In John 11:9-10 Jesus compares His decision to return to Judaea to a man traveling during the day. Daytime travel doesn't guarantee a hazard-free trip but the light does allow us to see the hazards. At nighttime, it's inevitable that we will stumble.  

Walking in the light of God's direction doesn't mean that there won't be problems, but the alternative of "doing our own thing" (that is walking in darkness) is guaranteed to get us into trouble.

Jesus was obeying the leading of His Father to return to Judaea. He could see exactly what was going to take place and He was going to walk in the light that His Father had given Him. 

Our decisions should not be based on whether or not we will be hurt in some way as a result of our actions, but we must discern God's will and do it regardless of the cost.

The misconception that, "if God is in it, there will be no problems" is not only wrong, but is dangerous. This kind of thinking has caused many people to "back off" from what God has told them to do when things don't go the way they expected. 

Our problems don't come from God, so, we shouldn't pray for problems and not embrace them as being "a blessing from God in disguise."  When trials come, we should not be shocked (1 Peter 4:12) and not let problems or the lack of them confirm or deny God's will for us.

Jesus died for each one of us. Each one of us ought to live for Him. Offering ourselves to God is not just a one-time deal. We have to die daily to our own desires. This has to be a living, ongoing commitment to the Lord.

There is special mention made of Jesus loving Martha. This is after the event recorded in Luke 10:38-42 where Martha is caught up with serving instead of worshipping Jesus and her priorities are still not in order. Jesus was not rebuking Martha but rather exhorting her for her own profit. 

When the Lord deals with problem areas in our lives, it is always for our profit, not punishment and we should not take it as rejection. This is one way to discern God's correction from the devil's condemnation.

God convicts us of sin but He doesn't condemn us. Conviction is for our profit with no malice while condemnation includes punishment. Satan is the one who condemns the Christian, but the Holy Spirit has given us the power to escape that condemnation. 

The way the Lord convicts a believer is through the inner ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is always done in a positive way that encourages us to turn from sin rather than the negative way of condemning us for having committed the sin.

A Christian who still walks in condemnation is being condemned by the devil or is condemning himself. Only those who are living in the power of the Holy Spirit escape condemnation. 

The law of sin and death still exists. If a Christian shuts off the power of the Spirit of life and begins to walk in the power of his own flesh, Satan will use this law of sin and death to condemn him and makes sure he crashes. 

It's not God who condemns us.

It is very interesting that the apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith after He spoke of forgiveness. They observed all of the wonderful miracles Jesus performed and that never inspired them to ask for greater faith. 

Walking in love and forgiveness with each other takes as much faith as any miracle we will ever believe for.

The basis of forgiveness is the love and mercy of God. It is only because God first loved and forgave us that we can love and forgive others. If we aren't walking in the forgiveness of God, we won't minister it to others. 

He forgave us before we repented or asked for forgiveness.

The bible tells us to forgive as Christ has forgiven us. God offered His forgiveness towards us while we were yet sinners. Forgiveness was offered to all unconditionally. But only those who receive the offered forgiveness through repentance and faith are received as sons of God.

We are to forgive others their trespasses, just as God has forgiven us our trespasses. We forgive whether or not the other person repents or wants our forgiveness. 

But we cannot restore such a person to complete relationship until there is repentance on his part. Failure to distinguish between forgiveness and restoration with their different conditions, has caused some people to make themselves vulnerable to unscrupulous people and suffer tragic results. 

Complete restoration is dependent on repentance. We must walk in forgiveness!

There are many scriptures that speak of varying degrees of faith. The scriptures also speak of Jesus increasing in wisdom (Luke 2:52) that certainly refers to His physical intellect drawing more and more on the perfect wisdom of God that was already in Him at birth. It is in this way that we also increase in faith.

At salvation, the believer is given the supernatural faith of God. We had to use the very faith of God (not human faith) to believe the gospel (Ephesians 2:8).

That faith came to us through hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17), and once we are born again, it becomes an abiding fruit of the Spirit within us.

Every believer is given the same measure of faith at salvation but not all believers use what God has given them. It is correct to speak of growing in faith and having great faith or little faith, but it is important to understand that this is speaking of how much faith we use or manifest - not how much faith we were given. All believers were given "the" same measure of faith.

Jesus' example of the grain of mustard seed underscores the truth that our faith is sufficient if we will just use it without the hindrance of unbelief.

