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One of the chief tools of our adversary the devil is deception. Satan is wise enough to know that most Christians will not fall for a lie that is painfully obvious. A born-again believer has been given a new nature and his default desire is to please God. To get the believer to travel in a direction or to believe a doctrine that is not pleasing to God, Satan became an expert at mixing the truth with a lie. The half-truth veils a lie from the understanding of the believer and causes them to accept something that is contrary to God’s will. Even though it sounds right it is contrary to the proper understanding and interpretation of God’s Word. God’s Word will always point us to the need for righteous living and internal change. We must understand both where God wants us to go and how we are to arrive there. If a believer’s interpretation of the written word takes us away from faith in Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and maintenance, it is almost a guarantee that a lie has been mixed with the truth. That makes what the believer has accepted as truth, error. Beware of your adversary and be on the lookout for his mixing of truth with error.
1 Timothy 4:1 - Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Proverbs 29:19
A servant will not be corrected by words: for though he understand he will not answer.
There are those who will not be corrected simply through knowing what God has said, but will, due to the deceitfulness, selfishness, and great pride in the heart, be required to go through the chastisement of the Lord, and this is very painful. Most of the time when the child of God in today’s church is going through the Lord’s chastening, it is explained to them as something which it is not. Many are experiencing devastation today in the church while being told it is all because of their faith which the enemy hates, yet it is not faith in the cross, therefore he has no need to attack, as he has us distracted already.
How many have heard the message of the cross on the radio, television, or even on Facebook pages such as this one you are reading now, yet continue to go a different way than the only Way which God has provided for ALL of His Grace to be experienced? Paul reminds the church in Corinth that because they are not discerning the Lord’s Body, there are many weak, sick and dying prematurely among them (1 Corinthians 11:27-31). Discerning the Lord’s Body is two fold. One, it is knowing what was provided for us outside of just an entrance into heaven one day, and two, it is knowing where God is actually functioning in His Body today on the earth, and finding one of those places and allowing Him to plant you there. Yes, the local church that preaches, teaches and strives for the faith of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:27).
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“Forasmuch as you know that you were not Redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation (lifestyle) received by tradition from your fathers; But with the Precious Blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you (I Pet. 1:18-20).
These three Verses of Scripture proclaim to us the fact that the Doctrine or principal of the Cross of Christ is the oldest doctrine known to man. Through foreknowledge, God knew, in eternity past, that He would make man, and that man would fall. So it was deemed necessary by the Godhead that man would be redeemed by God becoming Man, going to the Cross, and thereby atoning for all sin, actually serving as man’s Substitute. All of this was decided before the foundation of the world.
“Foreordained,” in the Greek Text, means “to designate beforehand” to a position or function. In the councils of the Triune God, the Lord Jesus was the Lamb marked out for Sacrifice. Before this Universe was created, the Lord Jesus had been foreordained to be the Saviour of lost sinners, and the Saints had been foreordained to become recipients of the Salvation He would procure for lost sinners at the Cross (Eph. 1:4; Rom. 8:29).
Considering that the Cross of Christ was foreordained from before the foundation of the world to be the essential core principle of Salvation, this means that every other doctrine must be built squarely on the basis of the Cross of Christ. If it is not, at least in some manner or way, it will be specious. That, in fact, has been the problem from the very beginning. It began with Cain and Abel, even at the dawn of time.
After the Fall, the First Family was given instructions by the Lord as to how sins could be forgiven and fellowship restored. It was by virtue of the slain lamb, which would be a symbol of the Coming Redeemer. Abel carried out the instructions of the Lord to the letter, but Cain substituted something else. The “something else” has been the problem from then until now. All false doctrine has its beginning through a misinterpretation, a lack of understanding, or a denial of the Cross of Christ. When the Church gets off track, or even the individual Believer, the Church or the Believer has to come back to the Cross before things can be made right.
Even though the Cross of Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world, still, it has been “manifest in these last times for me and you.” If we ignore what the Lord has done, there is no way we can go in the right direction. The foundation is the Cross of Christ, and it will always be the foundation. Paul labeled it “The Everlasting Covenant” (Heb. 13:20).“
— Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him Who Judges Righteously: Who His Own Self bore our sins in His Own Body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto Righteousness: by Whose stripes you were healed (I Pet. 2:21-24).
