Endure to the End

1.   Substitution took place in justification. Innocent became the guilty and the guilty became the innocent.  Justification then gives us forgiveness for PAST sins at Yeshua’s expense. Sin was imputed to the Saviour. He paid the penalty which is death. Righteousness was imputed to the sinner. All undeserved by the sinner but granted through grace.

2.    Purpose of justification? To make possible a relationship with a Holy God (being cleaned and as we walk with Him to become more like Him who essentially is holy). Righteousness was imputed to the sinner in order that righteousness may be IMPARTED to the sinner. Reception of forgiveness (justification) is to enable reception of holiness.

a.       God accepts us as we are through our reception of His gift of the substitution

b.      God accepts us are we are to have a holy life. This is the objective.

3.     Justification is only the start of the process to begin our journey of and to holiness. It is only the start of our process of complete salvation. It is not sanctification.

4.     We are still to make every effort to be holy, without holiness no one will see the Lord  (Hebrews 12:14)

Leviticus  19:2 -  Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

1 Peter 1:16 - because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

John 15:1-6 – “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;^[a] and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. “

5.    Looking at the scriptures David Pawson in “Once Saved Always Saved?” points out the scriptures never refer to God’s people sinning or back sliders, as people who were never truly born again or regenerated. The yardstick for analysing was “Did they walk in faith or did they depart from it?” Believers can repeatedly sin, can lose the faith, can “fall off” and not reach the goal of complete salvation by simply not walking or abiding in Him and the repercussions are branches that are cut off the vine and left to wither. (John 15:6). Those born once die once. Those born twice (physical and spiritual) can die twice – immunity from the second death are only for believers who have overcome and are holy.

Revelation 2:11 – “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”

Revelation 20:6 - Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

6.    Being “born again” is the beginning of salvation but in itself is not a warranty for completion of salvation. It is the beginning of the journey.

7.     Being born again is to be holy, to be sons and daughters of the Father, to carry out works prepared by our Father for us before the foundation of the earth. Faith is expressed through our deeds (James 2:24).

8.       Works done to deserve salvation do not save us.

All other religions – “do” to deserve be clean and made right with God and deserve salvation. All focus is on self. In Christianity – nothing we do can give us merit to deserve, to make us right and justified with God. But (once) we are justified, we are justified for good works prepared by Him. We are redeemed for Him. If we are already given that opportunity of starting over and we fail to walk with Him and carry out His purpose we become unfruitful, we risk falling away we become the soil which fails to allow the seed to grow roots (the stony places) we become the soil that allows the cares of the world to affect our walk (soil with thorns) we fail to become holy we fail to become sons and daughters reflecting our Father –unsuited for our purpose, we fail to make it in the end and we lose the fight. Shall we then inherit the kingdom of God? (We may have entered but can we inherit it?) Can the unholy see God? Without holiness no one can see the Lord. (again Hebrews 12:14)

Love for God

Love FOR God

Tozer speaks of 3 kinds of love FOR God

In summary:-

Tozer speaks of 2 kinds of love FOR God which are usually quoted. They are:-

First Type: Love that comes out of GRATITUDE FOR GOD.  “I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplications,” and “We love him, because he first loved us.”  Ps. 116:1 and I John 4:19  This is basic, elementary kind of love that actually has self in focus. It is a love stemming from the benefits received.

Second Type: Love that comes out of admiration of excellence. Focus is less on self. It is a love driven by admiration. Here it is admiration of God's power, knowledge, might, love etc. We love BECAUSE of all that He is. It's a love BECAUSE of something.

 Tozer explicates that there is yet  another level of love FOR God. An analogy  of a mother of  a special-needs child  is drawn.

He says , “The child excites no gratitude in her breast, for all the benefits have flowed the other way; the helpless infant has been nothing but a burden from the time it was born.”   The child will not be growing up to speak and act in gratitude. “Neither can the mother find in such a child any excellence to admire, for there is none.”    No good grades or excellent piano playing or great physical abilities. This is a child who simply just lies there.

Yet mother loves the child immensely and with great intensity.  They are bonded emotionally.  It is  “the union achieved by hearts; more beautiful than anything that can be experienced by flesh and blood.”

In Type 3 love, there is no element of gratitude or admiration and no element of I "love because"

The third kind of love is simply  "I love because I just do"

Can we love Him like this?

