If He Calls, He Keeps

 

[The Lord] will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:8–9)

What are you depending on to ensure that your faith will last until Jesus comes?

The question is not, Do you believe in eternal security? The question is, How are we kept secure?

Does the perseverance of our faith rest decisively on the reliability of our own resolve? Or does it rest decisively on the work of God to “keep us trusting”?

It is a great and wonderful truth of Scripture that God is faithful and will keep forever those whom he has called. Our confidence that we are eternally secure is a confidence that God will do whatever is necessary to “keep us trusting!”

The certainty of eternity is no greater than the certainty God will keep us trusting now. But that certainty is very great for all whom God has called.

At least three passages put the call of God and the keeping of God together in this way.

“[The Lord] will sustain you (keep you) to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:8–9).

“May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24).

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 1–2). (See the same reality in Romans 8:30, Philippians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:5, and Jude 24.)

The “faithfulness” of God guarantees that he will keep safe forever all whom he has called.

GOD IS EVER CARING!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY MARCH 30, 2023.

SUBJECT: GOD IS EVER CARING!

Memory verse: "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (First Peter 5 vs 7.) 

READ: Psalm 103 vs 8-14 & 17:

103:8: The Lord is merciful and gracious. slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 

103:9: He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. 

103:10: He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. 

103:11: For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 

103:12: As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. 

103:13: As a father pities his children, do the Lord pities those who fear Him. 

103:14: For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. 

103:17: But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him. And His righteousness to children's children. 

INTIMATION:

God has deep interest in all that concerns you and I. We are fragile, but God's care is eternal. Too often we focus on God as Judge and Lawgiver, ignoring His compassion and concern for us. When God examines our lives He remembers the frailty of our our human condition. His mercy takes everything into account. God will deal with us compassionately. God is so caring that when He forgives us our sin, He separates it from us and doesn't even remember it anymore. As east and west can never meet, so is the symbolic portrait of God's forgiveness of our sins and their separation from us. We need not wallow in the past, for God forgives and forgets.

In Matthew 6 vs 31 - 33, the Scripture states, "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' Or 'What shall drink?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." To "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" means we should put God first in all things in our lives; we should turn to God first for help, to fill your thoughts with His desires, to take His character for your pattern, and to serve and obey Him in everything. Though other things, and desires all compete for priority in our lives, and any of these can quickly bump God out of first place if you don't actively choose to give Him first place in every area of our life.

Carrying your worries, stresses, and daily struggles by yourself shows that you have not trusted God fully with your life. It takes humility, however, to recognize that God cares, and to admit your needs, and let God take care of you. Sometimes we think that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God's concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, He will bear the weight of those struggles, including our sins. Our loving Father will never leave us as He promises. But the enemy of our souls wants us to doubt God, and to question His ability. And undoubtedly, this is the trick the father of lies—Satan—has used from the beginning of human history.

In the Garden of Eden our first parents were set up to live happily ever after, having been placed in a paradise-like setting by a Loving, Caring, and Personal God. They had been given everything they could ever want, but with only one small restriction: "Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." We easily will say today, 'What a simple innocuous request and easy to obey.' But when they were enticed by the “tempter,” they fell into his trap of questioning the love and goodness of the One from whom they had only experienced good. What a monstrous lie! But they bought the lie hook, line and sinker! And mankind has been wretched ever since, but for God's intervention through His Son, Jesus Christ!

We do the same today. We willingly swallow the lie that we cannot trust our Heavenly Father. We allow our earthly hurts from parents or others to distrust our view and our understanding of God. Our many feelings, emotions, fears, and human experience effectively block a clean perception of God, consequently stifling all truth about Him. Pray that God will help you not allow negative human relationship and experience interfere with having a close relationship with your Loving, and Caring Father, and hindering your enjoying the never ending and limitless benefits of His care.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are so caring and loving that You gave Your only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for my sins. What a supreme sacrifice You made for me! Forever You remain my God. Endue me with the spirit of love, compassion, trust, and complete obedience to You, Who has given all for me, that I may strive to give You my all, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

As Sure as God’s Love for His Son

 

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

God strips every pain of its destructive power. You must believe this or you will not thrive, or perhaps even survive, as a Christian, in the pressures and temptations of modern life.

