Tuesday, April 26, 2022

The Righteousness of Saints Part VI

 

The Righteousness of Saints Part VI

 

Revelation 19:8

 

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

 

The righteousness of saints is the righteousness of God which was established by Jesus Christ through His Mediation of the everlasting covenant of grace and it is the righteousness that is imputed to the children of that covenant. The righteousness of God is the robe of righteousness which is the covering and the beautiful wedding garment of the church of God. It consists in the infinite dignity of the Person of Jesus Christ, the perfect moral rectitude of His character, His conduct according to absolute truth regardless of circumstances or persons, His perfect obedience to His Father unto death even the death of the cross, and His regard for the honor, glory, and goodness of the law of God. When the Man Christ Jesus walked in this world while He lived as a Man under the law of God, He fulfilled every precept of that law in thought, word, and deed. And in His death He fulfilled the penal portion of the law to its jot and tittle (Daniel 9:26; Matthew 5:17-18), on behalf of the children which God had given Him (John17:2; Hebrews 2:13).These are the children that God had given Him in the covenant as His bride (Revelation 21:10), whom He betrothed unto Himself forever (Hosea 2:19).   

 

In the covenant of grace, Jesus Christ the Son of God voluntarily obligated Himself to do all that was necessary to cloth His bride in a glorious garment of needle work of His production and present her in His comeliness to Himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing (Psalm 45:13-14; Ephesians 5:27; Ezekiel 16:14). These chosen ones of the Father were given to Jesus Christ as his bride, whom He would perfect in Himself, as it is written:For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). That perfection is not by the works of the law on the part of the children of the covenant, for it is written: For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them” (Galatians 3:10-12). And they which are of faith are the children of Abraham, as it is written: “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (Galatians 3:6-7).

 

God justifies His elect through their union with Christ, both in His life under the law of God and in His death, for it is written: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death” (Romans 6:3). The whole election of grace, all the members of the body of Christ, the church of God, was in union with Christ Jesus in His death. Those who believe the gospel of God concerning His Son, do so because they were in Christ when He was executed in the room and stead of His people. Those who were in union with Christ in His death, are given the Holy Ghost as the spirit of faith, (II Corinthians 4:13) and as a spirit of life (Romans 8:2; Revelation 11:11). The children of God live and believe because of that union with Christ which brought Jesus Christ to His death. It was the union of the elect with Christ, that justified God in bringing His just and Holy Son to death in the room of the unjust, as it is written: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (I Peter 3:18). And it was the union of the Head of the church and the body that justified God in His justifying the ungodly, as it is written: “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). Those who believe in Jesus are the ungodly of the following verse: “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5). It is because of the union of Jesus Christ and the church of God that Christ Jesus owns the sins of the church as His own: (see Psalm 38 throughout, Psalm 22 throughout, Psalm 69 throughout). Christ Jesus had no personal sin, “in him is no sin” (I John 3:5), “who knew no sin” (II Corinthians 5:21), He is “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15), but He died under the penalty of sin, the sins of His people, His mystical body the church of God who in the reckoning of God is one with Him.

 

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 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 5:18-21).

 

Reader give the “more earnest heed” (Hebrews 2:1) unto these words: God “hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ”. So the work of reconciliation is finished. God reconciled the world of His elect unto Himself by not imputing the sins of the world of the elect to themselves. That is, God reconciled the world of His elect to himself by imputing their sins to Jesus Christ and not unto themselves. God punished His only begotten Son in the room and stead of His elect and by that punishment which He inflicted on His only begotten Son He satisfied His law and justice for the offenses of the elect. God would not impute sins to His elect, but He spared not His own Son, as it is written: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

 

It is incumbent upon anyone who writes or speaks concerning the word of God in these dark days of prevailing Arminianism to diligently hold forth the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some suppose that Romans 8:32 supports the doctrine of the universal love of God, in that the words “delivered him up for us all” seem to refer to all men. But this thought is over turned by the fact that the Roman Epistle is written: “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:7). The words “us all” of Romans 9:32 refer to that group of persons who share these common blessings. (1.) Those to whom the Apostle wrote were at Rome, the Roman epistle is for the church of God of All ages although in the days of the apostle it was written to those at Rome.  

