There are Conditions

Isaiah 43:10-13 NIV

 

“’You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord,

    ‘and my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may know and believe me

    and understand that I am he.

Before me no god was formed,

    nor will there be one after me.

I, even I, am the Lord,

    and apart from me there is no savior.

I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—

    I, and not some foreign god among you.

You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘that I am God.

   Yes, and from ancient days I am he.

No one can deliver out of my hand.

    When I act, who can reverse it?’”

 

Many people today are looking for some politician or preacher to save them from their perception of evil. Or they are looking to drugs, alcohol, illicit sex, fame, fortune, possessions, education, entertainment, and/or some golden opportunity, etc., to rescue them from what ails (pains) them.

 

But all humans are but flesh. We have no power to save anyone.

 

“No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.” Ps 33:16-17 NIV

 

“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” Ps 146:3-4 NIV

 

God alone is all powerful and completely sovereign over all that he has made. Only he has the power to save. Only HE can deliver us from all evil.

 

God the Father sent his Son Jesus Christ to the earth to take on human form, to suffer and to be tempted like we suffer and are tempted, yet without sin, and then to die on a cross, taking upon himself the sins of the entire world so that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness (Jn 1:1-34; 1 Jn 1:1-10; Phil 2:5-11; Rom 6:1-23).

 

Then, God the Father draws us to Christ. We can’t come to Christ unless the Father first draws (persuades) us to surrender our lives to Jesus, to humble ourselves, to submit to Christ as Lord, to die with Christ to sin, and to now live to Christ and to his righteousness (Jn 6:44; 1 Pet 2:24; Eph 4:17-24).

 

When we surrender our lives to Jesus, by faith in him, and we die with Christ to sin, then we are reborn of the Holy Spirit to newness of life in Christ Jesus, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And now that we have died to sin, we can’t live in it any longer (Rom 6:1-23).

 

For, if we do – if we go on living in sin, making sin our practice, we do not have the hope of eternal life with God in heaven no matter what we professed with our lips or felt we believed in our hearts. We will die in our sins, for we are all going to be judged by our works (Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Rom 8:1-17).

 

Isaiah 43:22-24 NIV

 

“’Yet you have not called on me, Jacob,

    you have not wearied yourselves for me, Israel.

You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings,

    nor honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with grain offerings

    nor wearied you with demands for incense.

You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me,

    or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins

    and wearied me with your offenses.’”

 

Even though God revealed himself to all humankind through his created works, so we are all without excuse if we choose a sinful pathway instead of choosing him and the way of holiness, still many refuse to bow the knee to God Almighty and to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ (Rom 1:18-32).

 

Even though God sent his Son Jesus Christ to the cross to die for our sins so that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, and even though many people profess faith in Jesus Christ, they still refuse to submit to Christ as Lord and to surrender their lives to Him (Heb 12:25).

 

Many people today who want to be saved from their sins, so that they can escape hell and go to heaven when they die, are believing a lie. And the lie tells them that they can pray a prayer or acknowledge what Jesus did for us, or they can make a public confession of faith and that guarantees them heaven no matter how they live or what they do with Jesus here on earth.

 

Some are even being taught that they don’t have to repent (leave their lives of sin behind them), that they don’t have to obey Jesus, and that they don’t have to submit to his Lordship. For, they are being convinced that is works-based salvation, and they are not to work, and so they don’t have to obey.

 

But that is not what the Scriptures teach. True we are not saved by our own works. But we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them (Eph 2:8-10; 1 Co. 15:58; 2 Co. 9:8; Phil. 2:12-13; Col. 1:9-14; 2 Thess. 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:21; Tit. 2:11-14; Tit. 3:8; Jas. 2:17; Rev. 2-3).

 

Isaiah 43:25-28 NIV

 

“’I, even I, am he who blots out

    your transgressions, for my own sake,

    and remembers your sins no more.

Review the past for me,

    let us argue the matter together;

    state the case for your innocence.

Your first father sinned;

    those I sent to teach you rebelled against me.

So I disgraced the dignitaries of your temple;

    I consigned Jacob to destruction

    and Israel to scorn.’”

 

So, it isn’t that God forgives you and now you are free to continue living in sin feeling as though God’s grace covers it all. God still sees you when you sin, and you will be judged by your deeds. For, if you obey sin, it will end in death, but if you obey obedience, it leads to righteousness, and it ends in eternal life with God (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8).

 

Forgiveness of sins comes by God’s grace, true. But forgiveness is conditional, as is our salvation, as is eternal life with God. And the conditions are that we must love God and obey him, that we must remain in Christ and in his word, and that we must walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh (Jn 14:23-24; 1 Jn 2:3-6; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 8:1-17).

 

Do You Love Me?  

 

An Original Work / July 24, 2013

 

Do you love Me now?

Will you seek My face?

I have given you

My love and My grace.

Will you walk with Me

Ev’rywhere I lead?

Will you find in Me

All of what you need?

 

Won’t you meet with Me

Down upon your knees?

Will you obey Me,

And do what I please?

Will you hear My voice

Speaking now to you?

I am couns’ling you

To abide in truth.

 

I have died for you;

Taken all your sins –

Crucified with Me,

You have been forgiv’n.

I have set you free

From your slavery,

So that you can now

Live in victory.

 

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