How We Are Reconciled to God by Grace

It is so easy in life to take things for granted.  We tend to take our life, our health, our family, our friends, our peace, our happiness, our possessions, just about everything one can imagine for granted the thought being tomorrow will be much like today.  We often fail to realize how pleasant we have it until suddenly we lose what we thought we had.

Love, friendship, and fellowship also fall into this category of things so often taken for granted.  We have a family member, a close friend, a colleague whose love and friendship we have enjoyed in a harmonious relationship up until the moment something arises in the relationship that causes friction, disruption, and alienation.  We soon learn how great it once was back before discord entered the picture and estrangement came, back when we were taking it all for granted thinking there would always be peace, affection, and harmony between us, never giving it a thought it would ever be otherwise.

Adam and Eve were the first two to experience the sorrow and despondency that estrangement brings into a relationship.  As long as they believed and trusted God life was good.  Eve, however, becoming dissatisfied convinced herself she and Adam could do better than what God had given and acting on that belief sinned, along with Adam, and broke the relationship they both had with God.  They broke trust with God.  Mankind has been doing the same sort of thing every since that day.

Adam is not the cause of my sin and estrangement from God nor is he the cause of yours.  It is our own personal sin that is the problem.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23 ESV)  “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8 ESV)  “If we say we have not sinned, we make him (God – DS) a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:10 ESV)  “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.” (Ezek 18:20 ESV)  No, Adam is not my problem.  I am my problem.

As a consequence of our sin we become alienated from God.  “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” (Isa 59:2 ESV)  “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” (Prov. 28:9 ESV)  “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23 ESV)

If you are new to Christianity it might sound as though you are doomed.  That is not at all the case.  God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” (Ezek. 18:32 ESV)  “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise (a reference to the second coming of Christ, of Judgment Day – DS) as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 ESV)  The message of the Bible to mankind is “repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21 ESV)

As the apostle Paul would say in his preaching, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5:20 ESV)  God sent Christ into the world to save the world.  Jesus says himself, “I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.” (John 12:47 ESV)

Once an individual becomes alienated from God through sin he/she is left powerless on their own initiative to restore the breach that sin made in the relationship.  God was offended by man’s sin and after all God is God and man is man; there is a hierarchy of power and authority.  That is why salvation is by grace, by God’s choice.  It was his choice to restore us, to reconcile us to himself, to accept us back once again.  However, it is left up to the individual to decide whether or not he/she will accept the reconciliation God offers.

“In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Cor. 5:19 ESV)  The message of reconciliation Paul speaks of is the gospel of Christ.

Humanity is reconciled to God by the cross of Jesus.  Peace between God and mankind became possible once again, as in the beginning in the Garden of Eden before the fall, by the blood of his cross, the cross of Jesus (Col. 1:20).  It was at the cross that the price of man’s sins was paid, the price paid for our redemption from sin.  It was with “the precious blood of Christ.” (1 Peter 1:19 ESV)  We were “bought with a price.” (1 Cor. 6:20 ESV)

“Christ died for the ungodly.” (Rom. 5:6 ESV)  “We were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom. 5:10 ESV) and “have now been justified by his blood.” (Rom. 5:9 ESV)  It is through Jesus Christ that we have now “received reconciliation.” (Rom. 5:11 ESV)

It is a wonderful thing when alienation between persons is resolved and old feelings of affection and friendship are restored, when the past is forgiven and put behind and peace and joy are brought back into a relationship.  Reconciliation is a wonderful thing.  Sometimes in this life reconciliation between two parties is not possible for it does indeed take two and sometimes the other party maybe will just not budge.  But we should never be that other person who will not reconcile.  God’s command is, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (Rom. 12:18 ESV)

While we always ought to seek reconciliation among men and women how much more so between ourselves and God who is our God.  He is all for us; he desires that we be saved and brought into fellowship with him, and not be lost in the last day.  He has made provision at great sacrifice to himself and his son to bring about our reconciliation.  It was by his grace that these things were done.

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21 ESV)  We have all been invited to come and partake of the water of life freely.  “The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Rev 22:17 ESV)  It is time to obey the gospel if you have not done so.  Obedience to the gospel message is reconciliation to God.  The message of reconciliation is the message of the cross.  

