Complete Victory (Col. 2:15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2017 10:05 PM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Complete Victory

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Colossians 2:15

            Message of the verses:  “15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”  “15  And then, having drawn the sting of all the powers and authorities ranged against us, he exposed them, shattered, empty and defeated, in his own triumphant victory! (Philips).”

            Let us begin by looking at Hebrews 2:14 which is a similar verse but goes into more detail of what Christ did on the cross:  “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.”  14 Since, then, "the children" have a common physical nature as human beings, he also became a human being, so that by going through death as a man he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (Philips).”

            In verse fifteen of Colossians chapter two, our verse for this evening we see the word disarmed, which means that when He disarmed Satan He literally was stripping him, so Satan does not have the power that he once had because of what Christ did on the cross.  During the Romans triumphs over their enemies the Roman general would lead captives in a parade which is a picture of what is in this verse, what Christ did.

            Now once again it is good that we are reminded why Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians as some of them were being tempted to worship these demons and as Paul writes this verse he is showing them that that would be total folly because of what Christ did to them at the cross.  Not only did Christ’s death on the cross cancel the believer’s debt but He also defeated Satan and his fallen angels, so Paul was able to write the following in Romans 8:37-39 “37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Now because Christ defeated Satan does not mean that we do not have to, by the power of God wrestle against the forces of evil as Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12, and then goes on to talk about putting on the spiritual armor so we can be victorious in Christ. 

            MacArthur concludes “The death of Christ brings transformation, pardon, and victory.  That adds up to complete salvation with complete forgiveness and triumph.  No wonder Paul said, ‘May it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’ (Gal. 6:14).”

3/25/2017 10:22 PM

 

           

"We Share His Glory" (John 17:20-23)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2017 7:33 AM

My Worship Time                                             Focus:  PT-1 “The Representation of True Unity”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 17:20-23

            Message of the verses:  “even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity,”

            There are sometimes that I have to go back and read Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentaries as I spent almost 24 years reading and studying the Word of God with the aid of his very understandable commentaries and so I thought that I would quote what he has to say about these verses.  He entitles this section in his commentary “We Share His Glory” (John 17:20-26).  This is the last sub-division in this section and we will only look at what he has written on verses 20-23 which is the verses for the most part in this section.

            “Here our Lord focuses our attention on the future.  He begins to pray for us who live today, for the whole church throughout all ages.  He has already prayed about security and sanctity; now the burden of His prayer is unity.  He is concerned that His people experience a spiritual unity that is like the oneness of the Father and the Son.  Christians may belong to different fellowships, but they all belong to the Lord and to each other.

            “The disciples had often exhibited a spirit of selfishness, competition, and disunity; and this must have broken the Saviour’s heart.  I wonder how He feels when He sees the condition of the church today!  The Puritan preacher Thomas Brooks wrote:  ‘Discord and division become no Christian.  For wolves to worry the lambs is no wonder, but for one lamb to worry another, this is unnatural and monstrous.’

            “What is the basis for true Christian unity?  The person and work of Jesus Christ and His glory (John 17:2-5).  He has already given His glory to us, and He promises that we will further experience that glory when we get to heaven!  All true believers have God’s glory within, no matter what they may look like on the outside.  Christian harmony is not based on the externals of the flesh but the internals and eternals of the Spirit in the inner person.  We must look beyond the elements of our first birth—race, color, abilities, etc.—and build our fellowship on the essentials of our new birth.

            “We already possess His glory within (John 17:22, and note Rom. 8:29), and one day we shall behold His glory in heaven (John 17:24).  As we grow in the Lord, the glory within begins to grow and to reveal itself in what we say and do and the way we say and do it.  People do not see us and glorify us; they see the Lord and glorify Him (Matt. 5:16; 1 Cor. 6:19-20).

            “One of the things that most impresses the world is the way Christians love each other and live together in harmony.  It is this witness that our Lord wants in the world ‘that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me’ (John 17:21). The lost world cannot see God, but they can see Christians; and what they see is us in what they will believe about God.  If they see love and unity, they will believe that God is love.  If they see hatred and division, they will reject the message of the Gospel.

            “Jesus has assured us that some will believe because of our witness (John 17:20), but we must make sure that our witness is true and loving.  Some Christians are prosecuting attorneys and judges instead of faithful witness, and this only turns lost sinners away from the Saviour.

