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Salvation Down Through The Ages
By - Jerry Shugart
In order to understand exactly how
people down through the ages have been saved let us look at the following
words of Paul where he speaks of the gospel of grace:
"And now apart from law
hath the righteousness of God been manifested, testified to by the law and
the prophets, and this righteousness of God is through the
faithfulness of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those who believe,
-- for there is no difference, for all did sin, and are come short of the
glory of God --being declared righteous freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God did set forth a mercy seat,
through the faith in his blood, for the shewing forth of His righteousness,
because of the passing over of the bygone sins in the forbearance of God"
(Ro.3:21-25).
Paul says that this righteousness
of God which is apart from law is now being made known. Then he says that
this righteousness of God comes to all who believe. This blessing is made
possible because believers are "declared freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
Now let us look at what is in
"bold" here:
"And now apart from law
hath the righteousness of God been manifested, testified to by the law and
the prophets, and this righteousness of God is through the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those who believe..."
Paul is saying that the
truth of the believer receiving this imputed righteousness which is of God
was revealed by him first but the Old Testament testifies that even in those
times believers were also obtaining the imputed righteousness which is of
God. And then Paul first uses Abraham as an example of believers who receive
this blessing by faith:
"What shall we say then that
Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham
were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For
what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto
him for righteousness"
(Ro.4:1-3).
Then Paul moves on to David, who
lived under the law:
"Now to him that worketh is
the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man,
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Ro.4:4-8).
Next, Paul made it plain that both
the Jews and the Gentiles receive the same blessing in the same way:
"Cometh this blessedness
then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we
say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then
reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in
circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of
circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being
uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they
be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also" (Ro.9-11).
All believers down through history
have received this blessedness which is apart from law or works. And then
Paul makes it plain that both the Jews and the Gentiles are saved by faith on
the principle of grace:
"Therefore it is of faith,
that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the
seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of
the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all" (Ro.4:16).
If anyone wants to argue that
those under the law could not be saved apart from works then they certainly
do not understand that if salvation is of works then that salvation cannot be
described as being of "grace."
In His grace,
Jerry
SO GREAT SALVATION!{Click} 
Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
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Saturday, April 11, 2020
Salvation Down Through The Ages - By - Jerry Shugart
Friday, April 10, 2020
The Baptism Which Saves - By Jerry Shugart
The Baptism Which Saves -
By Jerry Shugart
In
my previous study titled "Water Baptism" I demonstrated that before
anyone could be baptized with water they had to first believe.
Therefore, the eunuch was already "born of God" (1 Jn.5:1-5) before he
was baptized with water because he believed that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God:
"And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:36-37).
From
this we know that submitting to the rite of water baptism saved no one.
The only baptism which saves is the "one baptism" (Eph.4:5) of the
present dispensation which is the baptism into the Body of Christ, which
is also the baptism into the Lord Jesus' death spoken of here:
"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death" (Ro.6:3-4).
From
all of this we know that when Peter taught about about a baptism which
saves that baptism must be the baptism into the Body of Christ:
"...the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us
(not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a
good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet.3:21-22).
Those
who received Peter's epistle were saved when they were baptized into
the Body of Christ and therefore baptized into His death. We also read
that "water" was the "like figure" or "type" of the baptism which saves.
Noah
and his family were saved from physical death by the very thing which
brought death unto the others when the water bore up the ark and kept
them safe. So in effect they were saved from death by the very thing
which brought death to everyone else.
And
the believer is saved from an eternal death (the second death) when he
is baptized into the death of the Lord Jesus. So Noah was saved from
death by death and those who received Peter's epistles were saved from
death by death. Sir Robert Anderson wrote:
"The
Apostle’s teaching is that, as the water which engulfed the world bore
up the Ark, Noah was saved from death by death, so also is the sinner
who believes in Christ. For when united to Christ he becomes one with
Him in death....Noah’s Flood typified the death penalty upon sin, and
Christian baptism symbolises union with Christ in His death on Calvary" (Anderson, Misunderstood Texts of the New Testament).
Those who received Peter's epistles were members of the Body of Christ.
