Category Archives: Salvation

1 Peter, Gospel of John, Questions, Salvation

Accepted

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I am reading 1 Peter 5:10 and it reads like this:

1 Peter 5:10  (NKJV)10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.  source

But may the GOD of all grace . . .
What GOD?
The GOD of all grace. All the grace I will ever need. That is Who He is.
Grace.
What is grace anyway? Some say grace is the unmerited favor of GOD.
I don’t disagree with that.
Is there any more?
Grace.
The Hebrew word for our English word grace is chen (with a sign over the e which my keyboard does not have).
According to my Strong’s Interlinear Search, it means Acceptance.
I have been ACCEPTED by Him, the GOD of all grace! And that acceptance is UNMERITED. I did not earn it. I could not earn it. No amount of good works will get me grace. You either.

So, how? How did GOD the perfect Holy One, how did He accept me? Read on.

Who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus!
Jesus must have known what He was talking about when He said:

John 14:6  (NKJV) 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.  source

So are you Accepted? How do you know you are?

1 Corinthians, 2 Peter, 2019, Ephesians, Questions, Repentance, Salvation

The Response!

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17 So this I say, and solemnly affirm together with the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the [unbelieving] Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds [and in the foolishness and emptiness of their souls],  18 for their [moral] understanding is darkened and their reasoning is clouded; [they are] alienated and self-banished from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the [willful] ignorance and spiritual blindness that is [deep-seated] within them, because of the hardness and insensitivity of their heart. source

Please see the brackets in the third line around unbelieving. It is really important for us to grasp Paul is penning about not just any Gentiles, but the unbelieving, as there were many Gentiles in the Community (Church, Body) at Ephesus. Another clue for us that when a Gentile became a follower of the Jewish Messiah, they became family. Yeshua (Jesus as you may address Him) has One Family, One community.

But what of these unbelieving Gentiles? It was a term his readers understood; well understood. Outcasts. Banished from the Commonwealth of Israel.

BUT look it’s self-banishment! It’s not GOD’s will that any be banished! (See 2 Peter3:9)

Self-banished. What a word! What does it mean? Banished means sent away as an official punishment.

A few questions.
How often do we send ourselves away from fellowship with GOD because we have deemed ourselves unworthy?
How many of us see the bottom layer of that thinking?
When we self-banish ourselves, who’s the judge, the jury and the executioner?
Who alone has that Office and Responsibility?
So what are we doing when we self-banish?
What would cause us to do that?
(Subtle Pride.)
But it’s still damnable pride, is it not?

But wait! Does not the Scriptures tell us to judge ourselves so that we will not be judged?
Absolutely! It does! See 1 Corinthians 11:31. So what’s the factor here? The Response!

Pride sends us away!
Repentance draws us close!

1 Corinthians 11:31 Amplified Bible (AMP) 31 But if we evaluated and judged ourselves honestly [recognizing our shortcomings and correcting our behavior], we would not be judged. source

Please see it!  And correcting our behavior! That’s what repentance does. It corrects our behavior. Pride, even subtle pride, keeps us banished.

Repentance. Oh, what a beautiful, loving, holy gift!  Let us unwrap it as often as necessary!

Oh, Father, thank You, thank You for the gift of repentance! Pour out Your holy gift of conviction with repentance again and again that we may fellowship with You continually.  Amen and amen in JESUS name.