Since We Have These Promises

“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV).

The first part of this passage of Scripture is in reference to the previous verses from 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. And, as with all of God’s promises, they have conditions. And what were the promises? God said that he will make his dwelling among us and walk among us and he will be our God and we will be his people, and he will be a father to us, and we will be his sons and daughters. But what are the conditions for those promises?

We are not to be unequally yoked together with those who are living in sin, who are the ungodly because what they practice is sin. We are not to be in partnership with them. We are not to be in fellowship with them, for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness, and what fellowship has light with darkness? And what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever, i.e. with those who are still walking in darkness (sin) and who are not walking in obedience to our Lord?

So, we are to come out of their midst and to be separate from them, and we are to touch no unclean thing. And this means coming out of these market-driven “churches,” too, which are being led by worldly men who are following the marketing schemes and tricks and gimmicks of man instead of following the teachings of Christ and of his NT apostles, and who are altering the character of God/Christ, and of his church, and of his gospel to make them more appealing and acceptable to the ungodly and to human flesh.

We must not partner with them. We must not be in fellowship with them. We must not be in agreement with them. But we are to come out from among them and be separate (unlike, different) from them because we are being made to be like Jesus, if we are, indeed. And to touch no unclean thing means that we do not participate in evil, and we do not deliberately and habitually sin against the Lord, but we are to be walking in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord, in the power of God.

And then we will have these promises. And that is why this is instructing us that we must cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. And this means that we have to, if we haven’t already, cut out of our lives every avenue into sin that we know we might take if it is still available to us, and we have to search our own hearts and get rid of all that is stored up in our hearts that might lead us into sin, for it is out of the heart that all that evil comes.

Then we must surrender our lives to Jesus Christ to do his will and leave our lives of sin behind us to follow him in obedience. Then we have to renounce (say “NO!” to) all ungodliness and worldly and fleshly passions and desires, and by the grace of God we must now live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the power of God while we wait for our Lord’s soon 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.

[Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23]

For to live holy lives pleasing to God has to do with us living in such a manner that is separate (unlike, different) from the world of sin, and we are to be becoming like Jesus Christ in godly character and morals and in purity of devotion to God and in holy living. We must be those who are walking (in conduct, in practice) in moral purity, uprightness, godliness, honesty, faithfulness, and righteousness in obedience to our Lord, in his power and strength and wisdom. And sin must no longer be what we practice.

For to walk in the fear of God is to honor him with our lives, to obey him and his commandments (New Covenant), to do what is honorable, and to love others as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us to set us free from our sins and to empower us to walk in godliness and in obedience to our Lord. And it is to believe God, to take him and his word seriously, and to not put him to the test, and to not ignore him and his commandments. And it is to believe his warnings to us, too, and then to live accordingly in holy living.

O The Deep, Deep Love Of Jesus 

Samuel Trevor Francis (1875), 

Welsh melody adapted by Thomas John Williams (1890)

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,

Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!

Rolling as a mighty ocean

In its fullness over me!

Underneath me, all around me,

Is the current of Thy love

Leading onward, leading homeward

To Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,

Spread His praise from shore to shore!

How He loveth, ever loveth,

Changeth never, nevermore!

How He watches o’er His loved ones,

Died to call them all His own;

How for them He intercedeth,

Watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,

Love of every love the best!

’Tis an ocean vast of blessing,

’Tis a haven sweet of rest!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,

’Tis a heaven of heavens to me;

And it lifts me up to glory,

For it lifts me up to Thee!

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

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