For The Truth's Sake

 

For The Truth’s Sake

 

II John 1:2

 

For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

 

“For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us” Our Lord Jesus Christ said: “..I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). And He said: “Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice” (John 18:37). Everyone that is quickened by the indwelling “Spirit of truth” (John 14:17) hears the voice of the Good Shepherd, 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” (John 10:27-28). “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Those who are “of the truth” (being the children of God by the electing and predestinating mercies of God the Father) hear and love the truth because they are quickened and indwelt by the Spirit of Truth, who is to them the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2; Revelation 11:11).

 

The truth that indwells the children of God is the Spirit of Christ, who is the truth, and it is He who causes those in whom He abides to love the truth and to embrace the truth in such a way that they will not believe any refuge of lies in which the unregenerate seek to hide themselves (Isaiah 28:17). The Spirit of Christ being the Spirit of life and of truth to the children of God is the teacher of the children of the covenant to whom He is given, and in whom He is put by the power of God (Jeremiah 31:34; Ezekiel 36:27). This great Teacher of the covenant teaches all and every one of the children of God, as it is written: “And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children” (Isaiah 54:13). The Apostle John repeats this precept, 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). Every individual of mankind that hath heard and learned of the Father by the immediate work of the Spirit of truth believes on Jesus Christ as the Savior of His people (Matthew 1:21).

 

Believing the gospel is not according to the choice of the sinner; but believing is according to the terms of the everlasting covenant of grace and believing the gospel is through the power of God the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God enters the heart of the chosen and redeemed sinner and takes it for Himself, as it is written: “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: (that is, Satan keeps his house which is the sinner whom he possesses: writer) but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils” (that is the Spirit of Christ comes upon and overcomes Satan and takes from him the chosen and redeemed sinner whom Satan had ensnared: writer) (Luke 11:21-22; Colossians 1:13). Christ Jesus takes His elect from Satan and delivers them from his power, as it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1).

 

 

The Children of God will not turn from the truth, “for the truths sake”. It is love and faith that binds the children of the covenant to God their Father, as is written: “We love him, because he first loved us” (I John 4:19). Love and faith are two of the cords that bind the children of God and are the bond of the covenant, as it is written: “And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant” (Ezekiel 20:37). Love and faith constrain the Children of God to live unto Him who died for them and rose again, as it is written: “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (II Corinthians 5:14-15).

 

The love of God toward the elect has always been and will always be the same, as it is written: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:10). Note the tenses of love mentioned in these verses: we love Him, because He first loved us. The children of God are brought to love God in time being taught by the Holy Ghost. And not only taught that God is their Father; but also the Spirit of adoption is put in them whereby they cry “Abba Father”, as it is written: “ And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6). The Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of the Son and sometimes He is simply called the Spirit. It is He who enters the heart of the elect sinner and takes possession of him through the effectual working of His power, as it is written: “Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power” (Ephesians 3:7).

 

The purpose and grace of God was given us in the covenant of grace before the world began (II Timothy 1:9). The gift of the grace of God is given to us experientially by the effectual working of the power of God the Holy Ghost. God first calls us into existence in the birth which is of nature. Then at the time appointed of the Father we are born of the Spirit of God in the birth from above, we are born again, as it is written: “..Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

 

 God has loved the children of the covenant with an everlasting love, (Jeremiah 31:3) and the love of God is shed abroad in the heart of chosen and redeemed sinners by the Holy Ghost, as it is written: “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5). The love that is shed abroad in the hearts of the children of God, is the love of God in the Trinity of His Most Sacred Persons. It is the love of the people of God and love of the gospel of God. The love of God that is shed abroad in the hearts of the people of God is called charity in the following verses: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away” (I Corinthians 13:4-10).

 

“And shall be with us for ever” It is “the Spirit of His Son” that God has put in the hearts of His children of the covenant. And “the Spirit of His Son” will never leave us, as it is written: “.. lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:20). The children of the covenant of God, that is those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as all their salvation should remember the word of the LORD to Joshua, that is to say: “..I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage..” (Joshua 1:5-6). Christ Jesus will take experiential possession of all those whom He has purchased, and He will cast out Satan who overcomes them experientially and takes possession of them while unregenerate. The Spirit of God is in the hearts of His elect, redeemed and regenerated people. God has written the law of Christ upon the hearts of the people of God and has given us all the inheritance of grace: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:58).

