Hebrews 10:14 "For by one offering, He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" The Scriptures declare that by the one offering God HAS PERFECTED forever those that HE sanctified (set apart in Christ in election, redemption, and regeneration). This is the particular grace of God to cause any sinner to own their sin and to know that in this flesh " dwelleth NO GOOD THING” (Romans 7:18). It is God's Grace to give His children eyes to look to Christ by faith, who fulfilled all that the Father's law and justice required both in His perfect obedience to the precepts of the law, but also in paying its penalty. So complete was His work of righteousness that He earned and established, that upon completion of His death, God the Father justified once and for all, every sinner for whom He paid the debt. " Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him" (Romans 5:9). What a comfort to us who are God’s elected children that when the Spirit of God makes us know the weight of our sin, we are also made to see the preciousness of the blood that His Son shed unto death for us, whereby we are accepted in the Beloved. "To the praise of the glory of His Grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). As one dear saint of old declared, “The believer's perfection is in Christ. Oh that He may condescend to teach me, and lead me to look straight out of self—to a glorious Christ!” What others have as their goal, we as the LORD’s redeemed ones have as a reality already. While others seek to be justified by their works or will, we for whom the LORD Jesus already paid the debt are already justified by His death. When the Spirit of God opens the eyes of God's elected sinners, it is not to justify them, but rather to cause them to see and embrace the justification Christ already accomplished for them at the cross. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the Hope of his calling, and what the riches of the Glory of His Inheritance in the saints " (Ephesians 1:18). We dare not look to any profession for our justification, to any supposed goodness in ourselves, or even to the graces of the Spirit as our perfection. We look to the LORD Jesus Christ alone and believe the report of His Word- "And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power:" (Colossians 2:10). Those that the Father justified upon completion of the LORD Jesus’ satisfactory death on the cross, are declared complete or fulfilled in Christ's work so that nothing more can be added to it to make it complete. It's not as if Christ did most of the work, and now the sinner completes the rest. No! "Ye are complete in Him." Here are two matters of note: "Ye are..." Present tense. Once God declared redeemed sinners complete in Him by His death, they continue in that state forever. They are not progressing in holiness, but are declared holy in Him and continue in that state. No sin, nor wandering can ever remove them from who they are in Christ...complete! Complete wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30. "In Him" Not outside of Him, nor beside Him, or near Him, but "in Him." Because this is so, we need no other experience or work to draw us closer to God. As one writer states: " So near, so very near to God, I cannot nearer be. For in the Person of His Son, I am as near as He. So dear, so very dear to God, I cannot dearer be. The love with which He loves His Son – such is His love for me.”

Joshua 1:9 "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." In the book of Joshua, we witness the moment when God commissions Joshua to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. The weight of this task must have been daunting. Moses, the great Leader who had guided Israel through the wilderness for forty years, had just passed away, and now the charge fell to Joshua. God’s command to Joshua is clear: " Be strong and of a good courage." This call to courage and strength is not just about Joshua’s personal qualities; it is a reflection of God's ongoing faithfulness to His people in providing for them a Faithful Representative, even as He has done in establishing the LORD Jesus as the Representative Head of His elected people. As we reflect on this verse, it is essential to see Joshua not only as a historical figure but as a type of Christ—a foreshadowing of the One Who would come to fulfill God’s promises in a far greater way (Hebrews 4:8). Moses, representing the Law, could not bring the people into the Promised Land, just as the Law cannot save (Romans 8:3-14). It requires absolute perfection, which not even Moses could fulfill for himself, much less for the people of Israel. Therefore, the necessity of another, like Joshua, whose Greek name is "Jesus" (Jehovah saves). Joshua as a Type of Christ Called by God to Lead and Deliver Just as God called Joshua to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land, God sent His Son, the LORD Jesus, to lead His people into their Spiritual Inheritance—Eternal Life with the Father. Joshua's leadership is a glimpse of Christ’s ultimate role as the Savior, Who would deliver His people, not from physical enemies, but from sin and death. In the same way that Joshua led Israel into a land of rest, the LORD Jesus has, by representation, led His people (elected by the Father) into Eternal rRest (Matthew 11:28). Commanded to Be Strong and Courageous Joshua's call to be strong and courageous echoes the LORD Jesus's perfect courage to earn and establish the righteousness necessary to satisfy God's Law and Justice as the Representative of those the Father gave Him. Notice that here, the instruction is given to Joshua to do the work on behalf of the people, and not to the people, even as the LORD Jesus was to obey on behalf of the people given to Him. When God told Joshua not to be afraid, it was because God Himself would be with him. The LORD Jesus, too, embodies perfect courage, knowing