Bow the Knee to Jesus

In Humility

Philippians 2:3-4 ESV

 

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

 

God did not put us on this earth to live for ourselves, to do whatever we want to do, and to entertain and to be entertained incessantly. He put us here to give him glory and honor by how we live our lives, to worship him as our only God, to serve him, to do his bidding, and to minister his love and grace to the people of this world.

 

Life is not about us and what we want out of it. Life is about God and our relationship with him and what he wants for us and from us in the way of heart and life response to what he did for us in giving his life for us on that cross. For, he wants us to die with him to sin, to deny self, and to walk daily in obedience to his commands.

 

And he wants us to surrender our lives to him, to present our lives to him as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, and to be his ministers to the people of this earth in sharing his gospel, in loving people with his love, in ministering to their needs, as Jesus did, and to encourage the body of Christ in their walks of faith to maturity in Christ.

 

Have This Mind

Philippians 2:3-4 ESV

 

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

 

“Full-time” ministry is something we all should be doing if we are followers of Jesus Christ. And I am not talking about paid positions or working only for Christian ministries. I mean that we are all to be full-time ministers of Jesus Christ no matter where we are or what we are doing. We are to be his witnesses by our lives and by our words all the time.

 

We are to be following the teachings of Jesus and of his apostles, obeying our Lord, submitting to his will, listening to what he says, going wherever he sends us, and saying to whomever and whatever he gives us to say. All the time we are to be the Lord’s servants, listening for his voice and then following his lead, always sensitive to those divine appointments he provides. And we should never tell him “No!”

 

We are to consider that our lives now belong to Jesus and no longer to ourselves. He bought us back for God (redeemed us) with his blood shed on the cross for our sins so that we would now honor God with our lives (with our bodies). For, Jesus died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us.

 

As well, we must be willing to be hated, rejected, forsaken, abandoned, harassed, persecuted, slandered, and falsely accused, etc., because we follow Jesus with our lives, and because we stand on the truth of God’s word, and because we are sharing the truth of the gospel with people who are largely believing a cheap grace gospel, instead.

 

For, God didn’t put us on this earth so that people would like us and so they would include us. He called us out of the world to be separate (unlike, different) from the world (and from the worldly church, too) to live holy lives pleasing to him, and to obey him in doing what he asks us to do. And that is not going to gain us many friends.

 

We are to be fully surrendered to the Lord, willing to have everyone turn against us, if it should go that way, in order to follow Jesus with our lives and in order to share the truth of the gospel so that many will be saved from their sins and have eternal life with God. By faith in Jesus, they will be crucified with Christ in death to sin so they can live to his righteousness.

 

The Name of Jesus

Philippians 2:9-11 ESV

 

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

 

This is the object of our salvation from sin. It is not just so we can be forgiven our sins and escape punishment and so that we can go to heaven when we die. It is so that we bow in surrender of our lives to Jesus and that we confess, not just with our lips, but with our lifestyles, that Jesus Christ is Lord (owner-master) of our lives, to the glory of God the Father.

 

Our lives are to be for his glory and praise, to give him honor and our worship, to do what he calls us to do, and to be willing to die because we told people the truth of the gospel which will set them free from their slavery to sin if they will embrace the truth and surrender to Jesus as Lord.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Jn 6:44; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2]

 

Here I Am, Lord

 

By Daniel L. Schutte

 

I, the Lord of snow and rain,

I have borne my people’s pain.

I have wept for love of them –

They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone,

Give them hearts for love alone.

I will speak my word to them.

Whom shall I send?

 

Here I am, Lord

Is it I, Lord?

I have heard You calling in the night

I will go, Lord

If You lead me

I will hold Your people in my heart

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t6mz8yoocY

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Too Many Concealments

The Wise and the Foolish

Proverbs 22:3-5 ESV

 

“The prudent sees danger and hides himself,

    but the simple go on and suffer for it.

The reward for humility and fear of the Lord

    is riches and honor and life.

Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;

    whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.”

 

How do we perceive danger ahead? Sometimes it is through experience that we learn to recognize danger lying in wait for us. Perhaps when we were naïve and inexperienced we didn’t recognize danger, and perhaps we got bit (taken) by it, and so we learned what danger looks like so that we don’t make the same mistake twice.

