Book of Romans

Grace and God’s Plan For Evangelism

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Gospel of Grace and Paul’s Plans

Book of Romans Chapter 15

What is the message that the Lord leaves with us?

Rom 15:1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

We are to learn from all the Word of God which includes the Old Testament.

Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

We are to receive every child of God!

Rom 15:7 Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

We must listen to the Holy Spirit!

Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

What was the great quest of the Apostle Paul?

Rom 15:20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation:
Rom 15:21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.

You see as the Born-Again children of God; bought by the blood of Jesus the true Messiah, we see those we need to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

All those who have never heard the Words of Salvation!

*Rom 15:22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.
Rom 15:23 But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you;

We know who hinders the cause of Christ. It is that nasty Satan who will try to hinder us as we become witnesses the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and the message of God’s Grace.

We also know that the Holy Spirit will send us in the direction He wants us to go, rather than allow us to just take off to a place where a Church is already working and growing.

It does not matter if we become a Preacher, a teacher, or just someone witnessing for Jesus, we all must have the same message!

We all have a ministry for the Lord Jesus!

The Apostle Paul stuck to the ministry the Lord Jesus had given to him, rather than take a trip to Rome to a diligent church.

We are to complete the job the Lord Jesus has given us to do while we are still able.

It seems that Paul had been to all the areas that were assigned to him by the Holy Spirit, yet he knew all those churches that had been planted needed some guidance.

The Apostle Paul was a church planter and a true evangelist.

*Rom 15:24 Whensoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.

Again look at verse twenty. It was not part of our lesson.

Rom 15:20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation:

If we witness to some lost soul, we may go back and witness to them one or more times, but once we have planted the Gospel seed it may be time to reach out to some other lost soul and encourage some other child of God to return to that one who is resisting the Holy Spirit.

As Christian witnesses, we need to have a worldwide view of the ministry, but the Holy Spirit keeps most of us close to where we live. This would be our mission field.

We must still have that passion to reach every lost soul for Christ all around the world!

Spain at this time of Paul was on the outskirts of what was called the civilized world and Paul felt that if he could reach Spain then the Gospel message would be in place to travel throughout all the world, but he had already reached Europe and the Gospel message was spreading.

Remember the Church in Rome had never seen an Apostle.

This was a lay church that began from those who had visited Jerusalem at the Pentecost just after our Savior returned to Heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father

Spain would be somewhat like New York where we have a missionary been working for more than 20 years.

If you reach a lost soul in New York, there is a good chance the Gospel message could go to many places because New York is visited by so many from other places.

In reality, it is the same for most places where the Holy Spirit will lead us.

Every lost soul is precious to Jehovah God, and He sent His Son to die for us all!

We just need a like passion as that of the Apostle Paul!

Col 1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Col 1:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

We are to be this sort of minister!

Paul was called by the Holy Spirit for a specific mission which was to come first.

*Rom 15:25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.
Rom 15:26 For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.
Rom 15:27 It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.

We as Christians are not to start some new mission until the one, we are working on is complete and that according to the Holy Spirit!

We should realize that though the Israelites are blind to the truth of the Gospel, they did preserve to Word of God so that it is available to all the world, and we owe them a great debt, but this is not what Paul is talking about here.

When a Jew converted to Christianity, they were abandoned in their community many losing any way to make a living and they truly struggled in the cause of Christ, and it is these Christians that the Holy Spirit made a way for assistance by these Gentile Churches.

These Jews were suffering in poverty and still many are today in Jerusalem.

After all, we are all one Church.

No matter where we come from, and God never looks at the color of our skin or our standing in a community, or the nation in which we live.

God does not show favoritism. We are all the children of God!

No matter our plans for the Gospel, God has a far greater plan than any of which we could think.

If we have not met the needs of the local Church, then we have no cause to get involved in the needs of those in other nations except for prayer and financially.

If we have met the needs of the local Church, then we are obligated to reach out to the poor Churches in other nations, either as an individual or as the whole Church.

Act 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

If we have not helped those Christians close to us, there will be no reward for helping those in other nations.

We are indeed debtors to help other believers when they face critical needs.

Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

When we cannot help financially, we must at least add our prayers or we need to pray and help with spiritual gifts.

*Rom 15:28 When therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain.
Rom 15:29 And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.

Notice it is for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have become servants.

Every ministry must come to its end before a new ministry can begin!

But we see we must always have a worldwide vision for evangelism!

We are not out to convince anyone of the Gospel, we are to present the Gospel and allow the Gospel to do its work and the Holy Spirit to do His work.

Until the Gospel has reached around the world the Church Age will not end.

Mat_24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

We see both these things happening at the same time in this same Age today, the Church Age.

In reality the Church has failed!

We still have this same command from the Lord Jesus Christ, and it must remain our goal, just as it did with the Apostle Paul till the day his head was removed for preaching the Gospel.

Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

What has happened?

Eze 34:8 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
Eze 34:9 Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
Eze 34:10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

Much of the Church is now led by false shepherds!

These things happened in the Old Testament and the same thing is happening today and this is why the wrath of God will be so severe not just upon the world but more severe on these false shepherds.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most important message that needs to be heard in this wicked world that is growing eviler every day!

Joh 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Why is the Gospel so important?

1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

It is by the Gospel that we can be reconciled to God!

We must lay aside all the differences of the denominations and reach for the work of Christ as a unit and renewed determination!

*Rom 15:30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;
Rom 15:31 That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints;
Rom 15:32 That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.
Rom 15:33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

As the Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit bring an end to this great Book of the Bible, he writes what we already know, that prayer works.

Prayer was the key to the early Church, and it is still the key to the Church today.

We need more prayer and not less prayer, but it is fervent prayer that works the best.

Jas_5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The prayers of those who do not have the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot help at all!

Those that pray without being a home to the Holy Spirit are wasting their time.

God only wants to hear one prayer from them, and it is what is known as the sinners prayer. “Lord forgive me for I am a sinner”

All God’s children should be in daily contact with our Heavenly Father.

How can we expect success if we refuse to talk to our Heavenly Father through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ?

Those prayers must be according to the will of God, or He will not answer!

Those prayers must be for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, or they are meaningless!

The Lord Jesus Christ must be praised.
The Lord Jesus Christ must be worshipped.
The Lord Jesus Christ must be served.

What did Paul need?

He needed deliverance from unbelievers.

Most of those were the hypocritical Jews at this time who had also rejected the Messiah.

Those that reject the Lord Jesus Christ are simply saying they had rather live in their sinful ways and have no plans to ever change!

You see, we need prayer that the message of the Messiah will be received, but it must first be received by the Church without deviation and without compromise.

The truth does not ever change, and the Word of God is the truth!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the truth!

This truth is for all those who believe there is much more to life than these few years we live in these old bodies that age until they die!

Eph_1:13 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,

It is only after we are saved and then filled with the Holy Spirit that we can realize the truth of salvation!

We need to pray for God’s help to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in every way that we can!

This is being in the Will of God the Father!

To be in the will of God is the safest place we can be upon this earth!

We must pray for all these things while still praying for all our brothers and sisters in Christ everywhere.

We must pray that they too are doing the work that Christ has given us to do.

We must also pray for them that they will succeed.

We must also pray for their safety as persecution against all the saints of God is increasing worldwide!

We must never forget that our Savior knows what we are going through, and He has felt the pains that we feel, for He was also rejected and persecuted.

We should always remember we are not being rejected; it is the “Gospel” that most of this world is rejecting because they would rather live in sin!

Salvation is a personal choice, and it will always be a personal choice!

The greatest prayer we can have is for someone to receive the Gospel and welcome the truth of a Holy God!

Peace in this life can only come by our Creator and His Savior!

Our plans to serve the Lord should be similar to this plan of the Apostle Paul.

Amen

God’s Grace and Christian Liberty

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Gospel of Grace and Christian Liberty

Book of Romans Chapter 14

What is Christian Liberty? It is when sin no more has control of our lives.

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 
Rom 6:15  What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 

How do we obtain Christian Liberty?

Jas 1:21  Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 
Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 

Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

Psa 119:101  I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. 
Psa 119:102  I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me. 
Psa 119:103  How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 
Psa 119:104  Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. 
Psa 119:105  Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. 

Christian Liberty comes by being guided by the perfect law of God!

Christian Liberty is not a license to sin!

*Rom 14:1  Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. 

What are doubtful disputations?

First we are never to argue with anyone about the Word of God.

The Word of God speaks for itself and the Word of God is settled in Heaven!

Psa_119:89  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven

Sometimes we can be so determined to glorify God that we act like the the Devil.

Those that reject the truth of God are not our friends even though we need to always pray for them.

2Jn 1:9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 
2Jn 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 
2Jn 1:11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. 

There are also those who are just weak in their faith.

We must certainly not place burdens upon those who are weak in their faith that the Lord Jesus did not place upon any of us!

We must always receive those who are weak in their faith just as Christ has received us when we were first saved.

This happens many times with those who are babes in Christ.

There are babes in Christ who have been saved for many years because they failed to study the Word of God which is actually a commandment to us all.

We are not to argue with them, just receive them and when the opportunity arises, then we can point out their misunderstanding.

1Co 9:22  To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 

In the early Roman Church there were many disputes in most cases because of the laws given to the Jews by Moses that have nothing to do with the Law of Grace.

We should understand this passage as it deals not with the express commandments of God which deal with the “Grace of God”.

This passage is dealing with differences of opinion of the Word of God.

We are never to dispute the Word of God, again the Word of God speakes for itself and is indisputable!

Christian maturity is measured by our obedience to the Word of God!

Listen to Jesus:

Joh 15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. 

Joh 15:14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 

For instance:

*Rom 14:2  For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. 

There are some Christians who become strict vegetarians and practically condemn those who add meats to their diet and vice-versa.

The one who just eats fruits and vegetables could be looked upon as a weak Christian yet, they both are subject to criticizing and condemning each other.

When the Apostle Paul was facing this issue, he was very careful to keep the differences of Judaism and Christianity.

For instance Paul had Timothy to be circumcised which conformed to the law of Moses because he was a Jew yet, he would not allow Titus to be circumcised. Titus was a Gentile (heathen)

Gal 2:3  But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: 
Gal 2:4  And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 
Gal 2:5  To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. 

It was not necessary for Timothy to be circumcised to be a Christian, but he would never have been allowed the time to preach the Gospel to the Jews had he not done so.

The lesson with Titus was to prove to the Jews that those other than Jews would not have to be obedient to the Laws of Moses to be saved.

These things were done in order to reach as many lost souls as possible, either Jew or Gentile with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

No one has ever been saved by the Laws of Moses!

Rules and Observing old doctrines can never save and are in fact heresy!

There is only one way to approach God and it is by and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is that Christian who has become weak and judgmental, who is also weak in their faith!

*Rom 14:3  Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. 
Rom 14:4  Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 

When we become judges then we have forgotten we are to be witnesses!

We see it is the vegetarian who has become the judge in this passage, yet God received them both.

1) The strong believer, who walks in the Liberty of Christ and does not live by strict rules such as those Laws of Moses, is also accepted of Christ no matter what that weak Christian thinks.

2) No one has the right to judge the servant of the Lord!

Both of these people belong to the Lord, both are servants of the Lord because the Lord has already judged them and accepted them because of Grace, and not by laws.

They have no reason to judge nor pass judgement upon each other!

No believer has the right to play God!

3) God will hold up every believer!

*Rom 14:5  One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 
Rom 14:6  He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

If we have a God who cannot keep us saved then we do not have much of a God!

2Ti 4:18  And the Lord “shall deliver me” from every evil work, and “will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom”: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 

In the time of Paul these things caused havoc in the early Church!

If we truly believe the Word of God, then we must be persuaded that we are right and not wrong because God said we are!

We are to live as we understand the will of God!
We must dedicate everyday to the Lord!

What was the only difference between the saved Jew and the saved Gentile.

One set aside a few more days to celebrate God than the other, who gave everyday to the Lord.

Certainly nothing to cause a dispute as long as they both understood that salvation comes by Jesus Christ!

The hearts of both these men were given to the Lord!

*Rom 14:7  For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 
Rom 14:8  For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 
Rom 14:9  For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

The truth is that, no one can tell Jehovah God what to do!
No one can tell the Lord Jesus Christ what to do!
No one can tell the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit) what to do!

Only prayer can move the hand of God and this according to His will!

As Christians, we are to act like Christians according to the Word of God expressing that Jesus Christ is our Lord.

This is a Divine fact that is never to be questioned!

This being true, then we are independant of the world’s judgement because we are subject to the rule of Jesus Christ!

We belong to the Lord in this world and we will still belong to the Lord in the world to come.