the road ahead would be filled with rejection, betrayal, and suffering. Yet, He faithfully walked toward the cross, knowing that God’s presence would sustain Him. " He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law" (Isaiah 42:4). The LORD Jesus had a perfect nature and, therefore, was never prone to fear, in contrast to Joshua, who was but an imperfect type. Yet, as a man, the LORD Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered (Hebrews 5:8). What He endured as the sin-Bearer would have caused any mere man to tremble and buckle under the weight of sin. What our LORD Jesus endured is recorded in His experience in the Garden of Gethsemane, where in His hour of temptation, He sweat as it were great drops of blood (Luke 22:44) . Yet, He was sustained and strengthened through His trial, all the way to the cross, thereby fulfilling the work of salvation for His people, culminating in His death on the cross in satisfaction of His Father's Law and Justice. God's Presence as the Source of Courage The key to Joshua’s courage was the promise that "the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Similarly, even as the LORD Jesus was assured of the Presence of His Father and Spirit throughout His life on this earth and was never abandoned, so the LORD Jesus assures those He redeemed that He would be with them always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Even as the strength of the LORD Jesus, as God in the flesh, was sustained by the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him (Colossians 2:9), so the LORD's people are strengthened by Him and His presence with them and in them by His Spirit. " That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit" (Ephesians 3:16). Our courage is not found in our strength but in the abiding Presence of God with us, even as the LORD Jesus enjoyed the Presence of the Spirit of God without measure to fulfill all righteousness for His people (John 3:34). As Joshua trusted in God’s Presence to lead Israel into battle as God's appointed deliverer, so the LORD Jesus Christ trusted in the Presence of the Spirit to lead many sons into glory, as the Captain of their salvation (Hebrews 2:10) . A Picture of the Victory in Christ Joshua’s victory over the nations in the Promised Land points to the greater victory that Christ would win over the powers of the Law, sin, death, and Satan. Just as Joshua conquered the enemies in the land, Christ, through His death and resurrection, has defeated the greatest enemies that stood against those sinners whom the Father chose and gave Him to save. Because of Christ's successful work as the Savior of His people, as believers, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us (Romans 8:37) . As with Joshua, so with the LORD Jesus Christ, Who came and conquered every spiritual enemy of His people. Zachariah the High Priest, and John the Baptist's father declared: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; The oath which He sware to our father Abraham, That He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life" (Luke 1:68-75).

1 Peter 4:12 "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you..." As God's children living in this world, we should not be surprised that we will experience trials, afflictions, and opposition. Perhaps some think they will be protected from grief and sorrowful experiences because they are God's children. The thought is that if the LORD Jesus has paid their sinful debt, the effect will be complete protection from any evil that may confront them. Yet, here, the apostle exhorts believers to courage and steadfastness in the face of opposition, indicating that trials should be expected and should not surprise them. Here, particularly, it is not just any trial but specifically that of persecution for Christ's sake. Our LORD told His disciples before He went to the cross: "Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). Persecution for Christ's sake should not catch the LORD's children off guard. All ought to be prepared for persecution—not by dreading it, but rather as a blessing, counting themselves worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. In the book of Acts, after the apostles were beaten for testifying in Christ's name, they declared: "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name" (Acts 5:40). Who are those to whom this exhortation pertains? The "beloved" of the LORD were chosen by God before the foundation of the world, given to the LORD Jesus, who came and died in their place, and are called by the Spirit of God to Him. "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied" (1 Peter 1:2). What is the nature of the exhortation that Peter writes to these beloved ones of God? It is two-fold: Think it not strange.  — The same word is used in 1 Peter 4:4: "Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you." It literally means feeling like people in a strange country—lost and bewildered. It is further explained by the clause, “as though some strange thing were (by bad fortune) happening unto you.” These Hebrew believers were not to think that, because they had been redeemed and justified by Christ's death, they would therefore be exempt from persecution. The fiery trial which is to try you.  — The fiery trial was not future, but present. It states, "The fiery trial that is presently trying you." At this point in history, the Church in Asia was enduring fierce persecution because of the Faith that God had revealed in them and caused them to believe, in opposition to all the attempts of the Roman Empire and Judaizers to extinguish them. The word that describes this persecution that they were enduring is only found elsewhere in Revelation 18:8-9 as “burning,” hence a "fiery" trial. What confidence do God's children have when called upon by God to suffer for Christ's sake? "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:7).

