1 Samuel 22:1,2 "David...escaped to the cave Adullam... And every one that was in distress, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them..." This account of David's escape from Saul's pursuit is rich with types and pictures of Christ and His Church. Wherever Christ is depicted in Scripture, His Church is never far behind. David finds refuge in a cave and cries out to God for comfort. After escaping both Saul and the Philistines, David had nowhere else to hide except for a cave called Adullam. "So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam" (1 Sam. 22:1) . David had lost everything he knew, including his wife, friends, royal status, military command, and freedom. He could not find refuge in any Jewish town or among the Philistines. He was the most wanted man wherever he went. Even worse, he had done nothing to deserve this status. Yet, God remained his Refuge. The cave of Adullam, which means "refuge," was located in the territory of Judah. In the same way, the LORD Jesus came and tabernacled among sinners in the world. He, too, was pursued and maligned. Though He was both God and Creator of those He came to dwell among, they pursued Him to death—yet to no avail. God the Father, like David, had appointed Him to be King and Heir of His people, and the gates of hell could not prevail against Him. Though He would, like David, suffer much affliction and persecution before ascending to the throne (Acts 3:18), He would not be overcome. The sinners that Christ came to save are like those who gathered around David in his suffering—distressed and discontented. Christ said, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). These individuals are typical of sinners drawn to the Rock of Refuge, symbolized by the cave of Adullam. "Adullam" means "hiding place," and as the old hymn says, "He hideth my soul in the cleft of the Rock...in the depth of His love...and covers me there with His hand." " But the LORD is my defence, and my God is the Rock of my Refuge" (Psalm 94:22). Those drawn to the Rock of Refuge are always those in trouble. "The LORD also will be a Refuge for the oppressed, a Refuge in times of trouble" (Psalm 9:9). God causes some to fall into great debt, some to be hunted by the world, others to endure great distress through trials, and still others to experience discontentment. But it is for such as these that the LORD Jesus came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:9-10) . To be lost is to have wandered, as sheep do so that they can never find their way back without the Shepherd seeking and bringing them home. The only hope for these malcontents was David, as a type of Christ. God will use whatever means He deems necessary to bring sinners to the end of their way—those He has purposed to save. Even as those who sought David were at the end of their way, the LORD used their circumstances to drive them to him. Similarly, the path God traces for His sheep is designed to draw them to Christ as their only Hope. David could identify with their sufferings because, like our LORD Jesus, he "endured the contradiction of sinners against himself" (Hebrews 12:3). "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things... to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings" (Hebrews 2:10). As God made David the captain over this worthless bunch, so Christ became the Captain of His sinners through His obedient suffering unto death on the cross. "He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment: a God of Truth and without iniquity, Just and Right is He" (Deuteronomy 32:4). The LORD Jesus is called the Good Shepherd (John 10:11), the Great Shepherd (Hebrews 13:20), and the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). It is in Him that we “have fled for Refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us" (Hebrews 6:18). “ The LORD also will be a Sfronghold for the oppressed, a Stronghold in times of trouble" (Psalm 9:9). “And a Man shall be as an Hiding Place from the wind, and a Covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the Shadow of a Great Rock in a weary land” (Isaiah 32:2)R

1 Timothy 2:6 "Who gave Himself a Ransom for all, to be testified in due time." The Bible makes redemption and justification simultaneous: “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). There are some today who say it does not matter when or where—they only want to talk about how. But can you separat them? When were sinners redeemed? When was your sin debt paid, if you are the LORD’s? Was it not when Christ paid the price of redemption by His righteous obedience unto death? Redemption means that a ransom has been paid. Christ was that Ransom; He was the precious price of redemption for all His chosen ones, "…to be testified in due time.” “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by Whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). The redemption and the simultaneous justification (declaring righteous) occurred when the LORD Jesus paid the debt for HIS people. “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). Once the ransom price was paid to satisfy God the Father’s Law and Justice, all of God’s elect, from the beginning of time to the end, were then and there justified (Romans 5:9-11). Yes, their justification was purposed in eternity and revealed by faith in God's appointed time, but it was accomplished when Christ, by Himself, purged the sins of His elect on the cross. “Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express Image of His Person, and upholding all things by the Word of His Power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3). God could not and would not declare any sinner justified without first putting away their sin! Was sin put away before the foundation of the world, even before the fall? Was there not a time and place of sin imputed? Was it not when Adam disobeyed (Romans. 5:12) ? Is there not a time and place of righteousness imputed? Was it not when the LORD Jesus obeyed? “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). Where our redemption and righteousness are, there is our justification. Is not righteousness accomplished and the imputation of that righteousness the same? Did Christ finish the work of righteousness in His obedience unto death or not? Did He not cry from the cross, "It is finished’ (John 19:30)? If, as some promote, as soon as God purposed the salvation of the elect in eternity it was done, what then was there to finish? When and where did that imputation occur? Is it not when Christ finished the work? “Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25). So complete was the work of the LORD Jesus in His life and death that there remained nothing but righteousness to impute to the spiritual account of God’s elect, there and then—one time, one place, one Sacrifice for the elect of the Old Testament and since the cross. “And for this cause, He is the Mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the Pomise of Eternal Inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15). If you are the LORD’s and Christ has paid your sin debt, you have already been justified freely at the cross. “Being justified freely by His Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24). There are no penalties or fees incurred in addition to what Christ paid. He paid the entire price in full, freely, even before you were born. The glorious Good News is that when Christ Jesus the LORD paid the debt of sinners chosen by God the Father in eternity, He did so with His blood shed unto death on the cross at Calvary, on this earth, in time. There remained nothing but righteousness to impute to their accounts because the debt had been paid in full. “Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9).

Jude 1:24 "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy," The language of Scripture is very precise, and therefore we read it prayerfully and carefully. Does it say, "The Lord bless you to keep yourself from falling?" No! It reads, "Now unto HIM that is able to keep you from falling." All of the glory and power belong to the LORD, and the blessed truth is that those He has redeemed through the precious blood of His Son, He does indeed keep. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" (Ephesians 1:3). How many times do we fall daily in our minds and hearts? By the Spirit of God, we are cognizant of the ever-present sinful nature of our hearts. We fall because we are fallen creatures as the descendants of our father Adam (Romans 5:12). But the sense here is not to be kept from falling into sin, because that we do by nature. Rather, it is to be kept by the Power of God in Christ from falling away from HIM and His saving work on our behalf, accomplished for His own at the cross. Those here described by Jude fell away from Christ, never having had His work of Grace begun in them, and therefore did not persevere. It has to do with being kept in Christ and resting in His finished work—wholly accomplished through His life and death, declared in the Gospel, and revealed in the hearts of saved sinners by the Spirit of God. This Faith gives the LORD Jesus all the glory. He stands as an invincible restraint against being drawn away, as so many were during this time, following the way of Cain, who ran greedily after the error of Balaam and the gainsayings of Korah. But here is that blessing: to the God who is able to keep you from falling away, following the error of men, or following a leavened, perverted message that does not give Christ all the glory in creation, providence, salvation, and condemnation. And certainly, that is how the LORD’s people are described—they are kept . "Now the just shall live by Faith: But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul" (Hebrews 10:38-39). "Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:5). If God has chosen us and the Son has paid our complete sin debt, we are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto salvation—the Faith in connection with Christ and His sacrificial death. This Faith, revealed in time through His Word in the Gospel, is how the LORD opens the heart and mind to Christ. "Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). How does God present any sinner faultless "before the Presence of His Glory?" This is not even talking about the fading glory of the Old Testament, the Shekinah Glory that even caused Moses to tremble. Even that was a veiled and temporal glory. But here, it has to do with the very Presence of God's glory and entering in with exceeding joy. If we are the LORD's and He has chosen us, it is certain that He is keeping us from falling away and that He will present us faultless. Therein we rejoice in Him and His Power that keeps us from falling away into perdition. How so? Through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is described the work of Christ, so full and so satisfactory that His shed blood unto death put away all the sin of each elect sinner. That is the only way any of us could ever hope to be presented faultless before the Presence of His Glory. The apostle Paul described it as the love between a husband and wife, whereby, being married to the husband, all of the wife’s previous debts, no matter how many, are absorbed by the husband in the marriage relationship, and the husband stands as the wife’s surety and advocate. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25-27). To Him who has so wisely purposed the salvation of His people, through the redeeming, justifying, and sanctifying work of His Son, and will faithfully and perfectly accomplish it, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