We belong to the Lord forever if we belong to Him in this life!

This being fact, then we live for the Lord by completing the work He gave us to do!

The Lord Jesus Christ has proven that He is the Master of Life, but because of His death it proves that He is also the Master of Death because he arose from that death.

Satan holds no control over the life or the death of those who love the Lord!

This is the reason the Lord Jesus laid aside His glory to come to this earth and bled and died for our sins and He rose again in that same body that we may live with Him throughout eternity.

Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ is Lord of the living and of the dead in Christ because He is the Master of both worlds.

The Lord does not give up His ownership of the Church when a member dies!

Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 
Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 
Php 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 

If we are to fear anything in this life, then we need to understand what the Lord is saying here!

What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

1Co 15:1  Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 
1Co 15:2  By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 
1Co 15:3  For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 
1Co 15:4  And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

So we can readily see that we have One Judge and that Judge is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not Allah, not Budha, not any false diety!

So why even as Christians do we try to judge anyone in the Church or even outside the Church.

The Lord has already taught us that we can tell by the way they live their lives.

*Rom 14:10  But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 
Rom 14:11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 
Rom 14:12  So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

The Holy Spirit demands us to answer these simple questions ourselves!

Knowing these things, then why do we judge another brother or sister in Christ?

Why would we despise and look down upon a brother or sister in Christ when we know the only Judge is the Lord Jesus Christ who can see into the heart

The pure fact is “I know I belong to the Lord” but in reality I cannot know the truth of anyone else because I cannot see into their heart!

If you are a true Christian, then you have already been judged by the Lord Jesus Christ because He is the only Righteous Judge!

Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 
Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 
Php 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

I got news for you, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will not be judged for our salvation!

We will not be at the Judgment Seat of Christ, unless we already belong to the Lord!

At the Judgment Seat of Christ we will be judged for what we have done since our salvation.

It is a “judgment” for rewards or loss of rewards.

Notice that phrase “every tongue shall confess to God”. This does not leave anyone out!

If we have noticed the Holy Spirit began with teaching the weak Christian and now He is speaking to the strong Christian.

The fact remains we will not reach full maturity until we reach the “Judgment Seat of Christ”!

Everyone will give an account for themselves!

We will not be called to testify about others!

We will only be held accountable for our selves!

We will not be held accountable for what any other person has done!

We will stand alone before God at this judgment if we are one of God’s children!

Joh 5:22  For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 
Joh 5:23  That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. 
Joh 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

We must understand that we are to never become a stumbling block for any child of God!

*Rom 14:13  Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. 
 
So now we see that having Christian Liberty, it does have it’s limits!

We must never be an obstacle standing between someone and our Righteous God!

We must avoid any offence.

Php 1:10  That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; 
Php 1:11  Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. 

We must respect the convictions of others.

We must remember that conviction is the first stage of repentance.

We must promote the work of the Lord in all others.

We must guard against any appearance of evil upon ourselves.

It is a full time job trying to be a good Christian which leaves no time to judge others.

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 

When we are seeking the prize of Jesus Christ, there should nothing else have a greater importance!

We must remember the Lord Jesus Christ died for us all, not to judge us, but to save us!

Amen

The Christian and Government

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Gospel of Grace and Civil Government

Book of Romans Chapter 13

No matter what nation we call our home, we are to be subject to that government or those civil authorities.

God expects each and every believer to live as a testimony of righteousness (doing what is right) while we are upon this earth.

Remember we are only visitors our home is in Heaven and we are as Ambassadors representing Heaven.

We may ask why, but the fact remains those in power in any nation are put there to fulfill the will of God.

It does not matter how those authorities were appointed or by whom, if they have this power it was given to them by our Heavenly Father!

Whether it be by vote, or by military, they are ordained of God
Whether legitimate or illegitimate, they are ordained of God.
Whether they be just or unjust, they are ordained of God.

If we have questions about this, then we must believe the Word of God!

These things are written for us to learn and obey and are put here by the Holy Spirit just as the rest of the Word of God!

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

We must understand the Word of God as it is written!

*Rom 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

We must understand Civil Obedience!

If we go back to the previous chapter, we must include that Scripture.

Rom 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Rom 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Rom 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Just that statement “if it be possible” we should realize that it may not always be possible, but we must clearly understand that “Vengeance” belongs to our Heavenly Father and His Son and His Spirit!

We must understand that any government only has power in the Civil Realm and any power they have is given to them by Jehovah God.

The governments of the world have no Spiritual Power and cannot overrule the Word of God without taking His vengeance upon them!

Just because we do not see it, does not mean God is not in some action of His own and every lost soul has already been sentenced to damnation and governments cannot change this fact.

Wives are to obey their husbands not as masters or kings.
Children are to obey their parents, but parents are not to function as sovereigns over them.
Governments are no different, they do not have absolute power over any people especially God’s people!

When the laws of any civil government conflict with the explicit commands of God, then our answer is written down for us in the Scriptures.

Act 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

This is the right answer every time if we are obedient to the Word of God.

If we are not obedient to the Word of God, then we have no answer to authoritarian governments.

When governments claim Divine rights, then we are to answer no, because that government has gone beyond the authority given to them by God Himself and God will deal them as we resist.

We should say yes to all matters that do not go against the Word of God and beware of deception. Satan is a Deceiver!

1Ti 2:2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Tit 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
Tit 3:2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

1Pe 2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
1Pe 2:14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
1Pe 2:15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
1Pe 2:16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

Remember God knows what we are going through and remaining obedient to the Word of God is the answer to all the wrongs that come to God’s people!

*Rom 13:2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

We must understand that an ordinance of God is not changeable by any human and not the Church.

We are bound to submit to our government as long as our government does not infringe on the Divine Authority of God given to us in the Scriptures.

Any government or ruler who insist on violating the Divine Will of God will suffer the wrath of God and His vengeance!

As the Church of the Living God we are to be good obedient citizens to the laws of the land and only resist those laws that try to counter the Word of God.

Obviously, the Church is not what it should be today because much of the Church has ignored the written Word of God and do not hold themselves to God’s standards and God’s standard is “Holiness”.

What is the duty of each Christian?

Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

And why must it be this way?

1Pe 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

When we deviate from this standard we have gone against the truth of God!

We have a task to do as Christians and it is not to start wars.

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Remember God has already said He will deal with such governments who violate Divine Power.

This passage is written to the Church.
This passage is written to each Christian and God requires obedience to all the Word of God!

As Christians as many as will, should try to get into the many places of government to be godly influences, but Christianity should never be confused with political power.

If we demonstrate against an immoral government, it should be a peaceful demonstration.

We are never to be identified with murder or assignation and God forbid that we be known as terrorist because of our actions.

God is not in any of these things.

God does expect us to defend our families which would include our Christian family.

1Ti_5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

This would include providing for the safety of our families.

When rulers begin to exercise personal or immoral mastery over human life, then we are to obey God and not man and we see this happening in our own nation today.

Remember we have no righteousness ourselves! We depend on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ to one day be in the presence of our Holy Father in Heaven.

World leaders are assigned by God Himself and if they are swayed to go against God in any way form or fashion, God will hold them accountable.

It is not up to some Pope to tell any national leader that they are okay in the eyes of God, when it is obvious that they disregard the Word of God.

All religious leaders will answer to God for their own mistakes, and they have an even higher standard to maintain which many of them have forgotten.

The world and each Christian must see that God has all these things well in hand!

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

No matter how we see the world we must understand that all things that happen are working toward the benefit of the Church and the Israelites.

We need to concentrate on the work the Lord has given us to do and not get caught up in things that cause our work to be irrelevant.

Pro 24:21 My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:
Pro 24:22 For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?

Rulers are put in place to be a terror to good works!

*Rom 13:3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
Rom 13:4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
Rom 13:5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

So, for what are all governments accountable to God?

They are never to try to stop good works!

Good works are all those things written in the Word of God.
Good works are those things that the Lord Jesus has commanded us to do.
Good works are to live as Christians as described to us by the Word of God.

All rulers are ordained of God to restrain evil!

Evil would be those things described as evil in the Word of God!

God will hold us accountable for those laws we do not obey which do not go against the Word of God!

In most cases civil laws should be according to the ten Commandments not to forget all God’s laws on immorality.

And yes, abortion is murder when it is intentional and manslaughter when it is not intentional, just as the murder or the accidental taking of a life when it is not intentional.

We should fear the state to obey those laws.
We should do that which is lawful and good.

Tit_3:2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

1Th_5:15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men

We should also know that we are in the last days and things are not going to get better in our relationship with our governments or those who are reprobate!

2Ti_3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

We must do everything we possibly can to live in peace wherever God has placed us!

We should ask ourselves, “for what reasons should we disagree with our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ”? That answer is we are never to disagree with the Word of God!

Ecc 8:7 For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
Ecc 8:8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
Ecc 8:9 All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

It is a fact that God ordains rulers to maintain the welfare of its citizens and not given in to likes of the few over the many.

God expects the freedom to worship without malice.

God expects us to pay taxes and God expects those taxes to be used to provide all these things for the people including their safety.

If we abuse our citizenship, we are resisting the ordinances of God!
Our conscience determines our state of being.

When we say by our conscience, we cannot support certain laws of our government then we should not!
When we say by our conscience that certain things do not go against the written Word of God, then we should be obedient whether we like them or not.

We should not live in fear of government reprisal or of being caught and punished.

And we should pay our taxes.

*Rom 13:6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
Rom 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

What are rulers? They are officers of God for the good of the public.

Our governments must be supported and as Christians it is our duty to do so.

Not because they demand it, but because God commands it!

Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Rulers are ordained of God to provide certain benefits for the citizens of that nation.

We do not have to put any faith in them.
We do not have to accept their policies to direct our lives.

Governments are to provide justice, protection, and services for the citizens of that nation.

It should be the intent of every government to make laws that keep the strong from dominating the weak.

It is to keep us from living in the days of the wild-wild west.

Good governments keep the world from being chaotic when they do as they are ordained of God!

What do we understand of today?

2Ti_3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

We will not live in a perfect peace, but as the children of God we are to strive for peace and influence our government to strive for peace.

We are not so much to be in the politics of our government as we are to be in the workings of our governments.

So we are obligated to pay our taxes and not to try to avoid them.

When governments are biased toward certain groups of its people, that government is not doing the work God has ordain it to do.

When the Jezebels of this world lead any ruler, they are not doing the work God ordained them to do.

It is the duty of our government today to be led by the Constitution put in place by our forefathers and each new leader pledges to uphold that Constitution to the best of his or her ability because it was put in place by the people.

When these things are tampered with, we see what we see today in our own nation, which is corruption.

Still as long as the people of God can live in peace, then we are to support that government with our taxes and our prayers.

God will do as He does to all such governments and each individual ruler will still stand in judgment before God whether they believe in Him or not!

If we expect perfection, then we must think we are already in Heaven the only place where perfection lives, which we are not!

We are to pay our taxes!
We are to pay custom, duties of imports or exports!
We are to observe the authority of our government!
We are to honor those who deserve our honor!
We as Christians are also obligated to pay our debts and try our best to not be obligated to the things of this world!

Pro 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
Pro 14:35 The king’s favour is toward a wise servant: but his wrath is against him that causeth shame.

Isa 54:14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

We must remember our God has far more benefits than any nation where we might live in this wicked world, and it grows more extremely wicked every day that passes.

We must avoid being involved in any way in this wickedness!

In the days of the Apostle Paul Rome had an income tax.
There was a ground tax, one tenth or on fifth of all crops that were produced.
There was the Poll Tax paid by everyone between the ages of 12 to 65.
There were then local taxes.
There were import and export taxes.
There were travel taxes for the use of roads, crossing bridges, entering markets, and entering harbors.
There were taxes on carts and wagons.
There was even a tax when you sold or bought your working animals.

The Holy Spirit knew all these things when He directed Paul to include these passages.

We see not much has changed in taxes except now taxes are collected for illegal drugs.

*Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

What is the truth? The truth is, if we genuinely love one another then we will never try to harm each other in any way!

When the law of love exists, then there is no need for other laws.

This is the message of the Lord Jesus Christ!

1) We are not to owe no man anything.

This does not mean we are not to borrow which we should not unless we have a need.

This means we are to be an example in the repayment of any debt.

We already know we should not charge interest on loans to a brother and sister in Christ.

We already know we are to be shrewd in business dealings with all others.

None of these things work unless we are examples in the paying of our own debts whether money or any other thing.

In fact we should not purchase things we do not really need.
We should not purchase unless we can meet the obligations of repayment.
We should make all payments when that payment is due.

The people of the world live for the world and its monies and possessions, and we must not get caught up in these things!

We damage the name of Christ when we do not pay our debts!

