4/10/20

"THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW" Jesus And Immanuel (1:18-25) by Mark Copeland




                        "THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW"

                      Jesus And Immanuel (1:18-25)

INTRODUCTION

1. In Mt 1:18-25, we have Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus...
   a. Matthew tells the story with a focus on Joseph
   b. Whereas Luke centers on Mary

2. Noble qualities of Joseph are certainly seen in this passage...
   a. His tender consideration for Mary
   b. His willingness to bear ridicule
   -- Little else is known of him, for it is his adopted son who is the primary interest in Matthew's gospel

3. The word "gospel" means "good news", and hints of just how good that
   news is occurs in this  passage...
   a. Especially when one contemplates the names by which the son of Mary was to be called
   b. Such names as "Jesus" and "Immanuel"

4. In this lesson, we shall consider more closely these two names...
   a. One which describes His OFFICE (what was He to do?)
   b. One which describes His NATURE (who was He?)

[First we note that in his dream, the angel of the Lord tells Joseph
concerning the child to be born of Mary...]

I. "YOU SHALL CALL HIS NAME JESUS"

   A. HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THIS NAME...
      1. A very common Jewish name, often given in memory of Joshua 
         (the Hebrew form of the name, Jesus)
      2. It is interesting to compare these two figures of history
         a. Joshua led the nation of Israel into the promised land (Canaan)
         b. Jesus leads the people of God into the Promised Land (Heaven)

   B. SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS NAME...
      1. Jesus (Joshua) means "God is Savior"
      2. The son of Mary was rightfully called that, because "He will
         save His people from their sins" - Mt 1:21
      3. This Jesus would do by saving them...
         a. From the GUILT of sin
            1) By offering His blood as the atonement for their sins - cf. Ro 5:8-9a
            2) When one is washed by the blood of Jesus, He truly is their Savior
         b. From the POWER of sin
            1) By sending His sanctifying Spirit to help His people break sin's dominion
            2) Paul writes of this in Ro 8:1-2,12-14
         c. From the CONSEQUENCE of sin
            1) I.e., the wrath of God to come
            2) Cf. Ro 5:9; 1Th 1:9-10
         d. Ultimately, from the PRESENCE of sin
            1) I.e., when we depart to "be with the Lord"
            2) Cf. Re 7:13-17
      4. And so the name of JESUS should be...
         a. A very encouraging name to heavy-laden sinners
            1) Souls which desire salvation may draw near to the Father with confidence through Christ
            2) For it is His OFFICE (function, work) to show mercy - Jn 3:17
         b. A very sweet and precious name to believers
            1) For He continues to intercede in our behalf, to save us from our sins
            2) Cf. He 4:14-16; 7:24-25

[As stated in a popular hymn, "There is a Name I love to hear..." and
that name is "Jesus"!  It may have been common in the days of Jesus,
but should be very special now to all who seek to be saved from their sins!

As Matthew recounts what the angel told Mary, he adds that the birth of
Jesus also fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah in which it is said...]

II. "THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL"

   A. HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THIS NAME...
      1. Isaiah's prophecy concerning this name is found in Isa 7:14
      2. In which a virgin would give birth to a child who would be called "Immanuel"

   B. SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS NAME...
      1. Immanuel literally means "God is with us" - cf. Mt 1:23
      2. This name describes the Messiah's NATURE; i.e., that He is Deity!
         a. Other passages expound upon this aspect of Christ's nature
            1) He is "Mighty God, Everlasting Father" - Isa 9:6
            2) He is "God", possessing the "glory of God"; the Great
               "I AM", who shared in the glory of the Father prior to
               His incarnation - cf. Jn 1:1-3,14; 8:56-59; 17:5 (cf. Isa 42:8)
            3) Declared to be "the Son of God with power" by virtue of His resurrection - Ro 1:3-4
            4) He was "equal with God" who willingly humbled Himself - cf. Php 2:5-11
            5) In Him "dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"- Col 2:9
         b. Human minds, finite and feeble, wrestle with this great
            mystery, but Jesus was "God manifested in the flesh"!- 1Ti 3:16

