Never be Wise in Your own Sight

Romans 12:14-21 ESV

 

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

 

Bless our Persecutors

 

“Bless” means to “speak well of, praise,” but it also means to “confer what is beneficial,” and it means “to speak reason which confers benefit.” (https://biblehub.com/greek/2127.htm).

 

So, this is not saying that we should say what we don’t mean or what isn’t true in order to bless others. And this is not saying that we should speak well of or praise those who are deliberately and habitually sinning against us, either. I know nowhere in the Scriptures where they teach that we are to praise those who are living in deliberate and habitual sin and who are willfully doing harm to others.

 

But let me qualify that statement. We can say positive and kind things to people, even to those who persecute us, without giving false praise, without raising them above where they are so as to make them look better than what they are. And we can say kind things without sacrificing truth and righteousness. So, the truth, said in love, is the kindest thing to say.

 

For, we are to say to them what will be beneficial (useful, valuable, helpful) to them. And we are to speak reason (wisdom, discernment, logic, and good sense) to them. So, if we care about them, we are going to say to them what is going to help them to change who they are and how they are behaving, i.e. we will share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.

 

Rejoice and Weep

 

Along those same lines of thinking, we don’t rejoice with evil but with the truth, and we don’t weep with people who are weeping over the fact that good is being done or that truth is going forth. So, our rejoicing and our weeping with others must be in line with God’s divine character and the things he rejoices over and the things he weeps over.

 

Especially in today’s world where everything is so confused and where good is being called evil and evil is being called good, and on social media we have so many memes which are making fun of and mocking people or blasting people just because they are not like us, and because they don’t think like us, we must be very careful that we don’t join in and end up rejoicing with evil and weeping because good is prevailing.

 

Harmony and Peace

 

Living in harmony with one another means that we are in agreement, that we are likeminded, that there is some unity among us with regard to faith, beliefs, practices, thinking, attitudes, values, and morals, etc. So, if we live in harmony with anyone else we need to make certain that person or those people are also in harmony with God and with the Scriptures (in context).

 

The same applies with regard to living peaceably with all, if possible, as far as it depends on us. We should never compromise truth and righteousness in order to make peace with anyone. We should never compromise God’s moral standards or his gospel truth or holy living so that we can live at peace with others. We must always be true to God first and foremost.

 

Not Haughty

 

No matter who we are, no matter our walk with the Lord, there is never any reason for any of us to act as though we are superior to others or to be proud and arrogant of our spirituality. Always we should give all glory to God. For it is only by the grace of God that any of us have salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

 

But let me qualify that statement, too. Some people will accuse us of being self-righteous if we are teaching the truth of the gospel, if we are calling out sin, and calling people to repentance, and if we are teaching what the Scriptures teach with regard to holiness, righteousness, repentance, obedience, and submission to Jesus as Lord.

 

But just because we speak the truth of the Scriptures, and we call sin what it is, and we tell people what the Bible teaches about sin and the consequences of sin if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin against God, and we call them to repentance and to obedience, it doesn’t mean we are self-righteous. It just means we care about you.

 

No Getting Even

 

We are never to attempt to get even with people who have sinned against us. It is not our job to avenge them for their wrongdoing. That is God’s job. But this does not mean that we look the other way when we are sinned against, and that we do nothing, or that we don’t speak the truth in love, especially if the ones sinning against us claim to be fellow Christians.

 

For the Scriptures teach that if a brother or sister sins against us that we are to go to them to try to make it right, and if they refuse, we are to take others, and if they refuse them, we are to take it to the church. That is not getting even. That is a loving action to try to help them out of their sinful practices and for them to be able to walk in freedom from sin.

 

The Scriptures also teach about us confronting a fellow Christian about the sin he is caught in order to restore him, and about us exhorting one another daily so that none of us are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness, and that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way or brings him back from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. So, speak the truth in love to one another (Gal 6:1; Heb 3:13; Jas 5:20).

 

If Your Enemy

 

An enemy is someone who is against us, who is opposed to who we are and to what we do. Some enemies may be opposed to what we stand for but they will be silent and just ignore us, or at least they won’t be nasty to us, while others may come against us strongly and in order to destroy us. But we are always to treat them kindly in return.

