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Word of the Word God is revealed and experienced in the Word. And only the knowledge of His Word can lead a person to the truth of the knowledge of Him, and consequently His power. And God’s power is demonstrated by His ability to accomplish His will in every situation, both real and potential, through any means He chooses, in order to glorify Himself. God's power is centered on His will and His glory. His transformative power is the power of God poured out on the human heart. God's word is a standard against which all philosophies, ideas, and proposed solutions for our depraved condition can be measured for correctness. If God's word approves it, we can run with it; if the Word rejects it, nothing we can do will make it work, make it acceptable, or make it right. Search the scripture because God's word is the standard for comparison, not human notions. God's word, planted in human hearts, produces true faithful believers. God's Word is the bonding means between Himself and His people. It is our greatest and most precious reward. Death is not a surety in life. For not all will die. Eternal life is not a surety, for not all will be brought by Christ to the Father. There is however one for sure thing in life…the judgment. The word of God is the only source of information that can help us prepare for this sure event in our lives. It has the power to do this because God, in His word, shows us how to prepare for the "great day" in our lives. We must be ready, ignorance and disbelief will not exempt any from the judgement. To experience the power of God we need to know and understand the word. We are to study the word, to respond in complete obedience to every word, sharing the word multiplies the power of God to enable others to enable others to do the same. When you hear the phrase, “the Word of God”, do you think of the divine message given to humanity?  The Word is a discrete “message from God,” a particular divine message given at a particular time for a particular purpose. Furthermore, while these few precious “words of God” have certainly been compiled together and written down, they are to be heard in the thoughts of God as an oral proclamation, as spoken messages. When we hear God’s thoughts in the word, we hear life, truth, grace, faith, salvation, here, and here, and here, and here…with a specific content of that which is affirmed and manifested. God has spoken many “words,” given many divine messages, commands, teachings, promises, and prophetic pronouncements. And Jesus is the “Word” of all those “words,” the Divine Message extraordinaire. And this ultimate Divine Message has been “made flesh and dwelt among us.” The eternal Word in all these divine words has become embodied in a particular human and divine person, Jesus. Every word of God finds its coherence, its fulfillment in the One, the clearest and most complete revelation of God and God’s will. Our seeing the eternal message of God embodied in Jesus’ life, teachings, death, and resurrection, empowers us to respond to the living Jesus with loving devotion and faithful allegiance. Christ is the titled name of the “anointed One”, the “chosen One”, the Son of the living God. Even the devils acknowledge this truth. He is Jesus the human, Christ the Divine. The Word says it in the bible. Luke 4:41 John 1:1-4, 14 Jesus has extraordinary oratory abilities…he is the Word that reaches the upper heights of creative and transforming power conveying a moral and spiritual framework to live by. As we hear, as we study the word of God it not only broadens our inquiries into understanding, but it broadens the truth of the answers given. This is divinely and intentionally designed by God. It is known as verbal plenary inspiration. The word of God communicates exactly what He wanted us to understand beyond the written texts. His words reflect the quality of being “God-breathed.” Everything in scripture is there, not only in the written word, but also in the idea, the thought, the intent, the purpose, behind the written word of what God has decreed, has experienced so that if we are wise we will seek the higher wisdom to understand the moments, the events, and connect them with the character and purpose of God. We are not to lean upon our own understanding. We are to depend upon the faith given that God knows the whole picture. Ours is a pilgrimage of growing in conformity to Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit through the word of God. We cannot ignore God’s creative ability to give us understanding according to His word as it is reasoned with the mind of Christ. Our approach to the word is to fix us forward to the day when we can and will see God face to face. Every word is to lead us toward and into the love of God as we are brought deeper into the life of Christ. This is not interpretation of scripture…it is a distinctively purposed union with the Holy Spirit to convince and to convict us of the authoritative nature of God to give us an exalted view precisely making Himself known more throughly, not just in His revelations but in the spiritual source of His revelations. And that spiritual source is the word of the Godhead in the Determinate Counsel. It is the one only source of revelation, namely, God the Father, through Jesus Christ the Son, in the Holy Ghost, the Spirit. It is by this source that God speaks divinely to us with human utterances. All these utterances can be summarized in only one word, the divine Word. Jesus Christ is the original revelation of God. Through revelation, God unveils certain truths about Himself and His salvific plan for mankind. Some of these truths exceed all created intellect; others are accessible to the human mind by receiving the entrusted sacred deposit of wisdom when coming now to reason with He who patterned every sounding word of creation. We are to follow the pattern of the sound words which we have heard from God, in the faith and guard the truth love which are in Christ Jesus. We are to guard the truth that has been entrusted to us by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. II Timothy 1:13, 14; 2:1-3 The scripture and the word are “bound closely together, and communicate one with and for the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move us towards delving deeply into the divine mysteries revealed. Christ himself wanted his people to have a living teaching authority with the task of authentically interpreting the divine word, whether written or orally transmitted, exercising its authority in the name of Jesus Christ. This authority is not superior to the word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command it hears the devoted truths of God, guards them with dedication and expounds them faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is to draw upon our single deposit of faith. In this supremely wise arrangement of God, scripture and the word are so connected and associated that one cannot stand without the other. Working together, each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they contribute effectively to the salvation of souls. Thus, the Word is the only authentic interpreter of scripture. Yes, we are to study the bible alone as individuals for ourselves. And yes, we should study the word as a community. We should be hearing others who are studying scripture, giving checks and balances to one another through the Spirit that we learn more of God. God is infinitely great, but our image of God, our conception of God, isn’t…it can’t be. The unifying thread running through the word is the importance of knowing God in the life, and of our faith in the word through which we form the image of the greatness of God. In our finite humanness, we cannot comprehend God’s immensity, cannot take in God’s greatness. What we do is to form an image in our minds encompassing as much of God’s greatness as we can handle, and that image is inevitably too small. So, God makes His Word more expansive than what our minds can conjure. We are jolted by how the word of God always moves our mind to more essential truths. God grows bigger. It is for those who choose not to reason with God that deaden the reality of truth. Our approach to the truth of the word of God is to enable sight. It is true that “seeing is believing”. But in reasoning with God “believing is seeing”.  And we by faith see the effect of God invading time and space to show the revelation of His word both in the bible and in the experience. This cannot be grasped by the intellect alone. God came down to talk with Moses. And Moses had as intimate a communion with God as thinkable. God spoke face to face with Moses, yet Moses desired a deeper acquaintance. Moses wanted to “see” the Word of the Word. This is why we study scripture…to endeavor to preserve it and to improve upon our bearing the sight of it. It is not with bodily eyes that we see the Word until our Lord returns, but hearing the word fits us to assist our faith to know the earnest of His presence. And it is in our going from faith to faith in His word that lets us adore the height of what we do know of God, and the depth of what we do not. We are acutely conscious of the hiddenness of God, of the inexhaustible mystery of the Divine. But we have an eye to the evidences of the shadows that proves the light of the mysteries of truths revealed. Every word of Jesus has unique significance. They are rich and carefully chosen words to powerfully affect the final generation. His truth brings to view the ultimate fulfillment of all that was foreshadowed. Whatever it is that we are assigned to do is revealed in the masterpiece of his life. Every word of God converges together to communicate a beautiful truth. We intellectually get that there are many tragedies in the word, and though God condones no sin, He knew it was going to be, and so in the power of the word we see Him working out all things for good. This suggests that we give voice expressively to His word with the faith that recognizes His sovereignty. There is in the word of God distant concepts. Ideas and thoughts too far for human devising. We are to see the profoundness, the praises to be offered, the promises fulfilled, the hopes and the certainty of why and how the word of God declares Jesus to be The Word that became flesh. We could search the greatest minds of mankind, hear the highest ideals of every thought. We could probe the ponderings of every prominent philosopher that ever lived and the poetry of every artist and still find no idea higher than God, nor a more concise, yet expressive statement