September 3
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful,” Hebrews 10:23.
We are urged to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” Obviously, this is referring to what we as Christians believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths. What we believe and confess is summarized in the words of the Apostles’ Creed. We believe in the only true God, the triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There are three distinct Persons, but there is only one God.
He is our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier. God created the whole universe and everything that is in it in six normal, twenty-four-hour days. That is the clear teaching of Holy Scripture. The elements, the vegetation, the fowl, the fish, the animals, and people did not evolve on their own. The Big Bang Theory is the Big Lie that some would-be scientists and others try to pawn off as a fact. Yet you do not need much of an education to know that things cannot evolve out of nothing on their own. The embarrassing question for evolutionists is, “Where did the elements come from which preceded the Big Bang?” Evolutionists need to be told, “Your god is too small!” As Christians, we believe in the almighty God, Maker of heaven and earth.
The Son of God is our Redeemer. God the Father sent His Son to redeem and deliver us from sin, death, and the power of the devil. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who at God’s appointed time was born with a human body and soul and became also the Son of Man. He is God and Man in one Person. Being without sin, He lived a perfect life and fulfilled the Commandments of God in our place. He fulfilled where we fail. He took our sins upon Himself and carried them to the cross at Calvary where He suffered and died to pay the price for our redemption and wash our sins away. Indeed, He died, but then He rose from the grave and conquered death and the devil. He stands with outstretched arms, lovingly inviting us, “Believe in Me as God’s Son and your Savior. You are forgiven!”
The Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier, invites us with the Gospel. He touches and warms our cold hearts with the message of God’s love and forgiveness, and He invites us to put our trust completely in Jesus for our salvation. We are invited and given the assurance, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,” Acts 16:31.
As Christians, we urge one another to continue in the faith, just as the early apostles did at the command of Christ. For example, at Lystra, where Paul and Barnabas were teaching and preaching, certain Jewish rabble-rousers who hated the Christian teachings stirred up the multitude, and Paul was stoned and dragged to the edge of town, supposedly being dead. However, he arose, and the next day before leaving town, they commanded the Christian disciples “to continue in the faith,” Acts 14:22.
Following the apostolic example, we urge one another to continue in the faith, which rests upon the promises of God, who is faithful. When sin entered into the world, God promised to send a Savior, and He did! “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’” Galatians 4-6.
“We all believe in one true God,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Ever-present Help in need,
Praised by all the heav’nly host,
By whose mighty pow’r alone
All is made and wrought and done.” Amen.