Bursting Their Bonds Apart

Why do the nations rage    and the peoples plot in vain?The kings of the earth set themselves,    and the rulers take counsel together,    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,“Let us burst their bonds apart    and cast away their cords from us.”Psalm 2:1-3 ESV

Wow! This is SO happening today! And, in so many different ways, too. But the biggest way this is being done today is via the church, in the diluting of the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more appealing and acceptable and palatable to human flesh and to the world.

The true gospel of Jesus Christ, the one that He taught, and that his NT apostles taught, has become passé these days. And, it is being rejected en masse, not just by the world, but by a large majority of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, too.

For, you see, the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is this:

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
 “But that is not the way you learned Christ! — assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:17-24 ESV

But, the problem is that this is the way people are learning “Christ” today, i.e. the beginning part of this, not the second half. They are learning that they can merely acknowledge who Christ is and what he did for us on the cross. Or, they can repeat words after someone else in a prayer. Or they can make a public confession of faith in Christ, which is outward only, and then they are told that they are forgiven their sins and that eternal life with God is guaranteed them no matter how they live their lives from then on.

They are teaching that God’s grace, in fact, gives them freedom to keep on in their sinful practices without guilt and without any requirement to repent of their sins or to walk in obedience to Jesus Christ. Jesus is not the Lord of their lives. They just use him as a “get-out-of-jail-free” card so they can escape hell and go to heaven when they die. There is no fear of the Lord in this gospel, but it is totally man-created and flesh-driven, for it is about being able to keep walking in darkness while being promised heaven.

But, this man-made gospel, which is flesh-driven, not Spirit-driven, is totally empty. It is a broken cistern which does not hold water (the Spirit of God). It changes no one. It saves no one. It can’t! And, it delivers no one out of their slavery to sin, but still leaves them in bondage and under the law of sin and death, while giving them a false hope of eternal life with God.

And, this man-made (cheap grace) gospel does not honor Jesus Christ as Lord, but rather it denies his Lordship, his Kingship over our lives. So, it is against Jesus, not for him. Thus, the “Jesus” that it teaches is also man-created and it is also flesh-driven, for it is all about excusing away sinful patterns of behavior and claiming that it is all under God’s grace so sin no longer matters to God. But, that is not what Jesus taught!

And, this flesh-driven (cheap grace) gospel also breaks off God’s bonds, his moral laws that he has put in place for us to follow for our protection, and for the protection of others, and for our good. They break away the boundaries he has set up for us for our good and they make their own. For, they say we don’t have to obey God’s commands, and we don’t have to repent of our sins, and we don’t have to walk in the Spirit and no longer gratify the sinful cravings of our flesh, and we can still go to heaven.

He who sits in the heavens laughs;    the Lord holds them in derision.Then he will speak to them in his wrath,    and terrify them in his fury, saying,“As for me, I have set my King    on Zion, my holy hill.”Psalm 2:4-6 ESV

But, God has the last word on this subject. So, they can prance around all they want with their superiority, thinking they have it all figured out, and that they can keep living their sinful lifestyles and that nothing bad will happen to them. But, their pride will come before a fall, for the Word of God says we are all going to reap what we sow.

For, if we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction (death). But, if by the Spirit, we sow to please the Spirit, then from the Spirit we will reap eternal life (Gal. 6:7-8; cf. Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-21; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Lu. 9:23-26).

Now therefore, O kings, be wise;    be warned, O rulers of the earth.Serve the Lord with fear,    and rejoice with trembling.Kiss the Son,    lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,    for his wrath is quickly kindled.Blessed are all who take refuge in him.Psalm 2:10-12 ESV

Please note that this is not just Old Testament teaching. This is what the bulk of the New Testament teaches, too. And, we must take all these warnings seriously, for God will do everything he said he would do.

We must serve the Lord with fear. And, to serve him means to follow him wherever he leads us, and to do whatever it is he requires of us that we are to do. And, to fear him is to respect, honor, value, submit to and obey him. There is no other way around this. All throughout the New Testament this is what is being taught, and it isn’t optional, either.

Lightning is not going to strike us every time we have a stray thought or we have a bad attitude or we say something we shouldn’t have said. For, if we could be perfect, Jesus wouldn’t have had to die on that cross for our sins. But, lack of perfection is also not free license to keep on in willful habitual and often premeditated sin against God.

The New Testament teaching makes it real clear for us what God demands of us who are his by faith in Jesus Christ. We must walk (in practice, in lifestyle) according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God and no longer according to our flesh. If we do this, THEN we have eternal life with God. If we don’t do this, THEN we will die in our sins, not inherit eternal life (See: Lu. 9:23-26; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-21; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

So, if you want to be saved from your sins and have eternal life with God, then you must die with Christ to sin and live to Christ and to his righteousness in the power and working of the Spirit of God within you. You must say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and you must live self-controlled, upright and godly lives as a matter of lifestyle, of practice. For, this is why Jesus died on that cross for our sins (1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Co. 5:15).

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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