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If you were on a sinking ship and had a choice of going into the water holding an anchor or a life preserver, which would you choose? Silly question? Yet this is the same choice we make when we choose which gospel to be believe.
Choose a gospel? Isn’t there only one?

Many so-called gospels are preached, but there is only one which is divinely empowered to save those who trust in it. All the rest are anchors.

In Part 1 of this study we asked the question, by which gospel are you saved? The answer is the gospel of God’s grace. Contrary to what you may have heard, this is the only gospel message found in the Bible. What does the gospel of God’s grace look like? It looks like Jesus. Jesus is grace personified. To preach the gospel of grace is to preach the exceeding riches of God’s unmerited favor revealed to us through Jesus Christ (Eph 2:7).

The turned-around gospel

Tragically, the gospel of grace is not always preached in its pure form. The result is that sincere believers get confused about their standing before God. In their confusion, they may even abandon God’s grace for inferior alternatives. That’s like swapping the life preserver for an anchor. It’s not a smart move. If you see someone doing that you really ought to speak out, like Paul did with the Galatians:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ .” (Gal 1:6-7)

What does it mean to “pervert the gospel of Christ”? The Greek word for the verb “pervert” can be translated “turn around.” A perverted gospel is a turned-around gospel. It is a gospel which turns the focus away from Jesus onto something else. If the gospel of grace reveals Christ alone , then a perverted gospel is Christ plus something. It’s the somethings that’ll sink you.

Ten ways to set aside grace

The Bible lists many things that can distract you from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Here are some of them
:
1. Human effort (Gal 3:3): think performance-oriented Christianity. “Gotta get busy for Jesus. Gotta work for my salvation. Gotta start producing fruit or he’s going to lop me.” Except that you don’t and he won’t.

2. Traditions (Col 2:. “That’s just the way we do things around here; if you’re going to be a part of us, you’d better get used to it.” So you’re saying Jesus is the gate into the kingdom, but right behind him is this other gate that you have added.

3. Hollow and deceptive philosophy (Col 2:, like karma: you do good, you get good. “God won’t judge me, I’m basically a good person. At least I’m better than that guy.” Indeed, there are good sinners and bad sinners, but they are sinners alike. Your goodness still falls catastrophically short of God’s goodness. What matters is whose righteousness you’re wearing – yours or his?

4. Angel worship (Col 2:18). God told you the name of the angel watching over this church? Cool! Now let’s get back to Jesus.

5. Rules and regulations (Col 2:21-23). Smoking will kill you, but it won’t send you to hell like unbelief does. Working on the Sabbath may wear you out, but Jesus still loves you.

6. Self-denial, abstinence (Col 2:23). God gave us taste buds and appetites to enjoy life! Keep your monkish asceticism away from my chocolate stash!

7. Endless genealogies (1 Ti 1:4). So you think you broke your leg because your grandfather was a mason? But weren’t you adopted into a new family when you believed? Didn’t Christ redeem us from the curse so that we might inherit the blessings of Father Abraham?

8. Myths (1 Ti 1:4). Did Adam have a second wife? Were the Nephilim really angel-spawn? Is this stuff going to be on the test? I think not.

9. Sin consciousness (Heb 10:2,22). God’s grace is greater than your sin. If you are more conscious of your sin than you are of his righteousness, it’s like saying that the payment of Jesus Christ was insufficient. His worth is greater than your unworthiness!

10. The 10 Commandments , a.k.a. the ministry that brought death (2 Cor 3:7). God hid these inside the ark under the blood-stained mercy seat and now you want to hang them on the wall? In the Sunday School?!

What’s wrong with all these things? Very simply, they diminish your faith in Christ. The more you trust in your own works , for example, the less trust you’ll place in His finished work. Trusting in your works is like filling your life preserver with cast iron.

I call these things anchors because they have no life in them. They can’t save you because they are based on “worldly principles rather than Christ” (Col 2:. We have died to such things (Col 2:20). They have no value for us. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal 5:6).


https://escapetoreality.org/2010/08/17/how-do-we-pervert-the-gospel-of-christ/

afternoon

Read the New Testament and you might come away with the idea that there is more than one gospel.

For example, the very first words of the New Testament in the King James Bible are, “The Gospel According to Matthew.” Read on and you will also find the gospels according to Mark, Luke and John. Keep reading and you will come across Paul telling the Romans about “my gospel” before warning the Corinthians to hold firm to the gospel that “I preached to you.” Read all the way to the end and you will also encounter the “gospel of your salvation” (Eph 1:13), the “gospel of peace” (Eph 6:15), the “glorious gospel of the blessed God” (1 Tim 1:11), before finally reaching the “eternal gospel” proclaimed by the angel (Rev 14:6).

Of course, these are all labels for one and the same gospel. There is only one gospel in the Bible and that is the gospel which was known to Paul as the gospel of grace :

“I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace .” (Acts 20:24)

The One and Only gospel

The gospel of grace is the gospel and there is no other. This gospel is built, not on a doctrine or a theology, but on Jesus Christ himself:

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth … From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ .” (Jn 1:14, 16-17)

Whenever you read the word “grace” in the Bible, you can substitute the name “Jesus.” Jesus is grace personified. What does the grace of God look like? It looks like Jesus. What does the grace of God sound like? It sounds like Jesus. How do we know that God is gracious? He gave us Jesus who is full of grace and truth. So when Paul refers to the
gospel of grace in Acts 20, he means exactly the same thing as when he and others refer to the gospel of Christ or the
gospel of God or the gospel of his Son or the gospel of peace in other places. All of these gospels reveal the One who is called Grace, who was given to us out of the fullness of the Father’s grace, and through whom we have received grace upon grace.

What about when Jesus refers to the gospel of the kingdom (Mt 24:14)? Is this a different gospel?

Whenever you hear Jesus talking about the “kingdom” you can substitute the word “king” because the kingdom is nothing without the king. Who is the King? His name is Jesus. When Jesus says we are to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,” he is essentially saying “seek me and my righteousness.” And where do we find his righteousness? In the gospel!

“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Rms 1:17)

To sum up, the gospel of the kingdom is the gospel of Christ which is the gospel of God which is the gospel of grace . They are different labels for the exact same gospel message.

What is the gospel of grace?

Paul summarized the gospel of grace in his letter to the Corinthians:

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time… (1 Cor 15:1-6)

What are the four most important bits of the gospel message according to its most prolific preacher? They are that; (i) Christ died for our sins as foretold in the Scriptures, (ii) he was buried, (iii) he was raised as the prophets foretold, and (iv) he appeared in resurrection to many.

The gospel is 100% good news!

On the cross Jesus became our sin offering, taking our punishment and securing our eternal forgiveness. He died so that we might live, he was wounded that we might be healed, and he was cursed so that we might be blessed. Jesus forged a new covenant in his blood, exchanging our sinfulness for his righteousness. His miraculous return from death confirmed that Jesus was God’s Son, just as he said he was. It also showed that the demands of justice had been fully satisfied and that no further payment was necessary. As Derek Prince famously preached in The Divine Exchange, Jesus’ death on the cross was “perfectly perfect and completely complete.” There is nothing more that needs to be done.

Do you believe it?

The gospel is good news whether you believe it or not, but it will only save you if you believe it. As Paul declared to the Corinthians, “by this gospel are you saved.” Again, by which gospel are you saved? By the gospel of God’s grace:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)

The gospel is not just for sinners

The gospel is no mere message. It is heaven’s cure for the world’s woes. And we can be fully confident that God’s cures are effective! Those who put their faith in his goodness and grace experience salvation power in all its fullness – victory over sin, healing from sickness, freedom from oppression.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” (Rms 1:16)

The gospel is not just good news for the sinner. It is good news for the sick, the prisoner and the poor. It’s even good news for Christians. Today many sincere Christians are bound up in the dead works of performance-oriented religion. Their joylessness and lack of fruit testifies that they have forgotten the good news of God’s grace.

What are the works of grace?

Someone once asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

“Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the One he has sent.’” (Jn 6:29)

The greatest thing you can do is believe the good news of God’s grace revealed in the One he has sent. Believe that because of what Jesus has done, you are forgiven, you have been clothed with his righteousness, and you have been adopted into his family. When you say “Yes!” to Jesus, he moves into your life and you become one with him in spirit. On the inside, you now look exactly like Jesus and your status before God is “perfect forever” (Heb 10:14).
But your outside still needs work. Your mind needs to be renewed. Your body may need fixing. Your relationships may need mending. Your neighbors and workmates probably need saving. And God’s plan is to bring heaven to your corner of the world through you.

