Never Gives a Thought Of

The vast majority of mankind never gives a thought of gratitude towards God for all His care and blessings. Donald Grey Barnhouse

It Will Keep You Out Of

Have big ears and a little mouth. It will keep you out of a lot of trouble. Joseph- Anthony: Green

Those Who Talk

Those who talk much say little, those who talk little say much. Joseph- Anthony: Green

This I Have Seen Played Out

The Lord detests the proud; they will surely be punished. Proverbs 16:5 The Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

Yes, the wicked will receive eternal damnation for their arrogance but He is also a God who punishes them in this life as well so that others will see His justice.

Being old now I have seen the same scenario played out over and over again.

But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing. Proverbs 6:15 The Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

Do you notice that their destruction does not mean death and there is no hope for healing?

Here is how it is played out.

The Lord will take away everything they love. Then, their bodies will be wracked with unimaginable agony ( which is ten times more intense than pain ). They will try numerous cures to no avail. They will be in constant pain. As well, because they just used and abuse others they will have no one to care about them. They will be all alone. Which being the type that has to be the centre of attention is a living Hell for them. Many of them will live all alone in their house. Others will be put in old folks homes where no one will care about them. That, is a living Hell. This sentence usually lasts for seven years.

Then, when it is time to depart this world they will be all alone in more agony then they could ever imagine. As well, their hearts will be filled with terror because they know they have passed the point of no return. Yes, they could repent but are too proud to do so.

This I have seen played out so many times in the last ten years.

Prayer: Thank you Jehovah Hashopet (Judges 11:27 The LORD the Judge ) that You were patient enough to warn all of us who practice wickedness to repent. Thank You that You are fair Judge who shall melt out the appropriate punishment to the arrogant wicked ones. I praise You in the name of the Supreme Judge, Jesus Christ. Amen May you have a grateful heart towards He who has given so much to you.

indeovi vas ( may you live with Jesus in Latin )

Seleh- stop and think about it.

This photo and article @ Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah 2023

Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it but it may not be sold without authors consent

Christian Perfection (2)

It is true that we will never be perfect in this life, but the perfections outlined by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are still those for which we should aim and that we should increasingly attain by God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We are to aim at Christ-like character.  Jesus said, “Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

How good must a person be to stay saved?

I am a sinner.  Nothing I will do will ever be perfect.  What can I do to be saved and to keep saved?  Since self-efforts will not save us, we must receive the perfect righteousness that God has provided in the atoning substitutionary death of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).

Only the LORD God is perfect, and He works to perfect sinful man.

How does God work to perfect sinners?  There are three Biblical facts we must keep clearly in mind.

1.  We are sinners, and there is no denying that fact.  Sin is an offense against God, and He cannot ignore it.  Sin has to be dealt with completely according to His just standards.  This is why God the Father sent God the Son to die for our sins. Jesus bore the penalty for our sins in full, and canceled all claims of God’s justice against the believing sinner forever. God punished our sins on the cross of Jesus.  “By one sacrifice Christ has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).  Have you believed on Jesus Christ as your Savior?

How perfect must a Christian be?  The Christian believer must guide his life by the perfect, ethical standard of Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, “You are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48).

2.  The second principle we must keep in mind is that from the moment we believe on Jesus Christ as our Savior, God begins a work in us to perfect us in this life.  At the new birth, we are given a perfect standing before God in one sense, but it is also true that we are far from perfect in our daily life.

The apostle Paul distinguishes between two ways the word “perfect” is used in the New Testament.  In Philippians 3:12 he writes, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12).  Paul has in mind here absolute perfection – God’s perfect standard, absolute spiritual maturity, fully-grown just like Jesus Christ.  It is the same idea that Jesus Christ spoke of in Matt. 5:48, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

In the next sentence Paul tells us that even though he has already been declared acquitted before God on the basis of his faith in the atoning sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, he is still in the need of practical daily work of being perfected in Jesus Christ.  “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained” (Philippians 3:13-16).

“Perfect” in verse fifteen is a relative, spiritual maturity, indicating the stages of growth, hence, perfect in growth at certain stages.  Even as an elderly Christian, Paul had not arrived to sinless perfection, but he did not give up, and make excuses for sins.  All of his guilt is covered by the payment of Christ on the cross.  The penalty has been removed, but God is still at work in his daily practice of holiness.  Paul is not getting better and better so that one day he can say he is without sin in his daily life.  God has provided for us in His saving grace a provision for cleansing of sin and restoration of fellowship in the Christian’s life (I John 1:8).

3.  Our ultimate sanctification or what the Bible calls glorification will take place when we are presented perfect just like Jesus Christ, and it will take place in the moment of our death.  God’s work of perfecting the saints will take place when we see Jesus in glory and not before then.  At that moment we will be presented to God the Father sinless and complete (1 John 3:1-3).  We never know that perfection in this life.  We will in the likeness of Christ be pure and holy in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, wisdom, humility, obedience, etc.

