God And Men; Good And Bad

But Job replied, "You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" So in all this, Job said nothing wrong. (Job 2:10 NLT)

Have you ever been in adversity, sometimes even to the point of death? Job said that since we receive good from God, we should also accept the bad. Just grit your teeth and bear it.

But what about the other side of the story? What is God receiving from us for all His benefits He has given to us? He does not get recognition. Unbelievers attributed all His benefits to amoral nature. Many of those who believe in Him does not have enough faith in His goodness and faithfulness and always resort to trusting themselves.

He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45b BSB)

What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? (Psalm 116:12 ESV)

God is Faithful

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23 ESV)

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:24 ESV)

But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3 NLT)

We are not saved by our faith. We are saved by God. We believed that He is faithful and true to His promise that He will save us to the uttermost.

It is because of the LORD'S lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, Because His [tender] compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness.(Lamentations 3:22-23 Amplified Bible)

For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6 KJV)

But you are the same, and your years will never end. (Psalm 102:27 CSB)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8 NLT)

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:13 NASB)

For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day. (2 Timothy 1:12 BSB)

Saved By Grace Through Faith

For by grace are ye saved through faith; (Ephesians 2:8a KJV)
God saved you by his grace when you believed. (Ephesians 2:8a NLT)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith (Ephesians 2:8a NIV)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. (Ephesians 2:8a ESV)
For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, (Ephesians 2:8a BSB)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; (Ephesians 2:8a NASB95)
For you are saved by grace through faith, (Ephesians 2:8a CSB)

We are saved by grace through faith. What does that mean?

We are saved by God's grace. We are saved by God because of His grace. The grace of God puts you in a position to hear God's message of salvation. Either we are born in the right time at the right place, or we travel to the right place at the right time with our hearts are ready to receive the message. We are saved because of God's sovereign will, predestined before the foundation of the world. We are saved because God provided the means of salvation. And we are saved when Christ died for our sins.

We are not saved by our faith. We are saved through our faith. Our faith is the response to God's grace. We accept the fact of our salvation by faith. There is no other way. We are already saved by God and now we have to believe that we are saved and act accordingly. We have to trust that God is faithful, and that He is able to save us to the uttermost. It is our part to believe and to have faith in God's faithfulness.

For those who have never heard of the good news of God's salvation or have rejected it, they are not saved. God has not extended His grace to them.

So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." (Genesis 22:14 NIV)

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:24 ESV)

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:13 NASB95)

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 NLT)

For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. (Ephesians 1:4 CSB)

They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us. (1 John 2:19 BSB)

Putting God On Probation

When Jacob's parents bade him to go to Haran to get a wife, he had a dream of a ladder leading to heaven. He was thoroughly awed by this dream but did Jacob accept God straightaway? No. Instead, he set God a KPI.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you." (Genesis 28:20-22 ESV)

Did God respect Jacob's KPI? 

Man Sought Their Own Righteousness

Because they were ignorant of God's righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. (Romans 10:3 BSB)

For they don't understand God's way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God's way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. (Romans 10:3 NLT)

Men were ignorant of God's righteousness. They sought to establish their own standard of righteousness and they created many religions.

Seventy Weeks

Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to stop their transgression, to put an end to sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince (מָשִׁ֣יחַ נָגִ֔יד mā-šî-aḥ nā-ḡîḏ), there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeksh the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed. And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him." (Daniel 9:24-27 BSB)

Bible prophecy is very focused. It is about Yeshua Hamashiach and Israel. The theme of the Bible is about God and what He do for Israel. The seventy weeks of Daniel (Daniel 9:24-27) gave a broad outline of what will happen to Israel and its King, Yeshua Hamashiach. It is foundational to our understanding of the sequence of events that will happen to Israel.

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9 CSB)

The God of Jacob

Esau replied, "Is he not rightly named Jacob (the supplanter)? For he has supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" (Genesis 27:36 Amplified Bible)

I was glad that I am not a righteous man with a strong sense of justice. When I read how God allowed Jacob to steal Esau's blessings, I did not say, "What kind of God is this, accepting the cheater and rejecting the cheated!" Instead, I said, "If God can accept Jacob, He can surely accept me!"

And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. (Luke 15:2 KJV)