No Respecter of Persons Free Reprint Article

NotifySnack

Christian Articles for All of your Publishing Needs!

LIKE US

Translate this Page Here

Word Count: 2648

Send Article To Friend

Print/Use Article

Contact Jon von Ernst

No Respecter of Persons

by Jon von Ernst
8/04/2023 / Bible Studies

Grace is God’s response to a person exercising their faith to believe God, to believe in the one that He has sent. Grace is also the reaction, in the believer’s heart, to experiencing the power of God working in his life as a result of his faith being exercised to believe God and obey God. “We are his witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:32).

Grace is God’s favor poured out on the individual that believes God and obeys God. Grace is God’s favor poured out on individuals that have merited it by faith, by believing God. This faith produces righteousness in the life of those that believe and obey God.

Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord. God favored Noah among all those of his generation because he was righteous. Genesis 6:5-9 says, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. So the Lord was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

“Then the Lord said, ‘I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord . . . Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”

Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (NASB).

Lot was favored by God and delivered from the judgment that God was bringing upon Sodom and Gomorrah because he was righteous. “Then the Lord said, ‘The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.’

“The Lord said, ‘If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.’ Then he (Abraham) said, ‘May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?’ He (the Lord) answered, ‘For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.’ When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home” (Genesis 18:21, 26, 32-33, NIV).

Peter reminds us, “For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment; and if He didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when He brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; and if He reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to ruin, making them an example to those who were going to be ungodly; and if He rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the unrestrained behavior of the immoral (for as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:4-10, HCSB).

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous to favor them with His protection. The Lord watches over His own. He protects them. He delivers them. However, God holds the sinful, those that continue to practice sin, those that live following the lustful desires of the flesh, for punishment on the day of judgment.

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Here is a brief account of Abraham’s journey of faith. “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’ So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran” (Genesis 12:1-4, KJV).

“After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great . . . one who comes from your own body will be your heir.’ He took him outside and said, ‘Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then He said to him, ‘Your offspring will be that numerous.’ Abraham believed the Lord; and He credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:1-6, HCSB).

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham” (Genesis 17:1-2, 20-21, KJV).

Finally, we read in Genesis chapter 22, “Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.’ So Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.

“Then Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.’ And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And he said, ‘Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ So the two of them walked on together.

“Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. And Abraham reached out with his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Do not reach out your hand against the boy, and do not do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me’” (Genesis 22:1-12, NASB).

Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Then God tested Abraham telling him to take His son Isaac up to the mountain and offer him up as a sacrifice to God. Abraham obeyed God. He took the most precious thing he had and proceeded to offer him up as he was commanded, until God stopped him. Abraham’s obedience proved his faith in God.

We can say we believe, but does our obedience prove our belief is genuine? Do we actually obey God and do what He tells us to do?

Hebrews 11:8-12 says, “By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went. By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

“By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised. Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.”

God instructs us in Ezekiel, “If the wicked person turns from all his sins which he has committed and keeps all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall certainly live; he shall not die. All his offenses which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live. Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked,’ declares the Lord God, ‘rather than that he would turn from his ways and live?

“But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness, commits injustice and does according to all the abominations that the wicked person does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die.

“Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each according to his conduct. . . Repent and turn away from all your offenses, so that wrongdoing does not become a stumbling block to you. Hurl away from you all your offenses which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why should you die, house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies. . . Therefore, repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:21-24, 30-32, NASB).

The action of the wicked man that repented, turning away from his wickedness and practicing righteousness merited God’s favor. God declares that he shall live. He shall not die.

However, the righteous man that turns away from his righteousness and commits all the abominations of the wicked, does not merit God’s favor. He will die for all the sin he has committed. God does not favor the rebellious. However, God does not desire that any would perish. Therefore, repent and live.

God resists the proud, the arrogant, the ones that are so confident that God will never judge them. The Psalmist says, “In all his scheming, the wicked arrogantly thinks: ‘There is no accountability’” (Psalm 10:4, HCSB).

However, God gives grace to the humble. Peter advises us, “Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.

“Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings. But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you” (1 Peter 5:5-10).

Those that walk by faith, those that believe and obey, those that humble themselves merit and receive God’s favor. The proud, the arrogant, the sinful, the disobedient, the rebellious, do not merit or receive God’s grace, God’s favor.

If you are a professing Christian, but have been living by the lusts of the flesh, doing the same things the people in this corrupt sinful world are doing, you need to repent, and you need to repent now. Today is the day of salvation. God tells us in Genesis 6:3, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever.”

Tomorrow is promised to no one. Right now, today, may be the last chance you will have to repent of your sinful ways, and turn from them back to God. God is righteous. His ways are just. He rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked.

I don’t care what anyone may have told you. If you are walking according to the flesh, you are living in sin. You are unrighteous. The righteous do righteousness (1 John 3:7).

They believe God. They obey God. They do what is right in God’s eyes. They deny themselves. They take up their cross and walk in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. They are rewarded with grace in abundance, joy unspeakable, and blessings beyond what our minds can ever imagine.

The unrighteous, the ones that practice unrighteousness, that disobey God, will be held by God for punishment according to how they lived their lives while in this body of flesh. God is no respecter of persons. He will give to each exactly what their deeds have merited.

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light - Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! Click here and TRUST JESUS NOW