father pending His now close return. HE also convicts of JUDGMENT, since the ‘prince of this world is judged’, with the whole unrighteous medley of marred hearts, charred spirits and mangled wills.

 The pastor with the elders must show the truth fearlessly, insist on it, guard it from the cunning tricks of the devil, apply it, and all must live it, seeking in the body of Christ that co-operation which does not hide in the darkness of deceit:  for what is of the light comes INTO IT, and then fosters fellowship and aids action (cf.  Acts 4:27-31). 

 With conviction likewise all must live, for they must be convinced NOT ONLY of evil, to avoid it, of error, to correct it, of folly to remedy it, but of GOODNESS to love it and to do it! It is the work of FAITH; for without this, you cannot even please God! (II Timothy 4:22, Galatians 5:18ff.).

 In conclusion, feel the impact of II Timothy 3:10-13. The question must now arise:

HAVE YOU followed the teaching of the Bible, the life indicated there, the purpose, the faith of ChrIst ? and have you done so with love and perseverance, not looking away or giving up! Have you been persecuted, since it is certain you will be if you act as light in a dark place, such as is this world! DO YOU continue as evil men  grow worse and worse, NOT taking your cue from a corrupt culture from the risen Christ! Are YOU furnished ready for every good work ? Is Christ your leader, commander and witness! (Isaiah 55:4).

If so, rejoice; if not, repent!

 Here then is the discipline of truth from the dynamic of life, in the covenant of grace, in which God

"has saved us, and called us with a holy calling: not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."