Jas 5:4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

Fraud is a serious thing in the eyes of God!

2) The greatest debt we owe is love!

Love will do more to win people to Christ than any other thing!

This entire world could live in God’s love if the world would turn to Him.

This world is more interested in riches no matter how they are obtained!

Let us go back and revue the commandments of God to the Jews.

*Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

1) The truth is love forbids the act of adultery.

We should understand that adultery refers to all forms of sexual immorality.

Sexual immorality takes us down to the level of animals as taught by evolution, when the truth is God has raised the human to a higher standard than animals.

2) Love forbids murder.

Love protects human life when murder is a destructor of human life.

Life is to be respected and cherished.

We should not take our own life nor the life of any other human being.

Notice this does not include war nor the obedience to the laws of God!

Most civilized nations have always considered murder to be a serious crime and worthy of judgment.

God expands upon this.

Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

What do we see today, especially in New York and California? We see Attorney Generals so soft on crime that even the murderer is set free without punishment.

This is then a sign of an “uncivilized nation”!

We see this increasingly right here in America today. Our nation is becoming uncivilized!

We will never know the love of God without being a home for the Holy Spirit and God has been asked to leave the United States and He may never return, so there is a lack of love.

Again a sign we are in the last days before the Rapture of the Church!

2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Along with murder we also see all crime increasing such as theft.

3) Love forbids stealing.

To steal is to cheat, to take from someone else.

Did you know it is not man’s law that determines if someone is stealing or not!

Some people use legal means to steal from others

It is the Word of God that determines if you are a thief!

Tit 2:10 Not purloining(stealing), but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

As we have seen during these plagues, hoarding is also stealing!

We can be smart without hoarding!

In God’s command to Adam, He was saying we are to love each other enough to share the riches of this earth and in fact the riches of this universe.

Those who hoard are seeking the “Judgment of God” and they will see it!

Luk 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
Luk 12:17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
Luk 12:18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
Luk 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Luk 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Luk 12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Love shares, hoarding is stealing from the people of this world!

4) Love forbids bearing false witness.

We must certainly tell the truth in court when we are called to be a witness, but this means far more than this.

False witness covers any sort of lying.

Just telling lies is bearing a false witness!

There is also slander. Tearing down the reputation of someone.
There is rumor, and gossip, and talebearing, and spreading evil news for the benefit of others. “Watch out politicians”
Just planting in the mind of things that are improper or indecent is bearing false witness.
Deception is bearing false witness.
Accusations not knowing the truth is bearing false witness.
Exaggeration is bearing false witness as is blown up flattery.

It reality we are never to share any bad news about anyone else because it shows a lack of love for that person!

Psa 41:5 Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?
Psa 41:6 And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
Psa 41:7 All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.
Psa 41:8 An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
Psa 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
Psa 41:10 But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.

6) Love forbids coveting.

If we love each other, we will not covet the things that belong to each other.

We may want something similar to what our neighbor has, but when we want the thing our neighbor has we have forgotten to love them.

*Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

7) So we see that loves sums up all the commandments.

What did the Apostle Paul write by the Holy Spirit?

1Co 13:4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1Co 13:5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1Co 13:6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1Co 13:7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

As we see our world veer away from the commandments of God, and we see a world where there is a lack of affection, we need to wake up to the reality of the Word of God.

*Rom 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Rom 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

The important message of this verse is that as believers we must be aware of time according to the Scriptures.

As humans we certainly do not want to run out of time.

As believers we also know that when we run out of time here upon this earth, then we begin an endless time with our Savior.

As each day ticks away we are one day closer to going home to be with our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

What the Holy Spirit is describing here is a little different.

The time we are living in today is the Church Age and it is the time of the Church Age that is coming closer to an end.

We should be able to see this if we study the Scriptures.

The most important day we have to look forward to is the day of the Rapture of the Church.

Too many Christians are asleep.

The sleep of false security. (the sleep of works)
The sleep of complacency. (the sleep of awe for the things of this world)
The sleep of neglect. (How can we neglect so great a salvation and neglect the work Christ gave us to do)
The sleep of indifference. (I am saved to heck with all others)

What day is at hand? The day when we will meet the Lord Jesus face to face!

We should be paying attention to what is going on in the world. (Matthew 24)

Too many Christians are neglecting the work that the Lord Jesus gave us to do!

Not only is the day of Salvation (the day that the Lord Jesus returns to take us home), but the day of “Judgement” also grows nearer every day.

The world we are living in will never be better than it is today, until the return of Christ Jesus and this will be after the seven years of terrible tribulation.

You see now is the time we are to be fulfilling the law of love for all humanity and telling the world about the salvation of Jesus Christ.

The is the time that is running out for the lost and for all the witnesses for Jesus Christ.

We live in a world of darkness and the Gospel is that light that is shining for this time that is running out.

There is not much time left for us to reach our family and friends.

We must wake up and put on the armor of God and get busy about the work that Jesus gave us to do.

Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

If it were not necessary for us to be busy at this time, Jesus would not have said these things!

1Co 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

What is the armor of light?

2Co 6:7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

We must walk honestly in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ!

*Rom 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Since the beginning with Adam and Eve, ignorance has been the cause of sin, but today ignorance is just used as an excuse to sin.

We must be clear in our minds that we are sinners and the one and only way to rid ourselves of this sin, is the fact that Jesus will “pardon” each and every sinner that comes to Him in the truth of salvation!

1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

What is a pardon?

It sometimes upsets us when our President pardons certain criminals, yet the Lord Jesus Christ is willing to pardon every criminal.

To pardon is to be no more found guilty of any crime!

This cannot happen unless we put on the Lord Jesus Christ and not allow our flesh to lead us back into sin!

We are to be as tightly bound to the Lord Jesus as the clothes we wear!

We are to be wrapped up in Jesus.

We are to live, and move according to His Words and His ways and not by our own thoughts nor the ways of the world.

We can do this when we know we are clothed with the love of our Savior!

Col 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

We can live in peace in this world even if this world is full of turmoil!

Amen

The Christian Purpose

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Gospel of Grace and Christian Service

Book of Romans Chapter 12

What is Christian service?

After God has shown to us His Mercy and Grace and saved us from His wrath, we must choose to receive what He has done for us by Jesus Christ, and we must begin our walk of obedience with Him!

We should understand that we will serve this world, or we must accept what the Lord Jesus has done for us and serve Him.

We cannot have two masters!

Luk 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

We must remain faithful in our service until the Lord returns to take us home!

Luk 12:42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
Luk 12:43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Luk 12:44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
Luk 12:45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
Luk 12:46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
Luk 12:47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
Luk 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Luk 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?

Even as Christians serving with a purpose, we must never think too highly of ourselves!

The Apostle Paul describes this for us.

Act 20:18 And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
Act 20:19 Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:
Act 20:20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,
Act 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a particularly good reason to be good servants of the Lord.

Col 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Col 3:24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
Col 3:25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

As Christians we have a purpose in this life when before the Lord found us, we were miserable and without purpose!

*Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Another way of saying these things to say we must be devoted to the Lord for the work He has done for us to get us saved.

Christian devotion means:

2Co 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

A Christian doing a work for the Lord will stand out in this world, especially in this day that we are hated so much.

Act 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Act 4:14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

We owe the Lord all our body can give to Him.
We owe all our energy to the Lord.
All our thoughts need to be on our service to Him!

We live in a world that desperately needs to get right with God!

The way to do this is clearly revealed through the Lord Jesus Christ!

Our “faith” in the work of Christ Jesus is counted to us for “righteousness”.

It was the same for Abraham of the Old Testament.

Rom_4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Rom_4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Gal_3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

We are to give our bodies to God while we are still alive!

Sin destroys the body!

We are Born Again now having a new soul.
We are filled with the Holy Spirit of God and need a refilling daily.
God demands we give Him our body for His service.

We are not to do our own thing.
We are not to dedicate our bodies for our families even though this should be a close second.
We are not to dedicate our bodies to our jobs or our possessions.
We are to give our bodies to God to do with them as He pleases!

Living sacrifice means a constant and continuous service.
Living sacrifice means wherever our body is located.
Living sacrifice means without our own desires but for the desires of God.
Living sacrifice means living for God!

1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

We give our bodies to the Lord because it pleases Him, and we always want to please our Heavenly Father!

2Co 5:9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

What is it that we must give with our bodies? Our Reasonable Service.

God does not ask us to do unreasonable things!

Reasonable means: rational, logical, intelligent.
Service means: worship, ministry.

We once used our minds and bodies in sin!

God now demands we use our bodies and our minds for His glory once we belong to Him!

Humanism says to worship your body.

No matter what we do this old body will not last forever.

God says give Me your body and I will return to you a new glorified body!

God came to this earth and took Himself a human body when He could have chosen any of His creations or made Himself a new creation.

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

When the Lord Jesus died and was resurrected, He took that same body to the glory world.

Now as we live and breathe and are Born Again, our body is home to God’s Holy Spirit.

1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

When we see Jesus, we will get a view of what our own glorified body will look like.

1Jn_3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

All this will begin when we are more like Jesus Christ daily!

*Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The word conformed means to be fashioned after. Made agreeable to or suited to.

That word world means the way this world operates and serves itself.

This world is corruptible, so it has corrupted itself!

We see this everywhere in our world today as corruption has taken over this world!

I never would have thought our own government could sink so low as to be in the corruption we see today.

We can say that corruption loves corruption because it is never ending!

As Christians we are to stay as far away from the things of this world as we are able.

We do these things by renewing our mind to have the mind of Christ which is a servant’s mind.

This world is built upon lies!

What is the truth?

The world itself and everything in it will pass away, but the child of God cannot pass away!

1Co 7:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: “for the fashion of this world passeth away”.

If we are in the will of God, we are right where God wants us to be!

2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

It is the will of God that we be saved!

1Th_4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

It is the will of God that we are obedient to His Word!

1Pe_2:15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

It is the will of God we have eternal life!

1Jn_2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

It is the will of God that we try our best to be more like Jesus Christ. This is the meaning of being Christian!

Act_11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

There is no wisdom in the governments of this world, especially those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ!

1Co 2:6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

We are to be transformed into the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Those that reject the Lord are corrupt.
Those that reject the Lord are reprobate.
Those that reject the Lord are carnal.
Those that reject the Lord have been blinded by Satan.
Those that reject the Lord are empty and vain.
Those that reject the Lord think only of this world and are alienated from God and are His enemies.

Humanity has become defiled!

Tit 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
Tit 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

As Christians we must be transformed to prove to God, we love Him!

Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

We must become a humble servant to the cause of Jesus Christ!

*Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Rom 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
Rom 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

As Christians we are to think highly of ourselves as God’s children and future residents of the New Heaven, but we must know that we are no better than anyone one else saved or lost.

We are just better off because we know our home is in Heaven because we know we are saved from the wrath of God!

We must always be concerned about our humility!

We must not become conceited.
We must not become prideful.
We must never be arrogant.

We must think soberly which means in one’s right mind because we have the mind of Christ and think as He did and as He does.

1Co_2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

What we now possess and what we are, comes from the Lord.

It is God who gave us a measure of faith to believe, and it is God who helps us to grow our faith!

Without this “working faith” we could never be one of God’s servants!

This includes the gifts and abilities God has given to us for the purpose He has given to us.
This includes increased faith and drive and confidence to go about the work God has given us to do.
This includes the desire to serve the Living God!

God offers so much more, but He will only give it to us one measure at a time, so we are never overwhelmed with the task that is before us.

Remember God gives all these things along with His guidance, but all results come by Him.

We cannot cause someone to be saved these things are in the hand of God.

We are to just be busy about the work He has given us to do!

God does the ploughing, we do the planting, God does the reaping!

We should remember, the Church is the body of Christ and just as our human body there are many distinct parts of the body of Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head, and we will find our task as some other part of the body.

Not everyone can be an arm or a leg.
Not everyone can be the heart or the lungs.

We should be able to see what part of the body of Christ we are and do this work with all our heart!

Luk 22:25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
Luk 22:26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
Luk 22:27 For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

No matter our place in the Body of Christ we should always be praying for more faith to serve in that position!

Psa_84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

We must know that our faith grows according to our belief in the Word of God!

Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

This includes the study of God’s Word.

2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Rom 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Rom 12:7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Rom 12:8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

God gives to us many physical gifts as we serve, but much more important are the Spiritual Gifts.

A Spiritual gift is a God-given ability given to each believer.

All Spiritual gifts come by the Holy Spirit who lives in each and every believer.

These are separate from the “Fruit” of the Spirit, but together they make each child of God a force to be reckoned with.

Each Spiritual gift is given for Spiritual purposes.