 

And again, it is not kind to lie to people. It is not blessing people if we lie to them or if we withhold the truth from them that they need to hear. All people need to hear the truth of the gospel because so many people are being led astray by lies that are intended to tickle their itching ears. Sometimes we will need to speak to people about their sin and sometimes with intensity, but that is still kindness if it is to rescue them.

 

So, doing kind things to our enemies should never involve compromise of truth and righteousness or of God’s moral standards or of his gospel truth. We should not join in with them in their ungodliness so that they will think we are being kind. Do what you are able to do to meet their physical needs, as needed, but don’t neglect their spiritual needs, for most of all they need Jesus. If they will not listen, don’t force it, but always act in a way towards your enemies that will glorify God and honor his name.

 

Wonderful Peace

 

Warren D. Cornell, 1889 / William G. Cooper, 1889

 

Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight

Rings a melody sweeter than psalm;

And in heavenly strains it unceasingly falls

O’er my soul like an infinite calm.

 

What a treasure I have in this wonderful peace,

Buried deep in the heart of my soul,

So secure that no power can mine it away,

While the years of eternity roll!

 

I am resting tonight in this wonderful peace,

Resting sweetly in Jesus’ control;

For I’m kept from all danger by night and by day,

And His glory is flooding my soul!

 

And I think when I rise to that city of peace,

Where the author of peace I shall see,

That one strain of the song which the ransomed will sing

In that heavenly kingdom will be:

 

Peace, peace, wonderful peace,

Coming down from the Father above!

Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray

In fathomless billows of love!

 

O dear soul, are you here without comfort and rest,

Marching down the rough pathway of time?

Make Jesus your friend ere the shadows grow dark;

O accept now this peace so sublime!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgfgVA15528

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Serve Him Without Fear

Luke 1:68-75

 

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

    for he has visited and redeemed his people

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

    in the house of his servant David,

as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

that we should be saved from our enemies

    and from the hand of all who hate us;

to show the mercy promised to our fathers

    and to remember his holy covenant,

the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

    that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him without fear,

   in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”

 

Jesus Christ the righteous is the promised seed of Abraham through whom all nations are being blessed. He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. He is God, and he is the Son of God, and he is our creator God. All things that were made were made through him.

 

Although he was God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – yet he came to earth, and he was born as a baby to a human mother, conceived of the Holy Spirit. And when he walked the face of this earth he was fully God yet fully man (human).

 

Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from our sins. Although he had done no wrong, many of the rulers in the temple of God hated him, and so they plotted his death on a cross, which was accomplished. But his death was all in God’s plan for our redemption, for in his death and resurrection he put our sin to death and he rose victorious over death, sin, and hell.

 

When I think of the enemies that Jesus saved us from in his sacrificial death for us on that cross, I think of sin, Satan, and death. By faith in Jesus Christ we died with him to sin and we were raised with him to walk in newness of life in him. Our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin but slaves of righteousness, no longer under the dominion of sin or of Satan.

 

Jesus Christ died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us. And he shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so we would now honor God with our bodies (with our lives).

 

Thus, his purpose in saving us from our enemies is that we might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Amen! Therefore we are not to let sin reign any longer in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. But we are to be slaves of God and of his righteousness.

 

We are to walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to the flesh, but now according to the Spirit. Our desires are to be for God and no longer to serve the lusts of our flesh. For, we are slaves of whomever we obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness, which then leads to sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God.

 

[Gal 3:16, 26-29; Jn 1:1-36; Php 2:5-11; Lu 1:26-38; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10]

 

Luke 1:76-79

 

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

    in the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our God,

    whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

    to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

 

This is speaking of John the Baptist whom God sent ahead of Jesus to prepare the way for him and for his ministry. John’s main message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And when Jesus began to preach, he preached the same thing. And when Peter began to preach, he also preached repentance (Matt 3:2; Matt 4:17; Ac 2:38; Ac 3:19-20).

 

John was the voice of one calling “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Is 40:3). John said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” (Jn 1:23).

 

And the straight way is the way of righteousness and holiness, which is why John preached repentance for the remission of sins. And repentance is not just a change of mind, but it is a change of heart, and it is a change of conduct, of lifestyle, of behaviors, attitudes, speech, and action. Repentance is a complete turnabout. It is a spiritual U-turn. You were going in the way of sin, and now you turn to God, and you walk in the way of righteousness.