God has empowered you through his Spirit and the precious promises of his word to fulfill the gospel mandate. We do not need to hunker down and ask God to give us things. We just need to believe that through Christ we already have everything we need to get the job done (Eph 1:3, 2 Pet 1:3).

“Working out your salvation” means discovering who you are in Christ, taking risks for Jesus, and ministering in his power and authority. It means representing Jesus and his cross-wrought victory in areas where sins’ effects are still being felt. When you shine with Jesus-light, darkness flees and the dominion of the king is enlarged. Sin, sickness and poverty are put under his feet when you put them under your feet. We complete the mission the same way we started – by trusting in God’s amazing grace:

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1 Cor 15:10, NKJV)

Which gospel are you listening to?

Take care that the gospel you are listening to is the gospel of grace. As Paul warned the Galatians, anything which adds to or detracts from the good news of God’s grace, is a distortion or perversion of the true gospel (Gal 1:6-7). In Part 2 of this study, we will look at some of the ways the gospel of grace gets distorted.

https://escapetoreality.org/2010/08/11/gospel-of-grace/

lilyqueen:
THANK YOU JESUS

Amen!! Jesus is altogether lovely....

importexpert:
nice read.

you welcome

evening

Are you completely forgiven or partly forgiven? It’s a simple question that reveals whether you appreciate all Christ did for you on the cross.

Recently I heard a critic of the grace message say two contradictory statements: Christ paid for your complete redemption (amen!) but you are not completely forgiven (huh?). That’s like saying you’re saved, but not really. Or you’re holy, but sanctification is progressive. It’s the sort of mixed-up message you get from a mixed-up gospel .

Forgiveness like a debit card?

Some say that forgiveness is like a debit card. When Christ died he made a million-dollar deposit into your account. If you sinned this morning you are not forgiven until you confess and repent and draw upon that cross-wrought provision. In other words, between the time you sin and the time you repent, you are unforgiven. Your account is in the red. You need to fix it.

“But Paul, if I sin I should make amends. It’s only right.”
Yes, you should, but you’re fooling yourself if you think you can do that which Christ has done. The sinless Lamb of God paid an enormous price to carry your sin. Can you pay the same price?

It is ludicrous to think we can do a better job than Jesus, or that we can complete what he left half-done, yet that’s exactly what the debit-card picture suggests. What happens if you forget to confess? What happens if you confess every sin but one?

“It doesn’t really matter. God looks at the heart.” But it does matter, for the law tells us so. Break the law of confessing-to-be-forgiven and you will be guilty of breaking the whole thing (Jas 2:10).

Last week I neglected to put money into my account before my electricity bill went out. The bill bounced and a small oversight led to a big headache. There were letters. There were phone calls. There was a bank fee.

God treats sin the same way banks treat money – very seriously. (It cost him his Son’s life!) If forgiveness is a debit card, then you need to account for every single sin, big and small. So stop reading this, fall to your knees and repent for the sin of not treating sin seriously!
Actually, don’t stop reading because you need to hear this next bit.

The debit card metaphor is an unbiblical picture that promotes performance-based Christianity. It suggests that when we come to Christ, our sin debt is paid off (hooray!), but – and there is always a but in the mixed-grace message – every time we sin we incur a fresh debt which will be held to our account until we take steps to fix it.
How is this not mixing grace with works? How is this not prostituting the love of God?

God’s forgiveness is not given in installments

Forgiveness is not a debit card but a gift! You have been
completely and eternally forgiven on account of Jesus. You need to settle this in your heart otherwise you’ll be tossed and turned by every mixed-up teaching.

But don’t take my word for it. Let every matter be established in the presence of two or three witnesses. Here’s my first witness, the apostle Paul:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. (Eph 1:7)

You are not forgiven in accordance with your acts of confession but his grace! Now for my second witness:
I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. (1 John 2:12)

Are forgiven, not will be forgiven. The cross is a done deal. Jesus died once for all to do away with all sin. Here’s my third witness:

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins … (Psalm 103:2–3a)
All means all . All does not mean only those sins you have repented and confessed for Jesus carried the sins of the whole world.
And now for a surprise witness: It’s Jesus himself who, on the night he rose from the dead, said that the forgiven-ness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations .

Unconditional love = unconditional forgiveness

While he walked this earth Jesus forgave sinners who neither repented nor confessed. He did this to show that love keeps no record of wrongs. He did it to reveal a God who loves you like a Father and who does not wait for you to get cleaned up before welcoming you with open arms.
My friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. (Act 13:38)

Forgiveness is not something to earn through acts of piety or penance, but a gift to receive and in Christ Jesus you have it!


https://escapetoreality.org/2015/07/17/debit-card-forgiveness/

grevotech:
Thanks for that site you share about Dr. Paul have been following him up. It's indeed more Revelation everyday.

You welcome my broda... am glad you love the site....

I have heard of people who lived their entire lives thinking that they were cursed because they, or their parents, had committed the “unforgiveable sin.” It was partly this conviction that made Søren Kirkegaard the gloomy Dane. If you sincerely believed that you were utterly beyond redemption and without hope, you would be gloomy too.

One of the greatest sources of anxiety among believers is confusion over issues of sin and forgiveness. Tell a confused Christian that there is an unforgiveable sin and it’s like throwing petrol on a fire. So is there an unforgiveable sin and, if so, what is it?

The bottom 10 list

Below is a list of candidate sins that I have gleaned from various commentaries. You may have committed one or all of them, but rest assured that none of them is unforgiveable:

1. an attitude that calls evil good and good evil

2. a lack of reverence

3. being stubborn and unteachable

4. not loving the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength

5. willful or intentional sin

6. unconfessed sin

7. unrepented sin

8. harboring unforgiveness in your heart

9. taking the Lord’s Name in vain

10. having disrespectful thoughts about the Holy Spirit

Now there is some bad stuff on this list that can really hurt you. For instance, if you harbor unforgiveness you’ll end up bitter and twisted. But it is not helpful to tell a young mother whose husband has just run off with her best friend that she must forgive him or face eternal damnation. You might as well ask her to walk on water! The power to overcome sin – and forgive the unforgiveable – is not found in religious fear-mongering. So, in the hope of breaking a few man-made yokes, let’s review some of these so-called unforgiveable sins.

Unforgiveable sins?

Some people will try and tell you that the unforgiveable sin is a bad attitude or a lack of reverence or it’s being stubborn and unteachable. This is nonsense! Jesus didn’t suffer and die to enter us into a reverence contest. We neither earn points for being quick learners nor get punished for being dimwitted. Attitude is certainly important as it will affect the way you live and whether you reign in life. But a poor attitude won’t disqualify a saint any more than a good attitude will qualify a sinner.

Others say the unforgiveable sin is not loving the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength – it’s putting Sunday football ahead of Jesus. This mindset naturally leads to a system of religious score-keeping. It’s the debits versus the credits. But God is not counting the number of hours we put into church versus the number of hours we spend kicking a football. You don’t qualify for eternal life because you maintain a positive or pious attitude. In fact, Jesus said this sort of religious thinking makes Him nauseous . We don’t love God to stay on His good side. We love Him because He first loved us and saved us and redeemed us and did everything we needed, while we were yet sinners (Rm 5:.
What about willful sin? That sounds serious. Well if Jesus can’t forgive the sins we’ve done on purpose then no one can be saved. Don’t worry – His best is greater than your worst and His grace is greater than your sin!

I’ve heard plenty of people say that unpardonable sins are those we neither confess nor repent of. (This would include
suicide .) They seem to forget that Jesus went around forgiving people who neither repented nor asked for forgiveness. They also forget that He forgave them long before they were born. If you preach, “you must repent to be forgiven,” then you’re preaching dead works. You’re trying to define righteousness in terms of what you do or don’t do.Wrong tree.

Am I saying you don’t need to repent? You must, but from dead works rather than sin (He 6:1). Jesus said, “repent and believe the good news” (Mk 1:15). When you change the way you think and start believing the good news – that His grace and love led Him to die for you before you had done any confessing or turning of your own – it will empower you to overcome sin. We don’t turn from sin to get forgiven; we turn because we are forgiven and His grace enables us
.
What about harboring unforgiveness in our hearts? Didn’t Jesus say forgiving others was a precondition for receiving God’s forgiveness (Mt 6:15)? If it is then there’s no such thing as grace. Read your Bible through the lens of the cross . Jesus preached the law of conditional forgiveness to those who lived under the law to silence their self-righteousness and reveal their need for a Savior (Rm 3:19, Gal 3:24). We are not under law but grace (Rm 6:15). We forgive others because He first forgave us (Col 3:13).
What about taking the Lord’s Name in vain? This is one of the 10 Commandments and was a stoning offense under the old covenant:

“Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.” (Lev 24:16)

If you have taken the Lord’s Name in vain, then thank God that we live under a new and better covenant! Thank God for Jesus who has set us free from the curse of the law and and who said:

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven… (Mat 12:32a)
You may have cursed God, but He has blessed you! I wish I could go back to 19th century Copenhagen, find the gloomy Dane and tell him the good news. “Søren, all your sins were forgiven!”

But what about the rest of that verse…
…but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Mat 12:32b)
Here Jesus identifies the one thing that can never be forgiven, namely, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

The unforgiveable sin

This week I heard about someone who was battling condemnation because they had had disrespectful thoughts about the Holy Spirit. They were worried that they had committed the unforgiveable sin. If this has happened to you, don’t panic! First of all, don’t take ownership for every thought that passes through your mind. As the saying goes, you can’t stop the birds flying overhead, but you can stop them building a nest in your hair. Second, and as we will see in the next post, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is something very specific. If you’ve had disrespectful thoughts, that probably means you don’t know the Holy Spirit very well. But you haven’t blasphemed Him. Not even close.

So who is a blasphemer? Religion paints a picture of a blasphemer as someone who is belligerent and foul-mouthed. But a blasphemer may look more like the Pharisees and law-teachers of Jesus’ day. A blasphemer is one whose religious beliefs prevent him from receiving the grace of God. This includes those who refuse to believe that all the sins of men have been forgiven. Rather than allow the Holy Spirit to convict them of their unbelief, they are preoccupied with maintaining their own moral performance. “How’s my walk? Am I confessing my sins? Am I praying enough, maintaining a positive attitude and behaving such that God will bless me?” These are works that lead to death. Those who do them need to repent.

What is the unforgiveable sin? It is the “sin” of unbelief in Jesus and His finished work. It is the sin of not receiving the free gift of His grace and righteousness. This sin cannot be forgiven because he who commits it chooses to reject the very thing that would otherwise save him. This rejection may take the form of hard heartedness (“I don’t need Him”) or religious idolatry (“He needs my help”). In either case the grace of God is rendered ineffective simply because it is not received.

If you love Jesus, there’s no need to get hung up over the unforgiveable sin. Although hell will be full of murderers, thieves and adulterers, people do not go to hell for committing murder, stealing or adultery. As terrible as they are, all these sins have been paid for by the precious blood of the Lamb (1 Jn 1:7, Eph 1:7). So have the sins listed at the top of this post. Your choice is this: You can be sin-conscious and gloomy, or you can be Christ-conscious and rejoice!

Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned! Happy is the person whose sins the Lord will not keep account of! (Rm 4:7-

https://escapetoreality.org/2011/04/20/unforgiveable-sin/

morningg

morning....

morning

You will never understand the gospel of grace until you first appreciate the love of God shown to unworthy humanity:
“But here is how God has shown his love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rms 5:

Why did he do it? He didn’t need to and we didn’t deserve it. Yet he did it anyway because it pleases him to love on us. And the result is a love mismatch of cosmic proportions. Are you aware how unbalanced this relationship is?

On one side of the relationship you have a perfect Savior. On the other side you have a born sinner. Jesus is the source of all beauty, truth and love, while we were idolatrous, murdering rebels. The Lover of our souls reached out to us, we killed him for it, and with his dying breath he forgave us. What can we do in response to such amazing love but repent and say “thank you Jesus!”
It’s the greatest love story ever told and the entire story is captured in the 222-word letter that Jesus sent to the
Laodiceans.

Think about this. They were rebellious, proud and vomit-worthy, yet Jesus comes to them in love to warn and win them back to himself. The Laodiceans were doing stuff that made Jesus nauseous, so he counsels them to exchange what they have for what he offers. And what does he offer that is better than himself, standing just outside , waiting to be invited in?

What does Jesus want?

What does Jesus hope to get from the Laodiceans? In a word: relationship, or friendship, or intimacy. He certainly does not want their offerings or sacrifices. He wants them , just as he wants us . Christianity is not about doing stuff for God, it’s knowing him. Jesus did not pray that we would be busy working, but that we would be with him :

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” (Jn 17:24)

Rob Rufus has said, “God wants to impress us far more than he wants us to impress him.” He wants to take the lead. It’s his nature to lead – just look at the cross. That was all his doing. He wants to perform and he wants us to participate in his performance rather than try and impress him with our own.

