The glory of the law repels, but the greater glory of Jesus attracts. Though Jesus is holy and just, yet blended with His purity there is so much truth and grace that sinners run to Him amazed at His goodness, fascinated by His love; they greet Him, become His disciples, and take Him to be their Lord and Master.
C.H. Spurgeon
Revelation 1:1-20 CSB
[1] The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, [2] who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever he saw. [3] Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near. [4] John: To the seven churches in Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, [5] and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by his blood, [6] and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father-to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. [7] Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. So it is to be. Amen. [8] “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” [9] I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. [10] I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet [11] saying, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” [12] Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me. When I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, [13] and among the lampstands was one like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe and with a golden sash wrapped around his chest. [14] The hair of his head was white as wool-white as snow-and his eyes like a fiery flame. [15] His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of cascading waters. [16] He had seven stars in his right hand; a sharp double-edged sword came from his mouth, and his face was shining like the sun at full strength. [17] When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, [18] and the Living One. I was dead, but look-I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades. [19] Therefore write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this. [20] The mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Mark 12:18-27
The Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection
[18] And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, [19] “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. [20] There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. [21] And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. [22] And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. [23] In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
[24] Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? [25] For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. [26] And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? [27] He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
Revelation 20:11-15 NLT
And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. [12] I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. [13] The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. [14] Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. [15] And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
False teachers teach that Faith is Faithfulness, in other words they teach Faith is Obedience! That is such a False Doctrine! Faith is Obedience, Faith is Trusting and Believing in Christ Jesus!
In the New Testament, pistis tends to mean trust, trustworthiness, faithfulness, or belief. For example, when Jesus tells the disciples, “Have pistis in God” (Mark 11:22), he is urging them to trust in God when they pray. When Paul speaks of God’s pistis (e.g., Rom 3:3), he is referring to God’s trustworthiness in fulfilling God’s promises. When Paul reminds the Corinthians “that Christ died for our sins,” he says, “so we preach, and so you episteusate,” meaning “so you believed” (1Cor 15:11).
Sometimes it is unclear whether a writer is referring to trust, belief, or both. When Jesus says, “Pisteuete in God, pisteuete also in me” (John 14:1), we cannot be sure whether he is saying, “Believe in me as you believe in God,” “Trust in God and trust in me,” or both.!!!
Have Faith in God!
Faith is Trusting, and Believing in God!
The Late Dr. Michael Heiser Wrote this in his book the Unseen Realm
“The God of the Old Testament was part of an assembly – pantheon – of other gods.”
(Heiser also said) “It is not difficult to demonstrate that the Hebrew Bible assumes and affirms the existence of other gods.
But, St Irenaeus states in refuting Gnosticism,
When, however, the Scripture terms them [gods] which are no gods, it does not, as I have already remarked, declare them as gods in every sense, but with a certain addition and signification, by which they are shown to be no gods at all. As with David: The gods of the heathen are idols of demons; and, You shall not follow other gods. For in that he says the gods of the heathen— but the heathen are ignorant of the true God — and calls them other gods, he bars their claim [to be looked upon] as gods at all. But as to what they are in their own person, he speaks concerning them; for they are, he says, the idols of demons. And Esaias: Let them be confounded, all who blaspheme God, and carve useless things; even I am witness, says God [Isaiah 44:9]. He removes them from [the category of] gods, but he makes use of the word alone, for this [purpose], that we may know of whom he speaks. Jeremiah also says the same: The gods that have not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the earth which is under the heaven [Jeremiah 10:11]. For, from the fact of his having subjoined their destruction, he shows them to be no gods at all
Justin Martyr’s rebuttal of the existence of other gods revolved around the name of the true God revealed to Moses at the burning bush:
Justyn Martyr said :
On this account, then, as I before said, God did not, when He sent Moses to the Hebrews, mention any name, but by a participle He mystically teaches them that He is the one and only God. For, says He; I am the Being; manifestly contrasting Himself, the Being, with those who are not, that those who had hitherto been deceived might see that they were attaching themselves, not to beings, but to those who had no being. Since, therefore, God knew that the first men remembered the old delusion of their forefathers, whereby the misanthropic demon contrived to deceive them when he said to them, If you obey me in transgressing the commandment of God, you shall be as gods, calling those gods which had no being, in order that men, supposing that there were other gods in existence, might believe that they themselves could become gods. On this account He said to Moses, I am the Being, that by the participle being He might teach the difference between God who is and those who are not. Men, therefore, having been duped by the deceiving demon, and having dared to disobey God, were cast out of Paradise, remembering the name of gods, but no longer being taught by God that there are no other gods
Beware of the heresy of
Dr. Michael Heiser he also said:
“God’s ultimate goal was to make all the seed of Abraham Divine” –
This statement is utterly heretical, God’s goal was to redeem His sheep unto the right relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to elevate and expand the glory of God, Not to make us Divine, Not to make us Gods or Divine. God’s goal is to reconcile us to the Father, not to make us indistinguishable from the Father, not to make us into Divine Beings, we are partakers of the divine nature but we never become the Divine Nature of God.
We never become Gods, big G or little g. Only God is God!
& Only God is Divine, Uncreated and Inherently Eternal and Eternally Unchangeable..
Psalm 139:14-18 CSB
[14] I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. [15] My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. [16] Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began. [17] God, how precious your thoughts are to me; how vast their sum is! [18] If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with you.
that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
Ephesians 2: 5
We Stand on His Grace- His amazing astounding immeasurable grace, thank you Jesus Christ, for saving a wretched sinner like me- We rest on the finished work of Christ for our salvation, and we walk in His Holiness and power- to overcome all sin and live in Holiness and Adoration unto our Creator Christ The LORD-
Blessed Holy Trinity
God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit-
Three Divine Persons
One Holy God..
(Danno M. Romann)
Saved by Grace Alone!
Repentance, Obedience, and
Sanctification are not Salvific
They are not the order of Salvation or instrumental cause of Salvation
Repentance, obedience and holiness are the outward fruit of Salvation, Obedience and Repentance are not the cause of Salvation!
Danno M. Romann
Gospel of Grace
Holy Faith Bible Church
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
— Philippians 2:1-18
Matthew Henry’s Commentary
Romans 5:1
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
5:1-5
A blessed change takes place in the sinner’s state, when he becomes a true believer, whatever he has been. Being justified by faith he has peace with God. The holy, righteous God, cannot be at peace with a sinner, while under the guilt of sin. Justification takes away the guilt, and so makes way for peace. This is through our Lord Jesus Christ; through him as the great Peace-maker, the Mediator between God and man. The saints’ happy state is a state of grace. Into this grace we are brought, which teaches that we were not born in this state. We could not have got into it of ourselves, but we are led into it, as pardoned offenders. Therein we stand, a posture that denotes perseverance; we stand firm and safe, upheld by the power of the enemy. And those who have hope for the glory of God hereafter, have enough to rejoice in now. Tribulation worketh patience, not in and of itself, but the powerful grace of God working in and with the tribulation. Patient sufferers have most of the Divine consolations, which abound as afflictions abound. It works needful experience of ourselves. This hope will not disappoint, because it is sealed with the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of love. It is the gracious work of the blessed Spirit to shed abroad the love of God in the hearts of all the saints. A right sense of God’s love to us, will make us not ashamed, either of our hope, or of our sufferings for him.
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
5:6-11 Christ died for sinners; not only such as were useless, but such as were guilty and hateful; such that their everlasting destruction would be to the glory of God’s justice. Christ died to save us, not in our sins, but from our sins; and we were yet sinners when he died for us. Nay, the carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself, chap. 8:7; Col 1:21. But God designed to deliver from sin, and to work a great change. While the sinful state continues, God loathes the sinner, and the sinner loathes God, Zec 11:8. And that for such as these Christ should die, is a mystery; no other such an instance of love is known, so that it may well be the employment of eternity to adore and wonder at it. Again; what idea had the apostle when he supposed the case of some one dying for a righteous man? And yet he only put it as a thing that might be. Was it not the undergoing this suffering, that the person intended to be benefitted might be released therefrom? But from what are believers in Christ released by his death? Not from bodily death; for that they all do and must endure. The evil, from which the deliverance could be effected only in this astonishing manner, must be more dreadful than natural death. There is no evil, to which the argument can be applied, except that which the apostle actually affirms, sin, and wrath, the punishment of sin, determined by the unerring justice of God. And if, by Divine grace, they were thus brought to repent, and to believe in Christ, and thus were justified by the price of his bloodshedding, and by faith in that atonement, much more through Him who died for them and rose again, would they be kept from falling under the power of sin and Satan, or departing finally from him. The living Lord of all, will complete the purpose of his dying love, by saving all true believers to the uttermost. Having such a pledge of salvation in the love of God through Christ, the apostle declared that believers not only rejoiced in the hope of heaven, and even in their tribulations for Christ’s sake, but they gloried in God also, as their unchangeable Friend and all-sufficient Portion, through Christ only.
The Berean Christian 