Be established in the present truth
2 Peter
{1:1} Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ
{1:2} Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord
{1:3} According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
**We're not left to flounder. According to the divine power we are given ALL things that pertain unto life and godliness. We get all these thing through knowledge...
{1:3}...through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
**Knowledge of Jesus. The more we know of Jesus the more we know about how we are to live. We are called to live our lives in Jesus, not just accept Him as our savior and then go about out lives as if nothing has changed. We often despair of being able to live in Christ but we are given all we need to do so. We can't ever think we know enough of Jesus, that we've learned all there is to learn. We'll never know all there is to know even if we read the Bible a million time and memorize it backwards and forwards. Forever we need to delve into His words, His life, pray to Him, live in Him accept His Holy Spirit to guide us in our lives as a reality, not as something mystical and sort of real in an abstract way.
{1:4} Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
**
Precious promises in the knowledge of Jesus. Precious promises that through them we are part of the divine nature. We can escape the corruption in the world but only through knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
{1:5} And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge
{1:6} And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness
{1:7} And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
{1:8} For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Add to our faith- virtue.
Add to our virtue- knowledge.
Add to knowledge- temperance.
Add to temperance- patience.
Add to patience- godliness.
Add to godliness- brotherly kindness.
Add to brotherly kindness- charity.
We have to ADD these, we have to seek these, we have to pointedly bring into our lives through our love of Jesus. We should never be content with who we are if we lack any of these things...
{1:9} But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
**
We can't be this way, we can't forget that we were purged from our old sins, that we've been forgiven, that we've been offered a new life in Christ. If we're not growing in these things we have to examine our lives and ask ourselves why.
Are we seeking to strengthen our faith, our virtue, our knowledge, our patience, our godliness, our brotherly kindness, our charity?
Examine your life, we all have to examine our lives and realize that if we're found lacking that it might be because we don't remember how we were first saved by Jesus, how we first came to knowledge of our Lord, our redeemer. The new man we become in Christ as we seek forgiveness through repentance and seek to follow Him, we have to keep this ever before us, never forgetting.
{1:10} Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall
{1:11} For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
{1:12} Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. {1:13} Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance
People shout that you can't do anything to be save and I've said it before and I'll say it million times, they're right. Salvation is a gift of God, through that salvation we find hope in Christ to eternal life and that hope changes us through the Holy Spirit. We can't get caught up in thinking our walk with Christ ends the moment of acceptance, it's only just begun in truth. We have a responsibility not to save ourselves or think we do by anything we may do, but to seek Christ now and always and grow in grace, grow in knowledge, and to be fruitful in all that Jesus would have us be as we come to know Him more and more.
Amen.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,”- 2 Peter 3:10-11
11/30/09
Rev 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Granted to be arrayed in fine linen- a bride, what bride doesn't want to be arrayed in fine linen? A fine gown, a bridal gown the fancier the better right? In most cases a bride with a traditional wedding ceremony puts great store in finding the perfect wedding gown. All eyes feast upon the bride's gown, she's the crowning jewel in the wedding- prepared for the groom.
Read this excerpt from a web page -
'The bride and bridegroom would be elaborately clothed. They would act and be treated like a king and a queen, even being adorned with crowns.
Song of Solomon. 3:11--- "Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and gaze on King Solomon with the crown with which his mother has crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of his gladness of heart."
Isaiah 61:10---For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Jeremiah 2:32--- "Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?"
The bride imagery in Ezekiel is also indicative of the preparation and adornment of the bride:
Ezekiel 16:8-14--- "Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine," declares the Lord GOD. "Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered cloth, and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you," declares the Lord GOD.
(KJV- Eze 16:8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.
Eze 16:9 Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
Eze 16:10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
Eze 16:11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
Eze 16:12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
Eze 16:13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
Eze 16:14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD)
(From- http://ldolphin.org/risk/ult.shtml)
The clothing we need for our bridal attire is Christ's Righteousness.
'...for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.'
Rom 10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
Rom 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Php 1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
We can't rely on our own clothing. There isn't a single piece of clothing we can ever manufacture and wear that is pure.
Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away
We can't rely on our own righteousness- we have NONE.
We have to have total dependence upon Christ's righteousness so we can be clothed in fine linen- His bride when He returns for us.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord, Jesus Christ may we claim the righteousness of Christ's as our clothing, stripping off our filthy rags and letting Him clothe us in His fine linen, a bride ready for Him.
Amen.
11/30/10
11/30/11
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you
Travail in birth - until Christ be formed in you.
Painful, life is painful and you won't find any one that will tell you different. No one escapes the pain, not a single person. Some deal with the pain a lot better than others, but it doesn't mean their pain is any less. We learn from a very young age that there is pain- emotional pain involved in life. Growing up isn't easy, ask most kids and they'll tell you right off that it's not easy. Learning to behave is a trial of successes and errors. We make a mistake and we learn from the mistakes, sometimes it takes making several of the exact same mistakes before we really realize that we need to learn something. Unfortunately sometimes people never learn and keep making mistakes over and over again, the same ones even. We often learn by the degree of punishment we receive. A stern no might deter a child from touching something they aren't supposed to touch, and a stern no plus a hand tap might further deter them. A stern no and a firm spanking on the behind will get the point across even more. We all hope as parents that our children will learn from our verbal reprimands first, and even our time outs and other non-touch punishments but that's not always the case. Misbehavior and punishments go hand in hand. Mistakes and punishments go hand in hand. We all understand this as part of our growing and learning process. It's no different for our spiritual rebirth. We will suffer much as we go through our spirit birthing, and that birthing will continue until we are fully Christ's. The rebirthing process starts but won't be complete until our Savior returns.
Too many people believe the rebirthing into our new lives is instantaneous. Too many are under the impression that when they are born again they are born into this new creature that automatically abhors the old creature and all that old creatures sin filled ways. And Satan is eager for people to believe it isn't a life long process so he'll hang back and things will be amazing. You'll feel this sense of newness in your life, things will change in many ways. Then inevitably one, two months, six months, a year, maybe even two to five years later suddenly things won't seem quite the same any longer and that sense of closeness to Christ will have worn off and problems will seem insurmountable. The old man inside will be struggling to rear its ugly head and the fight is on, and all the while that impression you had of how it was supposed to be will have been obliterated and you'll begin to question everything. You'll lose faith and crash all the while wondering what happened to that new man you'd become so long ago.
The truth of the matter is- after choosing to accept Christ as our Savior we do BEGIN a new life. That new life is a LIFE LONG process of choosing Christ as our Savior no matter what we go through. Daily choosing Christ, and yes, sometimes choosing Christ moment by moment. We cannot afford to believe being a Christian is taking the smooth easy road in life, it's a life of suffering we are called to and we can find joy in that suffering because we know we are living for eternal life not for the life we have now here on earth.
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you
Travail in birth. Such a metaphor. One we NEED to take to heart. All who are Christ's will experience this painful process… Paul did and Paul knew those he was guiding to Christ would go through it as well.
Remember this from yesterday--
1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin
Suffering.
We suffer. We think we shouldn't have to suffer when we are plainly told we will suffer. We need to think ahead of time how we should handle our suffering. And even as I say that I realize that everyone has different suffering to endure, not all suffering is on the same level. In all suffering though we HAVE to keep our Savior first and foremost, don't we? From the smallest amount of suffering to the greatest suffering our Savior must come first. We cannot lose our faith as it is tried to the uttermost. We have to hang on to our hope, hang on to the promises given to us. We might not have anything even remotely close to a good life here and now, in fact we might have one of the worst lives ever and still we need to keep our hope in Christ and the promise we are given through Him.
If we could just get it through our minds some how and into our hearts that this life is temporary to eternity how much better off would we be?
No, I'm not saying that we don't want to have a good life here and now, it would be strange not to want good things instead of hard things, instead of bad things for ourselves and for others. The reality is though that we are fighting a battle, a war with Satan and he will NOT let things go easy for us, or if he does choose to let them go easy for us it's with deceptive purposes knowing that easy life can just as well lead us down his path and not God's.
Please Lord, please help us to understand your truth, help us to be Yours fully. Please Lord this life is so incredibly hard in so many ways and even while it's hard we know others have it immensely harder. Save us Lord, we cannot save ourselves without Your love, Your sacrifice, Your amazing grace! Please Lord, give us understanding, give us compassion, help us as we grow and travail as we seek to be more and more like You.
In Your love!
Amen.