The Fruit of the Spirit is given to every believer to make us be more like Jesus Christ!

All the gifts of God come according to God’s “Grace”.

The modern-day prophet is of those who preach the Word of God.

The Word of God we have today is complete so there is no need of prophets. We just need to hear what God has given to us and in some cases to make sense of the Word as it relates to the other Scriptures.

There is no one to try to interpret what God has already made interpretation of!

2Pe_1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

The modern-day prophet keeps the Word of God in the context it was written and makes application to our lives today.

The Word of God does not change, the circumstances of our lives may change, but the answers God gives to us, work in any lifetime!

The Living Word is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Written Word is by the Holy Spirit both given to us by God the Father.

No one can be a prophet of God without first having accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior!

The gift of ministry is what the remainder of God’s children have been called to do.

This is the heart of the servant to minister to others!

This is one of God’s children being willing to turn their attention to others and not themselves.

Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

The gift of teaching is the ability to try to ground all God’s children to the truth of the Scriptures.

Not only does a Church need a great Prophet or Pastor, but the Church need teachers also willing to search the Word of God for God’s answers to life.

We cannot teach until the Holy Spirit has taught us!

We all need to be in one mind and in one accord with the Word of God.

After all if God said it and the Holy Ghost preserved it, then it must be important!

The gift of exhortation could be said to be the gift of motivation, but it includes much more.

It takes this gift to get us to be busy about the work the Lord has given us to do.

Every Pastor should have this gift.
Every Pastor should be able to teach.

The Lord Jesus put it this way:

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

To the Pastor the Holy Spirit put it like this:

2Ti 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

If you want to know the truth, then we can see that this time has come where no one really wants to hear the truth of the Word of God.

The gift of giving means sharing our earthly gifts with the Church and the ministries of the Church to promote the cause of Christ and in this can rewards be earned in Heaven.

Giving to charities will never gain you a reward in Heaven unless given to Christian based charities!

The gift of ruling is simply the gift of being a leader, working in the administration of the Church.

It could also be said the ability to work in government for the cause of Christ Jesus.

It takes a great zeal for the cause of Christ and there is no room for laziness and there is certainly no room for compromise.

We are never to compromise the Word of God.

It must stand as it is written!

Many in government fail in this greatly!

The gift of mercy can be seen in those Christians who are full of forgiveness and compassion.

Every child of God is called to have the gift of mercy by the Lord Jesus Himself!

Luk 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

Even knowing all these things and practicing them according to gifts given by the Holy Spirit, we must do our best to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a personal drive to be a Christian and be a part of a group of Christians!

*Rom 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Rom 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Rom 12:11 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
Rom 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Rom 12:13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

The Lord Jesus Christ made this really easy for us.

Mar 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

We see that this is a commandment!

The Holy Spirit decided we need to understand this and explains what Jesus is saying so we can be clear on the Word of God.

We are to love one another without being hypocrites!
We must be completely free of selfish motives.

If I tell you I love you, then I had better be sincere for the Holy Spirit to acknowledge what I say.

These words must never be used just to get a reaction from that person!

We must understand that we must have this love for the saved and for the lost.

Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

We show love by hating evil!

This is a hatred with intense feelings, but love must remain for that one who did that evil.

Sounds impossible but it is not.

The Lord Jesus Christ died for us while we were still His enemy!

We must fight against evil!

We show love by fighting against evil and hating all things evil.

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Jas 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

We fight against evil when we cling to that which is good!

We are to desire the absolute best for all those we meet and those we know.

We are to love our brothers and sisters in Christ with that special love that Jesus showed!

Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

If we have that feeling that we have already reached perfection and these things are too far from us, then we become a larger part of the problem in the Church!

We are to honor, reverence, and respect even esteem, all of God’s children.

We can just imagine a house of God where these things were as important as salvation!

Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Php 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

We are to serve the Lord and not each other, but by serving the Lord, we will serve each other!

We must not be lazy in the things of Christ!
We must show due diligence in the work of Christ.
We must be earnest and not hesitating in our Christian life for Christ!

That word fervent means to be hot for the work of Christ.

Remember what Jesus said of the last days where the Church has become lute-warm rather than fervent.

We see this today in the modern church.

The Church has lost its fervent spirit and has given in to the world.

Heb 5:11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.
Heb 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

We are to serve the Lord Jesus until He returns to take us home with the same zeal we had when we were first saved.

Not only these things, but we must conquer our trials and not allow our trials to defeat us.

God manages trials in only two ways:

1) He can remove that trial we are going through, and He does sometimes.
2) More often than not, God just goes through that trial with us so we can learn some valuable lesson.

Our job is to endure that trial while it affects our life!

We win most all battles with prayer!

We must be ready to pray at all times!

1Ch 16:11 Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.

And last but not least, we are to give to the cause of Christ!

This has nothing to do with the tithe which is a command of God.

These are love offerings.

The more God provides to us the more we should be charitable to others.

To be safe with our giving then it should go through the Church and the ministries of the Church.

Most monies given to the charities of the world end up in pockets of some person and did not serve the charity or the cause of that charity.

We must be hospitable to all when that time arrives.

1Pe 4:9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
1Pe 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Widows have often been in the plan of God, but there are rules.

1Ti 5:10 Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.

Most of our Christian ladies would be acceptable and many do need help.

If we claim to be Christian, then we should certainly act the part.

We do not learn this in the world, we learn these things from the Word of God and the Holy Spirit will call upon us to be obedient when the time comes!

Amen

The Gospel and National Israel

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Gospel of Grace and National Israel

Book of Romans Chapter 10 verse 1 through 13

Who are the Israelites?

Rom 9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
Rom 9:5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Israel was the nation chosen and adopted as God’s people and those to whom Jehovah God first revealed Himself.

Their job was to tell the world about Jehovah God, but they chose to try to keep Him to themselves.

Gen 32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

Exo 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
Exo 4:23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

They were privileged with the great patriarchal covenants and were given laws that were to teach them the truth and this truth was that no one could keep all those laws. (613 laws not just 10)

We know those Laws were given to teach them about the Messiah.

Gal_3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal_3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

The Israelites never came to know true “faith” and so never attained to God’s “Grace”.

When we mention the Jewish Law, most people think of the Ten Commandments but in reality, there were 613 commandments given to the Jewish people and God knew that no one could keep all those commandments all their lives and it only took one failure to be condemned.

They rejoiced in their Levitical Service and had great expectation of the Messiah which they are still looking for now because they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.

The worship services in the Tabernacle and the Temple were to remind them what was due unto God on one hand and how much was graciously provided by Him on the other hand.

All the Old Testament promises will be filled with promises of the Messiah and the Millennial Kingdom (the one-thousand-year rule of Christ).

The Atonement, the kingdom of Heaven, the reign of Israel upon this earth, but they thought all these things were just for Israel and did not include the Gentiles and they rejected “faith” and decided that righteousness could only come by the keeping of the Law.

Rom 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Rom 4:14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
Rom 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

Their entire system of worship was calculated to reveal the Divine greatness and holiness of Jehovah God and human insignificance and sinfulness.

Instead of becoming a humble nation of servants, they became a nation full of pride and self-righteousness!

When God wanted holiness Israel showed rebellion!

They were looking forward to the important things that are still in their future, because when the time came to move forward, they became legalist and rejected God’s Messiah.

All the promises God has made to Israel are to be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ who was rejected!

The Lord Jesus Christ who is God in the flesh!

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Joh 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Israel made some tragic mistakes!

The Apostle Paul understanding all the Old Testament scriptures having been trained under Gamaliel the great Jewish teacher of that day and now a “Born Again” child of God, full of the Holy Spirit clearly saw the failures of Israel and the truth of Jesus Christ.

What was the main problem for the Israelites? They had a zeal for God, but not according to the Scriptures given to them by those Prophets they murdered because they rejected their message.

*Rom 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
Rom 10:2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

Paul had a burning desire for the salvation of the Israelites. Paul absolutely loved this people!

We have no reason to hate the Jews, the Israelites!

We read earlier of those that God had turned over to reprobate minds, who God knew would never accept the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul knew that the Israelites would never be placed in this group of reprobates.

In fact, we know that God has blinded the eyes of this people and will one day remove those blinders and they will clearly see their mistakes they made concerning the Word of God.

Rom_11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

This blindness in fact will be removed when the fulness of the heathen (Gentiles) come in.

This will happen at the “Rapture” of the Church. God does not consider those who have this zeal to be reprobates.

We know that the first Christians were in fact Jews and many Jews are still saved today.

Keep in mind that not all Israel are Israelites. Many are called Israelis today.

God is speaking to those actual descendants of Abraham through his wife Sarah!

What is the truth of these Israelites? They have a zeal but not according to the knowledge of Jesus Christ!

What is the truth of the Gentile (Heathen) the Church of the last days? We have the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we do not have the zeal to serve Him as we should!

Over and over we see the evidence of the Laodicean Church Age, yet the Church denies it.

What did the Lord Jesus say?

Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

We see the modern Church has pushed God away with the modern pastor believing that He knows better than the Word of God that we have been given.

There is no such thing as a new understanding of the Scriptures! God does not change His Word nor His ways!

Mal_3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not;

The modern Church is now trying to establish its own righteousness which has been the same problem for the Israelites all along!

*Rom 10:3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

These Jews knew many things about the Messiah, but it was not based on a complete knowledge!

The Church has the complete knowledge, but many today think they know better than God who gave us His complete Word.

There will never be some new “Gospel”!

Israel was ignorant of God’s righteousness!

Israel was ignorant of God’s method of “Justification”!

Israel was ignorant as to how to be acceptable to God!

This acceptance can only come by the acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for our salvation!

Everyone is born with a sin nature and this sin nature can only be done away with by the Work of Christ that allows us to be “Born Again” a Spiritual Rebirth!

You cannot reject Jesus Christ and then receive this new life!

Jesus Christ is the source of all “Spiritual” gifts, the Holy Spirit is the Administrator of those gifts!

Eph 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and “gave gifts unto men”.
Eph 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Eph 4:10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, “that he might fill all things”.)
Eph 4:11 And “he gave” some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12 “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”:
Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

You see the true Church is made up of those who have come in the unity of the “Faith”!

Not the many denominations, and certainly not of those who take the authority of Jesus Christ out of the Church!

If you believe, then you had better believe that when God removes the blindness and restores sight to these Jews, they will all be in unity of “faith”.

For Jesus Christ is the end of those old Laws and the key to “Righteousness” to everyone who believes in Him and the work He has done for our salvation!

*Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law of righteousness to every one that believeth.

We had better understand that once false teaching has taken place it is hard to get people straightened back out!

The Church has been struggling with this for years and the Jews have never overcome this at this time.

Without the Lord Jesus Christ you cannot receive the Holy Spirit!
Without the Holy Spirit you can never have the mind of Christ!
Without the mind of Christ you will still depend on your own self-righteousness which is worth exactly nothing in the eyes of God the Father!

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

What does the Holy Spirit teach us?

Joh 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, “whatsoever I have said unto you”.

It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the end of the Law.

Mat_5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

These are most important things, yet these things are left out of the teaching of many denominations causing disharmony in the Church.

We had better cling to the basic truths of the Lord Jesus Christ and remember the Holy Trinity of God!

Not three Gods but One God in three persons, all bound up in the truth of Jehovah God, our Maker!

Moses tried to explain these things to the Jews, but they rejected them.

As much as they claimed Moses, they still rejected the things He taught them of the Messiah!

*Rom 10:5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

Most everyone who claim the Lord Jesus Christ think that the “Gospel” is some cafeteria plan given to us from God, where we can pick and choose the things to place our faith.

God has no cafeteria plan!

God has one plan, and it is all bound up in the Lord Jesus Christ!

The Law is simply our teacher to get us “justified” by “faith”!

Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

As humans, we have no righteousness of our selves. You can like this or dislike this, but it is still the truth because God said it!

Just as you cannot pick and choose the parts of the Bible you accept and the parts you reject, those Jews could not pick and choose which of those old Laws they would keep, or they would reject.

The difference being there is no “Grace” built into those old Laws.

When we try to reach God by law and works, simply by doing the absolute best we can, we should be able to see there is a terrible flaw in this way of thinking.

No one, but Jesus Christ has ever been able to keep those laws perfectly!

Lev 18:5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.

It is a losing effort every time!

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

There are only two ways to become righteous before God:

1) Keeping the Law and being perfect in the keeping of the Law, which no one but Christ was able to do.
2) Trusting in the righteousness in that person, Jesus Christ, who was able to keep all those 613 laws!

We can see that there is only one choice!

Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

When this makes sense to you, you will begin to understand the truth of Jesus Christ!