Ezekiel 16:6,7 "And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou was in thy blood, Live. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare." "And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood..." Although already fulfilled in the history of Israel in bringing them out of captivity from Egypt, nevertheless, it is a symbolic picture of how God finds and calls out His Spiritual Israel, the remnant of Grace, from deadness in sin (polluted in thine own blood). "I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live..." None can live but those whom God causes to live by His Spirit. That Life is in His Son, the LORD Jesus, and all who hear and believe on Him already have been given Everlasting Life by Him. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath Everlasting Life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto Life" (John 5:24). That’s why they believe, and 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). It is by God’s command, and not man’s will, "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13). "I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field" Here, the young nation of Israel, which originally went into Egypt as a small remnant of 70 (Deuteronomy 10:22) , is described as a young maiden whom God would take and espouse to Himself, through the mediator Moses. It is a figure of God’s true church (Jew and Gentile) for whom the LORD Jesus would come in the fullness of the time, pay her sin debt, and take to Himself for His Church, as a bridegroom takes His bride to Himself. The multiplying and blessing of those whom God the Father has given to His Son are described symbolically as a ‘bud’ of the field that is caused to grow and multiply. The bud (singular) of the field is the LORD Jesus. "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). As the Seed of God, the LORD Jesus came to be sown in the field of this world, suffer and die, and rise again to bring forth fruit—the children of God throughout the world—that He redeemed, reconciled, and justified before God. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). "And thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare." National Israel was but small in number when the LORD brought them out of Egypt and established them in the promised land. The people are described as a young virgin that the LORD clothed with excellent ornaments, whose breasts were firm and beautiful, with a full head of hair grown and attractive, but initially naked and bare, apart from the LORD being gracious having clothed her as a young maiden in a beautiful dress. Spiritually, as jewels and rich vestments set off a beautiful person, so the Church of the LORD Jesus is adorned with every Spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). He was made unto His elect Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). The luster of her beauty (breasts and hair) is that of the LORD Jesus Christ, adorned with the choicest blessings of the riches of His grace (Ephesians 2:7). The Church (elect and redeemed sinners) was naked and bare, having nothing in themselves but poverty, stripped of any glory because of the fall. And yet it pleased God to choose her out of all the earth to make her His people for Christ's sake. The LORD Jesus, in coming to the earth in the flesh, redeemed and justified her unto God, and clothed her in His Righteousness—naked and bare no more, but resplendent in the garments of salvation with which He has clothed her and made her beautiful and accepted before God the Father, and as a bride adorned for her Husband (Christ). "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels" (Isaiah 61:10).

