Search ME O God!
WHOSE sins does God want you to focus on and judge? Does He want you to direct your attention to the sins of others, or your own?
“For if we would judge OURSELVES, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.” 1 Corinthians 11:31-32
“Create in MEEEEEE a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within ME.” Psalms 51:10
Search Who?
WHO did David cry out to God to “search”?
“Search ME, O God, and know MY heart: try ME, and know MY thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in ME, and lead ME in the way everlasting.” Psalms 139:23-24
“BOWELS OF MERCIES”
“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Colossians 3:12-14
Are YOU forgiving OR do you forgive? In other words, if you are walking in God’s Word, then you are of the loving disposition of your Master Jesus who “is love” (1 John 4:7-8, 16). You abide intimate with He who “is love” and therefore you forgive with ease or are not even offended in the first place (1 Corinthians 13:5). If you are not walking in the love of God – walking in the Spirit – then you have to work hard at forgiving others and will stumble and strive and struggle until there is complete – no turning back – surrender to the One who bled to forgive all of YOUR many sins and wickedness and rebellion. God wants you and I to get a clue precious saints!
Is God forgiving or did He lie to us?
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:8-10
Note that God says “If we confess OUR (own) sins…..” not those of others, amen.
If we want God to be merciful to us, He requires that our attitudes be that of mercy and restoration toward others (Matthew 6:12; 18:21-35; James 2:13). Luke 15 is a chapter in God’s Word that is completely dedicated to revealing the restorative heart of God. Study it. Learn of Him, and rejoice!
As I read the beautiful words of the Old Testament Scriptures, I am continually reminded at how very merciful God was to His people! See Isaiah 60:10.
Did God make provision through the blood shed by His only begotten Son for the forgiveness of all our sins if we come afresh to Him in repentance and confession? (1 John 1:9; 2:1-2) Does that blood cleanse our sins alone or all who are Christ’s and stay or abide in fellowship with Him? Are not all of His children invited by Him to “come boldly (with full confidence) before the throne of grace” to receive afresh of His mercy and grace? (Hebrews 4:14-16)
There IS a fountain filled with the precious blood of Jesus!
If we hinder in any way someone from coming to Him afresh, we are scattering abroad and acting as agents of Satan himself who is the accuser of the brethren! (Matthew 12:30; Revelation 12:10-12)
Carol Burke notes regarding 1 John 1:9…
“1:9 ‘If we confess our sins.’ God’s forgiveness is given as soon as we admit our need of it, not on the basis of any acts we have done to earn it, but solely because of His grace. The free gift of forgiveness carries with it purification from unrighteousness. God accepts us as righteous because He imputes to us the righteousness of Christ. That is, the very righteousness of Christ our sin-bearer is reckoned to our account.”
Is it not a full-time job keeping our own sinful nature crucified? If so, then how is it that some have so much time and energy to have judgmental attitudes and words toward others? Is it time we get a clue as to our own utter depravity of heart and need for Christ’s present grace and mercy?
“For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” Psalms 86:5
“But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” Psalms 86:15
We must seek to “RESTORE” others “in the spirit meekness” and really cannot be used to do such until we get the logs out of our own eyes according to Galatians 6:1-2. Being used by God to “restore” the fallen is reserved for those who are “spiritual” or spiritually mature according to Galatians 6:1-2. Why? Because they are fully aware of their own utter, present, and perpetual need for the mercy of God.
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore (not condemn) such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. 2 Bear ye one another’s burdens (by helping them overcome sin), and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” Galatians 6:1-3
Do our lives testify “Hey, look how great I am”? Or, are our lives saying “Hey, look at how very great God is and how much mercy He has shown my wretched soul. He will abundantly pardon you also if you will come to Him”?
“Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7
Question: If God chooses to “abundantly pardon” those who come to Him on His terms, falling afresh upon His blessed mercy, then why don’t we do the same in our attitudes?
Answer: Wicked, evil hearts!
Correction, rebuke and admonition is to be for the purpose of restoring fallen believers to their relationship with the LORD, amen?
“Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head.” Psalms 141:5
David’s prayer recorded in Psalm 141:5 is a prayer that reveals authenticity. Am I being honest with the LORD? (Proverbs 28:13) Have I asked the LORD to use godly men to correct my errors, faults, sins, my foolishness?
