Talk Talk Talk

Talk Talk Talk

An Original Work / November 3, 2019

Talk, talk, talk –

When you going to walk?

Baby in a crib –

All you do is fib.

Idle talk you give.

To Him you don’t live.

Misinterpreting Him,

So that you can sin.

You know what is true.

To Him, you know what’s due.

Don’t pretend you don’t,

Just because you won’t.

Actors in a hall,

Saying “Let’s play ball!”

To you, it’s all a game,

And so you stay the same.

Holding on to sin,

Crucifying Him

By the life you live.

Your heart, to Him, not give.

Why not drop the masks?

Answer Him who asks,

“Why forsaking Him

To live in your sin?”

Why not tell the truth?

You are so uncouth.

Lust is driving you

To do the things you do.

Why not surrender all

To Him who’s given all

To set you free from sin

So you can live with Him?

Confirm Your Calling

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” 2 Peter 1:3-4 ESV

So many people these days ignore the first half and last half of these verses and they hold on to the middle section about his promises. They want the resurrection, in other words, without first the death to sin. They don’t want to have to first die to sin. They don’t want to have to obey Jesus. They just want the blessings. They just want the promises of the good stuff.

But, we can’t have the middle part without the rest. For, coming to faith in Jesus Christ isn’t all about just having our sins forgiven so we can escape hell and go to heaven when we die. If we want to have our sins forgiven, we must be crucified with Christ in death to sin, we must be reborn of the Spirit of God, and we must live to him and to his righteousness as our habit.

Knowing Jesus, thus, means we have not only been delivered out of our slavery (addiction) to sin, but it means we have been empowered of the Spirit of God to live godly and holy lives, pleasing to God.

For, we weren’t called of God just to escape hell and to go to heaven when we die. We were called to his own glory (praise, honor, acceptance) and excellence. We were given his grace and his salvation from sin, not just so we would have a free ride to heaven, but so we would partake of his divine nature, and so we escape the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

So, what this is saying to us today is that faith in Jesus Christ isn’t just words we say or some emotional experience or some intellectual assent to who Jesus was and is. It is a lifetime commitment to make Jesus Christ ruler of our hearts and lives, to leave our lifestyles of sin and our self-lives behind us to follow our Lord Jesus in surrender to his will and to obedience to his commands, as a matter of course, as a matter of our daily practice.

And, it is God making us holy, conforming us to his likeness, but we have to cooperate with his work in our lives. And, it is us living for his glory and praise, to do what is honoring to him, and to follow him in obedience, and to live godly and holy lives, pleasing to him. And, he gives us all that we need to do this, so that we do it in his power and strength and not in our own flesh. And, this is for his glory, because it is him working his will in us.

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” 2 Peter 1:5-9 ESV

Now what this is talking about here is not works-based salvation. This is not about adding on to our faith the works of the flesh, such as the early Gentile believers in Jesus were being persuaded (some of them) that they had to be circumcised, and that they had to follow Jewish laws, customs, rituals and ceremonies as part of their salvation. We don’t have to do any of that.

What this is really talking about, I believe, is the process of sanctification in our lives of the Spirit of God whereby we die daily to the flesh, and whereby we are growing in the Spirit in maturity in our Christian walks. This is about moving beyond just our initial faith in Jesus Christ to a deeper walk with our Lord and to a closer relationship with Christ. This is all part of our faith walk.

So, as we grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ, and as we daily put aside the deeds of the flesh, and we follow our Lord in obedience, these are qualities that should be developing in our lives in increasing measure. If these qualities are in our lives, and if they are increasing in measure, they will keep us from being ineffective and unfruitful in our walks of faith with Jesus Christ and in our witness for Jesus Christ and his gospel.

How so? For example, if we are maturing in the area of self-control, we are not going to be out of control and thus ruin our witness for Christ, and we are going to be able to manage our tempers and our tongues and to show restraint where we may not have done so before. And, if we are maturing in the area of godliness, the more we are becoming like Jesus, the more our attitudes, our actions and our words will reflect him. And, the greater will be our passion for him and our witness for him.

But, if we lack these qualities, i.e. if they are missing from our lives, then we are essentially blind spiritually, and we have forgotten that Jesus cleansed us from our sins on that cross. So, either we don’t know him at all, but we just think we do, or we are very immature in our walks of faith, and we have become disconnected with the reality that faith in Jesus Christ is about being delivered out of our slavery to sin so that we can live righteously before God. And, according to scripture, we need to repent and get back on track.

“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:10-11 ESV

In America, a lot of people claim to be Christians. If you ask people if they believe in Jesus, many people will say “Yes,” especially in what is called the “Bible belt” of the USA. Many people claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, too, but many truly have no clue what it means to follow Jesus Christ. It is more like they think he was a nice guy and that he is a good model to follow, but they can be selective about what they follow or not.

