1 Corinthians 7:2 (KJV) No Longer Truth

1 Corinthians 7:2 (KJV)
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

Much of modern Christianity often has an unbalanced and I believe unhealthy view of the Biblical family. In this view the husband is the head and possessor of all things related to his family. This includes his children and, in this view, his wife. She is his own wife. Her life belongs to him. She is to live to please and serve him.

This is not only unhealthy it is unbalanced. Notice that our text teaches that the husband is every bit as much the property of the wife as she is of him.

What we see here is the principle of the letter and of the spirit of the law. The Bible teaches truths that are

• Inerrant, 
• Eternal and 
• Profitable 

but only when they are practiced in the context of all the Bible. Any truth taught out of balance is no longer truth.

This is true in the home. It is also true in finances, standards and doctrine.

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1 Corinthians 7:2 (KJV) No Longer Truth

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1 Corinthians 6:5 (KJV) Surely A Wise Man

1 Corinthians 6:5 (KJV)
I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?

The Apostle Paul, addressing the problems of divisiveness and squabbling happening in the church at Corinth said that it was shameful that the church had not found someone within their own ranks wise enough to “judge between his brothers.” 

It is difficult to believe that this church had no wise men among them. Paul had previously praised them because they “came behind in no gift.” This was a gifted church. In my years of ministry I have found believers who possessed great wisdom even in the smallest congregations. Paul addressed the issue in the form of a question. I think it is rhetorical and I would frame it something like this:

Have they not won anyone with wisdom?Churches exist for outreach. We ought to be growing, if not in numbers, at least in new members. In some cases, those who move away, surrender to the ministry or fall away may be significant enough to prevent a church from being in a constant state of increase. I doubt that God intends churches to be perpetually growing in numbers. At some point the church ought to break off and plant new churches out of its church. Still, there should always be new people coming in to the church.

Have they not trained some to develop wisdom?The church exists not only to reach new people but also to help those new people grow and develop. The Bible assures us that every Christian is bestowed gifts of the Spirit according to the will of God. Those gifts are honed and developed through the teaching and preaching ministry of the church and through the exercise of them in ministering in the church.

Have they not spotted those with wisdom?My personal observation in churches has been that, sometimes, those who possess these spiritual gifts are not trusted to exercise them.

Whatever the reason the Apostle Paul said it was shameful that there were none who could judge between brethren in that church. We live in such a different time than Paul’s but maybe not so different after all. More could be done for the glory of God if we, as members of a local church, trusted those in our church for matters of judgment.

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1 Corinthians 6:5 (KJV) Surely A Wise Man

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1 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV) The Church “Lump”

1 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV)
Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

Here is a term we don’t often use when speaking of our church. It is common for us to use terms like:

• body, 
• building, 
• bride and 
• family 

We use words like:

• fellowship, 
• assembly and 
• congregation 

to refer to our church. Here the church is referred to as a lump.

Probably not the most glamorous term we’ve heard.

The word is a reference to a lump of dough being yeasted and kneaded for bread. The lump is a living thing. Though the grains that have been ground to flour are no longer living, the flour is organic. The yeast that has been added to cause the bread to rise is alive. It is a bacterium that feasts itself on the flour, giving off gasses as it does so, and so causing the rising of the lump. These healthy bacteria are found in a number of processes in food; cheese, yogurt, butter milk, sour kraut, kimchi, pickles and etc.

But the process must be precise or else other types of bacteria enter in, bacteria that are harmful to the health of the one eating. This is so much the case that these days almost all these food are pasteurized to kill the bacteria (including the good) before going on the market.

The local church is too a living thing. It grows through the process of reaching into the lost world and winning those who are dead in trespasses and sins to Christ and introducing them into the church. The process is:

• necessary, 
• healthy and 
• right 

But it does involve risks. Unless care is taken, people can be introduced into the church who do not have the church’s best interest at heart. The lump must then be purged of this “old leaven” and a “new lump” made. It’s a process of constant refreshing. The old is removed and new is introduced so the lump remains healthy.

