The True Vine and His Branches

John 15:1-6 ESV

 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”

 

Branches “In Christ”

 

What does it mean to be a branch “in Christ”? Don’t we have to be “in Christ” to be one of his branches? What does it mean to be “already clean”? Wouldn’t that mean that the person had already been cleansed from sin? So, is Jesus not speaking of those who already have faith in him and therefore they are his branches, and they have been cleansed of their sins?

 

Ok, so then what does he say about his branches, i.e. about those who are “in Christ”? If they don’t bear fruit, he takes them away. And they can’t bear  fruit unless they abide in him. And what does it mean to abide in him? It means to stay, to remain stable, to endure, to continue in and to conform to. It means to abide by him and by his rules for our lives.

 

So, they are “in Christ,” they have been cleansed of their sins, but some are not abiding in him, and they are not bearing fruit, and so he takes them away. And not just taken away but thrown away like a branch and then thrown into the fire and burned. So, what is this saying about his branches?

 

So, some people will say that they were not his true branches. But does the context here bear that out? Not if they are “in Christ” and they are already clean. That would indicate they are/were true branches, but that they just didn’t remain in Christ, they didn’t continue to abide in him, and therefore they were cut off, thrown away, and burned.

 

So, what this is indicating is that you can be “in Christ,” be one of his true branches, but if you fail to abide in him and by him, and thus you fail to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, you can be cut off from the vine, and you can be thrown away, thrown into the fire, and burned for eternity. But does the Bible teach this elsewhere? Yes, it does!

 

Cut Off From Christ

 

Paul, in Romans 11, was addressing Gentile Christians (branches) who were grafted into the vine after some of the Jews were broken off from the vine due to their unbelief in Jesus Christ. And he warned them to not be arrogant toward the branches, for they stand fast only through faith. So they were not become proud but to fear, for God could cut them off, too, if they did not continue in him and in his grace (kindness) to them (See Rom 11:17-24).

 

So, what is God’s grace to us? His grace, which brings salvation, instructs us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await his return. His grace delivers us from our addiction to sin and it empowers us to live godly and holy lives, pleasing to God (Tit 2:11-14; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24).

 

So, for us to continue in his grace (in his kindness), it means we continue to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and we continue to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s soon return. And it means we walk according to the Spirit, and no longer according to the flesh, and we don’t walk in sin, but we walk in righteousness.

 

So, what this is saying, in essence, is that if we do not abide in Christ – and abiding in Christ is the same thing as continuing in his kindness, in his grace – and therefore we do not bear fruit in keeping with repentance – and bearing fruit is walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh and it is dying to sin daily and walking in obedience to our Lord – then we can be cut off from the vine and thrown away and burned.

 

So, is this taught in other Scriptures in the New Testament? Yes! If we do not daily die with Christ to sin and walk in obedience to him, we will lose our lives for eternity. If we do not walk by the Spirit, but we make sin our practice, we will not inherit eternal life with God. We are all going to reap what we sow. If we sow to please the flesh, we will reap destruction, but if we sow to please the Spirit, we will reap eternal life.

 

For God will render to each one of us according to our works. And if we are self-seeking and we do not obey the truth, but we obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. For we are all going to receive what is due us for what we have done in the body, whether good or evil. For, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. So, we have to continue in the faith, firmly established and steadfast, not moved away from the gospel.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 6:7-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:15-16; Rom 8:3-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6, 24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Co 15:2; Heb 10:26-31; Matt 7:21-23]

 

Every Branch Bearing Fruit

 

But, for the branches “in Christ” who are bearing fruit, who are walking not according to the flesh, but who are walking according to the Spirit, who are not making sin their practice, but who are making righteousness their practice, and who are dying daily with Christ to sin and to self and who are walking in obedience to his commands, he prunes them that they may bear more fruit.

 

And what is pruning? It is to trim the branches with a cutting instrument. It is not the removing of branches, but it is the cutting away of parts of those branches things which are superfluous or undesired. It is the process of making us holy, cutting things out of our lives that are unnecessary and that keep us from being all God wants us to be or things which may be leading us into sin or might be holding us back from following Jesus wholeheartedly.

 

This is the discipline of the Lord in our lives, which is for our good that we may share the Lord’s holiness and that the Lord’s discipline in our lives, although painful, may later yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness to us who have been trained by it. And righteousness is whatever is deemed right by God, such as holiness, godliness, moral purity, faithfulness, and honesty (See Hebrews 12:1-12).