ALL sense of SELF-righteousness must be removed from our hearts in order for God to call us mature and be able to use us to restore others. See Galatians 6:1-2.
Sinners are to be invited to receive God’s mercy by repenting and putting their faith in Christ, the only Savior. I love Revelation 22:17 which tells us that the true remnant Bride of Christ is saying to those outside His camp to “The Spirit and the bride say Come …. take of the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). We are to personally testify to the goodness of God and how He has so mercifully dealt with us and how He will do the same to all who “Come” to Him! Glory! Matthew 11:28-30
“If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” Psalms 130:3
If we will concentrate on our own need for God – today – He will fill us with His righteousness and love and use us to help guide others to Him – both backsliders and the heathen.
The LORD rebukes those who are His whom He loves (Hebrews 12:5-11). As we allow Him to rebuke us, He will then mature us and use us to bring correction to those other souls He so deeply loves, and the message will come from a heart of compassion and not the “wrath of (mere) man” which “worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). The most Holy Spirit-anointed rebukes come from the heart of the disciple that is giving his life over to the LORD today and in whom the LORD is doing a deeper work. That true disciple is receiving the change and rebuke that the LORD, our Potter, desires in our own lives.
All who are truly the LORD’s remnant are purging themselves of the vanity of self-righteousness as they are becoming more and more a vessel unto honor, meet or fit to be a tool for the Master’s use (2 Timothy 2:20-21).
If we don’t realize just how merciful God is by reading how He dealt with His people Israel, we have no clue yet. If we are not honest-hearted people and/or are unlearned and gullible, we have no clue as to just how unholy, wretched, corrupted, and desperately wicked we ourselves have been (Genesis 6:5, 12; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:23; 6:23; Ephesians 2:3; 4:22, etc.).
To God, getting our own life/heart right with Him is more important than rebuking false teachers. Please know that this disciple knows what God states about marking false prophets and that it’s a mandate for us to do (Romans 16:17-18; Philippians 1:17; Jude 3, etc.). Yet, the LORD’s primary concern or primary duty He wishes us to steward, is for our own hearts (Matthew 7:1-5). As He works in us, He can then work through us (2 Corinthians 4:10-12).
NO ONE is anything but unrighteous/sinful outside of Christ (Isaiah 64:6; John 15:5; Romans 7:18). Beware of those who act self-righteously (Philippians 3:9). It’s a religious scam and the vilest of sinners, cloaked in religious titles and garb are guilty (read Matthew 23). Jesus says the crack whores will go to Heaven before the self-righteous. Read Matthew 21:31. God grant us to repent and to get a clue! Read what Christ said of the religious imposters of His day and who are plentiful today. He called them “hypocrites” and that means actors (Matthew 23). Acting righteous outwardly is not pleasing to our God according to Jesus especially if it’s not emanating out of an abiding worshipful relationship with Him. God always works from the inside out (Matthew 23). Jesus made it clear that He is not pleased when we clean the outside of the cup and yet have not sought Him to clean the inside (Matthew 23). He desires truth in the inward parts and that begins with being honest about our true state and infinite need for Him – His saving mercy and grace (Psalms 51:6).
What does Romans 2:1-7 say? It seems to indicate that those who harshly judge the sins of others have the same sinful seeds and perhaps acts of sin in their own hearts and lives.
I Die Daily: Get This Book and Learn to Die so He can Reign.
I refuse to act a part or, in other words, be a hypocrite. I refuse to feign to be sinless perfection or to falsify the notion that I don’t need the grace, love, and saving mercy of my Savior today! I refuse to be found “having MINE own righteousness” lest I be found as an antichrist liar in that Day. See Philippians 3:9 and Matthew 21:31.
Jesus was most harsh towards the religious leaders. Nothing has changed. His condemnation looms over all self-righteous religious souls. Are you one of them? The vilest of sinners are religionists who live out of self-righteous hearts. To the SELF-righteous today, the LORD says that the crack whores and rank sinners will go to His Heaven before they will. In other words, they have no possibility of being eternally saved and are as lost as one can be. See Matthew 21:31.