Jesus wants us to see his glory. With that in mind, let’s look at the last thing Jesus says in his letter to the Laodiceans:
“To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (Rev 3:21)

No losers in heaven

The word “overcomes” can be translated “is victorious.” Eternity is a place for victors and conquerors, not the vanquished and defeated. There are no losers in heaven. The question we should ask is, “how do I become counted among the overcomers?”

Let me answer that question with a question. Do you believe that Jesus is an overcomer? Are you sure? Are you absolutely certain Jesus Christ is an overcomer? He is! He says so to the Laodiceans – “just as I overcame” – and he also said so to the disciples:

“In this world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16:33)

How do we know Jesus is an overcomer? Because the devil couldn’t tempt him, the law-lovers couldn’t silence him, Pilate couldn’t fault him, death couldn’t keep him, and the grave couldn’t hold him. Jesus is the very model of an overcomer. Indeed, he is the Overcomer. Look up “overcomer” in the dictionary and there’s a picture of Jesus. (Well there should be.)

You might say, that’s all very fine for Jesus. But what about us? How do we overcome? John gives us the answer:

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 Jn 4:4)

Overcoming is not about jumping through hoops and satisfying the expectations of men. It’s about depending on The Overcomer who lives in you.

“For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 Jn 5:4-5)

Are you born of God? Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God? If yes, then the Overcomer lives in you and you can’t help but be an overcomer. That’s why Jesus told the disciples to be encouraged during times of tribulation; because he – not they – had overcome the world and because they would carry his overcoming Spirit within them.

Are you an elephant or a turtle?

Think of it like this. If your mother was an elephant, and your father was an elephant, then you can’t help but be an elephant. You may act like a turtle but you will be acting against your elephantine nature. The whole world may try and tell you that you are a turtle, and you may even speak turtle, but at best you will only ever be an elephant doing impressions. (He who has an ear, let him hear!)

When you came to Christ he made you a new creation. He gave you his overcoming DNA and his mighty overcoming Spirit. You are now an overcomer by nature. It’s in your genes. You may not feel like an overcomer. You may feel like a turtle. But you are an overcomer nonetheless. If you act like a victim or a loser or anything other than an overcomer, then you are acting in a manner that is contrary to your Christ-given nature.

Just as an elephant is not an elephant merely because he acts like one, neither are you an overcomer merely because you overcome from time to time. That’s back to front. No, you act like an overcomer because you are an overcomer. God’s word says so:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or unclothedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Rom 8:35,37)

From a worldly point of view you may not look like an overcomer. You may be a worn out, beat up, raggedy ol’ Christian with problems left and right. The circumstances of your life may be trying to tell you that “you are not an overcomer.” Just ignore them. They are speaking from a worldly point of view. We are from God and he says we are
more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. Believe what your Father says about you.

Quick quiz

Just to check that you’ve been paying attention, I’m going to give you two alternative interpretations for Revelations 3:21. One of them will make you feel like a loser, the other will inspire you to praise Jesus. One of them will get you to focus on your self and your efforts, while the other will prompt you to focus on Jesus and the finished work of the cross.

See if you can discern which of the following interpretations best captures the heart of the one who promised to share his throne with overcomers:

1. Only those who have victory in every area of their lives, who never stumble, who never put a foot wrong, who pass every single test and never sin – just like Jesus – will earn the right to sit on his throne.

2. As Christ is (he’s an overcomer), so are we in this world (which makes us overcomers too). Just as Christ is our righteousness, holiness and redemption, he is also our victory in all things. We have a right to the throne not because of victories we have won, but because of the glorious victory he has won. This right is based on God’s grace, not our efforts. It is by grace we have been saved, by grace we have been raised up, and by the incomparable riches of his grace that God has seated us with himself in heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

(I hope you picked #2. If not, go back to the top and start over.)

When Jesus tells the Laodiceans that only overcomers have a right to his throne, he is not threatening them or bringing them under condemnation. He is giving them a wonderful affirmation of their position in Christ. Contrary to what you may have heard, he’s not trying to keep people out of his kingdom, he’s trying to get them to come in! Yes, the Laodiceans needed to repent and exchange what they had (their nauseating self-righteousness) for what he freely offered (the white clothes of his righteousness). But if they did that, if they put their trust in him, then they would reign with him both in this life (Rms 5:17) and in eternity (2 Tim 2:12).

