The Biblical Path of Life

Tag: Grace

  • Watch

    “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:42)

    In some of Jesus’ final teachings to His disciples, He gave them a specific warning that we must heed today.“37. But as the days of Noe (Noah) were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe (Noah) entered into the ark, 39. And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. … 42. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:37-39, 42).

    Remember back for a minute to Noah. You can read the events in Genesis 6-8. “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). God said He would destroy man and beast. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Genesis 6:8). We can read that God described him as just, and Noah walked with God. God told Noah to build an ark for his family and two of every animal. Noah obeyed. It took him 100 years to build that ark. That means that everyone around saw what he was doing. See what we can read in 2 Peter 2:5: “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.” This means that while he was building that ark, he was warning people (preaching) of what was coming. Notice that in Genesis, God revealed that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth … only evil continually.” Jesus helps us understand that in this wickedness “they were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage” until the day that Noah entered into the ark. They were just living their normal lives. But God told us that they were living wickedly. And they had no idea that a flood was coming to destroy them and the whole earth. But Noah knew. And while he was building that ark, he warned people.

    Now, think of today. We know that when Jesus went back into heaven after His resurrection, we have the promise that He would return in like manner (Acts 1:11). Right before that promise, Jesus told those that had trusted and believed in Him to be witnesses. Christians are to proclaim the Gospel message (that Jesus lived a sinless life, died for sinful man, rose from the dead, and will one day take us to heaven with Him) to a lost world. A world full of people that eat, drink, are married and given in marriage — just living normal lives. But a life without Jesus is a life that God sees as one who is wicked, and that every imagination of the thoughts of the hearts are only evil continually (remember Genesis 6:5).

    What did Jesus tell us (Christians — those who belong to Jesus) to do?

    “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:42). Watch means to “keep awake; be vigilant; awaken; figuratively to rouse from inactivity.”  From what are we to awaken? From what inactivity are we to rouse? In what are we to be vigilant? We must do just as Noah did. Wake up and become preachers of righteousness! How do we do that? A preacher in this context is just one who delivers a message. All we need to do is warn people of their eternal separation from God by sharing with them the Gospel message of Jesus. For we hold the truth that Jesus is the only Way to heaven! “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 16:6).

    Are you watching?

    Have you warned anyone today?

  • Saved by Grace, Through Faith

    “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10)

    Excerpt from “The Biblical Path of Life, Year Three Quarter Three” Lesson 8:

    “Paul again reminded them of the life Jesus gave, comparing it to the life they had before Christ. “1. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Ephesians 2:1-3). Remember that Paul was writing to the saints which means “the sanctified ones who were called out into the service of the Lord and were morally pure.”  But it was important to remember from whence they came. Why? How does the old saying go: “Those who do not remember their history are doomed to repeat it.”  Christians were, and still are, to remember the old life from which Jesus saved them, one of death and promised destruction. By remembering, one would never take for granted the life given by God, Himself. “4. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Ephesians 2:4-5). In this verse, Quickened us together means “to make alive as being raised from death to life with Christ.” 

    And one must remember that salvation did not come from anything one could do, for it was a free gift. “8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). Workmanship means “the result, what is produced, in contrast to the act of making – the doing itself and not that which is made.” Created means “renewal; regeneration; to create and form in a spiritual sense.” God did what man cannot do – produce a regenerated, spiritual, creature, created by God, Himself. After that, God provided a path that He expects these saints to walk in. In this verse, before ordained means “God’s foreordaining for good, as in good works.” 

    God has a plan for each and every Christian’s life.”