“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:17-24 ESV)
So, what’s the message for us here? Faith in Jesus Christ is
not lip service only. It is not just a verbal profession of faith in Jesus
Christ whereby the “believer” is now assured of forgiveness of all sins and
heaven as their eternal destiny. The faith to believe in Jesus, which comes
from God, and which is persuaded of God, and which is gifted to us by God, and
is not of our own doing, results in us dying with Christ to sin and being
raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as
slaves to sin, but now as obedient servants of our Lord, whose desire it is to
please God.
So, as those who profess Jesus Christ as our Lord and
Savior, we are not to live as the ungodly do who have become callous and have given
themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity, because
of the hardness of their hearts against God. We should not have learned Christ
in a way in which it gives us permission to keep on in deliberate and habitual
sin against the Lord, in walks of impurity and in sensual pleasures. And yet,
that is what many are being taught. They believe that a profession of faith
assures them eternal life with God even if they are making sin their practice.
So, what is the truth that we all should have been taught?
What is the truth that is in Christ Jesus? It is that, by God-persuaded and
God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we put off our
old sinful self which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt
through deceitful and wicked desires. In other words, we die with Christ to
sin. Sin is no longer what we practice. And we are renewed of the Spirit of God
in our minds so that we no longer desire sin in the way that we once did, and
so that we now put on our new self, created to be like Jesus and true holiness.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny
self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if
we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity.
But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience
to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with
God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew
7:21-23).
And that really says it all! Jesus Christ did not give his
life up for us on that cross so that we would continue living in deliberate and
habitual sin and not in walks of obedience to his commands. He died so that we
would die to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He died so that we
would no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up to free us
from our slavery (addiction) to sin. For his blood was shed for us on that
cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our bondage to sin so that
we will now serve the Lord Jesus with our lives in walks of obedience to his
commands.
[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn
10:27-30; Ac 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; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb
12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
My Sheep
Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
My sheep hear me.
They know me.
They listen to my
voice and obey.
I call them and lead
them.
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
They will never
follow strangers.
They will run away
from them.
The voice of a
stranger they know not;
They do not follow
him.
So, I tell you the
truth that
I am the gate, so
you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find
forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever
enters
Not by the gate;
other way,
He is the thief and
a robber.
Listen not, the
sheep to him.
Oh, I am the Good
Shepherd,
Who laid his own
life down for the sheep.
I know them. They
know me.
They will live with
me eternally.
The thief only comes
to steal and
Kill and to destroy
the church.
I have come to give
you life that
You may have it to
the full…
They know my voice,
so they follow me.
Put On The New Self
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