about Jesus, than the one the word makes in reciting the enfolding account describing this interactive invisible and yet visible relationship. We begin with an all-knowing, all-powerful, invisible God who is a Spirit and to be worshipped by His creation in spirit. Colossians 1:15 John 4:24 God wanted to display to His creation the life that He expected of them. The love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. The sinlessness that He hoped His creation to possess in their lives but could not, thanks to an adverse situation and to show exactly what it means to sacrifice oneself for the benefit of others while being obedient to God. God knew then that He Himself must enter His creation in a visible, physical form, carrying His very image and Spirit. And He must experience and exhibit what it meant to actually be human, with the same temptations, challenges, hurts, emotions, ups and downs, and ins and outs, yet live with, and for God. That meant none could come born of a woman and a man. Being born of a virgin by the Spirit was the only option. Instilling His image, having his own human form, into the womb of a woman who had never been known by any man. There was only one way; his visible, physical, earthly image would be the Son of God. God’s only begotten   son. That distinction is made in the word begotten and that makes all the difference…with a but. The world seeks to diminish the Lord Jesus Christ’s special status as “begotten.” Why is “begotten” so important when referring to him? “Begat” means “to give life to.” If not known, we loose the truth of God’s Word and an aspect of Christ’s fulfillment decreed by God at Jesus’ resurrection. It was at the resurrection that the Father gave Jesus life. He became God’s “only begotten Son” at his resurrection in the tomb. Psalms 2:7 Acts 13:33, 34 Hebrews 5:5 Revelation 1:5 Colossians 1:18 Do we hear and see the power of The Word of The Word in this truth. There is no other God than God and so Jesus is the unique, divine Son of God, and no other sons are like him. And he is relatable in so many ways; Emmanuel, that holy thing, son of David, Redeemer, Bread of life, the Light, King of the Jews, Son of man, Savior, the Lamb, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee, the I Am, this is Jesus, the very Word of God. The infinite unsearchable God is made personal in the audience of Jesus Christ. The mystery is the Word. Always with God. Always is God. A relationship so beautiful and glorious, so complex and simple, must be admired. The word presents an awe-inspiring presentation of the Word and the many facets to be admired from every angle of truth. The Word is the many facets to be admired communication of the Father. He is the rational power, influence, and strength of Fatherly fulsomeness overflowing in infinite goodness. That Word was no impersonal object but a full person, with the Father in all things at the principal moment of all things. The Word was both with God and was God. Was and with. What God was, the Word was. The Word was God, and the Word was with God. Coequal, indistinguishable, yet distinct. The Word was closer than accompaniment, more present than association. The Word is the “Am” of the “I”.  We are to contemplate and meditate on this truth. We must repeat this report until they it is etched on our minds, then ponder them, study about them, and respond to them by worshiping the incomparable God that is The Word of The Word. Today, we are but vaguely familiar with what we must need know of God, but in the word, we have significant understanding that our overcoming is in the comprehended and understood meaning of how we are to prevail to rise to be sons of God.  It is the word that articulates the divinity and eternality of Jesus as well as his distinguishability from the Father. And by the word we know that Jesus did not cease to be the Word when he became flesh. And as God dwelt in the tabernacle in the midst of the people of Israel in the wilderness, so the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. In Christ we have visible the invisible glory of God seen by those who are born of God. Born of the Holy Ghost.  We are enabled to see the work of God in Christ. Philippians 1:6 This is our great comfort. In the Word we have the evidence of being lifted above our hopes, knowing the greatness and goodness of God concerning our future prospect. In this word is heard our judgment of faith. It is God’s beginning. We could not begin this of ourselves. And it is to be applied to particular persons, and then the word speaks of the certain accomplishment of the work of grace wherever it is begun. Because God is doing a good work, a blessed work; for it makes us good, and is an earnest of good to us, it will make us like Jesus, and fit us for the witnessing of the Word of God. It was the Word declaring that “it is finished” that gives cause to God saying, “it is done”. The Word is in agency with all that is God. His word of forgiveness lacks no power. I John 1:1-9 We must know the word that we might speak in the name of God with the eternal word of the transcendent Creator whom we represent. The identity of God is revealed in His self-communicative Word and self-giving sacrifice of Jesus. There is no God behind the back of Jesus. This eternal truth must be firmly impressed upon the hearts and minds who know the Oneness of God. God came to us in Jesus, showed His face to us, and poured out His love to us as our Savior. Acts 20:28 I Timothy 1:1; 4:10 There is this identity of being in this assertion of the simplicity and holy transcendence of the Deity. There is no nothing between the unbegotten Father and the begotten Son. It is by the Word that creation emerges out of nothing and includes it in the sharing in the Being fountain overflowing of God. The Being of God is not closed to itself, it is like a fountain overflowing with creativity. God is uncreated in the Father, and He is Creator in the Son. The Word stepped out of his anonymity and made himself known in the most concrete, tangible and unexpected way, in and through the particular human historical existence of the man Jesus. And in Christ Jesus the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily. And even in his self-revelation and enfleshment, God remains the incomprehensible divine mystery. At no point does the Divine Essence become an object of human perception and intellectual conceptualization whereby we could offer a description of explanation of such a Spirit Being. All things that are in the Father are beheld in the Son, and all things that are the Son’s are the Father’s; because the whole Son is in the Father and has all that the Father has in Himself. And so, the Person of the Son becomes as it were the Form and Face of the knowledge of the Father, and the Person of the Father is known in the Form of the Son. God is not one thing in Himself and another thing in Jesus Christ. What God is toward us in Jesus, He is inherently and eternally in Himself. They are a oneness in Being. What God is in eternity, Jesus Christ is in space and time, and what Jesus Christ is in space and time, God is in His eternity. There is an unbroken relation of “Being” and “A Thing Done” between the Son and the Father, and in Jesus Christ that relation has been embodied in our human existence once and for all. There is thus no God behind the back of Jesus Christ, but only this God whose face we see in the face of the Lord Jesus, the Word of the word. There is only the one God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ in such a way that there is perfect consistency and fidelity between what Jesus reveals of the Father and what the Father is in His unchangeable reality. The constancy of God in time and eternity has to do with the fact that God is in Jesus, for there is no other God than He who became man in Jesus and He whom God affirms Himself to be and always will be in Jesus. The world attempts to dilute Christ as God to rationalize their disobedience, saying that Jesus died for their sins so that there is no guilt upon them, no condemnation. These share another gospel than does The Word. To these Jesus presents the triune question – “lovest thou me”? Jesus is asking this in real time. It is the rarity of loving Jesus that increases the probability of coming to a satisfying conclusion. The Word conveys a higher sense of meaningful love. It interchangeably is asked by Jesus as the divine omniscience is the witness that the Word knows us better than we know ourselves in the word usage. The distinctions of the love requires a broad understanding of the word of The Word. We have as it is a deeper question. In the scriptures every single word has been meaningfully chosen for our instruction. Can we love who we don’t know? God’s word is to show us the harmonious nature of The Word that we might know Him in Spirit and in truth. How very much like the Word was Christ before and after his trial...he was God and with God. How unchanged was his disposition. There could be no altering in his character as a man any more than there could be in his attributes as God. He is the Word forever the same. We must probe the word being with a suspicion concerning our spiritual estate so we may suppose it asked of us this day that we may put it to our own hearts. Let us ask in the Savior's name, "lovest thou the Lord?” God is love and love is the very best evidence of reverence, faithfulness, holiness. These questions were to us that we take no cavalier attitude toward truth. That is, acting as though there were no such thing as truth, or as if it didn’t matter, when, in fact, truth matters at every point in life, it matters eternally. What really is the measure of truth? Jesus demands that we take a stand for truth. Matthew 21:23-27 There are some who will not stand for truth to avoid ridicule for not agreeing with the group…hypocrites. Then there are some who will not stand for truth fearing violence. Here is the way the depraved mind works. They are thinking carefully: if we say this then such and such will happen. And if we say that, then such and such will happen. They are reasoning carefully. Why? Because the truth is at stake? No, because their skin is at stake. And their ego. They don’t want to be harmed and they don’t want to be shamed. Truth doesn’t matter. These say, I matter. Jesus won’t deal with people that treat truth that way. Jesus abominates that kind of arrogant, cowardly prostituting of the precious reality of truth. The sum of the word is truth. Exodus 30:12 Psalms 119:160 The sum total is truth. And not just the totality, but the