Is it Evident You've Been Chosen?

1 Thessalonians 1:4-7

 

“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.”

 

Chosen by God

 

When we are chosen by God we are called (selected of God) out of our lives of sin to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands in walks of holiness and righteousness. We are called out of the world and into fellowship with God’s only begotten Son Jesus Christ. And we are called out of the world to be separate (holy, unlike, different) from the world because we are now being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ.

 

We can’t even come to faith in Jesus unless God the Father first draws us to Christ, i.e. unless he persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to repent of (turn away from) our sins to follow Jesus in obedience. And the faith produced, if it is genuine faith, is not of our own doing, but it is a gift of God. And Jesus is the author and the perfecter of that faith, so that faith will submit to God’s will and purposes.

 

God chose us to be his before he even knit us together in our mother’s wombs. In his book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for us, when as yet there was none of them. He predestined us to be conformed to the image (likeness) of Jesus Christ. For he saved us and he called us to a holy calling, and he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

 

[Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; Acts 5:32; Psalms 139:13-16; Rom 1:6-7; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-29; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 1:9; 1 Co 3:17; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Gal 5:13-21; Eph 1:3-4; Eph 2:8-10,21; Eph 5:27; Col 1:22; Col 3:12; 1 Thess 4:7; 2 Tim 1:8-9; 2 Tim 2:21; 1 Pet 1:13-16; 1 Pet 2:5-9,24; 2 Pet 1:3; Tit 2:11-14; Lu 9:23-26; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 2:3-6; Jer 1:5,19]

 

Evidence We are Chosen

 

If we are the chosen of God there should be evidence to show that God has chosen us, especially on the basis of what we just learned with regard to what we are chosen out of and what we are chosen to. For we were predestined to be conformed to the likeness of Christ, and we are called to a holy calling, and to be holy means to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ.

 

And how did Paul describe the evidence that God had chosen the Thessalonian Christians? The gospel came to them not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. They did not just say some words after someone else, after which they were congratulated that they were now part of God’s family and that heaven was now guaranteed them and that it couldn’t be taken away from them, end of story.

 

For if the gospel that Jesus taught and that the New Testament apostles taught came to these people in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction, these people were crucified with Christ in death to sin, and they were raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And they were delivered out of slavery to sin to now be slaves of God and of his righteousness.

 

And they became imitators of the Lord, which means that they now were followers of Jesus Christ who willingly left their lives of sin behind them to follow the Lord in obedience to his commands. Sin no longer had mastery over their lives, but now Jesus was their Lord and Master. Now they followed him in his ways and in his truth and according to his commands. It doesn’t mean they became instantly perfect, but now they were followers of Jesus.

 

And they received the word in much affliction, which would seem to indicate that their receiving of the gospel and of Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives involved persecution and suffering. So they were well aware of the cost of following Jesus with their lives but they followed him anyway. And they became an example to all the believers in other cities, so they were not just talking the walk, but they were walking it, in practice, in conduct.

 

1 Thessalonians 1:8-10

 

“For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”

 

How You Turned to God

 

So, they didn’t just profess faith in Jesus Christ, but they lived it, and they didn’t just live it, but they spread the message of the gospel to other places. But it wasn’t just their words that went to these other people, but it was their testimonies of how they were living what they said they believed. Awesome! And how was that faith seen in their lives? They turned to God away from their idolatry to serve the living and true God in obedience.

 

And this is the evidence which should be shown in our lives, too, if we have been called and chosen of God, and if we are following Jesus Christ with our lives. We should be living godly and holy lives, no longer living in sin, and no longer conformed to the ways of this sinful world. And we should be examples to others in how to live the Christian life, and we should be sharing the gospel (the true gospel) with them for their salvation.

 

And the true gospel message is that Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. Faith in Jesus Christ, thus, involves us being crucified with Christ in death to sin and us being resurrected with Christ to walk in newness of life in him in walks of obedience to our Lord and not in the continuation of deliberate and habitual sin. For if we walk in sin, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

And then another thing. God’s grace to us is not permission to keep on sinning. God’s grace, which brings salvation, trains us to say, “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s soon return. So, if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin we must know that we will not enter God’s heavenly kingdom. So, forsake your sins and follow Jesus in obedience.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; 1 Pet 2:24; Jn 15:1-11; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15; Tit 2:11-14]

 

Footprints of Jesus

 

Lyrics by Mary B. Slade, pub. 1871

Music by Asa B. Everett

 

Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling,

Come, follow Me!

And we see where Thy footprints falling

Lead us to Thee.

 

Though they lead o’er the cold, dark mountains,

Seeking His sheep;

Or along by Siloam’s fountains,

Helping the weak.

 

If they lead through the temple holy,

Preaching the Word;

Or in homes of the poor and lowly,

Serving the Lord.

 

If Thy way and its sorrows bearing,

We go again,

Up the slope of the hillside, bearing

Our cross of pain.

