GRACE AND THE TRUTH - DAILY INSPIRATION

[nChrist]

COLOSSIANS 3:1

"If (since) ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God."



NOT HOW, BUT WHO!
By M. Stanford


We never question how He works, once we know Him for who He is. When I gain the treasure of knowing Him I can well afford to trust Him.

The heart that is captivated by an object could never be at rest until it was with the one who had won it; for satisfaction you must be where He is. Love really does not think of anyone but its object until it is quite sure of its place with Him, and then when at rest about itself it studies the mind and heart of the Object.

I find that Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me when I was in a most unattractive state; but He makes me suitable to Himself, and I am so assured of the permanency of His love and of my association with Him that my heart is free to study Him. The more I am in His company, the more I acquire the tastes and characteristics which answer to His mind.

There is an amazing effect of beholding the Lord's glory. You may be transformed from some old taste without even feeling it; but you are transformed!  and you cannot tell how. It is not the process that occupies you, but you are engrossed with the Lord. We are united to the glorified Lord where He is at home, and, blessed by God, that is our home, our life is there.



"Your life is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3)

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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THE CHURCH OF THE LIVING GOD
By JOHN McKAY, Pastor

Scripture Reading: I Timothy 3: 15

The Holy Scriptures are the truth. What is the pillar and ground of the truth? The majestic and neglected passage is open to much abuse from unsaved religionists and traditional church interpretation. The Bible Itself says that the house of God, the Church of the living God, is the pillar and ground of the truth.

The word "house" has reference to the arrangement of God's people according to the revelation He has given them. It is used in this way concerning a different age in Hebrews 3:2-6. The word "house" is also related to the word "dispensation" in Ephesians l:10 and 3:2, and "household" in Ephesians 2:19. This "house" is the Church of the living God, the Body of Christ.

What pattern of conduct or behavior does the Apostle Paul set by revelation from the Lord Jesus here? He is writing about standards for elders and deacons in the local assembly. The apostle himself would arrange elders and deacons in the local assembly, but he might be delayed. He gives instructions for qualified men and then expands his words into a song of praise for the doctrines of the secret which God had kept hidden from ages and generations until He revealed them through the Apostle Paul.

The Body of Christ, the great assembly of this present age, is the pillar and ground of the Truth. As such it has the obligation to recognize men qualified by the Lord for places of leadership in the local assembly. The necessity of this verse is that the Body of Christ ought to have leaders so that the foundation and support can present the Truth to saints and sinners in God's way.

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
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If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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GIVING THANKS IN THE CHURCH
By FLOYD BAKER, Pastor

Scripture Reading: Psalm 35: 18

"I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise Thee among much people." This Psalm begins with David's plea, "Plead my cause, 0 Lord, with them that strive with me: Fight against them that fight against me." This Psalm like so many of David's is written out of adversity and a plea for God to intervene on behalf of His servant. David in anticipation of God's deliverance declares he will give glory and praise to God that "much people" will be aware of what God has done. Note his statement in verses 27 and 28, "Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause:

Yea, let them say continually, "Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servant. And my tongue shall speak of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all the day long."

By way of application we too should give God praise for all that He has done and continues to do for us. Many times in our prayer meeting we might ask, "who can share with us an answer to prayer that God has given this past week?" Many times we bring our requests before the Lord and never really expect God to answer. Paul declares in Colossians 4:2, "Continue in prayer, and WATCH in the same with thanksgiving." Like David of old we too should "give praise in the church" and among much people. This should not be a time for self glorying but a real time of thanking God and encouraging His people. David did this in many of the Psalms and Paul does it in Ephesians I :3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (I Thessalonians 5:18 ).

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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INDWELT TO BE FILLED
By Miles Stanford

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Rom. 8:9).

 
 
The believer knows that he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit on the testimony of the written Word; others know when the believer is filled with the Holy Spirit by the growing manifestation of the Living Word.
 