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Canaan and Heaven - How God’s Grace Gives

How God’s grace gives to men is not only an interesting study but also one of utmost importance as it relates to our salvation, a salvation which is clearly set forth in the scriptures as being a free gift of God to man.  “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 3:24 NKJV)  It is by grace through faith we are saved and not by works. (Eph. 2:8-9)  Salvation is specifically said to be “the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8 NKJV)

Many more or less assume this gift of God freely given has no conditions attached, that it is unconditional, or else works would be included in its obtainment.  We sometimes jump to conclusions rather than crawl to them the latter being the much safer route as it involves thought and process, study and meditation, rather than the fire of emotionalism.

While salvation (and thus heaven itself--our promised land) is said to be a free gift from God it is no more said to be a free gift than was the promised land to the children of Israel in the Old Testament beginning with the original promise to Abraham in Gen. 12:7, “To your descendants I will give this land.” (NKJV) (See also Gen. 13:15, 17)

To Moses God said, regarding Abraham’s descendants, the children of Israel, “I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan.” (Exodus 6:4 NKJV)  Look up the word “given” or “give” in any Bible concordance and you will find time and again passage after passage stating that God either had given the children of Israel the land of Canaan or would do so.

But if it was a gift from God freely given then surely there was nothing the children of Israel had to do to obtain it other than believe - was there?  The way people reason today, if they were to be consistent, they would have to answer “no there was not” but they know better.  They will not do that for they know their Old Testament history well enough to know that while God had given them the land and they were assured of it they still had to fight battle after battle to drive out those who lived there.

How can a person say a gift is free if effort is required to receive it?  That is a fair question deserving an answer.  By definition, a gift is the giving of something that does not have to be given.  There is no legal necessity to give a gift.  I give to the government tax money but none of us would say that is a gift.  On the other hand, if I give to an orphanage that is a gift freely given for there is nothing compelling me to give other than the desire of my heart to do so.  If God gave the land of Canaan to the children of Israel, as he did, what forced him to do that?  Was he under obligation or was it the desire of his heart?

Man can complain all he wants about the children of Israel having to fight all those battles and say to himself “what kind of gift was that?”  It is an argument with God for he is the one who said he was “giving” the land.  Man would say man was earning the land, earning it the hard way with combat, but God called it giving.  There is an important lesson here.  We need to learn to think the way God thinks, not the way mankind thinks.  “My thoughts are not your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8 NKJV) is what God says.  When God gives to man a gift it does not necessarily mean no effort is required to take possession of the gift.  It does mean, however, because God is giving it, obey and you will succeed (no doubt about it) and you will become a recipient of the gift of God.   

God speaks in the New Testament of salvation as being a gift.  Men thinking the way they do this means to most “sit back, relax, and dump it into my lap.”  Bad mistake!  The children of Israel received the land of Canaan by God’s grace.  It was a free gift that did not have to be given.  They defeated the inhabitants of the land not because they were a stronger military force but because God was fighting with them and for them delivering the inhabitants into their hands. 

God’s gift of grace means opportunity.  God’s grace in giving the children of Israel the land of Canaan meant believe and obey and I (God) guarantee your success.  It is no different today with us other than the location of the Promised Land.  By God’s grace, we are given an opportunity to reach the promised land of heaven itself and our success is guaranteed if we will believe and obey.

Lest the reader thinks I am setting up an analogy that is invalid comparing the children of Israel and their promised land and God’s children today and our promised land this is the very thing the writer of the book of Hebrews does beginning in Heb. 3:7 and going through about Heb. 4:11.

In Heb. 3:18-19 the writer says a thing of utmost importance to you and me if we are to learn the lesson he desires us to learn.  “And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who did not obey?  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” (NKJV)  The reader ought to note carefully how the Hebrew writer ties together faith and obedience or unbelief and disobedience.  Those who believe obey; those who disbelieve disobey.

Why did the adults of that group we refer to as the children of Israel who left Egypt with Moses to go to the Promised Land fail to enter in?  They disobeyed God who told them, “Go up and possess the land which I have given to you.” (Deut. 9:23 NKJV)  They feared the inhabitants of the land and did not believe God’s word that he had given them the land (and thus would fight with them in all their battles allowing victory).  Moses speaking to them says, “You rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you did not believe him nor obey his voice.” (Deut. 9:23 NKJV)

When men do not believe they do not obey.  Obedience then is a matter of faith, disobedience a matter of a lack of faith.  Why are people today, people who claim to believe, not baptized “for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38 NKJV) as Peter preached and commanded in the very first Holy Spirit inspired gospel sermon ever to be preached?  The answer is because disbelief leads naturally to disobedience.  The Hebrew writer sums it up well, “the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” (Heb. 4:2 NKJV)  Yes, he was speaking of a generation long gone but speaking for our benefit today so that we can learn from it.  Will we learn?

