What it Means to be "In Christ"

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 ESV

 

“For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

 

Jesus Christ, God the Son, was crucified on that cross on our behalf. He who knew no sin became sin for us on that cross so that when he died our sins died with him. He died for all of humanity. He put all our sins to death with him on that cross. No more blood sacrifices for sin are necessary. Jesus became our final sin sacrifice. But this doesn’t mean that all of humanity is dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Not everyone is saved.

 

We have to individually put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ who God the Father raised from the dead and who then ascended back to heaven. But even the faith to believe in Jesus is not of ourselves, but it is a gift from God lest we should boast that somehow we accomplished our own salvation. We did not! But the gift of our salvation is not just forgiveness of sins, removal of punishment of sin, and the hope of heaven when we die.

 

The gift of God, our salvation from sin, is deliverance from our slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin so that we may now become slaves of God and of his righteousness. For by such faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. For Jesus died on that cross that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

 

This is what our salvation is all about. It is us denying ourselves and it us dying with Christ to sin and living to him and to his righteousness in obedience to his commands (New Covenant) in his power and strength, all because of what he did for us on that cross in putting our sins to death with him. For our old self was crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

 

Therefore, we are to no longer allow sin to reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its passions. For sin is to no longer have dominion over us now that we have been saved from our sins by the grace of God. Therefore, we need to know here that Scripture teaches we are slaves of the one we obey, either of sin, which leads to DEATH, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness and sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God.

 

2 Corinthians 5:16-19 ESV

 

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

 

Now, when this says, “If anyone is in Christ,” it is not assuming that all people are or that even all who profess faith in Jesus Christ are genuinely in Christ by genuine faith in Jesus Christ, a faith which is God-given and comes from God and thus is aligned with God and with his will and purpose for our lives. So, just because you prayed a prayer to receive Christ or you made a public profession of faith in him does not mean you are “in Christ.”

 

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who DOES the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” Matthew 7:21-23 ESV

 

John said, “And by this we know that we have come to know him, IF WE KEEP his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” 1 John 2:3-6 ESV

 

And that is why this says “IF” anyone is in Christ, for it is not assuming that all are or that all who profess to be are, indeed, “in Christ.” So, “IF” we are in Christ, we are a new creation in Christ, and thus the old self was crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So, if we are still living in sin, still habitually and deliberately sinning against our Lord, we are not “in Christ.”

 

Thus, the old has not passed away if it is not passed away. If we aren’t dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, the old hasn’t passed away and thus we have not become new in Christ. And I am not speaking here of sinless perfection. I am speaking of what the Scriptures speak about that the truth that is in Christ Jesus teaches us to put off our old self, which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:17-24).

 

Yes, we do nothing to earn or to deserve our own salvation but that doesn’t mean we do nothing. The New Testament Scriptures are filled with instructions to us and warnings and urgings and all kinds of lessons which teach us about what it means to be “in Christ” and how we can tell if we are not “in Christ” but we are still “in the flesh” living by the flesh to please the flesh, and we are not living by the Spirit to please the Spirit.

 

2 Corinthians 5:20-21 ESV

 

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

 

So, yes, our salvation from sin is a gift of God to us. We can only be “in Christ” because of what Jesus did for us on that cross. But if our faith comes from God and it is not of ourselves, then it will submit to Christ as Lord and it will be aligned with God’s will and purpose for our lives. So, we have to make that decision to be reconciled to God, meaning “I change” from being God’s enemy to now submitting to his will and purpose for my life. It is something we must do, but not in our flesh, but empowered by the Spirit.

 

[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 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

I Pray for Them

 

An Original Work / June 4, 2013

Based off John 17

 

“Glorify Your Son, that Your Son

May glorify our God in heav’n.

Father, You granted Him all power

And all authority over men,

That He might give eternal life

To all those whom now

You have given Him.”

 

“This now then is eternal life:

That they may know You,

Father, and Your Son;

That they may know the only true God,

And Jesus Christ whom the Father sent.

I have brought You the glory by

Finishing the work that You’ve given Me.”

 

“I have shown You to those whom

You gave to Me out of the world;

They were Yours. You gave them to Me

And they have obeyed Your words

And they accepted them. They knew

That I came from You, and they believed

With certainty, I was sent.”

