He Which Stablisheth Us

He Which Stablisheth Us

II Corinthians 1:21

Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;

God has taken full responsibility; and therefore shall have all the glory: for everything He has accomplished by covenant promise in Jesus Christ. The First Cause of all the blessedness procured, by covenant, for the children of the covenant, is the everlasting love of God the Father in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39; John 17:23), which blessedness, is according to His love; and His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began (II Timothy 1:9). The Meritorious, Procuring Cause of this blessedness, is the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ; which is the clothing, the wedding garment, of the children of God in the covenant of grace in Christ Jesus. The “righteousness of God” (Romans 1:17) established by Jesus Christ in His life: by fulfilling the precept of the law of God, and in His death by enduring the infinite punishment of the law of God, and exhausting the total cursedness of the broken law. This obedience unto the death of the cross, is the wedding garment required of all those who would have part in the “marriage supper of the Lamb” (Matthew 22:11-14; Revelation 19:6-9). The Immediate Efficient Cause or the Immediate Efficacious Cause, is the “holy calling” (II Timothy 1:9) of God the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost is procured, or purchased for the children of the covenant, by the blood of Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus said: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away: (by His cross death: writer) the Comforter (the Holy Ghost with all His gifts and influences: writer) will not come; but if I depart, (if I ratify, or establish, or seal, the everlasting covenant, Hebrews 13:20, in my blood of the New Testament, Matthew 26:28, through My cross death) I will send him unto you.” (John 16:7).

“The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.” (Proverbs 16:1). Without this preparation of the heart from the LORD, men will perish, spiritually dead in trespasses and in sins, for since the fall of human kind in Adam all men are born spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). Being evil by nature (Matthew 7:11) and having no inclination to live unto God their creator, they will live in chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment; (II Peter 2:4). By that corrupted nature and living unto the desires of the flesh and of the mind, they will continue the children of wrath to all eternity.  As it is written: “Having the understanding darkened, (to spiritual things, by spiritual death in Adam: writer) being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:” (Ephesians 4:18).

In this verse (Ephesians 4:18) the Apostle Paul tells us four terrible things about human kind as we are brought from the womb of nature.

(1.)            Having the understanding darkened: our natural understanding is darkened. In our first created condition, the race of men was upright (Ecclesiastes 7:29; Genesis 1:26-31) created in the image of God, with abilities commensurate with that exalted station in which we were created. Man was created in the image of our Lord Jesus Christ; who is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). In the condition in which we were created, spiritual understanding was a character of our creation, for God breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul, until that event man was a lifeless body formed from the elements of earth, from the dust of the ground, of the earth, earthy, a mixture of the elements of earth as it had pleased God. But man was not made complete, until he was made living; by the breath of God; and as it was then so it is now, God must breathe upon us the breath of life, in the birth which is from above, for “that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6).  As human kind comes forth from natures womb, we come forth in the image of Adam, after the fall (Genesis 5:3): not with our spiritual abilities impaired; but, spiritually dead in trespasses and in sins, with our understandings of spiritual things darkened by an “evil heart of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:12); and the total depravity of the will, which is “after the workings of Satan”, whereby men will not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved, (II Thessalonians 2:9-10; John 5:40; Jeremiah 6:16-17). As the race of men came from the Creator’s hand we had within us the ability to know God, to obey, love, and rejoice in God. We had the ability to fellowship with God, but after the fall in Adam all this is lost; and we as a race are come forth lost to God, in our minds there is only enmity to God (Romans 8:7; I Corinthians 2:14). And in our fallen nature we love sin and self, being rebellious against God (Psalm 68:18): and the truth as touching “the doctrine of God” (Titus 2:10), the gospel of God (Romans 1:1-4); and not understanding how God justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5; 3:26). Unless God will shine the gospel light in our darkened hearts, we will remain in that state to all eternity; being blinded by the god of this world (that is Satan: writer), to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 4:1-6).

(2.)            Being alienated from the life of God: not God’s own life that He lives in Himself, but that life that the saints of God have from Jesus Christ. For it is written, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” (I John 5:10-11). Our Lord Jesus said: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28). This is the life of faith, a shared life in Christ Jesus and infused in the believer at the birth from above: as said the Apostle Paul: “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 by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). And again: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4). Christ Jesus lives in believers by His Spirit, and they live unto God in Christ, as it is written: “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” (John 14: 19-20). In our Lord’s Great High Priestly Prayer He said: “Neither pray I for these alone, (the Apostles: writer) but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; (believers of after ages, not to the exclusion of believers in former ages: writer) That they all may be one: (one body in Christ: Ephesians 4:4: writer) as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:19-26)

(3.)            Through the ignorance that is in them: Man by nature is religious, almost everywhere there is man, there is also religion of some sort. The diversity of religions shows the ignorance there is in men of the true and living God. Men, almost universally, believe there is a God, (witness the religions of the world) but the particulars of His being and worship they know not. The “God of truth” (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 31:5; Isaiah 65:16) has revealed Himself, or “declared” Himself in His Son, who is The Truth: through the Holy Scriptures (John 1:1-3,14,18; 14:6; 18:37). The “Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive,” (John 14:17), engrafts, the “word of truth” (James 1:18, 21; I Peter 1:23; John 6:63) in the hearts of the children of God who are found “walking in truth” (II John 1:4); and “for The Truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.” (II John 1:2). The men of the world receive not the truth; because there is no truth in them. (John 8:42-47; 10:26). Man in his created condition had the ability to know God: whom to know is life eternal (John 17:3). “But the natural man receiveth not he things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (I Corinthians 2:14).

(4.)            Because of the blindness of their heart: Men by prejudice against the doctrine of God, and of Christ: will not hear the truth of the scriptures, but, as of old: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3). The heart of nature is hard: a stony heart: as hard as flint, it will not receive any impression from anything outside itself concerning God; until, the grace of God apprehends the man and by the effectual operation of God Almighty, the Holy Ghost; breaths into the man’s soul the breath of life. A new heart is given, a heart of flesh, which is capable of receiving the impressions of the doctrines of the gospel. The total enmity of the mind is to some extent done away by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2) the man is made willing by the power of the Holy Ghost (Psalm 110:3) by giving a desire after God in Christ (Song 1:4). The regenerate soul finds that it can no longer be content in this world, but, being born from above: must seek the life from above in Christ Jesus. So that the new creature finds it’s total sufficiency in the Lord Jesus Christ, to live in Christ, and unto Christ, is the new desire of the new heart. The new object of love is the God of truth, and the truth concerning Him, which draws out the heart to Jesus Christ, “who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 9:5).  The truth of God is the all important thing, love of truth sets the heart seeking after the truth, when the truth is found the old idols of self will, self love, self determinations, loose their allure, and the will of God becomes the all important desire of the soul. Not that indwelling sin he is altogether eradicated, but indwelling sin, which before regeneration was the ruling principle, has now a superior opposing principle: which wars against the power of indwelling sin. “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? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Corinthians 6:19-20).

God has acknowledged that He Himself is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, in the Salvation of the elect children of God. It was the Father who chose His beloved children, who were to be redeemed, from among men (Revelation 14:4); and “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;” (Revelation 5:9). It is Christ Jesus who has redeemed the elect “out of every” kindred, tongue, people, and nation by the blood of His cross (Galatians 3:13; Colossians 1:20; Romans 3:25; 5:9). And it is God the Holy Spirit who calls the elected and redeemed children of the covenant, by giving them eternal life in Jesus Christ: therefore His call is always effectual: for to whomsoever he gives life: they are made to live, and they live unto God. Therefore it is God who has established us with the Apostles in Jesus Christ, and who has anointed us with the Holy Ghost (I John 2:20, 27) not we, the elect, ourselves;” Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and thy truth’s sake. (Psalm 115:1).

AJ Ison

See the writers blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.     

All The Promises Of God

All The Promises Of God

II Corinthians 1:20

For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him A-men, unto the glory of God by us.

There is no uncertainty with regard to the promises of God, His promises are sure and steadfast: for all the promises of God are in Christ Jesus: who is the “covenant of the people” (Isaiah 49:8).  The Person of Jesus Christ was promised of God “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God,

The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6). The finished work of Jesus Christ was according to the promise of God “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.”

(Daniel 9:24). The Result of the Personal presence of Christ among us, and His finished work for us, is according to the promise of God “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21). And every person who finds himself believing on the Christ of the Bible, for righteousness, the saints only righteousness: should also know that: “of him (God the Father: writer) are ye in Christ Jesus” (I Corinthians 1:30) and that it is God: who hath established us in Christ and anointed us in Christ (II Corinthians 1:21). He who hath anointed us is God, and He with whom we are anointed is God the Holy Ghost: who is the habitually abiding, indwelling, Person of the Godhead, who, Himself is the principle of the new life of Christ Jesus in us, being the unction of the Holy One, Jesus Christ (I John 2:20), and the Great Teacher of all the essential things that pertain to life and godliness, we, therefore know all those things through Him.   