The Hebrew writer goes on in speaking of those Israelites who failed to enter the promised land saying, “those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience” (Heb. 4:6 NKJV) and then warns us not to fall “according to the same example of disobedience.” (Heb. 4:11 NKJV) 

What should we learn from all of this?  Genuine faith that saves is a faith that when it hears believes and obeys.  Men can call obedience salvation by works if they want to, that is their choice, but the wise man will obey and not seek salvation without obedience.  To seek salvation without obedience is to seek salvation without any real faith.  “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26 NKJV) and things that are dead no longer have life and are ready to be buried.  Willful disobedience manifests a lack of faith and is rebellion.

God’s gifts and grace, in the context of the subject of which we are talking, always require more of man than a dead faith that refuses to act.  When God speaks (gives a command in his word) our obligation is to obey and not sit around and meditate on how doing so means works and not grace.  The children of Israel would have been glad to walk into Canaan under other circumstances more pleasing to themselves.  They were just not willing to believe God and do it his way.  His grace, his gift, was not to them sufficient grace.  Will we be that way about going to heaven?  Are we only going to heaven if we can get there our way?  Are we only willing to go if God requires absolutely nothing of us?  I hope that does not prove to be the case.

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Revelation Has Ended – Its Proof and Consequences

Sometimes we fail to see what is in front of our eyes.  Anyone who has ever pulled out in front of a car or truck even after having looked beforehand knows the truth of this statement.  Evidently, our mind does not process what our eyes have seen so that with the mind there is nothing there.  One can see and yet not see all at the same time.

All of us human beings are prone to this syndrome not only in the physical realm but also in matters dealing with the intellect, including in the spiritual realm.  We ought to see and come to the proper conclusions but we often don’t.  Jesus said the reason he spoke in parables was “while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” (Matt. 13:13 NAS 2020)  Or, as the NIV puts it, “though seeing, they do not see.”  None of us wants to be in that camp but sometimes we are.

I just recently discovered how I too had not seen what was right before my eyes all these years in a passage I have read who knows how many dozens of times – John 16:13.  I had not grasped its full significance.  I owe my newfound insight to an article written by a preacher named Dub McClish as found in the book Studies in Hebrews (The Second Annual Denton Lectures, Nov. 13-17, 1983), pages 108-122.  In his article entitled “God Has Spoken The Living Word” page 121 is the relevant page.  If it was not for copyright laws I would just quote the passage verbatim but as it is I will reword the material.  I think it is well worth your consideration.

John 16:13 reads as follows: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth … “  This is the portion of the passage Mr. McClish expounds upon and which I want to consider.  While the argument made is not mine I will state it and expand upon it.

This was clearly a passage promising the Holy Spirit, a passage that is looking forward to a future event.  The question is who is Jesus speaking to?  The answer is those with whom he was gathered at the time and who was that?  It was clearly the apostles.  Read John 16:13 in context (chapters 13–17).  It was those of whom he said, “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15:16 NKJV)

Who did Jesus choose?  “And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles.” (Luke 6:13 NKJV)  Again, one reads in Acts 1:2b-5 the following, “after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, To whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.  And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me (likely a reference to Luke 24:49—DS); for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." (NKJV)

In Acts 2:4 we see the apostles filled with the Holy Spirit.  “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Act 2:4 NKJV)

To further confirm it was the apostles to whom Jesus gave his address one needs to take into account the fact that John chapters 13 – 16 is one extended discourse given to the same group of individuals.  And who was here listed by name?  We have Peter (John 13:6), Thomas (John 14:5), Philip (John 14:8), and Judas, not Iscariot (John 14:22) mentioned by name and who might these be?  Apostles all.

The point so far has been to show that those to whom Jesus was speaking in John 16:13 were the twelve apostles.  That is extremely important.  When you or I are talking to a person that is who we are talking to.  We are not addressing someone down the street, across town, in another state, another nation, or another time.