 

So, the purpose of the pruning (divine discipline) is so that we who are already bearing fruit in keeping with repentance may bear even more fruit of righteousness, that we may walk closer to our Lord, more fully obedient, more faithful in all things, more honest, more trustworthy, and serving him more fully in the ways he has called each of us to serve for his glory.

 

But we have to remember that we can’t bear this fruit of righteousness if we are not abiding in Christ, walking in fellowship with him, saying “No” to sin and “Yes” to righteousness daily, in his power, being in his word, listening to what it teaches us, and then obeying what it says, in his strength. For, apart from Christ, we can do nothing. We cannot generate this within ourselves. This only comes through yielding control of our lives to Jesus Christ.

 

More Precious Than Silver  

 

Lynn DeShazo

 

Lord, You are more precious than silver.

Lord, You are more costly than gold.

Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds,

And nothing I desire compares to You.

 

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

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They Tried to Kill Me

Acts 26:19-20 ESV

 

“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.”

 

Paul’s and Our Mission

 

Paul’s mission, given to him by Jesus Christ, was to go to the Jews (his own people) and to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:18).

 

And that really is the message of the gospel. Paul was to take that message of the true gospel (the whole counsel of God) to his own people and to the Gentiles (those not Jews by natural birth). But now by faith in Jesus Christ believing Jew and believing Gentile are one in Christ. There is no more division between them. Now the division is those believing in Jesus and those not believing in Jesus (which includes non-believing Jews).

 

So, if we are believers in Jesus, our own people would be others who also profess faith in Jesus Christ, or they could be our own family members, or they could be people of our own race or nationality. But the gospel message is to go to all people of all nations, so we don’t just talk about Jesus with people we know, but we are to talk about him to strangers, too.

 

And Paul summarized that gospel message in these words: “they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.”

 

Now, this is the opposite of what most Christians in America today are teaching, spreading, and receiving. For, there are people in positions of power in the world who decided to dilute the gospel message, to alter it so as to remove God’s requirements for repentance and obedience to God. And they passed that down to people in positions of power who then passed it down to pastors and to people training to be pastors or church planters, who then passed it down to their people.

 

The Horrible Result

 

And so now the “gospel” message that is largely being taught gives a cursory nod to Jesus and to what he did for them in dying on a cross for our sins. This cheap grace gospel has now supplanted (replaced) the true gospel in the hearts and minds of a vast majority of those professing faith in Jesus Christ here in America, and perhaps in other parts of the world, too. And people who profess such faith in Jesus Christ are now being given full liberty to continue in deliberate and habitual sin against God, resulting in this:

 

Now those professing faith in Jesus can live in self-indulgence and in sexual immorality without conscience and without concern that their sins will be judged by God. So, they can sin as much as they want, and hide their sins in secret, and store up all kinds of evil inside of them and lie to cover up their sins while they claim Jesus as Savior and heaven as their eternal destiny.

 

Some of them make no bones about what they believe. They are quite candid and open in saying that they don’t have to obey the Lord, and that they don’t have to repent of their sins, and that they don’t have to submit to Christ as Lord. They call that works-based salvation. And to them God’s grace is freedom from the punishment and guilt of sin and it is a free ride into heaven regardless of how much they sin against the Lord.

 

Now others I would call “closet” cheap grace gospel people, for they believe in the cheap grace by the mere fact of how they live in addiction to sin. But they claim with their lips to believe in the true gospel, but then they go back and forth (they teeter) between the two. They try to hide or to mask the secret lives of sin they are living while they put on a show (performance) of righteousness on the outside, but their performance has holes in it.

 

Acts 26:21-23 ESV

 

For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

 

They Try to Kill Us

 

Well, first they attempt to put to death the true gospel that Paul and we are called to take to the people of the world. And they have been largely successful in putting it to death in the minds and hearts of a large number of people professing faith in Jesus Christ. But the gospel is not dead. It is still alive. There is a remnant of believers in Jesus who have not compromised with the world and who are still teaching the truth.

 

But since they have not been able to totally kill the truth of the gospel, and since there are still some of us out there who are teaching what Paul was called to teach, now they are trying to kill us. In some countries in the world they are literally putting such Christians to death. In America, it hasn’t come to that yet, but it will. Scripture will be fulfilled. But true Christianity and the gospel that Paul taught is definitely under fire today.