He continues into the parable of the servant serving his master to illustrate that our faith is not the problem but rather our use of it. We are using it to serve ourselves instead of our master who is God.

Living by faith is not something special that only the "super-saints" are supposed to do. The Lord expects all of His children to live a supernatural life of faith. He gave us everything we need to do this, if we just let Him live through us.

God takes the persecution of His children personally. In Acts 9:4 when Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus and spoke to him about his persecution of the saints, Jesus said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Saul was not directly persecuting Jesus but he was persecuting His saints. Yet Jesus said, "Why are you persecuting me?" 

Judgment against those who persecute God's children will not always come in time to prevent their harm but as this warning makes very clear, God will avenge His own (Romans 12:19).

Letting God be the one who defends us is a matter of faith. If there is no God who will bring men into account for their actions, then turning the other cheek would be the worst thing we could do. But if there is a God who promises that vengeance is His, and He will repay, then taking matters into our own hands shows a lack of faith in God and His integrity.

We are not to take matters into our own hands and defend ourselves.

"Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (from Deuteronomy 32:35-36; Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30). 

Striving to vindicate self actually shows a lack of faith in God keeping this promise. It also indicates spiritual "nearsightedness" which is only looking at the present moment instead of seeing things in view of eternity.

Even as Christ did not come to condemn the world and is not holding men's sins against them, even so, we have been given the same ministry of reconciliation. 

Those who do not receive the love we extend to them but rather take advantage of us because of our "turning the other cheek," God will repay.

This story in Luke 16:22 teaches that there is life after death. It shows that there is no "soul sleep" where our souls are awaiting the resurrection of our bodies, but we go into a conscious eternity immediately. It also shows that there are only two destinations possible after death. We either go to a place of torment for the wicked or a place of blessing for the righteous. 

There is no "limbo" or "purgatory" and there is no second chance, illustrating the finality of our eternal destiny once we die.

Abraham's bosom is a symbolic term designating a place of comfort for the righteous dead. It was located in the heart of the earth, in the same region as hell, where the ungodly dead go. The rich man's body was in the grave and yet this scripture speaks of him lifting up his eyes and seeing Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. 

Our soul mirrors our physical shape so closely that it is recognizable. It is probable that one's soulish body is an exact duplicate of their physical body.

Part of this man's torment was from the flames. He was also tormented by the thought of his loved ones' lives on earth and their eternal destiny. Surely his helplessness to warn them would make his misery worse.

The fact that he could see Lazarus and Abraham in a place of total blessing and comfort would keep him from ever adjusting to his situation.

In the light of Jesus' words, we can see that hell will be much more than just a place of physical torment. Those who are consigned to that place will also be tormented with the thoughts of what could have been if they had trusted Jesus. 

The greatest witness that anyone could ever receive is the witness from God's Word. The gospel is the "power of God unto salvation".

In Luke 16:17 the jot was not only one of the smallest letters of the Hebrew alphabet, but also one of the most insignificant, being sometimes deleted at the writer's pleasure. 

The tittle was only a mark or a point on a line that helped distinguish one letter from another. The tittle is like our period or apostrophe. The point that Jesus is making is that even the tiniest detail of the law would not pass away.

Christ fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law. The law was ordained to life, but no one could keep it. So, God Himself became flesh. He did what no sinful flesh had ever done. He kept the law thereby winning the life of God as the prize for keeping the law. 

This gave Him eternal life but before He could give it to us, we still had a debt that had to be paid. This is similar to someone receiving the death penalty for some hideous crime, then some billionaire leaves his whole estate to him. It would do the condemned man no good. But if that same billionaire could somehow take that man's place and die for him, then he could go free and enjoy his new wealth. That's what Jesus did for us. He took our sins and gave us His righteousness.

Jesus did much more than just obtain eternal life for us, He also paid all the wages of our sins (Romans 6:23). God literally placed the condemnation, or judgment, that was against us upon His own Son. Jesus' perfect flesh was condemned so our defiled flesh could go free. What a trade! Since Jesus bore our sentence (condemnation), we don't have to bear it. The debt has already been paid!

The Bible teaches that there are different dispensations or ways of God dealing with mankind throughout the ages. A dispensation is simply a period of time in which God deals with mankind in a certain way.

The Old Testament law was only a temporary dispensation and ruled from the giving of the law (Exodus 20) until the ministry of John the Baptist. When Christ came, He put an end to the law for righteousness (Romans 10:4). 

Anyone who advocates the keeping of the law for the purpose of right standing with God is going back to an Old Testament system of law that has been abolished and is making the work of Christ void in his life.

The New Testament believer is under the dispensation of God's grace. We are not under the law. That doesn't mean the law has passed away. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the law to fail. The law hasn't failed. It has been fulfilled (Matthew 5:17). 

Christ fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law for us and imputes to us that righteousness is not based on our performance but on our faith in Him. The law was never given for the purpose of justification. It was totally powerless to save. It only showed us our need and pointed us to a Savior.

The law was not made for a righteous man and it still serves a purpose for those who are not born again. For those who do not accept Jesus as their Savior, the wrath of God, which the law produces, abides on them. 

In this present age, Jesus has come not to condemn men but to bring them grace and truth. Those who do not believe on the Son are presently under the wrath of the Old Testament law, and, unless they repent, will suffer the wrath of God eternally. Thank God for His grace!

Justification is not something to be earned, but a gift to be received. Seeking to earn salvation is the only sin that will prevent a person from being saved, because you cannot submit yourself to the righteousness of God which comes as a gift through faith as long as you are seeking to establish your own righteousness.

Most people are unaware that there are two kinds of righteousness. Only one type of righteousness is acceptable to God. There is our righteousness, which is our compliance with the requirements of the law. This is an imperfect righteousness because human nature is imperfect and incapable of fulfilling the law. 

And there is God's righteousness, which only comes as a gift and is received by faith. God's righteousness is perfect. Our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). A person who believes that he must earn God's acceptance by his holy actions is not believing in God's righteousness, which is a gift. It has to be one or the other; we cannot mix the two.

Righteousness is not what Jesus has done for us plus some minimum standard of holiness that we have to accomplish.

Right standing before a holy God is not to be achieved in the keeping of the law, but in humble trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. No one who is trusting in his own righteousness can have the benefit of Christ's righteousness. The righteousness that gives men relationship with God is the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, and it comes freely through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22). 

It is true that the way we obtained this righteousness is by putting faith IN what Christ has done for us. But when we place our faith in Christ, then the righteousness that Jesus obtained by His faith becomes ours. We are possessors of Christ's righteousness, which His faith produced.

The unjust steward in Luke 16:1-18 was covetous. He had not been faithful to his master or to his master's debtors. He had wasted his master's goods on himself. When found out, his self-serving nature considered the options, and decided there had to be a change. He decided to use his lord's money to make friends so that when he was fired he would have someone to help him.

His master was wealthy enough that he didn't take offense at the steward's discounting of the debts owed to him, but rather he commended him [the steward]. He didn't commend his dishonest ways, but he was commending the fact that he had finally used his lord's money to plan for the future instead of wasting it on himself. Although the steward was motivated by what he would gain, there was prudence in his actions, which had been lacking before.

Jesus is telling us to use money (the unrighteous mammon) to make to ourselves friends that would receive us into "everlasting" life. The use of the word "everlasting" shows that Jesus is talking about our eternal future. 

The people who have been saved and blessed by our investments in the kingdom of God will literally receive us into our everlasting home when we pass on to be with the Lord.

Our material possessions have been given to us by God so that we are actually stewards of His resources. The Lord gave us wealth to establish His covenant on this earth, not so that we could consume it upon our own lusts. We have been blessed to be a blessing!

In Luke 15:20, for this boy's father to have seen him "a great way off" would imply that the Father had been eagerly awaiting his son's return. In the spiritual application of this parable, our Heavenly Father is longing to cleanse and receive the sinner, if he will just repent and come to Him for forgiveness.

Jesus was using this parable to rebuke the Pharisees for their harsh, self-righteous, unforgiving attitude towards sinners. 

The older brother in this parable was symbolic of the Pharisees. Like this brother, the Pharisees had not lived an outward life of rebellion and they thought that others who didn't measure up to their standards were surely hated by God. But, "God so loved the world" and "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."

Just as this older brother was self-centered and jealous, the Pharisees were not operating in the love of God towards sinners because they were so in love with themselves. They resented Jesus giving the sinners what the Pharisees thought they deserved.

If relationship with his father had been the real desire of the older brother, he would have rejoiced to see his father's joy at the return of his son. The repentant prodigal son had learned the vanity of things and he had come home to a relationship with his father that neither he nor his older brother had known before.

The scribes and Pharisees, like the older brother, had gotten caught up in serving self through their religious actions. The publicans and sinners who repented were supplying their Father with what He really wanted - relationship.

Relationship with the Father was always available to the scribes and Pharisees, but they chose the temporal praise of men rather than relationship with God.

Luke 15:18-19 is a good example of true repentance. This son did not claim any goodness of his own or try to justify his actions, but he humbled himself and appealed to the mercy of his father. We cannot approach God in self-righteousness, but we have to humble ourselves, put all of our faith in a Savior, and turn from our wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14). That is true repentance.

Repentance is a necessary part of salvation. Repentance may include godly sorrow, but sorrow does not always include repentance. Repentance is simply a change of mind accompanied by corresponding actions.

There is a godly type of sorrow and an ungodly type of sorrow. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. Ungodly sorrow, or the sorrow of this world, just kills.

Our culture has rejected all "negative" emotions. But God gave us the capacity for these negative emotions and there is a proper use of them.

People should feel bad about sin. There should be sorrow over our failures. This sorrow should lead to repentance, then when forgiveness is received, our sorrow should be cast upon the Lord (Isaiah 53:4).

The sorrow experienced by those who do not turn to God produces only death.

They grieve over their situation because they don't turn to God (that's repentance). Christians should only have sorrow until they repent. Once repentance has come, we need to appropriate the forgiveness and cleansing that are already ours through Christ (1 John 1:9). The positive change that our sorrows led us to, changes our attitude towards the things that caused us sorrow. 

Negatives become positives through Jesus.

God's Word makes it clear that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Romans 1:18-20 shows that even those who don't know God's Word have an intuition of right and wrong and God's judgment against sin.

For anyone to live in sin, as shown by this prodigal son in Luke 15:11-17, they have to be deceived. This is exactly what the Bible says is the case in 2 Corinthians 4:4. When Jesus said, "he came to himself," He was referring to the deception being removed and the son's spiritual eyes being opened.

Like this story of the prodigal, tragedy often brings people out of deception and back to their senses. It's not that God sends the tragedy. God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, "Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee" (Jeremiah 4:18). 

Tragic situations do illustrate that "it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23), and they cause us to look somewhere else for help. Although turning to God is always beneficial, regardless of what provides the motivation, "hard knocks" are not the best teacher.

Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." God's Word was given for reproof and correction and if we will submit to it, we can "be perfect, thoroughly furnished" without having to experience tragedy first.

The parable of the man building a tower in Luke 14:25-35 is a continuation of the teaching regarding what it takes to be a disciple of Jesus. This parable stresses commitment. 

"Jailhouse religion," where a person is only sorry he got caught and is trying to get out of a bad situation, will not produce true discipleship. It takes a forsaking of all to be Jesus' disciple. Jesus is simply saying, "count the cost."

Jesus' teaching on discipleship emphasizes commitment. Just as a king wouldn't engage in war without thoroughly considering all the possible outcomes, so no one should attempt to become a disciple of Jesus without counting the cost. It would be better not to start following Jesus than to start and then turn back.

When a person first comes to Jesus, it is impossible to know everything that following Jesus might entail. No one should be fearful of making a total commitment because of some imagined problem that may never come to pass. There should be a willingness to forsake everything to follow Jesus.

Once we make that decision, then Christ begins to live through us (Galatians 2:20) and we find a strength that is not our own, equal to whatever test we may encounter.

The man who made the supper in Luke 14:16-24 symbolizes God who has invited "whosoever will" to come to Him. The parable teaches that it is not God who fails to offer salvation to everyone, but rather it is the invited guests who reject God's offer.

These people had feeble excuses just like the excuses of those today who don't accept God's offer of salvation. The Lord's Marriage Supper of the Lamb will be furnished with "undesirables" from the world's point of view, not because God rejects the upper class, but because they reject Him.

Those who have an abundance of this world's possessions don't tend to recognize their need for God as much as those who are without.

Jesus' parable could also be applied to the Jewish nation. God offered salvation to the Jews but they, as a whole, refused Him. Therefore, the Lord sent His servants to the Gentiles to fill His kingdom.

This very parable proves that the Lord is not advocating us using force to convert people to Christianity, because this man accepted the decision of those who rejected his invitation. 

It must be understood that the Lord is admonishing us to compel them to come in by our persuasion or entreaty. The word "compel" denotes aggressiveness, even in persuading of people. The Church, as a whole, and all of us as individuals are not supposed to simply hang out our "shingle" and wait for the world to come to us. We are supposed to be aggressively going into all the world with the Good News. We have an urgent command to be a witness because the time before our Lord's return is short.

Some people have tried to interpret John 10:34 to say that Jesus was disclaiming deity by associating Himself with the gods spoken of in Psalm 82:6. Jesus is not saying that He is a god only in the sense that the scriptures, spoke of men with divine authority as gods (Exodus 4:16; 7:1; 22:28; Psalm 82:1). In the verses before this, Jesus proclaimed His oneness with the Father and in His statements after this, He says that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father, making clear His claim to deity. 

The Jews were not pacified by His answer, but they tried again to stone Him. If they would have understood His statements to mean that He was not proclaiming His deity, they would have left Him alone.

The comparison that Jesus is making is between the bible stating that the Christ was God (Isaiah 9:6) and the saying that rulers were gods (this refers to having divine authority - not deity). Jesus accepted their position and authority, because of the infallibility of the word, and they should have done the same with Him. 

The bible prophesied His coming and the works that He would accomplish; and He fulfilled these prophecies as no one else could. His works proved He was the Messiah prophesied through the Word.

Jesus had already manifested supernatural power by His ability to walk through the midst of those who were trying to kill him and He eventually does the same thing here. He refers back to Psalm 82:6. In this passage, God was speaking to the rulers of His covenant people, the Jews, and He called them gods. 

Jesus was saying, "If those in authority were called gods, how can you fault me for claiming to be the Son of God when I have fulfilled so many scriptures?"

Jesus said that many will seek to enter salvation and will not be able to. There are many reasons for this, but it is not because God refused salvation to anyone. "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men . . ." (Timothy 2:11) and God "is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

There is effort involved in obtaining salvation. The effort is not for the purpose of earning salvation. That is a free gift (Romans 5:15); but we do have to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12). Faith in Jesus' goodness is what saves us - not our own goodness - and Satan is constantly trying to destroy our faith. We have to earnestly contend for the faith. True salvation is not just mental assent, but a real heart-felt commitment.

Many people today think that going to church and associating with Christians will provide them with salvation. Some people think that they are Christians because their parents were. But salvation is having a personal relationship with the Lord. You cannot inherit salvation through the natural birth process. "You must be born again."

We can rest assured that all those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled (Matthew 5:6). "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

There were many ways in which Jesus revealed who He was. His miraculous works revealed who He was. Jesus had also revealed that He was the Christ, both in the synagogue at His hometown of Nazareth, and when speaking to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.

Jesus, in His pre-existent state, was in the form of God. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).

Jesus was God, manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16).  Jesus did not demand or cling to His rights as God, but laid aside His Divine rights and privileges in order to take the form of a servant and be made in the likeness of men. He further humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the Father, even to the point of death.

This was the sacrifice that identified Jesus with humanity and enabled God to redeem mankind. By dying a criminal's death upon the cross, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy in Deuteronomy 21:23 and bore our curse in His own body. This redeemed us from that curse and opened wide God's blessing of justification through faith in Christ and the promise of His Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:13-14).

Jesus left His state of being recognized and worshipped by all the hosts of heaven as God to become a man who was despised and rejected. The Creator became the creation; the Lord became the servant; the Highest became the lowest. All of this was done because of His great love for us.

This sickness was the work of Satan - not the work of God. Jesus said it had bound her - not blessed her - for eighteen years. The teaching that says that sickness is actually a blessing in disguise, because the Lord is working His plan in one's life, is not found in bible. Acts 10:38 says, Jesus "went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil," not "oppressed of God."

There are 17 times in the Gospels when Jesus healed all of the sick that were present. There are 47 other times when He healed one or two people at a time.

Nowhere do we find Jesus refusing to heal anyone. Jesus said that He could do nothing of Himself, but only what He saw the Father do. His actions are proof enough that it is always God's will to heal!

Jesus provided for physical healing as well as forgiveness of sins. The very word "save" (Greekk.-"sozo") is translated "made whole" in reference to physical healing in Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, and Luke 8:48. James 5:15 says "the prayer of faith shall save (Greek.-"sozo") the sick." Many scriptures mention the healing of our bodies in conjunction with the forgiveness of our sins.

Healing is a part of our salvation, just as much as the forgiveness of our sins.

It is God's will that no one should perish, but many do because of their unbelief. It is God's will that we all be healed, but not all are healed because of failure to believe. It is a mistake to assume that whatever God wills will automatically come to pass. We play a part in receiving from God by believing His Word.

Jesus had just spoken about relationships before He gave this parable of delivering ourselves from the judge. The warning is clear that we should do everything within our power to avoid strife (Romans 12:18). The consequences of failing to settle the differences are more than just physical prison or punishment.

Strife can produce spiritual and emotional prisons. James 3:16 says, "where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." Depressions, fears, loneliness, bitterness, sicknesses, financial problems, and many other things can become prisons from which we will not be delivered until we reconcile.

The dictionary states that to reconcile means "to re-establish friendship between; to settle or resolve, as a dispute" (American Heritage). The key to reconciliation is effectively dealing with the enmity, ill will, hatred, or hostility that has caused the dispute. 

There are several approaches to reconciliation that may be used. If we've offended someone by an unkind word that we've spoken, we can apologize. If we owe money to someone, we can pay the debt. If we've done something to someone we can make the necessary restitution. But in every case, reconciliation lies in dealing effectively with the root cause of the enmity.

The enmity between man and God was sin. God took the initiative to remove this barrier through Jesus Christ,  leaving Him and man as friends once again. 
Thank be to God for His great love!

Second Timothy 1:7 says, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." First John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." These scriptures may look like they are contradictions to Jesus' statement; but, they're not.

There are two kinds of fear. The American Heritage Dictionary defines fear as "a feeling of alarm or disquiet caused by the expectation of danger, pain, disaster, or the like; terror; dread; apprehension." And also defines fear as "extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power."

It is this reverence or awe that God's Word teaches saints to have towards God. Hebrews 12:28 says that there is a godly fear with which we are supposed to serve God and thereby implies that there is an ungodly fear that is not acceptable in serving God.

Satan has always used this ungodly dread or terror to torment godly people. Those who have been born again should have no dread or terror of God unless they are planning to renounce their faith in Jesus as their Savior. 

We have a covenant that guarantees us acceptance with God (Ephesians  1:6), as long as we hold fast to our profession of faith in the atoning blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

For an unbeliever, the fear of the Lord is a great deterrent from sin. For those of us who have received the grace of God, it is His goodness that causes us to fear him and depart from sin. His goodness is awesome!

Luke 12:48 is one of the clearest references in scripture about varying degrees of God's judgment according to the knowledge of the person who committed the sin. 

The whole chapter of Leviticus 4 is written to deal with sins committed in ignorance. Jesus said in John 9:41, "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth."

Also, Romans 5:13 says, "sin is not imputed when there is no law."

Paul said, in 1 Timothy 1:13, that he obtained mercy because he had sinned "ignorantly in unbelief." The sin he was speaking of was blasphemy, which Jesus taught was unforgivable if done against the Holy Ghost.  We see that ignorance in Paul's case entitled him to a second chance. If he would have continued to blaspheme after he saw the truth, he would surely have paid the price. This is not to say that a person who doesn't have a complete revelation of God's will is innocent regardless of his actions.

Leviticus 5:17 makes it clear that an individual is still guilty even if he sins through ignorance. Romans 1:18-20 reveals that there is an intuitive knowledge of God within every person to the degree that they even understand the Godhead. This same chapter goes on to explain that people have rejected and changed this truth, but that God did give it and they are without excuse.

No one will be able to stand before God on judgment day and say, "God is not fair." He has given every person who has ever lived, regardless of how remote or isolated they may have been, the opportunity to know Him.

A steward is a person who has been entrusted with administering someone else's wealth or affairs. The possessions a steward controls are not his own and he does not have the freedom to do with them as he wants. He is supposed to carry out the desires of the one who made him steward.

A banker is a steward. He has been entrusted with other people's money. He is free to invest that money wisely in a way that will benefit those that are trusting him, but would be sent to jail if he took all that money and simply consumed it upon himself. A steward is accountable (Luke 16:2) to someone else for the use of that person's money. The money does not belong to him even though it is in his possession.

This parable, and other passages (1 Corinthians 4:1; Timothy 1:7; 1 Peter 4:10), describes every believer as a steward of God's grace. The wealth, talents, and abilities we possess, as well as the revelation of God's love that we've been given, are not our own to do with as we please. We have received these things from God and are accountable to Him for the use or misuse of these gifts. Keeping this in mind is essential for fulfilling our obligation to God as stewards of His "manifold grace."