Only The Anointed Can Set One Free

God Anoints His Son
To Free Everyone
Who Believes

Isaiah 45:9-13 NIV

“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
those who are nothing but potsherds
among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
‘The potter has no hands’?
Woe to the one who says to a father,
‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
‘What have you brought to birth?’

“This is what the Lord says—
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
do you question me about my children,
or give me orders about the work of my hands?
It is I who made the earth
and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
I marshaled their starry hosts.
I will raise up Cyrus [the Christ] in my righteousness:
I will make all his ways straight.
HE WILL REBUILD MY CITY
AND SET MY EXILES FREE,
BUT NOT FOR A PRICE OR REWARD,
says the Lord Almighty.”

The Son Is Sent From the Father
To Free Condemnation
Everyone Who Believes

John 8:12-20; 25-32 NIV

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

“You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

“Who are you?” they asked.

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”

They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
Dispute Over Whose Children Jesus’ Opponents Are

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. THEN YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.”

Just On The Fringes of Faith

The Supremacy of Jesus Christ

Taken on the whole from:
My Utmost For His Highest
By RBC Ministries

He will glorify Me . . . —John 16:14

The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.

The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!

Jesus said, “. . . when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, . . . He will glorify Me . . .” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who then begins interpreting to me what Jesus did. The Spirit of God does in me internally all that Jesus Christ did for me externally.

To read the original article click here.

It's Not How One Starts

Prologue

But how one finishes. Every man has inherited the fallen nature of Adam and Eve but one can choose to let God redeem him/her from it and its inevitable destiny - eternal death.

In Christ, one is made alive by God, which is eternal life.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22 NIV

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Romans 5:12 NIV

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

Jesus Forgives Mary Magdalene
Of Her Past Sins and Tells
Her to Sin No More

John 8:2-11 NIV

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Mary Magdalene Remains
Faithful Till the End

John 20:11-18 NIV

Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Faithfulness is a Two-Way Street

Prologue

Psalm 85:10-13 NIV

LOVE AND FAITHFULNESS MEET TOGETHER;
RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PEACE KISS EACH OTHER.
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
RIGHTEOUSNESS GOES BEFORE HIM
AND PREPARES THE WAY FOR HIS STEPS. 

All Israelites are Called
To the Faith and
Obedience

Deuteronomy 6:1-12,25 NIV

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

[verse 25] And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.” To read the whole of Chapter 6...click here.

Epilogue

The everlasting covenant separates the truly faithful from those false. Obedience to God's commands sanctifies the SAINTS from those just putting an act.

Stand By the Truth

Prologue

Stand by the truth and let God take care of the consequences. Trust God with the circumstances that will follow.

Being zealous for the honor of God results in good benefits in the long run. In contrast, compromising the truth only leads to more and deeper trouble down the road.

It's better to let God deal with man's problems than opening the door for the devil's work and produce more unrighteous works.

Numbers 25:1-12 NIV

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”

So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”

Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

The Lord said to Moses,  “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

N. B. The scripture passage does not promote killing people. The new covenant that came with Jesus has a whole different way of dealing with sin. God's way has all to do with all righteousness, which is only possible with Him.

Of Life God Is All

Prologue

There are only two kinds of man on earth - the righteous and the wicked. To be sure, God treats them in different manner.

Therefore, the entire circumstances or life experiences of both the righteous  and the wicked defines all there is to it in the world. God's will and purposes, his loves and hates, his blessings and curses and his judgments are the sum total of all there's to see, hear, observe, etc.

In other words, God is all in one's life - whether one put his/her trust in him or not. He is all over one's life through all things in one's lifetime.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. Psalm 1:6

Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Genesis 18:25

The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. Proverbs 3:33

To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes 2:26

God Defines One's Life

Deuteronomy 11:1-7
Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.

Continue Reading...verses 8-32 

The Ultimate Judgment

John 3:16-18 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM IS NOT CONDEMNED, BUT WHOEVER DOES NOT BELIEVE STANDS CONDEMNED ALREADY because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

N. B. All scriptures are taken from New International Version.

God Helps One's Unbelief

Prologue

The hardest part of redemption is the first step, which is believing. It's also the primary ticket of one's entry into the kingdom of heaven. God helps out in this regard!

