Sabbath Sanctification the Spiritual Infusion.

 The time has come for my weekly infusion. This infusion sustains my life. The infusion I take weekly is administered for a full 24 hours. An entire day. I have to stop all I'm doing that keeps me from receiving the infusion. I can't work, I can't go about with my typical past times. I have to alter my day to day life routine in order to get this infusion. You may think I'm lying or trying to mislead you with all this talk of infusions. I'm not reclining in a chair in a clinic setting, or a hospital, or any such thing. I'm not waiting for a bag of liquid drugs to be hooked up to an iv in my arm. I'm not battling any physical disease with this infusion, and I know several people who do this- they go to infusion clinics some go weekly, others twice a week and still others only monthly- their treatment varies for their personal life threatening ailments they are battling. I have nothing but the greatest respect for these people and all people like them- getting drug infusions can be life-saving, or life-prolonging, all very necessary as we as people struggle to keep the life we've been given. 

My weekly infusion is a SPIRITUAL infusion and it does sustain my spiritual life. My weekly infusion is a full 24 hour infusion where I have to set aside my day to day weekly routines. I have to stop what I normally would do on every other day, and instead of doing what I normally do, I have to connect to the spiritual - which is a very real world all around us. Recognizing first and foremost that my spiritual world exists by the power of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This recognition is through faith, something every human being is given a measure of, what they do with that measure of faith they are given is completely up to them.  

Faith has me believing what I cannot see. I believe in the invisible, the untouchable. How do I know that the Spiritual realm exists when I can't see it or touch it? I know it exists because I exist because of that Spiritual force of creation.  I know it exists because to not believe it exists means this eternal longing in me for a world, a life without pain in all its many forms, is without any merit at all, and shouldn't exist at all. This longing is a desperate hope that makes me know the life we now live is not anything like the life we were created to live. We were not meant for the agonies we live with and through, and watch others live - with and through. There is an innate wrongness to ALL the agonies of life. Knowing this isn't how it was supposed to be for us makes me know that it isn't how it will always be for us. This is a temporary existence we live now. You know, and I know it, we all know that we are born and eventually we die- that is a temporary existence.

My Creator did not leave me to wonder aimlessly about all this, He gave me answers to many of my questions. He gave me every answer I need in order to know that there is an eternal existence that awaits me- even though I cannot see or touch it right now. That life I know we were truly created for, awaits us. This is faith.  The answers are plentiful and detailed and even though there are mysteries that remain. I have enough answers to give me hope.

Weekly I have the opportunity, the blessing, to be infused with Spiritual renewal. Weekly I recognize my life must be wholly submitted to God. One day in every seven I am to give my life to God for His purposes. Ceasing from self, just for one day and not ceasing from self through my own power but through the Spiritual power of God, it's through Him alone I can keep His weekly rest.

The power comes wholly from God, my part is to believe. 

I know that God told us that He's set aside a weekly Sabbath on the seventh day of the week. A day of remembrance of Him and all His wondrous glory. Creation, redemption all of it is there for us to submerge our spiritual selves into by yielding this time to recognize God. 

God's amazing creative power made His last creation week act that of creating this day of Sabbath rest. 

I need my spiritual infusion every week of my life, it is a sign between me and God.

Eze_20:12  Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

I can't sanctify myself, I can't make myself holy I do not have that power- but God can do so, God has that power.  Sabbath sanctification the spiritual infusion. I choose to let God live in my life.  All by His grace, His mercy, His love, all through Jesus Christ's sacrifice, now and forever, amen.

Spiritual Badges.

 Creationist - Sabbath.  As you read each of the following verses remember each word of God written here is filled with the creative life that God's word alone contains. There is power in the word of God. Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful…  

These aren't powerless words like those of mankind. 

Exo_31:13  Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.

Exo 31:16  Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 

Exo_31:17  It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

Eze_20:12  Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

Eze_20:20  And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.

Mat_12:8  For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Mat_12:11  And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

Mat_12:12  How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days

Mat_24:20  But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day

Mar_6:2  And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

Luk_4:16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

The Sabbath - forever a memorial - never changed or altered in any way by Jesus except for Him revealing its true meaning- which was that the Sabbath wasn't bound by the many hundreds of rules and regulations imposed upon it by mankind and not God.

