The Biblical Path of Life

Tag: Longsuffering

  • The Spirit

    “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”

    John 16:8

    Before Jesus left this world, He made a promise to send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God has specific jobs. Read what Jesus declared to His disciples. “7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:7-8). The Holy Spirit has come to reprove (convict) the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Consider if you will: in the world’s court system, first there is a crime, and when it is proven, the judgment (punishment) is determined. I see no righteousness involved.  

    However, with God it is different. The listing in God’s Word says He will convict of sin, then of righteousness, and finally of judgment. God has put righteousness between the sin and the judgment. God has interposed the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, if you do not believe in Jesus – if you refuse the gift purchased by His blood, there is no righteousness between sin and judgment. The result of this is one will just receive judgment: death and hell. “13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:13-14).

    Remember: All have sinned. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But those who believe in Jesus have a provision that only God could make by the death of His Son upon the cross. “24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26. To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:24). This places Jesus between the sinner and the judgment. Propitiation means “to conciliate; to atone for sin; to make reconciliation for.” If you refuse this propitiation, there is no righteousness between the sin and sinner. Read the description of God telling us what Jesus did for those who believe. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God makes Believers (Christians) the righteousness of God – because of what Jesus did upon the cross.

    We also understand that judgment will come to all. For Believers (Christians), Jesus took our judgment for us. For those who reject Jesus, judgment awaits them at death. “9. Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:9-11). God’s Spirit has come to reveal sin to man. God’s Spirit came to teach what Christ the Saviour’s provision is – righteousness. Notice also that Satan has already been judged. On that last week when Jesus faced the cross, He declared the judgment of the world. “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). When Jesus died on the cross, Satan lost the war. When it looks like Satan is winning the battle, remember that he has already been judged. All of Satan’s plans are destined for failure. His doom and destiny has been set. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). It was not prepared for people. However if one fails to repent, becoming conformed to the image of God’s Son, that one will be cast into that everlasting fire – the place we call hell. God does not want anyone to perish, spending eternity in hell. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He is longsuffering – for now.

    But recognize that God’s Spirit is the only one who can tell one’s heart of sin, righteousness and judgment. Moreover, the only sin that keeps one from heaven is the rejection of God’s Spirit that convicts the heart, revealing the need of Jesus. God forgives one who believes, giving what we need: righteousness “3. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. … 5. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:3, 5). Recognize that faith is counted as righteousness. When one believes in Jesus, one becomes a new creature: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

    Have you heard the conviction of the Holy Spirit, recognizing your need to trust upon Jesus?

    How To Be Saved

  • The Individual’s Choice

    “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
    Ezekiel 18:20

    God wanted Ezekiel to make it clear to His people that God saw everything. Because God sees all, Ezekiel was to make sure the people understood that God also sees each individual and judges them accordingly. Especially notice the following: “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). When a person chooses to reject God, that soul dies. It is an individual choice each person must make. (“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23.)

    Understand this better with the following: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him” (Ezekiel 18:20). Each individual is accountable to God for his or her life – not the life of their father: God has no grandchildren, only children. (“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9.)

     “But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.” (Ezekiel 18:21).    Remember what is clarified even better in the New Testament for us: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).  And also: “9. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation … 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:9-10, 13). 

    God then made a specific call to His people: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin” (Ezekiel 18:30). It was up to each individual person to repent and turn from his or her sin (transgressions) and turn to Him – even as it is today. Remember: the people of Israel were evicted from their land because of their sin against God, forsaking Him for idol worship, and refusing to repent. However, the children who came after them would not be held accountable for their parents’ sins. Each one of them had the choice: the choice to repent and turn to God.

    God never changes. God wanted to save people in the Old Testament times, New Testament times, and He still wants to save people even today. However, God allows each person to choose – to believe, or not to believe. We should know all have sinned (remember Romans 3:23). But we should recognize how to have life eternal. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Whosoever believes in Jesus can have life! Instead of choosing continual sin, one must choose Jesus by faith: then he or she can have life. “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).

    There is an amazing picture of this in the Old Testament. It is a picture of God seeing an individual and holding him accountable for sin. Almost everyone is familiar with an event that happened in Genesis chapter four. God had accepted Abel’s offering and not Cain’s. “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts …” (Hebrews 11:4). Cain became angry. God gave Cain a warning:  “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him” (Genesis 4:7). Cain had an opportunity right there to change his heart and to choose right. God warned that if he did not, sin was there waiting. Nevertheless, Cain had the choice to rule over that sin. If you remember, Cain ignored God’s warning and allowed sin to rule in his life. Cain rose up and killed his brother. He went out from the presence of the Lord – never to return.

    Have you chosen a life in obedience to Jesus by faith, knowing it is only then you will have eternal life?

    How to be Saved

  • The Choice

    “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
    2 Peter 3:9

    Why do some people believe in Jesus, becoming a Christian, and others do not?

    God gives each person the choice to believe or not.

    One cannot help but remember the brothers Esau and Jacob from the Old Testament book of Genesis. They were twin brothers, yet they were very different. From the events in their lives and the choices they made, one can see that Jacob chose better, for he chose the things of God. Esau on the other hand, chose the things of this world and the satisfaction of his flesh. After hunting one day, Esau came home where Jacob was making some pottage. Esau was willing to sell his birthright for a bowl of pottage – just to satisfy his immediate hunger. After this, Esau took wives of the Hittite’s, not God’s people. Read what his parents thought of this in Genesis 26:35: “Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.”

    A short time later, Jacob received the blessing instead of Esau. Afterward, see the obedience of one brother, and the disobedience of the other. “6. When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; 7. And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram; 8. And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; 9. Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife” (Genesis 28:6-9). Jacob continued to please his parents (thus pleasing God), and Esau continued to please himself (thus displeasing God).

    Although Esau had many great possessions on this earth (see Genesis 33) and lived in the land of Seir, there is insight given to us in the New Testament. See what God recorded in His Word. “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:13). We can better understand these words many consider harsh as we read the following verses. “15. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 16. Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” (Hebrews 12:15-17). The condition of Esau seems to be the same condition as one who rejects God and His Word, choosing to please self. Note that this kind of person is one who sins against God (in rejecting the gift of His Son, Jesus). Esau made his choice. Esau gave himself over to the world and its’ ways. When Esau “failed of the grace of God” in this choice, he became a profane person. Esau so hardened his heart “he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”

    Before you harden your heart, rejecting God, read the following encouraging words. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God is not willing that any should perish. No one should harden their heart and not receive the Gospel message of Jesus.

    “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth …” (Romans 1:16).

    Choose to please yourself, and in doing so fail of the grace of God, or

    Choose to believe in the Gospel of Christ unto Salvation.

    It is your choice!

    How to be Saved