Tuesday, November 18,
2014, 10:10 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “For Our Nation.” Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read 1 Peter 2:1-12
(ESV).
Put Them Away
So
put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
The Greek word translated here as “put away” means to
renounce (forsake) or to put off from oneself; to lay aside or cast off; loose;
and/or to unfasten (Source: biblehub.com). Basically it means to get rid of
these things; to refuse and to disown them. We can’t be casual about this. And,
we can’t keep saying “Oops!” If these sins or others have a hold on our lives
to where we keep repeating the same offenses time and time again, then we need
to get serious about eradicating these sins from our lives. So, how do we do
this?
Well, first of all, we have to want to be free from sin’s
grip on our lives, and we have to know that Jesus Christ already delivered us,
not only from the punishment of sin, but from the control of sin over our
lives. Sin should no longer be our master, for we were bought with a price. We
died with Christ to sin, so how can we live in it any longer? We have to stop
believing Satan’s lies, and we have to begin to put on the armor of God with
which to fight off his evil schemes against us. We also have to want to follow
Christ in obedience, and we have to desire to live holy and godly lives in the
power of his Spirit within us.
So, if our sin is malice (hatred; spite; meanness; cruelty),
there are lies we believe about ourselves and/or others which must be
discovered, the truth revealed, and then the lies must be rejected and the
truth accepted. It could be that there are other sins in our lives for which we
have also not gained victory, and which have a hold on our lives, and so we
feel guilty when around others who are walking in the Light, and so we hate
them, because we hate the light, because the light exposes what is going on in
the darkness, and we don’t want to be exposed. We don’t want our sins to come
into the Light. But, they must if we are to truly be free. We may also be
harboring bitterness and unforgiveness towards others, and it reveals itself
through meanness and spite. So, we must rid ourselves of that, too.
We often deceive when we are trapped in sin and we don’t
want anyone to know, and so we lie to cover up our other sins, i.e. we deceive
(mislead; trick; betray) in order to lead people to think differently from what
is the truth. Sometimes, when we have done this as a habit for so long, we even
begin to believe our own lies so that it is difficult to separate the truth
from the lies. We also deceive ourselves in order to convince ourselves that
what we are doing is really ok, or that we deserve this, or that we are not
really hurting anyone but ourselves. And, we may even be drawn toward beliefs
which tell us we are ok, and that Jesus is pleased with us and he smiles on us
no matter if we willfully sin against him. These false grace beliefs only give
license for believers to continue in willful sin. That is no grace!
God’s grace teaches us to say “NO!” to ungodliness and worldly
passions and to live self-controlled, godly and upright lives in this present
age while we wait for the Lord’s return (See: Tit. 2:11-14). We must say “No”
to living in hypocrisy, pretending we are something we are not, either to
impress others and/or to cover up sin. We must say “No” to envy, which is
jealousy and resentment because others have what we don’t have. We must say “No”
to slander, too, which is speaking an untruth about someone for the sole
purpose to bring harm to them or to damage their reputation. And, instead, we
must put on love, kindness, truthfulness, faithfulness, integrity, genuineness,
contentedness and peace.
Long For It
Like
newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up
into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Although some false grace teaching would like you to believe
otherwise, the New Testament is loaded with instructions to believers as to
what we are to put off and what we are to put on; what we are to stop doing,
and what we are to start doing (or continue doing). It all really boils down to
what our salvation is really all about. When we come to faith in Jesus Christ,
we die with Christ to sin, we are transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit
of God, and we are given new lives in Christ to be lived out in his holiness
and righteousness. Yet, it doesn’t end there. The Christian life is a life-long
process of being sanctified (made holy), of maturing in our faith, in ridding
our lives of the sins which so easily entangle us, and of walking in the Spirit
and by the Spirit and not according to the flesh.
So, we must rid our lives of these sins which so easily
entangle us, and we must, instead, long for the Word of God and to follow His
teachings (instructions) for holy living. If all we do is just stop doing bad
stuff, but we don’t fill our minds and hearts with the things of God, chances
are pretty good that sin will take hold in our lives once more. We cannot do
this in our own self-effort, though. This is a spiritual battle. We must rely
totally upon the Spirit of God and his power, wisdom and strength within us in
order to fight off Satan’s evil attacks against us. When we are tempted to tell
a lie, we must tell the truth. When we are tempted to be mean, we must ask the
Spirit within us to reveal to us why we are mean and hateful and filled with
anger, and we must deal with the underlying sins, and put them away. If our sin
is lust, we must remove from our lives all feeders for that lust, and we must
fill our minds with what is true, lovely, honorable, of good report, pure, and holy,
etc.
So many professing Christians fill their minds with garbage
day in and day out and then they wonder why they still struggle with serious
sin issues. They resist the Spirit, and yield to Satan, they are hearers of the
Word, but not doers, and they give lip service to God, but their hearts are far
from him. We can’t eat of the table of demons and the table of the Lord at the
same time (See 1 Co. 10:14-22). We must get serious about sin and cut, cut,
cut!
Like Living Stones
As
you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen
and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a
spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold,
I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and
whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
So
the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The
stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
and
“A
stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They
stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are the house (temple;
building) of God. As a physical building made of stone is comprised of many
stones, the Body of Christ, his temple, is also comprised of many parts (living
stones), and yet we form one Body (spiritual house). We were not saved from our
sins just to escape hell and so we could go to heaven when we die. We were
saved so that we would be free from the control of sin over our lives, and so
we would be free to walk daily in Christ’s righteousness and holiness. Jesus
Christ is building us into a spiritual house, to be holy – set apart from the
world of sin and set apart to God and to his service (unlike the world because
like Christ). He died so we would no longer live for ourselves, but for him who
gave himself up for us. He is growing us in Christ that we might offer to him
ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him, no longer conformed
to the ways of this sinful world, but transformed in the renewing of our minds
(See: Ro. 12).
A Holy Nation
But
you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are
God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved,
I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh,
which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles
honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your
good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
We are not here on this earth to entertain and to be
entertained. We are not here to live how we want without regard for God and for
his holiness. We are here to honor God with our lives, to submit to his
Lordship over our lives, and to proclaim to all who will listen his great
salvation in delivering us out of the bondage of sin and in bringing us into
his marvelous light! We must stop living like the world and yielding to our
sinful passions and desires, and we must get serious about God and about
walking in his truth. How long will it take before we get this? How much longer
must we continue to live like we have not been redeemed at all? Oh, how I pray
for God to revive his church!
For Our Nation /
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting.
Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in
all ways.
Trust Him with your
life today.
Make Him your Lord and
your Savior.
Turn from your sin.
Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of
your sin;
Cleanse your heart,
made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust
fraying.
On our knees to God
we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us
answers
That are only found in
Him.
God is sovereign over
all things.
Nothing from His mind
escaping.
He has all things
under His command,
And will work all for
good.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in
all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re
believing
In our Lord, and
interceding
For our nation and its
people
To obey their God
today.
He is our hope for our
future.
For our wounds He
offers suture.
He is all we need for
this life.
Trust Him with your
life today.
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