There is so much pain, so many setbacks and discouragements, so many controversies and pressures. I do not know where I would turn, if I did not believe that almighty God is taking every setback and every discouragement and every controversy and every pressure and every pain, and stripping it of its destructive power, and making it work for the enlargement of my joy in God.

Listen to Paul’s astonishing words in 1 Corinthians 3:21–23, “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” The world is ours. Life is ours. Death is ours. Which I take to mean: God reigns so supremely on behalf of his elect that everything which faces us in a lifetime of obedience and ministry will be subdued by the mighty hand of God and made the servant of our holiness and our everlasting joy in God.

If God is for us, and if God is God, then it is true that nothing can succeed against us. He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all will infallibly and freely with him give us all things — all things — the world, life, death, and God himself.

Romans 8:32 is a precious friend. The promise of God’s future grace is simply overwhelming. But all-important is the foundation: I have called it the logic of heaven. Here is a place to stand against all obstacles. God did not spare his own Son! Therefore! Therefore! The logic of heaven! Therefore, how much more will he not spare any effort to give us all that Christ died to purchase — all things, all good, and all bad working for our good!

It is as sure as the certainty that he loved his Son!

THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY MARCH 29, 2023.

SUBJECT: THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH!

Memory verse: "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea." (Revelation 21 vs 1.) 

READ: Isaiah 65 vs 17; 66 vs 22; Second Peter 3 vs 10 & 13:

Isaiah 65:17: For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

66:22: For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.

Second Peter 3:10: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

3:13: Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelt righteousness.

INTIMATION:

Heaven is where God lives. It is a dwelling place of God, His Son Jesus where He first came from, and dwelling place of angels (Matthew 6 vs 9; 18 vs 10; Hebrews 8 vs 1; 10 vs 12). Life in heaven operates according to God’s principles and values, and it is eternal and unshakable. However, God will purify the heavens and earth with fire, to make anew. The new heaven and earth is the future realm of dwelling wherein the resurrected redeemed will eternally exist with a spiritual body in the presence of God. 

We don’t know how the new earth will look or where it will be, but God and His followers—those whose names are written in the Book of Life—will be united to live there forever. It is not a place of flesh and blood (First Corinthians 15 vs 50), like the present earth, where we all face limitations: Some have physical, mental, or emotional disabilities. Some are blind, deaf, lame, but we will all be given new bodies when Christ returns and that these bodies will be without disabilities, never to die or become sick. In addition, those with disabilities and other limitations now are encouraged that those disabilities and limitations are only temporary. 

God’s purpose for people is not destruction but recreation. God will purify the heavens and earth with fire, then He will create them anew. We can joyously look forward to the restoration of God’s good world. The purified or new heavens and earth is a place of rest, joy, glory, righteousness, no sorrow, no death, and a place of eternal life. (Romans 8 vs 18; Colossians 3 vs 4; Matthew 25 vs 21). The purpose of purified heaven and earth is for the reward to the obedient, an inheritance for God’s children, a place of immortality for the mortal, a crown of victory for the faithful. 

Our loyalty should be to our citizenship in the new heavens and earth, not to our citizenship here on earth, because the earth will be destroyed. Jesus remarked that heaven and earth shall pass away, therefore, our utmost desire is to be partakers in the new heavens and earth, where God will live with the faithful forever. Those who will inherit heaven are; the pure in heart, the persecuted Christians, the undefiled, the moral upright believers. (Matthew 5 vs 4 - 12. Revelation 21 vs 27; Galatians 5 vs 19 - 21; Revelation 22 vs 15).