Isaiah 65:8,9 "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, ‘Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a Seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an Inheritor of my mountains: and mine Elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.” What a beautiful message of hope and restoration we find declared in this text. In these verses, the Sovereign LORD God declares that despite the devastation and destruction that He would bring on the nation of Israel, caused by Israel's sin, there would be a future of hope in God's Grace and Mercy for a promised elect seed, for whom the LORD Jesus would come and pay their sin debt. The metaphor here is of new wine being found in the cluster, which symbolizes the preservation of a remnant—a particular number of elected sinners that God would preserve and keep from destruction, for His Name's sake, and not because of anything inherently good in them. God promises to bless this remnant, bringing them into a prosperous future, contrasting the judgment that had fallen on the reprobate nation of Israel because of its idolatry. These verses reflect God’s Grace and the Hope of restoration for His people, for whom the LORD Jesus would come into the world to earn and establish a righteousness satisfactory to God's law and justice, and thereby would be saved from eternal condemnation. 1. It is a blessed remnant. No matter how rotten the cluster is, because there is a blessing in it, God does not condemn the whole. How important is the word “blessing” or “blessed” to those that the LORD has purposed to save? Our LORD said in Matthew 25:34, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” There is no good inherently in any sinner. All the goodness is in God, who has purposed to bless a select remnant by His eternal grace and spare them for Christ’s sake, not because of anything good in them. 2. It is a redeemed and justified remnant. The LORD promised a Seed out of Jacob and an inheritor out of Judah. "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ" (Galatians 3:16). Clearly, Christ is that Seed, and the reason that God did not destroy at that time the entire nation of Israel for its sins. The LORD Jesus Christ is called the Seed of the woman, the Seed of Abraham, the Seed of David, and sprang from Jacob or Israel, and came out of the tribe of Judah. HE is the blessing in the cluster. In HIM are all the divine perfections, and ALL blessings and promises of grace. In HIS blood and righteousness are the pardon, peace, and justification of His people. He is that Seed in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed, and with whom God the Father made that eternal covenant of grace, to save a people from every tribe, nation, and tongue, "of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named" (Ephesians 3:15).

2 Corinthians 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?" A yoke is typically a plow and frame that fastens around the necks of two animals to enable them to work together. The best outcome occurs when the animals are of equal size and strength, allowing the weight of the yoke and the labor to be evenly distributed. The yoke is often made of wood and iron, and in itself, it is a burden. This principle of not being unequally yoked is reflected in the Law: “Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together”  (Deuteronomy 22:10). The Apostle Paul urges the Corinthians to consider their reconciliation to God through Christ alone and not to become entangled again in the bondage of works-based religion, especially with those still in unbelief. While this verse is often interpreted as a warning against believers marrying non-believers, it must also be applied more broadly to any situation where believers are closely associated with non-believers—whether in business, marriage, or worship. Primarily in this context, it concerns separation from false worship (2 Corinthians 2:15-18). Once again, the principle of separation is revealed in the Law of God: “Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind; thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed; neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee”  (Leviticus 19:19). There can be no mixture of grace and works. The phrase “Be not”  in Greek is “don’t become”  yoked, since, as a child of God, you are already yoked to the Lord Jesus in His righteousness, which He earned and established for you. He laid down His life to redeem and justify you. Therefore, you cannot be unyoked from Him—neither in His Person nor His work—and become yoked to anyone still bound to their works of “unrighteousness.”   “For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?”   The righteous are those whom God the Father has declared righteous through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The unrighteous, literally that which is “inequity”  (from which the word “iniquity”  is derived), are those whose sin debt has not been paid by the Lord Jesus. They remain “unjustified”  and therefore cannot have any relationship with that which has been made equitable with God's righteousness through Christ—since it can never be matched by human effort or works. The Lord Jesus lived a perfect, obedient life, and He died an obedient death to fulfill the Law on behalf of those the Father elected from eternity and entrusted to Him. He came to pay for their sin and earn righteousness for them through His perfect life and sacrificial death on the cross. This is why the Lord Jesus calls each of His own to “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me...For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light”  (Matthew 11:28-30). Someone has said, “To call those who are weary and heavy laden to take a yoke upon them may seem like adding affliction to the afflicted; but the pertinence of it lies in the word ‘ My. " The yoke of the Lord Jesus is easy because it represents the yoke of Justice that He has already borne for His people. Being yoked with Him means that the child of God does not bear the weight themselves but enjoys the “weightlessness” of Christ having already borne the burden. He will not place the burden of His yoke on any sinner for whom He has already paid the sin debt. That is why His yoke is easy. To take Christ’s yoke upon us is to come to Him, being drawn by His Spirit of Grace and to rest in Him and what He has accomplished, and never to be further burdened by the guilt of your sin, because our Lord has already taken it all away. Taking His yoke means not clinging to things that would otherwise weigh us down, such as our sinful nature, futile efforts to improve our sinful flesh, an unforgiving attitude toward others who have wronged us, or any bitterness and shame from our past lives (Ephesians 4:31) . When we come to Christ, He reminds us through His Spirit that He has already borne the yoke in His suffering on our behalf. Therefore, there is now NO CONDEMNATION (Romans 8:1) .

1 Corinthians 1:18 "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." The Greek word translated as "preaching" here is ho logos , which means " the word of the cross." That is, the doctrine of the cross, that proclaims salvation only through the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ, accomplished on the cross. Preaching the cross is to declare the Christ of the cross—the One who died, why He died, and what He accomplished by His death. It is to exalt the Lamb of the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the satisfaction that His righteous obedience and effectual bloodshed unto death accomplished in saving those sinners the Father gave Him to save before the foundation of the world (John 10:14–18) . By His one sacrifice, He fully, freely, and forever redeemed, justified, and reconciled to God each one for whom He died: "For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). The preaching of the cross is to declare that the sinners that God ordained to salvation have been reconciled to God, pardoned, and saved uniquely by the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ and His effectual sacrifice alone. While one might think that declaring salvation accomplished by the death of Christ would be a subject of rejoicing for all sinners, Scripture declares that it is foolishness to those who are perishing—yet unenlightened or made alive by the Spirit of God. Preaching the cross will always bring division. To those who perish (in a lost state and fit for destruction), it is foolishness, and will always be foolishness (contemptible, stupid, and unworthy of belief). However, to those who are saved, it is the power of God, in contrast to the foolishness of those who are perishing. They are saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of Grace revealing Christ in them, drawing them effectually to the crucified One alone, in heart and soul. Sinners are judged as either saved or condemned exclusively by the work of Christ on the cross, manifest through the Spirit’s revelation of Him in the heart. "But unto us which are saved" —This stands in contrast to "them that perish." It refers, doubtless, to the elect of God, as being saved from the power and condemnation of sin; and as having in Christ's death for them an Eternal Salvation, both in this life and the world to come. The Gospel is called "the power of God" because it is the medium through which God exerts His power in the salvation of sinners, revealing Christ to those for whom the Lord Jesus paid the debt. The apostle Paul declared, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16). It is how God has purposed to reveal Christ in every redeemed and justified sinner’s heart: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). It answers the sinner’s greatest need before a Holy God, and is efficacious in renewing and sanctifying (setting apart) each elect sinner unto Christ. All in whom the Spirit works rest in the Truth of the Gospel and all that it reveals of Christ and His death, accomplished for sinners. The Gospel of the cross effectively produces the effectual fruits of Christ's work on the cross in each one for whom Christ died. All the fruits of Christ's work on the cross are in time revealed to the soul by the Spirit—in their justification, sanctification, regeneration, repentance, faith, and final glorification. These are only what the Gospel of the cross is suited to produce in the saved sinner. It is the Truth concerning the Lord Jesus and God’s promise to save sinners for whom Christ came into the world. Only the Holy Spirit can take the effects of Christ's work on the cross and reveal them in the hearts, not just the minds, of those whom God the Father chose to save and saved through Christ's sacrifice. Each one that Christ redeemed and the Father justified at the cross, the Holy Spirit does effectually draw to Christ. Of all that the Father gave to His Son and for whom He paid the debt, He can lose nothing (John 6:37).

