Tag: fulfilled

18.r. “And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

John 15:22  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: They hated me without a cause.’

 Ezekiel 2:5    And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.

 Romans 1:20    For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

 Acts 17:30    The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

 Ezekiel 33:31-33  And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.  And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.  When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

 2 Corinthians 2:14-16   But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.  For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,  to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. 

 Luke 12:46    the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful.

Because Jesus did come to and speak to the world, they knew something of God that they did not know before. This made them without excuse for hating and rejecting Jesus and His Father in heaven. Jesus did among them the works which no one else did, and they still hated and rejected Him. (Guzik)

People will say and do many things in their lives, some good, some bad, and some irrelevant.  Live has a way of drawing us into things of this world and I guess rightly so.  The hard part is, while in this world, not to be blinded  by its offers of peace, joy, happiness, and purpose.  They are lies.  While we may be part of this world, we live in it, we should not allow it to distract us from humble service, honor, glory, obedience, trust, and reliance in and to Jesus Christ.   

God’s Word is a heavenly scent to those who believe and to those who do not it is either unnoticed or it is a stench to them.  Those that reject the heavenly fragrance from God’s Word reject Him.  Those that reject Him are guilty of sin.  Those that reject Jesus Christ, reject God and are guilty of sin.  Those that reject the heavenly fragrance of the Holy Spirit’s leading to salvation, reject the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and God. They are guilty of sin.  “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”  “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”  “ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

With all that is going on right now in the world our prayer should be for the heavenly fragrance of God’s Word be ever so powerful in our lives and also in the lives of those who do not know Him.  

13.a. “God put such a thing as this into the heart of men who hunger and thirst”

Haggai 1:13  Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.

2 Chronicles 36:22     Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

Ezra 1:5     Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 7:27    Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king,

We do well to know and believe that God can and does stir the hearts of man.  He will stir them to accomplish His plans and purposes.  This stirring comes to a heart that is willing.  We see many times where God sent prophets to stir the hearts of His children and they stiffened their necks and hearts against it.  Their reward was more hardening and deafness to the things of God.  When there is no appetite for the things of God, spiritual food will not be consumed.  When there is no hunger and thirst for spiritual food the bread of life and living water will not be sought.  Though there is not an appetite for spiritual food there obviously is appetite for something.  We will choose to fill the voids in our life with something satisfying.  We will search after and chase after and seek after something in this world that will satisfy the appetite of our soul.  We will jump from one thing to another and find our searching, apart from things of God, will not satisfy our souls hunger.  Oh that God would stir the hearts of us to hunger and seek after Him.  Oh that God would open our eyes to things of this world that we have allowed to corrupt our hunger and thirst for Him.

7.f. No more delay

Revelation 10:1  Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land, and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

We see an interlude in here.  It is not as though there is a gap in time between the judgments of God, but rather an explaining of something, kind of like how we would use parenthesis.  When we read in verse 6 that there should be no more delay, we have to wonder if what is about to transpire has to do with what the martyred had said, “How long, O Lord….until You judge and avenge our blood….?  At that time, the Lord’s answer was that they should wait a little while longer.  But now He is saying that the wait is over.  Judgment is about to be completed.  There will be no more delay in the fulfillment of the seventh trumpet.  John was not allowed to write down what he saw but what ever it was the mystery of God would be fulfilled. No more delay.  Those in heaven and on earth will see the mystery of God will be fulfilled.  I am not sure what this mystery will reveal.  Will it be a fuller understanding of His grace, mercy, and love, or will it be more understanding of the righteousness of His judgment, wrath, and anger on those who have rejected His grace, mercy and love?  Do you ever think about those who resist His grace, mercy and love?  They resist with harden hearts of stone, deaf ears, and turned backs.  I wonder what I may be resisting in my life.  Am I resisting giving all my soul, heart, and mind and strength?  Am I resisting by not actively listening to what the Holy Spirit is whispering into my mind through the Word of God?  Am I resisting an act of kindness, a kind word, or a word of encouragement to someone God has place in my life?  Am I resisting seeking His guidance?  Am I resisting time in His word?  Am I resisting being a humble servant?  Am I resisting trusting in and cling to Him.  Am I resisting obedience?  We all do well to search our heart and mind for the resistance toward living fully and totally for God that is there and actively pursue eliminating it from our life.

1.q. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword

2 Chronicles 1:7  In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place. O Lord God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?” God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.” So Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel.

1 Samuel 16:7   But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

1 Kings 8:18     But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.

1 Chronicles 28:2    Then King David rose to his feet and said: “Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building.

1 Chronicles 29:17-18   I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.  O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.

