Unmerited divine assistance given man for his regeneration or sanctification
The power and equipping for ministry- ( 2 Corinthians 9:8)
Grace is the power and action of God to make us new creations in Christ. It is God's grace that works in us to change our desire and capacity for faith and obedience. Grace enables us to endure under difficult circumstances, to be bold in the face of persecution, and to properly utilize our natural gifts and abilities and also receiving new ones the Spirit bestows on us to apply to the work God calls us to do.
It is at work in us to be more and more conformed to Jesus' example of godliness, love, obedience, and mercy. Grace is from God and it is vitally necessary for anyone to walk in the way God ordains for us to live.
Grace makes our hearts glad and joyful. Grace tells us that He freely and openly accepts us in Jesus Christ. He delights in us. He is happy to be in fellowship with us. His love for us is not obligatory. He desires us and it pleases Him to have given us grace to be reconciled to him.
When God looks at those who are in Jesus Christ, He sees beauty. It brings Him joy. He is pleased within Himself to look upon us. He sees you with eyes of grace, not in sternness or ambivalence. He is fully committed to be gracious to us, to bless us, to have His favor rest on us.
And in all this, we cannot merit His grace in any way or add to it, or repay God for it, or enhance it by our devotion to God. It is a gift without expectation by God of receiving anything from us in return. It is given to us according to His good pleasure.
We praise Him for His glorious grace. We thank Him for His graciousness towards us. We shout for joy that He graced our lives. But none of these actions caused God to give us His grace. These are our reactions to having received grace from God.
Graciousness is not something that God puts on and takes off.
Grace is one of the most important concepts in the Bible, Christianity, and the world. It is most clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in Scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ.
Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely, the peace of God given to the restless, the unmerited favor of God (Max Lucado)
I love that quote!
Grace is God's un-coerced initiative and pervasive, extravagant demonstrations of care and favor towards those who are objects of His wrath when He regenerates them to cause them to become objects of mercy in His own sovereign act.
Christians live every day by the grace of God. We receive forgiveness according to the riches of God's grace, and grace drives our sanctification. Paul tells us, "the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives" ( Titus 2:11). Spiritual growth doesn't happen overnight; we "grow in the grace"
Grace is what God does because he is gracious.
It does not depend on the situation. God is always gracious. Every action of God toward us involves his grace. His creation, providence, conviction of the sinner, gift of salvation, equipping of the saints, and the future He has prepared for us. All of this is due to God's grace.
Here is how grace is defined by some of the different Bible Dictionaries:
The only way any of us can enter into a relationship with God is because of His grace toward us. Beginning in Eden when Adam and Eve sinned God restored them to fellowship with Him by His free grace. He could have killed the first humans right then for their disobedience. But rather than destroy them, He chose to make a way for them to be right with Him.
God is the instigator of grace, and it is from Him that all other aspects of grace flows.
God extends grace to those He elected while we all were His enemies ( Romans 5:10) by regeneration wrought by the Spirit.
He gives us forgiveness ( Hebrews 8:12; Ephesians 1:7), reconciliation ( Colossians 1:19-20), abundant life ( John 10:10), eternal treasure ( Luke 12:33), His Holy Spirit ( Luke 11:13), and a place in heaven with Him some day ( John 3:16-18) when we are called by the gospel and its offer and place our faith in Jesus and His work on our behalf.
Grace is God giving the greatest treasure to the least deserving-which is every one of us whom He has brought to faith and placed us in Christ. This redemption is forever and the greatest treasure is Christ Himself.
"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." ( Hebrews 4:16)
"But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." ( James 4:6)
We find the term "grace" throughout the Bible as a gift and action of God. But what is God's grace, and how does it relate to us?
We experience God's grace because God is gracious. In Exodus 34:6, when God shows himself to Moses, we read, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." Gracious is used here as an adjective describing God. It is one of His attributes, describing who He is.
The Next subject is God's freely give undeserved grace.
GOD'S GRACE IS FREELY GIVEN, UNEARNED FAVOR WITH GOD
IT IS RECEIVING WHAT WE DO NOT DESERVE
IT IS GOD'S BLESSINGS IN THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT
What is the grace of God? Simply put it is God's favor and kindness toward us. Grace is God choosing to bless us rather than curse us as our sin deserves. It is His benevolence to the undeserving.
But it also exerts God's power in our life to bring about all that is needed for us to be saved: regeneration, repentance, faith, and trust in God in Jesus. And in Titus 2:11-13 we read that God's grace empowers us to say yes to what is right and no to what is sinful. It enables us to live godly lives in a wicked world.
The Holy Spirit uses grace to sanctify us unto God and to transform us to be more and more like our Lord and Savior. And it provides us with a sure and blessed hope of the appearing of Jesus, the great God and Savior. Without grace, we would give up on this hope. But God graces us with hope that does not fail.
God rains down grace on all mankind. He gave us the beauty and wonders of nature that we see each and every day. He gives us near misses when accidents are heading our way. He often brings us the right thing just in time. And He also gave us an innate conscience to know right from wrong. All these things are common graces, and everyone born on the earth has the benefit of them because God so loved the world.
Just being born on this planet includes many benefits. But when someone becomes a believer in Christ, that person receives even more graceful benefits from God reserved only for God's elect. In fact, believers are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm because we are united with Christ.
"We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are" ( Acts 15:11).
Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves."
Exodus 33:19 says "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
Through God's favor a seed of faith is planted in your heart. As it sprouts, matures and grows in your heart, it should then be overtaken by a desire to be continually growing, continually pleasing God and continually gaining in God's favor.
This is what it means to be in pursuit of God.
His favor grants you access and provides the transformative power to be a new creation in Christ. It is, in fact, a transformation towards Christ-likeness.
Our faith is crucial for receiving God's favor. A key aspect of faith is that it allows us to receive God's grace and favor freely, not because of our own works or efforts.
Ephesians 2:8-9 declares, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast."
As Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
This is not to say that it is our faith that earns God's favor, rather, it is often the means through which God causes His favor to flow to us. He chose to have favor upon us out of His goodness and eternal plan, but He brings us His favor at the time in our life when He determines it is best and will accomplish the most good.
Abraham was called by God before He believed. Moses was called by God before He knew Him. Paul was transformed by God while he was persecuting Jesus and His church. But, by God's choice, He favored all of these men in order to bring them to faith, salvation, and glory and to work out his plan in history during their lifetimes.
God is said to have favor on Noah and Abraham. Moses, and Israel in the OT. He did so in order to use these people to serve Him and accomplish His will in history in unique ways. He delighted in them because He had chosen them to be favored. I think it is important that we do need to often remind ourselves that our blessed standing before God as His child is not because of anything we have done or decided, but because it pleased God to show His favor upon us, to select us, even before He created anything.
That is a very profound thought. God knew He would bless us with His favor because He chose us to the praise of His glory aforehand! The Scriptures often say that so-and-so found favor in God's sight. But the reality is that the person found out that God placed His favor upon them, not that they earned it in any way.
Those who are favored of God know that God is with them and that nothing can happen to them apart from His good purpose ( Romans 8:28). When we have the favor of the Lord, we rest in quiet confidence that our sins are forgiven ( Romans 4:7), we are within the plan of God ( Psalm 86:11), and that He is there for us at all times ( Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 28:20).
When someone has the favor of God upon their life, it means they carry an endorsement from heaven. God smiles upon them and approves of their pursuits and destinies.
