Today the Lord is leading me to combine two passages of Scripture together which have parallel messages, one to the other. Here is the first one:
Matthew 16:24-27 NASB1995
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.”
What is the message for us here? Coming to faith in Jesus
Christ involves so much more than just making a verbal profession of faith in
the Lord Jesus. This is about us, by the Spirit, putting to death the fruitless
deeds of the flesh and us now following Jesus Christ in obedience to his
commands. This is about us walking away from our old lives of living for self
and in sin so that we can now obey God and walk in freedom from slavery to sin.
This is not about inviting Jesus into our sinful lives to forgive us our sins
while we continue to pile up the sins, but this means giving up our old lives
of sin.
This means walking away from it all, closing the door behind
us, and now going wherever God leads us in doing all that he commands us to do.
It means letting our old lives now burn to the ground while we start a whole
new life, by the grace of God, without all the baggage we once were carrying
and holding on to. For this is about exchanging our old lives for new lives in Christ
Jesus, now free from bondage to sin so we can now serve our Lord in surrender
to his will. So the old us must be put to death with Christ so we can now walk
in newness of life in Christ no longer as captives to sin. Why?
Jesus Christ is going to return one day, not only to take
his faithful bride to be with him for eternity, but to repay everyone according
to their deeds. And this includes all people, whether Christian or not, or
whether professing faith in Christ Jesus or not. We are all going to have to
stand before our Lord and give an account of what we did with Christ and with
his salvation. And not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but the ones DOING (obeying) the will of God the Father. For if sin is
our practice, and not obedience to God, we will not inherit eternal life with
God.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts
26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans
8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians
5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14;
Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24;
1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation
3:1-22]
Revelation 18:4-8 NASB1995
I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; 5 for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. 7 To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’ 8 For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.”
The message in this passage of Scripture is similar to the
one above. Only here we are being called to come out of “Babylon” (see verses
1-3). So what or who is “Babylon”? Although she is called a woman and a prostitute,
she is not a singular human being. She is more of a corrupt, immoral, wicked,
wealthy, prideful, global, economic, political, and religious system which has
captivated many people, and which has led many people astray and into sin and into
walks of disobedience to God and to his commands. And she is supported by much
of what is called “the church” in our world today.
Part of who she is can certainly be the New World Order
institutional “churches” of today which are partnered with the state in unholy
unions forbidden by God. These institutions are not the biblical body of Christ
under the authority of Jesus Christ, but these are modernized businesses of
human origin being marketed to the world. And so they pattern their gatherings
after the ways of the sinful world in order to draw into their gatherings the
ungodly of the world. And so they alter the gospel of Christ to make it less
offensive and more acceptable to human flesh and to the world at large.
All of this God forbids! And so he is calling all his people
to come out from among her so that we do not share in her sins and in her
punishment. We are not to be those who give our loyalty, devotion, fidelity,
and worship to these flesh-based institutions, even if they might give lip
service to God, to Jesus Christ. For we are not to be partnered with the world
in unholy unions. So, not only must we deny self, die to sin, and follow Jesus
in obedience, but we must not partner with the ungodly in their unholy unions
and give our loyalties, devotion, and fidelity to what is not of God and is
against God.
For God is going to judge us by our works and by our
allegiances and by what or who we follow, by who or what we give our loyalties
and hearts and devotion to. So, not only is he calling us to deny self, die to
sin, and follow him in walks of surrender to him in obedience to his commands,
but he is also calling us to come out from among the world and its trappings. And
this includes coming out from these institutional market-driven gatherings of
people called “church” which are worldly and fleshly and which are not teaching
self-denial, death to sin, and obedience to God’s commands.
[Matthew 21:12-13;
John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2
Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22;
Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]
And this is not something to be taken lightly or ignored. We
live in very troubled times, and things are not looking promising in the world
around us. Signs are everywhere that we are nearing the end of time, although
God is the only one who knows when that will be. And not everyone who professes
faith in Jesus Christ will enter into the kingdom of heaven. So, deny self, die
to sin daily, and follow Jesus in obedience from this moment forward. And come
out from among the influences and the teachings of this “harlot” who is leading
many people down a path of sin, and not in the ways of God.
The Train
An Original Work /
July 17, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
The train is coming
down the tracks.
It captures all who
in faith lack.
The engine is
controlled by man;
Leads each captive
to ruin.
The cars, they are
God’s holy church,
Which follows men
who are on the search
To trap the church
in their own snare;
For Christ they do
not care.
The track, it leads
to God’s judgment
For those who are
not repentant,
But follow, each his
own stubborn way,
And Jesus they do
not obey.
So God is calling to
His bride
To turn from sin and
in Christ abide;
Stop placing their
trust solely in man;
Trust Christ for His
forgiveness.
Come Out Of Her
An Original Work / May 3, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
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