Category: Anchored in Grace

by Jeremy Walker /

Read all the posts in this 16-part series on the essential truths of the Christian faith. 

HOW DO WE REMAIN IN CHRIST TO THE END? Part 4

We come now to the final installment in this series. When all is said and done, how ought we believers in Christ to think and feel and act? Having once been fallen, we have by grace been chosen, redeemed, and called, and we will each endure to the end by God’s unwavering mercy and protection. This is a great and glorious arc, with eternal ramifications. Here, then, the conclusion of Jeremy Walker’s Anchored in Grace.

Thankfulness. How these things should stir us to thankfulness for divine grace and faithfulness! The God who planned this work from before the foundation of the world, and who has begun this good work in us, will complete it. He himself has said that he will never leave us or forsake us. If God is for us, who can be against us? All these sweet truths ought to stir the heart to thankful joy.

Encouragement. But how much encouragement is also found here? Perhaps some readers have never come to Christ because they are afraid they cannot keep with Christ. That is like a drowning man refusing to trust the lifeguard because the drowning man cannot swim. But that is the whole point! Finding nothing in ourselves, no strength or wisdom by means of which to obtain or maintain our salvation, we come to Christ to save us and to keep us, providing all required by every one of his people. He will save us, and he will keep us saved to the end by all necessary means and giving all needful grace.

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by Jeremy Walker /

Read all the posts published to date in this 16-part series on the essential truths of the Christian faith. 

HOW DO WE REMAIN IN CHRIST TO THE END? Part 2

Last week we began to explore the Bible’s answer to the question of how anyone manages to remain in Christ to the end. Having been born fallen and lost in Adam, then redeemed and saved in Christ, can a Christian then be lost again? Introducing that all-important topic, we focused on the need for believers to embrace God’s purposes and rest on his promises. 

Accept God’s Providences

Move on with me to the providences of God. The divine government of the entire world is conducted with the end in view of the final salvation of the people of God. So Joseph can assure his brothers, giving us a window into the wise and sure designs of the Lord, that even the things that they meant for evil, God intended for good (Genesis 50:20 NKJV). The same kind of assurance is offered on the broadest scale by the apostle Paul when writing to the church in Rome: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28–29 NKJV).

When God calls for the purpose of conforming to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ—not just a gradual increase in likeness, but working toward a final and complete transformation—then he orders all things to work together for that good and holy and sure purpose.

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by Jeremy Walker/

Read all the posts published to date in this 16-part series on the essential truths of the Christian faith. 

HOW DO WE COME TO POSSESS THE BLESSINGS OF SALVATION? Part 3

Recently in this series we have been exploring the gospel call. Two weeks ago, we learned of the necessity and nature of the call, which is both universal and effectual. Last week, we read about the power, effect, and experience of God’s call. Today we take a moment to extol these truths and dwell briefly on their appropriate application: what fruit ought they to bear in our lives?

Because of the Call

Certainty. For believers all of this should give rise, first of all, to certainty—the certainty that all of God’s chosen people shall be brought into his kingdom. The Holy Spirit never fails to bring to salvation those sinners whom he personally calls to Jesus. The redemption that has been accomplished through the atoning blood of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, shall be definitely and effectively applied to all for whom it was accomplished.

Prayer. Furthermore, and on that basis, it should give rise to prayer for the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of those who hear the gospel. The fact that God will save does not for one moment preclude earnest and believing prayer for the Lord to save. We must pray that the Spirit would convince sinners of their sin and misery, enlighten their minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renew their wills, thereby persuading and enabling them to embrace Christ Jesus, freely offered to all men in the gospel. Do we sufficiently believe in the power and the grace of God to make this a more constant and more earnest plea?

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by Jeremy Walker/

Read all the posts published to date in this 16-part series on the essential truths of the Christian faith. 

HOW DO WE COME TO POSSESS THE BLESSINGS OF SALVATION? Part 1

Called

We have so far considered three anchor points of the Bible’s teaching about the grace of God, truths to which we must hold fast in the present generation and pass on to coming generations. In the preceding pages we have seen that we are by nature fallen, facing our rebellion and our utter spiritual deadness and hopelessness in ourselves as lost sinners. Then we saw that Christians are chosen, the Lord God—in the face of our hell-deserving sinfulness—freely and sovereignly setting his love upon us, saving whom he will. Next, we traced how we are redeemed, the Lord Christ Jesus laying down his life to save all those whom the Father had given him.

All this carries us on to another question: if there are those in utter lostness and misery who are appointed for mercy, and if this blessing of life has been secured for them, their ransom paid by Christ, how does anyone enter into possession of those blessings?

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by Jeremy Walker/

Read all the posts published to date in this 16-part series on the essential truths of the Christian faith. 

HOW IS SALVATION ACCOMPLISHED? — PART 1

The Redeemer

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep,
sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees;
and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.
The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd;
and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father;
and I lay down My life for the sheep.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold;
them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice;
and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.
No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.
I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This command I have received from My Father.
(John 10:11–18, NKJV)

We now consider our third anchor point of faith, the third truth we must face and embrace if we are to be faithful to God in our doctrine and, consequently, in our practice. We began by asking, in effect, “Who needs to be saved?” Our answer was, every person. The answer takes account of the fallen condition of all mankind, and the answer is vital, because a false diagnosis will draw forth a false remedy, if one is considered necessary at all. Our next question was, “On what basis are sinners saved?” Our answer was, by virtue of being chosen by a sovereignly gracious God.

But those who are currently lost and chosen for salvation still need to be saved. And so we must now ask, “How is this salvation accomplished?” We need to consider by what means elect sinners are saved. How can we reconcile the three indisputable facts of a holy God, a lost world, and a saved church? Where do justice and mercy meet?

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