Luke 2:11-14 NIV
“Today in the town of
David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be
a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great
company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the
highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his
favor rests.”
Our Messiah
Jesus is our Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one of God, God
the Son, who was given to us for our salvation from sin. He was born as a baby,
conceived of the Holy Spirit, so he was fully God yet fully human. He grew to
become a man, and he ministered to the people on the earth for a period of
about three years. He healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, comforted
the sorrowful, forgave sins, fed the hungry, and delivered people from demons.
He also preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins and
eternal life with God. He taught that if we are to come after him, we must deny
self and take up our cross daily and follow (obey) him. For, he said, if we
hold on to our old lives of living for sin and self, we will lose them for
eternity. But, if we lose our lives for his sake, i.e. if we die with him to
sin, and live with him to righteousness, then we have eternal life (Lu.
9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17).
A lot of people followed him for a time, many of them because
he fed them or because he performed miracles and healed their diseases. But,
when he told them the cost of following him, most deserted him, because they
said his teaching was “too hard.” For, Jesus Christ demanded death to sin and
he demanded obedience to his commands, not sinless perfection, but walking with
him, turning away from our sins, and following him where he leads us.
The religious leaders in the temple, for the most part,
hated him, and they tried at every turn to trap him with his words or to
discredit him because of his actions. And, eventually they plotted and carried
out his death. But, it was God’s will that Jesus should die, for he who knew no
sin became sin for us on that cross so that we might die with him to sin and
live with him to his righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24; Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24; 1
Jn. 1:5-9).
Another Gospel
Yet, that is not the gospel that many who preach the gospel
today are preaching or teaching, especially inside the market-driven church.
What they are selling is another gospel, a cheap grace gospel, which is a new
gospel, not the Old-Time Gospel of the Old Rugged Cross. But, the cheap grace
gospel is no grace at all, for it delivers no one from their sins, but it
entertains their sins and permits them to continue in sinful lifestyles without
guilt and without remorse, yet with the promise of heaven when they die.
Basically, what they have done is to improve on the old
gospel, to make it better than the old one, or so they think. So, they make
what we owe lesser than what it is. And, thus they also cheapen what Jesus
Christ did on the cross when he gave his life’s blood for our sins. For, they
make it not about Jesus putting sin to death in our lives, but they reduce what
he did to mere forgiveness, and as though he now just masks our sins, as though
they no longer matter to God. But, the debt that we owe is death, and Jesus
paid that price so that we could die to sin and live to righteousness, because
we couldn’t do it on our own (Rom. 8:1-17 with a focus on vv. 12-13).
Not only that, but they are not concerned with whether or
not we put God’s true grace into practice in our everyday lives. They don’t
care if we participate with Jesus in his death to sin and in living with him in
walking in his holiness. What many of them who teach this cheap grace gospel want
is just for us to pray the prayer or to make the confession of Christ as Savior
of our lives. Thus, as long as we say we believe in Jesus, they are good with
that. It doesn’t matter to them if we actually do believe in Jesus, as Jesus
defined belief, and as his NT apostles defined belief.
And, not only are they teaching this cheap grace gospel, but
they have removed from the market-driven church the Old Time Gospel, and they
have reduced it to a pile of filth and lies, for they claim that it is
works-based salvation and that it is legalism and that no one should listen to
it. So, for those who buy into those lies, they remain in the darkness, and
they are then still bound for hell, dead in their sins, without the hope of
eternal life. So, they need people who will give them the living water,
instead.
God’s Boundary Lines
The adulterous church, which has bought into the cheap grace
gospel, is trying, thus, to take what is morally correct, honest, pure and
holy, and they are taking it below (less than) God’s boundary lines which he has
set in place for us.
In other words, this is all about remodeling the old gospel
to make it more appealing and acceptable to the world and to the flesh of
humans. So, they are altering God’s grace to make it fit better with people’s
sinful lifestyles. And, thus, they are also altering and are lowering God’s
standards of holiness, too, so that his standards are in danger of dying out altogether.
But, this teaching is what is really hard, not what Jesus
taught, because it is cruel to take what is righteous and holy and sacred, i.e.
God’s standards, and then to lower God’s holy standards for how we are to live
our lives. For, those who do this are sending people straight to hell while
promising them heaven, and they are committing them to a life of bondage to
sin, when they could be free if they only believed the truth, instead of the
lie.