"There are believers who need the reminder that deeper than mind and feeling and will, deeper than the soul, where these have their seat, in the depths of the renewed spirit, there comes, at re-birth, the Holy Spirit to dwell forever. His indwelling is there, first of all, and all through, to be recognized by faith. Even when I cannot see the least evidence of His working, I am quietly and reverently to believe that He dwells in me. In that faith I am restfully and trustfully to count upon His working, and to wait for it. In that faith I must very distinctly deny my own wisdom and strength, and in childlike self-abnegation depend upon Him to work.

"His first workings may be so feeble and hidden that I can hardly recognize them as coming from Him; they may appear to be nothing more than the voice of conscience, or the familiar sound of some Bible truth. Here is the time for faith to hold fast the Master's promise and the Father's gift, and to trust that the Holy Spirit is within and will guide. Out of the hidden depths His power will move and take possession of mind and will, and the indwelling in the hidden recesses of the spirit will grow into a being filled with His fulness." - A.M.
 
"Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Rom. 8:9).

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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~TYRANNY OF SIN~
by Miles Stanford



"You were set free from the tyranny of Sin" (Rom. 6:18, Wey.).

The tyranny of sin over the lost necessitated the death of the Lord Jesus on the Cross. The tyranny of sin over the saved necessitated the death of the believer in the Lord Jesus on that same Cross. The dual truths of Calvary: His death for our sin, as payment; our death with Him unto sin, for deliverance.

"The believer sees that Christ by dying for him has completely delivered him from the penalty of sin. So it is his privilege to see that because he is identified with the Lord Jesus in that death, he is also delivered from sin as a ruling principle. Its power is broken. He is in that sense 'free from sin' (Rom. 6:18, 22)." - E.H.

"Through my life-union with Christ in His death and resurrection, 1 have 'died to sin' His death to sin is my death to sin. In my very humanity Christ so took me up with Himself in death that, when He died unto sin, I too was executed and there died to sin's reign and power. Has Christ so dealt with sin that He has exhausted its every claim and dominion? And do I share with Him His death unto sin? With bold and explicit reckoning, then, let me count on my death-resurrection relationship to God through the Lord Jesus. In Christ crucified I have been discharged from sin's domination." - L.E.M.

"When victory does not tend to worship, we and God part company, so to speak, as soon as the victory is achieved. How sad to see victory often leading to mere joy, instead of still greater dependence on, and delight in, God!" - J.N.D.

"But now, being freed from the bondage of sin. . . your fruit is growth in holiness" (Rom. 6:22, Cony.).

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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[nChrist]

EPHESIANS 1:4
"According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world"


~BLESSED SOVEREIGNTY~

By His grace and mercy, our will becomes the Father's will when we choose the Saviour. May it ever continue!

As the master musician knows exactly how the symphonic rendition will sound before its notes vibrate upon the air, anticipating with accuracy every tone, cadence, and change of tempo, so God knows precisely what will occur and keeps it under control, though enacted by independent moral agencies. It is because God knows what the reactions of such 'free agencies' will be under any given set of circumstances, that He encompasses the inner circle of 'freedom' with His outer circle of sovereignty.

The will of man is guided by what he knows and what he desires. The divine method of reaching the will is by graciously increasing man's knowledge and by stimulating his desires, while on the divine side of this method there remains not the shadow of possible failure. The end is as certain as any eternal reality in God. On the human side, man is conscious of doing only what he actually does: he chooses as an act of his own volition to receive the grace God offers in Christ Jesus. By persuasion and enlightenment God realizes His purpose to the point of infinite completeness; yet no human will has ever coerced, nor will one ever be.

God's elective purposes are carried out in such an incomprehensible way through the internal and external influences of infinite love and wisdom that man is at no time conscious of any external compulsion, but only of choices and decisions in the exercise of his own free will. Knowledge of what God has accomplished by His own free will comes later by the channel of the Word.