 

Then, at last, when on high He sees us,

Our journey done,

We will rest where the steps of Jesus

End at His throne.

 

Footprints of Jesus,

That make the pathway glow;

We will follow the steps of Jesus

Where’er they go.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug0g048Nqes

*Caution: This link may contain ads

Hearts Bent Toward Sin

Jeremiah 17:1-3 ESV

 

“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, on the mountains in the open country.”

 

God’s People Today

 

God’s people today are all of us who believe in Jesus Christ with genuine God-given faith. We have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our old lives were crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin (Romans 6:1-23; Ephesians 4:17-24).

 

Therefore, we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. For we are slaves of the one whom we obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness and to sanctification, and which ends in eternal life with God. As those who are “in Christ” we are to walk (in conduct, in practice) not according to our sinful flesh but according to God’s Holy Spirit (Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14).

 

Now we have many people today professing faith in Jesus Christ who never were crucified with Christ in death to sin and so they were not raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him. They just made a profession of faith in Christ or they repeated a prayer after someone else but they bought into the lie which says we don’t have to repent of our sins and we don’t have to obey the Lord, and so nothing ever really changed in their hearts.

 

And then we have those who did enter into a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ but who sometime later, when life got hard for them, ran from God instead of to the Lord, and they returned to living in sin and for self and so they are in need of repentance and renewed walks of faith in Jesus Christ. So this passage could apply to them as well as to those making a profession of faith in Jesus Christ but who never turned away from their sins.

 

The Sin Engraved on Human Hearts

 

Now, because of the first man Adam’s sin against God we have all been born into sin in the image of Adam. We all are born with sin natures and we are separate from God and we are incapable in ourselves to be acceptable to God and to be righteous in his sight. For we, in our flesh, can do nothing to earn or to deserve our own salvation, regardless of how nice we might be, and regardless of how many good deeds that we do in our flesh.

 

But when we believe in Jesus with God-given faith, he frees us from our slavery to sin and he makes us new in him, created to be like God in true holiness and righteousness. He doesn’t just forgive us our sins, but he frees us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so we can now be slaves of God and of his righteousness. He then gives us his nature. But we still have the propensity to sin and we are still tempted to sin. So sin is still possible.

 

And so we do have a multitude of professers of faith in Jesus Christ, at least here in America, who are still enslaved to sin or who have returned to living in deliberate and habitual sin against God and against other humans. And their sin is indeed engraved on their hearts, for they stubbornly hold on to their sin and they will not let go no matter what. Even if you show them what the Scriptures teach, they will keep on in their deliberate sins.

 

And this goes to those Scriptures which talk about sin coming from what is stored up in our hearts. So, if we are storing up in our hearts the trash of this world and all that is worldly and fleshly, and that which is immoral and filled with hate, envy, bitterness, and spite, etc., that is what is going to come out in our attitudes and in our actions in things like sexual immorality, adultery, lying, cheating, hate, and slander, etc. (Lu 6:45; Matt 15:17-20).

 

[Rom 3:21-26; Rom 5:12-19; 1 Co 15:21-22,42-49; Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24; Rom 8:1-14; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15; 1 Co 6:19-20]

 

Jeremiah 17:5-6,10 ESV

 

“Thus says the Lord:

‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man

    and makes flesh his strength,

    whose heart turns away from the Lord.

He is like a shrub in the desert,

    and shall not see any good come.

He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,

    in an uninhabited salt land.’”

 

“I the Lord search the heart

    and test the mind,

to give every man according to his ways,

    according to the fruit of his deeds.”

 

Trust in the Flesh of Man

 

Many people professing faith in Jesus Christ are putting their trust in other human beings in place of or over and above putting their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they are putting their faith and trust in teachings which are not biblical although they may come from the Scriptures taught out of context and then twisted to say something the Scriptures do not teach. And so many of them are following after lies and not after the truth.

 

And so they are accepting a gospel message which is not the gospel that Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught, but which is a half-truth (lie) gospel created in the minds of humans in order to appeal to human flesh. For it makes no demands for death to sin or for walks of obedience to our Lord Jesus. They do not honor God with their lives but they honor their own fleshly and sinful appetites, instead. Their sins are engraved on their hearts.

 

So their hearts are not turned to the Lord, although they will profess that they are, for they feel at liberty to keep on in deliberate and habitual sin against God and other humans without conscience and with the belief that they also will not face any consequences for their habitual and deliberate sin against the Lord and against their fellow humans. But what they are believing is a lie and it will come back to bite them in the end.

 

Please know this is not just Old Testament teaching. Paul wrote that God will render to each one according to his works (Romans 2:6-11), and he wrote that we will all reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7-8). And when Jesus returns, he will bring his recompense (reward) with him and he will repay each one for what he has done (Revelation 22:12-15). And many who profess Jesus as Lord are going to hear him say, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23).