The weekly memorial is a day of worship, of renewal in the Spirit, as we set the Sabbath day aside to give glory to our CREATOR, our REDEEMER our GOD. As we purposefully cease from our work, our past times, from self-focus- we are then left to recognize we do so for a purpose. The purpose is the recognition of our powerlessness and God's all powerfulness. The purpose is God's unique ability to create and our inability. The purpose is to choose to be inactive towards self-centered pursuits so that we may ever learn of God centered life.  By ceasing from work we recognize our work unlike God's is something that must cease. We CANNOT work to save ourselves. We recognize this every Sabbath day, our works do not save us, our Creator alone saves us, just as He alone created us. Can YOU work to save yourself in any way? Only by belief, only through the work of faith- a SPIRITUAL comprehension we keep the Sabbath holy. Nothing we work at, nothing we fill our time with that is self-centered will give us any spiritual blessing- it keeps us from receiving the blessing offered.

If you were told that a special blessing was given to you on every Sabbath day, a blessing that held transforming, creating, redeeming power used upon you- not a power given to you to utilize - but a power given to the powerless as only God can give- would you do all you could to honor God on the Sabbath day as He wants us to?   If you were told all you could do was lie in bed all day long except for necessary bodily functions, in order to be given this spiritual transfusion, would you do that? IF the spiritual blessing offered to us were tangible how much more likely would we be to want to get those blessing? A spiritual badge- for your spiritual growth, something to pin to a special spiritual banner to denote the blessings you've received. 

 Is it any wonder we are told to cultivate faith- belief? We need a belief that makes the unseen - seen to our spiritual selves as reality indeed and not just thoughts of invisible uncertainties. The blessings are real though we can't see them as visible, tangible spiritual badges. Salvation is real. God is real. The Spiritual is real.  We lose so much through disbelief, through faithlessness. Without faith- it truly is IMPOSSIBLE to please God. We have to BELIEVE that HE IS.

Heb_11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

We must diligently seek God and we are given a WEEKLY scheduled day where we can be blessed with a special blessing if we but choose to seek after God in truth!

EXCERPT-

Creationist.

*

But as certainly as you are an evolutionist, your Sabbath-keeping is a fraud.

Unless you recognize the word of God day by day as a creative energy in your life, your Sabbath-keeping is a fraud, because the Sabbath is a memorial of creation. It is "a sign between me and you, that [by which] ye may know that I am the Lord your God," the Creator of all things.

In the second chapter of Ephesians, eighth to tenth verses, we read, "For by grace are ye saved through faith,  and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

You need not expect to get any good works out of yourself. 

You have been trying. The evolutionist tries and is always trying without accomplishing it. 

Why go about trying to do good works, when you know you fail?  Listen. There will never be any good thing in you of any kind whatever from now till the world's end, except it is created there by the Creator Himself, by His word, which has in it the creative energy. Do not forget that.

Do you want to walk in good works when you go out of this house? It can be done only by being created in Jesus Christ unto those good works. 

Stop trying. 

Look to the Creator and receive His creative word. "Let the word of God dwell in you richly," then those good works will appear; you will be a Christian. 

Then, because you live with the Creator and are in the presence of the creative energy, you will have that pleasant, quiet peace and genuine strength and building up that belong to a Christian.

When He tells you that "we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them," then recognize the Creator, recognize only the good works that are created in you, paying no attention whatever to any work that is not crated there, because there is nothing good but what is created by the Lord.

Now you are created new in Christ Jesus. He says so. Thank Him that it is so. What! Will you be an evolutionist on that verse? That is the present tense, "We are his workmanship." We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Are you? The word is spoken. It is the creative word. How much time are you going to allow between that word of God and your being created new? Of the creation in the beginning, you said that any man who allows even a minute to pass between the word and the thing is an evolutionist. What are you now as to this word of God, which creates men in Christ Jesus unto good works? Are you an evolutionist here? Come, let us all be creationists.