Psalm 90:12 "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto Wisdom." Even unconverted sinners know that their days are numbered. Whether they profess to know God or claim to believe His Word, they feel the effects of the fall in their bodies and minds and can see these effects as they age, battle illness, and ultimately face the prospect of death—all consequences of being fallen creatures in Adam. From the moment we are conceived in the womb and born into this world, we are dying and will ultimately die physically at the time appointed by God, the Judge of all. "Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with Thee; Thou hast appointed his bounds, that he cannot pass" (Job 14:5). There is no difference regarding the ultimate end of all sinners—whether those whom God, by His electing grace, has redeemed in Christ or those whom God has justly left to condemnation. Both will die physically unless the LORD Jesus comes beforehand at the end of time. "All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked..." (Ecclesiastes 9:2). Sooner or later, we all face the same end in this life. Still, the difference in living forever is WHOLLY and unconditionally by HIM who came, lived, and died for sinners that the Father chose and for whom HE paid the debt, and those in whom the Spirit reveals HIM—Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, Substitute, Advocate, and Representative of HIS people. HE is that sinner's Only and Blessed HOPE. Herein lies the Wisdom of God to whom those chosen, redeemed, and called out sinners apply their hearts. Many apply their hearts to their own wisdom to navigate the seas of their lives, thinking that they are the captains of their fate. But all such application to natural wisdom is futile and of no avail. To apply one's heart to Wisdom is to live one's life through the Spirit of Christ, looking to the LORD Jesus Christ as the Only Hope in the face of sin and death as fallen creatures. "But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24). In 1 Corinthians 1:30 , Paul specifies three distinct ways in which the LORD Jesus is the Wisdom of God for those He came to save: He became “their righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” Jesus Christ took their sins upon Himself on the cross so that they might, in return, receive a righteous status or right standing before God (Galatians 3:24). A second way Jesus is the Wisdom of God for His people is by not only justifying them but sanctifying them forever in the holiness of Christ before God. The writer to the Hebrews affirms, "By the which will we are sanctified [set apart to Holiness[ through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10). The LORD Jesus is the Wisdom of God for declaring sinners holy in a manner that conforms to God's holiness and justice. Given an eternity, man, in his best wisdom, could never satisfy a Holy God as the LORD Jesus did by His Wisdom and Sacrifice unto death. "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities" (Isaiah 53:11). Third, Jesus is the Wisdom of God by redeeming each of His elect with His blood and setting them entirely free from sin (Romans 3:23–26) . Only the blood of Jesus Christ could pay, and did pay, the price for the redemption of God's elect, whereby they stand justified forever before God by Christ's work imputed to them when He died (1 Peter 1:18–19) . It's not when they believe that they are justified, but when Christ died. They believe because God justified them at the cross. Wisdom from God through Jesus Christ humbly accepts and embraces that we cannot become righteous, holy, or redeemed by any human means. Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on personal obedience. It is by the obedience of Christ unto death, revealed in the heart by Faith. So we are made right with God through Christ, embraced by God-given Faith alone (Romans 3:27-30). “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). The word "lost" here means "That which has been marked out for condemnation and death.” This is our lot as a result of Adam’s fall, and all of us must certainly be condemned were it not for Jesus Christ coming and paying the sin debt for His own. Only after His death was the debt paid and sinners justified before God. Until Christ came and paid their debt, even the elect were under sin’s condemnation. "But before Faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the Faith which should afterwards be revealed" (Galatians 3:23). But since the cross, there is therefore now NO condemnation (Romans 8:1). Those who have learned to number their days spend them in pursuit of Christ, God's Wisdom and Goodness in the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). They don’t have to fear the wrath of God when their earthly lives are over because the LORD Jesus has borne it all away. Rather, they live in the Hope of Glory that when He died to pay their debt, though they die physically, they cannot die eternally (John 11:25, 26).