 

Before we believe in Jesus we are enemies of God. Our sin separates us from God. We all fall short of receiving God’s divine approval. Then, when by faith in Jesus we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are reborn of the Spirit of God, and we are given new lives in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to be lived for his glory and praise, then we are at peace with God.

 

When we believe in Jesus, we are rescued from darkness (sin) and we are brought into God’s wonderful light (his righteousness, holiness, truth). The old has gone. The new has come. So, we no longer live like we did before we believed in Jesus for Jesus delivered us from our slavery to sin so that we might live as slaves of God and of his righteousness.

 

But if we continue in sin, i.e. if we keep on in sin, making sin our practice (habit, addiction), and if righteousness is not our practice, then we will die in our sins. We will not have eternal life with God. It won’t matter what we confessed with our lips or think we believed in our hearts. Many are going to hear the Lord say one day, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.” So, please take this to heart.

 

[1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

 

Oh Lord, You're Beautiful  

 

Keith Green

 

Oh Lord, you're beautiful,

Your face is all I seek,

For when your eyes are on this child,

Your grace abounds to me.

 

I want to take your word and shine it all around.

But first help me just to live it Lord.

And when I'm doing well, help me to never seek a crown.

For my reward is giving glory to you.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtzCD_8KbjI

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Don't Put Christ to the Test

1 Corinthians 10:1-5 ESV

 

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”

 

This is a lot like the church today, at least here in America, which has largely gone the way of the world and has partnered with the government (the state), and with the world, and with big business, and is now marketing the gatherings of the church like any other commodity, appealing to the likes and dislikes of the people, supplying them with what they hunger after.

 

And since they are trying to sell “the church” to the world, they have also altered (adulterated) the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more palatable to the people of the world and to the flesh of humans. So, they are teaching a cheap grace gospel that makes no demands on the “believer” to change his lifestyle, but which teaches that Jesus does it all and we do nothing.

 

But in America, we all have access to the Scriptures. They sell them so many different places, and some people give them away, and they can be found all over the internet in various places, so no one can claim they didn’t know. We can all go to the Scriptures and read them for ourselves and we can learn what they teach about our salvation and eternal life with God.

 

Anyone who reads the Scriptures (in context) will see that God’s will for us has not changed. His moral standards have not changed. Old or New Testament, the message is still the same. We must leave our lives of sin behind us, be changed in heart and mind of God, and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands (New Covenant) in his power.

 

If we do not, if we decide we like the cheap grace gospel better, for it makes no demands on us to change, and it promises us forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God regardless of how much or how many times we sin from that point forward, and so we continue in deliberate and premeditated and habitual sin against God, then we must know that the Scriptures teach that we will not have eternal life with God, for God is not pleased.

 

Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Ro 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27

 

1 Corinthians 10:6-10 ESV

 

“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.”

 

Just because we are under grace and we are not under the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, and purification laws that the Jews of old had to follow, it does not mean God’s moral requirements have changed. It does not mean God will not punish unrepentant, deliberate, and habitual sin. He will. It doesn’t matter if we say “Lord, Lord.” He will tell us, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity. I never knew you!”

 

Read the Scriptures I referenced above. Read them in their context. The Bible does not teach that you can “believe” in Jesus, have your sins forgiven, and have heaven guaranteed you, and that you can go on living just like you did before you “believed.” The Scriptures teach the opposite of that, all over the New Testament!

 

That is why we have this passage of Scripture here in 1 Corinthians 10, to let us know that God still sees sin in the same way as he did back then, and that if we do what many of the Jews did during their years of wandering in the wilderness, and we ignore God’s commands, and we rebel against his moral standards, and we choose the flesh over God, we will die in our sins.

 

And the things they did then are the same primary things that probably the majority of people professing the name of Jesus in America today are doing. They are idolaters, adulterers, those engaged in sexual immorality, and in sexual deviant behaviors, and they are those who are engaged in drunkenness and in intoxication to sin and revelry, and many are indeed putting God to the test, for they know what the Scriptures teach and yet they defy them and they dare God to make good on his threats.

