Being Confident

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:6

What is there in our day that earns our confidence? We understand everything and everyone will someday bring us disappointment, and that total confidence in this life is truly unthinkable. Here we see Paul saying his confidence is in God, the very one who saved his unworthy soul and made him one of the greatest men in the history of this world outside of Jesus Christ. Paul had a total understanding that once God saved him and called him to his work that nothing or no one could ever stop what God wanted done. When Paul said “will perform it” he meant, what God has started He will also finish no matter how much other’s may try to stop it.

Beloved we as believers need to be confident that God does not get defeated therefore what God has started in your life He will see it through. We may be let down by so many in our life but God will remain faithful until the end and true to you. Hebrews 10:35 “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.” Therefore do not loose your faith in these troubled times and please remember God never promised we would not see hard times nor did He promise we would not have great troubles in this life, in fact He promised we would have many troubles and hard times, but our faith in Him is to remain true because HE WILL NOT LET US DOWN.

A Childs Obedience

Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” I know we live in a time when children are some of the most disobedient humans on the face of the earth, and I know that time and society has made them this way. However, this does not excuse what they have become, and that is having no obedience to anyone of authority and much more their parents. Children need to understand one simple fact, just as the adults, you are accountable to God and He has warned and commanded you to obey your parents and a failure to do so will be charged to you and not your parents. Your parents will have to account for themselves but you will have the same accounting as they do to God. Here we see Paul speaking to the children, he is not speaking to your parents, and he has warned you to obey your parents. Paul goes on to say “…for this is right” the word “right” means this is a right conduct or a righteous act, by this being a “righteous act” means it is walking in the way of a righteous God. However to disobey your parents means you would be walking in an unrighteous way, and we all know it is better to obey God. I know that some children think they are smarter than their parents but God has commanded you to obey your parents always not only when you think it is to your advantage to do so. The Lord went on to say in verse 2 “Honour thy father and mother…” The word “honour” means to value your father and mother, that is to value them as your parents and the two people on earth that gave you life. And the Lord also said in verse 3 “That it may be well with thee…” You may be asking “what will He kill me?” Here is your answer, Matthew 15:4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.” Children your warning is the same as the adults; disobeying God is no joking matter.

The Discriminating Message Of Jesus Christ.

“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” John 6:29

I titled this article as such because the Sovereign Grace of God is so hated in the very Liberal religious world we live in today. To preach that God is sovereign and that He has elected to save a only a limited number of sinners out of the world, that He will save all of that number, and that none except that number will ever truly have a desire to be saved, and all that are called will indeed come. This is said to be a discriminating message because it is exclusive of some and since God loves the entire population of the world He would never leave any out, but allows all people the chance to make a decision to be saved. God never said He loved the entire population of the world, but He did say in Psalms 5:5 "The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity". God also said Romans 3:11 “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” Man on his own will seek to worship a god of sort and a god that he (man) has total control over. When God said in Psalms 14:1 “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God…” He meant the fool would say “I will not have this God to rule over me,” that is in any matter, so to prevent God from being the true sovereign God He is, they simply deny His true power and proclaim that God loves everyone in the world and that He want all to come to Christ and that it is our decision, therefore stripping all power to save whom He chooses from God. Now please understand I never said some of these folks did not have a true desire to worship God, even God said they had a desire to worship Him but God proclaimed it was a worthless desire. Romans 10:2 “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.”

We as sovereign grace Baptist teach the very same teachings that Jesus Christ did over two – thousand years ago and it is called the five points of sovereign grace also known as T.U.L.I.P. Now while so many today proclaim it to be a “doctrine from hell” lets not forget Jesus Christ also taught the very same message. Some people today want to take a few scriptures out of context and say Jesus taught the liberal message of today however that could not be further from the truth, Jesus taught His Father was sovereign and could do and did all of His pleasure and that included salvation. Jesus said in John 6:29 “…This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” It is the work of God not mans choice as so many teach today. Now let’s see what Jesus taught in John Chapter 6. Total Depravity: That is that one cannot and will not choose salvation on their own. John 6:44 “No man can come to me …” It is not mans choice but the Fathers, man is depraved and will not on his own come unless he is drawn.
Unconditional Election: This means that God saves those that He has chosen and man has nothing at all to do with it. John 6:37 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me…” Shall Come without a doubt. No man will come, EXCEPT the Father draw them, but all the Father draws SHALL come.
Limited Atonement: Means salvation will come only to the limited number that the Father has chosen before the foundation of the world. John 6:39 “And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing…”
Irresistible Grace: Means we will come without delay, there is no choice on our part, and the Lord makes us willing in his call. John 6:45 “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.” The Father’s will is always done, Eph. 1:11. The only way God can promise the elect will come is that salvation is totally of God and man has nothing to do with it, and His wonderful grace makes us willing to do something against our nature.
Preservation of the Saints: This means He will keep us and we cannot fall from grace. John 6:39 “… which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” The life given to us by the Father and thru the Son is everlasting, there is not maybe to it Jesus said “I should loose nothing” not one of them”
John 6:29 says “This is the work of God, that ye believe” but the liberal men of today simply will not believe nor teach that God and only God can saved the depraved lost sinner and all He chooses to save will come but would rather teach the false conception that man can do the work of God better. Beloved simply read the scriptures and you also will discover there is no choice in the matter of salvation except from the Father. Those that hate this message hates also what Jesus Himself also taught.

Propitiation That Is Pronounced Pro-pit-ia-tion

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
We have before us a word that is rarely used in the pulpits today and rates very low on the believers list of words, however it is one of the top single most important words to the believer. Now how about it, before you read any further can you define this word without help?

The word “Propitiation” comes from the Greek word “hil-as-mos” which means “merciful” however the extended meaning I have found goes much deeper and more important than just “merciful” Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words defines it this way “that Jesus Christ Himself, through the expiatory (redemptive) sacrifice of His Death, is the Personal means by whom God shows mercy to the sinner who believes on Christ as the One thus provided.” L. W. Rodgers defined it in another wonderful way “The appeasing, or turning away of the wrath of a righteous God against sin, and the acceptance of Christ's death as a satisfactory substitute for the sinner.” So beloved let's look at it this way, God's justice for sin is eternal damnation in the lake of fire where the fire is never put out and their worm never dies or (they never find redemption). However our merciful of God has predetermined a way for sinful men and women to escape His true punishment for sin and nailed all of of our sin to the cross in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Beloved this make Jesus Christ our “Propitiation”. Now beloved there can be no doubt that God has a great wrath awaiting those who have not and will not believe that Jesus Christ is their Saviour. I know that so many through history and even today want to belittle this, but it is so very true. Everyone who has never trust the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour will spend eternity in HELL, where there is no escape. Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” and we can read in verse 17 “...The just shall live by faith.” However in Romans 3:24-25 Paul says “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;”

The word Propitiation allows us to understand the grace of God much more wonderfully because He sent His only begotten Son to give His life for our sins and allowed (through mercy) us to escape His righteous punishment of eternal death in hell and allowed us to have eternal life with Him in heaven. Beloved it is not about our choosing or decision or even what our will is, but rather it is about what God has done for us; IE making the decision and choice for us before the foundation of the world and changing our wills in His work of our repentance.