 

“Holy Father, I pray for them by the

Power of Your name: Protect them,

So that they may be one as we are,

For they are still living in this world.

I have given them Your word;

Because of Your word, the world

Has hated them.”

 

“I pray they may have the full measure of

My joy now living within them.

Father, I pray You sanctify them

By Your word; truly Your word is truth.

As You sent Me into the world,

I send them to tell the world to repent.”

 

https://vimeo.com/116141024

In Fairytale Land

An Original Work / March 28, 2022

Once upon a time in fairytale land,

Grand masters laid out their careful plan.

Deception was what it was about,

Trick people and leave not one to doubt.

Tell tales as though they are the truth.

Be charming, as well as be uncouth.

Play acting as though what’s seen is real,

Sincerely fake what you can’t feel.

If doubted, create then an escape,

Blame others you show you truly hate,

Attack others who are innocent,

Keep at it, and do you not relent.

Gather people who will follow you,

Loyal followers who believe in you.

Pull wool right over all their eyes,

For you are a wolf now in disguise.

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15 ESV).

Give No Opportunity to the Devil

 Ephesians 4:26-32 ESV

 

“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

 

Be Angry, Sin Not

 

Anger is a God-given emotion to let us know that something is wrong and for the purpose to motivate us toward some type of action. God gets angry. Jesus got angry. So, all anger is not sinful. Some anger is rooted in sin, usually stemming from unresolved hatred, unforgiveness, bitterness, pride, resentment, and jealousy, etc. And other anger (or the same anger) is sinful when it is acted out in sinful ways which are harmful to others.

 

So, you may feel anger in a way that is just, or that it is good that you feel it in order to make you aware of a problem that needs to be resolved. But what you do with the anger is what makes it sin, or which furthers the sin that is already stored up in the heart from which evil spews forth in our words and/or in our actions. So the way to be angry and sin not is to use that anger to motivate you toward a positive and productive response.

 

It is when we hold on to anger, and we let it stew within our minds and hearts, and we don’t speak the truth in love, and we don’t confront the person who hurt us, and/or we assume things that did not even exist or that weren’t even said, and we don’t talk about them, that the anger turns to sin, because it then turns to hatred and unforgiveness and bitterness. So, don’t let the devil get a foothold in your life. Deal with your anger in a good way.

 

No Stealing, Instead Giving

 

Stealing is not just taking something that doesn’t belong to you from a store or from someone’s house or from your employer, etc. You can steal time by taking time for yourself that you are obligated to give to your job while you accept payment for work that you did not do. And you can steal people’s hearts and their devotion to you by lying to them and by putting on a false persona in order to trick and to deceive and to manipulate them.

 

Adultery is stealing from your spouse what is rightfully his or hers and giving it to another who is not your spouse, which could be yourself, too, i.e. you could be your own “other” lover, your own idol. It is defrauding others out of what is rightfully theirs through trickery, lies, swindling, being a charlatan (we have many of those) and by double-dealing and being a con artist. And many pastors these days are charlatans and con artists.

 

And what these pastors, alias con artists and charlatans, are actually stealing from the people is their true salvation from sin and their eternal life with God. For they are twisting the Scriptures to say what they don’t say and they are feeding the people lies which console them in their sins and which do not demand repentance (turning from sin), submission to Christ as Lord, and walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New Covenant).

 

So, to stop stealing you must work with integrity, you must be honest (tell the truth), and you must share with others who are in need, but not just with material possessions or with money, but with what can give them the true hope of salvation and the true hope of eternal life with God. You need to tell them the truth that Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness.

 

[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; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23]

 

No Corrupt Words

 

We are to let no corrupting talk come out of our mouths. We are to let no immoral, dishonest, crooked, and perverted words come forth from our mouths, which is indicative of what is actually in our hearts, according to Scripture. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The evil that comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and it is what defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander (Matthew 15:17-20; Luke 6:45).

 

So, before we can keep corrupting talk and evil behaviors from coming forth out of our words and actions we have to first deal with what is stored up in the heart. Many people continue in addictive sinful practices because they won’t first deal Scripturally with what is in the heart. And then they act surprised when they keep sinning, as though they have no control over that, or as though their sin is just coming out of left field somewhere.

