“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister” (Colossians 1:21-23 ESV).
Jesus Christ, who is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – left his throne in heaven, came to the earth, and was born as a human baby to a human mother, but was conceived of the Holy Spirit. So God the Father was Jesus’ birth Father. So when he walked this earth he was fully God and yet fully human, but without a sin nature, for he was conceived of God and not of man, and he never sinned the whole time that he lived on the earth. So he was fully righteous and pure and sinless always.
Well, Jesus Christ came down to the earth for a very specific reason, and that was to die on a cross for our sins. So he became our sacrificial Lamb on that cross to take away the sins of the world. And he died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. And he died so we would now live for him and no longer for ourselves. And he shed his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our slavery to sin so that we will now honor God with our bodies, and so we will serve him with our lives in obedience.
[John 1:1-35; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15,21; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:1-23; Ephesians 4:17-24; Titus 2:11-14]
But all of us who are born on this earth as fully human, conceived of man, are born with sin natures in the image of Adam, the first man to sin against God. And so we are separate from God and not able within ourselves to be acceptable to God nor are we able to be approved by God nor to share in his righteousness. And so God had planned all along that he was going to send the Christ to the earth to take on human form and to die on that cross so that we could now die with him to sin and live to his righteousness.
[Rom 3:9-26; Rom 5:12-19; 1 Co 15:21-22,42-49; Eph 2:8-10]
So, by God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, which is God’s gift to us, if our faith is genuine God-ordained faith, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And so sin is no longer to have power and control over our lives to where we obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, but if obedience is what we obey, its end is eternal life with God.
[Jn 1:12-13; Jn 6:44; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Eph 2:8-10; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Pet 1:1; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 12:1-2]
But this is not a one time thing that takes place in our lives, done deal, regardless of how we live. With all of God’s promises are conditions, and his conditions are that we forsake our lives of living in sin and for self, that we no longer walk in sin, that we humble ourselves by surrendering our lives to him, making him Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives, and that we now follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands in holy and righteous living, and from now to eternity, i.e. to the very end.
We must continue to walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. Sin should no longer be our practice, but righteousness and obedience to our Lord must be what we practice. And we must remain steadfast in faith, not shifting from the hope and the truth of the gospel taught by Jesus and by his NT apostles. So this means that we should not be following after a gospel of man which is altering the truth of the gospel to make it more acceptable to human flesh.
Now this is not saying that we will never sin again or that we will be instantly perfect. And it is not saying that we might not ever fall back into sin and need to be brought back into a right relationship with the Lord. I believe we have examples of professing Christians all throughout the New Testament books who, at one time or another, fell back into sin, or who fell away from their pure devotion to Christ, who needed to repent and to return to the Lord in walks of purity of devotion to him.
Yet, what the Scriptures teach us is that if we walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin, and if obedience to our Lord and righteousness are not our practice, if we continue in that way, and if we do not repent and return to the Lord, we will not inherit eternal life with God. In fact, John said that we are not in fellowship with God/Christ, we don’t know God/Christ, we are not born of God/Christ, but we are of the devil if sin is our practice and if godliness, righteousness, and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice.
[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]
So, we need to take this to heart. Bottom line here is that we cannot just make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and then continue to live however we want while ignoring God and his commandments. We must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord Jesus in obedience to him and to his commandments under the New Covenant. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, we have eternal life.
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
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