Stand Right and Stand Fast


Fellow	ship > Stand Right and Stand Fast

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Mankind in general-- and especially the Professed Body of Christ-- is sadly disappointing; but, our "hope is in the LORD" (Psalm 146:5). "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isaiah 2:22). It is the great novelty of these Laodicean times to find those who truly do live "by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). We ought to take great consolation in the fact that the LORD Jesus Christ, Who promised to "come quickly" (Revelation 22:20), forewarned us that a sign of the nearness of His return would be the Great Falling Away. "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition" (2Thessalonians 2:3). Only the LORD Jesus, Who redeemed us "by His Own Blood" (Hebrews 9:12), is able to keep even ourselves from apostatizing. "Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the Great Transgression" (Psalm 19:13). If we truly trust in the Sovereignty of our God to "keep [us] from falling" (Jude 24), then we will "lean not unto [our] own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5) and actively trust the Living God to preserve and deliver us until He returns. "And the LORD shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His Heavenly Kingdom: to Whom be Glory for ever and ever. Amen" (2Timothy 4:18).

Though we know that the Great Apostasy is already under way, we believe that the very reason that such a falling away has taken place is because the Church of the LORD Jesus Christ has not laid hold of the "Promise of the Spirit through Faith" (Galatians 3:14). We have been correctly taught that the Holy Spirit resides in Born Again Believers, i.e., the "Holy Ghost, Whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts 5:32); and thus, Jesus "became the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey Him" (Hebrews 5:9). But, the secret to obedience is that we must trust the LORD to cause us to "will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). Long ago, the prophet Ezekiel wrote: "And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My Statutes, and ye shall keep My Judgments, and do them" (Ezekiel 36:27). That's the Secret. The New Covenant is that the Spirit of God was given at Pentecost, not merely to make us happy, but to make us lovingly obedient.

"31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

As much as we hope that you would find understanding and agreement with the articles about Bible prophecy at our website, we're even more desirous that you bolster and fortify your End Time relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ. "Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in the Last Time" (1Peter 1:5). If you Stand Right and Stand Fast in the LORD, you do well. "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God" (Romans 14:12). Cling tenaciously to the End Time promises, as you would cling to the Living God that gave them. "Because thou hast kept the Word of My Patience, I also will keep thee from the Hour of Temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the Earth" (Revelation 3:10). "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36). "And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming" (1John 2:28). "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24).

Maranatha!

[See our editorial, "Behold, I Come Quickly" ---New Window, to see how Christ's promise is true and not contradictory. Our article, "Exceeding Great and Precious Promises" ---New Window, outlines how we are sanctified through the Promises of God. And, our editorial, "Is It Possible to Guarantee Our Obedience?" ---New Window, demonstrates the validity of Ezekiel 36:27.]

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