What Can Be Sweeter Than to Be �Kept by the Power of God�?
Posted : 8 Nov, 2011 08:28 AM
When you get the sovereignty of God straight, everything gets straighter. Going wrong here will lead to error in all kinds of unexpected places. Oh, how I pray that God will give us clarity and conviction and joy in our vision of God�s absolute sovereignty over our frail and fickle lives!
Take the issue of assurance and eternal security and the possibility of falling away from Christ. One Sunday, I tackled the sobering text of Hebrews 6:4-8. There it says that you can be �enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come� and then fall away from it all and be lost.
Instead of saying that you can lose your salvation, I said that the meaning of Hebrews 6:4-8 is something almost as shocking, namely, that you can experience all those things (enlightenment, Holy Spirit, Word of God, and miracles) and never have been saved. This is shocking because it means that people may be mistaken in thinking they are Christians when they are not.
So the text and the message raise the question of assurance. How can we be sure we will persevere to the end and not fall away and become like Esau who tried to return but could not repent (Hebrews 12:16-17)? Here is where the sovereignty of God becomes so crucial.
The book of Hebrews exults in the new and better covenant, which God has made through the blood of Christ with all who are his people. The old covenant made at Mount Sinai was vulnerable to the people�s weakness (Romans 8:3). Hebrews 8:9 says, �They did not continue in My covenant, and so I paid no heed to them, says the Lord.� But the new covenant is radically different in that it is not vulnerable to our weakness. Rather, it assures us that God�s sovereignty will overcome our weakness and prevent us from breaking the covenant.
Thus Hebrews 8:10 says, �This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.� In other words, God will not only tell us what we must do, he will see to it that we do it by working in us. This is what Hebrews 13:21 says about the new covenant: �[May God] equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.� This is the sanctifying, keeping, saving sovereignty of God. And it is sweeter than honey to the wavering soul.
In the new covenant our assurance rests firmly on the sovereignty of God over our own proneness to wander. We know we will not fall away because this is a promise of the new covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus. For example, in Jeremiah 32:40, God promises, �I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.� If you ask me how I know that tomorrow I will still believe in Christ, my answer is not that I am a disciplined person, or that I finish what I start, or that my will is reliable, or that the benefits outweigh the costs, or even that my church prays for me. My answer is: Christ shed his blood as the price of the new covenant (Luke 22:20), and in this covenant God promises, �They will not turn away from me.� God�s sovereign right and grace over my fickle will is my only hope for persevering to the end.
This is the sweet reality of the sovereignty of God. I pray that you will understand it and believe it and revel in the security and joy of it. What can be sweeter than to be �kept by the power of God�? (1 Peter 1:5).
What Can Be Sweeter Than to Be �Kept by the Power of God�?
Posted : 8 Nov, 2011 09:39 AM
This is the sweet reality of the sovereignty of God. I pray that you will understand it and believe it and revel in the security and joy of it. What can be sweeter than to be �kept by the power of God�? (1 Peter 1:5).
What Can Be Sweeter Than to Be �Kept by the Power of God�?
Posted : 8 Nov, 2011 09:43 AM
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Self Deception:
Posted : 8 Nov, 2011 09:38 AM
Jude 1:10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
Jude 1:11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
2nd Peter 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
2nd Peter 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
1. These speak evil of things that they know not of
2.By what they know naturally
3.They are called brute Beasts corrupting themselves.
In 2nd Peter it is spoken again:
Summed up saying Spots and blemishes they are sporting themselves with their own deceptions while they feast with you.
What Can Be Sweeter Than to Be �Kept by the Power of God�?
Posted : 8 Nov, 2011 09:48 AM
This is the sweet reality of the sovereignty of God. I pray that you will understand it and believe it and revel in the security and joy of it. What can be sweeter than to be �kept by the power of God�? (1 Peter 1:5).
What Can Be Sweeter Than to Be �Kept by the Power of God�?
Posted : 8 Nov, 2011 09:59 AM
1 John 3:8 ~ He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Acts 10:38~ How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Colossians 2:15~ And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Hebrews 2:14-15~
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;
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Luke 10:18-19 ~
18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luke 11:20~ But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
Mark 16:17-18~
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Isaiah 14:12-17~
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
Ezekiel 28:17-29~
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
20 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,
22 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.
Revelation 12:11~ And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Revelation 20:10~ And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
*** Nothin more Sweeter than Jesus* the Holy WORD of God and the Truth of the Word of God...xo
What Can Be Sweeter Than to Be �Kept by the Power of God�?
Posted : 8 Nov, 2011 10:00 AM
Yes Donna sometimes I also think so. And I even do not read his posts.
But why if he says that he is a christian?
May be he is like a child who needs a milk? That's why we should not judge him but give him this milk. Because if he will not grow up in obedience to God, He will anyway judge him for motives/sins.
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation..1 Peter 2:2
Matthew 18:3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Mark 10:15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
1 Corinthians 14:20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.
Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Hebrews 5:12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
Hebrews 5:13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness:angel:.
What Can Be Sweeter Than to Be �Kept by the Power of God�?
Posted : 8 Nov, 2011 10:12 AM
pj knows nothing of God, he proclaims to be a christian, but hates God and his people by proclaiming a false doctrine. He said the other day he was the son of God that is just blasphemy to God he is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He denies scripture, and God.
What Can Be Sweeter Than to Be �Kept by the Power of God�?
Posted : 8 Nov, 2011 10:14 AM
Donna you just proved my point again, in the state of your choosing in unbelief you said i am not a believer that is in complete denial of Jesus, the eternal rewards for following the doctrines of men are not pretty.
