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WordSword

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  1. It may be one of the least interesting of things, but there is much growth in knowing God’s concerns for us when we are troubled, especially when in great difficulty! It is when we are going through a trial—regardless the size, that our spiritual growth increases the most. To know that God is ever with us is the learning; and to know it’s in the difficulties that His lessons yield the highest gains, is to know His love is always the same greatness for us. There are many things God wants us to know that only hardness can teach and yield; and we are to know, if possible, that we need not allow anything to become “troublesome” (Jhn 14:1, 27). There is much comfort in realizing He controls each and every trial, allowing us to more patiently “endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2Ti 2:3)! NC Resourceful Father “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness (meaningless times which all believers must traverse—NC). Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (1Co 12:9, 100—where our strength is, there is a want of His). “I was brought low, and He helped me” (Psa 116:6). He who loves you infinitely more than any of us is making your bed in your illness. As we wait on Him we learn what His purpose is in the suffering—the wisdom of it. It comes from the deepest love; but the delay with us in being able to see the wisdom of it! Jacob is crippled before he meets Esau: he is a self-reduced man before he is a triumphant one, through God’s own ordering. Joseph comes from a prison in Egypt to nearly the highest position there. The great gain in discipline is the helplessness which discloses the vanity of natural resources, but at the same time separates our hearts to the Father. Then we are “partakers of His holiness” (Heb 12:10). In Jordan the living God was known; and in the tediousness and irksomeness of illness there is a sense of the emptiness of everything, and the measure of one’s real resources in the Father is found out. I have said to a dear brother before, now surrounded by his family and natural comforts, “You enjoy the Word and the Lord in your present circumstances, but I should like to know how much real spiritual enjoyment in the Lord you would have if these happy surroundings were broken up.” They were broken up afterwards, and no doubt with very great blessing to him. In sickness one loses the power to enjoy, while in bereavement one loses the object to be enjoyed. I believe one learns differently in each. In illness I am occupied with myself; there the grievance is, and while there is life there is hope. It is my resourcelessness as to power that is impressed on me; while in bereavement it is my resourcelessness as to the place; I am lonely. My very health can make me the more keenly to feel like a tree with its branches torn off, which can never be restored. There is an end of hope in bereavement. In the one case myself is lost for a time to me; in the other, the stay of my heart may have gone. Thus the Lord is the One who heals us in the one, and He can only fill up the blank in the other. I think we are sometimes ready to say to the Lord Jesus, “Could You not have taught me without subjecting me to so much sorrow and humiliation? The answer I have had is, you could not be effectually taught in any other way! The Lord Jesus knows the nature of the obstacle in me (having experienced it all Himself—NC) which He has to deal with: a less efficient hand might think that it could be overcome in some other way. —J B Stoney (1814-1897) MJS daily devotional excerpt for March 14 “The head-knowledge of Spirit-taught study becomes the heart-knowledge of Spirit-led life, via Romans 8:28 and 29. How good it is to have a sovereign Father controlling all! –MJS “The true value of anything is known only when it is wanted. For this reason bright days must be succeeded by dark ones. In the dreary and desolate hour to nature, we begin to know the value of the truth communicated to us in the bright day. The learning is at one time, and the proving at another. In fact, we ought to be prepared for the dark hour; so that, though it be dark, there is something so blessed, so suited, pouring its comfort and sustenance on our souls, that, after all, the dark and dreary hour becomes a more really festive time to the heart, because of the virtues of the truth now made known, more than at the time of its reception, is so happy and exhilarating.” -J.B.S. http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/
  2. Amen, then we are not going to learn much! Thanks for the reply, and God bless your Family!
  3. Thanks for the compliment (Rom 8:23)!
  4. Hi, and thanks for the reply! I would say we are saved but waiting for the redemption of our body. It's also my understanding that believers are never in danger of falling but failing just to succeed in something.