But, this is not something new. I mean, even early on when Christianity was just coming into being, and the church was really just at the beginning stages, already they were dealing with people not understanding what it truly means to be “In Christ,” or what it means to be saved from their sins and to have eternal life with God. And, so much of the writings in the New Testament are written to correct error and to explain these matters in detail so that there would be no misunderstanding of what it means to follow Jesus.

So, after having just given one of those talks, where Peter went into greater detail of what it means to be a Christian and a follower of Christ, he asked those to whom he was addressing these thoughts to be diligent to confirm their calling, to be sure of what that calling is, and to make certain that they truly are in Christ, by faith in him, and that they are really walking the walk.

And, here again we have this running theme all throughout the New Testament which says that our salvation is ongoing. It has a definite beginning, for we were saved (past), but we are also being saved (present) and we will be saved (future) when Jesus Christ returns. So, eternal life is promised to those who are walking the walk of faith. We have to make following Jesus our practice, in other words, if we want eternal life with God.

Thus, the scriptures are real clear that we aren’t saved (past), then we live however we want, and then one day we die and we go to heaven. It is as we walk in the light as Jesus is in the light that we have fellowship with him and with one another who are also in fellowship with him, and that he cleanses us from all sin.

For cleansing of sin is also a process, as is our salvation, and as is our faith, and if we follow our Lord in obedience, then we have the hope of eternal life with God (See: Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-21; Gal. 6:7-8; Eph. 5:3-6; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Lu. 9:23-25).

Songs in the Night  

An Original Work / December 18, 2013

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

Lord, I praise You forevermore.

You, my Savior, I now adore.

Hope in heaven awaiting me,

Because You died at Calvary.

I have been forgiven,

And I’m bound for heaven.

Jesus set me free from

All my sin, I say.

I will praise Him always!

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:

Overcame death, my vict’ry won!

Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!

I rejoice in His love for me.

I will walk in vict’ry!

My sin is but hist’ry!

I am free to please Him

With my life today.

I will love Him always!

Lord, I thank You for giving me

A new life bought at Calvary.

Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.

Tender mercies now flow within.

Lord, I am so thankful;

Through my Lord, I’m able

To sit at His table;

Fellowship with Him.

I will thank Him always!

https://vimeo.com/112342407

Not Worthy of Him?

Jesus, in sending out his 12 disciples to go and to proclaim the kingdom of heaven, gave them a list of instructions, and he also gave them some warnings.

He told them that he was sending them out as sheep among wolves, so they were to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves. And he told them that they would be flogged in synagogues, and dragged before rulers for His sake, to bear witness to them.

And, then he warned them that family members would betray one another to death, and that they (the disciples) would be hated by all for his sake, but that the one who endures to the end would be saved.

And, then he told them that just as he was persecuted, and just as he was falsely accused and even called Beelzebul, how much more would the Lord’s enemies also malign those of his household, i.e. his servants, his followers.

Yet, he told them that they were not to fear those who can kill the body but who cannot kill the soul. They were to speak whatever the Lord said to speak to whomever he said to speak it from wherever he said to speak it. For, the Lord was watching over them, and he would take care of them.

For, he said, whoever acknowledges him before men, he will acknowledge before his Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies him before men, he will also deny before His Father in heaven (See: Matt. 10:1-33).

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 10:34-39 ESV

A False Picture

Many people these days are presenting a picture of Jesus Christ that is not a completely accurate description of who he was and is. They are painting this picture of Jesus as this person who just went around doing good to everyone, healing the sick and afflicted, feeding the hungry, and ministering to the poor, but that he never did anything to ruffle people’s feathers or to make people uncomfortable or to offend anyone. They paint a picture of him as just a “nice guy” who went around being “nice” to everyone and who just went around “loving on everyone” and “blessing them.”

They also present this idea of his salvation which he provided for us, via his death on a cross and via his resurrection back to life, as totally being about us and about giving us forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven when we die, but that absolutely nothing is required of us other than some nondescript belief in him absent of repentance and walks of obedience.

The way a lot of people present the plan of salvation these days, you would think that God’s grace is all about making life easy for us. It is all about gifting us salvation, giving us forgiveness of sins, and promising us heaven when we leave this earth, but that it is easy sailing from this point forward.

Very few people sharing the gospel these days talk about the cost of being the Lord’s disciples, or taking up our cross and following Jesus, or how we are going to have to suffer for the sake of his name.

And, very few, it seems, talk about how we need to die with Christ to sin and live with Christ to righteousness, and how we need to walk daily according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh.

