Venom

1 Peter 1:13-25 ESV

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass    and all its glory like the flower of grass.The grass withers,    and the flower falls,but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

God’s Grace to Us

The grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, when he returns, is the same grace we have now. It is a continuous grace, which brings salvation, which is also continuous, and which won’t be complete until our Lord’s return (Rom. 13:11; 1 Co. 1:18; Heb. 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:5).

And, this grace teaches us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly desires (worldly passions) and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return (Tit. 2:11-14; Eph. 4:17-24).

So, what is this grace? It is Jesus’ death on a cross, at which time he who knew no sin became sin for us, putting our sin to death with him in order that we might die with him to sin and live with him to righteousness – being resurrected with him from death to newness of life in him, by the Spirit of God (1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Co. 5:21; Rom. 6:1-23).

It is God rescuing us from our bondage (slavery, addiction) to sin so that we can walk righteously before him – all in his power at work within us. It is the empowerment of the Spirit of God within us leading us into all truth, giving us wisdom and discernment; giving us the strength to stand strong on the Word of God, and helping us to walk (in lifestyle) according to the Spirit of God and no longer according to our sinful flesh (Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:19-25).

And, God’s grace to us is forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life with God in heaven. But, this forgiveness and hope of heaven do not stand on their own. They are contingent on us receiving the gospel of our salvation from sin with childlike God-given faith which surrenders to God and yields to the Lordship of Christ over our lives; which dies with Christ to sin and lives with Christ to righteousness as a matter of lifestyle and practice in conduct (Lu. 9:23-25; Jn. 6:35-66; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

It is Jesus redeeming us from our former lives of living for sin and self and buying us back for God with his blood so that we might now become God’s possession, with him as our master and with us as his bond-servants, walking in obedience to him and to his commands (1 Co. 6:20; 2 Co. 5:15).

And, it is the calling, the equipping and the empowerment of the Spirit of God to live lives which are separate (unlike, different) from the world of sin and separate unto God and to his service, which is what holiness means. We are to no longer live like the world does, feeding our own flesh, and giving way to idolatry and to fleshly lusts of greed, immorality and the like (Rom. 12:1-2; 2 Co. 6:14-18; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Pet. 2:4-9; Rev. 18:4-5).

Man’s Grace to Us

God’s grace to us is divine, holy and pure, leading us to holy and righteous living, free from the control of sin and Satan. Man’s message of grace, on the other hand, which is flesh-driven, leads us to continue in sinful practices (addictions), while falsely promising us forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God in heaven.

The light of the gospel, according to man, sets the lowest standard for us to live by, which is at the bottom – corrupt, vile, immoral, impure, dishonest and wicked. And, it comes to us via a network of those controlled by Satan and his evil hordes, whose goal it is to deceive, manipulate and trick us into believing their lies and into rejecting the truth. For, Satan’s goal is to keep us under his control and to keep us from surrendering our lives to Christ.

So, his servants and messengers suppress the truth they don’t want people to know, which is the necessity for us to die with Christ to sin and to live with him to righteousness, walking daily by the Spirit of God and no longer by way of the flesh, if we want to be saved from our sins and have eternal life with God in heaven (Rom. 8:1-17; 1 Pet. 2:24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

They hide that truth and they focus on the end result of that truth being realized in people’s lives. For, it is kind of like having the resurrection without first having the cross. They pass over the necessity of death for salvation, and they promise life eternal absent of surrender to Christ. But, Jesus had to first die for our sins before he could be brought back to life, and we, too, must die to sin if we want to have eternal life with God.

They completely bypass repentance, submission and obedience to Christ and living to righteousness. They bypass, too, that Jesus redeemed us from our slavery to sin to be God’s possession, a redemption we receive by faith via our submission to his Lordship. So, their gospel of grace is a vehicle of death, but not death to sin, but of dying in our sins. And, they enter into Jesus’ sheep fold via what is dishonest and crooked, not through “The Door.”

These liars and deceivers, too, will tell you that righteousness and wickedness can co-exist within the life of a believer in Jesus. Thus, they will have no conscience whatsoever about doing what is evil and doing what they consider to be righteous simultaneously. They can prepare to teach a Bible study while looking at porn at the same time. For, to them, evil and good are on friendly terms with each other, so one can be a Christian, they say, and yet still be walking (living) in sin (Refute: 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

These liars, deceivers and manipulators will fake righteousness, too, as a cover-up for evil in order to fool people into believing that they are living righteously when secretly they are engaged in evil. They are really good at avoiding the truth and with performing for an audience in order to give a false impression that they are on the right track while secretly their characters and conduct are full of corruption, wickedness and immorality.

A Venomous Bite

Yet, since they oppose the truth, they will secretly work to undermine the truth of the gospel via slandering the righteous in hopes to discredit them so that people won’t listen to them when they try to share the truth. They will make up all kinds of lies against the Lord’s servants and witnesses and will make them out to be evil while they promote themselves as good.

They also are coming strongly against the whole idea of holy living, living lives which are separate from the world and unto God. They are taking cheap shots at the teachings on separateness, too, saying it is “unchristian” and “unloving.” For, their goal is to bring the whole world into unity with the beast New World Order and its one world religion, so they are stressing that separateness is bad and that unity of all people of the world is good.

So, if the Lord’s servants are teaching the truth of the gospel, and they are confronting Satan’s lies, and they are refusing to compromise with the world, and they are holding on to the Word of God, they are now being targeted for extinction. Those who are teaching the cheap grace gospel or who are adhering to it themselves, are now fighting back with venom, i.e. with spite, hatred, and meanness for the purpose to silence the truth.

But, the Lord’s messengers must not be disheartened or discouraged, for God has all things under his control, and he is going to work all things for good for those who love him (obey him) and who have been called according to his purposes, which are that we forsake our lives of sin to follow Jesus Christ in obedience and in surrender to his will (Lu. 9:23-25).

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.

https://vimeo.com/112351857

Wednesday, April 24, 2019