...that if you confess
with your mouth
the Lord Jesus
and believe in
your heart
that God has raised
Him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For with the heart
one believes
unto righteousness,
and with the mouth
Confession is made
unto salvation.
Romans 10:9-10
It is God who elects His children and has predestined them to eternal life by conforming them to the image of His Son. Furthermore, those called by God are to exercise their faith and repentance. As Clement of Rome (30-100 A.D.) wrote when writing to the Corinthian Church:
"The Church of God which sojourns at Rome, to the Church of God sojourning at Corinth, to them that are called and sanctified by the will of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, from Almighty God through Jesus Christ, be multiplied." (Chapter I). It is to those "called and are sanctified" that Clement offers a prayer for them to have peace and Grace from God. It is God who provides for His children by providing them with righteousness that satisfies the demands of the Law. This act by God entitles His children that in Christ and for His sake to have eternal life. If men were entitled to everlasting life on the ground of their repenting, even though predestined, and upon their believing through their own strength, or through a cooperation with the grace of God which others fail to exercise, then their continuance in a state of grace might be dependent on themselves. So many Churches for the past 200 years, especially since Charles Finney (1792-1875 A.D.), and others, and his "anxious seat" and the call for people to respond to his call for salvation and to come forward in repentance, people came and many by means of their own strength and feelings. How often do preachers continue their call to come forward endlessly it seems or some emotional music played as if God needed their help. If faith and repentance are gifts of God, and they are, the results of his effectual vocation, then bestowing those gifts is a revelation of the purpose of God to save those to whom they are given. As Jesus prayed: "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word" (John 178:6). These gifts operating in the lives of His children are evidence that God has predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be like Him in character, destiny, and glory, and that He will infallibly carry out His purpose. No one can pluck them out of His hands.
We as His children and not to be tacit in our walk with the Lord. We have work to do and that work is to demonstrate Jesus Christ and the Gospel that He became incarnate, suffered, was crucified, died, rose again on the third day and after speaking and being seen by more than five hundred people ascended bodily into heaven. We do not know who are the elect of God, but we are commanded to preach the word, this is not just done by the presbyters of the Church, it is by every individual who claims the promises of Christ and believes on Him. We are to go into all the world and teach, disciple people, and God will call His elect from the world. Clement of Rome in praising the Corinthian Church wrote in his letter of their exercise of their faith:
Moreover, ye were all distinguished by humility, and were in no respect puffed up with pride, but yielded obedience rather than extorted it, and were more willing to give than to receive. Content with the provision which God had made for you, and carefully attending to His words, ye were inwardly filled. Literally, “ye embraced it in your bowels” with His doctrine, and His sufferings were before your eyes. Thus a profound and abundant peace was given to you all, and ye had an insatiable desire for doing good, while a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon you all. Full of holy designs, ye did, with true earnestness of mind and a godly confidence, stretch forth your hands to God Almighty, beseeching Him to be merciful unto you, if ye had been guilty of any involuntary transgression. Day and night ye were anxious for the whole brotherhood, that the number of God’s elect might be saved with mercy and a good conscience. Ye were sincere and uncorrupted, and forgetful of injuries between one another. Every kind of faction and schism was abominable in your sight. Ye mourned over the transgressions of your neighbours: their deficiencies you deemed your own. Ye never grudged any act of kindness, being “ready to every good work.” Adorned by a thoroughly virtuous and religious life, ye did all things in the fear of God. The commandments and ordinances of the Lord were written upon the tablets of your hearts. (Chapter III). In the early Church this was true, but, far too often we become complacent, and in that complacency false teaching can creep in and destroy your faith, your walk with the Lord. This happened in the Corinthian Church for later Clement of Rome addresses sedition that had come into the Corinthian Church. We must not allow that to happen in our Churches.
Clement of Rome reminds us of Peter and Paul and their work in faith and their suffering for the sake of Christ and their martyrdom:
To these men who spent their lives in the practice of holiness, there is to be added a great multitude of the elect, who, having through envy endured many indignities and tortures, furnished us with a most excellent example. (Chapter VI). The call went forth in the early Church as was seen by the letter written to the Corinthian Church by Clement of Rome, and if it was so badly needed then, how much more is it needed today? Will you join with the elect of God who are placing Him first in their lives and exercising in public their faith and their repentance. God will bless your efforts and you will be deemed to be a faithful and discreet slave and hear Jesus say to you: "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few thins, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Matthew 25:23).