How can you condemn others of murder when you yourself have a heart full of hate? God sees it! How can you lust after another person sexually in your own heart and then condemn the man or woman in the mug shot who molested a child? Why is their sin any more vile in the eyes of a holy God than are your own sins of the heart?
“Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? … 8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: 9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” James 2:4, 8-13
One of the vilest sinners of Christ’s day was freely forgiven by the only LORD and Savior in his final moments in this earthly life (Luke 23). Do you have a problem with that? If you do, it’s because you simply do not have a clue as to what God, who is “Holy, holy, holy” says concerning your own depravity in His eyes. Did Jesus not come “to seek and save that which was lost”? (Luke 19:10) Did not Christ Jesus come into the world to SAVE sinners like you and I? (1 Timothy 1:15) That doesn’t mean we can die in sin and still be with Him (Romans 6:1-2, 15, etc.).
In the finality of things, there are going to be grossly, publicly sinful people, like the thief on the cross, who are in Heaven and so-called “Spirit-filled” people in the lake of fire who trusted in their own righteousness and condemned others in their hearts. God sees our hearts and every thought and intent of them (1 Samuel 16:7; Hebrews 4:13).
Self-Righteousness Condemned
Two Men Prayed – Only One Was Justified
“And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14
Friend, I have no idea what your struggles are. We do know the One who can subdue our sinful bents and bring full and complete deliverance and His holiness into our lives! It’s a full time job keeping my own heart and mind in order with Jesus. We should have no time to micro manage anyone else. The LORD saved them and that’s God’s work, not ours. Pray for them as He has instructed us to do. Why would we have any curiosity about another’s struggles or sins? Is that not called “an evil eye”? (Mark 7:22; Luke 11:34)
We ALL have sins in our past that we are ashamed of, but we are now washed by the exact same blood. Your past sins are gone forever and they are no less vile than are my past sins or anyone else’s! Now, go search out every single Bible verse on God’s mercy and forgiveness to His beloved people.
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Articles
The Gracious LORD will Abundantly Pardon [podcast]
“Abundantly Pardon”
“Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:6-7
The repentant thief on the cross next to Jesus called Him “Lord” and simply asked, believed on Christ. Where is he now? “paradise” …
“Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 42 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:41-42
God’s pardon is paramount to being in paradise with Him and His saints. When we cry out to Him, the LORD will freely forgive us. That’s why He came and what He desires to do. Yet we must never forget that we shall reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7-8). If we choose to sin, there will be dire consequences and while we can be forgiven, those results must be reaped.
How many people does God desire to perish? Not one (2 Peter 3:9).
Matthew 5:3, 6, 8
“Jeremiah’s message was never meant to leave the heart in despair. Every warning from God carried an invitation to return. The Lord does not expose empty religion to shame His people, but to heal them. Repentance is not the loss of hope, it is the beginning of hope. Christ still receives every soul that comes with humility, and He gives living faith where there was only habit, peace where there was only fear, and joy where there was only emptiness. The call remains the same today, to draw near to Him with a sincere heart, trusting that His mercy is always greater than our weakness.” Dan Blincoe
“But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:6-10
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;” Acts 3:19
“Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?” Joel 2:12-14
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2 Corinthians 13:5
YOUR PRAYER TO GOD: Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, please break me! Please crush me dear LORD. YOU are my Potter. Pour the water of Your Holy Spirit and Word upon this life You made and saved for Your glory, not mine. I love You Jesus! Let this heart be broken, contrite, and let tears flow from a poor and pure heart that hungers and thirsts after Your righteousness. In the name of my LORD Jesus, amen.
“God has a multitude of mercy (Psalm 5:7), is “plenteous in mercy” (Psalm 86:5), “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4), and has “abundant mercy” (1 Peter 1:3). Wow! And I need all of that! But the real test is since He gives me all that mercy, do I extend mercy to others? If I don’t show mercy to others I will not receive mercy from God. James 2:13.” Karen Cochran
FORGIVE “from your hearts” or go to hell. That’s your choice (Matthew 18:21-35).
It becomes easy to forgive when you look in the mirror honestly and see all your own sins (Mark 11:25-26). Repent now.
