The Prophet's Complaint

 

The Prophet’s Complaint

 

Habakkuk 1:2-4

 

 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

 

The Prophet complained First that the LORD would not hear his prayer, for he saith: “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!” And David prophesied of the prayer of the God-Man our Lord Christ Jesus who said: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent” (Psalm 22:1-2). When sorrows, trouble and worry press heavily upon the people of God, the inclination of who we are by nature (our old man) is to let doubt creep into our heart and question the faithfulness of our God. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ from the cross are in fulfillment of the prophecy of David and they demonstrate the reality of His true humanity. “For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you” (II Corinthians 13:4). Believers may be weak in faith in our Lord Jesus, nonetheless we live by the power of God; for we are not saved because our faith is strong but we live in Christ because He hath quickened us. That is He has made us live spiritually by freely giving us eternal life as it is written: “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).

 

The faith that is according to the “doctrine of Christ” (II John 1:9) is the “faith of God’s elect” (Titus 1:1) and it is the gift of God to the children of the everlasting covenant and it is put in the heart of the children by the Holy Ghost. When God puts His Holy Spirit in the soul of the child of God, the fruit of the Spirit necessarily accompanies Him who is the producer of the fruit, that is the Spirit of God, as it is written: “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an 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 36:25-27). The promise of God by the prophet Ezekiel was repeated by our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 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” (John 14:16). This promise is fulfilled every time a sinner believes the gospel, for it is written: “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (I Corinthians 12:3).

 

There can be no doubt that some of the true people of God of all ages have felt that the LORD had forsaken them and would not hear their prayer. This feeling of abandonment is because of the frailty of our flesh, we are “weak through the flesh” (Romans 8:3); but we are alive spiritually by the power of God. And in our “inner man” (Ephesians 3:16), that is in the law of our mind we serve God in Jesus Christ. As the apostle Paul said: “Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 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? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:20-25).

 

There are two warring factions in every believer, the flesh and the Spirit. The flesh is the source of opposition to all that the Spirit in the believer would overcome. As it is written: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5:16-26).

The LORD answered His weary prophet with such a reply as would shock the stoutest heart, for it is written: “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god” (Habakkuk 1:5-11).

 

The invasion of Israel by the Babylonians was brought about by sins of His adopted nation. The Babylonian invasion and captivity were God’s judgments against the sins of His people. Although God was very long suffering, yet His judgment came in its time and the devastation was dreadful and terrible, as it is detailed in the following passage: “And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away. But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to bevinedressers and husbandmen. And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away. And the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, ingold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away. The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight. The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work. And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door: and out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city: and Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah: and the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land” (II Kings 25:1-21).

 

The nation was not without warning, for the prophets had declared the terrible end of the nation if that nation did not amend their ways, as it is written: “Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel. In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills. Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off. And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil. Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.

 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, eventhe voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land” (Zephaniah 1:7-18).

 

Israel was the nation that God chose to teach the rest of mankind very many lessons and much of their history is typical of things that apply to all mankind. Their fall and destruction as a nation was foretold by the prophets and the world should be warned of things that are to come by the history of that nation. Our Lord Jesus Christ has promised that He will return and take His people unto Himself, as it is written: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (I Thessalonians 4:13-18).

 

This is the blessed hope of those that believe, as it is written: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). When the believer dies he is done with the affairs of this life. All the common things that take our time here will be in the past and the only thing that will be of any importance will be whether we have believed the report of the gospel. Those who have disdained and scoffed at the things of God in this world will be judged according to the word of the Lord, as it is written: “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Those who have scorned the things that are believed by Christians will be destroyed with an everlasting destruction, as it is written: “Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it” (Isaiah 28:14-18).

 

Reader we do not know the day nor the hour when our Lord will come for those who have believed the report of the Gospel, but we are assured by our Lord Jesus that that day is coming. If God has given you faith to believe the report of the Gospel and if you have believed that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ of God, it is God who has taught you that truth. As it is written: “And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith” (II Thessalonians 3:2). And it is written: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29). The children of God are taught the truth of the Gospel, while it is hidden from others, for it is written: “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matthew 13:11). The promise is to everyone that believeth, including as many as believe, all that believe, whosoever believeth, anyone who believes, of whatsoever nation, kindred, tongue, people, or color the promise is to him that believeth. Those who believe are taught of the LORD, as it is written: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me” (John 6:44-45). Reader: “..Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

 

AJ Ison

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grace Freely Given

 

Grace Freely Given

 

II Timothy 1:9

 

“..but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began”

 

The people of God have been saved from everlasting through the purpose and grace of God with an everlasting salvation, as it is written: “But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end” (Isaiah 45:17). The Israel of God has been saved without beginning in the LORD. It is the LORD that has purposed to save some of the descendants of the first Adam in the Last Adam: “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit” (I Corinthians 15:45). The gracious purpose of God “according to the election of grace” (Romans 9:11) was given His people in Christ before the foundation of the world, before they had done neither any good or evil, as it is written: “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:11-13).