 

If you are addicted to any sin, it isn’t coming out of left field and you should not be surprised by it at all. It is coming from what is stored up in your heart and it is acted out in your behaviors and words because the heart has not changed. The heart is not fully surrendered to Jesus Christ but you are still holding on to something which is holding you back from that total surrender, and which is what is still leading you down the path of sin.

 

So, we need to prayerfully examine before God what is in our hearts, and we need to let him reveal to us what is there, and then we need to let those things go, whether they be pride, unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, hatred or whatever. And we need to daily say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return, in the power and working of God’s Spirit within us.

 

And then we need to put on the truth, and righteousness, and holiness, and walk according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh, in the power of God’s Spirit as we daily deny self and die to sin and as we yield control of our lives over to the Lord and we give him full reign and we refuse to let the flesh have reign. And this is achievable because of what Jesus did for us on that cross in giving his life up for us to free us from our addiction to sin and to empower us to live righteously in holiness and uprightness.

 

For, if we don’t, and if we continue in the flesh, still having control over our own lives, and not giving God control, and so we continue living in sin, in addiction to sin, then we must know that the Scriptures teach that we will not have eternal life with God. We will not inherit the kingdom of God. But we will die in our sins because we refused to die to our sins. So, please take this to heart, for Jesus died to free you from your addiction to sin, and full victory over sin is possible by God’s Spirit when we yield to God’s control.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:28-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:16; Rom 8:3-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Jn 15:1-11; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15; Matt 7:21-23]

 

For Our Nation 

 

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

 

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

 

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

 

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

 

Men deceiving: we’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

 

https://vimeo.com/379406352

No Lie, Speak the Truth

Ephesians 4:25 ESV

 

“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

 

Truth and Lies

 

In the previous few verses we are taught that the truth that is in Christ Jesus is that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, are to put off our old self, which belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and that we are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and that we are to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

And the falsehood that we are to put off is the notion that we can believe in Jesus Christ and still live like the ungodly. It is the notion that we who believe in Jesus, since we have been saved by God’s grace, can continue to live in sin, and that we can give ourselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. And it is that we don’t have to put off our old self which belongs to our former manner of life of living in sin and for self.

 

Many people professing faith in Jesus Christ in America today are living in the lie, not in the truth. They say that because they believed in Jesus Christ that their sins are now gone, that they have all been forgiven, even their future sins. And they believe that heaven is now their eternal destiny. But they didn’t actually put the flesh to death. It is still alive and thriving. It never went away. Sin is still reigning in their lives.

 

And then there is the professer of faith in Jesus Christ who is living in sinful addiction who keeps promising that he intends to rid his life of the addiction, but since he is trying to do this in his own flesh, it never truly happens, because flesh gives birth to flesh. Flesh doesn’t put flesh to death. We can’t rid our lives of the flesh by the flesh. Only by the Spirit of God can we be set free of sin, but only as we yield control of our lives over to the Lord.

 

Sin does not just go away on its own. Yes, Jesus Christ became sin for us on that cross so that when he died our sins died with him. But not everyone is saved from his sins. Yes, we have to believe in Jesus, but belief is not just an acknowledgment of who Jesus is and of what he did for us, and it is not just a profession of faith or a verbal confession of Christ as Lord. Our faith is from God and so faith surrenders to Christ as Lord and repents of sin and turns to God to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his ways.

 

And so some people, wanting to impress others that they have forsaken their lives of sin to follow Jesus in obedience will actually fake it. They will even fake tears of repentance, but it is all still flesh. For nothing changes. The heart is still the same, still bent toward the same mindset, the same attitudes, and the same behaviors. And the sin cycle still continues without a burp. It is all a performance to appear righteous, but the addicted to sin is still living in self-indulgence, still straying, still meandering.

 

A Lie is a Lie

 

So, whether you believe the lie that you can believe in Jesus and still live like the ungodly, or if you believe the lie that says you don’t have to die to sin (repent) and that you don’t have to walk in obedience to the Lord, or that Jesus does it all and you do nothing, and so your sins are gone, even though you may still be living in sin; or if you tell lies that say that you have put the flesh to death, but it is still thriving, or that you plan to put the flesh to death, and so you fake that you have, they are all lies.