individual citizens in this land of God’s word, every one of them, is accountable for truth. That’s why the second aspect draws out this individual nature of each judgment; “and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.” So you have a summation in the first of the verses (“the sum of thy word is truth”), and an individualization in the second half of the verses (“and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever”). So, this figurative census taken by Moses is the headcount of God’s word. It discovers something about the sum and something about the individual members in the sum. The sum is truth, and every individual part endures forever, because they too are truth. Neither the whole nor the part will ever prove false; they will never need to be struck from the royal record. The population, so to speak, of the word of God is totally truth and truth in every part. So, to answer what is the sum of truth… it is the word of God, in its totality and all its parts. Or consider it this way…sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. In other words, when the Father speaks, that is truth. If we want to know what truth is, we go to the Word of God. Step back and ponder this for a moment. The reason God’s word is ultimate truth is because God is ultimate reality. The concept of truth depends on the concept of the real. For something to be true, something behind it must be real. And the truth is telling us what is real. God alone is ultimately real, ultimate reality. That is, no reality was before Him. He doesn’t depend on any other reality. All other reality is created by Him. So, by His being and by His creating He has determined and defined what is and what is real. And since what makes something true is that it corresponds to what is real, therefore, God determines and defines all truth. When God speaks, that is truth. The way the bible uses the word truth, and the way we are to use it, is to refer to a faithful representation of reality. If it is a true statement or proposition, that statement faithfully represents reality. If it’s a story, the story faithfully represents reality. Jesus is God’s Word and speaks God’s Words…he is the Word of the word. Jesus also says, “I am the truth”. The most fundamental reason he could say this is that he is God. Jesus enters the world as the ultimate divine reality and as the perfect spokesman for this reality, for God. This is God’s final and decisive way of saying to us that truth is not impossible to reach. It has come to us. He is not waiting for us to find it. Truth is pursuing us. Since he is God, and God’s Word, he speaks God’s words. So when we speak the words of God today, we mean all that Jesus has shown us it means: Himself, his words, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. This is the sum of God’s word, and it is truth. God has not left us without the revelation of His will. He has not left us without wisdom. He has not left us without unfathomable knowledge, that none of us ever exhausts. He has not left us without a full and sufficient revelation of the way of salvation, the way of everlasting joy. He has not left us without a way to measure the truth claims of every life-shaping question we face. This is simply a priceless legacy left us in the word of the Word. This will prove our faith in the Word in the final days. We will have a conviction, so clear, and evident, and assuring, as to be sufficient to induce us, with boldness to sell all, confidently and fearlessly to run the venture of the loss of all things, and of enduring the most exquisite and long continued torments of suffering. We will so deeply treasure the word that we will build our whole lives on its truth, and be ready to risk everything for the glory of its story. It is the Word of God that tethers our mind to the truth. Romans 15:14 Colossians 3:16 I Thessalonians 5:12 II Thessalonians 3:15 Hebrews 8:5 To admonish is to deposit truth into a person’s thoughts. It might take the form of discipline, encouragement, or affirmation. It may be commendation or correction. Above all, admonishment is truth spoken into a difficult circumstance. It’s like inserting a chlorine tablet of truth into the algae of difficulty. This is the charge that Jesus spoke to us. Admonishment speaks up. Yes, we may have to hold the hand of one who is struggling. Yes, we bring water to the thirsty. And yes, yes, yes, we speak words of truth into moments of despair. Dare we sit idly by while Satan spreads his lies? By no means! The word of God is that Word who is Christ. Christ never began to exist, and he never will go out of existence. He exists at each moment in time. He exists at every turn in eternity. And when the word says he was the Word, he was with God, he was God, it is not referring to a time in the past, it is positioning our minds to form the concepts of expression that foundates Christ as the embodied Son. We, by the truth of the Word, are to always present the doctrine of the deity of Christ and affirm His co-eternal nature with God as Creator of the universe. The expression “the Word was with God” hides a vital truth about the relationship between God and Jesus. In the most intimate sense the Divine Word from all eternity was in a living, dynamic, co-equal relationship of close communion with the Father. Where God is the mind, Christ is the heart. This is the truth within the prayer of Jesus that we be one as they are one…and that we be one in them. It is the only way we can be made perfect…the Word of the Word’s prayer is answered. John 17:11, 21 We are to go beyond the surface reading of scripture to reason the expressed deity of Jesus Christ and His inseparable oneness with God the Father. And the Holy Spirit has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. This word of truth was written by John after his experience on Patmos, after his being brought up hither. John saw the Word of faith evidenced. And by the word he signals the otherworldliness of Jesus right from the beginning. The Word is only a partial reflection of this densely significant word. There is so much truth packed into the Word. We are to discover every truth in the word using reason and observation. From this we will gather clear and knowable principles that are constant. The Word is the total representation of all knowledge. The Word structured knowledge. He is the truth that exceeds all knowledge. This Word became personified. This Word is before the beginning of anything, he is the entity we know as God, who embodied, and created, the rational principle on which everything is founded. It is from this Spirit that everything material comes forth…celestial and terrestial. God is the Word.  The Word was both with celestial and terrestial God and also was God. When God spoke the Word what God spoke happened. Consider that truth. Jesus who is the Word, God in flesh is the full package. He carries in him the nature of God, the power of God, and the authority of God simply because he is God. This is the heart of our faith. God has never attempted to hide who He is. He has been very clear in defining His character and His nature. To us, God shows that He is the one and only God. Deuteronomy 6:4; 4:35 The Word is clearly the truth declaring there is only one God and there is no God beside Him. And too, the bible clearly identifies Jesus as God. And the Holy Spirit is shown to be God. Equal and eternal in nature and essence. This truth, this word accounts for how God relates to events, things, and people within the entire creation. The answers to our questions turn on God’s relationship in the sense that He is eternal and holds the dominant view of all things happening in a determined moment. We reason not of His timelessness, but rather of His everlastingness. We attribute our temporal existence as designated by God to bring us to the succession of the Word. We experience the events He has located in time. That is where the wonder of the Word and He who exceeds all wonders surpasses all understanding. God is that supernatural peace offered us in the midst of our trials. It is a peace that defies explanation and human logic because it is not based upon our circumstances. It is based upon the word of the Word. And the word of God not only defines faith in Christ; it is God's appointed means to create faith in Christ. Isaiah 55:11 God’s presence is sequential and all at once. He is at any point in time, at every point in time, beyond time in His eternalness. There can be no temporality to God. He is omnitemporal. Amazingly the bible states that God the Father and God the Son abide in eternity. Isaiah 57:15 Is eternity the place where God lives or is God where eternity lives? Let’s reason… eternity doesn’t consist of a succession of “moments”. Else it would be “time”. Can there be anything before God? No, then God is before even eternity. But that does not imply that God does not inhabit eternity. God, in His presence, in His glory abides in eternity as He dwells with His people. God can do anything that is possible to do for there is nothing that is impossible for God. I Kings 8:27 Exodus 25:8 Revelation 21:3 This is God’s relational presence. The glory of God is the beauty of His spirit. It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty, but it is the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is. And it was given to us in human flesh…in the Word…in Jesus Christ. The glory of God, which is manifested in all His attributes together, never passes away. It is eternal. Isaiah 43:7 We beheld God’s glory in the Word. John 1:14 We are the vessels which “contain” His glory. All the things we are able to do and to be, find their source in Him. The Word, God’s glory, is what connects us to God. In this way, God is able to reveal Himself to all men, no matter their race, heritage or location. The essence of who God is, is His glory. God has an eternal voice. It is the Word. We should listen to that eternal voice. Our “time” of frustration here is because we are not of “here”. I Chronicles 29:15 We are to know of our time. Because you and I were made to join Father, Son and Spirit in the joy of eternity. And when Jesus Christ stepped into time from eternity, he was making the way for us to return with him. God gave us His Son just as God gave us His spirit. Job 33:4 Our spirit is in the same likeness of being that God is. God is a Spirit—it will never die. It is the part of us that has a relationship with God. God connects with, speaks to, and gives revelation to our spirit. Ecclesiastes 12:7 Proverbs 20:27 There is only one way for us to find out God…the