Realizing that the earth is going to be burned up, we should put our confidence in what is lasting and eternal and not be bound in earth and it’s treasures or pursuits. While it is true that money, fame, and belongings can’t be taken with us from this life to dwell with God, we can produce fruit that survives even death by utilizing them to do God’s will; taking care of the poor and needy amongst us, investing in kingdom endeavors, and excelling in every good works. God will remember our love, kindness, and faithfulness, and those who accept Christ through our witness, and they will join us in the new earth. 

Be sure that your values are in line with God’s values, and decide today to produce fruit that lasts forever. Our loyalty should be to God’s truth, His way of life, and His dedicated people. Do you spend much of your time piling up possessions, or striving to develop Christlike character? Will you be part of the new heavens and earth? The choice is yours, and the time is now, for the end is fast approaching! 

Prayer: Abba Father, one thing I desire, that will I seek after; is that I may dwell in Your kingdom, and live with You forever. Give me the grace to earnestly pursue this desire, and that the zeal of Your house will eat me up, that I may run to obtain the in perishable crown of eternity with You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

When Everyone Deserts You

 

At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:16–18)

This morning I was lingering over these magnificent and heartbreaking words. Paul is in custody in Rome. So far as we know, he was never released. His last letter comes to an end like this.

Consider and be astounded!

He is deserted: “no one came to stand by me.” He is an old man. A loyal servant. In a foreign city, far from home. Surrounded by enemies. In danger of death. Why? Answer: So he could write this precious sentence for our discouraged, or fearful, or lonely souls: “But the Lord stood by me!”

Oh, how I love those words! When you are deserted by close friends, do you cry out against God? Are the people in your life, then, really your god? Or do you take courage in this magnificent truth: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20) — no matter who deserts you? Do you strengthen your heart with this inexorable oath: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5)?

Then let us say, “The Lord stood by me!”

Question: What was threatened in 2 Timothy 4:18? Answer: that Paul might not attain the Lord’s heavenly kingdom! But over against the threat Paul cries, “The Lord will . . . bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.”

Question: How was Paul’s attaining the heavenly kingdom threatened? Answer: “evil deeds.” “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.”

Question: How could an evil deed threaten Paul’s attaining the heavenly kingdom? Answer: by tempting him to forsake his allegiance to Christ through disobedience.

Question: Was this temptation the “lion’s mouth” from which he was rescued? Answer: Yes. “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:8–9).

Question: So who gets the glory that Paul did not yield to this satanic temptation, but endured to the end in faith and obedience? Answer: “To him [the Lord] belong glory and dominion forever and ever” (1 Peter 5:10). “To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18).

Question: Why? Wasn’t it Paul who stood firm? Answer: “The Lord stood by me and strengthened me!”

FORGIVENESS IS KEY IN OUR LIFE’S JOURNEY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY MARCH 28, 2023.

SUBJECT: FORGIVENESS IS KEY IN OUR LIFE’S JOURNEY!

Memory verse: “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” 

(Mark 11 vs 25.)

READ: Matthew 5 vs 23 - 24:

23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there rememberers that your brother has something against you;

24 Leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

INTIMATION:

Forgiveness is to pardon or acquit for sin. It is the release from the mind and heart of the offended feelings of resentment toward the offender, which feelings, if continued, will hinder the spiritual and emotional growth of the offended. Also, to bestow a favor unconditionally is used of the act of forgiveness, whether Divine (Ephesians 4 vs 32; Colossians 2 vs 13; 3 vs 13), or human, (Luke 7 vs 42 - 43; Second Corinthians 2 vs 7; 12 vs 13). 

