Habakkuk 2

Then the Lord replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."

Sunday, April 16, 2023

When Christ Jesus Appears

Colossians 3:1-4 ESV

 

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

 

When we trust in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, if our faith in Jesus is genuine God-given faith, we are crucified and buried with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So we are not to let sin reign anymore in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its sinful passions, but we are now to walk in obedience to our Lord, living morally pure and godly and righteous lives, by God’s grace.

 

Therefore, we are now to seek after the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Now we are to seek after what is holy, righteous, morally pure, upright, godly, honest, and faithful. And these are what we are to walk in. And these are what our minds are now to be set on, not on the things of this sinful world, and not on our flesh. Now we should desire to please our Lord in all that we do and say, and we should no longer  run after the sinful pleasures of this world and of our sin natures.

 

Then, when Jesus returns one day for his bride, we will go to be with him in heaven, no longer in these flesh bodies, but now in glorified bodies free from the flesh, free from pain, free from sorrow, free from sickness, and free from even the temptation to sin against the Lord. And, oh how much I desire that day when this body of mine will be gone, and now I will have a glorified body, and I will get to be with my Lord face to face for eternity. I can’t even begin to imagine how truly wonderful that will be. But it will be awesome!

 

Colossians 3:5-10 ESV

 

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

 

Now none of this is optional. This is not just a recommendation which we can take or leave it. For if sin is what we practice, i.e. if we deliberately and habitually sin against the Lord Jesus, and if righteousness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice (in lifestyle), then we do not have eternal life with God, regardless of what faith we have professed with our lips. For on account of addictive sins such as these, the wrath of God is coming. So, all these should now be a thing of our past, and not part of our present.

 

Yet, many people professing faith in Jesus Christ in America are still walking in these sins, or they have returned to living in sin, for they take God’s grace and mercy for granted, and they don’t truly believe all his warnings given to us in the Scriptures, and many are convinced that they don’t have to turn from their sins, and that they don’t have to obey the Lord, for they believe that God does it all for them, and so they can continue living in sin, and that it will not impact their eternal security. But that is a lie from hell.

 

For the gospel message could not be more clear than this. For genuine faith in Jesus Christ results in us dying with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and us daily walking (in conduct, in practice) in his righteousness and holiness, in obedience to his commands under the New Covenant. So, none of these sins should be what we practice any longer. All of these are to be put away from our lives. And we are to be God’s holy people, being conformed to the likeness of Jesus, and not to the pattern of the world.

 

Colossians 3:12-17 ESV

 

“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

 

I truly don’t understand how people can read the fullness of the Scriptures and come up with the doctrine of salvation which says that we can make a one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ, have all our sins forgiven (past, present, and future), now be guaranteed heaven as our eternal destiny, but regardless of how we live. For all throughout the New Testament we are being instructed in the putting away of the things of the flesh and in the putting on of the things of God and of his righteousness, and we are being warned of the consequences of continuing in sin, and of not living holy lives.

 

So, not only are we to put off all those sins mentioned in the previous verses, but now we are to put on all the things mentioned here. But we don’t do this in our own flesh and strength. We cannot! Only by God’s grace and in his strength and power at work within us can any of us forsake our lives of sin and live godly and holy lives to the praise and glory of God. But it is possible to live this way when we yield control of our lives over to the Lord and we surrender our lives to him, and we submit to his Lordship.

 

For the grace of God, which is bringing us salvation, instructs (trains) us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and fleshly passions and desires, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works”. And we are God’s workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (See Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:10).

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

The Unclouded Day

 

J. K. Alwood, 1885

 

O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,

O they tell me of a home far away;

O they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise;

O they tell me of an uncloudy day.

 

O they tell me of a home where my friends have gone,

O they tell me of that land far away,

Where the tree of life in eternal bloom

Sheds its fragrance through the uncloudy day.

 

O they tell me of a King in His beauty there,

And they tell me that mine eyes shall behold

Where He sits on the throne that is whiter than snow,

In the city that is made of gold.

 

O they tell me that He smiles on His children there,

And His smile drives their sorrows all away;

And they tell me that no tears ever come again,

In that lovely land of uncloudy day.

 

O the land of cloudless day,

O the land of an uncloudy day.

O they tell me of a home where no storm-clouds rise,

O they tell me of an uncloudy day.

 

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