Romans 10:17 "So then Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Faith is the gift of God. "For by grace are ye saved through Faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the Gift of God:" (Ephesians 2:8). The hearing by which Faith comes is not merely the physical hearing of the Word of God, but the Spiritual hearing, by the Spirit of grace bringing THE WORD (Christ Jesus) to the heart of the sinner and drawing that heart to the LORD Jesus. " But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). When Faith is revealed in the heart, its object is Jesus Christ and HIM crucified. When the LORD Jesus Christ is revealed in the heart, that heart, having been given the very life of Christ, is thereby affected by the revelation of Christ and cries out after Him, much as the hart pants after the water brook in its thirst: "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God (Psalm 42:1). The soul is initially bowed down in condemnation before the Lord Jesus, owning God’s right to condemn: "If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: If I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse" (Job 9:20). Being made alive by the LORD Jesus Himself, that soul is made to see its vileness before a Holy God: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). Faith causes the sinner to justify the LORD rather than justify the sinner. Faith ascribes righteousness to HIM and causes the sinner to abhor himself in dust and ashes: "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:6). Faith is the effect of the Spirit working repentance in the heart. Where there is repentance there is Faith— "testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). There is the casting of the soul on the LORD Jesus Christ, who came, lived, died, and rose again to pay that soul’s sin debt once for all. Faith casts the soul on the Mercy of God (Christ the Mercy Seat) and rests wholly and completely on His blood and righteousness alone for salvation. Faith looks to the LORD Jesus with a singular eye, causing the awakened soul to rest solely on Him who accomplished his salvation.  How do we know when somebody has truly heard? How do you know when your children have listened to you? You can call their name. You can tell them to stop doing what they're doing, but they keep going until you get their attention. That's what it takes to be drawn to Christ. Faith comes by hearing with a Spiritual inner ear. There has to be the hearing—the inner hearing of the heart. What part do the Scriptures play in the revelation of the Faith in the heart? Many people look for some daily promise when they read scripture—something to perk them up and make them feel better—but that's not the purpose of the Bible. The purpose of the Bible is to reveal Christ. The Bible that people hold in their hands, from Genesis to Revelation, is all about HIM. The LORD Jesus told the Pharisees, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). The Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore all about Christ. The Spirit's singular work is to reveal Christ in the hearts of sinners elected by God the Father from eternity and redeemed in time by the LORD Jesus. "[He] shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you" (John 16:14). There are portions where we may not see right away, because to see Christ, it must be God giving us the eyes and the hearing. The LORD Jesus is the Eternal Word of God (John 1:1), the Incarnate Word (John 1:14), the Living Word (Hebrews 3:12) , revealed in the hearts of those that were given Him by the Father before the foundation of the world, that by Him (Faith revealed) they might know Him as that Word who is Life Eternal (John 17:3).

2 Thessalonians 2:13 "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the LORD, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:" God, being Sovereign, has determined on whom He will have mercy and compassion and those He will harden. Such is the God of the Bible. If any say, "Well, then God is unrighteous,” the Apostle Paul addressed that objection in Romans 9:14, "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?" The simple answer is, "God forbid. For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." The conclusion is found in Romans 9:16, "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." Such is God's prerogative to show mercy to whom He will. Election is a subject of thankfulness, not of contention. Where you see contention, where you see railing accusations that are brought against this doctrine, in reality, it's brought against God Himself. The God of the Bible is a Sovereign God. Why do people rebel against Him? The reason is that they've never seen their absolute guilt before God. If they did, their mouth would be stopped (Romans 3:19) and they would be utterly cast upon His mercy that He be pleased to save them if He will. The word "beloved" means "loved above all others." As you consider the world, made from one fallen mass, there are those whom God has loved above all others—those He has chosen from eternity, purposed to save, and sent His Son, the LORD Jesus Christ, into the world to accomplish their salvation by His work at Calvary. In time, the Spirit Himself draws His beloved ones to Christ. Passing by some and causing others to believe, what can we say of that? For the LORD, it was a subject of thankfulness, because He said in Matthew 11:25,26, "I thank thee, O Father, LORD of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent," that is, wise and prudent in their own eyes, "and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." That's where our mouths are stopped. If any is to question, "How can God do this?" The answer is, He's God and our LORD bowed to His will. When He prayed in the garden in John 17:9 , He didn't pray for the world. He wasn't praying that everybody would be saved. He