 

AJ Ison

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not Unto Us

 

Not Unto Us

 

Psalm 115:1

 

Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

 

The Apostle Paul while writing to the saints of the church of God at Thessalonica thanked God that He had from the beginning chosen them to salvation, 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). Notice that the Apostle gave no credit to the Thessalonians themselves for anything that they had done but his thanks were directed to God. Not because God had made salvation possible for them; but because God had chosen them to salvation, that is God had chosen to save those particular persons by His grace in Christ Jesus, not because they were worthy of His choice of them but because He determined in Himself to save them according to His own good pleasure (Ephesians 1:9). The Apostle did not thank the saints for making the right choice but He thanked God for choosing whomsoever He would save by His grace in Christ Jesus. The Apostle thanked God for the gift of His grace freely given to whomsoever He pleased, with no regard to their works, that is with no regard to the goodness or baseness of the individuals who were chosen. Salvation is not by the works of man; God’s salvation in by the grace of God and through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.  

 

The salvation of sinners is not a cooperative effort between the sinner and the Savior, NO! “salvation is of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). That means that salvation is brought about by the choice that God made to save sinners according to His mercy, grace and goodness before He made any of the creation that He has made (II Timothy 1:9). In the case of King David who is the penman of the fifty-first Psalm: To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone into Bathsheba. “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions” (Psalm 51:1). King David did not ask God to forgive because of any goodness that was to be found in himself. King David asked forgiveness because God is good and because God is full of mercy and lovingkindness. The King had not taken notice of his offence until Nathan the prophet had been sent of God to warn him of his sin. God first instructed the King that he had sinned. And then by His grace, God freely gave repentance to the king to cause him to seek forgiveness for his awful sin against God, whose law the King had broken (II Timothy 2:25).

 

 

 “..The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead” (Ecclesiastes 9:3).  “The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” blind the hearts and minds of the sons of men so that their hearts are full of madness while they live in this world, as it is written: “And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus” (Luke 6:11). It is madness in the creature that causes him to make war with his creator; but that is the usual behavior of the natural man. His mind is full of the lusts of this world so that he cannot see clearly that “to obey is better than sacrifice” (I Samuel 15:22). It is in the heart of the natural man to fight against His God, as it is written: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalm 2:1-3). And in the Revelation of Jesus Christ it is written: “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb (Jesus Christ: writer), and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Revelation 17:14).

 

Sin in the nature of the old man is the source of madness and evil that is in the heart and mind of the natural man. And that indwelling sin in the heart of man had its beginning in the fall of Adam the covenant representative of the natural race of men. Adam’s original created condition was very good in God’s sight (Genesis 1:26-31); but Adam was  a mutable creature, as it is written: “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). All the natural sons and daughters of Adam are inheritors of that original sin and sin nature (which had its rise through the work of Satan) so that “..the natural man receiveth not the 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). And according to the scriptures: “..the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:7).

 

The Natural man is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). And because of the enmity of the carnal mind he is incapable of thinking of God without his stubborn rebellion interfering with and eradicating correct and reasonable thoughts of God and the gospel. In the unregenerate man his unrenewed mind is filled with spiritual insanity, evil and madness and for that reason he will not come to the Savior that he might be saved, as it is written: “..ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40). The ancient moto of natural men has never changed, that moto being “we will not” as it is written: “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken” (Jeremiah 6:16-17). Sin in the members, that is indwelling sin in our natural members, acts with the stable inflexibility of a law, as it is written: “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” (Romans 7:23).

 

 

It is the God of Holy Scripture that breaks up the hard and stony heart, with its obdurate rebellion and gives a new heart that is willing to hear, and willing to obey the word of God, as it is written: “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power..” (Psalm 110:3). God gives the ability to hear and obey as well as the willingness to hear and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ by giving eternal life to His children. Without that anointing of God the Holy Ghost (who is the spirit of wisdom and revelation [Ephesians 1:17-18] and the Spirit of life {Romans 8:2}), no man is able or willing to believe the Savior, 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).

