“He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:31-36 ESV)
John was talking about Jesus, the Christ. John was sent by God as a messenger of God to prepare the way for Christ, for the people to receive him as their own and to repent of their sins and to follow our Lord in obedience to his commands. And Jesus is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He came to earth for the ultimate purpose to be our sacrificial lamb in death on a cross to deliver us from our slavery to sin and to empower us to live for God in obedience to him.
When Jesus Christ lived on the earth he was both fully God and fully human (God incarnate), but without sin. During his years of ministry he healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, delivered people from demons, fed the hungry miraculously, and performed many other miracles. And he taught death to sin (repentance) and walks of obedience to his commands in holy living as required by God to meet the stipulation of what it means to have genuine walks of faith in him, and for salvation and for eternal life with God.
Not everyone received Jesus for who he was and for what he taught, though. And many still do not, even many who profess faith in him. The many avoid, ignore, refuse, disallow, and deny the Lord Jesus and his messages, and his true servants and messengers, too. And they create or they follow others who create a false Christ and a false gospel message born in the minds of the manipulative who are liars and deceivers who, for the full intention to spin webs of deceit, lay falsely spiritual traps for people to fall into.
For they themselves are the self-indulgent, the intoxicated to sin, who are predatory creatures who spin webs of deceit for others to get caught in. So they teach lies knowingly, deliberately. They are those who are dishonest, despicable, contemptable and immoral people who themselves are those who stagger, who sway, who twist the truth of the gospel to make it more acceptable to human flesh and who may give the appearance of righteous living but by their lifestyles deny the God they portend to worship.
So, those who are listening to the liars and to the deceivers, and who are professing faith in the Lord Jesus, but who are continuing in their sinful practices and in their walks of disobedience to the Lord and to his commands, are among those who are “pregnant with evil” (Psalms 7:14-16). They are the self-indulgent, the addicted to sin who seek after what is of the flesh rather than after what is of God. First they conceive the evil in their hearts and in their minds which then gives birth to sin (James 1:14-15).
Rather than submitting to God’s will and purpose for their lives, and repenting of (dying to) their sins, and following Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands, they are displaying and exhibiting, by their actions, what is lewd, dishonest, morally filthy, corrupt, vile, and indecent. But many of them are presenting this to us as the norm for the life of someone who believes in Jesus Christ, as though God is okay with us continuing in deliberate and habitual sin against him; as though this is God’s grace.
But God’s grace to us is not free license to continue in deliberate and habitual sin while we claim Jesus as Lord and Savior and heaven as our eternal destiny. God’s grace, instead, is training us to renounce (say “No!” to) ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return. And God’s grace delivers us from our slavery to sin so that we can serve the Lord Jesus with our lives in walks of obedience to him and in holy living – all in his power and wisdom.
And the Scriptures teach us that if we say that we are in fellowship with God but while we walk (in conduct, in practice) in darkness (sin), we are liars. And if we claim to know God, but while we do not make it our practice to obey his commandments (New Covenant), we are liars. And if we call Jesus our Lord, but we do not do what he says (we do not obey him), we will not inherit eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls Jesus their ‘Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING God’s will.
[Isa 53:1-12; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 26:26-29; Lu 9:23-26; Lu 17:25; Jn 1:1-36; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:24,58; Jn 10:27-33; Jn 20:28-29; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 5:8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 9:5; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 11:23-32; 1 Co 15:1-8; 2 Co 5:15,21; Eph 4:17-24; Php 2:5-11; Col 2:9; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 1:8-9; Heb 2:14-15; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-15; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
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.
https://vimeo.com/379406352
No comments:
Post a Comment