said, "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine." Even our LORD Jesus Christ bowed to the will of the Father that He would save not one more or less than those that the Father had given Him. "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27). What is the source of this election? Some will take this doctrine of election and pervert it in their rebellion because ultimately they make it man's choice and not God's alone. It's not I that have made the decision, it is God that has chosen as Paul says, "We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the LORD, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation." It's not God looking down through time and seeing who would choose Him and so then He chose them. No! All that God saw from eternity was a fallen, depraved, and hardened, condemned world as a result of Adam's fall. So election then is God's way of determining who it is He would save. His justice would condemn all of humanity because of their sins, but His mercy and His grace determined that there would be those He would save and not utterly cast away. Paul writing in Ephesians 1:3,4 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us," but notice, "in Christ." Now, when was this choice done? Some say, it’s when the sinner believes. No! Here it says, "before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1:4-6). It all has to do with Christ and His glory. Any that are saved are the beneficiaries, but the glory belongs unto Christ alone. We see salvation in God's purpose but only in connection with redemption by the blood of the LORD Jesus (Romans 5:9-11) . When He came to this earth and lived His perfect life, working out the righteousness that God required to be just and to declare sinners righteous, we see salvation in that redemption. It is by His blood and righteousness. All salvation is of God, and we have nothing whereof to glory. A person who in some way still tries to find a reason to glory in himself, attributing any part of his or her salvation to initiating it or maintaining it, they have not bowed to the Truth in Faith (Romans 10:1-4). Where God has revealed Christ, there is a deep humility, a bowing of that sinner, and an acknowledging of our sin before a Holy God. Should God condemn sinners, He is just in doing so. Yet if the LORD has paid their debt, the Holy Spirit points out their sin and worthiness of condemnation, and will direct their heart to the Savior and causes that sinner to look outside himself to the Savior, to the One Who has paid the debt and to Whom all the glory belongs. Salvation is of the LORD from beginning to end! "Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah" (Psalm 3:8).

Ephesians 2:8,9 "For by Grace are ye saved through Faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the Gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." In religion today, people like to ask, "When were you saved?" Those who have been regenerated know the answer to that: It was when Christ paid the debt. That is it. It is not about walking an aisle or saying a prayer. They may say, "Yeah, but you know what I mean." "No, I don't know what you mean!" Those people think it is some sort of act that they decide to do that saves them, like repeating a so-called "sinner's prayer." The truth is that only the Gift of God's grace through Christ can save chosen sinners: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6). God saved every one of His elect when the LORD Jesus shed His blood unto death on the cross at Calvary. The Gospel (Good News) declares the work is DONE, FINISHED, ACCOMPLISHED, FULFILLED: "And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the LORD by the prophet" (Matthew 21:22). "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished" (Luke 18:31). "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished" (John 19:30). Any true confession of Christ is Spirit-born and is the result of the LORD Jesus Christ having already paid the debt as the Representative Head, having reconciled that sinner to God in Himself by His death on the cross. And when the Spirit reveals Christ in the chosen sinner, they look to Him alone as all their salvation. Their eyes are opened to the Crucified One. The experience of every child of God is that the LORD Jesus paid their sin debt long before they ever knew Him, and that the Spirit of Christ opened their eyes to see Him having paid their complete sin debt when He died on the cross. Many will make a profession because they are told that they must say a prayer or invite Jesus into their heart. They are told that God will save and pardon them when He sees their decision to accept Jesus and ask Him to forgive their sins, based on their profession. However, the testimony of Scripture is that when it pleases God to reveal Christ in you, that's when you trust in and rest in the LORD Jesus, Who finished the work already. Any whose eyes are opened by the Spirit know that it isn't anything in them, but only the LORD who has opened and turned their heart to Christ. "...turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God" (Jeremiah 31:18). The Spirit will show you that everything in you is nothing but filth and dung. It is the Spirit of God that opens blinded eyes and turns you to look to Christ and Him crucified alone. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:18). This is the only message that sinners must hear: Christ and Him crucified. People ask, "Don't you preach anything else?" NO! Someone once said, "When you are playing a guitar and it has only one string, it is tough to miss because you only have one string." Our one string is Christ and Him crucified, and that is the one message of Scripture. The apostle Paul declared, "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2) . The revelation of Christ and Him crucified is the exclusive Gift of God for the complete salvation of the sinner.