They don’t like to even say the words “sin” or “repentance” or “obedience” because these words offend people and they make them feel uncomfortable, and they want the world to feel at home in their gatherings, not be offended with the truth of the gospel which convicts people of sin and calls for repentance and obedience to Christ’s commands.

Not Peace, A Sword

But, Jesus didn’t come to the earth to bring peace to the earth, not the way in which the world clamors for peace, anyway. For, his gospel of salvation is not this “nicey-nice” feel-good message that tells everyone they can just pray a prayer, they are now part of the family of God, heaven is secured for them, and it can never be taken away no matter how they live their lives.

His message was and is one that says if we truly follow him, and we do what he says, and we go where he sends us, and we say what he commands us to say, we will be hated, persecuted, beaten, falsely arrested and even killed for the sake of the name of Jesus. And, we will even have our family members, our loved ones, turn against us, and even betray us to death, and it is the one who endures this suffering to the end who will be saved.

His was a message that said if we deny him before men, he will deny us before his Father in heaven. And, we can deny Jesus in many different ways, and not just verbally. We deny him by ignoring his commands to us, and by going our own way and doing what we want to do despite what he says we are to do. And we deny him when we are too ashamed to even mention his name in front of others for fear that they may think we are weird.

And, his was and is a message which says that if we love our family members more than we love him, and so we compromise our faith and convictions to be liked, and to be accepted, and so we don’t talk about him in front of them, and so we don’t share his gospel message with them, because we are afraid they might not like us, then we are not worthy of him.

And, his was and is a message that says if we are not willing to take up our cross daily and follow him that we are not worthy of him. For, Jesus didn’t die on that cross just to forgive us our sins and to promise us heaven when we die. He died that we might die with him to sin and live with him to righteousness. And, he demands that we deny self and that we die daily to sin and the self-life and that we follow him in obedience if we want to be his followers and if we want to have the hope of eternal life with him.

For, he says that if we are not willing to give up our former lives of living for sin and self, we will lose our lives for eternity. Heaven will not be guaranteed us. But, if daily, by the Spirit, we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh and we are walking in obedience to his commands, then we have the hope of eternal life with God (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-21; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

Thus, the way to eternal life with God and salvation from sin is not this easy broad road that many are traveling, for it leads to destruction. The way to salvation from sin and eternal life with God is on a narrow (restricted) road that few find, and that few travel, for it is the way of the cross, in death to sin and living to righteousness, and in suffering for the sake of the name of Jesus and for the sake of his gospel, even unto death.

In Truth

An Original Work / January 10, 2012

Fellowshipping with my Lord, Savior, King.

He is Lord of all; Lord of ev’rything.

He is with me through ev’ry hour of day,

List’ning to me speak, as I humbly pray.

He cares for my needs,

and He intercedes for me,

‘cause He loves me in ev’ry way.

Obey His commands, and do all He says.

Sitting at His feet, daily in His word,

Let His word speak to me in ev’ry way,

Giving comfort and healing through each day.

Oh, how Jesus loves,

And He cares for you,

Which is why He died for our sins, in truth.

Love our Lord God, Savior, and King of kings.

Worship Him in truth, for He reigns supreme.

He created us with a plan in mind

For us to be His servants, and Him mind.

Follow Him in truth;

Go where’er He leads.

Share His love with others, and their needs meet.

Others: their needs meet.

https://vimeo.com/125738283

Stable and Steadfast

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. Col. 1:21-23 ESV

Before we came to faith in Jesus Christ, we were hostile to God in our minds and in our hearts. We may not feel that we were, but the flesh is at war with the Spirit, and the Spirit is at war with the flesh. So, when we live in the flesh, to do what our flesh desires, we are hostile towards God in our minds.

Therefore, we were separated from God, without hope of eternal life with God, and without salvation from sin. For, all have sinned and have come up short of attaining God’s divine approval and his righteousness and holiness. For, not one of us can be saved from our sins in and of ourselves. We cannot earn or deserve our own salvation, no matter how good we feel we are (Rom. 3:23; Eph. 2:8-9).

But God, in his great love for us, sent God the Son to the earth, to take on our humanity, and to suffer and die on a cross so that we could be liberated from our sinful condition and from our slavery to sin, and so we could be acceptable to God, and so we could have eternal life with God (Rom. 6:1-23; Phil. 2:1-11; 1 Co. 6:20; 2 Co. 5:15, 21; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Pet. 2:24).

Now, by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, we can be delivered from our sinful condition and our slavery to sin, we can have the hope of eternal life with God, and we can, in the power of God, walk righteously before our God.

And, this salvation of the Spirit of God means we die with Christ to sin and to our self-life, we are reborn of the Spirit of God (spiritually), and that we now have the empowerment of the Spirit to live holy lives, pleasing to God.