Do you not see that in this way it will not require a long, tedious wearing process to be made ready to meet the Lord in glory? So many people are looking at themselves. They know that, in the nature of things it must take them an exceedingly long time to get fully ready to meet Him. If it is done by evolution, it will never be done. But when it is done by creation, it will be both surely and quickly done. That word I have before referred to is the word everyone here may take to himself. "While so many are hovering about the mystery of faith and godliness,  they could solve the matter by proclaiming abroad [by telling it out], 'Jesus Christ is my portion forever.'"

Do you see how much we have been evolutionists? shall we quit? Come now, let us be creationists and be done with it. Let us be Sabbath-keepers truly. Let us believe the Lord. He speaks forgiveness. He speaks a clean heart.  He speaks holiness; He creates it. Let Him create it in you. Stop being an evolutionist and let that creative word work for you, let that creative energy work in you, that which the word pronounces, and before you leave this house, God can get you ready to meet Him. Indeed, in that very thing you do meet Him. And when you have thus met Him and do thus meet Him every day, are you not then ready to meet Him? Do you believe that? You believe He made the worlds when He spoke, that light came by His word when He spoke, and that the leper was "immediately" cleansed when he spoke, but with yourself you think considerable time must elapse between the time when the word is spoken and the fact is accomplished. O, why will you be an evolutionist? Creation,  creation--that is the thing.

You and I are to call people to the supper; we are to say to all people, "Come, for all things are now ready." How can I call to a man that all things are now ready, when I myself am not ready? It is a falsehood to start with. My words will not reach him. They are but an empty sound. But O, when there is in that call the creative energy of the word that has made us ready, that has cleansed us from sin, that has created us unto good works, that holds us as the sun is held in the course which God has marked out--then when we go forth and say to the world lying in wickedness, "Come, for all things are now ready," they will hear. They will hear in the call the tones of the voice of the Good Shepherd, and will be cheered to come to Him for creative energy for themselves, to make them new creatures and prepare them for the supper to which they have been called.

This is where we are in this world's history. God's mark is being set upon the people. But remember, He will never set His mark upon one who is not cleansed from every defilement. God will not set His seal to something that is not true, that is not good. Would you ask Him to set His seal to righteousness that is altogether unrighteousness? You would not have the face to do that. You know that He is too righteous to do such a thing.  Then He must cleanse you so that He can put His seal to His own work. He cannot put His seal to your work. His seal belongs only to a document which He Himself has approved. Let Him write His character upon your heart and then He can set His seal there. He can write His seal of approval upon your heart, only when His creative word has accomplished its purpose in your heart.

You can see in what a Presence we are; you can see in a measure how long it would take half to exhaust such a subject as this. But, brethren, when we do stop, let us stop in the presence of creation. Let us be no more evolutionists. Let not a moment pass between the word of God spoken to you and the accomplishment of the thing in you. Thus, living in the presence of creation, walking with the Creator, upheld by creative power,  inspired by the creative energy--why, with a people such as that, God can move the world in a little while.

If at the beginning you thought this was a queer subject for such an occasion as today [it was the closing service of the week of prayer] you can now see that it is a strictly present truth. There are only the two ways.  There is no halfway ground. Every man and woman in the world is either a creationist or an evolutionist.  Evolution is infidelity; it is death. Creation is Christianity; it is life. Choose Creation, Christianity, and Life, that you may live. Let us be creationists only and creationists forever. And let all the people say, Amen.

Excerpt- A.T. Jones February 21, 1899

Creationist or Evolutionist?

 

Excerpt-

'Now these were the people upon whom Jesus looked when He made this statement about faith in Israel. Here was a man who was a Roman, who had grown up among the people who were Jews, and who set at naught the teachings of Jesus. That centurion had been around where Jesus was, and seen him talking, had heard His words and had seen the effect of them, until he himself said, Whatever that man speaks is so; when He says a thing, it is done. Now I am going to have the advantage of it. So he went to Jesus and said what is written. Jesus knew perfectly well that the man had his mind upon the power of His word to do that thing, and He replied, Very well, I will come and heal your servant. O no, my Lord, you do not need to come. You see this man was testing the matter to see whether or not there was any power in the word. Therefore he said, "Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." Jesus replied, "As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed." When that word went forth, "so be it done unto thee," how long before their man was healed? Twenty years? No. Didn't he have to go through many ups and downs before he was certainly healed? Honest, now? No,  no! When the word was spoken, the word did the thing that was spoken, and it did it at once.