  5. Believers are either always forgiven for all sins, or not forgiven for any sins; Of course, the latter is never the case, and the prior is a truth of which there is no greater encouragement! A great truism is that God keeps believers in constant and continuous forgiveness (1Jn 1:9), and it’s the future sins which with one may have the most difficulty when applying this fact! The Father knows believers always want to “please” Him, because He continually “works” this in them (Phl 2:13). Apart from sins that are related to any type of addiction, of which He allows some time to repent, the sins of saints are no longer “presumptuous” or “willful” (Num 15:30; Heb 10:26). What believer would intentionally desire to sin against God, assuming one has all needed mental faculties? No, the Christian’s desire for God’s “pleasures” are always present—even when it’s momentarily interrupted by the “old man”; and this is where the temptations are the greatest, when the old man is involved. The old man is an equal or more of a repetitious temptation than Satan himself; for as the Spirit uses the “new man” or new nature, to guide and enable the believer, so does the Enemy use the sinful nature—the old man, to tempt believers! Thus, I say the enemies of the saint is self, Satan and society, and in this order of significance. For self (old man) is the closest to the believer, and is therefore the most in opposition. It’s my belief that possessing the old man and enduring its temptations continues to keep believers exercising their faith in Christ’s expiation for their sins, which strengthens faith and always needs strengthening, due to the enemies continuous temptations; and knowing that faith and salvation are permanent is of course the most important doctrine for spiritual growth and serves as the basis for all doctrines of truth! Continuing to learn the sin nature (old man) teaches to know, understand, apply and share God’s Word with one another in order to “exhort” (Heb 10:25) the saints. “Exhortation” is an attribute much needed and much missing in many if not most believers. Be blessed, be encouraged and be patiently enduring, glorifying God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ through Their precious, highly blessed and loved Holy Spirit (Who is the Creator of our new birth, Comforter, Author and Teacher of the Word of God)! Much Love in Christ NC
  6. Believers are either always forgiven for all sins, or not forgiven for any sins; Of course, the latter is never the case, and the prior is a truth of which there is no greater encouragement! A great truism is that God keeps believers in constant and continuous forgiveness (1Jn 1:9), and it’s the future sins which with one may have the most difficulty when applying this fact! The Father knows believers always want to “please” Him, because He continually “works” this in them (Phl 2:13). Apart from sins that are related to any type of addiction, of which He allows some time to repent, the sins of saints are no longer “presumptuous” or “willful” (Num 15:30; Heb 10:26). What believer would intentionally desire to sin against God, assuming one has all needed mental faculties? No, the Christian’s desire for God’s “pleasures” are always present—even when it’s momentarily interrupted by the “old man”; and this is where the temptations are the greatest, when the old man is involved. The old man is an equal or more of a repetitious temptation than Satan himself; for as the Spirit uses the “new man” or new nature, to guide and enable the believer, so does the Enemy use the sinful nature—the old man, to tempt believers! Thus, I say the enemies of the saint is self, Satan and society, and in this order of significance. For self (old man) is the closest to the believer, and is therefore the most in opposition. It’s my belief that possessing the old man and enduring its temptations continues to keep believers exercising their faith in Christ’s expiation for their sins, which strengthens faith and always needs strengthening, due to the enemies continuous temptations; and knowing that faith and salvation are permanent is of course the most important doctrine for spiritual growth and serves as the basis for all doctrines of truth! Continuing to learn the sin nature (old man) teaches to know, understand, apply and share God’s Word with one another in order to “exhort” (Heb 10:25) the saints. “Exhortation” is an attribute much needed and much missing in many if not most believers. Be blessed, be encouraged and be patiently enduring, glorifying God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ through Their precious, highly blessed and loved Holy Spirit (Who is the Creator of our new birth, Comforter, Author and Teacher of the Word of God)! Much Love in Christ NC NC