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:24 NIV

God Invites Jacob
Into the Faith
Which Jacob Accepts 

Genesis 28:10-22 NIV 

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillarand poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

The Preacher Brings
For God
The Good News

Romans 10:5-15 NIV

Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”(that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU; IT IS IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART,” that is, THE MESSAGE CONCERNING FAITH THAT WE PROCLAIM: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Continue Reading...verses 16-21

Life Is Not All Common Sense

Prologue 

Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while ANYONE WHO HATES THEIR LIFE IN THIS WORLD WILL KEEP IT FOR ETERNAL LIFE. John 12:25 NIV

Rules for Eating Is Just

As Important as the Bread

Exodus 16:6-20 NIV

So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lordwho brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”

Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”

While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.

The Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”

The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

Continue Reading...verses 21-36 

Epilogue

Obedience [to the Lord our God's commands and rules] is essential to one's overall well-being as the nutritious food he/she eats, clothing he/she wears and shelter he/she has, which God also provides.

Neither one nor the other is complete for anyone to live in this sin-infested world unaffected.

God has a good plan for everyone; and he has the complete resources to give those who believe in order to accomplish that plan. 

The Covenant is the Law

Prologue

Everyone makes his/her rules, written or unwritten, to live by. This to make one wiser to cope with ordinary as well as the deeper things in life's experiences. This is true at least for reasonable and entirely healthy people.

But the Scripture presents a better plan, at least to the author, for it deals with the primary cause of man's inability to live a meaningful, accomplished, trouble-free and joyful life.

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. Psalm 119:18, 165 NIV

Moses a Type of Christ
Brings Before the People
The Covenant Law

Exodus 32:7-16 NIV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt,have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

MOSES turned and went down the mountain WITH THE TWO TABLETS OF THE COVENANT LAW.They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God; THE WRITING WAS THE WRITING OF GOD, engraved on the tablets.

Jesus Sees the Lies in
The Heart of Man

Matthew 19:16-25 NIV

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

The Supernatural Bleeds into the Converted Man

Still Human!

Taken entirely from:
My Utmost For His Highest
By RBC Ministries

. . . whatever you do, do all to the glory of God —1 Corinthians 10:31

In the Scriptures, the great miracle of the incarnation slips into the ordinary life of a child; the great miracle of the transfiguration fades into the demon-possessed valley below; the glory of the resurrection descends into a breakfast on the seashore. This is not an anticlimax, but a great revelation of God.

We have a tendency to look for wonder in our experience, and we mistake heroic actions for real heroes. It’s one thing to go through a crisis grandly, yet quite another to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, and no one paying even the remotest attention to us. If we are not looking for halos, we at least want something that will make people say, “What a wonderful man of prayer he is!” or, “What a great woman of devotion she is!” If you are properly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the lofty height where no one would ever notice you personally. All that is noticed is the power of God coming through you all the time.

We want to be able to say, “Oh, I have had a wonderful call from God!” But to do even the most humbling tasks to the glory of God takes the Almighty God Incarnate working in us. To be utterly unnoticeable requires God’s Spirit in us making us absolutely humanly His. The true test of a saint’s life is not successfulness but faithfulness on the human level of life. We tend to set up success in Christian work as our purpose, but our purpose should be to display the glory of God in human life, to live a life “hidden with Christ in God” in our everyday human conditions (Colossians 3:3). Our human relationships are the very conditions in which the ideal life of God should be exhibited.

To read the original article click here: Still Human!

Fear Is of Lesser Faith

Prologue

Not a few fears stalk people. Many get waylaid in life, troubles and failures render their lives unfruitful and many get by only with unfulfilled hopes.

Worse, their salvation hangs in the balance.

God eyes them with pity for their unbelief and longs for them to turn to him.

Fear Stalls Israelites' Journey
Provokes God's Anger

Numbers 13:17-25 NIV

When Moses sent them [12 men] to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai,the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.