God has given us three tools for the care of the lump:
Baptism – this is the gate into the church and should not be administered lightly.Modern Baptists must return to the model of John the Baptist and insist that those who are baptized first bring fruits meet for repentance.

The Lord’s Supper-a reference to which is made in this chapter and will become an increasingly dominant theme until chapter eleven.The Lord’s Supper is to be restricted to those who are saved, properly baptized, members of the church observing (because only the church we are members of can know whether the following is true) and in good fellowship with the Lord and His church.

Discipline – which is the theme of this chapter.Discipline would involve first rebuke, then accountability and finally removal from the church for the destruction of the flesh.

A living lump has to be cared for. Introducing new life into it is essential but removing that which is old and spoiled is equally necessary.

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1 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV) The Church “Lump”

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1 Corinthians 4:3-5 (KJV) Sound Judgment

1 Corinthians 4:3-5 (KJV)
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

The subject of judging others is nearly a constant one Christians deal with. No matter how opposed to or unfamiliar with the Word of God a person is, he or she will believe that Christians are not supposed to judge. No wonder the subject is dealt with in multiple places in God’s Word.

From this passage we learn:
Don’t be concerned when others judge youIt’s just going to happen. It’s the nature of man. Many people will judge Christians for judging others. They judge that because we choose to believe and behave differently, then we are judging.

Don’t judge aloneWhen a Christian exercises judgment he ought to do so with the filling of the Spirit and the illumination of the Word of God.

Remember who is judging usEvery one of us will stand before the Lord. Every one of us ought to be more prepared for that reckoning than with others. We ought to give others that. Give them liberty to stand before God in good conscience.

Don’t judge too quicklyNone of us will be sure of the full measure of a thing until the Lord comes. Our task today is to live with a good conscience before God and to allow others to do the very same.

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1 Corinthians 4:3-5 (KJV) Sound Judgment

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1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (KJV) All For One

1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (KJV)
Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.

The church at Corinth, as an example of all churches, had a real problem with glorying in men. Paul, Cephas and Apollos were each hailed by different factions in the church as greater than the others.

I can imagine:

• One was a great orator
• One was a great soul winner
• One was a great organizer 

People migrated to the quality each found most admirable.

Paul’s lesson was that God had given each one and each one was given for the same purpose.

For our own purposes, no one person is greater than any other because each is merely doing what God led him or her to do. Each one is for the advancement of the work of God in the church.

Only God deserves glory.

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1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (KJV) All For One

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1 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV) Promises So Precious

1 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV)
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

The problem the lost man, whether Jew or Gentile, has against Christianity is that he cannot conceive the promises God has for those who love Him.

• The Jew stumbles at it believing himself to be the sole inheritor of God
• The Gentile believes it is foolishness because the limitations of the world block his ability to see the glory of God

But the Christian, the one who loves God and possesses His Spirit, knows of promises so precious they pass all understanding. We can’t explain them. We have no earthly proof of them but the earnest of His Spirit in us assures us the truthfulness of them.

False professors of the Christian faith having themselves no conception of these things, are forced into one of two measures:

To have a form of godliness but deny the power thereofThese compromise the faith giving ground to:

• modernism, 
• liberalism and 
• higher criticism 

I read recently of a Church of England leader who said his church couldn’t survive if they continue trying to be relevant. They can make it only by returning to the convictions of the Word of God. I don’t agree with his church but I do agree with his assessment.

To fake itCharismatics, Pentecostals and Progressives have taken this tack. They create fake miracles that seem to be greater than our hearts can conceive or else they hype up their services with loud music and flashing lights to excite their attendees.

None of this is necessary for those who love God. Paul said as much when he said he had not come in excellency of speech. He did not win them with charisma or entertainment. He won them with truth.

People who love God love truth.