 

As followers of Jesus Christ we have the word of God and we have the Holy Spirit living within us to help us to see danger and to flee from it, but we have to be walking closely with the Lord, and we must be listening to what he says to us in our spirits, and we must be those who respond with obedience when he says “Stop! Don’t go there!!”

 

Also, as other believers in Jesus share with us warnings and words of wise counsel, we should listen, and we should take their counsel to the Lord in prayer and not just dismiss it unless it is clearly against the Lord and his word. For, we have the body of Christ, too, to help us to be wise and to make wise choices and so we don’t fall into pits.

 

But, if we don’t listen to the Lord, if we are not daily in his word taking its truths into our lives in practice, if we are not sensitized to the Spirit’s voice, if we don’t listen to wise godly counsel, and if we don’t learn from experience what danger looks like so that we flee from it, then we are likely to go right into it and suffer for it.

 

This is not to say, though, that there is not danger out there which we are not able to flee from or that we, as followers of Jesus, won’t suffer for doing what is right, and for following the Lord with our lives. For, Jesus said we would be despised, rejected, and persecuted as he was, and there are often circumstances over which we have no control.

 

So, when this says that the reward for humility and the fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life, sometimes the reward is that we will be persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and that we will be treated as Jesus was treated, and we may even be killed because we are followers of Jesus. So, the riches we have are Christ and his salvation and eternal life with God which we will receive as our reward for our perseverance in faith.

 

But for those who walk in crooked ways, who are corrupt, vile, immoral, wicked, deceptive, liars, adulterers, murderers, thieves, and the like, although they may seem to not have a care in the world, and even though it may appear that everything goes well for them, it will not end well for them. They will die in their sins, not have eternal life with God.

 

The Pure and The Traitor

Proverbs 22:11-14 ESV

 

“He who loves purity of heart,

    and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.

The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,

    but he overthrows the words of the traitor.

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!

    I shall be killed in the streets!”

The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit;

    he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.”

 

If we are following Jesus wholeheartedly with our lives, and we are not engaged in what is evil, we should be pure in heart, not by our own efforts, but because of God’s grace and mercy to us, and because he cleansed us of our sins, he made us whole, and he transformed our hearts and minds to be like Jesus and to reject sin in favor of righteous living.

 

Jesus is not only our Savior and Lord (owner-master), but he is also our friend. And he is not only our husband, but he is our best friend and companion. Yes, he is not with us physically like another human being, but he is with us in spirit. Yes, we can’t hear him audibly with our ears, but we can hear him in our spirits speaking truth to our hearts.

 

Knowledge can be good, or it can be evil in content. Thus, we must have discernment from our Lord and from his word to know what knowledge is true and good, and what knowledge is false and evil in intent.

 

We should not be naïve, trusting everything we read and hear or even think we see, for we live in an age of much deception where anything can be faked, doctored, and altered to make it appear right and good while it is truly false and evil.

 

Many who are now sharing knowledge with the church and with the world are traitors, for they are willfully telling lies in order to deceive the people into believing the lies and in order to manipulate, take advantage of, misuse, abuse, or to purposely cause them harm, even harm that may lead them to their deaths.

 

Many wolves in sheep’s clothing are teaching a cheap grace gospel which excludes and discourages or even bans repentance, obedience to the Lord, and submission to Christ as Lord (owner-master) of our lives. For, they have deceived the people into believing that is “works-based salvation” which they are to reject.

 

But the Lord is overthrowing their lies through his word and through his servants who are sharing his word with others, and he will overthrow these traitor’s lies when he returns to take his bride to be with him, and when he comes to judge the world. He will expose the fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are, and he will judge the traitors.

 

Those who are buying into the lies, though, have become like sluggards who make excuses for why they can’t do this or that, for why they can’t obey the Lord and for why they continue in deliberate, habitual, and premeditated sin against the Lord, many of them, perhaps, for many years, and many years even as professing Christians or even as pastors of churches.

 

Many of them have fallen into that deep pit of adultery via addiction to pornography, romantic affairs, sexual affairs, self-gratification, or other means of expressing sexual (lust) addiction which is rooted in absolute selfishness, hatred, and perhaps unforgiveness, bitterness, and resentment, too. And they fall into it because they refuse to submit to Jesus as Lord.

 

Apply Your Heart to Wisdom

Proverbs 22:17-19 ESV

 

“Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise,

    and apply your heart to my knowledge,

for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you,

    if all of them are ready on your lips.

That your trust may be in the Lord,

    I have made them known to you today, even to you.”

 

The Scriptures are filled with words of wisdom and wise counsel, instruction, warnings, and commands which we are to follow. And we are to incline our ears to hear these words and to apply these instructions to our hearts and to our lives that our trust may be in the Lord that we may have life with God.

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

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Is Jesus our First Love?

Works: Good or Bad?

Revelation 2:2-3 ESV

 

“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.”

 

Jesus knows our works, and “works” are not all a bad thing, as some people would have you believe. Yes, we are not saved by our fleshly works, by our own human efforts to be approved by God, but works are part of our salvation, they are part of our walks of faith in Jesus Christ, but they are the works of God which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them.

 

[Eph 2:10; 1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 9:8; Gal 5:6; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:9-14; 2 Thess 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:21; Tit 2:11-14; Jn 15:1-11; Tit 3:8; Jas 2:17]

 

So, God does approve of some works, provided they are the works he has assigned us to do for the glory of God. For, we are instructed of God to be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord our labor is not in vain (1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 9:8).

 

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. And as we have always obeyed, so now, we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Eph 2:10; Php 2:12-13).

 

We are to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. And we pray that our God may make us worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power (Col 1:9-14; 2 Thess 1:11-12).

 

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. For Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (Tit 2:11-14).

 

The Love You Had at First

Revelation 2:4-5 ESV

 

“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

 

It is possible, though, to do a lot of the right things, and for the right reasons, but to not have Jesus as our first love anymore, to not have him in the position of first place in our lives, with our lives fully dedicated to him and to his service. For other things may have come into play which have replaced him in our hearts, which may have moved him to second place.

 

For to love with agape love is to prefer what God prefers, which is what is holy, righteous, honest, moral, decent, upright, and pure. And it is to make the Lord our preference above all others. He is to be in first place in our lives. He gets top priority above all else.

 

But in the busyness of life with all its stuff which pulls us here and there, even to good stuff, even to showing God’s love to others and doing kind things for other people, it is possible for us to lose sight of making our Lord first place in our lives to where he gets top priority over all else.

 

We can be so busy doing the good that we ought to do that we don’t spend the time with our Lord in his word, and in prayer, and in stillness listening to him speak truth to our hearts, then doing what he has for us to do at this moment, at this time in our lives, on this particular day of the week, etc.

 

We can get so busy making our own plans, without consulting him to make sure they are his plans for our lives, that we run ahead of him and we do the right things, but perhaps not the best things at that moment in time. For, if Jesus is our Lord, our lives are to be directed by him moment by moment.

 

We are to be listening to our Lord, sensitive to his promptings, and willing to change our plans, if necessary, to suit his plans which are higher than our plans, even if our plans are doing good things, even good things for others. For, we can get so caught up in the doing of good things that we lose sight of him and of what is his best for us at this moment, on this day.

 

We can get so caught up in the “doing” that we neglect our personal relationships with the Lord, the intimacy of divine fellowship with him, and the sensitivity to the Spirit’s voice to obey him moment by moment in doing what he wants us to do at this moment in time.

 

So, if that is where we are, even a little bit, to where the intimacy of our relationships with the Lord are being neglected, and to where we are not being sensitive to his voice to obey him moment by moment, but to where we are determining our own steps, making our own schedules, then we need to repent, and to return to making him truly #1 in our lives.

 

Yet This You Have

Revelation 2:6-7 ESV

 

“Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

 

I find this particularly interesting how the Lord then added an additional word of encouragement after the rebuke. It is as though he knew they would need this additional encouragement. And I am glad that when he rebukes us, if indeed we are his, and if indeed we are doing the things he has called us to do, that he does encourage us, too, so that we are not disheartened.

 

But sometimes we need to be rebuked. Sometimes we do get off course, maybe just a little, maybe a lot, and we need to be reigned back in. We need to be reminded of our “first love” or the “love we had at first.” We need to be reminded that Jesus is to be our Lord (owner-master) and that we are His, and that we are here to do his will, not our own.

 

So, this is a reminder that we need to be listening to our Lord, that we need to be sensitive to the Spirit’s promptings, not just to not sin, but to do whatever it is the Lord wants us to do each day, and each moment of each day, for not every day is the same, and we may be called to do one thing one day and to another thing on another day.