Word of the Word. He is the only way for he is the only truth that gives the only life that can be eternal with God. No one can go between them. They are One. We must be “in” Christ for we can only go to the Father “by Jesus”. God, in the Word, reveals something about Himself through His spoken word, which is ultimately and perfectly personified in His Son, Jesus Christ. It took more than written revelation for us to know God. It took faith in the Word. It took the Spirit of God to teach us of the hidden depths of God’s nature, His love and how the Godhead so exhaustively works together in thought, word, and deed to save us. God is a speaking God or, simply put, God is the Word. This Word is eternally with Him, and this Word is His very nature. Be clear in your understanding that God’s Word of revelation is supreme authority over all things. The Word is the witness of the divine things of God. We may conclude that the Spirit, the Blood and the Word of God work together to accomplish great things for God. The blood of Jesus and the spirit of God are completely united in the spiritual Word. In the born again experience everything we have been taught by faith becomes real, and we develop a direct and personal relationship with God. In His word we give up our will and our way and follow the will of God. We learn His will by studying the Word, praying, meditating and teaching the true word of God, not by ministers or preachers that stand up and give their own commentaries, but exactly by a ‘thus saith the Lord’. The Spirit of God leads us where we are to be. It leads us to life in Christ. John 3:5 I John 5:8 Notice that the spirit, the blood and the water are in great agreement and united in their work. Yet, the Word spoke of his life, his blood, but the hearer did not reason with the Word and understood not. John 3:6-21 Ephesians 5:26 The water there speaks of the word of God. It can be seen that the spirit, the word and the blood give life. This we find in our reasoning. Luke 4:4 John 6:54, 63 Now hear what the word says… Ephesians 2:13, 18 The blood of the Word, of Jesus, in the believer’s life, the importance of the Holy Spirit, and the water of cleansing, of baptism bring us closer to God. That’s why these three witness on earth. In other words they are inseparable. baptism   How much better do we know the Word when we know of the blood. Think of the power of the Word of God…now think of the power in the blood of the Word. We are overcomers because of the blood and the word. Revelation 12:11 As our revelation in the power of the blood increases, so will the power of the word of Christ increase.  The Word must be continuously and persistently necessary in our lives. When we plead the blood of Jesus, the blood contends and protects us from the powers of darkness. It speaks on our behalf. It speaks better things than did Abel's blood. Jesus’ blood speaks of our rights in Christ – our right to be forgiven of sins, our right to be made righteous. Study the Word to learn what the blood foreshadows for our life. Ephesians 1:7 Hebrews 9:12-26; 10:1-20 I Peter 1:18-25 There is no wisdom to be gained by the Word unless we reasonably likewise come to the knowledge to ascribe the power of the blood by which we are saved. The sacrifice of life was never an intention of God even though it was His plan. For eternal life to be made possible it would require a perfect offering of life for the vindication of the perfect law of God. God needed the blood of Deity as the bestowal of life for sacrificial worship. And for our understanding, the blood of the Word suggests the thought of life, dedicated, offered, transformed, and open to our spiritual adoption. Our faith, that comes by the hearing of the word, is that faith in the blood representing the human life of Christ suffering, dying and sacrificing himself upon earth, which cleanses us in our repentance desiring forgiveness. This faith in the word of God releases our life to present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. Christ’s dying was not unto death but unto life for others. What prominence is "the Word of God" upon his return? Revelation 19:13 This title clearly identifies the rider on a white horse here as Jesus, who came to earth the first time as God in the flesh but was rejected by the world. Here the question and the answer. Isaiah 63:2, 3     It sounds as though this rider is returning from a bloody engagement. But reason with the entire content of the context. This is when our salvation was wrought upon the cross. None showed any boldness of spirit for Christ on the cross. None joined with him against his oppressors. Among the children of men no one could. It was determined that what the Word said on the cross had to be sounded in aloneness. But now, in his fury, in his omnipotence, will those who forsook the right to life offered by God, see the white robe of Christ stained by their blood. In God’s Word is God’s will for our life. For as in the beginning was the Word, so in the ending will be the Word. It is by the Word that we are being finished. The born again experience is the new beginning of life turned over to the Holy Spirit for transformation. And one might have to see death, yet faithfully knowing the spirit returns to God. But what of the soul? James 1:21 We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Our soul needs to be saved. The soul is often defined as the mind, the will and the emotions. Each of these areas needs salvation. According to the bible, this is done by the Word of God. This is the sanctification…bringing the whole man into God’s perfect will. It is a process not dependent upon time, but rather upon transforming the mind. An immediate union with Christ on the cross is an instant transforming of the mind. We must become more determined than ever to make the Word of God a priority in our lives. The enemy hates and fears the Word of God. Have you ever been in study and witnessed the enemy stealing the word? He will do anything possible to prevent us from learning God’s Word. How was it that Jesus discerned the thoughts of those opposed to truth? He is the Word. It is shown in our relationship with the word the deepest part of our nature. Every presentation of the truth of the word exposes and sifts and analyzes and judges the very thoughts and purposes of the heart. These will show in the words spoken. Hear with the ear.  The word will divide things for us; it begins separating truth from lies. As a result, we begin to realize what is of the Spirit and what is of the soul. Soon we know what actions are approved of God and what actions are not. The Word exposes wrong motives, wrong thoughts and wrong words. Spiritual strength is drawn from the Spirit. And that which the Spirit wields is that which is the Word of God. God’s Word arms God’s consecrated people with defensive armor. And as in any warfare there is need also for offensive weaponry. Ephesians 6:10-17 II Corinthians 10:3-6 This warfare is with spiritual enemies and for spiritual purposes. In this warfare there is no design to please the flesh: this must be crucified with its affections and lusts; it must be mortified and kept under. The principles and disciplines of the gospel are the weapons of this warfare. There is no outward force but rather strong persuasions, by the power of truth and the meekness of wisdom. Conscience is accountable to God only. The evidence of truth is convincing and cogent. This indeed is through the Word of God. It is our owing to Him, because the Word is His institution, and accompanied with His blessing, which makes all opposition to fall before His victorious reasoning on the word of the Word. Be discerning of proud conceits, in others. Let the Word of God reveal the richness of our character, the keeping of our faith, the gaining of our obedience, the efficient cause of our grace and power. Know that it is in our desire for the conversion of others that the enemy is conquered. But understand the readiness we must stand in to censure error. We must know and believe that the Holy Spirit knows exactly what scripture to give us in every situation. We are to stand for the Word in the spiritual realm. The power of the Word of God is the true knowledge of Him and His ways and character. Strongholds are wrongs thought to be true. Jesus is God’s final word to us. And why is he called The Word? The things that came out of his mouth as the truth of God and the person of Jesus, as the truth of God, in such a unified way that Jesus himself, in his coming, working, teaching, dying, and rising, was the final decisive message from God…he is the Word from God. It was not just the words he spoke, but also who Jesus was and what he did. That is what God had to say to us. Jesus’ words clarify himself in his work, but his self in his work were the main truth that God was revealing. It was the witness of his life coming together as one great message from God. We come together when we, as the Word says, abide in him. John 15:4-7, 10 John called Jesus “The Word” because he watched this man be truth. The Spirit impressed John with the best thing he could call him from eternity - God’s Word - God’s message to us. We are so unified in God’s intention for Jesus that He called him The Word of God. In the Word of God we have this view of all the revelation, all the truth, every witness, the glory, the light, and the works that came from Jesus, that Jesus was, in his living, in his teaching, in his dying, in his rising, the sum of all that can be said…The Word is God and that’s what the word of God says…   Let us come now to reason the truth of the revelation of The Word. Psalms 138:2 God has made Himself known to us in many ways in creation and providence, but most clearly by His word. The judgments of His mouth are magnified by His Word. What is discovered of God by revelation of The Word is much greater than what is discovered by reason. We understand this to be of Christ, the essential Word, and of the episodic narrative of the words and endeavors of Jesus, culminating in his trial and death and concluding with his appearance after his resurrection. He is the Word which is magnified above all the discoveries God had before created, even His law, even His sanctuary. The Word is the communion in the Godhead. Ephesians 1:13, 14 James 1:12 God’s word is the truth of His promise of our inheritance. His Word. His name. The Word is God, the Word is Jesus, and there is none other name under heaven given… We make God’s name our refuge. And we can be saved by none other than Jesus, the Word. And here is what lifts thy word above thy name… II Corinthians 1:18-21 The Word of the Word invokes the promise echoed throughout the word of God. The intricate history of God’s initial promise realized is the fulfillment of God’s word of the promised Seed. And that Seed is Jesus, who is “The Word”. 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

what God's righteousness looks like God’s righteousness looks like Jesus on the cross. He is Himself right, just, and true. Righteousness is essential to His very being and characterizes all that He does: God is morally and ethically right, and He acts only in keeping with what is right and just. This theme is common throughout all scripture: the judge of all the earth shall do righteousness. Righteousness is what God is. Every expected obligation of God is dimensionally heightened, lengthened, and widened above every physical quality: the backgrounds and foregrounds are rendered in beautiful lifelikeness to His mode of holiness. It is this aspect of holiness that distinguishes God infinitely beyond anything and everything that can be conceived of except that He is God! And this is the consistency that He wants His people to have. By faith to know that our God’s righteousness is not bound to anything that is not perfect.  The word affirms that God is righteous and it assures us that God always conforms to Himself - He faithfully adheres to His own perfections. He acts only and always according to the very highest principle of justice: Himself. God is His own self-existent principle of moral equity, and when He rewards the righteous, He simply acts like Himself from within, uninfluenced by anything that is not Himself. Always in prayer the thoughts of God are so mysterious as I think to come to Him that they seem to turn around and walk away from me. It is understood by me that from my vantage point God is so sovereign, and as such it is His nature and will that constitute the very essence of righteousness to allow me to spiritually envision the absolute moral distance between God and His human creatures. This is His amazing, extraordinary ability to create whatever humbleness I am to be made like Jesus to come boldly before Him in prayer. To encounter God in His holiness is the expression of His righteousness that makes it possible for us to see ourselves as we really are. God’s holiness is His complete and utter uniqueness distinct from all other beings in His infinite and absolute worth and beauty. This overlaps with His righteousness - His unwavering commitment to the highest standard imaginable - namely, His glory. This view is to leave an individual with a deep sense of awe at the greatness of His actions toward us that are in perfect agreement with His holy nature. To be indifferent is impossible for the true believer when confronted by the righteousness of God. He desires from this that our practical lives flow from the vision of the God of righteousness. He opens the veil of heaven to offer a glimpse of how the whole earth is full of His glory. The truth is that there is not and can never be anything outside of the nature of God which can move Him in the least degree. All God’s reasons come from within His uncreated being. Nothing has entered the being of God from eternity, nothing has been removed, and nothing has been changed. It is by God’s righteousness that we come to understand the “amen” response of His people. It is us saying, “now hear this”! God’s righteousness is of such a superlative degree that there is only one attribute   ever raised to the third degree of repetition in scripture. The bible doesn’t simply say that God is holy, or even that He’s holy, holy, but that He is holy, holy, holy. The bible doesn’t say that God is mercy, mercy, mercy or love, love, love or justice, justice, justice or wrath, wrath, wrath, but that He is holy, holy, holy. This is a dimension of God that consumes His very essence, and when it is manifest to us we must have the good sense to be moved. How can we, made in His image, be indifferent to His righteousness?   God’s righteousness is His unswerving faithfulness always to preserve and display the glory of His name. God is ever concerned to glorify Himself in all that He does, and His righteousness tells us just that. It is for this reason man’s “unrighteousness” is described in terms of “not glorifying God as God”. Righteousness consists in glorifying God and nothing less. The law to which men are bound is God’s   law – not a law that is “above Him” but a law that is “within Him.” And this standard, being nothing other than the nature and will of God, is the standard to which the immutable God has bound Himself: He acts always in a way that is consistent with His own perfection. This is a truth about God which we are glad to know. It is one thing to know that God is sovereign and so rules the world by His own will. But it is something more indeed to know that He rules in righteousness. For all the apparent inequities of life, for all the patient favors He shows the wicked, and for all the afflictions that fall upon the righteous, it is necessary indeed that we know that God is just and that He will always do what is right – however difficult it may be for us to see it at a given moment. Or again, it is one thing to know that He is the judge of all the world; it is something much more to know that He judges according to what is right and in a way that is consistent with Himself, that He will not condemn the innocent or clear the guilty. Our God is not whimsical or capricious. He is righteous – immutably righteous. For God to be God, and for us to be God’s election, God must demand of us righteousness. In virtue of this He institutes a moral government in creation, and imposes a just law upon His creatures, with promises of reward for the obedient. And God’s law is the very expression of His own Being. The divine righteousness of God is of such satisfaction as to offer a reformative function – repentance that we may avoid the vindicatory effect - the punishment of sin. God redeeming us will only be so as He can do so righteously. He cannot side-step justice. This is that aspect of God’s righteousness by which He provides righteousness for His offending creatures and Himself makes satisfaction for our unrighteousness.  T he gospel is a revelation of God’s righteousness. The gospel is a revelation of God’s love and grace, and it is also necessarily a message of His righteousness. Amazingly, God is righteous in forgiving sin. This is the beauty of His righteousness. God has not surrendered His just demands. Rather, God sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. In the Lord Jesus we have all that God’s righteousness requires of us. In Jesus, we are righteously forgiven. This is grace whereby through faith his righteous record became ours, and we are justified. And with all that God’s righteousness is, there is yet this one aspect that overwhelms me. God’s “remunerative” righteousness as was spoken in the parable of the pounds. Him knowing that whatever good thing any man doeth, that man shall receive of the Lord. He does not overlook our work and labor of love. It is a curious thing that with God it is a matter of righteousness that He rewards His servants for their faithful service. It is not simply a matter of goodness or kindness but of justice. When we have obeyed and served Him, we have only done what is our purpose. All that we are, we are only “by the grace of God”, and our faithfulness is due only to His working in us. It seems strange that God would view our rewards as a function of His righteous justice. The point here is not that God is obligated to us, simply, but that He has obligated Himself to us by promise. It is in His righteousness to make good His word; by promise God hath made Himself a debtor. It is just with God to pay what He owes, and God owes what He hath promised; and so it is a crown of life which God the righteous Judge will give us at that day. Now, so as not to conflict understanding, God owes us nothing. No primary and original obligation rests upon the Creator, to reward a creature made from nothing, yet He can constitute a secondary and relative obligation. He can promise to reward the creature’s service; and having bound Himself to reward obedience, His own word establishes a species of claim…God by His promise, has made Himself a debtor to men.  Our obedience and service that He righteously demands of us and that He graciously enables us to give Him put otherwise, is God rewarding us, His servants, for the very thing that He has purchased and freely provided. The truth of God’s righteousness is a startling one for us. But when this righteousness is wedded to His grace, it is a joyful truth indeed. Even the heavens declare His righteousness. And by His Son we might become the righteousness of God right now as Jesus stands before Him. This very moment if we are in Christ, we are righteous, meaning we are seen by God as just, innocent, and right. There is no measurement to God’s righteousness. The cross of Calvary accomplished a just salvation, for all who will receive it. But we also know that only those whom God has chosen—the “elect”—will repent and trust in the death of Christ on their behalf. This raises another question related to divine righteousness. After understanding the teaching of the doctrine of divine election, how does God’s righteousness and His justice reconcile. Should God stand before the bar of human judgment? God is righteous in that He has condemned all, and in Christ, those who are justified have been punished and then raised to newness of life. God is also righteous for judging all those who refuse to accept His offer of salvation in Christ. God would be unjust only if He set aside justice rather than fulfilling it in Christ, whether by His sacrificial death at His first coming or by His judging the unbelieving world at His second coming.   Divine grace, the grace by which God reaches out to save men from their sins, is meted out not on the basis of men’s merits but in spite of men’s sin. Grace is sovereignly bestowed. God would be unjust only if He withheld blessings from men which they deserved. Since God is free to bestow unmerited blessings on any sinner He may choose, God is not unrighteous in saving some of the worst sinners, while choosing not to save other sinners. God does not owe salvation to anyone, and thus He is not unjust in saving some and choosing not to save others.   