1 Peter 3:10-12 ESV
“Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
There are many people in America professing faith in Jesus
Christ who have not turned away from evil to do good. And they have not kept
their tongues from evil and their lips from speaking deceit. They are still
spewing out lies, many of them in the name of truth. For they have adopted the
teachings and philosophies of human beings in place of the truth of God’s Word,
and so they are finding ways to excuse away their sinful practices instead of
making a full confession of wrongdoing and then truly repenting of the sin.
These modern-day market-driven institutional churches are big
feeders of these lies and deceptions, as the gospel that they are mostly
presenting is not the gospel that Jesus taught, and it is not the gospel that
the New Testament apostles taught, not in whole. For what most of them are
spreading is a half-truth (lie) gospel which bases its doctrines primarily on
Scriptures taught outside their context and then twisted to say what the Scriptures
do not teach (in context).
They are the self-indulgent, the workers of iniquity, the
intoxicated to sin who use lies and deception as a cover-up for evil and to
excuse away sinful practices. They know right from wrong and yet they continue
to do wrong and then they look for ways to excuse away their wrongdoing by
calling it something else like, “I messed up.” It is as though they
accidentally knocked over a glass of milk and it spilled on the floor rather
than the truth of the matter which is that they are still living in deliberate
and habitual sin.
First of all, everyone living in sin is responsible for his
(or her) own behavior. The Scriptures teach that all of us are without excuse
if we deny who God is and if we choose to go the way of the flesh instead of
the way of God and of his righteousness and holiness (Romans 1:18-32). Yes,
there may be certain situations and factors which lead people into sin, but all
humans are responsible to God for what we do with those temptations to sin and
for what we do with the knowledge of God which we have been given.
And we are all going to be held accountable to God for what
we did with him and with Jesus Christ and with the truth of his gospel. So if you
choose to hold on to your sin and to not die with Christ to sin, in daily
practice, but sin is what you practice, the Scriptures make it clear that you
will not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For we are all
going to reap what we sow. If we sow to the flesh we will reap corruption and
destruction. But if we sow to the Spirit, we will reap eternal life.
1 Peter 3:13-17 ESV
“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.”
Now when we point out to people what is talked about in
verses 10-12 we are not going to be widely loved and accepted. And that is because
we are telling people what the Scriptures say which is that the face of the
Lord is against all those who are doing (practicing) evil. And yes, God is gracious.
But his grace, which is bringing us salvation, instructs 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 return (Titus 2:11-14).
God’s grace to us is not free license to continue living in
sin without guilt and without remorse. It is not permission to keep on in
deliberate and habitual and addictive sin all in the name of God’s grace. God’s
grace to us frees us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so we will no longer
be enslaved to sin but that we would now be slaves of God and of his
righteousness. And God’s grace to us empowers us to live godly and holy lives
to the praise and glory of Christ who died on that cross to free us from our
bondage to sin.
And when this says that the eyes of the Lord are on the
righteous, this is speaking of those who are living righteously (1 John 3:4-10),
not just those who believe they were made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. For
faith in Jesus Christ is not of ourselves. We don’t get to make it up in order
to suit our flesh. True faith in Jesus Christ involves us being crucified with
Christ in death to sin and us being raised with Christ to walk in newness of
life in him in holiness and in righteousness and in walks of obedience to our
Lord Jesus.
So, when we share the truth of what the Scriptures teach
with regard to the faith in Christ Jesus which saves us from our sins and which
promises us eternal life with God, we are going to be opposed, and we are going
to be rejected and falsely accused and persecuted for speaking the truth in
love at a time when so many are speaking the lies that itching ears want to
hear. For we will be sharing in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, becoming
like him in his death. For they didn’t like Jesus’ teachings, either.
But we are not to fear what humans might do to us. We are
not to fear the possibility of the retaliation of the double-minded who make a
profession of faith in Jesus Christ all the while they are continuing in
deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. We just have to do what God says
to do, and we have to speak the truth he gives us to speak, and then we must
leave the results in his hands. For if our consciences are clear that we have
acted justly and righteously and in love, then we just have to rest in the Lord.
Now, the Lord Jesus put the song “Mary Did You Know”
in my mind. And Mary had a calling of God to be the mother of Jesus, to bear
him in her womb, although she had not been with a man. For she was impregnated
of the Holy Spirit of God, and she accepted that assignment of God knowing full
well that people would think she sinned and that it might even cost her her
life. But she willingly chose to suffer for the sake of God rather than to
reject God’s assignment for her life in order to preserve her own reputation.
And that is the approach that all of us who are true
followers of Jesus Christ should take to following Jesus with our lives. We
should be willing to be hated, mistreated, misunderstood, judged falsely, and
persecuted for the sake of Christ and his gospel. And what was the result?
Jesus was born and then he died on that cross to save us all from our sins. And
when we choose to obey the Lord and to speak the truth of his gospel, we also
are contributing to the saving of human lives, too, by our obedience to our
Lord.
[Matt 5:10-16; Matt 10:16-25;
Matt 24:9-14; Matt 28:18-20; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19;
John 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Acts 1:8; Acts 14:22; Acts 26:18; Rom 5:3-5; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; 2 Co 1:3-11; Eph
4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Phil 3:7-11; Col 3:16; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; Heb 3:13;
Heb 12:3-12; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 2:9; 1 Pet 4:12-17]
Mary, Did You Know?
Songwriters: Greene Lee Rufus / Lowry Mark Alan
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy
Has come to make you new?
This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy
Is heaven's perfect Lamb?
That sleeping child you're
Holding is the great, I Am
Mary, did you know?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPsgIhlYQmM
Caution: This link may contains ads
No comments:
Post a Comment