            “There is every reason why believers should love one another and live in unity.  We trust the same Saviour and share the same glory.  We will one day enjoy the same heaven!  We belong to the same Father and seek to do the same work, witnessing to a lost world that Jesus Christ along saves from sin.  We believe the same truth, even though we may have different views of minor doctrinal matters; and we follow the same examples that Jesus set for His people, to live a holy life.  Yes, believers do have their differences; but we have much more in common, and this should encourage us to love one another and promote true spiritual unity.”

            I have said many times that Warren Wiersbe puts the cookies on the shelf where we can reach them, and this is a great example of that from his commentary on these verses.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I don’t want to be a prosecuting attorney or a judge as I desire to be a faith witnesses.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to allow me to be what He wants me to be in order to do what He wants me to do.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Two years” (Acts 24:27).

Today’s Bible question:  “What does ‘Emmanuel’ mean?”  

Answer in our next SD.

3/25/2017 8:17 AM

 

PT-6 "Complete Forgiveness" (Col. 2:13-14)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2017 10:25 AM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-6 “Complete Forgiveness”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 2:13-14

            Message of the verses:  “13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

            Paul gives us and illustration of God’s forgiveness for when He forgave us He “canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”  Let us look what John MacArthur has to say about the words “Certificate of debt” which “translates chirographos, which literally means ‘something written with the hand’ or ‘an autograph.’  It was used to refer to a certificate of indebtedness handwriteen by a debtor in acknowledgment of his dept.  Paul describes that certificate as ‘consisting of decrees against us.  Dogmasin *’decrees’) refers to the Mosaic law (cf. Eph. 2:15).  All peoples (including Gentiles, cf. Rom. 2:14-15) owe God a debt because they have violated His law.”  Why was this certificate hostile to us?  It was enough to condemn us to hell for eternity because as seen in Galatians 3:10 we read ““Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.””  MacArthur says “Exaleipho (canceled out) means ‘to wipe off’ like erasing a blackboard.”  In ancient times the people wrote on papyrus which was like our paper and also on animal skins.  There was no acid in the ink they used so if someone wanted to use it again all they had to do was wipe it clean, which is what Jesus did for us for Paul writes “having nailed it to the cross.”  Nothing remains.

            I have to say that the last words that Jesus said before giving up His spirit was “It is finished.”  I just listened to John chapter 19 this morning where this is found.  Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit (John 19:30).”   The word in the Greek is “teleo tel-eh’-o” and it means “paid in full.”  In my Greek/English dictionary on my online Bible program it says “Christ satisfied God’s justice by dying for all to pay for the sins of the elect. These sins can never be punished again since that would violate God’s justice. Sins can only be punished once, either by a substitute or by yourself.”  After a person who went to prison to pay for his crimes was released during this time period he would receive a paper with this word “teleoteleho” on it showing that his dept was paid in full.

            Ok we have one more section to look at which MacArthur entitles “Complete Victory,” and that section is shorter and only contains one verse (Col. 2:15).

3/24/2017 10:50 AM   

The Request for True Unity (John 17:21a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2017 9:11 AM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  The Request for True Unity

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  John 17:21a

            Message of the verses:  “that they may all be one.”

            We have been talking about unity and stated that the unity of the believers that Jesus is praying for here in John 17 is different from the unity that Paul speaks of in his letters, a unity that speaks of believers getting along in the local church.  In this section from these few words in verse 21 Jesus is praying for the Holy Spirit unity which we will talk about in a bit.  What is the true unity that Jesus is praying for here?  John MacArthur writes “Despite their outward denominational differences, all Christians are spiritual united by regeneration in their belief that salvation is by grace through faith alone, in Christ alone, and their commitment to the absolute authority of Scripture.”  This is what the heart and the soul of the gospel is all about, and this is what all true believers believe, and as mentioned in an earlier SD from our study in the book of Colossians where Paul was teaching these truths in order for those in the Colossian church could understand true Christianity.  I mentioned in that SD that a banker does not study counterfeit money in order to be able to spot it, but they know everything there is to know about true money so when they see something that is not true they can understand it.  The quote from John MacArthur speaks of what true born-again believers believe and so if one runs into a person who says that they are a Christian and does not believe the things he wrote which come from the Scriptures then you will be able to know that they probably are not a true believer. 

            John MacArthur quotes D. A. Carson who notes that the unity for which Christ prayed “is not achieved by hunting enthusiastically for the lowest common theological denominator, buy by common adherence to the apostolic gospel, by love that is joyfully self-sacrificing, by undaunted commitment to the shared goals of the mission with which Jesus’ followers have been charged.”  MacArthur adds “By the power of God, believers, united in spiritual life, are also united in purpose, share the same mission, proclaim the same gospel, and manifest the same holiness.”