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1 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV) Promises So Precious

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1 Corinthians 1:21 (KJV) The Wisdom of God VS The Wisdom of the World

1 Corinthians 1:21 (KJV)
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

This passage transports the reader back to the Garden, and the serpent’s temptation, when Eve saw that the tree was “to be desired to make one wise.”[1]

God’s wisdom allowed for man’s wisdom to be tested. I cannot understand or explain the wisdom of God. I certainly do not believe His wisdom must be defended. I can see that it was the wisdom of God that allowed for the wisdom of the world to be tried and found wanting.

The wisdom of God created a path to what could be the only means of genuine relationship with God, the cross and the salvation of those who hear and believe the preaching of that cross.

• The Jews would stumble over the preaching of the Cross
• The Greeks would consider the preaching of the cross foolishness

But to the saved that same preaching is the power of God.

[1] Genesis 3:6

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1 Corinthians 1:21 (KJV) The Wisdom of God VS The Wisdom of the World

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Romans 16:17-18 (KJV) Divisions and Offenses

Romans 16:17-18 (KJV)
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

While chapter fifteen told us to try to help those in need, chapter sixteen warns us of certain people we ought to identify and avoid:
They cause divisions and offensesDivision is their purpose. By spreading whatever falsehood misrepresentation or in substantiated scandal they are involved in, they create a divisive spirit among people who ought to be unified.

Offenses are the result. Once division has happened offenses are unavoidable. Woe be to that one who causes the offense!

They are contrary the to doctrine these believers had learnedWhatever it is they have used to create the division is irrelevant. What matters is that causing division and offenses among believers is contrary to what the Bible teaches.

They deceive the hearts of the simplePeople who have taken the time to build a solid walk with the Lord will be little affected by their divisions. It will be:

• the shallow, 
• the silly, 
• the simple 

(perhaps those who can least afford it) who are lead astray.

They serve their own bellyThe Bible pulls no punch. Those who divide churches, whatever they believe to be their motives, do so contrary to the Word of God and for their own pleasure.

Don’t be fooled by them. Identify and avoid them.

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Romans 16:17-18 (KJV) Divisions and Offenses

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Romans 15:1 (KJV) The Pessimistic vs The Optimistic

Romans 15:1 (KJV)
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

I note that the apostle assumes that his reader, along with himself, is strong. Rather than viewing ourselves as weak, needy or as some kind of victim, each one should see himself or herself as one of the strong and therefore one of the responsible.

Fact is, every one of us possesses

• some strengths and 
• some weaknesses

It’s the pessimistic vs the optimistic persuasion. How will we view ourselves? Are we the glass half empty? Or are we the glass half full?

The neediest among us would be advantaged by looking at our strengths over our weaknesses. How much better off would we all be if we pursued life from the vantage of our strengths, freely offering those strengths to those in need while at the very same time humbly accepting those offers from others to help us in our weaknesses!

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Romans 15:1 (KJV) The Pessimistic vs The Optimistic

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Isaiah 64:1-5 (KJV) Where Is Revival Needed Today?

Isaiah 64:1-5 (KJV)
Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

Bible students have long pointed out that Isaiah looks like a mini “Bible in one book.” Isaiah 64:1-5 Where Is Revival Needed Today?There are sixty-six chapters and, if one really stretches, they roughly correspond to the sixty-six books of the Bible. It’s not difficult at all to see a shift in the mood of Isaiah at chapter 40, corresponding to the beginning of the New Testament.

Using that line of thinking, Isaiah 64 places us in the Pauline Epistles of the New Testament, perhaps even later. Would it be possible to compare this chapter to passages like:

• 1 &2 Thessalonians, 
• 2 Timothy chapter 3 or 
• Jude?  

Couldn’t we think of this as a latter day prophecy similar to Paul’s “This know also…?”

If we made that connection then Isaiah is preaching about the days we live in right now.

Notice the plea of Isaiah. He is asking for revival. How we need such a revival in our world today. We need it in America but we need it in more than only America:

• We need revival in Europe where secularism has all but drowned out the voice of God’s people 
• We need it in communist nations where the struggle to regain a spiritual foothold begins to grow and is at once threatened 
• We need it in the Middle East where Islam has riddled the people with fear and falsehoods
• We need revival in third world countries where in some cases the gospel has yet to be heard

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Isaiah 64:1-5 (KJV) Where Is Revival Needed Today?