 

The fact that God gave grace to some individuals of the human race in eternity past is the wellspring of their finding grace in time, as “Noah found grace” as it is written: “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:7-8). Many have found grace in the eyes of the LORD but only because He gave them grace through the blood of the everlasting covenant of grace before the world began. Lot found grace, as it is written: “Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die” (Genesis 19:19). Moses also found grace in the sight of the LORD, as it is written: “And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight” (Exodus 33;12). Gideon found grace as did the others, as it is written: “And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me” (Judges 6:17). All these men were sinners, as it is written: “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). And it is written: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And again it is written: “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe” (Galatians 3:22). There was nothing in these men that made them the chosen of God, for God’s salvation is by grace and not of works, as it is written: “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 2:8-9). And it is written: “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).

 

God’s salvation is not because of the deserts of men in any manner or degree for it is written: “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence. 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 1:26-31). It is of the sovereign grace of God that any of the sons of Adam are in Christ Jesus. That is because there is nothing in any man that is worthy of the grace of God; but God gave His grace freely through Christ Jesus in the blood of the New Testament, as our Lord Jesus said: “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22-22). And: “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

 

It is the grace of God that bringeth salvation: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11-12). This grace is the unmerited favor of God and it is not earned by man’s will or effort, for it is written: “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Romans 9:16). The grace that was given in the everlasting covenant before the world was made is manifested by the birth from above, as it is written: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). Those who are born from above were in themselves dead in trespasses and in sins: for 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;)” (Ephesians 2:1-6). These that were born again were quickened (made to live) by the Spirit of Christ for it is written: “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will” (John 5:21).

 

Those who are born from above are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once according to the will of God, as it is written: “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:7-10).

 

God saved His elect in eternity past, for it was then that He purposed in Himself to save them, as it is written: “The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” (Isaiah 24:14). And again: “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10). For God calleth those things that are not as though they were: “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17).

 

 The effect of the elect having been chosen to eternal life is that their names were written in the Lamb’s book of life, as it is written: “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22-23). And it is written again: “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Revelation 21:27).

 

 Those things that God has purposed in eternity past are sure to come pass in time for it is the same purpose and grace that arranges all things according to His determinate counsel, as it is written: “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:22-23). The wicked are the executioners of  the will of God according to His will, for it is written: “Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: from men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes”. (Psalm 17:13-14).

 

Evil men of this world executed the will of God in the judgment hall of Pontius Pilate, as it is written: “The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done” (Acts 4:26-28). These men did exactly as they desired, and in so doing they fulfilled the purpose of God for it pleased the LORD to bruise His only begotten Son, as it is written: “He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:8-10).

 

Notwithstanding the purpose of God, the wicked shall be judged according to their works. For it was by their own wicked hands that they crucified the Lord of glory. Their purpose came from their wicked hearts and those purposes were executed by their wicked hands. As It is written: “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man” (Matthew 15:18-20).

 

These are humbling facts for the human family. These things should teach us not to think more highly of ourselves than we aught to think. For we know that all mankind are taken from the same lump of fallen human nature, as it is written: “Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles” (Romans 9:19-24)? “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it” (I Corinthians 4:7).

 

 

Therefore a lackadaisical attitude in those who profess to be born from above is intolerable. Those to whom it is given to know the Lord have reason to be full of joy at all times, for this is eternal life, as it is written: “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:1-3). And again the Holy Ghost has inspired the same apostle to witness this truth: “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (I John 5:20).

 

 Every believer should continually bear in mind that: “it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matthew 13:11-13). Because these things are freely given through grace, Christians should stand fast in the faith never taking for granted the greatness of the blessing we have freely received, 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. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work” (II Thessalonians 2:13-17). “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (I John 5:21).

 

AJ Ison

 

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