Psalms 5:12 says "Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield." The only righteous people are those who have Christ's righteousness imputed onto them.
His goodness, compassion and lovingkindness
To have the Lord's favor means that the Lord is in accord with an individual and has shown gracious kindness towards them. When we think of someone who has the favor of God, we think of someone in whose life we see tangible evidence of God's approval.
I. too, love the cold and snow as long as I do not need to drive anywhere. We usually get some snow each year here in the Puget Sound Region. Some years we get over a foot and that usually leads to lots of troubles with snow melting and refreezing on roads. I remember growing up being able to go out on the frozen lake a few blocks from my home with friends and visiting other friends we knew who live around the lake by crossing it or going along the ice at the shore from home to home. Sme people ice skated on the lake. Back then, we would usually have a few weeks of really cold temperature straight and the lake surface would be frozen to 6-8 inches. That hasn't been the case here for some time. It seems our region is in a warming period. It will cycle back to colder winters again, I am sure, but maybe not while I am still alive here. The memories of these cold times are really pleasant to consider.
I will continue to pray for those in this storm's alley.
Hello Cheryl1655. I think you are asking about the connection between those two Genesis chapters & particularly those verses you gave. If so, the way I read these chapters, is that Genesis chapter 1 simply gives a brief overview of the six days of creation & the seventh day being the day when God ceased from His creative Work. So in Genesis 1:26,27, on the sixth day of Creation, God created man & woman & blessed them to be fruitful, to have dominion over creatures, & to eat what He has provided them.
Then in Genesis 2:4, after the 'generations of the heavens and of the earth were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens', God had seen fit to expand on certain aspects of those six days of creation in Genesis 1 (and specifically about how His Work of creating these perfect human beings came to be). Man was first formed from Earth's dust (v7) & then Woman was then formed from man's body; that they are not just two separate creations, but really two separate humans who are vitally & intrinsically connected to each other, causing them to have an abiding, loving & meaningful relationship, as they could have with no other creature.
So, I believe that these two chapters (on the creation of man & woman) are not two separate acts of creation by God, but only One. That the second chapter amplifies what God created on the sixth day, which then leads us into the following chapters of Genesis & the rest of the Bible on the lives of men & women and God's dealing with them, even until the end of time as we know it.
Well, let's all pray that this storm is much milder than forecast and that God would help those who are at risk from the elements.
Just got done feeding my grandbaby, Rose. she is going on strike to be spoon fed any purees right now. So we are dipping strips of toast in the puree and she will eat it then. She somehow learned to shake her head (I think) to say "no". How do such young ones learn that body language when not taught? She also has decided she needs to smell the food before putting in her mouth. We did not teach her that either. So curious what is acquired almost innately. She likes to watch football with Grandpa and have me play with her on the floor. We are really enjoying being with her every day!
GOD'S FAVOR IS UPON HIS PEOPLE WHOM HE CHOSE, NOT BECAUSE THEY CHOSE HIM
If you've read even a little of the Bible, you have probably crossed a passage or two where it talked about someone having God's favor or otherwise seeking it.
God's favor is God's grace and goodness being actively displayed in one's circumstances. It can produce an anointing, such as for a prophet, or a special guidance, as with Moses or Abraham as they travelled in the way God led them, or it can involve miraculous occurrences that bring about a good end, such as with the Israelites when they left Egypt or parting the Red Sea, or the provision of leadership, authority, and honor as with Joseph in Egypt. Joseph found favor with Potiphar and was placed in charge of Potiphar's household. The Lord was with Joseph and blessed everything he did ( Genesis 39:2-6). In Exodus 3:21, God promised to give the Israelites favor with the Egyptians so they would give them silver, gold and clothing as they left Egypt.
From reading the OT we can know that God chose the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be the people He would shed His favor upon. It was not because they were so great in number among the other nations, nor was it because of their righteousness, or because of their steadfastness in their faith in Him or their superiority to those of other nations. It was solely due to God's sovereign choice. ( Dt. 7:6-8). He could have chosen any other people or nation if He had determined before creation to use this other nation to fulfill His plan. But, before creation He had determined that the eternal, divine Son would be incarnated through Mary of the Jews. Therefore, God chose Israel as His favored people, because from them, the Messiah would be born and live and die to save those God chose to save from pre-creation.
In Luke 7:11-15, we hear of His compassion for the widowed who were especially vulnerable; therefore, He resurrected the widow's son and gave him back to her. In the case of Lazarus, Christ's compassion was so strong that He wept ( John 11). When Jesus arrived graveside, He raised Lazarus from the dead and gave him back to his grieving relatives. No doubt Jesus Himself rejoiced greatly over the return of His friend.
The pinnacle of Christ's compassion can be observed at the cross of Calvary where He lay down His life for the sins of the world ( John 3:16).
He not only showed concern for the suffering of people, He suffered for them and He took their suffering upon Himself to relieve them of their suffering for their own sins. Those who are drawn to put their faith in Jesus are born again spiritually and receive the Holy Spirit. We are made new creations in Christ ( 2 Corinthians 5:17). This enables us to love God and our neighbors.
According to God's Word, Jesus isn't only with us; He's unremittingly for us ( Ps. 56:9; Rom. 8:31). His presence is always a favorable, advocating, affectionate embrace of us. ( Rom. 5:8; 1 John 2:1) We are wrapped in His Presence-even after we sin because He always intercedes for us to the Father.
Our Savior refuses to sit back and watch us suffer alone. God the Son became fully human and always will identify, suffer, and walk with His people while saving us, forever binding himself to us intimately. God has not left us alone in our suffering. Jesus suffered for us; we have a God who loves us with empathy. And, the Holy Spirit suffers along with us, groaning as He intercedes for us with the Father (8:26-27).
Compassion causes one to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears.
Compassion moves one to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless.
Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human. And this is true of God incarnated, the Word, Son of the Father, enfleshed (John1:14) He did all these things in His divinity and humanity and continues to fully identify with, is pained with our suffering and misery. He became sin for us and thus knew the condemnation of sin on the cross.
And thus, Jesus is the Father's most compassionate gift to mankind. It is only by and through faith in Jesus Christ that we are forgiven of our guilt and rescued from our deplorable condition ( John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
The compassion of Christ can be clearly seen in the Gospel narratives. For example, in Matthew 9:36, we observe Christ's compassion for the harassed and helpless. In Matthew 14:14, we see His compassion for those who are sick and suffer disease. In Matthew 15:32, we witness His compassion for those who hunger.
How lovely is this verse in Lamentations to the ears of forgiven sinners who believe the gospel and put their faith in Jesus Christ!
GOD'S COMPASSION
Pt. 1
Compassion is deep empathy towards those in need. It is concern, sympathy and pity for the suffering of others and a desire to alleviate their suffering.
Compassion is being moved in the affections of our inner being when we see the distress of others, coupled with a subsequent outer movement of action in which we seek to alleviate that distress out of love for God and love for neighbor.
The most important object this word is used to describe is God Himself. God is the root and foundation, the spring and fountainhead, of all true compassion ( 1 John 4:16). God's compassion is extolled throughout the Bible. Below are two particularly pertinent passages.
"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" ( Micah 7:18-19).
God's compassion is related to His mercy, kindness, patience, grace, forgiveness, and love. In fact, some of these attributes are so related and interwoven as to make clear demarcations between them difficult.
