The First-Fruits of Faith

The inheritance into which the believer enters as a son and heir of God is a very rich and beautiful one and includes every spiritual blessing in Christ. But the blessing primarily coveted is relief from the burden of sins, the sense of forgiveness, the assurance of pardon. The circumstances of conversion vary greatly and people come to God in vastly diverse ways. Some are born of Christian parents and are nurtured in an  atmosphere surcharged with the love and worship of God. The name of Jesus is on the lips almost as soon as the name of "Father" or "Mother". Sometimes one cannot tell when that personal choice of Jesus Christ as Saviour was made for love to Him seems always to have been in the heart. With others the new birth has meant a decided and definite break in the life. Not all have the keen realization of the awful sinfulness of sin nor does the guilt and condemnation of it rest on them as a terrible burden as it did upon Pilgrim in Bunyan's classic story, but to almost every one there is the bondage to some besetting sin from which he seeks release. So the first blessing of which the sinner is conscious and the one in which he primarily rejoices is the forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."

The moment the sinner acknowledges his sin and turns in real faith to Christ as Saviour, that very moment God grants perfect and permanent pardon for all his sins: his past is blotted out and he will not be judged for sin that his Saviour has born to the Cross. But lack of assurance regarding forgiveness is a very common thing even in the lives of some who have been Christians for years. Because of ignorance of God's Word when perchance one falls again into some besetting sin, doubt comes into the heart and robs it of the joy of salvation. In order that the believer may rest in the conscious assurance of full acquittal God unfolds in His Word the completeness of forgiveness. Are you resting today in the assurance of sins forgiven? If not, may God speak to you in these precious statements of His Word and enable you to claim each for yourself.

Isaiah 38:17, "Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou has cast all my sins behind thy back."

All my sins behind God's back! Out of God's sight! Never to be seen again! Oh! the comfort of knowing that the sins God has forgiven He will never see again!

Psalm 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."

All of my sins put the distance of the world's circumference from me! Out of my sight as well as out of the sight of God! While in China I received a cable telling of the death of a dearly loved sister in America. During the weeks that followed in which I waited for a letter giving further particulars of her death, I realized how far the east is from the west and there came a new, sweet experience of the assurance of my  salvation in these precious words, "As far - So far." Oh! the comfort of knowing that the sins which God has forgiven I shall never see again!

Micah 7:19, "He will turn again, he will have compassion on us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."

All my sins cast into the depths of the sea! Not only out of sight but out of reach! Oh! the comfort of knowing that the sins forgiven by God are out of reach, pardoned for time and for eternity!

Isaiah 44:22, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a thick cloud thy sins."

Hebrews 8:12, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."

All my sins blotted out and forgotten! Not only out of God's sight and out of God's reach, but out of God's memory! But in the unsearchable riches of His grace God has blotted out my sins so completely that there is not a trace of them left to remind Him that once they were. Oh! the comfort of knowing that the sins which God has forgiven He has also forgotten!

But the forgiveness of sins is but half, and that the negative half, of the first-fruits of faith. merely removing the penalty for and the punishment of sins does not undo all the work of sin. For the natural man is not only a sinner: he is a rebel and an outlaw as well. He needs not only to be redeemed but to be reinstated to favor with God. A criminal may be pardoned and released from prison but he returns to the community in which he lives as a pardoned criminal. No human judge has the power to reinstate him into society as one who never sinned. What man cannot do God can. Justification is the positive half of the first-fruits of faith.

Acts 13:38-39, "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that though this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."

2 Corinthians 5:21, "Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on or behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him."

Christ, our Saviour, not only pardoned our sin but He gave us the standing before the Father of one who had never sinned. The only way in which He could do this was to exchange places with us. He took our place upon the Cross becoming sin for us that we might take His place before the Father becoming righteousness in Him. His death was one act with a double blessing. The negative side was forgiveness which took something from us, the penalty of our sins; the positive side was justification which gave something to us, the righteousness of God. The death of Jesus Christ accomplished a twofold work in the believer: it unclothed him by removing the filthy rags of sin and it clothed him by bestowing the pure garments of His perfect righteousness. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin," here Christ Jesus is saying to His Father, "Put their sins to my account." "That we might be made the righteousness of God in him," here Christ Jesus is saying to His Father, "Put my righteousness to their account." Through His death upon the Cross Jesus Christ not only took us out of the old standing in Adam but He brought us into a new standing in Christ. The grace of God provides for justification, the blood of Jesus Christ procures it, and the faith of the believer possesses it.

Romans 3:24, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

Romans 5:9, "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Through justification certain definite and glorious blessings are secured to the believer. Chief among there is peace with God. Resistance and rebellion through self-will have ceased and the heart rests in the assurance of God's favor.

Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

All distance between God and the sinner is obliterated. All barriers are torn down. The believer is made nigh to God's heart through the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:13, "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."

"O the love that sought me,

O the blood that bought me,

O the grace that brought me to the fold!"

~Ruth Paxson~

(continued with # 1 - "The Great Refusal")