ONCE WE WERE

So, that also gives credence to this opening verse where it says that we ONCE were alienated from and hostile in our minds towards God, doing evil deeds. That means that our old lives of living in the flesh were done away with through our faith in Jesus Christ in death with Christ to sin, and through our resurrection with Christ, to newness of life in Him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24).

So, that also means that we ONCE were (in the past) doing (practicing) evil deeds, too. That means that we should no longer be doing evil deeds, as a matter of practice in our lives. It doesn’t mean we will never sin again, but that sin should no longer be what we practice. It should no longer have control and dominion over our lives now that Jesus has set us free. Amen!

For, Jesus Christ died that horrible death on a cross, and he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. He died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us. For, in his death he redeemed us (bought us back for God) that we would now be God’s possession and that we would live our lives for his glory (1 Co. 6:20; 2 Co. 5:15, 21; 1 Pet. 2:24; Tit. 2:11-14).

He didn’t die on that cross for us just to forgive us our sins and to promise us heaven when we die, and he didn’t die on that cross just to make us positionally righteous in his sight. He died to transform us away from our self-lives, away from our sinful addictions, and to conform us to his likeness.

IF WE DO

Too many people these days are teaching unconditional salvation. Yes, it is true that we do nothing to earn or to deserve our own salvation. We cannot work our way into heaven or into God’s graces. We can never be acceptable to God by our own works of our own flesh. We will always fall short.

But, our faith in Jesus Christ is not absent of works (Tit. 2:11-14; Eph. 2:10; Jas. 1:22-27; Jas. 2:14-26; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 2:3-6).

And, scripture is real clear on this issue. We must walk (in lifestyle) according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God, and we must not walk according to the flesh, if we want to have eternal life with God. Sin should no longer be what we practice. If it is, then we don’t have eternal life with God, but a fearful expectation of the fires of hell and eternal punishment (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-21; Gal. 6:7-8; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Eph. 5:3-6).

So, this is why it says here that IF we continue in our faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that we heard (providing we heard the true gospel as Paul taught it) that we are reconciled to God and God presents us as holy and blameless and as above reproach before him. For, our faith in Jesus Christ is present tense and it is continuous.

[Other IF verses: Jn. 8:31-32; Rom. 11:17-24; I Co. 15:2; II Tim 2:10-13; Heb. 3:6, 14-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11; I Jn. 2:24-25.]

STABLE AND STEADFAST

Our faith in Jesus Christ, if it is the kind that saves us from our sins, is God-given and it is divinely persuaded, and thus it submits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, it repents of sin, and it walks in obedience to Christ’s commands (Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 2:8-10; Eph. 4:17-18; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

This does not mean we are perfect and that we never sin again, but it means we have been turned from light to darkness, and from the power of Satan to God, so that we can receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 26:16-18).

So, if we are to remain stable and steadfast in our faith, this is not about holding on to some confession of faith we made at one point in our lives whereby we were promised heaven as our eternal destiny. It means we are steadily and consistently and persistently walking by faith according to the Spirit of God and we are not walking (in practice) according to our flesh.

And, not shifting from the hope of the gospel is also not about not relinquishing our belief that heaven is our eternal home. For, the gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t just about our eternal destiny. It is about our heart transformation of the Spirit of God away from living for sin and self to living for God and his righteousness. So, we are not to shift from this in our conduct, in our attitudes and in our practices (our habits).

We have to continue in walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. We have to persist in righteous and holy living and not give the devil a foothold in our lives by playing with sin. We have to be honest in our dealings with others, and tell the truth. We have to be pure in heart and mind, and not be taking in the filth of the world via various media sources.

For, you know why the gospel is such “good news”? It is because it teaches us that God’s grace instructs us to say “NO!” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return. It is because it teaches us that Jesus died to deliver us out of our bondage to sin and to free us to become slaves of his righteousness (Tit. 2:11-14; Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24).

If all he does is just forgive us our sins and promise us heaven when we die, but he leaves us still dead in our sins, still bound to sinful addictions, feeling as though we are always going to be stuck in a rut of “sin confess sin confess,” then that is no hope at all. That is hell on earth! But, the good news is Jesus died to set us free from our sinful addictions and to empower us to live godly, holy and upright lives while we wait his soon return!

Songs in the Night  

An Original Work / December 18, 2013

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84

Lord, I praise You forevermore.

You, my Savior, I now adore.

Hope in heaven awaiting me,

Because You died at Calvary.

I have been forgiven,

And I’m bound for heaven.

Jesus set me free from

All my sin, I say.

I will praise Him always!

Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:

Overcame death, my vict’ry won!

Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!

I rejoice in His love for me.

I will walk in vict’ry!

My sin is but hist’ry!

