Provision of God What We Must Do ..!!! One of the fundamental differences between the Covenants of Works and Grace, which under the rigorous and inflexible demand of perfect and perpetual conformity to Gods Law, was that there was no allowance or relief afforded for the slightest infraction of it. A single default, the least failure, was reckoned guilty of breaking all the commandments (James 2:10), for not only are they, like so many links in the same chain, a strict unit, but the authority of the Lawgiver behind them was flouted. Nor was any provision made for the recovery of such a one. The constitution under which the first man, and the whole human race in him, was placed was without any mediator or sacrifice, and no matter how deep his remorse, or what resolutions of amendment he made, the transgressor lay under the inexorable sentence: The soul that sinneth it shall die, for God would by no means clear the guilty. Moreover, under the first covenant, God provided no special grace to enable its subjects to meet His requirements. What is yet more to the point in connection with our immediate subject, under the New Covenant provision for the failures of its subjects, God does not reject their obedience because it is faulty, but graciously accepts the same when it is prompted by submission to His authority, is performed by faith, is urged by love, and is done with sincerity of purpose and endeavour. Sin has disabled from an exact keeping of Gods commandments, but He approves of what issues from an upright heart and which unfeignedly seeks to please Him. We are bidden to have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear (Hebrews 12:28). While God still justly requires from us a perfect and perpetual obedience, He is gracious and requires genuine efforts to conform to His will. He does so because of the merits of Christ and His continued mediation on our behalf. We present spiritual sacrifices unto Him, and they are acceptable to God We should not be surprised at the lack of rebukes given to the low level of Christian behavior and life style in this decadent age: those that are at ease in Zion do not welcome anything which searches the conscience and is calculated to arouse them from their deplorable apathy. But the One with whom each of us has to do declares, Be ye holy, for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16), and therefore does He bid us Awake to righteousness, and sin not (1 Corinthians 15:34), Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh unto the lusts thereof (Romans 13:14), He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked (1 John 2:6). But we have said that our goal is to please God and it is dependent upon our actually measuring up to that standard, though nothing short of it must be our constant aim and earnest endeavour. There is a great difference between a relative falling short of that standard and a life of defeat, between daily trespasses and being the slave of some dominant lust. If the heart be true to God, if it be our sincere desire and diligent effort to please the Lord in all things, then His approbation and blessing will certainly be upon us. We must take advantage of this PROVISION ………………. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 We must Keep His Commandments ………………… My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:1-2 WE MUST LIVE HOLY … WE MUST LOVE OUR BROTHER …!!!!! He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. 1 John 2:6-11
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 06:05:45 +0000
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