“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:19-21 ESV)
Sadly, the first part of this is not speaking only of those who claim no faith in Jesus Christ at all, but this is speaking of many who profess faith in Jesus Christ who are still preferring their sinful practices over and above walks of genuine faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus in purity of devotion to him, free from slavery (addiction) to sin. They walk in an addictive lifestyle, and so they keep returning to their vomit over and over again. For they are the selfish and the self-indulgent who are intoxicated to sin who won’t let go.
They are not, in truth, seeking after the desires and passions of the Spirit of God. They are not those who are seeking after what is appropriate, upright, acceptable, proper, morally pure, honest, and faithful. But their desires are the passions and the lusts of the flesh. And so they seek after what is unacceptable, impure, and not proper. For that is where their hearts are situated. Even if they profess Jesus as their Lord, they are not longing after Jesus Christ and the purity of heart that he gives to those who love him.
Instead, their judgments (choices) are more in the area of what is sinful and impure and of a sexually immoral nature. For many of them are following after a cheapened gospel of salvation which does not require self-denial and dying to sin daily and following Jesus Christ in walks of obedience to his commands in holy living. So they have this idea that they can believe in Jesus and have all their sins forgiven, and that they can be on their way to heaven, but while they still indulge in the sinful nature in doing what they know is immoral and wicked and hateful to those they sin against.
So many of them, rather than facing the reality of where they are spiritually, and truly repenting of their sins, and turning to now walk in obedience to the Lord, and remaining there, by the grace of God, they escape into their own fantasy world of filling their minds and hearts with the things of the flesh, which are worldly in nature, and they eventually end up departing from what is godly, loving, kind, and morally pure, and they end up chasing after what is immoral and of the devil and is low-down-dirty, mean, and even spiteful.
“… 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)
But we who believe in Jesus Christ with genuine God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in the Lord, in surrender of our wills to the will of God, and in submission to the Lordship of Christ, denying self, dying daily to sin, by the Spirit, and in walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in holy living, are those who have come into the light. We have come to the truth of the gospel and so sin is no longer what we practice. It doesn’t mean that we are perfect in every way, but sin no longer controls our lives. God does!
But if we who believe in Jesus Christ, in truth and in righteousness, should ever fall back into sin’s deceitfulness and be trapped by sin once more, then the counsel here is that we are to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return (Titus 2:11-14).
“Save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 1:23-25 ESV)
Those of us who are walking in the ways of the Lord, in truth and in righteousness, we should be those who are helping to rescue sinners from their lifestyles of sin by leading them to genuine faith in the Lord Jesus whereby they are crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. For God/Christ is able to keep us from stumbling if our trust is in him, and not in our flesh, and if we are following his ways.
But if we should stubbornly refuse the counsel of the Lord, and godly counsel coming from Christians who are following him in truth, and if we should decide to go with what feels good to our flesh, and to not resist Satan, and to not flee temptation, but to yield to it, instead, then according to the Scriptures, if this is what we continue in, and not in walks of obedience to our Lord, regardless of what our lips profess, we'll not inherit eternal life with God, and we'll not be saved from our sins, and we'll not be with Jesus forever.
So, don’t refuse God when he tells you, “NO!, Don’t go there!!”
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]
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
Caution: This link may contain ads
No comments:
Post a Comment