It is human nature to break promises. Governments make and break promises. Advertisers and politicians make and break promises. Employers and employees, preachers and church members, parents and children, husbands and wives, and friends and relatives all make promises to each other which often are broken. Some are made with the best of intentions, and some are made in order to deceive and exploit. But all of us find ourselves both making and receiving promises that, for whatever reason, do not materialize. [John MacArthur, Ephesians]
And that is why the promises of God are so important and significant — for in a world of promise-breakers [I have a large file folder bursting with void and worthless warranties to give testimony to the above statement], He is the only promise keeper. He alone maintains every promise and covenant He has ever made.
So when He declares that He accepts the judgment of Christ on the cross as satisfactory payment for those who trust in Christ and when He states that the sin of those who believe in Christ is transferred to Christ, and that likewise the righteousness of Christ is accounted to those sinners who believe in the only Son of God, then His declaration is true and trustworthy.
His statement is enough. When He says (Eph. 1:3-14) that —
- He chose us
- He chose us to be holy and blameless
- He predestined us to adoption as His sons
- He redeemed us through the blood of Christ
- He forgave us through the blood of Christ
- Out of His kindness and love He revealed His will to us
- We have become His inheritance
- He is working all things together according to His will and plan,
then that is enough. His word is sure.
Yet in His most remarkable grace, He also provides us the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit as a further guarantee of all the rich treasures of grace that will come in the future. The Spirit, then, becomes an inward testimony to the outward reality of God’s acceptance of Christ for our salvation.
What a great salvation we have in Christ, indeed.
Words of Grace 