God's compassion compels Him to take action. He is not an impotent observer, nor is He unmoved by our sufferings and enslavement to sin. He is the omnipotent sovereign ruler of the universe ( Romans 9:14-16) and in Christ He suffers with us when we suffer ( Hebrews 4:15).
For sufferers, one of the most hope-giving promises is Christ's assurance, "I am with you" ( Matt. 28:20).
Here I expound on the details of God's love for us.
Pt. 1
GOD'S LOVE IS THE FOUNTAIN OF HIS COMPASSION, FAVOR, GRACE AND MERCY
As we go on to discuss God's compassion, favor, grace, and mercy we can see that these all flow from His divine love. There is nothing in all of creation comparable to His divine love. It is so great, deep, faithful, and true. Believers can depend on Him to love them forever with a love that is beyond any love they can ever experience among people they know.
The reason that God extends compassion, favor, grace and mercy to His elect is precisely because of His great love that nothing can separate us from, ( Romans 8: 31-39) nor will God ever withdraw His love from His elect ( Jeremiah 31:3)! So, as elect believers we can ever rejoice that He loves us, though we are sinful, because His Son won for us the remission of our sins on the cross. Hallelujah!
I don't think we can every tire of meditating on God's love for us. Nor should we ever minimize it by focusing more on God's wrath for sin and sinners. God's nature is in perfect harmony with all of His attributes. Therefore, we should learn how to hold paradoxes such as His love and wrath. Both are equally and infinitely present in God. He does not change. But when we think about the severity of His wrath, we can remind ourselves of His magnanimous unconquerable, and eternal love for us that manifests in His faithfulness, compassions, grace, mercies and favor upon us and that these will never fail.
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning:
great is thy faithfulness.
How lovely is this verse to the ears of forgiven sinners who believe the gospel and put their faith in Jesus Christ!
Day 6 Power of Pray January 6, 2025 Hebrews 11:1 KJV West Angeles Church Consecration Calendar
Me being a member at West Angeles Cogic Church Cathedral Los Angeles California
Hebrews 11 Verse 1
My interpetation
REDAPPLETREATY4MEONLY :
Getting you to believe Jesus Christ is Holy God the Father allowing your body to become like God. A reference I Peter 1:13 KJV Not to hurt people also this can come with appertain intentions.Hate and covet, Jesus Christ wants to give you thoughts of peace Jeremiah 29:11KJV. Mind and thoughts to become like God in thinking, conscience mind, making decisions.- A God that is joy. A God that allows you to listen, obey God and instructions, actions. Which a result is becoming a achiever and great achievements.
In my life a Christian( a believer) Jesus Christ is the only sacrifice for your body to have life and become like God.
Hebrews 11:1 also confirms to God's Holy Christian Church sex identity named Christians My REDAPPLETREATY4MEONLY life being man making my sex identity shown and known and my faith holy bible to be inspired and only infallible written word of God spoken by me to other men which I seen in Todays Christian Press Highlights wants to be done.Oral tradition Holiness and Pentecostal Church which confirmed by (West Angeles COGIC members manual guide) -can allow you to do and recieve supernatural responses and results to be done.Jesus Christ wants you to offer your heart to God.
Good morning GIGI! Praying for good health your way! My morning meditation. That we are known of God as we know Him and remain steadfast in that knowledge, our conversation with each other and God will grow and produce fruit.
I fully agree GiGi that this most important message of God's Wrath & relegation of unrepentant sinners to an eternal hell is quite often overlooked or avoided by the Church. Without this undeniable Character of God, there would be no point for a such a wonderful saving Gospel, effected by no one else, but God Himself in His Son. And so we get 'believers' becoming careless with sin, preferring to follow the 'holy herd' in their behaviors & endeavors & not continually subjecting themselves to self-examination & careful living ( 2 Corinthians 13:5). Thank you for those reminders, especially on the proper understanding of God's Holiness.
Thank you for your response GiGi. And to be fair, I should wait for your submission on Election, though I see that you have brought it up in your other recent posts. In any case, you shared a couple of Scriptures: Exodus 33:19 and Romans 9:18. And we could include Romans 9:15. In each of those examples, it is clear that God has the power to relegate mercy & blessings or else judgement & punishment, according to His Will. But none of those examples point to the soul's salvation; in the first instance, for accepting Moses' requests for God's Presence both with His people & to pass before his (Moses') own eyes. God approved of Moses, his position appointed to him, & Moses' uncertainty & lack of assurance of God's Work before his eyes.
In Romans 9:15,18, we read of the selection of Jacob & his descendants over Esau & his, that "the election of God might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth" (v11); i.e. through Sarah & not Hagar. And v18: where Pharoah's heart was hardened by God in the matter of the Israelites departure from Egypt. These examples serve to show that God indeed has every right to do with us according to His Purposes. But how should this be understood when referring to the sinful condition of the human heart and its need for salvation, given the Holy Character of God? Can we expect that God will apply the same conditions of Election as seen in those examples: Moses' standing before God; the descendency of His special people through Isaac & Jacob; & using a heathen ruler to accomplish His Will, when the very essence of His Offer & Provision of His Salvation through His Son is bathed in Holy Love & Mercy for all, for all have sinned?
This is because the only ones whose hearts are changed with regeneration, are drawn to Jesus for salvation, who will believe the gospel, and have faith in Jesus are those God elected and these and these alone He regenerates, causes faith to come.
Paul explains this in Romans 5
6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (In this chapter Paul is speaking to believers in Rome, not unbelievers).
And John says in 1 John 4
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
John is speaking to diaspora believers here in this Epistle and he says that Jesus came into the world to save those who became believers and this action by God manifests His love towards His elect. John wrote this . Neither Paul nor John in these letters speak to non-believers. If one is a believer, then they were elected to salvation before the creation.
I do think that this is difficult for many believers to accept and there may be some here who will differ with me on this. I welcome any correction if one uses Scriptural citations to prove what they explain about their understanding. It is a common phrase among Christians to say to "love the sinner but hate the sin." And we are to do this. But God is different from us in that Scripture is clear that He hates both sin and sinners. Yet He still chose to love those He determined to save while they were sinners because He knows the end from the beginning and sovereignly brings about all that He wills.
Thank you for reading what I have compiled here in these posts.
The next subject concerns God's Love for Sinners.
Pt. 1
GOD'S LOVE FOR SINNERS
Most believers are familiar with John 3:26:
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
But verse 18 is equally important
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
This passage says that God does love the world. He loves all of his creation and creatures He made. His loving care of creation is stated over and over in Scripture. He is gracious to sinners. The sun comes up every day upon the wicked and those of faith alike. He sends rain in season and causes the earth to produce an overabundance of crops, trees, mineral resources, and all that is used by humanity over the ages. God's blessings abound throughout the world despite its corruption corruption from sin. John 3:16 encapsulates this truth. Verse 17 goes on to say that He sent His Son into the world to save it through Him.
God will redeem creation from the corruption of humanity's sin, though the earth and the animals are not responsible for this corruption and death, rather, humanity is. So God's love in a general sense is all-pervasive. In the particular sense, verse 18 speaks of those who believe receiving eternal life but unbelievers will be condemned under God's just judgment. They remain in their sins and the guilt, curse, wrath also remains on them. Since Scriptures state that God hates sin and sinners, then in the particular sense, His saving love only extends to believers whom He elected to salvation before creation.