Men can only believe in God by believing in the Lamb of God. It is not by means of the Creation that they believe, for that can not give rest to the conscience; nor by means of Providence, for that leaves the way of God upon Earth in profound darkness; nor by means of the Law, for that fills the conscience with terror. It is only by the means of Jesus, the Lamb of God Who redeemed them to God.
Just as a child, with painstaking effort and close application, follows the shape of the letters of his teacher and thus learns to write, so Saints should, with like painstaking effort and by close application, endeavor to be like the Lord Jesus in their own personal lives. Or, as a small child endeavors to walk in the footprints made by his father’s feet in the snow, so we are to follow in the path which our Lord took.
The Greek word for “follow” literally means “to take the same road” as someone else takes. We should walk the same road that Jesus walked — in short, be Christlike.
However, the only way we truly can follow in Christ’s footsteps is that we ever look to the Cross. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we certainly cannot do it, and the Holy Spirit will help us only if we ever look to the Cross. That is the pattern we ought always to follow!
The word “bore,” used in the 24th Verse, is the translation of a word used of the Priests carrying the Sacrifice up to the Altar. The Brazen Altar was 4 1/2 feet high and was approached by an incline up which the Priest bore the Sacrifice.
Alford says that this word belongs to the idea of Sacrifice, and is not to be disassociated from it. The Greek word translated “tree” does not refer to a literal tree, but to an object fashioned out of wood, in this case, the Cross. Thus our Lord, Himself the High Priest and the Sacrifice, carried our sins as a burden of guilt up to the Cross.
The phrase, “Being dead to sins,” is literally “having become off with respect to sins.” It speaks of the action of God in breaking the power of the sinful nature in the believing sinner when he puts his faith in the Lord Jesus as Saviour. Henceforth he need not be a slave to sin.
Concerning the “stripes” which Jesus suffered on our behalf, Wuest says:
“The Greek presents a picture of our Lord’s lacerated back after the scourging He endured at the hands of the Roman soldiers. The Romans used a scourge of cords or thongs to which were attached pieces of lead, brass, or small sharp-pointed bones. Criminals condemned to crucifixion were ordinarily scourged before being executed. The victim was stripped to the waist and bound in a stooping position, with his hands behind the back, to a post or pillar. The suffering under the lash was intense. The body was frightfully lacerated. The Christian martyrs at Smyrna about A.D. 155 were so torn by the scourges that their veins were laid bare, and the inner muscles and sinews, even the bowels, were exposed.
“The Greek word translated ‘stripes’ refers to a bloody wale trickling with blood that arises under a blow. The word is singular, not plural. Peter remembered the Body of our Lord after the scourging, the flesh so dreadfully mangled that the disfigured form appeared in his eyes as one single bruise.
“Thus we have the portrait of the suffering Servant of Jehovah, His Blessed Face so pummeled by the hard fists of the mob that it did not look like a human face anymore, His back lacerated by the Roman scourge so that it was one mass of open, raw, quivering flesh trickling with blood, His Heart torn with anguish because of the bitter, caustic, malevolent words hurled at Him. On that bleeding, lacerated back was laid the Cross.
“Unsaved Reader, this was all for you, just as if you were the only lost person in the universe. The Lord Jesus died for you, in your stead, took your place on the Cross, paid your penalty, so that God could offer a Salvation from sin based upon justice satisfied.
“Will you not right now appropriate the Lord Jesus as your own personal Saviour, trust Him to save you?“
And Saint, does not all this make you love the Lord Jesus more, soften and make more tender your heart? The Blood of Christ heals our sin in that He, by One Offering, put away sin forever.”
It is ever the Cross! The Cross! The Cross!“
— Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
Most arguments that occur between two people are usually caused as the result of a lack of self-control on the part of one party or another. Sometimes the inability to operate in self-control happens simultaneously in the hearts and minds of both people, and that's when things really get out-of-control. Words can be said, actions can be taken that could destroy a friendship, a solid relationship, or even that which would ruin a good working environment. One of the qualities that the Holy Spirit desires to build into the believer is that of temperance or self control. To be honest it is far less self-control as much as it is allowing oneself to be brought under the control, guidance, and leading of the Holy Spirit. In more than one altercation I have had the Holy Spirit to lead me to stop speaking and start to practice my “shut ups.” It was this action that saved a friendship, a working relationship, or kept me from an uncomfortable evening at home. Remember that it is always the responsibility of the stronger Christian to yield themselves to the Holy Spirit and pave the way to peace. As a believer, you do not always have to have the final word.