Another day Jesus was walking along and a leper some distance from Him saw and recognized Him. He, too, had got hold of the blessed truth of the creative energy of the word of God. He said to Jesus, "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Jesus stopped and said, "I will; be thou clean. And as soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed." Mark 1:41, 42. We are not allowed to put a moment of time between speaking of the word and the accomplished fact: "Immediately" the leper was cleansed.

Now you see that the word of God at the beginning of creation had in it the creative energy to produce that thing which the word pronounced. you see that when Jesus came into the world to show men the way of life, to save them from their sins, He demonstrated, over and over again, here and there and everywhere, to all people and for all time, that that same word of God has that same creative energy in it yet; so that when that word is spoken, the creative energy is there to produce the thing.

Now are you an evolutionist or are you a creationist?

That word speaks to you. You have read it; you profess to believe it. You believe in creation, as against the other evolutionists; now will you believe in creation as against yourself? Will you put yourself upon that platform today where you will allow nothing to come between you and the creative energy of that word--no period of time whatever?

Jesus said to a certain person, "Thy sins are forgiven." How long before it was so? There was no length of time whatever between the word "forgiven" and the thing. That same word, "Thy sins are forgiven," is spoken to you today. 

Why do you let any time pass between this word, which is spoken to you and the accomplishment of the thing? You said a while ago that anybody who let a minute, or even a second, pass between the speaking of the word of God and the production of the thing is an evolutionist. Very good; that is so. Stick to it. Now I ask you,  Why is it that when He speaks forgiveness to you, you let whole days pass before forgiveness gets to you,  before it is true in you? 

You said the other man is an evolutionist. What are you, I want to know? 

Are you going to stop being evolutionists and become creationists?

This day will be one of special importance to many here, because it is a time when many will decide this question one way or the other. If you go out of this house an evolutionist, you are in danger. It is to you a matter of life or death just now. You said that evolution is infidelity and that is so; therefore, if you go out of this house an evolutionist, where do you stand? What is your choice? And if you go out of this house without the forgiveness of sins, you are an evolutionist, because you allow time to pass between the speaking of the word and the accomplishment of the fact.

From what I have read, you see that whoever lets any time pass between the word spoken and the thing done, is an evolutionist. The word of God to you is, Man, "thy sins are forgiven thee." Woman, "thy sins are forgiven thee." 

[Elder Corliss: "Didn't it say, Thy sins shall be forgiven?"] No, sir. "Thy sins are forgiven thee"--present tense, with an emphasis. "Thy sins are forgiven." I thank God this is so, because the creative energy is in that word "forgiven" to take away all sin and create the man a new creature. I believe in creation. 

Do you? Do you believe in the creative energy that is in the word "forgiven" spoken to you? Or are you an evolutionist and do you say, I cannot see how that can be, because I am so bad? I have been trying to do right, but I have made many failures. I have had many ups and downs and have been down a good many more times than up. If that is what you say, you are an evolutionist, for that is evolution.

Many people have been longing and longing for a clean heart. They say, "I believe in the forgiveness of sin and all that and I would take it all, if I was sure that I could hold out, but there is so much evil in my heart and so many things to overcome that I do not have any confidence." But there stands the word, "Create in me a clean heart." 

A clean heart comes by creation and by no other means; and that creation is wrought by the word of God. For He says, "A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you." 

Are you a creationist now or are you an evolutionist? Will you go out of this house with an evil heart or with a new heart created by the word of God, which has in it creative energy to produce a new heart? It speaks to you a new heart. To every one it speaks just that way, and if you allow a moment to pass between the speaking of the word and the new heart, you are an evolutionist. When you allow any time to pass between the word spoken and the fulfillment of that thing in your experience, then you are an evolutionist.

