The Cream of the Crop

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (James 1:16-18 ESV)

Our salvation from sin is a gift from God. The faith to believe in Jesus is a gift from God. And in God there is no variation or shadow due to change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His will for humankind is the same today as it was in creation, and as it was under the Old Covenant, that we should live holy lives, pleasing unto God, and that we should worship him only as our only God and Lord, and that sin is not to be our practice.

The Lord brought us forth by the word of truth. That means that our salvation should be in line with the word of truth, that it should agree with the teachings of the Scriptures and with God’s will for our lives. And since our faith comes from God, and God is holy, righteous, upright, honest, morally pure, and faithful, etc., so should we be also. We should be those who have died with Christ to sin and who are living to his righteousness.

And this is so that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures, i.e. the cream of the crop, the best stuff, the stuff that is pleasing to him and that is pure and that is suitable as an offering to him. Our lives are to be given to the Lord as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, which is our acceptable worship of him. And we should no longer be conformed to the ways of this sinful world but we should be transformed of God’s Spirit.

But many people today professing faith in Jesus Christ are being deceived into believing that they can make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ once in their lives and that all their sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), that heaven is now secured for them, that it can’t be taken away, but regardless of how they live. “But regardless of how they live” is not what is taught biblically. Jesus didn’t teach it, and his NT apostles did not teach it.

Jesus taught that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and we follow him in obedience, then we have the hope of eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls Jesus “Lord” will enter heaven, but the one DOING the will of God.

And Paul taught that faith in Jesus Christ means death to sin and living to God and to his righteousness, and it means that we now live for the Lord and no longer for ourselves. We no longer walk in obedience to sin but now in obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New Covenant). For Jesus shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so we will honor God with our bodies.

So we are not to be deceived into believing that we can go on living in deliberate and habitual sin and that God will not judge us for our sins. For the Scriptures teach that we are all going to stand before God/Christ one day to be judged by our works (deeds), and if we are those who make sin our practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, then we will not have eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips profess.

But this isn’t just about sinning habitually or not sinning habitually, for there are many people who live fundamentally moral and upright lives, who are “good deed doers,” and who attend weekly “church” services, but whose lives are not committed to serving the Lord Jesus Christ and to doing his will. For they are still living for self to do their own will. Jesus is not really their Lord (Owner-Master) for they are still lord of their own lives.

So we can be those who live basically good and moral lives, and even those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, but who are still not saved from our sins because we never died with Christ to sin, and so we were not 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. For we never denied self, died daily to sin, and followed the Lord Jesus wherever he led us to go.

And one of the reasons why this is the case is that not many are teaching the whole truth of the gospel, even if they are teaching holy living and not living in sin. For so many are reducing faith to a prayer that we pray or to a confession of Christ as Lord, but they are not teaching that faith in Jesus Christ requires that we die to sin and to self, not just once, but daily, and that Jesus is now owner of our lives and we are his now to do His will.

But even that is not all of it. Jesus and his NT apostles made it clear all throughout the New Testament that if we are to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God that this walk of faith in our Lord must continue until the day that we die and/or until Jesus returns to take us to be with him for eternity. For if we should revert to living in sin and for self and not for the Lord in obedience to his commands, we will not have eternal life with God.

So, when you are presenting the message of the gospel to other people, please make certain that you explain to them that Jesus died on that cross, putting our sins to death with him, so that we will now die to sin and to self and so that we will now walk in obedience to his commands and according to his will and purpose for our lives. So a prayer of faith is a prayer of surrender to the Lord to do his will. But if him we deny, he will deny us.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 1:21-23; Colossians 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6,24-25; 1 John 3:4-10]   

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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