Readily Enough

“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” (2 Corinthians 11:1-4 ESV).

If we are true followers of Jesus Christ, with the minds of Christ, who are students of the Scriptures, who study them in their contexts, and who test the spirits, and who follow our Lord in walks of obedience and in holy living and in righteousness, and who are no longer walking in sin, then we should also be those who feel what God feels, who grieve over sin and over lies and deceptions and over God’s people being led astray by false teachers.

We should be on the lookout for lies and deceptions and for liars and deceivers who captivate the minds and hearts of so many people with their feel-good messages which dilute and alter the character of God/Christ, and of his church (his body), and of his gospel message. But it isn’t just the feel-good messages that are the issue, but it is all the manipulations of truth and misimpressions and subliminal messages sweeping the church in America.

And I am certain that what the Lord has me share with you is not just an American problem. But America is where I live, and it is what I know, so all of you who live elsewhere must read these passages of Scripture and apply them to where you live, for I don’t really know what is going on in your nations. And I cannot even trust our media here to tell me the truth of what is going on inside your nations, so just let the Lord speak through his word.

But regardless of where we live, if we are true followers of Christ, it should grieve our hearts when we see so many professing Christians living no differently from the people of the world, doing and viewing and listening to all the same types of things that the ungodly do. And while they go through their religious rituals, so many of them are not following the Lord in obedience, and they are not living for him and for his righteousness.

For so many are being led astray by charlatans and by wolves in sheep’s clothing who are teaching them lies disguised as truth. For what they teach is another Jesus than the one the Scriptures teach, and a different gospel from the one that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught. For they are not teaching dying with Christ to sin daily and walking in obedience to our Lord as required by God for salvation and for eternal life with God.

And this isn’t legalism, and it is not works salvation. It is what Jesus and his NT apostles taught about salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For Jesus said 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 sin, we will lose our lives. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow Jesus in obedience, by faith in him, then we have eternal life (Luke 9:23-26).

And God’s grace to us is his gift to us, but his grace is him giving himself to us to die on that cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and that we might live for him, and no longer for self. It is Jesus shedding his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we will now serve God with our lives and honor him with our bodies in walks of moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness.

[1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:1-23]

For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions 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 which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:10).

And John said that if we claim to be in fellowship with God/Christ while we still walk (in conduct, in practice) in darkness (sin, wickedness), we are liars. And if we profess to know God, but we are not obeying his commandments (New Covenant), in practice, we are liars. And if we deliberately and habitually sin against our Lord, we don’t know him, we are not born of God, but we are of the devil. For whoever practices righteousness is righteous.

[1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; cv. Galatians 5:16-21]

And please know that many people today are teaching freedom in Christ as though it is freedom from having to obey God’s commandments under the New Covenant, as though it is freedom to remain lawless, still living in slavery to sin. And they teach that anyone obeying God’s commandments is a legalist and is not free in Christ. That is a major twisting of what the Scriptures teach, and it is contrary to what Jesus and his apostles taught.

Yes, we do not have to obey the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions. But we still have to obey God’s moral laws which never went away, and which are still taught us under the New Covenant. And we don’t have to obey man-made legalistic requirements that the Scriptures do not teach. But we do have to obey the teachings of Christ and of his NT apostles intended for his church, his body.

And if we choose not to obey the Lord and his word, but still hold on to the belief that heaven is our eternal home, then please read the words of Jesus. For he taught 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. So, many will claim they know him and that they are doing things in his name, but he will say, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” for they didn’t obey the Lord (Matthew 7:21-23).

So, test the spirits to see which ones are from God, and test them against the teachings in the New Testament under the New Covenant, but in context. For many false teachings stem from Scriptures taught outside of their context and are twisted to say what they do not say, and in order to deceive people into believing lies disguised as truth. And hold on to the truth of God’s word, and do not waver, and keep obeying the Lord Jesus Christ.

10,000 Reasons

Matt Redman / Jonas Myrin

The sun comes up

It's a new day dawning

It's time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass

And whatever lies before me

Let me be singing 

When the evening comes

Bless You Lord

And on that day

When my strength is failing

The end draws near

And my time has come

Still my soul will

Sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years

And then forevermore

Forevermore

Bless the Lord oh my soul

Oh my soul

Worship His Holy name

Sing like never before

Oh my soul

I'll worship Your Holy name

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

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