Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. This is the standard of God and this is immutable. This is impossible for us to achieve as fallen creatures, which is the bad news. It is only when one understands the bad news can one truly understand and be in awe of the good news found in Christ alone. The righteousness that merits our entrance into Heaven is not our own, but rather the imputed righteousness and perfection of Jesus upon us. This is the good news of the gospel. We can’t, Christ did! The death of Christ (passive obedience) is vital to the gospel and our salvation. As equally as importance is the perfect life He lived fulfilling all righteousness (active obedience) on behalf of all the Father had given Him. Without the righteousness of Christ imputed to us through faith alone we have no hope. Let us never be idolatrous and arrogant to think we can achieve the righteousness that is required on our own. Justification in which we are declared righteous by faith alone (sola fide) strikes at the heart of the gospel. Justification by faith alone is non-negotiable and to preach anything else is to preach another gospel (Galatians 1:6-10). This is a hill worth dying on because on a hill 2,00 years ago the one who lived a perfect life and fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law became sin and died so I could become the righteousness of God in Him!

Repentance is a necessity to be a Christian, repentance is a necessity to be preached in church, and repentance is a necessity in our sanctification and to be conformed to the image of the Son. Let us contemplate and reflect on the Holiness of God and in return on the sin that we commit in idolatrous rebellion against His commands. The more we understand how holy and pure He is, the more we will detest sin, mourn over our sin (Matthew 5:4), and will with all urgency and weight repent! Repentance is a gift granted by God that leads to faith in Christ and salvation. However, repentance is ongoing as we grow in sanctification and holiness and will continue until we are pure in heart and free from the presence of sin for the first time in His presence in our eternal home.  Until then let us mourn over our sin which leads us to godly repentance and sanctification which is the will of God.

Notes:

https://www.theactschurch.online/_files/ugd/bc8b4a_258aa84d4c0b4ae896dc75a87e3a476f.pdf

Website:

https://www.theactschurch.online/

Those who are predestined, called, justified, drawn by the Father, granted the ability to come to the son, appointed to eternal life, born again, come to Christ, believe in Christ, raised on the last day, and are glorified are those who the Father has given to the Son. We are hopeless on our own to come to Him, believe in Him, and be born again as our flesh counts for nothing. To believe that there is still a little something in man to come and believe on our own is to reduce the awe that should be accompanied in response to the sovereign working of the Holy God upon a fallen creature in salvation. The more you know how unable we are to come to Him outside of Him is to then give to Him the glory that is due Him! Why are you born again? Why did you come to Him? Why did you believe? Why will you be raised on the Last Day? Why will you glory God and enjoy Him forever? The answer is God! Therefore, to Him be all the glory forever! Amen!

Those who are predestined, called, justified, drawn by the Father, granted the ability to come to the son, appointed to eternal life, born again, come to Christ, believe in Christ, raised on the last day, and are glorified are those who the Father has given to the Son. We are hopeless on our own to come to Him, believe in Him, and be born again as our flesh counts for nothing. To believe that there is still a little something in man to come and believe on our own is to reduce the awe that should be accompanied in response to the sovereign working of the Holy God upon a fallen creature in salvation. The more you know how unable we are to come to Him outside of Him is to then give to Him the glory that is due Him! Why are you born again? Why did you come to Him? Why did you believe? Why will you be raised on the Last Day? Why will you glory God and enjoy Him forever? The answer is God! Therefore, to Him be all the glory forever! Amen!

Christians are not to return slap for slap but are rather instructed to turn the other cheek. There is a small detail in this

So often we think of our salvation as the moment in time and space where we believe and place faith in Christ. That is a part of our salvation, but that is a cheap and shallow view on salvation. The words “to save” are in every tense of the Greek. We were in a sense saved from the foundation of the world through God foreknowing us, we were saved at the time of our regeneration and justification, we are saved and being saved throughout our Christian life, but ultimately the total fulfillment of our salvation will be with God in Heaven when we see Him as He is. The depth and magnitude of our salvation is amazing and can never be truly comprehended. However, let us know that our salvation started and was guaranteed before the world was when the Father chose His elect, wrote their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and gave them to the Son. The Son would then die for the those whom the Father had given Him, and the Holy Spirit would regenerate and seal the same people, guaranteeing their inheritance. The chief of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever which is the end result of those who come to Christ. If you have come to Christ, it is because before the world was, the Father loved you with same love in which He loved His Son (John 17:24) and gave you to His only begotten Son! Jesus who came to do the will of the Father would complete His work on the cross as He cried out on behalf of those who had been given to Him as He laid His life down for them and cried “It is finished!” 

God swore by nothing greater that Himself when making the promise to Abram in Genesis 15. In swearing by Himself, He

The Father sent the Son and the Son descended from Heaven via the incarnation. In the incarnation Jesus humbled Himself, took on flesh, and was born of a woman in Bethlehem. Jesus’ beginning however was not in Bethlehem as He has no beginning for, He has aseity which is life in Himself as He is eternal. The place He was born in the flesh is of significance as Bethlehem means “house of bread.” At the Last Supper Jesus took bread (unleavened bread-represents without sin as Jesus was sinless) and broke it and after giving blessing it said, “this is My body which is given for you” and this was fulfilled on the cross. It is out of the “house of bread” that the Bread of Life had His body broken and His blood shed so that we may have eternal life though Him. All that come to Him have this promise: they will never thirst or hunger and will have eternal life!

We see that throughout the New Testament being sealed involved the Holy Spirit. Jesus had the seal of the Father upon Him which can be seen by the Holy Spirit descending and lighting on Him at His baptism. The Father declares “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” We as believers are also sealed by the same Holy Spirit of promise when we are saved. We are not His only begotten Son who He is well-pleased with, but we are His adopted Sons whom He has loved before the world was. The Father set His seal upon Jesus to have authority to give the bread that leads to eternal life. Those who are regenerated and sealed by the Holy Spirit have a promise that they will dwell with the Bread of Life forever. The promise that we will have eternal life and dwell with Him forever is the most certain promise we can have because it has been made and sealed not but an earthly king, but by the King of Kings!