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Rom 1:18-32; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 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 21:8,27]

 

Jeremiah 17:7-8 ESV

 

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

    whose trust is the Lord.

He is like a tree planted by water,

    that sends out its roots by the stream,

and does not fear when heat comes,

    for its leaves remain green,

and is not anxious in the year of drought,

    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

 

Amen and Amen! We need to be people of God who are committed to following Jesus Christ with our lives, who are dying daily to sin and to self and who are following our Lord in obedience to his ways, in practice. We need to be those who are honoring our Lord with our lives and who desire him, to do his will, and who do not desire to stray from the Lord and to go our own way, instead. And it will go well with us now and in the end.

 

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

Do You Love Your Sins More?

John 3:19-21 ESV

 

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

 

Jesus Christ, the Light

 

Jesus Christ is the Light. The light is the gospel of Christ, and it is truth and righteousness and all that is holy and is of God, for God is truth and he is righteous and holy. Jesus Christ came into the world. He left his throne in heaven, came to earth, and was born of the Spirit of God to a human mother so that when he walked the earth he was fully man and fully God (John 1:1-36; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:8-9; John 8:24,58).

 

But even though he was God incarnate (in the flesh) when he came into to the world, and he was and is the Messiah (the Christ) who was to come to be the Savior of the world, not many people believed in him. Not many people accepted him for who he was. Many people rejected him, and the leaders in the temple of God largely hated him, and so they persecuted him, and eventually they had him put to death on a cross (read the gospels).

 

But he did not stay dead. On the third day God the Father resurrected him from the dead, and for the next 40 days, I believe it was, he appeared to many people on the earth, including to his 11 disciples (the 12^th, Judas, had committed suicide). But then he returned to heaven to be with the Father and from there he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his followers and to be Jesus to them on this earth, and to teach them all things pertaining to God.

 

But Jesus Christ didn’t die on that cross for no good reason. In his death he put our sins to death with him so that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness in his power and strength. Our sins were put to death with him so that, by God-given faith in him, we would be crucified with him in death to sin and so we would be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (2 Co 5:21; 1 Pet 2:24; Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24).

 

By God-given faith in Jesus Christ we now walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to our flesh but now according to the Spirit. We now walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands and no longer in habitual and deliberate sin. For Jesus died on that cross to free us from our slavery to sin and to empower us to live godly and holy lives pleasing to God in obedience to his commands (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10).

 

People Prefer the Darkness

 

To love literally means “to prefer,” so when people love the darkness rather than the light, they literally prefer the darkness over the light. They prefer their sins and their wickedness and their evil deeds over God and his righteousness and holiness. Even if they profess faith in Jesus Christ, if they continue in deliberate and habitual (and often premeditated) sin, they are preferring their sin to genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

 

We are not to prefer the world and the things of the world over or in place of Jesus Christ. We are not to take pleasure in and to long for and to give our adoration, our passion, and our desire to the sinful pleasures this world has to offer while ignoring our Lord and his commands. But we are to prefer to live through Christ, embracing God’s will for our lives, choosing and obeying his choices for our lives through his power.

 

So if we love (prefer, embrace, desire, long for, take pleasure in) the desires (lusts) of the flesh, and of the eyes, and the pride of life, in place of longing for and taking pleasure in and preferring our Lord and his commands, we are not of God, we don’t know God, and we are not born of God regardless of what we profess with our lips or think we believe in our hearts. And the love of God the Father is not in us. We need to take this to heart!

 

And why do people do this? Because they want to hold on to their sin and they do not want to let it go. And this is why many people have adopted a half-truth diluted (cheap grace) gospel in place of the true gospel of grace because it gives them carte blanche to continue in deliberate and habitual sin without guilt and without conscience and without any requirements for repentance or for walks of obedience to the Lord.

 

Whoever Obeys God

 

In 1 John 2:17 we read, “But whoever does the will of God abides forever.” And in John 3:21 we read, “But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” And in Matthew 7:21 we read, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

 

And in 1 John 2:3-5 we read: “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.”

 

[See also: Lu 9:23-26; Jn 8:51; Jn 14:15-24; Jn 15:10; 1 Jn 3:4-10,24; 1 Jn 5:2-3; 2 Jn 1:6; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:16; Heb 5:9; 1 Pet 1:1-2; Jas 1:21-25; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Php 2:12-13; Jn 10:27-30]

 

So, for the true believer in Jesus Christ, obedience to the Lord and to his commands is not optional. We can’t prefer our sins and the lusts of the flesh and of the eyes and the pride of life, and not prefer God and his choices for our lives, if salvation from sin and eternal life with God are what we are seeking after. We must, by the Spirit, be putting to death the deeds of the flesh and walking in obedience to our Lord or we don’t have eternal life.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:18-32; 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 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 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; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Footprints of Jesus

 

Lyrics by Mary B. Slade, pub. 1871

Music by Asa B. Everett

 

Sweetly, Lord, have we heard Thee calling,

Come, follow Me!

