Heart & Soul - - Heartless

 Romans 1:31

Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 786

Implacable: without libation, without truce, admitting of no truce

From the Greek word 'aspondos' (pronounced as'-pon-dos): cannot be persuaded to enter into a covenant.

    Most versions render this passage of Scripture as: senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless. But they leave out a translation for 'implacable'. Who wants to be considered unable to be persuaded into a covenant relationship with God? Every sinner wants to justify their sin. If the word 'implacable' is omitted, it could justify their sinful actions allowing them to believe that God will still let them into heaven. So not true.

    The previous verses Romans 1:18-30 explain to whom this verse (31) is speaking. And the last verse explains their hardheadedness and their hardheartedness: "Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them." Romans 1:32.

    When Paul spoke in Acts 26 to King Agrippa regarding his defense, the king at first called Paul "insane" and then that he himself was "almost persuaded." King Agrippa 'could not be persuaded to enter into a covenant relationship in Christ'. 

    Judas, realizing after he turned Jesus in to the Pharisees, threw the silver back at them and killed himself. All that time following Jesus and he never believed fully. He was remorseful, and perhaps, penitent, but he died unrepentant and unforgiven. He, too, refused to enter into a covenant relationship with Christ. He was never persuaded. 

    Paul's words in Romans 1:18-32 condemn the foolish/senseless/ignorant/undiscerning; the untrustworthy/ faithless/covenantbreakers; the unnaturally affectioned/sexually immoral/amoral/heartless; unbound by a truce/implacable/unpersuaded; unmerciful/without compassion/without pity. 

    And yet he is not saying anything new that hasn't been said already in God's Word. Through the anointing of the Spirit Paul is able to make clear who is not going to receive the reward of God. Unless they repent. They are arrogant and in their arrogance they are able to persuade those who listen to them that there is nothing wrong with their sinful actions. Does any of this sound familiar? We are there now in this day and age. The minority has a big mouth and many itching ears are listening to it. 

    Before we can enter heaven we have to enter into Christ and invite Him to enter into us. Revelation 3:20 tells us that Jesus stands at the door of our hearts, knocking to be let in, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

     Behold simply means 'pay attention to what I am about to say'. It is an imperative, a directive pointing towards an objective. The directive? "Here I am knocking. Hear My voice. Open the door. Let Me come in. Let Me dine with you and you with Me." The objective? A covenant relationship. 

    We implore you, beg you, urge you to reconsider your decision to not listen to God and the Truth of God's Word. We weep for your souls. We desire only the best for you who do not believe and that best is a covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We are here to persuade you, to encourage you to hear the Truth of the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.

    Hear the voice of the Spirit tugging at your hearts, calling you even now into repentance: to believe, to be baptized, to be filled with the Spirit, to live a life that pleases God. Implacableness is not pleasing to God. Infidelity is not pleasing to God. Neither ignorance nor unfaithfulness is pleasing to God. 

    Hear the Word of the Lord, church. This letter Paul wrote, he wrote to the church in Rome, reminding them, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, suppressing the truth by unrighteousness." (Romans 1:18). 

    Even now this Word is True and Faithful. Hear the Lord speaking to you, open the doors of your hearts and let Him in. You don't have to try and clean yourselves up: God will clean you up. He cleaned me up. I'm not the same person I was before I came to Christ. But now Jesus lives in me and I live in Him. I live for Him. Don't you want to have a sweet, covenant relationship in Christ, too? 

    Jesus is my Light and I'm letting Him shine through me. He is my Testimony and my Savior, my wonderful Redeemer, my Life Eternal and my Resurrection. Jesus is my friend. How do I know all this? The Bible tells me so. And I choose to believe that God's Word is Truth. 

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Heart & Soul - - True Heart

 

Hebrews 10:22

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 228

True Heart: real, genuine, made of truth

From the Hebrew word 'aléthinos' (pronounced al-ay-thee-nos'),  emphasizing the organic connection (authentic unity) between what is true and its source or origin. 

Antonyms, opposites of, true would include: inaccurate, counterfeit, false, flawed, deceptive, corrupt, evil and disloyal.

    It is important to have a True Heart, because without it we will not see God and live. Though all will see God on judgment day not all will remain with God for all eternity. Too many will have chosen not to be with God. By their own actions/inactions they will have sent themselves to hell, for that is the destination of the unbeliever. Even if a person says they are a Christian in their lifetime, their own words and actions deny that such a spiritual transformation has taken place. 

    THE COVENANT OF BLOOD

    When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, God had to kill an animal and cover their sinfulness with its hide, a shadow of the Lamb of God Who would die on the cross to cover/wash away/remove sins. The coverings Adam and Eve made for themselves were not enough to cover their nakedness completely, and so were inadequate. As filthy rags, our attempts to cover or remove sin are just as inadequate. We need a better covering and that Covering is Jesus Christ. (Genesis 3:21; Isaiah 64:6; Hebrews 8:6).

    When the tenth and last plague was about to cover the land of Egypt before the Israelites were kicked out of Egypt, God instructed Moses on the proper way to sacrifice a lamb whose blood would be used to cover the door frames of each Israelite's home where the lamb would be eaten. (Exodus 12:1-13).

    When Moses met God and heard what He had to say before Moses spent those first forty days and nights on the mountaintop with God, the LORD God spoke the Ten Commandments and the law to him, as a boss would dictate to his secretary. Moses wrote every word down making this writing the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 24:7), which he then sprinkled with the blood of the peace offering, of the young bulls which had been sacrificed for that purpose. Then Moses sprinkled the blood on the people, signifying the covenant between God and themselves. (Exodus 24:1-8). 

    When the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world came to us, the instruction is also made clear that this blood must be applied (1) Individually, and (2) By Faith. 

(1) John 1:12, 3:18, 20:31; Mark 16:16. 

(2) Hebrews 11 (the Hall of Faith); Ephesians 2:8, 9; Colossians 1:1-29. 

    The True Heart is the heart that has acknowledged its unrighteousness and evilness in living a life that was not pleasing to God. In so doing it also recognizes its need for a Savior to bring salvation which can cleanse the True Heart of its sins and bring it to a right relationship with God. 

    The True Heart is more than sincere in its desire to know God personally, it recognizes the urgency to meet God face to face and the strong desire to hear Him speak with it in private: a one-on-one encounter that will forever change a person. 

THE WASHING OF THE WORD

    Having received Christ into its heart by faith in the Name of the Son of God (Romans 10:8-10), the True Heart now sees the need for outer purification as well and is baptized, submerged beneath the water, representing being buried with Christ in the tomb, then raised to new life in Him. 

    The heart gets sprinkled with the blood of Christ by faith; the body gets washed in the water of purification in a public display of this transforming power of God to change a person from the inside outward. 

    While it is not always possible to receive a water baptism after proclaiming one's belief in the Name of the Son of God, those who can, do so. There were two thieves hung on their own crosses next to Christ, one on each side. One died in his sins, the other declared his faith in Christ. There was no time for him to be baptized, but with Christ he is now and forevermore. 

    Christ, as our example always, was baptized by His cousin John, where those who were nearby heard John cry out to them, "Behold! The Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world!" (John 1:29-31) Upon Christ also came the Spirit of heaven, like a dove, which rested upon Him (John 1:32-34).

    And just before Jesus was arrested He washed His disciples' feet. This was the example of servitude He set for them. They/we should not consider themselves/ourselves above the needs of other just because they were/we are His disciples. We are the body of Christ and we should interact with each other as Christ interacted with His first disciples. (John 13:1-17). 

    Let us come now with True Hearts and receive today what God has in store for His faithful people. 

    

TRUE HEART 

Mercy of God

 

1 Chronicles 16:34

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

Mercy: Lovingkindness, Loving Devotion

What is the Mercy which God which God extends to people?

1. Redemption from enemies and troubles. We should Trust in it; Rejoice in it; Hope in it..

2. Preservation of life from death.

3. Quickening of spiritual life.

4. Redemption from sin.

5. Covenant-keeping

These things, this Mercy of God, is for ever. For us it is while we have breath, this life we have been given. The decision to believe God and follow Christ must be made on this side of eternity. You can't change your mind after you die. It'll be too late then. 

  

James 4:13-14

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”  You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

The Covenant of Circumcision

     Today's Love Note is Circumcised Heart:

which is found in Deuteronomy 30:6

The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, that you may live. 

Circumcision is painful. The first circumcision noted in the Bible was not done by a doctor or healer but by Abraham. Nor was it done just to babies, but  to grown men. Men who wanted to follow Abraham and Abraham's God. (Genesis 17).

    Then, as now, God calls us first to righteousness, then a name change, then the circumcision. Then, it was a physical circumcision: it was painful and bloody. Now, it is a spiritual circumcision: it is painful and it is bloody. 

    God says, "I choose you. Choose Me in return and I will bless you greatly. If anyone wants to be in My covenant, this circumcision must be done. By choosing not to do this, My covenant will be broken with that one who refuses." 

     The heart that refuses to follow God will remain bloodless: If the blood of Christ has not been applied to the heart, then that heart is uncovenanted: there is no fellowship with God, no joy, no peace.

No promise of God which requires obedience to Him before it can be fulfilled will fall on the disobedient. 

     The pain and bloodiness of a circumcised heart is known by the believer. It is Christ who suffered and died. It is Christ who was made a bloody mess for us. It is in Christ we suffer and die. It is through Christ's atonement on the Cross that our hearts are able to receive the promise of salvation from the hand of God. 

     Before our hearts can be circumcised by The Holy Spirit, we must believe that Jesus Christ Is and that He Is our Redeemer sent from God. Romans 4:10-12 "In what context was it credited? Was it after his circumcision, or before? It was not after, but before. And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised."

Catching Up and East From West

I know it's been awhile since last I posted. One of the main reasons? My browser was infected with some kind of advertisement bug and it wouldn't let me access my pages without a ton of interference.

There is coming a day, however, when I will no longer be able to share my studies with you. Until that day occurs, these studies will keep coming.

Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

As Rudyard Kipling stated in his epic poem 'The Ballad of East and West',

 "East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet."

He knew his Scripture when he used that statement. And it's true: no matter how you shape it or imagine it, east will never meet west. When God forgives us for our sins, after we repent of our sins, the penalty for those sins committed, is forever paid by another: JESUS CHRIST, God's only begotten Son. Thus those sins will never be judged, for they have been forgiven and forgotten by God. 

It is by God's mercy that we are forgiven-Psalm 103:17-18  "But the mercy of The LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear (hold in awe and wonder) Him, and His righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them."

What is God's covenant with us? His Son, The LORD JESUS CHRIST. 

Hebrews 13:20,21 "Now The GOD of Peace, that brought again from the dead our LORD JESUS, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through JESUS CHRIST; to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Jeremiah 31:33,34  "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith THE LORD, I will put My Law in their hearts; and will be their GOD, and they shall be My people. 

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know THE LORD': for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,' saith THE LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Hebrews 8:6 "But now has He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." Hebrews 8:10 "For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith THE LORD; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a GOD, and they shall be to Me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying Know THE LORD: for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."

I love that God's mercy endures for ever. I love that God's mercy is not just for me and you, but for our children and their children, as well. The prayers we pray now are impacting not only us, but they who will come after us: children's children's children. Someone prayed for us before we were ever born. Let's keep this legacy of remaining in prayer with our God going.