 

For, it is clear from this passage alone that if we practice the kinds of sins they were practicing that it is not going to end well for us. Heaven is not going to be what awaits us on the other end. But we will burn for eternity in the fires of hell. Again, go back and read those Scriptures referenced in their context and let the truth of God’s word sink into your minds and hearts, and please take the Word of God seriously, for God means business.

 

1 Corinthians 10:11-13 ESV

 

“Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

 

A lot of people are professing faith in Jesus Christ who are living in slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin. Addiction to sin is not a sickness. It is not something you can conquer via support groups where they tell you that you will always be an addict and where you gather weekly with a bunch of other addicts in order to confess your sins.

 

The only way to freedom from addiction to sin is through the cross of Christ, and that cross means death to sin, not just Jesus putting sin to death on that cross for us, but us dying with him to sin and living to him and to his righteousness. This is the way of escape Jesus made for us and if we don’t take it, then we won’t find true freedom from slavery to sin.

 

Many people claiming faith in Jesus Christ never get victory over their sinful addictions, number one, because they do not want to give up their sin, but also because they refuse to take the way out that Jesus provided for us with his death and resurrection. So, we have to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and we have to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives, in the power of God, if we are going to have eternal life with God.

 

Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10

 

There’s a Stirring

 

By Annie Herring

 

There's a stirring deep within me
Could it be my time has come
When I'll see my gracious savior face to face when all is done
Is that his voice I am hearing?
'Come away, my precious one'
Is he calling me?
Is he calling me?

I will rise up, rise up
And bow down
And lay my crown
At his wounded feet

Is that His voice I am hearing?
'Come away, my precious one'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yocTjkB6hV8

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Your Partnership in the Gospel

Philippians 1:3-6 ESV

 

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

 

Partnership in the Gospel

 

What is a partnership? It is a joint venture. It is an alliance, a relationship, a cooperation, a working together with another or with others. And what is the gospel? It is the message of our salvation from sin and of our eternal life with God. It can be summarized in this: Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24; cf. Rom 6:1-23).

 

These two Scripture passages also summarize the gospel well for us:

 

“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?’” (Lu 9:23-25)

 

“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” (Eph 4:19-24).

 

These passages of Scripture describe both the gospel and what it means to be in partnership with the gospel. For the gospel is not just that Jesus died on that cross to take away our sins so we can go to heaven one day when we die. And it isn’t just that he was resurrected from the dead so that we can have new lives in him.

 

But it is that by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with him in death to sin and we are resurrected with him to newness of life in him, that we might no longer be enslaved to sin, but so we can now, by God’s grace, be slaves of God and of his righteousness. It is so we can live, no longer under the control of sin but now under the control of righteousness (Rom 6:1-23).

 

He Who Began the Good Work

 

None of this (above) is of ourselves. We can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father first draws us to Christ; unless he first persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness, and as to our sinful condition, and as to our need for salvation from sin. God the Father must first persuade us to repent of our sins, to believe in Jesus, and to leave our lives of sin behind us to follow him in obedience to his commands.

 

Also, even the faith to believe in Jesus Christ is not of ourselves. It is a gift of God, not of our own fleshly works lest we should boast. For the faith to believe in Jesus comes from God, it is persuaded of God, it originates with Jesus and it is perfected by Jesus, and it can only be obtained by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ (Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1).

 

But just because Jesus is the originator and perfecter of our faith, and just because our faith comes from God, and not from ourselves, and just because Jesus is the one who began this good work of salvation in our lives, and just because he is the one to complete it, that doesn’t mean that we do nothing. It doesn’t mean that nothing is required of us.

 

Yes, we can’t do any of this in our own flesh. Yes, we can do nothing in and of ourselves to earn or to deserve or to obtain our own salvation. But it is still a partnership. It is a cooperation. God does it in us only as we cooperate with his work of grace in our lives. Ephesians 2:10 says this:

 

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

 

All is done in the power and in the strength of the Lord, but we have to do what he says. We have to cooperate with the work of our creator in what he wants to do in our lives. And he provides all that we need to do his will, for it is him in us doing the work as we go with God.

 

For example, God called me to this writing ministry in 2004. I had some natural ability to write beforehand, but I wouldn’t say I was a great writer or that I am today. So, God called me, but then I don’t sit down and just go it on my own. That would be fruitless. He empowers me. He leads me in what to write. He guides and directs the words that he has me write. I still have to physically do it, and I have to listen to him, and not go my own way, but it is him doing it through me. It doesn’t mean I get everything right, though, for we only know in part, and we only prophesy in part (see 1 Co 13:8-12).

 

At the Day of Jesus

 

When Jesus Christ returns for his bride, and he takes us to be with him forever, then our salvation will be complete. Right now we have been saved (past), we are being saved (present), and we will be saved (future) when Jesus returns and he completes our salvation, provided that we continue in Christ and in his word and that we cooperate with his work of grace in our lives by daily dying to sin and living to righteousness in his power.

 

Now, when this says that Jesus is the one who began a good work in us and that he is the one who will bring it to completion, again this isn’t saying he does it all and that we do nothing or that nothing is required of us. We have to do our part to cooperate with his good work of salvation in our lives.

 

Also, this is not a guarantee that everyone who professes the name of Jesus Christ can automatically be assured that Jesus is going to complete the work of salvation in their lives regardless of what they do or don’t do. The Scriptures are real clear on that subject. If we walk according to the flesh, and we don’t walk (conduct our lives) according to the Spirit, we will not have eternal life with God no matter what we confessed with our lips.

 

So, yes, we can only be saved from our sins through Jesus Christ. He is the only one to turn us from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so we might receive forgiveness of sins, i.e. he is the only one to deliver us from our slavery to sin and to make us into new creations in Christ Jesus, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

But all these changes that he works in our lives involve our cooperation, our partnership with him in what he wants to do in and through our lives. Like, these devotions do not write themselves. I still have to engage my mind and my will and my fingers and my time and energies to sit at a computer and to write. But it is God who leads me in what to say and I have to listen to him.

 

So, yes! Give God all the glory and praise for everything he has done and that he is doing and that he will yet do in and through our lives for his glory and praise. Understand that this all comes from him and that we are totally dependent on him to live the Christian life. But then live the life you have been given for his glory and honor by doing what he says to do, not in your own strength, but in the strength and power of God through whom and for whom all these things come that are of him and that glorify him.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10]

 

Only You

 

*This is a secular song so I changed the words “seem” to “be,” “bright” to “light,” and “magic that” to “miracles” so that it fits with a love song being sung to Jesus Christ, to the only one who can begin a good work in us, and to the only one who is able to bring it to completion.

 

Songwriters: Buck Ram / Ande Rand

 

Only you

Can make this world [be] right

Only you

Can make the darkness [light]

Only you and you alone

Can thrill me like you do

And fill my heart with love for only you

 

Only you

Can make this change in me

For it's true

You are my destiny

When you hold my hand, I understand

The [miracles] you do

You're my dream come true

My one and only you

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p2k55F-uag

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The Seducer

Ephesians 5:15-21 ESV

 

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

 

Watch How You Walk

 

Watch out how you walk, how you conduct your life day in and day out with the things that you do and say. Keep a watch on it. Pay attention to see if your actions, your attitudes, your thinking, your words, and your behaviors are consistent with holiness and righteousness. Is your conduct that of a wise person or of one who is behaving unwisely?

 

Are you making the best use of your time? Is your time being spent in God’s kingdom work or for your self and for your own selfish desires? Do you waste a lot of time you could be spending doing the will of God and ministering God’s love and grace to others with doing only what brings you pleasure? Are you living for sensual pleasure?

 

If you are just going through life living primarily for yourself and for what you want out of life without consideration of what God wants for your life and what work he has for you to do, you open yourself up wide to be seduced by evil and by sensual pleasures, because the days are evil. So, don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and then do it.

 

Watch What You’re Taught

 

Another thing you must watch out for is what you are being taught as truth. Is it truth? Have you examined it in light of Scripture, in context? Or are you just accepting it as truth because a preacher said it and because it sounds good and it feels good? We are supposed to be testing the spirits, and we do this by examining what they do and say against the Scriptures in context.

 

There is a gospel which is largely being taught in America’s churches today which resembles the true gospel of grace, in part, but it is a seducer of sin and of sexual immorality. It seduces its adherents to continue living in deliberate and habitual sin against God by telling them that God’s grace to them covers all their sins and so they can sin as much as they want.

