August 12, 2011
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God's Love in Christ Freely Electing ~ Shall we break Your commands again?
Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.Romans 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace... 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”God's love in Jesus Christ electing
Graced remnant sovereignly selectingGod's love in Christ freely electing
Shall we break Your commands again?Yahweh's eternal counsel effecting
Loving Jacob, but Esau rejectingGod's love in Christ freely electing
Shall we break Your commands again?Christ's death death defeating
Powerless sinners perfectingGod's love in Christ freely electing
Shall we break Your commands again?
Dead souls mercy resurrecting
Everlasting life injectingGod's love in Christ freely electing
Shall we break Your commands again?The weak, poor and needy protecting
His beloved flock never neglectingGod's love in Christ freely electing
Shall we break Your commands again?His living stones erecting
Evil's deadly wiles deflectingGod's love in Christ freely electing
Shall we break Your commands again?Flame of Jehovah directing
Every scattered sheep collectingGod's love in Christ freely electing
Shall we break Your commands again?Exodus 34:14 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)...
Ezra 9:5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God, 6 saying:
“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. 7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. 8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. 9 For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.
10 “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11 which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. 12 Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ 13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, 14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? 15 O LORD the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
II Peter 1:10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Are you being all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure?
Related:- Things to Look for in a Church: Humility before God leading to confession, repentance & fruits worthy of repentance
- dedication 2010 (reflections on God's Word & God's grace)
- What is Biblical mourning? (Ash Wednesday)
- "You shall be holy to Me..." Bible reading: Leviticus
- the visitor we can't ever entertain (mortifying sin)
- you say you want Jesus
- Fourth Sunday of Advent: Are you preparing Him room?
- Sin is determined. Are you? (Judges 1:27-36)
- Is your faith living – or is it dead? (Isaac Watts)
- Neck check (Bible reading: Nehemiah 3)
- backslidden child (Jeremiah 3)
- Lenten Reflections: the remembrance and the rendering (Luke 20:9-26)
- the examination & the supper | letter 108 on assurance & fighting for joy
- Is your ambition holy? / What are you living for? (Louis Paul Lehman) / The Christian's Aim
- Half a heart, half a heart (How long? If the LORD is God, follow Him)
- When I fed them to the full ~ Jeremiah 5:7
- Be not an Esau (Genesis 25:29-34, Hebrews 12:15-17)
- His seed (If ye be Christ's ~ He came seeking fruit)
- Prevail | apart from sovereign grace
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Comments (6)
God's electing is perfect. Then there is Frank. Oh my. What can I say. Did He make a mistake? Of course not. Have I live up to His potential for me? Not a chance. So in this life there is a challenge to live more like He desires. The Good News is that Christ paid for all my sins. That does not mean I should be cavalier about it. I still adhere to the promise of Phil. 1:6. He will shape me up just before He ships me out.
frank
There is no way we can improve on God's salvation or appoint ourselves as His heirs, but there is definitely a way to become more "sure-footed" in our walk with Christ. That is, we can receive nourishment, spiritual food whereby we will grow in Him. He does the work in us, the growing. We grow:
"You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen." (2Peter3:17-18
@quest4god@revelife - I agree. We should always strive toward living perfectly as Christ lived. But I do not think there is anything I can do as a human to improve on God's salvation.
@firetyger -Thank you for your reply to my comment. We who love Christ, for whom to live is Christ, desire greatly to please Him and to know Him better. I have been thinking along the lines of your reply and writing another post on it.
@ANVRSADDAY - Ha! No! God never makes mistakes. He chooses the foolish, weak, low and despised so He might be highly exalted.
I really love the way you put it here: The Good News is that Christ paid for all my sins. That does not mean I should be cavalier about it.
@quest4god@revelife - God's desire for each of us is that we be growing Christians, and we shouldn't be lax, but should be taking advantage of each and every one of God's means of grace to be growing. If we're not doing that, we won't receive the strengthening we need, and, as a result, we won't be so "sure-footed," as you say.
@firetyger - We definitely can't improve on God's salvation, but our lives should increasingly manifesting it, manifesting Christ, adorning the doctrine of God our Savior in all things, and in greater and greater measure by working out what He is working in us ~ Philippians 2:12-14... not grieving or quenching or limiting the Holy Spirit. We can't sit back and coast, or as @ANVRSADDAY put it, we can't be "cavalier" about it in the least.
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A couple days prior to writing this post, I'd been impressed by and blessed once again by the concept of the remnant: that none of God's elect, none of Christ's sheep, will ever be lost. But then as I reflected on it more, the responsibility we have as Christians really weighed upon me. As God opens our eyes to show us how blessed and privileged we are to be chosen at all, that we are beggars (Luther's last words), that we are brands snatched from the fire, that our salvation is ALL of God's grace and NOTHING of us, we must not squander this great gift of grace or waste it... II Cor. 6:1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.