“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14-19 ESV)
So many people today are cutting the gospel message short,
and they are reducing it to a mere profession of faith in Jesus Christ, or to a
mere acknowledgment of what Jesus did in dying on that cross to save us from
our sins, and an acknowledgment of his resurrection from the dead. And they are
limiting faith in Christ to a once-in-a-lifetime decision to receive Jesus
Christ into your heart whereby you are now forgiven of all sins and you are
guaranteed heaven as your eternal destiny. But is that true?
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).
Yet so many are limiting the grace of God to forgiveness of
all sins and to the overlooking of all future sins, and to the guarantee of
heaven when you die, but regardless of how you live on this earth. But is that Biblical
grace?
The Scriptures teach us that the grace of God, 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
Jesus’ return. For Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all
lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are
zealous for good works.” “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
So many people today have this false
notion that their salvation from sin is merely forgiveness of all sins so that
they will no longer face God’s wrath and so that heaven will be guaranteed them
when they die. However…
By God-gifted faith
in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are 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 as slaves to righteousness in walks of
obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our
mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it
results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in
sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).
There is way more
to the message of the gospel of our salvation than what the majority in the USA
are telling the people. We are not saved from our sins just so we can escape
the wrath of God and go to heaven when we die. And we are definitely not saved
from our sins with the intention to keep walking in deliberate and habitual
disobedience to God’s commandments, in sin, and that God’s grace will cover it
all, and that heaven will still be secured us upon death, since we “prayed the
prayer to receive Christ.”
Read all the above
and below Scriptures referenced in this writing, and you will learn to
comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love,
of his salvation, of his gospel message, and all that he intends for us as his
followers (his disciples), that we will live holy lives, pleasing to him, that
sin should no longer be what we practice, but that obedience to our Lord and to
his commands must now be our practice. For Jesus put our sins to death with him
so we will die to sin and live for him.
For our faith in
Jesus Christ should be that which is from God, which is persuaded of God, which
is gifted to us by God, and which is aligned with God’s will and purpose for
our lives. For biblical faith requires that we die with Christ to sin and that
we now walk with God in obedience to his commands, and that sin and
disobedience should no longer be what we practice. For if sin and disobedience
to God are what we practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God, but we
will face the wrath of God, instead.
[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]
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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To Know Christ’s
Love
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