CONCLUSION

1. Would you have a strong foundation for your faith and hope?
   a. Then keep in constant view your Savior's name "IMMANUEL" ("God with us")
   b. For having become flesh, God understands our human plight - cf. He 2:17-18

2. Would you have sweet comfort in suffering and trial?
   a. Then keep in constant view your Savior's name "JESUS" ("God is Savior")
   b. For in sending His Son to die, God has offered a propitiation for our sins - 1Jn 4:9-10

Thus they called the Child, born of a virgin and raised by a carpenter.
By His resurrection from the dead, He proved true to His name.  Are you
willing to obey Jesus as the One who was "God with us", and through whom
"God is Savior"? - Mt 7:21-23; 28:19-20


Dying Before Baptism? by Kyle Butt, M.Div.


http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=2144

Dying Before Baptism?

by  Kyle Butt, M.Div.

The New Testament clearly states that water baptism is necessary for salvation (see Lyons and Butt, 2004). But one of the most frequently used arguments against the necessity of baptism for salvation is the idea that “God would not do that.” The question is asked, “What if a sincere believing person is on his way to be baptized and dies right before he gets to the water? Are you telling me that God would send that person to hell just because he did not make it to the water?” At first glance, this argument may seem legitimate. Upon further investigation, however, it is easy to see that it is simply a play on emotions, and in no way disproves the necessity of baptism for salvation.
The “God-would-not-do-that” argument can be used against almost any commandment in the Bible. For instance, the Bible repeatedly says that a person must believe that Jesus is the Son of God (Romans 10:11; John 8:24; et al.). Suppose, then, that a Christian had just begun to tell the story of Jesus to an older gentleman, when suddenly that gentleman has a massive heart attack and dies without getting to hear the rest of the story, and thus did not have the opportunity to believe. Should we, therefore, do away with the biblical command to believe in Jesus Christ, simply because a theoretical scenario can be concocted in which a potential convert dies moments before his compliance? To ask is to answer. Nor, with a wave of the hand, can we do away with the biblical command to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).
Consider also the fact that the Bible plainly states that God wants all people to be saved. In 2 Peter 3:9, the inspired apostle wrote: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” The Old Testament prophet Ezekiel was instructed by God to convey this message to the Israelites on God’s behalf: “‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live’” (Ezekiel 33:11). The apostle Paul told the young preacher Timothy that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4). Therefore, if a person truly and honestly wants to become a Christian by being baptized for the forgiveness of his sins as God commanded, then God (Who wants all to be saved and is watchful of each individual human) certainly would provide an opportunity for that person to obey His commandment to be baptized. If no sparrow falls to the ground apart from God’s knowledge (Matthew 10:29), and God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), then we can be sure that His providential care will ensure that each person is given a fair opportunity to respond to His commands.

REFERENCES

Lyons, Eric and Kyle Butt (2004), “Taking Possession of What God Gives: A Case Study in Salvation,” [On-line], URL: http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2546.

Does The Word "Perfect" Really Mean "Perfect”? by Kyle Butt, M.Div.


http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=923

Does The Word "Perfect" Really Mean "Perfect”?

by  Kyle Butt, M.Div.