I intentionally began addressing God's wrath before His love, grace and mercy because of how neglected it is in most circles of conversation, how people brush it off as unimportant in order to focus on the "happier" topics of His love, grace, and mercy, and because I think it sets a good, solid stage for the discussion of His love, grace, and mercy in light of the severity and terribleness of His wrath. After taking a serious treatment of the aspect of His nature - His wrath, the topic of His love, grace, and mercy is all the more sweet when we take these under study and consideration. Gd's wrath magnifies the greatness of God's compassion towards the elect who do not deserve anything pleasant from God! Knowing of the wrath that Jesus's work delivers us from is truly Good News!
God's wrath, however, is not the main message of the gospel, it is the precursor of preaching the gospel. For who can wish to turn from their sin if they do not know of God's righteous, terrible wrath upon every sinner. Knowing that one is a sinner and under God's wrath is the very reason to believe the gospel, for it is our only hope for rescue from God's wrath and for receiving eternal life that is full of love, joy, and peace and celebration in God's Presence without sin in us any longer! The gospel cannot be understood rightly apart from knowing about God's wrath upon sinners.
The true eternal reality of heaven and hell cannot be understood without a proper understanding of God's holiness, purity, and separation from all sin, perfect justice, and righteous wrath. God's wrath magnifies His holiness and love which hangs upon His moral perfection. Similarly, the undeserved mercy of God upon those He chose to become of vessels of His grace and favor for His glory is correctly seen only in light of obtaining relief from God's wrath.
His mercy is more than the pity for the poor and needy. Without denying common grace, God's mercy expressed in the gospel is what declares the wicked righteous by means of Christ's wrath-bearing sacrifice on the cross. Paul describes the gospel as the "mercies of God" ( Romans 12:1) which he took 11 prior to chapter 12 chapters to explain that the gospel is the good news that resolves the problem for mankind of God's wrath towards sin and sinners.
In Revelation 19:1-3, the wrath of the Lamb evokes unforced endless praise in the people of God and the angels. We also should revel in the execution of God's wrath with praise and glory to God (as it does glorify Him) who has had mercy upon us. Divine love triumphed over the divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice. The cross was an act simultaneously of punishment and amnesty; severity and grace; justice and mercy.
These truths about God's wrath revealed in Scripture are just as much an aspect of God's nature as are all of His other attributes as those Jesus displayed in His earthly life such as His mercy, love, grace, and forgiveness. God has revealed these truths about His wrath to mankind. God's wrath is of terrible severity, and His love and mercy is sublimely above and beyond anything we could imagine or understand completely, being so satisfying and enjoyable.
To treat the severity and sureness of the truth of God's wrath as something not to be preached or understood, to be set aside in order to preach almost exclusively about God's love and mercy passages is to preach a deceitful and deficient Christian faith that dishonors Jesus and His work in which He took upon Himself on the cross the wrath of God we should receive in order that we can be reconciled to God and receive remittance of sins and eternal life.
God's wrath is not vindicative inflicted arbitrarily as pagans believe their gods are who need worshippers to bring sacrifices to bring the idol to do good instead of harm to those who serve these idols. Nor is God's wrath an outgrowth of an irrational will and mind. God's divine wrath is the wisest, right and righteous response of God to sin.
God's wrath is not capricious, driven by changing emotions and passions, as man is. Rather, it is a timeless stern, terrifying stance of His nature towards evil in all of its forms. His wrath is an inescapable reality toward a sin-cursed creation.
Every cemetery is a testament to God's sentence on sin in mankind. His anger and intolerance of sin is a real and it is deadly always. He is zealous for His holiness and therefore will not withstand sin in His presence. Even if He delays His justice, He will never cease to preserve the holiness and purity of His Presence.
God is not hasty in exercising His wrath. He is slow to anger ( Exodus 34:6-7). In His wisdom He determines how and when He will enact justice against sin. This slowness to exercise His anger and wrath should be a motivation towards repentance ( Joel 2:15) and never a license to engage in carefree sin and rebellion against Him. Exodus 34:7 says that He will not clear the guilty. (also see Numbers 14:18)
In the NT from the preaching of God's wrath by John the Baptist to the Wrath of the Lamb in Revelation the truth of God's just wrath pervades the books of the NT and speaks on this attribute in harmony with what the OT teaches about God's wrath. From Jesus and the apostles, salvation is presented as a rescue from God's wrath ( Mt. 3:7; Lk. 3:7; Mt. 5:22; 18:5; Mk. 9:48; Jn. 3:36; Acts 10:42). Peter says that they were commanded by Jesus to preach of God's judgment. ( Acts 2:14-36; 10:42)
Romans 4:15 explains how law-breaking invites God's wrath. Verse 9:23 describes how freely chosen sin fits sinners to be vessels of God's wrath, deserving of all He has willed this wrath to include: eternal punishment, torment, separation from God's Presence, and anguish. Revelation 6:16; 14:10 assign the execution of God's wrath, justice, and judgment to Jesus.
God has His divine wise reasons for every person He elected to salvation before creating the world as well as His divine wise reasons for choosing not to elect every human being. Accepting that God is just to exercise His wrath upon unrepentant, unbelieving sinners is truly necessary for one to deeply value and be grateful for the redemption and life He gives to those He does save.
The position of the lost before God is perilous. Those who are not in Christ are under God's righteous sentence of condemnation for their freely chosen sins. In Western culture the love of God is welcomed and the holiness of God is given inhospitable treatment by many preachers in their sermons and by many believers in their daily beliefs. Accordingly, God's wrath is not a divine attribute inherent in God's nature that is fondly received today in society at large, but sadly, even in many churches and among so many believers which is quite concerning.
However, the Scriptures affirms that God justly exercises wrath against both sin and sinners. And, He is immutable, which means that this attribute will never change. Therefore, today's preaching that avoids teaching on God's wrath is neglectful, false, and misleading to those who sit under such preaching and trains these congregants to only tolerate that which is pleasant and that soothes their "itching ears".
Those who rarely hear preaching about the reality and terribleness of God's wrath develop an attitude that the Christian faith is to be "nice", "inoffensive", and "palatable" to those we wish to share our faith with outside of the church doors.
God is perfectly just in exercising His wrath upon His enemies. Those He has elected to salvation are called His children and friends when they come to faith in Jesus. How gracious of God to reconcile His elect to Himself to where we would be called children and friends though we were clearly His enemies prior to our regeneration.
Today I am posting on the next topic to follow the previous subject.
GOD'S WRATH
Pt. 1
God's wrath is His deep hatred and judgment upon sin and sinners. It shows how offensive sin is to His nature. His wrath against sin and sinners shows that He will not let sin be passed over completely. He will deal with it His way and in executing His wrath and condemnation He is glorified. ( Romans 1:18; Colossians 3:6; John 3:36) It is his settled, unchanging response that evil and sin will not stand against His steady, unrelenting, uncompromising antagonism to evil and sin. It is in perfect harmony with all of His divine attributes, being His holy action of retributive justice towards persons whose freely chosen actions deserve eternal condemnation. He is righteous in exercising His wrath. He alone determines how it is exercised because He is sovereign over all.
The wrath of God is a deeply biblical truth. In our secular age, God's wrath is a foreign and unwanted truth. However, the wrath of God against sin and upon sinners is revealed in Scriptures consistently across both the old and new testaments. We live in a day where humans set themselves as the judge with God's character on trial concerning His exercise of His wrath. People say: "Since God is loving He cannot be wrathful" or "God is not just or fair when He exercises His wrath on sinners".
