Friday, April 28, 2017

PART 1 FOR ISRAEL OR THE CHURCH

MATTHEW 24:1-49
WARNING FOR  ISRAEL  OR  THE  CHURCH

As Christians we seem to think that the New Testament was written just for us, “wrong”, if you look you will see that Jesus was sent for the lost sheep of Israel. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets of the Old Testament. It was through the rejection of their promised Messiah by the majority that the door opened to the gentiles, for the first Christians were Jews. The bible, God’s word was written for all mankind. We can clearly see that there are times God’s word speaks directly to Israel (the Jews), directly to Christians, and to just the unbelievers, but it is for the benefit of all.  In Matthew 24 Jesus is speaking of Israel.

Sending Out the Twelve
These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them
saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles
and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go 
rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

MATTHEW 10:5-6

24 But He answered and said, “I was not sent except 
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

MATTHEW 15:24

There was no Christian church at this time in history. The church begins in Acts 2:1, the day of Pentecost.  Before reading Matthew 24, you need to go back three verses in Matthew 23 to see Jesus is speaking of Israel, the Jews, not the church.  Remember it was man that marked God’s word with chapters and numbered the verses, so always follow the golden rule, read the verses before and after to understand the fullness of God’s word and meaning.

In Revelation 7 the Lamb (Jesus) opens the 7 seals allowing the anti-christ to begin his time to deceive the world. In Revelation 7:3 Jesus seals the servants of God on their foreheads, all from the house of Israel. We the church, are not here, for we were already sealed by God with His   Holy Spirit.

22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit 
in our hearts as a guarantee.

2 CORINTHIANS 1:22

Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God,
who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:5

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, 
the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having 
believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

EPHESIANS 1:13

Only God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus have the power to restrain Satan. When Jesus raptures His church to Himself, in that moment with the Holy Spirit living in us, He leaves with us. The earth will feel a great loss of the presence of the Holy Spirit for a moment. But when those left behind see them disappear, many will realize what the Christians told them was true, and will believe and call on the name of Jesus and be saved and receive God’s Holy Spirit. For God is omnipresent. Only when the believers are gone can the anti-christ be revealed.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work;
only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out 
of the wayAnd then the lawless one will be revealed
whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth 
and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

2 THESSALONIANS 2:7- 8

For if the church was still here, we would recognize the anti-christ and warn people who he is before he entered the holy temple and claim to be god. As Christians, our focus is always on the appearing of Jesus Christ and not the coming of the anti-christ. There are two events, first, Jesus appearing, the rapture, second, His return, with His saints for judgment.

The First Event. Pre-Tribualtion Rapture. The Lord Himself. Christians will love His appearing.

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, 
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on 
that Day, and not to me only but also to all who 
have loved His appearing.


Trained by Saving Grace
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to 
all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly 
lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the 
present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious 
appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

TITUS 2:11-13

The Second Even. He Sends His Angels Out. The World will mourn at His appearing.

30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.
and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see
the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and 
great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of
a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the others.

MATTHEW 24:30,31

Will people be saved during the tribulation?  Yes.  They will receive the Holy Spirit after they hear the truth of the gospel. God’s word endures forever. But those left behind after the rapture must try to survive the seven year tribulation or die for their faith in Jesus.

So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by 
giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us,


The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.”

ISAIAH 40:8

But the word of the Lord endures forever.
”Now this is the word which by the 
gospel was preached to you.


Fifth Seal: The Cry of the Martyrs
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls 
of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the 
testimony which they held10 And they cried with a loud voice, 
saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and 
avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then a 
white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them 
that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number 
of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed 
as they were, was completed.

REVELATION 6:9-11

God is dealing with Israel, the Jews. We know the holy city is Jerusalem. We do not need to be reconciled for our iniquities to God, Jesus already took care of that.

24 “Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy
.

DANIEL 9:24


STARTING WITH MATTHEW  23:37-39

Jesus Laments over Jerusalem
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

Jesus is lamenting for Jerusalem (Israel) who He came to save, but was rejected by the majority, that were not willing to accept Him as their promised Messiah. 