What God began in your new birth, He will continue to work on throughout this life until He has perfected us and presents us perfect to the Father.  What God begins, He always finishes (Phil. 1:6; Rom. 8:24-29).  God will not give up on any born again believer.  He will keep on perfecting us until the day when Christ comes for us.

May you have a grateful heart towards He who has given so much to you.

indeovi vas ( may you live with Jesus in Latin )

Seleh- stop and think about it.

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.

We are Cruel to Ourselves If

We are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it.
J. I. Packer

There Will be Little

Where there is no awe there will be little worship. John Watson

But am Ever More Grateful That

I am grateful for the Lords discipline but am ever more grateful that I do not experience His anger. Joseph- Anthony a son of Jehovah

And Then He Shows His

[God] puts people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows his provision in ways that display his greatness.
David Platt

Carefully Read the Warning Label

Depravity.

That is not a beautiful word. It means that the corruption of sin has extended to all aspects of our nature, including our entire being. Because of that corruption there is nothing man can do to merit or influence in any way a saving relationship with a holy God.

The fallen person’s relation to a holy God has been radically affected. Because of the effects of the fall, man’s original relationship with God was broken and our entire nature was polluted. As a result of the Fall of man, no individual can do anything, even religious things, that will merit salvation, or eternal life, in God’s sight. There is nothing an individual can do to influence in a positive way a right relationship with God. No action that man does, no matter how good or religious can gain favor with God for salvation.

What was affected by the Fall? The mind (Rom. 1:28; Eph. 4:18), the conscience (Heb. 9:14), the heart or inner being were all corrupted spiritually (Jer. 17:9; Mk. 7:20-23).

We see the depravity of mankind most clearly in the rejection of Jesus Christ in John 1:11. “He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

Spiritual depravity is demonstrated by the willfulness and spiritual blindness of everyone apart from the grace of God. The cross of Jesus Christ is the response of fallen man to the goodness of God (1 Cor. 2:14).

How far did man fall? The Bible tells us that when man fell into sin he fell all the way to the bottom and there he lies hopelessly lost, blind and spiritually dead, unable to help himself until God reaches down by grace, lifts him up and gives him spiritual life through the new birth (Rom. 3:9-18).

Left to ourselves we are not the least bit righteous. Sinful man has no ability to save himself (Jn. 1:13). We are corrupted by sin and in rebellion against God.

The apostle Paul tells us how our sinfulness affects a holy God. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). The wrath is revealed against us because we are without excuse (vv. 18-32; cf.1:18; 2:5, 8; 3:5; 4:15; 5:9; 9:22; 12:19; 13:4-5).

The reality and terror of the wrath of God is emphasized in both the Old and New Testaments.

The Bible places emphasis on the wrath of God as a strong and settled opposition to all that is evil. This holiness comes from God’s very nature. He is a holy and righteous God.

The wrath of God is that in His character that is in absolute opposition to all that contradicts His holiness.

God does not flare up with red hot anger as human beings do, but His wrath is described in the Bible as a firm, fearful, hatred of all wickedness that builds up and will one day result in eternal condemnation of all who reject His grace and mercy provided through the atoning death of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Robert Haldane said, “The wrath of God was revealed when the sentence of death was first pronounced, the earth cursed and man driven out of the earthly paradise, . . but especially by the reign of death throughout the world. It was proclaimed by the curse of the law on every transgression and was intimated in the institution of sacrifice and in all the services of the Mosaic dispensation. . . . The whole creation has become subject to vanity and groans and travails together in pain. . . But above all, the wrath of God was revealed from heaven when the Son of God came down to manifest the divine character, and when that wrath was displayed in His sufferings and death in a manner more awful than by all the tokens God has before given to His displeasure against sin.”

Biblical Christianity is God reaching down to save perishing sinners, not men and women reaching out to Him. Jesus Christ died for those who deserve God’s wrath. His death is fully adequate to cover all our sins and depravity and to reconcile us to God (1 John 1:6-9; Rom. 3:21-26; 5:12-21).

Jesus Christ is our only hope. Be sure and read the label. There is a day coming when men are warned to flee the wrath of God (2 Thess. 1:6-10; 2:11-12; Heb. 10:29-31). The coming of Jesus Christ a second time will be suddenly and unexpectedly. Some will meet Him as their Judge and other as their Savior.

If you have never put your trust in Jesus Christ for eternal life I pray that you will right now. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved today from the wrath of God for all eternity.

SELAH! Pause – reflect- just think of that!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006 Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author’s written consent.