Nailing down accurate definitions to words remains one of the major problems in communicating any message to another person. It has been said that, in an argument, the person or party who defines the terms always wins. When it comes to the Bible, and claims of its alleged errancy, skeptics often employ the tactic of assigning certain meanings to the biblical language that the original words do not necessarily have. In many instances, the skeptic will take words, and impose upon them a twenty-first-century meaning that was not intended in the original text. Then they will demand an answer to this “obvious contradiction.”
To illustrate, consider Dan Barker’s book, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist. He claims that a biblical contradiction exists between Romans 3:23 and Job 1:1 (1992, p. 171). He argues that Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (NKJV). But in Job 1:1, the man from Uz named Job was described as a man who “was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and turned away from evil.” Forcing the word “perfect” in Job 1:1 to mean what most twenty-first-century Americans take it to mean, Barker insists that a person cannot be “perfect” (defining the word as sinless, morally without error) and at the same time be sinful.
Granted, if the word translated “perfect” in Job 1:1 means “absolute sinlessness,” then Barker has a solid point. But a brief study of the original word quickly shows that the Hebrew and Greek words that frequently are translated “perfect” in our English Bibles do not always mean sinlessness. In their monumental work, the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Harris, Archer, and Waltke addressed specifically the word used in Job 1:1. The Hebrew word tōm, translated in Job 1:1 as perfect, has a number of different usages. The word, or one of its derivatives, is used in Genesis 17:1 where God told Abraham to “be perfect.” And all Israel was instructed to “be perfect” in verses such as Deuteronomy 18:13, 2 Samuel 22:33, and Psalm 101:2,6. After listing these uses in their wordbook, the authors quote the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible as saying, “the words which are rendered in English by ‘perfect’ and ‘perfection’ denoted originally something other and less than ideal perfection” (1980, p. 974, emp. added). In another authoritative Hebrew word study, Gesenius observed that the word translated as “perfect” can mean “integrity of mind” or “innocence.” He further commented that the word is used of “simplicity of mind, which is opposed to mischief and ill design” (1979, p. 866). Obviously, then, the Hebrew word in Job 1:1 that is translated “perfect” did not mean “sinlessness,” but was used instead to describe a person who was attempting to follow God’s commandments to the best of his or her ability.
It is inexcusable for any person to demand that a contradiction exists between two Bible passages, when he or she will not even take a few minutes to look up the actual meanings of the words in question. Such poor “scholarship” is lazy at best, and dishonest at worst. Whenever a word in the Bible seems to contradict another thought listed therein, one of the most common ways to reconcile the two is to look up the definitions of the original word. If Dan Barker had done that, he would have known that we are not instructed to be “perfect”—in the sense of sinless in 2 Corinthians 13:11. Nor are we to “hate” our family in the twenty-first-century American sense of despising, loathing, and abhorring (see Butt, 2003).
Furthermore, the fact that language changes, and the meanings of words must be studied, can be seen by observing different translations. For instance, when Paul explained to the Thessalonians what is going to happen when Jesus returns, he stated that the Christians who “are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:15, KJV, emp. added). If we do not examine the meaning of this word, it seems to suggest that the Christians who are alive when Christ returns will not stop those that “are asleep.” That, however, is not what the Greek word phthano means. Other translations show that the this word, translated “prevent” in the King James Version, simply means, “precede” or “go before.”
Before any person presumes to point out an alleged discrepancy in the Bible, the very least that person could do is to study the meaning (in the original language) of the words in question. If such a study were carried out in an honest and forthright fashion, countless pages would be removed from the skeptics’ Web sites and books. Let us all, therefore, strive to be “perfect” in this area.

REFERENCES

Barker, Dan (1992), Losing Faith In Faith—From Preacher to Atheist (Madison, WI: Freedom from Religion Foundation).
Butt, Kyle (2003), “Hate Your Parents—Or Love Them?,” [On-line], URL: http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/601
Gesenius, William (1847), Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker), 1979 reprint.
Harris, R. Laird, Gleason Archer Jr., and Bruce Waltke, eds. (1980), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago, IL: Moody).

Does the Bible Teach Geocentricity? by Bert Thompson, Ph.D. Trevor Major, M.Sc., M.A.


http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1151

Does the Bible Teach Geocentricity?

by  Bert Thompson, Ph.D.
Trevor Major, M.Sc., M.A.

Q.