"The Church of God which sojourns at Rome, to the Church of God sojourning at Corinth, to them that are called and sanctified by the will of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, from Almighty God through Jesus Christ, be multiplied." (Chapter I). It is to those "called and are sanctified" that Clement offers a prayer for them to have peace and Grace from God. It is God who provides for His children by providing them with righteousness that satisfies the demands of the Law. This act by God entitles His children that in Christ and for His sake to have eternal life. If men were entitled to everlasting life on the ground of their repenting, even though predestined, and upon their believing through their own strength, or through a cooperation with the grace of God which others fail to exercise, then their continuance in a state of grace might be dependent on themselves. So many Churches for the past 200 years, especially since Charles Finney (1792-1875 A.D.), and others, and his "anxious seat" and the call for people to respond to his call for salvation and to come forward in repentance, people came and many by means of their own strength and feelings. How often do preachers continue their call to come forward endlessly it seems or some emotional music played as if God needed their help. If faith and repentance are gifts of God, and they are, the results of his effectual vocation, then bestowing those gifts is a revelation of the purpose of God to save those to whom they are given. As Jesus prayed: "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word" (John 178:6). These gifts operating in the lives of His children are evidence that God has predestined them to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be like Him in character, destiny, and glory, and that He will infallibly carry out His purpose. No one can pluck them out of His hands.
We as His children and not to be tacit in our walk with the Lord. We have work to do and that work is to demonstrate Jesus Christ and the Gospel that He became incarnate, suffered, was crucified, died, rose again on the third day and after speaking and being seen by more than five hundred people ascended bodily into heaven. We do not know who are the elect of God, but we are commanded to preach the word, this is not just done by the presbyters of the Church, it is by every individual who claims the promises of Christ and believes on Him. We are to go into all the world and teach, disciple people, and God will call His elect from the world. Clement of Rome in praising the Corinthian Church wrote in his letter of their exercise of their faith:
Moreover, ye were all distinguished by humility, and were in no respect puffed up with pride, but yielded obedience rather than extorted it, and were more willing to give than to receive. Content with the provision which God had made for you, and carefully attending to His words, ye were inwardly filled. Literally, “ye embraced it in your bowels” with His doctrine, and His sufferings were before your eyes. Thus a profound and abundant peace was given to you all, and ye had an insatiable desire for doing good, while a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon you all. Full of holy designs, ye did, with true earnestness of mind and a godly confidence, stretch forth your hands to God Almighty, beseeching Him to be merciful unto you, if ye had been guilty of any involuntary transgression. Day and night ye were anxious for the whole brotherhood, that the number of God’s elect might be saved with mercy and a good conscience. Ye were sincere and uncorrupted, and forgetful of injuries between one another. Every kind of faction and schism was abominable in your sight. Ye mourned over the transgressions of your neighbours: their deficiencies you deemed your own. Ye never grudged any act of kindness, being “ready to every good work.” Adorned by a thoroughly virtuous and religious life, ye did all things in the fear of God. The commandments and ordinances of the Lord were written upon the tablets of your hearts. (Chapter III). In the early Church this was true, but, far too often we become complacent, and in that complacency false teaching can creep in and destroy your faith, your walk with the Lord. This happened in the Corinthian Church for later Clement of Rome addresses sedition that had come into the Corinthian Church. We must not allow that to happen in our Churches.
Clement of Rome reminds us of Peter and Paul and their work in faith and their suffering for the sake of Christ and their martyrdom:
To these men who spent their lives in the practice of holiness, there is to be added a great multitude of the elect, who, having through envy endured many indignities and tortures, furnished us with a most excellent example. (Chapter VI). The call went forth in the early Church as was seen by the letter written to the Corinthian Church by Clement of Rome, and if it was so badly needed then, how much more is it needed today? Will you join with the elect of God who are placing Him first in their lives and exercising in public their faith and their repentance. God will bless your efforts and you will be deemed to be a faithful and discreet slave and hear Jesus say to you: "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few thins, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Matthew 25:23).
How beautiful are the feet of
those who peach the
gospel of peace,
who bring glad tidings of
good things!
Romans 10:15b
May the Riches of God Fall Upon You
Richard L. Crumb
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