Ezekiel 3:17-19

 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked,  ‘You shall surely die,’  and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity,  but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Ezekiel is a book in the Holy scriptures that is ignored much today. When I read Ezekiel, I can understand, to a certain extent, why. Some crazy visions are going on in Ezekiel that are difficult to understand. As for me, the difficulty lies elsewhere. Not that I have a grasp on these visions, but I am working on them, and our Pastor is teaching through Ezekiel right now, which helps. The scripture reference above is repeated in Ezekiel more than once. Ezekiel 3:17-19 is a grave warning to Ezekiel about his responsibility as a servant of the most high God. If you warn them and they do not repent, their blood is on their own hands, but if you don’t warn them it will be on yours Ezekiel 33:2-6, another warning is more explicit. But basically, say’s almost precisely what 3:17-19 says.

Why is this a problem for me? 1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

If you’re a believer 1 Peter 2:9 applies to you, as surely as it applies to me. The question, believers, is how many have gone unwarned by you? This is where my problem lies. When I think of all the blood that will be required at my hand, it is overwhelming, and I fear being called into account for those I did not warn. I have to often chosen to stay silent when I should have spoken. We are a holy priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession. Why? That we may proclaim the excellencies of Him, who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. If we fail to do so, are we not as responsible as Ezekiel? I will tell you this by way of comfort, but not excuse. We are in Christ, and because we are in Christ, we need not fear eternal damnation. We should take this warning to heart and proclaim the Gospel of the righteousness of God and the Lord Jesus Christ earnestly and strive never to fail to speak the truth, no matter the consequences. For we serve a risen savior, not a dead one, and in the power of His love, we Can do all things.

I haven’t blogged for a while, and this is a short one. Be encouraged, put on the full armor of God Ephesians 6:10-20. And faithfully represent our Lord.

For the unbelievers, there is only one way, only one name under heaven and earth by which man can and must be saved. Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

His peace be with you, His blessing be upon you, may His salvation and His holy name be Glorified on earth as it is in heaven.

The Romans Road

The Romans Road

1)  Who God Is.

A)   Romans 1:20; For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[a] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

B)    ³³ Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

^{34 "}For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?"
^{35 "}Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?"

³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

What does it matter who God is? The above scriptures tell you only some of who God is. It is essential to keep these scriptures in mind when God tells you who he is, Exodus 34:6-7, ⁶ The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."

The LORD God almighty proclaimed Himself to be abounding in love, to be merciful, gracious, and slow to anger. This is the part everybody wants to remember. But what about the second part? "but who will by no means clear the guilty." OH, OH! This is why we need an accurate assessment of who we are before a righteous Almighty God.

2)  Who Man Is.

A)   Romans 1:25, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

B)   Romans 3:10, as it is written:

"None is righteous, no, not one;

C)  Romans 3:23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

The three scriptures above tell us only some of who we are before God. Romans 3:10-18 says,  ¹⁰ as it is written:

"None is righteous, no, not one;
¹¹     no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one."
^{13 "}Their throat is an open grave;
    they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of asps is under their lips."
^{14 "}Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
^{15 "}Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶     in their paths are ruin and misery,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known."
^{18 "}There is no fear of God before their eyes."

In 1 John 1:8 we read, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

So, if you are telling yourself, I'm a good person, and God will judge me based on the good I do there is this, Isaiah 64:6, We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

We are wholly wretched and guilty before a Holy, Righteous, All-Powerful God.
3) Who Christ Is.

A)   Romans 1:1-4, 1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ⁴ and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

B)   Romans 8:3, For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,^[a] he condemned sin in the flesh,

C)  Romans 8:31-32, ³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

To who Christ is I will simply add. Philippians 2:5-11, ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

4)  What Christ Has Done.

A)   Romans 3:22-26, ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

B)   Romans 5:8, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

C)  Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Before Christ died for us, He first lived for us. What does that mean? It means that Christ fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf. He lived the law perfectly so that we could receive His righteousness. Then he, having lived perfectly, became the perfect sacrifice, and atoned for our sin on the cross. When he died, he didn't stay dead; he rose again, victorious over Satan, Sin, and Death. If you are a believer in Christ, you are victorious in Christ and only in Christ, not in works. So, on the cross, 2 Corinthians 5:21, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

What does that mean? It means that our sin was imputed on Christ on the cross so that His righteousness would be imputed on us. If you are saved, God has seen you as righteous since before the foundations of the world because of what Christ did for us, Ephesians 1:4, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love.