 

And, as followers of Jesus Christ we are to put away all lies, whether they are lies we are believing and living or whether they are lies we are telling other people, or whether they are verbal lies or not, for even withholding the truth from those it is required or necessary that we tell the truth to is a lie, for it is a deliberate deception. And fakery is a lie. Giving a false impression is a lie. Closing your ears and refusing to hear the truth is believing a lie.

 

And not only are we to put away lies we are believing or living or telling others but we are now to be truth tellers. And we are to be those who are living and believing the truth and not the lies. And the only way we are going to know the truth is if we are studying the Scriptures in their context prayerfully with a desire to know and to believe and to live the truth. And we have to test what we are hearing coming from other humans.

 

And then we have to be those who are walking in obedience to the truth, by the Spirit and who are not reverting to the lies. We must be people of integrity and not people who shift back and forth between truth and lies. We need to be what we say we are, and we must live what we say we believe. And especially with regard to the family of God we are to be truthful in our words and in our conduct, for we are members one of another.

 

[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 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

For Our Nation  

 

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

 

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

 

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

 

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

 

Men deceiving: we’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

 

https://vimeo.com/379406352

You Will Say to Your Idols, "Be Gone!"

 Isaiah 30:8-11 ESV

 

“And now, go, write it before them on a tablet

    and inscribe it in a book,

that it may be for the time to come

    as a witness forever.

For they are a rebellious people,

    lying children,

children unwilling to hear

    the instruction of the Lord;

who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’

    and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us what is right;

speak to us smooth things,

    prophesy illusions,

leave the way, turn aside from the path,

    let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.’”

 

In America, this appears to be the spiritual condition of the majority of those people professing faith in Jesus Christ. For, they have bought into a diluted half-truth (false) gospel message which tells them that they can “believe” (not defined) in Jesus Christ, be forgiven of their sins, and now be guaranteed heaven when they die regardless of how they live their lives from this moment forward.

 

And so many of them have this mistaken notion that their sins no longer matter to God and that they will not be punished for them. And so they think they can keep on sinning, only now without guilt and without the fear of punishment, but with the hope of heaven when they die. So, there is no fear of God in their lives. There is no honoring of God as holy. There is no respect for God and for what he requires and for what he desires of us, his people.

 

Therefore, many are saying to those who are still preaching the gospel taught in the Scriptures, “Do not preach to us what is right; speak to us feel-good messages which do not confront us in our sins, and which do not call for us to repent of (to forsake) our sins, and which do not call us to walk in obedience to our Lord. Tell us God makes no such requirements of us and that we can live however we want now that we are saved by his grace.”

 

They are saying, “Leave the way of righteousness. Leave this teaching about submission to Christ as Lord and obedience to his commands and us having to forsake our sinful practices. Come to our way of thinking and believing. Teach what we teach that you can make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, be forgiven your sins, and be on your way to heaven, and you don’t have to do anything. Stop talking to us about repentance and obedience to God.”

 

Isaiah 30:15,18 ESV

 

“For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,

‘In returning and rest you shall be saved;

    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.’”

 

“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,

    and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the Lord is a God of justice;

    blessed are all those who wait for him.”

 

But the gospel that these people are following is not the gospel of Jesus Christ but it is an altered and an adulterated gospel created in the minds of men in their deceitful scheming whose goal it is to lead us away from pure devotion to Jesus Christ, and to lead us away from forsaking our sins and from following Jesus in obedience, because they know that if we continue in sin that hell is our destiny, although they will lie and tell you it is not.

 

But the gospel of the Scriptures teaches us that by faith in Jesus Christ we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. We are delivered from our slavery to sin so that, by God’s grace, and in his strength and power, we will now be slaves of God and of his righteousness, walking in holiness and in obedience to our Lord.

 

So, the Lord is calling all his adulterous and wayward children and all those who have made false confessions of faith in him to come to him in truth or to return to him in truth and in righteousness, in submission to him as Lord, in the forsaking of their sins and their idols, and to now walk in obedience to him in accord with the Spirit of God, and to live no longer according to the flesh, no longer to obey sin and its wicked desires.

 

For, God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to REPENTANCE. And repentance is what keeps us from perishing. And repentance is us making a spiritual U-turn away from living to sin and to self to now following Jesus Christ where he leads us in submission to him and in obedience to his commands. But if we do not repent (turn), and we continue in our own stubborn way in living for sin and for self, we need to know that heaven is not what awaits us when we die. Hell is our destiny, instead.