He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

ISAIAH 53:3

10 He was in the world, and the world was made 
through Him,and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

JOHN 1:10-11

38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”

Their house (the temple), was desolate. For the temple had become their house, not God’s.  They couldn’t see that God Almighty and Jesus the Lamb are the True temple, and without Jesus it was just an empty building. 

Yet I say to you that in this place 
there is One greater than the temple.

MATTHEW 12:6

22 But I saw no temple in it,
for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

REVELATION 21:22


As for the church we are joined to the Father by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. We are never separated from Him.

At that day you will know that I am in My Father, 
and you in Me, and I in you.


But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.



MATTHEW  24 : 1 – 31

Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple
MATTHEW 24:1  Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The temple destroyed, 70 A.D by the Romans', Jesus saw the future destruction of the temple.

Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the mountain 
of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest.


These buildings of the temple were magnificent. They took pride in man’s workmanship. But Jesus asked them, “can’t you see”? The buildings mean nothing, for Israel rejected their Messiah, the true temple of God. Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because of their rejection. Today Israel is preparing to rebuild their third temple.

21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

JOHN 2:21

48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples
made with hands, as the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest?
50 Has My hand not made all these things?’

ACTS 7:48-50

Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem
41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,
42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your 
day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are 
hidden from your eyes. 43 For days will come upon you when your
 enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you 
and close you in on every side,  44 and level you, and your 
children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in 
you one stone upon another, because you did not know 
the time of your visitation.”

LUKE 19:41-44

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

The disciples meet with Jesus privately, and question Him on His coming return. Jesus calls them friends and makes known to them all the things He heard from His Father concerning Israel for their rejection of their promised Messiah, confirming the words of the prophet Joel.  Luke in Acts 2:22 goes on to add that Jesus was the sign that Israel was waiting for. Even with all the miracles, wonders, and signs they saw Him do, they still did not receive Him.  In the last days God will pour out His Spirit on Israel, yet only a remnant is saved.

15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know
what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things
that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

JOHN 15:15

27 Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am 
the Lord your God  And there is no other. My people shall
 never be put to shame. 28 “And it shall come to pass afterward 
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your 
daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams,  
Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants 
and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: 
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned 
into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the 
great and awesome day of the Lord32 And it shall come to pass  
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.  For 
in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the 
Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.

JOEL 2:27-32

22 Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man 
attested by God  to you by miracles, wonders, and signs 
which God did through Him in your midst,
as you yourselves also know—

ACTS 2:22

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

Messiah in Hebrew is moshiach or mashiach which means anointed priest or king. The moshiach will be a man who possesses extraordinary qualities. The Jews believe he will be human, not god, demi-god, and there is absolutely nothing supernatural about a moshiach. As Christians, we believe the messiah is the Son of God and is God. Hebrew teaching is the moshiach will be a charismatic leader inspiring others to follow him, bringing the nations to a new world order, he will be a great military leader and judge, well versed in Jewish law. As Christians we can see how many will be deceived, for us this is almost an exact description of the anti-christ. In Matthew 24:24 Jesus warns them again, if possible to even deceive the elect, (Jews).  We can also see many false teachers in the Christian churches also deceiving many.

24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great 
signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

MATTHEW 24:24

For many will come in My name,
saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many.


For false christs and false prophets will rise and
show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

MARK 13:22 

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.   For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

God’s judgment begins on the earth.  God told us all before hand in His word, as when a woman is in labor. the pain keeps getting closer until the birth comes. We can see many of these signs happening now and will continue to grow worse until the birth, (the seven year tribulation begins.)

Behold, the day of the Lord comes, Cruel, with both wrath 
and fierce angerTo lay the land desolate; And He will 
destroy its sinners from it.


Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel 
and Judah“For thus says the Lord: We have heard a voice of 
trembling, Of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see, Whether 
man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with 
his hands on his loins Like a woman in laborAnd all faces turned 
paleAlas! For that day is great, So that none is like itAnd it 
is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.

JEREMIAH 30:4-7

Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.

JOEL 1:15

The Lord gives voice before His army, For His camp is very 
great; For strong is the One who executes His word.
For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; 
Who can endure it?