 

Not only that, but this cheap grace gospel speaks loudly against the true gospel of grace and it condemns the works of God in the life of the believer. It condemns righteous deeds done in the power of God’s Spirit and it calls them “works-based salvation.” And so people are being taught that repentance, obedience, and submission to God are to be dismissed.

 

So, you need to be on the lookout for that so that you don’t get caught in its web of deceit. Those who have created this cheap grace gospel knew what they were doing. They are very clever people who work for Satan, and their goal is to destroy the true church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are embracing the evil deeds of the flesh while dismissing righteous deeds.

 

This cheap grace gospel seducer of evil is now permeating the gatherings of the church and has largely been adopted as the true gospel, though not by all Christians nor by all church fellowships, but definitely by the majority. And it is here to stay. It is established and immovable and it takes on the character of the sinful flesh of human beings who are intoxicated to sin.

 

And many people confessing faith in Jesus Christ are under its spell. They not only are convinced that the true gospel is false and that the false gospel is true, but they are convinced that doing evil is acceptable to God as long as you “believe” in Jesus, while repenting of sin, obeying our Lord, and submitting to Jesus as Lord are to be discarded as bad.

 

The result of this is that many people professing faith in Jesus Christ are now living corrupt, immoral, depraved, dishonorable, dishonest, and vile lives all under the guise of “God’s grace.” They are living for self and for self-pleasure in adultery, fornication, lying, cheating, stealing, and taking advantage of others for their own sinful pleasure.

 

What spirit are you following?

 

We can get drunk on many things, not just on alcoholic beverages, for drunkenness is intoxication, and we can be intoxicated to all sorts of sensual and seductive pleasures. And when people are drunk on sin they are not rational, they are not sensible, they are not testing anything, but they are diving in nose first into whatever sensual pleasures are drawing them in.

 

In our day and time, although these things happened in New Testament times, too, many people, including many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are intoxicated to sin and to sensual pleasures, and they are living out-of-control lives in direct defiance to God and to his commands for holy living. So, they have bought into the cheap grace in order to ease their consciences.

 

But instead of letting ourselves be filled up with the garbage that this world is offering, we are to be those who are being filled with the Spirit of God. And this is a continual thing which involves us daily saying “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and living self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return.

 

For, we can’t be filled with the Spirit and with the sinful pleasures of the flesh at that same time. You can’t be filled with the Spirit if you are filling your minds with all the trashiness this world is offering in the way of entertainment. You can’t be filled with the Spirit, either, if you are still walking according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit.

 

So, instead of putting away righteous deeds of God which he had planned for us to walk in, be putting away the unrighteous deeds of the sinful flesh and be putting on Christ and in his righteousness in the power of God. And then be encouraging your brothers and sisters in the Lord to do the same. Encourage them to forsake their sins and to follow Jesus in obedience.

 

And submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ never means to submit to sin. It never means to compromise morals or God’s standards for holy living in order to be acceptable to others. It just means we aren’t those who have to have everything our way. We can compromise on non-essentials, on things that don’t matter for eternity, and be at peace.

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

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As is Proper Among Saints

Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV

 

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

 

When we believe in Jesus to be Lord and Savior of our lives, we put off our old self, which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and we are renewed in the spirit of our minds, and we put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (see Eph 4:17-24; cf. Rom 6:1-23).

 

So, when this tells us to be imitators of God, as beloved children, it is encouraging us to continue in dying daily with Christ to sin, daily saying “No” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and living self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s soon return. For, this is what God’s grace trains (instructs) us to do (See Tit 2:11-14; cf. Lu 9:23-26).

 

And we are to walk (in conduct, in practice) in love, a love that comes from God and which prefers what he prefers. It prefers to live through Christ, embracing God’s will for our lives, and to walk in obedience to his commands. And what God prefers is what is holy, righteous, godly, morally pure, honest, upright, and that which does no willful harm to others.

 

And if we love others in our daily walks of faith like Jesus Christ loves us and gave himself up for us, well he gave himself for us so that we would die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. So to love like he loves means we will sacrifice our time, our reputations, even being persecuted in order to share the true gospel with others for their freedom from sin.