 

Our walks of faith are to be moment by moment, listening to our Lord, doing what he says, fulfilling his calling on each one of our lives. So, we must guard against going ahead of God, doing the right things, mind you, but leaving him behind, not listening to his promptings, and not putting him and his immediate will for us in first position.

 

So, what we need to conquer is self and self-will, making our own plans without consulting the Lord to see if those are his plans. Even if what we plan to do are good things and right things, we need to make certain they are God’s best for us at that moment. Jesus needs to be owner-master of our lives every day, and we need to follow him each step of the way.

 

O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing  

 

Lyrics by Charles Wesley, 1739

Music by Carl G. Glaser, 1828

 

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer’s praise,

The glories of my God and king,

The triumphs of His grace!

 

My gracious Master and my God,

Assist me to proclaim,

To spread through all the earth abroad,

The honors of Thy name.

 

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,

That bids our sorrows cease—

’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,

’Tis life, and health, and peace.

 

He breaks the pow’r of canceled sin,

He sets the pris’ner free;

His blood can make the foulest clean,

His blood availed for me.

 

He speaks, and, list’ning to His voice,

New life the dead receive,

The mournful, broken hearts rejoice,

The humble poor believe.

 

Glory to God, and praise and love

Be ever, ever giv’n

By saints below and saints above,

The church in earth and heav’n.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUjVTdeFvio

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If You Hear His Voice

Psalms 95:6-7 ESV

 

“Oh come, let us worship and bow down;

    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

For he is our God,

    and we are the people of his pasture,

    and the sheep of his hand.”

 

What does it mean to worship God? Some people believe they are worshiping God when they attend a worship service at a local institutional church where they sing praise and worship songs. But is that worship? Or can it be worship? Is it possible that it is not worship?

 

Jesus told the woman at the well that a day has come when people will no longer worship God at this place or at that, but that we will worship God in spirit and in truth. And that is true. For, if you believe in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God lives within you, so you can worship him anywhere.

 

But to worship him in truth has to do with sincerity of heart and not in performance and ritual, and it has to do with personal relationship with our Lord, heart to heart, listening to what he teaches us, and doing what he says, following him wherever he leads us, and desiring to know his will.

 

For, the Scriptures teach that the worship God accepts is to give our lives to him as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being made into the likeness of Jesus. We are now his possession, and he owns us, so we live to do what he says.

 

We are to be no longer conformed to the ways of this sinful world, but we are to be transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God away from sinful lifestyles to now walking with our Lord in obedience to his commands. By God’s grace, daily we are to die to sin and to self and live to God and to his righteousness.

 

So, worship is not something we do once a week for maybe 20 minutes in a worship service by singing praise and worship songs. This is not saying that we are not worshiping God if we do this, but that true worship has to do with how we treat God and with how we live our lives in surrender to him.

 

True worship of God is something that takes place 24/7 in the life of the believer, and it means we show him love, honor, and respect by bowing to him as Lord and by obeying his commands and by leaving our sinful practices behind us so that we can do what he says, in reverence to him.

 

And then worship is also expressed verbally in prayer, in spoken or written word, in song, in praise, and in thanksgiving to our Lord for all that he has done for us. But if our lives are not surrendered to Jesus, and if we are living to please our flesh, and we are doing what we want, we can’t truly worship God in spirit and in truth because we don’t revere and honor him as Lord.

 

[Jn 4:21-26; Rom 12:1-2; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17]

 

Psalms 95:8-11 ESV

 

“Today, if you hear his voice,

   do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,

    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

when your fathers put me to the test

    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

For forty years I loathed that generation

    and said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart,

    and they have not known my ways.’

Therefore I swore in my wrath,

    ‘They shall not enter my rest’.”

 

So, this call to come and to worship the Lord and to bow down to him is not a light encouragement. It is a strong exhortation not only to bow to the Lord in submission to him and to worship him in spirit and in truth, but this is also a warning against falling away, and against the hardening of our hearts.

 

I can definitely see how this applies to the lukewarm church of today, at least here in America, which is being taught that they don’t have to forsake their sins, and that they don’t have to obey the Lord, or else these things are not being stressed or taught as necessary but more as a suggestion.

 

Far too many people professing faith in Jesus Christ today, at least in America, do not truly worship God, for they don’t honor him as Lord of their lives. They don’t honor him with their bodies. For, they assume that a mere profession of faith in Jesus secures them forgiveness of sins and heaven as their eternal destiny. And many stop there.

 

So, we need to take these biblical warnings seriously, and we must not take God’s commands to us lightly thinking they are optional or not mandatory. For this one is repeated for us at least three times in the New Testament in Hebrews 3 & 4. And in case you think this only applies to Jews, please know what the Scriptures teach in other passages of Scripture.

 

For, the Scriptures teach that we are slaves of the one we obey, and if it be sin, it ends in death, and if we walk in sin, and if we make sin our practice, we will not inherit eternal life, but we will die in our sins. For we will all be judged by what we do. And if we sow to please the Spirit, we will reap eternal life, but if we sow to please the flesh, we will reap destruction.

 

So, make certain that the word of God you are being taught is in context, and that it is being taught in truth. Test whatever you hear against the word of God (in context), and in prayer, for there are many liars and deceivers out there in the gatherings of the church and in the world whose goal it is to deceive you and to lead you astray.

 

So, be grounded in the truth of God’s word, and worship him in spirit and in truth, and be careful that you are not led astray by wolves in sheep’s clothing who are giving out feel good messages which tickle itching ears, but which leave people still bound in their sin without God and without hope.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

 

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/379406352

 

One People, One God, One Spirit

Old and New Covenants

 

Under the Old Covenant God had with his people, the Jews were God’s chosen people. They were his people by physical birth. They were the children of God. Now, not all of them believed in God, though, so not all of them entered into God’s eternal rest. Many were cut off because of their unbelief, which was evidenced by their disobedience to the Lord.

 

We who were not Jews by birth were called Gentiles, and we, as non-Jews, were not God’s chosen people, and we were not heirs of the promise. We were separated from Christ, having no hope and without God in the world. But then Jesus came, and he died on a cross for our sins so that we Gentiles by birth could be heirs of the promise of God by the blood of Jesus Christ.

 

But this is not automatic. We have to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives. And this involves us dying with Christ to sin and living to Christ and to his righteousness, in his power and strength. We must obey the Lord, too, or we will not enter into his eternal rest, either, for God still considers disobedience as unbelief (Heb 4:1-13; 1 Jn 2:3-6).

 

Ephesians 2:14-22 ESV

 

“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

 

“And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

 

When Jesus came, and he died on the cross for our sins, God made both Jew and Gentile one in Christ for those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives. For, he abolished the Old Covenant with its ordinances, i.e., with its ceremonial, liturgical, purification and sacrificial laws. But he did not abolish his moral laws. They remain.

 

So, God’s chosen people are no longer his people by physical birth but by spiritual birth. And they are no longer just the Jews who believe in Jesus as their Messiah, but they are both Jew and Gentile who put their hope and trust in Jesus Christ. For God made us both one in Christ Jesus, so there is no longer a division between Jew and Gentile (Rom 9:4-8; Gal 3:26-29).

 

Through faith in Jesus Christ, both Jew and Gentile have access to God the Father in one Spirit. So, those who are Gentiles by birth and those who are Jews by birth can both be reconciled to God by faith in Jesus Christ. We are one in Christ by faith in Jesus Christ. Only through faith in Jesus Christ can Jew or Gentile now be God’s chosen people and heirs of his promise.

 

The Jewish nation, therefore, is no longer God’s chosen people. The covenant God had with them no longer exists. All of us, whether Jew or Gentile by birth have only one way to God and that is through faith in Jesus Christ via dying with Christ to sin and living to Christ and to his righteousness in his power and strength (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17).

 

All who do not believe in Jesus Christ are not God’s chosen people. They are not heirs of the promise because they do not believe in Jesus Christ. And they do not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because God is Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. And Jesus told the Jews who did not believe in him that their father was the devil, not God (Jn 8:39-47).

 

Only through faith in Jesus Christ are any of us now fellow citizens with the saints of God and members of the household of God, which is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ being our cornerstone, in whom all of us, the whole body of Christ, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord Jesus.

 

So, if you are still believing that the Jewish nation is God’s chosen people and still heirs of the promise of God, you are not believing what the Scriptures teach. If you believe that the Jewish nation believes in the same God as the Christians, you are not believing what the Scriptures teach. We are now one in Christ through faith in Christ. There is no more division.

