Keys to Successful Living: 12 Ways to Discover God's Best for Your Life (4 page)

A
S
WE
MAKE
RIGHT
CONFESSIONS
,
we find that we grow in confidence. This is exactly how the Father wants us to come to Him; He will respond to the words of our right confessions, pouring out His blessings and provisions.

Here are the first three keys we have covered so far:

1. Let us fear
   
2. Let us be diligent
   
3. Let us hold fast our confession
   

Now we are moving on to the fourth key, which is also found in Hebrews 4.

This fourth key is directly related to the first three, and there is significance in the sequence. In order to be able to draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, we need to make sure we have taken the first three steps.

Let us fear.
We should come with an attitude of reverence and awareness of our need of God’s grace.

Let us be diligent.
This is our response to God’s grace. We are not slack, nor lazy, nor indifferent, nor presumptuous. We recognize that God’s grace is no excuse for our indifference or presumption. Rather, it should provoke us to be diligent.

Let
us hold fast our confession.
I believe we must have the right confession. We have to say with our mouths the right statements about Jesus and what He has done for us if we are going to be able to use that fourth key of approaching the throne of grace with confidence.

Mercy and Grace

In regard to our approaching the throne of grace, we are told to come for two benefits: mercy and grace. It is my conviction that if God in His Word invites us to come, and if we meet the conditions that I have briefly outlined, we can come. And if God says that mercy and grace are waiting for us, then I believe we can count on mercy and grace. We need never be disappointed. God will never give us an invitation that He would not stand behind.

Many of the promises and invitations in the Bible are conditional. God says, “If you will do this and this, I’ll do that.” In this instance, I believe God is saying to us, “If you will approach My throne, having met the conditions, and if you will acknowledge your need of My mercy and My grace, then you can count on it. I will make My mercy and My grace available to you.” We do not need to be in any doubt about the truth of this promise from God.

That is the very reason why I believe Scripture says, “Let us draw near
with confidence
to the throne of grace.” If we come as God’s children, we do not need to come as beggars. We are invited. God has no second-class children. He never holds us at a distance if we have met the conditions for approach.

It is important that we come with confidence. This is faith in action—faith that will not be denied. It is faith that takes God at His word and believes God to be as good as His word.
We demonstrate faith in God’s faithfulness. We approach the throne—with confidence.

Mercy First

We are told to approach God’s throne of grace to receive mercy and grace. I believe the order is significant.

Essentially, mercy relates to people who have done wrong—those who cannot claim their rights because they are unworthy or too weak to do so. There is an attitude in the world today that makes people strive to claim their rights. Someone says, “This is due to me” and “That is due to me.” Or “Why didn’t I get that?” and “I ought to have this.” With that prevailing attitude, it is often hard for people to see that they need mercy. I thank God personally that from the time I came to know the Lord many years ago, I have never been in any doubt about one truth: I need God’s mercy. I am clear about that no matter what situation I find myself in. I cannot just trust in my “rights”—they are not sufficient. I need God’s mercy. It is so important for each of us to see that.

I am reminded of a friend of mine who is in full-time Christian ministry. Early in his life, he was a traveling salesman—one who by his own admission was a rather reckless driver. He had received several tickets for exceeding the speed limit. This continued until one day he received a summons to the sheriff’s office.

On his way to that appointment, he had a terrible feeling that he was going to have his license suspended. Of course, that would have been a very serious situation for him because it would take away his means of carrying on with his profession. On his way, he prepared what he was going to say when he was summoned before the sheriff. Here is what he said: “Sir, I’m not asking for justice. I’m asking for mercy.”

To that, the sheriff replied, “No one has ever said that to me before!” The magistrate was so taken aback that, although my friend received a severe warning, he was permitted to retain his license.

That story has always stuck with me. I think that when we come to God, it would be much better if we came with that attitude: “I’m not asking for justice; I’m asking for mercy.” I believe that when we come with that attitude, God will never withhold His mercy. One of the main reasons why people do not receive mercy is because they do not see their need of it.

Grace Next

The second benefit we come to the Lord for is grace. What is grace? Grace is what God will freely do for us beyond what we deserve. One essential characteristic of grace is that it cannot be deserved. Also, the grace of God is supernatural. It goes beyond all the limits of our natural ability.

Hebrews 4:16 says that we are to come “in time of need.” That is so important. Are you in a situation of need? Is your
situation desperate? Please do not let the devil fool you into thinking that your circumstances are too desperate. Do not allow him to tell you that it is too late to come, and there is nothing you can do about it. Why? Because God specifically invites you to come in time of need.

So, if your situation is desperate, let me recommend that you come to God’s throne with confidence to receive these two benefits.

First of all, come for mercy. Never ask for your rights, because if you got what you rightfully deserve, you would be shocked. What you really deserve, you do not want. So come first for mercy.

Second, come for grace. Do not limit God regarding what He can do on your behalf. And remember—do not be dissuaded by the fact that your situation is desperate. That is just the right time to come.

Finally, remember that you are coming to a throne. On that throne is a King. In addition, the King you are approaching is the King of the universe. All authority and power—in heaven and on earth—is in His hands. He can answer any need we have. So let’s take step number four. Let us draw near to the throne of grace.

T
HE
FOUR
KEYS
we have learned all help us to attain a good year and a good life, but we must not stop there. In fact, we are not given that option. Here are the first four keys:

1. Let us fear
   
2. Let us be diligent
   
3. Let us hold fast our confession
   
4. Let us draw near to the throne of grace
   

Now, look at the fifth key, a point found in Hebrews 6.