(2.) Those to whom the epistle was written are beloved of God, and it must be declared that the love of God is eternal, immutable, and infinite. It is the love wherewith God the Father loved our Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:23-24). The love of God for His elect is in Christ Jesus: as it is written: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:33-39).

 

(3.) The Roman epistle was written to those who were called to be saints (the saints of God are sanctified ones, who were: “sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called” Jude 1:1). Those who are “sanctified by God the Father” are those who God has set apart, (“set apart” in Exodus 13:2) compared with (“sanctify” in Exodus 13:13) in His eternal decree of election in Jesus Christ. In whom they are preserved, that is they are withheld “reserved” (Jeremiah 50:20; Romans 11:4) from final ruin in their natural rebellion against God. They are called with the efficacious call of God the Holy Ghost. This effectual call (efficacious call) is not the general call of Matthew 20: “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:14). Many are called with the general call, which is not effectual in that it does not bring salvation, it only increases the guilt of the one thus called. That is because they are made partaker of the Holy ghost (Hebrews 6:4) in that they are called with a call that should bring repentance but because of the hardness of their stony heart they will not hear. On the other hand, the stony heart of the elect of God are broken up by the Spirit of God by the hammer of the word preached (Jeremiah 23:29) and this is unto salvation, as it is written: “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 36:26-27).

 

(4.) These to whom the epistle of Romans was written were given Grace, as it is written: “grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:7). This grace was given all the elect of God before the foundation of the world, as it is written: “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: 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, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (II Timothy 1:8-10). Again 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).

 

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God” (II Corinthians 5:20). Our Lord Jesus Christ has finished the work of reconciliation, that is He has reconciled the justice of God by His cross death in the room and stead of the many brethren, who are the elect of the Father. “Now then” saith the “apostle we are ambassadors for Christ”. That is the apostles, and all those who know the truth of the gospel are the witnesses of God for the truth of the gospel, as it is written: “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?” (Isaiah 43: 10-13). It is the privilege of the children of God to give witness to the good tidings of the gospel to anyone who will to listen. And our message is that God is reconciled, through the cross death of Jesus Christ and now those who are given an understanding heart, who understand the gospel message are called upon to “be ye reconciled to God”. Lay aside all the previous religious idolatry and prejudice against the grace of God which accompany works religion and be reconciled God in Jesus Christ. “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). The children of God trust Jesus Christ alone all their salvation. They do not try to add to it, nor do they look to any other for eternal life (John 6:68).

 

“For he hath made him to be sin for us”. All the sins of the children of the covenant were laid on Jesus Christ who carried them up on the cross in His own body, as it is written: “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). On the cross of Calvary He paid the last farthing to the justice of God and He put the sins of the church of God away by the sacrifice of Himself, as it is written: “For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). These same children of God are promised all the blessings of the covenant of grace wherein they are made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. 

 

AJ Ison

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

Monday, April 4, 2022

The Righteousness of Saints Part V

 

The Righteousness of Saints Part V

 

Revelation 19:8

 

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

 

 “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets” (Romans 3:21). The law of Moses had the promise of the Seed of Woman, who was to bruise the serpents head, that is Satan’s Head (Genesis 3:15). And the prophet Daniel gave the promise of Him who was to come, that He would: (1.) finish the transgression, (2.) make an end of sins, (3.) make reconciliation for iniquity, (4.) bring in everlasting righteousness, (5.) seal up the vision and prophesy (6.) anoint the most holy (Daniel 9:24).

