Tag: saving power

34.p. ” In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe”

 

Hebrews 11:6    And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

 Hebrews 3:12     Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

 Hebrews 4:2    For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

 Hebrews 4:6   Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,

 Revelation 21:8   But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur

 Numbers 14:11    And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?

 John 3:18-19   Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

 Psalms 78:22   because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.

 Psalms 78:32    In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.

 Proverbs 11:18     The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.

 Jeremiah 29:13-14   You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the LORD,

Brethren, we call ourselves Christians; let us be honest with ourselves, and rigid in the investigation of the thoughts of our own hearts. Is there a wish for God there? Is there an aching void in His absence, or do we shovel cartloads of earthly rubbish into our hearts, and thus dull desires that can be satisfied only with Him? These are not questions to which any one has a right to expect an answer from another; they are not questions that any Christian man can safely shirk answering to himself and to God. The measure of our seeking is actually settled by the measure of our desire. (MacLaren)

Having one eye of our hearts and minds tuned into and seeking and desiring what the world has to offer, and having the other eye turned toward heaven will not find a place for things of God. The things of earth will eat away any desire and seeking that our hearts and minds would have for things of God. Whatever this world may shout loud and strong into the ears of any who would listen will influence their path in life and hinder any things of God from being heard or seen. The heart of man must want to see and hear things of God above what this world has to offer or they will blindly and deafly follow after what seems right in their own eyes and social norms. 

Seek to have God open His Word and give you understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of His grace, mercy and love.

19.e. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 20:14   Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Psalms 78:11-22     They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.  In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.  He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.  In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.  He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.  He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.  Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.  They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.  They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?  He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”  Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel,  because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.

Hebrews 3:12     Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Hebrews 10:38-39   but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Thomas had doubts about what the other disciples to him about seeing Jesus.  Thomas would have seen Jesus hung on the cross and watched His death and being stabbed with a sword to make sure.  He was absolute in the fact that Jesus died.  Now to have his fellow disciples tell him Jesus was alive made no sense what so ever.  Thomas says I don’t care what you say, I saw Jesus die and there is no way you can get me to believe He is alive now unless I put my fingers in His side. Surely he would have heard from Peter and John that the grave was empty.  He also would have heard Mary saying she saw Jesus.  Thomas can not discount what he saw and override what he knows as truth, that once you are physically dead you do not come to life unless Jesus calls you to life.  How can Jesus, who is dead, raise Himself from the dead?  He did not care about the disciple’s witness or testimony.  He can not believe it true without physical confirmation.  

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  Faith is the substance of things hoped for and proof/conviction of things not seen. Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.  By faith, we are transformed, born again, made new, realize forgiveness, and inherit eternal life.  Therein is where our hope rests by faith.  We can not add anything to faith and make ourselves better.  In fact, adding anything more to faith in the complete work (death and resurrection) of Jesus is to take away from what is rightly and solely glorified in Jesus.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but through Me.”  It is by faith alone.  Faith alone. Faith.  Our sins were paid in full by Jesus Christ if we believe (have faith) in Him alone.  We can not allow thoughts of needing to be good enough to receive the gift of salvation, redemption, and forgiveness of our sins to block us from Faith (relying on, clinging to, and trusting in) in Jesus Christ alone.  Faith casts out all doubt.  Faith allows us to cast out the doubts of being good enough.  By faith, we understand that we are not and will never be good enough and we surrender all of our hope in self-goodness relying fully on the grace, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ

They have not know my ways

“So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?”

“In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.”

“They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.”

“And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”

John 20:24  Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”  Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”  Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;  but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Psalms 78:11     They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.  In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.  He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.  In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.  He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.  He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.  Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.  They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.  They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?  He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”  Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel,  because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.

Hebrews 3:12     Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Hebrews 3:18     And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Hebrews 4:1     Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.  For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

Psalms 85:8    Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.

2 Peter 2:19    They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.  For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.  For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

It is not uncommon for unbelief to enter our heart and mind.  We have a sinful nature that does not want to believe in, trust in, cling to, or rely on God.  Just look at our culture and how far it has fallen away from God.  Pornography is viewed as adult entertainment.  Child pornography is at an all time high.  Domestic minor sex trafficking is climbing.  Higher education explaining and teaching there is no God.  People never being satisfied.  That which was shameful and done in secret is now a normal way of life.  It is as though people are living without a thought that there will be a day of judgement coming.  We choose to live for God, believing in Him, or we choose to deny Him.  We choose if we commit all of our heart, mind, and soul to humbly serving, honoring, following, obeying, and loving Him and His plan and purpose for our lives.  There is no middle ground.  We serve Him fully or not at all.  Our culture seems to have us believing the lie that it is possible to live in a middle place, somewhere between full commitment to God and living as though He has no place in our daily lives.  This lie tells us that we are good enough or doing good enough to receive eternal life.  The truth of his word says it is not by works or being good enough.  It is by faith alone we are saved.  The lie has us performing for that which cannot be obtained by performance.  The lie has us pretending everything is ok when in fact our heart is far from Him.  God is real.  Jesus Christ death and resurrection is real.  Salvation by faith through Him alone is real.  God’s word is truth.  A day of judgement coming is real.  Eternity is real.  Heaven is real.  Hell is real.  Saying and believing this is false does not make it false.  Denying sin is sin does not make it right.  Everything we do ought to be done in light of His word.  Our culture and our sinful nature want us to deny God fully into our lives.  Do you want purpose in your life?  Believe in Him with all your heart, mind and soul.  Trust in Him alone.  Live for Him alone.  Stay in His word.  Study His word.  Ask Him to make His word alive in you.

So many signs

“because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.”

Psalms 78:31  But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,  But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel.  In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.   So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.   When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly. In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.   So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.   When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.

Numbers 11:33    While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague.

John 12:37    Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,

Proverbs 1:32    For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

Numbers 14:35   I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

Judges 3:9     But when the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel

Judges 10:10   And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.”

Hosea 5:15    I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.

Hosea 7:14    They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me.

It is our tendency to live for self and deny God access to leading our daily lives.  History is full of examples where man, in the midst of God’s hand at work, turns away from God and doing what seems right in their own eyes.  We so easily follow that which is not of God.  Do we think God has somehow changed and no longer requires our whole heart, mind and soul?  Do we think we are different and God’s commands to humbly serve, trust in, rely on, cling to, honor, follow and obey Him do not apply?  Do we think He has watered down what a dedicated life to Him should look like?  I can remember when you were thought to be a Jesus follower if you went to Sunday School, Sunday morning church, Sunday evening church, Wednesday evening bible study, another bible study during the week, and spoke frequently about God in your life.  Now it seems you are considered a Jesus follower if you attend Sunday morning church once per week.  It seems as though the church has adopted this lower expectation and I fear it is at the cost of many souls forever lost.  Now is the time to repent, return and follow God with an earnest desire to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him.