Proverbs 14:29 - He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.
Proverbs 29:20
Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more hope of a fool than of him.
Do you see a man that is always quick to speak? This man cannot hear, because he thinks he already knows everything. This man isn’t even listening to you while you speak, because his mind is only on the words he will speak when he can once again take over the conversation.
We all know this sort of man, as this man cannot hear the Truth of the Gospel, due to his focus being on speaking rather than hearing. It was once said of a wise man that God gave man two ears and only one mouth as a sign. I believe it is a good saying. Faith has never, and will never come by what we speak but rather what we hear (Romans 10:17). We cannot grow by speaking, nor can we live in victory by speaking, but because God says we walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7), we know we must hear what He is saying to us to be able to walk and to live (Matthew 4:4).
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His Glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy (I Pet. 4:12-13).
Some Christians have the erroneous idea that if they embrace Christ and the Cross, making that the sole Object of their Faith, then they will never again be tempted, never have another problem, etc., etc. Bluntly and plainly, the Holy Spirit through Simon Peter here tells us that that’s not the case at all. In fact, we are not to even think it out of the ordinary, or “strange,” concerning the “fiery trial which is to try you.” The words, “fiery trial,” carry the connotation of “furnace,” referring to a smelting furnace where gold is refined.
The words, “strange thing,” are the translation of a Greek word referring to something alien or foreign in nature. The word “happened,” is, in the Greek, literally “to go together,” i.e., “to happen.” But nothing just happens in the life of a Christian. Even this suffering for Righteousness’ sake is all within God’s Plan. It is used by the Lord as part of the process, to cause us to run to Christ.
Instead of thinking it a strange thing, we are exhorted not only to expect such suffering but to rejoice in the fact that we can be partakers of Christ’s sufferings. However, the Christian has no cause for rejoicing because of suffering that is brought on because of our own misdoing. But insofar as suffering is the result of doing well, we have cause for rejoicing. Our rejoicing arises from the fact that we share in common with Christ suffering for Righteousness’ sake.
We should, however, be reminded that these sufferings of Christ, which we share in common with Him, are not His expiatory sufferings on the Cross, but His sufferings for Righteousness’ sake while enduring the opposition of the religious establishment previous to the Cross.
Whenever a person accepts Christ and the Cross, making that the sole Object of his Faith, which will automatically cause him to throw aside all false doctrine, many times the opposition from the religious sector will be fierce. Sometimes our own family will oppose us. I know of no other avenue which will attract such opposition as when one places one’s total Faith in Christ and the Cross. The opposition will come from the world of religion, even as it did with Christ.
But instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, the Holy Spirit through Peter here plainly tells us, “Rather rejoice”!“
— Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
For a person who is struggling physically, the battle can be very difficult. A person might lose their energy, their drive, their desire to even try. So sickness of a physical nature is no simple opponent to overcome. Having said that, we should also recognize that an individual whose spirit or inner man has been wounded by crushing circumstances may have an even harder road to walk than that person who is struggling with a physical malady. When the heart has been broken by a soul-rending incident, the person affected may even lose the will to live. To get out of bed can become a difficult exercise. I know that there are some self-righteous folk who might be critical of a person in this condition. But I remind you that Jesus came to heal the broken-hearted, not to pour scorn upon them. So these issues are real and should not be taken lightly, made fun of, or criticized. For those of you in that valley of darkness, I am so thankful to be able to tell you that there is a way out of your despair and despondency. Call on the name of Jesus and let the true balm of Gilead bring peace to your broken spirit. He will not turn you away!
Proverbs 18:14 - The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?
Proverbs 29:21
He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length.
...
He that trains his servant delicately will be rewarded to see him as his son when he is grown. Because the Lord cannot lie, and has promised that when we train up our children in the Way they should go, they will not depart from there when they are old (Proverbs 22:6), we can have the assurance that delicately bringing up our children will reap a great reward, not only for them, but also for us.
To delicately bring up a child is to delicately, which is to tenderly teach them God’s Word in the context of His great mercy and grace which is seen in the offering of His only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for our sins. This is the only Way in which God has offered all humanity (Hebrews 2:9) to be able to find Him, to get to Him, and to teach their children the one Way in which Christ claimed that He is (John 14:6).