There are those in this house who have said, Yes, I want it. I am going to have it. I believe the word will accomplish it, but they have lengthened out the time until the next meeting and on and on, passing over years,  and so they are just this much evolutionists.

"While so many are hovering about the mystery of faith and godliness, they could have solved the matter by proclaiming [speaking abroad, telling it out], "I know that Jesus Christ is my portion forever." 

The power to produce this is in the word of God, and when this is accepted, the creative energy is there producing the thing that is spoken. So you can settle the whole matter of the mystery of faith and godliness by proclaiming that you know that Christ is your portion forever.

There is a mystery in how God can be manifest in such sinful flesh as yours. But, mind you, the question is not now about the mystery; the question is, Is there such a thing as creation? Is there such a thing as a Creator, who can create in you a clean heart? Or is the whole thing simply evolution? 

Just now and among Seventh-day Adventists, the question from this day until the end of the world must be, Do you believe in the Creator? And when you believe in the Creator, how is it that He creates? Of course you say, it is by the word of God. Very good. Now does He create things for you by His word? Are you a creationist for the other evolutionists and then an evolutionist for the other creationists? How is it?

Another thing. The word says, "Be ye clean." He said, back yonder, "Let there be light, and there was light." He said to the leper, "Be thou clean," and "immediately" he was clean. He says now to you, "Be ye clean," and what now? Every one of you--what do you say? [Voice: "It is so."] 

Then for your soul's sake put yourself upon that creative word. Recognize the creative energy in the word of God which comes to you in the Bible, for this word of God in the Bible is the same here to you today that it was when it spoke into space the worlds on high and brought light out of darkness and cleansing to the leper. That word spoken to you today, if received, creates you new in Christ Jesus. 

That word, spoken in the dark waste and voice space of your heart, if received, produces there the light of God; that word spoken today to you afflicted with the leprosy of sin, if received, immediately cleanses you. Let it. Let it.

How shall I be clean? By the creative energy of that word, "Be ye clean." Therefore it is written, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." John 15:3. 

Are you? Will you from this moment be a creationist? Or will you go on being an evolutionist?

See what a blessed thing this is. When you read the word, receive the word, and think upon the word, what is it to you all the time? O, it is creation! 

The creative energy is in you producing the things which the word speaks,  and you are living in the very presence of the power of creation. 

Creation is going on in your life. God is creating in you righteousness, holiness, truth, faithfulness--every good and gracious thing.

And when this is so, your Sabbath-keeping will amount to something, because the Sabbath is a memorial of creation--the sign that He who observes it knows the Creator and is acquainted with the process of creation.

To be continued…

Excerpt- A.T. Jones February 21, 1899

Evolution.

 

Arm Yourself.

 Faith.

Faith we acquire by hearing.

Hearing we acquire by the word of God.

Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 

Faith. We can get faith when we read the word of God. How important is it to read the word of God for ourselves? To just take the Bible that has been provided to us (if we've been so blessed) reading it, we are cultivating our faith. 

Do you lack faith? Can anyone claim they ever have enough faith? Can we ever get to a place that where we no longer want our faith to increase? I can't personally imagine ever saying to myself, "Okay, you have enough faith, you need no more." 

The Bible tells us to take up our Shield of Faith along with our Sword of the Word of God.  

How often have you seen pictures/movies etc with soldiers fighting with shield and sword? We can imagine such a scene, can't we? A soldier who is under attack raises sword and shield. The shield they use to block the blows coming from the enemy, the sword they use to strike the enemy wounding or killing them. They used their sword and shield to protect themselves, to keep themselves alive in battle. They battle because they've been enlisted in an army. 

We are all enlisted in the army of God from the moment we believe. 

From the moment of our birth we are engaged in a spiritual war that is all around us constantly. The enemy would keep us from God, from belief, from faith, from being in the army of God. Why? Because as long as we don't belong to the army of God, we belong to the army of Satan. You might find that preposterous but it's the truth. If you don't believe you are of the army of Satan because you aren't a Satan worshiper engaged in active worship of Satan, then you are deceived. Satan doesn't need any one to actively worship him to belong to him. Just like any army, there are many, many roles people take. Even if you support the troops while back at home you are doing your part for that army- without ever stepping foot on a battlefield. Your mental ascent to the ways of the army are fuel for it. Satan works with principalities and powers, and wickedness. Satan works in the realm of the spiritual darkness. Spiritual war, this is what we are born into and live in each and every single day. 