 

God now has only one chosen people, not two. And we only become God’s chosen people through faith in Jesus Christ. And that faith expresses itself in dying with Christ to sin and living to Christ and to his righteousness. For, if we continue living in sin, we will not inherit the promise of God, but we will die in our sins. We will not have eternal life with God.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

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Because of the Great Love of God

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV

 

We don’t, in our flesh, try to clean ourselves up to be presentable to God so that he will save us from our sins and so we will have eternal life with God. He cleans us up when he saves us, for when he saves us we are crucified with him in death to sin, and we are raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

The evidence that he saved us, and that we were crucified with him in death to sin, and that we are made alive to him in Christ Jesus is that we once walked in sin, and we once followed the course of this world, and we once followed the devil and his deception, and we once lived in disobedience to our Lord by living in the passions of our sinful flesh (see vv. 1-3).

 

And by saying “once,” it means past tense, not the present. We no longer do those things as a matter of life course, of habit. We no longer walk in disobedience to our Lord and deliberately and habitually sin against our Lord. For, Jesus set us free from our slavery to sin so that we would now be slaves of God and of his righteousness (Rom 6:1-23; 1 Pet 2:24).

 

It is only by God’s grace, though, that any of us are able to be saved from our sins and to have eternal life with God. We are saved by God’s grace through God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ. None of this is our own doing. Not one of us can bring about our own salvation by anything that we do in our flesh to try to be good enough for God.

 

But this does not mean that nothing is required of us or that we do nothing. We just don’t do it in our own flesh, of our own willpower, and of our own decision making process. For, since our faith is from God and not from ourselves, and we receive it as a gift from God, and Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith, by faith we submit to God’s will and purpose.

 

We surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, and we accept his plan and purpose for our lives, and we cooperate with his working in our lives in putting our sin to death and in us living to him and to his righteousness. It isn’t us trying to be good enough to earn our own salvation, but it is us walking in the salvation we already received as a gift from God in his power and strength.

 

For, Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us. And he shed his blood on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so that we might now be God’s possession, and so we might now honor God with our lives.

 

For, we are his workmanship once we believe in Jesus with God-given faith. Our lives are no longer our own to be lived however we want, for we were bought back for God with the blood of Christ. Therefore, we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, not of our flesh, but which God prepared beforehand that we should walk (in practice, in conduct) in them.

 

And what are those works? They are repentance, obedience, submission, surrender, faithfulness, holiness, righteous living, godliness, kindness, love, patience, goodness, etc. Now we no longer walk according to our flesh, but now, by God’s grace, we walk according to the Spirit to do the works of God which he prepared in advance that we should walk in them.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Jn 6:44; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Php 2:12-13; Jas 2:17; Col 1:9-14]

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

*Caution: This link may contain ads

 

"Once" means Past not Present

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Eph 2:1-3 ESV

 

Notice with me what this says about believers in Jesus Christ. We were ONCE (past tense) dead in our sins in which we ONCE (past tense) walked (conducted our lives, in action, in practice), following the ways of this sinful world, following the devil (Satan) who is at work in the sons of DISOBEDIENCE – among whom we all ONCE (past tense) lived (walked, conducted our lives in practice, in action) in the passions (desires) of our flesh (i.e., in sinful passions and desires), carrying out the desires of the body and the mind (making sin our practice) , and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

 

This describes the life of a believer in Jesus. Therefore, walking in sin, fulfilling the desires of our sinful flesh, disobeying our Lord, following after and walking in the ways of this sinful world, following after the ways of the devil, doing what he desires, living the life he has for us to live, and making sin our practice are all supposed to be PAST TENSE, not in the present. They are to no longer exist in our lives. Yes, we may sin once in a while (1 Jn 2:1-2), but we should not be living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. Instead, we should be walking according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God, in righteousness (Rom 8:1-17; Rom 6:1-23; 1 Jn 3:4-10).

 

So, if someone tries to convince you that you can believe in Jesus, have heaven secured you, have your sins forgiven, and that you can still live like you did before you believed in Jesus, they are lying to you. For, the Scriptures teach that if we walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the flesh, doing what our flesh desires, that we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God, no matter what we professed with our lips (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8).

Discerning Good and Evil

Walking in the Truth

3 John 1:1-4 ESV

 

“Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

 

So many people in America today who profess faith in Jesus Christ are not walking in the truth, and it breaks my heart. So many who profess to know and to love Jesus, and who profess to have been cleansed from their sins are living not much differently than those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ at all. It is largely indistinguishable between the church and the world anymore. And that is horribly sad.