Ephesians 1:11 "In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the Counsel of His own Will." A more accurate translation of the expression " we have obtained an inheritance" would be "in whom we were also made an inheritance." Whose inheritance are we if God has predestined us to salvation according to the Counsel of His will? We are God's! The whole number of God's elect in Christ are His possession. What then is the possession of the elect? Since they are God's possession in Christ, God is also their Inheritance in Christ. As the Lord Jesus prayed in His High Priestly Prayer, "That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us" (John 17:21). How beautiful the view of God's purpose in Christ when seen through the prism of the Sonlight. Just like a diamond flashes many colors as its facets catch the light, so here we see the different angles of being the inheritance as God's elect, redeemed ones, but also inheriting the Lord Jesus Christ Himself according to the Father's purpose. If we inherit Eternal Life, that life is in God's Son. "And this is Life Eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3). To know Christ and be found in Him is as much a part of being heirs of God as it is for us to inherit Eternal Life. God-given Faith is God's Gift to His elect because of His faithfulness to honor His Son with those elect sinners that He gave Him before the foundation of the world. The elect are nothing and have nothing to commend them to God, but their nothingness is replenished with the Fullness of God in Christ. That's why the apostle Paul declared elsewhere, "For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2:9-10). Blessed Comfort! To know Him is to have Eternal Life, and to be found in Him is to have my emptiness fully replenished in His fullness. We possess God in Christ, and God possesses us in Him. "We were made His inheritance" ... "And He is the earnest of our inheritance." As the children of God in Christ, we are His heirs, chosen in eternity but purchased in time in the coming, doing, dying, rising again, and ascension into the glory of the Lord Jesus. The Scriptures are the legal document, God's testament of redemption for those that He gave to His Son before the foundation of the world, and for whom He came into the world to pay their complete sin debt. It says that when Christ died, His heirs inherited all that He is, as promised. "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29). It is not by our works but by His. Christ is the Promise given to every one of God's chosen children. Everything about this physical world and our earthly lives is, at best, temporal. Our flesh and blood, our possessions, our works—they are all temporal, which means temporary, and therefore all worthless and passing away. "And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever" (1 John 2:17). Only the heirs of Jesus Christ will live forever. Anything that we forsake in this life, for Christ's sake, is not to be compared to the Life Eternal that is in Christ, and to live in His presence forever. " But he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come Eternal Life " (Mark 10:30). Christ is that Hundredfold Who bequeathed Himself to His chosen children. He is the Reward, the Righteous One given by His death to unworthy sinners. "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the Reward of the Inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ" (Colossians 3:24).

Micah 7:8 "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a Light unto me." There are often seasons of affliction and oppression that the LORD ordains for His people to endure. Many of these times are filled with darkness, where it appears that God has completely withdrawn His presence. The child of God may find no comfort until the LORD is pleased to give the Light of His presence and cause it to shine in their heart once again. As His children, God will grant His Spirit of repentance to look to the LORD Jesus Christ alone, Who is the Light of those who sit in darkness. He gives them the patience of Job to endure the trial and not charge God with sin or evil (Job 1:22). When we are tempted to complain to the Lord about our affliction, it is the pride of the flesh making us think that we deserve better. But then, the LORD mercifully reminds us of what our LORD Jesus endured to save us and present us righteous and faultless before God the Father. Consider what He endured to satisfy the Father so that He might be just in justifying each one for whom He paid the debt. " For consider Him that endured such contradiction from sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (Hebrews 12:2). In the heat of the trial, we would do well to complain against ourselves rather than find fault with God or wonder why He is exercising us as He is. The comfort is, as the Word declares: "For whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth" (Hebrews 12:6). Knowing that it is in love that God is chastening us, we ought not to complain about the evil of the affliction. Rather, we should complain about the evil of our hearts. Through the exercise of our souls, the LORD weans us from any confidence in the flesh and causes us to depend completely on Him to work deliverance in His due time. What is clear is that if the LORD Jesus paid our horrific sin debt, He cannot leave us to ourselves. Just as a father disciplines his children, the LORD will do the same in us—not only to look to Him for light and comfort but to look for Him to be that Light and Comfort through the trial. In our greatest distresses, we will see no reason to despair of salvation, because, being the LORD's by His electing, redeeming, and effectual grace, He gives each one the Faith to look to and rest in Christ alone as ALL their salvation. The LORD grants the Faith to look to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as the God of their salvation. Although enemies may appear to triumph for a while through their insults and attacks, we know that in the LORD's time, they will be silenced and put to shame. When Micah prophesied these words, it was 150 years before Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Babylonians. Yet, foreseeing the devastation of the destruction of Jerusalem, he prophesied of Hope in the coming Messiah for an elect remnant (Micah 5:2) . The lesson for us is that even though Zion's walls (the Church) might remain in ruins for a time, there would come a day when they would be repaired. Historically, Israel was brought back after 70 years of captivity, and it was the LORD who drew them back from their dispersion. Therefore, they were to find comfort in His Grace and Mercy toward them. Though our enemies may seem to prevail against us and rejoice over us, we should not despair. Though cast down, we are not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:8-11). We may join hope in God's mercy, with submission to His correction. No hindrances can prevent the favors that the Lord has purposed for His elect children. It is against the backdrop of the darkest times that the Light shines the greatest. "The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up" (Matthew 4:16). Like the moon that shines brightest against the darkest sky, God's children are made to see Christ. The darker and deeper the sin, the greater and more glorious the Savior shines!