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
The truth is that heartache is inevitable, pain is going to be a part of this life. We have to at times shed tears no one else can see, hide the scars and bruises to be strong for others in times of need. How can we have hope in hopeless times, how can we find solace in heartbreak, how can we find joy when the tears are flowing?? We look to the Lord, we fight to trust him, and while the pain and heartache is real and doesn’t seem to fade, he will give us an inner comfort, and inner peace of knowing that through trusting him, everything will be alright!
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them who obey not the Gospel of God? And if the Righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (I Pet. 4:17-18).
After the horror of 9/11/01, when the lives of some 4,000 Americans were snuffed out due to Muslim terrorism, two Preachers of my acquaintance were interviewed over Network Television. They were asked why the Lord allowed this to happen to America.
Their answer was most interesting! Both agreed, “It is because of the homosexuals and the abortionists in this nation!”
That is basely incorrect!
While the two sins mentioned definitely are abominable, as should be overly obvious, that is not the problem in this country. According to the Word of God, the problem is the “House of God.” The Church in America has failed, and failed miserably! The Gospel is little preached from behind fashionable pulpits. The Cross of Christ, the very heartbeat of Christianity, has been relegated to the dustbin of antiquated doctrines, no longer applicable, or so it is said, for this modern age.
What I have just said is, in effect, the same as what Jesus said: “Verily I say unto you, that the Publicans and the harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you” (Mat. 21:31). Jesus certainly wasn’t condoning the sins of thievery and harlotry. What He was saying was that while the publicans and the harlots would repent, or at least some of them would, the religious leaders of Israel would not repent (Mat. 21:32).
Judgment always begins with Believers, and pertains to their Faith, whether in the Cross or otherwise; the Cross alone is spared judgment, for there Jesus was judged in our place.
If God will judge His Own, how much more will He judge the unredeemed? The Cross alone stays the Judgment of God. That must ever be understood.
The modern Church in this country is little preaching the Gospel. If it was preaching the Gospel, i.e., “the Cross,” which, as stated, alone stays the Judgment of God, then this nation would escape much punishment, and could very well have escaped the horror of 9/11/01.
Because it is so important, let us say it again:
If the Church faithfully preaches the Cross, most Judgment can be spared, for there Jesus was judged in our place. If the Cross is little preached, the nation is opened up for Judgment, and that’s exactly what is happening! The Cross of Christ alone stands between man and eternal Hell. We must never forget that (Eph. 2:13-18; Gal. 6:14). “
— Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
As a believer we find time for everything with the exception of setting aside enough time to consistently praise the Lord. We complain about the circumstances of life, the difficulties that surround us, the attacks against our person, the lack of financial means, or a variety of other things. While some of these complaints are valid to be sure, many are simply an expression of worry and concern that affords no credit to the Lord Jesus and His ability to meet our needs. Rather than spending the day complaining, griping, moaning, and feeling sorry for ourselves; would not we be better off using our lips to praise the Lord? Wouldn't it be better to glorify His name and thank Him in advance for the things that we trust Him to do? Wouldn't it be better to give Him glory and honor for all the wonderful things He has already provided? Let us always recall, as we go through our day, that the Lord is forever and always worthy of our praise. Our hearts will be made glad as we travel through the hours recollecting all the grace and goodness He has brought into our lives. As our spirit soars upwards, let us declare with our mouths the glory of our God.
Psalm 33:1 - Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.
Proverbs 29:22
An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
This is the very reason God tells us in His Word to be angry and sin not (Ephesians 4:26). Anger stirs up strife and strife is one of the things that opens the door to confusion and EVERY evil work (James 3:16). In all reality, any anger that is not an anger at sin, is a sin itself. Anger if not dealt with will lead to fury and this fury will cause much embarrassment as it will tighten the chains of transgression in our own lives.
Whatever is abounding in our lives, we are bound by. If anger is not dealt with through faith in Christ and His atoning death at Calvary, fury will be the result and we will be found abounding in transgression against God. On the other hand, if our faith resides in Christ and His atoning work on the cross for us, the fruit of the Spirit will be abounding in our lives (2 Peter 1:8-9), and we will be bound to Him in this process! Trust in Christ and His great Salvation today offered to you, not just to get you to heaven, but also to deliver you today from anything that hinders you from being a witness unto Him and a testimony to all!
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord Who bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of Truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not (II Pet. 2:1-3).
In some ways, Simon Peter preached the Cross just as strongly as did the Apostle Paul.