Human forgiveness is to be strictly analogous to Divine forgiveness (Matthew 6 vs 12). If certain conditions are fulfilled, there is no limitation to Christ’s law of forgiveness (Matthew 18 vs 21 - 22). And the conditions are repentance and confession (Matthew 18 vs 15 - 17; Luke 17 vs 3). God will judge without mercy the one who has shown no mercy. Those who are subjects of the kingdom reign of Jesus should be of a forgiving nature. God does not answer the prayer that comes from an unforgiving heart. Therefore, forgiveness is a condition for answered prayer. 

One should always view forgiveness in relation to how much God has forgiven us. The extent to which God has forgiven us should make our forgiveness of others limitless. We shouldn’t even keep track of how many times we forgive someone. We should always forgive those who are truly repentant, no matter how many times they offend us and ask for forgiveness.

Forgiving others is tough work—so much so that many people would rather do something totally distasteful than offer forgiveness to someone who has wronged them. For a person to pray while bearing a grudge, is like a tree sprouting leaves and bearing no fruit (Mark 11 vs 13). True faith changes the heart. Real prayer dismantles pride and vengeance, filling the holes with love. Real faith speaks peace. For our churches to have prayer power, there must be harmony and forgiveness evident in the body of believers. Let go of hurts, abandon grudges, and forgive others.

Jesus gives a startling warning about forgiveness. If we refuse to forgive others, God will also refuse to forgive us. Why? Because when we don’t forgive others, we are denying our common ground as sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. However, God’s forgiveness of sin is not the direct result of our forgiving others, but it is based on our realizing what forgiveness means. It is easy to ask God for forgiveness but difficult to grant it to others. Whenever we ask God to forgive us, we should ask, “Have I forgiven the people who have wronged me?” 

In the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18 vs 23 - 35), Ten thousand talents would be about sixty million denarii. One denarii was about one day’s wage. So much money is indicated that it would be impossible for a mortal man to work every day of his life in order to repay such debt. The spiritual implication of the parable is clear; we owe God more than we can pay in reference to our eternal salvation in heaven. We will receive more in heaven than we can possibly earn through works on earth. Salvation is truly by grace. 

The unforgiving servant showed no appreciation for his own forgiveness. Instead of manifesting mercy in his heart because of the mercy that was extended to him, he only thought of himself in reference to his fellow man. Because God has forgiven all our sins, we should not withhold forgiveness from others. As we realize how completely Christ has forgiven us, it should produce an attitude of forgiveness toward others. When we don’t forgive others, we are setting ourselves above Christ’s law of love.

God’s mercy toward us should stimulate the same in our lives toward others. Those with unforgiving spirits cannot inherit the heavenly environment of a forgiving God because they are not of the nature of the Father. God will render judgment without mercy on those who do not show mercy. Therefore, we must store mercy for judgement by exercising mercy toward others in reference to their sins against us. One must keep in mind that the ability to forgive is a necessary quality that one must possess in order to be a candidate for heaven. It is the nature of God to forgive, His children must have the same nature.

The spirit of forgiveness guards one against becoming bitter. It guards the joy that must be characteristic of our hearts. An unforgiving attitude will destroy a Christian’s spirit. Therefore, one must forgive for his own benefit. If he does not forgive he will often become bitter. 

Prayer: Abba Father, endue me Your excellent spirit of mercy, love and compassion, that I may manifest all these toward others in my journey of life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD! 

10 Results of the Resurrection

 

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)

Here are ten amazing things we owe to the resurrection of Jesus:

1) A Savior who can never die again. “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again” (Romans 6:9).

2) Repentance. “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel” (Acts 5:30–31).

3) New birth. “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

4) Forgiveness of sin. “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).

5) The Holy Spirit. “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts 2:32–33).

6) No condemnation for the elect. “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).

7) Jesus’s personal fellowship and protection. “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

8) Proof of coming judgment. “[God] has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

9) Salvation from the future wrath of God. “[We] wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10; Romans 5:9).

10) Our own resurrection from the dead. “[We know] that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence” (2 Corinthians 4:14; Romans 6:4; 8:11; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 15:20).