Each of us gets to a point in our lives when we choose a side, Spiritual Good or Spiritual Evil.  The big problem comes when Satan uses his deceptive powers to appear to be the Spiritual Good.  We are given all we need by God to truly be His and not to be deceived. He has given us His Holy Word!

When we first believe, we have faith and as we continue to believe that faith grows in purity. Faith can grow through the Word of God.  Faith comes by hearing the word of God.  Our spiritual shield of faith get its power from the Word of God. The sword of the Word of God, is so powerful it can actually kill the spiritual evil that wars against us.  The WORD OF GOD! 

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE WORD OF GOD! 

Do NOT neglect the WORD OF GOD!

If you have access to the WORD OF GOD utilize it as often as you possibly can! We have to, we so desperately need the power of the Word of God, faith- the shield, the sword of God! Pick up your Spiritual armor! Arm yourself!  

(Excerpt)

Faith is complete dependence upon the word of God only for the accomplishment of what that word says.

This being so, it must never for a moment be forgotten that where there is no word of God, there cannot be any faith.

This is shown also in the truth that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom. 10:17.

Since faith thus comes indeed by the very word of God itself, it is perfectly plain that where there is no word of God,  there can be no faith.

This is beautifully illustrated by an instance in the life of David, because David had it in his heart to build a house unto the Lord, the Lord spoke to him by the prophet Nathan, saying, "The Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house. . . . And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever."

Then David prayed and said, "Now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as thou hast said. And let thy name be magnified forever,  saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel, and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee.

"For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house:  therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.

"And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant; therefore, now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee: for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever." 2 Sam. 7:11-29.

His prayer was altogether of faith, because it was altogether of the word of God: the word of God was the cause of it; the word of God was the basis of it; and the word of God was all the hope of David that the prayer would ever be answered.

He asked according to the will of God, because the will of God was expressed in the word of God. Having asked according to the plainly stated will of God, David knew that his prayer was heard. And knowing that his prayer was heard, David knew that he had the petition which he desired of him. 1 John 5:14. 

Therefore he said, So let it be. And therefore also the answer to that prayer was, and is, and forevermore shall be, sure unto David.

And this was written for our learning: that we might know how to pray in faith and how in prayer to cultivate faith. Therefore, Go and do thou likewise. Because "the knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired."

February 21, 1899 AT Jones Excerpt

God Is Good.

 I want to be good.

I want to do what is right.

I wish I were someone who never thought a bad thought, or ever told a lie, or ever felt ungrateful, or ever felt oppressed, or ever spoke a snide reply, or thought a bitter thought.

I wish I never coveted what another possessed.

I want to be good.

The truth is, I find no good thing in me, not a single good thing. 

If by happenstance any good comes out of me, that good comes from something other than me producing the goodness. 

I am wretched, miserable, poor, blind and spiritually naked on my own, of my own self I am nothing. 

There is NOT a single work I can do to merit goodness in me.  There IS a work GOD can do in me and that alone is goodness, GOD. 

By GOD'S mercy and grace He works in me because JESUS the man-God sacrificed Himself for this to be possible.

God can work in me, not because of anything I do, but because of what Jesus did. All I must do is BELIEVE.

(Excerpt)

"Being justified by faith, we have peace with god through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1.

Since faith is the depending upon the word of God only, for what that word says, being justified by faith is simply being accounted righteous by depending upon the word only.

And since the word is the word of God, dependence upon the word only is dependence upon God only, in the word. Justification by faith, then, is justification--being accounted righteous by dependence upon God only, and upon him only because he has promised.

We are all altogether sinners--sinful and ungodly. We are, therefore, all subject to the judgment of God. Rom.  3:9-19. Yet for all of us there is escape from the judgment of God. But the only way of escape from the judgment of God is to trust in God.