Does the Bible teach that the Sun revolves around the Earth, in contradiction to modern scientific knowledge on this matter?
A.
The medieval Catholic Church maintained that the Bible taught geocentricity (i.e., that the Sun and planets revolve around the Earth) as opposed to what we now know as the Copernican idea of heliocentricity (i.e., that the planets all revolve around the Sun). This situation began when Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria restated the ancient Ptolemaic geocentric theory in the second century after Christ, and was able to predict the motion of the celestial bodies with far greater accuracy than the existing theory of heliocentricity. Somewhere along the line, scientific dogma became enshrined in theological dogma, and passages in the Bible were found to consecrate Ptolemy’s theory. According to the theologians, man was the focus of God’s creative act, and therefore the Earth must be the center of God’s creation. After all, if we were dwelling on one average planet, rotating around one average star, in one average galaxy in an infinite Universe, how could we be the sole focus of God’s attention, and why should His only Son be sent just to this middling planet, as the Bible suggests?
Needless to say, this revolution of thought provided great fuel for the atheists, skeptics and agnostics. According to Paul Steidl:
The truths of God’s word and the work of Jesus Christ in no way depend on our position.... If anything, our lack of a unique position in the natural universe is only an illustration of the natural man’s lack of a unique position before God (1979, p. 6).
In other words, the presence of our material selves in the material Universe is not as important to God as our immortal souls. On the other hand, it is difficult to doubt that God has placed our planet in just the right place, and set it in motion in just the right way, to benefit the survival of humanity.
Copernicus submitted his ideas in the early sixteenth century, stating that geocentricity was incorrect after all. Some of Copernicus’ ideas could not be defended scientifically, but science generally had little to do with the attacks on this theory. Calvin, for instance, criticized Copernicus by appealing to passages in Joshua and Psalms that supposedly show the fixity of the Earth relative to the Sun. Galileo came along a hundred years later and firmed up the Copernican theories with better mathematics and with more accurate and numerous measurements. Unlike Copernicus, Galileo was persistent, arrogant, and prepared to stand up to the wrath of the Inquisition. Galileo’s assertion that the Bible should be interpreted in light of man’s knowledge of the natural world, and that Scripture should not have authority in scientific controversies, did little to endear him to church leaders. Thus, rather than being the case of “science versus the Bible,” it was “dogmatic scientist versus religious dogmatism.” This, of course, is not all the story; the remainder would be covered in a good history book.
One of the passages used to defend the biblical basis of geocentricity was Joshua 10:12-14, and later references to the same event, in which Joshua prayed, “Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; And thou, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon” (v. 12), that he might defeat the numerous armies assembled against his people. God immediately answered Joshua’s prayer, and in the following verse he wrote: “And the Sun stood still, and the Moon stayed.” Keil and Delitzsch have suggested that either the day appeared long to the warriors of Israel because of the greatness of the task they performed (i.e., defeating the enemy), or that God miraculously caused the day to be lengthened so the Lord’s army could perform its task. The former is consistent with similar language in other parts of the Old Testament, and the latter explanation is totally consistent with God’s infinite power over the Universe (1982, 2:106-112). In any case, as Joshua goes on to say in verse 14, “there was no day like that before it or after it.” Thus, whether miraculous or not, to say that these verses teach that the Earth continues to stand still, and that the Earth is the center of the Universe, is both a gross misinterpretation and a misapplication of the verse. This passage does not teach geocentricity, despite Calvin’s claims to the contrary.
In addition to Joshua 10, Calvin used Psalm 93:1 in defense of geocentricity. The verse simply suggests that the Earth is stable, and cannot be moved, but is it trying to say that the Earth is totally motionless in every sense? As the passage is primarily concerned with God’s majesty and power, it is more likely that the psalmist is saying, “Who but God could move the Earth?” Besides, the Earth is set in an unchanging orbit around the Sun, all the while rotating at a steady speed on a fixed axis.
Psalm 19:6 is a passage that often is cited as another example of Scripture teaching pre-Copernican astronomy. In this verse, the Sun is said to move, rather than the Earth, and therefore is said by some to imply that the Sun revolves around the Earth. There are many other verses in the Bible that talk about the Sun “going down” or “rising up.” This hardly should be surprising, however, since events in the Bible often are written in accommodative or “phenomenal” language—i.e., the language used to express phenomena as man sees them. Even today we teach our children that “the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west,” and astronomers and navigators use the Earth as a fixed point for purposes of simple observation, expressing distances and directions in relation to it. The weatherman on the evening news often will state that the Sun is going to “rise” at a certain time the following morning and “set” at a certain time the following evening. Why does no one accuse him of scientific error? Because we all are perfectly aware of, and understand, the Copernican view of the solar system, and because we likewise understand that our weatherman is using “phenomenal” language.
In addition, scientific foreknowledge could be claimed from Psalm 19:6 if a more literal interpretation was applied in the following way. Astronomers now know that the Sun moves in a gigantic orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy; traveling at 600,000 miles an hour it would take the Sun 230 million years to make just one orbit! It also is believed that our galaxy is moving with respect to other galaxies in the Universe. The Sun’s going forth is indeed from one end of the heavens to the other. In any case, there is no way to substantiate the claims that the Bible teaches geocentricity, or that it promotes any other anti-scientific concept.