 

According to the ancient prophesy of Daniel, Messiah was to “make reconciliation for iniquity”. Our Lord Jesus taught His disciples to be reconciled to one’s brother, it is written: Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). The offender was to go to the person who had been offended, and in some way, put an end to the enmity that had been stirred in the heart of the one who was grieved. In this way the offended party is said to have been reconciled to the offender. The offended party had to be reconciled so the offender was to use all means necessary to reconcile the person he had injured. When satisfaction had been accomplished by adequate reparation the person who had been injured is said to be reconciled, and the person who did the injury is said to be reconciled to him.

 

The race of men, as represented in Adam, had insulted and given injury to the holiness, honor, integrity, dignity, wisdom, truth, and glory of God by disobedience. Mankind in Adam had defamed all the glorious attributes of the God of the universe, whose glory is the end and His will the law of this universe. But in spite of all the heinous evil and contradiction that was offered to the Divine Majesty, the love of God for His elect was never diminished. The love of God is commensurate with His nature in its immutability and eternality. The constant love of God for His elect is without variation although the love of the elect for God is subject to the variations of the corrupted nature of the natural man. Our love for God is imperfect, as our faith is imperfect, but the object of our love and faith is perfect. We, the elect of the Father are in Christ Jesus who is that object of our love and faith. It is Christ Jesus who has loved the Father with all His heart, soul, mind and strength, and has loved His neighbor as Himself and not we ourselves (Mark 12:30-31).

 

It was not the love of God that was injured by the treachery of man; but it was the truth, holiness, and justice of God that had been questioned and set at naught by the disobedience of the creature. All the actual sins of men are of the same degrading insinuations as the original sin of mankind in Adam. The actual offenses of men are of the same evil nature, offer the same offense, contradict the Divine Majesty in the same way and are worthy of the eternal ruin in everlasting torments of the soul and body that the justice of God demands and will in the day of judgment inflict on all those who set at naught the counsel of God.

 

The injury of the truth, holiness, and justice of the Divine Majesty was the offense that Messiah came into this world to reconcile. The truth, holiness, and justice of God has pronounced a curse upon all or any of those who give injury to His glory, slight His Majesty, deny His claims on mankind, or question His authority. All such offenses are worthy of death, natural death, and eternal death which the scriptures call the second death, as it is written: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death” (Revelation 2:7) “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:7) “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:7) “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

 

The sins of the elect of all ages were imputed to our Lord Jesus Christ, those sins were charged to Him and they were made to meet together on the Head of the church of God, that is Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus bore those sins in His own body on the tree (I Peter 2:24). The justice of God poured out all its fury on the body and soul of the God-man, 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. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:8-12) He exhausted the penalty of Divine justice, and turned the wrath of God away from the children of the covenant, as said the Holy One by the prophet: “Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together” (Isaiah 27:4). And another of the prophets has said: “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him” (Hosea 14:4). Our Lord Jesus Christ made peace by the blood of His cross: “ And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:20).

 

Through the perfect moral rectitude of His Character, the infinite dignity of His Person and offering  the most strict obedience of the law of God, our Lord Jesus Christ as the Head of the church of God has offered more glorious obedience and thereby the most immense honor for the law of God than the offense of the elect offered dishonor through their disobedience. Jesus of Nazareth the Son of God has magnified the law of God and has honored the law of God more by His glorious Person’s obedience than all the election of grace of all ages could ever have dishonored that law, as it is written: “The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable” (Isaiah 42:21).

 

The Godhead of Jesus Christ is the principle glory of His Person and it is by His Godhead that His efficacy in all that He undertakes is upheld. Whatsoever our Lord Christ undertakes in His Person, the Majesty of both natures is involved. The success of His undertaking is dependent upon the glory of His Majesty as God-man and Mediator of the everlasting covenant of grace. As man, Christ Jesus stood in man’s place before a Thrice Holy God. As God-man Christ Jesus obeyed the law of God to its jot and tittle, thereby rendering perfect obedience to the covenant of works, that is the Old Testament. Jesus Christ has fulfilled the covenant of works, He has obeyed the law gloriously in the stead of the people of God, as it is written: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20).