Which is why we have something to do.

5)  What You MUST Do.

A)   Romans 10: 9-13, ⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

When God regenerates your lost and dead, heart, soul, and mind, I say it that way because God never saves halfway. God always saves the whole person. We are responsible for responding to the work that he has begun. We must seek Jesus Christ with all our hearts, with all our Minds, with all that we are, every fiber of who we are. When we do this, we should not stop seeking until we have the assurance that comes from above, even then we should not stop seeking until the great and terrible day of God's wrath and judgment.

So, pray now and pray without ceasing, Honor God with all your heart soul and strength. Make sure of your salvation, do not rely on a card signed and dated, or a prayer someone else said as you repeated. The only real repentance comes from your heart.

The Last attribute; GOD"S FREEDOM

This is the last attribute of God. To discuss this attribute, we will need multiple definitions, and these will not be an easy one-liner. To define God’s Freedom will be a discussion, and then we will talk about, compare, and contrast man’s freedom.

God’s attribute of freedom, God, is absolutely free; nothing can hinder Him. There is no power outside of Himself that can hinder Him. Yet God’s freedom is hampered by his NATURE. Why did I capitalize NATURE? I capitalized NATURE because we need to remember this word, and I will continue to capitalize NATURE throughout the rest of this blog. Why did I say that God’s nature hinders God’s freedom? Just as God cannot lie, God cannot do anything contrary to His NATURE. God, however, is the supreme being. Therefore, He is the only absolutely free being. You say this sounds like a contradiction. I can see why you think it’s a contradiction, but it is not. God, as we have seen through our discussion of His attribute is perfectly holy, righteous, loving, Just, and He is perfect in His wrath and jealousy. So, He is also perfect in His freedom. However, God in His freedom cannot display His wrath unjustly, and He cannot show His love at the expense of His justice, God is constrained in His freedom by His nature. So far, I have restrained myself from saying God’s free will, this is ultimately where the discussion of freedom goes, and this leads us into the similarities and differences between God’s freedom and man’s freedom.

In the beginning, God! Everybody knows what this is about, Genesis 1:1.  God has created the heavens and the earth, and He created man, male and female he created them. God also created them in His image, and God said, let us create him in our image. Everybody knows where to find these references. When God rested on the seventh day, he looked at everything he had done and said it was Good. The serpent slithered into the garden and convinced the woman and the man to eat the forbidden fruit.  “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:12 ESV). This is the same lie Satan told himself before he got kicked out of heaven. Adam and Eve saw that the fruit was good to eat and good for wisdom and they ate. In doing so, they were trying to shed God’s authority over them.

Prior to this point, Adam and Eve were in a state where they had a free will, much like God’s. Their freedom was also limited by their NATURE, being created beings, it is said that they, “Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5NLT).  Now this verse is also rendered Angels depending on your translation. I am not a language expert, but I am told that this could go either way. The point is, is that we were not gods either with a capital G or a small g. We never had the same exact NATURE as God because if we did, then our first parents would not have fallen. Their freedom was based on a will that was Good, not perfect as God is perfect. Adam and Eve were the original couple, but what about us.

WHAT MAKES US THINK WE ARE LIKE GOD? The same lie Satan and Adam And eve all believed. You must shed yourselves of this false belief.

Today we are still in this fallen estate; we cannot cure ourselves. Why? Because just as God’s freedom is based on His NATURE, just as Adam and Eves’ freedom was based on their NATURE, your freedom is based on Your NATURE. What does the word of God say about your NATURE, “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together, they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”  “Their feet are swift to shed blood in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18). This is your spiritual condition before a righteous and holy God who will judge the living and the dead. Your NATURE is dead. This is our condition as a race, dead. If dead people could raise themselves from the dead, do you think they would lie rotting the grave? So, the word of God tells us we must be born again. Even Nicodemus new; it is physically impossible to be born again. He said, can a man enter a second time into his mother’s womb? Does a baby decide who its parents will be? What control over your birth did you think you had? Just as you had no control over your first birth, you have no control over your second birth. Because you have a dead, sinful NATURE, your freedom/free will is based on your dead, sinful NATURE. You are not equipped to say yes to Christ on your own. Supernatural regeneration/rebirth is what is required, then based on your new NATURE given you at regeneration, you can and will choose God of your own new volition. Regeneration precedes choice.