 

[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 1:21-25; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8, 27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Isaiah 30:20-22 ESV

 

“And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, ‘Be gone!’”

 

The Scriptures teach that God disciplines (corrects, rebukes, chastises, and reproves) the ones he loves, i.e. those who are his children, by faith in him. So, if you have believed in Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, you should expect to endure such divine discipline, which is for our good, that we may share God’s holiness. And for those of us who have been trained by it, later the discipline will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

 

And if we have wandered away from our pure devotion to the Lord, and we have been caught up in the ways of the world again, the purpose of the discipline will be to bring us back into a right relationship with the Lord Jesus and back into obedient walks of faith in him. And it is so we will hear the word of the Lord showing us the way in which we are to walk, and we will respond to his voice in obedience, and so we will forsake all our idols to walk in the ways of the Lord once again in faithful obedience to him, for his glory.

 

For Our Nation  

 

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

 

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

 

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

 

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

 

Men deceiving: we’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

 

https://vimeo.com/379406352

Lead Me in Your Truth and Teach Me

Psalms 25:4-5 ESV

 

“Make me to know your ways, O Lord;

    teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me,

    for you are the God of my salvation;

    for you I wait all the day long.”

 

The object of God’s saving grace in our lives is not just so we can be forgiven of our sins, escape hell, and go to heaven when we die. It is that we might walk in the ways of the Lord and no longer walk in the ways of the flesh and in sin. For Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And he died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us (1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15).

 

So, when we believe in Jesus Christ with God-given faith we will not take the viewpoint that we have just now gotten our “get-out-of-jail-free-card,” or that we have just secured heaven for ourselves as our “fire insurance” against ending up in hell when we die. Our salvation is not a free ride to heaven while we continue to walk in the flesh and in sin. Heaven forbid! Our salvation is deliverance from slavery to sin so we are now slaves to God.

 

And our salvation is also not a one-time decision we make in our lives to believe in Jesus that secures us heaven when we die, but it is walking in the light as God is in the light, and it is walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and it is, by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the flesh, and it is denying self and dying with Christ daily to sin and walking in obedience to his commands. For salvation is progressive sanctification.

 

So, if we are truly in Christ, by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, we have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. The old has gone, the new has come. Now we are no longer living in enslavement to sin, but now we are living as slaves to righteousness in the power of God, by his Spirit, according to the will of God.

 

Thus, now we also desire to know the ways of the Lord, and to be taught his paths, and to be led in his truth so that we might walk in his ways and do what he says and live holy and godly lives which are pleasing to him for the praise of his glory. And we learn those by studying the Scriptures in context and by listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit directing us in the ways that we should go, and by not resisting the Spirit by going our own way.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Jn 15:1-11; Jas 1:21-25; Tit 2:11-14; Rom 12:1-2]

 

Psalms 25:8-10 ESV

 

“Good and upright is the Lord;

    therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

He leads the humble in what is right,

    and teaches the humble his way.

All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,

    for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.”

 

Amen! Yes, God shows his goodness and his kindness to us by instructing us in the right way, which is the way of holiness and righteousness. It is not good or kind to leave us still in slavery to sin, still wandering far from the Lord, still deliberately and habitually committing the same sins over and over against God, and against our family members, and against other people. God’s grace delivers us from our slavery to sin. Amen!

 

The Lord instructs us in the right way and he teaches us his ways all throughout the Scriptures. We can’t miss it! Paul did not teach the kind of gospel that many are attributing to him today. He taught the same as Jesus, and the same as John and James. He taught repentance and obedience and submission as necessary components of saving faith in Jesus Christ. And he taught if we do not repent and obey that we will not have eternal life.

 

Yes, we do nothing to earn or to deserve our own salvation. No amount of our own good works will ever secure salvation for us. But God’s gift to us is not freedom to keep living in sin while claiming heaven as our eternal destiny. God’s gift to us is freedom from addiction to sin so that we can now walk in holiness and in obedience to our Lord in the power of God’s Spirit. For if we continue to live in sin we will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 1:28-32; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Rom 6:16; Rom 8:3-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:26-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Jn 15:1-11; Rev. 2-3; Rev 18:1-6; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15; Matt 7:21-23]

 

Psalms 25:14-16 ESV

 

“The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,

    and he makes known to them his covenant.