The “damnable heresies” here mentioned would be better rendered “heresies of destruction.” Peter is dealing with that which is the most serious of the heretical teachings, either denying the substitutionary death of our Lord, or failing to give it its full due. The word “bought” in the Greek is “agorazo,” one of three words translated “redeemed” in the New Testament. In classical use, the word meant “to purchase in the marketplace,” and was used of the purchase of slaves in the slave market. Our Lord’s Precious Outpoured Blood was the ransom paid to redeem slaves of sin from that slavery. His Death satisfied the just demands of the High Court of Heaven, paying the penalty for the sinner, and making a way whereby a righteous God could be just and, at the same time, the Justifier of the believing sinner.
The denial seems to have consisted of an inadequate view of the Person and Work of Christ in our relation to the problem of human sin. Sadly and regrettably, that is the sin of the modern Church.
As we have said in other daily devotionals, the Cross of Christ, for it is this of which Peter speaks, has been so little preached in the last several decades that the modern Church attempts to serve a “Cross-less” Christ. For the most part, the Cross is ignored, misunderstood, or outright rejected.
Incidentally, the word “heresies” constitutes one of the “works of the flesh,” which characterize themselves in the lives of Believers who have made something other than the Cross of Christ the Object of their Faith.
Paul said, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these (if one attempts to function by means of Law of any nature, the ‘works of the flesh’ will be manifested in one’s life); adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, “Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, “Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like (if one is walking after the flesh [Rom. 8:1], one or more of these sins will manifest themselves in one’s life; the only way, and I mean the only way, one can walk in perpetual victory is to understand that everything we receive from God comes to us by the means of the Cross; consequently, the Cross must ever be the Object of our Faith; this being the case, the Holy Spirit, Who works exclusively within the confines of the Sacrifice of Christ, will exert His mighty Power on our behalf, which will enable us to live a Holy life): of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past (refers to the fact that the Apostle was not afraid to name specific sins), that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. (This tells us in no uncertain terms that if our Faith is not everlastingly in Christ and the Cross, we simply won’t make it. God doesn’t have two ways of Salvation and Victory, only one, and that is ‘Jesus Christ and Him Crucified’” [Gal. 5:19-21].)
Now, let us exegete what Peter said:
“But there were false prophets also among the people (refers to the false prophets who plagued Israel of old), even as there shall be false teachers among you (the false teacher is one who presents a way of Salvation, or a way of Sanctification, other than the Cross), who privily shall bring in damnable heresies (the idea is that these false teachers would teach some true Doctrine and then cleverly include false teaching with it; it is the introduction of false teaching alongside the Truth that makes it very subtle, and which abrogates the True), even denying the Lord Who bought them (refers to denying the Cross), and bring upon themselves swift destruction (upon themselves and upon those who follow them, which refers to the ultimate loss of the soul).
“And many shall follow their pernicious ways (actually most!); by reason of whom the way of Truth shall be evil spoken of (proclaims the fact that not only is the Truth castigated, but the bearer of Truth, as well; in short, it is a denigration of the Cross).
“And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you (the people are exploited instead of developed; the underlying cause is ‘money’): whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not (the Judgment seems to be delayed, but it definitely is not idle; sooner or later, all who travel the path of ‘damnable heresies,’ which refer to any way other than the Cross, will ultimately face 'utter ruin and destruction')."
— Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
One of the major benefits of being a Pentecostal believer is the use of tongues for either prayer or worship. According to the book of Acts, whenever a born-again believer is initially filled with the Holy Spirit, they speak with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance. This opens the door for the use of devotional tongues in the life of that particular believer. When we do not know what to say and we do not know how to pray, the Holy Spirit within us always does. He not only knows the mind of God and the will of God but he also knows what we truly require. So a personal prayer offered in tongues is a perfect prayer of faith. Praise is the other use of the devotional tongue. The believer can yield his tongue to the Holy Spirit to magnify and praise God for all of His wondrous works. Isaiah stated that tongues utilized by a believer brings a supernatural rest to the heart and soul. A sense of peace in the time of storm. What a magnificent gift! Not only are we allowed to pray and praise in the perfect will of God, but our inner man is edified and the soul of man is comforted.
Acts 10:46 - For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
Proverbs 29:23
A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
The very reason man’s pride always brings him low is because it takes God to uphold a man. God is never without a job and is always busy. He is either exalting those who have humbled themselves through faith in the cross of Jesus Christ, or He is bringing low those who refuse to humble themselves through faith in Christ and His work at Calvary. Never forget that God has only offered man one Way of humility, and Jesus showed us that Way (Philippians 2:8). The Way of the cross.
Humility always precedes honor (Proverbs 15:33, 18:12), and again, humility before God is only seen through faith in Christ as our humble Savior!. The Lord upholds the humble in spirit, as Galatians 5:25 reveals to us that because we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit, which is the only place which God will uphold His people. In the Spirit speaks of one’s faith in the cross of Christ alone (Romans 8:9, Galatians 3:3).
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled again therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of Righteousness, than, after they had known it, to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true Proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire (II Pet. 2:20-22).
Peter is saying the same thing here that Paul said in Hebrews 6:4-6 and 10:26-29. He is speaking of Believers, that is, people who have truly been Born-Again, who have now ceased to believe Christ and what He did at the Cross. While they may claim to believe Christ, they have actually divorced Him from the Cross, hence the Apostle saying that they are “denying the Lord Who bought them,” i.e., denying what Christ did for them at the Cross (2:1).
These are not individuals, as some claim, who have merely heard about the Lord, and who have refused to accept Him. These are people who have “known the way of Righteousness,” which means that they once accepted the Righteousness of Christ and were Born-Again. Actually, no unsaved person can “know the way of Righteousness.”
These individuals knew that way, but turned to something else, which Peter likens to a “dog turning to his own vomit again, and a hog that was washed going back to her wallowing in the mire.” This completely refutes the unscriptural doctrine of Unconditional Eternal Security.
We teach Conditional Eternal Security. As long as the Faith of a person remains in Christ and what He did at the Cross, that person is eternally secure. If the person moves his faith to something else, and it doesn’t really matter what the “something else” is, he loses his way. The correct ingredient of Salvation is Faith in Christ and what Christ did at the Cross. If that is denied, they have “crucified to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame” (Heb. 6:6). And if a person stays in that condition, and we speak of continuing to deny the Cross, such a person will be eternally lost, despite the fact that they once were saved.
As previously stated, this is the sin of the modern Church. It professes Christ loudly, but it denies the Cross.
How do I know that?
I know that because of the many and varied schemes offered which claim to be the way. I speak of the “Purpose Driven Life” doctrine, the “Government of Twelve” doctrine, the “Word of Faith” doctrine, “Denominationalism,” “works righteousness,” etc. If one accepts these doctrines, and a host which we haven’t named, one is “denying the Lord Who bought them” (2:1).
If there ever was a time that Believers should renew their Faith in Christ, it is now!“
— Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
The day that I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior is the day I truly began to love Him. As He lifted the weight of sin from my heart and replaced it with the joy of my salvation, I knew that I had embraced a God who was truly a Savior, and that a life-changing relationship had begun. For me, it was love at first sight. I had not truly seen Jesus for who He was and what He could do before this. As th...e years progressed my love for Him has continued to grow. How can you not love someone who does nothing but love you, no matter the situation, the complications, or even when you act in stubborn rebellion. Even when I did not respond properly to His leading and guiding, He has always expressed His never-ending love for me and His willingness and desire to stay in relationship with me. He never condoned my sin. He never “white-washed” my failure. Instead, He convicted me of it. He cleansed me from i., He freed me from its power and then set me back on the straight and narrow path of righteousness. I love Him because of the way He has always, first loved me.
1 John 4:19 - We love him, because he first loved us.
Proverbs 29:24
Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not.
Whoever partners with a thief hates his own soul. It doesn’t matter what man thinks or how much he disagrees with God. God is the creator and when there is a disagreement, the Creator is ALWAYS right. We seem to look at Scriptures such as this one always outside of the realm of the church, but today let’s look at this scenario which is taking place at the greatest level than ever before.
When I partner with a Pastor of a local church who is stealing from God’s people due to his opening God’s Word and not pointing the people of God to Christ and His finished work at Calvary for ALL grace, I am deceived and am hating my own soul. “He hears cursing”, refers to him swearing to tell the Truth but continuing to reveal nothing is what the NKJV translates. Every Word God has ever spoken is “In Righteousness” (Proverbs 8:8), and His Righteousness is only revealed in the gospel to those who will believe it from faith to faith (Romans 1:16-17, Galatians 2:21). This is how the child of God experiences the very Life of Christ (Romans 1:17).
Oh the wondrous cross of Jesus Christ!
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
