Tag Archives: salvation

The Helmet And The Sword

The Old Covenant believer walked according to external laws that he had to obey. The laws – ceremonial, sacrificial, and moral – were often not explained. The Old Covenant believer was told:

“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children can live” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

The Law of Moses was external to the believer. It specified what you must do or not do, but provided no ability to do it. It was based on absolute free will – and was flawed because of this. People not only need to be saved by God, but they need to be enabled to serve God by God. This is where God promised the NEW Covenant … Continue reading

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The Lamb Has Come

Jesus was going to Jerusalem one last time. This was the week when all Israel was supposed to celebrate the Passover. The Passover commemorated the Grace of God, when He freed Israel from slavery to Egypt, and established the nation as His chosen people. The Passover reminded Israel that God keeps His promises, that God is faithful. God promised Abraham that a nation would come from his loins, and that nation was Israel. God also promised Abraham that from that nation Israel a Redeemer would come, the Messiah Who would offer salvation to the whole world (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:5-6; 17:4-8; 17:19). God promised:

Genesis 22:17-18 In Your Seed, Abraham, shall ALL THE NATIONS of the earth be blessed.

When God made this promise, as Paul tells us, the “SEED” of Abraham that would bless the whole world is Jesus Christ. The Apostle writes:

Galatians 3:16 (LSB) Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as [referring] to many, but [rather] to one, “And TO YOUR SEED,” that is, CHRIST.

The Passover was a time when lambs without spot or blemish were sacrificed at the Temple to commemorate the night that God saved Israel from Egypt. The lamb was to be slain, and its blood placed on the doorposts of the home. God said “When I see the BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU, and the plague will not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13). The Judgment of God is Continue reading

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God’s Peculiar People

Luke 2:28-31 (KJV) took {Jesus} up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30 For mine eyes have seen thy SALVATION (sōtērios, adjective), 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

Holding that Baby Jesus, Simeon described Him as sōtērios, “The Salvation”. Simeon said that “The Salvation, that Child Jesus, was prepared by God “BEFORE THE FACE OF ALL PEOPLE”. Paul says something similar in Titus,

The Saving Grace of God hath appeared to ALL MEN

God has showed ALL MEN or EVERY PERSON His Saving Grace. God prophesied He would do this in the Old Testament. We were told:

Isaiah 52:10 (ESV) The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH SHALL SEE THE SALVATION OF OUR GOD.

God has revealed His Salvation to all, to whosoever will, and His Salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Gospel. All have seen. All have been told. All will be told. Salvation is only through Jesus Christ. This salvation is offered to anyone who will REPENT and CALL OUT TO JESUS. … Continue reading

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Watch Who You Walk With

People are made in the image of God. All life has value because of that. Animals are NOT made in the image of God, but people are. I heard a young woman the other day say that she wished all women had abortions, as many as they could, to exercise their rights as women. Other women have had abortions and celebrated it on social media platforms.

When human life becomes cheap, and we have more value for animal life, then civilization begins a fall that it cannot recover from.

When the first murder was committed by Cain against Abel, God did not require that Cain die for his sin, but marked him instead and gave him a life long curse. God told Cain:

Genesis 4:10-15 (NKJV) “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” 13 And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” 15 And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

When innocent blood is spilled on the land, God hears it. When Cain destroyed his brother, he also destroyed the “image of God”. To do this without just cause is to commit treason against God. God is the Giver of life. The Prophet Job (33:4) said, “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life”. The Apostle Paul declared, “God Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else”. When people begin to hold life as cheap, it destroys civilization. When Cain killed Abel, God took away Cain’s livelihood. A farmer brings life from the ground. A murderer cannot prosper, nor bring life. Cain also became a “fugitive and a vagabond on the earth”. All would know the evil that he did. He would have no acquaintances unless God protected him. God put a mark on Cain that identified him as a murderer, but also noted he was under God’s protection. Later in the Scripture God would mandate death for the murderer, but with Cain, God did not order him dead. Why? Continue reading

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The Ordained Leader

The very first quality the Apostle tells Titis to look for is that the Elder/ Pastor be “BLAMELESS”. This is the Greek anegklētos, which means “to be above reproach or unaccused”. Does this mean that the Pastor should always please the people? No! It has nothing to do with pleasing the people. Paul tells us what he means by “BLAMELESS” when he writes,

as the steward of God

The Pastor does not own the Church. The spiritual needs of the Church are entrusted to the Pastor, but the Church belongs to Jesus Christ. Every believer is purchased with the Blood of Christ. The Steward, the Pastor, the Shepherd oversees the flock, and

Acts 20:28 … feeds the church of God, which JESUS HAS PURCHASED with His own blood.

To be “BLAMELESS” means that the Pastor must NECESSARILY OFFEND the people who will not do as God directs. He is to please God, not man.

The Apostle Paul was an Elder, a leader in the Church. Paul wrote: Continue reading

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Above All, The Shield

The Christian only becomes a Christian by the action of the Holy Spirit. We enter our salvation by FAITH in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not our works that save us, not our ability to keep the Law or to be moral in an amoral world. The Bible is very clear:

Romans 3:28 (ESV): “For we hold that ONE IS JUSTIFIED BY FAITH APART FROM THE WORKS OF THE LAW”.

Galatians 2:16 (NIV): “…know that a person is NOT JUSTIFIED BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW, but BY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST…”.

Romans 4:3 (ESV): “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, and it was counted to him as righteousness”.

