Ezekiel 16:8, “Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.”
I heard a wonderful sermon today by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) titled: “FALLING FROM GRACE.” This eternal truth is so precious! Dear friend, if you are still struggling to settle the assurance of God's salvation, this sermon is for YOU!!! I am writing this article from the truths I learned in the beautiful sermon. When a person enters into a covenant with God, to make it effective the Lord does several things according to Ezekiel 16:8...
- God says it out loud (Ezekiel 37:23)
- He wrote it down in the inspired Scriptures (John 20:31)
- God swore it (Titus 1:2)
- God engraves our name upon the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16)
- Offer up a Lamb as a token of the covenant (John 1:29)
- Apply the slain lamb's blood to the Mercy Seat in the Tabernacle (Hebrews 9:12, 24)
- Write the name of the person who entered into the covenant (Luke 10:20)
Boy this is great stuff!!! These things were all done to make the covenant more effective, so that both the covenanter and covenantee will be reminded of the promise. Do you see all the securities that God gives here to the sinner who BELIEVES ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST?
Dear reader, our gracious God has given to us many proofs of His great love. Nobody wants lost sinners to get saved and go to Heaven, more than God Himself. 2nd 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 unsaved world thinks the preaching of the truth of the Gospel is science-fiction, tommyrot, balderdash and nonsense. 1st Corinthians 1:18, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” Amen and amen!
Dear friend, if it is not in writing, it means nothing! I learned this a very long time ago. Anything not written down can be denied, and we all know how (when things go wrong) people love to deny things, evade responsibility and claim ignorance. If you are wise, then you ALWAYS get it in writing. If a quote for repairs to your automobile, home or motorcycle is not written down, it means nothing because at any time it can be denied, changed or cancelled.
Once saved, always saved!!!
You cannot lose what you didn't earn. You cannot forfeit what you didn't work to get!
If you didn't get saved by good works, then how could you ever be lost by bad works?
Faith is the only righteous thing that I can do!
Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty!
Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.
Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work.
If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from?
The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.
When a person gets saved, he or she is entering into an eternal COVENANT with God...
Ezekiel 16:8, “Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.”
Literally, we become God's physical property...
1st Corinthians 6:19-20, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”
That “price” is the precious blood of Jesus. ...
Ephesians 1:13-14, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