Continue Reading...Numbers 13:25-14:12 NIV

God Tells Everyone
To Trust Him Entirely

Matthew 6:25-34 NIV

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Related Article: Discovering Divine Design

Silence Is A Lie

Prologue

One who speaks the truth is to warn of judgment. Knowing the truth one must speak, otherwise with his silence he lies and sin against the Lord

And to lie is death as one gives account to God eventually.

God Warns the Preacher
To Speak the Truth
To Warn the People 

Ezekiel 33:1-9 NIV

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’

 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I WILL HOLD YOU (PREACHER) ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR BLOOD. But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.

God Tells the Sinners
To Turn From Their
Evil Ways and Live

Ezekiel 33:10-16 NIV

“Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I TAKE NO PLEASURE IN THE DEATH OF THE WICKED, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. TURN! TURN FROM YOUR EVIL WAYS! Why will you die, people of Israel?’

“Therefore, son of man, say to your people, ‘If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person’s former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous.’ If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done. And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right—if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live.

God Says His Ways are Just
And the People's Ways Unjust

Ezekiel 33:17-20 N

“Yet your people say, ‘THE WAY OF THE LORD IS UNJUST.’ BUT IT IS THEIR WAY THAT IS NOT JUST. If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, they will die for it. And if a wicked person turns away from their wickedness and does what is just and right, they will live by doing so. Yet you Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to your own ways.”

Only Pleasant Things

Prologue

Most people would rather hear only pleasant things than the truth. Because of this natural need preachers see the opportunity to deceive. They only preach of the love, faithfulness and the numerous blessings that God gives to his children. And preaching of the covenant is laid aside.

False Believers Wants to Hear
Only Pleasant Things and
Prophecy Illusions

Isaiah 30:8-14 NIV

Go now, write it on a tablet for them,
inscribe it on a scroll,
that for the days to come
it may be an everlasting witness.
For these are rebellious people, deceitful children,
children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
THEY SAY TO THE SEERS (PREACHERS)
“SEE NO MORE VISIONS”
AND TO THE PROPHETS, "GIVE US NO MORE VISIONS OF WHAT IS RIGHT!
TELL US PLEASANT THINGS, PROPHESY ILLUSIONS.
LEAVE THIS WAY, GET OFF THIS PATH,
and STOP CONFRONTING US WITH THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL."

Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“Because you have rejected this message,
relied on oppression
and depended on deceit,
this sin will become for you
like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
It will break in pieces like pottery,
shattered so mercilessly
that among its pieces not a fragment will be found
for taking coals from a hearth
or scooping water out of a cistern.”

The Israelites Refused to Hear
The Truth and Killed Stephen

Acts 7:54-60 NIV

When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

At this THEY COVERED THEIR EARS and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him,  dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

God's Mercy in a Calamity

Prologue

In any calamity we have seen, far more numerous are the survivors than the dead. This is unlike what happened when God unleashed his wrath in the flood.

Let everyone meditate on this truth.

God's Patience is Mercy

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Romans 2:4 NIV

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. INSTEAD HE IS PATIENT WITH YOU, NOT WANTING ANYONE TO PERISH, BUT EVERYONE TO COME TO REPENTANCE not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8:9 NIV

Three Ingredients of God's Judgment

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—JUSTICE, MERCY AND FAITHFULNESS. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Matthew 23:23-24 NIV

Epilogue

God is sovereign over his creation, including all humankind. Each one is accountable to Him. To be sure, his love is paramount. His justice expresses this love. And his faithfulness to them is absolute.

On man, too, rests to abide to these truths: Love or mercy, justice or righteousness and faithfulness.

This is the everlasting covenant between God and man.

A Disciple's Word Has Authority

Prologue

Genesis 3:21-24 NIV

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and A FLAMING SWORD flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

"...for the Amalekites and the Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, he will not be with you and you will FALL BY THE SWORD.” Numbers 14:43 NIV

By His Word God
Executes Judgment
On Israel

Ezekiel 11:7-12 NIV

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: The bodies you have thrown there are the meat and this city is the pot, but I will drive you out of it. YOU FEAR THE SWORD, AND THE SWORD IS WHAT I WILL BRING AGAINST YOU, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will drive you out of the city and deliver you into the hands of foreigners and inflict punishment on you. You will fall by the sword, and I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.