You see everyone is seeking the forgiveness of sin, but this forgiveness comes only by the “Grace” of God, because there is no law that can bring “Grace” except for the law of Christ Jesus the true and only Messiah!

Php_3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Though Paul has been criticized, we must understand that “ALL” Scripture comes to us by the Holy Spirit if that Scripture comes to us from the “Received Text”!

2Ti_3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

The name of the writer is unimportant for all those writers were guided by the Holy Spirit of God!

When we doubt the Word of God, we are not doubting the writers, we are doubting a Holy and Righteous God who cannot deceive and who cannot lie!

We must know that there is nothing unholy in the glory of Heaven!

That being true and it is, then it must take a perfect righteousness to be accepted into God’s home in Heaven!

Joh 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Joh 14:4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

This righteousness can come only by faith in the work the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us to receive this acceptable righteousness!

*Rom 10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

“Saving faith” is that “faith” that concerns itself only about the Lord Jesus Christ!

Unbelief says, “Who shall ascend into Heaven”? Unbelief says, “Who shall descend into the deep”?

Unbelief always has questions!

Faith takes her stand wherever Jesus Christ is located!

Salvation can come only by the Lord Jesus Christ!

It takes a real imagination to believe the lies of this world!

It takes a truly lively imagination to believe in evolution!

Faith is done with imaginations and faith is done with dreamers!

Faith deals in reality!

The Lord Jesus came to this world to pay the sin debt of all peoples and He died to do so!

Faith is the truth!

The Lord Jesus Christ arose from that death proving He is God!

1Co 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
1Co 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

The Gospel is the truth, so for these reasons, all questions are answered about salvation!

If we look within ourselves, we can know these things are the real truth.

If we look at the world all we see is lies, deception, and wickedness!

The truth of God will satisfy the soul and the Word was indeed made flesh and dwelt among us!

Joh 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Joh 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
Joh 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Joh 1:12 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:
Joh 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Joh 1:14 And the Word was made 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.

In our search for a place called Heaven, we soon realize that we do not have it in our own power to get there, so we need a Deliverer, in fact a Messiah!

Psa_102:19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;

In order for this to be true, then this Deliverer must be able to conquer sin, death, and Hell to remove these things from us.

Psa 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
Psa 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
Psa 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

It is only our Heavenly Father who has this knowledge so only He could be this Deliverer, this Messiah!

As long as we depend on our own righteousness we will be lost forever!

Joh 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Jesus Christ is that Deliverer who brought the wonderful things of Heaven within reach of those who trust Him!

God has made these promises available to us if we just believe Him!

*Rom 10:8 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;
Rom 10:9 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.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

What is true faith?

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Heb 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

God has placed His Word within our reach!

It is easy to understand.
It is to be remembered.
It is to be practiced.
It is the Word of Faith!

Eph 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Eph 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Eph 4:10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

We are not required to find some way to Heaven!
We do not have to find a way to avoid Hell!

The Lord Jesus Christ has solved this problem that we have all had since our birth!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ only requires “faith” in this reality!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is applied to us, when we confess with our mouths that we believe this truth!

Why? Because of the great love that God loves us!

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

We may never understand this, but it does not make it any less true!

The means to get to God’s New Heaven is located on the tip of our tongue if in our heart we will believe Him!

We must confess the truth of the Gospel with our mouth, believing He is that Great Deliverer sent down from Heaven to make a way for us to join Him in His home!

Joh 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
Joh 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Joh 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Joh 14:4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

Jesus says, do not worry about this I got it all under control. (My words)

God’s “justice” was perfectly satisfied with death of His Son!

God was perfectly satisfied with His Son dying for us!

So God raise His Son up from the dead to live forever and those who confess this to live with Him!

Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

How could such a plan be conceived and then followed exactly as it was written not be true?

Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

God has done these things so we will repent and return to Him, our Creator!

This cannot be done on a whim; it must come from the heart!

*Rom 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Salvation is available and that shame comes when we do not give consideration of what a loving God has done for us.

God did not give these precious gifts to just one nation. God’s offer is to all the world!

God’s message is to all peoples!

There is only one Gospel and there can be only one Gospel!

Whoever believes in the truth of Jesus Christ will be saved!

God has made it just that simple!

The Gospel has made its way around this world, and this could only have happened by the power of God!

There may still be a very few places where Jehovah God is not known, but it can only be a very few and even those places will soon hear the “Gospel” of our Savior and our Deliverer.

The “Gospel of Jesus Christ” is universal!

Isa 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

We do not have to be ashamed of our Savior!

When we are covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we should have no fear of this world!

We must never be ashamed to confess the Lord Jesus Christ before any man, any woman, or any child!

God’s love is never limited to any people!

*Rom 10:12 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.

The Lord our God treats all humanity the same!

There is no distinction between humans in the eyes of God!

There is only one race, and it is the human race!

Every human being is related to God in the same way because He is our Creator!

God does not show partiality!

We are all His creations.
We all have the sin nature of Adam.
We are all loved by Him.
None of us can be saved, but through the Lord Jesus Christ by the righteousness that is in Him.

God does not save one person one way and another person a separate way.

We must all come to Christ!

No person is favored over another person in being saved or being condemned!

Act 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Act 10:35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

God will respond to all that call upon His name!

Every good thing that comes to this world comes by the hands of our Loving God!

Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

This means that terrible things do not come by the hands of God!

The truth being that we must call upon God to receive the riches of His “mercy” and His “grace”!

*Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

This statement is not in the Bible to be a deception, it is in the Bible because it is the truth!

This same promise goes out to every man, woman, and child upon this earth!

This is a prophecy that is fulfilled from the Old Testament!

Joe 2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

It means when we call upon the name of the Lord, then we believe in the righteousness of His Son Jesus!

It means every person with such a belief.

Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

You cannot get around Jesus Christ to make your own way to Heaven!

Jesus Christ is the answer to spending eternity with God our Father!

We must follow in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Luk 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Luk 9:24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Amen

Will You Call God a Liar

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Gospel of Grace and Security

Chapter 8 Verse 28 through 39

What is the security of the believer?

1) First, we must understand that God the Father is the Author of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ.

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Co 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

2) It is God who “justifies” each believer by Jesus Christ.

Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

3) This assurance of salvation is the greatest gift that has ever been conceived!

Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

The day of Jesus Christ is the day Christ returns to get His Church. He will meet His Church in the clouds.

Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.

Becoming a Christian with eternal security is not a fairy tale!

The death of Jesus Christ was not a game God was playing, but a serious thing He has done for us!

Becoming a Sanctified Christian is a life-long struggle to resist temptations and flee from ungodly activities.

How do I know that I have eternal security? Because my God cannot and does not lie!

Heb 6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
Heb 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Heb 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Heb 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

When God raised His Son Christ Jesus from His death, He gave us the basis of our “faith” in His truth!

Without this “faith” there is no eternal security for anyone!

1Co 15:12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1Co 15:13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
1Co 15:14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
1Co 15:15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
1Co 15:16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
1Co 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
1Co 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Everything that has happened since the time of Creation, are things that have worked for the good of all those who love God.

More about this eternal security in our lesson today.

Remember no one comes to God on their own. No one comes to God without them first being called by God the Holy Spirit.

*Rom 8:28 And we know that “all things” work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Those who love God and are called by Him will definitely be freed from the bondage of sin, and the corruptions of this life, and will be ushered into glory.

Nothing shall prevent the plan of God from being fulfilled in each believer!

No part of the plan of God will fail!

God works out all the details of salvation for those who love Him!

“All things” goes far beyond just the things of this world!

Remember God has made a New Heaven and a New Jerusalem.

Since this is true, then we have to know that God has it in His power to control all things or to allow all things that have happened in this world and all these things have been for the believer.

We may not totally understand these things right now, but when we have that “faith”, we can know all these things are true.

Daily, moment by moment, God is arranging all things for the good of the believer and we must understand these things as we see life unfold around us.

Anything that happens in this world happens because God has allowed it to happen!

God is not the cause of terrible things!

We already know that God does not cause terrible things, but He does allow some terrible things to happen and to continue if they serve His purpose.

For all those who do not love God, why then do they expect God to look after them?

They should point the blame at the true cause and in most cases, these causes come from bad government and wicked men influenced by Satan.

These are the ones who live in a fantasy world and not the believer, who know the truth!

God will not force His care upon anyone!

God has a purpose for each and every believer!

God wants the love that freely flows from the heart of each of us who love Him to be seen by the world.

2Th 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
2Th 2:14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God places His Spirit inside each believer to bring them to holiness!

1Th 4:7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

This is that process of “sanctification”.

God delivers all those who are positioned in Christ Jesus!

God has His own purpose, which is to deliver each believer, it is His will!

*Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

What is omniscience? We sometimes forget God is intellectually omniscient.

He knows the ending and the beginning of everything at the same time!

He knows all those who will accept His gift of salvation and those who will not, yet He offers His free gifts to every living soul.

It is choices God offers after He explains His truth.

Act 15:18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

If you understand this verse as it is written, you will see that these who choose the “faith” in the Lord Jesus Christ are those who have been predestined.

Those seeking to be like Jesus are the ones Born Again into the family of God!

God does not choose some to go Heaven and then the remainder to go to Hell!

God gives this choice to us!

If you end up in Hell it is because of the choices you have made the main choice being to ignore the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Does He know, sure He does!

He also knows if I am able to go to work tomorrow or not or my plans a month away.

God knows the things we go through moment by moment, day by day, year by year.

The Bible is not only a love letter from God, but it is a book that teaches us about the choices we make and if they are good choices or bad choices and what happens when we make bad choices.

We must understand that no matter how much we struggle, no matter how great the opposition we face, no matter how great the suffering, God is going to complete His purpose for each believer, each child of God!

God has ordained that His Son Jesus is to have many adopted brothers and sisters, and this is the method He has chosen.

If you truly the Lord Jesus Christ, then you will be welcomed into the family of God. This is what He has predestined!

You cannot be rejected for you sins of the past or the sins of the future.

That word “conformed” means to be like Christ. That title Christian means to be like Jesus Christ.

That word “Image” means likeness. We could attempt to work to be more like Jesus, but we do not have the ability to be perfect as He is!

This then is a gift of God when we are glorified!

2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Our Holy God has given each of us that believe Him these assurances that we will one day be alive in the image of His dear Son Jesus the true Messiah!

2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

Since God knows all these things then we can be sure that if you love the Lord Jesus Christ you will be part of this calling.

No one who has put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will be left out!

*Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Predestination includes individual salvation.
Predestination includes our status as the adopted children of God.
Predestination includes our eventual perfection.
Predestination includes our ultimate glorification.
Predestination secures our eternal inheritance.
Predestination is the will of God for each believer!

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Predestination is a promise from God for those who have accepted the work of Jesus Christ for their salvation!

It is not a question of if God will do all these things.

It is God’s purpose for those who love Him and His Son and who are filled with His Holy Spirit!

This is why it is called the “Grace” of God!

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

God calls us to Christ and when we respond and come to Christ, then we are “justified”.

This calling must be answered which this is the time we have a choice. Not everyone answers the call of God!

We know that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit knows if He will be accepted or not.

Gen_6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man,

Those who answer God’s calling will begin that road called sanctification as a child of God and God in His patience will bring His child through this life pursuing the image of Jesus Christ.

Php 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

God will never forget about His adopted children.

*Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

God will never be against those who are His adopted children!

So, when God is for us, it does not really matter who is against us!

The only thing they can do is the thing we want and that is to join our Heavenly Father in His house!

He is expecting us at any time because He lives in eternity!

We cannot make God loves us more and we cannot make God love us any less, because He has that perfect love!

Gal 1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
Gal 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
Gal 1:5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Since God gave His Son Jesus for us why would we ever think He will not provide our needs!

He is bound by His own oaths to take care of His adopted children.

This provision includes spiritual, eternal, and material things in this life.

These material things are the necessities of this life that we need to survive, and these things are freely given.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

God has already “justified” each of His adopted children, so He does not hold sin against any of us!

Only God can judge us in this manner!

Heb 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

No one can separate us from the love of God.

*Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

If there were anyone who had the power to condemn us for our sin it would be the Lord Jesus Christ who died for that sin.

Once Christ died for us and rose from that death, He became our Savior and Saviors do not condemn!

Our penalty for all sin we have and will commit in our lifetime has been paid by our Savior!

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Our faith is not just based upon His death.

Our faith is based upon His resurrection.
Our faith is based upon His return to take His church home.
Our faith is based upon His one-thousand-year rule of this earth.
Our faith is based upon His Second Coming.
Our faith is based upon His intercession for us today and every day until He takes us home!

Our old life is passed away and we have begun living our new life once we have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, though He is much more than our Savior!