In His grace,
Jerry 
Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
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this BIBLE STUDY to all your friends
Thursday, April 9, 2020
But Now - by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
But Now -
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
The words “but now”
are found in many places in the Bible, but most often in the Epistles
of Paul. These two words are deeply significant, for they indicate a
change in program. If my secretary is transcribing some dictation and I
say: “But now I would like you to take a letter,” this indicates a
change in program.
So it is with this phrase as we find it in Rom. 3:21: “But nowthe
righteousness of God without the law is manifested.” Prior to this time
God’s people were under the Law. There was no other way to approach
Him. But though under the Law, they constantly broke the Law, so that
those who sought salvation by the Law stood before God condemned rather
than justified. Thus the Apostle says in Verse 20:
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested”(Ver. 21).
How
can this be? How can a man be declared righteous apart from the Law?
The answer, the only answer is, by grace through faith in Christ. Though
perfect and sinless, Christ died for sin. Whose sin? Yours and mine.
Thus as Paul declares in Acts 13:38, 39:
“Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all who believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law”
(Rom. 3:28).
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Earth's Greatest Day = by Pastor Paul M. Sadler
Earth's Greatest Day
by Pastor Paul M. Sadler
The
incomparable English preacher, Charles Spurgeon, once said, "Every
circumstance connected with the life of Christ is deeply interesting to
the Christian mind. Wherever we behold our Savior, He is well worthy of
our notice….All His weary pilgrimage, from Bethlehem's manger to
Calvary's cross, is, in our eyes, paved with glory. Each spot upon which
He trod is, to our souls, consecrated at once, simply because there the
foot of earth's Savior and our own Redeemer once was placed.
"When
He comes to Calvary, the interest thickens; then our best thoughts are
centered on Him in the agonies of crucifixion, nor does our deep
affection permit us to leave Him, even when, the struggle being over, He
yields up the ghost. His body, when it is taken down from the tree,
still is lovely in our eyes--we fondly linger around the motionless
clay. By faith we discern Joseph of Arimathea, and the timid Nicodemus…
drawing out the nails and taking down the mangled body; we behold them
wrapping Him in clean, white linen, hastily girding him round with belts
of spices; then putting Him in His tomb, and departing for the Sabbath
rest."
On
the first day of the week, Christ broke the bands of death and rose
again. In the words of the angel who was there that glorious morning,
"Come, see the place where the Lord lay" (Matt. 28:6). It is in every
sense of the word, earth's greatest day.
WITNESS OF THE EMPTY TOMB
After
the crucifixion of Christ, Joseph begged Pilate for the body of Jesus,
that he might give it a proper burial. Once in his possession, Joseph
and Nicodemus wrapped the body and placed it in the tomb -- they placed
the Rock of Ages in a hewn-out rock. Then they removed the object
holding the "great stone" in place, allowing it to roll in front of the
entrance of the tomb. This stone is estimated to have weighed more than a
ton; in fact, it is said that it would have taken the strength of
twenty men to move it. According to the Scriptures, there were four
believers that day who witnessed the entombment of our Lord's body:
Joseph, Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary (Matt. 27:57-61;
John 19:38-42).
Shortly
thereafter, the Chief Priest and the Pharisees requested that Pilate
secure the tomb. This was accomplished by doing three things:
"So they went, and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch" (Matt. 27:66).
To make the tomb sure
meant that the stone would have been removed from the entrance so the
religious leaders and the Roman soldiers could confirm the body of Jesus
was actually there. Obviously it was present and accounted for, seeing
that the soldiers sealed the tomb with the Roman signet. The motto in those days was, "Break a Roman seal, and lose your life." Finally, they set a watch,
which meant sixteen Roman soldiers were posted nearby, four of which
were stationed at the door of the tomb. We know for certain that there
were more than two soldiers on duty because Matthew clearly states that
"some of the watch came into the city" after Christ's resurrection
(Matt. 28:11,12).
As
dawn was breaking on resurrection morn, the air, in all probability,
was cool and crisp. When Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and
Salome arrived at the burial plot, they were amazed to find that the
massive stone had been removed and the tomb was empty (Mark 16:1-3).
