The Will of God

 

The Will of God

 

Hebrews 10:10

 

By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 

In the subject verse the words “for all” are in italics, which indicates that the words were added by the translators of the King James version of 1611. In its original language the verse ends abruptly with the word once, and emphasis is put upon the fact that the offering of the body of Christ was accomplished only once and never to be repeated. This is far different from the often repeated sacrifices of the law of Moses which were not effective in putting away the sin of the people. Christ Jesus offered himself only once, and the effect was that “by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). By one offering of Himself as the only acceptable and sufficient sacrifice for sin to put away sin forever, Christ Jesus perfected them forever who were sanctified (set apart) in the everlasting covenant of grace. They were set apart to be the recipients of the forgiveness of sins by the sacrifice of the body of Christ once. The persons who were chosen by God the Father to be the beneficiaries of the perfections which are inherent in Jesus Christ are the elect of God, who were chosen to salvation before the world began, as it is written: “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thessalonians 2:13-14).

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and joined our humanity to His Deity by taking our human nature (sin excepted) into union with Himself. The Son of God being made flesh was according the ancient agreements settled upon in eternity past by all the members of the Holy Trinity. The Word (the Son of God) was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). By taking a holy portion of our humanity (Luke 1:35) into union with Himself, the Son of God became the Second Man, the Last Adam (I Corinthians 15:45,47) the Surety, Spokesman, and  Sponsor, of the New Testament officiating in office for His people (Hebrews 7:22; Matthew 1:21). He also became the Mediator of the everlasting covenant (I Timothy 2:5) for those chosen to salvation (II Thessalonians 2:13) “out of” and “from among” the race of Men (Revelation 5:9; 14:4). By taking our nature (sin excepted) into union with Himself, the Son of God became the Son of Man who had the right of Redemption (Leviticus 25:25) concerning His brethren. The Son of David, Son of Abraham, Son of Man, and Son of God, (Matthew 1:1; 8:20; 14:33) came to do the will of God in taking away the first Testament and things concerning that testament, that He might establish the second, as it is written: “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Hebrews 10:9). Christ Jesus abolished the law of commandments contained in ordinances, and made in Himself one new man, as it is written: “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (Ephesians 2:15). Our Lord Jesus took the law out of the way, it is written: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross” (Colossians 2:14).

 

Consider for a moment the children of the covenant in themselves, as men in the flesh, under the law and without consideration of their eternal covenant inheritance of grace. In that situation, God could not have bestowed all the grace of the everlasting covenant on the children of the covenant because of the indebtedness of the children to the law of God. That indebtedness would have been accumulated by the first Adam in his fall in the garden, and their own sins which would have been imputed to them considered only in themselves. The Surety of the New Testament had been responsible to bare and put away the indebtedness of all the children of the covenant from everlasting, because the children were chosen in that Surety from the very beginning and viewed by the justice of God in union with Him. Since Christ the Surety has taken the law out of the way by His fulfillment of the law for the children of the covenant, God is free to bestow on the children of the covenant all the “good pleasure of his goodness” as it is written: “Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power” (II Thessalonians 1:11). The people of God are free from the guilt of sin, and are not liable to the penalty of the law. The law viewing the children of God in the righteousness of Jesus Christ by the imputation of the Father, through their union with Chirst from everlasting,  requires their eternal blessing because they are the dear children and heirs of God, as it is written: “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:1-6). 

AJ Ison

 

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

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

  

 

Justified Freely Part II

 

Justified Freely   Part II

 

Romans 3:24

 

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

 

Being justified freely by his grace: Often the definition of grace is given as follows: Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God. Certainly it is unmerited for there is nothing in sinners that could qualify as worthy of God’s favor. Perhaps the best way to understand the principle of the grace of God is to give a scriptural account of the grace of God in action. In that regard consider the writing of the Prophet Isaiah: “But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” (Isaiah 43:22-25).

 

In these verses God brings before Israel many grievous charges. (1.) They had not called on the name of the Lord. They had neglected prayer, and since they had neglected prayer, they most likely had neglected other worship. Both these are indications of unbelief, and the first steps of final apostacy. (2.) The Israelites had been weary of God. This condition of the soul is evident by their lack of prayer, they had been weary of the word, worship, and ordinances of God “Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD” (Malachi 1:13). (3.) They had not brought the “small cattle of their burnt offerings” they had neglected the use of the alter of burnt offerings, this was a total neglect of the worship of the God of Israel. In that they had neglected the offerings of the small cattle, lambs and goats, no doubt they had not brought the larger animals like bullocks or oxen. By this it appears that the daily sacrifice, the morning and the evening sacrifice of lambs had been neglected. (4.) They had not honored God with their sacrifices, since they had neglected the offerings of the lambs, goats, rams, and bullocks, on the alter, there most likely were no meat offerings, no peace offerings, there were no offerings to celebrate the communion of the worshipers with their God. It seems Israel had totally departed from the living God. (5.) They had bought no Calamus which was used in the anointing oil and was here called sweet cane. It was expensive and had to be bought with money, the Israelites had ceased its use. (6.) The fat of the sacrifices was supposed to be burned on the alter of burnt offerings. God claimed the fat and the blood of the sacrifices for His own. (7.) Their sins and iniquities were so many they had wearied the infinite One.