            The answer to Christ’s prayer is seen at the beginning of the Church when we read in Acts 2:4 about the beginning of the church age “And they [the disciples] were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.”  Peter’s great sermon came shortly after this as the church age began, fulfilling Christ’s prayer.  Everyone who has been saved since then have immediately received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and that baptism of the Holy Spirit places believers into the body of Christ, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13).”  Now because of this there is a extraordinary, supernatural unity in the universal church, which as we began with is the unity of the Holy Spirit which is written about in Ephesians 4:4-6 “4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”  If you count the “one’s) you will find out that there are seven of them which speak of the Holy Spirit unity that every believer has in Christ.

1.     “One body” and this is the body of Christ that composes of every believer since the church began in Acts chapter two.

2.     “One Spirit” and this speaks of the Holy Spirit and if it were not for Him no one could be saved as they are not able on their own to believe in Jesus Christ “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3).”  We mentioned that it is the Holy Spirit who baptizes all believers into the body of Christ.  “"As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11).”

3.     “One hope” and this is the promised eternal inheritance guaranteed to each and every believer by the Holy Spirit as seen in Ephesians 1:13-14:  “13  In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14  who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

4.     “One Lord” and this of course is the Lord Jesus Christ as He is the sole head of the body as seen in Colossians 1:18 “He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”  (See also Acts 4:12; and Romans 10:12).

5.     “One faith” “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints (Jude 3).” 

6.     “One baptism.”  John MacArthur writes “This probably refers to water baptism, the believer’s public confession of faith in Jesus Christ. (Holy Spirit baptism is implied in v. 5).”

7.     “One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” God who is the One true Sovereign God rules everything including over the church.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  How could I not be thankful for the answered prayer that Jesus prayed for that we see was answered and by God’s grace I have this unity that Christ prayed for.

My Steps of Faith For Today:  Trust that the Lord will bless everything about our evening that is planned for us as we meet with some believers who are doing a wonderful job is spreading the gospel all over the world, and also the possibility that my son may begin to work for them.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “He asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit” (2 Kings 2:9).

Today’s Bible question:  “How long did Felix keep Paul imprisoned?

Answer in our next SD.

3/24/2017 9:59 AM

           

PT-5 "Complete Forgiveness" (Col. 2:13-14)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2017 10:00 PM

My Worship Time                                                                Focus:  PT-5 “Complete Forgiveness”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                             Reference:  Colossians 2:13-14

            Message of the verses:  “13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

            I want to look at characteristics 2-6 of God’s forgiveness in this SD, as we looked at number one in our last SD.

            This second characteristic should not be a shocker for us as it is that God’s forgiveness is complete.  According to Ephesians 1:7 that forgiveness is “according to the riches of His grace,” and we know that God’s grace will always be greater than sin as Romans 5:20 says “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”  1 John 2:12 tells us “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.”

            Thirdly we see that God’s forgiveness is eager as Ezekiel tells us in 18:23 “"Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord GOD, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?”  “"Say to them, ’As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ’I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11)’”

            Fourthly, God’s forgiveness is certain.  Paul tells us in Acts 26:18 that God sent him to the Gentiles “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in [Jesus].”  The reason forgiveness is certain is because it is based on God’s promise.

            Fifth, God’s forgiveness is unequalled.  We read this from Micah 7:18 “18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love.”  John MacArthur tells us “The answer to his question is that there is none.  None of the gods of false religion offers such forgiveness.”

            Sixth, we see that God’s forgiveness is motivation as explained in Ephesians 4:32 which commands us to “be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.  Just like in a parable that Jesus told of a man who owed a huge amount of money that he could not pay and so the person he owed it to forgave his debt.  Now I realize that this was just a part of that parable, but we have a huge un-payable debt we owe to God, “for the wages of sin is death” but “the gift of God is eternal life.  So we learn from these characteristics that God forgiveness is complete and for that we need to get a few “Amens!!)

Looks like we will have a sixth part to this section that by God’s grace we will look at tomorrow.

3/23/2017 10:23 PM

PT-2 "The Root of True Unity" (John 17:20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2017 9:24 AM

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  PT-2 “The Root of True Unity”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  John 17:20

            Message of the verse:  “20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;”

            Jesus further identified those future believers as those who would believe in Him as seen in the last part of this verse.  We will look at other NT verses that speak of believing in Him.

John 1:12 “12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,”

John 3:15-16 “15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

John 3:36 “36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."”

John 6:40 “40  "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."”