My eyes are ever toward the Lord,

    for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

Turn to me and be gracious to me,

    for I am lonely and afflicted.”

 

Now, this is critical that we get this. This is taught both in the Old and in the New Testament. If we want to be in intimate fellowship with God via faith in Jesus Christ and to be regarded by God as his friends, then we need to walk in the fear of the Lord. We need to honor God, and obey him, and follow Jesus in his ways, and be doers of the word and not hearers only. We need to be those who walk the walk and who don’t just talk it.

 

Today so many people are buying into a half-truth (false) gospel which does not require or which actually discourages honoring God as Lord, and following in his ways, and doing what he commands, and forsaking our sins. And that is because they are following the teachings of humans in their deceitful scheming instead of following the teachings of God’s Word in their context. For God still regards faith as obedience and disobedience as unbelief (1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13).

 

And if we are those who are still teaching the truth of the gospel as is taught in the Scriptures, in context, and if we are taking it to heart and if we are walking in the ways of the Lord, in the fear of the Lord, and in holiness and righteousness, we will be hated, rejected, persecuted, shunned, ignored, pushed away, kicked out of gatherings, invited to leave, given messages that we are not “one of them,” and so forth. So, a life of faithfulness to Jesus Christ can be a very lonely life, so we are thankful for his friendship.

 

Mighty in Power

 

An Original Work / June 17, 2019

 

Jesus, our Savior, reigneth forever;

Mighty in power, His name we honor.

 

He’s our refuge from all evil.

God our righteous, He’s our fill.

 

He satisfies us with all His blessings.

We magnify Him. Our praise to Him sing.

 

Glory and honor, praise to the Father,

Perfect in wisdom, He is our vision.

 

He delivered us from all sin

So, in Christ, we’d be forgiven.

 

He purifies us. His love will guide us.

He is beside us, holy and righteous.

 

Our Holy Spirit, comfort in sorrow,

Strength in our weakness, hope for tomorrow.

 

He gives courage to be bold in

Witnessing for Jesus Christ.

 

He teaches all things about our Savior.

New life in Jesus, we found His favor.

 

https://vimeo.com/343126112

Be Still and Wait Patiently for God to Act

Psalms 37:1-2 ESV

 

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

    be not envious of wrongdoers!

For they will soon fade like the grass

    and wither like the green herb.”

 

Why would we fret because of evildoers? There may be many reasons, but the one reason that is coming to my mind this morning is that if the evil they are doing is against us or against those we love, we might have a tendency to worry and to be concerned about how they may harm us or others we love and care about. But we are not to fret, but we are to commit our lives to the Lord and trust him to work it all out for good.

 

So, then I contemplated what kind of evil these evildoers might be doing against us, or against those we love. And I thought of Jesus and of his enemies and the evil that they did against him. His enemies were his own people, and even some from his own family, and they were the rulers in the Temple of God and those who taught the Scriptures, so they were also those who were professing to be of his own faith.

 

And they accused him falsely of all kinds of things, and they harassed him because he healed people on the Sabbath and because his disciples plucked heads of grain on the Sabbath. But Jesus’ response back to them was that he was Lord of the Sabbath and that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. And this was while they were still under the Old Covenant, but we are under the New Covenant. So, our Sabbath-Rest is Jesus Christ and it is our salvation from sin (Hebrews 4; Mark 2:27-28).

 

But they also hated Jesus because he claimed to be God, and because he preached against sin, and he called the people to repentance, and he called them to obedience to himself as Lord. And they hated him, too, because he did not bow to their man-made rules, and because he did not follow their customs, and because he called them out for their hypocrisy and for their secret sins, and because he told his disciples not to imitate them.

 

And we will be hated, too, if we do not succumb to man-made rules and to human customs, and if we speak the truth of the gospel, and if we call sin what it is, and if we call people to repentance and to walks of obedience to Jesus Christ. And we will be attacked and called names and be falsely accused of what we did not do or say when we follow Jesus Christ and his ways, and when our lives are committed to him to serve him faithfully.

