Archive for the ‘Reformed Theology’ Category
The Blessing Of Abraham… Who Is It For?
So many times we have heard about the blessing given to Abraham. And the tag given to it is that this applies to the Jewish people. But, does it really apply to them?
Here is the blessing as found in Genesis 12:
Now the Lord had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
From this one verse it is said that this is talking about the people of Israel and that those who bless Israel they will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. However, does this really apply to the Jewish people?
Let’s look at some other verses to see what the Bible says about it. What we need to find is a “key”. It needs to be a word or a verse that can tie all of this together.
First, let us look at Genesis 22: 17 – 18. God is talking to Abraham…
“Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Next, in Genesis 26: 3 – 5, we find the God talking with Isaac and He tells him…
Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your
descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to
Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of
heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all
the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My
voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Lastly, we look at Genesis 28: 13 – 14 and now we see God talking with Jacob and telling him basically the same as what He told Abraham and Isaac…
And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham
your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you
and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth;
you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south;
and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
In all three of these verses God has made two promises, and they are the same to all three of the men. The first one is “your descendants” and the second one is “your seed”. Now we need to ask the question – do these both refer to the same people?
It is safe to say that the promise made to “your descendants” would refer to the Jewish people. The literal people of Israel. However, the second promise being given to “your seed”, to whom does it refer.
Well, if we let the Bible give us an answer we will know what is the truth…
For the answer, let us first look at Galatians 3: 8 – 9. Here we first see who are those who will be blessed with Abraham:
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Then we can look at Galatians 3: 16 – 18. And this is the most important scripture verse that we need to read, for it tells us who is “the seed” in whom all of the families of the earth shall be blessed…
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to
seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,
who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four
hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed
before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance
is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
It is very clear that the “seed” through whom the promise would come is Jesus Himself. So, if Jesus is the “seed” which God tells Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through whom the blessing will come, then it stands to reason, and it is very clear, that the blessing is for the followers of Jesus. Namely all of the born again Christians who are followers of Jesus.
For support verses on this, let us first look at Romans 9: 6 – 9 and we will see something very interesting…
But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
Now, if the children of the flesh, that is the direct descendants are not the children of God, then who is? Well, once again the Bible gives us a very clear answer. In Galatians 4: 28 we read the following:
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
You see, it is the children of God, the born again believers of Jesus who are the children of the promise. It is Christians about whom God is referring when He gave Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the promise that…
in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
If you think about it you will see the truth and it makes great sense. God’s people are Christians, the followers of Jesus. It is through them that all of the families of the earth are blessed and it is the Christians that the promise belongs. And when God says, “I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” It is the Christians about whom He is talking.
If one blesses the Christians they will be blessed and if someone curses Christians it is they who will be cursed. It is through Jesus and the born again believers in Jesus through whom the families of the earth are blessed. It is through Jesus and the born again believers in Jesus that the blessings and the curses come.
Now, I can see some of you not wanting to believe this. But if you will just go back through and read the verses that I’ve quoted, the verses that talk about this, there is no way you can arrive at a different conclusion. Don’t let anyone, not even what I’ve been saying, make the decision for you. Read the verses for yourself and pray that God will give you insight to them.
God has said, “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” The seed, according to scripture is Jesus and the children of the promise (the blessings and the curses) are the Christians, as we have read in Galatians.
So now you have to ask yourself this question. According to the Bible who is it through whom all of the families of the earth will be blessed? And second, according to the Bible, who are the children of the promise?
As we have seen, according to Scripture, the answers are Jesus and the born again believers of Jesus who we call Christians.
How To Know That You Are Abiding In The Love Of Jesus
Are you really abiding in the love of Jesus? If you are a Christian you can know for sure.
Jesus knows that by abiding in His love you will be what the Father wants you to be. But, He has given one basic rule for you to follow in order to abide in His love. You can know how to abide in His love. Breaking this rule will not cause you to lose your salvation, that can never be done. However, it can break your fellowship with the Father, but that fellowship can be restored.
