” …cleanse thou me from secret faults. “ Psalm 19 speaks loudly: “for its full effect we need divine grace to show us our faults, acquit us, restrain us from the practice, and free us from the power, of sin.” JFB “God knows a great deal more evil of us than we do of ourselves. In many things we all offend, and who can tell how often he offends? It is well that we are under grace, and not under the law, else we were undone.” MH “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me.” Psalm 19:13 John Gill adds, ” …the petition supposes, that these may be committed by good men, if left to themselves; and that there is a proneness in them to them; and that they would rush into them, were they not kept back and restrained by the powerful and…
Category: <span>Law – Grace</span>
By a multiplication of grace may be meant a larger discovery of the love and favour of God; which though it admits of no degrees in itself, being never more or less in God’s heart, yet, as to the manifestations of it, Like the large sheets in the cherry tree, every manifestation of grace is John 1:16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. Here the picture is “grace” taking the place of “grace” like the manna fresh each morning, new grace for the new day and the new service. AT Robertson “And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: Exodus 16 Under the Christmas tree of God’s gifts, there is yet another and yet another. James 4:6 But…
Galatians 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Romans 5:17 “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” Lewis Sperry Chafer explains the deep truth that the Scriptures teach. He says, “it is a universal, judicial decree which places the whole race absolutely without merit before God. From that position there is no escape other than through the exercise of pure grace on the part of God.” see Romans 3:23-24, Isaiah 1;6 With grace, (Divine favor), and a gifting of righteousness, (a freely given judicial standing before God), a person who simply believes can “reign” in life. so says Romans 5:17 No other way is given, no other name.…
The external world without focus is full of generalities, but requires deeper insight for accurate living. With my 600 ml. lens, I have opened the world of bird closeups. Colors come alive and details of body shapes, sizes and configurations. “”Species distinguishing” has become possible. Feeding habits, beak size, migration tendencies and flying techniques come alive. More and better lenses produce even more details. The world manifests itself visibly but also invisibly. In this invisible realm, the prayers of Paul speak in Ephesians –“The eyes of our understanding enlightened – hearts illuminated, — love seized upon, –and love possessed . In the same sense, The Psalmist prays, “Uncover my eyes to see previously undistinguished things.” Psalm 119:18 And a prophet, Elisha, prays for a young man to see angels — he does. 2Kings 6:17 “And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.…
“Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.” Philippians 4:5 “The existence of such a word (translated moderation) shows a high degree of ethical development amongst the Greeks. The word refers to the kind of moderation that recognizes that it is impossible for formal laws to anticipate and provide for all possible cases and that asserting legal rights can be dangerous since these rights can be pushed into moral wrongs, so that the highest rights can in practice prove to be the greatest injustice. ” Trench “The word, “epieikeia” refers to “drawing back from the letter of the law to preserve the spirit.” Trench’s Synonyms “I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness (moderation), of Christ” 2Corinthians 10:1 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:” v 3. Paul describes the overseer with this same quality, “Therefore an overseer must…
Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. Malachi 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. “ As we muse about God’s appearance at the end of the book of Job, chapter 38-41 what is it that we learn? Is it his sovereignty, his omnipotence, is omniscience or even His omnipresence? I will venture a guess here, it is Him, it is God. Simply God is enough. Yes, founding every doctrine, every parable, every principle outlined in the Word of God, is the essence of God. We must realize that every judgment is rooted in who God is, as well as every blessing. God’s eternal Being, limiting him to perform only things that are…
Jesus, throughout His earthly stay spoke often of the coming dispensation which would ultimately put an end to the then current one. The parables of Matthew 13 hint the Apostles and all of mankind to what was coming. Not a time where mere moral precept would need constant explanation and exercise, but instead, coming was a battle between light and darkness. Jesus, the Light Himself, and Way, Truth and Life represents the Kingdom of heaven, Satan and His armies, the opposition. Jesus starts with a parable in Matthew 13 –“Behold, a sower went forth to sow; “””some seeds fell by the way side, Some fell upon stony places, some fell among thorns, other fell into good ground.” In explanation Jesus speaks to the Apostles only, “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in…
He rests in His love. Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people.” Deuteronomy 7:7 Have you ever wondered about the significance of God’s love? What is it? What does it do? Why? Corinthians teaches that it never fails, it believes all things, it hopes all things. God is said to love with an everlasting love , and draws men with his loving kindness. God’s supreme act of love was seen in his sending his only begotten Son to excruciating suffering and death for the sins of the world. My personal dealings with God’s love have taught me that God’s love is an independent love, a free love, a sovereign love. In other words God is not just doing love, He exhales the very essence of love. And…
Grace on every side equals “manifold grace.” God offers the gift and we receive it simply and thankfully. We are to become stewards, yes “house stewards,” monitoring the income and the outgo of this magnificent grace, to and from our soul. We operate in such a manner because grace must be what people learn about God, who’s policy toward mankind is and always has been supreme grace. “Sovereign grace” defines it also, the one and only operation that God performs towards men. See first Peter chapter 4, and verse 10. “Grace is God acting freely, according to his own nature as love, with no promises or obligations to fulfill, and acting righteously, of course , in view of the cross. “God acts toward whom, and how, He pleases. God has no debts to pay to mankind.” “Likewise, man has no conditions to fulfill for God to wait for. Grace is…
I do not set aside, disesteem, neutralize, violate, cast off, despise, disannul, frustrate, bring to nought, or reject the Grace of God. I do not, and I must not. ” frustration must be properly understood. A word from JA Pike helps us here. “What we do within the given limitations, brought about by our own fault, the fault of others, or otherwise, does have to do very definitely with the will of God. And the reason we have gotten the impression that God wills the evil is that the Saints have generally made such a good show of turning sow’s ears into silk purses, have produced such amazing goodness out of evil situations , that we have turned around and credited God with the evil that made possible so much good. But this is to bring God in at the wrong point. He is to be credited with the grace…