John 6:47 “47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.”

John 7:37-38 “37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ’From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’"”

John 11:25-26 “25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"”

John 20:31 “ but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Acts 13:38-39 “38 "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.”

Acts 16:31 “31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."”

Romans 10:9-10 “9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Gal. 3:22 “22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”

            These verses remind us of the truth that salvation comes from believing in Jesus Christ alone, and as we have been studying in the book of Colossians in the evening we see that Paul makes that very clear that belief in Jesus Christ along with nothing else added (like good works) is how a person is saved from their sins.  We also have learned that God’s forgiveness is the most important doctrine found in the Word of God, for without that no one would ever be saved.

            John MacArthur writes “The Lord’s reference to believing in Him again preserves the biblical balance concerning salvation.  On the one hand, only those given by the Father to Christ will come to Him (v. 6; cf. 6:44).  But on the other hand, their salvation does not take place apart from personal faith (cf. Rom. 10:9-10).  In much the same way, the reality that the Lord will draw those whom He chooses to Himself (John 6:44; Acts 2:39; 11:18; 13:48; 16:14) does not obviate the church’s responsibility to evangelize the lost (Matt. 28:19-20; Luke 24:47; Acts 1:8).”

            Now as we look at the phrase “believe in Me through their word,” we have to understand that all people who have come to know Christ as Savior and Lord since the church age began have been saved through their word as it was the apostles who the Holy Spirit used to write the New Testament or at least had influence on those who were the human authors.  Of course some people during the early days of the church age would hear directly from the apostles as we can see when we read through the book of Acts, but mostly it has come through the written Word of God. 

            Now as we once again look back at the condition that the disciples were at the time when Jesus was praying this prayer we know that if we were to put it into modern terms we would say that they were all “a basket case.”  They surely were not ready to spread the news of the gospel at this time, but Jesus was praying for them, and His prayers for them in this seventh chapter of John which is called His “High Priestly Prayer” is a preview of what Christ is doing even today in heaven serving as our Great High Priest. 

            MacArthur concludes this section by writing “But Christ’s prayer ensures that the apostles’ ministry would be successful.  In His omniscience, Jesus knew that they would fulfill their role in redemptive history.  The gospel would prevail, despite the apostles’ weakness, the world’s hatred, and Satan’s opposition.  Empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts. 1:8; 2:1-4), those early disciples would begin the chain of witnesses that continues unbroken down to the present day (cf. 2 Tim. 2:2).  All of the church’s evangelistic success is the result of the Lord’s request in verse 20 for those who would believe in the future.  This request guaranteed the successful establishment of the church, and the success of its evangelistic ministry from apostolic times to the present.  ‘I will build My church,’ Jesus declared. ‘and the gates of Hades will not overpower it’ (Matt. 16:18).”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am blessed to be a part of, as all believers are, being associated in the building of Christ’s church.

My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will continue to use me in the growth of His church.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Judah” (Genesis 43:8-9).

Today’s Bible question:  “What request did Elisha make of Elijah?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/23/2017 10:03 AM

 

 

 

PT-4 "Complete Forgiveness" (Col. 2:13-14)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/22/2017 10:55 PM

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-4 Complete Forgiveness

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 2:13-14

            Message of the verses:  “13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

            In our last SD we talked about the forgiveness of God being the most important truth of Scripture, and in today’s SD we want to state that God’s forgiveness is also a prominent theme in the New Testament.  Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 26:28 “this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”  When we think about the fact that this forgiveness was promised in the Old Testament, but now it is provided for in the New Testament through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The writer of the Hebrews, speaking of the Old Testament sacrifices said in “Heb 9:12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”  Again in Hebrews 9:13-14 we read “13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”  So we see even as far back as Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel’” that God promised to send the Messiah into the world, Jesus Christ, who would provide salvation to those who accept His forgiveness through Christ on the cross.  Let us look at Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” 

            Now as we continue this SD we will be looking at six characteristics of God’s forgiveness as John MacArthur points out in his commentary on this section of Colossians chapter 2:13-14.  The first characteristic of God’s forgiveness is that it is gracious.  Salvation is not earned by anyone for it is a free gift and it comes through God’s grace.  Paul writes in Romans 3:24 “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”  This verse speaks of how a person is justified, and that word is a legal term “to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be (Greek/English Dictionary).”  This justification comes as a gift given by His grace.  Paul again writes of this to Titus in 3:4-7 “4  But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” 

            I hope that we can look at characteristics two through six in our next SD as these are very important truths for us to know.

3/22/2017 11:17 PM