Be Holy
Hebrews 12:14-17 NIV
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.
If we are to live at peace
with everyone and to be holy, too, then living at peace with everyone will
never involve compromise with the world. And, this is because to be holy means
to be separate from (unlike) the world of sin because we are being conformed to
the likeness of Christ. So, living at peace with everyone will never mean that
we are to live our lives to please people, so that they will not be upset with
us, or so that we do not offend them.
We still must stand on the
Word of Truth, and share the gospel of our salvation, and confront sin in
sinful humans, and call for repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and not be conformed
to the ways of this sinful world. And, we must still live godly lives, pleasing
to God, free from slavery to sin, even if this means we can’t live at peace
with everyone, because people will hate, reject, mistreat and/or persecute us
for our faith in Jesus Christ.
Without holiness, no one will
see the Lord. We need to take this seriously. Our salvation is not just
deliverance from the punishment of sin, but it is freedom from slavery to sin
and freedom to live in Christ’s righteousness. We may be at peace with the
world but never be at peace with God because we did not die with him to sin,
and thus we were not resurrected with him to newness of life, created to be
like God in true righteousness and holiness.
If we walk in sin, the Bible
teaches, we will die in our sins, not live with Christ for eternity. What we
profess with our mouths means nothing if it is not backed up with our actions.
If we love God, we will do what he says. If we know God, we will no longer live
our lives for sinful pleasures, but we will now walk according to the Spirit of
God in holiness and in purity. If we make a practice of such sins as sexual
immorality, we have no eternal inheritance with God. It is those who are led by
the Spirit who are the children of God.
So, we must repent of our
sins in sincerity. Godly sorrow leads to repentance, but worldly sorrow does
not. It is just shallow tears.
Don’t Refuse Him
Hebrews 12:25-27 NIV
See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
So many people today take God
and his grace for granted, or else they misconstrue his grace to mean something
other than what it is. So many people today think that God’s grace to us is
merely forgiveness of sins and a promise of heaven when we leave this earth.
And, so they have the impression that they can “believe” in Jesus with some
kind of intellectual assent to who he is and to what he did for us on that
cross, but without having to change their lifestyles.
But, what they fail to
realize is that God’s grace to us sets us free from slavery (addiction) to sin,
and it frees us to now come under the control of Christ’s righteousness. God’s
grace puts sin to death in our lives, and it resurrects us to newness of life
in Christ Jesus, so that we can now live in his holiness and do what pleases
him. His grace is never freedom to continue in willful sin against God. If we
walk in sin, we will die in our sin, no matter what we profess with our mouths.
The Jewish people of old are
given to us as an example. They, as a nation, rejected Jesus Christ as their
Lord and Messiah. They rejected God’s commands, too, and they decided to do
what they wanted, instead. They were rejected by God, thus, due to their
unbelief and their disobedience.
And, their example is given
to us as a warning in scripture so that we don’t set our hearts on evil as they
did, and fall away from the living God. Those who did not truly believe, which
was evident by their disobedience, did not receive an eternal inheritance with
God. The same goes for those who refused to believe in Jesus Christ. And, this
is not just about refusing to accept that Jesus is the Christ, but we refuse
Christ when we refuse to submit to his Lordship, his holiness and his
righteousness.
One day God is going to come
in judgment. Well, he has been judging the people of this earth forever, but
there will be a judgment at the end of time where it will be settled once and
for all who will spend eternity in heaven with God and who won’t. So, don’t be
left out due to disobedience and unbelief because you failed to conform to his
holiness, and you decided you could continue in your sinful practices, and thus
you refused God.
Reverence and Awe
Hebrews 12:28-29 NIV
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Belief in Jesus Christ and
our eternal salvation are not to be taken lightly. We are not saved from our
sins so that life can be just one big party. If we continue in the practice of
sinning against God, with no true repentance, heaven is not guaranteed us. Hell
is!
God is not a doting
grandfather in the sky there to grant our every request. We should never have
an entitlement mindset in relation to God. We need to take God seriously! We
need to honor him as the holy God that he is rather than living however we
want, thinking that God’s grace will cover all our sins and that God is not
concerned if we continue in sin. I guarantee you he is!
Acceptable worship of God is
to give our lives to God as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, no
longer conformed to the ways of this sinful world, but transformed of the
Spirit of God in heart and mind. It is also to worship God with reverence and
awe. In other words, we are to treat God with respect, honor, dignity,
devotion, and obedience, surrendering our lives to him, submitting to his will
for our lives, and yielding to the Lordship of Christ.
If we do this, we won’t be
consistently giving in to the same sinful patterns of behavior, but we will be
growing in our walks of faith and in purity. We will be living for our Lord,
not working against him. We will resist Satan, and flee temptation, and throw
off everything that hinders and the sin which so easily entangles so we can run
the race God has set before us to run with perseverance. And, this will be
because we love and revere God, and our heart’s desire is for him, and because
he is living within us empowering and strengthening us to walk in obedience to
him.
We just need to keep
remembering that Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
And, his grace, which brings salvation, instructs us to say “No!” to
ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly
lives while we await his return.
The Ransom
An Original Work / September 8, 2011
Jesus paid the ransom,
so we’d be forgiven;
Purified from our sin,
so we’d be set free.
Crucified on a tree;
took on him our sin.
Buried our sin with Him;
rose in victory.
Jesus calls us to Him;
asks that we flee from sin;
Obey His commandments;
live eternally.
God our Father loves us,
which is why He gave us
His Son to die for us
on a cruel tree.
God created us to
walk in fellowship with Him,
daily trusting in His righteousness.
He has a plan for us
to abide in His grace;
Be transformed in our hearts;
live for him always.
Won’t you trust in Jesus?
Be your Lord and Master?
He wants to forgive you,
give you victory.
Over sin and yourself,
Jesus set you free.
Daily walking with Him,
live victoriously.
Invite Him in your heart.
He’ll give you a new start.
Your old life behind you,
a new creature be.
Tuesday, April 3, 2018, 4:36
p.m. – Thank you, Jesus, for this teaching from Your Word today. Bring it home
to our hearts, I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!
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