REVISITING THE BELIEVER'S POSITIONAL RICHES IN CHRIST

Part XXIV: Applying The Truth That Believers Have Access To God

I. Introduction

A. False religions typically contain a skewed view of the infinite God or of how to relate to such an infinite God: mankind generally knows that he is imperfect and sinful, and that God is perfectly separate from sin, so many religious people experience insecurity, uncertainty and intimidation in relating to God.

B. In reality, God is perfectly righteous and we mortals are very limited in our understanding of righteousness so that if left to ourselves, we are drastically unfit even to relate well to a perfectly righteous God.

C. However, one of the 33 positional truths applicable to every believer the instant he trusts in Christ as his Savior is that he has access to God. (Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, vol. III, "Soteriology," p. 257-259) Applying this truth to how we view our relationship to God and how we can then relate to Him equips us to relate to Him "boldly" even regarding our weaknesses (as follows):

II. Applying The Truth That Believers Have Access To God.

A. The instant one believes in Christ for salvation, he has access to God's grace for spiritual standing and growth, and this access supplies security of salvation and room to grow in his relationship with the Lord:

1. In Christ, the believer stands in God's grace just as he is saved by grace, Romans 5:2. This means that he continues to function by God's grace just as he was saved by grace so that he is kept safe in his salvation status before God regardless of his occasional acts of sin, 1 John 1:8-10.

2. In Christ, the believer is so "ensphered" in God's unmerited favor, His grace, that he is appointed the calling of growing in his knowledge of Christ in that sphere, cf. 2 Peter 3:18. Thus, regardless of his imperfect knowledge of God's truth and of all of the potential problems that ignorance of the truth may create in his relating to the Lord and living acceptably before Him, God's grace give him ROOM and TIME to grow until he functions in alignment with God's will so that he will enjoy more of God's blessing in his practical experience. (Ibid., Chafer, p. 258)

B. The instant one believes in Christ for salvation, he has perfect, unchanging access to God the Father in relationship and hence in prayer, and this access also supplies accessibility to fellowship with God the Father:

1. According to Ephesians 2:18, due to the believer's identification with Christ in His substitutionary atonement for the believer on the cross, and due to the Holy Spirit's involvement in indwelling and ministering to the believer, that believer has access to God the Father.

2. The context of that verse reveals that this truth applies to Jewish as well as to formerly pagan Gentile believers, so it applies to every class and segment of believers in the Church era, cf. Ephesians 2:11-17.

3. Thus, every believer in Christ needs not fear some possible relationship break with the Father just because he comes from a religious heritage that was drastically estranged from Biblical truth or because he is immature or lacks Bible knowledge. In Christ, by God's grace through the Triune Godhead, every believer has constant, unchanging, complete access to God the Father to Whom he can approach in prayer!

C. By way of the strength of this access, the believer can be assured he may pray boldly even about his frailties:

1. Hebrews 4:16 calls the believer to come "boldly unto the throne of grace to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need," and that in the context where the "need" is weakness regarding the dreadful temptation to deny Christ and slip back into legalistic Judaism, Hebrews 4:14-15 with Hebrews 2:1-4.

2. Similarly, Hebrews 10:19-20 repeats the call for believers to approach God boldly in prayer regarding their need to hold fast to their profession of Christ versus slipping back into dead Judaism, Hebrews 10:23-24.

3. Applied to believers from every kind of errant religious heritage, the access they have to God the Father is so greatly, graciously endowed by the Lord through their position in Christ that even if they struggle with the frailty of slipping back into errant former religious error or practices of their pasts, they can pray "boldly" about it, finding God willing and able to help them in such a time of personal need!

Lesson: When we trust in Christ as Savior, we are so fully ensphered by God's grace that we are unconditionally eternally secure in our salvation, we are given great time to grow in knowing Him regardless of our past so that we can start to relate properly to the Lord with constant, intimate access to Him, and we can pray boldly to Him about the greatest of our spiritual frailties that we have even brought with us from our pre-salvation days!

Application: (1) May we take advantage of our standing before the Lord of being ensphered in our access to God that we grow in Him and overcome our weaknesses and evil pasts. (2) May we pray "boldly" about those things that trouble us the most about our failings, for God both knows them and wants to give us victory over them!