I am free to please Him

With my life today.

I will love Him always!

Lord, I thank You for giving me

A new life bought at Calvary.

Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.

Tender mercies now flow within.

Lord, I am so thankful;

Through my Lord, I’m able

To sit at His table;

Fellowship with Him.

I will thank Him always!

https://vimeo.com/112342407

The Restless

“But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “’Today, if you hear his voice,do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,    on the day of testing in the wilderness,where your fathers put me to the test    and saw my works for forty years.Therefore I was provoked with that generation,and said, “They always go astray in their heart;    they have not known my ways.”As I swore in my wrath,    “They shall not enter my rest.” Hebrews 3:6-11 ESV

We who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior of our lives are the temple of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s body, his church. We are the house of God in whom God dwells by his Spirit. God no longer dwells in buildings built by human hands, but he lives in us who believe on his name. So, a building is not a church. We are! People who believe in Jesus are the church.

But, what does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? Well, the word “faith” means “divine persuasion.” And, we read in Ephesians 2:8-10 that this faith is gifted to us by God. So, if gifted by God and if divinely persuaded, then this faith submits to Christ and to his righteousness and holiness. But, this faith is also present tense, not past tense, and it is enduring, and it holds fast to the confidence we have in Christ to the very end.

And, what is that confidence? According to scripture it is that if, by faith in Jesus Christ, we walk (in practice) according to the Spirit of God, and not according to our sinful flesh, we have the hope of eternal life with God (Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-24; Gal. 6:7-8; Lu. 9:23-25; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).

And, that is why we are being warned here to be careful that we don’t harden our hearts to God’s voice in rebellion against him. We are not to be like those who made a profession of faith in God, but whose actions spoke the opposite. They said that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was their God, and yet they worshipped other gods, and they did not follow in the ways of God, but they rebelled against him, and they did what their evil hearts desired. Thus, they did not enter into God’s eternal rest. For, they were “restless.”

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “’Today, if you hear his voice,do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’” Hebrews 3:12-15 ESV

A careful study of the scriptures, in context, leads us to the understanding that our faith in Jesus Christ is not something we do one time, then we are good to go to heaven when we die, no matter how we live our lives while we are still on this earth. Faith in Jesus Christ is present tense, and faith in Jesus Christ submits to Christ as Lord, leaves lifestyles of sin behind us, and follows him in surrender to his will and to obedience to his commands.

[Lu. 9:23-25; Jn. 6:35-66; Jn. 10:27-30; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; Tit. 2:11-14; 2 Co. 5:15; 1 Pet. 2:24; Gal. 5:16-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9]

So, again this warning is given to all who profess faith in Jesus Christ. We need to be so careful that we don’t fall away from Christ because we have evil, unbelieving hearts.

But, let me state something here. Some people will interpret this passage of scripture to say that a Christian can lose his salvation via rebellion to the point of falling away never to return again. Others will interpret it to say that the person who falls away never really believed in Jesus Christ to begin with. I am not here to debate that subject with you. I am here to teach you what it means to be “in Christ” and to be saved from our sins.

And, the scriptures don’t teach salvation as a one-time deal that secures us heaven forever regardless of how we live our lives while on this earth. It teaches that we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God. And, it teaches us that we must endure with Christ to the very end of time if we want to have the hope of eternal life with God. And, it teaches a daily cleansing from sin.

So, what we need to focus on is our walk of faith. For, our salvation is not complete until Jesus Christ returns, and it is only those who walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh who are going to inherit eternal life with God. And, it is only those who have such enduring faith to the end of time who are going to enter into God’s eternal kingdom.

So, we need to be encouraging one another in our walks of faith, and we need to be sharing the truth of God’s Word with each other, too, for too many people have this idea that they can “believe” in Jesus Christ and that it does not have to impact how they live their lives. And, we know that just isn’t true. Too many scriptures say it isn’t so!

“For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” Hebrews 3:16-19 ESV

Ok, so the rebellious were not the people out there in the world. They were those who were following God, in a sense, and who were professers of faith in the one true God – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were the religious, at least on the outside. They were the “church goers,” in other words, but they were hypocrites. They are those who profess that their sins have been forgiven and that heaven is their eternal destiny.

So, the rebellious here are not those who know little about God. They are those who have been exposed to the scriptures, who have been taught the truths of God’s Word, and who have been blessed with all sorts of provisions by God, and by good teaching, and they are even among those who are teachers of the scriptures and who are pastors and elders in churches.

But, no matter how religious we are, or how much scripture we know, or we think that we know, and no matter how many good deeds we perform, or how many church gatherings we attend, or how much we give to the church, etc., if we rebel against God, and we refuse to walk in obedience to him, and we continue to go our own way, and to do our own thing, then we will not inherit eternal life with God, no matter what we professed with our lips.