Song of Solomon 2:16 "My Beloved is mine, and I am His." The law is very cut and dry, precise, and clinical. It is not based on affection. Justice is blind to the lawbreaker; it doesn't matter if the lawbreaker is rich or poor, black or white, male or female—there is only retribution. Payment must be made. That is why the letter of the law spells death to all born in the flesh. The law requires their life, from Adam onward, for all the lives of his seed, because none satisfy the payment for his sin. We're all born dead, alienated from the life of God that is in Christ Jesus. "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12). Thank God that He determined to love the sinners He chose in Christ before the world began. But how could a Just God love any sinner? By paying the price of their sin with a perfect, righteous, sacrificial death. But none are innocent, none are righteous, so how could He accomplish this? By sending His Son, the God-Man, into this world to live a perfectly obedient life, and then shedding His blood unto death on the cross. "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). Each of God's elect died and rose in Him as their Substitute. The apostle Paul declared, "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." The elect of God are so united with Christ in His person and work that if we are one of those for whom He died, we are His, and He is ours—one with Him; He is our Spouse. He washed us clean by His shed blood unto death, and by His Spirit, we are fed by Him and with Him in His everlasting love. "He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was Love" (Song of Solomon 2:4). This is how God's love is revealed in those He, from all eternity, purposed to save by the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus. It is that union with Christ in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension that enables God to be just in loving them as redeemed and justified sinners. Because of Christ, the Substitute, God loves each of His chosen ones with the same love wherewith He loves His Son. The Lord Jesus prayed for His own to the Father: "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me" (John 17:23). So we rest in Christ, the Word. He is the Gospel of salvation. His Spirit makes us lie down in Him. "Behold, our bed is green" (Song of Solomon 1:16). "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures" (Psalm 23:2). The Word of God is our bed, our rest. All is accomplished by our Beloved Friend, "... This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend..." (Song of Solomon 5:16). "The Son of Man is come...a Friend of publicans and sinners" (Luke 7:34). Once awakened, we cannot endure hearing of a "god" void of a just love for His people, or any Scripture that is void of our Beloved One, the Lord Jesus. The Spirit makes us continually aware of our need for His presence with us but also causes us to cry out for Him, our Beloved, to come to us again in refreshing, when we are made to feel that He has withdrawn: "Make haste, my Beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains..." (Song of Solomon 8:14). "He that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).