These judgment upon God's character among believers demonstrate, first of all, a lack of humility and reverence for God for all He is, and second, a misunderstanding that somehow sinners are not responsible for the sins they commit and therefore do not deserve God's wrath or that God has forced people to sin by causing their human nature to become sinful when Adam and Eve sinned. But these thoughts are not biblical and do not allow one to truly grasp and appreciate God's redemption of those He elected to show His favor, mercy, and grace to, even though they are sinners.
Pt. 4
Unmerited divine assistance given man for his regeneration or sanctification
The power and equipping for ministry- ( 2 Corinthians 9:8)
Grace is the power and action of God to make us new creations in Christ. It is God's grace that works in us to change our desire and capacity for faith and obedience. Grace enables us to endure under difficult circumstances, to be bold in the face of persecution, and to properly utilize our natural gifts and abilities and also receiving new ones the Spirit bestows on us to apply to the work God calls us to do.
It is at work in us to be more and more conformed to Jesus' example of godliness, love, obedience, and mercy. Grace is from God and it is vitally necessary for anyone to walk in the way God ordains for us to live.
Grace makes our hearts glad and joyful. Grace tells us that He freely and openly accepts us in Jesus Christ. He delights in us. He is happy to be in fellowship with us. His love for us is not obligatory. He desires us and it pleases Him to have given us grace to be reconciled to him.
When God looks at those who are in Jesus Christ, He sees beauty. It brings Him joy. He is pleased within Himself to look upon us. He sees you with eyes of grace, not in sternness or ambivalence. He is fully committed to be gracious to us, to bless us, to have His favor rest on us.
And in all this, we cannot merit His grace in any way or add to it, or repay God for it, or enhance it by our devotion to God. It is a gift without expectation by God of receiving anything from us in return. It is given to us according to His good pleasure.
We praise Him for His glorious grace. We thank Him for His graciousness towards us. We shout for joy that He graced our lives. But none of these actions caused God to give us His grace. These are our reactions to having received grace from God.
See Pt. 5
Pt.3
Graciousness is not something that God puts on and takes off.
Grace is one of the most important concepts in the Bible, Christianity, and the world. It is most clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in Scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ.
Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely, the peace of God given to the restless, the unmerited favor of God (Max Lucado)
I love that quote!
Grace is God's un-coerced initiative and pervasive, extravagant demonstrations of care and favor towards those who are objects of His wrath when He regenerates them to cause them to become objects of mercy in His own sovereign act.
Christians live every day by the grace of God. We receive forgiveness according to the riches of God's grace, and grace drives our sanctification. Paul tells us, "the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives" ( Titus 2:11). Spiritual growth doesn't happen overnight; we "grow in the grace"
Grace is what God does because he is gracious.
It does not depend on the situation. God is always gracious. Every action of God toward us involves his grace. His creation, providence, conviction of the sinner, gift of salvation, equipping of the saints, and the future He has prepared for us. All of this is due to God's grace.
Here is how grace is defined by some of the different Bible Dictionaries:
Unmerited favor, mercy, compassion
Undeserved blessing, a free gift
Gods loving mercy toward mankind
Favor, graciousness, kindness, beauty, pleasantness
God's disposition to exercise goodwill toward His creatures
Synonymous with the gospel of God's gift of unmerited salvation in Jesus Christ
the one who receives it and in spite of what that same person deserves
Undeserved acceptance and love received from another, especially the characteristic attitude of God in salving us
cont. in Pt. 4
Pt. 2
The only way any of us can enter into a relationship with God is because of His grace toward us. Beginning in Eden when Adam and Eve sinned God restored them to fellowship with Him by His free grace. He could have killed the first humans right then for their disobedience. But rather than destroy them, He chose to make a way for them to be right with Him.
God is the instigator of grace, and it is from Him that all other aspects of grace flows.
God extends grace to those He elected while we all were His enemies ( Romans 5:10) by regeneration wrought by the Spirit.
He gives us forgiveness ( Hebrews 8:12; Ephesians 1:7), reconciliation ( Colossians 1:19-20), abundant life ( John 10:10), eternal treasure ( Luke 12:33), His Holy Spirit ( Luke 11:13), and a place in heaven with Him some day ( John 3:16-18) when we are called by the gospel and its offer and place our faith in Jesus and His work on our behalf.
Grace is God giving the greatest treasure to the least deserving-which is every one of us whom He has brought to faith and placed us in Christ. This redemption is forever and the greatest treasure is Christ Himself.
"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." ( Hebrews 4:16)
"But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." ( James 4:6)
We find the term "grace" throughout the Bible as a gift and action of God. But what is God's grace, and how does it relate to us?
We experience God's grace because God is gracious. In Exodus 34:6, when God shows himself to Moses, we read, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." Gracious is used here as an adjective describing God. It is one of His attributes, describing who He is.
GOD'S GRACE IS FREELY GIVEN, UNEARNED FAVOR WITH GOD
IT IS RECEIVING WHAT WE DO NOT DESERVE
IT IS GOD'S BLESSINGS IN THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT
What is the grace of God? Simply put it is God's favor and kindness toward us. Grace is God choosing to bless us rather than curse us as our sin deserves. It is His benevolence to the undeserving.
But it also exerts God's power in our life to bring about all that is needed for us to be saved: regeneration, repentance, faith, and trust in God in Jesus. And in Titus 2:11-13 we read that God's grace empowers us to say yes to what is right and no to what is sinful. It enables us to live godly lives in a wicked world.
The Holy Spirit uses grace to sanctify us unto God and to transform us to be more and more like our Lord and Savior. And it provides us with a sure and blessed hope of the appearing of Jesus, the great God and Savior. Without grace, we would give up on this hope. But God graces us with hope that does not fail.
God rains down grace on all mankind. He gave us the beauty and wonders of nature that we see each and every day. He gives us near misses when accidents are heading our way. He often brings us the right thing just in time. And He also gave us an innate conscience to know right from wrong. All these things are common graces, and everyone born on the earth has the benefit of them because God so loved the world.
Just being born on this planet includes many benefits. But when someone becomes a believer in Christ, that person receives even more graceful benefits from God reserved only for God's elect. In fact, believers are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm because we are united with Christ.
"We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are" ( Acts 15:11).
Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves."
See Pt. 2
Pt.2
Exodus 33:19 says "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
Through God's favor a seed of faith is planted in your heart. As it sprouts, matures and grows in your heart, it should then be overtaken by a desire to be continually growing, continually pleasing God and continually gaining in God's favor.
This is what it means to be in pursuit of God.
His favor grants you access and provides the transformative power to be a new creation in Christ. It is, in fact, a transformation towards Christ-likeness.
Our faith is crucial for receiving God's favor. A key aspect of faith is that it allows us to receive God's grace and favor freely, not because of our own works or efforts.
Ephesians 2:8-9 declares, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast."
As Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
This is not to say that it is our faith that earns God's favor, rather, it is often the means through which God causes His favor to flow to us. He chose to have favor upon us out of His goodness and eternal plan, but He brings us His favor at the time in our life when He determines it is best and will accomplish the most good.
Abraham was called by God before He believed. Moses was called by God before He knew Him. Paul was transformed by God while he was persecuting Jesus and His church. But, by God's choice, He favored all of these men in order to bring them to faith, salvation, and glory and to work out his plan in history during their lifetimes.
