Who Lives Forever?

Friday, November 09, 2012, 7:41 a.m. – the Lord woke me this morning with the song “Much Too High a Price” playing in my mind, followed by “Jesus Paid it All.”

Much Too High A Price / Jesus Paid It All / Phil McHugh and Greg Nelson

…You paid much too high a price for me, Your tears, Your blood, the pain –

To have my soul just stirred at times yet never truly changed.

You deserve a fiery love that won’t ignore your sacrifice

Because You paid much too high a price...

http://www.music-lyrics-christian.com/christian-music-lyrics/18448-much-too-high-a-price.asp

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 1 John 2:1-12, 15-17 (NIV 1984):

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

I write to you, dear children,

    because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name…

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Atoning Sacrifice

Jesus Christ, God the Son, left his home in heaven, came to earth, took on human flesh, suffered as we suffer, was tempted in all the ways in which we are tempted, yet without sin, died a cruel death on the cross for our sin, was buried, rose from the grave triumphant over hell, Satan, death and sin, and one day he is coming again to judge the world and to receive his own (his followers) to himself for eternity. Amen!

When he died, our sins died with him, and when he was buried, our sins were buried with him, yet when he came back to life, our sins remained in the grave. Jesus Christ paid the penalty of our sin so that we could go free from slavery to sin, and so we would not have to face the ultimate punishment for sin of eternity without God in hell, in eternal torment. He did this for the whole world. Yet, it is only through faith in him that this is appropriated to our lives and we are forgiven of our sins and have the hope of eternal life with God.

The Purpose

Jesus Christ died for our sins, not just so we could be positionally in a right relationship with God and could one day go to heaven, as wonderful as that is. He died so we would be free of the control of and slavery to sin on a day-to-day basis, and so we could live in perfect communion and fellowship with him, living and walking in the light of his love (the truth of his word; and in his righteousness and holiness) daily. We were called to obedience, not to use his grace as a cover-up for sin or as an excuse to continue in willful sin and rebellion.

We learned in 1 John 1 that God is light (truth; righteousness) and in him there is no darkness (sin; wickedness) at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him, and yet we walk (continue to have a lifestyle of willful sinful behavior) in darkness (sin; wickedness), then we are liars, and we don’t live by the truth. But, if we walk (live daily) in his grace, love, truth and in his righteousness, we have fellowship with God the Father, his Son Jesus Christ, and with other followers of Christ who are also walking in his light. Not only do we have such sweet fellowship, but continually the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin.

When we Sin

So, what does this all mean in all practicality? Going back to chapter 2, John said that he wrote to the children of God (followers of Christ) so that they would not sin. Yet, he recognized that as long as we are in these flesh bodies, we are still going to sin from time to time. If we do sin, Jesus, because of his blood sacrifice for our sins, serves as a mediator between us and God and his righteousness covers our sins. Although our sins have been forgiven, and we don’t lose our salvation every time we sin, yet sin does break our fellowship with God, just like it does between people when we sin against someone.

So, when we sin, we come to God humbly, admitting our sin and we ask for his wisdom and guidance and help in not repeating the same sin, and we continue to follow Christ in obedience. He said he would not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but will with that temptation provide a way out from under it so that we can stand up under it (see 1 Co. 10:13). Notice he does not promise to remove the temptation from us, though we are taught to flee temptation, but he promises to provide a way out from us giving in to it so that we can stand strong in our faith despite the temptation to sin. We have to be diligent in this in not making the way for ourselves to be tempted. We do this by avoiding, abrogating and running from anything that hinders our walk with Christ (see Hebrews 12:1).

How we Know

Jesus Christ said that if anyone would come after him he must deny himself and take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and self) and follow (obey) him. This is what it means to walk in the light. We know we have come to know Christ/God if we obey his commands. Not one of us will do this with absolute perfection. Although what John writes sounds very black and white, as he is contrasting a lifestyle of living in sin to please ourselves with a lifestyle of victory in Christ in walking in the light of Christ’s love, this is not about perfection verses imperfection. We will not reach perfection until we reach heaven. What this is about is lifestyle, attitude, belief and how we act out what we believe on a daily basis.

If we come to Christ with the belief that faith, a gift of God’s grace, is proved genuine through repentance and a choice to walk faithfully in obedience to Jesus Christ and to follow him wherever he leads us, then we have the correct basis for our faith. Yet, the Bible also teaches us that true faith is continuous (walking daily in the light), enduring, and will persevere to the end. In other words, we don’t enter into faith in Jesus Christ just to get our ticket into heaven, to clean up our lives some, or to join a particular group of people. We come to faith in Jesus Christ by his grace and his blood sacrifice for our sins, and through dying to our old lives of sin, being transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and by turning to walk in obedience and surrender to our Lord (master; boss), Jesus Christ. This is the meaning of faith. And, this is how we know we have come to know him.

If we say we know God/Christ, but we don’t live a life characterized by obedience to his commands, then we are liars. This is also like saying that if we say we have fellowship with God and yet we continue to walk in (live a life characterized by) darkness (sin; wickedness), then we are liars. In both cases, the truth is not in us. True faith is proved genuine by how we live what we say we believe. If we say we believe in Jesus as our Savior from sin, then we should not continue to live in willful sin. If we say we believe Jesus is our Lord (boss), then our lives should reflect that Jesus Christ is indeed the boss and master of our lives, and that we are slaves of righteousness, not perfection, but of obedience to Christ.

Evidence

Some of the ways in which our faith is proved genuine or revealed as fake and phony is tested in how we love one another. If we claim to be in the light but we hate our brothers (fellow human beings and/or our fellow believers in Jesus Christ), then we are still in darkness (sin). We can hate evil deeds, but we should never hate people. In fact, Jesus taught that we should love our enemies, pray for those who mistreat us, bless those who persecute us, and do good to those who hate us. There is no room for hate in that formula!

Another test to see if our faith is genuine or not is to see whether or not we love the world and the things in the world. Now, the word “world” is used in several different ways in scripture. God loved the world, which is why he sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. This is speaking of the people of the world, whom we are to love. The world can also be the created things of God, such as flowers, trees, sun, sky, water, animals, fish, birds, etc. We can admire God’s creation and we should see the majesty and glory of God in all that he created and so it should drive us to worship him, but we should never worship created things, but only the creator.

One other meaning of “world” in scripture has to do with sinful cravings and desires, worldliness, and the thoughts, behaviors, attitudes of the unregenerate mind outside of Christ. This “world” inspires this kind of love for the world that is a worshipful kind of love like the love we should have for God and for God alone. So, it isn’t just that we seek after, admire, and give of our time and energies to satisfy the cravings of our sinful nature, but it is also that we become worshipful of “stuff” and things that are going to perish, and we even make men our idols and follow them over and above following our creator, God/Jesus. We are not only committing sin by going after what is sinful, but we are also committing spiritual adultery against our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our husband. All these worldly things are going to pass away. It is the person who does the will of God who will live forever. Make sure today you are following God/Jesus and not the ways of this world.

Jesus Paid It All / Elvina M. Hall / John T. Grape

… your sins… they shall be as white as snow… Isaiah 1:18

I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.”

For nothing good have I whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white in the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

And now complete in Him my robe His righteousness,
Close sheltered ’neath His side, I am divinely blest.

Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots and melt the heart of stone.

When from my dying bed my ransomed soul shall rise,
“Jesus died my soul to save,” shall rend the vaulted skies.

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down all down at Jesus’ feet.

Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Much Too High a Price: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqmgNaYv7Dw