Isaiah 29:9,10 "Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered." People get offended when you ask, "Have you ever been lost?" It’s similar to the Pharisees in Christ's day who questioned Him as to whether He was calling them lost. They said, "Are we blind also?" (John 9:40) . In this world, preachers like to suggest what people already believe in their hearts: that they are good by nature. This is the mindset of unconverted, natural-minded sinners—assuming that there is some inherent good in them that will be enough for God to show them love, kindness, and mercy. But the Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). What does it mean to be lost? Have you thought about it? If the Lord has taught you, you know what it is to be lost. If He hasn’t, you won’t. It’s not something you can easily define or explain to someone who has never been shown their lost estate, which only the Spirit of God can do. When the Spirit of God draws a sinner to the Lord Jesus, that sinner will confess, "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments" (Psalm 119:176). A lost sheep cannot find its way back and would certainly perish if left alone. That’s what the word "lost" means here. It means "to perish, to die, to be exterminated." The psalmist is confessing that had the Lord not sought him, he couldn’t have found his way back. "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost" (Matthew 18:11) . That’s the only kind of sinner Jesus saves—the lost. Whether in Hebrew or Greek, the word means "to be entirely out of the way, in danger of destruction." We are born into this world lost because of Adam's fall. It takes the Spirit of God to open our eyes and draw us to Christ (John 6:44). Christ came for the lost sheep of Israel. He did not come to save the entire nation, but only His sheep who were of the household of Israel. "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called" (Romans 9:6-7). What is clear is that God was pleased to save the sheep through Christ’s work, He cannot lose any for whom Christ paid the debt. But others are just as lost. Yet, it pleased God to leave them in that state of blindness and condemnation. Is He unjust in doing so? No! "And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11). If God causes a person to believe a lie, do you think they’ll ever know the truth? Never! He gives them over to their depraved thoughts and false worship, and no amount of instruction or warning can change their minds. They’ll live and die in false profession with false hope. The world is divided into either lost sheep or those given over to a reprobate mind. What are the characteristics of the lost? They don’t perceive their condition. They are compared to drunkards: "They are drunken, but not with wine" (Isaiah 29:9). This isn’t about physical drunkenness; it’s about deeper spiritual drunkenness that causes men to stagger in their minds. "For the LORD hath poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep" (Isaiah 29:10). God has given them a senseless mind. When you’re in a deep sleep, you don’t perceive anything around you. This is spiritual blindness. If God gives someone over to their reprobate mind, how great is that darkness? No matter how brightly the Gospel shines, they won’t see it. "But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not" (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Many translations use "god" as if Satan is the god of this world blinding the minds. But the Sovereign God of this world has no rivals. The word for God is θεός (Theos), and therefore refers to God as Creator and Sustainer of all His creatures, translated in the Hebrew language as "Elohim" (Genesis 1:1) . Therefore, it is God who judicially blinds those He wills, and does so in just condemnation for their sin. As Paul asks, "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" (Romans 9:20-21). The same God who blinds is the same God who must give light. "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). If you have come to Christ and He has caused you to see your condemnation apart from His work, and then seen God's glory in His face (the countenance of Grace and Mercy), there is only one reason: God caused that light to shine in your heart. There is no greater Gift than HIM!

1 John 4:19 "We love Him because He first loved us." This verse is part of a broader passage in which the Apostle John writes about the nature of God’s love and how it influences how believers live and relate to one another in the body of Christ. In the preceding verses, John emphasizes that God is love (1 John 4:8) and that God's love is revealed ultimately in sending the Lord Jesus Christ to lay down His life for those whom He, the Father, loved from eternity. The LORD Jesus came to lay down His life for the sinners God the Father has loved and will love forever because of Christ's loving sacrifice unto death for them (1 John 4:9-10) . Contrary to popular opinion, the divine order of love is: God loved, therefore we love. Consider a few thoughts: God’s love is essential — “God is love” (1 John 4:8,16). This is a profound statement. It doesn’t say God has love, but that God is love. In His essence and as an attribute, God is love. He loves Himself primarily. He loves His Righteousness, He loves His Son, He loves those sinners He gave His Son to save, and He loves the finished work of His Son that has satisfied His justice on their behalf. The Scripture puts it in the present tense, and therefore: everlasting, unchangeable, and invariable to His elect in the LORD Jesus Christ. The reason all who are objects of His love love one another unconditionally, even as they have been loved by God, is because they love one another with the same love that their heavenly Father has loved them and begotten them again unto life by the Spirit. This love is because of Christ's complete work accomplished for them on the cross. God’s love is eternal — “…that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me” (John 17:23). By “the world,” Jesus meant the Jews and Gentiles chosen of God and given to Christ. God loves them as He loved Christ: eternally, immutably, and incomprehensibly. Note the past tense: "loved." The Father loved Christ as His own Son and as Mediator. He loved Him when He assumed human nature and became obedient to His will as the God/Man, both in doing and in suffering. When His Father left Him on the cross, (Psalm 22:1), He did not turn His back on His Son, but rather, purposed that He should remain on the cross, while He poured out His wrath (justice) upon Him, until His blood was completely poured out of Him unto death, for His sheep. Nothing less could satisfy God's law and justice. The instances of the Father's love for His Son as Mediator include His putting all things into His hands (John 3:35) , revealing to Him all that He does, concealing nothing from Him, and appointing Him the only Savior, the Head of the church, and the Judge of the world (John 17:2) because of His love for the Son. God’s love is elective — “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:13). The context makes it clear that this is not due to the men, their decisions, or deeds, but to God’s will and His electing grace. Some try to soften the impact of God's sovereign choice of some in love, reasoning that this somehow means God preferred one over the other. However, this perverts both the sense of God's love and His hatred of others, referring to God as simply having loved less, rather than as the Word declares, "hated." What should amaze us is not that God hates sinners, because His holiness is the cause of His hatred for them, and justly so. Rather, what is amazing is that He set His love on any. In the case of Rebecca, Isaac's only wife, the choice of her son Jacob was the choice of one of two sons by the same mother, and of the younger in contrast to the elder—before either of them was born and before either had done good or evil to be a ground of God's choice. All this was to show that the sole reason for distinction lay in the unconditional choice of God— "not of works, but of Him that calleth" (Romans 9:11). God’s love is saving — “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son into the world to be the Propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10) . This was the greatest of God's saving acts. God saved from sin through, in connection with, and not without, the satisfying work of Christ, those He chose in Him from eternity. God's decree to save was not salvation itself. God's justice required that the salvation of His elect be accomplished through the satisfactory work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). It is the love of God for His justice that caused Him to send His Son into the world to be " the Propitiation" [satisfactory payment] for the sins of those He loved before the foundation of the world. Such is the effectual, saving love of God for His elect. His is not a general love for everyone that doesn’t actually save them. No! Everyone whom God has loved, Christ has paid their sin debt, and therefore they are saved already when the Lord Jesus finished the work. Since He loved His elect in Christ while they were yet sinners, and the Lord Jesus died for them while they were yet sinners, for what sin would God ever turn away one that He has eternally loved, and Christ has redeemed? Not one! The Lord Jesus declared: “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

Daniel 4:35 "And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His Hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" God is the God of all nations and He does what He will do among the nations freely. None can stay His Hand or say to Him, "What doest Thou?" Nothing happens upon this earth but what comes from His Sovereign Hand. "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus" (Romans 9:20)? "Our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased" (Psalm 115:3). "Who raised the Righteous Man from the east, called Him to His foot, gave the nations before Him, and made Him rule over kings" (Isaiah 41:2)? Christ is that Righteous Man raised up from the east by God His Father. He is that One Who came and earned a righteousness, established it and upon completion of His work, God the Father imputed it to a people that He purposed to save from eternity. God has a particular people called Israel which means a "prince with God," not speaking of natural Israel, but of a Spiritual Israel that God has chosen to save: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light:" (1 Peter 2:9). "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and Thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 41:14). Regardless of what the world says or does, there are sinners throughout the world, in every tribe, nation, and tongue (Revelation 7:9) who are the apple of God's eye, chosen sinners for whom Christ came, lived, died, and rose again. He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Nor did He come to try to save everybody (John 17:1-12) . If any are lifted in pride and think themselves something, to be one of God's chosen, He reminds us who we are, "thou worm." If we get our backs up against one another and our heads lifted in pride, remember it is nothing but one worm lifting up its head against another worm, crawling over another. Still worms regardless. Anything we are is only by God's Grace, the work of the LORD Jesus Christ, Who came and accomplished the salvation of His people. He came as the Conquering King, He came as the Deliverer of His people, the Captain of Salvation. "But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by Grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His Grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by Grace are ye saved through Faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:4-9).

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 Stronghold 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)

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.