JOEL 2:11

For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord
so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and 
safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains 
upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:2-3

God’s word states, He preserves the believers in Jesus Christ (the church) and we will not be left to the hands of evil or face His wrath.

You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of 
His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.

PSALM 97:10

36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted 
worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass
and to stand before the Son of Man.”

LUKE 21:36

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

ROMANS 5:9

and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the 
dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.


Because you have kept My command to persevere,
I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come
upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.


“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

At this point in time, remember Jesus is speaking to His disciples, Jews, Israel, there is no Christian church in this time of history. Throughout history the faithful Jews have faced tribulation, and His disciples did not only face tribulation, but death. There will be no greater time in history than the seven year tribulation that future Jewish generations must endure for rejecting Jesus as their Messiah. Those who know God’s word will realize that Jesus is the true Messiah and be hated and killed in this time of the seven year tribulation.

22 And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.
But he who endures to the end will be saved.

MATTHEW 10:22

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and
write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall
be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and
none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me,
from the least of them to the greatest of them.

HEBREWS 8:10-11

Jesus knowing all things, knew what was in store for His disciples, but also for generations to come.  Stephen was stoned to death, James the son of Zebedee was beheaded, Philip was crucified, Matthew was martyred, slain with a halberd, a weapon consisting of an ax blade and a sharp spike mounted on the end of a long staff, usually about 5–6 ft, James, the brother of Jesus, stoned, his brains dashed out with a fuller’s club, Matthias was beheaded, Andrew was crucified, Mark was dragged to pieces by the people of Alexandria, Peter was crucified upside down, Paul was beheaded by sword, Jude was crucified, Bartholomew was beaten, then crucified, Thomas was thrust through with a spear, Luke was hanged on an olive tree, Simon was crucified, and John cast into boiling oil, he escaped by miracle without injury. John was the only apostle who escaped a violent death.

Persecutions Are Coming
16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. 
Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. 
17 But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils 
and scourge you in their synagogues. 18 You will be brought
before governors and kings for My sakeas a 
testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

MATTHEW 10:16-18

11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.   

Not only have false prophets come into the temples of Israel to keep them from the true Messiah, but we can see this is also happening in many churches today.  As God’s word was true for Israel, it also holds true for today’s Christian church as a warning. For many religious leaders want to hold all the glory and power for themselves, withholding the truth from Israel and the church.

“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led 
them astray; They have turned them away on the mountains. 
They have gone from mountain to hill; They have 
forgotten their resting place.


“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy 
and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: 
Woe to the shepherds of Israel who
feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, 
deceiving and being deceived.


2 TIMOTHY 3:13

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

MATTHEW 24

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

In the last days God tells of a time when the people will leave their values and morals and follow the evil desires of their hearts and the lusts of the flesh. They chose not to obey God’s word, His commandments, their hearts have turned cold. As you think about these last days, we shouldn’t be looking at the world, the unbelievers, but God’s church. We can see in the Book of Revelation, chapters 3 and 4, Jesus is warning of the sins in the churches, not the world and warning them to repent of their sins. They have lost their fervent love for Him, they tolerates immorality, heresies, indifferent, and they tolerates cults (false religions) coming into His church.

We need to look at what is happening in the churches, the body of Christ, which we are all members, joined together through the blood of Jesus Christ. We need to know if we have joined ourselves to God’s church or a false church. For many churches are now welcoming the world and sin into the body of Christ, His church.

12 For as the body is one and has many members,
but all the members of that one body, being many,
are one body, so also is Christ.

1 CORINTHIANS 12:12

And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
He may have the preeminence.


[ Sacrificial Service for Christ ] I now rejoice in my sufferings for you,
and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ,
for the sake of His body, which is the church,


14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?
And what communion has light with darkness?

2 CORINTHIANS 6:14

We can see how this concerns God, which you have welcomed liars, fornicator, and homosexuals to serve as pastors, ministers and priests in His churches. These are the signs of the end times and God’s coming wrath and judgments, when the world became so corrupt and sexually immoral. Remember God destroyed everyone except Noah and his family, again when the people became sexually immoral; God saved Lot and his family before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. God made them an example for our benefit on how He will deal with the ungodly. This time will it be three strikes and you’re out.