If sin is the manifestation of our unrighteousness and we can be saved only through a righteousness not our own—the righteousness of Christ—then the ultimate sin is self-righteousness. Jesus did not reject sinners who came to him for mercy and salvation; he rejects those who were too righteous in their own eyes to need grace.   No one is too lost to save; there are only those too good to save.   If we are among those who have acknowledged our sin and trusted in the righteousness of Christ for our salvation, the righteousness of God is one of the great and comforting truths we should embrace. By the law is the knowledge of sin, and thus every mouth is stopped, and the whole world is brought in guilty before God. But notwithstanding this, there is a righteousness; a righteousness which meets the case of the unrighteous in every part; a righteousness which can reverse even the verdict of the law against the unrighteous; a righteousness on the footing of which we can stand with boldness in the presence of the holy God without either shame or fear. It is the righteousness of God. It is divine. It is called the righteousness of God because it is a righteousness provided by Him; a righteousness which was conceived by Him, set on foot, and carried out in every part by Him entirely, and by Him alone; a righteousness in the providing of which we had nothing to do, even in thought or in desire, far less in execution; a righteousness the origin and accomplishment of which are wholly and purely God’s, not man’s at all. Again, it is called the righteousness of God because it is a righteousness founded on the sufferings of the Son of God. What God’s righteousness looks like…it is the only begotten flesh that has suffered and provided such a compensation for our unrighteousness. God’s righteousness is so divinely situated that it pushes our faith to a divinely accepted blessing. A faith which can leave no room for doubt on our part at all. Yet it is not our faith that is our righteousness. It is a righteousness which passes over to us, and becomes available for us, by believing in Him whose righteousness it is; that is, by receiving the Father’s testimony concerning Jesus Christ. It is by believing that we are identified with Him, so that His doing becomes our doing in in the eye of God and in the eye of the law; His suffering becomes our suffering; His fulfilling of the law becomes our fulfilling of the law; His obedience to the Father’s will is our obedience to the Father’s will. Such is the position into which we are brought, by being made, in believing, one with Him. Thus “the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ,” is presented to us, that in believing on Him He may become ours. Righteousness is here laid down at our feet. It is there, whether we receive it or not. It is there, whether we believe it or not—whether we reject it or receive it.  A righteousness that is most amply sufficient to meet our case were we the very guiltiest on whom the sun has ever shone. This is God’s righteousness. On this righteousness the feet of every faithful from the beginning have stood; of this righteousness every prophet has spoken; to this righteousness every type has borne witness; and this righteousness every sacrifice has set forth. It is even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference. If we be lost, it will be not that there was no righteousness, not that we refused to complete a righteousness which had been begun, but that we rejected the righteousness which was completed, and which was so presented to us by God Himself. Here is what the essence of a blessing is concerning what God’s righteousness looks like: the fitness of the righteousness for the sinner, and the fitness of the sinner for the righteousness have no difference. This is God’s righteous declaration of not guilty. All are equally fit or equally unfit, equally qualified or equally unqualified, for “all have sinned;” and it is this that brings down all to the same level, and down to this level it is that the righteousness comes. God’s righteousness is an effective work of God that cannot be limited to a mere declaration, for it includes the entire creation and not just the individual. What God declares becomes a reality as represents the unleashing of His power in an active way. God’s declaration of righteousness over us is not temporary – it is eternal. The effective work of the Spirit is part and parcel of the righteousness of God.   Righteousness is the manner by which the promise of inheritance is acquired and put into practice.   Righteousness is a journey of increasing maturity in godliness that enables access to resources of God which we haven’t experienced as yet.  R ighteousness opens up for us a lifestyle of awesome deeds that will touch the ends of the earth. This is the outcome of righteousness we are waiting for and eagerly expecting.   God’s righteousness, therefore, is both just and holy. The righteousness of God, Himself, is the righteousness that saves, and in salvation God freely extends, to sinful humanity, both justice and holiness—the justice and holiness of our very God.   However, this righteousness must be explained, as well as proclaimed, must be seen as well as heard, and must be demonstrated as well as argued. It must be revealed and understood before it can be received. Let’s enlarge upon this truth. The righteousness of God is embodied in Christ. We receive righteousness by receiving him. The question, however, is how? How is the righteousness of God revealed in Jesus? Christ’s redeeming death was the glorious manifestation of God’s own righteousness. God revealed His justice through the propitiatory act of the cross by which we are reclaimed from sin and death. Christ’s shed blood, his substitutionary, sacrificial death, deals with human sin, guilt, and condemnation. The cross reveals the justice of God by meeting the demands or requirements of the broken law. And this revelation of righteousness at the cross is fundamental. It is a demonstration of the inherent justice of God. Also, the equally fundamental truth that the life that Jesus lived also reveals God’s righteousness. Christ was obedient not only “unto death” but throughout his life. He revealed the righteousness, the holiness, the very character of God, in his everyday living. His obedience in its totality reveals God’s righteousness and, therefore, is the source of human righteousness.   The righteousness of God is both judicial and moral. Justice and holiness are revealed in Jesus, through His life and His death. Note the kind of faith that enables sinful human beings to receive God’s saving righteousness. A constant faith, from faith to faith, a faith from first to last, through faith from beginning to end. We are learning of a faith that includes much more than intellectual assent. We are learning of a faith that goes beyond knowledge. A faith that is submissive, dependent, trusting. This faith transcends knowledge, evidence, argument, and understanding, but yet it does not dispense with any of these. Do not be deceived…this righteousness does not change the nature…it changes the status. Imputed righteousness gives justification, imparted righteousness initializes sanctification. There is a future element in our experience of righteousness that will set the final seal on God’s people. It is the third angel’s message becoming in reality the message of righteousness by faith. 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

let us pray Let us pray. Now let us consider the answer to our prayer. God answers yes to give us confidence. He answers no to avert error. He withholds an answer to help us grow in faith through Him and to assume our own responsibility of making our own decisions using the truths we've learned. But sometimes God wants to use our prayer to bring us to a right place to know that prayer itself is a means of grace. He will expose us to what is right for us. Prayer is our response to the grace we receive from God’s Word. So, the answer is found in these questions; how are we to know what God’s answer means and is God’s answer sufficient? The answer is grace. Trusting in God’s grace is allowing His love and power to flow through us to inform our free will and our intentions of His purpose. Whatever comes from God is divine. Grace activates us according to the principles of God. With grace sin has no dominion over us for we are not under the law, but under grace, not under the law of sin and death, but under the law of the spirit of life, which is in Christ Jesus. Under grace is all about what Jesus has already done and our having faith in the finished works of Jesus Christ. We thank God for giving us the ability to do something which is humanly impossible for us to do. It is only by God's grace that we who remain faithful can experience eternal life, and it is only by God's gifted faith that we have gifted faith the ability to live for the Lord. There is this great plague that is inflicting deathly harm upon the world…the plague of sin. And it is ravaging the souls of many whom Christ died for. Except for the blessings of an all-powerful, all- knowing, and supremely loving Deity all would succumb to the devastation of inherited affliction of the flood of ungodliness…the very sorrowfulness of the grave. If not for grace…the “favor of God” which is His divine kindness, His act of true compassion toward undeserving human recipients. And it is because we cannot save ourselves that we are wholly dependent upon God’s grace and faith. For by grace we are saved through faith. We have the promise of life as we by grace and through faith are in Jesus Christ. It is this faith that gives us access to grace. We, as beneficiaries of Christ, believe that God’s grace gives us the ability, the strength to do something we are humanly incapable of doing. We can cease to sin altogether. We must come to understand the incredible and supernatural resources of heaven that broadens our path to salvation. We are the spectacle of why and how God determined and purposed this drama to secure eternity for His election. God delights in us. He supplies us with His favor or grace and faith totally at His initiative and only because of His love for us. God’s love is the greatest gift. God loves us because it is in His character to love. He does it because He wants to. Grace existed before ever we came to be. Grace is God’s part. Faith is that measure of first accepting and knowing who He is by His word and being a the formula positive response to what God has already provided by grace – the power of choice. In other words, faith is our positive response to God’s grace, and our faith only appropriates what God has already provided for us. Therefore, faith in Jesus is our part