Now I think most people who call themselves Christian have believed and do believe John 16:13 as I have but we have often overlooked a necessary implication of that verse.  Does “all” mean “all?”  If it does then it implies directly, forcibly, and without dispute, that revelation ended with the death of the last apostle.  All truth is all truth.  Once you have all there is of a thing that is all there is to be had.  There will be no more.

That concept destroys any and all religions that lay claim to having any further revelations of truth since the end of the first century, since the death of the last apostle.  It destroys Roman Catholicism with its ever-changing and often new added doctrines.  It ruins Mormonism.  It (John 16:13) set a time limit on the deliverance of new doctrines – the lifetime of the last of the apostles appointed by Jesus.  Most scholars say the last living apostle of the New Testament era was John and his life ended near the end of the first century.

If the apostles were guided into all truth there was no more truth to be guided into by Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, or by any other group out there that has claimed revelation after the first century.

I believe this is irrefutable.  However, I do not think for a minute it will be accepted for I well know religion is based with most of mankind more on emotion and tradition rather than rational thought.  Tradition and emotion are hard nuts to crack.  Nevertheless, truth stands on its own and always wins out in the end.  To fight against it is like fighting against growing old.  You may fight but you will not win. 

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Abortion - Luke 1 – All You Need to Know

Luke 1 tells you all you need to know about abortion and a woman's right to choose.  Abortion in politically correct liberal speech is referred to as a choice today but I am far more concerned with scripturally correct speech than I am with politically correct speech and I think you ought to be too.  Our concern ought not to be how society views a matter or how those who have gained power view a subject but how God sees it.

I remind you that there was a time when the vast majority of German society was behind Hitler and I remind you there was a day in Jerusalem a couple of thousand years ago when the consensus was that a man who had done nothing other than good ought to be condemned to death.

When a society gets into its head that there is nothing wrong with an act then yes you can have gladiator games to the death and charge admission so people can enjoy watching one man kill another or you can do about anything else you want to do.  (I don't know whether or not they charged admission—does that matter?  I think not.  People wanted to see it whether they had to pay to see it or not.  That is how depraved a society can get.)

What American society or law, or this political party or that one, or this politician or that one, has to say really means absolutely nothing as to whether or not a thing is right in God's eyes.  God does not determine righteousness based on man's thoughts, opinions, or consensus.  Whatever it is whether living together outside of marriage, homosexual unions, abortion, or whatever, it makes no difference what public opinion polls say the majority believe and are willing to accept--not with God.  God does not care.

"'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' says the LORD." (Isa. 55:8 NKJV)  To the sinner in Psalm 50:21, God says, "You thought that I was altogether like you." (NKJV)  Mistake!  Big Mistake!!  Our Mistake? 

So what did Luke say about abortion that makes God's position on the subject clear?

Luke made it clear that that which was within the womb was a person, not just a mass of tissue.  When the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:19) came first to Zacharias who would be the father of John the Baptist and then later to Mary (Luke 1:26), the mother of Jesus, Gabriel spoke both times as though the child to be born already existed.  He spoke in prophecy but this tells us something in itself.  What?  In God's eyes both John the Baptist and Jesus in the flesh already existed when in fact neither had yet even been conceived in the womb. 

When a person is conceived in the womb has that person not already previously existed in the mind of God?  David said, "Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them." (Psalms 139:16 NKJV)  God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, spoke about Cyrus the Great fulfilling God's will in Isaiah 44:28 on through the first part of chapter 45, even calling Cyrus by name (Isa. 45:4), when it would be many decades to come before Cyrus would be born.  Did Cyrus exist in the mind of God prior to his birth?  Was he just fetal matter in the womb after his conception or was he the baby Cyrus?   When a woman conceives whose doing is that if not God's?  (See Gen. 29:31 and Gen. 30:22-23 to find out.  No, don't be lazy, open your Bible and read.)

How many women are trying desperately to have a child but cannot?  If you as a woman have conceived then it was God's doing.  God is the only giver of human life.  He alone can make it happen.  How many times in the Bible does one read of women who gave credit to God for giving them a son?  I do not know but having been a Bible reader of long-standing I know it is many times beginning with Eve in Gen. 4:1 and who can forget Samuel's mother in Sam. 1:19-20 (another must read).  God is in the process of giving life in the womb while man is in the process of taking that same innocent and defenseless life in the abortion procedure.