".......being predestinated according to the purpose
of Him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will"
Eph 1 :11

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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“REST”
by C. R. Stam


In Hebrews 1:3 we read how the Lord Jesus Christ, “when He had by Himself purged our sins, SAT DOWN on the right hand of the Mystery on High”. The tenth chapter of the same book tells us why He sat down:

“Every priest standeth, daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man [Christ] after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, SAT DOWN on the right hand of God …FOR BY ONE OFFERING HE HATH PERFECTED FOREVER THEM THAT ARE SANCTIFIED” (Heb.10:11-14).

There were several articles of furniture in the Old Testament tabernacle, but no chair. The priest could not sit down, for the work of redemption was not yet finished. His daily sacrifices only emphasized the fact that “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Heb.10:4).

“But this Man [Christ Jesus] sat down”, because by His death on Calvary — by that one offering — He paid for all our sins and “obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb.10:12; 9:12).

This is why Paul, by divine inspiration, now insists that salvation is “by grace”, that “it is the gift of God”, received “by faith” and “not of works, lest any man should boast”.

God has much for His people to do, but before we can do anything for Him we must learn to trust Him for our salvation, to rest in the finished work of Christ. God is satisfied with Christ’s payment for sin and together the Father and the Son are depicted as seated in heaven because the work is done. And now God would have us simply trust Him, entering into His rest:

“There remaineth therefore a REST unto the people of God, FOR HE THAT HAS ENTERED INTO HIS [God’s] REST, HE ALSO HATH CEASED FROM HIS OWN WORKS, AS GOD DID FROM HIS” (Heb.4:9,10).

“Unto him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom.4:5).

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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FREEDOM'S FOUNDATION
By Miles Sanford


"I have been crucified with Christ, and I myself no longer live" (Gal. 2:20, Wms.).

Upon conversion, the new believer feels that every opposition to a joyous, fruitful Christian life has been overcome once for all. Later, when the world and self begin to insinuate themselves once again, he thinks that determination and self-effort will keep him free. Finally, after a seemingly endless struggle, the defeated believer is brought back to the Cross. Here is the source of liberation from the power of self and the world.

"Sinners are not saved until they trust the Saviour, and saints are not delivered until they trust the Deliverer. God has made both possible through the Cross of His Son." ---L.S.C.

"The believer can never overcome the 'old man' even by the power of' the 'new' apart from the work of the Cross, and therefore the death of Christ is indispensable, and unless the Cross is made the basis upon which he overcomes the 'old nature,' he only drops into another form of morality; in other words, he is seeking by self-effort to overcome sin and self, and the struggle is a hopeless one." - C.U.

"Just as the Lord Jesus came into this world where this old humanity was and came into it not to ally Himself with it but to take it into death by the Cross, even so He now by the Holy Spirit, in regeneration, comes into us where there is this old fallen life and not to ally Himself with it, but to hold it in the place of death by the same means - His Cross." - N.D.

"But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world!" (Gal. 6:14, Wms.).

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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MY FAITH? YOUR FAITH? THE FAITH
By the late Pastor Bob Hanna



The word "Faith" has suffered untold distortion and misapplication over time. There are several proper definitions, but they have been shamefully misinterpreted. One accurate definition is "The Faith," referring to that which is believed. The apostle wrote; "He [Christ] gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some, evangelists: and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith" (Eph. 4: 11-13).

"And so were the churches established in the faith" (Acts 16:5). Faith, in these examples, is the common cause in which we believe. This definition is ordinarily not the victim of misinterpretation. The same can't be said, for example, of Paul's declaration, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20), Most modern  translations erroneously render "His faith" to read, "my Faith". This, of course, is impossible. Human faith has no power to sustain one's spiritual preservation.

Another false impression popularly held, is that faith can be humanly generated which can attain one's personal desires. Such a one might be heard to say, "The reason the Lord didn't answer my prayer is that I didn't have enough faith." Our faith consists of believing and obeying God, not in producing desired results. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews 11:1-3).