Faith is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), and of necessity where there is faith in Christ, the Spirit of God is the producer of that faith, by revealing Christ, to the soul. There can be no apple without an apple tree, so there can be no fruit of the Spirit without the prior presence of the Spirit. The Spirit of God in the soul is the Seal of the soul, being the Earnest of the inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14). An earnest is a small portion of the inheritance given as proof, or promise of the fullness of the inheritance; which is to come (Matthew 25:34). So that the gift of the Spirit of God; which we have now, as the earnest of the inheritance, is not that fullness that we shall have when we are perfectly conformed to the image of Christ; and are changed into the same image and from glory to glory, (Romans 8:29; II Corinthians 3:18) “that we might be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19). Who among us is able to understand the glory that shall “be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18) when, sin is totally eradicated in us, and the fullness of the gift of the indwelling Spirit of God is ours, with all his mighty influences of holiness and grace. “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.” (I John 3:2).

The saints of God are apprehended of Jesus Christ, as Lot was apprehended of the angels when they took him by his hands and brought him out of the city (Genesis 19:16), so, Christ is bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10) Christ Jesus is gathering His flesh, and His bones, together in that one body the church, for they have had union in Him from everlasting, so much so that in time to come He will remember their dust, which will then as now, yet be in that same union, and bring them to Him from the grave, in that one body, a glorious church, it is written: (omitting the words in italics which were not in the original text) “Thy dead shall live, my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead.” (Isaiah 26:19). “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:30-32). “And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 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? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (I Corinthians 6:14-20). “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member but many. – Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.” (I Corinthians 12:12-14, 27).

The body here brought to view is the “mystery of Christ” that is, Christ mystical, which is, Christ the head of the body united to the body: in the counsel and covenant of God, according to the love of God for His elect in Christ, and according the untied will, purpose, and grace, of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, without beginning. As it is written: “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (which I wrote afore in a few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of the same promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I am made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ: and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:” (Ephesians 3:1-11).

The fellowship of the saints in this mystery, that is, their partnership in the mystery, their participation in the mystery, their communion in the mystery: (See Strong’s number: G 2842) is according to the union of the members of the body with the Great Head of the body and with the other members of the body whether they be Jews or Gentiles: unto the eternal glory of God; and the intent of all is “that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,” (Ephesians 3:10). “Thus it is written: “I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Se-lah,” (Psalm 89:3-4). And again it is written: “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. (Psalm 89:34-36). The name David is put here for Christ Jesus who is the Greater Son of David, (Matthew 1:1), the seed here spoken of is that innumerable host who have fellowship in the mystery: in Christ, that is, these are the children of the covenant to whom God has sworn, by promise (Galatians 3:7,16, 18, 29). The token of the covenant, that is, the sign of interest in the covenant, or the mark of the children of the covenant is faith in Jesus Christ, according to the doctrine of Christ (II John 1:9). Faith is a vital sign of life in Christ, and life in Christ is given because of justification of life through covenant union in Christ, (Romans 5:17-18) by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. For the saints of God are not justified by the fruit of the Spirit, for, by faith we understand, and are made to know that we are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, who made an end of sins, and brought in everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9:24). The children of God are “made the righteousness of God in him” (in Christ Jesus: writer; II Corinthans 5:21) who is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (Jeremiah 23:6): by faith we receive that justifying righteousness that was established by Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all righteousness (Matthew 3:15) for His children of the covenant (Isaiah 61:10).

AJ Ison

See the writer’s blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.

Christ Jesus Manifested Unto Us, And Not Unto The World

Christ Jesus Manifested Unto Us, And Not Unto The World

John 14:22

Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt Manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

On the night of our Lord’s betrayal, while in route to Gethsemane, before His Great High Priestly prayer, and before He crossed the brook Ce-dron (John 18:1). He spoke, among others, these words to His disciples: “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will Pray the Father, and he will give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever; 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. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me, because I live ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me and I in you. He that hath my comandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world?” (John 14:15-22).

