“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’” (Mark 8:34-38 NASB1995)
There are people in this world of ours who profess faith in
Jesus Christ with their lips, and they may give an outward appearance of being
Christians, but for whom sin is still what they practice, and not
righteousness, holiness, godliness, moral purity, uprightness, honesty,
faithfulness and obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And many of them
are clinging to their sins, and they are living in moral filth, and many are
malicious, manipulators, deceivers, fakers, liars, and con artists who are not
trustworthy.
They may try to give an outward appearance of being
Christians, and of being followers of Jesus Christ, but instead they are mean,
cruel, heartless, spiteful, vindictive, merciless and vicious, especially so if
they feel as though the image they are attempting to portray is being
compromised in some way and that some people are able to see beyond their
mirage to what truly lies underneath. They may give off an image that they have
cast their sins behind them, but while they are still drifting (wandering) in
their sins.
These are those who are still embracing their sins, still
living in sinful addiction to particular sins while trying to give off an outward
appearance of being Christians and those whose faith and trust is in Jesus
Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives. But they are relying upon lies,
and not the truth, which are telling them that a profession of faith in Jesus
Christ now assures them of forgiveness of all sins and heaven as their eternal
resting place, but while they still cling to their moral filth and not to
righteousness.
But many of these people are not ignorant of what the
Scriptures teach or of what God requires of us who profess faith in Jesus
Christ. Some of them, in fact, used to be or still are Bible teachers and/or
pastors of “churches.” They know the right way, and they know what is wrong,
and yet they continue to pursue and to do what they know is evil rather than to
do what is good and right and what is required of all who profess faith in
Jesus Christ. But then they speak lies and try to cover up their sins to make
themselves look good.
But what did Jesus teach? He did not teach that mere lip
service to Christ will secure us salvation from all sin and heaven as our
eternal destiny, but regardless of how we live. He taught that if we want to
come after him, if we want to believe in him to be Lord and Savior of our
lives, and to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God, that we must
deny self, and take up our cross daily (see Luke 9:23-26) and follow (obey)
him. We must die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and walk in obedience to his
commands.
But if we decide that we can just profess faith in Jesus
Christ and now claim for ourselves salvation from all sin and guaranteed
eternal life with God, but while we continue in deliberate and habitual sin and
in disobedience against God, then we need to know that Jesus said that we will
lose our lives for eternity. For if the sinful pleasures of this world are what
we cling to, and not surrender to our Lord in walks of obedience to his
commands, then we forfeit our own souls (our lives) for eternity, and hell is
our destiny, instead.
For biblical salvation from sin and eternal life with God
require that we must die with Christ to sin and be 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. And this is to be continuous throughout
our Christian lives until Jesus returns for his faithful bride. For if we keep
on in our sins, or if we return to our vomit, and that is where we remain, and
if we do not turn from our sins to obey God, then we will not inherit eternal
life with God.
But sadly so many people today professing faith in Jesus
Christ, who are convinced that all their sins are forgiven, and that heaven is
guaranteed them when they die, have sold their souls to the devil, instead. For
they are still living like the world, still living for the sinful pleasures of
their flesh, and they are not living to please God with their lives. And when
Jesus returns for his bride they will not be taken to be with the Lord for
eternity, but they will spend eternity in the fires of hell because they wanted
their sins more.
So, we all need to believe what the Scriptures teach as the
gospel of our salvation and what it means to believe in Jesus and to be saved
from our sins and to have heaven guaranteed us when we die. But we need to read
the Scriptures in their correct biblical context, for lies abound these days
via Scriptures taught deliberately out of context and made to say what they do
not say if taught within the correct context. For, if we do not follow our Lord
in obedience in this life, we will not be with him for eternity.
[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
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Will You Forfeit Your Soul?
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