Strangely, it appears that people can more easily place their faith in matters of the secular world than in spiritual things. For example, when a person is presented a personal check in payment for a service or a purchase, the recipient is accepting it because he has faith that it will be honored by the bank. Yet when that same person is offered salvation by grace through faith, he resists.

Him we preach, admonishing every one and instructing every one, with all possible wisdom, so that we may bring every one into God's presence, made perfect through Christ. To this end, like an earnest wrestler, I exert all my strength in reliance upon the power of Him who is mightily at work within me. (Colossians 1 :28, 29, Weymouth)

... Christ is all and in all! (Colossians 3: 11)

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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"THE GLORIOUS SUPREMACY OF GOD"
By Pastor P. Hume


As we enter into this time of year known as 'the Thanksgiving- season' we do dwell upon the glorious person of our God and Savior. He is indeed , 'God over all, blessed forever' (Romans 9:5). I can do nothing better than to quote for us the entire chapter on this theme from Arthur W. Pink's excellent book, THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

'In one of his letters to Erasmus, Luther said, 'Your thoughts of God are too human.' Probably that renowned scholar resented such a rebuke, the more so, since it proceeded from a miner's son: nevertheless, it was thoroughly deserved. We too, though having no standing among the religious leaders of this degenerate age, prefer the same charge against the majority of the preachers of our day, and against those who, instead of searching the Scriptures for themselves, lazily accept the teaching of others. The most dishonoring and degrading conceptions of the rule and reign of the Almighty are now held almost everywhere. To countless thousands, even among those professing to be Christians, the God of the Scriptures is quite unknown.

Of old, God complained to an apostate Israel, 'Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself' (Psa. 50:21). Such must now be his indictment against an apostate Christendom. Men imagine that. the Most High is moved by sentiment, rather than actuated by principle. They suppose that His omnipotency is such an idle fiction that Satan is thwarting His designs on every side. They think that if He has formed any plan or purpose at all, then it must be like theirs, constantly subject to change. They openly declare that whatever power He possesses must be restricted, lest He invade the citadel of man's "free will" and reduce him to a "machine." 'They lower the all-efficacious Atonement, which was actually redeemed everyone for whom it was made, to a mere "remedy," which sin-sick souls may use if they feel disposed to; and they enervate the invincible work of the Holy Spirit to an "offer" of the Gospel which sinners may accept or reject as they please.

The "god" of this twentieth century no more resembles the Supreme Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun. The "god" 'who is now talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday School, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the day, and preached in most of the so called Bible Conferences is the figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside of the pale of Christendom form "gods" out of wood and stone, while the millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a "god" out of their own carnal mind. In reality, they are but atheists, for there is no other possible alternative between an absolutely supreme God, and no God at all. A "god" whose will is resisted, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to Deity, and so far from being a a fit object of worship, merits nought but contempt.

The supremacy of the true and living God might well be argued from the infinite distance which separates the mightiest creatures from the almighty Creator. He is the Potter, they are but the clay in His hands, to be moulded into vessels of honour, or to be dashed into pieces (Psa. 2:9) as He pleases. Were all the denizens of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth to combine in revolt against Him, it would occasion Him no uneasiness, and would have less effect upon His eternal and unassailable Throne than has the spray of Mediterranean's waves upon the towering rocks of Gibraltar. So puerile and powerless is the creature to affect the Most. High. Scripture itself tells us that when the Gentile heads unite with apostate Israel to defy Jehovah and His Christ,' 'He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh" (Psa. 2:4)

Grace, Peace and Love, Pastor P. Hume

"May God, Whose grace is irresistible and
all sufficient, be glorified!"

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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OF HIM ARE YE IN CHRIST
By Russell Miller

Scripture Reading: I Corinthians 1:30

To be out of Adam and "in Christ" is a very marvelous thing. No human effort or merit could accomplish such a thing. But the Lord Jesus Christ, through His finished work of redemption, has reversed what the devil through Adam wrought for mankind. The Bible plainly describes what we were in Adam and how "the works of the flesh" degrade his descendants.

