Archive for the ‘Election’ Category
God’s Valentine
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,”
1 John 3: 1
Do you know this love? What a gift this is that God has given to His people. For the verse, quoted above, continues this way:
“that we should be called children of God!“
They who belong to God are His children. Would you not like to be a child of God?
When we were not seeking God, He was seeking us and He found us. When we could not come to Christ on our own, God drew us to Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. When we were not willing to come to Jesus, the Father worked in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
When our heart was cold and not able to believe the Word that we heard, God removed that cold dead heart and provided us with a new heart; a warm living heart that was able to receive the things of the Spirit of God, so that we would understand our sinfulness and our need for a Savior.
When we were dead in our sins and unable to respond to the call to “come forth”, God made us alive and broke the chains that bound us. He then set us free from being a slave to Satan and from being a slave to our sins so that we could “come forth” and cry out to Jesus to “save me or I shall perish.”
The work of salvation is all of God. He seeks us, we do not seek Him. He draws us when we do not want Him. He makes us alive when we are dead. He sets us free as we are chained. He gives us a new heart as we have a heart of stone. He makes us willing when our will is not free. He places within us the Word of life when we are devoid of ability. He receives us as we call out to Jesus to save us.
Truly it is a wonderful thing to know what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. He has done so because we are His children. He has known us since the beginning of time. He keeps us safe until it is our time to join His family. He then calls us to come to Him when the time is right and He gives us the ability to respond according to His will.
We all love Valentine’s day as it is a day of love. We give our loved ones gifts from our heart to show our love for them. How much more does our Father love us? When we are saved and forgiven for our sins, when we know how the work of salvation is all of God, when we realize that we are called children of God, how much more can we praise our Father for His love for us than by saying:
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God!”
No greater Valentine can be received than the love which the Father has given to us so that we can be called the children of God. How about you? Can you make that claim? Only if you have submitted to the Lordship of Jesus and have believed on Him to be your Savior can you be called a child of God. There is no other Name given among men by which we can be saved. There is no other way that we can receive the gift of God’s love; God’s Valentine.
This Is Christmas
It is not about a Nativity scene. It is not about Shepherds. It is not about Angels on high. It is not even about three Wise Men. If it isn’t about any of these things, then what is Christmas all about?
The answer is quite easy…
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth… (John 1: 1, 14)
Christmas can be celebrated anytime of the year. The day doesn’t mean anything. What is important is what happened. For what happened is that God became a man. He lowered Himself from His glorious throne to become one of us. He did so to talk to us on our level and, as man, His name is Jesus.
The reason He came down to us is very simple.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners… (1 Timothy 1:15)
Are you a sinner? Then He came to save you. That is what Christmas is all about. All you have to do is to bow before Him, admit you sinfulness, ask for forgiveness and submit to Him as Lord of your life and He will be your Savior. It’s that easy.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14: 6)
There is no other way. God became man. We call this man Jesus, and Jesus came into this world to save sinners. That is what Christmas is all about.
To celebrate Christmas is to celebrate life, eternal life and forgiveness of sins, given because God became man to save sinners from their sins. The question for you is this. Will you join in on this celebration and have peace with God, or will you reject Him and face the penalty for your sins?
My prayer for you is that you will be among the many who will come to know what it is to have peace with God, and who will know the true meaning of, and be able to wish us all, a very “Merry Christmas”… 🙂
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Must You Die In Your Sins?
In the Gospel of John Jesus makes a very simple, but life saving, comment. If you read it, think about it and just dwell upon what Jesus said it will make you face your eternal destiny, and will give you a quick insight as to whether you will go to Heaven or Hell.
In chapter 8 of John Jesus is talking to some Pharisees. They had been accusing Him of falsely bragging about Himself and they wanted to know who He was and Who His Father was. To answer them He said:
“You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
Simply put, Jesus basically told them that the only thing that can be done to keep them from dying in their sins and being condemned to Hell was to just believe that He is God. Now, unless you know the Bible and unless you are a Christian you will not understand this nor see where it is that Jesus said that.
What He said was:
“if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
So you are saying to yourself, “believe that Jesus is what?” That is the secret that only God can reveal to you, but I’ll give you a clue as to what Jesus is saying with this.
In this same chapter the Pharisees and Jesus were talking about Abraham and the following conversation ensued:
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
57 Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Now when Jesus said this the Jews took up stones to throw at Him in hopes of killing Him. Now why would they do that? Well, here’s another hint.
In Exodus 3, at the Burning Bush Moses is talking with God. Then, when God tells Moses that he is to go to the Jews in Egypt and bring out the children of Israel we read the following:
13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’
Moses is to tell the children of Israel that the great “I AM” has sent him, meaning that it was God Himself that told Moses to do this. So now you should see why Jesus said:
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”
The reason that the Pharisees took up stones to throw at Him is that Jesus was proclaiming that He was God. And that is why Jesus said, “for if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”
And the same goes for you. Unless you believe that Jesus is God and bow before Him and submit to His Lordship over you, you will die in your sins. It’s that simple. There is no other way. If you deny Jesus, He will deny you.
This is why God tells us in Acts 4:12:
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
So, why die in your sins? You cannot earn your way to Heaven, you cannot will your way into Heaven and you cannot work your way into Heaven. The only way you can get there is by believing that Jesus is God, and you will easily show your belief by submitting to Him as Lord of your life.
The simple Gospel message is this… Believe and be saved… Why die in your sins? Just believe in Jesus and you will spend eternity in Heaven. It’s that easy. It’s that simple.
Just believe!
Do You Know The Father?
Do you really know and love the Father?
You say that you are a Christian and you follow Jesus. You go to church and maybe even sing in the choir or teach a Sunday School class. You say grace over meals and read the Bible on occasion, but how well do you really know the Father? Maybe you don’t know Him that well and that He is Someone out there somewhere and you feel that just talking with Jesus is enough.
However, if you don’t know the Father, it may be an indication that you may not be a true born-again Christian after all. You see, it takes the Father to bring you to Jesus and it takes Jesus to reveal the Father to you. If you are born-again you will know the Father because Jesus will reveal Him to you, and only Jesus can do that.
In Matthew 11:27 (as well as in Luke 10:22) we read the following:
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Once you have been born again, once you have submitted to Jesus as Lord of your life, Jesus will reveal the Father to you. You cannot, and will not, know the Father unless Jesus reveals Him to you and you must be born-again in order for that to happen. Think about that for a moment. If Jesus chooses to reveal the Father to you it is because the Father has brought you to Jesus to be saved.
In John 6:44 we read the following:
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;”
Then, in John 6:37 Jesus says this:
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
First the Father draws you to Jesus and, if you are drawn, you will come to Jesus; Jesus said so. But look at what else Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;”. Before the Father draws you, you will not, of your own free will come to Jesus. Not only that but you cannot come to Jesus. It takes the Father choosing to draw you before you can come to Jesus and, when drawn, you will come to Jesus to be saved.
You see, first it takes the Father to bring you to Jesus, and then Jesus in turn reveals the Father to you, so that you will know the one who has done this for you. For, if the Father does not bring someone to Christ first they will never be saved, they will never be forgiven for their sins, they will never experience the new birth and they will not spend eternity in Heaven.
The Father chooses you, He brings you to Jesus, He makes you alive in the spirit so that you will see Jesus and so come to Him for salvation and, in return, Jesus reveals the Father to you so that you will know who to worship and whom to give thanks for your salvation. If you truly know the Father you will have a desire to talk with Him, to seek guidance from Him, to cast your cares upon Him, to love Him in a way that you could never love anyone else.
You will know and experience His love, a love that cannot be surpassed, an everlasting love that will care for you, guide you, seek out the best for you and for His glory. You will seek Him in the morning and say goodnight to Him as the last thing you do at night. He will constantly be with you and make His presence known when you drift from Him, and He senses your distance, and He will lovingly bring you back to His arms and give you the feeling of peace when you least expect that you need it.
Jesus reveals the Father to those who are being saved so that they will know the One Who has done all of this for you. Your salvation begins with the Father and the keeping of your salvation ends with the Father. No one can take you out of His hands. If they could, they would be more of a god than God Himself, and there is no one who can do that.
The fact that you know the Father is evidence of your salvation. If you sense that you really don’t know Him, this would give rise to the possibility that maybe you are not saved at all, and that you are just a Christian in name only. Remember, Jesus did say in Matthew 7:21:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”
What is the will of the Father? That everyone He draws to Jesus will come and be saved, and then Jesus reveals the Father to us so that we can thank Him and worship Him for what He has done for us and for Who He is.
“Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
Do you know the Father? Do you love Him? Do you really? How often do you pray? How often do you read the Bible? How often do you take some time and just talk with Him; to share your joys, sorrows, thoughts and concerns? How well do you know Jesus? You cannot say that you know Jesus and not know the Father; for Jesus will reveal Him to you.
So, let me ask you one last time. Do you know the Father?
How Were You Saved?
Who gets the credit for your salvation? When you answer that question then you will know the answer to “How Were You Saved?”
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We know that no one can come to Jesus unless drawn by the Father, and that it is by His grace that we are saved. However, we argue over how man receives this grace.
One man says that even though God, by His grace, draws us to Jesus, we must still choose, by our own “free” will, to accept or reject Jesus as our Savior.
Another man says that God saves us by making us willing to receive Jesus, and that we do not have the power nor ability to make this decision for ourselves; that is, of our own “free” will.
The first man says that man is to determine whether or not he is to be saved. Thus he can say, “I know that it was by God’s grace that I was saved but, I had to choose whether or not I wanted to be saved. After all, I could have rejected Jesus, and I would have been condemned if I had done so, but I chose to trust Jesus instead. God didn’t save me until I accepted Jesus as my Savior. Besides, God won’t make me do anything against my will. He won’t do anything until I give in.”
Now the second man says that he was saved because it was by God’s will and not his that he was saved. He says, “When I was dead in my sins I did not see my need for a Savior. I did not see myself as a sinner, so there was no need for me to be willing to be saved. However, God gave me ears to hear His word, and He took away my heart of stone and gave me a new heart, a soft heart, where His word would take deep root and grow into understanding so that I would believe in Jesus.
Then He placed within me a new spirit, His Spirit, to free me from bondage to Satan and to make me alive so that I could respond to His calling. When these things happened I saw myself as the detestable sinner I was, and I was filled with a great sorrow. I knew I was destined for Hell.
Finally, I understood why Jesus died for me, to set me from sin. He saved me from God’s wrath, and that if it had not been for God’s divine influence in me, to show me all these things, I would never, of my own “free” will, have believed in Jesus. Whereas, I had been unwilling, God came in and made me willing. I had no choice because where I once was a slave to Satan, and unwilling to be saved, I was now a child of God and willing only to obey Him. It was by God’s will that I was born again, not mine.
Now, who gets the credit for your salvation?
In the case of the first man, man gets the glory because, in effect, he saved himself. His salvation came to him because of “his” actions. This is salvation by grace “plus works”, man’s works, because of his actions, for he (man) can say that he contributed to his salvation.
In the second man, God gets the glory for man was saved because of what “God” did. It is God who “wills” for man. It is by the faith that is given to him that he believes. It is God who gives an understanding to man. It is God who gives faith to man. Salvation in man is all of God. Man does not tell God what man will do.
So, who gets the credit for you salvation? When you answer that question truthfully, then you will know how you were saved. I pray that it was by God’s will and not yours…
For further study:
John 6:37, 39, 40, 44, 45, 65… Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23… Mark 4:3-9, 11-12, 13-20… Luke 8:5-8, 10-15… Jeremiah 31:31-34… Ezekiel 36:21-28, 31, 32…
Does God Ever Get the Blues?
First published as a short article (written by me) back in the “80’s”…..
The roots of the blues, like gospel music, grow deep into the past of mankind’s sorrows and salvation. Both come out of everyday experiences that we encounter on our way through life, allowing us to sing about what is either troubling us or giving us joy.
Sometimes we can find both wound together through urgings that pulls from deep within us, and only in song can we express our true feelings. This is when gospel and blues become one in words that are truly an expression of man’s turmoil in his bout with coming to terms with God.
Gospel music is about living once we have submitted to Jesus as Lord of our life. It’s not a perfect life, but when trouble occurs we look to a different source for help; a source apart from us, and that source is God. When we try to solve these problems, apart from God, what you would have would be the “Gospel Blues”.
The Law of Moses, better known as the “Ten Commandments”, was given by God to point out sin in man. With sin, man experiences a myriad of emotions that is summed up in one word, “blues”. Because of sin in this world, we experience all of the effects that it causes; miss-guided love, sadness, depression, anger, fear, jealousy, dejection, selfishness, lust, etc.
What is it that we sing about in the blues? The blues are about life, real life that you and I live each day. Nothing is as close to expressing what our true feelings are more than the “blues”.
Now God knew you before you were born, and the reason He made you was so you could have fellowship with Him. But, you can’t. You see, you have sin in your life, sin that comes from the seed of man. This sin has separated you from God and, spiritually, you are dead to what God wants for you. And, in this condition, you cannot have any friendship with God. You cannot even experience God’s love.
You are not a sinner because you sin, no; you sin because you are a sinner. You were born that way. You were born of the seed of man, which is contaminated with sin, and you cannot do anything about it. However, God can, and did. He sent His Son to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and that is to pay the penalty for sin in our life.
When Jesus walked on this earth He preached more about Hell than He did about Heaven. You see, He knew that each one of us was destined for Hell because of our sinful nature, our wanting to do things our way and not His. God hates sin, and more so.
In a dreadful statement, David, in Psalm 5: 1 – 6 tells us:
Give ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my meditation.
Give heed to the voice of my cry,
My King and my God,
For to You I will pray.
My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.
For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness,
Nor shall evil dwell with You.
The boastful shall not stand in Your sight;
You hate all workers of iniquity.
You shall destroy those who speak falsehood;
The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
That is a terrible thing to know about God! He will punish the person living in disobedience to Him. But God, in His mercy and greatness, knowing that we cannot save ourselves has provided a way of salvation. And that way is Jesus.
Jesus died for sins to satisfy His Father’s demand that sin be paid for. Also, He arose from the grave to conquer death and to give us eternal life. So that even though we may die physically in this life, in the life to come, we can have eternal life with Him, in Heaven.
Since God made us for Him, and since He made a way for us to be with Him, and since His love is so great, how do you think He feels when we won’t come to Him? God can experience every emotion you can, and has. If you can have a feeling called the blues, don’t you think He can?
There is nothing, in this life that you can think of, which has caused you pains that God has not already experienced. He knows how you feel. If you come to Him with all that you have, with every bit of baggage that you are carrying around and weighing you down, He will gather you to Him, forgive you for your sins and love you with an everlasting love.
That love, however, can only be experienced through Jesus. In the Gospel of John, chapter 14 and in verses 21 and 23 Jesus tells us that if we love Him and obey Him, He will love us and the Father will love us. He will reveal Himself to us and He, and the Father, will come to live with us.
He doesn’t promise to take away your problems, but He will guide you and show you how to overcome them, if you will just put yourself in His hands and surrender yourself to Him. How do you do that? How do you submit to God and receive forgiveness for your sins? What is that you can say? Simply this.
The word is in your heart and in your mouth, that is the word of faith that we proclaiming: “That if you confess 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 confess and are saved.” Romans 10: 9, 10
Won’t you do that right now? There’s nothing fancy in talking with God. Just tell Him how you feel, that you want forgiveness for your sins and for having lived life your way, and not His. That you are willing to submit to Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, and that you want to know and experience God’s love.
You can experience the love of God. You can know Jesus and have Him come into your life and love you. You can be filled with an everlasting joy; a heavenly joy filled with a love that only God can give. With God’s love in your life, and with you living a life submitted to serving Jesus you will never have to wonder, when God looks at you , does God ever get the blues?
When the sun sets at the end of your life, the ultimate blues experience will be one of not going to Heaven to spend eternity with Jesus. I pray that is one blues experience you will never have.
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Glenn is an Evangelical rooted in the Reformed Faith…
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What Defines A Christian?
From an early age, I was a very religious person. I attended Church twice on Sunday. I went to Sunday School and in the Summer I was a teacher in Vacation Bible School. I was the President of our Church’s youth group. At one time I was the youngest Acolyte in the diocese of Maryland. All of this, and more, while still a child.
However, I was not a Christian.
Like so many people today, who call themselves Christians, I was involved in all kinds of church activities and enjoyed them all. Yet, when away from church I was a completely different person. I definitely was not “Christ” like.
What is a Christian? What is the difference in being a religious person and in being a Christian? What is it that defines a Christian?
If you ask the average Christian today to describe what makes one a Christian, you would almost always hear, “someone who has accepted Jesus as Savior”. However, that does not make one a Christian. You want to know how I know this to be true? Just look at them when they are not in church. How do they act?
Accepting Jesus as Savior does not make one a Christian. Nor does going to church or being baptized make one a Christian. So, if none of these actions makes one a Christian, what does?
In the Epistle to the Philippians, chapter 3, verse 3, we find an excellent and short verse describing a Christian.
“For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh…”
First, in referencing “circumcision”. Now circumcision represents a covenant. In regards to God and man, a covenant is an agreement that God states that He will do such and such and that this agreement is based solely on God and not on man. So here, in stating that “we are the circumcision”, Paul is saying that a Christian is one chosen by God for salvation, and this covenant is based solely on what Jesus has done and not on man’s will or ability. (See John 1:13 & Romans 9:16)
Second, we see that a Christian is one who worships God in the Spirit. Only a person who has been born again, that is made alive in the spirit, by the Spirit of God, has the ability to worship God in the Spirit. Only when one is led by the Spirit of God, do we have the ability to approach the throne of God in a manner worthy of God.
Third, since a Christian belongs to the true covenant of God and has the ability to worship God in the Spirit, we can rejoice in Christ Jesus, Who has given us the ability to do so. Only by the person and work of Christ are we given the faith with which we believe in Him, and because of His resurrection from the dead are we promised eternal life in Heaven with God.
Fourth, becoming a Christian is a work that can only be done by God and not in any way accomplished through the work of man. That is why there is “no confidence in the flesh.”
Therefore, we can then say that “what defines a Christian” is what we see in the life of a person after having become “born again” by the Spirit of God.
As I said in beginning of this essay, I was a religious person but not a Christian. Only years later, when I had an exciting experience in being shown by the Holy Spirit that I had been chosen by God unto salvation that I realized that my only hope of being forgiven for my sins and for spending eternity in Heaven had been based solely on what Christ had done for me.
I saw how sinful my religiosity was and that all I had done was to show how good I was, and it was all based on what I was doing and not on what God had done. I was looking to myself for being “good” enough to be worthy to go to Heaven. I was rejoicing in myself and trusting in my works to save me. Just like so many people, today, who call themselves a Christian.
In short, the life of a person who calls themself a Christian, defines what a Christian is.
Look at your life. Do you worship God by the Spirit of God? Do you rejoice in Christ for what He has done? Do you trust in yourself, as I had done, for being “good” enough to get to Heaven, or do you place your trust in Christ with the faith of Christ given to you to do so?
If you call yourself a Christian then you are the best definition of what a Christian is. I pray that it Is a definition with which Christ would agree. For you see, you are what defines a Christian…
Salvation And Obedience
Is Obedience Necessary For Salvation
For they who are being saved from paying the penalty for their sins, salvation comes only by the grace of God. We cannot earn salvation, we cannot be good enough to be deserving of forgiveness for our sins, and we cannot do anything to please God so that He will look upon us with the favor of giving us eternal life.
In Ephesians 2:8, 9 we read, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
This verse is very clear that there is “nothing” we can do to be saved. Salvation comes only by the grace of God.
So, what do we do with verses like Hebrews 5: 9
“And having been perfected, He (Jesus) became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”
This verse seems to say that only those who obey Jesus will be saved. Then when you add to this what we read in John 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
As well as John 14:23
Jesus answered and said to 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.”
These all indicate that only they who obey the commands of Jesus will be saved. Well, that is exactly what they are saying, but not in the way that you might think.
You see, being obedient to Jesus does not mean that you will be saved. No, what these verses indicate is that having been saved by Jesus means that you will come to have a great desire to be obedient to Him. In this desire to obedience shows that Jesus has become the author of your eternal salvation.
If we cannot be saved by obedience, and salvation only comes by way of grace then, obedience to Jesus is “evidence” of having already been saved. If you are saved by grace, from having to pay the penalty of your sins, you will come to have a desire to be obedient to the commands of Jesus.
As you grow in your walk with Jesus you will find yourself wanting more and more to be obedient to what Jesus wants you to do. You will have victories and you will have defeats. Having been saved, we still live in a body that is tainted with sin. We war and fight against it as it still has the same old lusts and desires that it had before being born again.
In my own case, on a daily basis I face desires and temptations that I had when I was not a Christian but, having been saved by the grace of God, I find that I now want to be obedient to what Jesus has for me. I constantly fight against the things that I no longer want to do yet, in moments of weakness I find that I have given in and have done or thought those things that I do not want to do.
At these times I come to God in shame and sorrow for having done so, and to ask Him to receive me back in to His arms to comfort me for my having lost a battle; for the sin that I have done. I have already been forgiven for my dis-obedience, but in confessing my sin, and acknowledging that I have given in to something that was wrong, I admit that I cannot be obedient on my own and I need to look more to Jesus for the strength to do so.
You see, when I look to myself for the strength to fight the good fight I will always fail. It is only when I cry out to the Father for strength to turn away from what is pulling at me will I ever have any chance of success in my being obedient to the will of Jesus.
Having been born again, we now have a new life within us and it is that life that will spend eternity with Christ in Heaven. That new life is what wants to be obedient to Jesus and it will be that life that will fight against the flesh for domination of our body.
In our Christian walk we will find ourselves wanting to do more for Him than for ourselves, and as we do so we will see that our obedience becomes easier than when we first began. Know this, obedience is evidence of our having been born again by the grace of God and of the new life that now lives within us.
If you say that you are a Christian, but there is no evidence of obedience in your Christian walk, especially if there is no desire of obedience, then there is a good expectation that you have not been born again in the first place. You may still be dead (spiritually) in you sins.
You will do well to make sure that you are saved. If you just “accepted” Jesus as a “personal” Savior but did not submit and bow the knee to Jesus as Lord, that is a good indication that you may not have been saved at all. Just because you “accepted” Jesus as a “personal” Savior does not mean that you are saved.
We are commanded to confess with our mouth that Jesus is “Lord”, and we are commanded to call upon the name of the “Lord”, and the only way we can call Jesus “Lord” is to put Him first and to acknowledge Jesus as the one who will control our life as we live in this world and in the world to come. We must bow before Him as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords and to dedicate our lives to serving Him no matter what the end result will be.
Have you done that? Have you declared Jesus to be Lord of your life? if not, why not do so now. For Jesus will not be a Savior to anyone who will not bow the knee to Him as Lord.
As Jesus said in Luke 14:33
“So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”
Do this now, forsake all that you have, which is to forsake yourself, your wants, needs and desires, and to submit to Jesus as Lord of your life, and declare that from now on you want only to please Him.
If you can do that, you truly are a disciple of Christ because you have been born again into the family of God. You will know without a doubt that Jesus is the Author of your eternal salvation and your obedience will be the evidence that He has done so specifically for you.
Obedience is the evidence that salvation has been effectively applied to the one for whom Christ died. I pray that Jesus will reveal this to you now…
Free-Will Salvation Discriminates
It Also Denies The Sovereignty Of God
Basically they who preach Free-Will Salvation will tell you that God has done all He can do to save you but, now you must do your part and use your free-will to choose to accept or reject His offer.
That is basic humanism at its best, and it discriminates against many people who are unable to make such a decision. What if you have a mental disorder and are incapable of making an informed decision. How are you supposed to be able to even decide whether or not you need to be saved? In addition, what if you never hear the gospel in the first place. In this case you are not even given a chance to make any decision to accept or reject God’s offer of forgiveness.
In that case everyone who falls into one of those categories are all destined for Hell because they can’t make a decision. These are the people upon which Free-Will Salvation discriminates.
One thing you will never hear from these preachers or teachers is John 6:43 – 44, “Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Not only did Jesus say this just once, but He also said it a second time in the same chapter in John, in verse 65, where He says, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
Not only does Free-Will Salvation discriminates against various groups of people but it also denies the sovereignty of God and it hides the fact that “NO ONE” can come to Jesus unless they are given the ability to do so.
Free-Will Salvation gives man the pre-eminence in the salvation process in being able to make the final decision on whether or not they will be saved. In short Free-Will Salvation says that man has the ability to save himself of his own volition.
In addition, Free-Will Salvation teaches that God will draw all men to Himself so that they can make a decision for being saved. However, we have already seen how many people will never be able to make any decision let alone be able to even understand the gospel or even hear the gospel. In that case, God then lies to us by telling us that He will draw everyone to Jesus because not everyone will be drawn.
Not only that but in John 6: 37 Jesus says, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
You notice Jesus tells us that everyone that the Father gives, or draws, to Him “WILL” come to Jesus and be saved. Since that is the condition, then this tells us that not everyone will be drawn because, if they were, then everyone would be saved; and we know that is not going to happen.
So, Free-Will Salvation not only discriminates against certain groups of people, it also denies the sovereignty of God in the salvation process. It also leaves out the biblical teaching that NO ONE can come to Jesus unless the Father gives him the ability to do so, and everyone that the Father draws to Jesus will be saved.
Jesus says this quit succinctly in John 5:21 when He says, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.”
Did you get that? Jesus said that He gives life to whom HE wills. Maybe that is why scripture, in speaking of the salvation of man, says in John 1:13, “who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
And, in addition, in Romans 9:16 we read, “So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.”
These verses clearly states that salvation in man does NOT depend on mans Free-Will but on the sovereign will of God. It is God who chooses who will be saved and not man. Humanistic man does not even have the ability to choose of his own free-will and in saying that he does also unfairly discriminates against people who would never be able to make such a decision.
The only way any of us have any chance of salvation is by God’s will in deciding on, not only who will be saved, but the means by which that salvation will take place. They who are mentally unable to know or understand salvation, or anyone who will never be put in a position of hearing the gospel message and so be saved, can be saved, if it is God’s will.
God, in His sovereignty and by His will, saves whom He chooses. By His will they, whom He chooses, will be drawn to, and saved by, Jesus. He will give life to those who are drawn by the Father to Him, and in the end salvation comes to those whom God wills to be saved.
Apart from God’s will, no one can be saved, nor will they be saved. Not only does Free-Will Salvation discriminate but it also denies the clear teaching of the Bible that no one even has the ability to be able to do so.
In the end, by who’s will, anyway, would you trust in being saved – your’s or God’s?
The Work Of Christ On The Cross & The Resurrection
Was He Successful?