Hebrews 4:12     For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

What would God see in your heart that no one else can see or know?  What do you think is hidden and only yours to ponder and think about?  What occupies your thoughts that you think no one knows about?  God for certain knows everything in your heart.  He not only knows the thought but the intent behind the thought.  We get tested by God. Deuteronomy 8:2 “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”  Ecclesiastes 3:18  “I said to myself concerning the sons of men, “God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts.”

God alone tests us so that we will see the error in our ways, how we talk, how we think, how we act. It is because of His love for us that He does this.  He wants us to grow, understand, and gain knowledge of Him through the grace and mercy demonstrated in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.  In this gaining knowledge and understanding, we must be shown (tested) what is truly in our heart and mind so that we can freely repent from it and freely choose to turn away from it to honor, serve, follow and obey our Lord and Savior.  If we are not tested I fear our growth will become stagnate and we will become complacent and neglectful.

Oh God, give us ears to see and a mind to understand the greatness and awesomeness of Your grace and mercy.  Speak loud and clear to our heart so that we know Your testing and see clearly that from which we need to confess, repent and turn away from.  Strengthen our understanding of scripture as we intentionally choose to each day to be in Your word for Your honor and glory.

1a. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! 

2 Kings 24:3  Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon

Psalms 106:38    they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.

Isaiah 10:5-6     Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!  Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Isaiah 45:7    I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.

Exodus 20:5   You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

Joshua 23:15     But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you,

Jeremiah 15:1-4    Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!  And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’  I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.  And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

I wonder if we see the depth of the verses “for the innocent blood that he shed”, “they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters”.  When you look at abortion, is it not innocent blood that is being sacrificed for whatever reason imaginable under the sun.  There are roughly 650,000 abortions reported to the CDC each year in the United States.  That is over 1800 living babies that are destroyed/killed/murdered each day of the year.  Are we not guilty of spilling innocent blood for the sake of convenience?  It is a sad day when we don’t speak out against this tragedy and allow it to continue.  The watered-down cowardly way people say “I do not support abortion, but I do support your right to choose” is nothing more than closing your eyes to the unborn and giving your approval to murder them.

We are a free nation with laws that allow murdering unborn children.  How long will it be before God brings judgment against us?  We call pornography – adult entertainment, pedophile – minor-attracted person, abortion-free choice, God is watered down to – some other higher power, and things that ought not to be done are called – progressive or alternative lifestyles.  This is nothing more than people doing all that their sinful nature wants them to do.  When do we take a stand and speak truth from the word of God about such wayward living?  When do we call on the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to heal our land and rid us of these self-centered desires that keep quiet in the midst of the tragedy all around us. 

Give us ears to hear, eyes to see, courage to act, and strength to complete your purpose oh God.

137. Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

1 Kings 8:22  Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.

Exodus 15:11    “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

1 Samuel 2:2    “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

2 Samuel 7:22     Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Psalms 35:10     All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?”

Psalms 86:8     There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours.

Psalms 89:6-8     For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you?

Isaiah 40:18     To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

Jeremiah 10:6     There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.

Micah 7:18    Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

Nehemiah 1:5     And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

When we are actively reading God’s word with a heart desire to know, honor, glorify, worship, serve, follow and obey Him we will start to see God in increasing awe.  We will rightfully be saying “Who is like You?” and “There is none like You.” We ask the question and answer it very simply because our minds cannot grasp or fathom the magnitude, depth, hight, or length of the wisdom, gloriousness, holiness,  and love of God.  When we humbly start our seeking to know God we have a basic thought of who/what God is.  As we spend more and more time in His word with a heart desire to know Him more we become aware that God is so much more than we can comprehend.  We grab on to words of praise and say “There is none like You.” You tell us that you are Creator of heaven and earth and all there is and we have no clue how to process this knowledge with understanding other than to say “Who is like You?”  We read of Your power, might, all-knowing, and steadfast love and say “There is none like You.”

It is not as though we should come to a point in our searching to know God and stop because the knowledge and understanding of God are too great.  No, we ought to keep searching to continue to grow in faith, service, and love for and to God.  We will see new mercies and faithfulness emerge because we will continue to be allowed to see them.  It seems as though they are a portion of a reward for knowing Him more and more each day.  Our faith will grow with each new nugget of understanding and knowledge of God.  Our want to live in such a way to honor His name more and more will continue to grow because of our understanding and knowledge of Him keep increasing.

How do we know Him more?  Stay in His word.  How do we honor Him?  intentionally choose to stay in His word each day with a desire to humbly serve, follow, and obey Him.  God is more than worthy of our time.  Start spending more intentional God-honoring time with Him today!