He sits at the right hand of God defending His brothers and sisters.

Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, “but also in that which is to come”: (There is a New World coming and we will still be in the family of God with these promises)
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

It is the Lord Jesus Christ who rules and reigns over all this universe. Some would say cosmos.

1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

No one can take His love from us!

No one can make these promises to fail!

*Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

As Christians God has not raised us to be sheep to be slaughtered, He has made us to be Conquerors of this wicked world!

How can our nation, which was once known as a Christian nation, turn their back on such a loving God?

How can a world headed for destruction turn their back on such a loving God?

How can so-called believers turn their back on God knowing all the promises He has made to us?

The world is in distress, but I am not, and neither are most Christians.

The distresses of this life are readily seen including this Covid plague but as a Christian I am not distressed over it.

The Church realizes we are the enemy of the world because we stand against sin.

To be abused, or mocked, even ridiculed for my beliefs does not harm me.

As we go through these things, we need to remember these words of God the Holy Spirit.

I know persecution is much worse in other places, than it is here in the U.S. but we all must cling to these promises of God.

Remember a great many missionaries depend on the Churches of America for support!

If we do our part, I know the Lord will do His part!

No matter our circumstances or the severity of our situation Christ will carry us through it.

2Ti 4:18 And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

These are not just words we read.

These are the promises from a loving God!

Even when we reach that time called “old” Christ Jesus does not forget us.

Isa 46:4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

*Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is no power in this universe that can separate us from the love of God!

Death is only our first step to Heaven’s doorway!

If God allows our death to come, then He is ready for us to come home!

Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Nothing in this life can separate us from the love of God.

There is no angel, no power, no heavenly, no spiritual creature, no being from another dimension can keep us from the love of God.

There is nothing that is present and nothing in the future can keep us from the love of God.

There is no height, nor depth, nothing from outer space, or the depths of earth can separate us from the love of God.

Even if there is something that comes about that we cannot know about, even this cannot overcome the love that God has for us and the completion of His will for us.

Jehovah God and His Messiah and His Holy Spirit are all powerful and they all live within me!

1Jn 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1Jn 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Amen

The Gospel, God’s Grace, The law

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Gospel of Grace and the Law

Book of Romans Chapter 8

What is it to be condemned? It is to be sentenced to punishment.
To be guilty.
To be worthless.
To be wrong according to the truth of the Word of God.

We need to understand the power of the Holy Spirit! There is nothing and no one more powerful than the Holy Spirit(Ghost)!

If we need anything, we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives!

What does the Holy Spirit accomplish in our lives once we accept the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ?

The Holy Spirit gives us eternal life.
The Holy Spirit leads us to Spiritual things.
The Holy Spirit will live inside each believer forever.
The Holy Spirit is life.
The Holy Spirit gives us the power to overcome sin.
The Holy Spirit connects us to the Heavenly Father.
The Holy Spirit is our adoption agent into the family of God.
The Holy Spirit bears witness to our Heavenly Father of our Spiritual condition.

All these things will unfold as we go through this passage called Chapter Eight.

Chapter 8 of the Book of Romans is one of the greatest chapters for the believer and those who still have doubts in their Spiritual life.

So what is the truth of our deliverance from sin by the Lord Jesus Christ?

*Rom 8:1 There is therefore now “no condemnation” to them which are “in Christ Jesus”, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For me to be in Christ then, I must be in all the things Jesus Christ did for me!

The Lord Jesus Christ lived.
The Lord Jesus Christ died.
The lord Jesus arose from that death.

So I must live, die, and arise to be in Christ!

This is also the meaning of the full immersion Baptism!

Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

He was my Substitute for my death.
He is my Mediator while I yet live.
He is my Representative in Heaven until I get there through Him.

My goal is to identify with my Lord Jesus Christ and strive to be more like Him every day! This is the path of Sanctification!

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Propitiation for my sin therefore I never have to die!

When I do all these things I will no longer be “condemned” to die for my sin, for He has already paid that debt I owed!

Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

I have been made free from the law of sin and death!

*Rom 8:2 For “the law of the Spirit of life” in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Have you noticed that there are somethings God knew we would not understand in the Bible, so God explained them for us?

What is the Law of the Spirit? It is life in Christ Jesus!

A life in Christ Jesus is eternal!

There is life in Jesus Christ that goes far beyond these few years we see in this life that is no more than a vapor compared to the life in Jesus Christ!

Jas_4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

This life is in Jesus Christ and in Him alone!

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Once this temporary body, that can live only a few years has passed to death, then by that death we will pass to life!

Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

This is an amazing promise for each believer!

Joh 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

This life after death comes only by Jesus Christ!

Joh 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

This is that law of the Spirit of Life in Jesus Christ!

This life is the result of what our Heavenly Father sent His Son to do for us and why this act of God is called “Grace”.

God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense!

*Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit gives life by doing what those old Jewish Laws could not do!

The Law could not make anyone righteous, because in our flesh we have no power to keep and obey all those laws, and but one failure brought death!

There are no laws that can be written that would provide the righteousness, required by God to be in His presence!

God credits this righteousness to us:

1) When we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is our righteousness.
2) When we believe that the lord Jesus Christ is our One and Only Savior! (The One who died for us)

When we believe these things with all our heart, the Holy Spirit fulfills that righteousness within us and it is eternal!

Without these things we cannot be saved from ourselves, and we cannot be saved from this world that lives in hopelessness!

Yes, this world lives in hopelessness!

Everywhere today we hear “trust the science” but science cannot give us what God can give us!

It is the Holy Spirit who brings with Him eternal life in the home of our Savior!

We must forsake our flesh to receive the Holy Spirit!

What are we taught by the Lord Jesus Christ?

1) Jesus condemned sin as being evil!
All sin is contrary to God and the Word of God!
Sin is unworthy of God and humanity.

2) Jesus Christ made secure the righteousness of all humanity!
Jesus Christ came as that babe born in Bethlehem in the same flesh as we have.
The same flesh with all its desires, its passions, and its potential for evil, yet He had the power to overcome this flesh and never sinned even one time.

The Lord Jesus Christ became our pattern, our model, of what our Heavenly Father was looking for in humanity!

We now have the power of God to reach the perfection that was in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

3) The Lord Jesus Christ became our Substitute on Calvary’s Cross.
Our Heavenly Father had to accept the law of sin and death as fulfilled by His Son because God will never go against His Word!

Satan was removed from this picture.

1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

*Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit who moves into our heart upon that “faith” in the work of Christ, will pull us to do Spiritual things.

What comes from the heart enters our mind and so when our hearts are pure, our mind will think upon pure things.

Pro 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

When our thoughts are focused upon the goodness of God, then we are able to do good things and things that are righteous according to the Word of God!

God helps us to have control of our minds!

The Holy Spirit will search out the secret intentions of the heart and He cannot be fooled!

When we can remain under the guidance of a corrupt nature, then we had better take another look at Jesus Christ and be truly saved!

When our minds remain carnal, then the Holy Spirit does not live within our heart!

*Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

We should understand that a carnal mind does not just mean a mind on evil and immoral things.

A carnal mind is a mind that does not place the Lord Jesus Christ first in all our thoughts!

There is a lot to be said about “What Would Jesus Do” WWJD!

The Holy Spirit will always lead us to the thoughts of Jesus Christ!

A carnal mind can focus on moral, upright, and a cultured life, and still reject and neglect the truth of God and the truth of Jesus Christ!

This is called self-righteousness which goes against the truth of God!

We must live in the “righteousness” of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

We must give our minds over to the control of the Holy Spirit!

It is only the Holy Spirit who can work within us to cause our mind to think upon Spiritual things!

It is only the Holy Spirit who will provide the will to do God’s pleasure! A day by day walk with God! This is called Sanctification.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

This is the only way we can focus upon the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ!

If we are not in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we cannot please God!

Remember we live and die by obedience to our Holy God!

Being saved is His first priority!
Doing the work of Christ is a close second.

We will live with a lifetime of choices and the Holy Spirit will always choose Christ!

*Rom 8:9 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.

Upon accepting the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit immediately moves into each believer.

Some will feel Him just that quick, but most do not, but this does not mean He did not move into each one that now have that faith.

It is by faith that we know this important truth of God!

It is a surety that the Holy Spirit moves in at this point and begins the process of “regeneration”, making all things new!

2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

We must have faith that this is true, and we must know that He, the Holy Spirit will never leave us from this point forward throughout eternity!

Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Some people ask, what is the differences between the angels and humanity.

The differences begin with one simple fact, an angel has no spirit so the Holy Spirit cannot live within an angel!

1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; “which things the angels desire to look into”.

The angels can never be the children of God!

So, if Christ comes into the heart and the Holy Spirit comes to live within each believer, our bodies should be dead to sin!

But alive to Christ because of the Holy Spirit!

*Rom 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

What is the first benefit we receive by the Holy Spirit? Eternal life!

This old body that ages everyday will continue to age, but the spirit that remains, shall live because of righteousness.

Our spirit will begin that life that is eternal, if we have accepted the work of Jesus Christ for our salvation!

The Spirit of Christ is a life-giving force that cannot be stopped.

We say all the time that time is just going by so fast.

What we are really saying is, that our body is in a rapid movement toward its death and there is little we can do about it!

We can try with the right diet and proper exercise, but we will not gain very much, at best we may add one or two years!

This does not mean that we should not do healthy things, we should so we can remain in the work of God as long as possible.

We all seem to forget that it is God who decides our death!

1Ti_4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

We already know we had no righteousness ourselves so, this righteousness must be the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If we had remained dependent upon laws, then we could have kept our righteousness only if we had not broken even one law!

Righteousness is living according to the Word of God as best we can, and God gives us many tools to help us in righteousness and the gift of the Spirit of Jesus is our greatest tool!

When our spirit unites with the Holy Spirit, then our spirit has gained eternal life and not eternal death!

What many do not understand is that the Holy Spirit will also quicken our mortal body!

Though our bodies may die and be buried till it disintegrates, burnt, or destroyed in any form or fashion, God will make those old bodies new on that great day of redemption we call the “Rapture”.

Too good to be true? Not at all!

The mortal body will be made alive!
We will be who we were, but in a glorified body.

My name is Bobby and in Heaven I will be Bobby so those that knew me can still know me!

Moses was still Moses and Elijah was still Elijah, and it will be no different for me or any other child of God!

My new glorified body will be given the power and energy of eternal elements!

Eternal molecules, eternal atoms, and eternal whatever else it takes for God to glorify my old body.

1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

*Rom 8:11 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.

It is the “resurrection” of the Lord Jesus Christ that gives us these guarantees and they are guarantees!

Rom 1:4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

When the Lord Jesus Christ came out of that tomb, He proved He is God!

There has never been a power on this earth that can raise someone from being dead. It is a God thing!

It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that proved that He is the Savior of the world!

Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

It is the resurrection from the dead that proves that Jesus Christ is the Lord of life!

1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

There are too many benefits for a life in Christ than just to say I do not believe those things!

It pays for everyone on the face of this “created world” to listen to what God has to say!

Just believing with a pure heart gets these things started by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!

*Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

It is the Holy Spirit who has the power to put evil deeds to death!

It was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of life who decided on this new ministry of the Holy Spirit!

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Joh 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

So as Christians we owe no debt to our flesh, we are in debt to the Holy Spirit. Debt meaning obligation.

Our flesh is contaminated with sin!
Our flesh is carnal!
Our flesh causes our death!
Our flesh has a mind that is in enmity with our Holy God!
Our flesh cannot please God!

We owe our flesh nothing! We owe all we are to our Holy God!

We are fools to focus all our lives on the satisfying of our flesh!

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

It is the Holy Spirit to whom I owe my new life!

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

It is by the Holy Spirit that we have the power within ourselves to put our flesh to death even while we yet live!

We can deny our flesh!
We can mortify our evil deeds!

The Holy Spirit will never destroy the deeds of sin unless we exercise our will to destroy it ourselves.

Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Eph 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

When we put the evil deeds of our flesh to death, then and only then can we see life and what true life all is about!

We must understand that this is a constant daily battle for the rest of our earthly days!

We die because of evil, but we live because of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ!

1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
1Pe 2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

We can be at peace with this world within ourselves, if we follow the lead of the Holy Spirit and be obedient to the Word of God, the Words of Life!

Amen

Sanctified By Grace

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Gospel of Grace and Sanctification

Book of Romans Chapter 6

What is sanctification and what does it really mean?

Sanctification means to be set apart for God’s use.
Sanctification is the act of being made holy.

The Almighty Living God is separate from His creation because He is the Creator!

God has always existed, but this world we see around us is only a few thousand years old.

Probably at least six thousand years and no more than ten thousand years old.

Do not fear what the evolutionists say. When they say millions and billions of years, they try to trick us into believing that if enough time passes anything can happen and this is just not the truth!

All miracles come by the hand of Jehovah!

Since God is separate from His creation, then to sanctified is to separate ourselves for the purpose of serving Him.

Sanctification is a lifelong process, at least from the time the Holy Spirit moves into our heart until our death.

Since Jehovah exist in holiness, then all that love Him must come into this same holiness!

Being Christian is being like the Lord Jesus Christ the true Messiah (God With Us)!

This is the act of sanctification being more like Christ every day.

We should be growing in the Lord Jesus Christ every day of our lives, until we are finally sanctified and have reached perfection becoming glorified when we meet Jesus.

We do not need a group to vote to see if we are Saints. We become Saints when the Holy Spirit moves into our heart.

We always ask what is the will of God for our lives? It is the will of God that we be sanctified!

1Th 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
1Th 4:4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

2Th 2:14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We can only begin our sanctification by receiving the Holy Spirit!

1Pe 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

If we continue in sin after our salvation, we can never be sanctified, and we should question our salvation. Was it real?

We must consider ourselves dead to sin!
We must consider ourselves alive to Jesus Christ, who had no sin!

*Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Rom 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

What is the truth of the Christian?

We know we are still sinners only saved by the “Grace” of God!

We are alive today and forever through the Lord Jesus Christ!

We do not allow sin to rule our lives anymore! The Holy Spirit gives us this power!

We do not allow any part of our body from our head to our toes to be used as instrument to commit sin!

We allow the will of God to be our will!

We allow the ways of God to be our ways.

We can do these things because we have the Holy Spirit living within us and all other strength comes by the Lord Jesus Christ.

We wear the seal of God!

Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Rom 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
Rom 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

We are dead to sin, but alive to our Heavenly Father!

We no longer serve the Devil; we are servants to our Holy God!

Sin offends God and in reality, is as a disease that if left untreated, will lead to our eternal death.

Being saved does not destroy this sin nature, but gives us the power to not allow it to rule in our life.

Our bodies are not the source of our sin, but are the instruments used by the Devil to promote his sin.

We cannot allow sin to rule us!

We had no power to do that until the Holy Spirit came to live within us!

We must be constantly on guard against allowing any part of our body to be used for sin, this includes our mind.

What comes from the heart will enter into the mind so we must keep our hearts pure.

Because of God’s “Grace” sin cannot rule us!

If we were under the Law, then we would spend our lifetime struggling to keep that Law which is impossible.

The Law only brings disappointment and discouragement, it can never bring salvation!

When we fail the Law, it brings us shame and we feel unacceptable to God!

We feel unworthy, but remember, we will never be worthy of God’s “Grace”.

Our Heavenly Father is not this great Judge waiting to pounce all over us when we fail.

Our Heavenly Father is this Merciful God who offers His “Grace” because we have identified ourselves with His Son Jesus!

Our Heavenly Father loves His Son so much, that He accepts all those who love His Son, who is our substitute for the keeping of the Law.

Our Heavenly Father has claimed each and every believer as His own child!

God is a gracious and loving Father who cares for and suffers with His children and provides forgiveness, when His children come to Him and willing to forgive His children when they fail Him.

1Jn 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Since all this is true, the question is often asked; is the child of God allowed to continue in sin?

God is really quick to answer this question.

*Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

As a true child of God, we will never feel comfortable if we deliberately try to hurt or disappoint our Heavenly Father.

So, we must strive to avoid sin!

We should question the salvation of those who remain in sin, but still claim to be a child of God.

Tit_1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

If sin dominates your life and you feel you have no power over that sin, then get back on your knees and ask our Heavenly Father to forgive you by Jesus Christ.

Any power we have is multiplied by the strength of our Lord Jesus!

Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

In fact the Lord Jesus says we can do nothing without Him and I believe Him!

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Our Heavenly Father is a loving Father, willing to teach us all these things and will discipline us when we need it.

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

God shows His love when He disciplines not His hatred, “He has already judged us and justified us” and this is eternal!

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Our Heavenly Father can easily see if we have become His servants!

*Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

When we yield to sin, we are on the road to death just as God explained to Adam before Adam became the first human with a sin nature.

Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Not the death of this flesh which comes to everyone, but a complete separation from a Holy God throughout eternity.

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

It is that “judgment” we had better concentrate on while we are still living!

Our Lord Jesus has made us free from the penalties of sin!

If we yield to the truth of God, He will become a part of us now and remain with us throughout eternity.

Eternity is that place where my Heavenly Father lives and He has allowed me to live with Him!

We had better understand for whom we serve determines our eternal destiny!

1Co 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

One man wrote: “We must walk as an open confession to the Lord our God”!

God is a forgiving God if we pray to Him with a sincere heart!

*Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

We should always keep in mind that we have made a choice when we chose to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

We chose righteousness!
We had no righteousness until we chose Jesus!

I was once a servant of sin!

Now that I have chosen the Lord Jesus Christ, I am still a sinner though I try not to be and ask for forgiveness constantly and I walk in His righteousness because I have none myself.

Now I try to obey the Doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the “Gospel” of “justification” and the method of sanctification.

I have been justified in the eyes of our Holy God!

I obey God’s commandments!
I believe upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

1Jn 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
1Jn 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

I am now freed from that sin debt I owed and freed from the consequences of that sin!

I can never be charged with that sin ever again!

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

I now give myself to my Heavenly Father through His Son to do with me as He pleases according to His Word!

*Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

Where will righteousness lead us? Righteousness will lead us to holiness.

My members are all the parts of my body that I once gave to sin.
My eyes, my ears, my mouth, my hands, my feet, my heart, my thoughts, and any other thing that I gave to sin including, lust, fornication, adultery and anything else.

I became a slave to sin, and sin has no ending! Sin multiplies until it has destroyed me!

If I gave so much to sin, then I need to be just as giving to righteousness and the Lord Jesus Christ!

I once served uncleanness willingly, let me now serve righteousness just as willingly.

The power of sin cannot be overcome, but by the Lord Jesus Christ!

God knew all these things and sent His Son Jesus to solve the sin problem for every human being, but it takes “faith” in the work of Christ Jesus to break the power of sin!

Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

When we allow “faith” to replace the power of sin and righteousness to work to our sanctification, we will see sanctification work till our holiness.

My goal and our goal must be to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ!

Rom 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

We must become slaves to righteousness as we were once slaves to sin.

This is what true repentance is all about!

A complete change of direction and a complete change of mind, toward the things of God!

Sin has only one goal and it is the destruction of our soul!

*Rom 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Once we realize the power that sin held over us, then we will become ashamed that we left our Creator to become a part of that sin!

What gain can we have from sin? There is only one gain from sin, and it is death, so there is no gain from sin!

The fruit of sin is death of the soul!

There can be nothing good come from sin!

It is only by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ that we can be made free from the penalty of sin!

Sin corrupts.
Sin destroys.
Sin dooms all those who seek its fruits because no good thing comes from sin!

Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Notice that word make.

We must be made free and not set free, there is a significant difference

Many a person have been set free from prison only to find their way back into prison.

We are “Born Again” into the family of God and “made” free from sin and the penalty of sin!

These are the precious promises of a Holy God!

2Co 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

It is from these promises where we have our hope!

Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

The gifts of God bring eternal life!

*Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sin deserves death because sin is rebellion against the ways of God who is life.

Life and death are two extreme opposites!

Sin goes against the nature of our Holy God!

God is pure and morally pure in all His ways!
God is holy and full of glory!
God is a God of justice and righteousness!
And most important God is full of love and grace from which comes His mercy!

This death is:

To be cast far away from God.
To have no part of God.
To be banished from God’s sight.
To be separated from God’s presence forever.
To be condemned and punished for rejecting God’s plan of salvation.

Sin will receive these wages of this death, a complete separation from our Holy God!

Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

Sin demands the wages of sin.

Righteousness receives the free gifts of God!

Not such a hard choice, but a choice we all must make.

To not choose at all, is still this death!

Amen

Grace and Justification

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Gospel of Grace and Justification

Book of Romans Chapter 4 through Chapter 5

Here are a few especially important things we need to know in our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

1) We can never be “Justified” by our works!

Without the Holy Spirit abiding within us, we are still lost!

Gal 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

What does the Holy Spirit do for us?

The Holy Spirit does His work through a twofold ministry in our lives.

A) He will work on Christ’s behalf, through our witness, to bring conviction to those not yet in Christ (John 16:7-11).
B) He will also minister to us as the teacher of our spirits to guide us into all truth (John 16:13; 14:17, 26; 15:26).

2) Faith is the key to our relationship with the Almighty God!

Gal 3:6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

3) Those who try to keep the Law must keep all of those Old Laws, which are impossible!

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

4) It is the same for all races and all cultures of people!

Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

5) The promises of the Lord Jesus Christ come only by “Faith”!

Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

6) Those old laws were given to all the world to teach us how to live!

Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

It is by “faith” in the Works of Jesus Christ for our salvation that we receive the Holy Spirit.

7) Once the Holy Spirit moves in, He will never move back out!

There are so many who believe we have to work our way into Heaven.

In a sense work gets us to Heaven, but it is not any work that we have to do! Jesus Christ has done all the work that was required for us!

What does Jesus say? What work does our Heavenly Father accept?

Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, “that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”.

Joh 6:38 “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me”.
Joh 6:39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

*Rom 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Rom 4:19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb:
Rom 4:20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
Rom 4:21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
Rom 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Rom 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
Rom 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
Rom 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

God has given us the fitting example of Abraham to teach us about “faith”.

Against all probability, Abraham believed in the promises of God!

Our “faith” must be in the things that the God has spoken!

Our “hope” lies in the promises of God!

Abraham had nothing to give to God but these two things and this is why it is called “Grace”.

You see, we must be fully persuaded that what God promises, He is also able to deliver.

No one can stand before our Holy God who is not righteous, and it is these things that bring to us righteousness enough to stand before God and not perish!

Our “faith” must be in the work that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for our own righteousness. Why?

We must believe that God sent His only Son who was delivered for our offences (our sin) and raised by God for our “justification”.

Therefore peace with our Holy God comes by “faith” in the things He sent His Son to do for us!

Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

All God ask from us, is to believe in what He has done for us!

Now God has done all these things it is time for all humans to show “faith” or to reject these things in a lack of “faith”!

A notable example given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ from the New Testament:

Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The truth is, most all the world has turned their back on God and seek a path to salvation that will never be true, because we cannot choose our own path to Heaven!

It is by “Faith” that we are “Justified”!
It is by “Faith” that we can be at peace with God!
It is by “Faith” that we have access to God’s “Grace”, God’s favor, and welcomed into the presence of God!
It is by “Faith” whereas we find hope for the Glory of God!

We can have peace with God because He has nothing to be held against us throughout the remainder of our lifetime on earth and we will spend eternity with Him in His house.

The Lord Jesus Christ was our “Substitute” in making payment for our sin.

God our Father was satisfied with the sacrifice (payment) of His dear Son.

God the Father is forever satisfied that our sin debt was paid, and He will never bring it up again, nor will He ever judge us again.

We will never be a part of God’s “wrath”!

We will one day be a part of God’s Glory!

These are all things we can know in this lifetime!

We should also know that this world will now hate us!

*Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

We cannot allow the trials and tribulations of this world to destroy us. We now have a renewed strength because we are at peace with God!

We do not have to live in despair and hopelessness.

We can in fact, learn from all these things and become stronger because our strength is now in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

You see the Holy Spirit who lives within each child of God will stand up to all trials and temptations and all we need do is listen to Him!

You see, we are now able to defeat all things that come against us!

Rom_8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Because of this we can have patience in the trials of this life and there will be no trials in our glorious life.

When we endure the trials of this life, and there will be many, we come out stronger and better able to stand against any future trials in this life.

This is where we stand in these last days!

Luk 21:17 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.
Luk 21:18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.

It is in these things that we will be able to see these last days approaching, which, we are now in!

The Lord says we are on the winning side, and we can in our “Faith” know that this is true!

When we lean on the Holy Spirit who lives within us, He will hold us up!

As long as we have this “hope” in the truth of God, we will never be ashamed of our Savior who will never disappoint us.

It is in our strength in Jesus that the world will see, and it is this strength, His Strength, that we are better able to cope in this wicked and hopeless world!

1Jn 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
1Jn 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

It is by the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, that we can feel the “Love” of God!

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Joh 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

There is great peace that comes by the awesome love of God!

*Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

God knew that there would never be a human capable of being pure enough to be sacrificed for sin and God hated the fact that so many of false worship would attempt to sacrifice humans and most all of them were babies.

