By Swerving From These

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, to Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

“As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.” (1 Timothy 1:1-7 ESV)

The “different doctrine” which is of the most critical nature today, with regard to the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God, has been named “the cheap grace gospel,” but not that God’s grace is cheap. It is not! But that there are those who have cheapened it by altering and diluting it and making it less offensive to the ungodly and to human flesh. They have, in fact, weakened it to the point to where the sinner can keep on in his deliberate and habitual sin while still claiming heaven as his destiny.

So God, who is the author of the Scriptures, is prohibiting this practice of teaching any different doctrine, but only the one that Jesus taught and that his NT apostles taught, if understood correctly when read in its appropriate context. And it isn’t just that some people are teaching a false doctrine, but that they are being deceptive about it and they are hiding the truth of the gospel in order to lead people astray from the truth and in order to capture them with the lies. And they are rejecting the truth as though it is the lie.

Now the doctrine of Salvation that Jesus taught, and that his NT apostles taught, was that Jesus Christ died on that cross to put our sins to death with him so that by faith in him we will be crucified with Christ in death to sin and 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. So we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it will lead to death, not to life eternal with God.

[1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Matthew 7:21-23]

But those who are teaching this “different doctrine” are concealing that truth from the people. They are concealing from them that the Scriptures teach our salvation as progressive (the process of sanctification) which will not be complete until Jesus Christ returns and he takes his faithful bride to be with him for eternity. But we will only go to be with him for eternity if we are walking in obedience to his commands in holy living, not necessarily in absolute perfection, and if we are not walking in deliberate and habitual sin.

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

For the gospel of our salvation, which is of God, demands that we deny self, die daily to sin, and walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands. For his commands set boundaries (restrictions, limits) for us for our good so that we don’t indulge in the sinful nature, but so that we put that sinful nature to death, by the Spirit, so that we can walk in the ways of the Lord according to his commandments which are for our good. His commands teach us to cease with lying, immorality, adultery, stealing, and the like, by God’s grace.

[Ephesians 4:17-32; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 9:23-26; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22]

But so many are teaching that faith in Jesus Christ does not require death to sin or walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands or holy living. Or they may teach those things as desired but not required, still leaving the sinner with the impression that he can “believe” in Jesus but keep living in his sin. And this is where many professers of faith in Christ are, seizing the opportunity to give way to the flesh for their own enjoyment but while claiming forgiveness of all sins and heaven as their eternal destiny.

So, they reject God’s commandments, i.e. his controls and his restraints, and they override them by their own decisions to live for the sinful pleasures of the flesh. They may or may not make a surface impression that they are following the Lord with their lives, but their hearts are not surrendered to the Lord, because they are the ones still running their own lives and choosing their own choices and not God’s. And so they assume that just because they professed faith in Jesus that God will overlook their sinful choices. But that is a wrong assumption based on a lie of Satan.

[Romans 2:6-8; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 5:3-6]

Should I Not Preach Jesus 

An Original Work / July 4, 2013

Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13

Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.

I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.

I make myself a slave to ev’ryone

To win their hearts to Christ.

All this I do for my Lord Jesus,

And for the sake of His Name;

Do it for the sake of His gospel,

So that I, its blessings gain.

Scripture notates the sins of others;

Written down for us as examples

To keep us from setting our hearts 

On evil as did those of old.

Do not worship other gods of man;

Do not give your hearts to them;

Not partake in immorality.

Do not test your Lord and King.

So, be careful if you think you are

Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.

God has given his word to warn us, 

So through faith we will not fall.

No temptation has o’ertaken you

Except what is commonplace.

God is faithful to not let you be

Tempted past what you can bear.

He gives the way of escape. 

https://vimeo.com/116057811