From the Pulpit...

There is no resting on laurels in the Christian life as if we have "arrived" at whatever it is we think we have arrived at. There is no such thing as a “lazy Christian.” There is always "pressing on" the upward way, new heights gained every day, etc. But the author of that hymn, Johnson Oatman, inconsistently it seems to me, believed in complete sanctification, “the washing of the soul of a true believer from the remains of sin.”1 That appears, on his view, to happen in this life. No, no no! We move from one level of glory to the next until we reach final glorification (2 Cor. 3:18) in the presence of Christ. There is a life-focus here that keeps its eye on Jesus all the time. He saves us from start to finish and our life is to be growing in our relationship to Him, our likeness to Him, our pursuit of Him and His heavenly calling.