The false gods Chemosh and Moloch, sometime called Baal-Peor or Baal-Zebub, required human sacrifice and God hated these things done to the innocent, but even babies are not pure enough to be a payment for sin.

Every nation on earth is still sacrificing babies today calling it women’s rights.

The only sacrifice that God would ever accept was His own, the sacrifice of Himself!

Gen 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, “God will provide himself a lamb” for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

We were an ungodly people, yet a Holy God left the portals of Heaven, came, and lived as a human, but a sin free human, and sacrificed Himself so that we can be saved.

God is perfect, all humans carry the sin nature of Adam, it was the only choice that could be made, and it was made.

There are a few fathers who would die for their children but few, especially in today’s world, but because of His great love for us the living God gave Himself so that we might live.

As farfetched as this sounds it is still the truth!

The Lord Jesus Christ died for our benefit.
He died for our sake!
He died in our behalf!

Since God cannot die or He would not be God, then He poured Himself into a body of flesh that could die, and we call Him Lord Jesus!

2Co 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
2Co 5:15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
2Co 5:16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

What is a ransom? The price that is paid to recover a person from someone who is detaining them.

It was Satan who required a perfect human for sacrifice and since there are none, we each became our own sacrifice, but this brought eternal death!

God knew this and therefore sacrificed Himself.

1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
1Ti 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

What is a propitiation? Propitiation is to restore or to reconcile our friendship once again to our Heavenly Father!

Jesus Christ is represented as the propitiatory sacrifice for the sin of the world!

His blood alone atones for and covers our guilt!

This is the thing we could never do for ourselves and why no one is ever good enough to be a sacrifice for our sin.

1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

I pity those who reject these things because these things are the real truth!

Jesus Christ died for me because there was no man who would die for me.

I had no value.
I had no goodness.
I was opposed to God.

But God loved me enough to save me!

*Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

How did God prove He loves us? God did not wait till we made a commitment to provide our means of salvation!

The sovereign Creator of all we see and all we cannot see came to this earth and took the form of a human and died in our place!

This is unbelievable love that you cannot find on this earth.

How many of us would willingly give up our sons to save somebody we do not even know? I dare say not any.

God gave His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to save worthless, useless, rebellious, sinners who could not save themselves at any cost!

The God of all creation died in a humiliating manner that we might have the opportunity to live forever with Him!

The wrath of God was reserved for all those who had rejected Him, yet He still chose to offer eternal life!

This is something God will never forget and all those who have rejected the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ will certainly see His wrath even more so for not believing the truth of Jesus Christ.

We have already read that even though so many know these truths, they have still intentionally chosen to rebel against our Almighty God.

It is no wonder they are said to be fools!

God has proven His love yet most of this world has shown no respect for that love.

Joh 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Joh 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

We see truly little love left in this world!
We see very few who really want to hear the truth!

2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

People ask, just what are we saved from?

1) We are saved from the destruction that we cause ourselves, yes.
2) We are saved from a place called Hell, yes.
3) We are saved from a dying world, yes.
4) Greatest of all, we are saved from the wrath of an angry God, who did not want to show His angry side!

It is the work that the Lord Jesus Christ did willingly to save us that has allowed us to miss seeing the wrath of God!

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We who were once enemies are now in the family of God!

*Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

That word reconciled means becoming friends after a state of disagreement and enemies of our Creator.

Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

There is great peace that comes when you know you are no longer an enemy of God!

When we live for ourselves, we become enemies of God!

When we oppose our God, we become His enemy!

As long as we reject our Savior, we are promoting evil in this ungodly world!

If you are not on the Lord’s side, you are certainly on Satan’s side!

Joh 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

How are we reconciled to God?

God has accepted the death of His Son in our place.
God has accepted that His Son Jesus has borne all our sin from the time of Adam until the end of the Church Age.
God has accepted the condemnation of His Son as the condemnation of all humanity.

Sin we are made free from sin by the work of the Lord we are also made free from the punishment of sin.

It is God who has provided this reconciliation!
It is God who reached out to us!

All we need do is receive these free gifts of a Holy God who cannot become unholy.

What is the atonement?

*Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

It is by the Lord Jesus Christ that we now have hope that there is something more than this short span we call life.

How can we look at our world and all the life that is in it and think that there is not something more even after our death?

You see, we can have that joy in this life knowing that there is much more to life than what we see in this life.

There is so much more that comes by a life in Christ Jesus.

We can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God!

We can rejoice in the midst of the tribulations of this world knowing that there are greater things to come after this life.

We can rejoice knowing that we are loved by our Sovereign God who watches over us as His own dear children.

We had no strength in ourselves to provide these things, but God does!

We can now be at peace with God knowing we have been forgiven!

Rom 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

Our sentence was death, but God has given us new life and life eternal.

He has also given us a work to do ourselves with His help because we are not remade, but made a new person (Born Again).

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Co 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

The truth of God will awaken a new life within us that should show on our outer being.

What is real love? It is Jesus Christ!

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

Amen

The Gospel for the World

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Gospel of Grace for the World

Book of Romans Chapter 3

One of the biggest problems we have as humans is that we just assume that we are better than those we meet.

We think we are reborn as “judges” when the Lord intends for us to be “witnesses”!

As Christians our differences come by the “Grace” of God.

We are no better and no different than anyone else, saved or lost, except by the “Grace” of God!

Rom 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Rom 10:12 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.
Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

The “lost” need someone to tell them just how wonderful our Savior is!

Rom 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Rom 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Rom 3:5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
Rom 3:6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?

It is our Creator who remains their one and only “Judge” and the only Judge of all mankind!

Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

The Christian has been delivered from the power of darkness but the “Lost” have not been delivered and we need to try to explain to them the difference, the first thing being that Jesus Christ died for every human but there is a need for “Faith”.

The “lost”, those who do not have “faith” in our “Redeemer” are already “Judged” so we have no need to judge them!

We all have been “judged” guilty of sin!

In reality, before we come to know the truth of the Messiah, we are all bound for that place called Hell!

*Rom 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

We should understand the Apostle Paul here. The Jews had in their possession the written Word of God preserved from the time of Adam.

The Gentiles had a view of all the wonders of God’s creation and should understand that life did not come by accident but by a Supreme Creator.

In the end there is no differences between them, both are bound for hell already under the “judgment” of God, because of the sin of “disobedience of Adam”.

When we should be seeking our Creator, we all seek after sin from the day we are born.

Yes, even a pure innocent child is a sinner though our Lord will not hold this against them until they are mentally capable of knowing the truth.

Every child and all those who never develop mentally are not help accountable but “Judged” as innocent!

Luk 18:16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Luk 18:17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
Mat 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Mat 18:7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Notice the color of their skin, the location in which they live, the language they speak, the beliefs of their parents, have absolutely nothing to do with the plan of God and the truth of God!

We have already established that being religious does not make us acceptable to our Holy God!

So, are Christians any better than those who are lost? That answer is NO!

“We are better off” because we know where our true home is located and our final resting place, but a resting place of “LIFE” and not “DEATH”.

Jews and Gentiles, religionists, and non-religionist, are all under sin and “Judged” for that sin as guilty!

1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

The sinful nature is intentionally ignorant of the truth of God!

Psa 14:1 “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God”. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psa 14:2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
Psa 14:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

And what happens in a world that has become a place of fools?

We should be able to figure this one out, we see it in the news everyday!

*Rom 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

One man wrote: The Way

The earliest disciples were called followers of “The Way”, which is important because Christianity was never meant to be just another religion, but a “Way”.

It is both a journey and the path you walk on!
It is not static but in constant motion.
It is not just one choice but a lifetime of choices.

We have not yet reached our destination!

Our best life, our God-given potential are always on “the way” and we are called to make “a way” for others to join us.

We are called to follow not formulate!

Follow the way of the One who is The Way, The Truth, and The Life, Jesus Christ.

In Matt 4:19 Jesus said: “Come, follow me,” to his first disciples, and He says the same to us today.

It is a walk with Him, and we are all just on “the way”.

It is not always easy, but it is always that simple.

Since the time of Adam and Eve, the Almighty God has shown us “The Way” that pleases Him, and it is by obedience to His Word!

What is “the way”?

Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Heb 10:21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Heb 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

What is “the way”?

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Joh 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

A sinful nature is useless to our Creator!

Those who are useless are those who continuously reject the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ!

The Holy Spirit begins to describe them here.

*Rom 3:13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
Rom 3:14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

The sepulcher is a grave.

I suffer from PTSD and to stand in sight of an empty grave is not pleasant for me. It reminds me of death.

The mouths of those who reject the Lord Jesus are much worse!

I also cannot stand to be around those whose mouths are so full of filth.

How can such foulness come out of people?

Filthiness causes more corruption, and more corruption causes more filthiness, and it is a continuous cycle until there are no pleasant things spoken by anyone.

We can see this truth outside the Church.

The language used in Hollywood is so foul it is intolerable, and it is the same language of the world!

No matter how pleasant we may appear, once that foul mouth begins, it erases any sign of a good personality.

What else does the Bible say?

Jas 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

The world is so full of deceit today, that it has nothing good to say about anyone who disagrees with it!

The word deceit is continuous, so the world is not only guilty of deceiving, but it is a continuous process and all we need to do is take a good look at our world today and we can see the truth of this statement!

The sinful tongue is verbal poison!
The sinful tongue is full of cursing.
The sinful tongue is full of bitterness.

The sinful tongue not only curses God, not only curses the Christian, but curses each other.

What is the reality of the sinful tongue?

Psa 109:17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
Psa 109:18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
Psa 109:19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.

They are swift to bring Spiritual death to all they meet!

*Rom 3:15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
Rom 3:16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
Rom 3:17 And the way of peace have they not known:
Rom 3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Why is there so much murder, and mayhem in our world today?

Remember God has given them over to a reprobate mind, and it continues including these things also!

Why is there so much destruction done in the name of protesting?

It is because of the cruelty and hatred that has taken over the souls of those that God has rejected!

If we, in any form or fashion, contribute to the downfall of these who are so lost we have become Spiritual murderers ourselves!

Those who are reprobates destroy and cause misery wherever they go, even within their own families and neighborhoods and cities where they live!

They do not want peace because they are uncomfortable with any peace.

They are not at peace with themselves, and they do not want anyone else to be at peace!

The reprobate soul will not allow any peace within that lost person!

Sinful acts are disrespectful of all others!

They ignore God though they believe He does exist.

They do not want Him to have any part in their corrupt minds, so they live as if there is no God!

They stay focused on their own misery.

Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

They do not fear the wrath of God because they can think of only those things that affect this life.

Psa 10:3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
Psa 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
Psa 10:5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
Psa 10:6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity

It is only by the Word of God that anyone can find the answers, the solutions to their dilemma!

*Rom 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Rom 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

The Law:

We speak of laws in our world today which is in fact becoming more lawless.

We do need some laws in our life so we can keep our freedoms.

We should clearly understand that salvation cannot come by the keeping of laws!

There is no manufactured commandment that can open the doors of Heaven for you!

Jesus preached:

Mar 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Mar 7:7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mar 7:8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
Mar 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

There is no manufactured law that can save you!

Rom 2:25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
Rom 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
Rom 2:27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

We are instructed to be obedient to manufactured laws so we can live in peace in this world.

1Pe 2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
1Pe 2:14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
1Pe 2:15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
1Pe 2:16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

The true law is the voice of God written down for us in what we call the Bible.

In reality the Bible is a “Library of Divine Revelation”!

God has taken the time to reveal who He is and His plan for us to join Him.

It is then the plan of salvation! Being saved from the wrath that is coming to this ever-darkening world.

The Scriptures from which we get our English translation are 100% the truth!

Every translation is capable of containing mistakes, but the “Received Text” is the accurate precise Word of God!

The truth of the Law is that since no human could keep those laws, we are then all guilty before the eyes of God!

The Bible as the Word of God then, is a book of “Good News” that God reveals to us how to overcome this guiltiness.

We can only overcome this guiltiness by a “Pardon” from the only One capable of true “Judgment” the One who gave us this amazing Book of Knowledge, from our Divine Creator!

It is only He who can judge our righteousness and or our guiltiness and we are therefore all guilty. We have no goodness at all!

As we are all guilty, we are in no place to speak for our own redemption!

All the world is guilty before God!

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Gal 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:
Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

We all fall short when compared to our Savior!

The Law can only show us that we are sinful.

God the Father gave us His Son to give us an example of perfection!

Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Anytime we think we have reached perfection then we need to take another look at our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will see where we still fall short!

The Law makes us aware of our sin, it has no other Heavenly purpose!

Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

The Law proves we are sinners!

God’s Grace proves His Mercy!

Amen