And we see where Thy footprints falling

Lead us to Thee.

 

Though they lead o’er the cold, dark mountains,

Seeking His sheep;

Or along by Siloam’s fountains,

Helping the weak.

 

If they lead through the temple holy,

Preaching the Word;

Or in homes of the poor and lowly,

Serving the Lord.

 

If Thy way and its sorrows bearing,

We go again,

Up the slope of the hillside, bearing

Our cross of pain.

 

Then, at last, when on high He sees us,

Our journey done,

We will rest where the steps of Jesus

End at His throne.

 

Footprints of Jesus,

That make the pathway glow;

We will follow the steps of Jesus

Where’er they go.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug0g048Nqes

*Caution: This link may contain ads

Give Light to Those in Darkness

Luke 1:68-75

 

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

    for he has visited and redeemed his people

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

    in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

that we should be saved from our enemies

    and from the hand of all who hate us;

to show the mercy promised to our fathers

    and to remember his holy covenant,

the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

    that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him without fear,

   in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”

 

The Promised Seed of Abraham

 

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is the promised seed of Abraham. He is the Messiah, the Christ, who was to come to redeem his people and to save them from their sins. Through him all nations are being blessed by his sacrificial offering of himself for the sins of the entire world and by the opportunity that provides us to be delivered from our slavery to sin and to obey our Lord.

 

By God-given faith in Jesus Christ we can be crucified with Christ in death to sin and be raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. For Jesus shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so we will now honor God with our bodies and with our lives. He died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, and he died that we might live for him and no longer for ourselves.

 

[Gal 3:16; Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15]

 

As stated, the purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection is that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And it is that we might serve him without fear of our enemies, and without fear of opposition and persecution, yet not because Jesus promised us that he will protect us from all opposition and persecution. And that is because he promised us that we would be hated and persecuted as he was. But he does deliver us from their power and influence over our lives if we are willing and obedient.

 

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:18-21; Jn 17:14]

 

In Holiness and Righteousness

 

And Jesus did give his life up for us on that cross that we might serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Amen! For Jesus said that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self and take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we die with him to sin that we might walk in obedience to his commands, then we have eternal life in him (see Luke 9:23-26).

 

He also said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. For on the day Jesus comes to judge we are all going to stand before him and we will judged according to our works. And on that day many will tell the Lord all the things they think they did in his name. But then he is going to declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Our salvation is not lawlessness (see Matthew 7:21-23).

 

And then the apostles taught us that we must die with Christ to sin and walk in obedience to his commands. For if we do not forsake our sinful practices, and if we do not obey the Lord, but if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, in disobedience to God, and if we do not love our fellow Christians and our fellow humans, then we will die in our sins. We will not have eternal life with God. Heaven will not be our eternal destiny. Hell will be. So, we need to take this to heart, for our eternity depends on us living the truth.

 

[Jn 15:1-11; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:26-27; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Luke 1:76-79

 

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

    in the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our God,

    whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

    to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

 

Ministers of the Gospel

 

Now the child being spoken of here was John the Baptist. He was called of God to go before Jesus to prepare the way for him. His message was a message of repentance, and repentance is a spiritual U-turn. We were walking in sin, in the ways of our sinful flesh. Then by faith in Jesus Christ we died with him to sin, and then we were raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him in the direction of holy and godly living.

 

John was a messenger of God to go before Jesus to prepare the way for the people to receive him as their Lord and Savior. And as followers of Jesus we follow after Jesus, but still in preparing human hearts to repent of their sins and to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands (New Covenant). We are not only to walk in the ways of the Lord but we are to be ministers of the gospel of Christ, too, making certain we are teaching truth and not lies.

 

We need to be telling people that Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). We need to be telling them that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-8). And we need to be telling them that it is required of us for salvation that we walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands (John 14:15-24; 1 John 2:3-6) and that if we don’t that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

The Lord’s Anointed  

 

An Original Work / December 16, 2011

Based off Isaiah 61

 

The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;

Anointed to preach the Good News;

Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;

Proclaim freedom for the captives.

He sent me to preach release for pris’ners

Who are walking in sin’s darkness;

Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;

And tell them about God’s judgments;

Comfort all who mourn;

Give crowns of beauty;

Oil of gladness and thanksgiving.

 

They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,

A planting of our Savior, God,

For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and

They will rebuild God’s holy church.

God will renew them, and will restore them,

And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.

You will be ministers of our God, and

You will rejoice in salvation.

The Lord loves justice;

He is faithful to

Reward those who are seeking Him.

 

I delight greatly in the Lord;

My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.

He has clothed me with His salvation,

And in a robe of His righteousness.

He has given me priestly garments to wear,

As the bride of Jesus Christ.