 

So, it is indeed a joy to see when a believer in Jesus Christ is walking in the truth, and is on fire for Jesus Christ, and is walking in obedience to the Lord’s commands, not in absolute perfection, but consistently, persistently, as a matter of life course (of practice). It is a joy to see our brothers and sisters in the Lord following Jesus with wholehearted devotion.

 

Not only do we have joy in our hearts for them, knowing that they are where they ought to be, doing the will of God for their lives, living for the Lord, serving him, and walking in his truth, but it encourages our hearts, and it helps to strengthen us in our walks of faith because they are busy sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are encouraging the body of Christ.

 

A Faithful Thing

3 John 1:5-8 ESV

 

“Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.”

 

It is a good thing to do good to others, and it is a faithful thing and a good thing when we help and encourage our fellow believers in Jesus Christ, even if we have never met them before and they are strangers to us. Whatever their needs may be, it is good if we are able to minister to their needs as God leads and guides us in what is best for them.

 

I believe this is specifically referring to financial assistance, as these believers in Jesus were doing the work of the ministry, and they needed financial assistance. But in our day and time, at least here in America, we need to exercise much discernment in giving to various preachers and ministries for there are many wolves in sheep’s clothing out there.

 

But there are many ways in which we can support and encourage those who are doing the work of the ministry. We can pray for all our brothers and sisters in the Lord who are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ (the whole counsel of God), and who are sharing the truth of God’s word even against great opposition from those who are fighting against the truth.

 

If we have a way to communicate with them, we can encourage them with Scriptures, and with testimonies of love for God and steadfastness in faith in doing the will of God and of God’s provisions of grace and mercy and strength and wisdom to persevere even in the face of much opposition. And we can let them know we know what they are going through and that we care and that we are with them in spirit.

 

Opposition to the Truth

3 John 1:9-10 ESV

 

“I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.”

 

If we are following Jesus Christ with wholehearted devotion, if we are sharing the truth of God’s word, even with the church, if we are doing the will of God, and if we are loving others the way in which Jesus loved the people of this world, we will be opposed. Jesus said the world will hate (despise, reject, and persecute) us, and that includes the worldly church.

 

Some will hate and persecute us because we are teaching what Jesus and his apostles taught that we must die with Christ to sin and live to Christ and to his righteousness if we want to be saved from our sins and to have eternal life with God. For, the popular teaching today is that Jesus forgives us our sins and now we can live however we want without guilt.

 

And those who hate (despise, reject, and persecute) us include pastors and elders of “churches” who are teaching a diluted gospel which appeals to human flesh, and which permits its followers to keep on in their sins. They are also those who have turned the gatherings of the church into businesses, and they are marketing them to the world just like businesses, and therefore they have compromised the truth of the Scriptures to attract the world.

 

And if we are standing on the truth of God’s word, not in an obtuse way, but with the wisdom and grace of God, and with the strength and courage of God’s Spirit living within us, and if we are sensitive to the leading of God’s Spirit, and we are saying what the Lord leads us to say, in appropriate ways, we will be put out of some “churches”, too. They will ask us to leave.

 

Good and Evil

3 John 1:11-12 ESV

 

“Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true.”

 

So, the encouragement for us here today is that we not imitate evil but that we imitate (emulate, reproduce) good. And evil and good are defined by God and by the word of God and not by other humans who may or who may not have the mind of God in such matters as good and evil. For today many are calling evil good and good evil.

 

So, when this says here that whoever does good is from God this is not speaking of “good deed doers” who go around doing good deeds. Even the wicked and the unrighteous can do “good deeds.” For, the good that we ought to do is to forsake our sins, follow our Lord in obedience, do his will, submit to his Lordship, and love (obey) God and love others as God loves.

 

So, to emulate good and not evil is to obey our Lord in what his word teaches we ought to do, and it is to not do what his word instructs us not to do. For, God’s grace, which brings salvation, teaches us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s soon return (Titus 2:11-14).

 

Here I Am, Lord

 

By Daniel L. Schutte

 

I, the Lord of snow and rain,

I have borne my people’s pain.

I have wept for love of them –

They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone,

Give them hearts for love alone.

I will speak my word to them.

Whom shall I send?

 

Here I am, Lord

Is it I, Lord?

I have heard You calling in the night

I will go, Lord

If You lead me

I will hold Your people in my heart

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t6mz8yoocY

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