Established in the Present Truth

Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 2 Peter 1:12.
We believe without a doubt that Christ is soon coming. This is not a fable to us; it is a reality. We have no doubt, neither have we had a doubt for years, that the doctrines we hold today are present truth, and that we are nearing the judgment. We are preparing to meet Him who, escorted by a retinue of holy angels, is to appear in the clouds of heaven to give the faithful and the just the finishing touch of immortality. When He comes He is not to cleanse us of our sins, to remove from us the defects in our characters, or to cure us of the infirmities of our tempers and dispositions. If wrought for us at all, this work will all be accomplished before that time.
When the Lord comes, those who are holy will be holy still. Those who have preserved their bodies and spirits in holiness, in sanctification and honor, will then receive the finishing touch of immortality. But those who are unjust, unsanctified, and filthy will remain so forever. No work will then be done for them to remove their defects and give them holy characters. The Refiner does not then sit to pursue His refining process and remove their sins and their corruption…. It is now that this work is to be accomplished for us.
God is now testing and proving His people. Character is being developed. Angels are weighing moral worth, and keeping a faithful record of all the acts of the children of men…. That God who reads the hearts of everyone, will bring to light hidden things of darkness where they are often least suspected, that stumbling blocks which have hindered the progress of truth may be removed. FLB 218.4
There will be no future probation in which to prepare for eternity. It is in this life that we are to put on the robe of Christ’s righteousness. This is our only opportunity to form characters for the home which Christ has made ready for those who obey His commandments.
The Faith I Live By p. 218
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Shirley. Her cancer medicine is no longer being funded. She doesn’t have the $400 every four weeks to pay for it. Please pray that the funding will come through for her. Diane
—-Please pray for Mike and Eileen as they continue to get things together for Lou’s memorial service. Rose
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
One day some years ago, Ronnie Jay was driving to work, when suddenly, the rear side window shattered into hundreds of pieces. Since drive-by shootings are fairly common, his first thought was that someone had shot toward him. He was shocked and unnerved and called me as soon as he arrived at work. I took an early lunch hour and met him at his workplace. We spent quite a bit of time searching to find the cause of the shattered window. Even though we searched and searched for either a rock or a bullet, we could find nothing.
We were puzzled. Why would a car window suddenly shatter like that? As we asked people if they had ever had that happen to them, we found several people who told us that it was from the tornado that had, a few days earlier, gone directly over our trailer park as it was descending to touch down about a mile away. At the time, we and most of our neighbors were huddling in the storm shelter. We had heard that tornado above us and had felt a great difference in the air pressure. It was the difference in air pressure between the inside of Ronnie Jay’s car and the surrounding air that had so weakened the glass, that it finally could not endure the normal airflow from highway driving.
So it is in our life. Sin weakens us. Each time we sin, it becomes more difficult to resist the temptation the next time it comes. Our lives shatter just as unexpectedly, just as completely as did the window in Ronnie Jay’s car. How well Isaiah describes our condition, “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” We are “a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.” Isa 64:6; 1:4-6
We cannot save ourselves from shattering. We need a Saviour to strengthen us. Praise God! He has provided a way! He will deliver us if we ask Him to! “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” John 3:16, 17 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” Eph 2:4,5 “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” Rom 3:24,25 “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4:9-10
We can get the forgiveness and cleansing we need! “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” I John 1:9; 2:1 Just like Joshua the High Priest in Zechariah’s vision, we need to have our filthy garments removed. We need Christ’s spotless robe of righteousness. “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” Zech 3:3,4 Jesus, the True Witness, pleads, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Rev 3:18
May we allow our Dear Saviour to remove our unrighteous rags and clothe us with the pure garment of His righteousness. May we live so close to Him that even when the “tornadoes” of life go over our head, we will not shatter is my prayer.
Rose
Copyright Rose’s Devotional © 1999-2018 All rights Reserved