Who Chose Who?

 

Did you choose God or did God choose you?

Jesus makes it clear in John 15 verses 16 and 17. He says:

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last.

Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

This is my command: Love each other.”

What a wonderful affirmation that salvation is not based on anything we do.

We can’t choose God until he first chooses us.

Jesus is a thoroughly Monergistic theologian.

There is nothing in his words that would indicate that we must do something before we can be saved.

What we do after Jesus chooses us is what many people think saves them.

They will say things like, “I decided to follow Jesus.”

That is a very true statement but the only way a person can decide to follow Jesus is after Jesus chooses him.

Make sure you understand that not only does Jesus choose us, but he gives us the will and desire to follow him.

It would be unthinkable for a person who has been chosen to then say they don’t want to follow Jesus.

If they say that, then it only establishes the fact that they haven’t yet been chosen.

Since we are chosen, we will want to do what Jesus wants. That is part of being chosen.

Our nature is changed, and we desire to go and bear fruit.

In Chapter 2 of Ephesians, Paul goes into some detail about how we only had a desire to follow Satan until God makes us alive in Jesus Christ.

Then he explains the fruit in verse 10,

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We don’t make a choice for Jesus until God gives us the desire and then we start doing the things God had planned for us even before he made us alive in Jesus.

This is the real meaning of Monergism.

God does it and we give him the glory.

Based on this, what will we ask for in Jesus’ name?

We will ask for the things that will enable us to bear fruit.

If you aren’t sure you are chosen, then watch my video on YouTube, "The Gospel." 

 

May God Bless you!

Accountability to God

 

Why do we say we are accountable to God?

The reason is revealed in Psalm 24 verses 1 and 2.


“The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. “


Think about that and work backwards in the two verses.

God founded or created the world.

He is the Maker and the Maker owns what he has made.

The earth belongs to the Lord God and not only the earth but all that is in it.

Now he is talking about you and me. He made us. It gets personal.

In verse 3 David asks,

“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?”

In other words, who can stand before our Maker?

The answer is given in verse 4

“He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.”

There is the accountability for us all to live godly lives because we are made by him.

Verse 5 tells us the blessing for those who accept this accountability and seek God.

“He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

If you want a godly life but haven’t turned to Jesus for salvation, then watch my video on YouTube, "The Gospel."

May God Bless you!

Search, Test, Lead Me

 

Psalm 139 verses 23 and 24 cause me to do some soul searching. It says:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.



Can we honestly ask the Lord to search our heart?

He already knows it, but do we want him to reveal to us what is in our hearts?

That can be pretty scary because out of our hearts come all sorts of evils according to Jesus in Matthew 15 verse 19.

Do we want to have the Lord test us and show us that our thoughts are anxious when we are tested instead of trusting him?

Do we pray during our testing and let the peace that passes understanding calm us and take us through the trials?

Or do we panic and trust anyone or anything other than the Lord?

Then do we really want to ask the Lord to see if there is any offensive way in us?

The truth is that there are many offensive ways in us.

But the good news is that he will lead us in the way everlasting.

If you want that but haven’t turned to Jesus for salvation then watch my pinned message on my profile page, "The Gospel."

May God Bless you!

Did Jesus Christ have a twin?

 

Did Jesus Christ have a twin?  

Let’s see what the Bible has to say. 

24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord."

So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."

    Why is Thomas called the Twin? This is the second of three times that Thomas is called the Twin (John 11:16, 20:24, and 21:2). Several translations use the word Didymus instead of Twin. The explanation is very simple. Thomas is the Aramaic form of the word twin. The Greek word for twin is didumos. So, the translations that use Didymus are using a transliteration of twin. You will notice that every time Didymus or Twin is used, it is capitalized. Since the verses say he was “called” Twin or Didymus, it is used as his nickname or epithet. Eusebius states that Thomas’ name was Judas and they called him Twin to distinguish between the other two apostles named Judas.[1]

    In the third century, an apocryphal book, the Acts of Thomas, was published by the Gnostics. In this book, Thomas is called Thomas Judas or Judas Thomas. In two passages he is called the twin of Jesus by a serpent then by a donkey (Act 3:31 and Act 4:39),[2] hardly reliable witnesses. From this heretical book, all sorts of speculations developed trying to persuade early Christians that Jesus actually had a twin. It is simply a fabrication of those who wanted to hijack Christianity for their own purposes. Even today, there are those who use this to cast doubts upon the deity of Jesus. And this passage is really all about Jesus’ deity.

    Thomas is better known to us today as “Doubting Thomas” because he didn’t believe that the other disciples had seen Jesus. Perhaps the Gnostics seized upon this passage about Thomas as a foil in their writings hoping that his moment of doubt would encourage others to doubt the veracity of Jesus’ resurrection. Gnostics completely reject Jesus’ resurrection because they believe the body is like a prison and their goal is to shed the body. So having Jesus die and then regain his body is unthinkable for them. When Thomas asks to be able to put even put his finger in to the print of the nails, the Gnostics seize on this and twist it to show that it is unbelievable for Jesus to have a physical resurrected body. But Jesus will soon show his resurrected body to Thomas disproving the Gnostics forever.

    One of the big objections to Christianity today is the current scientific thinking that it is impossible for someone to come back to life. Gnostics may believe in the supernatural but have it all wrong. Today’s culture has even eliminated the supernatural and therefore dismissed the resurrection out of hand. Jesus has only one thing to say to Gnostics and anyone else who denies his resurrection. He said it in the story of Lazarus and the rich man. “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). In other words, people who reject the Bible and anything supernatural are not going to believe Jesus was raised from the dead. However, believing that Jesus is raised physically is crucial to the Christian faith.

If you want to know more about salvation through Jesus, watch my video on YouTube, "The Gospel."

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[1] “Thomas,” James Hastings, John Lambert, and Shailer Mathews, eds., David Smith in Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, One-Volume Edition (New Your, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909).

[2] M R James, trans., “The Acts of Thomas,” The Gnostic Society Library, 1994, http://gnosis.org/library/actthom.htm.