Pt. 2
God is said to have favor on Noah and Abraham. Moses, and Israel in the OT. He did so in order to use these people to serve Him and accomplish His will in history in unique ways. He delighted in them because He had chosen them to be favored. I think it is important that we do need to often remind ourselves that our blessed standing before God as His child is not because of anything we have done or decided, but because it pleased God to show His favor upon us, to select us, even before He created anything.
That is a very profound thought. God knew He would bless us with His favor because He chose us to the praise of His glory aforehand! The Scriptures often say that so-and-so found favor in God's sight. But the reality is that the person found out that God placed His favor upon them, not that they earned it in any way.
Those who are favored of God know that God is with them and that nothing can happen to them apart from His good purpose ( Romans 8:28). When we have the favor of the Lord, we rest in quiet confidence that our sins are forgiven ( Romans 4:7), we are within the plan of God ( Psalm 86:11), and that He is there for us at all times ( Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 28:20).
When someone has the favor of God upon their life, it means they carry an endorsement from heaven. God smiles upon them and approves of their pursuits and destinies.
Psalms 5:12 says "Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield." The only righteous people are those who have Christ's righteousness imputed onto them.
His goodness, compassion and lovingkindness
To have the Lord's favor means that the Lord is in accord with an individual and has shown gracious kindness towards them. When we think of someone who has the favor of God, we think of someone in whose life we see tangible evidence of God's approval.
See Pt. 3
Glad you are here with us and looking forward to reading your posts.
I. too, love the cold and snow as long as I do not need to drive anywhere. We usually get some snow each year here in the Puget Sound Region. Some years we get over a foot and that usually leads to lots of troubles with snow melting and refreezing on roads. I remember growing up being able to go out on the frozen lake a few blocks from my home with friends and visiting other friends we knew who live around the lake by crossing it or going along the ice at the shore from home to home. Sme people ice skated on the lake. Back then, we would usually have a few weeks of really cold temperature straight and the lake surface would be frozen to 6-8 inches. That hasn't been the case here for some time. It seems our region is in a warming period. It will cycle back to colder winters again, I am sure, but maybe not while I am still alive here. The memories of these cold times are really pleasant to consider.
I will continue to pray for those in this storm's alley.
Then in Genesis 2:4, after the 'generations of the heavens and of the earth were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens', God had seen fit to expand on certain aspects of those six days of creation in Genesis 1 (and specifically about how His Work of creating these perfect human beings came to be). Man was first formed from Earth's dust (v7) & then Woman was then formed from man's body; that they are not just two separate creations, but really two separate humans who are vitally & intrinsically connected to each other, causing them to have an abiding, loving & meaningful relationship, as they could have with no other creature.
So, I believe that these two chapters (on the creation of man & woman) are not two separate acts of creation by God, but only One. That the second chapter amplifies what God created on the sixth day, which then leads us into the following chapters of Genesis & the rest of the Bible on the lives of men & women and God's dealing with them, even until the end of time as we know it.
We're praying for safe roads to travel on but for the most part I enjoy the cold weather.
We're not getting snow but the roads may have ice on them which I worry about.
Just got done feeding my grandbaby, Rose. she is going on strike to be spoon fed any purees right now. So we are dipping strips of toast in the puree and she will eat it then. She somehow learned to shake her head (I think) to say "no". How do such young ones learn that body language when not taught? She also has decided she needs to smell the food before putting in her mouth. We did not teach her that either. So curious what is acquired almost innately. She likes to watch football with Grandpa and have me play with her on the floor. We are really enjoying being with her every day!
GOD'S FAVOR IS UPON HIS PEOPLE WHOM HE CHOSE, NOT BECAUSE THEY CHOSE HIM
If you've read even a little of the Bible, you have probably crossed a passage or two where it talked about someone having God's favor or otherwise seeking it.
God's favor is God's grace and goodness being actively displayed in one's circumstances. It can produce an anointing, such as for a prophet, or a special guidance, as with Moses or Abraham as they travelled in the way God led them, or it can involve miraculous occurrences that bring about a good end, such as with the Israelites when they left Egypt or parting the Red Sea, or the provision of leadership, authority, and honor as with Joseph in Egypt. Joseph found favor with Potiphar and was placed in charge of Potiphar's household. The Lord was with Joseph and blessed everything he did ( Genesis 39:2-6). In Exodus 3:21, God promised to give the Israelites favor with the Egyptians so they would give them silver, gold and clothing as they left Egypt.
From reading the OT we can know that God chose the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be the people He would shed His favor upon. It was not because they were so great in number among the other nations, nor was it because of their righteousness, or because of their steadfastness in their faith in Him or their superiority to those of other nations. It was solely due to God's sovereign choice. ( Dt. 7:6-8). He could have chosen any other people or nation if He had determined before creation to use this other nation to fulfill His plan. But, before creation He had determined that the eternal, divine Son would be incarnated through Mary of the Jews. Therefore, God chose Israel as His favored people, because from them, the Messiah would be born and live and die to save those God chose to save from pre-creation.
See Pt. 2
Pt. 3
In Luke 7:11-15, we hear of His compassion for the widowed who were especially vulnerable; therefore, He resurrected the widow's son and gave him back to her. In the case of Lazarus, Christ's compassion was so strong that He wept ( John 11). When Jesus arrived graveside, He raised Lazarus from the dead and gave him back to his grieving relatives. No doubt Jesus Himself rejoiced greatly over the return of His friend.
The pinnacle of Christ's compassion can be observed at the cross of Calvary where He lay down His life for the sins of the world ( John 3:16).
He not only showed concern for the suffering of people, He suffered for them and He took their suffering upon Himself to relieve them of their suffering for their own sins. Those who are drawn to put their faith in Jesus are born again spiritually and receive the Holy Spirit. We are made new creations in Christ ( 2 Corinthians 5:17). This enables us to love God and our neighbors.
Pt. 2
According to God's Word, Jesus isn't only with us; He's unremittingly for us ( Ps. 56:9; Rom. 8:31). His presence is always a favorable, advocating, affectionate embrace of us. ( Rom. 5:8; 1 John 2:1) We are wrapped in His Presence-even after we sin because He always intercedes for us to the Father.
Our Savior refuses to sit back and watch us suffer alone. God the Son became fully human and always will identify, suffer, and walk with His people while saving us, forever binding himself to us intimately. God has not left us alone in our suffering. Jesus suffered for us; we have a God who loves us with empathy. And, the Holy Spirit suffers along with us, groaning as He intercedes for us with the Father (8:26-27).
Compassion causes one to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears.
Compassion moves one to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless.
Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human. And this is true of God incarnated, the Word, Son of the Father, enfleshed (John1:14) He did all these things in His divinity and humanity and continues to fully identify with, is pained with our suffering and misery. He became sin for us and thus knew the condemnation of sin on the cross.
And thus, Jesus is the Father's most compassionate gift to mankind. It is only by and through faith in Jesus Christ that we are forgiven of our guilt and rescued from our deplorable condition ( John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
The compassion of Christ can be clearly seen in the Gospel narratives. For example, in Matthew 9:36, we observe Christ's compassion for the harassed and helpless. In Matthew 14:14, we see His compassion for those who are sick and suffer disease. In Matthew 15:32, we witness His compassion for those who hunger.
See Pt. 3
How lovely is this verse in Lamentations to the ears of forgiven sinners who believe the gospel and put their faith in Jesus Christ!
GOD'S COMPASSION
Pt. 1
Compassion is deep empathy towards those in need. It is concern, sympathy and pity for the suffering of others and a desire to alleviate their suffering.