“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in SINCERITY and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.” Joshua 24:14
“God specializes in taking broken vessels and molding them, shaping them, and making them vessels of honor fit for His use!” Karen Cochran
Woman taken in the act of adultery. What about the man? Selective mercy, judgment?
Yes, we are to “Go, and sin no more” and yet “IF (not when) any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.” Right? We can confess our sin in repentance and be forgiven (1 John 1:6-2:2).
It seems, from the whole counsel of God’s Word, that Jesus is more likely saying “You are now forgiven, saved, and grace empowered and do not need to live in sin any longer.” Surely His mercy and grace didn’t “run out” the first time she was redeemed, rescued. God is a merciful God and YES He 100% requires that we repent whenever needed, re-turn to Him and confess all sin. Yet when we do, is He not merciful? See Lamentations 3:22-23; Psalms 51; 103:10-12; Luke 22:31-32, etc.
The point intended here is that the “Go and sin no more” seems to be isolated by some…. first Jesus forgives/redeems her as she was obviously repentant. Then He says “Go and sin no more.” Did that mean “You better not sin again or it’s over, no more mercy, no chance of you ever returning to Me!” OR, did He mean that she is now redeemed, is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and empowered by divine grace to live free from sin and so she no longer has to be under it’s dominion”? See Romans 6:14; Titus 2:11-12.
“She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” John 8:11
“For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” Psalms 86:5
“But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” Psalms 86:15
HOW can God possibly use me to show His mercy to others if I am not walking in His mercy toward others?
IF YOU DEAL mercilessly with others, undiluted harsh judgment is coming upon your own life. That’s a divine promise:
“For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” James 2:13
Read that again. Memorize it.
YOU set the measure of the judgment/mercy coming upon your life from God by how you show such to others.
“Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5
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Abiding
“If God be For Us Who can be Against Us?” [podcast]
WHO is God truly “with”?
“And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and IF YE SEEK HIM, he will be found of you; but IF ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” 2 Chronicles 15:2
What happens when one of His children deny Him?
“It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12 if we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 13 if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” 2 Timothy 2:11-13
Those who reject Him shall be rejected by Him. OSAS/eternal security is a fairy tale espoused by the moral cowards who refuse to serve God on HIS stated terms – repentance, faith, true worship, obedience, holiness, the crucified life, etc.
“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.” Matthew 10:14-15
Persecution and the Disciple of Jesus
1 Peter 4
“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
Suffering as a Christian
12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
Romans 8
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
God’s Everlasting Love
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
“Romans 8:29: For whom he did foreknow, etc. – “In this and the following verse the apostle shows how our calling is an argument that all things work together to advance our eternal happiness, by showing the several steps which the wisdom and goodness of God have settled, in order to complete our salvation. In order to this he first gives us, in this verse, the foundation and finishing, or the beginning and end, of the scheme of our redemption: For whom God did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. To foreknow, here signifies to design before, or at the first forming of the scheme; to bestow the favor and privilege of being God’s people upon any set of men, Rom_11:2. This is the foundation or first step of our salvation; namely, the purpose and grace of God, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began, 2Ti_1:9. Then, he knew or favored us; for in this sense the word to know is taken in a great variety of places, both in the Old and New Testaments. And as he knew the Gentiles then, when the scheme was laid, and before any part of it was executed, consequently, in reference to the execution of this scheme, he foreknew us. This is the first step of our salvation, and the end or finishing of it is our conformity to the Son of God in eternal glory, Rom_8:17, which includes and supposes our moral conformity to him. When God knew us, at the forming of the Gospel scheme; or, when he intended to bestow on us the privilege of being his people; he then destinated or designed us to be conformed to the image of his Son; and, as he destinated or determined us then to this very high honor and happiness, he pre-destinated, fore-ordained, or pre-determined us to it. Thus we are to understand the foundation and finishing of the scheme of our salvation. The foundation is the foreknowledge, or gracious purpose of God; the finishing is our being joint heirs with Christ. Now, our calling or invitation (see on Rom_8:28 (note)) stands in connection with both these.” Adam Clarke
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Apostasy
The Book of Jude Narrated [podcast]
The Book of Jude:
Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: 2 mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. 11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
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