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Romans 14:5 (KJV) It Is About Faith

Romans 14:5 (KJV)
One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

Romans chapter fourteen is all about the doctrine of individual soul liberty, a doctrine for which Baptists have been the sole champions. It asserts that, since each of us will stand before God to give account alone then, each of us should be free to worship God as we alone see fit.

The chapter teaches:
Each man needs to be fully persuadedIn other words, while I can’t force my view on another I can try to persuade them. It is no conviction if it has not been studied and tested.

No man should judge another concerning faithI take this to mean in attempting to force a particular faith upon them.

All of us should be concerned about causing stumbling blocksOurs ought to be to encourage. With encouragement a person may grow and come to see things differently. With discouragement we might cause them to stop growing at all.

It is about faithSpiritual activity is meaningless unless that activity is motivated by true faith. Activity that has been coerced is of no value.

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Romans 14:5 (KJV) It Is About Faith

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Isaiah 62:6-7 (KJV) Christians Can’t Keep Silent

Isaiah 62:6-7 (KJV)
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

One of the things most hated about evangelistic Christians is that they are too outspoken about their faith. The irreligious tell us they would be fine with us if we would just be quiet about what we believe. There are many things wrong with this:

Our faith requires we be evangelistic about our faithWe are really practicing our faith if we are quiet about it.

Their argument isn’t sincereThey believe that if they can keep us quiet they can starve us out. If we are not evangelistic we will have no converts and we will die out by attrition.

This would be terribly hypocritical of usEven those who hate what we believe need what we believe. God is. That being the case, for a Christian to know this and be quiet about it is heartless and cruel. The sleeping family in a burning house may not like being awakened but to allow them to sleep in their condition is unconscionable.

So too for the Christian to keep silence.

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Isaiah 62:6-7 (KJV) Christians Can’t Keep Silent

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Romans 13:5 (KJV) Law Abiding Saints

Romans 13:5 (KJV)
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

Jameson-Fausset-Brown writes, “…since Christians were constantly charged with turning the world upside down, and since there certainly were elements enough in Christianity of moral and social revolution to give plausibility to the charge…”

Christianity was, from the beginning, a push against the progressive direction in both religious and civil matters. It must be remembered however that it was a push to return to the plan of God. Christianity has never meant to take human kind where they have never been before; that is the agenda of the irreligious and progressive religion. Christianity, as Christ established it, is a move to return to where God intended man in the first place.

Christianity has been, however, given to push back. Much of the time that push is right and good and necessary. Sometimes it has turned into pushing for the sake of pushing. It has led to pushing back at things entirely unnecessary.

The Word of God foresaw this propensity and therefore urged upon believers to “for conscience sake” be subject to the laws of government. There will be plenty of times that the Spirit of God will compel us to push against the progressive nature of fallen man. When not led of the Spirit to do so our testimony ought to be that of submission.

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Romans 13:5 (KJV) Law Abiding Saints

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Isaiah 60:17 (KJV) The Hope of All Who Serve the Lord

Isaiah 60:17 (KJV)
For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.

“This commences the description of the happy times when the Gentiles should be led to embrace the true religion, and when the wealth of the world would be consecrated to the service of the true God. The idea is, that all things would be changed for the better….”[1]

I can buy these words by Albert Barnes if by better we mean:

• a better covenant, 
• a better High Priest, 
• etc. 

God has never promised the world would get better but He did promise both Jews and Gentiles of the Old Testament era a better outcome through the Messiah.

I see in this verse the hope of all who serve the Lord. We know that our efforts are feeble at very best. We can never in our flesh be perfect even as our Heavenly Father is perfect. We can never meet God’s standard of righteousness. We can never from the strength of fallen man bring forth gold silver and precious stones.

We are not asked to or expected to.