Compassion is being moved in the affections of our inner being when we see the distress of others, coupled with a subsequent outer movement of action in which we seek to alleviate that distress out of love for God and love for neighbor.
The most important object this word is used to describe is God Himself. God is the root and foundation, the spring and fountainhead, of all true compassion ( 1 John 4:16). God's compassion is extolled throughout the Bible. Below are two particularly pertinent passages.
"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" ( Micah 7:18-19).
God's compassion is related to His mercy, kindness, patience, grace, forgiveness, and love. In fact, some of these attributes are so related and interwoven as to make clear demarcations between them difficult.
God's compassion compels Him to take action. He is not an impotent observer, nor is He unmoved by our sufferings and enslavement to sin. He is the omnipotent sovereign ruler of the universe ( Romans 9:14-16) and in Christ He suffers with us when we suffer ( Hebrews 4:15).
For sufferers, one of the most hope-giving promises is Christ's assurance, "I am with you" ( Matt. 28:20).
See Pt. 2
Pt. 1
GOD'S LOVE IS THE FOUNTAIN OF HIS COMPASSION, FAVOR, GRACE AND MERCY
As we go on to discuss God's compassion, favor, grace, and mercy we can see that these all flow from His divine love. There is nothing in all of creation comparable to His divine love. It is so great, deep, faithful, and true. Believers can depend on Him to love them forever with a love that is beyond any love they can ever experience among people they know.
The reason that God extends compassion, favor, grace and mercy to His elect is precisely because of His great love that nothing can separate us from, ( Romans 8: 31-39) nor will God ever withdraw His love from His elect ( Jeremiah 31:3)! So, as elect believers we can ever rejoice that He loves us, though we are sinful, because His Son won for us the remission of our sins on the cross. Hallelujah!
I don't think we can every tire of meditating on God's love for us. Nor should we ever minimize it by focusing more on God's wrath for sin and sinners. God's nature is in perfect harmony with all of His attributes. Therefore, we should learn how to hold paradoxes such as His love and wrath. Both are equally and infinitely present in God. He does not change. But when we think about the severity of His wrath, we can remind ourselves of His magnanimous unconquerable, and eternal love for us that manifests in His faithfulness, compassions, grace, mercies and favor upon us and that these will never fail.
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning:
great is thy faithfulness.
How lovely is this verse to the ears of forgiven sinners who believe the gospel and put their faith in Jesus Christ!
See Pt. 1
Me being a member at West Angeles Cogic Church Cathedral Los Angeles California
Hebrews 11 Verse 1
My interpetation
REDAPPLETREATY4MEONLY :
Getting you to believe Jesus Christ is Holy God the Father allowing your body to become like God. A reference I Peter 1:13 KJV Not to hurt people also this can come with appertain intentions.Hate and covet, Jesus Christ wants to give you thoughts of peace Jeremiah 29:11KJV. Mind and thoughts to become like God in thinking, conscience mind, making decisions.- A God that is joy. A God that allows you to listen, obey God and instructions, actions. Which a result is becoming a achiever and great achievements.
In my life a Christian( a believer) Jesus Christ is the only sacrifice for your body to have life and become like God.
Hebrews 11:1 also confirms to God's Holy Christian Church sex identity named Christians My REDAPPLETREATY4MEONLY life being man making my sex identity shown and known and my faith holy bible to be inspired and only infallible written word of God spoken by me to other men which I seen in Todays Christian Press Highlights wants to be done.Oral tradition Holiness and Pentecostal Church which confirmed by (West Angeles COGIC members manual guide) -can allow you to do and recieve supernatural responses and results to be done.Jesus Christ wants you to offer your heart to God.
Word Spoken and Written by REDAPPLETREATY4MEONLY
Thank you!
Carleton
In Romans 9:15,18, we read of the selection of Jacob & his descendants over Esau & his, that "the election of God might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth" (v11); i.e. through Sarah & not Hagar. And v18: where Pharoah's heart was hardened by God in the matter of the Israelites departure from Egypt. These examples serve to show that God indeed has every right to do with us according to His Purposes. But how should this be understood when referring to the sinful condition of the human heart and its need for salvation, given the Holy Character of God? Can we expect that God will apply the same conditions of Election as seen in those examples: Moses' standing before God; the descendency of His special people through Isaac & Jacob; & using a heathen ruler to accomplish His Will, when the very essence of His Offer & Provision of His Salvation through His Son is bathed in Holy Love & Mercy for all, for all have sinned?
Pt. 2
This is because the only ones whose hearts are changed with regeneration, are drawn to Jesus for salvation, who will believe the gospel, and have faith in Jesus are those God elected and these and these alone He regenerates, causes faith to come.
Paul explains this in Romans 5
6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (In this chapter Paul is speaking to believers in Rome, not unbelievers).
And John says in 1 John 4
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
John is speaking to diaspora believers here in this Epistle and he says that Jesus came into the world to save those who became believers and this action by God manifests His love towards His elect. John wrote this . Neither Paul nor John in these letters speak to non-believers. If one is a believer, then they were elected to salvation before the creation.
I do think that this is difficult for many believers to accept and there may be some here who will differ with me on this. I welcome any correction if one uses Scriptural citations to prove what they explain about their understanding. It is a common phrase among Christians to say to "love the sinner but hate the sin." And we are to do this. But God is different from us in that Scripture is clear that He hates both sin and sinners. Yet He still chose to love those He determined to save while they were sinners because He knows the end from the beginning and sovereignly brings about all that He wills.
The next subject concerns God's Love for Sinners.
Pt. 1
GOD'S LOVE FOR SINNERS
Most believers are familiar with John 3:26:
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
But verse 18 is equally important
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
This passage says that God does love the world. He loves all of his creation and creatures He made. His loving care of creation is stated over and over in Scripture. He is gracious to sinners. The sun comes up every day upon the wicked and those of faith alike. He sends rain in season and causes the earth to produce an overabundance of crops, trees, mineral resources, and all that is used by humanity over the ages. God's blessings abound throughout the world despite its corruption corruption from sin. John 3:16 encapsulates this truth. Verse 17 goes on to say that He sent His Son into the world to save it through Him.
God will redeem creation from the corruption of humanity's sin, though the earth and the animals are not responsible for this corruption and death, rather, humanity is. So God's love in a general sense is all-pervasive. In the particular sense, verse 18 speaks of those who believe receiving eternal life but unbelievers will be condemned under God's just judgment. They remain in their sins and the guilt, curse, wrath also remains on them. Since Scriptures state that God hates sin and sinners, then in the particular sense, His saving love only extends to believers whom He elected to salvation before creation.
See Pt. 2
Pt. 2
I intentionally began addressing God's wrath before His love, grace and mercy because of how neglected it is in most circles of conversation, how people brush it off as unimportant in order to focus on the "happier" topics of His love, grace, and mercy, and because I think it sets a good, solid stage for the discussion of His love, grace, and mercy in light of the severity and terribleness of His wrath. After taking a serious treatment of the aspect of His nature - His wrath, the topic of His love, grace, and mercy is all the more sweet when we take these under study and consideration. Gd's wrath magnifies the greatness of God's compassion towards the elect who do not deserve anything pleasant from God! Knowing of the wrath that Jesus's work delivers us from is truly Good News!