As the garden of our Lord and Savior,

He causes us to grow in Him.

He makes righteousness,

Praise, and thanksgiving

Spring up before all the nations.

 

https://vimeo.com/114836524

Pain and Suffering

Pain and suff’ring, be like Jesus

Who from our sins He did free us.

Complications, not vacations,

Is our status, is what frees us.

“How so,” you may ask, “Do now tell

How our suff’ring frees us from hell?”

In our suff’ring die now to sin

So that vict’ry in Christ you’ll win.

Share with Jesus in His suff’rings,

Give our lives to Christ as off’rings.

Humble ourselves before our Lord,

Obey Him all in one accord.

Jesus put sins to death with Him

So we might die to sin with Him.

Share in death now with Him to sin,

Follow Him now in obedience.

When we suffer, call out to Christ.

When we suffer we should realize

We are weak, in need of Jesus,

Who from our sins he can free us.

Pain and suff’ring can be our friends,

Teach us to on God to depend.

Make us humble, teach us His grace,

So that one day we’ll see His face.

An Original Work / August 30, 2022

Examples of What Not to Do

1 Corinthians 10:1-5 ESV

 

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”

 

Even though the Israelites were God’s people by natural birth, as physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah, they didn’t all have faith, i.e. they didn’t all obey the Lord. But many of them continued to follow after the passions of the flesh, instead, in rebellion and in disobedience to the Lord. And so God was not pleased with them, and so many of them were overthrown in the wilderness, and thus they did not enter into God’s eternal rest.

 

Today this would be similar to the gatherings of the church. Not all who are gathering together as “the church” are people of genuine faith in Jesus Christ. Even though they participate with the church (or with what is falsely called church) in their gatherings, and even though they may or may not be taking in the truth of God’s Holy Word on a regular basis, and even though they may or may not be professing faith in Jesus, they don’t really follow him. They are also living in rebellion and disobedience to the Lord Jesus.

 

And if we, as professing Christians, continue to walk in sin, in sinful rebellion against our Lord, in deliberate and habitual sin, as did most of the Israelites at that time, we will be overthrown, as well. We will not enter into God’s eternal rest, but we will die in our sins. And we will face the wrath of God, too, because we refused to submit to Christ as Lord and to forsake our sinful practices and to walk in obedience to his commands, in his power.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:18-32; 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 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 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; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

1 Corinthians 10:6-11 ESV

 

“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”

 

Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do you fully grasp the meaning of what that just said? It is saying to us who profess faith in Jesus Christ that if we do as they did that we also will be overthrown and we will face the wrath of God and we will not enter into God’s eternal rest, i.e. we will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

And now we are given more specifics as to the types of things which they did which were displeasing to God. They were idolaters and they were revelers. They followed after the things and the pleasures of this world rather than following after God and his holiness and righteousness. Their “god” was not the God of heaven and earth, but a man-created god who would permit them to live in open rebellion against the Lord without consequence.

 

And this same “god” is the one that many professers of faith in Jesus are following today. For they are being convinced that they can merely profess faith in Jesus (once) and now all their sins are forgiven and heaven is guaranteed them when they die regardless of how they live. And so many of them are living in open rebellion against the Lord in the practicing of sexual immorality, revelry, and idolatry, in grumbling against God, and in putting Christ to the test by their sinful behaviors, taking his grace for granted.

 

But again, these things happened to them and they were written down for our instruction so that we might not desire and practice the evil that they desired and practiced, so that we don’t also end up dying in our sins and not entering into God’s eternal rest. So, we need to take these warnings seriously, for they are here to warn us of the consequences of sinful rebellion against our Lord and of refusal to bow to him in obedience.

 

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 ESV

 

“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

 

So, what is this saying? It is saying that we who think we are in good standing with God and that we are secure in our salvation and who are convinced that heaven is our eternal destiny, we should take heed lest we fall. Why? Well, for one, if we take pride in our standing with God we may begin to think that we are incapable of falling back into sin, and that is a dangerous place to be. Why? Because we still live in flesh bodies, we are still tempted to sin, and we still have the propensity to sin against God.

 

Another reason is that many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ are convinced that they are saved from their sins and that heaven is their eternal destiny guaranteed regardless of how they live. And that is a false presumption, and it is anti-biblical. All throughout the New Testament we are taught that genuine faith in Jesus Christ is proven to be genuine by what we do, not by our words only. We must die to sin and obey our Lord daily.

 

And then all throughout the New Testament we are taught that if we walk in sin, i.e. if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, and if we do not love our brethren (fellow Christians), then we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God. We will not enter into God’s eternal rest, i.e. into the kingdom of heaven, but we will spend eternity in the fires of hell (see Scriptures above).

 

Now I hear a lot of people who profess faith in Jesus Christ try to excuse away the fact that they are still walking in deliberate and habitual sin, saying things like, “I’m not perfect,” “No one is sinless,” and “We all sin,” and so on and so forth. And then they will use the term “struggling” to make it not sound so bad or as though they are trying to not sin, but it also means they are regularly, habitually, and deliberately sinning against the Lord Jesus.

 

But there are no excuses for deliberate and habitual and premeditated sin against the Lord and against other humans. No genuine believer in Jesus Christ has any excuse. For Jesus put our sin to death with him on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, and that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him, and that we might now honor God with our bodies, all in his power and strength.

 

In other words, Jesus already made the way of escape for you from temptation to sin. It is called faith in practice. If we walk by the Spirit we will not fulfill the passions of the flesh. And the works of the flesh are “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (see Galatians 5:16-21).

 

So, we can take the way of escape which our Lord provided, or we can foolishly continue in deliberate and habitual sin and face God’s wrath.

 

Thou Art Worthy

Revelation 4:11

 

Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy,

Thou art worthy, O Lord.

To receive glory, glory and honor,

Glory and honor and power.

For Thou hast created, hast all things created,

Thou hast created all things.

And for Thy pleasure they are created;

Thou art worthy, O Lord.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1GIF-Nphbs

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All For the Glory of God

Philippians 1:3-6 ESV

 

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

 

Partnership in the Gospel

 

What does it mean to be in partnership with the gospel? Well, the Greek word is koinonia, which also means fellowship, contributory help, participation, and sharing in. So, when we believe the gospel message, we are not making a mere acknowledgment of its truth as applied to our lives, but we have a part in it that we are to do. We have a contributory part that we are to be involved in. We must participate in it in doing our part.

 

We must cooperate with God in his work of grace in our lives, in other words. We must align ourselves with his purpose and will in his death on that cross to deliver us from our slavery to sin. We must not continue living in sin, for Jesus died to deliver us from our slavery to sin so we might now be slaves of God and of his righteousness and so that we might walk (in conduct, in practice) in newness of life in him, created to be like him.

 

So, we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We are not to let sin reign anymore in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. We are not to continue in sin now that we are under grace, for we are obedient slaves of the one whom we obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness and to sanctification and to eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23; cf. Romans 8:1-14).

 

We are not to live like the ungodly who are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. For they have become callous, and they have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way that we should have learned Christ, assuming that we were actually taught the truth that is in Christ Jesus.

 

For the truth that is in Christ Jesus is that we are to put off our old self, which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. And we are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and we are to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. So we put off lying and we tell the truth, and we put off stealing and we give to others, and we put off filthy language and we speak what is beneficial for all who will listen, etc. (see Ephesians 4:17-32).

 

And we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commandments and we no longer walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin. For if we are abiding in Christ we will not continue in deliberate and habitual sin. But we are to be those who make righteousness our practice, but not in our own strength and wisdom, but in the power, strength, and wisdom of God who saved us from our slavery to sin. For if sin and disobedience are what we practice we are not born of God (see 1 John 1:5-9; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10).

 

Also, Jesus said that if we want to come after him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. And he said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. And Paul taught that if we walk in sin and not in righteousness and not in obedience to our Lord that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

[Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 2:6-8; Galatians 5:16-24; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 3:5-17; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22]

 

He Who Began a Good Work

 

So, when we read this sentence about Jesus who began a good work in us being the one to bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ, this is not teaching that God/Jesus does it all and we do nothing, which is what many people are teaching today. Our faith in Jesus Christ, because it comes from God, and because it is not of our own doing, will align with God’s will and purpose for our lives, and it will cooperate with that will and purpose.

 

But the thing of it is, not one of us can do this in our own strength and willpower. Only by the grace of God are any of us even drawn to faith in Jesus Christ, and we can only come to faith in Jesus Christ if God the Father first persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness and of our sinfulness and of our need to be delivered from our lives of slavery to sin so that we can now walk in his holiness and righteousness in his power and strength.

 

So, when we forsake our lives of sin and we walk in obedience to his commands, we are doing so in cooperation (in partnership) with our Lord in what he has done for us and provided for us, and in that which he equips and strengthens and empowers us to do. And we can only continue in him in his power and strength. So, yes, he is the one who brings our salvation to completion at the day of Jesus Christ, but only as we continue in him until the very end in steadfast walks of obedience to him and to his commands.

 

[Jn 8:31-32; Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 11:17-24; 1 Co 15:2; 2 Tim 2:10-13; Heb 3:6,14-15; 2 Pet 1:1-11; 2 Pet 2:20-22; 1 Jn 2:24-25; 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 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:3-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; Jn 15:1-11; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

So, yes, we can only be saved from our sins through Jesus Christ. He is the only one to turn us from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so we might receive forgiveness of sins, i.e. he is the only one to deliver us from our slavery to sin and to make us into new creations in Christ Jesus, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

But all these changes that he works in our lives involve our cooperation, our partnership with him in what he wants to do in and through our lives. Like these devotions do not write themselves. I still have to engage my mind and my will and my fingers and my time and energies to sit at a computer and to write. But it is God who leads me in what to say and I have to listen to him.

 

So, yes! Give God all the glory and praise for everything he has done and that he is doing and that he will yet do in and through our lives for his glory and praise. Understand that this all comes from him and that we are totally dependent on him to live the Christian life. But then live the life you have been given for his glory and honor by doing what he says to do, not in your own strength, but in the strength and power of God through whom and for whom all these things come that are of him and that glorify him.

 

Thou Art Worthy

Revelation 4:11

 

Thou art worthy, Thou art worthy,

Thou art worthy, O Lord.

To receive glory, glory and honor,

Glory and honor and power.

For Thou hast created, hast all things created,

Thou hast created all things.

And for Thy pleasure they are created;

Thou art worthy, O Lord.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1GIF-Nphbs

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What does it Mean to be "In Christ"?

Summary Romans 8:1-4

 

This passage begins in verse one by letting us know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It does not say that there is no condemnation “for those professing to know Jesus Christ.” So, just because you make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are “in Christ.”

 

So you need to read at least through verse 14 here and then go back and read Romans 6:1-23, Ephesians 4:17-24, 1 John 1:5-9, 1 John 2:3-6, 1 John 3:4-10, Luke 9:23-26, Matthew 7:21-23, Titus 2:11-14, Galatians 5:16-21, Galatians 6:7-8, Romans 2:6-8 and Ephesians 5:3-6.

 

In verses 3-4 we read that, by God the Father sending his only begotten Son (Jesus Christ) in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, IN ORDER THAT the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who WALK (in conduct, in practice) NOT according to THE FLESH but according to THE SPIRIT.

 

Do you know what this just said? We are not free from condemnation on a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ. We are free from condemnation who live (in conduct, in practice) according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God, and who don’t live by their sinful flesh.

 

Romans 8:5-8 ESV

 

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

 

So, don’t read verse one and then just assume you are free from condemnation because you made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. FOR those who live according to (by, in agreement with) the flesh (our fallen nature) set their minds on the things of the flesh, and to set the mind on the flesh is DEATH, not life everlasting. And to set the mind on anything is to do so with great determination of the will to go a particular direction.

 

Now the Lord Jesus puts songs in my head every day, most of which are to be included in these devotions (writings), and some of which he uses to let me know more specifically where he wants me to focus my attention. And today the song was “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by John Denver. And the song is about his relationship with the woman he eventually married, but the marriage did not last because of all his continued adulteries and lies.

 

For, the song is about a womanizer, a woman hater, an abuser, a user, a liar, a cheat, and someone lacking commitment to the relationship who is giving false promises of faithfulness and false confessions of love. He is utterly selfish with no guilt about cheating and lying. He lies and tells her that the “cheating” was not serious or not against her, etc. And the cheating didn’t end after they were married. And the marriage eventually ended. And ironically enough, he ended up dying in a plane crash in real life.

 

So, this is a primary example of one who has set his mind on the flesh and on the things of the flesh and who is living (in conduct, in practice) according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit. This person is not “in Christ” even if he professes faith in Jesus Christ. Do you get this? We can’t live like this and be “in Christ,” although there are many preachers out there who will tell you that you can. For to set the mind on the flesh is DEATH!

 

You can’t just play around with sin and think you are okay with God. Even if you admit your sin and say you are sorry, if you go right back to it, and continue in it habitually and deliberately, without conscience, and if this is the way you live until the day that you die, you will not inherit eternal life with God no matter what your lips have professed. For you are living according to the flesh and you are not living according to the Spirit.

 

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. So you see, we are not free of any law. We are not free to be lawless under God’s grace. We still have to obey God’s moral laws and we are still commanded to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbors as ourselves. And the New Testament is filled with all kinds of rules and instructions to us that we must obey.

 

And to love God is to obey him, and if we do not obey him we do not love him and we don’t know him and he doesn’t know us and we don’t have eternal life in him. So, please take this to heart. If we do not obey Jesus, and if we do not die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness (1 Peter 2:24), then we do not have eternal life in him regardless of what confessions of Christ we have made with our lips.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 8:51; Jn 14:15-24; Jn 15:10; Matt 7:21-23; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10,24; 1 Jn 5:2-3; 2 Jn 1:6; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:16; Heb 5:9; 1 Pet 1:1-2; Jas 1:21-25; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Php 2:12-13; Jn 10:27-30; Acts 5:32]

 

Romans 8:12-14 ESV

 

“So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”

 

Some people think that we owe God nothing, that he does it all for us and that nothing is required of us. So these must be people who have not read the Bible, right? Not necessarily. There are people who know what the Scriptures teach but they disregard them and they make up their own concept of what it means to believe in Jesus, or they accept someone else’s false concept of faith in Jesus and they adopt it as their own.