Please note right from the beginning—it is tremendously important to see this truth—we
have
to do this. We are not given any other choice. Many believers have the impression that in the Christian life you can arrive. That you can settle down and say, “Now I’m there.” But that is never true. To remain static in the spiritual life is the wrong choice. God expects us to move forward.

The Way

To understand the truth of the progressive nature of our relationship with Jesus Christ, let’s look first at a single, penetrating verse from Proverbs 4:18: “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.”

The phrase
the path of
the righteous
is absolutely general. It is not speaking about some particular believer or even some group of believers. Actually, it is speaking about every righteous person.

Please notice also that righteousness is a path. A path is something that we move along. A path is never designed for us to stand still in it, much less to sit down in it. Because righteousness is a path, it implies motion, progress and development.

Next, this passage says that this path is like the light of dawn. Dawn could be compared to the time when we first come to know the Lord in His glorious fullness as Savior and Lord. It is like a sunrise after the darkness. Coming to know Jesus is like a dawn that comes into our hearts.

But the dawn is not the end of God’s purposes; it is the beginning. This verse says that the path is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. As we are walking in the path of righteousness, the light should always be getting brighter on our day. Each step—each day—the light should be brighter than it was before.

This verse in Proverbs 4 concludes with this phrase:
until the full
day
. That is our destination—the height of noonday. God is not content that we would stop at less than the full brightness of the noonday sun. The dawn is our beginning point. The path is the way of progress. The light gets brighter and brighter. But no stopping place on the path is permitted until we reach the full day.

Advancing toward Maturity

Do you remember the biggest mistake that the Hebrews made? Like their forefathers they had become lazy and failed to listen for God’s voice. That is why this particular
Let us
is so appropriate. The Hebrews were trusting their special privileges and resting in them; they had become lazy. They were just taking their status for granted. Look again at what the writer says to them:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:11–14
NIV
1984

The writer is saying here—and he is saying it pretty bluntly—“You’re just spiritual infants. But you have no right to be infants at this stage in your Christian progress. You have had so many opportunities and so many years—you should have advanced to maturity by now.”

In this same passage, the writer also explains the only way to advance to maturity. He says, “Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish
good from evil.” According to that example, advancing to maturity along that path of righteousness, in which the light grows brighter day by day, comes in actual practice by constant use. It comes by training ourselves. It is not something we can take for granted or something that just happens automatically. It requires our application. That is why the second key is, “Let us be diligent.” By constant use, we must train ourselves to distinguish good from evil if we are going to move forward in God.

It grieves me when I see large groups of Christians who seem to be absolutely unable to distinguish between what is truly spiritual, truly scriptural, and that which is just a fleshly presentation. They do not see that something with simply soulish appeal has no real lasting effect—and often no real basis in Scripture.

Unfortunately, multitudes of Christians are apparently taken in regularly by that kind of soulishness. They have not yet learned to distinguish good from evil. The remedy is to train ourselves by constant use and by practice. The only unfortunate alternative to such practice is arrested spiritual development—remaining in the condition of infants when we should be mature.

Five Ministries

God has made a special provision for attaining to spiritual maturity, and we need to know about it. It is stated in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

It was he [the risen, ascended Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11–13
NIV
1984

Five main ministries are mentioned here: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Starting with verse 12, we see the purpose of these ministries: “To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”

Please notice those two purposes. First, that God’s people may be prepared for works of service. God’s people cannot automatically do the work they are expected to do. They have to be prepared; they have to be trained. These five ministries have been given to do that training. The second purpose of these ministries is “so that the body of Christ may be built up.”

Our vision expands as we go on in verse 13. We read: “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature.” Do you see this truth? These ministries are placed within the Body of Christ to bring us into the unity of the faith and to bring us to maturity.

Paul concludes verse 13 with this thought: “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” In order to attain this maturity, Jesus Christ, as head of the Church, has provided
these five main ministries. Frankly, I believe that God’s people will never attain maturity without this provision.

In verse 16 of that chapter, Paul, speaking about Christ again, says: “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16
NIV
1984).

The ultimate portrait of the Body of Christ painted here by Paul is not an assortment of separated, isolated individuals, each one doing his own thing. Rather, the result is to be one body held together by ligaments—by strong bands that hold it together—building itself up and growing. For that growth to happen, it is essential that each part of the Body does its work.

Two Requirements

God’s program for coming to maturity has two main requirements. First, we must come under the discipline of the God-given ministries that Paul has just listed: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Without that discipline, without that oversight and without that instruction, I cannot see how God’s people can ever attain to maturity. Jesus never made a provision that was not important—so I believe this provision is essential.

The second condition is that we must be part of a growing body, not just isolated individuals. In this same Ephesians 4
passage, Paul states the only possible alternative to a growing body—one that is very sad. If we do not follow God’s program for maturity, we will be “infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14
NIV
1984).

You see, if we do not come under these ministries—if we do not become part of a body and accept this scriptural discipline—Paul says the only alternative is that we will remain infants. We will be “tossed back and forth, blown here and there by every wind of teaching.”

I know many believers like that. Every year they have a new fad, a new doctrine and often a new teacher to provide the fad—“by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” Instead, they ought to come under the discipline of the legitimate ministries Jesus has given as gifts, and be part of a body. That is the only way to maturity.

Let me ask you a personal question. How about you? Are you under discipline? Are you part of a body of believers? Are you fulfilling the mandate of this fifth key? Are you advancing—pressing on—to maturity?