A Disciple's Word
Carries the Lord's
Authority

Matthew 10:9-15 NIV

“Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. IF THE HOME (PERSON) IS DESERVING, LET YOUR PEACE REST ON IT; IF IT IS NOT, LET YOUR PEACE RETURN TO YOU. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Epilogue

In the old covenant as well as in the new the LORD'S WORD IS AUTHORITY. Through his disciples He sent word to every person who cares to listen. 

The disciples said, "See, Lord, here are two swords.'” “That’s enough!'” he replied. Luke 22:38 NIV

Death Brings Immediate Judgment

Prologue

Death, to many, brings the unknown. Will there be an afterlife? Of what kind?

Certainly the Scripture has the answer.

"And as IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MEN ONCE TO DIE, BUT AFTER THIS JUDGMENT..." Hebrews 9:27 Authorized Version (AKJV)

God Commands the Wind, Rain,
Thunder, Lighting to Do
His Purposes

Job 37:1-13 NIV

“At this my heart pounds
and leaps from its place.
Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven
and sends it to the ends of the earth.
After that comes the sound of his roar;
he thunders with his majestic voice.
When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back.
God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.
He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’
and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’
So that everyone he has made may know his work,
he stops all people from their labor.
The animals take cover;
they remain in their dens.
The tempest comes out from its chamber,
the cold from the driving winds.
The breath of God produces ice,

and the broad waters become frozen.
He loads the clouds with moisture;
he scatters his lightning through them.
At his direction they swirl around
over the face of the whole earth
to do whatever he commands them.
HE BRINGS THE CLOUDS TO PUNISH PEOPLE
OR TO WATER HIS EARTH AND SHOW HIS LOVE.

Jesus Calms the Storm

Matthew 8:23-27 NIV

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Epilogue

Certainly, God controls everything in His Creation. First Samuel 2:6, ESV says, "the Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol (grave) and raises up." Another says, God is righteous in his judgments. (2 Thessalonians 1:5; Psalm 9:4, 36:6)

When death comes to anyone, judgment has already been determined. For God knows the end from the beginning.

These are sobering truths. So, while living one must take to heart what the prophet John says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM IS NOT CONDEMNED, BUT WHOEVER DOES NOT BELIEVE STANDS CONDEMNED ALREADY because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16-18 NIV

Or, what John says in Revelation 2:23, "I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds." (NIV)

Related Article: Only One Life of Reprieve

Saints Can't Be On Their Own

Fellowship in the Gospel

Taken in toto from My Utmost For His Highest
By RBC Ministries

. . . fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ . . . —1 Thessalonians 3:2

After sanctification, it is difficult to state what your purpose in life is, because God has moved you into His purpose through the Holy Spirit. He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself, thinking, “God has called me for this and for that,” you barricade God from using you. As long as you maintain your own personal interests and ambitions, you cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests. This can only be accomplished by giving up all of your personal plans once and for all, and by allowing God to take you directly into His purpose for the world. Your understanding of your ways must also be surrendered, because they are now the ways of the Lord.

I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. I should never say, “Lord, this causes me such heartache.” To talk that way makes me a stumbling block. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. Doing this creates for me my own cozy “world within the world,” and God will not be allowed to move me from it because of my fear of being “frost-bitten.”

For the original article click here.

Only Hundreds of Saints?

Prologue

Between the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and Eastern Orthodox Church (EOC) only hundreds are canonized, i.e., recognized, as saints.

Therefore, if we are to appreciate the correct biblical meaning of the word saint, according to RCC and EOC only hundreds will be redeemed or saved from hundreds of million of believers.

The Scripture will not agree. For modern churches obviously misunderstand the term saint. (Incidentally, not a few false beliefs proceed from this false understanding. One example is the requirement that we pray or revere or even worship saints like Paul, John, Peter, Virgin Mary, et al.)

Recall that I termed all believers - true or false, past, present and future - ISRAELITES.