 

Now what will God do with this iniquitous people? God says to them by the prophet: “ I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:25). And God says to the saved of all ages: “Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:32). The perverse nature of the natural man has not changed since the fall of our father Adam. When Adam fell in sin and spiritual death all his descendants fell in him and unless God will be gracious to natural man and deliver him from the grip of that spiritual death he will eventually go down to the pit.

 

 

 But God waits for the fullness of His appointed times to be gracious, as it is written: “Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: which 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. Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit. For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill. And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him” (Isaiah 30:8-18).

 

It is the quickening power of the Holy Ghost that first gives life to the dead sinner as it is written “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:1-9) And the Holy Ghost continues that work until the child of God is at home in glory: “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6) “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). By the grace of God are we saved by Jesus Christ and “He shall bring forth the headstone thereof (the spiritual temple of the Lord which is the church of God: writer) with shoutings, crying,Grace, grace unto it” (Zechariah 4:7).

 

AJ Ison

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Justified Freely

 

Justified Freely

 

Romans 3:24

 

 “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”

 

The righteousness of God, which is the justifying righteousness of the people of God is unto all and upon all them that believe the good news concerning the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, who is both Lord and the Christ of God (Acts 2:36). Those who believe the gospel have life given them by the quickening power of the Holy Ghost. Faith is the evidence of that life which is the gift of God, as it is written: “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47; John 5:21, 24; Ephesians 2;1). Eternal life is the reward of Grace which was given the children of the everlasting covenant before the world began (II Timothy 1:9). All the children of the covenant were chosen in Christ (Ephesians 1:4) and accepted in Christ (Ephesians 1:6) from eternity past and have fulfilled the law to its jot and title in Christ (Matthew 17-18) and have been crucified in Christ (Galatians 2:20) thus fulfilling the precept and penalty of the law of God to its full satisfaction.

 

Because the children of God are in Christ according to the everlasting covenant: God looks upon them as one with Christ in all that Christ Jesus did as God-Man Mediator and therefore looks upon them as having perfectly fulfilled all the righteousness of the Law of God. They are therefore righteous in His sight and accounted worthy of eternal life as doers of the law In Christ (Genesis 7:1; Leviticus 18:5; Galatians 3:12; Romans 2:13; 10:5; Luke 21:36). The everlasting union of Christ (who is “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”) and His body the church is the basis or ground on which the members of Christ are considered righteous in the sight of God. And the righteousness of God having been established by Jesus Christ (Romans 1:17; Daniel 9:24) and imputed to the children of the covenant is the ground of their being given eternal life and faith in Christ. Faith is not the cause of life in the children of the covenant but it is the instrument by which they understand their inheritance in God through Jesus Christ.

 

Being justified, Justification is the act of God, wherein God declares the members of the body of Christ righteous in His sight. Jesus Christ is the Head of the church of God, and the church of God is the body of Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:30; Romans 12:5; I Corinthians 12:12-27). In the sight of the justice of God, the Head of the church and the body of the church are one.  It is therefore just and right in the sight of the justice of God that the Head of the body should bare the sin of the body, as said the Apostle Peter: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (I Peter 2:24). And it is just and right in the sight of the justice of God that the body should bare the righteousness of the Head of the body, as said the Apostle Paul: “ For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21). Therefore the church of God is made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ and since the church in each of its particular members bares the righteousness of God by the imputation of God the Father through the finished work of Jesus Christ: the church in all its particular members is accounted worthy of eternal life through the finished work of Jesus Christ. In the sight of the justice of God and in the sight of God Himself, there is no sin in His church, because the church of God is in Jesus Christ, and “in Him is no sin” (I John 3:5). There is no sin in the church of God because Jesus Christ has by Himself purged the sin and sins of the church of God (Hebrews 1:3). Christ Jesus has “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). Christ Jesus has washed His church from her sins in His own blood, as it is written: “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Revelation 1:5).

 

Believers are righteous in the sight of God by a righteousness which they have no part in producing. The justifying righteousness of the church of God is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. It is the righteousness of God (Romans 1:17) and it is freely imputed to all who believe the truth as it is in Jesus. That is, the righteousness of God is freely imputed to all and everyone who believes the doctrine of Christ (II John 9-11). As it is written: “ I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10). The righteousness of the church is of God, as it is written: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 54:17). All the members of the church of God are the members of Jesus Christ. They are the spiritual seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, therefore: “Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory” (Isaiah 45:24-25). In the Lord Jesus Christ shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory.

 

Being justified freely: All the members of Christ are justified with no cause of justification in or from them themselves. The Greek word translated freely is pronounced ‘do-reh-an’ and it means, gratuitously, without a cause, for naught. Christ Jesus is all the righteousness of all the saints of all ages, as it is written: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Corinthians 1:30-31). The righteousness of the body of Christ, the church, is “ Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).

 

Reader, consider the impossibility of any son or daughter of Adam being justified in the sight of God by their own works. From the book of Job we read: “Then Job answered and said I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand” (Job 9:1-3). If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse” (Job 9:20). “What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water” (Job 15:14-16). “Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places. Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise? How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?” (Job 25:1-6). How can a man be justified by his own righteousness when the man’s righteousness is as Isaiah said? “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). Even the great Apostle to the Gentiles said “ For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:22-24). With these considerations in view, is any man so foolish as to seek to be saved (justified from all things Acts 13:39 ) by his own good works seeing that “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). “And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified” (Psalm 143:2).

 

Let all who read these lines know that the salvation of God is Jesus Christ, and all who believe Him are “justified from all things” as it is written:  “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you” (Acts 13:38-41).

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.