78. I have broken the bars of your yoke

Joshua 23:14   “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed. But just as all the good things the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you.

Exodus 23:27-30     I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.  And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.  I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.  Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

Leviticus 26:3-13    “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them,  then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.  Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.  I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.  You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.  Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.  I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.  You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new.  I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.  And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

There is peace when our heart, mind, and soul, cling to, rely on, and trust in Jesus Christ.  There is strength for today and hope tomorrow.  There is courage to face each and every trial.  Our heart, mind, and soul expect to see the work of Jesus Christ in our lives and through the trials and troubles common to all.  There is fruit in our lives because of Jesus.  There is discernment in our thoughts.  Our eyes and ears are opened to see truth and as well that which is false.  There is purpose and meaning to our life.

Stay in His word each day.  Fight against neglect, busyness, and complacency.  Be intentional with your walk with Jesus.

14.  “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people”

Exodus 33:5  For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people;

Deuteronomy 29:4     But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.

Isaiah 6:9-10     And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’  Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Jeremiah 5:21    “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not.

John 12:37-41    Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,  so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”  Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,  “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”

Acts 28:25-27    And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:  “‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”  For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

Romans 11:8-10     as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”  And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;  let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”

Disbelief seems to have many forms.  It can come in the form of hearing truth but denying it.  It can come in the form of seeing great wonders but discounting them.  It can come in hearing truth but denying it applies to them.  It can come in the form of seeing creation but denying God as the creator.  It can come in the form of hearing promises of God but denying them in their life.  It can come in seeing a transformed life but denying God’s hand in it.  It can come in the form of hearing God’s commands but denying they apply to them.  It can come in seeing the work of the Holy Spirit in a life and denying the ability of the Holy Spirit’s existence.  It can come in hearing the conviction of God’s word but denying it.  It can come in seeing love and compassion but denying serving God is the reason.  It can come in hearing place your trust in God but only trusting self or others.  It can come in seeing the needy but denying to help.  It can come in hearing the need to be born again but denying the need.  It can come in seeing the lost but deny telling the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It can come in hearing of sin but deny it in their lives.  It can come in seeing God’s word but denying it has value.  It comes in hearing of God’s wrath but denying it will affect them.  It comes in seeing wrong but denying it is wrong.  It comes in hearing God’s call for repentance but denying the need.  It comes in seeing complacent service to God but denying it.  It comes in  “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”  For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

Salvation came at a great cost

“Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

“They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

John 19:31  Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.  So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him.  But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.  But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.  He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.  For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”  And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

Luke 23:39     One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”  But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”  And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

1 John 5:6     This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

Zechariah 13:1    “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

1 Corinthians 6:11     And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Titus 2:14     who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 3:5-7     he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,  whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Hebrews 9:13  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Hebrews 10:19     Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,  by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,  and since we have a great priest over the house of God,  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

1 John 1:6    If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Revelation 1:5    and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

The crucifixion of Jesus had a single purpose: “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” This redemption came at the cost of His life and is to be understood, believed, and with a thankful and contrite heart trusted in, by faith, for the forgiveness of sin.  What manner of person should we be in light of this act of mercy and grace?  We ought to remember the sacrifice of Jesus and live in humble service to Him.  Our mind should never lose thought of the cost He paid.  Our lives should be lived out in thankfulness.  In remembrance our thoughts and actions should bring honor and glory to Him.  The first step in this honor is a heart and mind deep desire to know Him.  We do this through actively reading and meditating on His word. Day by day in His word, with a willing heart and mind to be led, will yield a life that chooses to honor and glorify Him.  Spend time in His word.  Meditate on it.  Listen for His whispers of guidance. Choose to life for His purpose and plans.

The internal fight

“This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.”

John 13:21  After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

Joh 13:27  Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

John 13:2    During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

John 13:18     I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me

Luke 22:21    But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.  For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”

Acts 1:16    “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.  For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

1 John 2:19    They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

James 1:13   Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.  But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

 

Note  “the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live” and “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” and “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” and “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” and “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.” There is a common thread to this and it is our sinful nature.  It lurks deep within and wanting to manifest itself above God and His plan and purpose for our life.  We need to be mindful of this and the battle that exists between our sinful nature and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our life.  Knowing this ought to make us run to God and seek His word with all of our heart mind and soul.  I think we become confused and falsely cling to the idea that once we have been born again all is good and our sinful nature is gone.  It is not.  Lust, hate, pride, coveting, rumoring, hoarding, keeping, divisiveness, self-seeking…….. all reside within and are threats to our walk with God.  Putting on the full armor of God requires us to stay in His word, pray, and seek to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey.  Only then will we be prepared for this internal fight for our soul.