1 John 2:3-6 ESV
“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. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
There are a lot of people today claiming to know Jesus
Christ. They made a public confession of him as Lord and/or they prayed a
prayer repeated after someone else, after which they were congratulated that
they are now part of the family of God, their sins are forgiven, heaven is
guaranteed them when they die, and nothing or no one can ever take that away
from them (regardless of how they live their lives while they are on this earth).
But it is not enough to just say that we know Jesus. We have
to obey him and his commandments (New Covenant). Jesus taught it. The apostles
taught it. And we can no longer live in sin. Sin cannot be our practice, i.e. what
we obey. For Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and
live to him and to his righteousness, and that we might now live for the Lord
and no longer for ourselves, and so we would now honor God with our lives (1
Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15,21; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Jesus said it well when he said that if anyone would come
after him he must deny self, 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 the sake of the
name of Jesus we die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness,
then we have the hope of eternal life with God (see Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans
6:1-23).
Now faith in Jesus Christ is required of us for salvation.
But many people are redefining what that word faith means in order to create
their own gospel message which allows them to keep on in deliberate and
habitual sin. But we read in the Scriptures that Jesus Christ is the author and
the perfecter of our faith, and that faith is gifted to us by God, and it is
not of our own doing, not of the flesh or the will of man. So we do not get to
redefine faith.
The word faith actually means to be persuaded, and in this
case to be persuaded by God, for we can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ
unless God the Father 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
our sins and to follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to his ways. And God is the
one who gifts us this faith, but then we have to appropriate it to our own lives.
But since this faith is authored by Jesus Christ, then it is going to align
with God’s will and purposes for our lives.
[Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Acts
5:32; Tit 2:11-14; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Eph 4:17-32; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Lu
9:23-26; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Matt 7:21-23]
And by this we know that we are in him: whoever says he
abides (obeys, remains) in him ought to walk in the same way (same manner) in
which Jesus walked. And how did he walk? He walked in integrity, in moral
purity, in honesty, in faithfulness, in righteousness and in holiness, and in
obedience to God the Father. His will was always to do the will of God the
Father, and he always submitted to him.
Now Jesus never sinned, although he was tempted to sin and
he could have sinned since he lived in a flesh body. But he resisted Satan and
he never did sin, and that is why he was able to be our spotless lamb sacrifice
on that cross to take away the sins of the world. But none of us are sinless.
We are all born into this world in the image of Adam with sin natures. But when
we believe in Jesus we die with him to sin and we are raised with him to walk
in newness of life in him, and we are delivered from our slavery to sin.
So, yes, on this earth we will never be absolutely perfect
as Jesus was, but by the grace of God, and in his strength and power, and
because he crucified us with him in death to sin, and he resurrected us with
him to walk in newness of life in him, we can walk with integrity. We can live
in moral purity. We can be truth tellers and not liars. We can be faithful and
not adulterous. And we can walk in obedience to our Lord and no longer in sin.
And all the glory and praise belongs to God for what He has done in us.
The Prayer
Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,
Alberto Testa and Tony Renis
I pray you'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer
When we lose our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
I pray we'll find your light
And hold it in our hearts
When the stars go out each night
Remind us where you are.
Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqFCbtRz1Z0
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