REFERENCES

Keil, C.F. and F. Delitzsch (1982 reprint), Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
Steidl, Paul (1979), The Earth, the Stars, and the Bible (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed).

HYPOCRISY AND CALVINISM by steve finnell

http://steve-finnell.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2017-03-27T12:03:00-07:00&max-results=10&start=5&by-date=false

HYPOCRISY AND CALVINISM by steve finnell


John Calvin's view of salvation was that God preordained a select few for salvation and that all others would be eternally damned as punishment for their sins.

The often used Scripture to support that claim is John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him ap at the last.(NKJV)

The problem is that Jesus said in verse John 6:47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.(NKJV)

Jesus did not say, he who the Father has preordained to believe in Me has everlasting life. God does not impute faith into a select few so they may believe and be saved.

Romans 10:13 For "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."(NKJV)

It is "whoever" calls on the Lord, it is not whoever has been preordained to be saved will be saved.
Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Why would a Calvinist need a preacher if they are all preordained for salvation, would they not have faith in Jesus from birth? Why would  Calvinists' have missionaries to spread the gospel, would not all the preordained be drawn to Calvinists' church buildings? Would it not be hypocritical to preach the gospel to the world if only  certain men have been preordained for salvation?

Faith is not preordained, faith comes from hearing the gospel.

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.(NKJV)

Is it not hypocritical for a Calvinist' preacher to preach to his congregation to abstain from sin? If all Calvinists' have been preordained for salvation and can never be lost, then they should be able to live a sinful lifestyle with no loss of salvation. Why worry about sin?


Contrary to John Calvin's view, God's grace is available to all who obey the gospel plan of salvation. Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,(NKJV)

To assert that you have been saved because God loves you and you have been preordained for salvation, but your neighbor will be lost and punished externally because of his sin is the height of arrogance, it give hubris a bad name.

According to John Calvin all men are saved by "grace alone."

If you are saved by grace alone, then you do not have to obey God by believing that Jesus is Lord, Savior, and the Son of God.

If you are saved by grace alone, then you do not have to obey by repenting of your unbelief. You do not have to turn from sin and turn toward God. God will compel you to do all of that.

If you are saved by grace alone, then you do not have to be baptized in water to be saved.

If you are saved by grace alone, then you do not have to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.

If you are saved by grace alone, then you do not have to have faith to be saved. God will provide you with faith so you can be saved.

Grace follows faith. Faith does not follow grace. Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.(NKJV)

You are not under grace until you have faith in Jesus Christ and obey the gospel. 

Obeying the gospel is not a good work. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8.....the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.(NKJV)

THOSE WHO DO NOT OBEY THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

“We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37) by Roy Davison


http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/013-conquerors.html

“We are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37)
 
A conqueror is someone who is victorious in warfare, someone who overcomes the enemy.