And, the reason for this is that God sees walking (living in) disobedience to him as unbelief, even under the New Covenant Relationship he has with his followers. For, true faith in Jesus Christ walks (in lifestyle, in practice) according to the Spirit of God and not according to the flesh. For, if we walk according to the flesh, we are going to die in our sins, for we are all going to reap what we sow (Gal. 6:7-8). So, don’t take this lightly.

Enter into God’s eternal rest today by forsaking your lifestyle of living to sin and self and by surrendering your life to Jesus Christ to follow him in his ways, and to do what he says (Tit. 2:11-14; Eph. 4:17-24; Rom. 6:1-23).

My Heart’s Desire  

An Original Work / June 29, 2013

Based off Rm. 10; Lu. 9:23-26; Ep. 4:20-24

Loved Ones, Oh, my heart’s desire

Is that you might come to Jesus.

Many appear zealous for God,

But they do not trust in Him.

They have not submitted to the One

Who saved them from their sins;

Not forsaken their sins,

Nor have they obeyed their King.

The word of the Lord is near you:

The word of faith we’re proclaiming:

That you must confess your faith

In Jesus as your Lord and King:

Believe in Him as your Lord,

And follow Him where’er He leads.

Share the gospel; be a witness,

And meet others’ needs.

Beautiful are the feet of those

Who bring the good news of Jesus:

Anyone who would come to Him

Must deny himself today;

Die to sin and self, and

Let the Spirit transform you in heart;

Put on your new self in Jesus,

Yielding to the cross.

https://vimeo.com/115643303

Conquering Sinful Addictions

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5:16-18 ESV

I hear so many Christians say that they don’t know how to conquer their sinful addictions. They act as though Jesus didn’t already conquer their sins, and as though Satan still has power over them. They act as though they are doomed to “struggle” with sinful addiction the rest of their lives, too. But “struggle” for them often means regularly giving in, and consistently failing.

But, is that the life that Jesus gave us in Him? No! Does that mean we will never sin? No! But, Jesus delivered us from our slavery (addiction) to sin. His grace to us is that he made a way out for us from under the yoke of slavery to sin, and he freed us and he empowers us to resist Satan, to flee temptation, and to walk daily in his righteousness and holiness.

An Allegory

Several years ago I had some work done on my teeth. The dentist told me that I could not chew on one particular side of my mouth for several weeks. But, I was in the habit of chewing on that side. So, when I began to chew, habitually I started to chew on the wrong side, but I caught myself, and I stopped, and then I moved my chewing to the other side. It took me about three days to break a life-long habit. And, now I had formed a new habit.

In fact, the new habit was so good now, that when she released me to now go back to chewing on the other side, I had to go through the same process all over again. And, again it took about three days to break the new habit and to resume the old habit. So, what does that tell us? It tells us that breaking habits is possible, but they take work, and it involves persistence, and it requires saying “No” to the old habit and “Yes” to the new habit until we no longer follow the old, but now we follow the new.

Now, that was just in my flesh. That is something anyone can do. We can all break old habits and form new habits by saying “No” to the old and “Yes” to the new to where the old is gone and the new has replaced the old. So, imagine what can be done in the power and working of God’s Holy Spirit living within us as we yield control of our lives over to God, and in the power of the Spirit of God we resist Satan, we flee temptation, and we obey our Lord. If we do this, we will be victorious!

For, not one of us needs to spend the rest of our lives “struggling” with sinful addiction. If we do, scripture indicates that we don’t really believe in Jesus Christ, that he is not Lord of our lives, and that we are the ones still in control over our own lives. We are not really saying “No” to sin and “Yes” to God. We just think we are. For, if we walk in the flesh and not in the Spirit, we don’t have eternal life with God (Rom. 8:1-17).

Therefore, if we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify (habitually) the sinful cravings of our flesh. Sounds simple. It is, because we are doing this in the power of the Spirit of God and not in our own flesh. We are yielding control of our lives daily over to the Spirit of God, and daily, by the Spirit, we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, and daily we are putting on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s evil attacks against us.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21 ESV

We need to take this seriously, because this warning was not given to the people out in the world, but it was given to the people in the gatherings of the church. If we practice such things. If these are our “go to,” our habit, our lifestyle, our consistent and regular way in which we conduct our lives, then we are not among those who are going to inherit eternal life with God.

And, the truth of the matter is that many who profess faith in Jesus Christ are practicing such things, yet they are convinced that their sins don’t matter to God, and that their sins will not affect their eternal security.

Also, the truth of the matter is that many who call themselves followers of Jesus are walking in sin, still “struggling” with addiction, not because victory is not possible, but because they don’t really and truly want to be free. They want to hold on to control over their own lives. They don’t want to give up control to anyone, including God. So, they try in their flesh to not do certain things, and they may be successful to a point, but they tend to return to the “same old” patterns of behavior because they still have not let go and let God.

So, let’s go back to v. 16. If honestly we want to be free from the control of sin over our lives, we have to yield control of our lives over to God. Then, in the power of God’s Spirit at work within us we walk (in practice) according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God. We resist Satan. We flee temptation. We get rid of those things which are leading us into temptation, too. And, we don’t tempt fate or play with the sin even one tiny bit. And, we walk in obedience to what the Word teaches and what our Lord shows us.

If we say “No” to God, and we don’t repent of that, we aren’t going to move forward. If we hold back even in one little area, it will hamper our ability to resist Satan, to flee temptation and to daily be able to put on that armor of God. We have to surrender our lives to Jesus if we want victory over the flesh, and we have to walk in the Spirit in obedience to what he says.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:22-24 ESV

If we are yielded to the Spirit of God, and we are surrendered to His will, and if we are walking according to the Spirit, and no longer are we regularly yielding to the control of the flesh, then the fruit of the Spirit should be evidenced in our lives. Again, this doesn’t mean we will be perfect, or that we will never fail in this, but this should be what is coming out in our lives as a matter of habit instead of all the ugliness that used to come out when we were under the control of Satan and of the flesh.

So, do you want victory over the flesh? Do you want to be free from your sinful addictions? Then, you have to mean business with God. This is not something you can casually manage on your own in your own timing according to your own criteria. You have to let go and let God, and truly let God have full reign of your life. Then, when you walk in the Spirit, you will not gratify the sinful cravings of your flesh.

To Be Like Him 

An Original Work / March 16, 2014 

Based off Scripture

Crucified you are with Jesus.

To be like Him, oh, you’ll be,

Because He died at Calv’ry,

So from sin you’d be free.

Oh, what joy He brings into your life,

Giving life with Him endlessly.

Oh, what plans He has for your life.

Share the gospel faithfully.

Show the people He loves them.

Now His witness you’ll be.

Tell the world of sin about Jesus,

How He died for them on a tree.

Purifying hearts, He saves them,

Who believe on Christ, God’s Son.

Turning now from their idols,

New lives they have begun.

Jesus saves from sin; we’re forgiven.

Over sin, the vict’ry He won!

When He comes again to take us

To be with Him evermore,

There will be no more crying.

Gladness will be in store.

Heavens joys will now overtake us:

We’ll be with our Lord evermore.

https://vimeo.com/89237609

Fellowship in The Spirit

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” 1 John 1:5-6 ESV

The message the apostles heard was given to them directly from Jesus Christ who is the Son of God, and he is God. And, they passed along to us the message they heard from Christ, from God. So, this was not something they made up in their own minds. It would be a lot like us teaching the scriptures by quoting the scriptures, which are God’s words to us.

So, the message is that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. God is pure, he is righteous, he is holy, he is truth and everything wholesome. And, in him is no darkness, no lies, no deception, no immorality, and no wickedness at all, absolutely none!

So, if we claim to have fellowship with God, it means that we claim to believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. And that means that we claim to partake of God’s divine nature, and to be partners with God in his righteousness and holiness, and to participate with him in his kingdom work, and to share commonality with him in his heart, his passion, and his purposes for us. It means, too, that we claim we are walking with him daily in his righteousness, we are in His Word, we are in communication with Him, and we are consistently following him in obedience to his commands.

But, if we claim to have such an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, through God-given faith in him, but we walk in darkness, we are liars who do not practice the truth.

So, does this mean we have to be living in sinless perfection and that we have to never once sin ever again or we are practicing lying? No! And, this is why, in the scriptures, they use the words “walking” and “practicing,” or they use verb tenses which say the same, which are not always communicated (translated) well into English translations, for we don’t have all the same verb tenses as did the Greek language.

Basically, what this is saying is if we make a practice of what is evil, immoral, dishonest, untrustworthy, and deceptive, and yet we claim we are walking in fellowship with God, in the light that he gives to us, then we are those who do not practice telling the truth. We are hypocrites, in other words, who claim one thing while we live another. We are two-faced. And, to walk in something or to make it our practice, it means it is our habit, our go to, what we consistently and regularly do as our normal course of conduct.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 ESV

So, we must walk in the light, as God is in the light, as Jesus Christ is in the light. So, purity, righteousness, holiness, truthfulness and morality must be what we practice. And, submission to Christ and obedience to his commands must also be what we practice. They must be our “go to,” our normal and regular course of conduct. They must be our habit, what we do without even thinking about it. And, we do so in the power and wisdom of God now dwelling within each one of us who is in Christ Jesus by genuine faith in him.