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God has fulfilled the law and the prophets in the room and stead of His elect. He has perfectly and gloriously obeyed and honored the law and prophets to the extent that the truth, holiness, and justice of God are reconciled for the iniquity of the elect. There is no trace of enmity from the law and justice of God for the iniquity of the elect. The law of God is fulfilled, the justice of God is satisfied, and God has promised: “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:11). Christ Jesus was to make and has made reconciliation for iniquity.

 

The law of God has been fulfilled, the justice of God has been satisfied and if that were everything that was to be accomplished there should still be no peace between God and elect sinners, for in our innate condition we are enmity against God in our hearts. It is written: “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister” (Colossians 1:21-23). It is by the blood of Christ that the enmity of our hearts is put away, and is replaced by faith and love. The enmity of the carnal mind (Romans 8:7) toward the law of God, is overcome by the law being written on the hearts of the people of God, as it is written: “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (II Corinthians 3:3). The law of God becomes the governing principle in the hearts of the children of God. In all things the children are either checked by their conscience according to the law written, and through the indwelling Spirit of Christ, or there is the comfort and assurance that comes from obedience in our walk with God through Jesus Christ.

 

Before the further pursuit of the subject at hand it is incumbent upon the writer to address some words in the verse just cited. The words are: “if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel”. Some have taken these words as proof that it is possible that the children of God can lose their standing in grace, lose their citizenship among the saints of God, and be lost forever. To briefly answer this cavil, it is only necessary to consult the covenant as stated in Psalm 89, as it is written: “My mercy will I keep for him (Christ Jesus, here called David: writer) for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed (the church of God: writer) also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. 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. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah” (Psalm 89:29-37). Since God has sworn by His holiness that the seed of Christ (His people, the election of grace who were given him of His Father before the foundation of the world) shall endure forever, it is as clear as a sunbeam that those who forsake the doctrine of Christ were never His (Matthew 7:21-23). Our Lord Jesus has promised that His sheep shall never perish, for He gives His sheep eternal life which is never ending, as it is written: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:26-30). Those who believe that it is possible that the people of God may fall into condemnation in spite of Romans 8:1 slight the integrity of the stewardship of Christ. They question the devotion of Christ to the will of the Father and they doubt the Mediatorial ability of our Lord Jesus Christ. These things show that all who believe the false doctrine of the final apostasy of the true people of God are not anchored in the Rock of Ages, but in the works of men. Now we must return to the subject.

 

The scriptures inform us that the carnal mind is enmity against God, as it is written: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7). Because of this it is necessary that children of God must be renewed in the spirit of their mind, as it is written: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). And we are instructed by the scriptures that our hearts are wicked, as it is written: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it” (Jeremiah 17:9). In the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden the heart of man was filled with darkness this darkness must be overcome by light. Therefore God in great grace and mercy gives light: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Corinthians 4:6). Darkness is not only ignorance of the things of God but it is a stubborn resistance to and hatred of the doctrine of the gospel, the Sovereignty of God, His election of grace, His predestination to the conformity to Christ, the importance of His being the center and circumference of the universe, His justification of sinners by the righteousness of Jesus Christ and His pardon by the blood of Christ. In summary, it is the sinners opposition to everything in God. The scriptures call this opposition a hard and stony heart.

 

This hard and stony heart must be replaced with  new heart, a heart of faith and love of God and His salvation, as it is written: “ 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” (Ezekiel 36:26). And again it is written: “And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me” (Jeremiah 32:39-40). God will visit the elect in this world and put His Spirit in them, as it is written: “And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and dthem” (Ezekiel 36:27). Where the Spirit of God is in the heart He gives grace, the grace of the Spirit, as faith, hope and love, as it is written: “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (love: writer) (I Corinthians 13:13). Where these three exist, there the enmity is subsided, although as long as the children of the covenant are in the body of flesh the sin in the flesh will be a trouble to them, so that they cannot do the things they would, as it is written: “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” (Galatians 5:17).

 

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.