 

Ephesians 5:3-6 ESV

 

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”

 

I don’t know anyone who really enjoys talking about such things as this, but in our day and time we especially must talk about it. For, so much of today’s church, at least here in America, has adopted a cheap grace gospel which makes no demands for forsaking our lives of sin and for walking in obedience to the Lord’s commands and for honoring him as Lord.

 

So, when this says that these things must not even be named among us, it is not saying that we don’t talk about what is going on in the lives of people who profess faith in Jesus Christ but who are living in sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, and in all kinds of impurity. It means that these habitual sins should not even exist among those who profess faith in Jesus Christ.

 

But since today’s modern church has adulterated the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more palatable to the world and to human flesh, and they are, thus, giving their adherents permission to keep on in their sinful practices, only now without guilt, not only do these sins exist among professers of faith in Jesus Christ, but they are running rampant within the church gatherings.

 

We even have a large number of pastors who are engaged in different forms of sexual immorality, some of them addicted to sensual pleasure and to viewing pornographic images and to other types of sexual perversion such as same sex relationships, incest, child molestation, going to prostitutes, and involvement in extramarital affairs, etc.

 

And so they are not leading their people to walk in holiness and righteousness, but they are now teaching them that they can confess faith in Jesus, be forgiven all sins – past, present, and future – and that heaven is guaranteed them regardless of how much sin they commit from this moment forward. So, they are leaving their adherents still in slavery to sin.

 

So, all this sexual immorality and idolatry and impurity is literally getting the blessing of the church, though not in every congregation. And so sin has run amuck – in a violently raging, wild, or uncontrolled manner – inside the gatherings of the church, or inside what is being falsely called “church.” And we are being scolded if we speak out against it. They call us “judgmental.”

 

So, today’s modern “church” in America is flesh-driven and market-driven and it appeals to people’s felt needs and tries to meet those needs. Therefore, the cheap grace gospel was introduced so that the people in the world would not be offended by the gospel truth and so they would gather together in these buildings called “church,” which are businesses of men.

 

And then “Christians” are all aghast at what is going on in the world and in our nations (mine is America), and they can’t understand how we got where we are as a people and as a nation because they don’t see the moral and spiritual decline of the church that has been progressing for many generations. For they were hypnotized by a gradual deceptive force that introduced slowly one lie after another until they accepted the lies as truth.

 

But then they are trying to solve this moral dilemma on a national and a political level while they are still engaged in wasting their lives away watching movies and TV shows and playing games, and while they are not getting serious about their walks of faith and serious about getting the truth of the gospel out to people for the salvation of their souls.

 

Ephesians 5:7-14 ESV

 

“Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

 

“Awake, O sleeper,

    and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

 

Those who call themselves Christians today who are still living according to the flesh and who are not living according to the Spirit need to wake up from their spiritual slumber. Time is running out. We are not to be partners (cohorts) with the church which is teaching this cheap grace gospel and which is vilifying the saints of God who are teaching the true gospel.

 

We are not to join in with these people who call themselves Christians, and in their “Christian” gatherings called “church” if what they are teaching does not line up with the Word of God, in context. If what they are promoting is worldliness and godlessness, we should have no part with them. If they are not teaching repentance and obedience to God, leave them!

 

Stand up for truth and righteousness! Sound the alarm! Speak out against these charlatans who are lying to the people and who are giving them a false hope of heaven when they die while they are leaving them still in slavery to sin bound for hell. Expose the lies for what they are, and proclaim strongly and openly the gospel Jesus taught, which is no cheap grace at all!

 

Don’t be deceived by these liars who are promising you that your sins no longer matter to God and that you can live however you want and still escape hell and still have heaven as your eternal destiny. For, if you continue walking (in conduct, in practice) in sin, you will not have eternal life with God but you will die in your sins. Please take this to heart!!

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

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The Cravings of the Flesh

Isaiah 55:1 ESV

 

“Come, everyone who thirsts…”

   

What do You Thirst for?

 

What does it mean to thirst, in this context? It means “desire, longing, hunger, craving, yearning, appetite, wanting, aching, and pining.” This word “thirst” can be referring to the lusts of the flesh or the desires of the Spirit. It is whatever we long for, pant for, yearn for and desire most.