  7. Romans 5:1-11 sets forth the terms on which God is with you. Chapter 8 is how you are in Christ before Him. Many are occupied with chapter 8 who are not yet established in chapter 5. They must be taken in divine order. When you look up to God you see everything gone to His satisfaction; but when you look at yourself you are troubled with the working of sin. Why is this! You must change your man; that is the only solution to the difficulty. In the first eleven verses of chapter 5, you see that everything has been established for you to God’s satisfaction. In the latter half of the chapter it is, you must change your man; it is not to be Adam, but Christ. I ask, with what man are you connected, Adam or Christ? You will never know that you are dead to sin until you have changed from Adam to Christ! You can never rise up to how you are to be before God until you are enjoying the terms on which He is with you. The prodigal was brought in to share the joy of the father (he wanted to be his father’s again in any way possible, though he was esteemed as well as any other—NC). How much is really lost by not seeing that the love of God has brought us to Himself; that is the true beginning of growth. We have not begun aright if we do not see this. You could not be in the Holiest and not be settled about yourself. If you refer to your sins you are not settled (in peace, knowing there is never a time we aren’t in God’s forgiveness—NC) as to yourself; when you are settled you are not occupied with yourself and your sins; you are clear of sins, the flesh, self (old self—NC) and everything, and pass into the Holiest to be occupied with Him (2Co 3:18). If you are walking in the Spirit, you are occupied with the Lord Jesus, and not with the flesh; you have entered on new ground outside of everything here. In the Lord’s Supper you are calling Him to mind. He died on this earth, and you are occupied with that great fact. In conclusion, the great mark of God’s favor in OT times was, “I will be with thee” (Gen 26:3; 31:3; Exo 3:12; etc.—NC), and that is not withdrawn. He says to us, “I will never leave thee” (Heb 13:5). But besides this great favor there is a greater favor now, and that is, You shall have “part with Me” (Jhn 13:8). You do not lose the first because you have the second; but you are brought into another and greater favor. The Lord grant that we may each of us be more awakened to the futility of accepting the Word of God with the mind of man, and thus limiting it to man. Many think that because they have the light of a truth that they are in the reality of it. No! You may know the whole Bible, and have much light, but there is no growth beyond the measure of the Spirit’s work in you. —J B Stoney MJS daily devotional excerpt for February 19 “Early in the Christian life we naturally feel that it is our obligation to overcome self and become spiritual. We do not yet realize that time and processing are required before we are able to give up self-effort for our growth. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, not our obligation. “God hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit” (2 Thess. 2:13).”—Miles J Stanford “The self-life is surely our first and most bitter foe, and the believer who will serve God acceptably must learn His way of victory over this subtle and dangerous enemy. The flesh is irrecoverably fallen and you and I make no real progress in the Christian life until we have learned in experience to say with the apostle: ‘For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing’ (Rom. 7:18).” - John Galway M'Vicker (1826-1900) http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/ (recommend reading the rest)
  8. There is nothing like retirement for the soul, if one is occupied with the Lord Jesus, and not with himself. Occupation with Him results in my being more like Him, and more apart from myself. Occupation with myself is like the serpent’s eye that lures its victim to destruction. The more I am taken up with myself, the more important I make myself in my own eyes, and the more I am interrupting the growth of the Lord Jesus in me (Eph 4:15). It is not that I am to be indifferent about my condition, but how am I to judge it? Is it by feeling and fumbling over everything in the dark, examining the whole case of the patient, without either knowing the condition of one in health, or how to produce it; or is it by bringing in One who is the true measure of everything, and who, as He gets place with me, displaces and condemns everything displeasing to Himself? In the latter case there are two things: there is the introduction of One who entirely and transcendently preoccupies the heart, and who supplies to it, as He does, strength and fullness of joy; the other is, He repels and rebukes all the carnality and selfishness which He finds in my heart. Now, when I am occupied with myself, I never get rid of anything, no matter how I may condemn it. All the sin and incongruities remain as before. I may traverse them dolefully, as one does gravestones, but there they are, and there they remain, registers of sorrow and vexation. I may very truly mourn over them, and afflict myself because of them, but that does not clear my heart of any of them; they meet