Before you answer make sure you have all the information that you need to make an informed decision. The reason I make that recommendation is that much of what the average Christian sitting in the Pew believes is only what they have been told, and they know very little of what the Bible actually says. You may be one of them.
Here’s a test. In Matthew 1:21 we read, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
The key words in this verse is “His people”. Who you believe these people are will determine whether your answer is correct. Now, either Jesus was successful and effective in His work, the reason for which He came, or He was a big failure; in which case He was not who He said He was. If He is a failure then He is a fraud and the biggest purveyor of lies that ever lived.
Let’s look at another verse. In 1st Corinthians 1:18 we read, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The message here is about those who are saved by the power of God because of the work that was done on the cross. Specifically, it talks about those who “are being saved”. In other words, the work that Jesus did upon the cross was only for those who will be saved.
Here’s another example. In Colossians 2:14 we read, “having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
In this verse the key word is “us”. In short, sins were nailed to the cross. Redemption was made for those that, here, are called “us”. Now who are the “us”? In Colossians 1:2 we see this, “To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse:”
The “us” of Colossians 2:14 are the “saints and faithful brethren” of Colossians 1:2. Again, we see specific people were mentioned, those who had been saved, and only they had their sins nailed to the cross and it was for them that redemption was made.
If we are to believe the Bible then we must believe that the work of Christ on the cross was for a specific people and in this He was successful. Now, what about the resurrection?
In Colossians 2:11 – 13 we read, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,”.
In addition, in Romans 4:23 – 25 we read, “Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses (cross), and was raised because of our justification. (resurrection)”.
Again, in these verses we see that specific people are in mind in the work that Christ did on the cross and in His resurrection. In fact, God makes it clear that they who are being saved were in a condition of being “dead in your trespasses” and that it was because of what Christ did you were made alive, having forgiven you all your trespasses”.
In other words, before you were born again, if you are a Christian, God had already forgiven you of your sins because of what Christ did for you. In addition, you are also included in the resurrection assuring you of everlasting life, again because of what Jesus did for you in His being raised from the dead.
Before we finish let’s look at just three more verses. They are all found in the Gospel of John and they are all in chapter six. The first verse we will look at is found in verse 44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” A similar statement is found in verse 65, “And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
I bet you thought that anyone could choose to come to Jesus anytime they wanted too, didn’t you? Well, here Jesus tells not just once, but twice, that “NO ONE” can come unless the Father draws him. Now let’s look at the last of these three verses.
Again, staying in John 6 but this time in verse 37 we read, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
Did you notice what it said? It said that “ALL” that Father gives Me will come to Jesus.
Now I am sure you have never been taught nor even told that these verses exists and that they were said by Jesus. In these three verses Jesus is telling us that unless you are drawn by the Father to come to Him you will never, of your own free-will, ever choose to come to Him, but if you are drawn by the Father, then you will have been given the ability to come to Jesus and you will come to Him of your own free-will.
When you take these three verses that were said by Jesus, and combine them with the other verses that we have looked at, we can only come to one conclusion. We have to believe that Jesus was successful in His work upon the cross and in the resurrection, and that both were done for specific people.
The people of Matthew 1:21 for which He came to save are those whom He chooses to save and to assure them of life eternal with His resurrection from the dead. In one last verse, John 5:21 we read, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.”
Yes, Christ was successful in His work upon the cross and in His resurrection from the dead. Every person for whom Christ died upon the cross, to give them forgiveness of sins in His redemptive work, and to provide everlasting life through His resurrection from the dead, will be saved and will be given life eternal.
This brings us back to Matthew 1:21, “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
After looking at the verses that we have, now who do you think are the “people” who Jesus came to save from their sins? Knowing that not everyone will be saved and only those for whom He came to save will be saved, you will have to conclude that these people are those for whom Christ died upon the cross and to apply to the same life everlasting with His resurrection from the dead.
His people – His sheep – the Elect of God.
Anything else will make Jesus into a failure and a liar. I don’t think you want to be the one to accuse of Him of that. Do You?
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