“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” (1 Peter 4:1-5 ESV)
Believers in the Lord Jesus, when Jesus died on that cross he put our sins to death with him so that by God-given and God-persuaded and God-ordained faith in Jesus Christ we might die with him to sin and now live to his righteousness in his power, strength, and wisdom, by the grace of God. This is the essence of the gospel message that we, if we are to come to Jesus Christ, must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience to his commands (New Covenant) in holy living.
Therefore, we are not to let sin continue to reign in our mortal bodies to obey its desires, for Jesus Christ delivered us from our slavery (addiction) to sin so that we will now serve him with our lives. We are no longer to live our lives for human passions (lusts), but for the will of God. For if our faith in Jesus is genuine, we are now God’s possession, and he owns us, and our will is now to do the will of God and not the will of our flesh. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, not to life eternal with God.
Thus, the Christian life should not be characterized by us living in sensuality, sexual immorality, sinful passions, drunkenness, orgies, and lawless idolatry. Instead we are to be people of integrity who live in moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, meekness, godliness, and in faithful obedience to our Lord, as a matter of life practice. For if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what faith we profess with our lips.
[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15,21; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Luke 9:23-26; Ephesians 4:17-24; Titus 2:11-14; Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 2:6-8; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 1:21-23; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
But when, by the grace of God, we make that transition from death to life, and from the power of sin and Satan to now following our Lord in obedience to his commands, we should not look, think, believe, talk, and behave like we did before. It should be obvious that we have had a heart transformation of the Spirit of God and that we are no longer who we were before we believed in Jesus. And we should come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit that many of the things we did before are wrong for us to do now.
And so when we change, and we should be continually changing and growing and maturing in our walks of faith in our Lord, it should be obvious to our friends, family, and fellow “church” goers that we are different than we were before, and that the things we used to be okay doing we can no longer do. Our attitudes, beliefs, and desires should all change for the better. But this will not make us popular. And those who were our friends previously may now malign and mock and criticize us for being different than before.
At one point in my life, my husband and I had joined a Bible study group with some fellow Christians (or professers of Christianity), and that seemed to be going well until some of them started following a particular book author who was teaching lies, i.e. who was twisting the Scriptures to say what they do not teach, and the opposite of what they teach. And they were following a particular religious movement which was also teaching lies and twisting truth, both of which were using misimpressions (indirect lies).
The Lord led me to write on these authors and movements and what they are teaching, and to post these writings on my blog and on Facebook. And this angered one of the men in the group who then came to my house and took it upon himself to yell and scream at me and to tell me that I needed to get with the majority, for the majority is right, he said, not the minority. And I was in the minority, he said. And this is what this passage of Scripture is talking about, how some people will treat us when we change course.
And if you dare to be different, which is what it means to be holy – set apart by and for God to be different from the world because we are being formed into the likeness of character of Jesus Christ – and so you go against the flow and you don’t join in with what everyone else is doing and teaching and believing and living, you can expect to be treated like I was, and to be hated and fought against and told that you are the one who is wrong because you are not with the majority. But make sure you are following God’s word.
But we are to be encouraged, for the Lord told us in advance that if we follow him with our lives that we can expect to be hated and mistreated and persecuted as he was, and that we might even be falsely accused of wrong, falsely arrested, falsely imprisoned, and perhaps even put to death. But we are to be strong in the strength of the Lord and to keep on following after truth and righteousness, but according to the Word of God taught in its appropriate context, while testing whatever we hear against God’s Word.
[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]
On My Knees
By David Mullen / Michael Hunter Ochs / Nicole Mullen
There are days when I feel
The best of me is ready to begin
Then there days when I feel
I'm letting go and soaring on the wind
'Cause I've learned in laughter or in pain
How to survive
I get on my knees, I get on my knees
There I am before the love that changes me
See I don't know how, but there's power
When I'm on my knees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyrYir-FPGE
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