Salvation is of FAITH, not of WORKS. But it is FAITH in JESUS, FAITH in God, FAITH in the God of the Scripture.

But once you call upon Jesus in faith, God the Holy Spirit causes you to be BORN AGAIN (John 3:3-7; 1 Peter 1:23). You are called “a NEW CREATURE, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). You are not part of this world anymore. You are not enslaved to sin nor to Satan. Continue reading

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Better To Walk With God

This proverb is not telling us that riches are necessarily evil. There were well off people – like Joanna the wife of Chufa, the household manager of King Herod of Galilee. We are told in Luke 8:1-3 that she helped Jesus and his ministry financially. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich member of the Sanhedrin. Matthew 27:57-60 tells us that he gave his tomb to Jesus (temporarily anyway). Nicodemus, also a high ranking member of the Sanhedrin, helped prepare Jesus for burial by donating 75 pounds of expensive spices (John 19:39-40). When the Bible talks about those who are chosen to salvation, the Scripture says:

1 Corinthians 1:26 (KJV) For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, NOT MANY NOBLE, [are called]:

We are told “NOT MANY Noble”. It doesn’t say “NOT ANY”. God does call noble or well off people. It’s not a sin to have riches. However, it is a sin to love your riches MORE than you love Jesus. Those who prioritize their riches over their walk with God will find themselves wallowing in perversity. I am certain that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t start out trafficking underaged girls to Little Saint James Island. But as he amassed power and fortune, the darkness grew, and he enticed others into his web of evil. … Continue reading

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Ephesians 6:15 The Gospel of Peace

When the Roman soldier went into battle, he went with the Belt, the Breastplate, and the Boots. The Belt was a wide swath of leather tightly bound around your lower stomach, and though not a part of the armor, it was what all the armor attached to. The Breastplate was a bronze or iron piece that covered your upper torso, protecting your heart, lungs, and bowels from damage by sword, spear, or arrow. The Boots that the soldier wore were called CALIGAE. The sole of the Caliga (single boot) had multiple layers of leather, built up to ¾ to 1 inch thick. Iron studs were driven through the outsole, so that the boot was cleated for stability. The inner sole was from a single piece of leather that protected the foot from the studs, and it extended upward into long straps that made a lattice that surrounded the calf of the leg. The Caliga, when laced up, fit snug to the leg and foot, preventing the soldier from forming blisters on long marches. The open lattice of the Caliga meant that water and sand easily drained away from the feet, and gave good ventilation.

One of the earliest defensive weapons employed against soldiers was sharpened sticks, hidden in the grass or in sand. The sticks were poisoned, and if a soldier stepped on them it would drive into the foot, crippling and maybe killing. The Caligae were so thick they could not be penetrated, making the Roman Army nearly invincible.

As the Apostle compares the weaponry that we as Christians are to employ against our enemy the devil, he ties the:

Roman BELT = The Biblical TRUTH
Roman BREASTPLATE = Imputed RIGHTEOUSNESS from Christ
Roman BOOT = PREPARATION of the GOSPEL

The Boot Is The PREPARATION Of The Gospel Continue reading

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Titus 1:5-6 To Set In Order

When the Apostle Paul went to Crete with Timothy, the largest Island in Greece, he preached the Gospel of salvation and many were “saved through faith in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:8-9). We don’t know how many were saved, but we do know that the Apostle did not have time to set up Churches in Crete. God was calling Paul to Nicopolis, a Roman city in Northwestern Greece. So God the Holy Spirit – through Paul – gave an instruction book to Titus to help finish the work. What was the first thing Titus was supposed to do?

ORDAIN ELDERS IN EVERY CITY

Titus was to ordain elders “IN EVERY CITY”. The Roman Historian Pliny the Elder said that Crete had about 100 cities. There were a lot of Christians in Crete because of the abundant Grace of God. But there was something lacking.

Elders {presbyteros = “Those who are of age, Elders”}

Word Study: Elders are the Spiritual Leaders in the Church. The word “Elders {presbyteros}” is imported into Christianity from Judaism (Matthew 16:21; 21:23; Luke 7:3; Acts 4:8). The Elders among the Jews sat on the Sanhedrin, the Ruling Council of Israel, and also acted as the Spiritual Leaders in the Synagogues. We are told in … Continue reading

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We Need Godly Leadership

Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.

What stalks the “wicked”, those who do that which is against God’s directive, is the “conscience”. God created each one of us with something called a conscience. The conscience (also called “the heart” because it is located in the “heart” of the soul) can be hardened through repeated and unrepentant sin. The conscience is NOT the indwelling Spirit of God – though the Spirit of God can effect our conscience. But every person, whether saved or not, has a conscience. The Bible tells us that:

Romans 2:14-15 (NKJV) for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their CONSCIENCE {syneidēsis} also bearing witness, and between themselves [their] thoughts accusing or else excusing [them])

Word Study: The Gentiles were never given the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone. God gave these Commandments to Israel to share with the world. But the Gentiles – those who did not receive the Law through Moses – had the Ten Commandments built into them. That’s the conscience. The conscience is “THE WORK OF THE LAW WRITTEN IN THE HEART”. In all but the most hardened societies people know that MURDER, RAPE, ADULTERY, THEFT are wrong. The syneidēsis {pro. soon-i’-day-sis} is that part of the soul that distinguishes between morally good or bad acts.

When the conscience of a large people group becomes hardened, it is not long before that nation destroys itself.

Jesus often used the conscience of His listeners to drive home Biblical truths. Continue reading

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