Grace Evangelical Society

P.O. Box 1308, Denton, TX 76202
  • About
    • Home
    • Beliefs
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
  • Resources
    • Grace in Focus Blog
    • Grace in Focus International Blogs
    • Grace in Focus Radio
    • Grace in Focus Magazine
    • Free eBooks
    • Journal of the GES
    • Book Reviews
    • Partners in Grace Newsletter
    • Audio Messages
    • Videos
    • Email Subscription
    • Bookstore
    • Online Tracts
  • Store
    • Main Page
    • On Sale
    • Return Policy
    • Your Cart
    • Your Account
  • Events
  • Connect
    • Contact Us
    • Free Grace Church and Bible Study Tracker
    • Free Grace Jobs
    • Ministry Links
  • Donate
    • One Time Donation
    • Monthly Donation
    • Your Account
  • Search
Home
→
Blog
→
George Muller’s Holy Confidence

George Muller’s Holy Confidence

September 22, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Bema, Confidence, George Muller, Judgment Seat of Christ, rewards

If you are a grace believer—unlike many people in Christendom—you are not worried about being judged for your eternal salvation because Jesus settled that issue the moment you believed in Him for eternal salvation:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).

However, there is a matter of your standing in Messiah’s future kingdom, i.e. of the rewards, treasure, and inheritance it is possible to “lay up” there. “Am I living a rewardable life?” is a reasonable question for you to ask.

What does living in light of those future rewards look like? Here is a helpful quote about George Müller (1805-1898), and how the doctrine of rewards influenced how he lived his life (thanks to Bill Fiess for sharing):

He kept continually before him his stewardship of God’s property; and sought to make the most of the one brief life on earth, and to use for the best and largest good the property held by him in trust. The things of God were deep realities, and, projecting every action and decision and motive into the light of the judgment-seat of Christ, he asked himself how it would appear to him in the light of that tribunal. Thus he sought prayerfully and conscientiously so to live and labour, so to deny himself, and, by love, serve God and man, as that he should not be ashamed before Him at His coming. But not in a spirit of fear was this done; for if any man of his generation knew the perfect love that casts out fear, it was George Müller. He felt that God is love, and love is of God. He saw that love manifested in the greatest of gifts—His only-begotten Son: at Calvary he knew and believed the Love that God hath to us; he received it into his own heart; it became an abiding presence, manifested in obedience and benevolence, and, subduing him more and more, it became perfected so as to expel tormenting fear and impart a holy confidence and delight in God (Pierson, George Müller of Bristol, p. 299, emphasis added).

When Pierson says that Müller received the love of God in his heart, and it became an abiding presence in him, Bob worried some people might think that is the condition of salvation. I do not think that is what Pierson meant, or what his message communicates. But to clarify, Pierson is talking about how Müller grew in his relationship with God. We are called not only to believe in Jesus’s promise (John 3:16), but after, to abide in His love:

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love” (John 15:9).

Love begets love. And when you live your life out of love for God, expressed in love for your neighbors, as Müller did, you will certainly not be ashamed when the Lord comes.

Subscribe by Email

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
Shawn_L

by Shawn Lazar

Shawn Lazar (BTh, McGill; MA, VU Amsterdam) was the Editor of Grace in Focus magazine and Director of Publications for Grace Evangelical Society from May 2012 through June 2022. He and his wife Abby have three children. He has written several books including: Beyond Doubt: How to Be Sure of Your Salvation and Chosen to Serve: Why Divine Election Is to Service, Not to Eternal Life.

If you wish to ask a question about a given blog, email us your question at ges@faithalone.org.

Cart

Recently Added

June 9, 2023

Do Christians Get Crowns? Do Some Christians Really Get More Rewards Than Others? Is This What Peter Means to Say?

Welcome to Grace in Focus radio. Today, Bob Wilkin and Steve Elkins are answering a question from a listener about possible different levels of Christians...
June 9, 2023

Is Seventh-Day Adventism (SDA) a Cult? 

A friend at the conference said he was surprised to see that Dallas Theological Seminary had published an article by an SDA pastor in the...
June 8, 2023

How Can I Possibly Maintain Fellowship With God if My Sinning Breaks That Fellowship?

Welcome to Grace in Focus radio. Today, Bob Wilkin and Steve Elkins are responding to a question about intrusive thoughts, false guilt, sin, and what...

Grace in Focus Radio

All Episodes

Listen to Stitcher

Listen on Spotify

Grace In Focus Magazine

Grace In Focus is sent to subscribers in the United States free of charge.

Subscribe for Free

The primary source of Grace Evangelical Society's funding is through charitable contributions. GES uses all contributions and proceeds from the sales of our resources to further the gospel of grace in the United States and abroad.

Donate

Bookstore Specials

  • The Gospel Under Siege: Faith and Works in Tension $16.00 $10.00
  • Romans: Deliverance from Wrath $24.99 $15.00
  • Here Walks My Enemy: The Story of Luis (Paperback) $6.95 $3.00
  • A Gospel of Doubt: The Legacy of John MacArthur's The Gospel According to Jesus $22.00 $11.00
  • Here Walks My Enemy: The Story of Luis (Hardcover) $13.95 $5.00
Grace Evangelical Society

(940) 270-8827 / ges@faithalone.org

4851 S I-35E Suite 203, Corinth, TX 76210
P.O. Box 1308, Denton, TX 76202

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube