You Are Mine...

By Spurgeon...


Concerning spiritual and earthly things to whom could we go but to Him who has been so good to us?  Who else can supply our needs but Jehovah?  Who can hold us up but God?  Who can guide us but God?  Who can keep us from falling into ruin but God?  Who can, on an hour by hour basis, supply our desperate needs but God?  


Our imaginations could not have conceived greater wealth than is ours in the covenant of grace  All things are ours, the gift of God.  God being ours, the Infinite is ours, the Omniscient is ours, and the Omnipotent is ours.  What a boundless, unfailing portion that always comes in due season.  


Have you ever rested on Him and found Him to fail?  Did you ever trust Him in vain?  Are His promise false?  Has He ever left you in deep waters?  When you passed through the fire, did the flames burn you?  Have you found your God to be a wilderness?  Has He failed in the day of your difficulty?  


"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;  I have called you by your name, you are Mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rives, they shall not overflow you.  When you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.  "For I am the Lord your God."  (Isaiah 43:1-3) 


Beloved, our God has blessed and continues to bless, not by fits and starts but by a constant grace.  He is a faithful friend.  We are well supplied by our King. 

Grace to Help by Spurgeon

"Come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."--Hebrews 4:16


Here are four comforts when you face a severe trial.


1.   There is no curse in your cross.  It may be as heavy as a ton of sorrow, but there is not a single ounce of curse.  "Whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives."  If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?"(Heb 12:6-7)  The God of love, who inflicts our sorrows, is as good when He chastens as when he caresses.


2.  Your trials are assigned by divine wisdom and love.  He who weighs the mountains in the scales, measures your troubles, and yo will not have a grain more than His infinite wisdom determines.  The devil may be turned loose on you, but remember, he is a defeated enemy.  Everything that you suffer is the appointment of wisdom, ruled by love.


3.  When you bear the cross, God gives special comforts that He never gives to the healthy.  Dark caverns do not keep miners from searching for diamonds.  You need never fear suffering if you remember it will richly bless your soul.  The nightingale only sings at night and there are promises that only sing when we are in trouble.  It is in the cellar of affliction that the fine wine of the kingdom is stored.  You will never see Christ's face so clearly as when all others turn their back on you.  


4.  Trials bring you nearer to God.  Yet there are times when our faith staggers and we fail to leave our worldly cares with Him.  Like Martha, we worry about many things.  But Jesus says, "Come my child and trust Me. "Come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  

Sealed....

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,--Ephesians 1:13


To My Beloved Daughters:


There was a time when I had no hope in this world...none.  I was without Christ...a stranger from the covenant of His promise.  BUT God who is rich in mercy because of His great love in which He loved me...even when I was dead in trespasses and sin has made me alive together with His Son!  In Christ Jesus, I who was far off from Him, was made nigh by His blood.  I who was once a servant of sin have now believed and obeyed the gospel of salvation...the word of truth...that was preached to me.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.  Believing, I have now been made free from sin and a servant of righteousness.  He is my peace...He has reconciled me to my Father in the body of His flesh through death to present me holy and blameless and unreproveable in His sight!  I now have access by His Spirit to my Father in Heaven!


I have obtained mercy by His sovereign choice before the foundation of the world...but this did not exclude my human cooperation.  Faith was my response to His elective purpose.


Whoever believes in Him, the Bible says in Romans, will not be disappointed.  Revelation 22:17 tells us, "Whosoever will may come".  This is one of the many paradoxes we find in God's word that we in our finite minds find impossible to reconcile...but with Him all things are possible.  Our job is to believe both sides without reservation just as they are revealed.  Knowing these truths are in accord in the mind of God should be enough.  The author of the following is not known but has always helped me with this particular paradox.


"Someone has pictured the divine and human sides of salvation in this way: When you look toward heaven you see a sign that reads, “Whosoever will may come,” and after you enter heaven you look back to that same sign and read on the other side, “Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.”


I like that.   And this...


But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: --John 1:12


But what saith it?  The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.  For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.--Romans 10:8-13


"God's choice of men is election; men's choice of God is faith.  In election God gives His promises and by faith men receive them."--J. MacArthur


Yes, I was sovereignly chosen but I also was the one who trusted and believed after hearing the word of truth.   


He that believes, the gospel of Mark says, shall never be damned.  Whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation.   God's grace that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  In him was life and that life was the light of men...He is the true light that gives light to every man coming into the world.


The last part of verse 13 tells us that we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise at the time of our salvation.  We who believe have been give the earnest of the Spirit of God in our hearts.  The Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance that is reserved in heaven for us.  His word to us should be enough but in His grace and mercy,  He sealed us with His Spirit.  More on  this in next study.


So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.-Romans 8:8-11

for next study in Ephesians go here

Blessing Those Who Are In Your House...

To My Daughters:


1 Chronicles 16 contains a Psalm of Thanksgiving that David wrote and had played before the people by Asaph and His brethren, when the ark of the covenant of the Lord was brought from the house of Obed-Edom to Jerusalem.   The first half of the psalm can also found in Psalm 105 and the second half in Psalm 96.


It is a song of praise but it also contains many commands....as I read through it my heart was convicted many times.  I decided to write each command I found down asking the Lord to show me what He would have me see.  Here is what among many other things I noted.  Prayer and praise changed my heart and my outlook.  Instead of being filled with all the cares of the day at the end of the day, I was filled with His faithfulness and the remembrances of how He saw me through and provided for me.  The time refreshed and renewed my spirit in Him and refocused my heart on what was truly important.  Please look also at how 1 Chronicles 16 ends after the song of David has come to an end:


And all the people departed every man to his house; and David returned to bless his house.  

Spend time in worship and you will bless those who are in your house.  Your spirit will be drawn close to God.... thanksgiving will fill your heart  and the fruit of time spent with Him will overflow to all around.  Your problems will no longer overwhelm you and your outlook instead of being earthly will become heavenly.  Praise Him at the end of each day for His faithfulness...Record the blessings of God in your life...Seek His face forevermore and worship Him in the beauty of holiness...

Here are the commands that I found while reading through this Psalm:


1.  Give thanks to the Lord
2.  Call upon His name
3.  Make known His deeds among the people
4.  Sing to Him....sing psalms to Him
5.  Talk of all His wondrous works
6.  Glory in His holy name
7.  Let your hearts rejoice when you seek Him
8.  Seek the Lord and His strength
9.  Seek His face forevermore
10.  Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders and the judgments of His mouth.
11.  Remember His covenant forever and the word which He commanded
12.  Sing to the Lord
13.  Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
14.  Declare His glory among the nations and His wonders among all the people.
15.  Give to the Lord O families of the people.
16.  Give to the Lord glory and strength
17.  Give to the Lord the glory due His name.
18.  Bring an offering and come before Him
19.  Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
20.  Tremble before Him....stand in awe
21.  Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.

The Window of Superiority...

So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. And so it was, when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.  

Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. So they brought the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, everyone to his house.

Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, "How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!"

So David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will playmusic before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor." Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.--2nd Samuel 6

To My Daughters

These are some of the saddest verses in Scripture and should serve as a warning to each of us to keep our hearts with all diligence.  Michal's heart was filled with vanity and superiority...and her spirit was critical.  It was empty of God and filled with Michal. What was important to Michal was Michal.  Truly, as the Scripture says, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.   David's worship before the Lord,  also expressed the abundance of his heart..which was love, loyalty and gratitude toward His God...he held nothing back. He danced before the Lord with all his might.   He was humble before his God and understood that he was who he was only by his God's grace and mercy.  He understood that it was God who had lifted him up and made him king...these people were not David's but God's.  What an example the psalmist was for the people of God.   What an example he is for us today.   

Michal was clearly not of one accord with her husband...she was not rejoicing when he was rejoicing but was instead looking down on him from what Spurgeon calls the "window of superiority."  She tried to censure God's chosen...why?....because she thought it made her husband look base and common..which reflected poorly on her.  She did not see the beauty of his humility nor the transparency of his heartfelt devotion to God.  Her pride and vanity blocked her view of what was truly precious and praiseworthy about her husband.  Clearly, Michal had spent much time in the "balloon of self". Her view of her husband and her God were obstructed by her own pride which, sadly, was her biggest obstacle between a beautiful and fulfilled relationship with both her husband and God. 

How many of us treat the people God has placed in our lives as Michal treated David here?   When we do, we are truly our own worst enemies and very effectively tear down our own houses.  How hateful and ugly does Michal appear to us as she greets her husband who had come home with the express purpose of blessing his household.  Her first words to him were filled with bitter sarcasm as was her heart. Her desire was not to encourage her husband in his love for the Lord but to rain on his parade. He had embarrassed her and she was going to get her pound of flesh.  I loved David's response...He did not allow her bitter spirit to dampen his day or his spirit.   His response to her was open and honest and in my opinion gentle...filled with love and loyalty to His God...which was the abundance of his heart.  

Listen to his words..

So David said to Michal, "It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will playmusic before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor."

I did it for God, not you, Michal.  It was for the delight of my Lord (not the maidens) that I danced and worshipped...It was He who appointed me to be ruler over His people.    David understood that it was God who was the true chosen King of Israel.  He goes on to promise her that in the future he would be even more undignified and would be humble in his own sight.  What ever Michal's thoughts about David were...David thought even less of himself.  Spurgeon speaks to this well:

"Brother, if any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him; for you are worse than he thinks you to be."

David bore the reproach of his wife and was despised in her eyes because of His love for His God.  Jesus was not accepted by the members of his own household and was despised and rejected by his own people.  David was in very good company. Psalm 69:7-9 says this:

Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.  For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

Appropriately, either by divine judgment or due to the fact that David did not have relations with her again, Michal was barren to the day of her death.  She was thus prevented from bearing a child to be heir to David's throne from the family of Saul by her own pride and critical spirit.  Michal neglected the hidden person of her heart allowing it to be come filled with pride and self.  Michal was concerned with the outward and did not look to the inward person that had become ugly... 1 Peter 3:4 says this:

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God"

Predestinated According to His Purpose...

"being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. " --Ephesians 1:11b-12

To My Beloved Daughters in Him

There is much that makes my brain hurt in that first verse.  I have been predestinated according to His purposes before I was born....before any man was even created...before the foundation of the world.  I am who I am because God chose to make me this way that I should be to the praise of His glory.   Hendriksen puts it this way:

"Neither fate nor human merit determines our destiny. The benevolent purpose—that we should be holy and faultless (verse 4), sons of God (verse 5), destined to glorify him forever (verse 6, cf. verses 12 and 14)—is fixed, being part of a larger, universe-embracing plan. Not only did God make this plan that includes absolutely all things that ever take place in heaven, on earth, and in hell; past, present, and even the future, pertaining to both believers and unbelievers, to angels and devils, to physical as well as spiritual energies and units of existence both large and small; he also wholly carries it out. His providence in time is as comprehensive as is his decree from eternity."

God, who spoke this world into existence and also began a good work in me will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.  He is faithful even when I am faithless.  All of my life...each and every moment,  has been planned before the foundation of the world.  My life is not about me...it is about Him and His plan...it is also not about me striving for anything in my own strength.  It is about me abiding and allowing Him to not only perform all things for me but also to perfect all that concerns me.  He holds my right hand and walks me through...He orchestrates it all...my job is to stay close and abide.  God will work out what He planned.  

And here is the thing..."my" accomplishments..."my" life...they are not for my glory...they are for HIS. I am His clay...His pot! I am vessel for His use.  I am the work of His hand...any power or glory in this earthen vessel is of Him not me.  My God is the preeminent One!  He created me...He is the potter...He does as He wills with me, the clay.  I bear His image and am to proclaim and display His glory in my words, actions and life.  This is why He redeemed me...that I should be to the praise of His glory.  

To be honest this glory thing has at times stopped me short.  Is God an egotist?   No...He is holy and true.   He desires the glory because He alone is worthy of the glory.  To be worshipped and receive glory is the desire of all humans...but the worship and glory we desire for ourselves is undeserved and fraught with wrong and selfish motives.  The glory that our God desires, however, is pure and just and right...AND He is worthy to receive it all.  

The longer we walk with the Lord, the more we understand this.  Why?  Because as we draw close to Him we see the stark reality of who we are in the light of His greatness, His glory and His grace.  More and more we see our own sinfulness, depravity and selfish motives in even the "good" we do and how totally and utterly underserving we are of any glory let alone of His grace and mercy. When we truly "see" the Lord like Job, we despise and abhor ourselves, fall on our face before Him and repent in dust and ashes.  Truly He alone is worthy to be praised. I will end with Revelation 5:11-13:

"Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,saying with a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”"

for the next study in Ephesians go here

Christophobia: Two Questions

Christophobia: Two Questions: If there is a God who IS love and is good, why all the pain and horror? And... Why are Christians so hateful? The second question is easy...

JOINT HEIRS IN HIM!!!

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, --Ephesians 1:11a

To My Beautiful Daughters in Him,

The basis for our inheritance is in Him...in Jesus, God's Son.   Apart from Jesus Christ the only eternal thing that I can receive is condemnation and eternal punishment.  There is no other name under heaven, Paul tells us in the Book of Acts, by which men can be saved.   In Him, however, I am a co-heir!  All the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies are mine. I am a joint heir with Christ...adopted by God as His daughter.  All things belong to me and I belong to Christ...and Christ belongs to God.  Romans 8:17 says:

and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,

I am guaranteed possession of everything He possesses.  There is no way I can even begin to wrap my tiny brain around that...  Peter tells me that His divine power has granted to me everything pertaining to life and godliness.  Everything...nothing missing and has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises....all the promises of God, in Him, are yes! 

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.--2nd Corinthians 1:20

We are promised it all in Him.  We are identified with Christ and as such our lives should look like lives lived through Him and for Him.  Romans 6:3-11 says this:  John MacArthur calls it the believers spiritual biography...I love that!


Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I do not pretend to understand these verses...how this occurs...but at salvation I was nailed to the cross at Calvary spiritually with my Jesus and have been buried and raised with Him.  Jesus did not just do this for me...He did it with me.  When He appears I will be like Him...finally conformed to image of His Son.  For me now, like Paul, to live is Christ.  I am one spirit with Him.  I am joined with Him....identified with Him. The way I live should be then identified with how He lived.  I am to love as He loved, give as He gave, care as He cared...are you getting the picture.  I am to look out for the interests of others...Like my Jesus I am to lose my life for others.  My labor in Him is never in vain...His mercy is mine.  I do not lose heart even though my outward man is perishing my inward man is being renewed daily and will one day be glorified with my God in heaven.  

Praying that you, my beloved daughters...and me, also, would see these spiritual truths plainly in a very daily and practical way in order that we would not grow weary in doing good...knowing the He does not forget our labor of love...knowing that in due season we will reap. We are blessed in His Son!

Love
Mom

For next study in Ephesians go here

Legacies and Philemon...

For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.--Philemon 1:7

To My Daughters...


I sooooo want to be like Philemon. my mind off me and my problems and my focus on walking rightly with my God and being a blessing to those He has placed in front of me. 

What a statement Paul makes here about who Philemon was. He is a refresher of the saints. He is one who has encouraged the hearts of others by his love. He has given them not just joy and consolation but much joy and consolation. People who are suffering, afflicted, in trouble, and struggling have found him (Philemon) to be a blessing!! Philemon brought hurting people rest...His care and service for them refreshed their hearts and brought them solace.

Philemon was a man of kindness..the kind of man that was a blessing to those who were around him. The kind of many whom others wanted to be around. If I am going to leave any kind of mark on this world or legacy for my God that is the one I would want.

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."--Colossians 3:12-17

All Things in Christ...

Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:--Ephesians 1:8-10

To My Beautiful Daughters in Him

Our God not only makes His grace manifested in all wisdom and prudence but as a result of our redemption he lavishes us, His children, with His wisdom and prudence.  We are given, in essence, the bible says, the mind of Christ!   All wisdom in regard to spiritual understanding and prudence in regard to every day living is ours in Him.  The fear of the Lord, the bible tells us, is the beginning of wisdom.  We have all we need at salvation to understand our God and walk through this world daily in a way that honors and pleases Him.  Our eyes are opened to His word and our hearts are no longer dark and hard...we now are no longer slaves of sin but have been given the means by which we can obey our God.  

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hiddenwisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ..--1Corinthians 2:6-16

We have been given the Spirit of God upon salvation.  It is the Spirit of God that reveals to us the things of God.  Our God has hidden them from the wise of this world, but reveals them to us, His children.   It is the Spirit of God who teaches us and testifies with our spirit that we are His children.  It is the Spirit that makes intercession for us.  We are told in James that if we lack wisdom we can ask and He will give it to us generously and without reproach.  The natural man does not have this wisdom.  Until salvation all men are afflicted with spiritual blindness.  When His Spirit enters our hearts our eyes of understanding are opened and He enables us to see all in the light of our God and eternity.  I like how John MacArthur puts it...."In Jesus Christ, God takes us into His confidence."  

Our God not only redeems us and takes away our sin but He also lavishes us with wisdom and prudence, reveals to us the hidden and secret things AND He does not leave us on our own to figure it all out.  

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 things that I said to you.--John 14:26

“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.--John15:26

Why has our God done all this...why has He blessed us with every spiritual blessing and given us His Spirit?  God did this in order that He might gather all things unto Himself.  At the end of history...after Christ 1000 year reign  on earth...the new heavens and the new earth will be established and eternity will begin. Every trace of evil will have been obliterated.  Satan and his demons will have been cast into the lake of fire for ever and ever.  Then there will be a summing of all things that remain in Christ.  The goal of history is Jesus...The resolution to this fallen world is Jesus.  All will be restored in Him...all will be unified under His feet.   At that time every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the God the Father.  

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.--Ephesians 2:11-16

By the death of Christ both  Jew and Gentile can become one body and unified in Him

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,  and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.  And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled  in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—Colossians 1:19-22

The blood of the cross enables our God to reconcile all things to Himself and present us holy, and blameless and above reproach in His sight.  

God's plan from before the foundation of the world will be sovereignly worked out according to His divine will...His good pleasure.  In the fullness of time...for His glory and His honor...in His time..it will be completed and perfected.

“Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne,
And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”--Revelation 5:13

Love

Mom

for next study in Ephesians go here

The Characteristics of One Who Forgives by John MacArthur

Part 1: Four Things a Failure to Forgive Does...


For our study this morning I draw your attention back to the wonderful little book of Philemon. Turn in your Bible, if you will, to Philemon. It is sandwiched neatly in between Titus and Hebrews, the book of Philemon. This morning our text from Philemon is taken from verses 4 through 7. We are in a four-part series entitled "A lesson in forgiveness." And this morning is part two. Let me read you verses 4 through 7 as the setting for our message.

"I thank my God always making mention of you in my prayers because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake; for I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother."

We live obviously in a society that knows little about forgiveness. We live in a society that cares little about forgiveness. In fact I would think that one of the major contributors if not THE major contributor to the destruction of relationships in our culture is the absence of forgiveness. Our culture pushes us to be unforgiving. It celebrates and exalts people who are not willing to forgive. We make heroes out of the Dirty Harrys and the Rambos who murder people out of vengeance.

As a result of the sinfulness, the wickedness and the lack of any kind of Christian social restraint in our culture, we have a society filled with bitterness, filled with vengeance, filled with anger, filled with hate, filled with hostility toward others. This can be seen in the retaliatory kind of crimes that become so commonplace in our day. It can be seen in the suits, law suits against everyone for everything conceivable and inconceivable. In fact, it is frightening to think about the fact there are more people in law schools today than in all other professional graduate schools combined. We are going to proliferate an almost endless number of attorneys to take care of an endless number of law suits as people retaliate back and forth for every minuscule and major issue of life that has been foisted upon them.

Even counselors today are telling us it's not healthy to forgive. That's a new one. There is a new popular book written by Susan Forward and it is titled Toxic Parents. The thesis of the book is really the prevailing attitude of our present day culture and that is it has a negative attitude toward forgiveness. There's one chapter in the book entitled "You don't have to forgive." In other words, you are a victim of some toxic parents who poisoned you and until you put them blame on them where it belongs, you're not going to be a healthy person. We live in a retaliating vengeful hostile angry culture that wants to make everybody else the perpetrator of a crime against us and us frankly responsible for nothing except vengeance. Certainly ours is the most hostile, the most angry, the most unforgiving, the most vengeful culture that I have ever experienced in my brief life time.

Now for a Christian, a failure to forgive is unthinkable. I don't care what the issue is, I don't care what the offense is, a failure to forgive is a blatant open act of disobedience. We have been told as explicitly as we could possibly be told that if anybody offends us we are to forgive them. How many times? Seventy times seven, or that is an endless number of times. And that the reason we are to forgive is because our Father in heaven has forgiven us and will continue to forgive us as we are faithful to forgive others.

To look at this issue from the negative side for a moment. If we buy into this culture, a culture that says you don't have to forgive, you have a right to your pound of flesh, you can sue anybody and everybody for anything and everything, you ought to blame somebody else for your responsibility and make sure they pay painfully for what they've done to you, if we buy into that mentality here's what it will produce. I'll give you just four things that will happen in a life of a Christian. Number one, it will imprison you in your past. A failure to forgive will imprison you in your past. As long as you fail to forgive an offender, an offense committed against you, you are shackled to the past. Unforgiveness keeps that pain alive. Unforgiveness keeps that sore open. Unforgiveness never lets that wound heal. And you go through life reminding yourself of what was done to you and so you feed that open wound, you feed that open sore, you stir up that pain and you accumatively build up the larger and larger degree of anger. You go through life accumulating bad feelings.

Now think about it. What's the point of that? What virtue does that give or render? Unforgiveness just imprisons you in the past and for all the time that you go back to the past and regurgitate that unforgiving attitude you will accumulate in your life the tragedy of anger and hostility escalated, built on, accumulated, piled up which will rob you of the joy of living. You will go through life feeling just as bad as you do now or worse with no relief in sight. On the other hand, forgiveness opens the door and lets the prisoner out.Forgiveness sets you free from your past. As soon as you forgive it, it's gone, you're free. If you insist on remembering the offense and never forgiving it, then you allow the person to go on offending you the rest of your life and it's your fault, not theirs.

Secondly, unforgiveness not only makes you a prisoner to your own past but unforgiveness produces bitterness. It produces bitterness. The cumulative effect of remembering without forgiveness some offense done against you no matter how brief the time or long the time is that you become a bitter person. The longer you remember the offense the more data you accumulate on it, the more recited memory you have for it the more it occupies your thinking. And the more it occupies your thinking the more it basically shapes your person. Bitterness is not just a sin, it is an infection. And it will infect your whole life. And bitterness can be directly traced to the failure to forgive. It makes you become caustic, it makes you become sarcastic. It makes you condemning. It gives you a nasty disposition, harassed by the memories of what you can't forgive, your thoughts become malignant toward others, you get a distorted view of life and you have literally diseased your whole existence. Anger begins to rage in you and it can easily get out of control. Your emotions begin to run wild. Your mind becomes the victim of that. You entertain continuing thoughts of revenge. And what happens? Even casual conversation becomes a forum for slander, a forum for gossip, a forum for innuendo against the offender and your flesh, that horrible remnant of your old self, has gained control.

I suppose this happens most notably and most frequently in marriages. Two Christians married to one another should never be divorced. They should never be separated and they should enjoy a happy relationship. That's by God's design. Now when I got married I married a sinner. What is even more unthinkable is so did my wife. And the fact of the matter is that it is an utter impossibility for us not to offend each other. It doesn't just happen now and then through the year, it happens quite regularly. But where forgiveness operates an offense is one moment in time come and gone. Where there is no forgiveness for that there is the accumulated bitterness that begins to turn you against your own partner, that makes you caustic and sarcastic. You shut off your affection, you shut off your kindness. You look for ways to get back and the bitterness results in the devastation of the relationship. Forgiveness, on the other hand, dispels bitterness and replaces it with love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self-control. Why would anybody want to live in the prison of their past? Why would anybody want to live with accumulated bitterness that makes them violate every relationship?

There's a third thing that unforgiveness does. Unforgiveness gives Satan an open door. Unforgiveness throws the welcome mat out and invites the demons in. Where you have unresolved anger, where you have unresolved bitterness, where you have an unforgiving spirit, you have given place to the devil. Ephesians 4:26 and 27 says, "In your anger do not sin, do not let the sun go down while you're still angry and do not give the devil a foothold." The point is if you go to bed at night and you haven't fully forgiven so that your anger is gone, you will give Satan a foothold. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2 there is a very direct statement made by the Apostle Paul. In chapter 2 verse 10 he says, "I forgive, I forgive...in verse 11...in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes." The devil moves in to an unforgiving heart, to an unforgiving life. It is no exaggeration to say, listen carefully, it is no exaggeration to say that most...most of the ground that Satan gains in our lives is due to unforgiveness. We're not ignorant of his scheme to move in on an unforgiving attitude and destroy relationships. And frankly, you can evict all the demonic trespassers by an act of forgiveness. Why would anybody want to be in prison to their past? Why would anybody want to have the disease of bitterness to skew and discolor their life? And why would anybody want to throw the door and put out the welcome mat for demons?

Fourthly, unforgiveness hinders your fellowship with God. Unforgiveness hinders your fellowship with God. Jesus said if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. In the ongoing relationship with God if we don't forgive others He doesn't forgive us. So if I'm not right with you then I'm not right with Him. Why would I sentence myself to being anything less than in the place of maximum blessing from God? Right? What kind of foolishness is that? How idiotic can I be? Do I find some value in having God angry with me? Is there some virtue in cutting off the purity and the joy of my fellowship with God?

You see the idiocy, don't you, of an unforgiving attitude? It makes you a prisoner of your past. It gives you the all pervasive disease of bitterness. It opens the door for demons and it alienates you from the full rich fellowship that God desires to have with you. There is plenty of good reason then to be a forgiving person. If you refuse to forgive others, you forfeit fellowship with God. You open yourself to Satanic involvement. You pollute your life and steal its joy and you make yourself a victim of your own past.

This matter of forgiveness because of its significance and importance then is dealt with at great length in Scripture. There are, in fact, at least seventy-five different word pictures in the Bible about forgiveness. There are at least 75 word pictures about forgiveness in the Bible. And they're all there to help us grasp the importance or the character, the nature, the effect, something about forgiveness. Let me just give you a few of the biblical word pictures about forgiveness.

To forgive is to turn the key, open the cell door and let the prisoner out. To forgive is to write in large letters across a debt "nothing owed." To forgive is to pound the gavel in a courtroom and say "not guilty." To forgive is to shoot an arrow so high and so far that it can never be found again. To forgive is to bundle up all the garbage and all the trash and dispose of it, leaving the house clean and fresh. To forgive is to loose the moorings of a ship and release it to the open sea. To forgive is to grant a full pardon to a condemned criminal. To forgive is to relax a strangle hold on a wrestling opponent and give him his life. To forgive is to sandblast a wall of graffiti, leaving it looking like new. To forgive is to smash a clay pot into a thousand pieces so that it can never be put together again. This matter of forgiveness is very important and it's right at the very crux of your spiritual health and mine.

Begraced of God...

In studying Ephesians I have not been able to get beyond my God's grace, mercy, and unfathomable kindness in these words: "by which He made us accepted in the beloved." I AM ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED OF GOD...His Son. I love what John MacArthur says:

"From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry the Father declared Him to be “My beloved Son” (Matt. 3:17). And because we have believed in Him, “He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). Because we are now in the Beloved, we, too, are “beloved of God” (Rom. 1:7). Only Jesus Christ has the inherent right to all the goodness of God. But because we are identified with Him by faith, that goodness is now also our goodness. Because our Savior and Lord is the Beloved of the Father and possesses all the goodness of the Father, we are also the beloved of the Father and possess all His goodness. Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father” (John 14:21)."

The Father now loves us as He loves Christ and wants us to have everything that Christ has. That is why Paul could say He “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). Every Christian is God’s beloved child because the Lord Jesus Christ has become our Redeemer. The Old Testament concept of a kinsman-redeemer set forth three qualifications: he had to be related to the one needing redemption, able to pay the price, and willing to do so. The Lord Jesus perfectly met these requirements. A poet has expressed the magnificent reality of redemption in the words, Near, so very near to God, Nearer I could not be; For in the person of His Son, I’m just as near as He. Dear, so very dear to God, Dearer I could not be; For in the person of His Son, I’m just as dear as He.

I am as a believer, the begraced of God!

Given Over by Bill

God gives grace and mercy. He makes His sun rise on both the evil and the good. He loves the sinner (thank God), but hates sin. He gave His only begotten Son to propitiate His righteous anger over man's inveterate iniquity and unrighteousness. He is the giver of all good gifts, and His patience and long-suffering are integral to His being.