In the Gospel of John chapter 15 Jesus talks about abiding in His love and He is very specific when He says in verse 9,
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you: abide in My love.”
So, how can you know that you are truly abiding in His love. Actually it is very easy to know. He tells us how to abide in the very next verse, verse 10,
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
Think about that for a moment. If you are not obeying Jesus you are not abiding in His love. Look at what He said again.
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.”
It’s very simple, if you love Jesus and want to abide in His love you will be obedient to Him. He said this same thing earlier. In John 14 beginning with verse 21 Jesus said the following:
“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.”
Some examples of being obedient to Jesus can be found in His teachings on sex. Basically any sex outside of marriage is wrong and should not be done. If you do, then you are disobedient and are living in sin. As for marriage, in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 19 Jesus said the following:
“Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Just these few examples will give you an idea of how well you are being obedient to Jesus. These will also let you know if you are truly abiding in the love of Jesus. Don’t kid yourself and say that Jesus loves you no matter what. That is not found anywhere in the Bible and Jesus did give you specific ways of how to know whether or not you are abiding in His love.
There is no way around it. Unless you are being obedient to Jesus you are not abiding in His love. You are showing by your disobedience that you either do not love Jesus or you do not believe in Jesus or both. And this is a grave mistake because both is proof that you may not have born again in the first place. And you are destined to spend eternity in hell. Is that what you want?
In John 15 beginning with verse 5 Jesus said the following:
“I am the vine, you are the branches. he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned (being condemned to hell).”
You can know that you abide in the love of Jesus. It’s simple. Repent of your sins, your being disobedient to Jesus, and trust completely in Him that He knows what is best, what is true and what is right. No matter what the world says it’s what Jesus says that counts. And Jesus said:
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
So, now you know. From what Jesus has said to you. Are you keeping His commandments and abiding in His love?
So You Think That God Loves You?
I can hear you now. Of course God loves me. Isn’t that what the Bible says? Seriously, does it really?
This will be one of the shorter essays I have done because the verse that I will quote says it all. It’s found in the Gospel of John and it is in chapter 16. In verses 26 and 27 we read:
In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.
So, let me ask you one question. Do you love Jesus and believe that He came forth from God the Father?
Before you answer here’s what Jesus said in John 14: 21 about those who say they love Jesus:
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.
Do you follow Jesus and obey Him? Not looking good is it? Well, here’s one more thing that Jesus said about following him. In Luke 14: 33 we read:
So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
In short, unless you are a born again follower of Jesus, God does not love you. In fact, well, here’s what we read in John 3: 36:
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
Do you really want to face the wrath of God? I can understand that you do not want to come to Jesus. You see, it is because of your sinfulness that you don’t want to come to Him. In John 3: 18 – 20 we read:
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
Basically you are ashamed of the person you are. You do not want to give up your sin and you would rather stay in your sinfulness than come to Jesus and be cleansed and forgiven. The problem is, if you do not come to Jesus and submit to Him as Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the dead you will stay condemned to face the wrath of God.
And you will “never” know the Love of God.
God knows that you are a sinful person and in this sinfulness you can do nothing to be worthy of receiving forgiveness of your sins. That is why God, as Jesus, came to earth to do for us what man cannot do for himself.
Jesus has satisfied all of the demands of God the Father for receiving salvation and it is the work of God that you believe on Jesus and to come to Him for forgiveness. When you do, when you confess your sinfulness and submit to Jesus as Lord, you will then know the full love of God. The love that He has for those who love Jesus. There is no other way.
for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me,
You can stay in you sinfulness and never know the love of God or you can come to Jesus, be forgiven and cleansed of your sin, and experience the greatest love that man will ever know. Now, in this life, and for eternity.
Why would you not do so now? If you want to be loved by God, if you want to know what true love really is, then you must love Jesus. Come to Him now, submit to His Lordship over you and be saved.
Then you can answer the question, “So You Think That God Loves You?”, with a resounding… YES!
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…
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