Through the Word of God

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for

“’All flesh is like grass

    and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

    and the flower falls,

but the word of the Lord remains forever.’

“And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:22-25 ESV).

The goal of our salvation is not just forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven when we die. The goal of our salvation, the very purpose for why Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross, is our deliverance out of our lives of living for self, and out of our slavery to sin, so that we can now, in the power of God, live holy lives pleasing to God, in faithful obedience to him and to his commands (New Covenant), from here to eternity. 

[Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23]

That is the message of the gospel, in a nutshell. But sadly that is not the “gospel” that is permeating the church in America, at present. The “gospel” being largely taught and accepted in America today is that you can make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ one time, have all your sins forgiven, be on your way to heaven, with the promise that nothing can take that away, yet while you continue in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. Lie!

For the gospel that Jesus taught said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our lives of living for self and in sin we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, we have eternal life. For if we deny him in this life, he will deny us when he returns for his bride (Luke 9:23-26).

So, we must know that the Bible doesn’t teach the “gospel” message that has gained so much popularity these days. It teaches, in fact, that if we do not put our lives of sin behind us, but if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and if we do not walk in obedience to our Lord in holy living, in practice, that we will die in our sins. We do not know God. We are not born of God. And we will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of profession.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Therefore, the life of a true follower of (believer in) Jesus Christ should be a life of one who has died with Christ to sin and who has been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as a slave to sin, but now as a slave to God and to his righteousness. And daily by the Spirit he should be continuing to put sin to death and to follow the Lord Jesus in obedience to his ways and to his commands (New Covenant).

And as an outgrowth of this life of faith in Jesus Christ should come genuine godly love, not only for God, but for our fellow humans. And this love is not human love, based in our emotions (although not absent of emotions), but this love is based in God, who is love, and in moral purity. And it means to prefer what God prefers, which is all that is righteous, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his commands.

So, when we love one another with this kind of love we are going to say to one another and do to and for one another what is ultimately for our good (in the eyes of God) and what upholds moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness, etc. So we will not deliberately and habitually sin against our fellow humans and against God. But we will work toward what will bring about the salvation of human lives for eternity, which is for our good.

Therefore, we are not going to lie to people just so they will feel good about themselves and so that they will like us. And this includes that we will not withhold the truth from people, either, to whom it is due, either to hide sin or out of fear of rejection. We will be kind and thoughtful and considerate of others but never to the point to where we tell lies or we withhold truth that they need to hear in order for them to receive genuine salvation from sin.

For, if we believe the lies, and not the truth, and we put our trust in humans and what they tell us is the truth, and not in God and in his word, then we have the real possibility of being deceived and of heading to hell instead of to heaven, but while other humans are giving us the promise of heaven guaranteed us when we die. So we need to be students of the Scriptures who are studying them for ourselves, in context, and who are not relying on others to tell us the truth.

Thy Word

By Amy Lee Grant / Michael Whitaker Smith

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path

When I feel afraid

Think I've lost my way

Still you're there right beside me

And nothing will I fear

As long as you are near

Please be near me to the end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6LC8cu03Ig

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