He hath made Him to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.[2]

• Where we are not perfect He is our perfection 
• Where we are not holy He is our righteousness 
• Where we bring forth wood, hay and stubble He brings gold, silver and precious stones 

[1] Barnes Notes

[2] 2 Corinthians 5:21

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Isaiah 60:17 (KJV) The Hope of All Who Serve the Lord

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Isaiah 59:21 (KJV) Future Generations

Isaiah 59:21 (KJV)
As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

This covenant is made first to Israel and then, according to verse 19, “they that fear the name of the Lord from the west.“

The covenant begins “As for me…” regardless of what people do, whether the Jews or the Gentiles, this is what God will do.

He will give the Spirit and the Word:

• To them
• To their children 
• To their children’s children 

forever.

This is three generations from Isaiah[1] but then it goes on forever.

• The people who left Babylon 
• The people who rebuilt Jerusalem 
• The people who suffered under Rome

Even those who, because they cut off their Messiah were cut off from God, were not cut off altogether. The Word of God they had been used to deliver still does its work.

My desire has always been to see the ministry God has given me passed down to my children and children’s children. But should my grandchildren not be called into official ministry this promise still holds true, as we do not know what future generations may surrender to preach the Word of God.

[1] More likely this should begin when Israel left Babylon.

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Isaiah 59:21 (KJV) Future Generations

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Romans 10:6-9 (KJV) A Righteousness of the Word

Romans 10:6-9 (KJV)
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

The righteousness, which is of faith, is a righteousness of the Word

It is a righteousness by faith in Christ,His death, burial and resurrection. Christ is the living Word of God.

It is a righteousness presented through preaching the Word of God.It’s not based on opinion, philosophy or theory. It is grounded in the Word of God, the Bible.

It results in a particular form of words from the receiver.The unbeliever will question the Gospel. How can it be that one descended from heaven, died, rose again and ascended back to heaven? These words spring from unbelief. The believer on the other hand, will respond in faith and call upon the name of the Lord.

Salvation is not by works, but by faith and the spoken word.

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Romans 10:6-9 (KJV) A Righteousness of the Word

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Romans 9:18 (KJV) Mercy and Compassion On Those That Believe

Romans 9:18 (KJV)
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

This is, in my view, the most challenging verse in Romans chapter nine. Does it really mean that God hardens some to be vessels of wrath?

Consider the context. The chapter does not, in fact, ever speak of God’s election of wrath against anyone but instead His election of compassion for someone. The chapter specifically addresses the plan of God for eternity and how He would accomplish it.

• It was through Abraham 
• It was through Isaac
• It was through Jacob

God wasn’t

• Anti Gentiles
• Anti Ishmael 
• Anti Esau

He was pro-Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in so far as the plan He would take to bring about the promised Saviour.

• Did he harden Ishmael?
• Did he harden Esau?

No more than He hardened the Gentiles. Each person, each nation and each people group has the same opportunity to believe and not be ashamed and to not believe and stumble.

Even Israel, that nation elected of God to bring into this world the Saviour, was presented this opportunity. They are not automatically saved because they are the elect. Election wasn’t about salvation but the plan of God for salvation.

God has determined to have mercy and compassion on those that believe and to harden for judgment those who do not.

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Romans 9:18 (KJV) Mercy and Compassion On Those That Believe

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Romans 8:1 (KJV) Not Condemned Right Now

Romans 8:1 (KJV)
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

This verse is so packed with liberating and heart warming truth that it is difficult to mine it. There is just too much gold on the surface to busy oneself digging deeper. I want to try to dig a little bit.

I notice the word, “now;” “There is therefore now no condemnation.”

• Not “then” before you did things you know are worthy of condemnation 
• Not “later” After we have gotten reformed some and no longer doing those things 
• Not “in heaven” so there is no danger of failing again 

There is therefore now no condemnation. 

The ministry of Christ, the work of justification, the grace of God is of such sufficiency that it has accomplished right now, perhaps in the midst of our most awful day, such reconciliation with God that there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

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Romans 8:1 (KJV) Not Condemned Right Now

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