When Peter and John arrived on the scene, they too were puzzled, but
eventually realized that the reason the body was gone was because Christ
had risen from the dead, as He had promised (John 20:19,20). The
secured tomb was empty, which bears witness to the fact that Christ did
indeed rise from the dead. Even the unbelieving Roman watch confirmed
that the tomb they had been guarding was empty (Matt. 28:11-15).
THE WITNESS OF ANGELS
"And, behold… the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it" (Matt. 28:2).
It
is interesting that, according to the four Gospels, there were two
different appearances of the angels on the day Christ rose from the
dead. As messengers of God, they announced the Savior's birth, and now
one of them announces His resurrection. But is it possible for one angel
to move what Mark calls a "very great" stone (Mark 16:4), estimated to
weigh well over a ton? The strength and ability of the angels of God go
far beyond our comprehension; they are supernatural beings. For example,
in the days of Hezekiah, one angel smote dead 185,000 Assyrian soldiers
in one night (II Kings 19:35; Isa. 37:36).
The
account given to us by Matthew makes it very clear that the Lord had
already risen from the dead prior to the angel of the Lord rolling the
stone away from the doorway. You see, the removal of the stone was for
our benefit. It was removed by the angel so we could see the tomb was
empty. This is why the angel said to the women present that day, "Fear
not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not
here: for He is risen" (Matt. 28:5,6).
THE WITNESS OF THE LORD
Luke
records for us that the Lord showed Himself alive by many infallible
proofs --undeniable, irrefutable proofs (Acts 1:3). In addition to the
aforementioned witnesses, the Lord was seen by over 500 brethren at once
in Galilee (Matt. 28:10; I Cor. 15:6). This was followed by perhaps the
most credible evidence of all: He appeared to James and Paul, both of
whom rejected Him before His resurrection.
Paul's
experience on the road to Damascus, when He saw the resurrected Christ,
was similar to that of Thomas, who couldn't deny his senses and said,
"My Lord and my God!" But there's still another infallible proof for
those who believe: He lives in our heart by faith. Amen!
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Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
E-mail
this BIBLE STUDY to all your friends
Sunday, April 5, 2020
UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE - Pastor Richard Jordan
UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE -
Pastor Richard Jordan
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"Study
to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth" (II Timothy 2:15).
In
Ephesians 2 the Apostle Paul sets forth the basic three- fold division
in God's dealings with mankind: Time Past (vs. 11,12), But Now (v.13),
the Ages to Come (v.7). When the Bible is "laid out" according to this
divinely inspired design we easily get an overview of not only what we
are reading but when and to whom it was written. Thus the Word of God
itself provides us with the key to its own proper understanding and
right division:
Time
Past: Ephesians 2:11,12 sets forth the basic issue in Time Past as the
division between the Circumcision and the Uncircumcision, between the
nation Israel and the Gentiles. When you find this issue governing the
way God was working with men, you know you are in Time Past. This covers
the "Old Testament" (see Genesis 17:9-14, Deuteronomy 4:5-8, Numbers
23:9) as well as Matthew thru John (see Romans 15:8, Matthews 10:5,6;
15:24, John 4:22) and the early Acts period (see Luke 24:47, Acts 1:6,8;
2:14,22,36; 5:32; 11:19).
But
Now: Ephesians 2: l3 indicates that in the But Now portion Gentiles are
no longer "far off" but rather the "middle wall of partition" between
Israel and the Gentiles has been eliminated and now "those who were far
off are made nigh." Romans thru Philemon provide the doctrine for the
dispensation of grace (Romans 11: 13; 15;16; 16:25, I Corinthians 14:37,
Ephesians 3:1-9).
The
Ages to Come: God will bring His purposes to fruition and thus
Ephesians 2:7 points to the Ages to Come. The books of Hebrews thru
Revelation focus on this.
The
chart above has demonstrate the importance of the secret, hidden
nature of the present dispensation of grace (Ephesians 3: 1-9). Fold the
chart to hide the "mystery" section and you will see the perfect
continuity of that "which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy
prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21). Open the chart to reveal
the mystery program and you will visualize how the prophetic program has
been temporarily interrupted by "the revelation of the mystery, which
was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest" (Romans
16:25,26).