 

Psalms 37:3-7 ESV

 

“Trust in the Lord, and do good;

    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Delight yourself in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 

“Commit your way to the Lord;

    trust in him, and he will act.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

    and your justice as the noonday.

 

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

    fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

    over the man who carries out evil devices!”

 

So, what are we to do when evildoers do evil against us in order to harm us? We are to put our trust in the Lord, and we are to do the good that he said we are to do. And we are to remain faithful to the call of God on our lives, and we are to keep speaking the truth of the gospel, no matter how much we are opposed. And we are to delight ourselves in the Lord, and then our desires will be his desires, and he will give us the desires of our hearts.

 

We are to commit our ways (our paths, the paths God has us on) to the Lord and we are to trust him, that he will act on our behalf and according to his will and purpose for our lives. For, if he has called us, and if we are following him in his ways, he will provide all that we need to endure unjust suffering and to not grow weary and to not lose heart. And he will fulfill his purpose in and through our lives for his glory and praise and for the salvation of souls.

 

So, we are not to fret over those who do evil, who carry out evil devices, who lie, cheat, steal, commit adultery, and slander others, and who do evil to those who are doing good, and who do willful and deliberate harm to others. We are not to fret over those who call evil good and good evil, or who manipulate naïve minds into believing their lies. But we are to be still before the Lord and wait patiently for the Lord to act.

 

But we are also to pray for the truth to be revealed, and we are to keep speaking the truth, and we are to keep exposing the fruitless deeds of darkness and keep warning the people against false teaching and false teachers. And we are to keep sharing the truth of the gospel in hopes that many will be turned from darkness to the light and from Satan to God so that they will receive forgiveness of sins and be sanctified by faith in Christ.

 

Psalms 37:8-9 ESV

 

“Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

    Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

For the evildoers shall be cut off,

    but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.”

 

Now, there is such a thing as righteous anger, and the Bible teaches that in our anger we are not to sin. Anger is an emotion given to us by God to let us know that something is wrong and to motivate us to do what is right. But what we do with that anger and how we respond to it can either be good or it can be bad. So, when we feel anger in our emotions, we need to pray that we will have the correct response to that emotion.

 

I believe that first of all we need to examine our own hearts to see why we are getting angry. Some people easily get angry because of selfishness because things didn’t go their way, and because people didn’t do what they wanted their way when they wanted it. Or they get angry because of hatred, bitterness, jealously, resentment, and pride which are stored up inside their hearts. And so they quickly fly off the handle.

 

Sometimes people get angry easily because of secret sins they are holding on to and so they will get angry with those who are living righteously and who are teaching the truth of the gospel, and this may be one of the motivating factors behind why evildoers do the evil that they do to others. So, we need to examine our hearts and make certain that our anger does not stem from sins stored up in our hearts or from selfish motives.

 

If we are angry over sin and over the evil in this world we should let that anger motivate us to pray and to trust in the Lord, and we should not lose control or try to get even with others who are doing evil against us, or against those we love. But the Lord may lead us to some positive action such as addressing such wrongs and exposing them for what they are so that others are not led into traps and to their harm.

 

And then we rest in the Lord and we wait for him to act and we trust he has all things under his control and under his command and that he is working all things for good for those of us who love (obey) him and who are called according to his purpose. And we keep praying, and we keep trusting, and we keep letting go of any anger which rises and which might take over, and we keep giving it all over to the Lord, and we keep resting in him.

 

 

He Lifted Our Burdens

 

An Original Work / February 15, 2014

Based off Isaiah 9:2-7

 

People walk in darkness.

They abide in their sin.

It has power o’er them.

True belief escapes them.

 

Jesus Christ came to save them.

He gave His life up for them;

Crucified; died for our sin,

So we might be forgiven,

And have life up in heaven.

 

Many come to know Him.

God’s love now o’erflows them.

They rejoice in vict’ry.

Their sin is but hist’ry.

 

We were once bound in slav’ry.

Jesus lifted our burdens;

Set us now free from Satan,

So we now walk in freedom.

Sin has no more dominion.

 

Praise be to our Savior!

He showed us His favor.

He took all our burdens;

Cast them all upon Him.

 

He is our mediator;

The Light which shines in darkness.

Counselor in our troubles;

He gives peace now in our hearts;

Joy which is everlasting.

 

https://vimeo.com/86854416