 

The more that we confront and expose the lies, and the more that we confront and expose the wicked deeds of wicked people, even those professing faith in Jesus Christ, and the more that we proclaim that we must die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness, the greater the opposition against us, and the greater the enemy’s attacks against us.

 

He wants to destroy us, because if he can destroy us, then his thinking is that people will no longer listen to us, and then he will have won. But he will never win. The word of God will abide forever, and the truth will prevail! They may be able to kill our bodies, but they can’t kill our souls, and they can’t kill the truth. God’s gospel will go forth and many yet will be saved before the return of our Lord for his bride.

 

So, we persevere, and we put our lives and our reputations in the hands of God. For, we have no control over what other people are going to think about us or what they are going to say about us. If they falsely accuse us, we can choose to be silent, or we can answer the false accusations with the truth. The Lord will give us wisdom regarding what to do and to say as each situation arises, for some of these are traps.

 

For me personally, I know God’s calling on my life, and because of that calling I know that I will be rejected and opposed and falsely accused, and so I have to accept that as part of the job. And I have to keep getting out the truth no matter who comes against me or what they say to me or about me, and I just have to trust the Lord for wisdom to know how to respond.

 

I know God has called me to this and as long as he wants me to keep doing this he will provide the way for me to do it. He will protect me from the enemy’s attacks against me. And he will give me the courage and the boldness that I need to keep moving forward, trusting him to lead the way and to carry me all the way, and trusting that I will survive all onslaughts against me as long as this is still his mission for me. And when I am done, I believe he will call me home, and I am ready for whenever that may be.

 

All I Ask of You

 

by Andrew Lloyd Webber

 

No more talk of darkness,

Forget these wide-eyed fears;

I'm here, nothing can harm you,

My words will warm and calm you.

Let me be your freedom,

Let daylight dry your tears;

I'm here, with you, beside you,

To guard you and to guide you.

 

Let me be your shelter,

Let me be your light…

 

Love me, that's all I ask of you

Jesus is the Only Way

John 14:6 ESV

 

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

 

Jesus also said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn 6:44; cf. Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2).

 

So, we can’t come to Jesus unless God the Father first draws us to Christ, unless God the Father persuades us as to God’s divine purpose and will for our lives, and of our own sinfulness, and of our need to repent (to turn away from our sins) and of our need to follow Jesus in obedience.

 

For the faith to believe in Jesus comes from God and is gifted to us by God. It is not of ourselves. And Jesus is the founder and the perfecter of our faith. Thus, we will submit to God and to his purposes for our lives. By this faith, we will die with Christ to sin, be changed in heart of the Spirit of God, and we will now walk in the newness of life we are given in Christ Jesus.

 

And in like manner, we can’t come to God the Father except through Jesus Christ. So, what this is saying is that no one who rejects Jesus as Lord and Savior knows God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For, he is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So, if they don’t believe in the Son of God, then they don’t believe in God.

 

So, any religion that denies that Jesus is the Christ, that he is God, is not of God. So this means that the Jewish nation, although not speaking of all Jews, does not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of their ancestors. They do not know the one true God. He is not their God. For, they can’t come to the Father except through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

John 14:15,21,23-24 ESV

 

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.’”

 

Also, if we love Jesus, we will obey his commandments (New Covenant). So, if we don’t obey him, if obedience to our Lord is not our practice, if it is not our walk of faith, then we don’t know Jesus, which means we don’t know God, because we don’t love him and we don’t obey him.

 

Now, pay close attention to these next words. If we keep our Lord’s commandments, meaning we obey them as a matter of practice, this is saying that we love him. We are in intimate fellowship with him. And, because we love and obey him, we will be loved by God the Father, and Jesus will love us, and he will show himself to us.

 

And then he says that if we love him, meaning that obedience to him is our practice, for we keep his word, then God the Father will love us, and they (the Father and the Son) will come to us and make their home with us. So, our walks of obedience to our Lord are central to us being in genuine relationship with God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And this is not the only place that this is taught to us in the New Testament, either.

In Romans 6:16 we read: “Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (which results in eternal life)

And in 1 John 2:3-5 we read: “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.”

And this is misunderstood a lot because so many people have come to believe that their salvation from sin is a one-time experience in their lives which then guarantees them heaven when they die and which cannot be taken away from them no matter how they live their lives while they are still on this earth.

But when we study the Scriptures, in context, we soon learn that our salvation is progressive and it is contingent on us walking in obedience to our Lord, and it is contingent on us walking in holiness and righteousness and on us no longer walking in sin according to our sinful flesh. And it is contingent on us remaining in Christ and in his word to the very end or we don’t have eternal life with God but a fearful expectation of his wrath.