The
present dispensation of grace is "the mystery" hid in God until first
revealed to the Apostle Paul (Ephesians 3:1-9, Colossians 1:24-26,
Romans 16:25,26, I Timothy 2:4-7, Tit. 1:2,3, etc.). Thus in Paul's
writings alone we find the doctrine, position, walk and destiny of the
Body of Christ.
Remember: While all Scripture is for us, all Scripture is not written to or about us. This is the key to understanding the Bible.
There is only way to be SAVED 1. Corinthian 15;1 - 4 Christ died for our sins was buried and rose again the third day. Believe this from you heart and you will have eternal life.
SO GREAT SALVATION!{Click}
Remember: While all Scripture is for us, all Scripture is not written to or about us. This is the key to understanding the Bible.
There is only way to be SAVED 1. Corinthian 15;1 - 4 Christ died for our sins was buried and rose again the third day. Believe this from you heart and you will have eternal life.
SO GREAT SALVATION!{Click}
Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
Share This BIBLE STUDY to all your friends
Saturday, April 4, 2020
You Can Make a Difference - by Pastor John Fredericksen
You Can Make a Difference
by Pastor John Fredericksen
One person can always make a difference. By one vote America voted to
make English our official language over German, Texas was added to the
union, Andrew Johnson was saved from impeachment, and Adolf Hitler
gained power over the Nazi party. In the spiritual realm, one person has
frequently made an enormous difference. Only Jehosheba hid young Joash
from being killed, enabling him to become a godly king (2 Kings 11).
Elijah stood alone against hundreds of false prophets, and a wicked king
and queen (1 Kings 18). Jonathan alone protected David from the
murderous plots of Saul (1 Sam. 19). Nathan stood alone to rebuke David,
influencing him to get right with the Lord (2 Sam. 12). God used one
man, Paul, to reveal our new dispensation of grace, and Onesiphorus to
encourage Paul in a time of great trial (2 Tim. 1:16-18). God can also
use you to make an important difference in your sphere of influence. "Be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might" (Eph. 6:10), seeking
to make a difference through ministry to others.
There
is only way to be SAVED 1. Corinthian 15;1 - 4 Christ died for our
sins was buried and rose again the third day. Believe this from you
heart and you will have eternal life.
SO GREAT SALVATION!{Click}
SO GREAT SALVATION!{Click}
Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
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Wednesday, April 1, 2020
God's Faithfulness And Ours - by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
God's Faithfulness And Ours
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
Many
people suppose that salvation is God’s reward to those who do their
best to live good lives. This is not so, for God’s Word says of those
who are saved:
“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Tim. 1:9).
Referring to this “salvation which is in Christ Jesus,” St. Paul says:
“It is a faithful saying, for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him” (II Tim. 2:10,11).
In
other words: The believer, viewing Calvary aright, has “died with
Christ.” Viewing the Cross, he has said: “This is not Christ’s death. He
was no sinner. He had no death to die. He is dying my death!” And so by
faith he is “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). The penalty for all
his sins has been fully paid, for he died — in Christ, and thus has also
risen with Christ “to walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3,4).
This
is all God’s doing, and only now is the believer in a position to do
good works that will please God. Thus the Apostle writes of believers,
in II Tim. 2: “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: if we deny
Him, He also will deny us” (Ver. 12). When the believer’s service for
Christ is reviewed some, indeed, will “receive a reward,” but others
will “suffer loss,” though they themselves will “be saved, yet so as by
fire” (I Cor. 3:14,15).
It
will be deeply embarrassing, in that day, for unfaithful Christians to
face empty-handed the One who gave His all, Himself, to save them. Yet
salvation is by grace, thus the Apostle hastens to conclude his
statement in II Timothy 2, with the words:
“If we are unfaithful, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself” (Ver. 13)
Thus our rewards as believers depend upon our faithfulness, but our salvation, thank God, on His!.
There
is only way to be SAVED 1. Corinthian 15;1 - 4 Christ died for our
sins was buried and rose again the third day. Believe this from you
heart and you will have eternal life.
Les Feldick Ministries
30706 W. Lona Valley Rd.
Kinta, OK 74552
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
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