But God (the two most amazing and terrifying words in existence) will not strive with mankind forever. When His patience is ended, His giving is rescinded, supplanted by Hisgiving over to man what man apart from God desires the most - the illusion of God being out of man's frame of reality entirely.

This takes two major forms, each with many subcategories. The one is the denial of God's existence. The other is the remaking of God in man's own image.

Either path leads over a horrendous cliff, with a slow and excruciating descent downward.

God gives over individuals and nations. It is never pretty.

There are a significant predictions in Scripture about what will happen on the earth when God takes away His restraining influence.

That is not pretty either. In fact, it makes all the human degradation, depravity and destruction that has taken place throughout history pale in comparison.

There is hope for those not yet given over. This hope lies not in what they can become or in any action they can take, but in what He will do in them once they surrender their long war against Him. For there can be no truce as the battle field broadens and becomes increasingly deadly - only surrender or defeat.

Surrender, if done in time, will result in escape when He takes His protective hand away from the earth and allows the entire planet to be given over. 

For us, His children by faith, the signs of the times are prevalent. Keep your eyes peeled on the Middle East, and especially Israel.

And like beloved children on a long journey, sometimes we can't help but ask Him that proverbial and ancient question: "Are we there, yet?"

I'm pretty sure we're getting close.

Redeemed and Forgiven

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;--Ephesians 1:7-8

Paul begins this chapter praising His God for the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ.  Throughout the first 14 verses he lists some of these riches.  In verses 4-6 (and in previous studies) we saw that we, who are in Christ, are:

1. Chosen by God

2.  Predestined by God to be His adopted sons and daughters

3.  Accepted by God in His Son, Jesus.

Looking at the next two verses (7-8) we see that we have redemption through his blood and forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace which is made manifest in all wisdom and prudence.  That is quite a mouthful... so let's look an them separately.

Our God has redeemed us!  In Him, the bible says, is plenteous redemption. The Greek word for redemption is apolutrosis.  It means "a releasing effected by payment of ransom."  "To let one go free on receiving the price."  "Deliverance as a result of the payment of a ransom." This redemption implies freedom from the guilt, the punishment and the power of sin.  My Jesus gave His life as a ransom for me! Paraphrasing Zechariah 9:11:  By the blood of His covenant he has brought me out of the pit where there was no water

John 8:34  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

Romans 7:14  For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Galatians 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

It is in Christ that we find our true liberty.

John 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Our redemption is through His blood.  The book of First Peter tells me that I was not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb slain.  The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was the purchase price paid to redeem us from our helpless estate.  By His death Jesus paid the price to deliver us from the bondage of sin into the glorious liberty of children of God.


Revelation 5:9,12  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;....Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

Only through His Son can sinners like you and me be a people who are holy and without blame before Him in love.  Only through His Son can we be adopted as sons unto Him.  Truly we are not worthy, but He is!

We also have forgiveness in Christ.  My God has forgiven me ALL my past, present and future sins. I am justified before Him when I believe.  This is an amazing statement.  Let's look at the meaning of the word forgiveness in the Greek.  The Greek word is aphesis and it means to release from bondage or imprisonment, forgiveness or pardon of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed),
THAT is a pretty good deal!

What is sin? Again, here is the meaning in the Greek (paraptoma):  to fall beside or near something; a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness,  a sin, misdeed, or trespass...unintentional (error) or willful (transgression)  

All of us sin and fall short of the glory of God...there is no one good, the Bible says, not one.  It is only through Jesus that we can obtain pardon for our sins.  Blessed are we whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man whom the Lord does not impute iniquity and in whose spirit is no guile!  My God is good, ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all that call on Him in truth!

Verse 7-8 tells us that the basis for both redemption and forgiveness is according to the riches of our God's grace which He made abound to toward us.  It is the riches of His goodness, forbearance and long-suffering that lead us to repentance.  It is by God's mercy and grace that we are justified.  This wonderful grace is made manifest in all wisdom and prudence.  God knows all things...He knows how to apply his knowledge to the best advantage and attain the highest goals.  His wisdom is unsearchable and His ways past finding out!  My God is prudent...He ponders, He considers carefully all that He does so...with much thought...He chose to show His grace toward us.  


But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.--Ephesians 2:4-7

For next study in Ephesians go here