17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God;
and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those
who do not obey the gospel of God?

1 PETER 4:17

and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people,
a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the
ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemned them to destruction, making them an example
to those who afterward would live ungodly;

2 PETER 2:5-6

20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you,
because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess,
to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality
and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent
of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her
into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
unless they repent of their deeds.

REVELATION 2:20-22

These false teachers will lead many straight into hell, for they denied God’s children His full truth. They do not believe in the virgin birth or that the risen Jesus is the only way to heaven. Some have even brought the Quran into God’s church denying Him as the One true God. They care more about pleasing themselves and the people rather than God.

13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 
14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms
himself into an angel of light.

2 CORINTHIANS 11:13-14

14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty
and your faith is also empty.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:14

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, 
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords
with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes
and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil 
suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of 
the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.
From such withdraw yourself.

1 TIMOTHY 6:3-5

Like the pied piper, they use music to lure people into following after them, 
which these false teachers know that it is pleasing to their flesh. Then these 
silver tongue pastors put forth their deceptions with good stories, even adding 
scripture to make it appear to support their stories. They will say and do what
ever it takes to get you to come to their church, not God’s, but theirs.

These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And
 honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching
 as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

MATTHEW 15:8-9

16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things,
in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable
people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

2 PETER 3:16

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these
things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 
Therefore do not be partakers with them.

EPHESIANS 5:6-7

13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse
and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

2 TIMOTHY 3:13

Just as the serpent deceived Eve and she brought Adam into his deception, these false teachers first lure you in with their music and stories, and if they can get you to take a bite of their false fruit, then they will require you to bring others in, stating that it is your purpose in life to help them grow and achieve their goals, all to their glory, not God’s.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make 
one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to
her husband with her, and he ate.

GENESIS 3:6

13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

GENESIS 3:13

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness,
so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

2 CORINTHIANS 11:3

The church is not there to preach only God’s love and the joy he gives. This only pleases the flesh. What they leave out is that you are going into God’s sanctuary, where we should also have reverence and fear of God who is able to destroy both body and soul. These false churches show no reverence or fear.   

God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,
And to be held in reverence by all
 those around Him.

PSALM 89:7

28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

MATTHEW 10:28

We know the love of the Father comes with reverence and fear when we disobey, knowing punishment will come. Only with the Holy Spirit living in you, can you understand this love and fear of a loving Father. For when we do slip up we immediately pray for forgiveness. For when we fall on our knees and humble ourselves and repent, God will forgive and lift us up.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

JAMES 4:10

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 JOHN 1:9

I’ve talked to people who attend these false churches. One told me they keep attending because the pastor is a good teacher for the children, but my question is what is he teaching? Is he teaching them by his example? That sexual immorality is not only welcomed in their church, but the sexually immoral can lead and teach in their churches, following after the principles of this world and not according to the traditions that God told us to hold on to.

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin,
it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck,
and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

MATTHEW 18:6

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit,
according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world,
 and not according to Christ.

COLOSSIANS 2:8

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you
were taught, whether by word or our epistle.


Do you really want false teachers training up your children in the way they 
should go? Or should I say: the way these false teachers want them to go.

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it
.

PROVERBS 22:6

16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

TITUS 1:16

We have forgotten to tell the people why they come to church. It is not for the music or stories. It is by God’s calling and His Holy Spirit drawing us to come closer to Him.  It is not a time to be entertained, but a time to worship God and learn His true word. No man can tell us our purpose or calling. Their questionnaire they have you answer to find your talents, only shows how they can use you to fulfill their purpose, not God’s. Your calling and gifts come only through God’s Holy Spirit, and only with God’s Spirit living in you will you be able to discern the true church of God, from these false ones.

44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;
and I will raise him up at the last day.

JOHN 6:44

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the
fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:9

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more
in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the
things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and
without offense till the day of Christ,

PHILIPPIANS 1:9-10

who has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,

2 TIMOTHY 1:9