When David had sinned in numbering the people and so had incurred the exemplary judgement of God, the Lord gave him his choice as to whether there should be seven years' famine or he should flee three months before his enemies or there should be three days' pestilence. But David would not choose at all. He deferred it all to the Lord, for Him to choose, saying, "Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great." 2 Sam.  24:11-14.

When depending upon God alone, in His word, for righteousness, we have peace with God, because thus we really obtain righteousness and "the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever." Isa. 32:17.

When depending upon God alone in His word, for righteousness we have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ,  because "He is our peace, who hath made both" God and man "one," "having abolished in his flesh the enmity" "for to make in himself of twain--of God and man--"one new man, so making peace." Eph. 2:14,15.

Further: when depending upon God alone, in His word, for righteousness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, because God has "made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself . . . whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreproachable in his sight: IF ye continue in the faith"--if you continue to depend only upon God alone is His word. Col. 1:20-23.

When He has made the way so plain, the justification so complete, and the peace so sure to all, and asks all people only to receive it all by simply accepting it from him and depending upon him for it, why should not every soul on earth be thus justified and have the peace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ?

This is "what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of exercising faith." Are you exercising faith? Are you justified by faith? Have you righteousness by faith? Have you peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ?

"Have faith in God." Mark 11:22.

February 14, 1899 A.T. Jones Excerpt

God Alone.

 God Alone.

"To HIM that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Rom. 4:5.

This is the only way that anybody in this world can ever become righteous. First admit that he is ungodly, then believe that God justifies, counts righteous, the ungodly, and he is righteous with the very righteousness of God.

Everybody in the world is ungodly. "Ungodly" means "unlike God." And it is written, "All have sinned and come short of the glory [the goodness, the character] of God."

Anybody, therefore, who will admit that he ever came short of being like God in anything, in that confesses that he is ungodly.

But the truth is that everybody, in everything, has come short of being like God. For "they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Rom. 3:9-18.

Then, as there is not one on earth who is not ungodly, and as God justifies the ungodly, this on God's part makes justification-- righteousness, salvation--full, free, and sure to every soul on earth.

And all that anybody needs to do to make it all sure to himself on his own part, is to accept it--to believe that God does justify, personally and individually, him who is ungodly.

Thus, strange as it may sound to many, the only qualification, and the only preparation, for justification is for a person to acknowledge that he is ungodly.

Then, having such qualification, having made such preparation, all that is required of him to obtain justification,  full, free, and sure, is to believe that God justifies him, the ungodly one.

It is quite easy for many to believe that they are ungodly and even to acknowledge it, but for them to believe that God justifies them--that is too much.

And the sole reason why they cannot believe that God justifies them, is that they are ungodly, so ungodly.

If only they could find some good in themselves or if only they could straighten up and do better, they might have some courage to hope that God would justify them. Yes, they would justify themselves by works and then profess to believe in justification by faith!

But that would be only to take away all ground for justification, for if a man can find good in himself, he has it already, and does not need it from anywhere else. If he can straighten up and do better of himself, he does not need any justification from anywhere else.

It is, therefore, a contradiction in terms to say that I am so ungodly that I do not see how the Lord can justify me. For if I am not ungodly, I do not need to be made righteous; I am righteous. There is no half-way ground between godliness and ungodliness.

But when a person sees himself so ungodly as to find there no possible ground of hope for justification, it is just there that faith comes in; indeed, it is only there that faith can possibly come in.

For faith is dependence on the word of God only. So long as there is any dependence on himself, so long as there is any conceivable ground of hope for any dependence upon anything in or about himself, there can be no faith, so long there is no place for faith, since faith is dependence on "the word only."

But when every conceivable ground of hope of any dependence on anything in or about himself is gone and is acknowledged to be gone; when everything that can be seen is against any hope of justification, then it is that,  throwing himself on the promise of God, upon the word only, hoping against hope, faith enters and by faith he finds justification full and free, all ungodly though he be.

For forever it stands written, "To him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ." "Whom God hath set forth . . . to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past."

This is what it is to exercise faith. Are you exercising faith? For "understanding how to exercise faith: this is the science of the gospel."

February 7, 1899 A.T. Jones Excerpt