 

John 14:25-26 ESV

 

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

 

Not only do we have the written word of God to teach us about all things pertaining to Christ and to his righteousness and pertaining to his plan of salvation for our lives, but if we are in Christ, by genuine faith in him, his Holy Spirit lives within us, and he talks with us in our minds and in our hearts and he brings to remembrance what Jesus taught us.

 

The Holy Spirit also makes practical to our lives today how the word of God is to be applied to our lives and to our life situations we are facing in 2021 in the world we now live in and in the Christian culture we now live in, too. He is going to show us what is going on around us and how that applies to the teachings of his word, and he will show us how to respond, too.

 

For the Scriptures are not just a history book. They aren’t dead words on a dead page which we can read and learn from like any other history book. The Scriptures are alive and active and they are still speaking to our life situations we are facing today through the Holy Spirit who is living within us. And they should be alive within our hearts stirring within our hearts and minds leading us to obey them and to share them passionately with others.

 

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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If We Were of the World

John 15:18-19 ESV

 

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

 

Jesus said we will be hated for his name’s sake and because we are not of the world, because Jesus chose us out of the world. He didn’t say we might be hated, but that we will be hated. If we are following Jesus Christ with our lives and we are living holy lives, separate (unlike, different) from the world, Jesus said we will be hated, that the world will hate us.

 

Yet, the word translated “hate” means: hate, detest, love less, esteem less, to detest on a comparative basis, hence, denounce (accuse, censure, vilify), to renounce (discard, reject). https://biblehub.com/greek/3404.htm

 

When Jesus talked about how the world will hate us he talked about how we will be persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and because he was persecuted. And to be persecuted is to be oppressed, hounded, harassed, bullied, and/or tormented, especially because of our walks of faith in Jesus Christ and because we are not like the world, because Jesus called us to live holy lives unlike the world.

 

So, if we are not being denounced, accused falsely, censured, vilified, discarded, rejected, detested, persecuted, hounded, harassed, bullied, oppressed and/or tormented in some fashion or another because of our walks of faith in Jesus Christ, then it could be that we have not yet or we have not fully separated ourselves from the world, from their values, morals, philosophies, attitudes, speaking, and behaviors.

 

For, the world will love us as its own when we are still like the world, when we still do the same types of things as the ungodly do, when we think the ways that they think, and we laugh at all the same jokes, and we listen to all the same off color humor, and when we watch the same immoral garbage on TV, on videos, and on the internet, and when we spread the same cheap grace gospel which appeases human flesh but which does not please God.

 

But since Jesus has chosen us out of the world, to not be like the world, so that he can conform us to his likeness, then this is how we need to be living, not like the world but like Jesus in conformity with his word and with his righteousness and holiness. For to this we were called of God.

 

John 15:20-21 ESV

 

“Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

 

The more we become like Jesus in heart, in character, in word, and in deed, the more that we should be treated like he was treated. And who were Jesus’ biggest opponents? They were his own people of his own race and of his own nation and of his own faith and of his own birth family. And they were the rulers and the teachers of the Scriptures in the temple of God.

 

So, since so much of the church has become so much like the world these days, at least here in America, and perhaps in other nations, too, if we are truly following Jesus with our lives, we should not be surprised if our greatest opposition also comes from those who profess to be our brothers and sisters in the Lord and from pastors of church gatherings, too.

 

And why did all those people hate Jesus? Why did they come against him? Why did they oppose him, hound him, and torment him? Why did they falsely accuse him of things he didn’t do? Why did they try to trip him up with his words? Was he doing anything wrong? No! He was doing only good. But they hated him because he wasn’t like them, and because they were jealous of him, and because his righteousness made them look bad.

 

They hated him, too, because he spoke the truth in love to them, and he called out their sinful practices and their immoralities and their idolatries, and because he told them that they had to repent of their sin or die in their sins and not have eternal life with God. And he told them that they had to honor him and give up their lives of sin to follow him in obedience.

 

So, if we are doing the kinds of things he did in leading others to Jesus, especially in today’s modern church culture, we should be treated much the same as Jesus was treated and by other people who claim to be followers of Christ, and by pastors of churches, and even by our own family members, for Jesus said family would turn against family on account of his name and that they would hate one another.