 

It is only the new heart that is capable of receiving the things of the Spirit of God. The old man with his hard and stony heart is totally incapable of such reception. Our Covenant God, Jehovah, has given a promise to His children of the everlasting covenant, saying: “And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart” (Jeremiah 24:7). And again our God has promised: “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:33-34; Hebrews 8:10-12). And by the Prophet Ezekiel, God has declared His promise: “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 children of God are saved in Christ Jesus with an everlasting salvation, as it is written: “But Israel (the Israel of God Galatians 6:16; Romans 9:6-11: writer) shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end” (Isaiah 45:17). For the LORD has said: “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise” (Isaiah 43:21). The children of God are created in Christ Jesus, as it is written: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). The children of God are created unto the praise and glory of God our Father, as it is written: “Jesus saith unto her (Mary Magdalene: writer), Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). Believer, these things belong to you who are in Christ Jesus.

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tenses of Salvation

The Tenses of Salvation

 

Isaiah 45:17

 

But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

 

The salvation that is of God is an everlasting salvation and it is according to the terms of the everlasting covenant: “He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations” (Psalm 105:8). It was settled upon in the everlasting covenant in eternity past: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). The everlasting covenant is according to the will, purpose and grace of God in His sovereign rule of all things: “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased” (Psalm115:3). God determined in Himself to do whatsoever seemed good in His sight, as our Lord Jesus Christ said: “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Matthew 11:26). And the everlasting covenant of grace is sealed by the blood of the everlasting covenant, which is the blood of Christ who called it the blood of the New Testament: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20).

 

In the covenant a Mediator was appointed who would occupy many offices, such as the Surety of the covenant or the New Testament: as it is written: “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament” (Hebrews 7:22). And Christ Jesus said “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The Great High Priest of the covenant was appointed concerning whom: “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4). And in the 89^th Psalm 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 (that is Christ Jesus: writer). 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 89:34-37). The subjects of the kingdom of God’s Dear Son were chosen in eternity past, being those who The LORD  had loved without beginning, and their names are written in the Lambs book of Life, as it is written: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). And again: “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, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22-24). And it is written: “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). The everlasting Salvation of God has always been. It is as old as God Himself, in fact it is God Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, “who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen” (Romans 9:5; see I Timothy 3:16; Acts 20:28; Hebrews 13:8; Colossians 1:15-18; John10:30).

 

Since Christ Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, He has the same members without any change whatsoever. The members of His body have never changed or been replaced because He has never changed. And Since God the Father chose the members of Christ to salvation in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, those members are saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation, (Ephesians 1:3-6; II Thessalonians 2:13). God hath (first) saved us and (second) called us, the order of progression is significant in this verse of Holy Scripture, 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” (II Timothy 1:8-9). God’s purpose and grace were given to us before the world began, and we may truly say we are saved with an everlasting salvation and we were saved when God chose us in Christ Jesus, and our names were written in the Lamb’s book of life. We may say that we were saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation before the world was made. Choosing of persons to eternal life and writing their names in the Lamb’s book of life are anthropomorphisms. Each of those things was not related to time and action as men know them. Our God is the same at all times, and never finds new information, counsels or covenants. Our God never learns anything He did not know before, for His knowledge is perfect and eternal because He is intrinsically perfect and eternal in all His essential attributes. All of our God’s essential attributes conform to His nature, as it is written: “..your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

 

Christians are saved with an everlasting salvation. And we are being saved. Christians are being kept from falling away through faith, as it is written: “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen” (Jude 1:24-25). Christians are preserved in Jesus Christ, that is they are kept safe from the enemy of the souls of men. Those enemies are their own evil nature in their flesh, the world and Satan. As it is written: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thessalonians 5:23). And again it is written: “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called” (Jude I: I; see I Corinthians 1:2: Romans 11:4). As it was stated above, Christians are being kept by faith, as it is written: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (I Peter 1:5).

 

 

Christians have been saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation from eternity past. Christians are being saved in our Lord Jesus Christ who keeps us through faith. And we shall be saved at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then we shall be totally without sin in our persons, we shall no longer have the struggle with indwelling sin. We shall be perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, as it is written: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:22-23). And again in the same chapter: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 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? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth” (Romans 8:28-33). “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).

 

This is because of their God given interest in the everlasting covenant which is made effectual to by the blood of Christ.  And they are called with an effectual call because they are sanctified and  preserved. The call is mentioned last of all because it is the last in the order of the nature of God’s dealing with His elect even though it is the first thing that the children of the covenant experience. “Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved” (Psalm 80:7). Our God turns those whom He has saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation according to His own eternal and immutable will, purpose and grace. As it is written by the prophet Jeremiah: “I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth” (Jeremiah 31:18-19).  

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.