If conception is of God's doing are we not taking on God when we try and destroy what he has created?

Abortionists call that which is within the womb a fetus (a sterile unfeeling term) in order to not have to refer to that which is within as a baby, as a human being.  Is that the way God sees it?  Elizabeth's fetus was, with God, John the Baptist.  Is there any rational way to doubt that?  The pro-choice people would have said it is just tissue and blood.  God, through Gabriel, said it was John (Luke 1:13).  John the Baptist was in the womb of Elizabeth, not just fetal tissue.  God named him before he was even conceived so it was John who was in the womb.

John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit "while yet in his mother's womb." (Luke 1:15 NAS, see also the HCSB, ISV, NET, NLT, and NRSV translations)  Some translations say "from his mother's womb" (NKJV and others) but if you will look down at verses 41 and 44 you will see that the NAS is most likely the correct translation.  Those two verses read as follows:

"And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit." (Luke 1:41 NKJV)   

"For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy." (Luke 1:44 NKJV—Elizabeth speaking to Mary)

So what do we have here, two things.  (a) Elizabeth, speaking by means of the Holy Spirit (see verse 41), says that which is within her is a babe (see verse 44).  It is a baby.  Is it a mass of tissue only or is it a human being?  Pro-choice people do not like to talk about babies.  They much prefer the term fetus.  Shall we use scriptural language or shall we use pro-choice language?  Let us be clear about what is going on.

Had Elizabeth's fetus been aborted a baby, not a mass of tissue, would have died.  That according to Dr. Luke reporting on the words of a Holy Spirit inspired woman concerning the matter.  She said it was a babe (verse 44) as did the inspired writer Luke in verse 41.

Elizabeth, speaking by means of the Holy Spirit says the babe leaped for joy.  Can an unfeeling mass of tissue have joy?  Can you abort this which experiences joy and just say it was only a fetus, just some tissue and blood?

I cannot explain what goes on in the womb, the pre-birth experience, for who can declare the workings of God in creating human life?  David said in Psalms 139:13-14, "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.  I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well." (NKJV)

God creates the baby in the womb, he forms the inward parts, he plants the ear and forms the eye (Psalm 94:9).  Shall we take that which God is in the process of creating and destroy his work in progress?  That is what happens in an abortion.  Maybe we ought to get out of God's way, what do you think?  The fact that it is a process means nothing for God has been in the process of making me an old man for decades.  We are all in the process of change everyday of our lives.  There is no such thing as a human body not undergoing continual change.

"Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, 'He did not make me'? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?" (Isa. 29:16 NKJV)  Who do you think is the potter and who is the clay?  If you do not know read Rom. 9:20-21.  A human life is God’s work. 

Jeremiah was told, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; And I ordained you a prophet to the nations." (Jer. 1:5 NKJV)  If with God we are a person before conception (he knows us before he forms us in the womb) then surely after conception we are a person, not just tissue.  

Yes, God no doubt knows beforehand which child will be aborted and which will not be but it is certain that which is within the womb, the baby (not just tissue and blood), is God's creative process which he is actively involved in.  Do not interrupt God's work and say there is no sin.  If there is no sin in it, and if it is indeed just a choice, then one must conclude God approves of abortion.  No other conclusion could be drawn in such a case. 

If that was true then Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Samuel, and a host of others could have been aborted before birth without sin.  Where is the person that really believes that who calls himself a Christian?

 Luke 1 tells you all you need to know about abortion.  Study and seriously think on verses 15 and 41 through 44.  That which was within the womb of Elizabeth was not something that could be aborted at will with God's approval and that which lay in her womb was more than just a mass of tissue.

I have to close with this, not knowing who might someday read it, sin needs to be condemned but Jesus came to earth to save sinners, not destroy them.  While abortion is a very serious sin it is no worse than the killing of Jesus on the cross.  As many of those people who were responsible for his death who were later willing to believe the gospel, repent of their sins, and be baptized were saved (read Acts 2).

If you have had an abortion God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9) meaning you.  He will freely and fully forgive if you will but obey the gospel from the heart or having already done that prior to your abortion if you will but repent, confess your sin, and ask his forgiveness it shall be granted.  In any case, your aborted child is safe in God's arms.  May God be with you in making the right decisions in your life.   

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