"For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Tit. 3:3-5).

In what Christ accomplished is our position and standing "in Him", and instead of sin and unbelief Paul declares: "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification. and redemption" (I Cor. 1:30).

Praise the Lord. Now, by the grace of God, we may enter the presence of God's holiness without fear, for His wrath was poured out against sin upon His Son. This glorious position by virtue of just simply being "in Christ" is ours to enjoy forever. What a wonderful Saviour is Jesus my Lord!  May we never lose sight of it, nor what He did for us on that cruel cross.

"That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (I Cor. 1:31).

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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[nChrist]

RIGHT DIVISION AND PRACTICAL LIVING
By R.B. Shiflet



It is a common thing in our time to hear a believer say, “I'm not concerned with dispensational Bible study; I'm just going to preach the gospel and emphasize the walk of the believer.”

This feeling has no doubt come as a reaction to the hair-splitting policy of many of our Bible teachers and the confusion that has come from an effort on the part of some to force their dispensational views upon others, or to make these views a test for fellowship. In an effort to get away from a dispensationalism that has degenerated into little more than “profane and vain babbling,” many have tried to forget  2 Timothy 2:15, and have reached a position that is untenable.

In the first place, we cannot preach the right gospel without dividing the Word of truth to some degree. The term “gospel” merely means “good news,” and God’s Word contains many messages of good news. Not all of them are directed to us, however. God had the good news of the kingdom proclaimed to Israel, but Israel rejected this good news. Today, He is offering the gospel of the grace of God, the glorious gospel of Christ, and unless we study the Word with a view to the right division of it, we will be preaching the wrong gospel, or a perverted gospel. Such is the case when men bring carnal ordinances, works, the law, miracles, signs, a healing program, Sabbath keeping, etc., into the gospel message today. Any man, then, who preaches a clear message of grace, has practiced the right division of the Word to some degree.

Secondly, one cannot live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world without dividing the Word of Truth correctly. Note 2 Timothy 2:15 in its context: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for the master’s use, and prepared for every good work.” (2 Tim. 2:15-21)

Note verse 16. “Shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.” Shun means to turn one’s self about in order to avoid. Profane means unholy. Vain babblings are empty discussions of useless matters. To increase is to advance, and ungodliness is absence of fear or reverence for God. This, you will notice, is placed in contrast with rightly dividing the Word of truth.

Next follows an example of two who, failing to divide the Word, have come into grave error. Through this error in doctrine, brought about as a result of failure to study the Word dispensationally, the faith of some has been overthrown. The teachers given as an example have been holding that the resurrection was already past. Perhaps they had taken Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:5-6, “even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus;” and failing to divide the Word right, had taken these words to teach that the only resurrection was a spiritual one, and that it was past, that is, it took place when we believed.

After showing the dreadful results of failing to heed the exhortation to right division, comes the assuring statement that God knows His own, but His own should depart from iniquity and strive to be vessels of honor. How can this be done? “If a man therefore purge himself from these (who fail to divide the Word and overthrow the faith of some) he shall be a vessel unto honor.” The interesting word in this verse is “purge.” Harper’s Analytical Greek Lexicon defines the original word as follows: “to cleanse thoroughly; purify; purge out; eliminate.” Thayer shows that it means: “to avoid defilement from one, and so to keep one’s self pure.” The word is a combination of two words, one meaning “utterly,” the other meaning “to cleanse or purify; to free from every admixture of what is false; to prune.” Isn’t this in itself a process of right division? If we study the Word of truth and rightly divide it, we shall know which things to purge from our lives. We will know what must be pruned out in the way of ungodly moral practices that were not brought into our dispensation.

What will be the result of this purging? We shall be vessels unto honor, consecrated, profitable for our Master’s use, and fit for accomplishing unto every good work (2 Timothy 2:21). For further proof that the “rightly divided life”—utterly free from admixture—is dependent upon a rightly divided Word, see 2 Timothy 3:16-17. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

“Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work” (2 Thess. 2:16-17). Doctrine and deed are inseparable!

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

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[nChrist]

GRACE AND GOOD WORKS
By Pastor R. Hanna



Lest we mistakenly relegate the position of good works only to dispensations other than the dispensation of the grace of God, it will behoove us to take note of some of the apostle's admonitions as well as his personal example "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore WE LABOR, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. FOR WE MUST ALL APPEAR BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:8-10).

Note the terms, so clearly set forth. "If any man's work abide which he hath built (upon the foundation of Jesus Christ), he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned (having been "tried by fire), he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved: yet so as by fire" (1 Corinthians 3:14-15). These words clearly delineate between loss of reward for lack of good works and loss of salvation, which is a free gift apart from good works.

Again offering his own personal example for our edification, "the apostle looks back over his career of service for Christ as he approaches the end of his mortal years. "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing" (2 Timothy 4:6-8 ).

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

Click Below For FREE Email Subscription:
mailto:GRACENTHETRUTH@COX.NET
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[nChrist]

APPRECIATION, NOT DEPRECIATION
By Miles Stanford

 
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly" "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly"


As believers we rejoice in the fact that the Lord Jesus died for us, but few are affected by the fact that He arose for us. Fewer still realize that we died and arose with Him. Learn the facts! There will be continual struggle and failure until we gain adequate understanding of the liberating truth.

"The Lord Jesus on the Cross removed the barriers which separated me from God - my guilt, my sin, the law; and He dealt with my enemies - the world, the flesh, the devil. These six things were dealt with, so that we need no longer be in bondage through fear and that we may come boldly to the throne of grace.

"Have we given a hearty assent to these things which the Lord Jesus did for us? Or have we, as we read the Word, drifted by them, taking it all for granted? Let us lay hold of that for which God has laid hold of us. Let us gird up the loins of our mind and consent to that which He did for us. Let us enter into all that which being united to Christ as our Life means. Let us rejoice in all that was accomplished for us on Calvary." - L.L.L.

"It is necessary that the truth conferred by grace should be known as a possession and the virtue of it apprehended, before there can be any walk in keeping with it. For if there be ignorance or misapprehension, the truer the conscience, the more defective is the practice." - J.B.S.

"Set your affection on things above" (Col. 3:2)

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

Click Below For FREE Email Subscription:
mailto:GRACENTHETRUTH@COX.NET
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[nChrist]

THE GREAT, GREATER, GREATEST COMMISSION
By Pastor Joel Fink
 
Scripture Reading: II Corinthians 5:18-21

God has always had a job for His people to do. We call these jobs "commissions." Noah was commissioned to build an ark and be a "preacher of righteousness" (II Peter 2:5). Abraham was commissioned to leave his kindred and become a blessing to all the families of the earth (see Genesis 12:1-3).
 
In Old Testament times, the nation of Israel was to be a light to the Gentiles, as they will be someday (Isaiah 49:6). But throughout their history, they failed to carry out their commission. Therefore, when Christ came to earth, He said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24); for how could Israel be a light to the nations if she herself was lost? In Matthew 10, the Lord sent His twelve apostles out on a "great commission" to preach the gospel of the kingdom "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 10:6). After His resurrection, Christ gave the disciples an even "greater commission" to go to "all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47). After this, they could preach "in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8 ). But not all Jerusalem believed, and the apostles, true to their commission, stayed where they were (Acts 8:1).
 
It was then that God raised up the Apostle Paul to go to the Gentiles. To him, and us, was entrusted.

___________________________________
From Grace And The Truth Ministries
http://www.graceandthetruth.com/

If this devotion has been a blessing to you, please share it with others. The Word of God is so needed in our troubled world.

Ephesians 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

Click Below For FREE Email Subscription:
mailto:GRACENTHETRUTH@COX.NET
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