I will introduce another term: SAINT, which means TRUE BELIEVERS.

"When any of you has a legal dispute with another, does he dare go to court before the unrighteous rather than before the SAINTS? Or do you not know that the SAINTS will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent to settle trivial suits? 1 Corinthians 6:1-2 NET


"...when he comes to be glorified among his SAINTS and admired on that day among all who have believed—and you did in fact believe our testimony." 2 Thessalonians 2:10 NET

God is Keeping Thousands and Thousands
Of Saints in the Old and New Covenants

Romans 11:1-5 NET

So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!” But what was the divine response to him? “I have kept for myself SEVEN THOUSAND PEOPLE (old covenant remnant) who have not bent the knee to Baal.”

So in the same way AT THE PRESENT TIME THERE IS A REMNANT (new covenant) chosen by grace.

Old Covenant Saints

Revelation 7:1-4 NIV

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

New Covenant Saints

Revelation 7:9-14 NIV

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures.They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”

Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

For context read the whole chapter of Revelation 7

So It Seems the Preacher Is Telling the Truth

Prologue

I heard so many modern preachers and teachers tell the "truth" but they are also after the money.
In short, they are profiting greatly from their preaching. To be sure, their preaching can deceive.

Beware. "By their fruits you shall know them." Matthew 7:16 ASV

"...forsaking the right way, they went astray, HAVING FOLLOWED THE WAY OF BALAAM the son of Beor, WHO LOVED THE HIRE [WAGES] OF WRONG-DOING; but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with man's voice and stayed the madness of the prophet." 2 Peter 2:15-16 ASV

"But I have a few things against thee, because THOU HAST THERE SOME THAT HOLD THE TEACHING OF BALAAM, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication." Revelation 2:14 ASV

Balaam Tells the Truth
But Also Thinking of the
Silver and Gold

Numbers 22:1-20 ASV
And the children of Israel journeyed, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho.

And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.

And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now will this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.

And he sent messengers unto Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me.

Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land; for I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.

And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.

And he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as Jehovah shall speak unto me: and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam.

And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee?

And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying,

Behold, the people that is come out of Egypt, it covereth the face of the earth: now, come curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out.

And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people; for they are blessed.

And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you into your land; for Jehovah refuseth to give me leave to go with you.

And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us.

And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honorable than they.

And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me:

for I will promote thee unto very great honor, and whatsoever thou sayest unto me I will do: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.

And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of Jehovah my God, to do less or more.

Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what Jehovah will speak unto me more.

And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men are come to call thee, rise up, go with them; but only the word which I speak unto thee, that shalt thou do.

Continue Reading...Numbers 22:21-24:25 

Can One Waste His Youth?

Old Age Handicapped
King Solomon Greatly
After Wasting His Youth

Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 ESV

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

Solomon Counsels On the Wisdom
Of Fearing God and
Keeping His Commandments

Ecclesiastes 12:9-13 ESV

Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, FOR THIS IS THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Only One Life Of Reprieve

Prologue

Two men . Two sinners. Common for both is imminent death. Just one life for each. A life of reprieve. ONLY ONE CHANCE. JUDGEMENT IS SEALED WITH THEIR DEATH. 

Everyone is no different. One has only the present life to make good or bad of his/her chance for life eternal.

Luke 23:39-43 ESV

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

The two criminals have contrasting fates. Jesus settled it here on earth. No ifs or buts. Both are to be held accountable for their deeds. A pardon for one and inferred guilt and condemnation for the other. 

Jesus Came to Fulfill
The Law As a Model
For Righteousness
For Every Man

Matthew 5:1-12 ESV

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Continue Reading verses 13-48

So It Seems An Ordinary Day

Prologue

When God is into one's life, nothing is ordinary; nothing is secular. Everything, the person and his resources, are sacred. God's holiness brings to bear on everyone's daily circumstances. He blesses the righteous and brings curses to the unrighteous.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12)

God Calls on the Israelites (1)
To Live By His Words
As Light to their Path
A Lamp to their Feet

Nehemiah 9:9-21 ESV

“And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters. By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

“But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. Continue Reading...verses 22-38

God in the Person of Christ
As in the Old Testament
As it is Today
Calls on Everyone to be Holy

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 ESV 

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. WE MUST NOT PUT CHRIST TO THE TEST, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,  nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.  Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction,on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

N.B.

