Yes! These bear repeating, with descriptions added where needed to some to help you understand it.
1) “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.” Lamentations 3:22-25 KJV.
2) “Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee.” Psalm 63:3 KJV.
3) Psalm 136: All 26 verses of Psalm 136 end in ‘His mercy endureth forever’ in the King James Version! And in the New American Standard Bible version all of the verses from this Psalm end in ‘His lovingkindness is everlasting’ 26 times! Get the point? How is this Psalm true if God is punishing souls forever in Hell fire? In what way could He ever be construed as being merciful if He did this? Jesus also said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Matthew 5:7 KJV. Wouldn’t this be a contradiction to tell people that they should be merciful if God wasn’t merciful? If this were true, how could anyone expect mercy from God, even if they repented from the sins they committed in this lifetime? If someone doesn’t believe that God is merciful, this could lead them to treat others unmercifully too.
The phrases lovingkindness, love and mercy and like terms are repeated many times in the Bible, particularly in the books of Moses and the Psalms. Why? Because many people in the Bible saw their need of God and forgiveness. This truth greatly appealed to them, which Moses, David and many others wrote about.
4) Psalms 103:8-10 paints a different picture of God than is presented by many. He is compassionate, gracious and slow to anger. And He is full of love and kindness for all mankind. God will not remember His anger forever. So how can this be, if He punishes people in hell for endless ages, whom Christ died for and loves? 1 John 4:8 says that God is love, and this picture of God is in direct contradiction to what many people believe, unfortunately. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked! Therefore repent and live!
5) “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Psalm 118:29 NASB. Ditto for this text! How can God’s lovingkindness be everlasting, if He burns someone in hell forever? That would be a lie, and then we would serve God out of fear instead of love.
6) In Exodus 33:12-19 we see the wonderful story of how Moses asked God to show him His glory! Who had ever dared asked this of God before, in recorded history? None. And what did God declare was His glory? He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious and will show mercy on whom He will show mercy! Wow! This is a view of God’s glory that is rarely heard we think, especially since it is coming from the Old Testament! Many claim that they understand God’s love. But if they really believed it, they would be proclaiming it with all of their being, heart, mind and strength! How can anyone who loves God do otherwise? This statement about God’s graciousness and mercy defines Him in the same way as 1 John 4:8, that God is love. See also Exodus 33:12-19.
7) “’Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18-20 NASB. Come let us reason together! God has made provision for your needs, dear reader! You don't have to have scarlet sins anymore, you can be forgiven and take off that heavy load of guilt. It is too hard for you to bear! Praise the Lord! You can be happy and free! No need to worry about God punishing you for your sins if you keep confessing them and keep giving your heart to God and keep wanting to obey Him. Amen!
8) In John 3:16-18 we have the most wonderful promise of God’s salvation for mankind, if we will just believe in Jesus His Son! How can you beat this promise? It says it all! It tells us that the character of God is love!
9) Ezekiel 33:11 KJV. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. That is why their punishment will be complete and final; their punishment will not be eternal. Since God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, it follows that He also would not desire their eternal suffering either, for a short mortal life of wickedness. 1 John 4:8 says that God is love. In no way could a God of Love throw out all logic, justice, fairness and of course love, in order to assign someone to the flames for all eternity. He takes no pleasure in anyone’s death and is just in all His treatment of mankind.
10) ‘Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 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 32:3-4. KJV. God is completely fair, just and righteous! And at the end of time when the saints will praise God with the song of Moses in Heaven, and declare that just and true are His ways, all of His righteous judgements will have been made manifest to the saved. God’s perfect justice towards those who failed to confess and repent from all their sins in their rebellion against Him, will be made plain to all.
11) Revelation 15:3-4: The song of Moses is repeated here (originally found in Exodus 15:10-19 or Deuteronomy 32:3-4 both of these are ‘the song of Moses’), which will be the praise offered to God and the Lamb, Lord God Almighty, by all of the saved in Heaven! Why do His people love Him so much? It is because He is so loving, kind and true; all of His ways are just and perfect! How marvelous are all of His works! Amen!
#God #Kindness #Mercy #Love #Endures #Forever #Punish #Hell #Fire #Contradict #Wicked #Repent #Fear #Glory #Reason #Sin #Promise #Death #Fair #Judgment
Originally posted 2017-10-13 14:00:00.
“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'” Luke 14:26-30 NASB. Are you able to finish the course that is set before you? Hebrews 12:1. You will be able to finish the course that is set before you, if you count the true cost, and the true value of the surpassing riches that God wants to provide you. “And raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6-7 NASB.
Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down His life for His friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.” John 15:13-14 NASB. Jesus is the good shepherd who laid down his life for His friends!Jesus said, “Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?” Luke 6:46 NASB. We are Jesus’ friends if we do what He says. Doing everything that He said is doing everything that He has commanded us.
How to know if you are born again and belong to God? Do you love to tell of Jesus and His Father’s love? Or do you love to tell the faults of others? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? Does doing the right thing, being a good witness, and sharing your faith seem like a duty or a pleasure? Do you have a nagging guilt that you should do something for God and others? Or do you have a burning desire to serve God and help others? Are you so happy that you are free? Or are you bound in slavery and guilt?
Certificate of Achievement: This acknowledges that [blank] is a servant of God because he/she loves Jesus. [Your Name Goes Here?] Signed by the Holy Spirit. Today’s Date? Please look at this certificate and ponder the importance of what it is trying to teach, it is really quite simple, yet powerful. This pictorially shows us how we can please God, and know if we are on the right track or not. It is not just trying to be cute, but to help all to see the truth.
Give your heart to God every day! Why not? He loves you! If you promise to love and serve Him, by His power, and ask Him to bless you in witnessing to others of His love, He will be happy with you! Even though we are cautioned by Jesus not to vow, because we cannot turn one hair of our head white or black, He is talking about any promises that we make in our own strength. The key here is that we cannot keep an oath that we made ‘by our head,’ or by ourselves. But we can vow by the mighty power of God!
“Therefore they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’” John 6:28-29 NASB. What shall we do that we may do the works of God? Believe in the one God sent, Jesus. Yes, we repeated it. When you want to really understand a text, it is often helpful to read it again, because the Bible explains itself. Both the question and the answer are both contained in this text. This is another way of stating righteousness by faith!
The inspiring testimony of Charles Fitch - how he came to receive the Holy Spirit and have a closer walk with God. He learned how God could make him more like Jesus:
It is now several years, since, after a season of spiritual gloom and sadness, I came fully to the conclusion, that there was something in the religion of Jesus Christ, to which I had been a stranger. I had seen myself to be a sinner before God, richly deserving His everlasting indignation. I had seen that God would be holy, just and good, and worthy of universal and eternal adoration, while punishing me with everlasting destruction from His presence and from the glory of His power. I had also seen in Christ a Saviour, who, after atoning for all mankind on the cross, was able, on the merits of that atonement, to save to the uttermost all that come to God by Him; and on that Saviour I had cast myself as my only hope, and trusted in Him, and Him only, as my Deliverer from the wrath of God.
Peter said, “And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” Acts 5:32 NASB. So obedience to God is the condition for receiving the Holy Spirit! There is a true Holy Spirit, and there is a counterfeit. How do you know which Holy Spirit is the real Holy Spirit? If you are obeying God in what He has revealed in the Bible, or if you want to obey Him, He will give you the help you need and the continued desire to obey Him in everything He has said.
The force of this is found in the fact that the Christian life, which is the result of faith, is progressive. The Christian life is a continual growth. Peter says: "Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:17, 18. The only way to keep from falling from that which we have, is to grow. David says of the righteous man that "he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water." Ps. 1:3. This means continual growth.