in the drama. Grace and faith work together, and they must be in balance. Understand the formula. Grace is the power not to sin and the faith in and of Jesus justifies us to be the righteousness of God. This qualifies us as the children of God and the faith given us works by love to the keeping of every word of God. The grace of God and the faith of Jesus brings us to the worthiness of all acceptation. By faith we are of God's elect, and by grace is our acknowledging of the truth after godliness. Our every doing in life, every communication, every thought is by faith. This is the effectual grace, the effectual calling applied to those whom God has determined to save, the elect, and, in God's timing, overcomes all resistance to obeying God. We come to reason through the teaching of the Spirit that the offer of salvation through grace does not act overpoweringly in a purely cause-effect, deterministic method, but rather in an influence-and-response fashion that can be both freely accepted and freely denied because of the choice that God graces us with. This choice is the act of drawing, it is an act of power, yet not of force; God’s grace in the drawing of unwilling, makes willing in the day of His power: He enlightens our understanding that bows the will, gives an heart of flesh, allured by the power of His grace, and engages the soul to come to Christ, and give up itself to Him; He draws with lovingkindness. This drawing, though it supposes power and influence, yet not force but coaction as does music to the ear, love to the heart, and pleasure to the mind. Adam and Eve were free to choose between right and wrong. We are able, as a result of the grace of God through Jesus Christ, to choose to turn from sin to righteousness and believe on Jesus Christ who draws all of humanity to himself. In this view, God's dispensation of grace to us, the will of man, which was formerly both adverse and averse to God, and unable to obey, can now choose to obey through the work of Christ; and although God's grace is a strong initial catalyst to effect salvation, it is not irresistible but may be ultimately resisted and rejected by a human being. Herein is the sovereignty of God bound up; God can allow individuals to accept or reject His grace and yet remain sovereign. Sufficient grace does not become efficacious or effective from the cooperation of the human will, but because of the purpose of God. Without it we remain in a state of depravity. Without it we have not the capability to believe or to repent. God's election does not depend upon any human response. The Word and will of God awakens us from the death of sin, enlightens and renews us. What a purpose that the preaching of the word by which faih comes is a means of grace by which God offers salvation. The outward call to salvation given to all who hear the gospel becomes an inward work by the Holy Spirit. And by faith we embrace the grace offered and conveyed by it. Once inwardly revived, we freely follow God and His ways as not only the obligatory but the preferable good, and so that special restoring grace is always effective as the outward working of the Holy Spirit converts the life. This is the confirmation that those whom God effectually calls necessarily come to full salvation. Of course, this confirmation depends upon the faith that when God elected certain individuals for His purpose of salvation, He knew who would respond and obey, according to the foreknowledge of God as the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. We must not be so familiar with the word of God that we take for granted what God purposes it to say. God inspires profound truth to be declared through reasoning with Him by the Spirit. Being saved by grace through faith, does not say one or the other. Salvation is not dependent on grace alone. If it were, everyone would be saved and going to heaven, for God’s grace that brings salvation has appeared to all men. He has already given the gift of salvation to everyone through Jesus. Now, it is predicated upon the individual to receive what was done by faith. It is essential that we understand what the spirit says rather than simply consider the words. The purpose of God must be distinctly understood in the light of the predestination and the election. Predestination is God's sovereign ordaining, while election is the specific purpose of God choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world. And yet, both refer to God’s grace decreed for eternal life. Predestination is the broader grace of which faith in His election is the sealed sum. In the counsel of determination, God’s eternal decree, by which He compacted with Himself was what He willed to become of each person. Election implies eternal life. Predestination is according to purpose. It is God’s plan taking place. God saw us unperfect and wrote it in His book when as yet there was none of us. Eternal wisdom formed the plan, and by God’s power the structure was brought forth. How can this be described being so far out of sight of our sense? He who saw our substance when it was unfashioned sees it now that it is fashioned. Every person has existed in the mind of God eternally. This does not negate the paradoxical truth that He holds of choices and forked paths before us. He tests us. He calls to us and awaits our response. But it is true that He has ordained our lives. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. The question is: how do we come to know what the works are that God prepared in advance for us to do? The answer is that we must abide in Christ and that makes us a reality in the mind of God. God the Father is a spirit. He sees spiritually beyond what is and on to what will be. For Him to think is to create. He sees us in nothingness and His thoughts toward us create a substance full of potential. He shapes and brings life to it. Now, with your patience let’s return to reason with what the spirit says rather than simply consider the words as stated earlier. Most believe that in order to be saved, people need to ask God to forgive them of their sins, but that isn’t what the bible teaches. The bible states that Jesus was the propitiating atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Jesus didn’t just die for those he knew would accept him; he died for every sinner who has ever lived on this earth. And he died before they, you or I ever committed a single sin…his death was in reality accomplished before any of us were. Here is a radical truth that even some of you may frown at. Sin is not an issue with God! Because He knows the sufficiency of His grace and He knows our faith in His word to confess our sins. Does not the scripture read, “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.” Because of the name of Jesus, the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the heavenly ministry of Jesus…the sins of the entire world…God does His part; He gives us grace to receive the truth by faith and make it a reality in our life. We are to be convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment. We can sum these up in the receiving of Jesus Christ sending the Holy Spirit to convict us of lacking faith in him. We must have faith to trust God’s grace. Do we believe that God wants to save us? Grace can reverse the deep effects of sin. Our response to grace is faith in Jesus. It is this faith that carries us to salvation. It’s the gift of God, not a work we do. Jesus says, “thy faith hath saved thee.” But it is according to God’s own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. He provides faith through grace for us to be brought from death to life. It’s the work of God alone that we can receive His grace through faith. God gives the grace, the faith, and the salvation. This is His purpose…what did we do. So, why does God give both grace and faith? That none of us may boast. That is grace from God to keep us from pride. God knows the human tendency for pride. Salvation is a divine work of God that cannot be earned through any human actions. It can’t be passed down from our parents as some believe. If we had anything to do with our salvation, we would think to take credit about what we had accomplished. Since salvation is a work of God alone, we by faith can boast about God alone. Please get this…from the beginning, God knew of the fall that would bring separation. He purposed this to secure eternity for those who would come to Him. God had a plan to bring creation back to Himself and that was through Jesus. Jesus came to live the perfect life that we couldn’t and then died the death that only we deserved, but that’s not all of it. Jesus rose, defeating death, so that we too would experience resurrection of life. The Word of God made grace possible and by that Word God made salvation possible through faith. God, in His providence, extends both grace and faith to us. Without grace, faith cannot function; and without faith, grace cannot be retained. Grace is the power, faith is the “on” switch within our spirit that enables us to receive grace. Faith is essential for us to see and to know God. Without this faith in its continual growth the righteousness of God cannot be unveiled. Without this we would have no life. That’s why faith is the underlying basis of our relationship with God, and the means by which we can apprehend God’s grace. There is this divinely powerful truth that sets us free from the penalty and the power of sin: by our faith in the grace of Christ’s death. Application of this grace and truth of the cross by faith each day gives us the putting on of Christ. His mind, his doing. This is the way by God’s grace we overcome sin in our sanctification. Having the mind of Christ gives us the heart of the humility of Christ making it possible to have true faith required to receive God’s grace for God giveth grace to the humble. This is God safeguarding eternity. Faith acts on the truth of God’s word and this shows the effect of grace in the life. Grace and faith are pictured in God’s hand reaching down to touch us and we reach upward to take hold of Him. And it is as we envision God’s hand of grace and our hand of faith joining together to form an interlocking handshake that our divine relationship and friendship is complete and inseparable. Consider how faith so pleases God. Faith is so powerful that it can give conditional exception to our standing with God. How so? Believing what God says to us is true; even if we don’t see it happen right away. But there is a word written with purpose. The experience of the repentant thief is a perfect illustration of the biblical truth that salvation is a gift of God’s grace that we receive through faith and not by works. The repentant thief had already received a death sentence for his wrongdoing. All we know about his sin is that the scriptures call him a thief and a criminal. This sin, according to the world, deserved death. However, according to Jesus, it was forgivable. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is proof that God will show grace and forgive the sins of all those who have faith in Him, even in their last moment. Whatever goodness faith sees, it sees as the fruit of grace. Eternal destiny changed by a faith that recognized Jesus as the Savior. Our faith is the demand we place on the power of God. Our faith is the receiver of grace; it is the receiver of the power of God. Our faith is ours when we believe and act on the Word of God. Just reach out and touch the H, I, M. Grace will in no way excuse sin. God will by no means clear the guilty. Every one shall die for his own iniquity. God reserveth wrath for his enemies. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. It was Jesus who by the grace of God should taste death for every man. What an amazing thought! Jesus Christ, our perfect and sinless substitute, tasted death for everyone. The bible even says how he did it: by God’s grace. It was God’s love, compassion, and mercy for us that not only sent Jesus to the cross but enabled him to endure it. Jesus was no helpless victim of hatred or persecution. He voluntarily surrendered himself. This was purposed in the grace of God. To embrace this truth, the idea that everyone could be saved based upon grace must be received by faith by the individual. This grace and this saving faith express God’s omnipotent plan for our lives, purposed to bring glory to His name through Christ Jesus. Faith is the act of our soul that turns away from our own insufficiency to the free and all-sufficient resources of God’s grace. The grace in God’s plan is so purposed that no one is required to work to earn it. And our faith is the mark of being chosen for God’s election. We are found in the favor of God for our salvation is through faith, not as a cause or condition of salvation, or as what adds anything to the blessing itself; but it is the way, or means, or instrument, which God has appointed, has purposed, for the receiving and enjoying it, that so it might appear to be all of grace; and this faith is not the produce of our free will and power, but it is the free gift of God...it is not of our desiring nor of our deserving, nor of our performing, but is of the free grace of God. Faith fueled by grace authenticates our obedience to God. By it we understand God’s call and our identity. Grace is highlighted through our faith. Both are of our divine Father in heaven, and sacrificial offering of our Savior Jesus Christ. Hearing and discerning which voices speak wisdom and truth for God today requires a grace that overarches the source of our faith. There will be storms, hardships, trials, persecutions. By faith in the grace of God’s promise we take courage to endure. God’s grace is not an abstract concept or a thing. God’s grace is a person. Jesus Christ is God’s grace personified. When God lived in the tabernacle in the wilderness, the people saw His glory by the things He did. At that time, God tabernacled in a man-made tent, the sanctuary. The second time God comes to dwell among His people, He comes in a tent/tabernacle/temple that is not made with human hands. He comes in the fleshly body as Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus referred to his body as “this temple”. Our dwelling in tents in the wilderness was the shadow of our bodies. So Jesus came in the true temple and he was “full of grace” and truth. From his fullness we have all received grace. God appeared to us as Jesus, in a temple that was foreshadowed by the tent or tabernacle in the Old Testament. In this new tent, unlike the old tabernacle that had the law on table to stones, this new tabernacle or body prepared Christ was completely filled with God’s grace. Jesus was walking around as the face of God’s grace and his flesh was simply a “covering” that was put on that grace so that it could take shape that is physically visible. The bible says this; for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. This is a reference to Jesus whom John describes as God’s only son who left heaven and came to earth, full of grace and truth, and from his grace we have each received grace and God’s blessings. Jesus is the grace that saves us as our faith is in Him. We see Jesus in his grace as God sees the faith that is in us. To enlarge…without grace, there would be no salvation, considering our flagrant disobedience against God’s sovereignty over us within His purpose. We need to understand grace specifically as seen against the backdrop of God's justice, that is, what God is fully and absolutely justified in doing to us. Without it, there would be no calling, no justification, no Holy Spirit given, and no sanctification—let alone, no salvation. We could go as far as to say that there would be no creation! In short, in terms of our salvation, grace is the key element in God's entire purpose. Therefore, at this point in our lives, we must have the determined mindset to live the rest of our lives by faith, submitting to God to fulfill our part in His purpose for us. To complete our course, we will find as we live it that God's grace is supporting and filling our needs all along the way. From beginning to end, our salvation is by means of divine benevolence, gifting by God. In no way is grace given because God is obligated, compelled, forced, or duty bound to us to do so. He gives grace freely, not by constraint. All He truly owes us is the death we have earned through sin. He gives grace because that is the way He is; it is His character. He gives it because of what He is working out in His purpose. God, the Author, would not contradict Himself by suddenly giving approval of any work of faith as a means of salvation. Grace, a merciful gift, preceded our having faith in Him. Without His gift of grace, we would never have godly faith, the faith, in the first place. Faith, our trust in God, is a fruit of the grace God freely gives. Our calling and election by God preceded even the slightest fragment of saving knowledge of God and thus our having faith in Him. Therefore, we could not possibly earn any grace of God, even as Jacob could not. As a vivid illustration for us, God deliberately chose to do this to show us that we couldn’t possibly do any works pertaining to salvation. An overwhelming nugget of truth may be gleaned from this gift of God. Because God is revealing here His purposed pattern which He determined to call those He has chosen to save at this time, then it shows that our personal calling and election into His spiritual creation is in no way random but very specific. When was Jeremiah sanctified and ordained? David’s substance was not hidden. And what of John the Baptist? Works have an entirely different purpose than that of saving us. Works are the fruit derived from God's grace. Even though the grace of God is the foundation for good works, they, by themselves, do not and cannot earn us grace. The grace of God enables our works to do spiritual things. Essentially grace is an intervention into the course of our lives. Our calling is an act of God's grace, a gifting completely apart from any merit on our part. We tend to think of grace primarily in regard to justification and the forgiveness of sin, but that is far, far too limiting. Our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is a faith connection that supplies us with a continuous flow of grace, powers, forgiveness, knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and more through God's loving concern. He is not supplying our every desire but our every need as His spiritual creation of each of us moves toward His purposed conclusion. Again, remember that, for this truth to be more fully appreciated, it must be understood that God does not owe us one tiny jot or tittle of it. Just as surely as the manna physically appeared to the unconverted Israelites every morning except Sabbath in the wilderness and the cloud was in the sky by day and a pillar of fire by night, God is supplying our every need in relation to His salvation and purpose. It is all freely given toward His glorification and His purpose of creating us to fill a position, a place in His eternity. May it be our prayer that we have seen a firm definition of and foundation for appreciating the importance of grace and faith to our salvation. Without either, there would be no salvation to give hope to our lives in Christ. Along the way, through God's creation of us into the image of Christ, His giving of God has laid His hand upon our life, and He is going to use grace and faith becomes the source of power that enables us to overcome and glorify God. us for His eternal purposes. Our faith gives us the full realization that grace has already taken care of everything that concerns us. 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

OnlineBibleCourse: Deepen your search for truth in the bible and learn about Christ. Sounds of Manna -Hymn 10 - Jesus Paid It All Play Video Free books! Play Video Be Transformed Play Video The Truth Watch Now Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Close DISCLAIMER: PLEASE NOTE ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED ARE EXTRACTS, EXCERPTS, OR COMPILATIONS AND ARE NOT COPYEDITED. MANY WORKS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS ARE USED. THERE IS NO AUTHOR HERE…IT IS A COMPILATION FOR YOUR LEARNING Schedule Learn at your own pace. Grade your own quizzes. No schedule. No deadline. Contact He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone , and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. Revelation 2:17 KJV Online Bible Courses No Cost *New Blog Entries Added Weekly* Bible Prophecy Charts & Maps Learn where we are in the stream of time Bible Helpful Links From reputable sources About About White Stone Bible Study Online/OnlineBibleCourse Have you had questions about the Bible? Perhaps you just want to know more about the life of Jesus or how to become a better person. Or, rather, you have come here to learn more about prophecy and the events that are coming upon this earth. Well, put on your seatbelt, because you are about to have a bumpy ride; these studies may cause you to question long-held church traditions that might make you ponder and wonder...

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