(1) The word Israelites refers both to true and false believers in all generations, past, present and future. It excludes outright unbelievers, which is a class by itself.

Salvation Has Past, Present and Future

Prologue

One's redemption from sin has a foundation from the past, in the present and in the future. All are connected with Christ, who was sent by God, precisely for the redemption of everyone who believes.

...therefore thus says the Lord God,“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ Isaiah 28:16 ESV

In The Past
God Promises
One's Salvation

Deuteronomy 30:1-10 ESV

“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.  Continue Reading...verses 11-20 

In the Present The Spirit of God
Gives Power And Grace to Those
Who Truly Believe

John 14:15-31 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit,whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you,‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

In The Future
God Comes Down From
Heaven To Dwell With Man

Revelation 21:1-8 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Continue Reading...verses 9-27

Epilogue

Everyone is captive of sin. It's the reason we cannot do everything right. This is our past. God frees us by giving us a new heart and spirit. We are born again of God at the instant we believe.

To keep our slate clean in the present, God gives us the Holy Spirit, who reminds us of what Christ has done and how God the Father loved us first. And the Spirit instructs us through the word of our obligation and duty to the Son and to the Father. He leads and guides us through the path of righteousness.

Giving us faith, hope and love is the way God leads and assures us of our future, which is regaining eternal life in paradise.

God is the past, present and future of our redemption.

False Believers Live by Different Standards

Prologue

Jesus testifies, "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, YET YOU REFUSE TO COME TO ME TO HAVE LIFE. John 5:39-40 NIV

Israelites Got Religion
Rituals and Customs
But No Christ

Matthew 23:1-12 NIV

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.  And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Israelites Live Through
False Beliefs

Matthew 23:13-39 NIV

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

N.B. The term Israelites that we have been using all along in all our writings, refers to all believers, false or true; ancient or modern. To be sure, it is the correct meaning that the Scripture wants to convey.

Related Article: A Bondservant of Jesus

We Choose our Lord and King

Obedience or Independence?

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:12-13 NIV

Article taken in the whole from:
My Utmost For The Highest
By RBC Ministries

If you love Me, keep My commandments —John 14:15

Our Lord never insists on obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “If,” meaning, “You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so.” “Ifanyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .” (Luke 9:23). In other words, “To be My disciple, let him give up his right to himself to Me.” Our Lord is not talking about our eternal position, but about our being of value to Him in this life here and now. That is why He sounds so stern (see Luke 14:26). Never try to make sense from these words by separating them from the One who spoke them.

The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When God’s redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces. If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.

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Destined For Destruction

Prologue

Two witnesses - the Old and New Testaments - testify to the destiny of those under God's wrath. Eternal fire will destroy them.

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “YET I HAVE LOVED JACOB (Israel), BUT ESAU (Non-Israel) I HAVE HATED, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

Jacob will be a fire and Joseph a flame;
ESAU WILL BE STUBBLE,
AND THEY WILL SET HIM ON FIRE AND DESTROY HIM.
THERE WILL BE NO SURVIVORS FROM ESAU.”
THE LORD HAS SPOKEN. Obadiah 1:18 NIV

But the day Lot left Sodom, FIRE AND SULFUR RAINED DOWN FROM HEAVEN AND DESTROYED THEM ALL. Luke 17:29 NIV

What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—PREPARED FOR DESTRUCTION? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—Romans 9:22-23 NIV

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, INTO THE ETERNAL FIRE PREPARED FOR THE DEVILS AND HIS ANGELS. Matthew 25:41 NIV

Judged and Resurrected
All Unrighteous Dead
Together with Satan and his Demons
Destroyed by Eternal Fire

Revelation 20:7-15 NIV

Satan and False Prophet (Babylon)

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle.In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur,where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The Judgment of the Dead

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.