me at every turn; nay, further, the more my eye rests on them, the more grievous and painful they become to me. When the stronger comes is, he takes away the goods in which we naturally trusted. The true converse of the heart is with its Object, and if I make my own heart my object, I am like the fool that folds his arms, and eats his own flesh. But if I have the Lord Jesus in His own place, then the more I am in fellowship with Him, and the more do I seek to maintain it; whereas, in the other case, I am never drawn into fellowship without sorrow. I appreciate contemplative souls, but the more contemplative we are with ourself, the more we betray what we are occupied with. Is it with myself, or with Him who imparts Himself to me thereby, and exposes and drives away all the noxious weeds which would occupy and damage me? Hence, while the contemplation is most desirable, it is of all importance that there should be a true object before the mind and heart, for whatever the object is will be disclosed in the walk. If the Lord Jesus be the object of your contemplation, you will find that you really are made ready for action for Him; whereas, if it is for yourself, you will be less and less ready; your weapon will be unloaded, and you without energy or inclination for action. Contemplation with a true Object gives a readiness and a strength for action; the gun loaded and ready. But when the object is oneself, one is enervated, inactive and silenced; the piece is spiked, and the courage is gone. —J B Stoney (1814-1897) MLS daily devotional for February 13 “When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, it is to remove self from the throne of our hearts. When the Holy Spirit fills us, it is to place the Lord Jesus on the throne of our hearts. Ours is the choice—”not I, but Christ” (Gal. 2:20); His is the work, for He is “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:2).” -MJS “The great secret of the Christian life is found in ceasing from self, in which the power of the Cross manifests itself in us. We all know how our Lord Jesus, ere He could receive the new life from the Father in glory, and the gift of the Holy Spirit through whom He could impart His life to His people, had first to give up the life He lived upon earth. He had to take His place among the dead in utter weakness and helplessness before He could live again by the power of God. His death on the Cross was indispensable to the life of the Spirit. “And as it was with Christ, so it must be with us. As we yield ourselves to be united with Him in the likeness of His death, we can share with Him in the glory and power of the life of the Spirit. To know what the Holy Spirit means, implies the knowing of what death means. The Cross and the Spirit are inseparable. The soul that understands that the death to self is in Christ the gate to true life, is in the right way to learn what and who the Holy Spirit is.” –Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917) http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/day/2024/02/13/
  9. The laws other than the Mosaic Law were for their time, prior to Mosaic law. This is the dispensation of law (Adam to Moses), which were for God's people. The Gentiles, or unbelieving world were never under the laws we are discussing. The three dispensations are those of laws; those of grace or the Gospel; and that which will be the millennial kingdom. Eternity is not considered a dispensation.
  10. Not sure what you mean by "Moses didn't." All the laws prior to the Law of Moses were independent to those God were covenanting with. These are separate from the Mosaic Law.
  11. There is the "law of faith" and "the law of the Spirit" (Rom 3:27; 8:2), but no more laws for the Christian, because they need no laws. They are controlled and guided by God Himself (Phl 2:13), in order that salvation will be certain and permanent. Besides, the Law never applied to Gentiles. The OT Jews were given priests to make sin sacrifices as a "type" of Christ's expiation for sin, through which His forgiveness was granted (Num 15:25). The Christian Jews and Gentiles are saved by the practical Blood of Christ's atonement, which was not in "type" like the OT Saints, but actual occurrence.
  12. Yes, all are discontinued, and all that presently remains is the New covenant or the Gospel. The Decalogue began the Mosaic Law, which is the Pentateuch (as you said). The Torah is also the same as the Pentateuch.
  13. Yes, Jesus kept the Law (the Law included the Decalogue which initiated the Law) Himself, and He is the only One that could keep the Law. All others could only obey it but could not keep it. Keeping the Law could only be established by the obedience of One being sinless. Forgiveness came only from the priests sin sacrifices (Num 15:15). Of course the Law was finally "fulfilled" by Christ when He said "It is finished" and the new covenant was established after "taking away" the old covenant (Heb 10:9).
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