Isaiah 3 NASB
“For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their speech and their actions are against the Lord,
To rebel against His glorious presence.
The expression of their faces testifies against them,
And they display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even conceal it.
Woe to them!
For they have done evil to themselves.”
In the gatherings of the church today there are many
professers of faith in Jesus Christ who live as though Jesus Christ never set
them free from their slavery to sin. Even though they profess faith in Jesus
Christ with their lips, by their obvious actions they deny him.
Their speech and their actions are against the Lord because
they have followed the wrong path, thinking it will take them to heaven. But
the path they have chosen for themselves will not lead them to heaven. It will
land them in hell, instead.
For the path they are taking is false. It has some of the appearance
of the true way to heaven, but it is a lie. It is a fake substitute for the
real thing, created in the minds of human beings whose goal it was to supplant
the true gospel and to overpower (conquer) it.
This false gospel, which has supplanted the true gospel of
grace in the hearts and minds of many professers of faith in Jesus Christ,
leaves its adherents still bound in their sin while promising them salvation
from sin and eternal life with God guaranteed.
So, those who are followers of this false gospel continue
living in bondage to sin, with many of them convinced that they don’t have to
repent of their sins or obey the Lord Jesus or submit to him as Lord of their
lives. So, they keep repeating the same sinful behaviors over again.
And I am not saying here that we should be instantly perfect
if we believe the true gospel. Our salvation (sanctification) is a process of a
lifetime, not that it is okay to continue living in sin because it is a
process, for we are told in Scripture that we must daily die to sin and self
and follow Jesus in obedience to his will and to his way for our lives (Lu
9:23-26; Rom 8:1-17).
Isaiah 3:10-11 NASB
“Say to the righteous that it will go well for them,
For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
Woe to the wicked! It will go badly for him,
For what he deserves will be done to him.”
People who are teaching this false gospel are giving the
impression to the people listening to them that their deeds (actions, behaviors)
don’t matter to God once they are “saved” and forgiven their sins. Some of them
teach that God can’t even see their sins anymore, and that all he sees when he
looks at them is Jesus.
But, if that were true, we would have to throw out most of
the New Testament, because all throughout the New Testament the church is being
urged, counseled, rebuked, and warned against continuing in their sins, even
listing, multiple times, specific sins they were doing. So obviously God could
still see their sins, and so he urged them to forsake them.
Also, the New Testament is filled with messages to the
church, warning them that if they continue living in sin that they will die in
their sins, not have eternal life with God, and that God will judge them by
their deeds (Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; 1 Co 6:9-10; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Rom
8:1-17).
But it is also filled with messages to the faithful, to the
obedient, to the ones following Jesus with their lives, who are living in
righteousness, giving them hope, encouragement, and comfort, but also urging
them to continue in their walks of faith and to not falter (Rom 6:1-23; Rom
8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9).
So, basically what is being taught here in the Old Testament
is repeated in the New Testament under the New Covenant. If we live in sin, we
will die in our sins. We won’t have eternal life with God. But if we walk
according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, then we have eternal
life with God.
Isaiah 3:12b NASB
“My people! Those who guide you lead you astray
And confuse the direction of your paths.”
Now, in the Old Testament, God’s people were an entire
nation, an entire race of people who became his people via physical birth. But
it didn’t mean they were saved from their sins or that heaven was their eternal
destiny. Just because they were Abraham’s physical descendants didn’t mean that
heaven was guaranteed them as their eternal destiny.
They still had to believe in God, and he always saw belief
in him as obedience, and disobedience (habitual) he saw as unbelief. And he
taught the same message to us in the New Testament, too, so that hasn’t
changed. If we love him, we will obey him, and if we don’t obey him, we don’t
know him (1 Jn 2:3-6).
If we continue living in sin, as a matter of practice (habit,
lifestyle) we will die in our sins. But if we make righteousness our practice,
and we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, then we will live for
eternity.
But there are many people today who are pastors and leaders
within the gatherings of the church who are leading astray many of those who
profess faith in Jesus Christ, for they are confusing the direction of their
paths. For they are teaching an adulterated version of the true gospel of
grace.
What they have done is they have taken the true gospel and
have cut it in half and they have deleted the half they don’t like and so they
are teaching a half-truth gospel which is a lie. They use Scriptures taught out
of context as their proof texts for their lies, for they twist them to say what
they want them to say.
What they have done is they have lowered God’s standards for
salvation and they have made up their own which appeals to human flesh. So,
they have removed God’s requirements for repentance, obedience, and submission
to him as Lord and they have given their adherents carte blanche to continue
living in sin without guilt, claiming who they are in Christ if they feel
guilty.
But, according to Scripture, they are taking the broad road
which leads to destruction (decay, death) rather than taking the narrow
(restricted) path which leads to eternal life with God. And that is because
they are listening to the wrong messages and they are not testing them against
the Scriptures, taken in context.
So, please know this. If we continue in deliberate and
habitual sin against God and we do not repent, we will die in our sins and we
will end up in hell, not in heaven, no matter what we profess with our lips or
think we believe in our hearts. We are not saved from our sins, but we are lost
for eternity.
But if we repent of our sins, we die with Christ to sin, and
we are resurrected with Christ to newness of life in him, and we continue in
him to the very end, we will be saved from our sins and have eternal life with
God.
[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn
1:5-9]
What
the Lord Says
An Original Work / February 24, 2014
Based
off Isaiah 43:1-44:5
This is what the Lord says to you:
Fear not, for I have chosen you.
I have summoned you by your name.
You are mine. I died, you to save.
When you go through your trials, so deep,
I will be with you; you will not sink.
You are so precious always to me.
Trust in your Lord, Savior and King.
This is what the Lord says to you:
He who gave salvation to you;
Who delivered you from your sin;
Takes your burdens now upon Him:
Forget the former things of your life.
Give of your heart not now up to strife.
See all the new things I have for you.
Walk in vict’ry. Trust in what’s true.
This is what the Lord says to you:
He who made you; who will help you:
Do not fear what humans may do.
Walk in freedom. Follow what’s true.
Drink of my Spirit given for you.
Trust in my mercy, for I love you.
I have a plan for all of your life.
Follow my ways. Do what is right.
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