Video Talk
2 Corinthians 11:1-4 ESV
“I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.”
Paul was a servant of the Lord who shared with the people
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And not only does the gospel teach us that by faith
in Jesus Christ we must die with Christ to sin, and we must live to him and to
his righteousness, in obedience to his commands, but when we believe in Jesus
we enter into a marriage covenant with him, and now he is our husband and we
are his bride. But this is like the Jewish marriage of the Scriptures.
So, the Jewish marriage covenant of the Scriptures involved
the couple signing this covenant of marriage so that essentially they were now
married, but now the husband had to go prepare a place for his bride and then
he would come back and take her to live with him, and it was then that the
marriage was consummated and not until then. In the meanwhile, they were to
remain pure virgins.
Well, Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us and one day
he is going to return for us who love him and who are walking in obedience to
his commands and who are living in righteousness and not in sin. And he is going
to take us to be with him for eternity, and then our marriage to him will be
consummated (completed), which is when our salvation will be completed, too,
and not until then. But while we are waiting, we are to remain pure in our
relationships with our Lord (Titus 2:11-14).
So, this is why Paul said he had betrothed the believers to
one husband, Jesus Christ, to present them to Christ as pure virgins. For he
was instrumental of God in introducing them to Christ via the preaching of the
gospel. And Paul definitely taught purity of devotion to Christ and dying with
Christ to sin and living to God and to his righteousness, in obedience to the
Lord. But now he feared that they might be being led astray from their pure
devotion to Christ.
For there were people among them who were teaching them another
Jesus than the one Paul and the other apostles proclaimed, and a different
gospel from the one that they had originally accepted. And they were not
resisting these false teachings or these false teachers, but they were putting
up with them easily enough. And so Paul had legitimate cause for concern.
And sadly this parallels over to the present condition of
much of the church here in America today where so many people now who profess
faith in Jesus Christ have adopted another Jesus and a different gospel from
the Jesus and the gospel that Jesus lived and taught and that the apostles
taught and lived. For they are believing that they can make a one-time
profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now all their sins are forgiven and
heaven is guaranteed them when they die, regardless of how they live their
lives.
But Jesus 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
him in obedience. For if he hold on to (try to save) our old lives of living in
sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we
lose our old lives, i.e. we die with Christ to sin and live to him and to his
righteousness, in obedience to his commands (New Covenant), then we will save
our lives for eternity (Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14).
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. For many are going to stand before him one day
claiming all the things they believed they did in his name, but he is going to
say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” for
they refused to obey the Lord and to do what he said (Matthew 7:21-23).
So, please know that a mere confession or profession of
faith in Jesus Christ is not enough to secure you salvation from sin or heaven
as your eternal destiny. You must walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer
according to the flesh but now according to the Spirit. Sin must no longer be
your practice, your habit, but now righteousness and obedience to our Lord must
be your practice. This is not saying, however, that you will never sin again,
but that sin is not what you live by, but you now live by faith in Jesus Christ,
for the Lord Jesus Christ in walks of surrender to the Lord and in obedience to
him.
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I
Pray for Them
An
Original Work / June 4, 2013
Based
off John 17
“Glorify Your Son, that Your Son
May glorify our God in heav’n.
Father, You granted Him all power
And all authority over men,
That He might give eternal life
To all those whom now
You have given Him.”
“This now then is eternal life:
That they may know You,
Father, and Your Son;
That they may know the only true God,
And Jesus Christ whom the Father sent.
I have brought You the glory by
Finishing the work that You’ve given Me.”
“I have shown You to those whom
You gave to Me out of the world;
They were Yours. You gave them to Me
And they have obeyed Your words
And they accepted them. They knew
That I came from You, and they believed
With certainty, I was sent.”
“Holy Father, I pray for them by the
Power of Your name: Protect them,
So that they may be one as we are,
For they are still living in this world.
I have given them Your word;
Because of Your word, the world
Has hated them.”
“I pray they may have the full measure of
My joy now living within them.
Father, I pray You sanctify them
By Your word; truly Your word is truth.
As You sent Me into the world,
I send them to tell the world to repent.”
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