More from Ultimate Intention

satans power lies in not just in the love of the world or sin or in some direct assault on our mind and body. We can overcome all of these and yet live under the” sting and fear of death”. As long as we still “love our life” we are still a victim of the enemy’s last weapon – death.

Eph 2:10

1.       We are His workmanship (His new creation)

2.       Created in Christ Jesus (created because we accepted Christ)

3.       For what? For good work

4.       What are these good works? Ours? No- they are good works prepared already by Him BEFOREHAND.

Nuggets from Ultimate Intention

De Vern Fromke

“It is so wonderful to get yourself off our own hands and into the hands of God. It is like living in a new world”

If one centers on self nothing will come out right either consciously or sub-consciously

“Destruction and misery are in their ways”

It is inherent in self that there is destruction and misery.

It is not “Destruction and misery are as a result  of their ways”

It just is in us. So we should move away from “I” Move away from “what can He do for me? Its all done for me”. Back to Eph 1:3-10

His grand purpose is not redemption from the Fall. The Fall happened and redemption is the means to the grand purpose.

What was man created for?

1.       To be adopted as sons and daughters in Christ

2.       To be a holy set apart nation

3.       To be in one family in Christ

4.       To be the praise of His glory

This is His ultimate intention – His grand purpose.

When Christ died for us (forgiveness  and redemption) and then was resurrected (new life) , the race of Adam ended and a new race of new Adam (Christ) was and is born. This new race should no longer live into themselves but unto Him (for Him). This will meet His ultimate intention. (See 2 Cor 5:14-15)

From before the foundation of the earth, God saw man (a) crucified with Christ, (b) buried with Christ (c) raised with Christ (d) positioned with Christ in God in a new heavenly position! (ascended)

He sees it from a high vantage point looking down. He sees the family, sons and daughters. (Eg. Boy on ground watching a parade thru a keyhole can only see one view at that moment. Boy climbs up tree. Now from there he sees people in parade at the front, middle passing by and at the back.)

We are to view our position from this view point and move  to being God centered.  We are not just to know of the effects of His death, burial , resurrection and ascension but still have “I” centeredness. We are to remember His original purpose and current purpose of moving us to that position of being “with Christ in God”. View from His view from that high vantage point. Sons and daughters please your Father. The old self is dead! Treat him as such. Do this for God. Align with His view, mirror Him. Do not see it as all these done for man and stop there. It is for His grand purpose – His Ultimate Intention. Head back to His Ultimate Intention and begin from there. Begin with the motive to meet your Father’s purpose.  

Giving reflects our heart

Giving reflects our heart

Reading: Ezra 3:1-7
The Israelites had been given gold and silver. They headed back to Jerusalem. What was the first thing that they did? They used their riches to re build the altar. Their treasure was God.  Study our spending, study how we handle our money. It is a reflection of where our treasure lies. Do we put God first in our spending? One of the hardest thing to let go off is our security, our hold to material things. If this can be let go off, other fleshly wants which consciously and unconsciously bring us much trouble and hold us, easily slide off us and will not consume us. Life becomes simpler.


Luke 3:7-14
We are privileged to always have more than we need. We can always live with less. John the Baptist taught tax collectors not to take more than needed. This is to say not to be greedy. Our Lord Yeshua taught us to give our extras (as did John the Baptist). We are taught also to be contented. These are secrets to living simpler
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Remember His Ultimate Intention by De Vern Fromke

Remember His Ultimate Intention by De Vern Fromke

Illustration A

1.       Father has one purpose – to take son to the store

2.       Father seeks son. Finds him stuck in mud all dirty

3.      Father still has that purpose to take son to the store but has to administer ‘grace’ by cleaning son up. Son accepts the ‘benefit’ of being cleaned.

4.      As father is about to leave son gets distracted with toy and finally does not want to go. He forgets father’s original purpose but accepted (and continues to accept) benefits and blessings.

God does not want us to be enamoured (so taken/distracted) with the grace extended that we forget OR let grace overshadow our direction towards God’s purpose. We get so enamoured with his benefits, his blessings, our redemption, our salvation, we forget the desires of our Father’s heart. And what is that? To move on towards , sharing His mind His spirit His nature through His Son,  to be His sons and daughters and mirror in His image. Read Eph 1:3-10