Matthew 26:28 "This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Did the LORD Jesus come into the world to save every single sinner? This is the popular message contemporary preachers are declaring. They misinterpret John 3:16 to mean that the LORD Jesus laid down His life to save everyone, based on the idea that God loves everybody in the world and that Christ died for everyone in the world. In John 3:16 , the word "so" means "in this manner." It's the same word used in John 3:14, " And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so [ in this manner] must the Son of man be lifted up. Therefore in John 3:16, In this manner, God loved the world—both Jew and Gentile—without specifying every single person in the world. The rest of the verse makes a distinction between those who believe and those who do not. It says that He died so that "whosoever believeth" should have everlasting life, not whoever does not believe. John 3:36 states that those who do not believe have the wrath of God abiding on them. They are vessels of wrath and therefore will not and cannot believe, being given over to their reprobate minds (Romans 1:26-32). Matthew 26:28 states that the LORD Jesus shed His blood for "many." In Romans 5:15, they are called "THE many," with a definite article in the Greek. The "many" is not everybody, but uniquely for those for whom He shed His blood. They exclusively enjoy the blessing of the remission of their sins because He shed His blood for  them. Christ’s death is not just the ground of the sinner’s salvation; it is all  their salvation! The truth is that if you believe the Lord Jesus laid down His life to save every single person in the world, and yet not everyone is saved, then what does the death of Christ have to do with salvation? It must not have anything to do with it if it does not effectually save anyone for whom He died. Furthermore, if you say that God loves every single person in the world, and yet not everyone is saved, then what does the love of God have to do with the salvation of sinners? It must not have anything to do with it because, despite loving them, they remain unconverted and condemned. When faithful preachers of the Gospel declare what the Scriptures teach—that the LORD Jesus did NOT come to save every single sinner, but only those that the Father gave Him from eternity (John 17:10) —the opponents decry this doctrine, saying it limits the death of Christ. However, the doctrine of Christ's particular redemption for the elect only limits the death of Christ in its design, not in its power. It is those who say that He died to save everyone who limit His death in its power to save. Why? Because not all are delivered from guilt, which would make Christ’s death less than effectual. A ransom that does not redeem is no ransom at all. A propitiation that doesn’t satisfy is no propitiation at all. The Scriptures teach of a ransom that is unlimited in its power to save, but limited in its design to those whom God purposed to save by it. In other words, His blood was shed for many for the remission of sins. Christ died for many , a number that no man can count: "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands" (Revelation 7:9). Yet, this "many" is limited to as many  as the Lord has ordained to believe: "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). And as many  as the Lord God shall call: "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39). For whom then did the LORD Jesus die? Every sinner that was given to Him by God the Father, before the foundation of the world, for whom He came into the world and redeemed them. When He had finished paying their sin debt on the cross, there remained nothing but God's righteousness to impute to their spiritual account, which the Father did there at the cross. In time, the Spirit of God, through the preaching of the Gospel, draws to Christ each one for whom Christ died. Christ therefore has effectually saved each one for whom He died, who God the Father appointed. Of ALL of them, He will lose none (John 6:37).

Acts 2:42 "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." True fellowship presumes a common bond, founded upon the Truth. The “apostles’ doctrine” is described by Paul in Ephesians 2:20 as the very foundation on which the church (the elect, redeemed and called-out ones) is built, with Jesus Christ the Chief Cornerstone. Fellowship is founded solely upon the Person and work of the LORD Jesus Christ, to the satisfaction of God the Father, revealed in the heart by the Spirit of Grace. Where this oneness does not exist, there is NO fellowship. As stated in 1 John 1:6 , "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.” Many profess to have fellowship, yet they continue to walk in darkness—blindness, unbelief, and an unconverted state regarding the unrighteousness of their own works as evil, nor will they come to Him alone in Faith and walk in Him, who is the Light. Without the blood shed of the LORD Jesus Christ unto death, and without the Righteousness imputed by God the Father to their spiritual account by His death at the cross, they remain in darkness. True fellowship is the fruit of Christ’s work, by which believers are "reconciled unto God in one body by the cross" (Ephesians 2:16). The word for fellowship in the ancient Greek is koononia, meaning communion. There is a threefold cord that binds believers together in fellowship. 1. Steadfastness in the Apostles’ Doctrine The first and most fundamental element is that “they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” This refers to the doctrine of Christ’s coming, His perfect obedience to God the Father, His sacrificial death, and His resurrection for the justification of those that the Father gave Him from before the foundation of the world. 2. Blending Fellowship with Life Another characteristic emphasized here is the integration of fellowship with daily life. True fellowship extends beyond the four walls of a church building. It encompasses the shared life of the Lord’s people outside of formal times of worship . “They continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine . . . and in breaking of bread.” The breaking of bread was not limited to the observance of the Lord’s supper but also included their shared meals in one another’s homes, where they enjoyed the oneness and fellowship together in Christ. 3. Habitual Devotion to Christ and Each Other True worship and fellowship are a way of life, affecting everything believers think, say, or do as God’s elect. They continued steadfastly together in not only the apostles’ doctrine and the breaking of bread but also in their devotion Christ and to one another. This devotion was expressed through mutual care, the love of Christ, and prayers for one another. True oneness and fellowship with the Lord’s people is the fruit of Christ’s work even as He prayed in John 17:11: “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.”