Having said all of this I want you to be sure of something. We are created in God’s image, and even unbelievers bare that image. I have been learning about the image of God in MY MDIV courses, and I now see it everywhere. I see it when the scriptures talk about how God moved men along by the Holy Spirit. Man and God in relationship with one another. The image of God is in the institution of marriage and all other relationships. Christ is the image of God, “that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them” (2 Corinthians 4:4-7).      “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3) It is with this in mind that I plead with you to open your eyes and serve God, And Love the Lord.

You won’t be hearing from me on my blog for a while. I am going to be too busy until June. Then I will look at what is next. I apologize this one took so long to get out. Again, if you are feeling the call of God on your life, don’t wait. Many are not getting younger, and being young doesn’t guaranty tomorrow. Seek Christ and His Salvation while it may be found.

The will of God

In discussing God’s will, we will be looking at God’s necessary will, and God’s free will. Within God’s necessary and free will are His secret and revealed will. God’s necessary will is hard for me, so bear with me on this as I try to explain it without doing any Harm. God’s necessary will is that will which is required to sustain Him. God did not come into existence because of anyone’s will or even His will because He doesn’t have a beginning. He always was. So, how about God’s necessary will being that which

is required to sustain Him. Again, this is difficult for me to understand because God is eternal. He has no beginning and no end. He always will be. So, have I completely messed that up or what? So, God’s necessary will, I think, is that which keeps Him Holy. His will is to perfectly display all of his attributes in perfect harmony and balance. That is all I got on that subject because it is beyond my comprehension at this time.

God’s free will; God is the only free moral agent in existence. Whoa, what, what about mans free will. Man has a freedom of will but is not a free moral agent. As I explain God’s free will, you will understand the distinction. God is the only one who makes decisions based entirely and solely on His good pleasure, by His wisdom and knowledge, and nothing else in existence has sway over His judgments or decrees. For instance, no one advised or instructed God about creation. Creation occurred because God wanted to create. Creation was not necessary to God’s existence nor to fulfill something that was lacking in God. Creation was not necessary for God to display His attributes to others because God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit live in perfect love, perfect harmony, and perfect fellowship before creation. Without creation, the triune God would have continued in perfect harmony forever. God, however, decided to create, so here we are.

Now the difference; Man is no longer a free moral agent because of the fall that all of humankind experienced in Adam. We are sinful. Totally depraved, although not as bad as we could be. A cursory look through history will show that some humans rise to the level where they display their total depravity in a way that seems unique to the rest of us. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Attila the Hun, and much more who history has recorded, responsible for the murder and rape of millions. What we don’t want to think about is that we are all capable of the same actions. That’s why Christians have a saying, “There but by the grace of God go I.”  It is God by His will that restrains us from being as evil as we can be, and praise God for that.

God’s Hidden will, for the longest time, in fact, the entire old testament period, the things that Christ would have to suffer were hidden from the Jews. We read the scriptures today and think there it is in plain sight, but we have the advantage of the truth reveal in Christ Himself. We have the benefit of the teachings of the apostle Paul, and many more down through the ages. There are things that by God’s will we are not to know; for instance, we do not see the timing of the second bodily coming of Christ; this is God’s hidden will. There are questions about the scriptures that there are no clear answers. We must have the faith to say someday they will be revealed to us, and on that day, we will know even as we have been fully known.

What about God’s revealed will? God has given us His Son, His Holy Spirit, and His written word. Through His Son, Holy Spirit, and His written word, we have God’s revealed will, not just for revelation but also for us corporately and individually. So, let's get to what everyone wants to know, what is god’s will for me? Corporately we are not to forsake the gathering together of the saints. So, find a place where the word of God is taught and go there. Corporately we are to be about building up each other in Christ, using or talents or giftings to bring together the body of Christ in love and encouragement so that when the world looks at us, they see something of which they want to be a part. Individually, we are to read God’s word daily, pray in the Spirit always and without ceasing, and above all, be obedient to God’s word. If we are doing these things, your gifting and calling make themselves evident, and sometimes not to you but others around you, they will let you know. Christ said, “If you love me obey my commandments,” these commandments He summed up for us.

   “And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’” Luke 10:27.

He also said,

“On these two commandments depend all the law and the profits.” Mathew 22:30.

So basically, if you fulfill those two commandments, you will satisfy all of the commandments of God. But there is one more. “Love one another” is God’s will for you. Don’t waste time looking for some significant ministry that is all about pride. Be faithful in the little things first, and let God take care of the rest.