The Meaning Of Ceasing From Your Works
Hi Mike,
Does ceasing from your works mean that you come to the understanding that God really works all things after the counsel of his will?
Thanks,
D____
Yes, D____,
It does mean that. We cannot even sin if it is not first written in God’s book and if He has not working that thing after the counsel of His will. Joseph’s brother’s thought they were the originators of their sin against their brother, but Joseph said that is was all the work of God.
Gen 45:4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I [ am] Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Gen 45:5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6 For these two years [ hath] the famine [ been] in the land: and yet [ there are] five years, in the which [ there shall] neither [ be] earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8 So now [ it was] not you [ that] sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
Paul agrees:
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [ how] to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
And David tells us it was all first written, every day of our lives.
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)
So what does all of this mean? You said it.
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Your brother in Christ,
Mike
Other related posts
- The Meaning of "Cannot Sin" (September 18, 2007)
- The Meaning Of Ceasing From Your Works (March 24, 2010)
- Christ Is Our Sabbath_Rest (June 23, 2008)
- Can We Live Sinless Lives? (March 27, 2007)