If righteousness and holiness are what we practice, and if immorality and lying are not what we practice, then not only do we have fellowship with God, but we also have fellowship with one another.

And, what should that look like? Well, it is not a group of people who call themselves Christians getting together and eating food until they are stuffed silly. And, it is not them getting together and talking about all the things the world talks about, either, or lying to one another, or gossiping, or telling course or off-color jokes, or mocking others, or viewing inappropriate material together. It is not them laughing about how they wormed their way out of having to pay for a crime or an offense they committed, either.

Christian fellowship should look just like our fellowship with God, for the commonality we have with one another is Christ and his righteousness, his purity, his forgiveness, his honesty, and his morality.

So, if we are first of all like-minded with Christ in all these ways, then we who are like-minded with Christ will also have unity of mind and heart with one another. And, our fellowship with one another will stem from our relationship with Jesus Christ and not from the world and all the things that are in the world.

And, if we have fellowship with God, because we are walking in the light and not in the darkness, THEN the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. And, we need to get this! Scripture is real clear that our relationship with Jesus Christ is not solely based on a confession of faith in Christ, but it is based on a walk of faith and obedience to Christ. And, it must continue until the very end with this same consistency for us to have eternal life with God.

[Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; Eph. 5:3-6; Gal. 5:16-21; Gal. 6:7-8; Col. 1:21-23; Heb. 3:6, 14-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11]

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:8-9 ESV

I think that most people will admit that they have sinned, that they have not lived perfect lives. But, I could be wrong about that. But, what stands out to me here is the word “deception.” Many people who know they are sinning against God will deny that they are sinning, or they will call it something else. For, sin works like that. They want to hide the fact that they are sinning, because they don’t want others to know what they are doing.

And, so they will lie to themselves to convince themselves that what they are doing is not sin, but that it is something less than that. They are just “relaxing,” or they are just being “entertained.” Or, it is ok to take in just a little bit of filth for the overall benefit of being entertained. Or, they have a right to do such and such because of what others have done or are doing. So, it is as though they have this entitlement mindset that gives them permission to sin because they feel somehow that they deserve it.

So, I think that a lot of this saying that they have “no sin” is not so much saying that they have never sinned, but it is denying that what they are presently doing is sin because they want to continue in it, and so they call it something other than sin or they make excuses for it and then they cover it up with lies so that no one else knows that they are sinning.

So, the opposite of that would be to own up to the sin, to call it what it is, to confess it to God and to those to whom a confession is required. But, it isn’t just confessing it with our lips that is required. For, some people are really good at the “sin confess sin confess” routine, but nothing ever changes. They just go on, business as usual. So, this isn’t only owning up to the sin and being honest to those whom honesty is required, but it is repentance.

So, what God requires is not just a verbal confession, though it begins there, but what he requires is the turning away from the sin, and the turning to him to follow him in obedience. For, if the confession is outward only, forgiveness does not follow suit. Our sorrow must be godly sorrow which leads to repentance, to changed hearts, to changed attitudes and to changed behaviors. Otherwise, it is just a lot of hot air that goes nowhere.

So, we need to understand here how this works. We have to walk in the light as our Lord is in the light in order to have fellowship with God and with one another and in order for the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from all sin. For, our faith is not past, but present. And, we have to truly repent of our sins if we want forgiveness of sins and to be cleansed from all unrighteousness.

So, this is not a one-time deal. This is a daily walk of faith in Jesus Christ whereby we die daily to sin and self and whereby we daily walk with him in his righteousness and holiness, and only then are we guaranteed eternal life with God. For, this is what the scriptures teach (see scripture references above). So we need to know the truth, and we need to live the truth.

Only in Him 

An Original Work / February 19, 2014

Based off Isaiah 30

Woe to those who look to man’s help;

Who turn away from Jesus Christ;

Forming an alliance not in step with God;

Making their own plans, and praying not.

Willing not to listen to truth,

They close their ears to what is right.

Pleasing words are all that they’ll hear;

Feel good messages that bring cheer.

Trust in your Lord; turn from your sin.

Put your faith now ONLY IN HIM.

Do not turn to idols. They’ll not satisfy.

Jesus will save you. That’s why He died.

Your Lord will be gracious to you.

He cares all about you, ‘tis true.

He forgives you all of your sin

When you give your life up to Him.

Oh, how truly gracious He’ll be

When you bow to Him on your knees;

Turning now from your sin; walking in his ways.

He’ll lead and guide you all of your days.

Now you will sing praises to Him.

He delivered you from your sin.

You’ll tell others now of His grace,

So they may see Christ face-to-face.

https://vimeo.com/87181019