Habakkuk 2

Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

Friday, May 13, 2022

How We Ought to Walk

1 Thessalonians 4:1-2 ESV

 

“Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”

 

What instructions did they give? They taught us to put away our former lives of living in sin and for self, and to put on the new self in Christ Jesus created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. They taught us that faith in Jesus Christ means being crucified with Christ in death to sin and being raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him. And they taught us that we must no longer live according to the flesh but now according to the Spirit, for if we live according to the flesh we will not inherit eternal life.

 

They taught us to put away all that is fleshly and sinful and to put on righteousness and holiness by the grace of God and in his strength and power. For Jesus died 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 who was raised from the dead. And he shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so that we would now be God’s possession and so we would honor him with our lives (with our bodies). For sin is to no longer have dominion over us.

 

[Eph 4:17-32; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Co 5:15,21; 1 Co 6:19-20; Tit 2:11-14; Rom 12:1-2; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-10]

 

1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 ESV

 

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter...”

 

It is not God’s will that we profess faith in Jesus Christ and then continue to live in deliberate and habitual sin, although this is the message that is widely being spread here in America under the guise of “the gospel.” But God still sees when we sin, and it grieves him. And he is still calling out sin and calling people to repentance and to obedient walks of faith in him. He has not changed! He still hates sin and what it does to us which is why he gave his life up for us on that cross to free us from our slavery (addiction) to sin.

 

But the church largely, in America, compromised with the world and with sin, for she was attracted to evil, and so she decided to unite with what is evil and to not expose sin for what it is, but rather to embrace it. And so she altered the gospel of Jesus Christ to make room for sin to continue to reign over the life of the person professing faith in Jesus Christ. And she made it to where she narrowed the gospel down to a decision to believe in Jesus followed by a promise (a guarantee) of heaven when we die.

 

And she largely removed from the gospel or she chose to ignore God’s requirements for repentance (turning away from sin) and for obedience to the Lord and to his commands, and for us to submit to him as Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. And she chose to ignore or to delete what the Scriptures teach regarding our walks of faith, and that if we walk in sin we will not inherit eternal life, but if we walk in righteousness and holiness, in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, that we will live for eternity with our Lord Jesus. And she did this in order to compromise with the world.

 

For she wanted the world to like her and to accept her and she wanted to be able to join in with the ungodly in some of their ungodly deeds. She wanted to be able to continue living in sin without it impacting her eternal life. And so she altered the gospel and she compromised with evil and she refused to expose sin for what it is and to call out those who are teaching what is false, but she gave evil a place to abide within the life of the church. And so she changed sin to “I messed up,” as though it was like spilling a glass of milk. And she convinced the addicted to sin that they will always be addicts.

 

But that is not what the Scriptures teach us. They teach us that God’s will for us is that we be sanctified, that we be made holy, and that we live holy lives separate (unlike, different) from the world of sin, and that we not become like the ungodly but that we now become like Jesus in character. And they teach us that we must abstain from sexual immorality. They do not teach us that sexual immorality is an illness or that it is something we will never be able to totally conquer or that we will always be addicted to sexual immorality. God is not okay with you continuing in sexual immorality!

 

But yet in today’s church many are convinced that they can believe in Jesus and be on their way to heaven and still live in sexual immorality, in practice. But that is a lie from hell! We are taught in Scripture that we can, by the Spirit, control our own bodies in holiness and honor, and that this is the will of God for our lives, and that we are not to live in the passionate lusts of the ungodly who do not know God. And we are not to sin against one another. And husbands and wives are to love and to be faithful to one another.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:6-8 ESV

 

“…because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”

 

Contrary to what many people are teaching in the church today, we cannot be in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ and have heaven guaranteed us when we die if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin against God and against others, and if we do not forsake our sinful practices to follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands (New Covenant). We can’t blend Christianity in with the world and make compromises with the world and expect God to be okay with that. He does not put his stamp of approval on that. For he requires us to live separate (different) from the world.

 

So, just know that the Scriptures teach that we are all going to be judged by what we do in this life, and that we are all going to reap what we have sown. So, if we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction. But if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life. And, if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, and if we don’t love others, but we deliberately sin against them, instead, in practice, then we don’t know God and we are not born again of the Spirit of God, and we DO NOT have eternal life with God.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:28-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:16; Rom 8:3-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Jn 15:1-11; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15; Matt 7:21-23]

 

Songs in the Night  

 

An Original Work / December 18, 2013

 

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

 

Lord, I praise You forevermore.

You, my Savior, I now adore.

Hope in heaven awaiting me,

Because You died at Calvary.

 

I have been forgiven,

And I’m bound for heaven.

Jesus set me free from

All my sin, I say.

I will praise Him always!

 

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:

Overcame death, my vict’ry won!

Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!

I rejoice in His love for me.

 

I will walk in vict’ry!

My sin is but hist’ry!

I am free to please Him

With my life today.

I will love Him always!

 

Lord, I thank You for giving me

A new life bought at Calvary.

Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.

Tender mercies now flow within.

 

Lord, I am so thankful;

Through my Lord, I’m able

To sit at His table;

Fellowship with Him.

I will thank Him always!

 

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