Romans 13:8-10 ESV
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Talk is cheap if it is not followed up with action. The
person who says he loves God or that he is in intimate fellowship with God or
that he knows God but who then continues in deliberate and habitual sin is a
liar, and the truth is not in him (1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6). And the person who says
to his spouse, “I love you,” and then deliberately and habitually commits
adultery in his mind or via pornography or via an extra-marital affair is a
liar, too.
Love is not an emotion, although our emotions are definitely
involved when we love others. Love is action. It is putting action to our
words. And since God is love and love comes from God, love is going to align
itself with the divine character and will of God. The Scriptures teach that to
love God is to obey his commandments (New Covenant). And to love others also
involves obeying the Lord’s commandments. For love prefers what God prefers.
So love is unselfish, it is honest, it is trustworthy, it is
faithful, it is morally pure, it is kind, it is thoughtful, it is holy, and it
is righteous, in practice. And it is obedient to the Lord. Love is not devious,
immoral, lying, thieving, adulterous, unfaithful, and malicious. For love does
no deliberate wrong to another person. So you can’t love God or your spouse if
you are being unfaithful to either one of them via continued deliberate sin
against them.
Romans 13:11-14 ESV
“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
This is written to Christians, so not all Christians are
fully spiritually awake. But this may also include those professing faith in Jesus
Christ who are not spiritually awake because they never did enter into genuine
relationships with God via God-given faith. The fact that this follows directly
after the lesson on love and instructions on not committing sin one against
another suggests that some of these believers may have been sinning against
others and so this was intended for them to wake them up spiritually.
In our world today, at least here in America, many people
professing faith in Jesus Christ are living in deliberate and habitual sin,
many of them engaged in sexual immorality of some kind or another. So much of
today’s church (or what is falsely being called “church”) has gone the way of
the world and they have relaxed God’s moral standards and they are teaching a gospel
absent of true biblical repentance and obedience to God and submission to
Christ.
So, if a person is a Christian, why would he need to wake up
from his sleep? The next sentence tells us. For salvation is nearer to us now
than when we first believed. Now, if we are already saved, how can salvation be
nearer to us than before? The answer to that question is in understanding what
the Bible teaches on the subject of salvation. It is not a one-time shot and
then that is it and we are good to go until we die and we get to go to heaven.
We are saved (past), we are being saved (present), and we
will be saved (future) when Jesus Christ returns and he takes his bride to be
with him, which is when our salvation will be complete. But this is PROVIDED
that we continue in Christ and in obedience to him until the very end and that
we do not continue in deliberate and habitual sin. For if we continue in
deliberate and habitual sin, we will not inherit eternal life with God no
matter what we proclaim with our lips.
[Jn 8:31-32,51; Jn
14:15-24; Jn 15:1-12; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 6:7-8; Rom
6:1-23; Rom
8:1-14,24; Rom 11:17-24; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; Col 1:21-23;
2 Tim 2:10-13; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb
5:9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:1-5; 2 Pet 1:5-11; 2 Pet 2:20-22; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Matt 7:21-23; 1 Jn
2:3-6,15-17,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10,24; 1 Jn 5:2-3; 2 Jn 1:6; Jas 1:21-25; Eph
4:17-24]
So, if we have believed in Jesus we are
to no longer walk in sin. Sin is no longer to have mastery over our lives.
Jesus Christ (God) is to be our only Lord and Master. We are not to be those
who deliberately and habitually engage in sinful practices. We are not to be
those who are walking in sin and who are engaged in orgies, drunkenness, sexual
immorality, sensuality, quarreling (fighting), and jealousy (except for godly
jealousy).
Instead we are to be those who are
walking in the light as God is in the light. We are to have cast off the works
of darkness, and we are daily by the Spirit to be putting to death the deeds of
the flesh. And we are to be walking in faithful obedience to our Lord in doing
what he says to do. And we are to be loving others with the love of God and we
are not to be doing willful harm to others. And we are to make no provision for
the flesh at all, leaving no doors open for willful sin, but we are to be
walking by the Spirit in holiness.
He
Gives Purpose
An
Original Work / June 9, 2012
“Listen to Me when I’m calling to you.
Obey freely My word.
Follow Me in all of My ways.
Do all that I say.
Hear Me gently whisper to you
My will for your life and future.
Give all of your life and heart to
Follow Me always.”
Repent of your sins and worship Jesus.
He’s your Lord and Master.
He died for your sins so you could
Live with Him today.
He has a plan for your life and
He gives purpose and direction.
He gives meaning to your life,
So follow Him today.
“I love you so much I gave My life for
You to walk in My ways,
Living for Me each day as you
Bow to Me and pray.
Witness for Me of your love for Me and
Of My grace and mercy,
How I died to save you of your
Sins now and always.”
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