 

Now, this is not to say that we are perfect as he was perfect and that some of our rejection might not come because of our own fleshly actions, but if we are doing what he says to do, and if we are persecuted for it, we should rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Jesus’ name.

 

John 15:22-25 ESV

 

“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’”

 

Now, Jesus was not saying that his persecutors would not be guilty of any sin if he had not come and spoken to them. We are all born into this world in the image of Adam with sin natures, and we are all separate from God, and we all come up short, in our own flesh, of attaining God’s divine approval and acceptance. And so we must all repent of sin, allow Jesus to change us, and then to walk in holiness and righteousness in the power of God.

 

Also we read in Romans 1 that God revealed himself to all humans through his created works, and if we choose to reject him and to go our own way it is not because we didn’t know. Paul stated there that if we go the way of our sinful flesh and we deny who God is and we refuse to honor him that we are without excuse. So, if Jesus did not come to you in bodily form and talk with you, if you reject him as your God and Savior, you will still face God’s wrath.

 

So, please know this. If we do not deny self, but we deny Christ by our practices, and if we do not repent of sin, but we continue to walk in sin, and if we do not obey our Lord, but we continue to go our own way and to do our own thing, we will lose our lives for eternity. We will not have eternal life with God. So, deny self, die with Christ to sin daily, and walk in obedience to his commands, in his power, and he says we will have eternal life with 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]

 

O Come All Ye Faithful

 

By John Francis Wade

 

O come, all ye faithful,

joyful and triumphant!

O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!

Come and behold him,

born the King of angels.

 

Sing, choirs of angels,

sing in exultation,

sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!

Glory to God, all glory in the highest

 

Yea, Lord, we greet thee,

born this happy morning;

Jesus, to thee be all glory giv’n!

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing

 

O come, let us adore him,

O come, let us adore him,

O come, let us adore him,

Christ the Lord!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCzqlwONz1I

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A Pure Virgin to Christ

2 Corinthians 11:1-3 ESV

 

“I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

 

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be those who care about our brothers and sisters in Christ. And this means that we should be concerned, not only about their physical needs, or their emotional health, but we should be concerned about their spiritual health. It should grieve us when a brother or a sister in Christ falls away from their pure devotion to Jesus Christ.

 

It should grieve us when we see a fellow Christian living in unrepentant sin, in sinful rebellion against the Lord, in addiction to sexual immorality, adultery, pornography, drunkenness, thievery, lying, gossiping, lusting, slandering, idolatry, witchcraft, and the like. We should be crying out to God for their deliverance and not be placating their sin.

 

And we should be praying for their loved ones, too, who are being injured by their adulteries, their lying, their stealing, and their meanness, etc. For sin is not something you do alone. Sin hurts other people. And we are supposed to be those who love other people, and love does no harm to its neighbor, for love is from God, and therefore it prefers what God prefers.

 

And please understand this here. It is loving, it is kind, it is thoughtful, it is caring to confront a brother or a sister in his or her sinful practices, to tell them to repent of their sins and to turn their hearts to Christ, or back to Christ, and to tell them to follow him in obedience to his ways and to stop hurting one another. This is not being judgmental. This is divine love!

 

And it is loving, and it is kind to stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves, i.e. the innocent and the vulnerable, and to do all that is within our power to do to look out for them and for their welfare, and to rescue them from situations where they are in danger, even if it means standing up to a brother or a sister in Christ and confronting them in their sin.

 

So, don’t buy into the lies that tell you that love means you say nothing, and that you do nothing, and that you “stay in your own lane” so that you don’t offend anyone, or so that you don’t appear judgmental. We are supposed to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. And we are supposed to snatch people from the fire and save them. So, tell them the truth.

 

2 Corinthians 11:4 ESV

 

“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.”

 

And one of the big reasons today that so many people who claim to be followers of Jesus are living in sin is because the church is teaching them that they can believe in Jesus, have their sins forgiven, be on their way to heaven, but that they can remain in their sins, continuing in their sinful practices, only now without guilt and without remorse.

 

And it is because the true gospel, the one that teaches that we must repent of sin, obey the Lord, and honor God with our lives, is under condemnation in the majority of what is called “church” today. They are calling it “works-based salvation” or “Lordship salvation,” and they are telling their people to reject it in favor of what they falsely call “grace,” i.e. permission to sin.

 

And it is because they are telling their congregants to “stay in your own lane” and to not talk with anyone about his sin, or at least not until you have been close friends for at least two years (they used to tell us). They are telling them they are being judgmental if they say anything to anyone about their sin, and that they should mind their own business.