Who is our enemy?
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith” (1 Peter 5:8, 9). “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

“I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one” (1 John 2:14).

How can we resist a roaring lion? Physical strength does not help against Satan. What strength is required? “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:1).

Christians are strong in the Lord when the word of God dwells in them and they depend on the power and grace of God.

By the power of God we can be victorious.
“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!’” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

“Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory. The LORD has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations” (Psalm 98:1, 2).

“We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

God gives us the victory because He loves us.
We read of “the love of the Father” (1 John 2:15), “the love of the Spirit” (Romans 15:30) and “the love of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:14).

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this 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 4:9, 10).

Through His sacrifice for our sins, Christ destroyed the power of Satan: “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death’” (Revelation 12:9-11).

Since God loved us so much that He was willing to pay such a great price for our initial salvation, He will also provide us with all we need to be victorious in the end: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes 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 Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who 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 created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39).

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:1-11).

We conquer through the power of the love of God within us.
We are motivated by the love of Christ: “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15).

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 20, 21).

“Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:1).

“Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Ephesians 5:2).

“But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:5, 6).

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world --- our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:2-5).

Yes, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

Great blessings are promised to those who overcome.
Revelation was first sent to churches that were suffering great persecution and tribulation. Christ encourages them to persevere by telling them the great rewards that await them.

“Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

“To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7).

“He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death” (Revelation 2:11).

“To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it” (Revelation 2:17).

“And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations --- 'He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels' --- as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star” (Revelation 2:26-28).

“He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (Revelation 3:5).

“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name” (Revelation 3:12).

“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Revelation 3:21).

At the close of Revelation God promises from His throne: “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son” (Revelation 21:7).

“We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

God gives us the victory because He loves us. By being strong in the grace of the Lord, in the power of His might, we can overcome the wicked one. God’s grace comes to us through the sacrifice of His Son that our sins might be forgiven. We are motivated by the love of Christ. We conquer through the power of the love of God within us. Although we suffer persecution and tribulation, nothing can separate us from the love of God. Great blessings are promised to those who overcome.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen” (2 Corinthians 13:14).
Roy Davison


The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982, Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

To see the light by Gary Rose


 





















 I’m beginning to see the Light
by Bobby Darin


(click the link to listen, or paste the address into your browser)

Wednesday evening I was bored; 1.5 hours of virus updates was just too much to handle, I just had to get away from the television. So, I sat down at my computer to listen to some music. Well, an hour or so later I realized that I had had enough of my “oldies” collection and returned to watching TV.

Thursday evening, I once again listened to the Corona virus update and I heard something that piqued my attention. I think it was Dr. Fauci who said something like: “I think we are beginning to see the light.” And then I remembered that the previous night I had listened to Bobby Darin sing “I’m beginning to see the light”. Funny the way things seem to just link together, for while reviewing the news online Thursday, I picked up an interesting tidbit of news – During the past month Bible sales were up – in some cases as much as 40%! People are tired of being scared, alone and not knowing the truth- they are looking for light! Whether they know it or not; they are looking for Jesus.


John 9 ( World English Bible )
  [1] As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.  [2] His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
  
[3] Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him.   [4]  I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.   [5]  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.  [6] When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,  [7] and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing. 

God works in mysterious ways; people try to understand all that HE does but cannot. The disciples were looking for a reason why that man had been born blind, but Jesus set them straight. Things happen sometimes so that God may intervene and show his will our lives. As of tonight, 16,000 people have died in America, with many more to follow. I can’t help but wonder: What if God is allowing all this misery to happen in order that those who just might listen to HIM through HIS WORD will actually begin to do so? Well, so much for the Bible sales! As far as Bobby Darin goes… those song lyrics describe someone who doubted love and just may be coming around to the reality that LOVE is meant for him as well. Have you ever thought like this about God. Think about it NOW! There are still Bibles available for sale – seek and you will find the LIGHT, Jesus that is!