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Pt. 1
THE WRATH OF GOD AND THE GOSPEL
God's wrath, however, is not the main message of the gospel, it is the precursor of preaching the gospel. For who can wish to turn from their sin if they do not know of God's righteous, terrible wrath upon every sinner. Knowing that one is a sinner and under God's wrath is the very reason to believe the gospel, for it is our only hope for rescue from God's wrath and for receiving eternal life that is full of love, joy, and peace and celebration in God's Presence without sin in us any longer! The gospel cannot be understood rightly apart from knowing about God's wrath upon sinners.
The true eternal reality of heaven and hell cannot be understood without a proper understanding of God's holiness, purity, and separation from all sin, perfect justice, and righteous wrath. God's wrath magnifies His holiness and love which hangs upon His moral perfection. Similarly, the undeserved mercy of God upon those He chose to become of vessels of His grace and favor for His glory is correctly seen only in light of obtaining relief from God's wrath.
His mercy is more than the pity for the poor and needy. Without denying common grace, God's mercy expressed in the gospel is what declares the wicked righteous by means of Christ's wrath-bearing sacrifice on the cross. Paul describes the gospel as the "mercies of God" ( Romans 12:1) which he took 11 prior to chapter 12 chapters to explain that the gospel is the good news that resolves the problem for mankind of God's wrath towards sin and sinners.
In Revelation 19:1-3, the wrath of the Lamb evokes unforced endless praise in the people of God and the angels. We also should revel in the execution of God's wrath with praise and glory to God (as it does glorify Him) who has had mercy upon us. Divine love triumphed over the divine wrath by divine self-sacrifice. The cross was an act simultaneously of punishment and amnesty; severity and grace; justice and mercy.
See Pt. 2
Pt. 4
These truths about God's wrath revealed in Scripture are just as much an aspect of God's nature as are all of His other attributes as those Jesus displayed in His earthly life such as His mercy, love, grace, and forgiveness. God has revealed these truths about His wrath to mankind. God's wrath is of terrible severity, and His love and mercy is sublimely above and beyond anything we could imagine or understand completely, being so satisfying and enjoyable.
To treat the severity and sureness of the truth of God's wrath as something not to be preached or understood, to be set aside in order to preach almost exclusively about God's love and mercy passages is to preach a deceitful and deficient Christian faith that dishonors Jesus and His work in which He took upon Himself on the cross the wrath of God we should receive in order that we can be reconciled to God and receive remittance of sins and eternal life.
God's wrath is not vindicative inflicted arbitrarily as pagans believe their gods are who need worshippers to bring sacrifices to bring the idol to do good instead of harm to those who serve these idols. Nor is God's wrath an outgrowth of an irrational will and mind. God's divine wrath is the wisest, right and righteous response of God to sin.
Pt. 3
God's wrath is not capricious, driven by changing emotions and passions, as man is. Rather, it is a timeless stern, terrifying stance of His nature towards evil in all of its forms. His wrath is an inescapable reality toward a sin-cursed creation.
Every cemetery is a testament to God's sentence on sin in mankind. His anger and intolerance of sin is a real and it is deadly always. He is zealous for His holiness and therefore will not withstand sin in His presence. Even if He delays His justice, He will never cease to preserve the holiness and purity of His Presence.
God is not hasty in exercising His wrath. He is slow to anger ( Exodus 34:6-7). In His wisdom He determines how and when He will enact justice against sin. This slowness to exercise His anger and wrath should be a motivation towards repentance ( Joel 2:15) and never a license to engage in carefree sin and rebellion against Him. Exodus 34:7 says that He will not clear the guilty. (also see Numbers 14:18)
In the NT from the preaching of God's wrath by John the Baptist to the Wrath of the Lamb in Revelation the truth of God's just wrath pervades the books of the NT and speaks on this attribute in harmony with what the OT teaches about God's wrath. From Jesus and the apostles, salvation is presented as a rescue from God's wrath ( Mt. 3:7; Lk. 3:7; Mt. 5:22; 18:5; Mk. 9:48; Jn. 3:36; Acts 10:42). Peter says that they were commanded by Jesus to preach of God's judgment. ( Acts 2:14-36; 10:42)
Romans 4:15 explains how law-breaking invites God's wrath. Verse 9:23 describes how freely chosen sin fits sinners to be vessels of God's wrath, deserving of all He has willed this wrath to include: eternal punishment, torment, separation from God's Presence, and anguish. Revelation 6:16; 14:10 assign the execution of God's wrath, justice, and judgment to Jesus.
See Pt. 4
Pt. 2
God has His divine wise reasons for every person He elected to salvation before creating the world as well as His divine wise reasons for choosing not to elect every human being. Accepting that God is just to exercise His wrath upon unrepentant, unbelieving sinners is truly necessary for one to deeply value and be grateful for the redemption and life He gives to those He does save.
The position of the lost before God is perilous. Those who are not in Christ are under God's righteous sentence of condemnation for their freely chosen sins. In Western culture the love of God is welcomed and the holiness of God is given inhospitable treatment by many preachers in their sermons and by many believers in their daily beliefs. Accordingly, God's wrath is not a divine attribute inherent in God's nature that is fondly received today in society at large, but sadly, even in many churches and among so many believers which is quite concerning.
However, the Scriptures affirms that God justly exercises wrath against both sin and sinners. And, He is immutable, which means that this attribute will never change. Therefore, today's preaching that avoids teaching on God's wrath is neglectful, false, and misleading to those who sit under such preaching and trains these congregants to only tolerate that which is pleasant and that soothes their "itching ears".
Those who rarely hear preaching about the reality and terribleness of God's wrath develop an attitude that the Christian faith is to be "nice", "inoffensive", and "palatable" to those we wish to share our faith with outside of the church doors.
God is perfectly just in exercising His wrath upon His enemies. Those He has elected to salvation are called His children and friends when they come to faith in Jesus. How gracious of God to reconcile His elect to Himself to where we would be called children and friends though we were clearly His enemies prior to our regeneration.
See Pt. 3
GOD'S WRATH
Pt. 1
God's wrath is His deep hatred and judgment upon sin and sinners. It shows how offensive sin is to His nature. His wrath against sin and sinners shows that He will not let sin be passed over completely. He will deal with it His way and in executing His wrath and condemnation He is glorified. ( Romans 1:18; Colossians 3:6; John 3:36) It is his settled, unchanging response that evil and sin will not stand against His steady, unrelenting, uncompromising antagonism to evil and sin. It is in perfect harmony with all of His divine attributes, being His holy action of retributive justice towards persons whose freely chosen actions deserve eternal condemnation. He is righteous in exercising His wrath. He alone determines how it is exercised because He is sovereign over all.
The wrath of God is a deeply biblical truth. In our secular age, God's wrath is a foreign and unwanted truth. However, the wrath of God against sin and upon sinners is revealed in Scriptures consistently across both the old and new testaments. We live in a day where humans set themselves as the judge with God's character on trial concerning His exercise of His wrath. People say: "Since God is loving He cannot be wrathful" or "God is not just or fair when He exercises His wrath on sinners".
These judgment upon God's character among believers demonstrate, first of all, a lack of humility and reverence for God for all He is, and second, a misunderstanding that somehow sinners are not responsible for the sins they commit and therefore do not deserve God's wrath or that God has forced people to sin by causing their human nature to become sinful when Adam and Eve sinned. But these thoughts are not biblical and do not allow one to truly grasp and appreciate God's redemption of those He elected to show His favor, mercy, and grace to, even though they are sinners.
See Pt. 2