 

But the spiritual health of our brothers and sisters in Christ is our business. God has made it our business. We are to be those who are encouraging (exhorting, urging, counseling) one another daily so that none of us may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. And if a brother or sister is caught in sin, those of us who are spiritual are to restore them to God.

 

So, don’t believe the lies, either the lies which are telling you to mind your own business and to not talk to anyone about his or her sin, or the lies that tell you that you can be saved from your sin, be on your way to heaven, but that you can continue in habitual and deliberate and often premeditated sin against God and against other people, hurting and injuring them.

 

And don’t believe the lies that tell you that God can’t see when you sin or that he will not judge you for your sins. For we are all going to reap what we sow in this life. If we sow to please the flesh, we will reap destruction, but if we sow to please the Spirit, we will reap eternal life. If we walk in sin, we will die in our sins. We will not have eternal life with God.

 

And don’t shut this out because you are being told to. Listen to the truth. Get into the Scriptures yourselves. Read them in context, comparing Scripture with Scripture. See what they say. And don’t interpret them out of context or in light of some theology you were taught. Go into the Scriptures with a pure heart ready to hear from the Lord what he has for you.

 

2 Corinthians 11:5-6 ESV

 

“Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.”

 

Also, don’t ignore people like me or other people who are considered lay people just because we don’t have a seminary degree or because we are female or because we don’t have some official title to go with our names like pastor or missionary. A title or a college degree does not give you any more authority to teach the Scriptures than us who don’t have that.

 

Yes, women are not to have authority over men in the church. I agree. Women are not to teach men in an authoritative way in which they can actually exercise church discipline over men. I agree. But women are gifted equally with men with regard to spiritual gifts. Both men and women are to prophesy, i.e. to bring forth the Scriptures in practical ways that can be applied to our world and to the church and to our lives today.

 

If we are bringing forth the word of God in truth, especially at a time when so many people are lying to you, then you should listen, not because you have to, but because we are telling the truth and not many people are doing that now, and because we are mandated of God to be exhorting one another daily so that we are not hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

 

The Prayer

 

Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,

Alberto Testa and Tony Renis

 

I pray you'll be our eyes

And watch us where we go

And help us to be wise

In times when we don't know

 

Let this be our prayer

When we lose our way

Lead us to a place

Guide us with your grace

To a place where we'll be safe.

 

I pray we'll find your light

And hold it in our hearts

When the stars go out each night

Remind us where you are.

 

Let this be our prayer

When shadows fill our day

Lead us to a place

Guide us with your grace

To a place where we'll be safe.

Righteousness Once Lodged in Her

Isaiah 1:21-23 ESV

 

“How the faithful city

    has become a whore,

    she who was full of justice!

Righteousness lodged in her,

    but now murderers.

Your silver has become dross,

    your best wine mixed with water.

Your princes are rebels

    and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves a bribe

    and runs after gifts.

They do not bring justice to the fatherless,

    and the widow's cause does not come to them.”

 

The “faithful city” is a reference to the people of God collectively, which today would be the universal church, and individually would be those who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives. But just like in Bible times, not everyone who professed to believe in Jesus was a true believer, so among those who believe in Jesus are also those who make false confessions of Jesus as Savior and as Lord of their lives.

 

Also, the “faithful city” was in one specific location, so this could be speaking today of the church in America, which is where I live, and which is what I know. But it could also apply to the church in other locations, too. And this doesn’t mean that the whole church is in this condition, either, though I believe the vast majority of it is here in America, living in spiritual adultery against her Lord and Savior, going after the gods of this world.

 

The evangelical church in America, overall, by all appearances, was once faithful to the Lord, teaching repentance, obedience, submission, holiness, righteousness, moral purity, and godly living. And she also taught the consequences for those who did not follow the path of righteousness but who followed the way of wickedness, instead.

 

But then little by little she began to change, and she began to prostitute herself to the world in order to have larger congregations, in order to build her earthly kingdoms. And so she altered how church gatherings were conducted in order to attract the world to her gatherings, and she also diluted the gospel message to make it more attractive and appealing to the world and conducive to the cravings of the sinful flesh of humans.

 

Sin now runs rampant within the gatherings of the church and in the lives of those who gather together supposedly to worship God. For most have bought into a cheap grace gospel which permits the “believer” in Jesus to continue in deliberate and habitual sin against God. For they are teaching that you can “believe” in Jesus, have your sins forgiven, and have heaven guaranteed you, but that you don’t have to obey Jesus’ commands.

 

Isaiah 1:24-26 ESV

 

“Therefore the Lord declares,

    the Lord of hosts,

    the Mighty One of Israel:

‘Ah, I will get relief from my enemies

    and avenge myself on my foes.

I will turn my hand against you

    and will smelt away your dross as with lye

    and remove all your alloy.

And I will restore your judges as at the first,

    and your counselors as at the beginning.

Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,

    the faithful city.’”

 

Right now, one of the things that the Lord is doing is he is exposing the lies that his people (or those professing to be his people) are believing and speaking. He is showing these false teachings for the lies that they are. He is putting his finger on the idolatry, immorality, wickedness, and depravity that is going on within the gatherings of what is called “church” in his name, for he is trying to rescue his people from the lies and to bring them into truth.

 

God is taking control of this adulterous and idolatrous situation in his church, and he is exposing the wickedness going on within the church, and he is spreading the truth of his gospel message far and wide. And he is doing this through his servants and witnesses who are still holding on to the truth of the gospel and who have not succumb to the lies that are largely being embraced today within the church in the name of “the gospel.”

 

Through writing and through verbal communications the Lord is getting out his gospel and he is exposing the lies of the cheap grace gospel. He is correcting error, and he is setting things right. And he is letting his people, and those professing to be his people, and all people know that he is still a holy and righteous God who still demands holiness and righteousness of his people, by faith in him, and in his power and strength.

 

The true gospel says we must deny self, die daily with Christ to sin, and walk in obedience to his commands. We must forsake our former lives of living for sin and self, be changed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and walk in the new life we have been given in Christ Jesus, free from the control of sin and free from slavery to sin so that we can now walk as slaves of God and of his righteousness, empowered by God’s Spirit living within us.

 

When we believe in Jesus, it is not just so our sins are forgiven and so we can escape the punishment of our sin, and so we can go to heaven when we die. Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. So, if you are believing that you can “believe” in Jesus and be guaranteed eternal life with God, but that you can continue in deliberate and habitual sin, then what you are believing is a lie, and there are consequences for that, indeed.

 

For, if we walk according to the flesh, and we don’t walk according to the Spirit, and if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, we will die in our sins. We won’t have eternal life with God. For, we are all going to reap what we sow, and if we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction, but if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life.

 

[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]

 

Isaiah 1:27-31 ESV

 

“Zion shall be redeemed by justice,

    and those in her who repent, by righteousness.

But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,

    and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

For they shall be ashamed of the oaks

    that you desired;

and you shall blush for the gardens

    that you have chosen.

For you shall be like an oak

    whose leaf withers,

    and like a garden without water.

And the strong shall become tinder,

    and his work a spark,

and both of them shall burn together,

    with none to quench them.”

 

There are many people today professing faith in Jesus Christ who are living wicked and immoral lives, and even though they have been told the truth, and the Lord has called them to repentance and to obedient walks of faith in Him, they are ignoring his words, and many are even being defiant and disrespectful in the words that they speak in response to the truth, a disrespect for God which also comes out in their actions and behaviors.

 

Many of them are attacking the Lord’s servants and messengers, and they are falsely accusing them of things they did not do, and they are making cutting remarks to them to try to silence them, because they don’t want their sins exposed, but they want to continue in their sins and in their rebellion against the Lord. So, they will attack those who are telling them the truth because they don’t want to walk in that truth.

 

But their impertinence towards Almighty God will cost them their lives. Both the people themselves and their deeds will come under the judgment of Almighty God. If they repent of their sins, and they turn away from them, they will receive eternal life with God. But if they stubbornly refuse to repent, and they continue to hold on to their sins, heaven is not what awaits them, even though it has been promised to them.

 

So, please, if this is where you are, don’t play around with this. Don’t test fate and think that certainly God will not judge you for your sinful rebellion. He will! There will be a lot of people who will stand before God and call him “Lord” who never honored him as Lord of their lives, and he is going to tell them that he never knew them, and that they are to depart from him, because they are workers of iniquity. Please don’t be one of them!

 

The Prayer

 

Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,

Alberto Testa and Tony Renis

 

I pray you'll be our eyes

And watch us where we go

And help us to be wise

In times when we don't know

 

Let this be our prayer

When we lose our way

Lead us to a place

Guide us with your grace

To a place where we'll be safe.