The takeaway…

Now go find a mirror and tell yourself, I am an overcomer because Christ, the Overcomer, lives in me. Then have a little conversation with all your problems and tell them about Jesus who is victorious in all things. When the enemy tries to knock you down by pointing out your shortcomings, remind yourself of your God-given right to sit with Christ on his heavenly throne and then plant your boot on the enemy’s lying head.

Because of what Jesus has done you have a divine right to rule and reign with him. True, you don’t deserve it. You never have and never will. And yet there you sit like a king, a joyful testimony of the incomparable riches of his grace!

https://escapetoreality.org/2010/06/23/to-him-who-overcomes/

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afternoon

afternoon

afternoon

hello christinnah

good morning

In Christ we can participate in all of the blessings God promised to Abraham (Gal 3:14,29). We also get all of the blessings promised under the law covenant and none of the curses (Gal 3:13).

This is pretty amazing when you think about the blessings God offered in the Old Testament:

To Abraham and his descendants God promised greatness, fruitfulness, great reward, world-reaching blessing, and more (see Gen 12:2-3, 15:1, 17:4-8, 22:18).

To those who kept the law God promised long life, fruitfulness, abundant prosperity, protection, and more (Deut 5:33, 28:3-13).

In addition to these wonderful promises, there are at least 12 awesome blessings God promises to His people exclusively under His new covenant of grace. Here they are in no particular order:

[b]1. God forgives all our sins (Matt 26:28, Acts 13:38). Our sins are not merely covered by the blood of bulls and goats, they are paid for and taken away by the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29). At the cross, justice was satisfied. His forgiveness is perfectly complete.

2. God remembers our sins no more (Heb 8:12, 10:17; Jer 31:34). In terms of justification it’s as if we never did them.

3. God promises never to be angry with us again (Is 54:7-10). Unlike the obsolete covenant of law, the new covenant is an everlasting covenant of love and peace (Is 54:10, 55:3). God will never stop doing good to us (Jer 32:40).

4. God qualifies us (Col 1:12). It’s no longer a case of what we do (under the law covenant) or who we’re related to (under the Abrahamic covenant). It’s who we trust.

5. Jesus takes hold of us and never lets go (Php 3:12, Ju 24). Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rms 8:39). Consequently we can speak of our hope as a “firm and secure” anchor for the soul (Heb 6:19).

6. God credits us with the perfect righteousness of Jesus (2 Cor 5:21). Righteousness is not earned, it is received (Rms 5:17). Because of Jesus’ sacrifice our status before God is “perfect forever” (Heb 10:14).

7. God gives us the Holy Spirit to teach us (Jn 14:26), empower us (Acts 1: and remind us of our righteousness (Jn 16:10). We no longer need priests to mediate for us, for now we can all know the Lord (Jer 31:34). We are His royal priests (1 Pet 2:9).

8. God is for us (Rms 8:31)! God justifies us and there is no more condemnation (Rms 8:1). When we sin, Jesus doesn’t judge us, He defends us (1 Jn 2:1). His grace enables us to overcome sin (Tit 2:12). He abundantly supplies all our needs (Ph 4:19) that we might enjoy life to the full (Jn 10:10). God’s favor is unearned and unmerited.

9. God is with us (Ez 37:27)! Because of Jesus the door to the throne room is always open (Heb 4:16). We can approach Him with freedom and confidence (Eph 3:12).

10. God empowers us to overcome the enemy (1 Jn 5:4). We have His delegated authority over demons and disease (Mk 16:17). We live under His divine protection (Lk 10:19). We are destined to “reign in life” (Rms 5:17).

11. God offers us His rest (Heb 4:10-11). Under the old covenant it was do, do, do. Under the new covenant it’s done, done, done (Jn 19:30). We are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6).

12. God gives us eternal life (Rms 6:23).[/b]

What must we do to inherit these promises? Trust in Jesus. Bet your life on Him. Take the crown off your head and lay it at His feet. Choose to believe what the Bible says about Him, that He died for the sins of the world – including yours – and rose victorious from the dead. Let others know that He is your Redeemer and King. Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit that you might know Him more.
If you’ve not done any of that before, how about right now?


https://escapetoreality.org/2010/03/17/top-12-blessings-in-the-new-covenant/