Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

 ²⁰  “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”  John 14:9-20.

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We could be left as orphans.  Worse, we could be left for dead. 

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Ephesians 2:4-9.

As my Pastor preached last Sunday, we are not in a contract with God wherein God will grant us salvation if we do our part of the contract (whether it be sufficient works, sufficient faith, or even as little as sufficient acceptance of Him).  We are in a covenant where God performs all that is necessary for our salvation.

This should make sense.  If we are truly “dead in our transgressions”, what can we do at all, much less perfectly satisfy any divine contractual obligation?  

Reformed doctrine a/k/a Calvinism is not just “closer to the truth”.  The trouble that I have with that language is that it implies that other doctrine is also the truth and that other doctrine is acceptable.  When you hear that language, to get rid of that thought, think sarcastically how ridiculous it would be to think that saints in heaven are “closer to” God than the condemned in hell (even though it may be technically true).    

Christ is the truth.  Christ is not what we want Him to be, whether it be a loving hippy (as portrayed in some pictures) or as some lone figure knocking on a door hoping that we will open it (as also portrayed in some pictures) or some Santa Claus or as some big and vague authority figure in the sky with His arms folded waiting to see if we somehow will satisfy His strict requirements.

Christ is the way.  Christ does not just provide the way such as just teach us how we can do sufficient works or teach us how we can otherwise perform our part of the contract.  Christ comes to us, the elect, and brings us within the friendship and fellowship of the Trinity.  That is an unconditional covenant.