 

I pray we'll find your light

And hold it in our hearts

When the stars go out each night

Remind us where you are.

 

Let this be our prayer

When shadows fill our day

Lead us to a place

Guide us with your grace

To a place where we'll be safe.

Faithful to the Calling

John 10:14-16 ESV

 

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

 

This was Jesus speaking. His sheep at that time were Jews who believed in him. And the sheep that were not of that fold, but whom he would bring them in also, were the Gentiles (non-Jews) who were yet to believe in him.

 

After his death and resurrection, Jew and Gentile who believed in Jesus then became one flock with one shepherd. Now Jew and Gentile who believe in Jesus are one in Christ. We are both Israel, the chosen of God, and heirs of the promise. We are one flock, not two separate flocks.

 

For, the promises which were spoken to Abraham were to him and to his seed, and that seed is Jesus Christ. For not all who are physical descendants of Abraham are Israel but only those who believe in Jesus Christ.

 

So, if we belong to Christ then we are Abraham’s seed, and we are heirs according to the promise. Jerusalem, representing the Jewish nation, is of Hagar, the slave woman, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. And the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.

 

[Gal 3:16, 26-29; Rom 9:4-8; Gal 4:22-31; Eph 2:14-18; 1 Jn 2:22]

 

So, today, Jesus’ sheep are all people, whether Jew or Gentile by birth, who have surrendered their lives to him, by God-given faith in him, who have died with him to sin, and who have been resurrected with him to newness of life in him, to be lived for his glory.

 

They are all those who are no longer walking according to the flesh, but who are walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and by the Spirit are daily dying to sin, are denying self, and are walking in obedience to the Lord and to his commands.

 

[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; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Jn 6:44]

 

John 10:17-18 ESV

 

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

 

When Jesus Christ lived on this earth he was fully God and fully man. He is the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And he is our creator God, and he is the author of life. He is God! Yet, he willingly left his throne in heaven, humbled himself, came to earth, and took on human form. And after three years of ministry as an adult he was put to death on a cross by those who hated him, although he had done no wrong.

 

But this was in God’s plan from the very beginning that Jesus would come to earth and willingly lay down his life for us. For man had no power over him but what God allowed, and he allowed for a purpose, and he allowed according to God’s perfect timing. And so in God’s perfect timing Jesus’ enemies, who were primarily the Jews and the rulers in the temple of God, arranged for him to be hung on a cross to die, according to God’s plan.

 

And that plan was for the salvation of our lives from our bondage to sin as well as from the punishment of sin. For Jesus 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 he shed his blood on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so we would now honor God with our bodies (with our lives).

 

But Jesus didn’t remain dead. God resurrected him from the dead on the third day, just as Jesus had said would happen. And because Jesus lives, we can live in him. And we do this by faith in him which dies with him to sin and is raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And we live in him by denying self, and by dying daily with him to sin, and by walking in obedience to his commands.

 

John 10:19-21 ESV

 

“There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, ‘He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?’ Others said, ‘These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’”

 

I love this! And do you know that Jesus said that as he was treated so we would be treated? Paul was also called “insane,” as was Jesus, and as I am certain were many of the prophets of the Old Testament. And if we are following Jesus today in the ways in which Paul and many of the apostles and many of the prophets of old did, we may be called crazy, too.

 

For, “normal” Christianity in our culture is to play it safe, to “make no waves,” to “stay in your own lane,” and to not say anything that might offend someone else. It is to remain within the confines of what is regarded as “normal” Christianity, “inside a box” of human making, inside institutional religion which fears and forsakes the Holy Spirit, for the most part, or it goes the other extreme in calling truly ungodly behavior of the Spirit of God.

 

So, if we follow the examples of Jesus, and of the NT apostles, and of the OT prophets when they were following the ways of God, then we should expect to be treated in many of the same ways as they were. For they were not regarded as “normal” by the society of their day nor by the religious leaders of their day, either. But they were outcasts, and they were falsely accused of wrongdoing, and they were largely rejected by their peers, and by people of their own faith, too.

 

But not everyone will treat us that way. Hopefully we will have some encouragers in our lives who are likeminded, who understand the truth of the gospel, and who can see how it is being attacked and distorted, and who can see how those who are teaching the true gospel are coming under attack, for they may be experiencing much of the same. And so they may support us and stand up for us against the lies, but even if no one does, and if they all desert us, we must remain faithful to our Lord always.

 

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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