 

But the Scriptures teach that we must die with Christ to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, that we must put sin away from our lives and now walk according to the Spirit in holiness and in righteousness in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And they teach us that if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

For all who are LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD are children of God, not those who merely profess faith in Jesus Christ. So this means that we must do what Jesus says to do, and go where he sends us, and say what he gives us to say, even if people hate us for it in return. We must give up our own selfish lives and follow Jesus in obedience or we will not enter the kingdom of heaven no matter what others have told us.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-32; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:26-27; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Trust and Obey  

 

Words by John H. Sammis, 1887

Music by Daniel B. Towner, 1887

 

When we walk with the Lord

in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will,

He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

 

Chorus (Refrain):

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

 

Not a shadow can rise,

not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear,

not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

 

Not a burden we bear,

not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss,

not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

 

But we never can prove

the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows,

for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

 

Then in fellowship sweet

We will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do,

Where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB4KcleYiWM

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Making Enemies by Telling the Truth

If You Are

 

If you are a genuine follower of Jesus Christ, and if you are one who is walking in obedience to the Lord and who is no longer living in addiction to sin, and who is sharing the truth of the gospel, and who is exposing the lies of our enemy, Satan, though you may be accepted by some people, if you live in America, you will largely be rejected. And why will people reject you? Because you are telling them the truth that they don’t want to hear.

 

And we are not talking here about the unchristian world which has rejected Christ as Savior, but we are talking about the majority of people calling themselves Christians and believers in Jesus Christ. They don’t want to hear the truth of the gospel and so they shut up their ears and they refuse to listen, and instead they fill their minds with lies and with fantasy and with things which make them feel good and which do not speak of sin at all.

 

And they largely talk about things which matter not for the Lord or for their walks of faith in Jesus Christ at all. They talk much like the people of the world who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ, at all. And so it is barely distinguishable today between the church and the world because the church at large has become so much like the world, for she has adopted the ways of the world in order to attract the world to her gatherings.

 

Galatians 4:16-20 ESV

 

“Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.”

 

The truth of the matter is that if, like Paul, you are telling people the truth about sin, righteousness, and judgment, most of them will not want to hear it. They want to hear things that make them feel good about themselves and which do not confront them with their sinful practices so that they can go on living however they want, with little to no regard for God at all, nor for his commands. For although many profess Christ as Lord and Savior, many do not live as though he has delivered them out of their slavery to sin.

 

Now I know that this passage of Scripture is regarding the Jews who had become Christians but who were turning back to living under the Old Covenant and not under the New Covenant because of pressure they were receiving from the Judaizers to convince them that they still had to obey some of the Old Covenant liturgical and ceremonial laws. Or this was Gentile believers in Jesus who were being pressured into having to obey some of the Old Covenant ceremonial and liturgical laws.

 

Nonetheless, this is still about people believing lies and thus following after the lies while rejecting the truth of the gospel of our salvation. So whether the lies are to try to convince you that you should do certain religious customs, or if they are lies which tell you that you can keep living in habitual and deliberate sin against the Lord and still go to heaven when you die, they are still lies which are opposed the truth which if you believe them can impact whether or not you do go to heaven when you die.

 

For there are so many people professing Jesus as Lord and Savior who are still living self-indulgent lives, living to please their flesh, living to themselves and not to God, doing what they want to do, even if it is to sin against God and other humans. Jesus is not the lover of their souls for they are “in love” with the lusts of the flesh, instead. And his truth is not what they follow, for they are following after the lies which allow them to keep living for themselves and not for God.

 

And even if they are hearing the truth, and the lies are being exposed to them, and the truth is being proclaimed, they are refusing to hear the truth and they are continuing to follow after the lies, and they are living foolish lives rather than to live in the wisdom of God. They are not being watchful and alert so that they do not enter into sin, but they are leaving the door wide open to keep returning to the same addictive sins over again. So they remain immovable, still stubborn and unwilling to yield to the Lord.

 

And so those who are proclaiming the truth have indeed become their enemy because they don’t want to hear the truth even though they know it is the truth and they are not ignorant of that fact. And so they follow people who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear even though many of them know that they are following the lies. For they don’t want to have to change how they are living, in reality. And so they harden their hearts to the truth so that they can continue to follow after the lies.

 

And if you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, this should grieve you. And you should be passionate about getting the truth out to as many people as who will listen to it, because the truth is that we must be crucified with Christ in death to sin and sin should no longer have mastery over our lives, for Jesus delivered us out of our slavery (addiction) to sin. And now we should walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New Covenant).

 

For, if we continue to live according to the flesh in habitual and deliberate sin against God and against other humans, and if obedience to our Lord is not what we practice, then according to the Scriptures, we will not inherit eternal life with God. We will not enter God’s heavenly kingdom. But we will be shut out, and the Lord will say to us, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23; c.f. 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10).

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-32; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:26-27; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

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.

 

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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