 

Recently the Lord has been having me address some very specific desires of the flesh, because if we just generalize or gloss over issues they can easily be dismissed. If we are going to get at the heart of the matter in some people’s lives we have to pinpoint specifically the real issues.

 

There are people in this world, and within the gatherings of the church, whose cravings and desires are not only sinful, but they are more in the category of what is talked about in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2:

 

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.”

 

Some of these sins are also detailed for us in Romans 1:18-32. Because they refused to bow to God and to honor him as holy, and they chose to worship created things rather than the creator, God gave them over to the lusts of their flesh, to dishonorable passions, exchanging natural relations for those that are contrary to nature (men with men and women with women).

 

But that wasn’t all. They were full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, and covetousness. They were gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. This describes someone addicted to sin. And they don’t take responsibility for their sins, but they blame others.

 

And the cravings of the flesh are still the same today, although I believe we are living in a time period where these types of sins are running rampant in the church, and they are not being addressed, for the most part, because so much of the church has adopted a cheap grace gospel which makes no demands for repentance, obedience, or submission to Christ as Lord.

 

So now we have people professing faith in Jesus Christ, some of them serving in positions of ministry within the church, including as pastors, who are vermin. They are sneaky, immoral, users, abusers, morally depraved, secretive, liars, rascals, scoundrels, traitors, betrayers, adulterers, child molesters, homosexuals, and those involved in incestual relationships with people of their own families. Sin abounds in today’s modern “churches.”

 

So, these vermin are thirsting for what is evil, depraved, adulterous, immoral, abusive, and betraying of trusts. They plot evil on their beds. They long for relationships with others which are not natural, which are sinful, which are abusive, and which are adulterous. For they want the lusts of their flesh satisfied above all else, no matter who gets hurt in the process.

 

To them “love” is about filling up their lives with what feels good to them physically and emotionally, at all costs. Romance rules over logic, reason, kindness, true love, and compassion. They don’t care if it is wrong as long as it makes them feel good. For, their sinful passions rule over all manner of logic, reason, morality, and faithfulness. It is all about fulfilling their lusts.

 

Isaiah 55:1-3 ESV

 

“Come, everyone who thirsts,

    come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

    come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

    without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?”

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

    and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear, and come to me;

    hear, that your soul may live;

and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,

    my steadfast, sure love for David.”

 

Listen and Eat what is Good

 

What this is saying, in terms of our New Covenant Relationship with God, is that we need to stop living according to the flesh, and we need to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, and now walk in obedience to his commands. We need to eat (partake in) what is good that our souls may live. And “good” is defined by God and by his Word, not by our flesh.

 

Many people are wasting away their lives by thirsting after what is evil and immoral and wicked and destructive to their lives and to the lives of those whom they are sinning against. They are craving the wrong things – bad, evil, and wicked things that will not end well for them. They are bent on evil, and they are not seeking after good, though they may appear that they are.

 

But Jesus Christ died on that cross, not just to forgive us our sins, and not just to give us the hope of eternal life with him, but he died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us, and so that we might now honor him with our bodies.

 

And when this says to come buy and eat without money or without price, this is not saying that Jesus does it all and that nothing is required of us. Yes, our salvation is a gift of God’s grace to us. We can do nothing in ourselves to deserve or to earn our own salvation. None of it, not even the faith to believe in Jesus is of ourselves, but it is a gift of God.

 

We can’t even come to faith in Jesus unless God the Father first draws us to Christ, unless he first convinces us as to his holiness and righteousness and of our sinfulness and of our need to repent of our sins and to walk faithfully in obedience to our Lord. So, since this all comes from God, it is also going to submit to God and to his will and purposes for our lives.

 

Also, when we read Ephesians 2:8-9 we need to also read vs. 10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Our salvation is not absent of works, it is just that they are now the works of God which he planned in advance that we should walk (in conduct, in practice) in them. And we will be judged by our works, all of us. Take this to heart, please!

 

For, Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. He said if we save our lives (hold on to our lives of living for sin and for self) that we will lose them for eternity. But if we lose our lives (die with him daily to sin) for his sake, we will have life eternal in him (Lu 9:23-26).

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1]

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

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