# A Brother Restored - Praise God!



## InSlaveryToChrist (Jan 19, 2014)

I was born again at the age of 15 and if I ever had a pure conscience, it was short-lived. Now, after 8 years of struggling with sin, God has given me the gift of full assurance. The change in me was so remarkable I couldn't believe my eyes! Neither could my family. This change has been so similar to my regeneration.

It was like yesterday I was a person who hardly ever read the Bible, used 70% of his days on playing games or watching anime/movies and used almost every opportunity to sexual immorality. He was known for caring ultimately for his physical appearance and his precious hobby, bodybuilding (all at the cost of his family's money and well-being). He lived like everyone was to serve him because nobody could understand his [minor] misfortunes in life.

When that day was over and it was time to go sleep, thoughts just started flowing through my head, conviction after conviction, I started to see and think differently about so many things. I think what most changed my thinking was when the Spirit opened to me an old sermon by John Piper on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 that I had poorly translated to finnish about 6-7 years ago (Wow! Time flies so fast!!!). The concluding message of the sermon was that we, Christians, though all things are allowed to us, should not let anything control us, but be the controllers of all things for the purpose of edifying others, ourselves (and ultimately glorifying God). This changed my whole idea of the "Christian liberty," that is so commonly abused by Christians to do whatsoever they please either because the thing enjoyed is good in itself or it is or can be of _some_ edification to others and ourselves. WHAT A LOAD OF EXCUSES! The question is what benefits us THE MOST! Almost any Christian would agree that the best thing for us in the whole universe is to know God in all His glory. But when the next question comes, "What steps, then, are you taking for that goal?", most would probably say something along these lines, "Well, I'll try to read the Bible everyday and enjoy all the things in life God has given me." NO!!! God is revealed to us through the Bible and that should make us treasure the Bible like nothing else on the planet! We should make every effort to read it, memorize it and meditate on it at all times! Why? BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY WAY WE WILL EVER INCREASE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD! Now, of course, we do this in utter dependence on the power of the Holy Spirit, and we should not neglect the greater manifestation of grace bestowed through this particular mean of grace (and other means of grace) on believers in the visible church of Christ. But the point is, all of the means of grace operate through Scripture.

So, this happy saint is now not only reading the Bible daily, you can hardly see him do anything else! When the reading is difficult (and most of the time it is), I wait upon the Lord and trust in His promises as I strive on reading in dependence on the Holy Spirit. I tell you, this is a life of contentment! I rejoice with the Apostle Paul, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord"! For so long I thought sexual immorality (I'm sorry if this inappropriate) was the number one best feeling and pleasure in the whole universe and superior to the joy of God (which is actually of a different nature than mere human pleasure or feeling, and can coexist with it)! I have learned to think otherwise. Indeed, that thing, however pleasurable, is but dung compared to knowing God in all that He is for you in Christ. From now on, working out that was merely for my pride, is fuel to my daily activities (yes, exercise does give you energy). I'm also very excited by the fact how quickly I learn new things and get deeper on the things of God.

Concerning my church issue, I'm confidently moving out from my parents to a pretty faraway city, where I found to be a Reformed Baptist church. Although I'm not a Baptist myself, and there are a lot of issues I have with the church (it's definition of "reformed" for one), it is the best I've managed to find in Finland. Before joining, I'm expecting myself to have read the first volume of James Bannerman's "Church of Christ, A Treatise on the Nature, Powers, Ordinances, Discipline and Government of the Christian Church".

So, to sum this all up in one word, 

GOD IS AMAZING! (Oops, that was 3! But there are three persons in the Trinity, so...)

*Edit: I noticed there is some misunderstanding on my part concerning this event in my life. For clarification, check my post in this recent thread.*


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## Free Christian (Jan 19, 2014)

Good on you Samuel. God sure is amazing. I pray God leads you in His truth always.


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## Miss Marple (Jan 19, 2014)

The joy of the Lord is your strength. I hope you find a good church home.


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## joejohnston3 (Jan 19, 2014)

We are so happy to hear of your salvation and peace...there is nothing like it! May God guide you to a wonderful church.


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## InSlaveryToChrist (Jan 20, 2014)

Thank you everyone!

One of the greatest things I seem to have totally forgot to mention was my increased love toward my family. I and my little sister have been in disagreement with our parents on key doctrines of the faith for a long time. It seems like our love toward each other has grown very cold and pretentious through those exchanges. Now, however, I'm starting to overcome the uneasiness of sharing doctrine with them (however controversial it might be) and I'm noticing an increase in my will to just talk about God in every way possible to my family. Also, I'm helping my family in their daily burdens (doing the dishes, walking the dog, and other things that may have unpleasurable elements in them) so they might praise our Father in heaven (Matt. 5:16). Indeed, what I learned about love on an experimental level was the truth that it does not regard self, because everytime I did something that is naturally unpleasurable to man, it did not feel like a burden whatsoever. Neither does the law of God feel like a burden anymore. It is all about perspective. One who does not regard self cannot possibly be burdened over self feeling displeasure, right? That was an eye-opener for me! And it made me appreciate the love of God in a more clear way also. God is essentially giving (good), but not only giving, He is self-giving (love)! And this is most clearly manifested in the sacrifice of Christ that actually was not a sacrifice (a burden) to Himself because He did it out of love to the Father and us!

I'm just speechless...


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## Cymro (Jan 20, 2014)

Thy statutes, Lord, are wonderful,
my soul them keeps with care.
The entrance of Thy words gives light,
makes who simple are.
What a lovely and gracious experience you have had.
To Him be all the praise and glory


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## Free Christian (Jan 20, 2014)

I heard a sermon on serving not long ago Samuel, don't know who it was as I just caught it as I was changing radio stations. It was an great sermon to listen to.
He said at one stage how some of his greatest memories in his life were the times he served others and the acts of charity he had performed. Not out of self pride like "look what I did" but spiritually from the humility of it and the lessons learnt in doing so. He spoke of how he and his wife took a little boy in who was dying and only had days to live. He lasted 8 months and the doctors could not understand how he did. The only reason they could give was the love and affection he was shown by those people. Jesus taught us to serve others and show charity in the very things He did Himself and when we do we are following His lead. As your doing. All the best Samuel.


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## InSlaveryToChrist (Jan 20, 2014)

Free Christian said:


> I heard a sermon on serving not long ago Samuel, don't know who it was as I just caught it as I was changing radio stations. It was an great sermon to listen to.
> He said at one stage how some of his greatest memories in his life were the times he served others and the acts of charity he had performed. Not out of self pride like "look what I did" but spiritually from the humility of it and the lessons learnt in doing so. He spoke of how he and his wife took a little boy in who was dying and only had days to live. He lasted 8 months and the doctors could not understand how he did. The only reason they could give was the love and affection he was shown by those people. Jesus taught us to serve others and show charity in the very things He did Himself and when we do we are following His lead. As your doing. All the best Samuel.



Thank you, Brett. It is the peace of selflessness that we experience in loving others. It is so easy to love because love requires nothing out of itself. On the other hand, loving is difficult to us because we still have our sinful desires (hidden for those of us who have a clear conscience) to take God's place and be praised, exalted and loved by others, when we should love them by not pleasing them, but God. If we only had the "great heaviness and continual sorrow" of Paul in our hearts for the danger in which people's souls are or may be, our self-regard would be greatly diminished. And you should add to that the fear/reverence of God also.


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## InSlaveryToChrist (Jan 21, 2014)

*I noticed there is some misunderstanding on my part concerning this event in my life. For clarification, check my post in this recent thread.*


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