Fret not if you have been overlooked...

 

Fret not if you have been overlooked in being honoured.

Esther 2
21 ¶In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.
22 And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name.
23 And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.

How mysterious!

The treasonous plot was investigated; the two top security chiefs were hanged for their treachery, but nothing was done to honour the man who had discovered and reported the murderous plot, and saved the king's life.

The Lord God of heaven wisely saved that due honour for a better time. So, fret not if you have been overlooked.

Don't whine that you have not been appreciated!

The Lord Jesus also reminded:
"So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

Your ministry - does it save both yourself and them that hear you?

 

#Salvation_or_Destruction
#Ministry_of_the_word

Does it really matter what kind of ministry of the word you sit under? Does it matter whether you are taught sound doctrines and are doctrinally established (stable)? There are too many sincere Christians who loathe, yes, they loathe, doctrines.

Ponder on these passages, if what the Bible says still matters to you. Do you know how to draw out the necessary implications and practical lessons from these passages of God's word?

Apostle Paul's solemn words to young Pastor Timothy:

"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." 1 Timothy 4:16 KJT

And again,

"Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." 2 Timothy 4:2 KJT.

Here is Apostle Peter's solemn word concerning Christians who are neither soundly taught nor grounded:

"As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:16 KJT

And this is how the Apostle Paul graphically describes unlearned believers: unstable kids easily carried away by falsehood.

"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." Ephesians 4:14 KJT

Why did the Lord Jesus Christ give teaching offices to His church? Let's hear from Apostle Paul:

11 ¶And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13 KJV

(Of the four distinct NT teaching offices, the first three offices were unique to the apostolic church; only the fourth is normative to the gospel age.)

Does it matter what kind of preaching ministry you attend? Too many can't even distinguish truth from falsehood, and they just don't care.

For example, what does your preacher teach about how God justifies a condemned sinner? And the doctrine of justification by faith alone is declared as THE article that determines the standing or falling of the church!

O Lord, have mercy!
========

Sonny
It does make a big difference. True preaching brings life and immortality to light and gives God due honour for eternal salvation. Which also saves us from this untoward generation of false teachings and brings us to a fellowship with our Saviour that only the truth can bring, which is freedom in Christ.

Sing
Sonny, what's true preaching? How can one in the pew know? Thanks.

Sonny
Sing: Scriptural preaching of the truth is foolishness to those who have not the spirit of Christ. They have no spiritual ears to hear nor eyes to see the truth. They cannot believe because they are spiritually discerned. In regeneration God puts his laws into their heart and because they are sons they cry Abba Father and when the truth of the gospel is preached unto them the spirit of God in them bears witness of the spirit that God gave them where they cry of a truth this is of the LORD.

Reply

Who are the "sons of God" in Genesis 6?

 
#sons_of_God

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The phrase "sons of God" occurs
- 5 times in the Old Testament and
- 6 times in the New.

The five occasions in the OT are as follows:

Gen 6:2
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Gen 6:4
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

(The phrase "the daughters of men" occurs twice in the Bible (KJT) - Gen 6:2,4; the daughters of men are FEMALE offspring of man's procreating activities; read "begat sons and daughters" in the genealogical account in Gen 5 and 11.)

Job 1:6
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

Job 2:1
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

Job 38:7
When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

========

Nearly all Christian teachers and their followers insist that the phrase "sons of God" in Gen 6:2,4 refers to godly men of the lineage of Seth. These godly men of God married the daughters of men; they understood "the daughters of men" as the ungodly women of the world instead of the female offspring of mankind. This is their mixed-marriage view of Gen 6.

Look at this passage:

"There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." Geen 6:4

So, according to the mixed marriage view, WHEN the sons of God (i.e. godly men of God) came in unto (intermarried with) the daughters of men (ungodly women of the world), the daughters of men bore children to the sons of God - the same (offspring) became mighty men which were of old, men of renown - they were the giants in the earth in those days, and also after that.

In what sense were they (the offspring of the union) giants?

In what sense were they (the offspring of the union) mighty?

What were they (the offspring of the union) renowned for?

The next verse provides the answer:

Gen 6:5 ¶ And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The offspring of the union - described as giants, mighty, and of renown - had completely and universally corrupted the whole human race; that was what the offspring of the union were giants, mighty, and of renown for!

The union didn't bring forth literal giant offspring; it did bring forth offspring that were giant, mighty, and renowned in wickedness. They were powerful and influential, turning the whole human race unto wickedness.

Why would sound-minded Bible students believe that the intermarriage of godly men of God and the ungodly women of the world could bring forth such offspring that so successfully and universally corrupted the world is completely beyond me! Perhaps, soundbytes make anything possible.

What had happened to all their so-called godly men of God in that generation? What kind of godly men are they talking about - real or fictional?  "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Does the mixed marriage view provide an adequate explanation for the outcome described here: "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Does this ring a bell?

Jude 6 "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

2 Peter 2:4 KJV — For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.

Some of the fallen angels left their spirit realm (their first estate, their own habitation); and entered the human realm, taking upon themselves human nature, married the female offspring of man... producing children that become giants that are mighty and renowned in their wickedness and corrupted that whole generation. They would have accomplished their purpose - calling forth the righteous judgment of God to destroy the whole human race... THUS preventing the appearance of the Seed of the Woman who shall crush the head of their captain, Satan - had the Lord God not shown grace.

Genesis 3:15 KJT
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Satan didn't sit around waiting for his doom. He tried his best effort to thwart and circumvent the coming of the Seed of the Woman who shall deliver that cursed fatal blow pronounced upon him. He took God's word seriously; he knew God wasn't joking.

BUT BUT BUT

Genesis 6:8 KJT— But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Divine grace triumphed in the Garden of Eden.

Divine grace triumphed again in the devastating catastrophe brought by the angels that sinned.

Score

God 2: Satan 0 

=========

Peruse these related articles on the beginning verses of Genesis 6.

https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2016/02/and-it-came-to-pass-after-15-long.html

https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2016/02/they-saw-that-daughters-of-men-were-fair.html

https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2016/02/mighty-men-men-of-renown.html

Chosen you unto what salvation?

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Good morning, bro Sing.

I have another question.

2 Thessalonians 2:13
[13]But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Apostle Paul mentioned "to salvation."

Is the salvation mentioned by the Apostle Paul in that verse the eternal salvation, bro?

---------

Dear Brother,

Thanks for the question.

Let us make a few observations to help us to answer your good question.

i. The salvation to which God has, from the beginning, chosen the Thessalonians saints is described as through both the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.

- The salvation spoken of is through the instrumentality of the sanctification of the Spirit AND the belief of the truth of the gospel presented.

- Paul’s ministry among them was blessed by the Spirit to their sanctification, i.e. their separation from darkness, ignorance, superstition, falsehood, etc. and belief of the truth, i.e. conversion to the truth of their salvation in Jesus Christ.

- The Apostle Paul said in 1Th 1:5

"For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake."

ii. How do we understand the words “from the beginning” then?

- What’s the context? From the beginning of what?

- The Thessalonians were among the early converts of Apostle Paul’s ministry, i.e. from the beginning of his ministry.

- The elect were chosen unto eternal salvation from BEFORE the foundation of the world, Eph 1:4

- The Thessalonian saints were among those chosen by God to experience the temporal salvation that comes through the gospel ministry, from the beginning of Apostle Paul’s gospel ministry.

The next verse reads thus, “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“whereunto” – unto to said salvation in the previous verse, God called you by our gospel. The salvation is through the instrumentality of the gospel ministry administered by the Apostle Paul.

The obtainment of the said glory of our Lord Jesus Christ is through the instrumentality of the gospel ministry. So this glory is not related to eternal salvation but to a saving knowledge of Christ through the gospel ministry.

I conclude that the salvation spoken of is NOT eternal salvation.

-------------

p/s Dr John Gill, in his commentary, says that it is eternal salvation.
It's impudent to disagree with a giant like Dr Gill.
But I beg to differ for the reasons stated above. 

Does God predestine our mistakes in life...?

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Question

Does God predestine our mistakes in life or is it because of our decisions that we make? I mean, do we have free will?

===============

1. PEOPLE are predestined by God.
God, in His grace and mercy, has freely and sovereignly predetermined the destiny of certain PEOPLE; not things or events or your choices; PEOPLE have destiny; things and events don't. Mistakes have consequences, temporal consequences.

God predestinated His elect to eternal glory in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:5 KJT - Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will...11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

The object of divine predestination is human beings made in the image of God.

Rom 8:29 KJT - For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

2. Free will
Yes, man has free will.

If man has no free will, then the moral government of God over man, His creature, collapses. It's because man has free will that he is without excuse; he is held fully responsible for his every choice and action. He sins freely because he has free will; no one coerces him to sin.

Free will in the bondage of a fallen sinful nature has never saved a man from his sins and condemnation of death

Why do the reformed folks so adamantly deny the free will of man is a great puzzle! What are they fearful of acknowledging this simple truth? That man with free will will dethrone the Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth?