What shall we say then?

‘What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness that is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written. Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offense: and whoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.' (Romans 9:30-33 KJV)

'But what sayeth it (the righteousness which is of faith)? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.' 

(Romans 10:8-10 KJV)

'Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.' (Hebrews 3:1,2 KJV)

Therefore begin, or continue, to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus daily, even throughout the day. This confession: the Lord Jesus and his testimony is made unto salvation.

‘Done for Them of My Father which is in Heaven'

‘Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' (Matthew 18:19,20)

'Ye ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts.' 

(James 4:3)

'And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.' 

(1 John 5:14,15)

SHALL is the present tense of SHOULD. Any two agree, presently, as touching any thing they should ask, it will be done for them of the Father which is in heaven.

'He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.' (1 John 5:10,11)

When two can agree as touching any thing that they must ask, in His name and according to His testimony, there He is in the midst of them.

No Deals with the Debtors: Ask the Master how NOT to Waste His goods

‘He also said to His disciples: "There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.' Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.'

So he called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.' So he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.' Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?' So he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.' And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.' So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home." (Luke 16:1-9, NKJV)

'Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.'

(1 John 5:14,15)

Then the stewards of the Lord said within themselves, 'I have resolved what to do: I will not continue in my unfaithful and wasteful stewardship; I will ask the Lord God to show me how to carry on from this point according to His will!' No more shrewd, unrighteous, failed testimony.

The Things That John Worked For ( NKJV)

'Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.'

'For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we (you) do not lose those THINGS WE WORKED FOR, but that we (you) may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.'

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.' (2 John v.3-11)

A number of translations exchange the 'we' for 'you', in reference to 'yourselves' in 2 John v.8. It should not be difficult to consider that John understood and believed these 'things', working out his salvation, abiding in the doctrine of Christ. He admonishes us to DO the same.

'If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.'

(1 John 5:9,10)

He gives more Grace

‘From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? You lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.’

'Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, "The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?" But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.'

'Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.' (James 4:1-10, KJV)

He gives more grace, to the humble; who ask to see the Lord's testimony, and follow Him.

Remain Repentant for the Holiness of the Spirit of God

'Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?" But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed Him.'

'When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.' (Matthew 3:13-17, 4:1)

'There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." ' (John 3:1-6)

'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore WE were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:1-4)

Jesus came up immediately from the water, but I think we better understand that we will be under for a while: learning how to remain repentant to the holiness of the Spirit of God, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Ordained of Old for this Condemnation

‘Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept unawares, who WERE BEFORE OF OLD ORDAINED TO THIS CONDEMNATION, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.'

(Jude v.3-5)

'Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.' (Jude v.8)

'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, CONDEMNED SIN IN THE FLESH: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

(Romans 8:1-4)

'Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.' (Romans 8:34)

Christ that died condemns those who will not follow in the wisdom of God! There is no condemnation for those as they do. But, the spirit to walk wantonly against Christ's way is still at work, manifest is those described above. That same spirit caused men of old to separate themselves from Christ's way.

'Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.'

(Matthew 16:24,25)