Most likely the question asked by Judas, not Iscariot, but Jude, the Apostle and writer of the Epistle bearing that name: that is, Judas Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus: most likely, he had in view the disciples: when he asked his question: “how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world?” However it is possible that he had understood the wider scope of the Saviors mission, and referred to all the elect of all ages as “us”. What ever his thought was, it is clear that Christ is manifested to all the elect of all ages, by God given faith. And not to the rest of the world, that is, Christ is not manifest to those who were not chosen or elected in Him before the foundation of the world: who, according to verse seventeen, cannot receive the Spirit. He, the Holy Ghost, is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive; which demonstrates the fallacy of the current popular persuasion that, “the world” as used in (John 3:16) is all men without exception or distinction. The only world that God has reserved is the world of elect men, who He loved (Revelation 1:5) and angels, who are “all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation  (John 3:16; Hebrews 1:14; I Timothy 5:21).

Christ Jesus as Savior is known by God given faith: which is wrought, or put, in the heart of the elect by the God the Holy Ghost through the preaching of the gospel (Romans 10:13-17; I Corinthians 1:21). It is the Spirit of God, working in the heart, by infinite power that puts faith in the heart. For in the promise of a new covenant it is promised that those interested in the covenant will be caused to “walk in my statutes, (God’s statutes: writer) and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:27). In the Old Testament this obedience of, walking in the statutes, and keeping the judgments of God, is commanded: as it is written: “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 18:5). The commandment: Ye shall keep my statutes, and my judgments, was given to those who, in themselves had no abilities neither had they any enduring inclination to perform such a task; which is proved by their perpetual failures in keeping the law of God. For by the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). The Old Testament demanded obedience of those who in themselves were powerless to perform the acts required of them. But in the promise of a new covenant, the Spirit is promised who will enable those to whom He is given, “both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13; Ezekiel 36:27). The Holy Spirit is the empowering, inclining, and habitually abiding, Agent and principle of new life in the heart of the people of God. The Spirit of Christ “effectually worketh” (I Thessalonians 2:13) in the heart, that is, in the mind, the affections, and the will, of the children of the covenant; and He is the perpetually animating, and motivating, Agent and principle of the new life; which is the cause of obedience.  From this it is evident that those who are, by the grace of God, brought to Christ as Savior owe no debt of gratitude to themselves (Romans 8:12); for they were brought to Christ by Power outside themselves; and above nature. Therefore the renewed mind (Romans 12:2), the new heart, (Hebrews 8:10: Jeremiah 24:7; 31:33-34; 32;38-40; Ezekiel 36:25-27) is not sinners own principle, but it is the instrument inclined by the grace of the Spirit of God, to cause, His children of the covenant to believe unto righteousness and the salvation of their souls: this secret, almighty power, working effectually, in the elect Makes them to differ from the world (I Corinthians 4:7). Everywhere this new principle of life is mentioned, in promise, it is by: “I will put” or “I will give” therefore the children of God say: “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.” (Psalm 115:1).

On the other hand those who “dwell on the earth” (Revelation 6:10; 13:14; 17:8), that is, the nominal church: such as Sardis was, will be more apt to: “say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” (Isaiah 30:10-11). The idol of that church being their own acts of free will, they will not give glory to any other than themselves, by vaunting their decisions, choices, contingencies, above the heavens, they ascribe salvation to themselves; for according to those of the, house of free will, they make themselves to differ by their own choice; and according to them Christ Jesus by His death gave all men and every man equal access to the salvation of God. So that it is only their act of deciding that makes any difference, and so, according their doctrine it is their choice that makes the difference between saved and lost, heaven or hell, bliss or damnation, and according to the preachers of free-will- works religion: Christ Jesus should have said, it is started; now each one must decide for himself whether he will finish what I have begun: instead of His saying it is finished. The universal testimony of the scriptures is, that Jesus Christ is the Author and the Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1). Reader what do you say? Is the purpose and grace of God in Christ Jesus the ultimate cause of your salvation: or is your own decision based on the indefinite work of Christ for all men the ultimate source of salvation: who gets the glory of salvation? Is it you, because of your choice; or does God deserve all the glory, for His unspeakable gift? Consider the request of Ephraim: “turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.” (Jeremiah 31:18). Was the foundation of Ephraim’s hope in himself, in his acts of turning himself, or was Ephraim looking outside of himself to God for strength of every kind that was needed? The foundation of Ephraim’s hope was God himself. And this is according to the “better Promises” (Hebrews 8:6) of a “new covenant” (Hebrews 8:8): that, as it is promised: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).  The Holy Ghost is the immediate powerful worker, revealing Christ in the heart by the preached word, and thereby, putting faith in the hearts of the elect; causing them to believe unto righteousness (Romans 10:10). In this way, God in Jesus Christ, is revealed to the children of the covenant; and not to the world.            

AJ Ison     

See the writers blof at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com  hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.