by Don Hatfield
just look. Now turn to 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 15 and 16.” I turned to 1 Peter and read these verses out loud to Gabe. “But as He which has called you is Holy so be ye Holy in all manner of conversation. Because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy.” I looked at Gabe and again felt such shame. I said to him, “We have no idea what this salvation means. I have stumbled along for so long with my own thoughts and ideas. Yet, God speaks so plainly to us in His word. It is as if we live in a dream world. He is surrounded by Angels, Jesus sits on His right hand praying for us. His Spirit dwells within us and yet it seems as if we take no notice of all that except for an hour on Sunday morning. Gabe, I am ashamed that I have been saved for so long and yet resemble Him so little.” Gabe said, “I understand and yet it is never too late to start and you are starting now so praise the Lord. Don, I want you to look at a couple of words in those verses. Tell me what you think of when you see these words, He which has called you, and all manner of conversation.” I thought about those words and this thought came to me. I did not go looking for Him. He came looking for me just as He came looking for Adam in the Garden of Eden. I said to Gabe, “those words, He which has called you, are in reality an amazing statement. He came looking for me and called my name just as He did with Adam. That dark night many years ago when I bowed and pray for His forgiveness He was saying Don, Don where are you? I guess I was saying I have been hiding just as Adam said it. He in His loving grace said hide no more for I am here to cover you with my righteousness just as I covered Adam. Glory to God, what a glorious thought. If He came looking for me then those words, in all manner of conversation, must mean that He wants my life to resemble His Son’s life because that glorifies Him. Gabe how can we who are His children not want that? Gabe sadly shook his head and said, “I do not know but it seems we are so much like the children of Israel always building golden calves and wanting to go back to Egypt. How that must hurt the one who came searching for us. But praise the Lord Don for you are turning from that and walking towards Him instead of hiding from Him.”
Gabe said “Don, Is there anything that God cannot do?” “Of course not”, I answered. Gabe just stood there looking at me and asked, “Can He tell lies?” Again Gabe had stumped me and then helped me. He smiled and said turn to Titus chapter 1 and verse 2 and read it to me.” I read, “In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world begin.” Gabe said, “We should have a joy and confident expectation of our eternal salvation but often it is just the opposite. Many think that we can lose this salvation which God has promised. Many argue back and forth about the subject when in reality the answer is so very simple.” I must confess that there had been times when I myself had been fearful of losing my own salvation. I said to Gabe if the answer is so very simple please tell me the answer.” Gabe smiled and said,” no you tell me the answer.” I stood there dumbfounded then a smile crossed my face when I said, “just stay close to Jesus and you will not even have time to worry about losing you salvation.” Gabe laughed and said, “glory to God I think you have it. Now tell me what you think about those two words in the verse which say cannot lie.” I thought about it for a moment and then said, “Well, I guess it is just like it says He cannot tell a lie because He is God.” Gabe said, “And?” Then it came to me and I answered without a shout of joy. He cannot lie because He is without lie. No such thing can even exist in Him. Because of this the rest of the verse is even more precious because He who is without lie has promised eternal life to us who were in His Son Jesus before the beginning of the world. Because He is God He knew before He promised what He was going to promise.” I shook my head and asked, “Does what I just said make any sense?” Gabe replied, “It make all the sense in the world for it is the truth that was spoken before the world began. This brings us to another thing about God. It brings us to something that most people do not want to think about and that is His wrath. Turn to Romans Chapter 2 and verse 5.” I of course did so and as usual read out loud the verse, “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” Gabe ask, “What is wrath?” I said, “I suppose that it is anger.” Gabe said, “Yes, it is but it is also indignation. It is also a self-righteous anger or disgust. Why would God have self-righteous anger or disgust with us?” I again looked at the verse and saw two words that struck me. I said to Gabe, “Because of our hard and impenitent hearts. What does he mean by hard and impenitent, Gabe?” Gabe said, “By hard He means our stubbornness and by impenitent He means our refusal to change our mind. When we refuse to change our minds in our stubbornness we are only treasuring up or accumulating our own sentence for the Day of Judgment. It is amazing that God’s greatest gift to man besides Jesus is man’s ability to make free choice. Yet, having all the evidence presented to him just from creation he chooses to follow his own corrupt thoughts instead of examining the evidence presented to him. Don, that is why God’s wrath will be revealed because man is storing up his own sentence against the righteous judgment of God. That word revelation means to lay bare or to disclose the truth.” I shuddered after Gabe said this and responded, “I am so glad He is my Savior and not my judge. I am ashamed for the way I have lived at times and from this day on I want to yield myself to His grace and power. “
Gabe responded by saying Amen. It was growing late in the afternoon. I knew my wife would be wondering where I was. I had purposely left my phone at home so that I would not be disturbed. How often the things which are not important such as a silly text, Facebook post or even a friendly phone call take us away from the things of God. Gabe seemed to sense my thoughts and said, “Don I have to be going soon but there is one more thing I would like for you to look at and that is the love of God. So turn to John, “Then he stopped and said where am I going to tell you to turn?” I responded John Chapter 3 and verse 16. Gabe nodded his head and I turned there. Gabe said, “Now just keep your eyes on the verse and I will walk through it with you. I know that this verse is so familiar to so many. We see it on placards at ball games. We see it on bumper stickers and written on walls. We have seen it so much that it is easy just to pass over the words without giving any real thought to them. So let’s just go over them slowly together. Let us think of the word for. Another word that could be used there is because. Because God, God the owner and creator of everything. God who needs nothing to complete Himself because to be God He has to be already complete. God, the I Am, decided to prove His love for us one final time by the way of the cross. Don, down through the ages God has proven His love for us. He proved it when He went looking for Adam and Eve in the garden. They in their wills were hiding from Him. He in His will was searching for them. He proved it when He had Noah build the ark and any and all who would come in were welcome yet all but eight refused. He proved it when He rescued Lot from Sodom and Gormanah. He proved it when He delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and open the Red Sea for them to walk through. All of the Old Testament is proof of His love. Finally, though so many refused to respond He decided because He so loved us to give the ultimate proof. For God so loved the world, which is us, that He gave. Let’s stop there and think just for a moment of the words He gave. Those words He gave mean to extend or to reach out to. The, I Am, reached out to those who did not want Him. How? He gave His only begotten Son. He gave He who is one of a kind who cannot be duplicated nor imitated by anyone but Himself.” I interrupted Gabe and said, “I thought we were supposed to imitate and be like Jesus?” Gabe said, “Yes, you are right. Let me explain and repeat what I just said. Jesus is one of a kind and He cannot be duplicated nor imitated by anyone but Himself. Don, to be like Him He must reside in you and to imitate Him you must yield to Him. Then He will began to make you into His image by producing Himself in you. Actually when you think about it because God is three in one Father, Son and Holy Ghost He gave Himself when He gave His Son. I know it is confusing and yet if you think of it in another way it may not be so
confusing. If God did not come in the flesh as the perfect human then He could not have sacrificed Himself for our salvation. He had to come in the image of us so that He could give Himself for us. Then after giving Himself for us He had to leave us so that He could come back in the person of the Holy Spirit to be with us because human flesh can only be in one place at a time.” I said, “Gabe believe it or not I understand a little of what you are saying but I think it will take an eternity to absorb it all.” Gabe smiled and said, “Aren’t you glad that you have all of eternity to do so. Let us continue. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever or anyone who believes. Again let me stop here for a moment and let’s talk about believing. Don, what is believing?” I thought for a moment and then answered to think something to be true. Gabe then ask, “Don, do you see that large tree over there?” I looked at a large oak tree that stood in the middle of the