Lazy Boys
God gave to Christian men the spiritual responsibility to
lead their families and the church to holiness, righteousness, purity, and
devotion to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. But, they are to lead
them, not with words only, but by their examples. For, words can be cheap if
they are not followed up with action, and especially if the actions are actually
opposed to God’s righteousness and holiness.
But, the sad reality here is that probably most Christian
men in America, who claim to be followers of Jesus, instead of being on fire
for the Lord, serving him, leading others by example, and by teaching the truth
of God’s Word, are lazy gluttons who are feeding their own fleshly appetites
instead.
The authority in their lives is not God but their own flesh,
spiritual idleness, and whatever other gods are in their lives to whom they do
give their passion and their devotion. For the vast majority of them, it would
appear that the main idol in their lives is sexual idolatry and immorality, including
adultery and unfaithfulness to their spouses, and spiritual abandonment to
their households and to the church.
And, this has become epidemic in America’s churches, and
especially among pastors, too. And, this explains, then, why the church in America
is on such a spiritual decline, because their leaders are spiritually AWOL
(missing). And, it explains, too, why the gospel has been cheapened, so that
these men do not have to feel guilty about their sin, nor do they have to
change behavior.
Although many of these men have known the Lord or have
portended to know the Lord for many years, and perhaps most of their lives,
they still behave like selfish children who then throw temper tantrums when
they can’t get their own way; when their self-centered expectations are not
met. And, when their flesh wants something, they just go after it, just like a
young child would do, only they know better. Many who are pastors or elders or
Bible study teachers are some of the worst offenders.
What is base – dishonorable, improper, corrupt, vile and
immoral – is being lifted up and supported by their lifestyles, too. For, they
have uncircumcised hearts which are filled with all kinds of filth and
wickedness, much of which they will hide and then pretend that they are
righteous, and spiritual, and that they are walking with Jesus. And, this way
of thinking is being strengthened, fortified and encouraged by this cheap grace
gospel which puts no sin to death, but which leaves it alive and active in
people’s lives.
Thus, their passion for the Lord comes only when it is
convenient for them, or when it fits their purposes. For, their devotion to God
is changeable depending on who they are with or depending on their
circumstances. In other words, many of them live double lives, trying to be
righteous on the outside while their hearts are filled to the brim with what is
wicked.
But, the problem lies with what is in their hearts, and many
of them are not willing to allow God’s Holy Spirit to change their hearts. So,
they will try all these human methods to try to control their urges, but the
heart remains the same. And, so they go through a cycle of sin, lie, cover-up,
maybe confess, then sin, lie, cover-up, and maybe confess, but they never get
out of the rut, because they never truly give their hearts over to Jesus’
Lordship.
Even though they know that what they are doing is evil, and
even though they know that they are hurting other people in the process, and
that they are murdering their wives and their marriages and their churches,
they continue in their sexual idolatry, and it has become what is fixed in
their hearts, character and conduct, instead of it being the Lord and his purity,
his holiness and his righteousness.
So, we need to pray for them that they will be ashamed of
their conduct and the condition of their hearts, and that they will, by the
power of God’s Holy Spirit, be circumcised in heart and mind so that they can
walk righteously before God and lead us to follow suit.
Living
Water
An
Original Work / November 21, 2013
Based
off Various Scriptures
My people have forsaken Me,
Their Savior, who died on a tree;
Made idols, and they worshipped them;
So empty, they will ne’er fulfill.
Lord, You are the hope of Your chosen ones.
Those who turn away from You will be shamed;
The Spring of Living Water left behind.
Living Water satisfies.
The thirsty, let them come and drink;
Believe in Jesus as their King;
The gift of Jesus given them,
So they will never thirst again.
Indeed, the Living Water flows within.
It springs up like a fountain cleansing sin.
Eternal life in heaven promised them.
Living Water glorifies.
Oh people, won’t you come to Him?
Obey Him and repent of sin.
Let Jesus come and live within.
Surrender all your life to Him.
My people, won’t you turn your hearts to Me?
Forsake your idols and then you’ll be free.
Won’t you come now to Me on bended knee?
Living Water sanctifies.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment